#some of these are on my tbr

[samglyph]

would love a list of your horror novels with women leads recs 👀

Yippee let me go find things so I can add a fun cover picture. These are all books that I’ve read in the last year! Definitely not an exhaustive list

*two of these technically aren’t horror books but I’m including them because I think they’re horror adjacent enough that if you like lighter horror, you’ll enjoy em.

A House With Good Bones by T Kingfisher: I just finished this! It was good! Not too scary imo, but great exploration of generational trauma, and a majority female cast. Also good if you are a bug enjoyer.

Family Business by Jonathan Sims: hey look it’s that guy that did that horror podcast that everyone likes. Family business is fun because Jonny really excels at “lulling you into a false sense of security” and also building a believable cast of characters. I think I’ve seen fewer people talk about this one compared to thirteen storeys, and I know that’s partially cause it just came out in paperback (in the US) but please! It’s good!

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones: this one is for certified weird girls. Jade’s special interest is slashers. She is now in a slasher. I love her so much. Part of a trilogy that I will conquer eventually.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw: (I talked about this one when I was reccing some queer books but I will repeat myself cause it’s good) I support women’s wrongs (eating people) and women’s rights (having situationships with agender plague doctors). Also this one is really short so if you don’t want to commit to a long read like chainsaw Id say try this one out. Very poetic.

Next two aren’t sorted into horror but honorable mentions:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: mushroom horror, good female lead, and a supporting wet cat of a man. I know some of you are going to devour this book so what are you even waiting for. Also I think the author has a new book out that’s actually sorted into horror but I haven’t read yet called Silver Nitrate. Frankly I think Mexican gothic should be counted as horror but I think it squeaks by on some technicalities. I love the descriptions in this book.

The Near Witch by VE Schwab: good folk horror, good quick read, I’m going to be honest I didn’t like the romance and I thought the lead should’ve been aromantic but otherwise pretty good book.

[totally-here]

Ultimate Enemy in DP in DC world

Okay so, I think we can all concede that logically in an au where danny phantom takes place within the dc universe, Ultimate Enemy's bad timeline would not happen. Like, Dan would not be able to take over the world, even with Vlad's ghost half helping him.

(though i do really like the takes of how that would happen, even if i don't ultimately agree with the end result. It's a fun story and a great opportunity for angst.)

But! I have an idea! I propose that the dark danny timeline would be in line with the evil teen titans timeline. The one with cloned Bart and Kon, champion of Ares Cassie, and, of course, batman with a gun Tim.

No, not just because I recently finished reading the 2003 run of teen titans.

(actually that's the major reason, yeah. it was a pretty good comic and i think it'd be cool if other people read it too)

But because I think it'd be interesting if it was a East titans vs west titans vs some ghost taking over the midwest and a majority of canada.

(does dc have any canadian heroes? I bet they do, but I've just never heard of any...)

And!! As a bonus!! Danny in the future would've probably gotten into a tussle or smth with the titans, which might lead to an uneasiness working with the present version of them. If he recognizes them. Like, Kon and Cassie I could see him knowing, Bart was on the good side iirc, but Tim?? No, no, he had a mask! A very distinct mask.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that Danny totally thinks Batman snaps one day.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: THE GREAT CITIES DUOLOGY by N. K. Jemisin.

[citrusses]

AO3 Wrapped 🎁: Drarry Favorites Published in 2022

Featuring eighth year and fuck-or-die fics that were instant classics among classic tropes, steam and suds, mind-bending non-linear narratives, and character studies that made me consider anew the protagonists with whom I’ve spent so many years. 

January

Finely Drawn Lines by @the-sinking-ship (E, 61k) 

Draco doesn’t consider himself an artist (though the dozens of sketchbooks lining his shelves might suggest differently). Yet ever since Potter returned to Hogwarts, accepting a teaching position alongside Draco, his drawings have taken on a rather singular focus.

February

The Things We Need by @kbrick (E, 25k)

Three hundred and fifty-three days out of the year, Harry is in a monogamous, fulfilling relationship with Draco Malfoy.

Then there are the other twelve days.

