#yeah a lot of very dark stuff that isn't on the rest of the blog

[chaosmultiverse]

The more I think about adding the HS muses, the more I’m thinking I should have a blanket tag for the whole fandom due to all the many very uncomfortable tw’s all of the characters will need. Which while I don’t plan on rp’ing the creepy shit, it’s still apart of the characters and may come up in past tense.

[pommunist]

Hello, I'm another anon that is also kind of scared to keep posting about the situation. Actually, I've reblogged a couple of posts actually of the situation but, not too much of it. I don't want to come across as too negative and I try to be careful of what I reblog about it. Though, I also fear that people might think that I'm perfectly fine or okay with Dapper/Pomme and the french cc's being gone because I don't express my outward opinion on it (which it does make me depressed). I try to liveblog as normal when I watch my streamer in the QSMP and not think about it because I know that it will just send me in a downward spiral, but it upsets me to think that some people might believe that I or other blogs that are quiet about their opinions - would not be depressed over it or upset. The whole situation surrounding Dapper and Pomme has made me cry, I was so emotionally attached to these eggs. I'm glad they're out of that shitty treatment though, even if I miss them a lot. It also makes me depressed that the french cc's on the server are going to be gone and that the QSMP Studios didn't even care to keep them on by communicating to Pomme and leaving her in the dark for three weeks. Quackity should have been more involved into his own project, and communicating with ALL of his employees, he's the boss, he should have checked so that this terrible worker situation wouldn't have happened to begin with - maybe that's unrealistic of me and just my emotions talking but it's how I feel. Dapper shouldn't have been hired, I don't know if that's a hot take or not but I haven't seen many people talk about it? They were hired as a minor, where people make constant sex jokes and have a sex club - it just makes me uncomfortable that they were exposed to that and to working conditions that they should have never been in. It also makes me uncomfortable to see that there's still admins working in the QSMP like cucurucho or mr.reaper because their situation still isn't fixed? I haven't seen anyone else talk about this either and it just sits so weirdly to me. If the admins are being put on a break so that they can restructure QSMP, why is there still a few there working? It's just a lot of my thoughts, sorry for the vent but I felt that I needed to get my emotions out there without being known for it (blog wise)

At the end of the day anon, your blog is your blog, you should express yourself on it the way YOU want.

Don’t worry about what people may think, do what feels right for you and if there are some who may find it annoying or whatever, then they’ll just block tags and not see what they don’t want to see anymore.

I worried a lot about bothering people at first and then started thinking that if it’s the case, they can just block me, no hard feelings, and I can keep sharing what I want on my blog, and they don’t have to see it. win win situation !

As for the rest, about Dapper’s admin being hired as a minor tbh it’s true that they shouldn’t have been hired. I know they were close to turn into an official adult when they were hired, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to play Dapper, but Qstudios should have been very strict on this stuff.

As for some admins still being on the server, it was to expect when they reopened it, if only because if there are players on QSMP, you at least need someone who will help with bugs, server maintenance, making sure someone doesn’t break something important…

I think once during a recent BBH stream, you could see the « government names » of the admins (QNPCXX). When asked about them, Lea said that these were high ranked admins (and one of them was a « bad » one). So yeah chances are that admins that currently have access to the server are high admins/people who weren’t volunteers.

[natalieironside]

Introducing the Writer Tag Game

Ty @iloveyou-writers for making this and to @thewriteflame for tagging me <3

Rules: fill in the blanks with as much or little detail as you would like and tag some writer friends to play too. (blank version)

Hello, there. My name is award-winning speculative fiction author Natalie H. Ironside and I won a writing contest in high school one time that I'm gonna milk harder than Pabst milks their one blue ribbon. I'm a writer of the dark sci-fi and dark fantasy genre(s) and I love to write about sad gay ppl in horrible situations. Also, hope. The hope is very important, and my stories can get pretty dark but they always have happy endings.

I cover a broad enough range that I think I can just reject the dichotomy of SFW/NSFW (everything is adequately tagged and described so the rest is in God's hands). I write about some pretty dark themes and a lot of my work deals with the aftermath of stuff like sexual violence and child abuse, so just be aware of that, as well as the "entrails, lovingly described" throughout. Tropes you will never find in my writing include any salacious depictions of sexual violence (the word "aftermath" in the above is an important one) or...Well, I'm not sure how to put this. Most of my protags are racial, religious, sexual, or some other sort of minority, and obviously there's some darkness in the world et cetera, but there's a certain way of framing bigotry in fiction as though it's cinematic action violence which I find uniquely distasteful and I will not be doing any of that. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this in a way that makes any sense at all but I promise to never try to be the Kojima of sexism.

