#will keep u posted on my library lockdown

[hella1975]

in the showing up to the library with an overnight bag part of exam season

[greaseonmymouth]

It is not 7 am anymore but top 5 books read this year? 😄

I have read 44 books so far this year and most of them were very good so I don't know how I'm supposed to pick just 5 :'''D

in reverse chronological order

THE DEATH I GAVE HIM - EM X. LIU

this is an utterly unhinged locked room sci-fi murder mystery retelling of Hamlet in which Horatio is an AI and he and Hamlet have a deeply co-dependent and sexual relationship. This book is exactly the kind of thing tumblr would eat up with a spoon, so tumblr pls get on this. The basic plot is: a deeply depressed and suicidal Hamlet (Hayden) is working on a formula that can make one immortal. He is obsessed with beating death. Then his dad is murdered and the labs go on lockdown and more people die because *gestures* Hamlet is Hamlet even when his name is Hayden, and Horatio the AI does his best to keep Hamlet alive and also be a voice of reason except he's too biased. By happenstance I had read this Hamlet/Faust crossover fic (Hemlock & Wine) before reading this book, and in this fic Hamlet is obsessed with necromancy and Horatio is trying to save him. it set the mood nicely. 

You know how in Hamlet everyone dies and at the end Horatio is the only one alive with Hamlet dead in his arms? What if I told you in this book it's reversed?

WILD AND WICKED THINGS - FRANCESCA MAY

Dark, witchy, historical fantasy - set after WW1 on a fictional island off the Yorkshire coast, very 20s glam with a dark undercurrent. Witchcraft is banned, but Annie is a witch. when her father dies she inherits his house on Crow Island and goes over there to sort that out and rents a house next to what turns out to be a Den of Iniquity, not just because of the lavish parties with illegal (magical) substances but because it's queer. Then follows a dark plot involving a blood debt and necromancy and power hungry men (well, one power hungry man) and fragile old and new relationships and dark secrets and also Annie and Emmeline get accidentally magically bonded to each other (but also are in love/lust with each other) and look, I could not stop reading. 

DRAGONFALL - L.R. LAM

listen I LOVE dragon books and I've read and loved everything L.R. Lam has written so when I heard an epic dragon fantasy was coming? I WAS STOKED. this is the first in I think a trilogy and it ticks all my boxes:

sentient dragons with their own history, language, society, etc

sexy dragons?? i didn't realise i needed sexy dragons until I read Aliette de Bodard's Dominion of the Fallen trilogy or the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, but hey. SEXY DRAGONS

queernorm world! our second protag Arcady is nonbinary and uses any pronouns, thank u for your service L.R. Lam

very cool world building and magic system 

BETRAYAAAALLL 

I can't wait for book 2

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF - GRACE D. LI

look this post will explain everything. suffice to say: pretentious college students steal priceless art.

THE BEAUTIFUL ONES - SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

This is a kind of historical romance but it's fantasy and it doesn't follow conventional romance novel structure (I was SO nervous it wouldn't end happily because I didn't know what to expect from the narrative I was being given, but THANK GOD IT DID). it's very fantasy of manners. it makes a lot of pointed commentary about colonialism and colourism. it's absolutely lush. I love this book a lot, it was so engaging and gripping. the characters are allowed to be flawed and assholes and complex and weak and kind - it's very similar to sprawling historical/saga books with a large cast of people with conflicting wants and needs and scheming and tragedy and love and all that, but distilled into a neat compact package focusing on three people. It's not a long book, it's quite a slim volume for what it is, but it's perfectly paced so you don't notice that you're not actually reading a 900 page family saga.

other standalones I read this year that I think are WELL worth reading:

CAMP DAMASCUS - CHUCK TINGLE

YOU MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY - AKWAEKE EMEZI

YELLOWFACE - R.F. KUANG

HONOURABLE MENTIONS GO TO:

two series I read this year that I also absolutely loved

THE SEVEN DEVILS DUOLOGY - ELIZABETH MAY & L.R. LAM

you know this post right?

