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pa-stella · 1 year

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hi hi hi its me again requesting kuujyu + 33 ilove your writing btw <3

Sorry, sorry, sorry for finishing this so late T-T You probably don't even remember requesting this but... here it is. This is not very romantic and Kuko is a little more serious than usual, but I tried my best.

Title: A new approach Fandom: Hypnosis Mic Pairing: Kuko/Jyushi Prompt: “Look me in the eyes and tell me what time you went to bed last night. Or if you went to bed, for that matter.”

The sound of heavy and fast footsteps on the wooden floor broke the peaceful morning at the temple, making Kuko sigh. A sliding door was opened and a tired voice echoed in the main hall.

“Kuko-san, I…”

“You’re late.”

The short statement was enough to make a whine escape Jyushi’s mouth. He bowed, ready to apologize.

Kuko sighed again, shaking his head this time. “I don’t really care about these things, but you should take your training a little more seriously.”

Jyushi looked at him with a shocked face. “It’s… it’s not that! My training is important!”

“Then why are you late?” The monk crossed his arms as he waited for an explanation. While it was true that he didn’t care about people being late… Jyushi wasn’t a random person. He was set on a journey and even a small harmless misstep like that could make things harder.

“Practice with the band ended quite late yesterday and… I was struck by inspiration when I got home.” The vocalist turned his head away, trying to hide his face. “So I spent some time writing a new song…”

As he was talking, Kuko noticed something was off. Even if Jyushi was doing his best to avoid the monk’s gaze, Kuko clearly saw his skin wasn’t covered by makeup. That wasn’t rare… Jyushi felt comfortable enough not to be all dolled up during their training sessions. What was out of the ordinary were the dark circles under his blue eyes.

Jyushi was still talking when Kuko grabbed his face by squishing his cheeks, forcing him to lower his head at the monk’s height.

“Ow!”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me what time you went to bed last night. Or if you went to bed, for that matter.”

Another whine. “When… when I was done with the song, it was already morning.” Jyushi admitted.

“How do you think your body and mind will improve if you don’t let them rest properly?” Kuko groaned, letting go. “How many times do I have to repeat this…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Being sorry is not enough, Jyushi.” The monk shook his head once more. “Not only were you late, but you also didn’t sleep at all. A punishment is needed.”

He expected Jyushi to cry or complain, but the young man just nodded. “Y-You’re right, Kuko-san.”

“Mh, first of all… change into your training clothes.” Kuko stated. “When you’re done, come back here.”

Once Jyushi had left the room, Kuko sighed. If he had to follow Shakku’s example, a punishment would be the only way to teach a lesson (not that this approach had ever worked on Kuko himself), but…

Jyushi was not an average person. Jyushi was an artist, a musician. He had made a mistake, yes, but he wasn’t wasting time when that happened. He was creating. He was following his nature.

Maybe, only this time…

“Kuko-san, I’m here.” Jyushi’s voice distracted him from his own thoughts.

“Okay, let’s go!”

As the two started to walk inside the temple, Kuko could hear Jyushi yawning behind him. He was probably too tired to worry about the punishment.

The monk opened a door leading to a room in the inner part of the temple.

“Oh, Kuko-san, isn’t this your bedroom?” Jyushi asked and eyed the undone futon still on the floor, surrounded by several mangas.

“Yeah.” He pointed to the wardrobe doors. “Take another futon out… a pillow and a blanket too.”

“Uh?” The vocalist tilted his head. “A futon?”

“C’mon, we don’t have the entire day!”

Jyushi did as instructed and placed the second bed next to Kuko’s one. He placed the pillow and the blanket carefully and, once satisfied with the result, he sat down on his knees on the tatami floor.

“What now, Kuko-san?”

Kuko slumped down his own bed and grabbed one of the abandoned comics. “Now… I want you to lie down and sleep until I decide you have had enough.”

Stupefied, Jyushi stared at him for a few seconds in silence.

“What are you waiting for?” He asked, frowning.

“This… this is not a punishment, Kuko-san…”

“Oi! Are you criticizing my methods?!”

“N-No, but…”

“Just go to sleep, Jyushi.”

In the end, after a moment of hesitation, Jyushi slipped into the futon and moved so he could face Kuko. “Kuko-san.”

“Mh?” He closed the manga to look at his teammate.

“Thank you.” A shy smile appeared on Jyushi’s face before he closed his eyes.

“You won’t thank me tomorrow when the training will be harder than usual.” Kuko muttered, but he smiled fondly as well. He observed the other’s relaxed face a bit longer. His dark lashes almost hid the puffiness of his eyes, making him appear already more rested.

