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theneighborhoodwatch · 10 months

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As a palette cleanser for when you’re done studying, what are some of your favorite works of horror besides Welcome Home?

it's hard for me to articulate what makes a work of horror my Favorite, so i just racked my brain for the ones i tend to come back to the most often, and i came up with these. i tried to include official links only, but some of these can easily be found Elsewhere online (hint hint) and others don't have any official english localizations. i've also included a brief summary and content warnings for each one - be warned that some of these are A Lot.

don't hug me i'm scared: (channel 4 series) episodic surreal horror comedy about three puppets sharing a very normal house, learning very normal lessons from the designated "teacher" of each episode, and navigating their very normal world. content warnings include: unreality and gore. like, at least once an episode, there is gore. lbr if you're a fan of welcome home then you at least have a passing knowledge of dhmis.

sex house: a parody of early 2010s reality tv, centering around six contestants being invited to the titular house for one thing and one thing only - sex. they will have sex. the network won't stand for anything less. content warnings include: sexual coercion/extortion, one dubiously consensual sex scene between two people with an extreme age gap, pregnancy, animal death, brief but on-screen gore, drugging, death/near-death situations as a result of negligence, and one instance of Questionable asexual representation that might have just been a diversion (i really cannot tell.) also there's a scene in episode 4 where a character draws muhammad on their forehead so that they can't be filmed and i still have no idea how to feel about it.

porkin across america: a former daytime talk show host embarks on his latest venture, a food tourism show in which he samples the best pork-themed dishes every state in the U.S. has to offer. but can he see his quest through to the end while also outrunning the harsher realities of life and reality TV? signs point to no. content warnings include: gore, body horror, two instances of offscreen but audible animal death, a brief instance of drug abuse, and some casual racism on the part of the host in order to establish him as Every Unlikable American Food Tourist (this gets dropped early on.)

i want to hold aono-kun so badly i could die: two teens attempt to forge the perfect relationship with one another - an effort that is somewhat hampered by the fact that they come from less-than-perfect families. also, one of them is a ghost. content warnings include: explicit sexual content, gore, body horror, suicide, graphic suicide attempt, death, child death, animal death, and pretty much every kind of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, neglect, etc.) in the context of both familial and romantic relationships.

devotion: a screenwriter in 1980s taiwan awakens one evening to find himself in his living room, now dark and decrepit, and attempts to navigate the ever-shifting layout of his apartment in order to look for his daughter. content warnings include: gore, domestic abuse, ableism, some flashing/jumpscares, [potential spoilers from this point forward] religious abuse, cults, and child death.

slay the princess: a visual novel (albeit a demo for now) about a princess locked away in a cabin, and the narrator who really, really wants you to kill her (for perfectly altruistic reasons, i'm sure.) but who is she? what does she look like? does she seem like the kind of person who could bring about the end of the world like the narrator insists? that all depends on how you see her - literally. content warnings include: black tabby games was kind enough to provide content warnings themselves!

the wolf house: a stop-motion film presented as a propaganda piece for a cult heavily based on colonia dignidad, following a young woman who flees in order to escape her punishment for letting three pigs escape, and ends up taking refuge in an abandoned house in the woods with two pigs (unrelated to the first three.) i honestly have a hard time describing it beyond that - i would say it's worth watching for the animation alone, but i think the story it presents as well as the historical context really elevated it for me, to the point where i don't think i would have the same appreciation for it otherwise. content warnings include: body horror, references to nazi/white supremacist ideology, cults, religious abuse, and possible allusions to child sexual abuse.

also, i didn't include works from either of these people because if i listed Every work of horror they had a hand in that i liked then this post would be 200 miles long, but i really like alan resnick and jordan peele's horror work. i was almost going to include what happens next, but that isn't really horror so much as it is a new age thriller-drama thing, and i couldn't really find a way to summarize it more succinctly than just relaying the events of the comic so far in full. good thing each title card comes with content warnings.

#anonymous #ask #this isn't a complete list but hopefully it's a robust enough selection if you were looking for recommendations #FUCK I FORGOT TO INCLUDE BE KIND MY NEIGHBOR. eh you can find that one on silver sprocket pretty easy anyways #also includes content warnings upfront. which is helpful #i also have a BUNCH of horror novels i wanna get my hands on but i. haven't. yet.

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stealingyourbones · 2 years

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Hi, I don't know if you'd even answer this ask but I've been loving all your prompts and been sucked into the dp/dc crossover content.

Im curious about trying to make some oneshots or fics myself but I'm not well versed in dc at all except very basic knowledge so I'm really nervous.

Do you have any advise for how to start or suggestions to help some one jump right in?

Ok I'm gonna be using this slightly as an excuse to give y'all a DC reading guide and also:

Personal Opinion 1: You really don't have to read any comics to learn DC. I'd highly recommend going on Youtube and watching some summarizing History of the Batfamily videos so you know the general lore. Reading a bunch of solely DC-related fics also helps greatly. It can get you immersed in the world and learn tidbits of backstory and characterization without having to touch a single comic. if you feel confident enough that you know the character? Go for it!! If you're still unsure and you want to write it anyways? Have a beta reader who's well versed in DC help point out moments that may be OOC or help fix characterization a bit. You never know how good you are at writing that character until you put your pen to paper! Personal opinion 2: go to your local library, go to the graphic novel section, and see if any comics catch your eye. Pick it up and give it a read. There truly isn’t a perfect place to jump in for comics. Continuity is all Willy Nilly and confusing. There’s no perfect spot to jump in but there are personal recommendations or preferences that people will tell you to start on.

I highly recommend listening to podcasts about characters that you’re intrigued with to see if you want to spend the time researching and reading about said characters.

Other tertiary opinion.

I really only have Batman comic recommendations but a friend of mine gave me a list in order for Batman comics to read so here it is:

Batman Year One.

Batman Venom.

Batman Long Halloween.

Batman Dark Victory.

Robin Year One.

Batgirl Year One.

Nightwing Year One.

Batman Cult

Batman Death In The Family

Knightfall

Batman No Man’s Land

Under the Red Hood

Batman Zero Year

That’s what I got. You don’t have to read every single comic to know everything but at least reading a summary of the comic so you’re caught up and not confused as you go into the next comic is something I’d recommend. Batman Knightfall and No Man’s Land are super long and really a drag to read through. Like genuinely they’re painful as hell to read through. I’d recommend reading a synopsis online or listen to a podcast about it.

Other comics in general I’d recommend that I've read that I think are good depictions of the characters:

Superman: Up In The Sky. by Tom King.

John Constantine Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits. #41-46. by Garth Ennis & Will Simpson.

The Spectre by John Austrander.

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil. by Jeff Smith.

Blue And Gold. by Dan Jurgens

Victor & Nora: A Gotham Love Story. by Lauren Myracle

Batman Vol 1 & 2 (The Court of Owls & The City of Owls). By Scott Snyder.

Again, there are definitely some better comics out there and a lot of comic runs I didn't add on. That's simply because I haven't read the others. Some of these characters you might not care for, and that's completely fine! You don't have to read them then.

Podcasts I'd reccomend:

Character Corner. Their takes and reviews are wonderful. I adore this podcast and found out about many amazing comic runs from this show.

Geek History Lesson. It has a gimmick and it's fun. It's not as in-depth as Character Corner but it does have a far larger array of Characters to listen to and learn about. There's also is this ao3 post that has a batshit insane amount of info on how to navigate and learn about Batman and Gotham

#bones replies #dc comics #reading list #bones masterpost

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redsixwing · 1 year

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top 5 book series?

In no particular order, because if I try to order them strictly this'll take me even longer. I interpreted the prompt as text novels only, so ask again if you want graphic novels of any origin. ;)

The Coldfire Trilogy, C.S. Friedman. Rewrote how a young Six thought about villainy and character writing. I revisit these not quite yearly, any more, but that's more about lack of time than inclination. A priest in tension with magic users; magic they all use, and which uses them in turn. A fascinating cast of supporting characters try to save themselves and their friends from 'demons' whose lives are just as important as their own.

Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. My introduction to fantasy, before I could read for myself. Formative in many, many ways, including inspiration of my first fanworks (no, they aren't online, and it'll stay that way). The classic; every time I revisit it, I find something new. Bottomless, truly.

Machineries of Empire, Yoon Ha Lee. If you hang around here at all, nonny, you've probably seen me holler about them. Grim bloody extremely satisfying sci-fi. Showed me things I never previously understood about how to write an anti-hero. I've read the whole trilogy at least three times through, and it hasn't been out all that long. A spacefaring ghost story about a treacherous general whose rebellion against his oppressive society threatens to burn down his entire civilization; his talented and fearsome host; their mutual enemy, and the civilization thoroughly under his thumb.

The Shadow Campaigns, Django Wexler. I had not previously read anything in the genre of 'flintlock fantasy,' but these books have such a sense of place, and such depth of character. I read them in ebook, and will some day collect them in physical format, for easy sofa slouching. A soldier, a commander, and another treacherous general working at mysterious odds to the armed forces they all serve; the 'demons' the general seeks stand a chance of remodeling the world.

The Flat Earth Cycle, Tanith Lee. Lush dreamlike writing, completely bananas worldbuilding, world-as-place-as-character-as-magic-as-world. One of those classics that rewires my brain a little every time I reread it. Has inspired me to art multiple times, but I have never managed to complete the pieces to my satisfaction. The reign, fall, and rise of Azhrarn, Night's Master. An exploration of his world, including humans and other magical beings. I truly cannot sum up the story in a few sentences.

#six reads #book recommendations #asked and answered #thanks for the ask!#coldfire trilogy #machineries of empire #lotr #the shadow campaigns #the flat earth cycle

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raayllum · 2 years

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I haven't seen any tdp content besides the 3 seasons on netflix, what is this through the moon thing I'm seeing and how do I access it?

Hello, welcome, and thanks for the follow! TDP keeps its core stuff in the TV show, so anything else is a fun bonus to help fuel speculation for the fandom and worldbuilding expansions in small ways (food, climate, some slight cultural stuff, etc).

That said, TDP does have a lot of extra material running around, all of which are canon (or close enough in the case of the novelizations).

Tales of Xadia, a full-fledged RRPG that is probably the biggest lore drop we've had so far. Canon and with a lot of those fun details I was alluding to earlier, like little folklore stories in each of the kingdoms, other types of dragons, stuff like that.

Book One: Moon and Book Two: Sky novelizations. Some character details are changed (a couple of wonky ages, Moonshadow elves being vegetarians) or scenes, but generally canon.

Callum's Spellbook, a sweet silly version of his sketch/spellbook from the show, featuring little character profiles and notes from each of the characters, and so much gushing about Rayla, bless his soul.

However, what you're talking about is Through the Moon, a canon graphic novel and probably the most important canon supplement we've got so far. It's set about a month after S3 and focuses primarily on Rayla's declining mental health as she mourns her parents and becomes worried that perhaps Viren survived, as well as her relationship with Callum. I've compiled the most important / plot relevant pages here (which is largely just the last two pages of the graphic novel itself, and earlier pages included for context). The graphic novel largely just shows the lead-up to why Rayla is not in the first episode of S4, but I trust the show will explain that on its own terms, as 4x01 just establishes the fact she's absent so far, not why.

The other prominent graphic novel came out just this past July (so almost a month ago!) and is called Bloodmoon Huntress. It's a prequel focusing on young Rayla and how she, Ethari, and Runaan became a family. There's a character here who may appear later on in the series, but we don't know if it'll be in the show or in some other way.

The graphic novels are available on Amazon, Kindle (that's what I have bc it's cheaper and I wanted to edit / screencap them accordingly), and most book sites for online or in-person purchase. I also think there's a copy floating around online, but I haven't had to go looking, so I'm not sure!

There are also the recent short stories (under tdp shorts) set during the timeskip between S3 and S4, with Callum's taking place after Rayla's departure in Through the Moon. You can read each of them here in order of release:

Patience: Aaravos focused

The Queen's Soul: Janai focused

Inheritance: Callum focused

The Royal Council: Ezran focused

Just a reaffirmation that none of this is required reading, but the Rayllum and Ruthari fandoms, respectively, talk quite a bit about Through The Moon and Bloodmoon Huntress for obvious reasons.

#tdp #the dragon prince #masterpost #thanks for asking #agent-wash1ngtub

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trollpium · 4 months

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\\ Hello Trollsblr! // ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ

(...Did I say that right?)

I'm a student cartoon nerd who loves animation and the like! I especially love Trolls!

I truly embraced the movie series this year after watching Trolls Band Together! I'm planning to rewatch everything, make analyses, and put them here ↓

》So far, I think these are the most relevant...

📖 Follow Your Art

📖 Trolls Graphic Novel Vol. 1: Hugs & Friends

— ⊹ ۪ 𖥔 ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ ₊ ⊹⟡

📖 Trolls: The Junior Novelization

📖 Trolls: The Deluxe Junior Novelization

🎞️ Troll 2 Troll

🎥 Trolls (2016)

📖 Rock'n'Troll Collection aka Trolls Chapter Books

📖 Trolls Holiday: The Official Novelization

🎞️ Trolls Holiday (2017)

— ⊹ ۪ 𖥔 ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ ₊ ⊹⟡

🎞️ Trolls Shorts

— ⊹ ۪ 𖥔 ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ ₊ ⊹⟡

📖 Trolls Graphic Novel Vol. 2: Put Your Hair in the Air

📖 Trolls Graphic Novel Vol. 3: Party with the Bergens

📖 Trolls Graphic Novel Vol. 4: Brain Freeze

📖 Trolls Graphic Novel Vol. 5: Brain Freeze

— ⊹ ۪ 𖥔 ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ ₊ ⊹⟡

📖 Trolls World Tour: The Junior Novelization

🎥 Trolls World Tour (2020)

🎞️ Trolls Holiday in Harmony (2021)

— ⊹ ۪ 𖥔 ˑ ִ ֗ ִ ۫ ˑ ₊ ⊹⟡

🎥 Trolls Band Together (2023)

📖 Trolls Band Together: The Junior Novelization

The crossed-out ones are the ones I've rewatched now. I've watched all three movies except the specials, books, and shorts.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

✦ I am a minor. I currently reside in the Philippines. The books aren't available in my area and they don't sell e-books of the books above. :( Having to buy a hard copy and have it shipped from miles away is way too expensive for me. I was wondering if anyone could help me out in scouting these books? Any locals? Perhaps people in the Philippines selling these books online for other Filipinos to read? I'd love to get ahold of the books, especially the ones I mentioned above as they're most relevant to me. Though I wouldn't mind getting the other books that aren't in the order of the series!

✦ Although I'm a minor, I am capable of paying with PayPal, Gcash, or Google Pay. I would buy the books but they're just quite expensive. I would really appreciate anyone helping me out!

✦ This account will contain analyses, headcanons, rambles, easter egg hunts,-

Navigation:

✧ Spotlight Post

✧ Best Recent

✧ Analyses and Rambles

✧ Timeline Talk

✧ Headcanons, Ideas, & Fanworks

✧ Compilations (Coming soon)

-and things I've discovered from rewatching these over and over again.

Which of course they all will contain spoilers.

✦ I don't really want to impose most of my shipping onto this account as much (I have given out some ship-related posts now though) but a fair warning that I am pro-fiction. I'm in favor of whatever is made in fiction stays in fiction. So that includes ship and let ship. Here's a silly image to help you.

Regarding the purple text from above, if not much can be done, that's alright too. I'll continue to do what I do: Watch the movies/animations/specials and make analyses on them!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

If you have any questions please use the ask feature! :) I will update this intro progressively, and add certain details about me and all. xddd Tell me if I've missed anything on the list, thanks! That's all. Toodles!

