#marvel prose novel

[marahsfandomloves]

I'm reading the Marvel Prose novel for Rogue Untouched and own several for Loki, we need a Prose Novel for Nightcrawler!

[frc-heraldofdoom]

The Tyrant Skies by David Annandale, last instalment of the Marvel Untold Doom trilogy coming on 25th March (or 17th in the US).

Now, these books are really good and I'm really hyped to see Doom pitched up against the Red Skull again... but, the cover is just so disappointing 😢

We have two awesome villains with extremely cool designs who really don't like each other. We have a gipsy who has been victim of ferocious suppressions vs the epithome of Nazism! Of all the cool things and symbols you could have put on there, why the two of them just looking at each other?!

That's not even a threatening look, they're just staring at each other. Why not a big swastika above Doom castle? Now that would have been menacing!

It was the publisher, right? That looks like a work you do just because they asked you to do it that way but you really don't want to, 'cause you know it's ugly! 😅

[prokopetz]

Hi. I just found your The Far Roofs post and I'm smitten by the beauty of the prose and the images it evokes. I'm reading through the kickstarter page and I'm going to look up what I can about the author, but it doesn't do harm to ask you directly too:

I'm not necessarily into playing this or the other games by the author, but I absolutely need to get my hands on more texts like the one you shared about Unicorn. Are the rulebooks the only place to read them? And if so, is there a grander story (that would necessitate reading the books in a particular order) or are these just flavour texts accompanying each new chapter or game mechanic?

Sorry if this is A Lot, I just hadn't read anything like that and it moved me in ways I wasn't expecting for such a brief excerpt.

(With reference to this post here.)

There's a grander story in the sense that, like many of Dr. Jenna Moran's games, The Far Roofs has a default campaign structure with some fairly specific plot beats. Technically the rats and the Mysteries are part of a broader setting set forth in greater detail in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine (an earlier game by the same author), though it's not necessary to have played or read CMWGE to understand what's going on in The Far Roofs.

If it's the prose in particular that grabs you, however, you might check out Dr. Moran's published novels. The Night-Bird's Feather is probably the most accessible starting point of the lot, being a collection of literary fables loosely structured around the life story of a minor NPC from the CMWGE canon. My personal favourite is An Unclean Legacy, though I wouldn't suggest starting there; it's a less refined and more eclectic work, and getting your hands on an electronic version may be problematic if you're participating in the Amazon boycott, as I don't think the e-book is presently available elsewhere.

(Also, strictly speaking An Unclean Legacy is fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, and if you're going in unspoiled, you will be so mad when you figure out what it's fanfic of.)

[heavywithourbabies]

First off, I'm a guy. So there's that.....

Ok, making one of those little intro pieces so you can get to know a little about me. First off this tumblr page is nothing more than the ravings of an obsessed lunatic hiding away from the world. My only real kinks are Breeding, Lactation, and the biggest pregnancy fetish you can imagine. (Please take note, I am not sexually into Birth. I am all for fucking so hard your water breaks, sucking on your nipples, rubbing the belly and giving gentle head during contractions, etc. As soon as the baby is in the birth canal, I'm going full on daddy mode. Horny time is over. Anyone else feel the same?)

I am a 39 year old man and I am very attracted to women. In particular, I am aroused by thick, extra curvy, big ass having women. I am feral for HEAVILY pregnant women. I have tons of reasons why but at it's core, I believe it is the ultimate form of femininity. There's nothing more womanly than having a gravid belly heavy with child. Even the phrase "heavy with child" weirdly turns me on.

I'm also very very much turned on by all the side effects of pregnancy including big dark engorged nipples, stretch marks everywhere, not just the belly, the little treasure trail some women get, the bigger hips, your face getting chubby, and a very swollen vagina. That all said, I'm not into Morning Sickness. wakka wakka.

I fully support the LGTBTQ community. I just can't keep track of all the new names and terms. I blame my shitty memoir on wasting my twenties drinking. But I totally support it. be who you want to be and love who you want to love. This life is rough enough without people being shitty to you for your basic human needs.

I am utter devotee to horror movies, and I live for the month of October. Halloween is the greatest day of the year. If you don't like Halloween...... honestly, who are you? Who the fuck hates Halloween? I love the art form of sequential art (comic books) and my favorite Character is Venom from Marvel Comics. I would literally kill to get a chance to write for Venom. Marvel will NOT return my phone calls.

I still write stuff (a lot of half started scripts and abandoned graphic novel ideas mostly) and I will and often shamelessly promote myself and the written erotic stuff I create on here. Enjoy my sexually frustrated ramblings and badly edited prose. Remember kids, it's free.

I am a lonely werewolf hopelessly howling at the moon.

I say love who you gotta love. Do what you need to do. Try to have fun and just don't hurt other people.

I was born in Canada and raised in the States. Toronto is the old country and Denver was home base. Currently in the windy city.

NO MINORS. Seriously, get the hell out of my joint! THIS BLOG IN NO WAY ENDORSES, PROMOTES, OR ENCOURAGES ANY HEINOUS USE OF MINORS. I honestly struggle talking to people under the age of twenty five. I hope I don't have to repeat any of that.

Any Trump supporters who follow my page, I would also ask you to leave. There's nothing here for you at this establishment.

Need to know anything else? Feel free to ask.

-The ghost host with the most, the ghoul that'll make your lady parts drool, and every other terrible joke I can think of.

[hexhomos]

HI! hope your day is treating you well, i’ve been interested in doomreed for some time but cape comics are sort of daunting to me just because there’s so much content and i really don’t know where to begin. what do you suggest? thank you!

STRAIGHT OUT THE GATE ill say, read [ "My Dinner With Doom" ] (this is a rly high-qual upload, open it up on desktop!)

It's a key issue oneshot with a lil bit of backstory retelling, featuring a private dinner that happens in the 00's - a good entrance point if you're curious about doomreed in summarization + generally speaking a Real Good Comic overall.

LONG POST INCOMING THIS IS A LONG POST / click readmore

the fantastic four are one of marvel's darling old founding teams so there is pretty much... endless archival, ongoing, multimedia and games content popping up all the time.

They are also kinda one of the rare teams where the growth of the characters is consistent? The kids are allowed to grow older and events from every major run are carried/referenced by the next author so if you want to do chronological there's a lot of incentive and fun stuff.

If you wanna dip your toes into the F4 as a concept, check out:

*the #1 issue of Fantastic Four By Waid & Wieringo (1997) *Mythos: Fantastic Four (2007) [ *The FF (1994) movie that is up for free on youtube!! ] *Fantastic Four (2022) by Ryan North as the current ongoing!

