#writer: jason reynolds

[bluedalahorse]

Philosophies of Justice and Narrative Catharsis in Young Royals

Do you ever just have… conversations with yourself at 2 am?

Me: Wow. August did some bad shit. I want him to get therapy and help, but I also want him to face some kinda legal punishment.

Also me: Oh, self. You don’t trust cops or judges or prisons. The legal system would be way harsher on Simon about the drugs. Doesn’t that give you anxiety?

A third me, thousands of words in and possessed by a hyperfocus demon: Well fuck. We might be doing a meta about it. It’s okay, this can just be building blocks for our graduate school thesis on YA literature. Ahaha it’s fine.

The following meta looks at philosophies of justice, both retributive and restorative, as they appear in the worldbuilding Young Royals. This is a monster of a meta, like ~6500 words long, so be aware of that going in. Content note for discussion of all the usual crime topics in YR, as well as the injustices present in real world legal systems.

Intro: Shifting the Focus

Fandom loves discussing—and disagreeing about—the redemption arc. Who can blame us? As human beings, we’re wired to notice novelty, and redemption arcs involve a character experiencing some sort of dramatic transformation. This transformation could be gradually built up to for a series of chapters or seasons, or it could be sudden and jarring. It could involve one big dramatic gesture or a series of small changes. Whatever happens, fans end up debating what they see onscreen.

Now, I love a good discussion. I also love stories that poke beyond simple notions of good and evil, where characters are capable of change in multiple directions, And yet, as someone who has spent years in fandom, I increasingly find the discussion of redemption arcs unsatisfying and even boring. Everyone seems to have their own definition of what constitutes “enough” good deeds for a character’s redemption, and even their own opinions of who is worthy of redemption in the first place. It seems we can’t entirely agree on what the term means, and everyone gets bogged down in discourse.

At first, my dissatisfaction prompted me to ask what I considered a well-written redemption arc. Well, no, that’s not accurate. There was a little arrogant voice inside me telling me that I, the great bluedalahorse, who has devoted many hours of academic study to various literary texts and even made complicated spreadsheets to track ideas in my favorite books, could use my genius analytical skills to find out what a perfect redemption arc is supposed to look like and develop a formula for it. And then I stepped back and laughed at myself. Since when did good writing ever follow a formula? All the best writers know how and when to break the rules. Also, I am not as much of a genius as I think I am. I’m literally just hanging out here and overthinking my fictional faves like the rest of fandom.

A lightbulb moment switched on when I attended a workshop focused on restorative justice in schools, back in the summer of 2022. As I listened and processed the things I was learning, my storyteller brain kept poking me. Hey, it was saying to me. Heyyyy can we use restorative justice principles to write better character arcs? Particularly redemption arcs? I talked to my MFA adviser about this as we began to workshop ideas for a critical thesis in Young Adult literature. We started to explore the ways that restorative justice principles showed up in books like Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. I got a little further along in my theories, identifying techniques authors used to show characters confronting their privilege, unlearning old behaviors, and making amends for harm that they caused others. Still, something was missing. I just wasn’t getting where I wanted to with my analysis.

A few weeks ago I had a second lightbulb: what if we stop looking at justice in relationship to character arcs alone, and start looking at worldbuilding?

That clicked. Oh, boy, did it click! You really can’t talk about characters without understanding their world. Once I attended a panel on writing villains, and one of the panelists asserted that you can’t develop your villain as a character until you’ve developed your world. (Whether villains are outcasts hellbent on revenge, or oppressive tyrants at the top of their society, their world plays a role in shaping them.) Since what we call redemption arcs so often involves taking a character out of a villainous space and into a more heroic one, naturally worldbuilding has to be a factor in that kind of story. I also realized that the framing of the “redemption arc” frustrates me because on some level, it’s still tied to the Western Christian idea of individual salvation. I didn’t want to necessarily focus on what what one character does or doesn’t do individually without also focusing on that character’s relationship to other characters and their communities.

So I decided to experiment with shifting the focus of my thesis research. There were only two things left to do: come up with a framework for exploring my ideas, and test those questions out on Young Royals. Because it’s my favorite show, and it has a lot to say about justice. That said, a lot of what I say here and the methods I use could be applied to other shows as well. I’m curious to hear what it might have to say about your other favorite works of fiction!

The Framework

After some drafting during early morning bus commutes, I came up with three questions I wanted to explore when looking at Young Royals and other texts. These questions are:

What is the authorial philosophy of justice? What principles of justice are at play in how the author constructs the characters, world, and storylines?

How is justice enacted (or not) through the legal system(s) in this story’s setting? To what extent do the ideals of that legal system match up with its reality? To what extent should they?

What are the individual characters’ experiences of justice in their day to day life? What social norms do they end up creating in their smaller communities to enforce their ideas of justice?

What I like about this series of questions is that it allows a text to speak in multiple voices. There has been a lot of fandom discourse over the last ten years (and even longer, honestly, this shit goes back at least to Plato’s dialogues) about authorial intent and whether depiction equals endorsement and so on. I don’t think I’m going to end those debates today. Still, I do think it’s worth pointing out that a TV show or a book or a movie is able to tell a story and make a point in a different way than an essay or campaign speech does. You can have different characters own different parts of the truth. A particular setting can be positive for one character and negative for another. Fiction is really good at exploring paradoxes, contradictions, and tensions. I created these questions because they force me to tease out the tensions in a narrative and where there might be meaning in them.

Come on, Blue! you say. We know Young Royals has a lot of tension in it. When are you gonna start talking about your fandom? Okay. Fine. I’ll get to the sad teenagers now. Put on your school uniforms, everyone. We’re going to Hillerska!

No Good or Bad People, Only Good or Bad Actions

The title for this section comes from me paraphrasing Omar paraphrasing Lisa in an interview.

Two questions you may have about this section are: 1. What makes authorial philosophy (a term I am pretty sure I just made up for the purposes of this meta) different than authorial intent? 2. What’s the relationship between the author’s philosophy and their worldbuilding?

To answer question 1, I am defining authorial philosophy for the purposes of this meta as what the author intends + how effectively they convey that through their storytelling and craft. So like, authorial intent, but we’re also holding the author somewhat accountable for how their message comes across. Generally I read Lisa and the rest of the team as pretty intentional in how they craft their stories, and I can see how their ideas play out in practice, so I am more likely to give credence to authorial intent. I might not do that for other authors. As someone who reads heavily in the YA novel field, I’ve seen plenty of books with surface progressivism that end up being kinda reactionary when you scrape beneath that surface. Usually it’s a craft issue or the author not being intentional enogh. Young Royals, so far, has not been that kind of text.

As for question 2, authors can use their worldbuilding to reinforce their authorial philosophy, whether that’s through having characters in the story espouse said philosophy, or by using the story’s plot and character arcs to test their story, or by some combination of the two. Lisa is a writer who affords her characters a lot of grace, but I also see her as willing to test that grace and our her personal philosophy on trial. She’s very aware that ideals don’t always match up with reality, and those tensions are part of what she explores so well in her writing.

Now that we’ve addressed those questions, let’s address the authorial philosophy of Young Royal.

Young Royals stands out from other school dramas because it handles nuance so well. But how do Lisa and her team achieve that nuance? Part of it is the way their approach to characters resonates with the philosophy of restorative justice.

Restorative justice can be defined as “a system of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.” This website has some additional information about what restorative justice looks like in theory and practice. (Plenty of other websites do as well.) Restorative justice is really hard to pull of IRL, but philosophically it does ask us to think about the ways in which more retributive and punitive justice systems are failing people.

Now, before I get too far into my explanation, I don’t know if Lisa chose a restorative justice approach to her writing on purpose, or how much she’s read about the subject. But a lot of what she prioritizes as a writer lines up with certain RJ principles anyway. For example, RJ practitioners believe that every human being has worth and dignity, and that leaning too far into a retributive justice model (more on that in the next section) can be dehumanizing for both victims and offenders. In Lisa’s writing, each character is humanized, there are no characters who are caricatures. Everyone in Young Royals has their own reasons for behaving why they behave—even when they make choices that harm others. There aren’t excuses, but there are explanations.