#I'm actually so desperate for the books #Sob sob sob #I would go to the US just to buy them if I could #...or wherever the publishing house is #Trolls #Trolls Fandom #Trolls Graphic Novels #Trolls Books #Trolls 2 #Trolls 3 #Trolls World Tour #Trolls Band Together #Trolls Fan #Trolls Branch #Baby Branch

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chickycherrycola · 8 months

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Okay, I have the same questions for you! How long have you been writing and what are some of your favorite tropes/storylines to write? Also, do you have a movie/show/book you’d consider a hidden gem or under-hyped fave??

Hello there Tower! 🎶 thanks for providing me with a wonderful distraction while I work from home today ehehehe *rubs my tiny fly hands together*

How long have I been writing:

Truly, kind of all my life? I've loved books, reading, and words since childhood - I was that quirky little kid who preferred going to the library over going to the park 😅 I wrote a LOT in high school and college, but I doubted myself too much to ever do anything with any of it. I never submitted short stories to publishing houses, never posted any of my fanfics online as a result. I took a long break from writing after graduating college and only recently got back into it, about... late 2021, I want to say? I re-read some fave old Soul Eater fanfics and got inspired to take up the metaphorical pen again, and I'm so glad I did. Now it feels like all I do with my life is write and I wouldn't have it any other way tbh!

Favorite Tropes/Storylines To Write:

Boy oh boy, where to even begin? I love romance, comedy, and the wonderful intersection of the two in the form of the ROMANTIC COMEDY, which im sure is pretty obvious given the kinds of fics I tend to post. I write as a form of escape from reality and use humor to cope and process big feelings, so writing rom-coms with a lot of heart and mature themes at their core is my jam.

In terms of tropes - my faves are the following, in no particular order: Friends to Lovers, Idiots In Love, Boy Falls First, Found Family (im actually a HUGE SLUT for this one and want to write it so badly!), Second Chance Romance, Animal Companions (i utilize this one a TON in my original fiction), Cozy Fantasy and/or stories that seamlessly weave magic or supernatural elements into the "real" world... and lastly, not really a trope, but Character Driven Stories are the GOAT.

Also... I just really love writing smut. PWP one-shots are my guilty pleasure. >:3

Hidden Gems/Underhyped Faves:

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

Books (though two of these are comics technically):

-SAGA by Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples: adult graphic novel space epic series full of memorable characters and absolutely gorgeous art that tackles a lot of tough stuff and has made me feel the full spectrum of human emotion

-The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill: a wholesome, heartwarming all ages comic chocked full of pocket-sized dragons and the COZIEST fantasy vibes EVER

-The Locked Tomb series: idk if it counts as an underrated fave/hidden gem cause the book series has a pretty sizable and active fan base, but im recommending it anyway cause Harrowhark Nonagesimus is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and if you like stories that explore both romantic and platonic partnership dynamics, you should give it a read if you haven't already!!

Shows/Anime:

-D. Gray-Man: shounen anime set in Victorian England about exorcists and featuring the most Cinnamon Roll Main Character in the Universe who I will always love with my whole heart, Allen Walker

-Re:Creators: a reverse isekai in which fictional characters are suddenly pulled from their universes into the real world and tackles the question of what fiction/art mean to us humans, one of my favorite shows of ALL TIME with excellent music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano

-Baccano!: a sort of steampunk/fantasy caper involving alchemists, immortals, outlaws, gangsters, an immortality elixir, and a murder mystery on a train, told in a non-linear format that really puzzles the brain on the first couple of watches

-Witch Hat Atelier: is technically a manga but is getting an anime soon! A series about a young girl who goes to magic school to become a witch, featuring an excellent magic system and gorgeous art

Movies:

-this answer is already soooooo long so ill just recommend my favorite movie of all time, PACIFIC RIM, which if you haven't seen you should WATCH RIGHT AWAY because it has the partners trope you love! Its a 2013 sci-fi flick directed by Guillermo del Toro about kaijus invading Earth from outer space, and the giant, dual-piloted robots that humanity devises to fight back with, and was so revolutionary in its portrayal of its main female character that it created a whole new benchmark for assessing portrayal of women characters in fiction (The Mako Mori Test).

In conclusion - thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble on and on, and I do truly hope you enjoyed all this drivel! 🙏😁

#cherry chatters #dear god this got LONG #hehe asks are fun :3

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gamesception · 11 months

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Done with Utena for now, but I had fun trying to post something near daily and would like to try to keep that up. Given my track record I'll likely not get very far, but I didn't think I'd finish the rgu read, so who knows. I've got a few ideas, but I also have to take like a week to get out from under the minis-painting commission, so in the mean time why not a poll to see which idea I should go with? explanations under the cut:

Cass Cain project: Cassandra Cain was my favorite comic book superhero, and DC bungling her character back in the day was what got me out of comics altogether. She has since been revived as a new character after a reboot or two, but while I tried I was never quite able to get back into the later version of her, and around the time of the Birds of Prey movie I started a project looking back at her comic appearances more or less in order to try and put into words what I liked about the character back in the day and why later reinterpretations of the character didn't quite hit that same note, for me at least. I put it on intermission at some point and promised to come back with a look at the 'Shadow of the Batgirl' graphic novel, but that book was too long for the too little I had to say about it, so I never did finish that post and the project stalled out. I have thought on and off about dusting the project off and starting it up again. Now might be a good time to do so.

Dark Souls: I've played Dark Souls before. I had a lot of fun with it, and for a while watched a lot of lore & cut content videos. One of the bits of cut content that really stood out to me was Oscar, Knight of Astora. In game he's the nameless knight that drops the key to you at the start of the Undead Asylum, and later gives you the estus flask before dying, but until relatively late in development he was supposed to survive the asylum and appear repeatedly in the main game, following a sort of parallel path to yours. Ever since hearing about this cut npc quest line, I've kind of wanted to recreate it by naming a new character after Oscar, collecting all his gear early, and then using co-op and pvp features to play out Oscar's narrative in the games of random players online, helping early on before becoming a rival and invader later.

Morrowind: I never did beat Morrowind - just played it until I had completely broken the game by accident (through bartering if you'd believe it) and sort of lost interest after that. The game's a classic that deserves a better run than that.

Fallout: New Vegas: Another project I started but failed to finish, multiple times over. But maybe third time's the charm for Bethany? I had a lot of fun with New Vegas but the liveblog got bogged down because I ended up playing too far ahead. If I just post thoughts or updates to where I am currently instead of trying to create a continuous narrative of the entire run that shouldn't happen.

Hollow Knight: I've done all the Hollow Knight Achievements on both Switch and Playstation, but on PC my record's sitting at a shameful 83%. Gotta fix that, plus I kind of want to replay it again before the release of the sequel, which I'm still thinking will be later this year.

Cyberpunk/Nier/Sekiro/Disco: Nothing much to say about these, just some games I heard were good and bought on steam that I haven't gotten around to playing yet. At least, not more than just the intro/tutorials.

#which idea i ~should~ go with #not necessarily ~will~#this is a non-binding opinion poll #suggestions not on the list also accepted

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fictionadventurer · 1 year

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Beloved 📚

Here is a stack of books that were so beloved that I made a special point to buy my own copy. I've left out some of the obvious series--Narnia, the Fairy Tale Novels, and Anne of Green Gables--on the grounds that the first two have shown up in a bunch of stacks already, and I don't particularly love the copies I have of the Anne books. There are complicated shades of nuance behind choosing books for the stack--there are several very beloved books that were easy to find, so buying them didn't have quite the same treasure hunt feeling, while some slightly-less-beloved books made the stack because their acquisition was more purposeful or felt more exciting. Because of that, I'm going to give a little info for why I chose each book.

Books In the Stack:

The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reeder: I read the ebook and loved it so much that I made a point of ordering print copies for myself and a friend.

