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genericpuff · 4 months

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All That Glitters is Not Feminism - An Analysis of LO's Brand of "Feminism" and What Remains of its Fanbase (The Twist)

Alright y'all, I've been waiting a hot minute to talk about this because I wanted to see how it fully panned out before saying anything about it. And it's not even specifically about LO, but I do think it's very adjacent to it in a way that I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear. Much of it speaks to how we prop up white writers even at the expense of POC.

This is 'the twist' attached to my first post that I made just a couple hours ago that concerns an entirely other topic but I feel ties into this subject very well.

If you haven't heard, there's this author who recently fucked around in the Del Rey publishing scene.

Her name is Cait Corrain.

In the original tweet calling this person out, names were not dropped, but it was made very clear that what Cait did was unacceptable behavior.

You can read the entire thread that started it all from Xiran here:

There's also a GREAT recap thread from one of the affected authors, Bethany Baptiste:

I want to make it clear that Cait Corrain isn't just a debut author.

Cait Corrain is - or now, was (foreshadowing is a literary device that-) - a debut author who had an agent, a publishing deal with Del Rey (an imprint of Random House which is a MAJOR publisher) and even an upcoming Illumicrate deal - meaning, her book was going to be packaged in a monthly loot crate subscription shipped directly to people's doors, quite possibly one of the best marketing deals a debut author could ever get, usually unheard of in this industry. All the pre-reviews were strong and positive.

Cait's book was literally set up for success. All she had to do was sit back, relax, and watch the fruits of her labors roll in. She had written the book. It was ready for release. The hard part was technically over.

But I guess the racism brainrot got to her because as it turns out, since April - for EIGHT MONTHS - she's been making alternate accounts on GoodReads to review bomb the indie and debut works of her friends and peers, most of whom were POC and did not have the same opportunities set up for them as she did. There are loads of receipts to back this up that you can find in those above threads ^^^

To say that this is appalling is an understatement. This was an intentional and deliberate act of racism by a white queer writer who claimed to be "jealous" - of what, I can't imagine - so much so that she deliberately sabotaged her peers, people who had supported her and her book.

And then when she got caught? She doubled down on it and claimed it was a "friend", also an alternate account she made up.

The exchange between her and this made-up person is actually the funniest shit out of this entire thing, it's so poorly written and as soon as people noticed the time stamps were out of order, that was when it truly cemented her newfound clown status.

"oooooh he's standing right behind me, isn't he?" energy right here LMAO

yes keep expositing cait, that's really selling the "this is a genuine conversation that really happened with a real person" bit 🤡

Anyways, it became abundantly clear that Cait was just going to continue to dig her heels in over something she caused.

This has been a hot topic in the UnpopularLO Discord, not just because of how crazy of a situation it is that we had to talk about it - and we have people within the community who work in the literature and media sector - but because we noticed one very telling thing in the list of series that she had review bombed in her very own personal act of wrath.

You see, Cait made one fundamental mistake that led to her undoing - she didn't just review bomb the works of her peers, she positively reviewed her own book and others.

What's her book about though?

It's an Ariadne x Dionysus retelling set in space.

It's literally another "modern retelling" of Greek myth.

And wouldn't you know it, guess who else created a modern retelling of Greek myth that she included in her positive review raiding while she was sabotaging the work of her actual peers?

Now, I think it goes without saying that what I'm about to say should be taken with MOUNTAINS of salt, I'm sure a lot of you are reading the headline and going, "Ugh, really? You're gonna make this about LO? Could you give it a rest already???"

I need you to understand, with the current state of Rachel's fanbase and 'modern' Greek myth literature as a whole, at this point Lore Olympus - and the works that are literally inspired by it such as A Touch of Darkness - has basically become the shopping cart litmus test of basic decency. It's like when someone says they like Harry Potter - you can't take it automatically at good faith anymore, because there isn't a whole lot separating someone who simply liked Harry Potter as a kid and still rewatches the movies from time to time from someone who fully supports the politics and agenda of J.K. Rowling. No, not everyone who still watches the movies or reads the books fondly is a TERF by default, but it's justifiably a reason for suspicion when the consequences are often too dire to risk.

There's this thing that's been happening in the LO fanbase that I frankly saw coming, but has really recently started to hit its peak. It's what I call the "Kanye Effect", where the comic has become so absurd and backwards in its misogyny and white feminism that the only people who seem to be left supporting LO are the people who are legitimate white feminists and misogynists - because all the normal level-headed people fell off the comic ages ago (or transitioned into the critical side of the community).