(Some) Singles centered on Doom/Doomreed:

*Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 2 is Doom's original backstory issue *Marvel Two-in-One (2017) by Zdarsky issue #11 & Annual #1 are both crazy good but they spoil big events/conclusions from previous runs if u care abt that!!! (My current fav fic came from these issues.) *Doomgate (novel) by Jeffrey Lang is a good option if you want something that is mostly prose, instead of a comic or movie

NOW BEFORE YOU JUMP AHEAD WITH ANYTHING I *am* following [ this reading guide ] which breaks down specific issues relevant to their relationship as a line through all the different authors over the years.

[ There's also this 2021 guide w/ a few other story/AU highlights! The author said u can send the blog questions and theyll answer too ]

The 'Modern era' (late 90s/00s/10s/Now) Starts with Waid and McDuffie's stuff. The latter wrote My Dinner with Doom!

If you're scared by all the names, don't be - when searching for the issues, just pay attention to the year, # number & author/artist creds.

What I'm reading/liveblogging rn is Hickman's Secret wars era, generally regarded as yaoi ketamine; It's a good epic narrative entrance point if you want to jump into it, and it eventually led into this huge marvel event that changed the multiverse and even brought miles morales into the main timeline, so its BIG and it happened in multiple books - the best way to go about it is;

Pre-hickman:

Fantastic Four (1961) #551 #552 #553 ➡️ (these introduce main ideas we will touch again in secret wars)

Fantastic Four (1961) #558 to #562 ➡️

Doom appears in these too, first/last issues more heavily. Stuff here will be ref'd during the next era.

If you're having fun and want to keep reading you can! Just know that the next storyarc has gathered a largely mixed response bc..... its Millar going hammywammy....... not that necessary.......

anyway when you see hickmans name in the cover STOP and

Jump to actual Hickman secret wars era:

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The complete collection➡️

(optional, side plot) If you like Val + Doom, read specifically; *Fantastic Four (2014) #3 & #5 + Fantastic Four Annual (2014) #1 *Agent of Asgard #6 & #7 *Avengers World (2014) #15 & #16

New Avengers (2013) ➡️ check issues on picture, or, if you're a completionist, look for 'Avengers by Jonathan Hickman; complete collection' and skim for the doom/reed relevant bits. There's a lot of characters here but this is a buildup to the big secret wars. Secret Wars (2015) ➡️ (All issues!) Infamous Iron Man (2016) ➡️bendis' doom writing is not very good but hang in there because right after him: Marvel 2-In-One (2017) ➡️ (All issues!) is a banger. Yaoi btw.

You can basically read all the future/past ones as listed, or starting from the beginning of that author's period without worrying, bc they aren't as indebted to each other storywise.

You can also start somewhere else if you want or check out other single issues on the reading guides; It's not a crime! There's a lot of stuff with different takes and genres, I'm slowly chipping away at the secret wars era bc its just very thick and like a serious television drama attempt, except its also insanely funny sometimes.

(I'm still making my way through it so that's what I have at the moment!)

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Last Binding trilogy (A Marvellous Light, A Restless Truth, A Power Unbound) by Freya Marske

Endorsement from submitter: A trilogy of books set in a magical Edwardian England, the Last Binding series focuses on three queer couples who come together in order to solve a conspiracy threatening all magic. It's a masterful blending of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance, with a splash of mystery and Wodehousian romp. Expect magical manor house parties with beautiful wallpaper, as well as explorations of power, trust, and what we owe the land.

The prose is absolutely gorgeous and evocative. The characters and their emotional arcs form the beating heart of the story, intertwined with beautifully crafted romance. The worldbuilding feels organic and deeply rooted within this hidden magical society. These books are thoughtful, tender, scorching, and fun all at once.

Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He's struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents' excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what's been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he's always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else. Robin's predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they've been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep. Fantasy, historical fiction, romance, adult, magic, Edwardian, series

The Witch Boy series (The Witch Boy, The Hidden Magic, The Midwinter Witch) by Molly Knox Ostertag

In thirteen-year-old Aster's family, all the girls are raised to be witches, while boys grow up to be shapeshifters. Anyone who dares cross those lines is exiled. Unfortunately for Aster, he still hasn't shifted . . . and he's still fascinated by witchery, no matter how forbidden it might be. When a mysterious danger threatens the other boys, Aster knows he can help -- as a witch. It will take the encouragement of a new friend, the non-magical and non-conforming Charlie, to convince Aster to try practicing his skills. And it will require even more courage to save his family . . . and be truly himself. Graphic novel, middle grade, young adult, fantasy, series

[linguisticparadox]

Dr. Kemp's introduction is really fascinating to me, because it sets up not only his personality but also his function in the novel.

A couple of weeks ago, we had his thoughts at seeing Marvel running through the village: '“Another of those fools,” said Dr. Kemp. “Like that ass who ran into me this morning round a corner, with the ‘’Visible Man a-coming, sir!’ I can’t imagine what possesses people. One might think we were in the thirteenth century.”' These are his first words in the book, and they serve as an excellent sum-up of who he is and how he sees the world.

And so far, we might almost agree with him: although we know the Invisible Man is real, the whole story so far has read like a madcap slapstick comedy. Even Marvel, the Invisible Man's special victim, has been portrayed as a silly and rather stupid man in a silly and rather stupid situation, the stuff of modern-day sitcoms.

But then we get a sudden glimpse of the horror of Marvel's situation, and simultaneously we see that Kemp is judging at a distance, and so misjudging: "But those who saw the fugitive nearer, and perceived the abject terror on his perspiring face, being themselves in the open roadway, did not share in the doctor’s contempt." The more perceptive among us might cringe to think of our own reactions to everything that has happened to Marvel so far (and not to spoil anything, but later we will come to feel similarly about the Invisible Man, who so far has mostly just come off as kind of an asshole).

The narrative continues to paint Kemp as a rational man of science, who considers himself superior to the common rabble, with little tidbits thrown in here and there.

This week, he hears shots go off, and seems (or at least pretends) to dismiss them as nonsense, saying, “Who’s letting off revolvers in Burdock? What are the asses at now?” After that, he looks out the window and sees a crowd, which he watches for a few minutes, "during which his mind had travelled into a remote speculation of social conditions of the future." Based on his characterization up to now, we can assume he views this future with rather haughty scorn--"this country is going down the toilet, look at all these idiots," and so on.

Of course, he's more rattled than he seems, especially after the doorbell rings for seemingly no reason. But he manages to lose himself in his work again until the small hours of the morning.