Baby by Patricia MacLachlan: I read it so many times in middle school (because it's short and it's about a baby) that I had to buy a copy when I found it at the thrift store, even though it's nothing particularly amazing.

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers: My favorite of the Wimsey books I read from the library, so I made sure to order a print copy of my own.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff: When I finished this book, I wanted nothing more than to buy my own copy at a used book store. The next time I went to one, I happened to find it.

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke: Such a fun little graphic novel that, when the opportunity arose to get a signed copy, I jumped at it.

Tales from the Blackberry Bushes by @isfjmel-phleg : I love these stories so much that I hand-bound my own copy so I can have it on my shelves forever

Entwined by Heather Dixon: One of my favorite retellings, so I ordered myself a copy as a Christmas present one year

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne: I had so much fun listening to the audiobook that I bought the very first copy I found at a library book sale.

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton: I read it on Gutenberg, and it's so important to my worldview that I bought my own copy from the religious book store.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery: This is just such a cute little book that I couldn't resist buying a falling-apart copy from a garage sale, and later buying a replacement copy in better condition from a thrift store. It's not quite beloved, but for some reason I'm very fond of it.

Matched by Allie Condie: The library book left my head spinning with concepts of free will. When I got a Barnes and Noble gift card, I bought my own copy. The story is rough, but the concepts of the world only get more relevant as time goes on.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis: Such a heartwrenching look at grief. When I happened to find a nice used copy, I couldn't leave it behind.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: After I read the series, I bought ragged copies of my own from garage sales. They're far from difficult to find, but at the time, getting my own copies was exciting.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery: It became one of my favorite romances, so I ordered my own copy online. Then I bought a replacement copy when I happened to find a much better edition last summer.

Persuasion by Jane Austen: Of course I have print copies of all Austen's novels, but the others are mostly just the copies I happened to find. With this book, I saw the Word Cloud Classics edition in a Youtube video and knew I needed that specific edition, so I ordered it online. I haven't regretted it--it's a pleasantly-designed book.

World Series by John R. Tunis: The Dodgers books are some of the only books that stuck with me from my teenage years. I happened to find copies of The Kid from Tomkinsville and The Kid Comes Back, both of which are more beloved. But after my last reread of Tomkinsville, I wanted to continue the series, found my library had gotten rid of their copies, so I ordered my own copy of the second book. (And then never reread it, but that doesn't mean I don't love it).

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander: I saw it at the religious bookstore, decided to read it from the library instead of buying, and then loved it so much I eventually went back to the same store and bought it.

#answered asks #books #writerly-ramblings

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tessetc · 2 years

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It's been a minute since I reviewed a romance novel, but I recently moved, and the process of packing, sorting, and culling my books made me think I should take a break from Destiel and read some of my books, perhaps in order to cull them further.

I won't be culling this one.

This week I read Miranda's Viking by Maggie Shayne. It is Silhouette Intimate Moments #568, from May, 1994.

I haven't had a lot of luck with rereading category romances. They don't hold up well. But this one was a true gem.

The story is about Miranda, an archeologist, who discovers a frozen, 900 year old frozen viking in a cave. He is accidentally defrosted and comes alive.

Rolf is shocked to find himself in the 20th century but adapts quickly. Like.... freakishly quickly, becoming fluent in English literally overnight.

Miranda, of course, is a "modern" woman and the book makes great pains to make sure that's clear, highlighting her intelligence and career focus.

There is a mystery too, as some shady folks in the scientific community are intent on taking claim of Miranda's discovery.

The book is a little unrealistic, especially in terms of Rolf's character, and some of the scientific and historical stuff is sketchy, but that's all fine.

The 90s style feminism is kind of jarring, juxtaposing Miranda's theoretical independence with her need to be rescued by Rolf, her lack of sexual confidence, and Rolf's bodice-rippy behavior early on. The book attempts to address this by making consent be a major plot point, but I think her general "purity" vibe and Rolf's posessiveness kind of undermines the message. But, it was the 90s, so points for trying, I guess.

There are two sex scenes in the book, both of which were surprisingly spicy for what I've come to anticipate in rereading these old books. They were pretty graphic, if flowery, and they went on long enough to not feel rushed. They were very enjoyable.

Maggie Shayne went on to write dozens of romances, and won several awards. This book won the 1993 New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award for Best Long Contemporary. It is available as an ebook (link at the end of the post) as well as through various online sellers in numerous print versions ranging from about $5 to $70, although I didn't find one with this exact cover in my brief search.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It's a quick, fun read, and much better than several other category romances I have reviewed.

7/10 Tess Recommends.

#romance novels #tess reviews #tess recommends #maggie shayne #m/f #silhouette intimate moments #category romance #90s romance

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saxifactumterritum · 8 months

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Friday recs!

I know it is Friday and I have some recs, so time for Friday Recs :)

Books

'Thirsty Mermaids' by Kat Leyh

(click here for a storygraph link)

This is a graphic novel. The art is beautiful, there are so many little details that add to the story lines and characters as they grow throughout the story. There's so much joy and love just seeps through everywhere, love in-universe but also a real love for queerness is community is so clear and wonderful. It's all very skilled, too, super well done.

Ooooh an image! exciting. Click here for Kat Leyh's website, all places you can follow are right there on the front page, including tumblr.

'A Different Sort of Normal' by Abigail Balfe

(click here for Storygraph page)

It's a book about autism for kids. Abigail Balfe writes it as an adult, it's biographical and factual talking about growing up autistic. There's pictures and it's easy to read, it's great. It is for kids, but I have been finding it restful to be able to understand it easily. I find a lot of information about autism either for parents of autistic children, or hard to understand. The book is aimed at children and young people, but it feels like it's for us as well, I think. It is nice to have on my shelf since I have a lot of autistic and neurodivergent kids in my orbit.

another picture! I am on a roll.

Shop

Gosh! comics, Berwick Street, London UK

(click here for their about page online)

that's right, we're shopping! in Soho of course cus I'm gay so must shop in Soho. Actually I had a lovely time trying to find this shop, got lost a bunch of times, nearly got run over by a bike. I often go to Gay's the Word when I'm in London (the gay bookshop - lovely place, click here for their website), but I was getting tired of never finding much there (I find it too hard to read fiction anymore and everything in the bookshop is, shockingly, books. Or most). I went to Gosh! comics to look around, it's in Soho so I thought maybe it'd have some queer stuff (they did!). They have so many small presses, including a whole load of zines! I found a bunch of things, and got a packet of small press zines for cheap, and found Thirsty Mermaids and nearly cried of joy. Loads of things there I can still read!

Podcast

'However Improbable Podcast' with and by Marisa Mercurio and Sarah Kolb

(click here for their website)

They are recording the Sherlock Holmes stories in chronological order, doing discussion episodes about the stories, and specials called 'case files' where they talk about other things like pastiches, TV shows, or Mycroft! which is how I found them I was looking for pocasts about Mycroft. I have been listening to the discussions and case files, the bits of recordings I've heard are fine but I know the stories and have a whole host of versions so I was less excited about those. They are well read and produced, I just haven't listened to many. They are about to come back after a break. Their website is also great, they have so much stuff on there! including reading lists! and transcripts! They've great.

Ok that's it for recs, because I am tired and wrote loads. I'm giving my money to refugee and asylum organisations this month, some local things near me, the JCWI (click here), Refugee Action (click here).

Hope you're all having a nice time out in the world or comfy at home, if you want to tell me things you love that is always nice :) See you next time I remember it's Friday on a day I have recs!

#friday recs #apparently I have been tagging these 'firday recs'. shoutout to those fir trees i guess #image descriptions are in the alt text

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yeonchi · 1 year

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Combo Rangers Vol 2 Review: We Are Humans

Graphic novel, transcript and translation available on Google Drive

Previously on Atop the Fourth Wall...

Fast forward to the late 90′s, where Brazilian author and cartoonist Fabio Yabu created a Flash webcomic known as Combo Rangers in 1998.