[image id: post by worflesbian on july 4 saying 'sci fi is when women in tank tops are covered in grease and sweat and are shouting at people and racing against time to save lives' reblogged by leafcrunch on july 13 with a screenshot addition of the tag #half a jumpsuit!!! you forgot half a jumpsuit!!!!']

this is that series. it is rebels in space overthrowing an evil space empire. it's all the worst bits of imperialism and colonialism and patriarchy distilled into one evil empire and all the best bits of firefly and star wars distilled into the rebellion. there are cool scifi science bits. this would be amazing as a two season series by competent tv makers, it's very cinematic in scope, but the characters are what give this life.

THE WINTERNIGHT TRILOGY - KATHERINE ARDEN

this is a family saga of a kind, set in medieval Russia during a time when Russia was being Christianised. I don't know how to explain this series because it's so complex and so rich. There is a main character - Vasya - but other characters also get POV sections. the first book takes quite a while before we even get to Vasya in 'the present' so to speak, this is a trilogy that isn't afraid of taking its time to tell a story. Vasya is a witch who can see/communicate with Russian 'folklore' spirits, these spirits are fading with the coming of Christianity. There is an unhinged priest, the winter king Morozko whom Vasya has an intense relationship with, Vasya's brother (a monk, based on a real person), Vasya's sister (married to the Tsar, a real person), and just...god, I don't know. I loved everything about this trilogy, the way it humanised historical figures, the way it didn't demonise either the folklore spirits (who are allowed to be non-human beings devoid of human morality! so refreshing) or the Christians, but rather conveyed how a time of upheaval like this had to have been very scary and tumultous. an absolute treat.

I did also read the entire Charm of Magpies series by KJ Charles including the spinoffs, which I really enjoyed.

[vidawhump]

I was daydreaming again and then the characters in my head (they normally look like an idealized version of my art style) became creepy

I drew them and they kinda look like Mandela cataloge alternates meet that one sentient mask scp thing

Anyway, status update (verry long)

For artfight: I have realized that I don't know what the fuck I'm doing and the site as a whole is kinda confusing and scary so while I am gonna set up and link my artfight acc, I'm probably just gonna "attack" yall by making a post and tagging you lol (EACH MUTUAL WILL BE ATTACKED AT LEAST ONCE. THERE MAY ALSO BE A COUPLE TARGETED DOODLE DUMPS. IF YOU ARE A NON AUTHOR/ARTIST MOOT I WILL SIMPLY DRAW YOU INSTEAD. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, FINLEY. I'M GONNA GET YOU /silliy/pos)

For Whumpmas in July: Things actually aren't going terribly, but I am a bit behind. Definitely going to work on that a LOT more during the last week of June. I also renamed Brilla and Nilalang's story if anyone noticed that. Name change or not, they're still the main focus for my Whumpmas in July.

For Library Lockdown: I'm not quite sure where I'm going with the current plot, and I'm kindof falling out with the story I'm working with. Don't get me wrong, I love Reese (/p). They're my lil guy. But I don't really know what I'm doing with it anymore. I'm probably going to go in and start scrapping pieces, and reworking the entire plot. It's still going to be CYOA academia whump, but I'm making a genre change to domestic/urban fantasy and dark academia. Or maybe light academia. I'm still working out the vibes on that. Anyway, I'm going to make a post later (later being anywhere from two days to this time next year lol) and I'm gonna tag everyone that was on the original taglist to see if yall still want in on it. No hard feelings if you don't hop on the taglist, I just want to rework Library Lockdown into something I'm much more enthusiastic and passionate about. (It's probably gonna get a name change too)

For Featherbound: I SWEAR I haven't forgotten about the blorbos but between all the other shit going on and the big pile of laundry on my dresser that is staring at me menacingly from across my room as I type this, I don't have the spoons or general motivation to work on Featherbound :/. What's gonna push me over is probs gonna be something like I make a cool ass art of them or I see something that reminds me of them and I motivate myself to get over the tedious shit and get into the plot heavy stuff and also the whump. Especially the whump.