Now, it only comes through in some parts, but the whole narrative is subtly framed as being told by a limited pov third person, who has evidently gathered together news articles and interviews with the various witnesses. We get only a peek at it here, with the line: "Dr. Kemp’s scientific pursuits have made him a very observant man, and as he recrossed the hall, he noticed a dark spot on the linoleum near the mat at the foot of the stairs." The tense at the start of the sentence suggests the image of Dr. Kemp sitting and telling his story, throwing in a moment of preening over his education and scientific prowess. These traits continue to receive attention with lines like "Dr. Kemp was no believer in voices"; and when we are told, "All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings," we can easily imagine Dr. Kemp rushing to defend his seemingly irrational thoughts to his interviewer.

In short, H.G. Wells tells us, plainly and repeatedly (though with a deft subtlety beneath his compact and engaging prose which characterizes his writing generally), that Dr. Kemp is highly educated, rational and scientific, and that he feels these characteristics place him above the common people.

And this, I think, is a gorgeous setup of Kemp's role in the narrative: to establish that education and rationality do not shield one from falling in with mob mentality and being complicit in the persecution of The Other.* Up to this point, we have had only comic scenes of the Invisible Man causing mayhem and blunt confusion among the simple-minded, straightforward but unimaginative denizens of small towns, the sort of people who needle a man for explanations, not to satisfy any real curiosity, but to gather fodder for gossip and win esteem in their social circles, and who consider it a grave insult when that man, a newcomer wrapped in bandages who just wants to be left alone, denies it to them.

But now, as if to head off any potential feelings of class-based superiority in the (necessarily literate, if not highly educated) audience, we have a well-educated, rational man, who considers himself Above All of That, and who views the situation exactly as we have been led to view it ourselves.

And this man, a stand-in for the rational, high-class, superior-feeling people in the audience, is immediately proven to be wrong. He misjudged the situation because he has only seen it from a distance: and the parallel with the readers, who are learning the story from a fairly removed narrative distance, ought to give us all pause.

*For the record, I think Marvel fits the bill as The Other, or ought to, as he is a homeless drifter. Certainly the Invisible Man expects to have sympathy from him on this basis! Unfortunately for him, Marvel in fact turns out to be much more comfortable among the "locals" than one might assume; and yet, in demanding his aid, the Invisible Man actually isolates and others him from his fellows, so that it becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. But that's a topic for another paper essay rant entirely.

[oldtvandcomics]

Dear People Who Read Novelizations

I'm looking for books published under one of the big scifi brands (Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Marvel) with good queer representation. I want it for a Trojan Horse-like situation, where I can propose them to people, and they would read it, because it has Star Wars written on the cover. So they should be.

New enough to be easily accessible

Have one or more main characters be queer

Ideally have said identity named

Their identity should play a reasonably big role in the story (not necessarily the most important, but it should be present)

Prose novels (no comic books, that's a different post for a different time)

Bonus if it has been translated to German or to French

Thank you! <3 I know that these books are out there, but I would never be able to wade through every novel in order to find them.

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (2)

In 1986, an anime was released in Japan: Ozu no Mahoutsukai (which is just "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" in Japanese).

This animated series was an adaptation not just of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", the first Oz novel by Baum, but of all those that would follow! You had book 2, "The Marvelous Land of Oz", and book 3, "Ozma of Oz"... But then we jump to book 6, "The Emerald City of Oz", which forms the grand conclusion of the series. Book 4 and 5 were not adapted... completely cut out.

Why? Because these two books are, unfortunately, skippable.

Last time I left you on the enormous, ever-growing success of the original Oz trilogy. Now I want to present you... the curse that befell the creator of Oz.

L. Frank Baum wasn't just "the guy who wrote The Wizard of Oz". He was an author for children first and foremost, and he wrote a LOT of other books outside of his Oz stuff. His other most famous children work to this day, the only one able to rival his Oz creation, was his 1902's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, which was a work of fictional fundamental in the development of the modern image of Santa Claus:

But this was truly the only one of his other works that escaped the shadow of the Oz-mammoth... Before and in parallel to his Oz trilogy, Baum had written many other things. "Mother Goose in Prose", "American Fairy Tales", "The Enchanted Island of Yew", "Queen Zixi of Ix", "Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea", "John Dough and the Cherub"... But none of these books became as successful or famous as his Oz novels. Worse: they sold really bad.

Everybody wanted Oz books. More Oz books, more Oz books! And while Baum had quite some fun working on "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and "The Marvelous Land of Oz"... he had never intended to serialize them. For him they were stand-alone novel, and that was done. But since his audience only asked for more Oz books, and disdained his other works, well, he had to do what paid! And so he continued the Oz novels... but with a certain "bad will" that clearly transpires in his work.

This already pops up by the third Oz book, "Ozma of Oz".

The first two Oz novels followed a specific rule: the story must happen in the Land of Oz, which is a magical land enclosed and shielded from the rest of the world. The Land of Oz is surrounded by a gigantic desert that one cannot cross unless exceptional events. Beyond this, is the human world... Yes, that's something people tend to forget: in his original vision for the Land of Oz, Baum wanted this magical land to be... somewhere on the American continent. Right in the middle of the 1900s American nations. Hence how a simple tornado can carry a little girl from Kansas to Oz... This is also explicitely told in the second book, where the characters cross the desert by accident, and discover "the world Dorothy came from".

But by Ozma of Oz, the rule was broken. Dorothy gets carried away by a storm in... a new land, the Land of Ev, who as it turns out exists outside of Oz, beyond the desert... Ozian characters cross the desert and join Dorothy in this new land, and most of the story is spent discovering this entire new setting.

While it is very pleasant and delightful to read, and brings some interesting worldbuilding, this already betrays the annoyance Baum was starting to feel towards Oz itself... He had written two novels taking place in Oz, and he was starting to run out of ideas. He had conceived two self-contained novels, two "one-shots" if you wish, and had no idea how to continue within Oz itself. So his solution was to take the characters everybody loved and wanted (he did brought back Dorothy in "Ozma of Oz" BECAUSE his audience kept asking him "Why wasn't Dorothy in the sequel?), but place them in a new "magical land" where he could have a breath of fresh air and work a new plot. This is what makes "Ozma of Oz" so interesting... But it was what would cause the start of the Oz downfall...

In 1908, Baum published "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz", the fourth book of the Oz series. And a good part of this novel is... Dorothy, alongside the Wizard of Oz himself (who returns after his last appearance in the original novel), ending up sent into an underground realm, and exploring various magical chthonian lands as they try to make their way back to the surface... The last portion of the story does take place in Oz, mind you, but the bulk of the story is in random lands and realms Baum invented just for this book and never reuses later. Because at this point, Baum, who was stuck into doing Oz books but didn't want to continue Oz-stories, had decided to use a trick: only have the Oz protagonists but not the Oz land. Have Oz appear in the last chapters, but only after two thirds of adventures everywhere but in Oz. This was his way to still give what the audience wanted (more Oz adventures) without actually writing Oz books, but rather other fantasies that happened to connect with Oz...