In December 2012, Fabio Yabu ran a crowdfunding campaign on Catarse (the Brazilian Kickstarter) for a trilogy of reboot graphic novels scripted by Yabu and illustrated by Michel Borges.

Additionally, an English version of the first novel was also published online around the same time as the original and made available for free on WEBTOON in 2019.

The other two graphic novels were made available online (in Portuguese) for a limited time in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, but I didn’t download them because I wasn’t that interested in the series.

There are a couple more preludes available on Fabio Yabu’s Facebook page if you scroll down far enough on the Photos section, but I won’t be covering them because they haven’t been translated and, as I stated before, I don’t have time to translate something I’m not entirely interested in.

...We Are Heroes is only the first of the Combo Rangers graphic novel reboot trilogy, as it is followed up by its sequels, We Are Humans and We Are Equals. However, despite it being years since their release, neither of the sequels have been released in English...

This leads me to the main reason why I’m making this review because in case you missed it, I’m not that interested in Combo Rangers as a series.

Storyline skit: The Interdimensional Café Part 1A

At the very edge of the universe lies the Voidstation, a structure connecting many parallel universes and dimensions. In it is a Hong Kong-style cha chaan teng cafe, serving daily specials like sandwiches, snacks and numerous types of noodles and rice, including instant noodles and baked rice.

Three people from different universes met for lunch that day; there was Parker Zhou from Yabuverse code PM10, a universe where the Drylanders of Earth were fighting the subjugation of the saline Salacians from their seas; there was Hiroki Ichigo from N-Space X, a universe where anything and everything could happen; and there was Azuma Yeonchi from Tumblrverse Y, where the author of this post comes from.

At the table, Hiroki was placing the order on his phone, because that's what modern restaurants are doing nowadays. Once the order was placed, Azuma wasted no time. "So, you got the goods?"

Parker dug into his bag and took out the three Combo Rangers Universe graphic novels, which he acquired in another universe while taking a break from the war in his universe. "Right here. I've also got a USB with digital versions of these graphic novels."

"Oh sweet, thanks. That'll save me about two months' worth of scanning, OCR and transcription."

"How did you go with the Sea Princesses books I gave you few years back? Sorry they took so long to arrive, I didn't realise there was a pandemic on."

"Oh yeah, it's all good. I got a better return out of them in my universe than what I was expecting."

Hiroki interjected, "I saw the things happening in your universe. Looks like you got a bit more than you bargained for."

Azuma replied, "Well, it wasn't that bad, even with all the horny pics and things that didn't make sense, but we managed to come to an understanding about that. Even if it was more than I bargained for or if it wasn't the kind of attention I was expecting, I still think it was worth the effort."

The food came to the table and the three of them began eating. What they had was the usual cha chaan teng fare; Hiroki had his usual satay beef instant noodles with a ham omelette and lemon tea; Azuma had a roast pork and tofu rice, colloquially known as "a man's romance", while Parker had pork chops on mushroom sauce and spaghetti.

After the three finished eating, they went back to their respective universes. Azuma began working on transcribing and translating the Combo Rangers Universe graphic novels. Two months later, Azuma was ready to begin his review of Volume 2.

Hello and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. Back in August 2022 I reviewed the first of the Combo Rangers reboot graphic novels, We Are Heroes, which were crowdfunded in 2013 to celebrate their 15th anniversary after 10 years on hiatus. Although back then I had no intention on reviewing the other two novels of the trilogy, which is also known collectively as the Universe phase, an upcoming story necessitates the translation and review of them, so let's dig into the second volume of the Combo Rangers graphic novel reboot trilogy, We Are Humans.

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Prelude: The Mighty Combo in: It's Not Easy for Anyone

In my review of Volume 1 I briefly talked about the prequel included in the WEBTOON version, Fly Again, featuring Fox Fonseca. Because I couldn't find the original Portuguese version of it, I thought that the prequel was exclusive to the WEBTOON version, but after trawling through the Wayback Machine, I realised that I was wrong and that said prequel was actually released in 2013 before We Are Heroes was released in Brazil. Same goes for the other two preludes - well, there's only one other prelude because the other one is a side story. I won't cover Fly Again here because I've already done it, but the transcripts and translation for it (and the other preludes) will be in my cloud drive folder linked at the top of the post.

The prelude I'm highlighting in this review is the one that Fabio Yabu published to his Facebook page but I didn't want to bother reviewing last year. In this two-parter prelude, the Mighty Combo is visited by his old friend and lawyer, Doctor Cooper, to serve him an eviction notice as the state government is acquiring the land where the Heroes' Retreat stands for gentrification. The Mighty Combo remains unmoved, so Dr Cooper heads off.

Upon getting into his car, Dr Cooper is confronted by a young boy attempting to rob him at fingergunpoint; Dr Cooper refuses to give the boy his wallet and he gets shot with a bioenergy beam. The Mighty Combo, Peacemaker and Mirrorman confront him and after hearing a longwinded excuse from the boy about the ghetto and 3G and gun crime, the Mighty Combo gets the boy to return Dr Cooper's wallet before flying off. After seeing some Combo Rangers characters in his delirium, Dr Cooper regains consciousness and tells the Mighty Combo that he will convince the government to let him and his friends stay at the Heroes' Retreat.

In the original Combo Rangers comics, Doctor Paul Cooper was actually a scientist (seriously, how does a lawyer have the title Dr) who came to Cidade City, lost his daughter, Maya (who is mentioned in the prequel), and ended up adopting another (Fabi) from the streets. Apparently he was the villain Dr Delirium in Zero, but he returns to normal, reunites with Maya and becomes an ally of the Combo Rangers or something.

Anyway, let's just get into the story.

Story

Following on from the events of We Are Heroes, Giluke tries to understand what he saw inside Lisa's head during their fight when Satan Boss admonishes him and Deck for their failure, telling him that with or without them, the Earth will belong to the Evol Empire before we segue into the Flashman-inspired opening sequence. Last time I mentioned that I was unsure who Deck was inspired from, but I learnt that in the original comics, Deck was actually the servant of Cardman, a villain from Revolution whose rivalry was with Luke instead of Fox. And there I was thinking he was Izuku Midoriya when My Hero Academia came out after these graphic novels.

In New City, Principal Pile announces his candidacy for mayor, much to Fox's shock. Fox goes to warn his friends at school, only to be demorphed by the anti-power barrier that Pile put up around the school. Fox has no intention of returning to school after being expelled for having powers, with him and Pile telling each other that the former would go back to school over their dead bodies. If you have been following the translation up to this point, you will have noticed that one of Fox's lines has an uncensored swear word. To put it simply, I think it fits with his character in that scene and I'm not one to mince words if I can help it. A little bit of a spoiler, but another swear word is used in the next graphic novel, but it's represented by an emoji. Points if you can guess the obvious.

Meanwhile, Giluke proceeds with his plan to obtain the energy of the Combo Rangers, masquerading as a boy named Luke. First, he confronts Mirrorman and tricks him into looking in a mirror, which somehow turns him evil. Next, he infiltrates New City School to get close to the Combo Rangers and Lisa while Satan Boss sends Deck to attack with Zaskonda, based on the Flashman monster The Zukonda. You know, I was going to make fun of Mirrorman's ability to turn evil when looking at himself in the mirror as a weakness, but then I realised that Fabio Yabu probably acknowledged it already at some point.

Fox and his dad, Formado, are the first on the scene. As Fox tries to deal with a kid rushing headfirst into battle, Formado goes to get the others on his son's request as the barrier at the school means that their communicators don't work. Formado tries to convince Principal Pile to dismiss the Combo Rangers so they can help Fox; Pile eventually does, even going so far as to join the battle with his jetpack as well. During the battle, Lisa unlocks the ability to construct prisms representing the Prism weapons of Flashman, but creating so many of them at once drains her power.