In my humble opinion, my best work I've posted is The Scruggsdale Organizer #4: Local Woman About Tired of All This Mess because I think it's very funny. Maybe I'm just being precious, but comedy is really really hard and I very rarely even bother trying at it but I'm pretty proud of The Scruggsdale Organizer and this installment in particular. For y'all who don't know, which I'm sure is a lot of y'all since I haven't posted about it in forever, The Scruggsdale Organizer is an epistolary horror-comedy serial about a little town in rural Mississippi where strange supernatural things happen, but instead of blog posts or letters the story is being told through articles in a weekly anarchist zine. Yeah, I guess I've written some "novels" and some "short stories" and some "poetry" or whatever, but I look at Scruggsdale Organizer #4 as a time I set out to do a specific thing and just really nailed it; it's the literary equivalent of parking the car in the spot just right.

My all-time favorite character I've made is Freydis Gothi Thorkilsdottir, daughter of Thorkil Gothi Swordbreaker, Matron of War Witches, Matron of War Matrons, High Field Marshal, Eater of Cities, Mother of Abominations, and Chief Royal Consort. She's a recurring protagonist in my Nameless Queen dark fantasy universe and I am love her very much. Freydis is an enormous ginger transsexual, a sword-and-board fighter who can cast wicked spells, and a rough-and-tumble freebooting adventurer type who suddenly found herself part of the royal court and fast-tracked into becoming a monstrous demigod. It's super weird for her and she's dealing with a whole "to become a god is to lose everything that made life worth living" situation but she's also having a rip-roaring good time while she does it.

Something I'd love for you to know about my writing that isn't listed in this game is, well, I feel like we got kinda dark in the middle there, so I wanted to end back where we began and talk about hope. What really does it for me when it comes to the dark stuff is recovery; I like telling stories about recovery. My characters sometimes have very very bad days, but tomorrow can always be better than yesterday and there's always a reason to keep trying.

Thank you for reading and now I challenge the following people to fill this out: I seem to have misplaced my list of people who said they liked participating in tag games so I'm leaving this one open. I tag each and every one of you.

[lupfics]

Hey I'm a new fan of the blog. Quick question. How would the 5 react to having a tall big chested goth gf?

Okay but like I also want a big-titted Goth GF- like GAD DAMN

but these are Gunna be quick lets a go-

TW: Tits...that's abt it lol

Lupin

Oh my god, those tits are the perfect pillow, like for real you somehow got a very needy lupin begging and PLEADING for your tits. AND your goth, don't get me wrong he likes anyone hell he isn't even turned off by you being goth. he just loves the fact you soft asf. not going to lie though you once found him trying on some of your clothes claiming he needs to blend in with an alt nightclub for a job. the shopping trip ends in disaster since he ends up stealing a ruby choker that makes it look like a person has been bit by a vampire.

Jigen

You being goth is fine with him, hell he full-on welcomes it. something about the dark clothes and shit makes him go brr. the tits are a plus. when he isn't driving he is more than happy to lay his head on you and just take a quick nap. he always apologies though since his beard usually tickles

Goemon

he is so embarrassed. yeah, you can wear whatever you want but damn why so many chains!? he deffinatly asks a lot of questions. but will never want to even wear that type of stuff. he will also straight up refuse to lay his head on your chest. that is until you straight up tell him that it's fine to rest his head. he will still do it rarely but when he does he always gives a sigh as if all his stress is washed away.

Fujiko

She loves your style hell will even ask you to make her emo sometimes. she loves all the dark colors and will gladly take you out to go shopping at all the goth and alt stores. she isn't the best at picking the outfits but she tries her best. Also, congrats you each have nice warm pillows. Fujiko fucken loves using you as a pillow (Now she knows how lupin felt) and you also have a nice pillow. a win-win.

Zenigata

this man is so confused. like this is some old grandpa guy who won't know jack SHIT about the emo-punk lifestyle. of course he tries to learn buuuut it doesn't really go anywhere since he only wears the same outfit every day. but he does have some cute bat socks you got him so now he claims to know all about emo stuff. but your tits, that's the good stuff. the perfect pillow and he would just lay on them when he needs to cool off or just destress. he will rant about lupin as he lays on you. but good luck he won't get off for a while as he keeps ranting. some of his best plans come from laying on your tits though.