For general stuff (both paragraphs are going to have 0 continuity and be very disorganized but I need to dump out the words somewhere. And that somewhere is Tumblr aka. the one diary my brother can't snoop through) down here

Relevant stuff: Between all of the above and just the general batshit lack of routine or motivation, I am pretty burnt out. I am very much tied up between the need to be creative and the need to relax and recover (I might manage to do neither). I'm trying to hold my shit together but it's still kinda rough :/

Not so relevant stuff (warning: 0 continuity. 0 organization): I'm reading Angels Before Man right now and it's soooooooo good I love it (crep i think you write the religious trauma type shit, right? I think you'd like this book :3 /nf). I ordered a green crossbody bag on amazon and its gonna come in sometime between july something-teen and august 5th and the hunt for one that's good was hard bc my laptop is big as shit and it needs to fit in the bag and most of them are teeny tiny but I found one that I think will work!!!! I'm excited for that :3333 The laundry pile is still staring at me I'm scared but I don't wanna put it away but it keeps building up I don't like this :((( Jay I meant to message u abt this earlier but I kept forgetting and i didn't know how to bring it up but remember the one crossover drawing I made with Dew and Hell Followed With Us (another very religious trauma one)? Another book by the same author, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White, has a lot of the same vibes as Blood Runs Cold, at least in terms of mechanics. One of the main things in the story is the existence of "the veil" which is the barrier between the alive people and the ghosties and that reminds me a lot of what's going on with Aspen, if u wanna check it out! /nf :333333 Uhhhhhhh what else. I have an XC long run (probs 30 minutes for me) tommorow. Idk what I'm gonna do when I get home tho. Might make another poll for that. Its like 8;30 over here I should probably go asleepy haha. My bday is july 27 btw :333333333 definitely have to make some sort of art for that. There's probably also a couple character bdays in july that I dont remeber off the top of my head but I know they're there. Ok I go alseepy now byeby :3333

[ill-advisedrecords]

Hey guys, Chris here again!

You probably know by now that I produce music on this label under the name “Dated”, but what you may not know is that I’ve also produced the upcoming Cyberghost album as my first real Dark Synthwave album. This is a pretty sharp left-turn from my usual work in lofi hip hop, so I wanted to go into a bit of detail about why I started making this sort of music, how I learned to do it, what I used to make it, and what inspired this project.

This story begins where all stories about getting into something new in 2020 will - quarantine. While I run this label like it’s a day job, I actually have a “real” day job as an administration manager for an art gallery. March came along, and so did the COVID situation, and I found myself laid-off for about 4.5 months straight due to a lockdown. The first few months were mostly spent playing videogames and watching movies, but after a while I started to get the itch to use the time a bit more productively. Around that same time, I happened to come across a track on Youtube which I hadn’t hear in a few years - Carpenter Brut’s “Escape from Midwich Valley”. While I had heard his music before, and enjoyed it quite a bit, I never really looked into more tracks by Mr. Brut, and had mostly just listened to the odd Perturbator album as my experience with dark synthwave. This time, however, it just grabbed me, and I spent days just listening to dark synthwave music and wondering how they all made it. As someone who has always worked with samples and knows absolutely nothing about music theory or sound design, I have always been mystified as to how people actually make “real” music. For whatever reason, the obsessive part of my personality kicked in right then and there, and I found myself looking for synths to download and searching “how to stay in key” on Youtube.