I mentioned it in my last post, but it bears repeating - Rachel's fanbase has literally been shipping Hera, a victim of abuse, with her abuser, Kronos. I'm really hoping a lot of them realize how fucked up that is now that Hera herself has called it what it is - abuse - within the comic, but I also can't count on the LO fanbase picking up on that or even noticing it with how quickly people swipe through it each week, it's very apparent at this point that most of LO's readers don't know how to chew their food and don't pay attention when Persephone and Hades aren't onscreen.

But I'm digressing. Or am I? We're talking about Crown of Starlight after all. The debut Dionysus x Ariadne sci-fi/fantasy romance that was quite literally advertised using Lore Olympus as its baseline-

This. This is what the ongoing cultural erasure and white feminist uwu-fication of Greek myth is doing to the literary zeitgeist surrounding Greek myth as a whole. This is why we criticize Lore Olympus and works like it that are created by disingenuous people who only seek to use the assets of Greek myth material as a way to shoot themselves up into fame and stardom. This is why we demand better standards in the literature and webcomic industry, so that people like Rachel and Cait can't use their privileges to quite literally erase the source material that they used to make themselves famous in the first place.

If anything, Cait's actions didn't just affect the people she negatively review bombed, or the people she was affiliated with, but also the people she positively reviewed. While I don't support what Rachel creates, she wasn't the only one who Cait went out of her way to review positively from her alt accounts, there were many others as evident in the Google Doc - but all this really does is tarnish the legitimacy of these books and their ratings by artificially jacking up their numbers that are advertised to others.

Making Greek myth fanfiction or fun creative retellings was never the problem, but it's now being sabotaged alongside so many other genres and mediums by toxic white individuals who can't even keep themselves from committing hate crimes, let alone create something purely for entertainment that's transparent in its illegitimacy, lest it destroy the illusion that these people are qualified to speak over those whose voices are being stifled, often by these very same people. Many of these writers get caught and are still allowed to continue what they're doing - that was certainly what we feared with Cait.

Until today.

It was revealed today that Cait's book will no longer be featured in the Illumicrate May 2024 box.

Del Rey has dropped Crown of Starlight from their publishing schedule.

Daphne Press will be hopefully following suit.

And, most telling of all, Cait's own agent has severed ties with her.

For anyone not familiar with the inner workings of the publishing industry, Cait has essentially been blacklisted. Without an agent or a publishing house, she'll have to entirely rely on her own resources through self-publishing. Unless she manages to sneak her way back in under an alias (which I wouldn't put it past her to try) she no longer has access to the mainstream publishing industry that was already guaranteed for her before she let her 'jealousy' get the better of her.

Her career was already made for her. She had a red carpet laid out for her debut. Her book was getting good pre-reviews and she had quite literally nothing keeping her from her success. The best thing she could have done was nothing. Somewhere in her head, she made up a threat that didn't exist, and sealed her fate in acting on it, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think in these situations such as with Cait Corrain, Rachel Smythe, and - also recently and relevant - James Somerton, we need to become increasingly aware of how white voices are still overpowering POC voices, not just in their actions, but in the opportunities they're given over others which they then use to further stifle the voices of those they feel "threatened" by or feel entitled to speak over. While neither James nor Rachel have used sock puppet accounts to "take out the competition" (at least as far as we know lmao) James did quite literally steal the words and voices of queer writers who were deserving of their time in the spotlight, and Rachel's work is being quoted as "rewriting Greek myth" as if its blatant gentrification and appropriation should be marketed as some sort of positive.

It's all too common for these deeply-rooted prejudices to rear their ugly heads and for the people who carry them to act out in this way while justifying it as "jealousy" or "a mistake". This isn't jealousy. This isn't a mistake. This isn't someone "starting drama". This is genuine, targeted hate, with the intention of snuffing out the voices of others who should be empowered, not silenced.

All that time and effort, and for what? Racism and petty jealousy? It just goes to show, it doesn't matter how many opportunities you're given, how high up on the ladder you already are - it won't fix the deeply-rooted insecurity and racial pettiness that spurs people on to do such horrible things.

I've spent enough of my time and words today talking about Cait, and James, and Rachel. So to end this off, I want to join in with all the others who have highlighted the books that were review-bombed by Cait, and help in uplifting them so they can have successful debuts. I'll be pre-ordering a few of them, so I'll be happy to make dedicated posts for them in the future after they release. Please consider purchasing them for yourself if you want some new reading material <3

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste:

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole:

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X Chang:

Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White:

(I'm sure there are plenty others so if I missed any here, please let me know so I can add them here and check out their books!)