[absolutebl]

Hi friend

This isn't directly related to bl so feel free not to respond ( I'd love it if u do tho)

How in the world do u manage to find time to watch so many things and catch up each week. College has started and I also have work and I can't even finish watching one single show😔.

Been stuck on Dark Blue Kiss for more than a week now.

And you maintain such a detailed blog toooo!!!

I really do admire u🥺💞

Ah. Well I live the blessed life of someone who works very very hard with only one goal in mind.

Freedom from obligations.

Which is to say, I’m a workaholic who has chosen not to marry or procreate, and my parents are still relatively autonomous and independent. I’ve had at least a part time job of some kind or another since I was 12 (my parents are both laborers with strong work ethics) and I genuinely enjoy working. 

I feel no need to own expensive objects or large things, including a house or car. I don’t like or collect *stuff* of any kind and my living expenses are extremely low (being mostly vegetarian helps with that). I live rent controlled and the only things I really spend money on are eating out and travel. Most of the time I combo travel with a conference and manage to get someone to pay the flight portion as a business trip, and the rest becomes a business expense.

Instead I do crazy shit like save most (and invest some) of my money. I don’t buy anything on debt. Even when I was getting an education I did work study, and then took time in between my degrees to work in industries I hated but were lucrative in order to pay back my debt. I should say, that while I grew up poor I didn’t grow up below the poverty line, so I’ve never not had my basic needs met. And while I don’t have much family, I am very rich in friends, so I’ve always had a safety net, although now I kinda am the safety net. But I was never truly disadvantaged in life. 

I’ve built myself up as an expert freelancer in a very specific niched field that has to do with data analysis and has made me one of the few people able to do what I do. I can set my own hours and (basically) set my own price. It helps that I have the kind of brian that likes statistics, numbers, and data a whole lot. It also helps that I can apply that brain to my own finances, business, and lifestyle without feeling constrained. I’m always turning down jobs and putting projects on the back burner because I’m already committed. 

But I’m my own boss which means that I can work when, how, and where I want to. Live frugally and take off time when I feel like it with no obligation or guilt. 

It also means I can structure my day around BL, and type happily away at this dumb blog because if, later, for any reason I have to work spreadsheets or a keynote until 2 am, that’s fine too. 

It works really well for me and my personality, but it does require a lot of self discipline, so I know it’s not for everyone. But I can recommend the lifestyle. I get to be one of those things most other people I know struggle with: content. 

I guess that’s my secret. 

Happiness is a crap shoot, mostly transient and erratic, but contentment is an achievable goal. 

Aim for autonomy and contentment. 

Then you can watch all the BL you want whenever you want to. 

Oh.. yeah. I also watch a lot of shows at 1.25-1.5x speed. And can crunch numbers and run regressions etc.. while I watch. So. There’s that too. 

[northwind-skyau]

WELCOME TO THE NORTHWIND ASKBLOG!

Northwind is a crossover AU of Sky: Children of the Light and Underhero, that I've been working on for fun for a while now. Originally, it was just a fanfiction I was writing, but I eventually realized that my writing wasn't keeping up with how much of it I wanted to share...

Soooo, I made an askblog. Without knowing much about how Tumblr works. It's a learning experience!

Information under the cut. Heavy Underhero and Sky:CoTL spoilers ahead.

Worldbuilding links:

Petrification Response

Now, first of all, the source material. I'm assuming most people on this blog are either my friends, or came here for Sky content, so in the case of the latter- Underhero's an indie platformer rpg about a monster who killed the hero. It's pretty neat. Means a lot to me.

Anyways, a brief-ish summary of the AU.

STORY SUMMARY

After killing Puzzleman, the Masked Kid (named Winter in this story) starts to walk into the void of the Endzone- However, a bright light pulls them to somewhere else entirely, and next thing they know, they wake up in Skyworld (as so creatively named by the Skykids. I'm sure the Ancestors had a cooler name for it.)

Upon waking up in the Daylight Prairie, Winter meets a skykid named Lanius, who becomes both their guide through this new world, and a good friend. Winter’s confusion at the way this world works is misunderstood as them being a moth (the Skykid term for "hasn't existed for very long), and they're a bit too nervous to admit that they literally just Aren't From This Universe. After a brief "detour" through the Isle of Dawn (they got lost), Lani and Winter meet Goggles, a more experienced Skykid who tags along with them every now and again.