Kuko didn’t know for how long he had stared, but finally he teared his eyes away from the other and focused his attention back on the manga in his hands.

#kuujyu #writing? in this economy?#hypnosis mic #kuko harai #jyushi aimono

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katabay · 3 months

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ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A KNIGHT...

the visual inspiration for this was a combination of Frederic William Burton's Meeting on the Turret Stairs and also Bernardo Cavallino's The vision of St. Dominic receiving the Rosary from the Virgin

this was supposed to be just a one off illustration to get the thoughts out of my system, but then I started thinking about medieval politics and warfare and plagues and a castle and home as both a place of refuge, a prison, and a tomb, so perhaps they will end up as ex voto characters as well.

you may say, hey! that rosary looks like it has too many beads! it's a fifteen decade rosary, probably. dominicans are really into marian devotions. it works out.

also. spiral style stair cases. oh boy. it was that unexpectedly more difficult than I originally thought it would be to draw. the more I think about it, the less I understand them, even though I had a million photos of the stairs in front of me while I was drawing it.

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

#the economy and my bank account are in shambles and i ended up stress drawing this whole thing in one go #its so many lines. the next time i draw this. because i will be revisiting this composition. i want to use a different inking brush #i think. but the next time i draw this it will be with solid blacks on the stair case steps i think #hey here's a fun fact for those of you who aren't catholic. did you know that kissing the ring of the pope/a cardinal/etc #grants you an indulgence. cardinals also used to kiss the pope on the mouth. also foot and hand iirc. anyway #there are no cardinals in this drawing but im saying if you write medieval/renaissance smut about men of the cloth #you can really amp up the friction between holy and seductive with a lot of the (gestures vaguely) that.#actually another fun fact about cardinals. their fun sun hat (it's called a galero) has some fucking weird as hell fever dream (literally)#origin lore. so if seductive isn't your thing. the horror of a thing that you wear is also extremely fun #esp when you get into medieval gender performances of clothes and how they define a person etc #generic medieval tag #original tag

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tshortik · 8 months

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I love you messy artstyle i love you visible brush strokes I love you textures and rough edges I love you imperfections I love you roughness and colour blobs I love you scratchy sketches and bold stylisation and dirt and imperfections I love you ugly and raw emotion!!!!! ❤️

#i talk sometimes #art talk #i made a tweet like this on twatter ages ago but i've been feeling this a lot lately #also this is the start of me writing more on this blog and not only using it as art because who cares!! i don't!!#I wanna translate raw emotion into colors and shapes. I wanna know where to ignore all details and where to go ham you feel me?#i used to dream about developing a style like for MtG where it looked like a masterful oil painting that oozes realism and details #and i've realised the last two years or so that I would actually hate that for me. I know I wouldn't enjoy doing it. For myself.#it's that pipeline from wanting to be the perfect realistic wotc artist to accepting that I will never be that #instead i wanna learn how to stylise better and get a good brush economy going yknow. I wanna be bolder.#i doubt i'll ever be as incredible as all these MtG artists no matter what anyone says. but it's ok!! i don't have to be!!!#i just luv art man!!

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elizabethminkel · 2 months

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Earlier this week I reported on the very depressing for-profit fic pirating happening in certain corners of fandom—but (somewhat coincidentally, timing-wise) I also had the joy of reporting this story on fanbinding, and the work of the @renegadeguild! Featuring the words (and fanbinds) of the brilliant @celestial-sphere-press, @butterfingersbookbinding, and @fanboundbooks (who also talked about Renegade on the most recent Fansplaining episode).

Renegade's binders are strong proponents of the non-monetized gift economy—they truly embody the spirit of fanfiction, in my opinion, both in the communal way they share their work with fic writers and each other, and in the DIY way they approach making books:

There’s a strong parallel between the amateur, instinctive nature of fanfiction and the act of fanbinding. While plenty of fic is penned by formally trained writers, much of it is not. Tiffo, who binds as Fanboundbooks, likens the reverse-engineering involved in teaching oneself both activities. As writers, people try to figure out why stories work. Fanbinders collectively share the process of learning to turn that work into a physical object—tactile, clean, often beautiful. Fic is largely unencumbered by the forms and structures of traditional publishing, and fanbinders approach their work with the same spirit. “People will often say, ‘How do I do this?’ or ‘What’s the rule for this?’” Tiffo says. “The answer that we always try to throw in Renegade is, ‘This is what other people have done, but know that there is no rule to your book—you can make whatever you want.’”