Lateralus by @shiftylinguini (T, 2k)

The world after the war was so big, and so untamed. Magic spilled out of every corner, creatures never seen before watching from nooks that never used to exist. There were colours in the air, in the morning dew drops on the leaves―indescribable, and new. Otherworldly, and pulled from a spectrum that shouldn't be visible in their world.

March

Heartlines by @sorrybutblog (T, 22k) 

Just as Draco Malfoy's life seems to be getting back on track, the magic at Malfoy Manor is spinning out of control. Auror partners Harry Potter and Angelina Johnson are assigned to the case and quickly find that nothing about the situation is obvious. The flare ups are unpredictable at best, downright dangerous at worst, and why has a Hogwarts first year gone missing at the same time?

April 

​​Heal Thyself by @astolat (T, 47k) "Are you going for the course?" Lovegood asked. "You have the NEWTs.”

“What course?” Draco said, then, “No, don’t be ridiculous,” when he realized she meant the notice pinned up on the board he’d been staring at: Applicants To The Introductory Mediwizard Course For The Coming Term Shall Present Themselves In The Chief Mediwizard’s Office By August 24th.

“Oh, I thought you might,” she said. “Well, goodbye.” And off she wandered again in her addled way.

any day now by @oknowkiss (E, 17k)

The rehabilitation centres were the Minister’s idea, or that’s what the Prophet said anyway. Their stated objective is simple: to provide a safe space for low-tier Death Eaters and high-tier sympathisers to reconsider the entirety of their life choices. All guests–because no one is a prisoner here, the literature brags–are to be provided with shelter, food, clothing, and the guided support of a Mind Healer via a programme they call “ideological restructuring,” which is, of course, mandatory. 

Lovesick by @corvuscrowned (T, 8k)

People keep spiking Auror Harry Potter with love potions. Healer Draco Malfoy keeps having to pick up the pieces. But it's getting harder and harder for Draco to watch Harry fall in love with everyone except for him.

The Only Magic Left Between Us by @lqtraintracks (E, 24k)

Harry goes to the market and ends up having to save Draco Malfoy’s life with sex. He saves Draco’s life with sex and ends up with a husband. The last thing he expects in all of it is to fall in love.

Once More With Feeling by InnerLilith (E, 29k)

Draco is dosed with a consummation-compelling potion, with Harry Potter as his intended. It’s a cruel irony, because he’s wanted Potter for years. But not like this.

May 

Not Nineteen Forever by @sorrybutblog (E, 6k)

A rogue charm hits on a mission and suddenly, Draco is nineteen again. Harry is still thirty-five and doing his best to look after his de-aged Auror partner (and forget about his long unrequited crush) until St. Mungo’s can brew the antidote. Only, Draco insists on wandering around Harry’s flat wearing nothing but Harry’s pants, flirting like his life depends on it and in the end, Harry’s only human after all.

June 

An Emerald In The Sky by @corvuscrowned (M, 7k) 

The hardest part about shagging an Unspeakable is that they’re not allowed to speak of anything. All Draco knows is that Harry works in Time. Harry works in Time, and while he’s out there in all of that time, it is as unforgiving to him as it is to anyone.

July 

Two to Lie and One to Listen by @fluxweeed (E, 85k)

It’s weird when Hermione announces that she and Ron have broken up. It’s weirder when this is followed by the revelation that she’s already moved on—and the new object of her affections is Draco Malfoy.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by @sleepstxtic (T, 6k) Astoria watches her husband fall in love with Harry Potter.

August

The (Third) Worst Year by TheFrancakes (E, 20k) 

Draco Malfoy has one year to fall in True Love with Harry Potter or be turned into a Dragon. And he knows that is never gunna happen. This is going to be the worst year of his life.

Well, minus that whole having to kill Dumbledore or be killed by Voldemort thing.

Second worst year.

Oh, but there was his whole 7th year while Voldemort was using his house as a home base for Death Eaters and making him torture his fellow students. That one was pretty bad too.

Fine, this is the third worst year of his life. Hoppípolla by @moonflower-rose (E, 21k) Falling in love was as easy as jumping in puddles, and Draco Malfoy was completely drenched.