Together, the duo-slash-trio travel through the world, learning plenty about eachother and the world around them- As the journey goes on, though, Winter begins to doubt whether they really want to go home, slowly realizing that they're much happier in Skyworld than they had ever been back home- All while a mysterious light appears in the Masked Kid's dreams again and again, providing as much mystery as it does comfort.

At the end of their journey, Winter and Lanius arrive in Eden- A terrifying wasteland full of darkness. Though they both wish to turn back, something about this place seems to pull Lanius further in, and Winter refuses to leave their side- Even when it ends in both of their deaths. For Lanius, this isn't a problem, as death isn't permanent for Skykids. Winter, though, would have died for good, if it weren't for Lanius desperately dragging Winter's soul through the afterlife, begging Megabird, the goddess of rebirth and the afterlife, to save their friend.

And she did, though just barely- Unable to directly bring the masked kid back to life, she did the only thing she could, essentially turning Winter into a Skykid. Before she sent the duo back down, though, she asked one thing of Lanius- To eventually, when they were ready, return to Eden, and to bring Winter when they did. And though it took Winter some time to get used to their new form (which wasn't much different, to be honest- The Light stuff was just a lot to get used to all at once), they later returned as promised.

The trip through Eden was far less dramatic this time around, and, upon reaching the Afterlife, Winter recognized Megabird as the light from their dreams- She had been observing the duo, both confused by and concerned for the newcomer in her realm. Megabird is quick to tell Winter that they are completely welcome to remain in this world, and quicker to consider them to be one of her own children. The duo linger in the afterlife for a while- Long enough for Winter to spend time with their new adoptive mother, and for the both of them to get some well deserved rest- Before returning to the living world, safe and sound.

As for Atlas, well... This is long enough as is. Didn't mean for that to happen. I'll answer any questions about the Atlas situation if you ask.

... yeah that was NOT a brief-ish summary was it

Oh yeah Character Information

Here's a quick little character introduction (using a drawing i did for unrelated reaons!) To get started. From left to right...

Goggles

Xey/Xem, They/Them

The "responsible" one of the group

Second oldest Skykid in the group.

Absolutely LOVES teaching things to Moths. That's how xey met the others!

Has ascended... A lot. Countless times. Xey know Eden like the back of xeir hand.

The image is a bit outdated- Their neck fluff is the same colour as the rest of their body. Xey're a COMICALLY fluffy skykid.

Lanius

They/Them

The first Skykid Winter met! They've stuck by his side ever since that fateful day.

Expert on survival... Which is concerning, considering how peaceful this world is.

Was stuck in the Golden Wasteland for about a year. They’re still a bit shaken from that...

Said experience has left them a bit... Wonky. Specifically, they can't store as much light as most other Skykids. It’s not that bad, but they’re frail and tire out easily.

Absolute sweetheart and a joy to be around. They’re cheerful, try and help everyone they meet, and generally very sweet.

Very quiet- They talk a lot, but their voice just... rests at a very low volume

Winter

He/Him, They/Them

Not from Skyworld! No, really- They’re the Masked Kid from Underhero. Told ya this was a crossover. (Ellie's with him, don't worry.)

Chose to stay here after reaching the Vault. He's happier in Skyworld, after all.

Ended up as a Skykid after a close call in Eden. They almost permanently died, but Lanius managed to drag his soul all the way to Megabird and asked her to help him.

Still learning the ropes of being a Skykid. They’re not really the best flier. Or... Skykid-er.

Has a silly little tail. This isn't debatable.

Has been in Skyworld for a little less than half a year now.

Has trouble standing up for himself, and easily caves into other's demands.

(No Ref Yet)

Atlas

They/Them, He/Him

The King. Really. Y'know, that kid you see after you die in Eden.

Was saved from Purgatory by Winter! (I'm still working out how.)

HATES being alone. They've had enough alone time for a thousand lifetimes.

Absolutely REFUSES to be responsible. They’ve ALSO had enough responsibility for a thousand lifetimes.

Has a habit of slipping "Thou"s and "Thee"s and stuff into their sentences. He doesn't really notice.

Childhood friend of the Valley Elders! They go to the Valley temple to talk to 'em at LEAST once a week.

Newest member of the group. Still learning the ropes of how Skyworld is nowadays.

Never really got to experience being an actual kid- They were barely past being a moth when they did the Trials. They only did the trials because it sounded fun.

HATES being referred to as royalty.

Megabird

She/Her, They/Them, It/Its

Yeah, that's... That's Megabird. That's literally God.

She's not actually a member of the group, but she checks in on them (in their dreams) a lot, since her only ADOPTED kid AND the kid she lost a few thousand years ago are there.