What followed was a solid month of spending about 16 hours a day doing absolutely nothing but looking things up, working on my own tracks, and watching 80’s horror films on Shudder every time I had to stop working to eat something. My girlfriend was coincidentally out of town for the month, so I was able to just go in hard on this whole dark synthwave thing. The first thing I found that really made it all possible was the “stamp” feature in FL Studio’s piano roll. As if magically, I could just pick a key, see what notes were within it, and then just always be on-key if I stuck to those. It took some time to figure out my timing and how to write something that didn’t sound terrible, but at least knowing I wasn’t falling out of key really gave me the confidence to play around with notes until I felt my riffs were getting catchier. The other biggest game-changer was buying some paid synths. Free synths are great and all, but their main issue is that they are generally built to make a pretty wide-range of sounds, and I found myself getting buried in massive preset libraries rather than being able to find those authentic 80’s sounds I wanted. I picked up U-He’s Repro-5 (which comes bundled with the Repro-1), as well as the TAL-U-NO-LX, which despite only being $50 USD is hands-down my most used synth. The TAL is lightweight, has a nice simple arpeggiator, and I honestly don’t think is capable of making a bad, un-80’s sound. The Repro was also great, and allows for much more full, complex sounds which still ooze 80’s vibes, but since it is a much more resource-intensive synth, I found myself using it less often due to the need to bounce sequences out to WAV frequently to keep my DAW from lagging after a few layers. That said, you can hear all 3 synths on pretty much every Cyberghost track, as well as a few later additions such as Serum and Mono/Poly.

That bit of research had the technical bits sorted out, but an album doesn’t write itself. The actual process for creating the tracks was loosely built around a concept - that of a mysterious, isolated town in the woods, being investigated by someone who gets pulled deep into darker events than they had anticipated. If that sounds a bit vague, well, that is intentional. I wanted enough of a concept to help me decide which tracks to make and how to arrange them, as well as what to title them and what album art to produce, but didn’t want some beat-for-beat script I had to illustrate through music. Also helping things along were the avalanche of 80’s horror films I consumed during the time I wrote the album (and consistently afterwards). Some standouts were Manic Cop, The Mouth of Madness, Sleepaway Camp, and Pieces.

It took about a month to get the first 6 of 8 tracks finished, and then I finished the remaining 2 tracks (which were Midnight Detectives and The Ritual) over the course of another month or two once I had returned to work. I drew a few designs for album art and picked one, which I posted in the last blog post, but later scrapped for what would become the current album art (the inks for which can be seen above). I’ve been a visual artist for a long time, so that was probably the most approachable part of this whole project.

And that’s the story of how a guy who can;t play any instruments or write music, and had never touched a synth before wrote a synthwave album in a few months. Whether it turned out well or not will be up to you folks once you can hear the full thing on the 11th, but I’d like to think it turned out pretty decent. If you’ve ever thought about learning to create something new, but thought it was out of reach, I’d urge you to push that negative voice down and just jump into learning about it without thinking. You’d be surprised how things can sort of fall into place, and the process of learning can carry you to a point where you can actually start doing without thinking so much about it.

The full album comes out this coming Monday, January 11 2021. If you want a sneak peek at the album, you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/HkBylYMa6wQ

The album will be available on a limited edition Type II blood-red cassette which comes with a special box and a signed 11x17 poster (limited to 100 copies). There will also be the usual unlimited cassette release, as well as our first CD release. I’ll probably make another post once the album is out to cover some of the physical options, as they just turned out beautiful.

[comicteaparty]

April 15th-April 21st, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from April 15th, 2020 to April 21st, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

If all webcomics everywhere suddenly costed money to read, how much would you be willing to pay to read them?

carcarchu

i've currently spent about 10 dollars reading paid webcomics and got about 60 chapters with that much. i'll be buying more webcomics in the future but if it's too pricy i'll be less inclined to buy

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I buy the print volumes of my favourite webcomics, which is about £10-15 for around 100-200 pages? Depends on the comic. But I do get a book to leaf through, so dunno if that counts.

carcarchu

as an added note the app i use to buy webcomics has an interesting feature where u can purchase "food" to donate to the author directly without / in addition to buying the chapters themsevles(edited)

oh now that chalcara mentioned it i also buy the physical copies of webcomics as well and i've probably spent close to 100ish on that

also also that same app gives u daily login coins and u can also watch up to 5 video ads per day to gain extra coins which u can use to buy more chapters or donate directly to the author

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I DID try a monthly subscription to a rather specific comic content webpage, but I don‘t like that comittment. Vastly prefer buy-once-keep-something-forever; even if it‘s just pdf.