It's a shame seeing people conflate the bad actors of the pirating situation—many of whom don't appear to be in fandom and seem motivated by pure profit—with the work of fanbinders at large, and seeing people scared to try out fanbinding because of the recent news. Not-for-profit fanbinding is just as legal as writing fanfiction, and I don't speak for all fic writers, but if someone ever bound one of my fics, I'd be so touched I would almost definitely weep. 😭

#fanbinding #fanfiction #renegade bindery #fanbound books #celestial sphere press #butterfingers binding #gift economy #fannish crafts #atlas obscura #my writing

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write-it-motherfuckers · 11 months

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Person A: “I think there might be some confusion, I’m just a normal pet sitter.”

Person B: “Yes?”

Person A: “...This is a hellhound.”

Person B: “Oh, All their meals are already prepped and waiting in the freezer, and they’re more interested in cuddles than playing, so you’ll only need to take them for a walk once a day!”

Person A: “That’s not-”

Person B: “I’ll pay you five hundred dollars a day, with an additional two thousand as a bonus if you take care of them for the full two weeks.”

Person A: “...When would you like me to start?”

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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Why none of my books are available on Audible (and why Amazon owes me $3,218.55)

I love audiobooks. When I was a high-school-aged page at a public library in the 1980s, I would pass endless hours shelving and repairing books while listening to “books on tape” from the library’s collection. By the time iTunes came along, I’d amassed a huge collection of cassette and CD audiobooks and I painstakingly ripped them to my collection.

Then came Audible, and I was in heaven — all the audiobooks, none of the hassle of ripping CDs. There was only one problem: the Digital Rights Management (DRM). You see, I’ve spent most of my adult life campaigning against DRM, because I think it’s an existential danger to all computer users — and because it’s a way for tech companies to hijack the relationship between creators and their audiences.

In 2011, I gave a speech at Berlin’s Chaos Communications Congress called “The Coming War on General Purpose Computing.” In it, I explained that Digital Rights Management was technologically incoherent, a bizarre fantasy in which untrusted users of computers could be given encrypted files and all the tools needed to decrypt them, but somehow be prevented from using those decrypted files in ways that conflicted with the preferences of the company that supplied those files.

As I said then, computers are stubbornly, inescapably “general purpose.” The only computer we know how to make — the Turing-complete von Neumann machine — is the computer that can run all the programs we know how to write. When someone claims to have built a computer-powered “appliance” — say, a smart speaker or (God help us all) a smart toaster — that can only run certain programs, what they mean is that they’ve designed a computer that can run every program, but which will refuse to run programs unless the manufacturer approves them.

But this is also technological nonsense. The program that checks to see whether other programs are approved by the manufacturer is also running on an untrusted adversary’s computer (with DRM, you are the manufacturer’s untrusted adversary). Because that overseer program is running on a computer you own, you can replace it, alter it, or subvert it, allowing you to run programs that the manufacturer doesn’t like. That would include (for example) a modified DRM program that unscrambles the manufacturer-supplied video, audio or text file and then, rather than throwing away the unscrambled copy when you’re done with it, saves it so you can open it with a program that doesn’t restrict you from sharing it.

As a technical matter, DRM can’t work. Once one person figures out how to patch a DRM program so that it saves the files it descrambles, they can share that knowledge (or a program they’ve written based on that knowledge) with everyone in the world, instantaneously, at the push of a button. Anyone who has that new program can save unscrambled copies of the files they’ve bought and share those, too.

DRM vendors hand-wave this away, saying things like “this just keeps honest users honest.” As Ed Felten once said, “Keeping honest users honest is like keeping tall users tall.”

In reality, DRM vendors know that technical countermeasures aren’t the bulwark against unauthorized reproduction of their files. They aren’t technology companies at all — they’re legal companies.

In 1998, Bill Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) into law. This is a complex law and a decidedly mixed bag, but of all the impacts that the DMCA’s many clauses have had on the world, none have been so quietly, profoundly terrible as Section 1201, the “anti-circumvention” clause that protects DRM.

Under DMCA 1201, it is a felony to “traffick” in tools that bypass DRM. Doing so can land you in prison for five years and hit you with a fine of up to $500,000 (for a first offense). This clause is so broadly written that merely passing on factual information about bugs in a system with DRM can put you in hot water.

Here’s where we get to the existential risk to all computer users part. As a technology, DRM has to run as code that is beyond your observation and control. If there’s a program running on your computer or phone called “DRM” you can delete it, or go into your process manager and force-quit it. No one wants DRM. No one woke up this morning and said, “Dammit, I wish there was a way I could do less with the entertainment files I buy online.” DRM has to hide itself from you, or the first time it gets in your way, you’ll get rid of it.