Absolutely WONDERFUL mother, and tries her best to be present in her childrens lives- Even if just through their dreams.

Never actually intended for Skykids to go through Eden. They go through Eden anyways, since it's a direct path to visit her.

Gets emotional easily, and cries often. Over good AND bad things.

A little bit silly at times, even if just for her kids sakes. She's a good mama!

THE FIC, IF YOU’RE INTERESTED:

[parkissat]

My Art Process (sort of, for painterly portraits)

So a long time ago @iartsometimes asked me if I could make a post about my art process and here it is finally! I'm not really sure how to explain it in an accurate or interesting way since a) I didn't save as many progress pics as I should have and b) my process isn't always exactly the same every time, but I'll do my best to describe the main ways in which I make this sort of art most of the time. And I'm using the process for this drawing as example.

This was a relatively very quick one so it's not as detailed as some others but the basic principles still apply. For practically all my art on this blog I was using at least a couple of different brushes but nowadays I'm only using one of those, set at 50% oppacity. I always start by just filling in the background with the main color that stands out to me from the bg of the ref itself, and then I lay down some more basic big blotches of color here and there to get a sense of the overall colors and values (light and dark areas).

It doesn't have to be totally accurate to the ref but I just take my cues from there so it fits well in the end and also because I don't like to start drawing on a blank/white canvass.

Then on a separate layer I just start blocking a general shape of whatever part of the subject grabs my attention the most, so sometimes I might actually start with the clothes if it's a bigger area of solid color, or the hair, but in this case it was the face. And again I just pick a main color to start blocking and then keep blocking dark areas to start getting the shapes before eventually moving on to highlights and other colors (like warm and cold tones).

I never sketch with this kind of drawing where I'm using a ref and find it easier to just paint and slowly make out the shapes and build the details, and I prefer doing it on one layer or as few layers as possible that I'll end up combining into one.

Sometimes I block out the whole overall shape before starting to add the inner shapes and details but in this case for some reason I just felt more like doing it part by part so I did a lot of work on just the head for a while, and then the shirt, and then the jacket, and then the cigarette, but kept going back and forth to all those parts to add and adjust more little details. While I'm doing this I'll often also resize the drawing at least once or twice and move it to where I want.

I usually make colors by just changing them however I need from some color I already put down in the bg or some other part of the painting. Something I really like is color contrast so I often like exaggerating little blocks of warm and cold tones, and I also love just leaving things looking a bit rough around the edges with visible brushstrokes.

So after these one I didn't save any more progress pics I think. I just finished some details everywhere like the top hair, the print on his shirt, some stuff on the jacket and probably his face too. I'm never really completely done with any particular part of a drawing until I decide I'm done with the whole thing.

And then another thing I always do, sometimes during the process of the rest of the painting but other times, like in this case, after I finish the subject, is that I add more detail to the background. I do this on a separate layer and usually it's just adding more colors to make it all flow better with the rest of the drawing, fix anything with the values, and just add some random spots of contrasting colors to make it more interesting by making some big brustrokes and then partially erasing them (though I didn't add the smaller spots so much in this case and left it at bigger adjustments).

After that the only thing left is that I almost always adjust the final colors in all the layers (I usually end up with about 3-5 layers) to make them a bit more intense. Usually I like to make the midtones warmer by increasing the reds or magentas, I make the shadows more blueish, and the highlights more yellow.

Not sure if I mentioned everything I do or if it was cohesive and interesting but yeah I think these are the main "steps" or elements about my portrait painting process. In general, I prefer painting without sketching, focusing on the bigger picture rather than details, leaving things kinda rough and having visible brushstrokes, and play around with bright colors and exaggerated color contrast. And finally here's a little progress gif of all the images above plus the final drawing where you can kinda see it coming together.

Thanks for reading! And thanks Tanya for asking about this!! Hope it was the sort of thing you had in mind XD

[daesungindistress]

When we have no more room in our heart for someone the best thing WE Can DO is let him GO & MOVE ON but it seems ur hate has no end all that anger isn't healthy could have understand ur reaction in the 1st weeks but after near 100 days this did become annoying af & pure gruge Sure it's ur personal place & i feel sorry saying that to u but i used to like ur way of analyzing & talking sadly u made of it a dark hateful blog. BTW i dropped Seungri! ps : VIP fandom are collapsing so don't add to that

Here’s what’s going on, anon. My view of the situation has been slow to shift because I’m the type of person who is stubborn and resists change. I wasn’t angry (at him or his fans) in the first few weeks because I didn’t quite believe it. While the rest of you were working through your anger and betrayal, I wasn’t there yet. So yeah, there’s been some lag, but I’ve finally caught up – and what this means is that what many of you went through weeks ago, I’m going through now. I get that a lot of y’all have already moved on, and so it’s all very tiresome: the anger, the spite, the grudge… it’s not good to hold onto this stuff, you’re right, it’s not healthy, and that’s why it’s gotta come out sometime, somehow. I have no IRL k-pop friends to talk to, so this is it for me. Like the rest of you, I’ll get over it. Eventually.