Yeah, have bought pdf‘s of comics before because of shipping expenses.

So yeah, buy once, get something, yay! Subscription, boo.

carcarchu

i had to buy a monthly subscription thing for a webcomic once too but it was a completed comic and the app has a download button so i just downloaded all the chapters of it all at once. i could see the monthly payment being annoying if u had to keep paying it in perpetuity though

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i've paid for comics before

I'd probably pay to keep reading the comics I love

but I'd be reluctant to invest money to read a new comic i don't know is good or not

i'd need a good friend, person I follow, or well written review's recomendation first(edited)

Feather J. Fern

I will buy physical copies most of the time. I do like having the print in my hands. If it was like a site sub though, like you can put your comics on a site and everyone gets paid a share, then I wouldn't mind because you get options.

But if it is just one comic though, I would be worried,

For example, if people were paid to upload onto Webtoons, but you have to pay like 5 dollars for reading for 1 month, I wouldn't mind because I still can choose what to read

But if for example, my comic is five dollars to read monthly by itself, I don't htink people want it

Especially new readers

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah i think that I wouldnt want to have to spend money to try a comic. Im really very picky and I wouldnt want to risk basically just losing money because I dont like a comic. To continue reading the ones I like I think I'd spend money, but honestly I'd probably only do that once they're complete, too. A monthly payment/subscription for a service with many comics, though, I could see myself paying for

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Depends. I’m fine with paying it at once to read it in one go, but not necessarily per month

Also would pay if I got to see a preview first

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

As a reader, I also prefer to know what the comic is about first, before committing to pay to read it, like going in blind. I prefer the subscription option to read any comic but not per comic chapter. I like to support the authors if the story appeals to me or purchase their ebooks(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I would likely pay to keep reading the ones I'm already into. But I would be very reluctant to check out new ones if I had to pay to even check them out. The first few pages aren't enough in most cases. I also wouldn't be averse to the subscription idea, assuming the platform isn't like, catering to a genre that I'm not interested in. Physical volumes actually don't interest me in most cases. Storage is a huuuuuge issue for me.

DanitheCarutor

Depends on digital vs. physical, the amount of content and quality. Usually I prefer a physical copy since I like collecting indie comics and am willing to pay 10USD - 30USD, I'll even pay high price for hardcover collector editions if I really, really like the creator's work. Like, I actually have a section of my bookshelf dedicated to printed webcomics, which isn't very full yet but I plan on practically overcumbering it someday. Digital copies and subscriptions, I'm oddly a little more stingy about. I tend to forget about stuff like that very easily, so to save myself from wasting money I would have to be almost a mindless fanatic about the webcomic to buy it digitally or keep up with a weekly/monthly pay subscription. As far as price, if it's a subscription I can't afford a whole lot since I'll probably be trying to take on multiple comics, a digital copy I may pay around the same amount as with a physical book.

I'm not too picky about what I would buy, if it looks really good or interesting I'll maybe subscribe to give it a look through, or buy a chapter/volume if I can afford it. Worst that would happen is I didn't like it after all but supported an indie creator trying to get their work off the ground. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I actually have in fact read many pay-to-read webcomics, and my experience has been somewhere in the middle. I think the most important thing is that the webcomic in question has the first few chapters as free-to-read so that new readers can get a feel for the story, because I wouldn't pay for something I didn't know I would like. The other things is for comics to be affordable. I'm not very wealthy, so the price of a comic chapter needs to be pretty cheap for me to invest. $1 per chapter is the absolute highest limit, and the chapter has to be at least 10+ pages. I'm way more willing to spend more money on print comics because it is something physical that I can put on my shelf, and because I know printing costs can be expensive.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

No way I'd pay to read a comic without having at least the first chapter free. Even if people are recommending it to me, I still want to see it for myself first. But even then... I don't know if I would spend money on an online subscription - I'd probably wait to see what people are saying about it, save my money, and shell out a bit extra for a print edition (if that's in the cards for the comic). If a comic is free online, I feel even more like supporting it with a physical purchase. If a webcomic is locked behind a paywall... I get it, but it certainly discourages me as a reader.