Two other important ideas in RJ are accountability and dialogue. Season 2 of YR deals a lot with the question of accountability. Wilhelm’s positive growth is signaled by his willingness to be accountable for his actions; August’s more tragic arc is characterized by his baby steps toward accountability followed by his dramatic backflip away from it.

Regarding dialogue, Wilhelm’s growth is fostered by important and vulnerable conversations with others. Sometimes these conversations are with the people he harmed or impacted in a negative way. He and Felice have to talk their way through the weirdness of that kiss, while he and Simon have to talk about… well, everything. TBH they’re not done talking yet. But they’ve started, and that’s where the progress and catharsis is happening. Other times, Wilhelm’s conversations with other members of the Hillerska community—Nils and Boris come to mind—help him to see things in a new light and clarify his ideals. When we cheer on Wilhelm as he comes to better understand his privilege in the world and the weight that his actions have, we’ve been enlisted by Lisa to support restorative justice philosophy.

No one character represents Lisa’s philosophy entirely, because she’s so committed to all characters being fallible in their own ways, but I would say that of the main cast, the Eriksson siblings and Felice are the most likely to express different parts of restorative justice philosophy. All of them strive to look for people’s human side instead of relying on stereotypes. They want the people close to them to be accountable for their actions. They talk things through. They recognize the needs of multiple people in a situation. This doesn’t happen all the time, with every person, in every instance. They get distracted and led astray. There may be times where it would benefit them to get outside help and they don’t. Sometimes their efforts blow up in their face. But they’re trying, and I think Wilhelm has definitely joined them by the end of season 2.

So sure, all the characters in Young Royals might brush up against the principles of restorative justice, but they still “live in a society” as we may or may not still say on the internet. In order to understand more, let’s talk about the legal system as it’s presented in the show.

Call Your Lawyer Stepdad

As a writer, Lisa may believe in restorative justice principles, and this likely guides how she depicts the characters in her story. The legal systems she depicts in her work, however, are not restorative. What’s more, they are applied unequally based on the identity of the person who breaks laws or rules. Young Royals is very clear about the distinction between the ideals of the law and how the law actually gets enforced.

Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not a law student or someone who’s studied much comparative politics, so I can’t say for sure whether Sweden’s legal system leans more retributive or more rehabilitative. I also can’t say whether the ideals of its legal system match its reality, but I am making a safe guess that they don’t entirely. (Sweden, my ancestral homeland, I love kanelbullar and ABBA, but your current right wing government and your response to the COVID pandemic and your history of colonization, among other things, shows that you are just as capable of bullshit as any other nation. Forgive me if I approach your legal system with caution. If anyone from Sweden or another Nordic country has more info and can weigh in, feel free to weigh in.) It’s also worth mentioning my own preconceived notions here. I live in a country with a massive mass incarceration problem and a legal system that was specifically created to reinforce white supremacy, so my trust in law enforcement and courts and the like is… not high.

What I can say about the legal system in Young Royals is this: the writing of the show primarily focuses on the retributive aspects of the legal system. In a retributive justice system, those who break the law are criminals, and they are punished for their crimes. Punishment is seen as a way of deterring crime and keeping it from happening in the future.

We see the impact of a system like that when legal consequences motivate characters and the choices they make. Simon is afraid of getting caught and prosecuted for bringing drugs into school, while August fears being put on trial and imprisoned for leaking the video. What’s interesting to me, though, is that it isn’t just that both characters fear punishment. They also fear the stigma that comes with being publicly convicted of a crime. Simon doesn’t want to be stereotyped as the poor kid who comes into school and pushes drugs on the rich kids. He knows how dangerous drug addiction can be from witnessing his dad, and he brings the drugs into school out of financial desperation. August, meanwhile, wants to think of himself as an untouchable elite who is discreet about secrets, and probably (more sympathetically) also wants to think of himself as a relatively helpful guy who showed Wilhelm around school and took care of him the way Erik would have wanted. I think it’s very clever how Lisa had Simon and August each break the law in ways that betray their respective core values, because it brings this issue with a retributive justice system to light. Once someone has committed a crime, how do they move past that stigma and make themself into the sort of person who doesn’t do a crime again?

This leads to another issue with retributive justice. We often equate legality with morality subconsciously, but these two ideas are not the same thing. In August’s case, leaking the video is easy enough for us to label—it is both illegal because it is against the law and immoral because it violates Simon and Wilhelm’s right to sexual privacy. Simon bringing in his dad’s drugs—that’s against the law, sure. But is it immoral? Simon is up against a corrupt teacher who rewards students who can pay more with better grades. He needs to pay for tutoring if he want to succeed. He’s at a disadvantage because of his socioeconomic status, and he also probably hasn’t had time to process trauma around his dad’s addiction. From the point of view of a Hillerska parent, however, they’re just going to see Simon as a threat to their kid’s well-being.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Simon’s reasons for breaking the law are absolutely more sympathetic than August’s reasons. I cannot stress this enough. We see the way the system screws Simon over, and how it drives him to do what he does. Simon gets drugs to students who consent to take them, but when August films him and Wilhelm it’s without their consent. Moreover, August is complicit in Simon’s lawbreaking because he ends up being the guy who sells drugs on Simon’s behalf. (Jesus, August, sell a painting or something.) But who is the legal system in the YR universe more likely to give grace to? August. Who is it more likely to come down hard on? Simon. Simon does not have the wealth to afford a trial. He doesn’t have a lawyer stepdad on speed dial. He doesn’t have an in with the media like the royal family does, so he can’t control the public narrative of his life the same way that they can.

On a purely literal level, August dangling the threat of the pill bottle in front of everyone is the most textbook example of August being a little shit. On the thematic, level, however, this reminds us who the justice system really serves. It’s a caution against relying on the justice system—or at least relying on the justice system alone—for narrative catharsis in this story. Instead, we should be looking for narrative catharsis elsewhere. And, we should definitely be looking at more than one character arc if that is the case.

The Only Person You Can Truly Control Is Yourself

While season 2 includes the retributive justice of the legal system as part of its worldbuilding, we also see Wilhelm embody the philosophy of retributive justice through his actions. Wilhelm starts his arc in a place where he wants to punish August for what he’s done by taking away everything he cares about. He justifies this by pointing out the problems with the legal system—rich kids never actually face the consequences of their actions. While Wilhelm is correct to call that out, he ends up transforming himself into a more extreme agent of the retributive philosophy in order to pursue what he sees as justice.

Now, this is a writing gambit that could have failed spectacularly. We’ve all seen versions of the “if we are awful to our enemies, we’re just as bad as them” story that end up reinforcing an icky status quo. But that’s not exactly what happens in Young Royals. The first thing to notice is that Wilhelm’s approach works… initially. August has lost a lot at the beginning of season 2, part of it due to Wilhelm’s efforts, and that’s made him more willing to reflect and be vulnerable and listen to Sara when she tells him he can preserve his self-respect by turning himself in. I actually don’t think Sara’s being entirely naive when she points out that January August would have turned himself over. The problem is that as January August becomes February And March August and starts to gain new things to protect (an in with the palace, a new relationship with Sara) he becomes afraid of losing everything again, and starts to go back to his old ways.