September

The July Tree by @oknowkiss (E, 52k) 

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail… nor well-meaning friends, nor questionable communication skills, nor seven years of hating each other’s guts can keep Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy from falling in love. OR: It’s Eighth Year, and Harry Potter has detention. What else is new? Well, since you asked: Greenhouse Four and the Tree of Life, for a start, and then there’s the new shared Eighth Year common room, and Harry’s sexuality, and these pesky dreams he keeps having about a blond man pushing him into things…

Pack by @rockingrobin69 (Not rated, 1.4k)

It was cute when they were in school, the whole rivalry thing. 

What Makes a House a Home by @writcraft (E, 27k)

Ten years after the Battle of Hogwarts Draco Malfoy wakes up in an unfamiliar house owned by none other than Harry Potter. Even stranger is the snow in September and a night sky without any stars. Naturally it’s a matter of life and death, because isn’t it always?

The Unspeakable by @the-sinking-ship (E, 24k)

Healer Draco Malfoy took the job at the International Department of Mysteries for the paycheck and the prestige.But what he got was Unspeakable Harry Potter and the most fascinating curse he’d ever seen.

October

The wrong sort by @vukovich (Not rated, 1.6k)

Draco half-rolled, half-fell onto his back, his skin sweaty against Harry’s sheets.  He licked his dry lips and exalted the plaster ceiling with, “Jesus fucking Christ.”

Howl by @tackytigerfic (M, 9k)

After an encounter with a vicious werewolf, Draco Malfoy wakes in a field hospital with a mangled shoulder, a furry little problem, and an inconvenient crush on Harry Potter. Potter, meanwhile, is still trying to save the world, only this time he wants Draco right there with him while he does it. Taking part in a rebellion against a corrupt regime isn't always glamorous, but at least sometimes there are organic farmshop pastries and fancy hotel bedsheets. Just don't ask about that smell of burning.

November

Under Giant Mountains by @wolfpants (E, 34k) 

Harry doesn't know where he's going. Everyone else has their life paths figured out; he doesn't even know where his map is. Who'd have thought Draco Malfoy bathing in a Norwegian forest would be the guidepost Harry needed?

but first, we fight by @nv-md (E, 8k) 

Fighting with Draco Malfoy has never been quite this thrilling...or this frustrating. Harry's always horny, Draco's in denial, and there simply isn't enough time in the day to fight crime and watch your ex-archnemesis wash his arse.

December

Tapestry by @kbrick (E, 51k) WIP

In 2017, Harry is on his way to Pansy and Luna's beach house. He’s a bit terrified of seeing Draco, to be honest. It’s been a while, and then there’s the little matter of Draco having married someone else in the interim.

In 2001, Draco is drunk, wearing Pansy's mother's ermine coat, and afraid to walk into the Leaky because someone might throw a curse at him. So, of course, he runs into his ex-nemesis and hopeless crush, Harry Potter.

The Same Sweet Shock by @xiaq (E, 17k) WIP

One day, Draco Malfoy is going to get his life together.

One day, he will be a respectable citizen. He will have a respectable job and his last name will no longer be a scarlet letter and people will no longer try to hex him in the street. One day, he is going to live a good, honest, ordinary life.

Today, however, is not that day. Because today, he is driving a stolen police car and will likely be responsible for murdering Harry Potter.

Accidentally, of course; not that the papers will care.

[fivefeetfangirl]

so... i'm soon done with 91w, which has honestly been the most insane roller coaster i've ever been on lol. BUT i don't want to get off the roller coaster, or at least stay in the amusement park, so if you have a fic you're absolutely crazy about, or even just think i should read, please please please rec it!! it doesn't have to be popular, it could be your own even! so this is your sign to spam the notes with fic recs <33

[barbossas-wench]

This is straight up unpopular opinion

We need to bring back dark atmospheric musicals like Sweeney Todd, Elisabeth, and Phantom of the Opera

[permanentreverie]

the want of purging my tbr vs the fear of not reading every book in the world

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: Prologue

Hi, I’m Bec, and I’m a recovering book thrifter - I own more unread books than I can reasonably read (especially since I don’t read print much anymore), and while I’ve done my best to downsize my collection or source audiobooks through my library, I’m still feeling overwhelmed. I’m now outsourcing the job to tumblr!