This formula would be repeated with the fifth book of the series, which I'll talk about later, and unfortunately it creates a sincere drop in quality in those two novels. While very inventive, and entertaining to a certain extent (if you ignore some heavy doses of racism and old-fashioned xenophobia here and there), these novels are not as good or memorable as the original trilogy, and for one precise reason... They have no over-arching plot. They are just... travel stories. You have a set of characters, swept away into magical lands, travelling the lands, then partying in Oz and returning home. Gone is the "Quest to have our wish granted" of the first book, gone is the "national revolution mixed with a quest for a lost heir to the throne" of the second book, gone is the "let's save an imprisoned royal family" of the third book... Now it's just "Oh, looks like we randomly dropped into a fairy-land! Let's promenade a bit and then return home". An "Alice in Wonderland" type of non-plot, basically... but without the Alice in Wonderland charm.

Things are even sadder when you look at the fifth book of the series, "The Road to Oz".

At least with "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz", there was a semblance of a mini-plot at the end, when everybody arrived in Oz. You had criminal charges and a trial, and competition-debates as to whether mundane or magical beings are better... But with "The Road to Oz"? You have literaly zero plot. The characters just get dragged from vision to vision, from land to land, and when they arrive in Oz, it is just to have a party, and then they literaly return home once it is over.

But the true desperation of Baum comes from this specific party... Because what Baum did in this novel was maybe the first "crossover event" of the history of American literature. All of the guests at the party are characters that never appeared before in any of the Oz books so far... They are characters straight out of Baum's other, non-Oz, children books! Characters from "The Magical Monarch of Mo", "Queen Zixi of Ix", "John Dough and the Cherub", and many other books you probably never heard about (and that the Oz readers at this point also never heard about!). Yet these characters were described in detail and given quite a space in the final act of the book...

This was because Baum was tired of Oz hogging all of the attention and money. He was so sad at seeing his other children works be forgotten and ignored by mass audience that he literaly decided to bring them into his Oz series in hope that it would interest his Ozian readers and encourage them to check out the other books he did. Yes you heard it right, this novel... as just an big ad for Baum's other books. That's how tired he was of Oz.

And, unfortunately for him, it did not work...

Cut to 1910. L. Frank Baum releases his sixth Oz book "The Emerald City of Oz"... that he also intends to be his final.

With "The Emerald City of Oz" we have the grand finale! Dorothy decides to leave Kansas and to settle permanently in Oz! She brings with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry who are given a complete tour of the Land of Oz! Meanwhile the greatest and most terrible ennemies Oz ever faced gather for an invasion! And, in the final chapter, Glinda the Good Witch decides that enough is enough, Oz had enough troubles from the outside world: she casts a spell that will make Oz unreachable by anyone from the human world...

And thus, Baum with teary eyes says goodbye to his character, and encourages his audience to say farewell to Oz, as the gates of the Marvelous Land close forever...

THE END

...

Who are you kidding? No, not the end! Cursed, Baum was, CURSED! Despite him writing EVERYTHING needed for the grand, conclusive finale, despite him literaly writing "IT'S OVER GET OUT"... His other books didn't sell. His other series didn't start. And he kept being pressured by all sides to write more and more Oz books.

As such, by 1914... a seventh Oz book was made. Opening with Baum writing basically "Sigh... So you know how I told you no other Oz story could be made, because there's this magical barrier and I will never know what happens behind it anymore? Well... sigh... turns out they have radio, somehow? And so... double-sigh. And so I have broadcast in Oz, which means... you'll get more Oz books."

Next post: How we got a HELL LOT of more Oz books

[rollercoasterwords]

fanfiction being bad is actually a good thing

sorry that one post has just put me into a musing mood abt like. the way people respond to "bad writing" in fanfiction. so i have written a little essay xx

anyway. first off, any measure of "bad writing" is going to be inherently subjective, whether or not people want to acknowledge that. no matter what critera you use to try and claim that ur measure is more "objective," you will still be able to find published fiction that does not meet those criteria, which is part of the reason that i think it is ridiculous in the first place to act as though "book" and "fanfiction" are two diametrically opposed categories of literature in which "book" = good writing and "fanfiction" = bad writing such that the only way to express a book is bad is to claim it's "more like fanfiction than a book" and the only way to elevate fanfiction is to claim that it's "more like a book than fanfiction." and of course there are all the underlying issues with classism racism ableism etc when buying into the myth of the meritocracy of publishing.

but even acknowledging that any measure of "bad writing" is going to be subjective, i don't think it's unfair to cultivate your own standards for what makes writing good versus bad. everyone is going to do that anyway, so what's more important to me is that a person understands what factors are influencing their measurement and acknowledges the subjectivity inherent to this sort of critique. and i do think, generally speaking, that media which exists within a profit economy is fair game for critique as to whether it is "good" or "bad," as i have talked about before on my blog. and i think depending on what criteria you are using to define bad, there will be instances where it makes more or less sense to make normative judgments about the popularity of such media. for example--if someone says "marvel movies shouldn't [normative judgment] be so popular because the writing is cringey," i find that a less compelling argument than "marvel movies shouldn't be so popular because they are military propaganda."

but i don't think that sort of critique about whether writing is "good" or "bad" has a place in fanfiction spaces. aside from the fact that fanfiction exists primarily outside of any profit economy, the reason that you will likely encounter more "bad" writing in fanfiction is that it's a space where many people are actively learning how to write--and that's a good thing. the only way for someone to become a good writer is to do a lot of bad writing first, so i actually think it's great that there's a bunch of shitty fanfiction out there on the internet--every bad fic u come across is a developing writer who's honing their craft, and they've found a perfect space to do so.

and yet i see "bad writing" get brought up a lot regarding fanfiction in two specific ways.