The other thing to notice is that Wilhelm mostly acts alone. Felice is his confidant, but she’s not working alongside Wilhelm, suggesting they swap out August’s hair products with toothpaste. (I kinda wish she would have, though.) In spite of the fact that the video probably hurt Simon even more than it did Wilhelm (reminder: Wilhelm has access to a press team and hired security that let him walk away at first) Wilhelm doesn’t center Simon in the process of doling out punishment. He does it with the best of intentions—he doesn’t want Simon getting hurt—but that moment where Simon’s like “You did ALL THIS TO HIM when we could have reported him together???” Yeah. That’s extremely valid. And it hints at one of the central ideas of s2—yes, dealing with August is important, but priority number one for Wilhelm is Wilhelm taking accountability for his own actions (denying that it was him in the video) and making things right with Simon in that way. With that relationship restored (see what I did there? restorative justice?) they can lean on one another as they slay their next monster. At the end of the day, the person who Wilhelm has the most control over is himself. That’s why we end season 2 on him making the speech and publicly acknowledging his relationship with Simon, not with the arrival of cop cars at Hillerska.

Speaking of the choices Wilhelm decided to make, I invite Young Royals fans to consider how Wilhelm’s role as crown prince give his actions symbolic weight. The royal family may not have real lawmaking power, but they’re still supposed to represent Swedish values and traditions to the general public. If Wilhelm starts pursuing a kind of justice, then he’s making a statement about what justice looks like in Sweden whether he wants to or not. If he had shot August in the field, that would have been more than a murder—symbolically that would have been an execution, in a country that banned capital punishment in the 1970s. (Then again, Stella and Fredrika would probably be okay with that.)

I want to make one more point here as I transition into the next section. I don’t think Lisa is necessarily saying that August shouldn’t be punished or face consequences for his crime. But I do think she’s being very clear that a retributive justice philosophy is going to hit marginalized people without the resources to defend themselves—people like Simon—a lot harder. And that opens up the question of where we’re supposed to find catharsis. Can we really exhale at the image of jail cell doors clanging shut, knowing that this same legal system can come for Simon using the same tools? If Simon somehow manages to evade prosecution, can he ever really find relief? How long will that last? What’s to say the system won’t screw him over in other ways, and what’s to say that other rich kids won’t get away with what August did, or worse?

It would be one thing if a crime only harmed the individuals involved, but restorative justice philosophy reminds us that this harm also impacts communities and involves communities. So, without further ado, it’s time to zoom in and examine how justice plays out (or fails to) in the Hillerska community.

Snitches, Stitches, and Scapegoats

In the microcosm of Hillerska, students have organized their own justice system in miniature. Conformity gets rewarded, while open nonconformity gets ostracized. While there is some understanding among the students that individuals will deviate from heterosexual, traditionalist, rich kid norms, this deviation is generally only tolerated when students do it in secret. In this climate, Hillerska students do a lot of self-policing. Stella and Nils cover up their sexualities in ways that may not work for them long term. Felice frets about her physical appearance and how people will perceive her if she pursues boys a certain way. You get the picture.

Because of the pressure to maintain a pristine image of the school (gotta make those admissions brochures look sparkly clean!) the student body as a whole sweeps crime and “deviant” behavior under the rug by closing ranks and agreeing not to snitch on one another. The elite status of Hillerska students allows them to get away with a lot their public school peers would not. While gossip flourishes within Hillerska’s walls, woe betide anyone who lets it escape into the outer world.

On occasion, there are crimes that can’t be covered up, and it may be that more than one student is involved. We’ve seen what happens in this case. Hillerska students do not collectively assume responsibility, but instead agree upon a narrative about what happened and choose a scapegoat to pin the problem on. We see this most clearly in episode 1.5, when Alexander is found with the drugs that the Society used for their party. August suggests they pin the drugs on Simon, while Wilhelm breaks with tradition and says Alexander should take the fall, because Alexander can easily bounce back from an accusation like this. Sure enough, Alexander is back at Hillerska next season, far less innocent than before and far more likely to engage in political intrigue. Wilhelm’s considerations about how Alexander can more easily absorb the blame for the drugs are well thought out and in some ways compassionate—and we’re happy to cheer him on for defending Simon and to some extent we should. However, Wilhelm’s willingness to participate in the scapegoating system backfires on him nonetheless, and also entrenches him in one of the most toxic parts of Hillerska culture. He’s cut off one hydra head and two new ones have sprung up to take it’s place.

One obvious danger of scapegoating is that innocent people are often blamed for things they have nothing to do with. We’ve seen this negatively impact Simon on the rowing team and elsewhere. Vincent makes Simon the scapegoat for the rowing team’s loss in episode 2.3 and uses it as an excuse to bully him. Simon doesn’t get to sing his solo because people will recognize him from the video and that will affect the school’s image and the royal family’s image. Simon is innocent in these areas, but he’s being made to take on blame for situations that are a lot bigger than him. Of all the individual students at Hillerska, Simon’s probably getting the shortest end of the stick, and that’s directly related to the fact that he lacks privilege.

Feeding the Myths

There’s other ways to make people symbols of crime or deviance, however, that can damage the fabric of social groups in other ways. Since scapegoat isn’t quite the right term here, because it tends to presume innocence rather than superlative guilt, I’m going to borrow some season 2 language and refer to this as the Worst Person in the World Phenomenon. Now, this is where I’m going to go out on a limb a bit and ask a question the show might not engage with in season 3. They might do it. They might not. It may be beyond the scope of the story Lisa feels she is able to tell. I’m going to ask this question all the same:

If August faces public consequences and punishment for leaking the video, what impact will that actually have on the culture of Hillerska students? Will it prevent such a thing from ever happening again? Will it at least encourage self-reflection?

You could argue that a high profile case like August’s could deter his classmates from engaging in harmful behaviors. He may affect some students that way. I mean, what he did is Very Bad on the Bad scale. You might even call him… the Worst Person In The World. Who would want to be like the Worst Person In The World?

The flip side of the Worst Person In The World phenomenon is that can actually discourage people from taking responsibility and holding themselves accountable. Because gosh, what I did isn’t that bad. It’s not serial killer bad, or Vladimir Putin bad. Do we realistically believe that other students at Hillerska aren’t doing problematic things? That the rowing team has zero boys who will show a topless photo of their girlfriend (without her consent) to some of his bros while they chuckle over it? That some of the girl groups aren’t spreading wildly inappropriate and homophobic rumors about classmates that seriously damage reputations? That kids aren’t paying one another for test answers or putting pressure on one another to unsafely experiment with alcohol and drugs, even when students express boundaries and don’t want to? That kids don’t collectively work to bully teachers at times? And generally the kids aren’t getting in trouble because they’re the children of rich, elite parents, who will grow to be the rich people who run the systems and structures in society for the next generation.

Now, none of the Hillerska kids (that we know of) are doing bad things on the scale that August did when he leaked the video. This is important to stress. But it’s also important to stress that this “getting away with bad behavior” culture of Hillerska and rich people in general is part of what made August who he is. Are the other participants in that culture willing to reflect on that and actively work to change the culture in question?

Again, this does not mean that August shouldn’t face consequences or punishment, or that he shouldn’t go to prison and undergo some sort of rehabilitation. There are excellent reasons for him to face consequences. He did revenge porn FFS. But I think it’s worth acknowledging that the punishment of a very obvious, high profile offender can feed the myth that the legal system is finally working toward justice when in fact the system is continuing to perpetuate injustice. We can see how this works when only a few select predator men were convicted to placate the #MeToo movement, we can see how this works with corrupt cops when only a few who kill are ever convicted but most get away with it, and we can see how this works with political parties taking advantage of the fact that other political parties are, well, worse.

And yes, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc etc. I think we can keep that in mind while also keeping in mind that we still bear a responsibility to Do The Work in whatever way we are able. This is wandering off of Young Royals a bit. But I’ve given a lot of thought to the way we point at glaringly bad examples of human behavior and say “at least I’m not that guy” while not really doing the reflective work about what we can do to be better and how we can change our culture and systems. This kind of rhetoric is what allows people, especially people like the Hillerska kids who are at the top of society and the peak of privilege, to sleep at night. And maybe they shouldn’t be sleeping so well.