If there's any silver lining to this, I hope that it makes people aware of the media they consume and who it's being created by. I hope it makes people more willing to seek out the books that aren't getting the same opportunities as Cait Corrain and Rachel Smythe. I hope it's a wake-up call to the industry that matters like this need to be taken seriously and that POC writers are still being silenced under their own noses. And most of all, I hope it's a reminder that we shouldn't even need at this point that this behavior is not okay, no matter what level a person climbs to - that just because someone is part of one minority doesn't mean they're not capable of sabotaging another. It sucks that that has to be said, it sucks that despite these groups being so intersectional there are still people within them who submit to their deeply-rooted insecurities and find ways to feel threatened that they use to justify hateful behavior.

Having a platform is a privilege. It should never be weaponized against your own peers or those who you simply feel "threatened" by for no reason beyond your own imposter syndrome or doubts or internal struggles. Because as much as you may feel like you've earned where you are, that never gives you the right to weaponize your opportunities against others who were never given those same opportunities in the first place. "Feminism" is not using your power to crush "other women". "Progressiveness" is not exclusive to the progress that only benefits you.

I wish only the best to those who were affected by the actions of Cait Corrain. You deserve to be heard and seen and appreciated for the work you do and the abuse you've had to tolerate. I look forward to your debuts in 2024 <3

#cait corrain #support POC writers #crown of starlight #the poisons we drink #so let them burn #the voyage of the damned #mistress of lies #say isn't it funny how all the debut books cait tried to sabotage accurately describe her and her actions LOL #that's what we call irony #debut authors 2024 #booktok #webtoon critical #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus

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the-duality-scribe · 2 years

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Kickstarter has been kickstarted

Today is the day! I just launched the Kickstarter Project. Feel free to make your way there by the link below but if you made your way here from there....well ignore the link. I’d hate for you to get dizzy following links 😁😂

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dualitydissonance/duality-dissonance

#infp #story promotion #debut writer #novel writing #interactive #7 sins #seven sins #story progress #story development

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twinkodium · 6 months

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how do u think oscar would feel about hittin it from the back

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃-𝑒𝓎𝑒𝒹 𝑀𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 (𝒪𝒫)

ᥫ᭡ Pairing: Oscar Piastri x Fem!reader

ᥫ᭡ Warning: ‼️ unprotected rough sex, slight choking, bruised body parts, jealous!Oscar 😉 ‼️

ᥫ᭡ Genre: Smut

ᥫ᭡ Word count: 3,1K

ᥫ᭡ A/N: first ever smut, pls be nice to me 🥺 let me down gently okay? (I’ve struggle a lot to write the sex scene…🥴) All kind of comments are appreciated just don’t be rude. I’d like to learn and improve, so encouraging everyone who reads this to reach out if you have any opinions 😘 big shoutout to my girl @lattesqueeze for beta reading, helping and supporting me through this journey 🧡

‼️+18 content under the cut! Minors, please, do not interact ‼️

You’re his date for a fancy event neither of you want to attend, but it’s obligatory. You’re wearing a tight, sleeveless dress that hugs and compliments your body perfectly, with all your curves emphasized by the dark blue, half-length dress, ending just above your knees. Matching it with pretty black heels makes your legs look insanely long. You’re extremely pretty, such a gorgeous sight. Oscar can’t keep his eyes off you all night, completely turned on and trying his best not to drag you into a dark room and bend you over on whatever furniture is available. You’re no better either. You can’t resist ogling him in his fancy and perfectly tailored suit. The black material sharpens his usually soft features, turning him into a breath-takingly handsome hottie. His crisp, white shirt stretches and pulls slightly over his toned torso with his every move. You prefer traditional ties over bow ties, it’s easier to grab onto, to pull Oscar down for a kiss. Fluffy, longer hair frames his round face, his fringe falling across his eyes as he walks.

Unfortunately, Oscar’s not the only one noticing your breathtaking beauty. He swears he only left your side for ten seconds, but a guy is already plastered to you, checking you out like you’re a piece of meat he’s about to devour. Jealousy and anger run through his veins as he quickly walks back to you. Possessively pulling you to his side, he presses a kiss to your temple before looking at the guy. He levels the stranger with a frown and a single arched eyebrow, waiting patiently for an answer, or at least an introduction of who the hell he is. You bite your lower lip looking at his handsome face, all hot and overprotective. Your desire for him is off the scale, your panties already soaked. You have to focus so hard to contain yourself and not let out a moan. Oscar reads your body language easily, knows exactly how flushed and needy you are.