Luke gets other civilians to join the fight, making things more complicated for the Combo Rangers as they discover that Zaskonda is accumulating energy in the Evol Empire's plot to blow up the city. With Lisa forced to recharge, Kiko tries to use his portals to get Zaskonda away, but Mirrorman's betrayal causes Kiko to be thrown into his own portal. Formado tries to hold Zaskonda back, but he gets knocked away by Pile, who flies into the sky with Zaskonda and seemingly perishes in the explosion. It is here that Pile reacknowledges Fox as one of his students, showing that despite his strict demeanour, he still cares for Fox despite expelling him for breaking his rules.

At the Heroes' Retreat, Peacemaker proceeds to berate the Combo Rangers on the failure of their teamwork.

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(Isn't it great that Tumblr finally added support for starting YouTube videos at timestamps?)

OK, allow me to break down Peacemaker's points here because his berating is honestly unjustified given their situation. Firstly, how did Fox "throwing himself into the conflict alone" constitute an "abuse of trust"? He only did that because he wasn't able to contact the others, who were at school under an anti-power barrier, and at least he recognised that he wasn't able to hold his own alone and asked his dad to get help. Secondly, it's only natural that Lisa would want to experiment with her new powers in the heat of battle even at the cost of her own strength. Thirdly, and this goes for his points on Ken and Kiko, if Ken was able to find out the enemy's plans earlier, you wouldn't be yelling them like you are now! And the worst thing about this is that the Combo Rangers don't make any attempt to defend themselves, instead just deciding to hand back their bracelets because they thought they failed their mentors, the people they looked up to. Yes, they saw Principal Pile die in an explosion so they were probably grief-stricken, but you'd think they'd be more angry considering they tried their best in the last fight.

Fox asks the Mighty Combo if he thinks they should continue; the Mighty Combo attempted to encourage them but thanks to Mirrorman's manipulation, he ends up telling them that he was ashamed to have given the bracelets to them. This leads them to return their bracelets to the Mighty Combo, thereby completing another stage in Giluke's plan.

Here's how I would improve that scene. Peacemaker berates the Combo Rangers with his unjustified viewpoints. The Combo Rangers try to defend themselves and tell Peacemaker that he was wrong, but Peacemaker takes their bracelets away in a fit of anger. Fox tries to get the Mighty Combo to put in a good word for them, but thanks to Mirrorman's manipulation, he ends up agreeing with Peacemaker and sends them back out without their bracelets.

Now with the bracelets in his possession, Mirrorman knocks out the Mighty Combo and takes him to Satan Boss. Peacemaker tries to confront Mirrorman, but he ends up getting hit by his ray. On Satan Boss' ship, the Mighty Combo tries to explain that his powers are dangerous and that the bracelets are encrypted with DNA, but Deck and Giluke just laugh it off because they can easily decrypt it as long as they have a single hair or a drop of saliva.

Fox is sent back to school the next day and is introduced to Luke. Luke tries to study Earth culture in the school library when Deck offers to help him collect the DNA of the Combo Rangers, but Luke refuses, telling Deck to go away before his cover is blown. The Combo Rangers, save for Ken, decide to head to Alpha's to go over the schoolwork Fox missed. On the way, they talk about how people treat those like Ken or Kiko differently for being different, whether it be being rich or black. At the same time, they also show their hypocrisy and prejudice towards aliens following their encounters with the Evol Empire. I'd just like to take a moment to say that this was a really great scene, which shows how people can still be prejudiced despite embracing the differences of others. On the other hand, I could also argue that such hypocrisy can be healthy, particularly when you think that some people who are apparently on your side of politics might not be as perfect as they seem. If we go around accepting people left and right, we slowly become unable to discern who the real enemies are until it's too late, and that can end up turning into a bad thing.

Luke enjoys himself with the Combo Rangers at Alpha's when Deck leads his forces to attack. While collecting the Combo Rangers' DNA, Deck confronts Luke and has him reveal to them that he is actually Giluke. Ken, who had discovered what happened to Peacemaker, arrives with his dad to save the Combo Rangers. Deck takes Peacemaker's weapon from Ken and fires at the Combo Rangers, but Giluke gets in the way of the blast just as Peacemaker, who has become pacifistic and clingy after being hit by Mirrorman's beam, teleports everyone to Ozora Tower.

After Giluke sees a vision of the old Combo Rangers, he regains consciousness and tells Lisa his story, which leads her to take him to meet her friends. Giluke reveals that Principal Pile is still alive, having teleported him away from Zaskonda's explosion. Meanwhile, Deck manages to gain access to the source and create the Evol Bracelet, deciding to morph himself into, let's just say the Black Combo Ranger, and leave Satan Boss.

Meanwhile, Pile is found by Mirrorman and is hit by his beam, but nothing happens because he was apparently pretending to be the opposite of his usual self. The Mighty Combo manages to find Pile, but Satan Boss manages to find him as well. Pile makes an offer to Satan Boss; because the only ones who can defeat Deck now are the Combo Rangers, he offers to give Satan Boss his two generals in exchange for himself, the Mighty Combo and the bracelets.

While the Combo Rangers evacuate the civilians, Deck confronts Giluke, offering to leave Earth with him. Giluke accepts and tries to prevent Deck from taking his revenge on the Combo Rangers, leading him to conclude that he is trying to protect them. Ken has Peacemaker shoot at Deck, but the effects of Mirrorman's ray make him shoot a rose at him. Ken and Fox are discovered and the others hurry to them and Luke. Formado and Ken's dad come to the rescue just as Principal Pile arrives with the Mighty Combo to return the Combo Rangers' bracelets back to them.

The Combo Rangers fight Deck, but he proves to be stronger than them due to him unleashing the full potential of their power that they hadn't yet discovered. Fox has Kiko teleport everyone away, resulting in Deck following them into the school's anti-power barrier, which demorphs Deck as Ken takes the Evol Bracelet. As Giluke arrives to tell Deck that it is over, Deck says that he doesn't feel so good. The Mighty Combo arrives and tells him that his powers are dangerous, which was why he created the bracelets and had the Rangers unlock their powers little by little, meaning that what Deck did was suicidal. A horrified Deck disintegrates in Giluke's arms as the Mighty Combo and the Rangers watch.

Principal Pile arrives to take Giluke back and fulfil his side of the deal with Satan Boss. Satan Boss tells him that he was promised two generals; with Deck now dead, Satan Boss decides to claim Pile as his new general and he leaves with Giluke and Mirrorman. The epilogue shows Formado as the new principal of New City School with the Mighty Combo as its vice-principal before we are treated to a sneak peek of Satan Boss introducing General Pile.

Reflection

This comic is alright. We get a bit of character development with the Rangers, but most of it does seem to be focused on Deck and Giluke even if it is minimal. Formado is more accepting of Fox's ambition to be a hero and as I stated in the review, Principal Pile comes to accept Fox for who he is despite expelling him from school for not following the rules. Not much is elaborated on Giluke's backstory (let alone Deck's), why Mirrorman thinks he is different or why he has dreams about Lisa and the Rangers, but I'm holding out for the third graphic novel to give us some sort of explanation. Disappointingly, I was expecting Sara Moon to make an appearance after the first graphic novel, but she just seemingly disappeared for no reason whatsoever.

While the first graphic novel was a bit of a cheesy speedrun through the usual tokusatsu tropes, the second graphic novel developed the characters and story from what was teased in the first before introducing some loose ends to be resolved in the third. There is no Megazord fight following the teaser from the first graphic novel, but we do get an evil Ranger fight with Deck, which kind of ends anticlimactically, but is kind of justified seeing how the whole team couldn't beat him even when they fought together.

The PDF versions of the first and third graphic novels have a foreword from Fabio Yabu and a postface from editor Cassius Medauar, but it seems to be missing from the PDF of the second novel. Well, from briefly looking at the eBook version on Google Play, the postface is there but not the foreword, and I don't want to bother translating those if I don't have them for each book. The English version of the first graphic novel doesn't have those either, so why should I bother?

