#thank you douglas adams for this inspirational line

[gelarshiesprofruitboarder]

oh how i love hgttg

#thank you douglas adams for this inspirational line #the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #so long and thanks for all the fish

[snickerdoodlles]

Feel free to just ignore this if you really dislike the phrase that much, and then I will just try to remember never to use that phrase for your stories again, but I wanted to let you know that I consider "crack taken seriously" to be one of the highest accolades to give an author. Because they took something that anyone else would have made into a one line gag and filled it with life; with joy and fear and insight and inspiration; brilliant worldbuilding and inspired character development.

I don't like most humor. It usually just comes off as mocking and mean to me. But crack taken seriously is when someone takes the bitter absurdity of those "funny" bits of our world and cracks it open to show that there is an entire story full of beauty and hope inside, not just the momentary embarrassment and frustration I expected.

And also, it's just really hard to do. Most people don't have the imagination to find an entire universe in a silly joke, much less the skill to write it. Douglas Adams is crack taken seriously. And Terry Pratchett, JRR Tolkin, William Gibson. Anyone who thought of something radically different than our reality, and then wrote it so well that we all saw our own lives reflected in it. In fact, it showed us ourselves reflected so clearly that it taught us things about ourselves we never thought to look at; changed us in ways that a story that pandered to our expectations of how the world works never could.

Done right, absurdity and silliness leaves the reader receptive to considering radical ideas they might have ignored in any other context. I find it an amazingly powerful literary device. Most cracky fanfic doesn't go that far, of course. But even when it's just used to give a different interpretation of a cannon scene, not political commentary, it hits me harder than more conventionally structured works trying to do the same thing. And I can't write it at all so I find it really technically impressive when someone pulls it off. The timing and pacing is really hard to do!

( crack taken seriously tends to be something that makes me giggle or go "WTF?" at first, but ends with me sitting in stunned silence, thinking "OH." I mean, there are variants, it's not like a rule, but that's kind of the core feeling I get from it.

It's an actual unique genre in my mind, not literally something silly treated as serious)

Oh friend it's okay, I don't actually need anyone to change up their tagging systems for me! And thank you for sharing your thoughts on the 'crack taken seriously' tag 🥰 I do objectively know most people mean it in a good way, it just also catches me off guard every time because the pieces of my writing that I think people label me as a 'crack' writer for aren't what I'd label as 'crack', so there's a disconnect for me (ie something like my necromancy AU I haven't written yet, where Chay can just raise the dead as he pleases and I use that to dig into Big's relationship with personhood, is crack taken seriously to me; stuff that just plays off silliness like an accidental pony-play or ridiculous friendship shenanigans i'd just tag as humor). plus, the definition for 'crack' is all over the place-- I always assume the nicer definitions for my own sake, but I'm not entirely sure sometimes.

so in a combination of my own writing insecurities and the definition mismatch, I feel very...odd? ig? about the label. it's very much a me thing, I know that, but sometimes the specific combination of tags left on my stuff feels more like "this person's a crack writer BUT--" and it kinda feels like I'm being put on the backfoot/dismissed, or that what I like to write is somehow 'less' and needs to be justified to be liked. this is still a me issue, but sometimes the disconnect hits strong and I just feel baffled for the day.

#*fr tho: its fine if you tag my stuff with 'crack' tags! i dont actually mind #my definition confusion isn't your problem its all good 😂

[izzyspussy]

Happy STS! What books or other media have shaped the way you think about writing the most? What did they teach you?

Okay, not gonna list books/media, but authors/directors instead. Louis Sachar, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele.

Sachar in particular is absolutely the pinnacle, in my opinion, of weaving together an intricate and unweavable narrative. Every time I read or watch HOLES it sends me into fits of divine inspiration NOT joking. It also is like- You know when you see a work of art that is So Good in a very particular type of way that feels unreachable? Sachar's work is the opposite of that. It's the GOAT, but in a way that makes it clear that mastery like this can be achieved with practice and diligence to the work.

Fincher I also like for intricate storytelling, as well as his skill with building suspense (something I am currently struggling with in Curse The Messenger).

I love and aspire to Gaiman's mastery of build-up pay-off, especially how he can build an entire book (or 30 minute cold open) into a single, succinct line that simultaneously means half a dozen things and also one precise thing, all shining a spotlight on the themes of the piece and also sometimes being a pun. I 100% do this, I go into every work looking to do it, and I do it because of him. Entirely.

Pratchett and Adams I admire and try to emulate for their particular flavor of satire, as well as their zany metaphors. I don't really write comedy - I don't think I'm built for it - but I think sardonics and absurdism can both have an effective place in any genre. I really like to utilize comedic tools in tragedy, I think it's incredibly effective and also makes the material more readable, and those in particular happen to be my favorite and in my opinion are the most versatile without being trite or quickly dated.

I love the way del Toro's genre fiction is also - kind of inescapably - High Art TM. He takes the campiest and/or grittiest possible concepts or subjects and depicts them with Elegance. I'm also always a slut for a story that is dark not from the absence of light, but from the smallness of it. Metaphorically speaking. He's just really great at tragedy that isn't a bummer. Peak.

Peele. How does he do it. Everything he makes is at once impeccably subtle and completely blatant. Everything he makes is at once terrifying and hilarious. (I think much horror-comedy either swings wildly back and forth between the two, or else is not actually scary at all.) His storytelling is also really tight like Sachar and Fincher, but imo has a more natural and realistic feeling to it. I also just really vibe with his concepts. I didn't really get Us (judging from its reception, that's absolutely a me problem), but Get Out and NOPE both have a message/allegory that I really believe in or identify with or however you'd describe that kaskfls. I hope one day my work will communicate its ideas just as well.

Honorable mentions to AJ White, Chuck Tingle, Joy Demorra, RoAnna Sylver, Harley LaRoux, Alice Scott, Magen Cubed, Rebecca Sugar, Joseph Fink, and the McElroy brothers for showing me I really can make whatever the hell I fucking want to and no matter what it is it can still be Good TM and I can still Make It TM - as well as that Making It TM can mean whatever kind/level of success is right for me.

Wonderful question, Marigold! Thank you!

#jack facts #jack chats #writing process #reading process #sts #what a group of people huh

[lilas]

short drabble about nate dropping the detective off at work and how it could’ve should’ve gone

This was entirely inspired by this post from @agentnatesewells-manbun, the code analysis @queerbrujas added to it, and the dumb conversation with @veeples that followed (and they also helped me end it).

Words: ~500

Rating: T for suggestive themes

*anything in italics is basically taken directly from the code Silvia shared

Kai breaks the kiss with a shuddered breath. “I’m not exactly going to be able to focus on work if you do that to me,” he mutters.

His breathing halts completely when he feels Nate’s finger trace up the length of his neck before gripping his chin lightly and tilting it up to meet his eyes. And oh does Nate look so fucking pleased with himself.

“Do what?” he asks innocently.

“I think you know exactly what.”

Nate hums as he leans in further. “Something like this?” He plants a lingering kiss against Kai’s collarbone before moving his lips up to press against the curve beneath Kai’s jaw. Kai's eyes flutter closed with a soft moan.

“Yeah, exactly that…”

“Well, I just wanted to help get you fired up for work,” Nate says and draws a step back, “Have a good day.”

Nate spins on his heels with a barely there smirk. He just manages to stop from licking his top lip to savor the lingering taste of Kai on his mouth.

His feet stop suddenly, nearly stumbling over himself, when Kai walks briskly past him.

“Hey, Douglas, I’m not going to be at work today. I’m sick. Terrible, awful head cold.” Kai coughs for good measure, though he doesn’t really need to. His voice is husky enough from Nate’s teasing.

“Kai,” Nate says gently at his side, having caught up thanks to his long stride.

“Yeah just let Tina and Verda know. Thanks, kid.” Kai slips the phone back into his pocket, his lips curled in an enticing smile.

Nate tries to ignore the tightness beneath his stomach. “Kai, you didn’t need to take time off.” His voice catches when Kai looks at him, eyes darker than Nate has ever seen them. “I’m expected back at the Warehouse.”

Kai considers him (every long inch of him, very, very closely) for a moment before shrugging and carrying on down the sidewalk. “I’m not going to ask you to play hookie with me, Nate, but I am feeling,” Kai smirks, “lightheaded. From the heat, obviously.”

Nate releases a breath, “Obviously…”

“But it would be a shame.”

“A shame?”

Kai shrugs. “Like Adam was saying, everywhere is dangerous now. And I’ll be all alone at home. Defenseless.” He takes a step closer. One of his fingers run down the exposed length of Nate’s forearm, making him shiver, before their hands lace together. “Having a strong, handsome vampire around will make me feel safer.”

“I do want you to feel safer.” Nate rolls his lips together, considering. His hand slips from Kai’s so that he can loop his arm around Kai’s waist. Their bodies press closer together, the fire from before fanning between them hot enough to rival the summer heat. It burns hotter still when Nate’s fingers slide beneath the hem of Kai’s shirt and draw a line across his skin.

Kai’s eyes flutter shut. He draws in a sharp, measured breath before releasing it with a shudder. Any remaining control he has frays at the end, coming quickly undone. When his eyes open again, their hazel color is molten, full of so much precise intent that Nate can feel his own careful restraint begin to slip.

“Then let’s go.”

Nate is only too happy to follow.

#the wayhaven chronicles #twc #twc book 3 #nate sewell #n sewell #the entire reason for this is that kai is ready to smash and will take any opporunity presented to him #you know WHEN THE BOOK LETS US SMASH FINALLY #anyway hope you enjoy it ❤️ #not me editing it hours after i posted it.....

[rogerioreal]

REVIVEHER

Nearly every track that Larry Levan played at The Paradise Garage.