The flirtatious man is long forgotten as Oscar navigates you through the maze of well-known and popular figures in the motorsport world. His anger didn’t disappear fully, only urging him to get you home as soon as possible. He needs to release his frustration in the best way he knows how. A shiver runs down his spine thinking about all the naughty things he’s going to do to you right after you step into your shared apartment. If you’re confused by his urgent need for leaving the event, you don’t mention it, way too excited to get your hands on him. Who would have thought seeing him all cleaned up nicely in a suit and worked up by jealousy would have this much effect on you? Barely able to stand on your own, your legs are already shaking from anticipation and he hasn’t even touched you yet, just keeping his hand on your lower back.

A little yelp leaves your mouth as Oscar lifts you up against the door, pushing it closed with your back. He wastes no time before attacking your lips like a starved animal. You bring your hand up to the back of his head, combing your fingers through the soft, fluffy hair on the nape of his neck, lightly tugging on it. His lips part with a sweet moan, allowing you to slip your tongue into his mouth. His hands work their magic on your body, helping you ride up your tight dress to wrap your legs around his slim waist pressing your bodies even more together. Your tongues never stop fighting for dominance, although you are clearly losing the battle in your blissed out, foggy minded state. The way he bites into your lower lip knocks the remaining air out of your lungs.

You have to break the kiss to tilt your head back against the door behind you to catch your breath. He doesn’t hesitate to press open-mouthed, sloppy kisses along your jawline, down one side of your neck then up on the other, sucking a blooming red bruise onto your collarbone and licking it right after to soothe the delicious pain. You can’t do anything but pant against him, letting him do whatever he pleases to do with you. He doesn’t hold back either, leaving love bites all over neck to mark his territory, to show everyone who you belong to. His hands sit on both of your bare thighs, caressing your soft skin, drawing small, rhythmic circles with his thumbs, making you even dizzier. His hips relentlessly rocking forwards, thrusting his already hard dick against your clothed pussy.

‘O-oscar, please…’ Your raspy voice leaves your mouth in a prayer, begging him to finally touch you where you need him the most. Your chest arches towards his muscular torso as the hot pleasure takes over your overstimulated body.

You feel against your bruised skin how a smug grin spreads across his pretty face, thoroughly enjoying the reactions he can draw out of you. He drags his hands up your back, pulling you closer. His patience is starting to wear thin, as you feel him already clawing at your zipper to get you out of the dress as he guides you towards the bedroom. You take your turn to lay your swollen lips on his thick, delicious neck, biting on his Adam's apple and licking at the two moles you love so much. You slide your wet mouth lower on his flesh, leaving behind a matching mark on his collarbone. His knees buckle, almost dropping you midway when you slip your tongue over the purplish bruise and along the length of the bone.

He gently sits you down at the edge of the bed, peeling the already crumpled dress off your delicate body. Cold air hits your heated body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Oscar positions himself between your opened legs, looking down at his gorgeous, completely breathtaking girlfriend. Lust fills his usually soft big doe eyes as he admires your half-naked glory, eyes roaming across your face and flitting down to your perky tits, where your hardened nipples are ready to be kissed and sucked. However, Oscar has other plans and will take care of them later tonight. You let out a strangled sound, extremely impatient to have his hands back on your body and struggling to resist the handsome man standing before you. You extend your hands to palm at his dick over his suit trousers, earning a growl in exchange. You bring your face closer, running your wet mouth over the tight outline, so geared up to wrap your lips around his thick cock. Your hums send a shockwave through his whole figure, and he shoves his lower half more towards you, pleased by how you take over and eagerly jump on him if he teases you for too long. He lets himself drink in the moment a little longer before he runs his thumb along your jawline grabbing your chin to pull your head away from his aching member. You want to protest, but his firm hold on your face tells you not to. His thumb glides across your bottom lip, slightly pulling it down. The urge to push his thumb into your mouth and order you to suck on it is so intense, it’s clouding his judgment for just a second. But he can’t wait any longer to take you in the way he imagined it when that asshole approached you earlier. Jealousy rears its ugly head once again.

‘Another time.’ He licks his red inflamed lips seductively. ‘Go on all fours for me babe, let me see your pretty ass.’