The proliferation of DRM means that all the commercial operating systems now have a way to run programs that the owners of computers can’t observe or control. Anything that a technologist does to weaken that sneaky, hidden facility risks DMCA 1201 prosecution — and half a decade in prison.

That means that every device with DRM is designed to run programs you can’t see or kill, and no one is allowed to investigate these devices and warn you if they have defects that would allow malicious software to run in that deliberately obscured part of your computer, stealing your data and covertly operating your device’s sensors and actuators. This isn’t just about hacking your camera and microphone: remember, every computerized “appliance” is capable of running every program, which means that your car’s steering and brakes are at risk from malicious software, as are your medical implants and the smart thermostat in your home.

A device that is designed for sneaky code execution and is legally off-limits to independent auditing is bad. A world of those devices — devices we put inside our bodies and put our bodies inside of — is fucking terrifying.

DRM is bad news for our technological future, but it’s also terrible news for our commercial future. Because DMCA 1201 bans trafficking in circumvention devices under any circumstances, manufacturers who design their products with a thin skin of DRM around them can make using those products in the ways you prefer into a literal crime — what Jay Freeman calls “felony contempt of business model.”

The most obvious example of this is in the Right to Repair fight. Devices from tractors and cars to insulin pumps, wheelchairs and ventilators have been redesigned to use DRM to detect and block independent repair, even when the technician uses the manufacturer’s own parts. These devices are booby-trapped so that any “tampering” requires a new authorization code from the manufacturer, which is only given to the manufacturer’s own service technicians.

This allows manufacturers to gouge you on repair and parts, or to simply declare your device to be beyond repair and sell you a new one. Global, monopolistic corporations are drowning the planet in e-waste as a side-effect of their desire to block refurbished devices and parts from cutting into their sales of replacements:.

DRM laws like DMCA 1201 are now all over the world, spread by the US Trade Representative, who made DRM laws a condition of trading with the USA, and a feature of the WTO agreement. Whether you’re in South America, Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan, or even China, DRM-breaking tools are illegal. But remember: DRM is a technological fool’s errand. So while there is no above-ground, legal market for DRM-breaking tools, there is still a thriving underground for them.

For example, farmers all over the world replace the software on their John Deere tractors with software of rumored Ukrainian origin that floats around on the internet. This software lets them fix their tractors without having to wait days for a $200 visit from a John Deere technician, but no one knows what’s in the software, or who made it, or whether it has sneaky back-doors or other malicious code.

And yet, manufacturers keep putting DRM in their products. The prospect of making it a felony to displease your corporate shareholders is just too much to resist.

Which brings me back to Audible. Back before Amazon owned Audible, I bought thousands of dollars’ worth of Audible audiobooks, and they worked great — but they failed badly. When I switched operating systems and could no longer get an Audible playback program, I was in danger of losing my audibook investment. In the end, I had to rig up three old computers to play my Audible audiobooks out in real time and recapture them as plain old MP3s. It took weeks. If I’d made the switch a couple years later, it would have been months (the “audiobooks” folder on my current system has 281 days’ worth of audio!).

Amazon bought Audible during a brief interval in which the company was taking on DRM. They had just launched the Amazon MP3 store, as a rival to Apple’s iTunes Store, which sold music without DRM, so users wouldn’t be locked to Apple’s platform. This was a problem the music industry had just woken up to, after years of demanding DRM, they realized that nearly all the digital music they’d ever sold was locked to Apple’s platform, and that meant that Apple got to decide whether and how their catalog was sold.

Amazon’s MP3 store’s slogan was “DRM: Don’t Restrict Me.” They even sent me a free t-shirt to promote the launch, because they knew my feelings on DRM.

When Amazon announced its Audible acquisition, they promised that they would remove DRM from the Audible store, and I rejoiced. Then, after the acquisition…nothing. Not a word about DRM. The Amazon PR people who’d once enthusiastically pitched me on Amazon’s DRM-free virtue stopped answering my email.

When I got new PR pitches from Amazon, I’d reply by asking about DRM and I’d never hear from those PR people again. I got invited to give a talk at Amazon and I said sure, I’d do it for free — but I wanted to talk to someone from Audible about DRM. The invitation was rescinded.

Once on a book-tour, I gave a talk at Goodreads — another Amazon division — about my work and when they asked if I had any questions for them, I raised Audible’s DRM and the senior managers in the audience promised to look into it. I never heard from them again.

Today, Audible dominates the audiobook market. In some verticals, their market-share is over 90 percent! And Audible will not let authors or publishers opt out of DRM. If you want to publish an audiobook with Audible, you must let them add their DRM to it. That means that every time one of your readers buys one of your books, they’re locking themselves further into Audible. If you sell a million bucks’ worth of audiobooks on Audible, that’s a million bucks your readers have to forfeit to follow you to a rival platform.