2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman And A Dominican - Do It Properly 198752nd Street - Cool As Ice 1983 52nd Street - Tell Me (How It Feels) (12") 1986 80's Ladies - Turned On To You 1981 Adele Bertei - Build Me A Bridge 1983 Adiche - Get Ready (12") 1985 Adonis - No Way BackAdvance - Take Me To The Top 1983 Affinity - Don't Go Away 1983 Al Hudson - If You Feel Like Dancing 1977 Aleem - Confusion (12") 1985 Aleem - Love's On Fire (12") 1986 Aleem - Release Yourself 1984 Alexander Robotnick - Problemes D'Amour (12") 1985 Alfie - Star (12") 1985 Alfie Silas - A Puppet To You (LP or 12") 1982 Alfie Silas - Communicate (LP Cut) 1982 Alfredo De La Fe - Hot To Trot 1977 Alfredo De La Fe Alicia Myers - I Want To Thank You (LP) 1982 Alma Faye - Don't Fall In Love 1979 Alma Faye - It's Over (12" ext. mix) 1979 Alma Faye - Stop, I Don't Need No Sympathy 1977 AM-FM - You Are The One 1982 Amii Stewart - I'm Gonna Get Your Love 1982 Andrea True - NY, You Got Me Dancing 1977 Andrea True - What's Your Name, What's Your Number 1977 Ann Margret - Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes (Larry played Instr. 1981 Anthony & The Camp - What I Like (12") 1986 Anthony White - Block Party (Inst.) 1977 Archie Bell - Anytime Is Right 1981 Aretha Franklin - Freeway Of Love (12") 1985 Aretha Franklin - Get It Right 1983 Aretha Franklin - Who's Zooming Who (12") 1985 Arpeggio - Love & Desire 1979 Ashford & Simpson - Ain't No Stopping Us NowAshford & Simpson - Bourgie Bourgie 1977Ashford & Simpson - Don't Cost You Nothin' 1978Ashford Simpson - Found A Cure &It Seems To Hang On! (Special Disco Remix) 1978Ashford & Simpson - Outta The World (12") 1985 Ashford & Simpson - Stay Free (LP) 1979 Atlantis - Keep On Movin' & Groovin' 1982 Atmosphere - Atmosphere Strut 1976 Sojka and Pike on Elite Atmosphere - Dancing In Outer Space 1981 Atmosphere - Disco Juice 1976 Atmosphere - Spaced Out 1976 Attitude - Love Me Tonight 1983 Aurra - Checking You Out 1982 Salsoul Aurra - Make Up Your Mind 1981 Ava Cherry - You Never Loved Me 1980 B.B. & Q Band - "On The Beat" 1981B Beat Girls - For The Same Man 1982 B.T. Taylor - You Can't Have Your Cake (& Eat It Too) 1982Babe Ruth - The Mexican 1973Baby'0 - In The Forest 1980 Bad Girls - Too Through 1981 Bananarama - Cruel Summer (12" Mix) 1984 Barbara Fowler - Come And Get My Lovin' 1984 Barbara Mason - Another Man 1984 Barbara Pennington - 24 Hours A Day (12" Vers.) 1977 Barbara Streisand - Promises (LP) 1981Barry White - Let The Music Play 1976Barry White - My Sweet Summer Suite 1976Basement Boys - Love Don't Live Here Anymore (12" or Comp. LP) 1987 BBCS&A - Rock Shock 1982 Bell & James - Livin' It Up 1978 Ben E. King - Music Trance 1980 Bert Reid - Groovin' With You (Levan 12" Mix) 1984 Betty Wright - One Step Up, Two Steps Back 1984 Beverly Johnson - Can't You Feel It (LP) 1979 Bill Brandon - We Fell In Love While Dancing 1978 Billie - Nobody's Bizness 1983 Fleetwood rds Billy Frazier - Billy Who? 1980 Billy Nichols - Give Your Body Up To The Music 1979 Levan mix on West End rds Billy Ocean - Love Zone (12") 1986 Billy Ocean - Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) (12" Remix) 1981 Billy Ocean - Stay The Night (12" Vers.) 1981Bionic Boogie - Cream Always Rises To The Top 1978Bionic Boogie - Risky Changes 1978 Black Ivory - Mainline (12") 1979 P Adams and L Burgess Black Light Orchestra - Touch Me, Take Me 1977 Black Mamba - Vicious (Levan 12" Mix) 1984 Garage rds Blackbyrds - Happy Music 1976 Donald Byrd Blackwell - Boogie Down & Mess Around 1978 Blancmanage - Feel Me 1982 Blaze - If You Should Need A Friend (12") 1987 Blondie - Rapture 1981Blue Magic- Look Me Up 1974Bo Kool - Love Money 1982 inspired 'Love Honey Love Heartache' On Tania records, UK track Bob-A-Rela - Spend The Night 1979 Bob-A-Rela - Stop 1979 Bobbettes - Love Rhythm 1981 Bobby Thurston - Check Out This Groove 1980 Bobby Thurston - You Got What It Takes 1980Bobby Womack ‎– I Can Understand It 1972Bohannon - Let's Start The Dance 1978 Boney M - Daddy Cool 1977 Bonnie Boyer - Got To Give In To Love 1979 Booker T - Don't Stop Your Love (12" Remix) 1981 Boris Badenough - Hey Rocky (12") 1986 Brainstorm - Hot For You 1979 Brainstorm - Lovin' Is Really My Game 1977 Brainstorm - We're On Our Way Home 1978 Brass Construction - Can You See The Light (12" or LP) 1982 Randy Muller Brass Construction - Changin' 1976 Brass Construction - Give & Take (12") 1985 Brass Construction - Walkin' The Line (12") 1983 Brass Construction - We Can Do It 1980 Brecker Brothers - Don't Stop The Music 1977 Brenda & Tabulations - Let's Go All The Way (Down) 1977 Brenda & Tabulations - Superstar 1977 Brenda Gooch - You And I Together 1980Brian Eno - David Byrne ‎– The Jezebel Spirit 1981Bruce Johnson - Pipeline 1979 Bruni Pagan - Fantasy 1979 Patrick Adams on .... Vanguard Bruni Pagan - Lovers (LP) 1979 Buffalo Smoke - Stubborn Kind Of Fellow 1978 Bumble Bee Unlimited - Love Bug (Original Red Greg 12") 1976 Greg Carmichael Bunny Sigler - By The Way You Dance 1978 CJ & Co - Devil's Gun 1977 C-Bank - One More Shot 1983 John Robie C-Brand - Wired For Games 1982 Cameron - All That's Good To Me 1981 Cameron - Boogie's Gonna Get Ya 1981 Cameron - Let's Get It Off 1980 Cameron - The Magic Of You 1980 Candi Staton - When You Wake Up Tomorrow 1979 Candido - Dancin' & Prancin' 1979 Salsoul Candido - Jingo 1979 Salsoul Candido - Thousand Fingerman 1979 Salsoul Capricorn - Capricorn 1980 Captain Rapp - Bad Times (I Can't Stand It) 1983 Captain Rapp - I Can't Stand It (12" - 2nd Press) 1986 Carl Bean - I Was Born This Way (12") 1987 Carl Bean - I Was Born This Way (Orig. Motown 12") 1978 Carly Simon - Why 1982 Atlantic WEA Carol Douglas - You're Not So Hot (12" or LP Vers.) 1983 Next Plateau Carol Hahn - Do Your Best 1982 Carol Williams - Can't Get Away From Your Love 1982 Carol Williams - No One Can Do It Like You 1981 Carol Williams - You've Reached The Bottom Line (12") 1983 Carolyn Harding - Gonna Get Your Love (12") 1985 Carolyn Harding - Memories (12") 1986 Carolyn Harding - Moving On (12") 1987 Carolyn Porter - I Said It And I Meant It (12") 1987 Carrie Lucas - I Gotta Keep Dancin (Original Vers.) 1977 Cat Stevens - Was Dog A Doughnut 1977 Celi Bee - Superman 1977 Central Line - Don't Tell Me 1981 Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine (12" Levan Remix) 1981 Cerrone - Cerrone's Paradise 1977 Cerrone - Je Suis Music 1978Cerrone ‎– Love In C Minor 1976Cerrone - Supernature (whole album) 1978 Cerrone - Take Me 1977 Cerrone feat. Jocelyn Brown - Cherry Tree 1980 Chaka Khan - I Know You, I Live You (LP) 1981 Chaka Khan - Tearin' It Up (12" Levan Remix) 1983 Change - Angel In My Pocket 1980Change - Paradise 1981 Change - The Very Best In You 1982 Change - This Is Your Time 1983 Chantel Curtis - Get Another Love 1979 Chantel Curtis - Hit Man (LP) 1979 Charlie Calello Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing 1979 Charo - Dance A Little Bit Closer 1977 Salsoul Chas Jankel - Glad To Know You 1982 Chemise - She Can't Love You 1981 Cher - Take Me Home 1979 Cheri - Small Town Lover 1983 Cheri - Star Struck 1982 Cheryl Lynn - In The Night 1981 Cheryl Lynn - Keep It Hot (12") 1979 Cheryl Lynn - Love Bomb 1979 Cheryl Lynn - Star Love 1977 Cheryl Lynn - You Saved My Day 1978 Cheyne - Call Me Mr. Telephone (12") 1985 Chi-Lites - My First Mistake 1977 Chic - Chic Cheer 1978 Chicago - Street Player (12" Mix) 1979 Columbia reds Chip E. - Like This (12") 1985 Chocolette - It's That East Street Beat (12") 1985 Choice 4 - Come Down To Earth 1977 Circle City Band - Magic 1983 Circuit - A Little Help From My Friends (12") 1985 Circuit - Release The Tension 1984 Cissy Houston - Think It Over 1978 Citispeak - I Don't Need Your Handouts 1984 Citispeak - Rock To Rock 1983 CJ & Co - We Got Our Own Thing 1977 Class Action - Weekend (12" Levan Remix) 1981 Sleeping Bag rds Claudja Barry - Down & Counting (12") 1986 Claudja Barry - Johnny Please Come Home 1978 Claudja Barry - Sweet Dynamite 1977 Clausell - Don't Let It Be Crack (12") 1986 Joe Clausell ??? Coffee - Purpose (LP) 1982 Colonel Abrams - How Soon We Forget (12" Remix) 1987 Colonel Abrams - I'm Not Gonna Let (12") 1986 Colonel Abrams - Music Is The Answer 1984 Colonel Abrams - Over & Over (12") 1986 Colonel Abrams - Speculation (12") 1985 Colonel Abrams - Trapped (12") 1985 Colors - Am I Gonna Be The One (12" Dub Vers.) 1983 Colors - Pay Me Back My Love (12") 1986 Columbus Circle - If You Read My Mind 1982 Conquest - Give It To Me 1981 Conversion - Let's Do It 1981 --> Leroy Burgess Conversion - Sweet Thing 1982 Cookie - You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover 1982 Cory Daye - Pow Wow 1978 Crown Heights Affair - Dancin' 1977 Crown Heights Affair - Don't Wanna Change You 1980 Crown Heights Affair - I See The Light 1980 Crown Heights Affair - Say A Prayer For Two 1978 Cuba Gooding - Happiness Is Just Around The Bend 1983 Streetwise rds Cultural Vibe - Mind Games (12") (Not the same record as Quest) 1986 Easystreet reds Curtis Hairston - I Want You (All Tonight) 1983 Curtis Hairston - I Want You All Tonight (12") 1985 Curtis Hairston - We All Are One 1984 Curtis Mayfield - Tell Me (How Ya Liked To Be Loved) 1979 Curtis Mayfield - What Is My Woman For? 1979 D Train - Keep On 1982 Prelude D Train - Music 1983 Prelude D Train - Walk On By 1982 Prelude D Train - You're The One For Me 1981 Prelude D.C. LaRue - Cathedrals 1977 D.C. LaRue - Let Them Dance 1978 D.D. Sounds - Cafe 1978 Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You (Levan 12" Remix) 1984 Dan Hartman - Love Strong 1979 Dan Hartman - Relight My Fire 1978 Dan Hartman - We Are The Young (Levan 12" Remix) 1984 David Bowie - Let's Dance (12") 1983 David Christie - Don't Stop Me, I Like It 1978 David Joseph - You Can't Hide From Your Love 1983David Williams - Come On Down, Boogie People 1977 Dazz Band - Let It All Blow (12" Mix) 1984 Debbie Jacobs - Don't You Want My Love 1979 Dee Dee Bridgewater - Bad For Me (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Dee Edwards - Put Your Love On The Line 1980 Delegation - Heartache No. 9 1980 Denise McCann - Tattoo Man 1976 Dennis Coffey - Wings Of Fire 1977 Denroy Morgan - Happy Feeling 1982 Becket rds Deodato - Are You For Real 1984 Deodato - Keep It In The Family (LP) 1982 Deodato - Keep On Movin' 1982 Deodato - Night Cruiser 1980Deodato - Super Strut 1973Deodato - Whistle Bump 1978Deodato 2001 ‎– Also Sprach Zarathustra 1986Desmond Child & Rouge - Our Love Is Insane (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Dexter Wansel - Disco Lights 1977 PIR Dexter Wansel - Life On Mars Dhar Braxton - Jump Back (12") 1986 Sleeping Bag rds Diamond Touch - Love Line (12") 1985 Diana Ross - The Boss 1979Diana Ross - Love Hangover 1976Diana Ross - "No One Gets The Prize" 1979Diana Ross - Once In The Morning (LP) 1979 Diana Ross - That's How You Start Over (LP) 1983 Diana Ross - Work That Body (12" Version) 1982 Dianne Marie - I've Waited Much Too Long 1982 Dinosaur[/color] - Kiss Me Again 1978 Sire rds Dinosaur L - Corn Belt (Levan Mix; Comp. LP) 1986 Sleeping Bag rds Dinosaur L - Go Bang 1983 Sleeping Bag rds Direct Current - Everybody Here Must Party 1979 Don Ray - Got To Have Loving 1978 Don Ray - Standing In The Rain 1978 Donald Byrd - Love Has Come Around 1981 Donald Fagen - New Frontier 1982Donna McGhee - It Ain't No Big Thing 1979Donna Summer - Autumn Changes 1976Donna Summer - Bad Girls 1979Donna Summer - Hot Stuff 1979Donna Summer - I Feel Love 1977Donna Summer - Last Dance 1978Donna Summer - Love to Love You Baby 1975Donna Summer - MacArthur Park 1979Donna Summer - Spring Affair 1976Donna Summer - Summer Fever 1976Donna Washington - 'Scuse Me, While I Fall In Love 1981 SalsoulDonny Hathaway ‎– The Ghetto 1969Double Exposure - Every Man Has Got To Carry His Own Weight 1976 Salsoul Double Exposure - I Declare War 1978 Salsoul Double Exposure - I Got The Hots For You (12" Mix) 1979 Salsoul Double Exposure - My Love Is Free 1977 Salsoul Double Exposure - Ten Percent 1976 Salsoul Dynamic Superiors - Nowhere To Run 1977 Earons - Land Of Hunger 1984Earth, Wind & Fire - Africano 1975Earth Wind & Fire - I Think About Lovin' You 1971Earth, Wind & Fire - Moment of Truth 1971Earth, Wind & Fire - Power 1972Earth, Wind & Fire - Side By Side (LP) 1983 Eastbound Expressway - Never Let Go 1979 Ecstacy, Passion & Pain - If You Want Me 1981 Roy B rds Ecstacy, Passion & Pain - Touch And Go 1976 Eddie Drennon - Would You Dance To My Music 1977 Eddie Kendricks - Ain't No Smoke Without Fire 1978 Eddie Kendricks - Girl You Need A Change Of Mind 1973Eddie Kendricks - Goin' Up In Smoke 1976 Motown rds Eddy Grant - Living On The Frontline 1978 Eddy Grant - Nobody's Got Time 1980 Eddy Grant - Time Warp 1977Eddy Grant - Walking On Sunshine (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Ice rds Eddy Rosemond - Funk It 1979 Edgar Winter Group - Above & Beyond 1979 Ednah Holt - Serious, Serious Space Party (Levan 12" Mix) 1981 West End rds Edwin Birdsong - Rapper Dapper Snapper 1980 Salsoul rds El Coco - Cocomotion 1977 El Coco - Dancing In Paradise 1978 El Coco - Let's Get It Together 1976 Eleanor Mills - Mr. Right (12") 1987 Electric Mind - Zwei 1983 Eloise Whitaker - Don't Turn Your Back On Me 1981 Empire - Freakman 1981 Empress - Dyin' To Be Dancin' 1981 Prelude rds Empress - Take A Risk 1982 Prelude rds Erasure - Sometimes (12" Remix) 1987 Erotic Drum Band - Plug Me To Death 1978 ESG - Moody 1981 99 rds Esther Williams - I'll Be Your Pleasure (Levan Remix 12" or LP) 1981 Esther Williams - You Gotta Let Me Show You 1976 Evelyn King - Your Personal Touch (12"/LP) 1985 Evelyn Thomas - Heartless (12") 1985 Exodus - Together Forever 1979 Expose - Let Me Be The One (12" Remix) 1987 Extras - Haven't Been Funked Enough 1979 Faith, Hope & Charity - You're My Piece Of Mind (Ext. 12" 1976 Fancy - Come Inside (12" Mix) 1984 Fantastic 4 - Got To Have Your Love 1977 Fantastic Aleems - Hooked On Your Love 1980 Fantasy - You're Too Late 1981 Farley Funk - Love Can't Turn Around (12" Dub Mix) 1986 Farm Boy - Move (12") 1986 Fat Larry's Band - Act Like You Know 1982 --> see Whatnauts Fat Larry's Band - Lookin' For Love 1979 Fatback Band - I Found Lovin' 1983 Fatback Band - Is This The Future (12" Vers.) 1983 Fatback Band - Spanish Hustle 1976 Fatback Band - Take It Anyway You Want It 1981 Fatback Band - The Girl Is Fine 1983 Feel - I'd Like To 1982 Feel - Let's Rock Over & Over Again 1982 Sutra rds Fern Kinney - Groove Me 1979 Final Edition - Betcha Can't Love Just Once 1980 Fingers, Inc. - Can You Feel It (Comp. LP) 1987 Fingers, Inc. - Mystery Of Love (12") 1987 Fingers, Inc. - Never No More Lonely (LP) 1987 First Choice - Breakaway 1980 Salsoul rds First Choice - Doctor Love 1977 Goldmind rds First Choice - Double Cross (Levan Remix) 1979 Salsoul rds First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Remix) 1982 Salsoul rds First Choice - Love Thang 1978 Goldmind rds First Love - Don't Say Goodnight 1980 Five Special - Why Leave Us Alone 1979 Flakes - Sugar Frosted Lover 1980 Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies (12" Remix) 1987 Flower - Classical Love 1979 Fonda Rae - Heobah 1983 Posse rds Fonda Rae - Over Like A Fat Rat 1982 Vanguard rds Foxy - Tena's Song 1978 France Joli - Gonna Get Over You 1982 Prelude rds France Joli - The Heart To Break The Heart 1980 PreludeFrankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax 1984Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Ballad of 32 1984Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes 1984Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the pleasuredome (The Whole 13:40 version) 1984 Fred Fowler - Girl You Need A Change Of Mind (12") (Kendricks Remake) 1986 Freda Payne - I'll Do Anything For You (12" Vers.) 1978 Freda Payne - Love Magnet 1977 Free Life - There's Something Better 1979 Freeez - I.O.U. 1983 Fresh Band - Come Back Lover 1984 Frida - I Know There's Something Goin' On 1982 Frisky - You Got Me Dancing In My Sleep 1979 Aretha Franklin - Jump To It 1983 Front Page Orchestra - Love Insurance 1979 Frontline Orchestra - Don't Turn Your Back On Me 1981 Full Circle - Workin' Up A Sweat (12") 1986 Full House - Communicate (12") 1986 Funk Deluxe - This Time 1984 Funk Fusion Band - Can You Feel It 1982 Funkapolitan - As Time Goes By 1982 Gary Criss - Rio De Janiero 1978 Salsoul rds Gary's Gang - Let's Love Dance Tonight 1979 Gayle Adams - Love Fever (12") 1981 Gayle Adams - Stretchin' Out 1980 Gayle Adams - You Brought It On Yourself 1980 Gayle Adams - Your Love Is A Life Saver 1980 Gaz - Sing Sing 1978 Salsoul rds Gene Chandler - Get Down 1978 Gene Dunlap - Take My Love 1981 General Johnson - Can't Nobody Love Me Like You Do 1978George Benson - This Masquerade 197 George Duke - I Want You For Myself 1979 George Kranz - Din Daa Daa (Original 12" Mix) 1984 George McCrae - Love In Motion 1977 Geraldine Hunt - Can't Fake The Feeling 1980 Gibson Brothers - Cuba 1979 Gibson Brothers - Oh What A Life 1980 Gino Soccio - Hold Tight 1981 Gino Soccio - I Wanna Take You There Now 1980 Gino Soccio - It's Alright 1982 Gino Soccio - Try It Out 1981 Gino Soccio - You Move Me (LP) 1982 Gino Soccio - Dancer 1979 Giorgio - I Wanna Rock You 1979 Giorgio Moroder - Evolution 1978Giorgio Moroder - Knights in White Satin (Full Album Version) 1976Girls Can't Help It - Baby Doll 1982 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Save The Overtime For Me (12" Vers.) 1983 Gladys Knight - It's A Better Than Good Time 1978 Gladys Knight - Love Is Always On Your Mind 1977 Glass - Let Me Feel Your Heartbeat 1982 West End rds Gloria Gaynor - Let's Make A Deal 1976 Gloria Gaynor - Let's Mend What's Been Broken (LP or 12") 1981 Goldie Alexander - Show You My Love 1982 Goody Goody - It Looks Like Love 1978 Atlantic --> Montana Goody Goody - Let Me Work On You 1982 Black Sun rds Grace Jones - Do Or Die 1978 Grace Jones - Don't Mess With The Messer 1979 Grace Jones - Feel Up (Levan Remix) 1982 Island rds Grace Jones - I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You) (12") 1986 Grace Jones - La Vie En Rose 1977 Grace Jones - My Jamaican Guy 1978 Grace Jones - Nipple To The Bottle 1982 Grace Jones - On Your Knees 1979 Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper (Disconet mix)1981 Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm/The Fashion Show/Ladies & Gentlemen (all 1985 1985 Grace Jones - Sorry 1976 Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette 1980 Greg Phillinganes - Behind The Mask (12") 1985 Gregg Diamond - Danger 1979 Gregg Diamond - Star Cruising 1978 Grey & Hanks - Dancin' 1979Grover Washington Jr. - Mister Magic 1975Gunchback Boogie Band - Funn 1982 Gwen Guthrie - Hopscotch (LP Version) 1983 Island rds Gwen Guthrie - It Should Have Been You 1982 Gwen Guthrie - Outside In The Rain (Levan 12" Remix) 1986 Gwen Guthrie - Padlock (Levan Remix - EP) 1985 Gwen Guthrie - Peanut Butter (LP Version; Levan remix released in 1985) 1983 Gwen Guthrie - Seventh Heaven (LP Version) 1983 Gwen Guthrie - Seventh Heaven/Getting Hot/Peanut Butter (Levan Remix - EP) 1985 Gwen Guthrie - They Long To Be Close To You (Levan 12" Remix) 1987 Polydor rds Gwen Guthrie - Ticket To Ride (Levan 12" Remix) 1987 4th and Broadway rds Gwen McCrae - Funky Sensation 1981 Gwen McCrae - Poyson 1981 Hanson & Davis - I'll Take You On (12" Levan Mix) 1986 Fresh rds Hanson & Davis - Tonight (Love Will Make It Right) (12" Dub Mix) 1985 Harlequin Fours - Set It Off (12" - female version) 1985 Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F (12") 1985 Harvey Mason - Groovin' You 1979 Arista rds Heaven & Earth - I Really Love You 1981 Heaven 17 - Let Me Go 1983 Herbie Hancock - Tell Everybody 1979 Hercules - Seven Ways To Jack (12"/Comp. LP) 1986 Hi-Gloss - You'll Never Know 1981 Hindsight - Stand Up (12" Remix) 1987 Hot Cuisine - Who's Been Kissing You 1981 House People - Godfather Of House (12") 1986 Hugh Masekela - Don't Go Lose It, Baby 1984 Jive Africa I Level - Give Me 1981 I Level - Minefield 1981 Ian Dury - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick 1978 Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful 1978 Ian Dury - Spasticus (Autisticus) 1981 Idris Muhammed - Could Heaven Ever Be Like This 1977Idris Muhammad ‎– One with a Star 1978 Imagination - Burnin' Up 1983 Imagination - Changes 1983 Imagination - Instinctual (12" Remix) 1987 Imagination - Just An Illusin 1983 Imagination - Looking At Midnight (12") 1983 Imagination - State Of Love 1983 In-Sync - Sometimes Love Lets You Down (12") 1987 Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life 1983 Inner City Jam Band - What I Did For Love 1977 Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Garage Mix) 1981 Salsoul rds Inner Life - I'm Caught Up 1979 Prelude rds Inner Life - Let's Change It Up (12") 1985 Inner Life - Make It Last Forever (Levan Remix) 1981 Salsoul rds Inner Life - Moment Of My Life 1982 Salsoul rds Instant Funk - Body Shine (Levan Remix) 1979 Salsoul rds Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up (Levan Remix) 1979 Salsoul rds Instant Funk - Just Because You'll Be Mine 1983 Salsoul rds Instant Funk - Slap, Slap, Lickedy Lap (Levan Mix) 1979 Salsoul rds Instant Funk - Why Don't You Think About Me 1979 Salsoul rds Intrigue - Fly Girl (12") 1985 Invisible Man's Band - All Night Thing 1980 Island rds Isaac Hayes - I Ain't Never 1980 Isaac Hayes - Moonlight Lovin' 1978 Isley Brothers - Harvest For The World 1976 Isley Brothers - Inside You (12" or LP) 1981J Geils Band- Give to me 1973J.M. Silk - I Can't Turn Around (12") 1987 J.M. Silk - Let The Music Take Control (12") 1987 J.M. Silk - Music Is The Key (12") 1985 J.R. Funk & Love Machine - Feel Good, Party Time 1980 Jackie Moore - How's Your Love Life Baby (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Jacksons - The Hurt (LP Cut) 1984 Jago - Are You Going To Go 1983 Jaki Graham - Set Me Free (12" Remix) 1987 Jakki - Sun Sun Sun 1976 Jamaica Boys - Spend Some Time (12" Remix) 1987 Jamaica Girls - Need Somebody New (12" Levan Remix) 1981 Sleeping Bag rds Jamaica Girls - On The Move (12") 1986 Jamaica Girls - Rock The Beat 1982James Brown - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose 1970James Brown - It's Too Funky In Here (12") 1979 James Brown - Living In America (12") 1985James Brown - The Payback 1973James Wells - My Claim To Fame 1979 James Wells - True Love Is My Destiny 1978 Jammers - And You Know That 1982 Jammers - Be Mine Tonight 1983 Salsoul rds Jan Leslie Holmes - I'm Your Superman (12" Disco Mix Version) 1984 Janet Jackson - What Have You Done For Me Lately (12") 1986 A&M rds Janice Christie - Heat Stroke (Levan 12" Mix) 1986 Supertronics rds Janice Christie - My Love Is Money 1984 Janice Christie - One Love (12") 1985 Janice Christie - Taking Me For Granted (12") 1987 Janice McClain - Smack Dab In The Middle (Levan Remix) 1980 Jean Carn - Time Waits For No One 1976 Jean Carn - Was That All It Was (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Jeanette "Lady" Day - Come Let Me Love You 1981 Jeanette Thomas - Shake Your Body (12"/Comp. LP) 1987 Jeff Lorber - Step By Step (12") 1985 Jeffrey Osborne - New Love 1982 Jeffrey Osborne - Plane Love (Levan 12" Remix) 1984 A&M rds Jeffrey Osborne - The Borderlines (Levan 12" Remix) 1984 A&M rds Jennifer Holliday - Hard Times For Lovers (Ext. 12") 1985 Jennifer Holliday - No Frills Love (Ext. 12") 1985 Jenny Burton - Bad Habits (12"/LP) 1985 Jenny Burton - Remember What You Like 1983Jesse Green ‎– Nice And Slow 1976Jimmy Bo Horne - Is It In 1980 Jimmy Bo Horne - Spank 1979 Jimmy BoHorne - Let's Do It (12") 1985 Jimmy Cliff - Peace Officer (Dub 12" Version) 1982 Jimmy Ross - First True Love Affair (Levan 12" Mix) 1981 Quality/RFC rds Jimmy Ruffin - Falling In Love With You 1977 Jimmy Sabater - To Be With You 1976 Jimmy Williams - All Of My Lovin' 1983 Joan Armatrading - Kind Words (And A Real Good Heart) (12") 1986 Jocelyn Brown - Love's Gonna Get Ya (12") 1985Jocelyn Brown "Somebody Elses Guy" 1984Joe Church - Don't You Wanna Be Mine (12") 1987 Joe Simon - Love Vibration 1978 Joe Tex - Ain't Gonna Bump No More 1977 Joe Thomas - Plato's Retreat 1978 John Davis - Night And Day 1976 John Rocca - I Want It To Be Real 1984 Johnny Dynell - Rhythm Of Love (12") 1985 Johnny Harris - Odyssey 1980Johnny Mathis - Gone, Gone, Gone 1979Jomanda - I'll Give It To You (12") 1987 Jones Girls - You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Joy - I Need Your Love 1983 Joyce Kennedy - Hold On For Love's Sake (12") 1985 Judy Cheeks - Mellow Lovin' 1978 Salsoul rds Juggy Jones - Inside America 1976 Jupiter rds Jungle Wonz - The Jungle (Comp. LP) 1986 Jungle Wonz - Time Marches On (12"/Comp LP) 1987 Junior - Mama Used To Say 1982 Mercury UK rds Junior - Not Tonight/Look What You've Done To Me (LP) 1985 Junior - Tell Me 1983 Mercury UK rds Kano - Can't Hold Back Your Loving 1981 Emergency rds Kano - I'm Ready 1980 Emergency rds Karen Silver - Nobody Else 1981 Karen Silver - Set Me Free 1981 Karen Young - Detour 1982 Karen Young - Hot Shot 1978 West End rds Karyn White - Facts Of Love (12" Levan Remix) 1986 Kashif - Help Yourself To My Love 1983 Kashif - I Just Gotta Have You 1983 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (12") 1985 Kebekelektrik - War Dance 1978 Salsoul rds Keith Barrow - Turn Me Up (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Kellee Patterson - Turn On The Lights 1977 Keni Burke - You're The Best 1981 Key Of Dreams - Africa 1983 Kid Creole - Going Places 1981Kid Creole And The Coconuts - I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby 1982Kid People - Life's A Party (12") 1985 King Errison - Manhattan Love Song 1977 Kinky Foxx - So Different 1980 Kleeer - Get Tough 1981 Kleeer - Keep Your Body Workin' 1978 Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk 1982 Klein & MBO - Wonderful 1982 Klinte Jones - In The Heat Of The Night 1984Kokomo ‎– I Can Understand It 1975Kokomo - Use Your Imagination 1976 Komiko - Feel Alright 1982 Konk - Konk Party (12") 1986 Konk - Your Life (12") 1986 Kool & The Gang - Fresh (12" Remix) 1985 Kool & The Gang - Misled (12" Remix) 1984 Kool & The Gang - Open Sesame (9 min. version) 1976Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness 1974Koto - Japanese War Games 1983 Kraftwerk - Music Non-Stop (12") 1986Kraftwerk - Numbers 1981Kraftwerk - The Robots 1978 Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express 1978 Kreamsicle - No News Is News 1984 Kurtis Blow - The Breaks 1980 Mercury US L'Amour - Let's Make Love Tonight 1984 Lace - Can't Play Around (Levan 12" Mix) 1982 Atlantic rds Laid Back - The White Horse 1984 Lamont Dozier - Going Back To My