But in the meantime…

I find it grotesquely fascinating how, as the investigation is coming to an end and the truth seems to be closing in on all these men and their mutual misdeeds, Seungri’s remaining fans, in their desperation, are digging in more stubbornly than ever and starting to sound, frankly, downright crazy. I think it’s hilarious, and I’m having a great time poking fun at them. Wow, petty, right? Perhaps, but can you really blame me for being upset at them for making a mockery of our fandom? This far in? They’re everywhere like vermin, and some of them just as vile. Last night I came across a fan alleging that all these women who were drugged, raped, filmed, and their videos passed around among friends and laughed at… yeah, them? Oh, well, everyone knew JJY was a sexual deviant, those women weren’t victims, they were masochists specially chosen for the role. They knew what they were getting into. They were asking for it.

…

Oh my god.

Add to that the regurgitation of all the same tired old arguments from their little Cult-like circles over and over again, such as some of them still believing after all this time that the chats are fake. I suppose next they’ll try to convince us that the earth is flat. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid, I guess.

The ugly truth is I can’t wait for these people to lose interest and drop out of the fandom in search of their next obsession. And yet I don’t think we’re going to be rid of them anytime soon; I suspect we’re stuck with them for quite a while yet. Though I’ve refrained from saying it here until now, for a while now I’ve likened this situation to cutting off an infected limb to save the body (with a butter knife, no less)… but no, this has gone beyond infection. This is necrosis. Chop it off.

…okay. Vermin. Necrosis. That was admittedly very dramatic. I like to write colorfully and I get carried away sometimes, I’m sorry. (By the way, if you’ve dropped him, if you’re not still out there fighting tooth and nail for him, then I’m not talking about you.)

That said… the fandom. The fandom is collapsing. But I wonder if in a way we have to collapse in order to rebuild – complete destruction for a complete recovery. Like starting anew.

Or maybe that’s just me being dramatic again.

Another thing. I’ve been mulling over that ask I received the other day, in which anon said she wanted to move on and take the good memories with her – but that people like me were ruining those memories. Yeah, well, here’s all I have to say to that: if you don’t want your perspective of the past changed, you probably don’t want to be on my blog. Why? Because as you know, I love analyzing and interpreting. The events of the last few months have given me a new lens through which to view the members’ interactions with Seungri over the last few years. Things that made me go “hmm” back then are finally starting to make some sense.

Is this new view an erroneous one? Could be. Still, it’s new. At times, the way they reacted to Seungri was something of a mystery to me, there were gaps that needed filling in, an undercurrent of tension that I just couldn’t put my finger on. This – all this – feels like a piece of a puzzle slotting into place, and in a big way. I’m a writer and a storyteller at heart; even if it’s unpleasant, don’t ask or expect me to keep quiet about what I see.

Also, although things seem to be slowing, I’m still intrigued by the investigation as it continues on. Does your definition of moving on mean not keeping up with the case or commenting on it? Because there was a pretty big breakthrough recently. So… probably gonna keep posting sporadic updates about it here, at least until it’s over. As awful as it is, it’s a critical part of our fandom’s history unfolding right in front of us. And I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to miss anything important.

[fyeahbatcat]

You're the first batcat blog I followed, and from you, I spread and found other batcat blogs. Thanks for the lists of batcat stories as well, it helped me get ones I missed. My question. I remember at 1St, you were not a fan of Tom King (you were out for blood, lol). He isn't a Ed Brubaker. However, is he on acceptable grounds? In your opinion.

I have complicated feelings about Tom King. I think that people generally like to see things as being one extreme or the other because it simplifies everything, but my life’s philosophy is understanding and accepting that everything is much more complex and nuanced than we’d like to think and that means accepting that things are often hypocritical and don’t always have a clear answer. In this case even though I’m choosing to embrace Tom King it doesn’t mean that I think he’s the best writer of all time or anything like that. 