You consider disobeying him, already burning with the visual of him manhandling you into the position. You think better of it eventually, but not before you flick your tongue on his thumb that he never quite got around to removing from your lower lip. You even let an innocent smile spread across your face when his fierce gaze finds yours, biting back a chuckle at how worked up he is while he is the one who has been playing with you all night and overstimulating you like crazy. You crawl on the bed finally, positioning yourself the way he asked you to, laying your forearms on the clean duvet and pushing your round ass in the air. You catch a needy groan from where he is standing, you peek over your shoulders to send him a wink signaling to him to get on with it.

He’s a racing driver for a reason, getting out of his clothes at record speed, almost beating the fastest McLaren pit-stop time. The bed dips under his weight, and you feel his body heat right behind you warming your skin even more. His brown eyes connect with the sight of your soaked through lace panties, revealing your perfectly pink slit he’s dying to dive into. He breathes softly on it for good measure, bringing a whiny sob out of you.

Oscar positions his knees right between yours, pushing your legs apart a little more to grant himself better access. He runs his right hand along your spine, letting his longer nails scratch at your skin, not hard enough to leave prints but still just enough to make you shiver and squirm under his enormous hand. His left hand paws at both of your ass cheeks repeatedly, smacking them firmly before switching sides. You were never known for your patience at the best of times, and by now had clearly had enough of his little games trying to take control as you bump your ass against his stiff cock.

‘NO MORE PLAYING, PLEASE!’ You struggle to push yourself up, reaching behind you to tug at your undies. Your whole body is shaking, begging for relief, aching to have him inside you at last. He playfully swats away your hands, refusing to let you be in charge. It’s his time to shine, to show he’s the only one who make you scream his name loudly enough that the whole world can hear, to make you remember who fucked you so hard when you barely can walk the next day.

He had his own fair share of fantasies for being rough with you, but always shook it off thinking you’d not be into such cruel acts. In reality, he couldn’t be more wrong. You’re so aroused your fluids are already running down the inside of your thighs. Your thong is so ruined he decides it’s easier to just rip it apart. It can’t be saved anyway. Your foggy mind couldn’t care less, just wanting to feel him so badly it hurts you, both physically and mentally.

Knees about to give up on you, you let out a whimper when he sinks his teeth into your left cheek before lifting himself up. He strokes his hard dick once or twice, running his thumb over the reddened tip, spreading precum all over it. He arranges himself at your entrance, pushing into your velvety walls without any warning, bottoming you out. His hand finds its way to the back of your neck, gripping it from behind to push your face more into the mattress choking out your breathy moans. You can’t take it anymore, circling your hips to urge him on. He sighs with pleasure as he grasps your hip forcefully, setting a neck-breakingly fast pace, making you sob loudly into the bedding under you. His hold on your neck tightens, nails biting into your sensitive and bruised skin, buckling your hips backwards from ecstasy. Your hardened nipples slide on the duvet with every move he makes, stimulating you and blinding your vision.

‘Fuck, you feel amazing. And only mine!’ A light sheen of sweat is forming on his body, but it doesn’t stop him from hitting your spot over and over again earning the most beautiful sound out of your mouth in return. You never thought the innocent looking Aussie, your sweet boy with his love for vanilla sex, could be so possessive, so incredibly hot and demeaning while fully in control.

Your strength leaves your body, so desperately wanting to come, so on the edge it takes your breath away. Oscar throws his head back, taking every bit of pleasure you're able to give him. He catches a glimpse of your figures in the mirror standing in the further corner, right in front of you. His obsessive mind creates a wonderful idea of how not to let you forget who is pounding into you. He runs his fingers into your messy, long hair, gripping a handful of your locks to lift your head up.

'Eyes on us, sweetheart. Be a good girl and watch yourself being railed.' His raspy voice skyrockets your pulse; the Australian accent cuts through the steamy room adding yet another to the pile of reasons to lose your mind.

It should be embarrassing to see your own reflection while being devoured, but focus remains solely on Oscar. Your clouded eyes never stray from taking in the sight of him - messy hair pointing in all directions, some of his locks sticking to his damp pretty face; rosy blush permanently on his cheeks, highlighting his fair complexion; red stained kissable lips agape, a line of spit connecting them together. His impressive neck is on show whenever he tilts his head backwards to let out an obscene, almost pornographic moan. Sweat covers his broad, muscular chest, droplets snaking their way down his upper body and towards the area where the two of you are connected. The pooling sweat makes your skin sticky, which would be disgusting in any other setting, but here and now, it’s a big turn-on instead. His muscles flex as he thrusts his hips into yours. The wet, slapping sounds get louder and louder with every move he makes as he picks up the pace even more, filling you completely in the best way possible. Your neck aches from the weird angle of your body squished into the bed, but you are able to ignore it as your senses are in overdrive with the feeling of Oscar's movement and the hot view in the mirror combined.