As a rightsholder, I can’t authorize my users to strip off Audible’s DRM and switch to a competitor. I can’t even find out which of my readers bought my books from Audible and send them a download code for a free MP3. Even when I invest tens of thousands of dollars of my own money to hire professional narrators to record my audiobooks, if I sell them on Audible, they get the final say in how my readers use the product I paid to create. If I provide my readers with a tool to unwrap Audible’s DRM from my copyrighted books, I become a copyright infringer! I violate Section 1201 of the DMCA and I can go to prison for five years and face a $500,000 fine. For a first offense.

All of this is so glaringly terrible that it prompted me to coin Doctorow’s First Law:

“Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you, but won’t give you the key, that lock is not there for your benefit.”

It’s been more than a decade since Amazon bought Audible and it’s clear that their DRM policy isn’t going anywhere.

Which is why none of my audiobooks are available on Audible.

I don’t want to contribute to the DRM-ification of our devices, turning them into a vast, unauditable attack-surface that is designed to run programs that we can’t see or terminate. I don’t want my work to be a lure into a DRM-poisoned platform. I don’t want to make myself beholden to Amazon, locking my customers to its platform with every sale.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have audiobooks — I do! Early on, I worked with great audiobook publishers like Random House and Blackstone and Macmillan to produce DRM-free audiobooks which were sold everywhere except Audible. But Audible has the vast majority of the market, and it just didn’t make financial sense for these publishers to pay me a decent sum for my audio rights and then pay great narrators and engineers to produce books.

So I started retaining my audio rights in my book deals, and paying to record my own audiobooks. The first one was Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free, recorded by @wilwheaton, with introductions by @neil-gaiman and Amanda Palmer, which explains Doctorow’s First Law in detail.

Since then, I’ve produced many more independent audiobooks, including the audio for Homeland (the bestselling sequel to my YA novel Little Brother, also narrated by Wil), Walkaway (a fabulous multi-cast audiobook starring Amber Benson, Wil Wheaton, Amanda Palmer, Miron Willis, Gabrielle de Cuir and others), and Attack Surface (the third Little Brother book, narrated by Amber Benson).

Generally, these books recoup and make a little money besides, but not nearly so much as I’d make if I sold through Audible. My agent tells me that if I’d been willing to set aside my ethics and allow Audible to slap DRM on my books, I’d have made enough money to pay off my mortgage and save enough to pay for my kid’s entire college education.

That’s a price I’m willing to pay. In the years since the Amazon acquisition, Audible has become the 800-pound gorilla of audiobooks. They have done all kinds of underhanded things — like buying up the first couple books in a series and releasing them as Audible-only recordings, then refusing to record the rest of the series, orphaning it. They’re also notorious among narrators for squeezing their hourly rates lower than anyone else. Audible also refuses to sell into libraries, so all the “Audible Original” titles are blocked from our public library systems.

I think audiences get that there’s something really wrong with a system where a single company controls an entire literary format. In 2020, I Kickstarted the independent audiobook of Attack Surface and broke every record for audiobook crowdfunding, raising $276,000.

But Audible continues to dominate. It is the only digital audiobook channel Amazon will allow, so anyone who searches Amazon for a book will only see the Audible audio edition. It’s also the exclusive audio partner for Apple’s iTunes/Apple Books channel, which is the only iOS audiobook store that doesn’t have to pay Apple a 30 percent commission on all its sales, so it’s the only audiobook store that lets you actually buy new audiobooks.

Other audiobook stores require you to buy your books with a web-browser (which avoids Apple’s sky-high commissions) and then switch back to the app to download them — a clunky experience that has ensured that Apple’s own audiobook channel — with its mandatory DRM — is the only one iOS customers really use.

Not surprisingly, a lot of people assume that if an Audible search for an author or book comes up empty, that means there is no audiobook available. They don’t think of searching for the book on Google Books, or Libro.fm, or Downpour. They never think to check to see whether the author maintains their own storefront, as I do, where you can get all their ebooks and audiobooks without DRM.

That’s bad enough, but it gets worse. So much worse.

Audible has a side-hustle called ACX: it’s a “self-serve” platform where writers and narrators can team up to self-produce their own audiobooks, which are locked to Audible’s platform and encumbered with Audible’s DRM.

ACX has some nominal checks to ensure that the audiobooks that land on its platform are duly licensed from the rightsholders, but these are trivial to circumvent. Here’s how I know that: on multiple occasions, I’ve discovered that my own books have been turned into unauthorized audiobooks over ACX.