My anger with King last year was less about him and more about my continued frustration with DC Comics. I don’t know if you were following me back in 2015-early 2016 when I was complaining nonstop. I refer to this as “the dark times.” BatCat is the entire reason I even started reading comic books so I took the way DC Comics did everything in their power to avoid/destroy the relationship during New 52 very personally because it took all of the joy out of reading comics for me, something I’ve been doing since I was 12. I remember what it was like not being able to wait for the next issue to come out but during New 52 all I felt reading comics was anger, sadness, and disappointment. 

That, combined with the stuff in my personal life, made this blog not an enjoyable place to be. I had an events board that never got updated because there was just nothing to report and I complained constantly. It got to a point where it started to depress me. So DC Comics has this habit of announcing relaunches and promising that things are going to get better only to deliver the same bs from before (think DCYou), so I was already weary when they announced Rebirth and even though I refused to buy their books until I knew I was going to be happy with it because I love DC and can’t seem to completely quit them I was willing to wait to see if they were serious this time. Everything looked good at first, mind you this was after enduring five years of New 52 and I was still upset that Catwoman’s series had been cancelled, but King said that he planned on featuring Catwoman and she was going to be the co-lead of Batman and I was paying attention and getting my hopes up again. Literally when I saw that panel of Catwoman in the straitjacket I said out loud “Are you fucking kidding me?”

They promised things were going to get better and they immediately made it worse than it was before. So that’s why I was so mad about it. I never thought that Catwoman was really going to be a mass murderer, and had it not been for 5+ years of New 52 sucking up all of my goodwill I probably would’ve had more patience to let the story play out, but I was tired of DC making promises and exploiting my loyalty and not delivering. Also though that murderer thing was some bullshit and I stand by my criticism of that. Given everything that had preceded Rebirth it was a very inappropriate way to introduce Catwoman.  

Obviously a lot has happened since then and yeah I don’t think Tom King is the greatest creative mind since Spielberg or anything, but…lmao I’m old. Let my weary fandom soul rest. Things were so bad for so long and I don’t have the emotional energy to mourn the DC Comics that used to be anymore. That company doesn’t exist anymore, and this is what it is. I did that for a long time and it made me miserable. All of the constant negativity just brings me down. Tom King brought batcat back into the comics in ways that were far beyond my expectations and even though the writing isn’t Perfect™ tbh I don’t care. I’d rather have a mediocre writer who writes batcat than a mediocre one who doesn’t because those are basically our options at this point. This is the compromise I’ve made to enjoy comics again, and guess what; I’m happy with it.

So yeah Tom King is acceptable to me. I just want to enjoy comics, love batcat, and have a good time. That’s it. It’s not deep. 

[scifimagpie]

Diversity Isn't Enough: The Importance of Radical Inclusion

Hello hello! Well, a friend of mine has now been to 78 agents and gotten as many rejections. Surely, this indicates that the book is simply Not Good Enough, right? That's the thing. I've read it, and the book is excellent. Featuring a character with PTSD, who is both gay and from a mixed heritage background, it's full of funny moments, intelligent thought experiments about robotic consciousness, and has a very solid mystery through the core. The cast is populated by well-rounded and differentiated characters - of mixed abilities, genders, ethnic heritages, and sexualities. And in this setting, their societal and work crew composition is pretty normal. So in addition to featuring a robot love story and a murder mystery, there are plenty of moments where the night crew assembles, and a deaf character sits at a table with a young hijabi clinic worker and her mechanic girlfriend, and two divorced people who remain friends, as well as the main character - all so they can play cards in the park, out of the sight of a nearly omniscient AI. The thing is, while audio-visual projects - which often spring from book series these days - such as A Wrinkle in Time, American Horror Story, Sense-8, American Gods, The Adventure Zone, Welcome to Night Vale, Penumbra, Who Fears Death (Nnendi Okorafor), Steven Universe, Blackish, Dear White People, Master of None, Switched at Birth, Fresh off the Boat, Luke Cage, Dark Matter, The Expanse, and Westworld include cast members of many shades, there's still a focus on able, attractive, mostly straight people - not to mention that in more than a couple of these, white characters still end up dominating front and centre roles. Yes, this is getting better, but there seems to be a genuine fear of addressing the (surprisingly large) populations of trans and genderqueer, aromantic or asexual, Deaf, visually impaired/blind, and visibly and invisibly disabled people. Not to mention that a lot of these populations intersect. I personally know plenty of people who are people of colour, genderqueer, and disabled. I've read articles by a surprising number of genderqueer, mentally ill people of colour. Add present and former sex workers to the mix, and you have a pretty good sampling of humanity.