I think a lot about how the scene with Sara warning August that Simon is going to call the police (which is about Sara giving August one more chance to embrace accountability) is followed by a scene of Henry showing up to his group project meeting with no work done. Henry might not have done his work on a literal level, but as a symbol, he’s doing a lot of work. Not only is Henry foreshadowing that August isn’t going to do the right thing and turn himself in, he’s also lampshading the broader culture of Hillerska itself. For all the fancy plaques about responsibility, the students use their privilege and power to avoid doing what’s right and keep the status quo going. This is who they are. This is what they are going to have to overcome to be ethical humans who make their world better.

Working for Catharsis and Healing (A personal opinion section)

I don’t make predictions. The idea of making predictions for season 3 is in fact pretty stressful for me. But what this intellectual exercise has opened up for me is a question of where I would find catharsis and healing in the narrative. It’s not in the sound of police sirens. Maybe that’s different for you. That’s okay. I think we can learn a lot from the discussion in question.

Let’s start with the obvious jerkface himself and the question of him facing punishment. I think it’s worth separating August from other people for a time, to prevent him from doing additional harm to others. If we’re going to call that prison, then sure, let’s call it that. But let’s unpack what that separation looks like. In order for Wilhelm and Simon (and Sara and Felice for that matter) to heal, they’re going to need to be away from him. They should not be the ones responsible for his rehabilitation. As a restorative justice nerd deep down (at least, mostly, but fictional teenagers are well within the broad spectrum of people I’ll offer grace to) I still think he deserves a chance to heal from at least his drug addiction and his eating disorder and his trauma over his dad’s suicide. I also think he needs to understand accountability and the impact his actions have on others, and needs to learn to act in ways that repair the harm he’s done and prevent future harm. This is what he owes the world. There’s not time enough for us to see that whole journey, but I feel like the writers could show us the first few steps.

I’ve seen some people try to argue that August can’t change because he didn’t respond enough to Sara treating him like a person. I can see their point, and I can see the show using the Sara subplot as a shorthand for the idea that August can’t change. Writers often have to use that kind of shorthand to make a point about a character. (The relationship between redemption arcs and romantic love is one of my ongoing problems with redemption arcs in fiction, just for the record.) The way I see it, though, Sara is just one neurodivergent girl with a family history of abuse experiencing her first romantic love. She’s not a team of trained mental health professionals and social workers and other help-minded adults who’ve studied up on how to de-program systemic nonsense. After all, we can accept that although Simon loves Wilhelm very much, Simon’s efforts alone weren’t enough to fully dislodge Wilhelm from his place of privilege. Wilhelm needed Boris and therapy, and a mom who made him go to therapy (Kristina often does more harm than good, but her making Wilhelm go to therapy is the broken clock being right twice a day), and Felice as a friend and confidant, and Nils as a different sort of confidant, and a literature teacher like Fröken Ramirez who’s assigning him books with queer representation. Wilhelm’s journey is still ongoing. Romantic love may be transformative, but individuals in love don’t change people on their own. Communities change people. I am an aromantic relationship anarchist and I will die on this hill.

Speaking of the Eriksson siblings, I want Sara and Simon to have a chance to repair their relationship and build it anew. This would be another point of catharsis for me. I’ve seen a lot of people saying “Sara needs to do xyz tasks…” like we’re in a confession booth and a certain number of Hail Marys will save the day, but step one is that Sara and Simon just need to start communicating again, and communicating honestly. I think it’s easy to point to August as being the root of their relationship struggles, but there were a lot of unspoken tensions between the Eriksson siblings long before he entered the chat. They would have had some other falling out even without Hillerska. Simon’s been led to believe he should parent his sister, and Sara’s been convinced she’s a burden to her brother forever. They both are still reeling from trauma related to their dad, and it may need that they need different things to heal from that. Even without all that, they’re both maturing and defining their values and exploring romance for the first time, and Sara’s getting friendships of her own without always tagging along with Simon and Rosh and Ayub. Simon and Sara are getting to the age where they may not always be the most important people in each other’s lives, and they need to learn to grow up without growing apart. That doesn’t always happen automatically; it takes self-reflection and commitment and listening. I don’t think we’ll ever be back to the innocent days of Sara teasing Simon about his fairy tale prince. But I do think they can move their relationship forward in a new direction, and bounce back stronger.

I also think both Eriksson siblings need to come to terms with the fact that they violated their own values. Sara didn’t do anything illegal, but she did do something that violated her own morals, and you can tell that she feels pretty awful about that when she’s alone on the bus and driving away from school in 2.6. As for Simon, I don’t know if he’s fully gotten a chance to sit with the fact that he violated his own values when he brought his dad’s drugs to school. Again, I don’t want Simon to have to go through legal trouble, or deal with the prison system. The legal system is stacked against Simon in ways that are not fair. But Simon values accountability, and Wilhelm basically rescued him from being held accountable in season 1. I imagine that’s caused cognitive dissonance for Simon he’s still sorting through. I wonder what that’s going to be like for him.

On Wilhelm’s end, I’d like him to continue growing in the ways he’s grown in season 2. He’s learned not to be a symbol of extreme retributive justice. What would it look like for him to model restorative justice practices instead? (Note: this doesn’t mean that he personally has to forgive August. That’s entirely up to Wilhelm.) How can he encourage his community to act differently?

For Felice—well, one of my few issues with season 2 was how they handled Felice, and how they made her ancillary to others’ arcs instead of having her own, but that’s a post for another time. All the same, I think Felice is learning to trust her instincts, push past her biases, and take a unique point of view on things. She’s able to look at the video and see the broken pixels rather than the scandalous gossip scene everyone’s talking about. She can sense Sara’s hiding a secret from her and knows Sara needs to talk. Even if the conversation they end up having is deeply upsetting for her, it brings truths to light that need to be shared. Felice doesn’t have every tool in the toolbox yet, but what she observes and how she interacts with people can be helpful in delivering justice.

I don’t have meta space to consider every parent and adult on the show and things they can do differently. But I expect in season 3 we’ll start to see some adults (I don’t think it’s likely that we’ll see all of them) consider the roles they play in perpetuating systems and cycles. At least, I hope so. It shouldn’t be all on the young people to achieve change in society.

As for the Hillerska culture, it needs to change too. It’s worth asking if a place like Hillerska should even exist. Every secondary Hillerska student is going to act a little bit differently in response to the events of the plot, and I don’t know if I’d buy it if the show tried to tell us the Hillerska culture changed overnight in a magical ripple of self-consciousness. We might see individual students taking baby steps toward responsibility and liberation here or there. We might just see status quo as usual. I think of all the threads in this story, this is the one I would be okay with seeing Lisa Ambjörn leave things unresolved or in a place of tension, as long as that tension feels intentionally placed. Because changing the world is hard, and not everything changes all at once.

Young Royals doesn’t have to tie up every loose end by the last episode of season 3, but I do think it’s already raised a lot of questions about the relationship between justice and storytelling and where we find catharsis in fiction and our own lives. These questions are worth us considering, even if the answers point toward all the work that still needs to be done for the future.

[coopermorrow]

Who I Write For

Hi! My name is Cooper and I am hoping to be a writer one day so I thought what better way of starting off than by writing about my favorite celebrities and characters? I am in many fandoms but not all, so if you don't happen to see one of your favorite celebrities or characters on my list you can still ask me to write about them and I'll do my best!