Scammers claiming to have the rights to my books commission narrators to record them on the cheap, with the promise of a royalty split when they are live. Inexperienced narrators, excited at the prospect of recording a major book by a bestselling author, put long, grueling hours into recording them. Then the book goes live, and I discover it, and have it taken down. The scammer disappears with the profits from the sales in the interim, and the narrator is screwed.

As am I.

Because these illegal ACX audiobooks compete with my own, self-produced editions, for which I pay narrators, directors and editors a fair wage for their creative labor. These unauthorized ACX audiobooks show up in searches for my name on Audible and Amazon, where my own (vastly superior, authorized) DRM-free audiobooks are not allowed.

This isn’t an isolated incident. It’s happened over and over again. It just happened again.

Last week, I heard from Shawn Hartel, a narrator who got scammed on ACX by someone calling themself “Barbara M. Rushing,” who told Hartel that they held the audio rights to my 2017 novel Walkaway. They do not have those rights.

I spent about $50,000 recording a stupendous audiobook edition of Walkaway, which you can buy here for $24.95.

This audiobook has met with widespread critical acclaim and the print edition has been translated and celebrated around the world. But Hartel didn’t know that.

On January 11, 2021, he accepted an offer from “Barbara M. Rushing” to record the book and worked long hours to produce a 16-hour narration. On February 1, 2021, the book was accepted by Rushing. On July 7, 2021, ACX listed Walkaway for sale. On November 9, 2021, ACX took the book down, having figured out that it was infringing.

In the meantime, Rushing sold 119 copies and gave away ten more, diverting people from buying my own, DRM-free edition.

129 times $24.95 is $3,218.55, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what Amazon owes me.

Now, I’m not going to sue them (probably). I don’t have the money or time to fight that kind of battle. For one thing, I have eight books (four novels, a YA graphic novel, a short story collection and two nonfiction books) in various stages of production right now, and I’m going to be producing my own audio editions for them, which is going to suck up a lot of time.

But Amazon does owe me $3,218.55.

I don’t expect they’ll pay it.

Anyone who’s paid attention to Audiblegate knows about Amazon’s dirty ACX dealing. The company has been credibly accused of more than $100 million in wage-theft from ACX authors and narrators, whom it has scammed with a combination of a one-sided refunds policy and out-and-out accounting fraud.

I know a lot about Audiblegate because there’s a whole chapter about it in Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We’ll Win Them Back, the book on creative labor markets that Rebecca Giblin and I wrote for Beacon Press:

Chokepoint Capitalism explains how large media and tech companies have cornered the markets for creative labor, and why giving creators more copyright won’t unrig this rigged game. The tech and entertainment giants are like bullies at the school gate who shake down creators for their lunch money every day.

To reach your audience you have to go through the chokepoints they have erected, and when you do, any additional copyright powers Congress has granted you is taken away as a condition of entry (think of how Audible nonconsensually takes away your right to use DRM law if you want to list your audiobooks).

If you give your bullied kid more lunch money, you won’t buy them lunch — you’ll just make the bullies at the school-gate richer. Giving creators more copyright inevitably results in those copyrights being transferred to Amazon and other monopolists. To get lunch for your kid — or justice for creators — you have to get rid of the chokepoints.

That’s what Chokepoint Capitalism is really about — not just how the markets got rigged, but how to fix them, with a list of shovel-ready, practical actions for local governments, national legislatures, artists’ groups, as well as creators, technologists and audiences.

We’re going to be rolling out a crowdfunding campaign for the Chokepoint Capitalism audiobook in a couple of weeks (the book comes out in mid-September). We’ve scored an incredible narrator, Stefans Rudnicki, who you may have heard on the Ender’s Game books, Hubris by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, or any of 1,000 other audiobooks. Stefan’s won a Stoker, a Bradbury, dozens of Audies and Earphones, two Grammys, and two Hugos. It’s gonna be fucking great.

And it won’t be available on Audible. Who owe me $3,218.55.

But you know what will*be available on Audible?

This. This essay, which I am about to record as an audiobook, to be mastered by my brilliant sound engineer John Taylor Williams, and will thereafter upload to ACX as a self-published, free audiobook.

Perhaps you aren’t reading these words off your screen. Perhaps you are an Audible customer who searched for my books and only found this odd, short audiobook entitled: “Why none of my books are available on Audible: And why Amazon owes me $3,218.55.”

I send you greetings, fellow audiobook listener!

I invite you to buy all my audiobooks at prices lower than Amazon’s, free from DRM and unencumbered by comedy-of-the-absurd “user agreements” that no one in their right mind would ever*agree to. They are for sale at craphound.com/shop.