Roots 1977 Larry Graham - Sooner Or Later 1982 Larry Page - Slinky Thighs 1977 Larry played) 1982 Laurice Hudson - Feel My Love 1982 LAX - All My Love 1980 Legacy - Don't Waste The Night (12") 1985 Lemelle - You Got Something Special 1982 Lemon - A-Freak-A 1978 Lenny Williams - Choosing You 1977 Lenny Williams - Please Don't Tempt Me 1977 Lenny Williams - You Got Me Running 1978 Leon Huff - I Ain't Jivin', I'm Jammin' 1981 Leon Love - Once Is Not Enough 1984 Les Lee - I'm The One You Want (12") 1985 Level 3 - Central Line 1982 Level 42 - Something About You (12") 1985 Level 42 - Starchild (12") 1985 Level 42 - World Machine (12") 1985 Lime - Agent 406 1981 Linda Clifford - Gypsy Lady (Ext. 12" Vers.) 1978 Linda Clifford - Runaway Love (Ext. 12" Version) 1978 Linda Evans - Don't You Need 1979 Linda Hopkins - It's In Your Blood 1977 Linda Taylor - You And Me Just Started 1982 Lipps, Inc. - All Night Dancing 1980 Liquid Liquid - Cavern 1984 99 rds Lisa Lisa - I Wonder If I Take You Home (12"/LP) 1985 Living In A Box - Living In A Box (12") 1987 Liz Torres - Can't Get Enough (12") 1987 Liz Torres - Mama's Boy (12") 1987 LNR - Work It To The Bone (12") 1987 Logg - I Know You Will (Levan 12" Remix) 1981 Salsoul rds Logg - You've Got That Something 1981 Salsoul rds Loleatta Holloway - Catch Me On The Rebound 1978 Loleatta Holloway - Crash Goes Love 1984 Loleatta Holloway - Dreamin' 1976 Gold Mind rds Loleatta Holloway - Greatest Performance Of My Life (Levan Remix) 1979 Gold Mind rds Loleatta Holloway - Hit & Run (12" Remix Vers.) 1977 Loleatta Holloway - I May Not Be There When You Want Me 1978 Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation 1980 Salsoul rds Loleatta Holloway - So Sweet (12") 1986 Loose Change - Straight From The Heart (12" Mix) 1979 Loose Ends - Choose Me (12") 1985 Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face (Levan Remix) 1978Loose Joints- Is It All Over My Face (Original Male Version) 1978Loose Joints - Tell You (Today) 1983 Lorraine Johnson - Feed The Flame 1978 Lorraine Johnson - The More I Get (Remake of Teddy - Larry played both) 1977 Love Club - Hot Summer Nights 1983 Love Committee - Law And Order 1978 Love Unlimited Orchestra - King Kong Theme 1977 Lucy Hawkins - Gotta Get Out Of Here 1978 M - Pop Muzik 1979 Machine - Is It Love 1980 Machine - Marisa 1979 RCA rds Machine - 'There But For The Grace Of God Go I' 1979 RCA rds Macho - I'm A Man 1978 Prelude rds Made In The USA - Melodies 1977 Madhouse - Six (LP) 1987 Madleen Kane - Forbidden Love 1979 Madleen Kane - Rough Diamond 1978 Madleen Kane - You Can 1981 Madonna - Everybody 1982 Madonna - In The Groove 1984 Madonna - Open Your Heart (LP/12") 1986 Magazine 60 - Don Quichotte 1984 Mahogany - Ride On The Rhythm 1982 Mai Tai - History (12") 1985 Mai Tai - Hold Me (LP) 1986Malcom McClaren - Buffalo Girls 1982Malcolm McClaren - Madam Butterfly 1984 Man Friday - Jump (12" Levan Mix) 1986 Man Friday - Love Honey, Love Heartache (12" Levan Mix) 1986 Bo Kool Man Parrish - Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop) 1982Manu Dibango - New Bell 1972Manu Dibango - Nights In Zeralda 1972Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa 1972Mandrill - Get It All 1973Mandrill Fench Walk- Fencewalk / Hagalo 1973Mandrill - Hang Loose 1973Marc Sadane - Exciting 1982 Marc Sadane - Sit Up 1981 Marcia Griffith - Electric Boogie 1983 Margie Joseph - Knockout 1982 Marianne Faithful - Why Did You Do It 1979 Marjie Joseph - Prophecy 1976 Mark IV - Rainy Days (12") 1985 Marsha Hunt - The Other Side Of Midnight (12" Vers.) 1977 Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body (House Music Anthem) (12") 1987 Martin Circus - Disco Circus 1978 Martin Circus - I've Got A Treat 1978Mary Jane Girls - "All Night Long" 1983Mary Jane Girls - In My House (12") 1985 Mary Wells - Gigolo 1982 Mary Wells - These Arms 1981 Mass Production - Sun Dancer 1983 Mass Production - Welcome To Our World 1977 Master C&J - In The City (12") 1987 Matrix - Stay, I Need Your Love 1982 Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride (12") 1983 Maze - Twilight (12") 1985McFadden & Whitehead ‎– Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now 1979Melba Moore - It's Been So Long (12" Remix) 1987 Melba Moore - It's Been So Long (12") 1986 Melba Moore - Standing Right Here (Ext. Remix LP) 1979 Melba Moore - You Stepped Into My Life 1978 Merc & Monk - I Get Carried Away (Levan 12" Remix) 1985 Metropolis - New York Is My Kind Of Twon 1978 Metropolis - The Greatest Show On Earth 1978 MFSB - Love Is The Message (14 min. Remix Vers.) 1981 PIR rds MFSB - Mysteries Of The World 1980 MFSB - We Got The Time 1976 Michael - Jackson - 1987Michael Mauro - Susie Q 1980 Michael Wycoff - Still Got The Magic (Sweet Delight) 1982 Michael Wycoff - Tell Me Love 1983 Michael Zager Band - Love Express 1978 Michele - Can't You Feel It 1977Michele - Disco Dance 1977 Michelle Freeman - Where'd You Get What You Got 1979 Michelle Goulet - Stop & Think (12") 1986 Michelle Wallace - It's Right 1982 Michelle Wallace - Jazzy Rhythm 1982 Mick Jagger - Lucky In Love (12" Dub Remix) 1985 Midnight Rhythm - Workin' & Slavin' 1978 Midnight Star - Curious 1983 Midway - Set It Out 1984 Mighty Clouds Of Joy - Mighty High 1976 Mighty Pope - Sweet Blindness 1979 Miguel Brown - Symphony Of Love 1978 Mike Anthony - Why Can't We Live Together 1982 Mike Theodore - Cosmic Wind 1977 Mike Theodore Orchestra - The Bull 1978 Mikki - Dance Lover 1981 Mikki - Itching For Love 1981 Millie Scott - Every Little Bit Of You (12" Remix) 1987 Millie Scott - Prisoner Of Love (12") 1986 Ministry - Work For Love 1982 Minnie Riperton - Adventures In Paradise 1976 Minnie Riperton - Stick Together (Ext. Mix) 1977Modern Romance ‎– Can You Move 1981Modern Romance - Salsa Rapsody (Import 12") 1981 Moment Of Truth - Chained To Your Love 1977 Mona Lisa Young - Rock Me Down (12") 1985 Mona Rae - Do Me 1981 Montana - Who Needs Enemies (With A Friend Like You) 1983 Montana Sextet - Heavy Vibes 1982Montreal Sound - Music (Very Special Disco Mix By PAJ) 1977Monyaka - Go Deh Yaka (Go To The Top) 1983 Morris Day - Color Of Success/The Character/The Oak Tree (All LP) 1985Mtume ‎– Green Light 1983Mtume - So You Wanna Be A Star 1980Munich Machine ‎– Get On The Funk Train (Part I+II) 1977 Munich Machine - Party Light 1979Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok (12") 1985 Musique - Push Push in the Bush --> Patrick Adams Musique - Keep on Jumpin' --> Patrick Adams N.V. - It's Alright 1983 N.V. - Let Me Do You 1984 Nancy Martin - Can't Believe 1982 Narada Michael Walden - The Nature Of Things (Levan 12" Remix) 1985 Native - Love Ain't No Holiday 1984 Nature Zone - Porcupine 1976 New Birth - Deeper 1977New Birth ‎– Until It's Time For You To Go 1973New Order - Blue Monday 1983New York Community Choir - Express Yourself 1977 Nick Straker Band - A Little Bit Of Jazz 1981 Nick Straker Band - The Beat Inside (LP) 1981 Nile Rodgers - Land Of The Good Groove 1983 Nile Rodgers - State Your Mind/Stay Out Of The Light (Levan 12" Remix) 1985Nina Hagen - African Reggae 1982NJ Connection - Love Don't Come Easy 1981 Nona Hendryx - Keep It Confidential 1983 Nona Hendryx - Transformation 1983 Nona Hendryx - Why Should I Cry (12" Remix) 1987 Norman Connors - Once I've Been There 1977 North End - Happy Days 1981 North End - Kind Of Love (Kind Of Life) 1979 Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait (12") 1985 Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait (12") 1986 Nuance - Love Ride (12" Mix) 1984 O'Jays - Extraordinary Girl (LP) 1984 O'Jays - Put Our Heads Together 1983 Odyssey - Easy Come, Easy Go 1977 Odyssey - Inside Out 1982 Odyssey - Use It Up And Wear It Out 1980 One Way - Do Your Thang 1981 One Way - Music 1980 One Way - Shine On Me 1983 Originals - Down To Love Town 1976 Originals - Hurry Up And Wait 1976 Pam Todd - Let's Get Together 1979 Pamela Stanley - Coming Out Of Hiding 1984 Paradise Girls - Holding Back (12" Dub Mix II) 1986 Passion - Don't Bring Back Memories 1980 Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield 1983 Patrick Juvet - I Love America 1978 Patti Austin - Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me 1981 Patti Austin - Honey For The Bees (Levan 12" Remix) 1985 Patti Brooks - After Dark 1978 Patti Labelle - I'll Never, Never Give Up 1983 Patti Labelle - Music Is My Way Of Life 1979 Patti Labelle - Something Special (12") 1986 Patti Labelle - The Spirit's In It 1981 Paul Hardcastle - 19 (12") 1985 Paul Hardcastle - Don't Waste My Time (12") 1986 Paul Jabara - Pleasure Island 1978 Paul Simpson - Treat Her Sweeter (12") 1985 Paul Simpson Connection - Use Me, Lose Me 1982 Peech Boys - Come On, Come On (Levan 12" Mix) 1984 Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait 1982 Peech Boys - Life Is Something Special (Levan Remix) 1983 Peech Boys - On A Journey (Levan Remix) 1983 Peech Boys - Warm Summer's Night (LP) 1983 Pennye Ford - Change Your Wicked Ways (12" Remix) 1984 People's Choice - If I Knew Then What I Know Now 1980 People's Choice - You Ought To Be Dancin' 1980 Pete Shelley - Witness The Change 1981 Peter Brown - Disco Love Breakdown (Flip of "Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me") 1977 Peter Godwin - Emotional Disguise 1982 Peter Jacques Band - Fire Night Dance 1979 Philip Bailey - I Know 1983 Phreek - May My Love Be With You 1978 Phreek - Weekend 1978 Phyllis Nelson - I Like You (12") 1985 Phyllis St. James - Ain't No Turnin' Back (LP Cut) 1984 Pieces Of A Dream - Warm Weather 1981 Pilot - You Are The One 1984 Planet Patrol - Play At Your Own Risk 1982 Players Association - I Like It 1977 Players Association - Love Hangover (Inst. Remake of D. Ross' version) 1977 Pleasure- Take a chance 1980Pleasure Pump - Fantasize Me (12") 1987 Pockets - Come Go With Me 1977 Pointer Sisters - Automatic (12" Remix) 1984 Pointer Sisters - Dare Me (12") 1985 Pointer Sisters - Happiness (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Pointer Sisters - We've Got The Power 1980 Positive Force - We Got The Funk 1979 Positive People - This Feelin' 1981 Poussez - Boogie With Me 1979 Powerline - Journey 1981 Precious Wilson - I'll Be Your Friend (12") 1986 Pretty Poison - Catch Me (I'm Falling) (12") 1987 Prince - Controversy 1981 Prince - Just As Long As We're Together 1978 Prince - Sign Of The Times (12"/LP) 1987 Prince - When Doves Cry 1984Princess & Starbreeze - The Drought (12"/LP) 1987 Princess - Say I'm Your Number One (12") 1985 Private Possesion - Are You Wid It (12") 1986 Private Possession - This Time (12") 1986 Professor Funk - Visions (12") 1987 Project - Love Rescue 1979 Projection - Love Struck (12") 1987 Pure Energy - Breakaway 1981 Pure Energy - One Hot Night 1984 Pure Energy - Party On 1980 Pushe - Don't Take Your Love Away 1984 Q - The Voice Of Q 1982 Quando Quango - Love Tempo (12") 1987 Quartz - Beyond The Clouds 1978 Queen - Another One Bites The Dust 1980 Queen Samantha - Take A Chance (12" Vers.) 1978 Quest - Mind Games (12") 1986 Rainbow Brown - Til You Surrender 1981 --> Patrick Adams Rainy Davis - Sweetheart (12") 1986 Ralph McDonald - We Need More Calypso (12") 1985 Ramona Brooks - I Don't Want You Back 1980 Ramsey Lewis - This Ain't No Fantasy (12" - Female Vocal Side) 1985 Randy Crawford - Don't Wanna Be Normal (LP) 1986 Raw Sex - Stop The War 1982 Raw Silk - Do It To The Music 1981 --> Nick Martinelli Raw Silk - Just In Time And Space 1983 Raww - Don't You Try It 1984 Rebbie Jackson - Centipede (12" Mix) 1984 Reel To Reel - Love Me Like This 1983 Relevation - Feel It 1981 Rene & Angela - Keep Running 1983 Revelation - Holdin' On 1982 Rhonda Parris - No No Love (12") 1986 Rhyze - Just How Sweet Is Your Love 1980 Rice & Beans Orchestra - You've Got Magic 1977 Richard J. Smith - Don't Go Walking Out That Door 1982 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (12" Remix) 1987 Rick James - Glow (12") 1985 Rick James - You And I 1978 Ripple - The Beat Goes On 1978 Rita Hart - Pardon Me Mister 1984 Ritchie Family - Alright On The Night (LP) 1982 Ritchie Family - I'll Do My Best For You 1982 Ritchie Family - Life Is Music 1977 Ritchie Family - Put Your Feet To The Beat 1979 Ritchie Family - Quiet Village 1977 Robert Gorl - Darling Don't Leave Me (Import 12") 1983 Roberta Flack With Donny Hathaway ‎– Back Together Again 1979Roberta Flack - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 1972Roberta Flack - Lovin' You Is Such An Easy Thing To Do 1981 Rochelle Fleming - Love Itch (12") 1985 Rock Candy - I Got Love 1982 Rockers Revenge - Walking In Sunshine 1982 Rockers Revenge - Walking On Sunshine 1982 Rod - Just Keep On Walking 1982 Rod - Shake It Up (Do The Boogaloo) 1980 Rolling Stones - Missing You (12" Vers.) 1978 Rome Jeffries - Good Love 1983 Ronnie Dyson - All Over Your Face 1983 Roschelle Fleming - I Know Just What You're After (12") 1987 Rose Royce - Do Your Dance 1977 Rose Royce - Love Me Right Now (12") 1985 Rose Royce - Still In Love 1982 Roundtree - Get On Up (Get On Down) 1978 Roundtree - Hit On You 1982 Roy Ayers - Don't Stop The Feeling 1979 Roy Ayers - Running Away 1977 Royal House - Can You Party (12"/Comp. LP) 1987 Rufus - Any Love 1980 Rufus - One Million Kisses 1983 Russ Brown - Gotta Find A Way (12") 1986 --> Tee Scott Salsoul Orchestra - 212 North Street 1981 Salsoul Orchestra - Don't Beat Around The Bush 1976 Salsoul Orchestra - How High (Levan Remix) 1979 Salsoul Orchestra - It's Good For The Soul 1976 Salsoul Orchestra - Love Break (Remix 12") 1982 Salsoul Orchestra - Magic Bird Of Fire 1977 Salsoul Orchestra - Run Away 1977 Salsoul Orchestra - Take Some Time Out For Love 1982 Salsoul Orchestra - You're Just The Right Size 1976 Salsoul Orchestrat w/ Loleatta Holloway - Seconds 1982 Samantha Fox - Touch Me (I Want Your Body) (12") 1986 Samson & Delilah - I Can Feel Your Love Slippin' Away 1984 Sandy Anderson - It's Over (I'm Through) (12") 1987 Sandy Mercer - Now That You're In 1979 Sandy Mercer - Play With Me, Lay With Me (12" Vers.) 1978 Sandy Mercer - You Are My Love (12" Vers.) 1978Santa Esmeralda Starring Leroy Gomez ‎– Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - 1977Santa Esmeralda Starring Leroy Gomez ‎– Esmeralda Suite 1977Sarah Dash - Low Down, Dirty Rhythm 1983 Sarah Dash - Sinner Man 1979 Satin & Green - Spectacular 1982 Screamin' Rachel - Fun With Bad Boys (12") 1986 Seawind - Whatcha Doin'? 1980 Second Image - Can't Keep Holding On 1982 Secret Weapon - It Must Be The Music 1982 Serena - Get Your Body Up 1983 Sergio Mendes - I'll Tell You (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Serious Intention - You Don't Know Pow Wow or Easy Street records? (1986) Seven Deadly Sins - Lust 1977 Shades Of Love - Keep In Touch (Body To Body) 1982 Shalamar - My Girl Loves Me (12" Ext. Promo Only) 1985 Sharon Bailey - Cosmic Dust 1981 Sharon Brown - I Specialize In Love 1982 Sharon Paige - Tonight's The Night 1980 Sharon Redd - Beat The Street 1982 Sharon Redd - In The Name Of Love (LP) 1982 Sharon Ridley - Changin' (Closing Song at Garage) 1978 Sheryl Lee Ralph - In The Evening 1984 Shiela & B. Devotion - Spacer 1980 Shiela E. - A Love Bizarre (12"/LP) 1985 Shiela Hilton - The Bed's Too Big Without You 1980 Shirley Lites - Heat You Up (Melt You Down) 1983 Side Effect - Always There 1976 Siedah Garrett - Do You Want It Right Now (12") 1985 Silver Convention - Dancing In The Aisles 1976 Silver Convention - Mission To Venus 1978 Silver Convention - Voodoo Woman 1977 Silvetti - Spring Rain 1977 Sinnamon - I Need You Now1983Sinnamon - Thanks To You 1982 Siren - Open Up For Love 1979 Sister Sledge - Lost In Music 1979 Skatt Brothers - Walk The Night 1979 Skipworth & Turner - Can't Give Her Up (12") 1986 Skipworth & Turner - Thinking About Your Love (12") 1985 Skyy - First Time Around (Levan Remix) 1979 Skyy - Here's To You 1980 Skyy - Let Love Shine (LP) 1983 Skyy - Show Me The Way 1983 Skyy - Skyyzoo (Levan Remix) 1980 Skyy - Super Love 1980 Slave - Feel My Love 1981 Slave - Wait For Me 1981 Slimline - If You Can Dance, You Can Do It 1982 Sly Cabell - Feelin' Fine 1982 Smokey Robinson - And I Don't Love You (Levan 12" - Larry played Dub) 1984 Sofonda C. - Pick It Up (12") 1987Soft Cell - Seedy Films 1980Soft Cell - Tainted Love 1982Softones - That Old Black Magic 1976 Somethin' Special - Come Make It Feel Good 1981 SOS Band - Take Love Where You Find It 1980 SOS Band - The Finest/Borrowed Love (LP) 1986 Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock 1982 Southroad Connection - You Like It, We Love It 1978 Space - Carry On, Turn Me On 1977 Sparkle - Handsome Man (Levan Mix) 1980 Sparque - Let's Go Dancin' (Levan 12" Remix) 1981 Sparque - Music Turns Me On 1982 Sparque - Take Some Time 1984 St. Tropez - Fill My Life With Love 1978 St. Tropez - One More Minute 1979 Stainless Steel - It All Comes Down To Love 1978 Stainless Steel - More Than Meets The Eye 1978 Staple Singers - Slippery People (12" Mix) 1984 Stargard - Wear It Out (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Starshine - All I Need Is You 1983 State Of Grace - That's When We'll Be Free 1982 Status IV - You Ain't Really Down 1983Steel Pulse - Blues Dance Raid 1982Steel Pulse - Ravers 1982Stephanie Mills - Medicine Song (12" Remix) 1984 Stephanie Mills - Put Your Body In It (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Stephanie Mills - You Can't Run From My Love (12" Vers.) 1983 Steve Arrington - Dancin' In The Key Of Life (12"/LP) 1985 Steve Arrington - Nobody Can Be You 1983 Steve Arrington - You Meet My Approval (LP) 1983 Steve Hurley - Jack Your Body (12") 1985 Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle 1976 Steve Miller Band - Macho City (12" Vers.) 1982 Steve Shelto - Don't Give Your Love Away 1983 Stevie Nicks - Stand Back 1983 Stevie Wonder - As 1977 Stevie Wonder - Go Home (12" Remix) 1985 Stevie Wonder - Love Light In Flight 1984 Sticky Fingers - Wastin' My Love 1978 Stimulation - Stimulation (12") 1985 Sting - If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free (12" Remix) 1985 Stone - Time 1981 --> Tee Scott Strafe - Set It Off 1984 --> Walter Gibbons Strikers - Body Music (12" Levan Remix) 1981 Strikers - Contagious 1982 Strikers - Inch By Inch 1981 Subject - Celebrate (12") 1986 Subject - The Magic, The Moment (12") 1985 Sun Palace - Rude Movements 1980 Supremes - High Energy 1976 Supremes - Let Yourself Go 1977 Suzi Lane - Harmony 1979 Suzy Q - Get On Up And Do It Again 1981 Suzy Q - With Your Love 1981 Sweet Cream - I Don't What I'd Do 1978 Sweet Life - I Get Lifted 1983 Sweet Pea Atkinson - Dance Or Die 1982 Sweet Thunder - Everybody's Singin' Love Songs 1978 Sylvester - Body Strong 1979 Sylvester - Dance (Disco Heat) 1978 Sylvester - Do Ya Wanna Funk 1982 Sylvester - Don't Stop (12") 1983 Sylvester - Give It Up 1981 Sylvester - I Need Somebody To Love Tonight 1979 Sylvester - I Need You 1980 Sylvester - Menergy 1983 Sylvester - Over and Over 1977Sylvester - Stars 1979 Sylvester - Too Late (12" Mix) 1984 Sylvester - Trouble In Paradise (12") 1983 Sylvia Striplin - Give Me Your Love 1980 --> Uno Melodic rds Syreeta - Can't Shake Your Love (Levan Remix) 1981 System - You Are In My System 1983 T Connection - At Midnight 1979 T.C. Curtis - Body Shake (Instr. 12" Version) 1982 T.C. Curtis - You Should Have Known Better (12") 1985 T.S. Monk - Can't Keep My Hands To Myself 1981 T.S. Monk - Candidate For Love 1981 Taana Gardner - Heartbeat (12" Levan Mix) 1981 Taana Gardner - No Frills 1981 Taana Gardner - When You Touch Me (Levan Mix) 1979 Taana Gardner - Work That Body (Levan Remix) 1980 Talking Heads - Burning Down The House 1983 Talking Heads - Slippery People (12") 1983 Talking Heads - Swamp 1983 Talking Heads - Take Me To The River 1978 Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place 1983 Tamiko Jones - Can't Live Without Your Love 1979 Tammy Lucas - Hey Boy (12") 1986 Tasha Thomas - Shoot Me (With Your Love) 1978 Tata Vega - Get It Up For Love 1978 Tata Vega - I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby (Ext. 12" Mix) 1979 Tavares - Don't Take Away The Music 1976Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel 1976Teddy Pendergrass - The More I Get, The More I Want 1977 Teddy Pendergrass - You Can't Hide From Yourself 1977 Temper - No Favors 1984 Tempest Trio - Love Machine 1979 Tenderness - Gotta Keep Trying 1978 Tenita Jordan - I Don't Wanna Think About It (12"/LP) 1985 Teri DeSario - Ain't Nothin' Gonna Keep Me From You 1978 Terri Gonzalez - Treat Yourself To My Lofe 1982 Terri Wells - I'm Givin' All My Love (12" or LP) 1984 The Affair - Please Don't Break My Heart (12") 1985The Clash ‎– The Magnificent Seven 1980The Cut - Kindness For Weakness (12" Levan Mix) 1986The Edwin Hawkins Singers* ‎– Oh Happy Day 1969The Emotions ‎– Flowers 1976The Emotions - I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love 1976The Family - Screams Of Passion (12"/LP) 1985 The It - Donnie (12") 1986The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine 1974The Jackson 5 - Hum Along And Dance 1973The Jackson 5 - Mirrors of My MindThe Jacksons - ABC 1970The Jacksons - Show You The Way To Go 1976The Joubert Singers ‎– Stand On The Word 1985The Limit - Say Yeah 1984 The Police - Voices Inside My Head 1980 The Quick - Rhythm Of The Jungle 1982 The Quick - Zulu 1981 The Who - Eminence Front 1982 Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way 1976 Thelma Houston - I'd Rather Spend The Bad Times With You 1984 Thelma Houston - I'm Here Again 1977 Thelma Houston - If You Feel It (12" Remix) 1981 Thelma Houston - Just Like All The Rest (Dub 12" Vers.) 1983 Thelma Houston - Saturday Night, Sunday Morning 1979 Thelma Houston - You Used To Hold Me So Tight (12") 19 84 Theo Vaness - I Can't Dance Without You 1979 Theo Vaness - Nobody But You 1978 Theo Vaness - Sentimentally It's You 1979 Third World - Dancing On The Floor 1981 Third World - Lagos Jump 1983 Third World - Now That We Found Love 1978 Third World - One To One (12") 1985 Thomas Dolby - Dessidents: The Search For Truth 1984 Thompson Twins - In The Name Of Love 1982 THP Orchestra - Good To Me 1979 THP Orchestra - Two Hot For Love 1978 THP Orchestra - Who Do You Love 1979 Three Million - I've Been Robbed (12") 1983 Three Ounces Of Love - Star Love 1978Tim Curry ‎– Paradise Garage 1979Timmy Thomas - Stone To The Bone 1977Timmy Thomas ‎– Why Can't We Live Together - 1972Tin Tin - Kiss Me 1982 Tina B. - Honey To A Bee (12" Mix) 1984 Tina Turner - Afterglow (12" Promo) 1986 Tom Browne - Crusing 1983 Tom Tom Club - Le Elephant 1981 Tom Tom Club - Pleasure Of Love 1983 Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood 1981 Tomorrow's Edition - You Turn Me On 1982 Toney Lee - Reach Up 1982 Tony Cook & The Party People - On The Floor 1984 Tony McKenzie - Ha-Chica 1983 Tony Orlando - Don't Let Go 1978 Tony Paris - Electric Automan (Levan 12" Remix) 1985 Total Contrast - Takes A Little Time (12"/LP) 1985 Total Contrast - The River (12") 1985 Touch - Love Fixation (12") 1987 Touch - Without You (12") 1986 Touchdown - Ease Your Mind 1982 Tracy Weber - Sure Shot (2 different 12"s; one has a Instr. Version that 1982 Tracy Weber - Sure Shot (Instr. Version released as "B" Side of One Step At A Time) 1983 Tramaine - Child Of The King (12") 1986 Tramaine - Fall Down Spirit Of Love (12") 1985 Tramaine - The Rock (Levan 12" Remix) 1987 Trammps - Body Contact Contract 1977 Trammps - Can We Come Together 1976 Trammps - Disco Party 1977 Trammps - Love Insurance Policy 1979 Trammps - People Of The World 1977 Trammps - Stop And Think (Remix LP) 1977 Trammps - Wha Happened To The Music 1983 Troiano - We All Need Love 1979 Trussel - Love Injection 1980 Twennynine - Fancy Dancer 1981 Two Tons - Do You Wanna Boogie, Hunh? 1980 Two Tons - Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven 1980 Two Tons - I Got The Feeling 1980 Ullanda McCullough - Bad Company 1981 Undisputed Truth - You + Me = Love 1976 Unique - What I Got Is What You Need 1983 Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even 1982Universal Robot Band - Dance & Shake Your Tambourine 1977 Unlimited Touch - Searching To Find The One 1981 Upfront - Infatuation 1983 Valerie Oliver - Get The Money 1983 Van McCoy - Party 1976 Van McCoy - Rhythms Of The World 1976 Vanilla Mix - Easier Said Than Done (12") 1987 Vanity - Under The Influence (12") 1986 Vesta Williams - Don't Blow A Good Thing (12" Remix) 1987 Vicky D - This Beat Is Mine 1982 Vikki Love - Stop Playing On Me (12") 1985 Village People - Fire Island 1977 Village People - San Francisco 1977 Viola Wills - If You Could Read My Mind 1980 Visage - Fade To Grey 1980 Visual - Somehow, Someway 1983 Visual - The Music Got Me 1983 Voice In Fashion - Only In The Night (12" Dub Mix) 1987 Voyage - From East To West 1977 Voyage - From East To West 1978 Voyage - I Love You Dancer 1980 Wally Badarau - Chief Inspector/Novela Das Nove (12") 1986 Wally Jump, Jr. - Don't Push Your Luck (LP) 1987 Wally Jump, Jr. - Private Party (12") 1987 Wally Jump, Jr. - Turn Me Loose (12") 1986 Wanda - I Must Be Dreamin' 1982 War - City Country City 1972War - Deliver The Word 1972War - Galaxy - 1977War - Southern Part of Texas 1973War - The World Is A Ghetto 1972War - You Got The Power 1982Wardell Piper - Super Sweet 1979Warp 9 - Light Years Away 1983 Was (Not Was) - Tell Me That I'm Dreaming 1982Was (NotWas)- Wheel Me Out (Long Version) 1981Weather Girls - No One Can Love You More Than Me (12"/LP) 1985 Webster Lewis - Let Me Be The One 1981 Weeks & Co. - Go With The Flow 1982 Weeks & Company - Rock Your World 1981 Whatnauts - Help Is On The Way 1982 Whitney Houston - Love Will Save The Day (12" Remix) 1987 Whitney Houston - Thinking About You (12") 1985 Will Powers - Adventures In Success 1983 Willie Colon - Set Fire To Me (12") 1986 Willie Colon - She Don't Know I'm Alive (12") 1986 Willie Hutch - In And Out 1982 Winners - Get Ready For The Future 1978 Wish - Touch Me (All Night Long) 1984 World Premiere - Share The Night 1984 Xena - On The Upside 1983 Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Waste Your Time (12" Remix) 1984 Yaz - Don't Go 1982 Yazoo - Situation 1982 Yazoo - State Farm 1983 Yello - Call It Love (12" Remix) 1987 Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Games 1979 Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart (12") 1983 Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice 1981 Young & Co. - I Like What You're Doing (To Me) 1980 Young & Company - Such A Feeling (12") 1986 Yvonne Gage - Garden Of Eden 1981 Zena Dejonay - I've Got To Find A Way 1983 Zulema - A Mother Cries 1981Zulema - Change 1978Zulema - What's In It For Me 1982Roberta Flack - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 1972