It may interest you to know that transcribing the graphic novels was both easy and not as easy as I thought. It was easy to get the text from the PDF files and paste them in Word, however PDF files don't know what paragraphs are so every line in a paragraph is split into separate paragraphs (or multiple paragraphs will become one long paragraph) when I paste it. It gets worse when it comes to the graphic novels because paragraphs don't always paste in the right order.

After copying all the contents of the PDF and stripping the formatting, I got over 170 pages of raw text (the third graphic novel is 120 pages). I removed the foreword, postface, sponsor list and back cover synopses, then I have to condense the contents by removing new lines, marking in the page numbers (and adding them where they are missing) and putting in who speaks what, not to mention the bolded and coloured emphases in the text. Admittedly, I don't always do it when I get white text in black speech bubbles, but I did my best with everything anyway, and even then while going through everything, I've had to go back and add emphases where I've missed them. When the editing is done, the condensed transcript comes down to around 40 pages (the third graphic novel has 32), and thus the translation is around that length as well. At least the text is selectable and I don't need to correct any OCR mistakes like when I did the transcripts for the Sea Princesses books, because that was more of a nightmare than just scrolling through and pressing Delete countless times. I think this what it would have been like if I had asked Yabu to send me the manuscripts for the books.

This concludes my review of the second volume of the Combo Rangers graphic novel reboot, We Are Humans. Join us next time when...

*BOOM*

What was that?

Storyline skit: The Interdimensional Café Part 1B

Azuma was finishing his review of Volume 2 when he heard an explosion from outside. He got up and went outside to check; it was then that Azuma became alarmed at the sight he was seeing - there was a horde of Polvina clones outside his studio.

As if by instinct, Azuma took a bunch of throwing knives rigged with explosives, struck them on a wall to ignite them and threw them at the Polvinas. The explosives detonated and the explosion created a cloud of smoke.

"Are they gone?" Azuma thought as the smoke cleared, but little did he know that a surprising sight awaited him. Instead of the Polvina clones being eliminated as he expected, there were even more Polvina clones outside his studio.

Amongst the Polvina clones there were at least five distinct types among them; there was the standard Polvina that people recognised...

"There's an old saying on Dryland. It goes, 'A true hero recognises trends and adapts to the circumstances.'"

A red variant Polvina with pasties instead of a bandeau, forgotten to time due to the subtle changes in her design...

"Onbeishiramandayasowaka... Onbeishiramandayasowaka..."

A provacative-looking Polvina whose base design called back to a makeover surprise Ester and Tubarina gave to her for her birthday which looked rather decent until Ester and Tubarina decided that it wasn't enough...

"Hello, young man. Can I buy you a drink? Maybe we could have a little dance together?"

A zombie Polvina, possibly caused by defects in the cloning process or laziness from clones making more clones...

"Bruuuhhh, I’ve come to eat your brains..."

And finally, a politician-looking Polvina who looked like Brazillian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva but spoke like a combination of US Senator Bernie Sanders and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews...

"I am once again asking for you to get on the beers..."

Azuma steeled himself as he prepared to face the horde of Polvina clones head-on, but little did he know that help was on its way from a most unlikely source...

"Heads up!" Hiroki said as a portal opened from the sky. Out from it came another Polvina, followed by Sougo Tokiwa and Hiroki Ichigo. Each of them had different belts on their waists and different collectibles in their hands...

"It's morphin time! Henshin!"

*KACHUNK!*

"Rider Time! Kamen Rider~ Zi-O!"

"KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!"

Landing on the ground were Kamen Riders Femme, Zi-O and Decade, who had come to Tumblrverse Y to fight the Polvinas.

Femme, aka the Polvina from Hiroki's universe, was not fazed at all the clones of her, though she was slightly taken aback at their appearances and how many of them there were. "So, the clones are on the loose, just as we thought. It's weird that there's so many of them and they all look like... well, me."

Zi-O, who hailed from a different universe to the other two where he was the one to inherit all Rider powers, the king of time crossing time and space to reign over over the past and the future, was eager to jump into battle, saying, "I've got a good feeling we can do this!"

Decade, known in his universe for being the destroyer of worlds and having a mixed reputation even before he became a passing-through Kamen Rider, was used to these kinds of situations, telling Azuma, "We've got the gist of the situation. Hurry inside and begin the review of Volume 3!"

"Oh, okay!" Azuma said as he went back inside his studio. What happens next, however, is a story for another time...

TO BE CONTINUED

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#tokusatsu #super sentai #combo rangers #sea princesses #princesas do mar #princesas del mar #el reino de acuatica #kamen rider #power rangers

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duckiereads · 3 years

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Independent Book Store Haul Pt. 1

And we're back to our regularly scheduled content! When I finished the semester, I wanted to celebrate by placing some orders at a couple independent bookstores!

For this round, I ordered from THE COLLECTIVE - OAKLAND. They're a Black-owned online shop that will do local pop-ups in Oakland--like the Boozy Book Fair they're hosting on August 26th!

This week I've gotten cover pictures and summaries from the bookstore's webpage! If you have the means, please support your local bookshops and libraries!

Books pictured from Top to Bottom:

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

[Image ID: A stack of books on a purple sheet and a white background.]

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

One hot summer night, best friends Lourdes, Fernanda, Ana, Perla, and Pauline hold a's ance. It's all fun and games at first, but their tipsy laughter turns to terror when the flames burn straight through their prayer candles and Fernanda starts crawling toward her friends and chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors. Over the next few weeks, shy, modest Fernanda starts acting strangely-smearing herself in black makeup, shredding her hands on rose thorns, sucking sin out of the mouths of the guilty. The local priest is convinced it's a demon, but Lourdes begins to suspect it's something else-something far more ancient and powerful. As Father Moreno's obsession with Fernanda grows, Lourdes enlists the help of her "bruja Craft crew" and a professor, Dr. Camacho, to understand what is happening to her friend in this unholy tale of possession-gone-right.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language? It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

Featured in my list: 10 Middle Grade Books by Asian Authors!

Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee

Growing up sounds terrible. No one has time to do anything fun, or play outside, or use their imagination. Everything is suddenly so serious. People are more interested in their looks and what others think about them than having fun adventures. Who wants that? Not Lora. After watching her circle of friends seemingly fade away, Lora is determined to still have fun on her own. A tea party with a twist leaves Lora to re-discovering Alexa, the ghost that haunts her house -- and Lora's old imaginary friend! Lora and Alexa are thrilled to meet kindred spirits and they become best friends . . . but unfortunately, not everything can last forever.

Featured in my list: 10 Graphic Novels I've Been Meaning to Read!

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents – a country she last saw when she was a toddler. She soon learns the new voice isn’t even hers, it’s the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the god—and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not. Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated. Especially when Ah Ma tries to spy on her personal life, threatens to spill her secrets to her family and uses her body to commit felonies. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she’ll also need to regain control of her body and destiny – or the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

This Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve with the richly imagined fantasy world of Furyborn and Ember in the Ashes. Divided by their order. United by their vengeance. Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance. Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power. Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe. When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

Featured in my list: Read these 10 YA books by Trans Authors instead of HP!

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. —Aces When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too. Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures. As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

I'm so excited to get reading! Tell me! What are you're excited to read!

#booklr #book haul #shop small #independent bookstores #ya books #ya fiction #horror #kidslit #books #to be read #tbr

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booksbabybooks · 3 years

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The Old Guard comic and killing what you love

I see so much excitement on here about the Old Guard comic coming out in April, that I kind of feel like a buzzkill bringing this up and I'm sure I'll get hate for this but: some of you at least are going to have to buy the damn thing.

Because we all know what's going to happen. Days after it comes out, the whole book will be scanned and online. Blogs will share the whole thing page by page. You'll know where you can download an illegal PDF. And most of this will be done from no more malicious reasons than love and enthusiasm. And in doing so, you pretty much guarantee that there won't be another comic after it.