1. the idea outlined above, where people devalue fanfiction as a whole and act as though "fanfiction" is synonymous with "bad writing" or somehow an inferior medium.

i see this happening both with people who scoff at fanfiction and with people who try to redeem or elevate fanfiction by placing it in closer proximity to published books (i.e., THIS fic isn't like those other, shitty fics! this one is as good as [insert classic novel/published author/etc here]!!").

quite frankly i think this is evidence that these people have bought wholeheartedly into the publishing industry's myth of meritocracy, something that we should seriously question. but if anything, i also find it sad because i think it is a very limiting way to view fanfiction, which is its own unique art form in my opinion. fanfiction has its own conventions and strengths independent of published fiction, and there are many stylistic and structural elements unique to fanfiction that just don't really work in published books. for example--those 15k oneshots you'll come across every so often with lowercase song titles and prose that kicks your teeth in. that is a style of writing that is pretty unique to fanfic. or those sprawling, 400k+ works where tons of time is spent meandering through characters' lives and relationships--those, too, are somewhat unique to fanfiction, as in published books stories tend to get pared down more. i think those who want to convince people that fanfiction is good should spend less time trying to place it in proximity to published fiction and more time considering how fanfiction functions as a unique art form that is worthy of merit thanks to its uniquity

2. people who throw a fit when they see a fanfic with "bad writing" get attention and praise. usually i see this happen if a fic gets some measure of popularity--suddenly, people will begin to pop up talking about how the fic has "bad writing," and therefore shouldn't be popular.

i think that what gets me with these folks, aside from how obviously their own subjectivity regarding what makes writing good or bad has gone unexamined, is how....vindictive they seem. as if the idea that something they deem "bad" writing could ever be widely enjoyed is personally offensive to them. and i just think this sort of behavior is so stupid for two reasons--first, of course, there is the obvious issue of subjectivity. even if you think something is badly written, your opinion isn't somehow more important to the world than everyone else's. if other people are enjoying a fic, clearly they do not agree with your subjective opinion, and that's fine! you don't have to read a fic if you don't like it, and you can let other people enjoy the story. they are reading the exact same writing as you, and they can draw their own independent conclusions about how good or bad they think it is.

but second--you are not doing anyone any good by screaming about how bad a fic's writing is. like. i think there is perhaps this idea of like "oh this writer is bad but their writing is popular and everyone is telling them it's good, which means they are going to think their bad writing is good and keep writing badly forever." which, again, disregarding the obvious subjectivity, i just....don't think is true. like--if someone is writing badly, and people are going "hey i like this story keep it up!" what will most likely happen is that that person will keep writing, developing their skill the more they write and becoming a better writer. like, it's pretty difficult for writing to just remain stagnant; your writing will change the more you write, inevitably. especially when it comes to fanfiction, where many people are, again, developing their writing skill. but if someone is writing badly, and people are going "boo this sucks!" that writer is much less likely to do the actual thing that would make their writing better (keep writing) and instead more likely to just. stop altogether. in which case it's just like--congratulations on removing some more art from the world! cunt.

anyway. the conclusion i am trying to get at here is that i think people need to stop being so preoccupied with "bad writing" in fanfiction spaces. it's impossible to objectively measure the "goodness" or "badness" of writing in the first place, and trying to do so for any purpose other than making personal decisions about whether you want to read something or like, discussing in private groupchats with friends, usually just results in driving developing writers away from writing entirely and promoting the myth of meritocracy in publishing such that we reify the book/fanfiction dichotomy in which fanfiction will always be assumed to be inferior.

[aeternallis]

Ren's Kimchay Fic Rec List

I'll try to add onto this as I read more, but suffice to say that having enmeshed myself into the world of Ao3's Kimchay tag for the past seven months, I have definitely found some hidden jewels that I highly recommend you give a go if you can! :3 I read all kinds, if you're looking for something out of the ordinary and special! And yes, I also read smut gratuitously, so there will be a handful of that as well here!

I myself also write, but I only have one ongoing Kimchay fic at the moment, if you'd like to give my work a shot!

The fics are in no particular order! This list is also a work-in-progress, since I have a lot of talented authors to cover! Most if not all of these are either one-shots, completed, and/or can be read as stand-alone.

Long post, so the fics are under a cut!

Last Updated: 08/21/2023

come home by reasonwasoutforlunch (@emmelineprufrock) Eldritch!Horror Kimchay, monsterfucking, memory alteration shenanigans, supernatural elements, etc. Comments - This is one of the most beautiful and haunting Kimchay fics I've ever read and thus, one of my ultra faves the fandom has to offer; the prose is so elegant, and the horror elements (Tankhun's mindset and abilities are fucking scary and nerve-wracking, but he loves his brothers, //sobs) the author implements just works for the overall setting. I first read this fic at work a few weeks back, and believe you me, it's still churning around my noggin. Like, for reals, this is one of those fics that just stays with you for some time, yknow? I definitely want to draw something for it in the near future!

there is no time for this by heedoyurims (@radishayuan) Kimchay smoochies while there's a gunfight outside. Comments - I love reading short pieces like this, and the author does such a wonderful job creating the atmosphere between these two lovebirds. You can just feel the want and desperation between Kim and Chay in this fic, and I regularly go back to it since it gives me wonderful art inspo!

ninety-six hours (KimPorchay) by coldeyesroni (Twitter - soobellus) Novel!verse, canon-divergence. Kim and Chay meet while Kinn and Porsche are lost in the woods. Incomplete, but each fic in the series can be read as a stand-alone. Comments - Such an awesome read when I first stumbled across it a few months ago! The chemistry between Kim and Chay is electrifying, and the author does a marvelous job of hinting at the different aspects of Kim's character. Highly recommend so you can get a taste of how Kimchay is in the book!

wolf house by venagrey (@venagrey) Dystopian, Dubious Consent, ABO Dynamics (Alpha!Kim/Omega!Chay), Wolfboy!Kim agenda, Feral Kimchay agenda, Respect the Sex Workers. Comments - Honestly, every fic Vena has written for Kimchay is to die for (this fic is but one of them), and I am one of those on my last ounce of life whenever I read their work, for reals. Vena's world building when it comes to their fics is incredibly rich, detailed, and just freaking phenomenal. Vena is truly #writinggoals. They never fail to build the tension and rawness that surrounds Kimchay's relationship, and I am HERE for it. Wolf House in particular reads like a classy, vibrant noir film to me, so it's definitely one of my most favorite fics in the fandom! Definitely art inspo material!!

Reversible Error by saturnscoded (Twitter - saturnscoded) Lawyers!Kimchay, canon-divergence, Angst, friends to enemies to frenemies to lovers, Porsche goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Comments - A true comfort fic for me. It's a marvelous AU that the author has created for Kimchay, and the tug and pull of their tense working relationship never fails to make me both swoon and breathless. The author also does a good job of highlighting Chay as a very determined and brave character with real human flaws, which I truly appreciate and can never get enough of.