[letterboxd]

Found Family.

Riders of Justice writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen opens up to Aaron Yap about grimly funny fairy-tales, woke teenagers and creating an accidental Christmas movie with hunky muse, Mads Mikkelsen.

“Genres, that’s just a sales tool really. That’s to give people, show people, ‘are we having sushi or are we having Italian?’ Sometimes I like it when you don’t know what you’re getting.” —Anders Thomas Jensen

It’s stupidly easy to sell writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen’s new film Riders of Justice on its thirsty pulp appeal alone. Who can resist the promise of Danish acting force Mads Mikkelsen finally getting a decent John Wick-ish vehicle of his own, stoically meting out anguished, bloody vengeance to a cadre of underworld thugs? Certainly not, among many Letterboxd members, Harlequinade, who was moved to write this ode:

“MikkelGod sporting a bushy beard MikkelGod wearing a military uniform MikkelGod wearing a suit MikkelGod having this whole silverfox daddy thing going on MikkelGod killing a man with his big beautiful bare hands MIKKELGOD 🤗🙏🏻😍”

But to dismiss Riders of Justice as another entry in the seemingly endless slew of action-revenge pics would also be to undersell its other layers. Much more than Wick, your average Liam Neeson thriller-of-the-month, or even the recent avenging-dad flick, Nobody, Riders positions itself in a more emotionally and psychologically rewarding space, one perhaps closer to its tonally fluid South Korean counterparts. “What lingers,” Douglas Davidson writes, “are the questions Anders presents and the strange hopefulness that flickers upon the credits roll, burning like the embers of a dying fire in the darkness of night.”