So what's the problem?

The problem is that these diverse shows, which are not radically inclusive yet, are only the tip of the iceburg. Producers and studios and publishing houses tend to hire just one or two people to demonstrate their wokeness, and keep the rest their content steaming along as though it's business as usual - teen YA love triangles, stubble-covered male power-fantasy thrillers, gritty sex murder mysteries, soft and juicy chick lit, spicy supernatural sex romps, and tooth-gritting fast ship space porn.  I've edited these books, read them, and enjoyed them - but the fact remains that the market's determiners keep orienting themselves to what they think is a safe bet, an easy seller. We still live in a world where an alternate history series where the South won was greenlit by HBO. So yeah, Nnedi Okorafor's series is getting a production deal, but so is a slavery fantasyland series. So is Ready Player One, too. A Minecraft book by Max Brooks is at the top of the bestsellers right now. So yes, diversity's making inroads, but The Problem Is Not Fixed. Radical inclusion, i.e. just treating people like people, and writing stories where non-white, non-able, non-cisgender, non-heterosexual, non-Christian people are allowed to exist and be in starring roles is absolutely revolutionary. 

Ready Player What, now? 

For those not familiar with RPO, it's basically a pop culture slurry of references; another Teenage White Boy Saves The World book, with virtual reality, and somehow he's the only one who knows Stuff About the Eighties - and Steven Spielberg is attached. You'd think he'd pick a more challenging project or have better taste, but no, fanboy fantasy it is. The biggest problem is that people think Ready Player One is like, subversive somehow? Or self-aware? But it absolutely isn't. It's sincere. Max Brooks is one of the guys who launched the zombie craze--he's very good at commercial writing, to the extent that he's actually a Name, but yeah, he's not exactly known for challenging or artistically mold-breaking projects. And all of this would be fine, except that it, and the dozens of imitators who crop up to try and skim that flavour, crowd out the more innovative and interesting projects.

Is this another Commerce vs Art rant? 

Absolutely not. It's not that Commerce and Art are Enemies. Heck, it's *fine* to monetize the daylights out of something. Art's relied on Commerce for basically all of modern history. If it wasn't Commerce, it was religion. But - the problem is *how* those selections are done, and the way people trust their preferences to be free of bias. Which just isn't the case. It's OKAY to have biases. The problem is that we treat a certain kind of bias as objective, and it gets far, far more sway over the stories that get told than anything else. To the point where just including people is considered revolutionary and gamechanging. Simultaneously, there are so *few* of these inclusive stories that individual properties are often torn apart for being 'not good enough'. Yet meanwhile, mainstream stories with sparkling white casts somehow get a break. But including people is how you GET different kinds of stories. Now, to be clear,  I LOVE the Hunger Games. A lot. But we have a market where agents are like, 'eh, this sold, let's get ten more that are basically variations of this flavour'. There's very little willingness to risk the core of the market, and it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle of, well, crap. Like, if you go to a corner store you can buy some chips. And chips are good, I like chips, but even if you put zesty spice or cool ranch or sour cream on them, they're *still* chips. they're not zucchini chips, or sweet potato crisps, or whatever, ya know? The problem is that the market tends to focus on chips, and assume nothing else will sell...

Wat do? 

The solution is simple. Readers have to step outside their comfort zones - unfortunately, the readers who might not even read this blog are the ones I'm addressing - and writers and publishers have to band together. There is definitely a need and an audience for diversity, and moreso, radical inclusion. People often talk about 'not seeing colour', which is an issue I won't even get into right now, and complain that they want stories that are 'normal', and aren't focused on 'identity politics'. That's the most bitter irony of all - these stories exist, and they're fun and delightful. And yes, inequality issues do crop up in some of them, because of how those issues affect people's lived experiences - but a lot of the time, people across the ability, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality spectrum just want to have fun. A transgender plus-sized psychic lady who talks with the dead to solve murder mysteries? Yes. A deaf Chinese-American engineer who discovers the secret to time travel and accidentally changes the course of history? Definitely. A love story featuring an asexual mobility-impaired Indian woman and a Zulu warrior king from an alternate world? Why not? *** Thanks for returning to the nest. Leave a comment and say hi! I want to hear from you. Keep up with the new releases by getting on the mailing list. Buy my books on Amazon, and keep up with me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and the original blog. This is the one and only SciFiMagpie, over and out!