Webtoon Wednesday will return next week and I’m working on doing other posts in some capacity.
But in exciting news, you can check out my appearance on Fansplaining which is both hilarious and horrifying! Even in transcript form it’s a laugh until it’s not lol
I’m at this point where I sit frozen in front of an article I needed to have done months ago or a pitch for something that matters and I simply cannot write. It’s not so much writer’s block as writer’s fear. The words are in me and they do want to come out, I know the value of my own work beyond what I get paid for it.
Increasingly, however, I’m hit with this fear of what comes next.
Why yes, I am making a blog series all about fic that shaped me as a person. I am speed-running my way through this however, so I haven’t attached any warnings or content notes to any of the stories since for some of them, it’s been a while. So I maybe don’t recall what notes or warnings a story requires before recommending! Read carefully if you decide to dive in!
Why It Hooked Me:Glass Houses is set near the end of the main Weiss Kreuz series and main character Ran Fujimiya (who takes up his sister Aya’s name while she’s in a coma) loses her at the start of the story, he tries to take his own life. While he’s miserable and restrained, series antagonist Schwarz, rolls up to “rescue” him and one of the quartet, the berserker Farfarello, becomes enamored with the wounded “kitten” and seeks to remake him to his honest and best form. I remember a lot of the early parts of this massive fic, but what hooked me was this part where Ran realizes that he’s getting pleasure from killing and it’s not about killing the just or whatever, he just likes this shit. Him starting to accept his real monstrosity – more than killing, but liking it and realizing that this wasn’t Stockholm Syndrome but genuinely his real self breaking through– was where I settled in for the story. I genuinely didn’t expect to straight up change my life.
How It Shaped Me: I’ve been reading Glass Houses since I was a high schooler. Even when I’m not reading it – a thing I used to do multiple times a year before it crossed the million word mark – I’m thinking about it. This story is a masterclass in how to write fix it fic and pull the characters in a story far from their origins while remaining in-character. Everyone in Glass Houses feels the way they would in the anime series. It’s an implausible but logical progression and the sprawling cast of characters – incorporating existing characters from side media like the radio drama or sequel manga but also new characters – helps keep you on your toes. At no point do I think “wow this couldn’t happen”. In fact, I’m like “why didn’t this happen?”. This was also an early primer for me figuring out how to write intimacy and banter so as a baby I would try to write my own fic in ways that echoed the flow of Glass Houses. I also became deeply attached to people and characters named Sasha because of this. #IfYouKnowYouKnow
When we talk about “toxic fandoms” and racism, the easiest example people go to are male nerds mad about Black people being cast to play comic book redheads and other “historically white” characters. However, one little known or talked about example is the way that the Harry Potter fandom from 2005 practically went to war over the one-line reveal that Slytherin Blaise Zabini was actually Black.
One perfect example of antiblackness in fandom that proves false these claims that Black characters and celebrities are just “lacking” something to make them worth shipping (characterization, canon romance, tapping tropes) and that is why no one ships them?
The Harry Potter fandom’s response to Blaise Zabini before and after JK Rowling’s reveal that Blaise was male (2004 in a Q&A) and Black (“He recognized a Slytherin from their year, a tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes” in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Chapter 7: “The Slug Club in 2005).
Blaise Zabini’s only appearance prior to that book and film was in a single line in the first Harry Potter book (““Well done, Ron, excellent,” said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as “Zabini, Blaise,” was made a Slytherin.). However, people instantly made up all sorts of headcanons for this character based off of a name and Hogwarts house.
For the eight years between Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, here’s all what fandom frequently decided Blaise Zabini was:
Italian
Tan (but sometimes pale)
Dark haired with light, sometimes blue or green eyes
Draco’s best friend
Draco’s boyfriend
A pain in the ass to Hermione
Sometimes shipped with Pansy Parkinson
Sometimes a girl
A bisexual Chad
A cool badass
Occasionally very Gender (and written as androgynous or gender queer/fluid)
A pureblood
Interesting
Sexy
Charming
He didn’t have any characterization or lines in canon, but he sure did have all of that.