It’s of a piece with all of Jensen’s directorial work thus far. A prolific screenwriter who’s penned everything from soulful early Susanne Bier heartbreakers to the recently misfiring The Dark Tower adaptation, Jensen, as a director, has found a sharply honed groove in the form of grimly funny, genre-defying modern fairy-tales populated by oddball characters forced to contend with the chaos of the inscrutable cosmos around them.

Causality plays an even more pronounced role in Riders. The film’s unlikely heroes—hard-bitten special forces soldier Markus Hensen (Mikkelsen) and a trio of bumbling data wizards (Lars Brygmann and Jensen regulars Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro)—are drawn together to take down a vicious biker gang, but also preoccupied with processing the hows and whys of grief and trauma, and of course, the value of revenge.

Amid the terse blasts of gunfire, the film foregrounds scenes of connection and healing between its characters, an assortment of progressive teens and bumbling middle-aged men whose unusual found-family dynamic recalls Jensen’s previous dark, offbeat comedies like Adam’s Apples and Men and Chicken. As More_Baddass writes, the film gifts us some “Christmastime therapy of an unorthodox family”.

Over Zoom, we spoke about whether it’s possible to make Mikkelsen less handsome, why Denmark won’t be getting a sci-fi blockbuster anytime soon, and the time that Jensen and a friend tried to break the Guinness World Record for movie-watching.

‘Riders of Justice’ cast members Lars Brygmann, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro.

Riders of Justice is one of your more action-packed films. Did you watch any other action flicks, or were there any specific movies that inspired you while you were designing and creating the action in this film? Anders Thomas Jensen: It’s funny, because it’s always subconscious. I never look for inspiration directly because for me, that would be weird to do because then you’re just copying. Definitely in the back of my mind, there’s a lot of action movies and a lot of revenge movies that I’ve seen in the past that will work their way in there. The process for me is very, how do you say, unconscious? What’s it called?

Intuitive? Intuitive, that’s the word. Thank you. First of all, a revenge movie is not easy, but it always has a strong lead and it has a strong will, which is obviously really good if you want to do a script that moves forward. Hamlet is a revenge story, right? I love Once Upon a Time in the West. I love that. The Searchers. The Sting, I guess, is also a revenge movie. Also, there’s so much identification in people who are wronged.

Wish fulfilment. Yeah that too. It’s one of the obviously basic human feelings. Revenge, love. There are these emotions that you’ll do dramas based on long after we were here.

I understand that you took a break from directing for a while and you were spending time raising your family. I’ve noticed, with Men & Chicken and Riders of Justice there’s a lot of attention paid to parenthood, and the role of the parent. Was that intentionally woven into these narratives and something you were thinking of? Yeah. I don’t do it on purpose, but I can definitely see that every movie I ever made I’m very much a part of it. So the whole father story is part of my life in this movie. I have a teenage daughter who I sometimes feel like … I don’t at all have the emotional tools that she and her friends have. This new woke generation that I’m aware of; every single feeling and the environment and everything. I was brought up in a different way. So that’s quite personal in the story, the whole ‘father who has to learn how to communicate through feelings when he’s not very good at it’.

Mads Mikkelsen and Andrea Heick Gadeberg in a scene from ‘Riders of Justice’.

Would you consider Riders of Justice a Christmas movie? Well, it’s so funny because I didn’t see it at all before one of my editors said. No, I wouldn’t because I didn’t pay attention to it at all. The only reason it ends on Christmas is because that’s the perfect coming together of a family. I needed it in the end, but it could have been Easter, but it wasn’t. Perhaps it is a Christmas movie now because it does have Christmas in it.

What was the first film that made you want to be a filmmaker? There are several, but I think the first time I had was Lawrence of Arabia. I saw that when I was very little, when I perhaps shouldn’t have seen it. But when I was around ten, I got a bootleg copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. VCRs were a brand new thing and we got a VCR. I saw that film every day for half a year and I still know every line in it. It’s not getting out of my head. I love that film and I think from there on, I knew that I wanted to do films.

As a screenwriter, do you have any other screenwriters that you respect and admire? I have many. Billy Wilder is one of my favorites. Also, Ingmar Bergman, the Coen Brothers, Robert Towne, but many others also. There are a lot of good screenwriters.

I can see elements of those writers coming through your work, especially the first three. You’re really good at blending elements from different genres and putting strange characters together. Are there any other genres you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Well, it’s funny because every time I open up a new streaming service, I look for sci-fi movies first. I’m part of the Academy and when I get the screeners, I’m always checking for sci-fi. I have a love for sci-fi, but unfortunately I’m born in a country where doing a sci-fi film would just be insane. It’s never been done. If you have a really big budget, you have five to six million here. So it’s just something that won’t happen. But of course, you could get ambitious and write a sci-fi movie and hope you could do it somewhere else. I hope one day [to] do a good sci-fi movie, or at least something within that genre because it is a favorite.

But I also have to say, basically, I love all genres. Perhaps not rom-com that much, but I really like Westerns. I like war movies, revenge movies, dramas. I love to mix genres. Every time I do a movie, I get this from the distributors: “What are we going to call it?” Because it is this mix of genres. Genres, that’s just a sales tool really. That’s to give people, show people, “are we having sushi or are we having Italian?” So people don’t get confused. But I think sometimes I like it when you don’t know what you’re getting. That’s also what I love about the Coen Brothers and other directors that play with genres, is that I never know where it’s going.

‘Riders of Justice’ writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen.

Let’s talk a little about Danish cinema. You have your Lars von Trier, you have your Vinterberg and Susanne Bier. Is there an older Danish film that you would recommend that people should see? I actually thought about it and it’s going to sound arrogant, but I couldn’t find one. Not when I compare to what else is out there of American, French, Italian, British, German, Russian and Asian. No, there isn’t. Of course there’s Carl Dreyer. He’s an icon in early, early cinema. That’s the obvious thing to say, but no. For me, Danish cinema starts in the ’90s. Also, I haven’t watched many Danish movies before that, because there aren’t that many. Some people will hate me for saying this, but that’s how I feel.

Are there any recent Danish films or filmmakers that you can recommend? This year I saw a film called Shorta, which was great. It was made by two directors with no budget, about two cops venturing into this Muslim part of Copenhagen where there’s a riot. That was really a promising debut. Also, I really like the idea they had. They made a lot of great stuff visually and for almost no money.

What are your movie-watching habits? You said when you turn on a streaming service, you look out for sci-fi movies. Do you have any other weird behaviors? It’s crazy, but if I really like a movie, I see it many times. I also see it many times where I do not look at it. I hear it. I will just lie with my back to it and just hear the movie. Actually, if the movie is really good, it also works without the picture.

I think that’s [as] weird as it gets, otherwise I’m pretty much normal. I used to binge-watch. Actually, I tried to get into a Guinness Book of Record with a friend when I was fifteen, where, for five days continuously, we watched movies. I can’t remember if it was 107 movies. We watched movies and we had a video store sponsor us. We were lying in an all-night video store, and just saw films until we collapsed. That’s the craziest thing I’ve done, but we never got into the book because there are people that are better at not sleeping, so somebody else beat the record by far.

Do you have a list, or a record of what you watched? No, but there was a journalist that asked us what number afterwards. He asked me, “What film was the film number? 47, 46?” I remember him being very impressed that I could differentiate them.

It would have made a great Letterboxd list. Preserve it for eternity. The funny thing is years after I would actually see a film, and I would get an hour into it and I would go, “Oh, I’ve seen this one.” It was because when I saw the last 30 films, I was unconscious.

I need to ask about Mads Mikkelsen because he’s massive with our community. You’ve worked with him for quite a long time now, so you’ve got a pretty solid working relationship. Having just watched a number of your films in a short period of time, it was impressive that you found that range in him that maybe other filmmakers haven’t tapped into. Is there a type of role that you want to see him in that he hasn’t had a chance to play yet? Yes. There are many roles, but I don’t know. I could put a job description or a feeling on it, but it’s much more complicated with Mads, I think. We have this common thing that we love exploring people who lie to themselves, whether it’s comedy or drama. People who are not being honest with themselves and people who have this screwed up self-image, which in all the films we’ve done together, his character has. There are many other characters I would love to explore with Mads.

His looks are quite specific in each film. He just looks like a different person each time, which is great. You just want to see how he is going to look in the next one. His wife is like that too. She’s always excited and she was so happy this time because he wasn’t ugly. Normally he doesn’t look very well, like in The Green Butchers. Because he’s so handsome, so I try to do him not so handsome.

Riders is the hunkiest he’s been in your films, I guess. Definitely. The competition isn’t tough, though. You’re up against a guy who masturbates and a guy with a bad receding hairline. But it is by far his most hunky.

Related content

Softspacedad’s annotated rundown of 46 Mads Mikkelsen films, and ‘Mads Mikkelsen movies ranked based on how good of a father he is’

‘Mads Mikkelsen is filled with rage and has only one eye’, a list by King

Onebear’s lists of all Danish movies released within each cinematic year since 2009

Anders’ list of films by Danish directors or in the Danish language

Leyner’s list of Danish films nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Film

Mikkel’s list of Danish Christmas films

Follow Aaron on Letterboxd

‘Riders of Justice’ is screening now in select US theaters and available on demand. Images courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

#anders thomas jensen #mads mikkelsen #mads #danish cinema #danish director #danish film #riders of justice #revenge movie #revenge film #action films #action film #denmark #the green butchers #men & chicken #letterboxd

[linernotesandseasons]

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER   /   Quietly Blowing It

June 25, 2021

PREORDER!

TRACKLIST:

1. Way Back in the Way Back 2. The Great Mystifier 3. Mighty Dollar 4. Quietly Blowing It 5. It Will If We Let It 6. Hardlytown 7. If It Comes in the Morning 8. Glory Strums (Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner) 9. Painting Houses 10. Angels in the Headlights 11. Sanctuary 

“In August we carried the old horsehair mattress

To the back porch

And slept with our children in a row.

The wind came up the mountain into the orchard

Telling me something; 

Saying something urgent. 

I was happy. 

The green apples fell on the sloping roof 

And rattled down. 

The wind was shaking me all night long; 

Shaking me in my sleep 

Like a definition of love,

Saying, this is the moment, 

Here, now.”   

—Ruth Stone, 1971

       “Here we are. It is March 2021. One year ago, I was sitting down in the very same space from which I am now composing this letter to begin writing the songs that would become the Hiss Golden Messenger record that was announced today. The record is called Quietly Blowing It—and I'm going to leave you to reckon with who is blowing it, & how, & why—and it will arrive on your doorstep in a tidy package with neat emotional boundaries sometime in June. But, of course, the writing of these songs was anything but clean & clear. It was actually quite messy. I was struggling to understand who I am, what my purpose is, in a world like the one that we all share. And I still am, frankly. The process was also joyful. There's nothing quite as liberating as singing, for the first time, a line that really works against a set of old chord changes made new by the melody leaning upon them. 

       I must have written 20 songs between March & June, often wedging my drum kit into my small 8'x10' studio space in the basement of my house to approximate the grooves that my friend Matt McCaughan would later play with much greater facility. Soon, the eleven songs that appear on Quietly Blowing It had winnowed themselves from the chaff of the others. Thematically, conceptually, & spiritually, they wanted to live together. I won't talk about how the songs are connected here—I'm hoping that will be obvious to you, the listener. I will say, however, that what emerged from all those months of consistent writing uninterrupted by travel or shows is a record that feels as vulnerable & downright interior as anything I've made since Bad Debt, a record I recorded long before anybody knew or cared who or what Hiss Golden Messenger was. 

       In the coming year, musicians are going be fielding a lot of questions about 'quarantine' albums. I'm going to push back on that narrative in part because I don't want Quietly Blowing It connected to a time in our collective history so rife with chaos, death, anxiety, & gaslighting. But also: Quietly Blowing It is a record that I've badly needed to make for a very long time, but one that I could not find the time or space to make at the pace I was running pre-pandemic. Creating Quietly Blowing It meant reckoning with some things in my life that required a lot of meditation and mediation. And therapy, frankly. Is that an indictment of the way artists have to hustle to make even a meager living? I don't know. Maybe. To me, it's almost like Quietly Blowing It exists on its own private monastery. It hasn't heard of the Coronavirus. And it hasn't heard of whatever else I was getting up to before the world shut down. All of this might not make any sense the way that I'm saying it here, but in my head it makes perfect sense. 

       In other words: I'm extremely proud of Quietly Blowing It. We made something special. The band on this record—which includes Chris Boerner, Matt McCaughan, Alex Bingham, Devonne Harris, Josh Kaufman, Matt Douglas, Stuart Bogie, Sonyia Turner, Zach Williams, Brevan Hampden, Buddy Miller, James Wallace, and Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith—plays with such breathtaking beauty. It's the sound of a group of people huddled together in a room trying to outrun demons. I can listen to any moment on this album and think, “Ah, yes—I know that feeling exactly.” Quietly Blowing It was mixed by my oldest friend, Scott Hirsch. It felt like coming home. I can't wait for you all to be able to listen to it from front to back. If you like what I do as Hiss Golden Messenger, you're going to love this record. I truly believe that. 

       I send love and appreciation to Merge Records, Brian Schwartz and Rachel Miller, Adam Voith, Jim Flammia, Luc Suer, my beautiful family, and all my dear musician and artist friends that inspire me to keep going. I also send lots of love and appreciation to you: Thank you all for being on this journey with me. I hope that you're finding some moments of peace & solace in these days of chaos. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

My grateful thanks,

M.C. Taylor

Durham, NC

#hiss golden messenger #quietly blowing it #if it comes in the morning

[basket-of-cats-and-witches]

Children

My brain is mush again, thanks

Anyway The Wayhaven Chronicles is my current obsession, still, and writing Adam is absolutely one of the most difficult things I’ve done. Sorry if what I post comes out a little OOC, I just really wanted to see Adam and Rory’s children interacting. It ended up being mostly just one of them, but I really hope you all enjoy. 

I love getting to write for people.

Very mild spoilers for Book Two. This is mostly time ambiguous, happening sometime after the events of book one, in the future. Also points to pronoun-fluid characters. You’ll see what I mean.

*blows kisses to the sky* Thank you Seraphine for writing this masterful CoG and giving me inspiration. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It wasn’t like the detective to not pick up their phone. Adam knew this, knew it like he knew the back of his hand, or when Felix was about to cause a whole hell of a lot of mischief. Rory should have responded by now. His fingers twitched as he paced the living room, ignoring the knowing grin on Nate’s face. They have their own life, they won’t be attached to their phone all the time, another part of him argued. It wasn’t like he needed to see them. It was a small matter, confirming that Rory was still showing up tonight for more combat training. Still…. “Adam.” His head snapped up at the mention of his name, his hands releasing their destructive grip on the dining room table. There would have to be another order to replace it. He’d left a mark. “My child hasn’t responded to any of my calls,” Rebecca Argent said, walking up to the living room. “Would you mind doing me a favor and checking up on them? I would, but I have a conference call in fifteen minutes.” She gave him a thankful smile as he nodded, the motion curt, and watched him stride out of the room. “Thank you, Agent Argent. I was afraid he was going to wear a hole in the floor.” Adam heard Rebecca chuckle softly as he walked away. “I’m quite sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Agent Sewell. I was just concerned about the table.” As the front door closed behind him, he missed Nate’s laughter in response.

