#so this is PRE the era of literally any ya book getting a movie deal just bc it already had an established audience to spend money on it

[newjenns]

wait okay going back to 29 clues STEVEN SPIELBERG HAS THE RIGHTS ??? like the books were not that damn good

i have to point at that steven spielberg bought the movie rights in june 2008 BEFORE the first book was published in september 2008. i literally don’t know how or why that happened. also the director they have listed is shawn levy aka the director of STRANGER THINGS anyway he doesn’t have them anymore they were bought by universal in 2016 and now i’m assuming it’s stuck in development hell

[anna-neko]

ok @misterdadguy FOR NEXT TIME, LET US AIM TO READ ANOTHER QUARTER OF BOOK

this puts us almost halfway thru the story! You will know you in right place, as Mort will be in a TAVERN the line to stop - "Everyone had seen Mort run through it three times. He just hadn't opened it" get ready to watch ya boi learn the job a bit, mess up, meet some new cast members…. (a few things will seem like Good Omens references.... but this IS Pratchett we talkin about, so really, it's all comin from the same creative pool)

lets do some Sir pTerry notes so far! behind cut to save others timelines

DISNEY at one point had optioned Discworld, MORT specifically, for an animated movie

the deal eventually fell thru as Discworld came as more of a complete package than they wanted (don't know details of rights sales/ownership here. Gonna guess it was maybe similar to Jim Henson's MUPPETS being diff package to Henson Workshop creatures type thing?) a lovely pre-production concept art by Claire Keane. Keli to Ysabell contrast is really *chefs kiss*

Another lovely art: its not quite as book described, but maybe this is what Disney was already rewriting it to be? absolutely captures the PRESENCE of Ysabelle in Death's house tho

This is purely "pop culture has ruined me" but for the first day kept reading "Mort" as "Morty" each time its there, right. as In Rick and Morty almost kinda works in that hilarious awkward way, as for MOST of the book everyone keeps referring to him as "boy" and he corrects "Mort" Every. Single. Time. So did my brain kept forcefully correcting and rereading the name each time, to get it right ahhh Mortimer, we really in it this time

so basically Discworld summaries is literal shitposts. Perfectly accurate, but they all come off this way! like, u try a good summary that isn't spoilers: "if Meet Joe Black was B-story to Great Expectations" that is my summary for this book, make up your own when you ready!

*flipping thru notes* the scene with the thieves was fav funny bit: the dashes swears being so effortlessly pronounced! Also reannual plants!!! a throwaway joke that'll get reused like…10 books later

Geography notes: All the diff places have diff rulers here, all their own city-states. Sto Lat has a King, Ankh-Porpork has Patrician, Djelibeybi had pharaohs? ("sto lat" if the T is softened up & the "a" is sounded out like "eh" it very much sounds like "100 years" in russian. Make of that what you will) When they mention Klatchian and whatnot - The Seriphate of Klatch, desert country, across the sea. At this point of the books, a world-map hasn't been properly created (didn't bother until the late-90s) so don't worry about keeping some places straight. The important part is if a certain fiction VIBE is there, roll with it (it's probly another 2 pop-culture references holding up a pun)

A round of applause for Death naming his horse BINKY I like to headcanon that bebi~Ysabelle was allowed to name horses

Also, again a throwaway line, but SUCH A GOOD JOKE - Death commenting he gets his coins in pairs i read it, nodded, moved on… like an hour later the full meaning of the line smacked me upside the head

When they go to visit a certain dude ready for reincarnation - in real life, that name is a reference to a Tibetan monk … who turned out to be fake btw, buuuut he did published lots of books!

This book was written in the 80s, so i feel some stuff may have been more obvious to people closer to that pop~culture era Once we hit the mid-90s (later books duuh) …. u gonna be seeing it Every Line!! Like you know, if today I make a Seinfeld reference, half the room will give blank stares, and half will nod knowingly... LIKE THAT!

oh, and just a heads up goin ahead, as we will be meeting WIZARDS dog-Latin will happen! As in basically take a normal English phrase, and translate single words into latin, so it kinda forms a phrase? Not following any proper latin grammar rules.. but it looks fancy!

"I feel like there's opportunity to see how someone can lose themself in their work that it erases part of who they are" YES!!! you are a bit early on this point, but this is EXACTLY what will be happening to Mort, in a way….. don't wanna say too much, you will absolutely see it happening in the later part of the book

Ysabell is….. oh there's a reason she is the way she is, and there will be a fantastic scene which breaks it down. For the current moment, she is basically playing out The Great Expectation novel, what with being so stand-offish and constantly calling him "boy" Altho thats the entire b-plot in itself…. Sir Terry absolutely makes parts of all his books this way, and it never gets old!!