Each Sunday I’ll post 3 books from my physical TBR (in no particular order) and ask you to tell me via poll which one I should remove from my tbr. If you convince me, the week’s “winner” will be placed in my unhaul pile to be donated or sold (results not binding). Argue for or against as many books as you like - I don’t want things to get too negative, but please remember that the goal is to help me to downsize my books and give everyone a little enrichment :D

See you next week (June 2) for the first poll!

UPDATE:

Tumblr, we have not always agreed on what should be unhauled, but things have been unhauled! Success!

June

July

August

[igbylicious]

random question: does anyone have fic recs for an ateez pirate au — but specifically one that blends the historical vibe with scifi elements like in beloved disney classic Treasure Planet??

(or any visual art of this concept!!!)

[strawberrypinky]

🌸🌿🌈

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU BITCH

I LOVE YOU TOO GIRLY 💗💗

i. is there a ship you wouldn't write a whole fic for, but love in the background? If we're talking companion characters, I do like Bloodweave (aka Gale x Astarion) quite a bit, but as a woman, I don't feel comfortable writing about a (male) homosexual ship. Love seeing the content, but I'll stay on the outside, appreciating the amazing Bloodweave creators, such as @shellytheleo and @calolily I wouldn't say no to adding that relationship in the background though.

ii. Rec one of your fics and tell us what you like about it! Considering I currently only have one BG3 fic, I begrudgingly have to recommend fire and ice - a Gortash x Tav fic, beginning around five years before the canon events of BG3 start. Idk what I like about, but I love being as unhinged as I can be with Gort, lol. Here's a sneaky sneak peek for chapter two bc Gort is absolutely not normal: A drow had tickled Enver's fancy - the woman small and slight, though far more voluptuous than his soon-to-be wife. She was pretty enough, even if she would have been hardly worth a second glance outside the tawdry meat market of a place he had entered. Her body, while graceful and smooth, hardly aroused any desire in him. He imagined another entity entirely beneath him, with skin more white and hair that shimmered silver and a voice as sweet as a lullaby, begging Bane to let Enver fill her up. The whore, whose name Enver had forgotten as soon as he had paid for her services, almost looked offended when the name 'Elodie' spilt from his lips in place of hers, but a single look silenced her before she could begin to speak. Pathetic, he thought, before he left the chamber, knowing Elodie would have never submitted that easily.

iii. Rec someone else's BG3 fic and tell us what you like about it! Oh Lord. I've done some fic recs a while ago here, and I stand by @gufu-vire "O, Fortuna" (cannot recommend it enough!), as well as "His Star - His Queen" by @random-introverted-blog, and all the others I recommended a couple weeks back. I still love them all. In Gufu's words, I am 'woefully illiterate' these days (seriously, my tbr is endless) and don't have many fics to recommend BUT I did start reading "dealbreaker" by @goodgirlgonebard which I have really enjoyed! I like seeing various takes on Ascended!Astarion, because while I will forever prefer the spawn route, his ascended ending has incredible depth in terms of morality, abuse cycles and power dynamic.

"Dealbreaker" explores the dynamic between Tav and A!Astarion as they try to navigate their feelings for one another post breakup and post-brain, both with wishes and desires of their own. The exploration of their desires and motives is both gripping and logical and I enjoy seeing it all play out.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Daisy Chaining; Or, Connecting the TBR!

Does anybody besides me like to find Connections between Seemingly/Largely Unrelated Books and use those connections to plot a route through the old TBR?? I don't know about you, but I have a LOT of books I want to read, and sometimes I get Whelmed™ by my choices. So I'll either pick a small stack and make that a particular month's micro-TBR (good if I have specific Goals!), OR I'll start with something I really want to read, and I'll daisy chain from there.

For example: I'd been waiting for TRANSLATION STATE to release in paperback since the hardback was announced (because Translators, my beloveds). So I annihilated that in a couple days (it was very good, all right??), and then I had to figure out where to go next despite cruising on the Translators High.