-

A cool breeze swirled around the Wayhaven PD parking lot, kicking up a small dust storm that swirled and crumpled as it hit Adam's feet. It was a chilly afternoon, almost too cold for his liking, and he quietly relished the burst of warmth as he walked through the precinct doors. That strange, melancholy peace was immediately disrupted as a small form collided into his legs. "Oops! Sorry!" Looking down, he saw a young girl with a mass of wild curly blond hair, maybe six at the most. She rubbed her nose, pouting, before looking up. And up, and up. He watched as her eyes went round, noting bemusedly that they were same shade of green as Rory's. The same color as Detective Argent's. "Sorry mister!" She chirped, clearly unapologetic is the way children often are. Watching as he kneeled down to her level. "Be careful next time. You could hurt somebody, you know." He internally winced at the gruffness in his voice- his job didn't allow for much experience with children, and now was no exception. But the little girl simply giggled. "I don't think I could hurt you, you're buge!" Someone sighed, exasperated. "'Huge', Sage. The word you're looking for is 'huge'." The girl whirled around, and Adam had a brief second to meet Detective Rory Argent's eyes before they were being climbed like a tree, the small child quickly making her way to hang off their side. Rory seemed used to this, their eyebrow quirked in dry amusement. "Good morning, Adam. Glad to see you've already met one of my daughters." "Good-" rising to his feet, he stumbled over his words. …. Daughters? "Good morning, Detective. I was...unaware you had children." Thinking back, he tried to remember whether Agent Argent had mentioned any grandchildren, whether he'd seen any family photos in Rory's home. Not that he should have remembered it so well. The Detective's style was too much like his own. Too much like feeling like he belonged. Rory chuckled, adjusting Sage to their hip. Seemingly reading his mind, they tilted their head and said, "My mother was unaware of my children until recently if that's what you're trying to figure out. Our tumultuous relationship included a bone of contention- I sent her an invitation to the baby shower while I was pregnant with the twins, and she never responded. I assumed she wouldn't visit, I was living in Germany at the time. I didn't realize she wouldn't respond *at all*." He nodded, watching as an identical version of Sage moved to cling against Rory's leg. The other girl seemed to barely notice him at all, her nose stuck in a book. Unlike her sister, her hair was neatly braided back, a few curls wriggling free of their bonds to fall around her face. "Adam du Mortain," he snapped to attention the moment Rory said his name, unable to ignore the detective. Never able to ignore them. "This is Sage and Rosemary Dietrich. They're my twin daughters. Rosie girl, Sage, say hello to Agent Du Mortain." The child reading a book glanced up at him, seeming to shrink back a little more behind her father when she realized there was a very big person in front of her. "H-hello," she mumbled quietly, "it's nice to-" "It's nice to meet you! Hello! I'm Sage!" Her sister immediately interrupted, her voice loud and cheerful. She wiggled in Rory's arms. "Daddyyyyyy, I want down!” The detective sighed, giving Adam an exasperated look before they knelt down, setting their daughter on her feet. “Pumpkin, we’ve talked about this, you have to ask nicely…” The words they said seemed to fade for Adam as he watched, feeling his heart twist at seeing the softer side of Rory. The way they patted their daughter’s arm gently, tucking an errant lock away from her face, lovingly tugging away wrinkles and folds in her shirt, despite the fact that it was most likely a futile attempt. As the detective glanced up, their more excitable daughter slipping out of their arms and running off somewhere, they met Adam’s gaze. The world around them became almost nonexistent. Rory smiled, almost tenderly, and the Vampire felt his heart twist in his chest. “Adam,” the detective said softly, his name precious and treasured upon their lips, “Would you like to join me and the girls for-” The phone rang sharply, cutting through the air, and Rory made a face. “Hold on. I’ve got to get that. Rosie my girl, would you mind accompanying Agent Du Mortain to the round table?” The shyer daughter nodded, looking up at him and slipping her tiny hand into his. It seemed he had been vetted as a trusted person, at least for now. “This way,” she said solemnly, watching as her father ducked into their office. She tugged gently at his hand. He followed. Normally he would politely but firmly refuse, but he doubted the little girl would listen. And when large green eyes glanced back at him, checking to make sure he was still there, all of his resolve crumbled away. She looked too much like a miniature Rory, even with a big book tucked underneath her arm. Would he and the detective…? He immediately crushed that whisper in the back of his mind. No. He refused to even entertain that line of thought. The detective deserved better. It wouldn’t happen. Rosemary let go of his hand only to reach up and twist the doorknob, before swiftly reclaiming it once more. "This is the round table," she said solemnly. "Daddy and his knights meet here." Adam practically choked on a breath as she said that, leading him into the room. He was very familiar with it, seeing as it was where Unit Bravo and the Detective had met many times before. Rosemary tugged him over to the table, pushing herself onto one of the chairs and opening her book. Adam glanced down. Should he attempt to reclaim his fingers? He hesitated. The little girl likely had no idea what he was, what he had done. He felt so much animosity towards humans, and yet… She was so fragile. Rosemary settled easily, her eyes flicking across the words on the page. He could hear her heartbeat, the rush of her blood, the slow breaths in and out. The detective’s daughter was as confident and brave as they were, it seemed. Both of their daughters, although in seemingly different ways. Rosemary held onto his fingers, completely relaxed in his presence, and he couldn’t help but think that he didn’t deserve it. “Daddy’s going to be right back.” He glanced down at the girl in surprise, so lost in thought that he hadn’t realized she’d begun watching him in return. “He’s just got some phone calls. He’s important, you know. Daddy’s the king.” Adam quirked a brow, kneeling down. Even in the chair, she was small for a child. Now that they were at eye level, he responded in kind. “What is he the king of?” She shrugged, lifting up her book, struggling a bit with the weight of holding it one-handed. *Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and Other Tales*. “Daddy’s the king of Camelot,” she informed him loftily, as if he should be ashamed for not knowing such information. He bit back a smile at her tone. “My uncles and Z are his knights. Sage thinks that Verda’s Daddy’s grumpy jester, but I think it’s Douglas. His hair is silly.” She made a motion with her hand as if to show Douglas’s hair flipping up. “But Daddy added new knights to the story.” “Oh?” He felt the smile on his face try and widen, breaking through his serious demeanor. Rosemary’s solemn nod was too much like Rory’s, all business, direct and to the point. It made his heart ache sweetly, a melancholy that almost left him breathless. He understood now why the Detective hadn’t mentioned their daughters beforehand- all he wanted to do was wrap Rosemary up and hide her from the world. Hide her from people who would be looking for her father’s blood. “Yeah. He calls them the Knights of Bravo. Grandma, the old Queen, sent them to help protect Daddy.” She shrugged. “But Daddy can beat anyone, so I don’t get it. Daddy says even a King needs help sometimes. He says they meet at the round table sometimes, but usually at the Knights’ house, or Grandma’s castle. He says it’s why he’s away so often, and why he can’t call Sage and me like he used to.” She huffed, and squeezed his hand a little harder. It was barely anything to him, barely any pressure on his skin. He tilted his head. “Does Da- er. Does your father,” he said, correcting himself quickly, feeling his cheeks heat, “live with you? Why does he need to call you?” “Daddy lives in his castle,” she replied simply. “Papa and Daddy used to be happy together, but they started to make each other sad, so they live apart so they don’t make each other cry. But Papa cries anyway…” she glanced down, sighing. “He tries to hide it so Sage and I don’t hear. But he also used to yell at Daddy, and we heard that, too. Daddy moved away because Papa was being mean to him, and Sage and I make them both laugh so that they don’t think we’re being mean to them, and they won’t move away from us, too.” Adam took her hands in his, swallowing hard. He was the wrong person for this. *Why isn’t Nate here when I need him?! This is not…I am not equipped to handle this.* He took a deep breath in, and then out. “I don’t think you have to worry about that, Rosemary,” he began softly. “I think you’re a sweet girl, and that your father loves you very much. Er, both of them. I’ve known your father for a while now. He’s kind, and caring, and devoted. I don’t know your other father, but I do know Rory. Trust me when I say the detect- er, Rory, probably loves you very much. I think you’d have to be very, very mean to hurt his feelings, and even then he still wouldn’t leave you.” She sniffled. “You mean it?” “Yes.” He surprised himself with the vehemence of his response, although he knew he meant it, the feeling resonating through his bones, through his soul. The detective already considered Unit Bravo their family, reluctant as they were to work with their mother. From the very beginning, from their first meeting here in this very room, Rory hadn’t once stopped caring. Often at the risk of losing their own life. Remembering the feel of their touch against his cheek, covered in their own blood after Murphy’s fight, their words of reassurance. Remembering how they made Mason laugh with a snide remark, hugged Felix tightly after a tender moment, chatted excitedly about books with Nate. The detective loved them. And in return, Unit Bravo, Adam included, loved- Oh. Oh.  He felt a tiny hand slip out of his own, touching his cheek and coming away wet. “You’re sad,” Rosemary stated matter-of-factly. “Did I make you sad?” He shook his head, surprised at the slight coolness from his tears. He hadn’t even realized they were happening. “No. I just thought something that made me hurt. I’ll be okay.” She frowned, her brow furrowing in the way her father’s often did, a tiny mirror image of the detective. “But you’re still crying.” Rosemary suddenly perked up. “Do you want me to read you a story? Daddy reads them when Sage and me go to sleep every night. Sometimes he sings, but I’m not very good at it. Daddy says Grandma wanted him to be an op-er-a singer.” She made a face. “I don’t like op-er-a. The girls and guys’ faces are always weird and scary. Sage thinks they’re funny, and she always wants Daddy to play it on the TV.” Adam chuckled, rising up to pull a chair next to the little girl. “Well, if you think the faces are scary, perhaps we should stick to the books. I like your idea. Tell me your favorite story.” Rosemary gave him a bright grin, front teeth gap-toothed, and flipped through the book. She stabbed a finger at the page. “It’s Morgana Le Fay! She’s a witch, and Z always does her voices when they’re around. She’s their favorite. I like Daddy’s version of the story. I think Morgana just wants a friend.” She glanced at him, making sure he was paying attention, before starting up. “Okay. Once upon a time, there was a little girl living in a big castle with her mama and sisters…” Later Rory picked up Sage, hauling her over their shoulder, grinning at her squeals of laughter. “Okay, Sagey bean! Let’s stop bothering uncle Verda, he’s got work to do! Should we find your sister, little princess?” The little girl burst into laughter, wriggling in her father’s arms. “Noooo, Daddy! Rosemary is the princess, I wanna be a knight!” Rory rolled their eyes, glancing over to a grinning Verda, who shrugged cheerfully. Kids. Whatcha gonna do?  They blew a raspberry into the fat of their daughter’s chubby cheek, smiling wide as more laughter burst from her. “A knight, huh? A knight should be able to find a princess, no matter what! Are you prepared for the journey, brave warrior?” Sage wriggled some more, like the worm she secretly was. “Yeeeeees!” The moment her father set her down, she took off like a shot, scrambling up the stairs of the basement, heading up into the precinct proper. “I can’t believe you let Rosemary just hang out with Agent Du Mortain, Rory,” Verda teased softly. “I’ve seen you growl at the mayor before when he even brought them up in conversation. You must trust him, huh?” His expression danced with light humor, even as his tone grew serious. Verda alone knew the sheer lengths Rory went to, keeping their home life separate from their work. Even if he didn’t know how strange Rory’s work life truly was. The detective nodded. “Yes. I trust him with my life.” They smiled softly. “So now that that’s out of the way, it means I can trust him with my children, too.” Rory looked up at the sound of little feet descending the stairs, quickly reaching out and catching Sage as she stumbled down the last few steps. “Sage, did you find your sister?” The little girl nodded. “She’s speeping, Daddy.” “Sleeping, Sage. Wait. What do you mean, she’s sleeping? Where?” They sighed as Sage wriggled out of their hold, grabbing their hand. “I’ll talk to you later, Verda.” Verda nodded. “Good luck, Detective.” Being led through the precinct, Sage took them to the meeting room door. Inside, they could hear a mellow voice, familiar and smooth, like liquid smoke. “‘I am the rightful king’, Arthur proclaimed. ’With Caliburn in hand, I shall reunite Camelot as one, and the kingdom shall once again be brought to prosperity!’ And the people rejoiced as a single ray of sunshine lit upon the boy, illuminating the golden hair of their new king like a crown gifted from the heavens themselves, and knew that they were saved.” Rory heard a book close softly, the old bindings creak shut. “And they lived happily after.” Opening the door, they watched as Adam reached out a hand to Rosemary, settling it on the thick curls on her head. Her eyes were closed, her head upon her crossed arms, and her chest rose and fell slowly. Rosemary was deep in slumber. “The end,” Adam whispered. There was something tender and sad in his expression, a longing and heartbreak Rory ached to see. They wondered if vampires could have children. If Adam had ever wanted any, before his life would be changed forever. The idea of Adam and children gave them a funny feeling in their chest, fluttering and quick, too fleeting to be recognizable. As if hearing the very stutter of their pulse, Adam sharply glanced up, his hand jerking back to his side. His expression closed off, becoming professional as he stood. “Detective. I didn’t realize-” he stopped himself, then started again. “Your daughter wanted an audience for her storytelling, and she was having trouble getting through some of the words. So I assisted her.” Rory smiled softly. They raised a hand soothingly. “It’s okay, Adam. I’m hardly upset. It’s about time I get these little ones back to my place anyway. Z’s plane landed a few hours ago, and they should be back home from their police training.” They nodded to Rosemary’s sleeping form. “Would you like to help me? I didn’t bring the car today, the girls wanted to walk.” They watched as Adam glanced at the sleeping girl, and nodded. “I would be honored, Detective.” “Why do you call Daddy ‘Detective’?” Sage asked bluntly, staring up at the tall man. “He’s Daddy, and ‘Rory’ to everyone.” Rory rolled their eyes, nudging their daughter. “Because it’s polite, baby. He’s being respectful. It’s okay.” The little girl seemed to chew on this information for a second before shrugging, seemingly no longer interested. “Okay!” She grabbed her father’s hand. “Can we go see Z now, Daddy? I want goldfishies. Ooh! Or fruit snackies!” She wrinkled her nose as Rory reached down and tugged her ear gently. “Sagey bean, your sister is asleep. Please keep your voice down. But yes. Adam and I will be taking you two home.” They glanced at Adam, giving a half-smile. It brightened at the amused expression he returned. Gingerly, Adam walked over to Rosemary, picking up her book, and then picking up her. The little girl barely even stirred. If anything, she snuggled closer in his arms, and Rory wished they could have taken a picture of Adam’s expression. It screamed Oh god, repeating over and over. Rosemary’s cuteness tended to have that effect on people. Rory was so proud. Their daughter could conquer a kingdom. “Shall we head home?” They asked softly. Adam nodded. “Yes. Let’s go home. To your home.” He flushed slightly as he corrected himself. Sage ran off with an excited yell, and the detective and agent shared an exasperated smile before following close behind.

#twc #the wayhaven chronicles #adam du mortain #my writing #twc book 2 #let's see if I can test tumblr's limits with three thousand words YEET #I hope this turned out well #It took me a hot minute to finish it #but I feel good about it #also witness the cuteness power of Rory's children MUAHAAHAHA #anyway

[smallblueandloud]

B, F, H, I, J, M, R, S, T- oh my god that is so many!! sorry!

you’re good!! for this ask meme! under a cut because i like to TALK.

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

answered here!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

i am not gonna put that one conversation between donna and helen santos again but THAT ONE’S STILL MY FAVORITE. another scene though. hmm.

“Right, because you didn’t spend much time with her?” It’s a question, because Miriam is trying to confirm details. Lyra thinks back to her life story. She’s kept it as close to reality as she can, which makes remembering harder - but makes her feel better.

More importantly, it makes Pan feel better. She’s realized that it’s a good idea to compromise with Pan on easy things so that he’ll let her do the difficult things. Not that there’s much of those these days.

“Right,” says Lyra. “Oxford College was taking care of me, mostly. Mrs. Coulter - my mother,” she amends. Pan puts his paw on her bare neck. “My mother couldn’t be too involved, because of- well. The scandal.”

Miriam laughs. “Yes, of course. My friend Lyra, the scandal.”

Lyra grins. “One does one’s best.”

This makes Miriam laugh even harder.

honestly i’m really really proud of bodies fashioned out of dirt and dust in general, but i LOVED talking about lyra and the careful way she lies. when she was a kid, she used to invent stories like nobody’s business, but now that she’s older she has more moral qualms and she’s trying to be more of an adult while also not giving up the vibrant bits that made her lyra? idk how much sense this makes, but this fic was VERY MUCH a reaction to the secret commonwealth.

i loved the way i could imply so much about her feelings about mrs. coulter just by that one hesitation. i loved how easy it was to show her lying, because we KNOW the story and we KNOW lyra lies to people. this was such a fun fic to write and the dialogue was kind of the central way i contrasted her childhood vs early adulthood.

i’m also really proud of that toby/andy scene.

H: How would you describe your style?

uhhhhh i think i try to focus on making things as real as possible? you can feel like you’re the pov character because their emotions are real. vivid is the right word. i’m aiming for vivid.

i also really like describing people’s mannerisms and trying to be as in-character as possible. i haven’t gotten to the point of coming up with NEW mannerisms yet (except with fitz’s stutter in the magnum opus) but i enjoy writing lines that you can hear the characters say.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

angst? definitely MCD angst. i can’t even READ it most of the time because it makes me so SAD but i’m just. yeah. give me the mourning. logan/jean really came for me personally. i’m also a big fan of protectiveness - daisy’s speech to jemma in the magnum opus, about “i will come and get you”, was COMPLETELY self-indulgent and i enjoyed it WAY MORE than it served any character development or plot.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

uhh i think i wrote a long thing about this for like half my fics a few months ago, but in another world i wrote a lot more for keep on keeping on and it had more about blue pearl’s feelings about the terrifying renegade pearl that was helping rose quartz. also, there’s an alternate ending where the crystal gems arrive on homeworld in less pleasant circumstances - basically “the trial” if pearl was there, let’s be honest - and blue recognized pearl and it was. A Lot. it would’ve been a lot. i still kind of want to write that fic, tbh.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

currently the fic i’m most excited about is for a fandom i’ve barely talked about before, where [name redacted] is stuck in a time loop and keeps trying to save [name redacted] and in the last loop, which takes place right after [title redacted], she takes him and [names redacted] on a desperate road trip where, among other things, we find out that her sister actually dated BOTH [name redacted] and [name redacted] in high school. also both her love interest and [name redacted] are autistic, because i make the rules and the rules are that lesbean says they’re autistic.

i’m also TEMPTED to start a giant project of creating my own xmen canon, in the style of unpretty’s sorrowful and immaculate hearts, because i don’t have enough to do in my life apparently. polyamory would abound. if anyone’s interested in this PLEASE ask me about it because i have THOUGHTS.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

my entire sense of humor stems from douglas adams and in an ideal world i would be able to write comedy and it would just be his style. uhh i’m sure i have other influences but it’s hard to think of any at the moment. i know which writers i ADMIRE but i don’t know if they’ve INFLUENCED me, if you know what i mean? dirgewithoutmusic, i would say, and probably also. uh. this fic right here influenced me when i was YOUNG and IMPRESSIONABLE and it still takes me out at the knees.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

protectiveness! reveals in the middle of action! someone’s found family meeting their friends and realizing they (the found family) is REALLY IMPORTANT to their person actually! cool powers! characters being clever! jokes that are very specific references to canon! worldbuilding! longing!

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

changing people so they’re less scary and more “normal” (this is specifically about fic written about natasha romanoff). people being ooc. a couple’s friends seemingly being entirely dedicated to the couple’s wellbeing and relationship and not having lives of their own. shipping a young (usually female) person with their father figure. buying into canon’s infidelity storyline when it’s ooc and could just as easily be polyamory (this is specific but i’m Right). every fanwork focusing on a white minor character instead of the main character of color.

thank you for the ask!!

#claudiasjeancregg #sb and l rambles #sb and l answers #sb and l is writing #fic: bodies fashioned out of dirt and dust #fic: keep on keeping on #fic rec #su ideas #xm ideas #thank you for the ask this was a lot of fun!!

[superchartisland]

Discworld (Perfect 10/Psygnosis, PC, 1995)

The worlds of computer games and fantasy/sci-fi books have long been close together. Early British gaming milestone Elite was one of many, many games to have taken some inspiration from Douglas Adams’s sharp and funny science fiction parody The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In the other direction, let’s look at Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams fan and the UK’s best-selling author of the 1990s thanks to his Discworld series roughly doing for fantasy what Hitchhiker’s did for sci-fi, but many times more prolifically. Pratchett drew on his lasting interest in computer games in his writing. Small Gods (1992) is a spin on the central mechanic of Populous that gods get more powers the more believers they have, with the twist of considering what really counts as belief. Racist mis-step Interesting Times (1994) ends with its main character controlling a Terracotta Army stand-in via what is obviously the interface from Lemmings. Outside of his Discworld series, Pratchett wrote a whole book about a computer game, Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) in which the main characters are drawn into a game that’s somewhere between Space Invaders and Elite. He takes the side of the aliens.

Meanwhile, alongside Adams and Pratchett’s witty, knowing parodies of genre fiction, in the world of gaming LucasArts were making a big success of point’n’click graphic adventures which served as witty, knowing parodies of genre fiction. There’s no coincidence there: Douglas Adams worked together with LucasFilm Games (as was) on their first adventure game, Labyrinth, a logical extension to Adams’s own interest in computers and his role writing the text adventure version of Hitchhiker’s. Across the Atlantic from LucasArts, the biggest British success in the world of graphic adventures in the early ’90s was Simon the Sorcerer by AdventureSoft, who had originally wanted to make a Discworld game but couldn’t get the rights. Instead they made something in much the same spirit. Title character Simon is essentially an amalgam of Pratchett’s early Discworld protagonist (and useless wannabe wizard) Rincewind and LucasArts’ Monkey Island protagonist (and useless wannabe pirate) Guybrush Threepwood.