This year is actually… my seventh anniversary. If you’re surprised, don’t be. The passage of time has always been a struggle for me and numbers have always been… complicated for me.
Every year I talk about how big a struggle the past year has been and blah blah blah but this year, let’s try something new despite everything weird and bad happening in my life. Let’s try focusing on good stuff, hyping myself up, and manifesting cool shit for the rest of the year.
For eighth year of running Stitch’s Media Mix (does this count as the seventh anniversary?) I’ll be giving two very lucky readers/followers a streaming ticket for a single day of a stream for Permission to Dance on Stage! Well Weverse shop doesn’t let you buy things for other people, so you’ll get a paypal, cashapp, or venmo transfer for the cost of the ticket in USD! But same diff!
This is a flash giveaway so we’re going to do this REAL quick. It’s ending Sunday March 6th at Midnight EST and I’ll announce the winners when I wake up that day.
So what do you have to do?
Comment with:
Your BTS Bias
Your favorite B-Side
Your Favorite Music video
Bonus: A favorite piece of BTS content (blog post, podcast quote, YouTube video or tweet) from me!
After all, this is a giveaway to celebrate my very hard, very stressful work here and thankfully, for the most part, ARMY and BTS have been a balm in trying times. I love them a lot and I want to share the love even though I don’t do as much BTS content these days as I work on other things – the concerts coming up will change that! I made really great friends through this fandom, people who challenge me, introduce me to good music, and have kept me going as I engage with other fandoms intent on tearing me down. I want to make this experience possible for them! So… here we are!
You can comment with your Twitter account or your WordPress account if you have one. (Or other social media? I’m not sure what the limitations are for wordpress comments…) I apologize for not opening this up to more people who follow me/my work, but because of harassment from random people, I can’t just open this up to more comments because hate will happen because people suck!
If you are a reader who’s interacted with me in some other way but don’t have a WordPress or Twitter account, send me an email through the contact form or my regular email and your name will be added to the spreadsheet Editor A or BTS Nieceling will run through for giveaway purposes!
(Comments are auto-moderated so don’t panic if you don’t see yours show up immediately!)
I nearly lost my dad and was basically scared out of my mind for 48 hours minimum, my mom had to fly out to be with him because I can’t travel and work since there’s no internet in the house, got rejected from a college I applied to and a journalism opportunity, I found out that some racist freak maliciously edited my Fanlore page with bullshit “controversies” (and I still can’t bring myself to look what the page looks like now), and I possibly got my identity stolen/bank information jacked in a scam!
Even with the good things that happened (two excellentFan Service pieces, an interview with [REDACTED CELEBRITY], spending almost 2 uninterrupted weeks with my youngest niecelings and my first piece for Joy Sauce… a lot of this happened under the weight of a pressure I didn’t expect to have. (And my nieces being with me is directly related to almost losing my dad because I had to have the girls with me to keep going in case the worst happened and with my mom traveling so initially, that was not fun at all.)
how much of my 2021 trajectory matched the goals and desires I had for it in 2020
the stuff I did that wasn’t necessarily part of my Goals list
2021 was very busy. So busy that I’m still kind of trying to figure out everything I planned to do for December because there’s so much left undone and 2021 is just a little over a week from ending. I took most of December off and if you’re wondering how scary my backlog is… it’s a whole nightmare.
And I still have another video – this one on the state of racism in fandom in 2021 – left to plan, record, and upload next week on top of planning content on like four different fronts for the first quarter of 2022! Argh!
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Below the cut is a version of my script for this, but it’s not a 1:1 ratio, some things I adlibbed in the process of recording and while I love talking, I also cannot stand the sound of my own voice so… I cannot go back through and add what’s missing. Sorry! Youtube has subtitles but they’re auto-subtitled so that might not work well… Hopefully in 2022 I’ll get a job that’ll allow me to afford to pay for subtitles and transcripts regularly but since I don’t have a job at all… lol
(In) Famous, my novella about a too-online, fame-hungry teenager who starts hanging with a bad crowd & makes a bunch of crap decisions as a result for JUDGES Volume 3 (2000AD), will be out Dec 1.