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

Same here really. I much prefer giving money to a Patreon or buying merch for something I love than pay to take a chance on something I might not like

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I agree. I don't mind subscription if it's someone's work I enjoyed but I'm more inclined to buy physical copies or get my own digital pdf of the same thing tbh

Feather J. Fern

I wouldn't mind an idea of like, you get 1 page free a month (Slow I know) but you can buy the full thing now as an Ebook or something. That system would help the author get money (for people who want to support and love their comic from the slow post rate) and great for people who can't afford comic, and read them free at the library becuase they can't even afford computers at home.

I like the print comics too for libraries, gives comics more free access

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ah imagine if we could check out print webcomics at the library now

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

there is a few libaries that are doin that

Feather J. Fern

Yes! Actually, a few librarians went to Vancaf as long as it has an ISBN it makes it easier (Well we hope there is a copy catalogue somewhere lol) And I know in the US there are a lot more librarians grabbing comics for their shelves

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yesss which makes it super good

makes me wish I could go to my local libary but like everything else here, it's currently closed orz

Feather J. Fern

Hell, from a podcast I know there is a large interest in comics for libraries, and I know recently they are using comics to try to bring more literacy to people who don't want to read.

This might be off topic I will move it somewhere else

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

Maybe when I get mine printed I'll go see if the local library would like a few

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

that is why I'm going to be a teacher. Get more people use comics for education lol

GuildmasterPhill

The tricky thing would be finding new comics to get into... how would you get exposed to them? And there are so many, how would you know which ones are worth whatever pricetag goes with them? It would certainly change the whole landscape of webcomics, to be sure.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It would probably increase the demand for webcomic reviews.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

yeah

And again, the first few chapters being available as a sample would be really important.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Put in requests for webcomic print collections at your local library! They probably won't get bought during the lockdown, but at least your interest will be on record when the librarians get back.

Mine stocks some, although it's skewed toward really well-known ones -- Homestuck, Digger, Nimona, Cucumber Quest, Skin Horse, Penny Arcade, Gunnerkrigg Court (there's more, I just can't remember them off the top of my head).(edited)

Capitania do Azar

If I have to pay before I can know if I'll like the contents? I'd probably pass, unless there was some other big incentive for me to read it (like a friend's recommendation). Paywalls can be a big turnoff if you don't know what you're paying for, that's what I'm saying. However, if there were previews or free chapters, and then I had to pay to read the rest? I'd probably invest those €€€.

kayotics

I read Stand Still Stay Silent at the library, actually. That’s how I managed to actually get into it, I felt like it was a better experience. As for paying: I will sometimes buy a physical book of a comic I want to read but haven’t yet, just because reading on paper is easier on my eyes. So, sometimes I’ll pay money if I’m really interested in it. But it usually takes me a while to get to that point. If every webcomic went to a paid platform, I’d probably be less likely to read Webcomics.

Feather J. Fern

A thought occurred to me, if all webcomics are paid to read, how would the newbies, or highschoolers, get an audience at all if no one would buy to read their comic?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The under 18 creators does pose an interesting question -- are they allowed to make money at all? Would they have to get their parents to sign a thing for them?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I believe so

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

As for small creators with no existing fans, I imagine they'd have to rely on subscription platforms where readers don't have to pay for their comic specifically.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yeah, or just make no money like now

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

well, it would just also mean no readers because in this world, there isn't even an option to make no money in this world, the webcomic emperor has decreed that all webcomics must cost money to read, and you shall be thrown into The Pit if you make yours free

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Exactly

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

actually i guess you could kinda get around it by making your comic cost a penny

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

But yeah, you'd also not have readers and be unable to build a following

Basically the barrier to entry shifts and becomes more like traditional print publishing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Slightly different from trad publishing since anybody CAN still post up their comic -- even if no one would read it X'D

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

TRUE

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

actually you know what it would kinda be like? steam like basically any game devs from the smallest indie devs to the massive corporations publish their PC games through steam. and to my knowledge, all games on steam cost at least some money so indie creators' only option to get eyes on their comic would be the same as indie devs getting eyes on their game. find someone popular willing to review it, and hope for some word of mouth.