By 1995, a Discworld graphic adventure wasn’t just a good idea, but practically an inevitability. Beyond the intertwined background, the format is perfectly suited. The slow, detail-focused gameplay is a perfect delivery vehicle for comedy. There’s a reason why Rincewind and Guybrush Threepwood, self-aware and sarcastic commentators on the world around them, were so compatible, and indeed you play as Rincewind in the Discworld game. The meta tendencies of the genre line up with one of the key repeated themes of Discworld, the idea defined on occasion as ‘narrativium’: narrative is one of the key building blocks of the world and able to exact a powerful force upon events. Things happen because they are expected to happen, and because they make for the best story. At one point Discworld the game plays on one of Pratchett’s best straightforward manifestations of this — “one-in-a-million chances happen nine times out of ten” — getting the player to work out the exact series of accessories that will add up to the hero’s chances being 1,000,000–1.

Lots of games make you work out what their developers want you do as a solution, but few tie that puzzle-solving as directly in to the narrative as graphic (and text) adventures. The actions in question tend more to the detailed mechanics than the grand sweep, but at best progress is a kind of collaborative narrative process between creator and player, tuned to the same wavelength. You progress the story by working out what the story is going to be. Or what the story should be. The player enacts the force of narrativium.

And so in Discworld the game, Rincewind is not just aware, as in the books, that he is the unwilling hero in a fantasy story, and what the rules of that story are. He is aware that he is the hero of a fantasy point’n’click adventure. His ambulant suitcase companion of infinite and terrifying capacity, the Luggage, may not have been written as a parody of game inventories, but it certainly reads like one.

After watching the game’s intro the player knows that it’s a story about a dragon on the rampage in the city of Ankh-Morpork, but Rincewind doesn’t yet. Look out the window at the distant figure of the dragon, labelled as ‘shape’ and he comments that it’s obviously a plot element, or it would have a better label. In that kind of moment the game extends in a worthwhile way from both Discworld and point’n’click games. In others, its puzzles are far too obtuse to give the feeling of figuring out the story, going a long way beyond the standard of the genre in difficulty. That makes for a lot of time going around trying out everything possible, which means that the world and its characters being enjoyable to spend time with is even more important.

Rincewind’s turn as sarky, put-upon man, dealing with a world around him which is obviously mad, is enhanced by being voiced by Eric Idle. I won’t go into the further links between Monty Python and Douglas Adams, because my history bit at the start was already long enough and because Elizabeth Sandifer already did it excellently, but there is a positive kind of obviousness to that casting too. Likewise, given the comedy fantasy-historic setting of Ankh-Morpork, the presence in the cast of Tony Robinson (throw Blackadder into that web of British humour fiction somewhere too). As a fan of the Discworld books, one of the best parts of the game is hearing familiar characters given voice. Tony Robinson’s take on amoral street peddler Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, unflappable in the face of having his cons pointed out, played like Baldrick if his obliviousness was a cunning front, is particularly delightful. As a representation of the daft, inventive, funny world of Discworld, the game is a happy success. It fills its inevitable role very well.

However, as a series, Discworld isn’t just daft and inventive and funny. Well it pretty much was to begin with, and remained that way in much popular perception for a long while afterwards. There was a reason Pratchett kept bringing Rincewind back for lazy romps in new places. Discworld would not be as well-loved as it remains if that was all it was, though.

The plot of Discworld the game draws heavily on the eighth novel in the series, Guards! Guards! (1989), which was a distinct turning point in the tone and range of the series and its satire. In it, a dragon is set loose in the city and is eventually stopped with help from the efforts of the under-funded, under-respected, under-the-influence guards of the City Watch, who gain some self-respect in the process. The book turns away from the typical special one born-into-the-role hero of the previous books, giving starring roles to characters in positions that would previously have made them cannon fodder or comic relief alone. The importance of the life and story of every single person is a strong theme throughout the series. Keeping the Watch as leads would have made for a different and less obvious game, but replacing them with Rincewind — a wizard from the parody of privileged academia that is Unseen University — loses that strand of the message.

The other thing that Guards! Guards! brings through strongly is anger at how society is run, and to whose benefit. In its story a manipulative palace insider uses the petty grievances of a bunch of working men to incite them to summon a dragon. He plans to stage a vanquishing and install a puppet ruler, but loses control and instead himself ends up as puppet to the monster he conjured. Pratchett returns repeatedly to the fickle will of the crowd, influenced via the forces of narrative. When the dragon winds up in charge of the city, the most cutting satire is how easily treasure-hoarding and virgin-sacrificing are accepted as the new normal. The people in power in a position to do something quickly fall to collective self-interest, content as long as they believe they’re not supporting the burning of their faces. That kind of seething argument for greater justice became more prominent as the Discworld books went on.

This whole theme, though, gets minimised by the game’s changes to the plot and its wider insistence on prioritising knockabout comedy. No chance is missed for cartoon logic, and even where aspects of the plot like the dragon’s desire for revenge on its summoners are kept, they’re played for laughs There is parody but nothing like the sharp satire of the source material, and it puts humour above anything, including sometimes fidelity to its characters. Across the series Pratchett has a running joke of the university’s orangutan librarian reacting violently to being called a monkey, but the many times the game has slapstick scenes of Rincewind doing that (or similar to other characters) and being bashed on the head doesn’t ring true. He’s the Librarian’s assistant from pretty early on in the series and regardless, if nothing else, his defining cowardice would make him more cautious than that. The game’s humour goes broad again and again. It may well include more jokes about men wearing dresses than it does women, in dresses or otherwise. That doesn’t come out of nowhere — Pratchett never quite got past the temptation to bite on easy jokes even if they sat uneasily with his moral messages — but the game feels closer to his worst early instincts.

To get completely anachronistic, I like to imagine a Discworld point’n’click based instead on much later books in the series. Tiffany Aching, analytical teenager training to be a witch (a position portrayed as being social worker and midwife more than it is magician) would fulfil a need for a level of unawareness and observation as player stand-in really well, and would allow for a game with a very different tone. That could be more than a cartoon romp in a familiar funny world. As it is, Discworld the game is a well-realised vision of Discworld, but it’s a vision of Discworld which was already old hat by the time of its inevitable creation.

Gallup Compact Disc chart, Computer Trade Weekly 3 April 1995 (chart for week to 25 March 1995)

#every number one #Discworld #RetroGaming #PCGaming

[narwhallove]

Behind the Curtain: Interview with Romy Writer Ludi-Ling

House of Cards actually started out as a random smut scene that burgeoned into something far, far more.

@ludi-ling goes meta in our final interview about her writing process; how the Romy fandom’s changed over the years; alternate universes (AU); and the role of smut for Romy fans. (Spoiler alert, our heroes are hot.)

No surprise that it’s a pleasure interviewing Ludi. I kept sending her more questions (25 total!) because her responses fascinated me and inspired me to ask more. It’s a rare person who writes visceral, startling prose and can also talk about her work with clarity, intelligence, and an affection for her characters that doesn’t occlude good writerly judgment.

The superlatives don’t end there. Anyone who knows the community knows that Ludi is a friend to her readers and to her fellow writers. As we all enter a heady 2019, reading Mr. and Mrs. X together, Ludi is someone to cherish.

If you haven’t read our other interviews, please check out: Part 1 of interviews: X-men Origins Part 2 of interviews: Going Dark

As a scholar of fan studies, do you believe Romy fanfiction fulfills needs that Marvel never can? What needs might those be, for Romy fans?

Certainly I think that fanfic is built on the premise of filling in the gaps, scribbling in the margins (to quote the seminal fan studies scholar, Henry Jenkins!) and fixing perceived wrongs. Comics are unique in that regard because the characters and stories within them continue for years and even decades. Comics continuities are convoluted and complicated, and there is a constant churn of writers working on them. Many fans have followed characters for far longer than the writers, and may know the characters more intimately than the professionals. Comics are full of retcons and contradictory takes on the characters. And I think fanfic is an important medium for allowing fans to “fix” that, to negotiate it. Because of the ongoing nature of comics, and because the futures of the characters are always going to be nebulous and subject to the whims of Marvel and the writers indefinitely, I think it’s going to continue to be important. Romy may be married in the comics, but there will still be plenty to write about—kids, divorce, a reconciliation . . . who knows? ;) 

What do you think Romy readers seek out when they read fanfiction? If it’s wish fulfillment, what kinds of wishes are being fulfilled? If it’s looking for “gaps” that the comics skip over, what have you found to be the most common sorts of gaps?

I think Romy is a very interesting example of the “wish fulfillment” function of fanfiction. Because part of the mystique of that ship (no pun intended) is that they can’t touch, they can’t consummate their relationship . . . And fanfic is a way that fans can get them to touch, to work out that angst. I think that one of the staples of Romy fic is the sexual tension between the two, and how they resolve that; the push and pull between them. Sometimes these take place in epic, superheroic backdrops, sometimes in AUs, where they have no mutant powers and where the tension between them is born from other factors (such as already having significant others, or being enemies, or in illicit lines of work).

What draws you to AUs? Your stories aren’t a case of fanfiction filling what’s “between panels”; you tend to shift characters and relationships to entirely different settings, whether it’s a Strange Days–like world or another genre, like a Southern gothic procedural. Can you talk about AUs and how they play out in your imagination?

What I’ve always liked is world-building. One of my first large-scale writing projects was a fantasy trilogy called The Legend of Elu. Most of the fun I got from that was actually building the world, the kingdoms, the mythology, the theology, the languages, the history of that story. That definitely bled into my fanfic.

Now I tend to write canon stuff as one-shots, and novel-length stuff as AUs, because they give me more space to play with world-building. That was something I realised I enjoyed more when I wrote Threads. Writing all those little worlds in a series of one-shots felt too “small.” HoC was originally an expansion of the Threads tale Touch and Go, but it grew into something else, and since then, I’ve preferred to go the AU route for the longer-form stories. :)

We’re living in peak Romy times—I think we’re still reeling from the wedding! Let’s say you had the power to go back in time and drop a pin into an earlier moment in the Romy timeline that you felt truly represents what Romy means to you (which isn’t the same as when they’re happiest!). When and in what universe? Why this choice?

There are so many iconic moments from Romy’s past, but, for me personally, I always go back to their time in Valle Soleada (in X-Treme X-Men). That’s not because they’re happy per se, but because I think that that period was the perfect example of how great they worked together on every level, and was proof positive that they were a good match. I often say it, but I will say it again here, because it’s the truth, and y’all can fight me to the death over it—if there was a time they would’ve got married and I would’ve bought it 100%, it would’ve been in Valle Soleada.

On Tumblr, it seems a large contingent of Romy fans are women in their 30s who discovered Romy at a tender age, thanks to the animated series. This includes you and me! There are exceptions, of course. What’s it like for you to have been in the fandom from the early aughts? What changes in the fandom have you noticed between 2003 and 2018?

I really joined the fandom at an exciting time for Romy—they’d just got back together properly after all the turmoil of the Trial of Gambit. X-Treme X-Men was a treat for Romy fans, and Claremont wrote such a great dynamic between them. As fans we were all excited and happy and well-fed on all that Romy goodness.

So it was weird (not to mention disappointing) when the 2004 reboot happened, and Marvel did everything they could to tank Romy. Which is one thing, and I can stomach it if [it were] logically and well written, but it was just so terribly done that I think many of us just tapped out of the fandom completely. I’d say 2005–2018 were fallow years for the Romy fandom. Most (if not all) of the fan friends I made at that time completely left the fandom. For myself, as someone who enjoys writing AUs, it was the perfect time to branch out from writing in canon and fitting Romy into my own world.

Who are your influences? What writers do you feel a particular affinity for? Are there writers whom we might be surprised to discover informed your work, but you feel have, despite appearances?

I was heavily influenced by the dark, modern fairytales of Angela Carter about the time that I was writing Queen of Diamonds and Threads. She had a really magical way with words—her prose was lyrical, sensual, and unbelievably rich. She was a huge inspiration, but later I moved away from her tone, firstly because I felt I was doing a poor imitation of her, secondly because it wasn’t really appropriate for the direction I wanted to move my fics in, and lastly because I was becoming self-conscious of my insane verbosity and wanted to pare down my prose. That’s something I’m still working on!

At some point during the writing of House of Cards, I finally got round to reading Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I think it was Douglas Adams who convinced me to move away from Carter’s beautiful but too-flowery prose. I loved the way his narrative just sizzled. I’m bad at capturing that energy—but I do think that from HoC onwards, I’ve tried to learn to be more economical with my words—which is hard for a florid soul like mine. 

Threads—structurally at least—was influenced by Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller, and later, by David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. 

Let’s say you can pair your fiction with other works of art—of all forms, films, paintings, music, etc.—as if you were pairing wines to foods. What other pieces of art might you say go along with yours?

Wow! OK—that’s hard. Threads I’d probably pair with Cloud Atlas (the book, not the film, which I haven’t yet watched). HoC—I don’t know that there’s any one thing I would pair it with, but you can bet a load of post-apocalyptic stuff was thrown into that stew, along with a bit of The Matrix and probably some Inception.

52 Pickup was influenced a lot by Asmus’s Gambit run, cos I really wanted to write a heist fic with Remy and Rogue rather than Remy and Joelle (who I freely admit kicked ass). But if I had to pair it with a piece of media, it’d be with the video game Remember Me, which dealt a lot with themes of how memories inform our identities, and the ethical concerns of having memories essentially become “documents” that are uploaded and shared digitally through the cloud.

This is a good segue to talk about high-low culture. We may not want to believe in a hierarchy of culture, but we can certainly talk about the differences between fanfiction and “regular fiction.” When you read fanfiction, do you approach it differently than you would regular fiction? Are your expectations for form, reading pleasure, or anything else different? If so, how so?

Interesting question! I don’t know whether I approach it differently per se, but I think that readers have different expectations of fanfic. Hopefully we all read “regular fiction” for the same reason we read fanfic—for pleasure. But I don’t think there’s really a binary between regular and fanfiction. I think both exist on a continuum. There is a lot of “regular fiction” (I prefer to call it “profic” or “professional fiction,” because I think that’s where the binary between the two exists) that is actually very close to fanfic, and vice versa. By that I mean that there is plenty of fanfic that is epic in scope, deals with serious themes, and might be considered “classics” if they weren’t fanfiction.

And there is also profic, like romance, that is more similar to fanfic in terms of the kind of functions that it serves. There is an illicit pleasure to reading romance—for example, it’s not the kind of thing you’d openly read in public! There’s a similarity between that and fanfic, and I think, as readers of fanfic, we anticipate some level of illicitness when we approach it—even if the illicitness is only in the format (i.e., it’s fanfiction!), not in the content.

Fun question: What role do you think explicit smut functions in a fic? How do you deal with smut in your work? There’s an interesting moment that’s not in HoC, in which you write about Gambit and Rogue’s first time having sex in his point of view. It’s a separate chapter that exists as its own entity on your fanfiction.net page. Notably, it is much more explicit than the scene in Rogue’s perspective. Can you talk a little bit about this decision?

Well, I do think that fanfic is a safe space for writers to explore their sexuality (and I think that’s a huge part of the reason why fic is looked down upon), and smut plays a significant role in that. And smut certainly plays a part in my own fics. HoC actually started out as a random smut scene that burgeoned into something far, far more. Generally, I do try to make the sex scenes have a purpose in the plot (’cos I’m kind of anal about plot structure!), but in the particular case of Slow Burn and the other HoC vignettes, those are more self-contained one-shots where I could explore things that I couldn’t explore in the main story. So I could indulge in the smut a bit more! And let’s be honest—Gambit’s dark sexuality makes it thrilling to write smut from his perspective—of course his “thoughts” are going to be more explicit! ;)

But I also think that it’s interesting to write their individual perspectives on their sexual encounters, because of that tension between their characters. Rogue is the quintessential virginal Southern Baptist gal who’s inexperienced; whereas Gambit is the sexually aggressive alpha male who’s probably never had a woman turn him down in his life. That makes for a very combustive love affair between the two, and makes it fun to write that love affair (and all the smut in-between) from both their points of view.

#ludi-ling #fanfic #fanfiction #romy #rogue and gambit #house of cards #interview with author #interview with fanfic writer #fanfiction studies

[i-feel-electric]

how would you describe your sense of humor? what are your favorite books, movies, genres? who are your fave artists, singers, creators? where do you draw inspiration from?

hello, anon :) these are quite the questions, lol. we might be here for a while.

1. i would describe my sense of humor as 1 part dry sarcasm, 1 part immature 12 year old boy who still laughs at fart noises, and 1 part dad jokes

2. books. i’m actually kind of embarrassed to admit that i don’t really read them much anymore. most of what i read these days is fic, but i still have books and authors that i love. tolkien, gaiman, david levithan, cormac mccarthy, murakami, francesca lia block, lev grossman, douglas adams. not very well-versed in female writers, so if anyone’s got recs, i’d be happy to receive them.

3.  movies. you probably don’t realize what you’re getting yourself into by asking me this lol. though, to be fair, i’ve stopped watching/paying attention to a majority of the film industry because it doesn’t excite me anymore. so, my list is composed of primarily older films, in no particular order: labyrinth, the dark crystal, the fifth element, in the mood for love, the adventures of priscilla queen of the desert, rocky horror picture show, the princess bride, pulp fiction, city of lost children, kontroll, a single man, empire records, heathers, les chansons d’amour, les enfants du paradis, like...every musical ever, most marvel movies, blade runner, oldboy, gone in 60 seconds, the dreamers, weekend (the gay one, obviously), gattaca, eastern promises, pan’s labyrinth, the big lebowski, the fall, stranger than fiction, jeaux d’enfants, everything jim jarmusch has ever made. i could go on, but i’ll leave it there.

i also watch a shit ton of anime, but that’s another rabbit hole for another time.

4. genres. if it’s sci-fi or fantasy, i’m usually already on board. except that most of the time it ends up being disappointing (at least in regards to film and television). these days, anything that isn’t heteronormative garbage, i guess. except that i kind of also love stuff like dumb action movies because i don’t have to use my brain. the classics will always be my faves, but all of these stories have already been told and the vast majority of everything that’s been coming out the last however many years is either boring or half-assed or a remake of something that did it better the first time.

5. artists. i feel like you’re calling me out with these things lmao. i honestly could not sit here and tell you which artists i used to love. not that i don’t still interact with art or appreciate it, it’s just different now. i like reading webcomics. the illustrators out there right now are killing it. highly rec this gorgeous little gem. line’s webtoon app is pretty much a goldmine. there’s something for everyone and you get to support independent artists just trying to do what they love. i also use pinterest a lot, to either keep track of art that i enjoy purely aesthetically or for story reference/inspiration.

6. singers/musicians. again, a deep dark rabbit hole lol. i’m gonna be pretty general here bc this is getting kind of long (sorry). i still listen to a lot of kpop and k-indie stuff, but i’ve rediscovered my love for the japanese music scene, so i’ve been hardcore into that lately. (if anyone wants recs, hit me up). otherwise it’s pretty random. i like most genres. i listen to a lot of osts, usually from video games. also, i have ella fitzgerald’s face tattooed on my arm if that tells you anything.