Preorders for the novella are open now including for limited edition signed copies!
(And we will be digging into that slippery slope to racism in fandom at a later point because uh… a lot of the gays and girlies in fandom are openly white supremacists and we need to talk more about that and how they’re purposefully poisoning the well of discourse in fandom.)
A little early because after this point I’ll be super busy BUT… have yourself some birthday omegaverse. The first sequel is already in progress!! (If you’re not an adult or you’re not into omegaverse, please don’t read this! Thanks!)
Makoto has long been ostracized because of his odd hobbies and a sexual kink others would see as disgusting. One day he finds a book on summoning demons and manages to summon the intimidatingly beautiful and rather chatty Archduke J. The demon offers to grant Makoto’s deepest twisted desire in exchange for his life. Once Makoto has sated his demented appetites, he fulfills his end of the bargain, only to find he’s been reborn as a monster…in hell!
Content Warnings: gore, dubious consent, flat out lack of consent, body horror, betrayal, cannibalism, complicated power dynamics, death and mutilation, corruption/corruption kink, murder
Okay! So if none of this has scared y’all away, I’m here to give away digital copies of Ryo Suzuri’s MADK!
This is my favorite erotic horror series ever – and I have read plenty. I love the dynamic between Mako and Archduke J as well as how Mako’s relationships with the other demons across the series evolves. This is a deeply dark series based on the premise of getting what you desire when what you want is deeply disturbing. I love Mako and I talked about how appealing he is as a protagonist to me over in one bonus episode of my podcast a few months ago.
I think MADK is thrilling, incredibly delicious, and so dark I wanna reach for a candle. It’s very similar to Tokyo Ghoul and Kaneki’s arc of becoming more monstrous and more human, but there’s the added bonus of uh… incredibly improbable sex. Like it’s wild how bodies work in this series and I love it.
If I could only read one manga series for the rest of my life, it’d be this one. Honestly.
And that’s why I’m choosing to give away copies!
TO ENTER: Be over 18 and use your real email address when you leave a comment below about what your favorite piece of horror in the world is. (While you don’t get bonus points for erotic horror, I’d appreciate it nonetheless!) You can comment using your social media or your wordpress account! Message me on Twitter or via the contact form if your comment doesn’t show up by like 9AM the following day.
Giveaway closes 10/23 at 11PM! I’ll email the winner!!
A birthmonth surprise for y’all! Some sweet sweet, semi-sexy Castlevania content for those of y’all who are into that. I have literally no idea how to open comments on that site at any point (if you can comment on something, please do because I do not know what I did wrong there).
For Birthmonth 2021, one of the non-omegaverse gifts I have chosen to bestow upon you all is… some Castlevania fan fiction. Canon adjacent (not necessarily compliant) and set across different characters/pairings around the series. All things are vaguely canon levels of sexy. Probably.
I am not going to waste too much energy on Jesy Nelson but I will point out that as hard as she’s blackfishing and trying to present herself as Extremely Biracial Black Woman, she’s also actively weaponizing white women tears and activating white/queer fandom (via stan twt)
Especially against Leigh-Anne, an actual Black woman. And because she’s got Nicki in her corner defending her blackfishing (hypocritical after the Miley Cyrus stuff), this means that her non-Black fans will feel extra empowered to be actively antiblack towards LA & her Black fans
She wants to be Black (visually) but also clings to her white womanhood, the thing that lets her get sympathy and causes people to defend her violently, something that actually no one does FOR Black women but is often aimed at them in different fandoms.
September was super busy and I’m really satisfied with everything I’ve done. Once again, half of it can’t be revealed yet because it’s stuff I did for upcoming work, but the other half of it has been… pretty great content dropped on my website and Patreon.
The biggest thing that happened in September was that I attended Fiyah Magazine’s Fiyahcon 2021 – and had a great time attending and speaking on panels. I also… won The 2021 Ignyte Critics Award??
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