Feather J. Fern

Odd take, hold a seminar or not really that but a group gathering where people pay like, 2 dollars, because money still needs to happen, so a bunch of newbie comic artists and pitch their first chapter or something

Oh wait I know what my brain was thinking

like comixlogy

If you can have like a section like "New comics starting out, you can read the whole first chapter for just 0.99" then I might scroll through and be like "You know what, I wouldn't mind some entertaiment"

I think also defintely reviews are really important with this situation

If someoene was like "This art is good, plot is good, grammar is good" I woudl be like "Yeah I would read the first three chapters"(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Steam sounds about accurate

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I definitely think that in this case, good reviews would be like gold

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Even Print comics do freebies to rustle up new audience. And steam has a pretty lenient „don‘t like this game? Get your money back“ policy.

RebelVampire

For me the answer here depends on a lot of factors. If it's a one time "bulk" purchase, I'd probably go from $5-$10 depending on amount of pages, time to read, and just overall quality. I'd of course have to be interested as well, but that's an aside point for me in terms of what I'd be willing to pay. Anything past $10 is just kind of too rich for my blood sort of thing, unless it's like a super volume or something. As a subscription, this would heavily depend on the service. How are they curating content? Do they add more content regularly? How much content do they have? How are they innovating to improve my experience as a reader and to be able to find content? How is the industry as a whole? Are there a few competitors making it an affordable option, or is it becoming like tv cable because everyone wants their slice of the pie? With this many questions, it's hard to put a price on a subscription service. Definitely no more than I pay for Hulu or Netflix. But honestly, with the state of the industry right now, I don't think the price would be justified if they made it even like $10/month. Cause as it stands none of the hosts really do anything to improve my experience as a reader and only make things harder for everyone.

Feather J. Fern

This topic makes me love webcomics more, people are giving it to us for free, and It is amazing the internet can give someone an outlet to do so. Thank you internet

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

If you can have like a section like "New comics starting out, you can read the whole first chapter for just 0.99" then I might scroll through and be like "You know what, I wouldn't mind some entertaiment"

@Feather J. Fern dang I would sign up so fast if there was a good subscription service like this. And same time it helps give something back to New creators!

Feather J. Fern

To be honest, if I had the money, and the power, and the programing skills I would. I would love to support creators like this. Becuase it also gives people confidence too.

[acecademia]

What are your favorite games? What are book festivals like?

Hi, nonny!

I listed a few of my favorite video games in an earlier post, but I can elaborate on those (and name a few I missed and some awesome board games while I'm at it)! I'll put that below the cut and talk about book festivals first, though.

I went to my first book signing at 14, my first kind-of book festival (in that there was a book festival attached to a Harry Potter convention) when I was 16, and my first full-on book festival when I was... also 16 just a few months later. Since then, I've been to a bunch of book festivals. Mostly, I go to youth book festivals, but I've been to a couple larger ones that weren't age-specific, too.

The general structure of most book festivals I've attended goes like this:

Some sort of keynote

Panels/breakout sessions

More panels/breakout sessions

Yet more panels/breakout sessions

Maybe a closing keynote

Book signing

The one I've been to the most is the North Texas Teen Book Festival (NTTBF) which has a day exclusively for teachers and librarians and educators and then a full festival day that's open to the public. It's free to attend, and they get like 60-90 middle grade and young adult authors to attend. It's HUGE. It's grown a lot since I first started going in 2016 from about 8,000 attendees to like 15,000 attendees or something insane like that in 2019. I know 2020 was even bigger. It was the last thing I did before lockdown, and it's kind of my birthday tradition because it tends to happen around my birthday and makes me really happy.