American Horror Story:

Tate Langdon

Violet Harmon

Nora Montgomery

Lana Winters

Kit Walker

Sister Mary Eunice McKee

Queenie

Madison Montgomery

Zoe Benson

Cordelia Goode

Misty Day

Kyle Spencer (pre and post death)

Dandy Mott

Tristan Duffy

James Patrick March

Elizabeth/The Countess

Kai Anderson

Winter Anderson

Michael Langdon

Mallory

Brooke Thompson

Xavier Plympton

Montana Duke

Harry Gardner

Slashers/Horror Characters:

Michael Myers

Jason Voorhees

Billy Loomis

Stu Macher

Bubba Sawyer

Vincent Sinclair

Bo Sinclair

Lester Sinclair

Tiffany Valentine

Baby Firefly

Doomhead

Brahms Heelshire

Darry Jenner (Jeepers Creepers)

Norman Bates (Bates Motel)

Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

Art the Clown

BTS:

Kim Seokjin

Min Yoongi

Jung Hoseok

Kim Namjoon

Park Jimin

Kim Taehyung

Jeon Jungkook

Jackass:

Johnny Knoxville

Steve-O

Ryan Dunn

Bam Margera

Chris Pontius

Rachel Wolfson

Marvel/Avengers Characters:

Loki Laufeyson

Thor Odinson

Tony Stark

Peter Parker

Natasha Romanoff

Steve Rogers

Sam Wilson

James "Bucky" Barnes

Bruce Banner

Wanda Maximoff

IT (2017 and 2019):

Richie Tozier

Bill Denbrough

Eddie Kaspbrak

Mike Hanlon

Stanley Uris

Ben Hanscom

Beverly Marsh

Patrick Hockstetter

Henry Bowers

Reginald "Belch" Huggins

Victor Criss

What's Eating Gilbert Grape:

Gilbert Grape

Arnie Grape

Harry Potter:

Harry Potter

Ronald Weasley

Hermione Granger

Luna Lovegood

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Draco Malfoy

It's Always Sunny In Philadeplphia:

Charlie Kelly

Dennis Reynolds

Deandra "Dee" Reynolds

Ronald "Mac" McDonald

The Last Of Us (show):

Joel Miller

Ellie Williams

Wednesday:

Wednesday Addams

Morticia Addams

Xavier Thorpe

Miscellaneous:

Javier Pena

Kevin Khatchadourian

Jay (Jay and Silent bob)

Jareth the Goblin King (The Labyrinth)

Mort Rainey

Victor Van Dort

Tarrant Hightopp/The Mad Hatter (Alice In Wonderland)

Edward Scissorhands

I will not write rape, 18+ content for underage characters, or anything where the character is another species. I will not take requests containing pedophilia, ablism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, or any other form of bigotry. Comfort imagines for things such as depression, eating disorders, and anxiety are fine as long as you do not want them to be very descriptive and/or explicit. Please make formal requests through my ask as I will not take comments as formal requests. I write for multiple genders but only smut for afab people as that is the anatomy I am most understanding of. I do take "x reader" requests. I can try to write crossovers, though I'm not too experienced with them and I do write for celebrities as well.

Requests are open now so if you do decide to make one, please include the character(s) you want and at least a small description of what you would like the plot to be. Thank you! <3

[allthecastlesonclouds]

10, 17 & 32 for writer questions?

oooo thanks for the ask!! link to ask game

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

When I was. like. 8. i wrote this original story about five girls and a boy. it was, in short, very bad: none of the character traits were consistent, the plot moved along terribly, and scenes were messy. every chapter was in a different font and Oh Dear God was it unreadable.

and i fucking loved it. i was so proud of it. i still kind of am? 35 pages for an eight year old isn’t bad. but there are printed copies i still find around my house, and my mom still talks about it to this day, and every time i read it i wince.

i’m not sure if this is the definition of haunted, but it follows me around to this day. you maybe thought this was gonna be a fanfic, but this story. Oh God.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Gotta talk about fight or flight baybee!! okay so when i started this it was basically because i had many thoughts on the fact it was kristen’s siblings who convinced her to go during family in flames and not. her parents. and also the fact her parents names combined were McDonalds. that cracked me up. also actually i was talking to a lovely irl about this and they said “wait a character is Christian Applebees??” and i went ally beardsley how dare you. the google doc is titled ‘the mfing MacDonna Applebees’

i brainstormed a rudimentary layout for Mordred for this fic, as in i thought about the first floor and went ‘everything else doesn’t matter’. the chapel is canonically disconnected from the house but kristen also canonically has a secret passageway to tracker’s room, so i decided all the secret passageways link up and let people just. into the walls. kristen and riz are the only ones who have any semblance of confidence in there bc they sneak around so much. kristen uses the passageways mostly for tracker’s and bee’s rooms, but she knows how to get to the kitchen and about midway up the tower staircase.

bee is trans. i debated for a while whether her name was spelled Bee or Bea, but i decided on Bee bc i know a Bea and the vibes are. Different. kristen’s nickname for bricker is bricks, and bee calls him rick or ricks, and when they’re a bit older on their Fantasy Discord she Nicknames him Dick and kris doesn’t let Bricker change it back. bricker is bi; he kissed one of the luckstones under the bleachers and that’s what McDonalds was angry about. he’s also religious (bee goes i know the gods are real but i think i’m taking a step back please); he probably becomes a cleric of helio and does something similar to tracker in the sense he worships his own version of helio, not the widely accepted version.

they’re all two years apart: if kristen’s going into jr year, bee’s going into freshman, bricker’s going into seventh, and cork’s going into fifth. this means cork was seven or eight when kristen left, and you know, third graders are Little and have the object permanence of baboons, so. he’s fine. he’s not really in this fic sorry. when i listen to songs, i like to imagine animatics, and so fics are based around them often, and this one is no acception; the first line of the song is ‘i think it might rain today’ and a separate 3+1 line i was debating was ‘3 times kristen found her siblings in a storm and the one time she had them’.

also kristen needs therapy. she Will Not Get It.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

really any line from ‘For Everyone’ by Jason Reynolds. it’s such a good book. my boss at a camp i worked at gave it to me a couple years ago, and i cried reading it. if i had to pick a section: (id in alt text) (it hits different when formatted like it’s read aloud)

[shivroyspantsuit]

characters I’m going to write for!!!

(please keep in mind that I will only write female or nonmen readers, I will also write smut (It wont be a masterpiece though) fluff and angst, i’ll also write drabbles, oneshots, series and probably whatever else there is)

succession

Shiv Roy

Tom Wambsgans

Gerri Kellman

Stewy Hosseini

Kendall Roy

Roman Roy

+ most other characters

Greys Anatomy

Cristina Yang

Izzie Stevens

Callie Torres

Lexie Grey

Alex Karev

Addison Montgomery

Mark Sloan

Glee

•Quinn Fabray

•Mike Chang

•Tina Cohen-Chang

•Sam Evans

•Mercedes Jones

•Rachel Berry

Its always sunny

Dee Reynolds

Dennis Reynolds

Charlie Kelly

Misc

Jason Todd

Roy Harper

Dick Grayson

Bruce Wayne

Dina Lance

Diana Prince

Star fire

Wally West <3!

I might also write some star wars fics (the og 6 movies) so request those if u want!!!

also please keep in mind that I may not be the best writer as I am only just starting :)!

[psychopomp-gay-guy]

I feel like Duke is a bookworm like Jason, but he prefers modern writers over Jason's classical. Maybe like Jason Reynolds type stuff or just any post 1980s book that has made an impact. What if duke tried to start a book club with the family, and Jason (having already tried) tells him not to.

[whirlwind2005]

Jason Reynolds showed up in Miles' contacts in into the spiderverse. For those who don't know who he is, he's a American book writer that did a couple of books on miles earth 1610.

[geekcavepodcast]

The Sentry in New Limited Comic Series

The Sentry is back in a new limited comic series from writer Jason Loo and artist Luigi Zagaria.

"Bob Reynolds may be gone, but the power of the Sentry can never be destroyed and if he doesn’t return to claim it, others will… 

Who will be the new Sentry? The Sentry is dead, but ordinary people all over the world are suddenly manifesting his powers and experiencing snippets of Bob Reynolds’ memories. But not everyone can be trusted with such responsibility, sparking a violent conflict to control the Sentry’s legacy." (Marvel Comics)

Will anyone survive long enough to become the new Sentry? Misty Knight and Jessica Jones are both in search of answers and their investigation will change everything we know about the Sentry.