Year of the OTP (Kimchay Edition) by sapphicblight (@sapphicblight) weathered down by pouring rain ain't no time for talking when we're tongue tied blow out all the candles Canon-compliant, Reconciliation, Post-Canon, Mutual Pining, Light Angst. Comments - When it comes to a good 'ol reconciliation fic, this author is among one of the best! <3 I love this author's characterization of Chay specifically, and how much of a simp their Kim is. Their fics are my comfort zone, and on bad days at work, I often turn to their fics to get me through the day. Their Year of the OTP fics are all marvelous in their own right, but I wanted to take the time to list out my favorites from the ongoing list. They also have a Hanahaki fic that never fails to make me cry and which features 2 endings, so like—whichever you’re in the mood for in terms of ending, this author’s got you covered. XD Please give their stuff a read whenever you can, they're like balls of sunshine that'll make your day better~

Stain of Sun by Lilla_Torg (@lillatorg) Hacker!Porsche and Grifter!Chay, Aged-up characters, ABO Dynamics (Alpha!Kim/Omega!Chay), Mating Bonds, takedown scheme gone wrong. Comments - All of this author's works for KP are truly stunning, and I have them all on my iPad for my regular reading pleasure. Their worldbuilding is downright amazing; particularly with Stain of Sun, it's a fast-paced story that keeps you on the edge of your seat with its twists and turns (I love me one crafty Chay, Your Honor). I genuinely admire this author's prowess when it comes to dialogue as well, and they do an awesome job at balancing out the three main ships. Definitely recommend this author's works! <3

Chains And Crowns, A Flower Can Both Make by Sweet_William (@sweet-william-writes) Regency Era!Kimchay, Arranged Marriage, Hints of MPreg, Angst. Comments - Listen, I am a sucker for Regency fics of my ships, and this fic definitely delivers, okay! I love this one-shot fic to pieces, and it's also a work I regularly go back to and reread! The dialogue of the era is perfectly captured by this amazing, brilliant author, and the smut ofc is to die for! The Kim in this fic doesn't know how to communicate his feelings very well, but he's trying dammit, he's so much in love with his gorgeous wife and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT. They do a lot of dead dove KimChay fics as well, so if you think you’re up for it and can handle the glorious madness this author writes, I also highly recommend them~

You are my last peace by nubeazul Light Angst, Reconciliation, Domestic Bliss, Fluff Comments - This author’s post-canon fics for KimChay are so poignant and lovely, I love them so much. There’s a softness to their KimChay that I appreciate so much, especially since we hardly get any domestic scenes of KimChay together in the show, yknow?

Whiskey Sour by alphanetic Canon-divergent, Angst, Reconciliation, the Kittisawasd siblings disappear after they are threatened by Korn. Comments - Say what you will, but I am a hopeless romantic/sucker for “I will find you to the ends of the Earth” kinda vibe fics, yknow? And this fic just satisfies that trope so very well for me. The desperation of the chase, the unhinged pleas to return home, I just love it so much. This fic is actually part of a series called Alcoholism, in which the author delves into KinnPorsche and Kimchay’s respective relationships from a variety of different angles, both canon-divergent and canon-compliant. I always love me a versatile author, so I definitely recommend their works! //chef’s kiss

The Success by s6115 Werewolves, Some body horror, elements of Teen Wolf and the Dread Doctors, non-linear narrative, Chay is dying from a certain condition, and Porsche chooses to make his little brother’s last days count. Comments - One of the very first KP fics I ever read for this fandom, and still one of my most favorites. This one isn’t actually centered on Kimchay, but Kimchay is featured in the story. Truthfully, I’m in love with this author’s world building of their fic, and the marvelous way in which they’re able to really establish the tension and fear that Porsche and Chay go through due to their condition. The story reads like a high-stakes adventure with lots of angst and dealing with impending death; it’s very dark in some places, very intense in some, but at the end of it all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And by that I mean it’s a happy ending, despite my short summary. XD

Hunting Down the Bambi by fancifulnim (@fancifulnim) Canon-Divergence, Suicide Attempt, Non-Consensual Touching/Kissing, Toxic Relationship, but when all is said and done, they’re gonna make it work somehow. Comments - Another fic that was one of the very first I came across for this fandom and thus, one of my most favorite and holds a special place in my heart. To this day out of all the fics I’ve ever read for Kimchay, the characterization of Kim from this particular work is definitely the darkest I’ve read, and to be frank? I just love it so much. This fic is wonderfully a partial thought-provoking character introspection piece, as well as a vibrant experiment of seeing how far down the rabbit hole one can go for this ship. I still re-read it regularly, so I highly recommend it, if you’re willing to give this author’s Kimchay a shot!

In this Moment (Picture Perfect) by eggwars (@eggwars) Canon Compliant, Character Study, Missing Scene, Fluff, Sweet Kimchay, set during before the break-up Comments - Such a fluffy, wonderful fic! <3 Perfect for any day, any time! I read this one on a particularly bad day at work, and lemme tell you, it did wonders for lifting up my mood (the text messages were so cute, omfg)! This is definitely a scene I can picture happening in the show, considering for at least half their airtime, Kimchay were pretty much off in their own little world and playing out the Wattpad story of Chay's dreams. Lol It's a brilliant piece that also explores Kim's different facets and how he's seamlessly able to create some semblance of order in his lifestyle, despite his two opposing careers. The fic is heartfelt and tugs at your heartstrings with the sweet innocence of their relationship in the beginning~ Ah, I love it so much!

[septembriseur]

Tagged by @aintgonnatakethis

About me

When did you start writing?

Not sure. At the age of ~9 I started writing a terrible epic fantasy novel that basically recapitulated the Terry Brooks and David Eddings series that I was obsessed with at that point. There is (regrettably) evidence of this because my family had a printer that I made copious use of. I started writing X-Files and Star Trek fic before I knew it was something that other people did, around age 11.

Are there different genres or themes you enjoy reading other than the ones you write?

I basically exclusively read crime novels and fic because the sf/f and literary fiction that I encounter is so unappealing almost without exception. And actually I read very little fic because almost all the fic I encounter these days is terrible. I am constantly starving for non-terrible fiction. (Please feel free to recommend some.)

Is there an author you want to emulate, or are compared to often?

I've always been obsessed with Hilary Mantel's prose and used to rip her off often in my sentence structures. But I don't know that there's anyone I look at and think, "I wish I could do that." In terms of fic, Kat Allison was a big influence on me— I read her fic when I was probably 13 or 14 years old and was first starting to develop real ideas about writing, like, "What is this story doing?" Also a Highlander fic called "Heat Goes to Cold," which appears to no longer be on the internet but which introduced fourteen-year-old me to Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, which I still have a great fondness for even though I have (kicking and screaming) outgrown it.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Right now my biggest problem is that I don't have a writing space and mostly write in coffee shops. My apartment is full of intrusive objects like a work-from-home husband and multiple no-work-from-anywhere rescue dogs, which interfere with thinking. I've just set up (using a room divider) a new attempt at a bedroom office, which is an IKEA table covered in heaps of agates and fossils and ephemera, so we’ll see how that goes.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and/or places you write about?