Because the Translators' fucked up body horror (which I mean mostly affectionately, but I'm side eyeing the matching pretty hard) was at times....goopy...I thought a book about a shapeshifter whose default form is an amorphous lump would be good next, which got me to SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN (which I also enjoyed!! shout-out to @asexualbookbird for gifting it to meee!!).

Since NEST is Monsters in a Fantasy Forest with a side of Politics and Power, my next read is THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST (because it's also...wait for it...Monsters in a Fantasy Forest with a side of Politics and Power). And after that, I'll come OUT of the forest with AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS, which promises to be weird and vaguely monstrous but with a literary bent (I put it on one of my writing TBR lists, and my general "read this by the end of 2024" list).

So, yeah! That's how you daisy chain to get from SF to fantasy/horror to fantasy to weird Lit Fic in the span of four (4) books, while maintaining something like a continuity. By the end of the year, my Books Read shelf looks a little chaotic, but there generally really is a rhyme AND a reason about it!

(Please click on the photo for better image quality! I edited it weirdly compared to usual and it looks good on my screen but ah. Less So, in tungledlandia.,.,)

[crymeariveronceagain]

the thesis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein atm appears to be "it is worse to be lonely than to have never been created at all" and i just think, actually, that that is something that can be so personal

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

Read any good books lately?

Tbh Ive been in the middle of more books than endings this year, but the latest i loved are probably "flowers for algernon" and "yumi and the nightmare painter" you?

[aprill-99]

Due respect, but in my opinion, immortal characters who are “bored with immortality” are severely lacking in imagination.

You know what would happen to me if I got immortality? Reading. In fact, immortality might be the only way to make a dent in my TBR.

Know who got it right? I can think of 3:

1. Mathew Clairmont (Couldn’t be sure that continuing to go to school wouldn’t bring him happiness, so decided to keep getting degrees just in case. Might unravel the secrets of the universe on the way, might not, he’s got the time to figure it out. Had to go back in time and be a spy instead for a while and was very upset about it).

2. The Doctor (IYKYK).

3. Tessa Grey (I grant you it’s early, but if anyone thinks this girl isn’t going to read her way into eternity I’m sorry, but you’re just wrong).

[bloody-wonder]

Top five mangas?? 👀👀

thanks i'm gonna include manhwa too tho bc i read it more often :)

semantic error made me unlock hitherto undreamt of levels of fun that can best be compared to the profound enjoyment a hetero woman experiences when watching a really good self-indulgent romcom. i previously thought i'm only into exceptionally fucked up bl but this manhwa taught me i'm not above very basic romance if it's well-written, hilarious and sexy and frames weirdness as something that can be appealing and awaken desires

killing stalking was the first bl manhwa i ever read and what an introduction to the genre it was! it's very good but very dead dove do not it so i wouldn't rec it to just anyone. for me, it was very fun binging the whole thing overnight bc why sleep when you can instead plunge deep into the darkest corners of human psyche while scrolling cartoons

twittering birds never fly has the audacity to maintain that slowburn since *checks wikipedia* 2011?? what the fuck?! if semantic error is a romcom twittering birds is a soap opera with no end in sight - and it has me in a chokehold. yashiro is one of the most characters of all time, i hope he admits his feelings for doumeki sometime before i turn 50 but it's still fun to watch him get into increasingly dramatic situations in order to avoid doing just that lol

painter of the night is just self-indulgent. i don't think the plot is any good at all and i don't particularly like the main character but i'm sufficiently compensated for these flaws by the historical setting and yoon seungho. the joseon period costumes are just so fun to look at - at one point i went down a rabbit hole researching those fascinating gat hats. more bl should be set in the past tbh but it probably takes more time and research for the creators. and yoon seungho is just your classic bad boy you want to fix and do in fact fix. the drrrrama of it tho!

the cornered mouse dreams of cheese / the carp on the chopping block jumps twice is probably the least well-known on this list? this short two volume manga was recced to me by a friend and i really liked it bc it features a protag struggling with his sexuality in a way that to me read very aro. it's also about the quarter-life crisis so. all the themes very near and dear to my heart lol