Sentry #1 (of 4), featuring a cover by Ben Harvey, goes on sale on December 6, 2023.

(Image via Marvel Comics - Ben Harvey's cover of Sentry #1)

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Snippets:

On the importance of seeing yourself in literature

You know, as a Black person, when I walk in a room and I spot the Black people in that room, it makes me feel safe and when I spot those Black folk, I can see everybody much more clearly, right? I'm open in a different way, right?I think that's a human thing. And it's no different when it comes to literature.

and:

But for the most part, young people don't like to read because it's boring and because it takes too long. By the way, I don't disagree with these things. I don't think all reading is boring, but I do think some reading is boring. And I think it's unfair for us to act like we as adults don't know that to be true.

Also:

I'm more concerned with pouring love and compassion and hope and grace and patience into young people, because at the end of the day, though I love books, they're just not as important as the young people themselves.

[the-gory-gardner]

Blog Intro and Info

Slasher’s I Write:

Asa Emory/The Collector

Jesse Cromeans/Chromeskull

Michael Myers/The Shape

Jason Voorhees

Danny Johnson/Ghostface

Evan MacMillan/The Trapper

Slasher OC’s:

Persephone Duncan /The Caretaker (Spouse and Killing PartnerOf Jesse Cromeans)

Ivy & Ian Cromeans- Duncan (Twin Children of Jesse Cromeans & Persephone Duncan)  (Age Varies Between Baby-Child & Teenager)

Honey Reynolds (Spouse of Asa Emory)

Agnes Emory (Daughter of Asa Emory & Honey Reynolds) (Age Varies Between Baby-Child & Teenager)

Rosemary Douglas/The Northeast Reaper (Adopted Daughter of Owen Douglas)

Owen Douglas/The Northeast Butcher

Artemis Russell/The Beast

Malachi Grey/The Dollmaker

Lunette Scott (Girlfriend of Malachi Grey)

Jonathan West/The Huntsman

Katrina Evans (Girlfriend of Jonathan West)

Samuel Baker Jr/ The Manic

Olive Ryder (Is a Child OC So only platonic Request)

Cassidy Brooks

What I Do Writer:

- Headcanons

- Drabbles

- Slasher x Reade

- Slasher x OC

- Male x Female

- Gender Neutral Reader

- Non-Descriptive Reader Unless Requested Otherwise

What I don’t Write:

- Non/Con

- Underage

- Watersports

- Age Play (Non Sexual Or Otherwise)

- Incest (May allude to such abuse in a characters past but will not write characters doing similar acts)

[starlightsearches]

15 Questions - 15 People Game

Thanks for the tag @superblysubpar

Nickname: Star ✨ my friends sometimes call me Ambs.

Sign: Aries sun ☀️ Libra moon 🌙 Libra rising ⬆️

Height: 5'8"

Last thing I googled: sound of music streaming (it's on disney plus in case you were wondering)

Song stuck in my head currently: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, since it's my current alarm

# of followers: 1,850ish (it keeps dropping lol)

Amount of sleep: 8 hours last night

Dream job: Realistically, I love teaching, although the whole education profession is kind of a sinking ship rn 🙃 after I get my masters degree I'd love to work as a reading interventionist, but if I was really gonna shoot for the stars, I think it would be super fun to work in a writer's room for film or tv.

Wearing: A white Disneyland sweater with mickey on it, and some black sleep shorts, and my glasses 🤓

Movie/Book that summarizes you: I have no idea. Maybe Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 movie) or Howl's Moving Castle (also the movie)

Fave song currently: Heartbreak Weather by Niall Horan

Aesthetic: I don't know. I'm too tired to curate an aesthetic lately.

Fav Author(s): Neal Shusterman, Stephen King, Jason Reynolds, Kahled Hosseini, Shannon Hale, E. Lockheart, Fredrik Backman, Leigh Bardugo.

On tumblr, I gotta shout out a couple wonderful writers as well: @roanniom, @theold-ultraviolence, @finniestoncrane, @spicedchaiandromeda, @goodboyriddler, @imagine--if are just a few of them, but you can find all my faves on my reading blog @starlightreadings

Random fun fact: I'm left handed and I've never broken a bone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

15 no pressure tags: @theold-ultraviolence, @thembohux, @spicedchaiandromeda, @wayward-rose, @myrrh-dock, @leatherboundriot, @canonatypical and anybody else who wants to participate!!

[docrotten]

THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) – Episode 191 – Decades Of Horror 1970s

“The Old Ones are not truly dead. They only sleep. It is a dreamless oblivion, stretching on and on towards vast eternity!” Eternal, dreamless oblivion? That’s a hard pass. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr – as they enroll at Miskatonic University to study The Dunwich Horror (1970).

Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 191 – The Dunwich Horror (1970)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

Wilbur Whateley travels to Miskatonic University to borrow the legendary Necronomicon. But, little does anyone know, Whateley isn’t quite human.

  Director: Daniel Haller

Writers: Curtis Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum, Ronald Silkosky; H.P. Lovecraft (based on the story by)

Music by: Les Baxter

Title Design by: Sandy Dvore

Poster Art by: Reynold Brown

Selected Cast:

Sandra Dee as Nancy Wagner

Dean Stockwell as Wilbur Whateley

Ed Begley as Dr. Henry Armitage

Lloyd Bochner as Dr. Cory

Sam Jaffe as Old Whateley

Joanne Moore Jordan as Lavinia Whateley (as Joanna Moore Jordan)

Donna Baccala as Elizabeth Hamilton

Talia Shire as Nurse Cora (credited as Talia Coppola)

Michael Fox as Dr. Raskin

Jason Wingreen as Sheriff Harrison

Barboura Morris as Mrs. Cole

Beach Dickerson as Mr. Cole

Michael Haynes as Guard

Toby Russ as Librarian

Jack Pierce as Reeger

Set your H.P. Lovecraft expectations aside and you just might enjoy The Dunwich Horror. The film features a great cast, including Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, and Talia Shire. While the results may not be 100% successful, the cinematography looks spectacular, the often cliché visual effects are used creatively, and the direction is spot on. Could a 1970 film adapt Lovecraft more faithfully at that time? It’s hard to say. Lovecraft is a tricky beast to translate cinematically. Regardless, the poster from Reynold Brown is phenomenal. Check out what the Grue-Crew has to say. Enjoy!

At the time of this writing, The Dunwich Horror is available to stream free with ads from PlutoTV and PPV from Amazon and Apple TV.  The film is also available as a Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror two-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the Grue-Crew change it up for their next episode with a bit of a treat, welcoming director John D. Hancock to discuss his first feature film, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), and of course other aspects of his career. This will be fun!

We want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror 1970s podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com. 

Check out this episode!

[lauriera]

Repost from @citylitproject • ✨Lifting As We Climb✨ Announcing the 20th (free) CityLit Festival in partnership with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra✨Chesapeake Shakespeare Company✨Busboys and Poets- Baltimore✨HEDGEBROOK✨- THREE DAYS: MARCH: 25, 28, 31 A literary celebration for readers & writers. A Literary feast is coming to Baltimore. ✨Hanif Abdurraqib ✨ Megan Milks✨Fatimah Asghar✨Lawrence Brown ✨Joy Harjo✨Patricia Smith✨ Jason Reynolds✨ Allen Xing (dancer extraordinaire) ✨Gayle Danley✨and in a special appearance Hedgebrook introduces ✨Carmen Maria Machado✨and so many more illustrious poets and writers we will name in these next few weeks. Daylong at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Saturday, March 25th: Tuesday, March 28 at Chesapeake Shakespeare Theater: Friday. March 31 at Busboys and Poets - Baltimore. Visit citylitproject.org under Events. Keep checking back for updates. There is so much more coming including a love note to the Baltimore literary community by way of THREE sessions of The Writer’s Room with four of our special guests. You gon want to be there. Jus sayin’. ✨✨💜 (at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqDO9WdOCdq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jays-haiti-lit-blog2]

Masters of the Dew

         The genre of the peasant novel in Haiti reaches back to the nineteenth century and this is one of the outstanding examples. Manuel returns to his native village after working on a sugar plantation in Cuba only to discover that it is stricken by a drought and divided by a family feud. He attacks the resignation endemic among his people by preaching the kind of political awareness and solidarity he has learned in Cuba. He goes on to illustrate his ideas in a tangible way by finding water and bringing it to the fields through the collective labor of the villagers. In this political fable, Roumain is careful to create an authentic environment and credible characters. Readers will be emotionally moved as well as ideologically (from google books.com) persuaded.