I love getting to hear authors talk about their books. I get to hear authors I love talk about their work, and I get to hear authors I didn't know before talk about their books or even brand-new authors talk about debut novels that are coming out. It's a great way to keep up with youth lit--what's trending, what's coming out, which authors are attracting the most attention from librarians and teachers but also which authors are attracting the most teens and kids.

I met Angie Thomas at NTTBF like a month after The Hate U Give (the novel) came out, and she had like no one in her signing line. I'd been convinced to pick up the book by someone on Tumblr a day or so before the festival, so I asked the girl behind me to hold my spot in another line while I ducked over to get my copy signed by Angie Thomas. The next year, her line was insane. That's one of my favorite things about attending book festivals--you get to see that explosion of love for an author's work almost happen in real-time.

Also, I've met Ally Carter so many times now that she knows me on sight 😂 And Adam Gidwitz has dragged me over to a couple of authors now like "hey this girl was my student guide at a festival in 2013 when she was in high school, and now she's in GRAD SCHOOL and is a librarian! Wild, huh?" and it's super fun lmao

There's just something really lovely about being surrounded by people who love books and stories as much as I do. It's always completely confounding to me when I talk to people about going to school for youth librarianship, and they're like "oh-ho kids today don't read" and I'm like *gestures wildly at the 15,000 people who attended NTTBF* "literally where."

But yeah, book festivals are also one of the few places where my anxiety-override cheat code activates. By which I mean that I'm normally super anxious and very rarely interact with people I don't know and get really uncomfortable when I'm out by myself in public. But at book festivals (or honestly a lot of fan conventions), that just disappears??? And I'll like talk to strangers and initiate conversations and can somehow just exist in the world without stressing over it. It's amazing.

Games I love time!

Video Games:

Gone Home - amazing storytelling. (Also, there are no dead lesbians no matter what media has trained you to assume will happen)

The Stanley Parable - fun, creative, hilarious, and a great examination of the dichotomy between player and character and the player's relationship to narrative agency (aka exactly my jam)

Dragon Age - high fantasy awesomeness and also you can declare yourself queen in the first one (which I did). Dragon Age 2 is fantastic and narratively the best in the series but reuses the same handful of locations/maps over and over and over... and over.... and over again. I still need to finish Inquisition, and I'm super hyped for the fourth one

Tomb Raider - Lara Croft is my girl. The first one is the best one, the second is bomb af, the third is both fascinating mechanics-wise but not as interesting narrative-wise imo

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask - I love most of the series, but Majora’s Mask is my all-time fave

Fallout - sci-fi post-apocalyptic with a futuristic 50s vibe. It's a bit of a mixed bag (Fallout 3 is good, New Vegas is 💯, and Fallout 4's main plotline is boring AF and not engaging at all)

Assassin’s Creed - the Ezio trilogy is great, didn't really care much for AC III, loved being a pirate in Black Flag, skipped Rogue, stopped playing Unity because I got annoyed at how much it tried to push co-op, loved Syndicate, working my way through the rest

Overwatch - I play on PC and I'm a support main (Moira and Mercy, for the most part)

The Sims 4 - I make people do things and give them good lives 🥺

Long Live the Queen - fantasy stat building game where your goal is either to survive the game or to die in the most interesting way, depending on your preferences

Board games:

Mysterium - you're psychics solving a mysterious death by communing with a ghost who can only communicate using really vague and trippy art cards (great to play with people you know really well, also there's an online version and I have played it so much since the pandemic started)

Codenames - spies and word association hell yeah

Letter Jam - cooperative word game with spelling and limited communication

Ex Libris - you get to be a librarian in a fantasy library (enough said)

Castles of the Mad King Ludwig - you gotta build a castle for a king who has weirdly specific tastes