Among those audiobooks, the $15 edition of Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free, where I explain not just Doctorow’s First Law, but also my Second and Third Laws (my agent was Arthur C. Clarke’s agent; when I told him I had come up with “Doctorow’s Law,” he told me that I needed three laws). As noted, this is superbly read by Wil Wheaton, and Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer read their own intros:

Of course, you will only find this book if Amazon ACX accepts it. I’ve combed quite carefully through their terms of service and I don’t see anything that would disqualify this from being listed as an ACX book.

But then again, they say they ban books produced without permission from the copyright holder and we’ve seen how that works out, right? From poking around on ACX, it looks like Amazon’s main way of checking whether a user has the rights to a book is by looking in Amazon’s catalog to see if there’s already an audiobook edition. That means that if a writer refuses to sell on Audible because of their DRM policies, Audible will use that boycott as an excuse to let ripoff artists bilk the writer, the narrator and the listeners — because if there’s no Audible edition, they assume that the audio rights must be up for grabs.

Will Audible let me use its platform to give away a book that criticizes Audible? Or will they exercise their overwhelming market power to both abet a $3,218.55 ripoff and suppress a critique of their role in that ripoff?

Only time will tell.

[Image ID: A screengrab of the ACX page for the audiobook, showing that it is 'pending audio review]

Addendum: I wrote the above on July 4, 2022, just before submitting the audiobook to Amazon and leaving for a holiday. Over the past two weeks, I've checked in with ACX daily, but the audiobook still shows as "Pending Audio Review." ACX advises that this process should take a maximum of ten business days. It's been 15. Perhaps they're very backlogged.

Or maybe they're hoping that if they delay the process long enough, I'll give up. In the meantime, there is now a Kindle edition of this text:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5RWTPR7/

I had to put this up, it's a prerequisite for posting the audio to ACX. I hadn't planned on posting it, but since they made me, I did.

[Image ID: A screengrab of the Kindle listing page for my ebook showing it as the number one new release in antitrust.]

Bizarrely, this is currently the number one new Amazon book on Antitrust Law!

Also bizarrely - given the context - this book was taken down for several days due to a spurious copyright issue over the cover art, a cack-handed collage of some Creative Commons icons I put together with The GIMP. Amazon flagged this as a copyright violation (despite correct Creative Commons attribution) and took the book down, demanding that I change the cover art, ignoring my explanations. I was ultimately able to get the book restored by contacting someone I know at Amazon legal, who intervened.

I don't know if Amazon will ever release my audiobook, but I hope they do. In the meantime, you can listen to the audiobook of this essay for free via my podcast:

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_431/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_431_-_Why_none_of_my_books_are_available_on_Audible.mp3

ETA: Within a few hours of my publishing this thread, ACX released my audiobook. https://audible.com/pd/B0B7KH8KSD

Image: Paris 16 (modified)/CC BY-SA 4.0; Dmitry Baranovskiy (modified) CC BY 4.0

[Image ID: An anti-pickpocketing graphic featuring a stick figure reaching into an adjacent stick-figure's shoulder-bag. The robber's chest is emblazoned with an Amazon 'a' logo. The victim's chest is emblazoned with an icon of a fountain-pen. The robber's face has an Amazon 'smile' logo. The victim's face has an inverted Amazon 'smile' logo (and is thus frowning). Beneath these two figures is a wordmark reading 'Audible: Am Amazon Company.']

#audible #amazon #amazongate #creator economy #ripoffs #drm #digital rights management #audiobooks #books #publishing #writing #monopoly #doctorow's first law #pluralistic

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shebunie · 5 months

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𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬

𝗠𝗶𝘇𝘂 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗶𝘇𝘂, 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗗: 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟮.𝟭𝗸 𝐀/𝐍: 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀

"I pray for the day you’d finally choose someone else to treat you. "

The man's eyes lingered on you for a while, he let out a sigh and took a seat on a rock by the river’s shore facing you. A grunt came out of his pale lips from the sting of his wound, breath wavering "Shouldn’t you be doing the opposite? You would go out of business without me."

You stood there, contemplating. Whether to help this man or not, he seemed capable enough but the wound seemed to look like it needed stitches. Without a word, you neared the swordsman with careful steps. Pulling out your handkerchief from your kimono, dipping it in the warm waters of the lake, squeezing out excess water as you kneeled beside him.

"May I?" head tilting up to look at him to which you noticed more details about the samurais' appearance. An angular yet soft face, straight brows, and heart-shaped lips. The swordsman hummed turning his head away from you and his wounded shoulder. Slender yet calloused fingers grasped the hem of his yukata and slid it off of one side.