Not so much the place I grew up as other places I've lived. I tend to put people in landscapes that I know well and be meticulous in details, which is partly just because I have almost no visual imagination. Northern New Mexico and London are probably the landscapes I feel I know most deeply and find most productive. Thinking about this, it actually seems to be because in both cases my knowledge of the place is very specific and idiosyncratic. My physical knowledge of New Mexico is very linked to nuclear history and fossil hunting, which creates unusual routes and focus. My physical knowledge of London is very linked to mudlarking— the river, the terrain and transit around the river, the material history of the city— and to punk rock, which heavily shaped my husband’s London and therefore (through him) mine.

Are there any reoccurring themes in your writing? If so, do they surprise you?

It's been discussed to death.

Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character?

I think that I'm less interested in specific characters than I am in the potential for characters to be interpreted in unexpected ways. The more generic a fic is in characterization, the less readable I find it. Marvel and (especially) Stargate characters are great for this because there’s so little to them on the page— they exist as a potential for readings, especially critical readings. I see less and less of this in fandom, sadly.

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life?

Truthfully, I would probably have an easier time being friends with my characters than I do with people in real life. When I look at the characters I write about, they seem to all be veterans, refugees, would-be revolutionaries, and/or people who have had really extreme and unusual experiences that make them outliers. That also describes an awful lot of people I know in real life.

Which characters would you dislike the most of you met them?

Probably Transposition Chloe Armstrong, insofar as a lot of the details of her life are a gentle spoof of people I went to school with at various points.

Do you notice any reoccurring themes/traits in your characters?

I exclusively write about damaged people, pretty much. I guess also maybe see the last question here for more thoughts.

How do you picture your characters?

I have a very poor visual imagination, so I don't really. I have to find photo references, even for original characters. I’ve mentioned before that I have to look up floor plans online in order to figure out spaces in my stories.

My writing

What’s your reason for writing?

I'm good at it— ie I’m able to do what I want to do with it. I'm probably better at it than anything else I do— there are other hobbies I've given up (music) because I know that I will never be as good at them as I want to be. With writing, I feel that I am capable of being good enough.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment from readers that you find particularly motivating?

I probably prefer more neutral comments that engage with the subject matter in depth. I like talking about my stories as a fan rather than an author, I guess. I have a hard time with praise.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Probably my mercilessness in terms of both characters and prose. Secondarily (and relatedly), my intolerance of generic phrasing. If nothing else, I am determined to describe things in a new way.

Have you been told is your greatest strength as a writer is by others?

Its strangeness/unexpectedness. But this has mostly come up in the context of my old original fiction, which is not very good and mostly written to pay bills.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Satisfied— generally. Circa 2019, I’d been writing so much that I really felt like I had an incredible level of technical control over my prose. However, I also had a very shallow understanding of the world and a lack of moral imagination. 2021 onwards really marked the beginning of me developing as a person, ie having a quiet breakdown and having to reconstitute myself. Unfortunately, 2021 also marked the severe limitation of my free time. Now I feel that I am able to write with more insight, but I'm still working on getting back to the same point of skill in my writing.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, do you write purely for yourself, or is it a mix of both?

Given what I write, it's pretty clear that I mainly write for myself. I think I write to solve arguments for myself— to resolve tension between ideas or principles; to reconcile parts of my character; to understand how to live in the world. That last thing sounds really elevated and pretentious, but I mean it in a pretty down-to-earth way. The last three years completely stripped away what I thought I understood about how to be a person and left me seeking some truth about how a person is supposed to live, day-to-day, in a world that is characterized by such profound injustice. I think that’s the kind of truth that can’t be arrived at except through fiction, because it’s not logical— it has to reconcile fundamentally paradoxical ideas. Is it stupid to suggest that writing, like, pornographic sex scenes is a way of dealing with that? Maybe! But in fact that’s the way I experience it: that everything I write, however silly and trivial, is always also toying with these questions about power and humanity and being in the world, because it can't not be. (And I think that there's probably something really "late settler liberal" about the idea that it's possible to separate the two things— that on the one hand there's entertainment, which is free of these questions, and on the other hand there's real life.)

[ninja-muse]

So I like Kate Quinn. I love the way she writes unsung women in history—not just that she writes them, but that she takes the time to flesh out their historical context. Women (people) don't just wake up and suddenly find out that they're a spy or a code breaker or an opera singer, after all. They're shaped by their time and their culture and their upbringing, and they have to navigate their present, at its best and its worst. Quinn makes sure that's true for her novels.

I also love that Quinn has a way of pulling you gently along so that suddenly you look up and you've finished the entire book. Her prose is strong, her plots are great, and her characters are compelling, but they never feel fast. There's time taken to build things up and build them up, to give small details and day-to-day lives. It's immersive without being grim. And yet, like I said, I get addicted. The longest I think I've taken to read one of her books is three days. Usually it's two.

Which is why you should listen when I say this is one of her best.* The vibrancy of the characters is a notch up. The topics she's tackling are wider ranging and so the research feels deeper. Her ability to look at the 1950s, see how complicated they were, and encapsulate that in the boarding house setting was marvelous. The structure was a step up too. And the way she spun the characters off each other and developed their friendships? She's always been good at that but again….

The basic plot, for those who haven't had this on their TBR for six months, which is probably most of you: it's 1950 in Washington, D.C., and a new woman has moved into a depressing boardinghouse in a seedy neighbourhood. Over the next few years, she brings the residents together through a secret dinner club, and then somebody is killed. (They all have secrets; it could be anyone, and anyone might have done it.)

The other boarders shine light on facets of the era: the British army wife, the Hungarian refugee, the pro-McCarthy Texan, the athlete, the plus-sized secretary who grew up in a Hooverville, the cop's daughter who's turned her back on her family, the imaginative teen son of the landlady and his kid sister, the young widow. (Not to mention the side characters who all drift in and out of the women's lives.) They shouldn't have anything in common and they shouldn't like each other, and yet there is so much found family in this. So much wholesome comfort and people helping each other fix problems. So much arguing and so much unity.

(It surprises me not at all that this book was Quinn's reaction to the fear and anger that was 2020–2021.)