Princess Keli is …. ooooh boy is she a major plot point, not spoiling. The man does not write in anything needlessly, everything will come back in some way

YES YES YES 100 TIMES YES on certain puns needing a minute to…. "digest" or "sink in" as it were. There is ONE line in freakin Monstrous Regiment, that no joke, took me MONTHS! Like within the story it works a certain way [it works!! it makes perf in-fiction sense!], but then fast forward and us goin to see Beetlejuice musical and a song lyric suddenly snuck up and my brain went "hol…up… wait wait wait… motherfuck!!!" as the secondary meaning of the pun from the novel suddenly made too much sense! (which i then inflicted on a friend some weeks later, and his reaction was just as priceless)

This is the absolute wonder of Pratchett's writing - he will tell a great story, it will be very engaging! But on 2nd look… all these lil hidden puns and references and extra touches come thru, and it … just… SUDDENLY EVEN BETTER

[brooklynboysficrecs]

Ria’s Top 10 Shrinkyclinks Fics

I will admit this isn’t my preferred AU -- I won’t immediately jump on a fic just because it’s pre-serum Steve and WS Bucky. I gotta like the plot, or the premise, or be really, really intrigued by the tags, but to be fair, that’s how I am with everything that isn’t Modern Bucky and Cap Steve, so. That being said, I have read some truly fantastic shrinkyclinks stories, and I do very much love Steven “Fight Me” Rogers at his scrappiest. And these fics also tend to feature protective!Bucky which is another personal favorite of mine. Oh, but also: shrinkyclinks generally refers to pre-serum Steve with actual Winter Soldier Bucky, but a lot of people use the tag just to imply body types, and when they say WS Bucky they mean he’s all huge and muscled and sometimes has a metal arm, though that isn’t required. That’s the definition I’m going with as well, so hopefully nothing’s confusing!

1. If Wishing Made It So by leveragehunters. Before I get into anything about the actual fic, let me say this: leveragehunters is probably my favorite stucky writer. Like, hands-down, I read almost everything they write, and they’re big into fantasy stories, which is a great bonus for me personally. So, so, so many good shrinkyclinks fics by them (Even Underneath the Waves, a mermaid AU that features equal amounts of pre- and post-serum Steve, and A-mage-ing Grace with mage Steve are two of my other favorites, and they would’ve been on the list, but I try not to put more than one story per author, ya know? And IWMIS kinda wins out above the others for me, so). This story features jinn!Bucky who finds himself in the baffled hands of Steve Rogers, who is perfectly prickly and stubborn and good. Bucky’s got a terrible past with humans in general (and Hydra in particular, what a shocker) that he and Steve have to overcome as their relationship progresses, but that progression is frankly beautiful to watch unfold. I come back to this story time and time again because of how much I love these versions of Steve and Bucky getting to know one another, learning to trust each other, supporting each other through the worst the world has to throw at them. Plus, there’s a few more stories in this series if you get as hooked as I am, which is always great!!

2. Roots Have Grown by AustinB. I remember reading this and just... completely feeling what Bucky is going through. Not everything -- he’s an agoraphobic veteran, and I can’t relate to either of those, really, but he’s so... awkward about his crush on Steve. And that’s -- that’s relatable to me. But it’s precious, really, how he tries to help Steve even though he’s afraid to actually meet him initially; he becomes Steve’s sort of... anonymous benefactor? Guardian angel with money? Like, it’s definitely a sugar daddy type deal originally but I doubt Bucky would describe it like that. I don’t know, it’s cute, though, and I loved seeing Bucky opening up to Steve as they became closer. 

3. Through The Woods by VenusMonstrosa, alby_mangroves. Okay, hear me out: werewolves. I fucking love werewolves in fiction; I mean, not really the romance novels you’ll see in the grocery store, but. Werewolf mythology is one of my favorite things, so seeing it in fanfiction almost always manages to lure me in. And I was so not disappointed with this story! Steve’s living alone in a cabin in the woods, which of course sounds like the opening to a horror movie, but here it leads to love. Werewolf Bucky is both charming and terrifying, to a degree, he’s a wolf, but he and Steve are fantastic together. This is another story that goes in on the trust aspect of their relationship and I for one am a big fan of that. There’s some violence, minor character death and the like, but it’s definitely not undeserved so. If you can handle that (and the sex, because there is sex in this) then I highly recommend this one!

4. The Joy of Little Things by obsessivereader, Sealcat. And so we move from werewolves to dragons. Yup. Dragons. Another of my beloved mythical creatures that I obsessed over when I was kid. Bucky’s capable of shifting into a human in this, but primarily he’s a big ol’ dragon that surprisingly doesn’t want to eat the scrawny sacrifice from the local village. Steve ends up working for Bucky, instead, and from there hilarity ensues. Steve’s obviously wary of Bucky, but Bucky isn’t at all what he’d been expecting, and they grow closer the longer Steve’s staying in Bucky’s caves. There are a couple of stories with Dragon!Bucky, but this is my personal favorite; it’s cute and heart-warming and, well. I just really like it. 