There's a real culture online - especially on Tumblr - of feeling that all creative products should be free, and that by making them freely available you are doing an uncritical good, and sticking it to the system while you are at it.

Some of this comes from reasons it's hard not to have sympathy with: a screw you to the system, a 'fuck it, Disney can afford it', or genuine poverty / lack of access to a legal version of it.

Less attractively - not to be your salty aunt here, but it's true - it stems from an entitlement, a belief that you should be able to consume any art you want, free, immediately and without ads. (And often with no sense of irony or awareness: the same people who will RAGE against people liking but not reblogging fan art are happy to share a link where you can download books for free.)

But artists need to eat. They need to pay rent. And in almost every creative industry, the vast majority of people do not earn enough to live off. I don't have the exact figures to hand (you can get them from the BPI / Society of Authors websites if you are intetested) but something like 90% of musicians earned less than £200 from streaming last year. A similar percentage of authors earned less than £1000. This likely includes some of your favourites. Some people you view as successful. Some people that, if you took a moment, you'd be heartbroken were harmed by your actions.

(I work in the creative industries and I can tell you: they don't make many people rich. I have friends who are best-selling authors who survive on teaching gigs. And while it is about the money, it's not just about the money: I've seen comics artists deeply upset because a day after a book landed someone has uploaded the last five pages onto their blog as a "tribute".)

So pirating isn't a victimless crime, however easy it is it to pretend otherwise. (Also, it's not without risk: 'but I love them, your honour,' isn't actually a viable legal defence for copyright infringement).

But it also sends a message to the companies (including those who, yes, probably do deserve to be robbed) that IT'S NOT WORTH PUBLISHING THIS ART.

No publisher ever thought, it got a load of hype even though sales tanked, so let's publish another one. No film studio thought, ticket sales suck but illegal downloads were high so it's a win.

And it's especially important if the art you want to consume challenges the existing narrative of what sells. The companies that create these things - that pay the artists and writers and filmmakers - will continue to believe that nobody wants a queer superhero / Black romantic lead / disabled central character until the bottom line proves otherwise.

(Not to also point out that if you don't believe creatives should be paid, you encourage a system where only rich people get to make art, or at least get to decide who makes art).

So: if you possibly can, buy the damn book.

Club together with your mates to buy it.

If you can, double what your money does by buying from a comics store or indie bookshop.

If you are broke, order it from your library - most libraries stock graphic novels now and also offer digital lending. Remember, authors get paid for every loan out.

I'm sure there are some people for whom these are impossible options - this being Tumblr, I'm sure many people are already frothing to tell me how privileged my viewpoint is. And it's not like I don't know comics are expensive, or that not everyone has a local library.

But a lot of you do. So it's to those people I'm saying:

You want more of these books to come out? You have to support them.

EDIT: While I am here saying pay for your art I would remind people that my 2020 Kindness project is giving away my stitches to good homes for free so if anyone wants these Joe and Nicky stitches they are still available. HMU. (UK only due to postage, sorry)

#the old guard #joe x nicky #nicky x joe #graphic novels #graphic novel #artists need to eat #it's all fun and games until somebody loses a publishing contract #pay your artists

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smalltownfae · 2 years

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4, 13, 18, 24, 27 "S", 29, 37, 39, 44 for the book asks? :)

4. Is there a book that you think needs a bigger fandom??

All of my favourites XD Ok, tbf at least the ones where I got attached to the characters have small fandoms (Realm of the Elderlings, First Law, Poppy War, The Goblin Emperor, Howl's Moving Castle) contrary to books I love and have close to no content like "The Seventh Bride" by T. Kingfisher. I wish there was fanart for it, but I also wouldn't get deep into fandom talk about that book. I guess I would like Octavia E. Butler's books to have bigger fandoms, especially the Xenogenesis trilogy and Earthseed duology. I would just love to see fanart for it and memes and theory and analysis posts for those books. I understand that the books I love aren't the kind of books that call for a big fandom of artists or people that are into fandom to begin with though. A lot of people read them, but don't create anything for it or discuss it without tiring :(

13. How many books have you read this year??

Counting some manga and graphic novels, I've read 91 books so far :D

18. Do you know anyone else that likes books??

Yes. None of my irl friends love books as much I do, but two of them read around 6 books a year at least. My online friends are bigger readers and I love that I found people with similar interests through tumblr <3

24. Have you read a book that was really hyped up but you didn’t enjoy??

Ah, "The Name of the Wind" question ahah Quite a few actually. I will just leave a list with links for the reviews if I said something about it. This is according to the hype I saw online because I saw none irl for most of these. Portuguese people don't care XD

The Gunslinger (Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King (the author himself is overhyped. I had an english professor that knew it too); "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway; "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe; "The Last Wish" by Andrzej Sapkowski; "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss; "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown; "Prince of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence; "All Systems Red" by Martha Wells; "Red, White & Royal Blue" by Casey McQuinston (sorry); "Daisy Jones & The Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid; "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik; "Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan Mcguire;

The so bad I gave up (joke): "The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories" by Angela Carter; "The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan; "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black; "Gideon the Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir; "Circe" by Madeline Miller; "Sorcery of Thorns" by Margaret Rogerson; "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers.

Sorry for the long list. You can see why I am tired of being fooled XD

27. Name a book that you own starting with (S). Have you read it?? Did you like it?? If you haven’t read it, are you looking forwards to it.

“Strange the Dreamer” by Laini Taylor. I haven’t read it yet and once again this is a book that was super popular on the internet so I am afraid. I’ve heard about the insta love which also doesn’t motivate me, but I the writing style seems beautiful and the main character seems to be one I would like. I am hoping to like it, but I am keeping my expectations low.

29. Have you ever bought a book because the cover was so nice??

Guilty as charged. I bought “The Jungle Book” and I am keeping it because of the cover, but I didn’t like it ;-; I mean, look at this:

I hate artists...

37. Is there a book that you think everyone should read??

No. Everyone has different tastes and just like I believe that there is a book for everyone I also believe that there is no book that will please everyone. Now, a book that someone should read in order to be more open minded and empathethic might exist but I haven’t read it so I can’t recommend it. I also think that for personal improvement is better to talk to as many people as we can that have different experiences. It’s always better to learn from others than read it in a book and a lot more informative and fun too.

39. What book that has made you cry??

Most of the Realm of the Elderlings books by Robin Hobb, especially “Fool’s Fate”. Never before I cried that hard because of fiction and I am sort of a crier (or used to be before this book broke me). There are more books that made me cry, but besides that only “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid comes to mind and I didn’t cry that much.

44. Favourite book quote, go.

I don’t have only one, but I will insert a few here:

Robin Hobb (there are so many but I’ll stick to 2 short ones):

“You seek a false comfort when you demand that I define myself for you with words. Words do not contain or define any person. An heart can, if it is willing” - Golden Fool

“I never confuse the cost of something with it’s value.” - The Mad Ship

Patricia A. McKillip (there are so many but I’ll stick to 2 short ones):

“When you open your mind and hands and heart to the knowing of a thing, there is no room in you for fear” - The Riddle-Master of Hed

“Soon is such a long word.” - The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.” - “The Women of Brewster Place” by Gloria Naylor

“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains.” - “The Poppy War”, R.F. Kuang

"Do you know what’s worse than a villain? A villain who thinks he’s a hero. A man like that, there’s nothing he won’t do, and he’ll always find himself an excuse." - “Last Argument of Kings”, Joe Abercrombie

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.” - “The Song of Achilles”, Madeline Miller

"If a man has to say trust me, Gogu conveyed, it’s a sure sign you cannot. Trust him, that is. Trust is a thing you know without words." - “Wildwood Dancing”, Juliet Marillier

I am sure that there are many more from other books and that I forgot because I am bad at writing them down. I hope to get better at it.

Thank you for the questions!

#book asks #asks #omg this is so long I'm sorry ahah #I am once again wanting to reread and continue marillier's works...#andy answers

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