And I've waxed on enough. Quinn's hit a home run, to use one of Bea's sports metaphors, not only in terms of setting and character and plot, but also in general everything else. It balances the darker parts of the 1950s with their hopefulness for the future and the found family of the house. It talks about a lot of stuff that gets glossed over in the standard pop culture '50s, and while it doesn't dig as deep into some (marginalization) issues as it could, I understand why Quinn left the depth of those tales to people with lived experience.

If I say more, I'll be truly spoiling the experience of reading this, so please, if you're going to read a Kate Quinn book this summer, make it this one.

Out July 9.

*Of her 20th century novels; I haven't read her Romans and Borgias.

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

I’m thinking about how in Marvel Team-Up 1997 issue 1 the spider sense is so loud that Jono can telepathically hear it and boost it.

I’m thinking about how in the 1997 Generation X prose novel Jono gains the ability to project his voice into radios.

I’m just thinking that’s neat.

[greypetrel]

This or That

Tagged by @pinayelf, thank you very much!! :D

indoor plants or gardens // cloud-watching or star-gazing // water or fire // paperback or hardcover (I am very annoyed by ruined backs of books. Hardcovers don't have those problems) // running or hiking // sleeping with socks or without socks // fruit or vegetables// hanging plants or succulents // dark wood or light wood // handwritten or typed // instagram or pinterest // braids or pigtails // dc or marvel (movie-wise. DC has its flaws but they annoyed me less than Marvel did. Beside Across the Spiderverse, I loved those. On comics, I have not enough reading to really choose.)// books or movies (both is good. But it depends.) // oceans or meadows // forests or fields // sweet or salty // ice cream or chocolate // hoodies or sweaters // long hair or short hair (short hair on me because I don't have the patience to properly care for long curls. Long on characters I do love drawing hair) // piercings or tattoos (not that I have any) // summer or winter // boots or sneakers sandals // cars or motorcycles // curls or straight hair (opposite of you Ellie. I'm curly and I'd wish to be able to comb my hair any time and be able to go to any hairdresser x°D ) // castles or cottages // sunny days or storms (depends on whether I need to get out or not) // reptiles or birds // disney or nickelodeon // strawberries or watermelon // essay or posters // phones or laptops // glass or stone // dark or light // photos or painting (both is good) // circuses or theaters // reading or writing // dogs or cats // poetry or novels (I do love poetry but I do hate bad poetry more than a bad novel and I'm very difficult with it. My pet peeve is "poetry edited like it's prose, without verses". I can't stand it.) // monsters or ghosts // thrift shops or libraries // fiction or non-fiction (this is a cruel question to ask me I can't choose ARGH)

Tagging: @salsedine @ndostairlyrium @buridanshorse @everythingispoetry @dreadfutures @zenstrike and @rowanisawriter and YOU! (ignore the tag if you mind, of course)

blank under the cut

indoor plants or gardens // cloud-watching or star-gazing // water or fire // paperback or hardcover // running or hiking // sleeping with socks or without socks // fruit or vegetables// hanging plants or succulents // dark wood or light wood // handwritten or typed // instagram or pinterest // braids or pigtails // dc or marvel // books or movies // oceans or meadows // forests or fields // sweet or salty // ice cream or chocolate // hoodies or sweaters // long hair or short hair // piercings or tattoos // summer or winter // boots or sneakers // cars or motorcycles // curls or straight hair // castles or cottages // sunny days or storms // reptiles or birds // disney or nickelodeon // strawberries or watermelon // essay or posters // phones or laptops // glass or stone // dark or light // photos or painting // circuses or theaters // reading or writing // dogs or cats // poetry or novels // monsters or ghosts // thrift shops or libraries // fiction or non-fiction

[ignitesthestxrs]

I know you said you’ve gone back into it slowly but any book recs?

yes absolutely!! i have read some bangers lately tbh. also another thing i am trying to do is start uuuh reviewing what i'm reading so i will link a couple of those as well. but here is a sporadic collection of my reading enjoyments of the last year or so!

IF FOUND RETURN TO HELL // THE DEATH I GAVE HIM by Em X. Liu

em is hands down one of the best writers i know with prose that will punch you in the face and leave you asking if you can have another, please.

IF FOUND RETURN TO HELL is a queer found family novella featuring a done-with-this protag working in a wizarding call centre who abruptly comes down with a case of 'sweet angel baby boy possessed by demon hell child' in a broken magical healthcare system where following protocol is more important than like, helping people. so what is journeyman wen to do if not, you know, help anyway?

THE DEATH I GAVE HIM is the queer scifi hamlet retelling of my dreams, which is funny because i didn't care about hamlet until this book taught me how to. a thoughtful exploration on the nature of adaptation, death & immortality, and also what happens when your best friend is an AI and you wanna fuck him.

IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote the original true crime novel. still stuck in my truman blorbo moment. full review here

ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE by Robin Hobb classic 90s fantasy with surprisingly emotional focus on the protag in a way i really dug. unhinged levels of accidental queerbaiting in a way that i enjoyed rather than despaired of. full review here.

PANDORA'S JAR: WOMEN IN THE GREEK MYTHS by Natalie Haynes a great overview of classical women that takes into account multiple sources and the way they have been read over centuries, and how the time in which a tale is being told affects the tale just as much as what the text of the story actually is. does a good job of walking the middle ground between like, historical sexism and the reflexive girlbossification instinct.

IN OTHER LANDS by Sarah Rees Brennan the queer harry potter offshoot we all actually deserve. portal fantasy with an acerbic main character who will save the world out of sheer spite because the world doesn't seem to think he can save it, or want him to do it even if he could. a genuinely lovely musing on the nature of loneliness, what abuse does to a child, how it's hard but possible to overcome the prejudices you learn when you're young, and how eventually, you're going to have to make the decision to let yourself be loved.

SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan truly i don't have the word for how fucking excellent this queer epic fantasy is. set in mongol-ruled china, this book is a masterclass in political intrigue, historical fiction, military fantasy, and also genderfuckery. feat. the kind of tragedy you see coming for several hundred pages and still takes your breath away when it hits, and also lesbian fisting. anyone who says books based in history can't get queer can get fucked.

A MARVELLOUS LIGHT by Freya Marske for a total 180 in mood, here is your queer romantic fantasy set in an Edwardian England that is reflective of the fact that like, queer people did in fact exist in Edwardian England. A lighter fare that nonetheless will hit you right in the heart and leave you delighted that a) there's a second book out now and b) the third one is coming soon. also Freya is an Artiste when it comes to writing good sex scenes, which

i belatedly realise it seems like i'm focusing on in this post but i just! like a queer text that tackles queer sex with nuance and interest and the horror and/or joy of the body, and the above authors are all fucking masters at their art (which includes, but by no means is limited to, writing about fucking)