7. creators. lately it’s been anime and video games, tbh. i’ve found that the way i want to engage with content is more immersive and less passive these days, so video games are kind of hitting that sweet spot for me because it’s such a unique way of storytelling. and the narratives being told in anime have always resonated with me. the depth and complexity of the characters and the worlds they live in, not to mention the visual stimulation of diverse art styles. the way animation, of all kinds, can utilize composition and movement just really does it for me. doesn’t hurt that a lot of it is pretty gay, so. there’s that.

8. inspiration. i draw inspiration from everything. sometimes all it takes is seeing something in my daily life, just a small otherwise insignificant detail, and an idea forms and grows all on its own. i think a lot of my ideas stem from the things i find aesthetically appealing. music videos, an illustration, clothing, environment design, photographs of all types. it’s usually visual. but i also find inspiration in music and the narratives other people create. mostly because, as far as mainstream content is concerned, i want to create the versions of things that don’t currently exist the way i wish they did. it’s why we fanfic, you know? and not even just for the queer/poc representation. i feel like a majority of mainstream tv/film/whatever just really misses the mark.

probably wrote way more than you were anticipating lol, but there it is. thanks for the ask :) hope it was what you were looking for. if there’s anything i wasn’t specific enough about, just let me know.

#ask #long text post #sorry

[loopyhoopywrites]

Meet The Writer

1. Do you tend to get distracted while writing?

I wouldn’t say I get distracted, but sometimes I’m just not in the zone and find it impossible to focus on writing. I find I write better if I write in short chucks, so I’ll write say 200 words then take a short break, and that helps me stay focused.

2. What do you think has provided the most inspiration for any of your projects?

My WIP (The Intercession of Godliness in Humanity) was inspired by a really small scene in one of the Percy Jackson books, where Morpheus makes a town fall asleep. I got really interested in Morpheus, did a bunch of research, and tada; IGH.

The Last Damsel (my gay fantasy-comedy short story) was inspired by a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where one of the knights goes to rescue a princess and finds a prince instead. I had this idea of what if the knight was actually happy to find a prince, and it all just sprung from there.

3. How would you describe your style of writing?

For IGH, I fondly refer to my style as ‘poncy af’. It’s definitely different to how I usually write, but actually feels more natural and ‘me’.

My comedy writing I like to think of as slightly Douglas Adams-esq.

4. Which WIP is the most fun to write (currently) and why?

I’m LOVING writing The Last Damsel. Adrian and Tim are such Hopeless Gays, and it’s actually building my confidence in writing comedic pieces, something I’ve never thought I could do. I find myself laughing at parts I’m writing, which makes it a lot of fun.

5. Are there any foods or drinks that help you write? Or that don’t, but you need them to write anyway?

Not really. I do a lot of writing in Starbucks, and I love their iced teas, but weirdly I find I put off eating whilst I’m writing. I tell myself I can get food once I’m done, to motivate me to finish XD

6. Share something you’re proud of (anything works)!

There’s a scene from Hera’s chapter of IGH that I LOVE, but it’s a bit long and spoiler-y to share. Same with basically all of Apollo’s chapter. I also love the whole of The Last Damsel, but I’ve shared a few of my favourite lines already. Instead, here’s a short line from Artemis’ chapter of IGH that always makes me smile:

“She, may I point out, has no idea who you are, and from what little information I have been able to gather regarding her personality, will not take kindly to a strange man accosting her in her own home.”

“Right.” Apollo seemed slightly taken aback, but he at least acknowledged Morpheus’ point. “So what are you going to do?”

“I,” Morpheus sighed, “Am going to accost her elsewhere.”

7. If your muse was a person, how would you describe them?

I don’t really have a muse, so *shrugs*

8. Which of your characters would probably murder you in real life for the horrible things you’ve done to them? Which ones wouldn’t?

Oh gosh. Pigeon would definitely have every right to kill me, but he’s actually really non-violent, so he’d probably just end up crying. He’d try and hide, but his fellow inmates would find out and happily kill me for him. Beaten to death by criminals, not the nicest way to go.

Miriam would probably also be well within her rights to murder me, and I actually wouldn’t put it past her. He girlfriend would definitely join in.

Morpheus wouldn’t, even though I arguably put him through the worst. He’s incredibly selfless, so even though he should hate me he probably wouldn’t, because he’d consider the good his situation does for everyone else.

9. Would your story work best as a movie, TV show, podcast, video game, or something else?

TV show. Each chapter would be an episode, focusing on a different god or goddess.

10. What’s the strangest thing you’ve done in the name of writing? 

Um, I can’t think of anything super strange. During NaNo I did take my notebook to a quidditch tournament and spent all the time I wasn’t playing sat on the sidelines trying to write and watch at the same time.

Thanks @spacebrick3 for the tag! Tagging @endlesshourglass @inknindecision @katiehahnbooks to answer the same questions, because I’m too tired to come up with new ones XD

#ask game #tag game #about the author

[thinking-thought]

What does it mean to have a soul?

I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Prof. Richard Dawkins last year when he was on tour promoting his book, Science in the Soul.

Part of the event the day I met him included him reading paragraphs from the book in a lovely little book store. One of the things I keenly remember is him reading the beginning of an essay titled “Fifty years on: killing the soul?”. 

In that essay, Dawkins talks about two kinds of soul. One associated with something that gives the body life and consciousness and lives on forever. The other kind of soul is what one would usually associate with how they feel when they have an awe-inspiring moment. Dawkins predicts that one of them will be killed by the scientific method and it is easy to see which one that would be. 

For me though, that first soul was already in it’s deathbed through years of curious questioning. It took its last breath the day I discovered the second soul. Since then, there has been no shortage of awe-inspiring, spine-chilling moments that have stirred my soul.

What does it really mean to have a soul then? I don’t know. I am fairly confident that the answer is not “that part of me which lives on after I am dead”. I have brought myself to think of having a soul as being emotional, and as having a mind that can think humanely and be kind.

I also think of it as the delight I feel when I read a paragraph like this.

“Uplift, however, is where science really comes into its own. All the great religions have a place for awe, for ecstatic transport at the wonder and beauty of creation. And it’s exactly this feeling of spine-shivering, breath-catching awe - almost worship - this flooding of the chest with epiphanic wonder, that modern science can provide. And it does so beyond the wildest dreams of saints and mystics. The fact that the supernatural has no place in our explanations, in our understanding of the universe and life, doesn’t diminish the awe. Quite the contrary. The merest glance through a microscope at the brain of an ant or through a telescope at a long-ago galaxy of a billion worlds is enough to render poky and parochial the very psalms of praise.

- Excerpt from “Is Science a religion?”

Or the many thoughts running in my head when I read something about evolutionary biology in a way that I haven’t read before.

“If a time machine could serve up to you your 200-million-greats-grandfather, you would eat him with a sauce tartare and a slice of lemon. He was a fish. Yet you are connected to him by an unbroken line of intermediate ancestors, every one of whom belonged to the same species as its parents and its children.”

- Excerpt from “The tyranny of the discontinuous mind”

Or the way I feel when I have an enlightening moment.

“The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened - it’s just wonderful. And ... the opportunity to spend seventy or eighty years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.”

- Douglas Adams quote from “Farewell to a Digerati dreamer”

That is what makes Science in the Soul such a wonderful read. It encapsulates all the things that is wonderful about human emotion. It is a collection of Dawkins’ essays, lectures, articles spanning three decades of work. The format made it the perfect commute read for me. Some of them definitely did stir my soul, giving my mind plenty to think, and some others I found difficult to follow because of Dawkins’ vocabulary and his analogies involving evolutionary biology.

When I met Prof. Dawkins, I was so excited that I wanted to talk to him about all things evolutionary biology that I learnt from reading his work. But nervousness meant that I didn’t know how to talk to him about anything. I said hi and blurted something about how his “The Magic of Reality” was what I bought with my very first paycheck. I may have said more things about how it was such an honor to meet him and how I considered myself lucky to have been at the right place and the right time to have had the chance to meet him. He was patient, and he listened. After our conversation, he asked me how I spell my name and signed my copy of Science in the Soul. I asked him if he would be willing to sign another book for me and opened Carl Sagan’s Cosmos that I had brought along with me. I did not know what he’d say. He was a little hesitant at first, asked why I wanted his signature in the great man’s book. I explained to him that I was hoping to have it signed by the scientists that have inspired me and have been inspired by Sagan himself and he just happened to be the first one. He humbly signed on a little corner on the first page and handed the book to me. I was overjoyed given that I had just begun fulfilling a dream I had long ago, but I only managed a sheepish thank you look on me as Dawkins went on to talk to others who were waiting to meet him.

I do understand what Dawkins means when he predicts Science will kill the soul. But may be there is another way to put it. May be Science has saved the soul.

I say this because public educators like Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Brian Cox, Alice Roberts, and many more are have done and are doing amazing work to spread the joy of finding one’s soul, or simply put, rekindling one’s childish wonder.

#reading #books #library #richard dawkins #science in the soul #soul #science #scientist #meet and greet #childish wonder #curiosity #curious #mind #honor #book passage #biology #evolution #essay #collection #book

[yourgoodfriendraichel]

Answer all the author asks >:) (if u want)

HUNKER DOWN MY FRIENDS AND LET ME LEARN YOU A THING ABOUT MY FAVORITE TOPIC: ME!

I like to pretend I am a writer, and so I will now tell you writerly things about myself. (Thank you writer buddy)

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

- any story i’m “holding off writing” is because it is simply a terrible idea tornado in my brain and doesn’t have anything tangible enough to write down yet. This is debatably true of many, many things.

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

- I’m a little embarrassed with my one self-insert fanfic I actually posted back when I was thirteen, but on the whole I’m not embarrassed about anything of mine existing, it’s part of my brain, though I am somewhat embarrassed about people knowing about it, or my really bad formatting and spelling stuff.

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

- I write front-to-back, sort of, while taking the time to write favorite/fleshed out scenes as I come up with them. So, I aspire to write from the start of the book to the end, but sometimes I don’t have anything for the next scene, but I have this other scene that’s been in my head for a week, so I’ll go ahead and write that down.

(There are 22 more of these!)

4) favorite character you’ve written

- aaaaahhhh too many! I- I don’t have a favorite?! (Also a bunch of them are clearly related in my brain as being similar people in different worlds). Right now my baby is Lona, a princess magician who needs a damn hug. Everyone she loves keeps dying. She is also a strong, short child and can lift her lanky friend over her head. It’s amazing. And I swear she’s not as over-powered as she sounds. 

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

- I’m not sure? I don’t think I’ve written anyone surprising yet. I have a mentor figure in one story who’s dramatic backstory kind of snuck up on me? But no particular character has surprised me yet.

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

- ??? I don’t know? I feel like I’d have to have something completed to do that... Oh, I may want to change things about my big long Gravity Falls future-fic, but going back through three different platforms to change it, and to expect people to read the changes, is stupid, so it shall remain mediocre for all time.

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

- I’m definitely enthusiastic about writing, though I do have trouble getting up the guts to talk to people about my stories, which is absurd, because I love my stories, and having anyone else invested might help me stay motivated.

8) favorite genre to write

- I really don’t know. Poetry might actually be the most fun to write, since it has the least rules for me, and at most has rules on form. I don’t need no stinking outlines! I don’t need no stinking forethought! I just need feelings. (PS: this is not true of all poetry, this is just the kind of poetry I end up writing).

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

- music music music music music. And for fanfic/things that were once fanfic and now i have made them my own it’s always good to just bury my head in the source material sometimes. I also like making aesthetics and stuff for characters, but that’s less for inspiration, and more to get rid of some of that creative energy when I can’t think of what to do with the actual story.

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

- Alone, with music. Or not, if I forget, but usually with music. That how I’m most productive, at any rate.

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

- Plotting. I still think it’s horrible, but I think I’m better at planning and plotting than I once was. Also just grammar and punctuation and the teachable stuff like that, obviously. I started writing at, like, ten.

12) your weaknesses as an author

- Plots, villains

13) your strengths as an author

- Ideas, dialogue

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

- ABSOLUTELY. Everything has a playlist. EVERYTHING.

15) why did you start writing?

- I have told stories without writing them down my whole life, with toys and imaginary games. It was just a matter of having the time, skills, and motivation to actually write them down.

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

- I’m not exactly sure what ‘haunt’ implies. I do have my own brand of Mary Sue from the old days that I have a lingering love/hate relationship with. (She is wonderful, and a valuable part of my life as a writer, but WE MUST NEVER SPEAK HER NAME.)

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

- Your typing will improve with practice, not with mavis beacon. Your stories are good, even if you never want to show anybody. Honestly, I think that’s probably a good call, but definitely don’t stop writing them.

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

- Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, and The Kazam Chronicles/The Last Dragon Slayer by Jasper Fforde. Also two that are very important to me but may not have directly impacted my style: Peter Pan (by J.M. Barrie), and I, Robot (by Issac Asimov).

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

- HAHAHA It’s all in my head.

- Ok, I say that, but I have strange sketchy outlines at the top of my files, and logistical run-downs of magic systems and what-not. I totally keep notes. But weird notes, and most of it is still in my head.

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

- Oh spurts, for sure. When I hit a long stride it’s a magical day where the writer’s block wall didn’t show up for a blessedly long time!

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

- This is who I was, and it lead to who I am, and oh many I remember how much I loved this character. This was great. But also no one else may look at it if it’s more than three or four years old.

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

- Probably? Almost certainly? But none of the stories I’ve written have called for it yet, so IDK what to tell you.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

- Having an english teacher that made me start writing work above my grade level even though I could barely get my work done. Any specific compliments I have ever received. I’m sure there are other things, but I can’t think of them right now.

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

- I have done a startling amount of math around the world, country, and state populations, as well as the size of various colleges, for a story about magical children. The logistics of the world are staggering, and keep me from having to figure out the actual plot. I’m not an expert, necessarily, but it is an interesting line of research.

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

- I used to have this sort of thing on the top of my head, but now I can’t think of anything for the life of me! How about this, it’s the corniest fucking thing, but I like it:

It all started in the student center. She appeared in the doorway of the lounge, expression intent and hair bright blue. The intensity of her whole existence jumbled the words in his mouth, and gave her the opportunity to speak.

God, it sounds like some stupid hipster man’s novel intro BUT I LIKE IT, DAMMIT. These two characters also sing disney songs at each other in the middle of the night and it’s cheesey but it’s CUTE. I am a giant sap.

#writing #Raichel Writes #crap no one cares about #flannelandsarcasm

[writeouswriter]

11/11/11 Tag Game

rules: answer 11 questions, ask 11 questions, tag 11 people!

I was tagged by @n1ghtcrwler, thank you!! And their questions were:

1. What was the first inspiration for your story that you can recall?

Hmm, this is a good one. I want to do this for all??

For various WIPs:

Children of Yesterday (Fae): One line in a song from Welcome to Night Vale. This Too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt: “She’s a mystic in the sense that she’s still mystified by things.”

CCWTB: A general retro vibe and a jean jacket photo I found in my Pinterest search of “alien aesthetic.”

Innocence: This fanfic I read about the 2005 movie Constantine. (I didn’t even really like the movie?? Why was I reading fanfic of it, who knows?? But anyway...)

Before I Sleep: I just watched A Scanner Darkly so I wanted a story with conspiracy and drugs.

World Without Reason: Um... an episode of Totally Spies. Don’t question me.

Jonah and the Veil: Awe of Chip Zdarsky’s Jughead mixed with disappointment of Kelly Creagh’s Nevermore, plus a general October vibe.

We That Wither: Sims 2’s Strangetown

Lydia Tell/Umbrella House Mysteries: Literally a photo of a lamp made out of an umbrella.

2. What anime would your OC(s) recommend to someone looking to watch their first one?

Well, I personally have only seen 1 anime total... so I guess they’d recommend Death Note?

3. Do you play any musical instruments?

I play the piano... but that doesn’t mean I play the piano well.

4. What is your favourite non-writing hobby?

My favourite non-writing hobby is procrastinating writing. No, um, probably watching the entirety of television, reading and drawing.

5. What Disney villain would fit best into the world of your WIP?

Probably that guy from the Princess and the Frog, I don’t know his name, but he’s got dark magic and evil spirits and stuff and I live for ghosts (which I guess is ironic since they’re dead)

6. What is your favourite video game (or other type of game if that’s more your thing)?

Considering one of the only games I’ve ever played for the past 11 or so years has been The Sims 2, I’d have to go with that. Sims is life. I’m pretty sure I signed my soul over to Sims. I also love Nancy Drew Games though.

7. Netflix has greenlit your story! Who do you want directing it?

I don’t necessarily follow directors, so I want myself to direct it! (Considering that is my dream job after all). I’m a fan of Joss Whedon however, especially for my Buffy-esque monster hunting agency WIP.

8. British Comedy Face-off: Terry Pratchett, Monty Python, or Douglas Adams?

The only thing I’ve read by Terry Pratchett was his and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. I’ve never read Douglas Adams, though I’ve seen snippets and I watched the Hitchhikers movie and Dirk Gently show... They’re both good, but I don’t have enough data, so I’m going to have to go with Monty Python (there’s an exploding penguin on the telly!). They’re also my friend’s favourite and I enjoy bugging them by saying Ni! And icky icky icky patang!

9. What is your honest opinion of the Star Wars prequels?

My friends want to kidnap me because I have never seen a single Star Wars movie.

10. What is your OC(s)’s favourite band?

I don’t know music all that well so my OCs don’t have favourite bands, but if they did, it’d be something to do with rock.

11. How concerned is your OC(s) about making the bed?

Considering some of my OCs literally don’t even sleep, I’d say not all that concerned XD I don’t even think Julian owns a bed.

Okay my questions (Apologies in advance for being terrible at coming up with questions):

1. What’s the weirdest thing you were ever inspired by for one of your WIPs?

2. Do any of your OCs have famous face claims? If so, who are they?

3. What’s your favourite season and why?

4. Do you have any superstitions?

5. Rural, suburbs, city, in which do you live and which do you most often write about?

6. What’s your favourite book series?

7. Is there a book/series that ever left you intensely disappointed? (Or one that left you pleasantly surprised?)

8. What’s one of the weirdest/funniest out of context lines from your WIPs?

9. A movie/show that made you cry? (Unless you’re dead inside)

10. What movies or books or shows do you think are criminally underrated?

11. Which fictional character would you like to steal borrow from any world for a crossover with your own WIP?

And I’ll tag (if you want to do it of course)

@quilloftheclouds, @pen-for-sword, @oradall, @bookishdiplodocus, @ofvisitorsthefairest, @bookenders, @somethingreallydeepandprofound, @a-garden-of-words-and-dreams, @writer-jessicac, @authorkimberlygrey, @souliloquyyy

#tag game #writing #tag games #long post