5. I Just Want to Love You in My Own Language by agetwellcard, inediblesushi. So this one has Cap!Bucky (Bucky!Cap?) but again, sometimes it’s more about how Bucky looks rather than his role as the Winter Soldier. Anyway, I remember my biggest take away from this story was how adorable Bucky was in his quest to win the affections of sassy Nurse Steve, who patches him up after missions and is probably playing hard to get. Bucky uses terrible pick-up lines, absolutely awful, and he is completely unashamed of that fact. Which is, as I said, adorable. Steve, initially, does not agree with my assessment, but he gets there eventually. After some requisite drama, of course.

6. Tint & Shade by forestofbabel. Oh, god, this one hurt me, I remember that pretty clearly. Bucky is the Winter Soldier in this, and Steve is a 21st century art therapist who just so happens to resemble his late grandfather, Captain Joseph Rogers, who fought in -- you guessed it -- WWII. Like I said in the intro, if I really like the premise of something I’ll usually read it regardless of the configuration of pre-/post-serum Steve and pre-serum/WS Bucky, and this was definitely one of the fics I got into for that reason. Having actual WS Bucky interact with a modern pre-serum Steve is always interesting, given how much they don’t have in common, generally (there isn’t even really the veteran status that modern Bucky sometimes has in fics), and it’s a journey to see how and why they connect. Having Steve resemble his WWII era grandfather caught my attention, and the fic itself made me grateful that I decided to go for it in the first place. This is another one where is trust is key to their relationship, considering the mental/emotional state Bucky is in at the beginning. Very good story overall!

7. Fourth Floor by dirtybinary, mithborien, picoalloe. So dirtybinary has written some amazing stucky fics, which is why I was so excited when I saw this being posted initially (a few years ago, but still). There’s magic! Mystery! Suspense! Some NatSharon! Looking this over, I’m wondering if I should’ve saved it for the Urban Fantasy list I wanna do (and If Wishing Made It So, if I’m being honest) but I do like it for the shrinkyclinks list. The writing is great, the characterization of Steve and Bucky is great, and like, they live in what is essentially a magical apartment complex, so what’s better than that? 

8. my heart tells me you are lonely, too by FanGirling. Alright, so I read this one as it was being published, and the slow burn about killed me. You know, in a good way, though. Bucky lives in Steve and his mother’s apartment building, trying to figure out where to go with his life now that he’s broken free of Hydra and gotten his autonomy back. He’s obviously wary, skittish, but he takes a liking to Sarah Rogers when she reaches out to befriend him, surprised anyone wants to be near him let alone take the time to get to know him. Steve... is not so easily sold on Bucky. And I’m not gonna spoil anything here, but the shit these two go through is intense, and I cried a lot during this fic, sometimes out of frustration because they’re both ridiculous about their feelings (of course Bucky’s fears are valid, the man has been through literal hell, but also I was internally screaming a little as Bucky continually talked himself out of getting closer to Steve.) I wanted to wrap the both of them in about thirty blankets for pretty much the entire length of the fic. God. They’re just -- they’re so incredibly sweet in this one, once they work past their issues (Bucky and Steve are both more than a little messed up from their respective circumstances, but they make it work). Mind the tags on this one, also, especially because there is a chapter that deals with attempted sexual assault against Steve (obviously not with Bucky!), but Bucky handles the situation before anything truly nasty happens, that I can promise. 

9. Local Raccoon Befriends Angry Chihuahua by charlesdk. This is yet another author I really love; they have a fantastic farmer!Steve/Modern!WS!Bucky story that I love to bits, as well as other great fics. But anyway, this one. The title sold me the second I saw it, honestly, I can’t even pretend that wasn’t the deciding factor in me reading this. I don’t think I can really do any better than the summary in explaining why I recommend it; feisty tiny Steve and lovestruck grumpy Bucky are a winning combination in my book. This one does feature the boys dealing with homophobia and ableism, though I can’t recall how severe it is. So I’d just mind the tags, and if you’re alright with them, thoroughly enjoy this story. 

10. The Road to Hell is Paved with Tony’s Good Intentions by pinlilli. Bucky as a mail-order Russian bride. That’s the detail that pretty much demanded I click on this fic, and oh my god, it was even better than I ever could’ve expected. Tony, in a bid to help Steve get over his awful ex-boyfriend (fuck Brock Rumlow in every universe, honestly), literally orders him a husband -- in the form of beefy James Barnes, who is a fucking gem and I will not hear one bad word against him. He does chores, it’s lovely and adorable, and you will definitely fall just as hard as Steve does. There’s some canon-typical violence in this one that relates to James’ past, but nothing super graphic as far as I remember. Again, Rumlow is a dick and should be treated as such, but he’s hardly the most important part of this fic and I urge everyone to take a look at it if they’re as intrigued by Bucky being a mail-order husband as I was.