'Osc… I'm sooooo close!' You feel the familiar clench in your stomach. You rasp out a whine as your orgasm hits you hard and fast, making your eyes involuntarily flutter shut. Unable to keep your head upright, you flop forwards into the bed. Your walls are clenching on Oscar's dick inside you, sending him over the edge too, filling you with his cum.

He lays his sweat-covered chest on your back, holding himself up so as not to crush you with his much bigger frame. He presses a sweet kiss between your shoulder blades, wrapping a hand around your waist to flip you over to your back. He's not ready to pull out of you yet, taking his time to cherish your closeness. His gaze has lost its fire, only love and adoration staring back at you from his soft brown eyes.

Oscar buries his face into your neck, mumbling sweet nothings, of how much you mean to him. He worships your body with light kisses. He goes all soft for you like he didn't rock your whole world just minutes ago. You hand massaging his head gently on the back of his neck, he pushes his cheeks deeper, closer to your warmth. His breath evens out, indicating that he's close to falling asleep on you. But, to your surprise, he starts talking.

'I'm sorry if I was too rough.' He whispers into your neck apologetically, and goosebumps awaken by the feeling of his breath on your tender skin.

‘If I had known before that jealousy brings out the animalistic side of you, I’d have flirted with guys left and right just to get wild rounds with you.’ A high-pitched chuckle leaves your lips as his teeth graze over the most purple hickey, protesting against your idea.

‘If you want our sex life spicier, just ask. I’m open for suggestions.’ He’s not keen to have any men around you with grabby hands. You’re his and only his. Your mind is already racing through all of your fantasies you’ve held back, anxious to not scare him away with all the kinks you’d like to explore.

Eventually, Oscar slowly slides out of you, making you hiss in the process. A few drops of his cum blemish the freshly changed cover. He kisses your cheek as an apology and kneels on the bed to head into the bathroom. He stops for a second next to the bed, tracing your perfect body with his eyes. He has no idea how he was able to bag such a gorgeous and adorable human being, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

You can’t help but ogle his retreating backside. His shoulder to waist ratio always leaves you speechless, no matter how many times you’ve seen it before. Oh, and his peachy ass, the star of the show. He carries a whole bakery down there, multiple cakes combined but seems to be oblivious about it. Everyone else is flat like a wall when he stands next to them sporting that gigantic ass.

He’s wearing tight boxer shorts when he gets back to bed, a damp and lukewarm towel in hand to clean away the mess he has caused. You’re still very sensitive everywhere, but his gentle touches only relax you to the extent you almost drift off the sleep. He leaves to drop off the dirty towel, and returns with one of his big T-shirts for you to sleep in. He dresses you with care, trying to avoid pressing on any of your newly-formed bruises.

His guilt resurfaces as he counts the marks on your perfect body. He had no intention of hurting you but he let his emotions get the worse of him. You see the change in his mood, and immediately know exactly what’s going on inside his pretty head.

‘Stop overthinking it. I might be sore as hell, but I would do it all over again if I wasn’t exhausted and about to fall asleep.’ Your reassurance calms the impending storm in his mind.

You climb under the duvet, waiting patiently to feel the mattress dip and his warmth press up against your back. He wraps his arm around you, sliding it under the shirt to place it on your flat stomach. He pulls you as close as physically possible, and buries his face into your soft but messy hair, breathing your flowery scent in.

‘I love you Ossie.’ Your eyes are already heavy, and you accept that you can’t delay your sleep any longer.

‘I love you too, more than anything.’ He murmurs sweetly before dozing off to sleep as well.

#f1 #formula 1 #formula one #oscar piastri #oscar piastri smut #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri x you #f1 smut #f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #oscar piastri x y/n #oscar piastri imagine #Lola’s writer debut #op81 smut #op81 fic #op81 imagine #Lola writes 🖋️

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no-where-new-hero · 4 months

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omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

#i’m very doom and gloom about this if you couldn’t tell from my tone lmao #and of course it’s not a perfect formula; i read a decent debut this year by a writer trying to be very active on socials and idk how much #of a splash her book made because literary sff is a dying genre even with an ecological bent compared to the glut of romantasy #also this feels very timely because the goodreads choice awards were just announced and i am seething at seeing d*vine r*vals #get another accolade to its name #blake’s last braincell #blake talks shit #writing life

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