Haiti Nior 2: The Classics

Edwidge Danticat's short story from Haiti Noir 2: The Classics, "The Port-au-Prince Marriage Special," was included in Ms. Magazine's Fall 2013 issue.

"A worthy sequel that skillfully uses a popular genre to help us better understand an often frustratingly complex and indecipherable society."

--Miami Herald

"There is danger and regret and fear in these stories, as characters try to negotiate a complex and often confounding land."

--Miami Herald, Feature on Haiti Noir 2 Miami launch

"Presents an excellent array of writers, primarily Haitian, whose graphic descriptions portray a country ravaged by corruption, crime, and mystery....This selection of Haitian classics is a must read for everyone."

--The Caribbean Writer ( from amazon.com)

American Street

            A New York Times Notable Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book Of All Time* Publishers Weekly Flying Start * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * ALA Booklist Editors' Choice of 2017 (Top of the List winner) * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * BookPage Best YA Book of the Year

An evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jason Reynolds

In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture.

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.

But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.

Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?  (from google books.com) 

              General Sun, my brother

he first novel of the Haitian novelist Jacques Stephen Alexis, General Sun, My Brother appears here for the first time in English. Its depiction of the nightmarish journey of the unskilled laborer Hilarion and his wife from the slums of Port-au-Prince to the cane fields of the Dominican Republic has brought comparisons to the work of Emile Zola, André Malraux, Richard Wright, and Ernest Hemingway.

Alexis, whose mother was a descendant of the Revolutionary General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was already a mature thinker when he published General Sun, My Brother (Compère Général Soleil) in France in 1955. A militant Marxist himself, Alexis championed a form of the "marvelous realism" developed by the Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, who called for a vision of historical reality from the standpoint of slaves for whom the supernatural was as much a part of everyday experience as were social and other existential realities. (from google books.com) 

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is the debut novel of co-authors Maritza and Maika Moulite. The 2019 young adult fiction tells the story of a high schooler Alaine Beauparlant, who visits her parent’s homeland, Haiti, for the first time. She falls in love with the country, discovers a family curse and meets an attractive intern. (from haitantimes.com)

6.  The first Black Republic

Haiti The First Black Republic tells the story of the fall of Haiti, and the subsequent rise that led Haiti becoming the first black republic. The instrumental war heroes and the actions of the Haitian people to fight and gain independence from European and French rule are highlighted in this illustrative historical work. Haiti: The First Black republic is a powerful historical guide; and simply a must read.

7) My Day With Panye 

In the hills above Port-au-Prince, a young girl named Fallon wants more than anything to carry a large woven basket to the market, just like her Manman. As she watches her mother wrap her hair in a mouchwa, Fallon tries to twist her own braids into a scarf and balance the empty panye atop her head, but realizes it’s much harder than she thought. BOOM! Is she ready after all? Lyrical and inspiring, with vibrant illustrations highlighting the beauty of Haiti, My Day with the Panye is a story of family legacy, cultural tradition, and hope for the future. Readers who are curious about the art of carrying a panye will find more about this ancient and global practice in an author’s note at the end.  (from google books.com) 

8) Breath, Eyes, Memory

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from the impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York to be reunited with her mother, where she gains a legacy of shame that can only be healed when she returns to Haiti, to the woman who first reared her. (from nypl.org)

9. Hold on tight, dont let go

Laura Wagner has managed to get a huge amount of Haiti into the pages of this book: the sun, the rain, the bottomless spiral of catastrophe, rage, despair and indomitable hope." —Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising: A Novel of Haiti

"In Haiti they say 'Kreyòl pale, Kreyòl konprann.' Speak plainly and honestly, and be understood. Laura Wagner does just that in this brave, beautiful book, bringing us the complex life of Magdalie, and a glimpse of a people's soul." —Jonathan M. Katz, author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster

 10. Masscare River

Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic flows a river filled with ghosts, Edwige Danticat writes in her superb preface to Massacre River: Over time the river has been the site of several massacres-- including the one which is the subject of this tour de force by Rene Philocte te. In 1937 the power-mad racist Generalissimo Trujillo ordered the slaughter of thousands and thousands of Haitians-- and, as Philocte te puts it, death set up shop everywhere. At the heart of Massacre River is the loving marriage of the Dominican Pedro and the Haitian Ade le in a little town on the Dominican border. On his way to work, Pedro worries that a massacre is in the making; an olive-drab truck packed with armed soldiers rumbles by. And then the church bells begin to ring, and there is the relentless voice on the radio everywhere, urging the slaughter of all the Haitians. Operation Cabezas Haitianas (Haitian Heads) is underway, the soldiers shout, Perejil Parsley ] Perish Punish Haitians try to pronounce perejil correctly, but fail, and weep. The town is in an uproar, Adele is ordered to say perejil but stammers. And Pedro runs home and searches for his beloved wife, searches and searches... The characters of this book not only inspired the love and outrage of an extraordinary writer like Philocte te, writes Edwige Danticat, but continue to challenge the meaning of community and humanity in all of us.  (from google books.com) 

[ulkaralakbarova]

A hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Jack Cates: Nick Nolte Reggie Hammond: Eddie Murphy Elaine: Annette O’Toole Haden: Frank McRae Albert Ganz: James Remar Luther: David Patrick Kelly Billy Bear: Sonny Landham Ben Kehoe: Brion James Rosalie, Hostage Girl: Kerry Sherman Algren: Jonathan Banks Vanzant: James Keane Frizzy, Hotel Desk Clerk: Tara King Lisa, Blonde Hooker: Greta Blackburn Casey: Margot Rose Sally: Denise Crosby Candy: Olivia Brown Young Cop: Todd Allen Thin Cop: Bill Dearth Big Cop: Ned Dowd Old Cop: Jim Haynie Detective: Jack Thibeau Plainclothes Man: Jon St. Elwood Ruth: Clare Torao Policewoman: Sandy Martin Bob: Matt Landers Cowboy Bartender: Peter Jason First Cop: Bill Cross Second Cop: Chris Mulkey Parking Lot Attendant: Marcelino Sánchez Road Gang Guard: Bennie E. Dobbins Road Gang Guard: Walter Scott Road Gang Guard: W.T. Zacha Prison Guard: Loyd Catlett Prison Guard: B. G. Fisher Prison Guard: Reid Cruickshanks Duty Sergeant: R. D. Call Hooker: Brenda Venus Hooker: Gloria Gifford Torchy’s Patron: Nick Dimitri Torchy’s Patron: John Dennis Johnston Torchy’s Patron: Rock A. Walker Gas Station Attendant: Dave Moordigian Security Guard: J. Wesley Huston Cop with Gun: Gary Pettinger Bar Girl: Marquerita Wallace Bar Girl: Angela Robinson Witherspoon Bartender: Jack Lightsy Henry Wong: John Hauk Interrogator: Bob Yanez Leroy: Clint Smith Gang Member: Luis Contreras Cowgirl Dancer: Suzanne M. Regard Vroman’s Dancer: Ola Ray Vroman’s Dancer: Bjaye Turner Indian Hooker: Begonya Plaza Film Crew: Original Music Composer: James Horner Producer: Lawrence Gordon Editor: Freeman A. Davies Production Design: John Vallone Director of Photography: Ric Waite Editor: Mark Warner Writer: Walter Hill Casting: Judith Holstra Editor: Billy Weber Producer: Joel Silver Sound Editor: John Dunn Sound Editor: Tim Mangini Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Donald O. Mitchell Costume Design: Marilyn Vance Sound Editor: Teri E. Dorman Supervising Sound Effects Editor: Richard L. Anderson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Rick Kline Executive Producer: D. Constantine Conte Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Gregg Landaker Makeup Artist: Edouard F. Henriques Makeup Artist: Michael Germain Supervising Sound Effects Editor: Stephen Hunter Flick ADR Editor: Mark A. Mangini Stunt Double: Terry Leonard Stunts: Nick Dimitri Writer: Roger Spottiswoode Writer: Larry Gross Writer: Steven E. de Souza Set Decoration: Richard C. Goddard Hairstylist: Dagmar Loesch Stunt Double: Vince Deadrick Jr. Stunts: Tony Brubaker Special Effects: Joseph P. Mercurio Stunts: Bruce Paul Barbour Stunts: Larry Holt Stunt Double: John Sherrod Stunts: Jerry Brutsche Stunts: Billy C. Chandler Stunt Driver: Conrad E. Palmisano Stunt Coordinator: Bennie E. Dobbins Gaffer: Carl Boles Stunts: Walter Scott Movie Reviews: John Chard: You switch from an armed robber to a pimp, you’re all set. A hard as nails cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down an escaped convict cop killer. The mismatched buddy buddy formula exploded onto the screen here in a ball of violence, profanity and pin sharp one liners. It also launched Eddie Murphy into 1980s stardom. Directed by Walter Hill and starring Nick Nolte alongside Murphy as part of an electrifying black and white double act, it’s unrelenting in pace and bad attitude. It could have been so different though, with the likes of Stallone, Reynolds, Pryor and Hines attached at various times for lead parts, it now is written in folklore that Murphy got the break and grasped it with both hands (he was actually fired at one point mind!). Thankfully the problems behind the scenes were resolved to give us a classic of its type. A big success for Paramount it paved the way for more choice same formula pictures in the decade, but few were able to be so course and daring with the racial divide explosions. Murphy is outstanding, quick as an A.K. 47 in vocal d...

[theultimatefan]

Kubert, Johns, Fabok, Hitch Headline Talented Comic Creators Attending FAN EXPO Philadelphia

Batman/Superman #8 - Andy Kubert and Ghost Machine #1 - Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Bryan Hitch

A vast array of talented comics artists and writers, spanning more than a half century of work and encompassing dozens of the most popular franchises in the history of the medium through the present, will be on hand as FAN EXPO Philadelphia today announced the Artist Alley headliners for the convention, set for May 3-5 at the Pennsyvlavnia Convention Center. Among the superstar writers and artists are Andy Kubert (“Batman: The Dark Knight III,” “X-Men”), Geoff Johns (“Geiger,” “Junkyard Joe”), Jason Fabok (“Rook: Exodus,” “Batman: Three Jokers”), Bryan Hitch (“Redcoat,” “The Ultimates”), Francis Manapul (“The Rocketfellers,” “The Flash”), Peter Tomasi (“The Rocketfellers,” “Hornsby and Halo”), Ryan Ottley (“Invincible,” “Amazing Spider-Man"), Frank Cho (“Liberty Meadows," “Wolverine"), Jae Lee (“Seven Sons,” “Stephen King’s Dark Tower”), Stephen Platt (“Moon Knight,” “Wolverine”), and Joe Wos (“Mazetoons,” “Charlie the Tuna”).

Just about every franchise imaginable will be well represented, and comics fans will revel in meeting the creators who have made them possible. Q&A’s, interactive demonstration sessions, autographs, commission opportunities, and more make the experience a can’t-miss for comics lovers.

The FAN EXPO Philadelphia field of creators also includes talents such as Rodney Barnes (“The Boondocks,” “Killadelphia”), Yanick Paquette (“Wonder Woman,” “The Incal”), Tom Grummett (“Thunderbolts”, “Superman”), Brad Anderson (“Geiger,” “The Rook: Exodus”), Heather Antos (Group Editor Licensing/IDW Publishing), Russ Braun (“The Boys,” “Jimmy’s Bastards”), Hailey Brown (Dark Horse Comics, Brink Literacy Project), Chris Burnham (“Unstoppable Doom Patrol,” “Batman, Inc.”), Jim Calafiore (“Exiles,” “Aquaman”), Joe Corroney (“Star Wars,” Lucasfilm), Mike DeCarlo (“The Simpsons,” “Archie”), Guy Gilchrist (“The Muppets,” “Nancy”), Jonathan Glapion (“Batman,” “King Spawn”), Scott Hanna (“Amazing Spider-Man,” “Superman: Lois and Clark”), Ben Harvey (“Star Wars: Darth Maul,” “X-Men”), Mike Hawthorne (“Batman,” “Deadpool”), Tim Jacobus (“Goosebumps,” “Spinetinglers”), Bob McLeod (“New Mutants,” “Superman”), Jonboy Meyers (“Venom,” “The Inhumans”), Rags Morales (“Identity Crisis,” “Batman Confidential”), Carl Potts (“Alien Legion,” “Punisher War Journal”), Aaron Reynolds (“Effin’ Birds”), Alex Saviuk (“Spider-Man,” “The Phantom”), Keith Williams (“The Hulk,” “Action Comics”), Ron Wilson (“The Thing,” “Marvel Two-in-One") and many others.

See the full list at https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpophiladelphia/comic-creators/.

The quality of the creators in Artist Alley mirrors that of the FAN EXPO Philadelphia celebrity roster, which features a first-rate list that includes the National Lampoon’s Vacation foursome of Chevy Chase (“Clark Griswald”), Beverly D’Angelo (“Ellen”), Randy Quaid (“Cousin Eddie”) and Dana Barron (“Audrey”), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars franchise), Rosario Dawson (“Ahsoka,” Rent), Rainn Wilson (“The Office,” “Lessons in Chemistry”), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler), Adam Savage (“MythBusters”), Danny Trejo (Machete, The Book of Boba Fett), Alan Tudyk (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,”), Mario Lopez (“Saved by the Bell,” “Access Hollywood”), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (“Ahsoka”), Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Orange is the New Black”), Rose McGowan (“Charmed,” Scream), Holly Marie Combs (“Charmed,” “Picket Fences”), Felicia Day (“The Guild,” “Dragon Age: Redemption”), Emily Swallow and Gina Carano (“The Mandalorian”), and more.

FAN EXPO Philadelphia will also feature a variety of comics creators who have written and drawn many favorite stories over the past half century, exhibitors featuring classic and unique pieces from the thousands of memorable characters and scenes that Star Wars and all of its offshoots have produced, and programming panels and special events to help fans across any empire show their love of one of pop culture’s most enduring series.

Single-Day Tickets, Three-Day Passes, and Ultimate Fan Packages for FAN EXPO Philadelphia are available now. Advance pricing is available until April 18. More guest news will be released in the following weeks, including line-up reveals for additional headline celebrities, comic creator guests, voice actors and cosplayers.

Philadelphia is the eighth event on the 2024 FAN EXPO HQ calendar; the full schedule is available at fanexpohq.com/home/events/.

[dispatchdcu]

Sentry #1 Review

Sentry #1 Review #sentry #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #amazon

Writer: Jason Loo Art: Luigi Zagaria, Arhur Hesli, Ben Harvey, and VC’s Joe Caramagna Price: $5.99 Publisher: Marvel Comics Release Date: December 6th, 2023 WHO WILL BE THE NEW SENTRY? The Sentry is dead, but ordinary people all over the world are suddenly manifesting his powers and experiencing snippets of Bob Reynolds’ memories as the Sentry #1 by Jason Loo begins to take shape. Will one of…