The air around you felt heavy with unspoken words, and as you worked on his injury, you couldn't help but wonder about the man in front of you. How did he end up like this? What battles had he fought, and what demons was he running from? But those questions lingered in the back of your mind, overshadowed by the more immediate task at hand.

“We’ve been crossing paths quite too coincidently, and I must ask, where you are headed?”

Silently grimacing at the sight. With hesitation, you carefully tried to dab the cloth around the wound. The swordsman flinched instantly and went to constrict your frail hand from disinfecting the gash, the other squeezing the side of your hip in an attempt to push you back "Aghh!" he seethed, licking his chapped lips, glaring at you.

"I'm sorry that was not meant to hurt."

You pulled your hand away, maintaining a composed expression despite the sharp pain in your hand. His grip loosened on your hip, and you resumed cleaning the wound, this time with even more caution. The tension in the air lingered as you worked, the only sound being the soft lapping of the river against the rocks.

"Your apology doesn't mend my wound," he muttered through gritted teeth. "But I appreciate the effort."

You continued your task, skillfully cleaning the wound and examining it closely. The gash was deep, and stitches were indeed necessary. You glanced at the swordsman who had been observing the entire scene with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Their gaze remained fixed on the horizon, his eyes clouded with a distant intensity. "I'm headed to fill a vow," he finally replied, his voice carrying a weight that mirrored the burdens etched into his features. "A man that I’ve sworn to kill."

Your hands paused in their ministrations, the gravity of his words settling over the scene like a sudden storm. The air grew thicker, and the gentle rustle of leaves seemed to hold its breath. You met his gaze once more, the flicker of the river reflecting the turmoil within his eyes.

"A vow to kill?" you echoed, the words hanging in the air, heavy and pregnant with the weight of untold stories. The swordsman's jaw tightened, a subtle nod confirming the gravity of his quest. "He's taken everything from me," he continued, his voice low, a storm of emotions hidden beneath the calm facade.

The river's current seemed to echo the turbulence within his soul, a silent witness to the pain that fueled his journey. In that moment, understanding evolved into a dance with the shadows of his past.

"Vows can be shackles," you mused, breaking the silence that stretched between you. "But they can also be the flame that guides you through the darkest nights." The swordsman's gaze flickered, a subtle acknowledgement of the truth embedded in your words. The river murmured in agreement, its rhythmic flow a backdrop to the shared understanding that wove its threads through the night.

The revelation hung in the air like the heavy mist rising from the river, a revelation that shifted the atmosphere between you. The weight of your words settled over the landscape, casting a shadow that stretched across the rocks and water, intertwining with the encroaching darkness of the night.

"What drives a person to such extremes?" Eyes met his, searching for the story etched in the lines of his face.

The wielder's gaze held yours, a mixture of determination and a weariness that seemed to transcend time. "Betrayal," he spoke, voice a low murmur, as if revealing a secret that had long been guarded. "A betrayal that carved scars into my soul. I made a promise."

The revelation echoed in the quiet night, the river's soft lapping against the shore forming a backdrop to the swordsman's tale. His wounds, physical and otherwise, became more apparent in the dimming light. As you absorbed his story, a realization dawned - his journey was not merely one of aimless wandering, but a quest fueled by a profound purpose.

The silence that followed was pregnant with unspoken empathy. You contemplated the weight of his words, the burden he carried, and the path he had chosen. The makeshift bandage you had prepped seemed insufficient, not just for the gash on his shoulder, but for the wounds that lay hidden beneath the surface.

"Why carry this burden alone?" you questioned, your words soft but earnest. "There's strength in shared struggles, in the companionship of those who understand."

The swordsman's brows furrowed, as their eyes flickered a vulnerability surfacing once again. For a moment, it seemed as though the walls he had built around himself wavered, allowing a glimpse of the person beneath the stoic exterior. "I've walked this path for so long," he admitted, "that it became easier to carry the weight alone."

You listened in silence, the stillness of the night amplifying the weight of his story. You gently placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder, offering a wordless gesture of understanding. The swordsman's gaze shifted from the horizon to you.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked, a note of vulnerability cutting through the layers of his stoic demeanour. "I've walked this path on my own accord, but tonight, you chose to ease my burden. Why?"

Eyes holding a quiet resolve. "Because vengeance can consume the soul, and sometimes, a moment of respite is needed," you replied, words carrying wisdom that transcended the simplicity of their arrangement.

Your gaze met his briefly before returning to your work. "I may pray for you to find someone else to treat you, but that doesn't mean I'd leave a man to bleed out."

The swordsman chuckled, wincing as the movement pulled at his injured shoulder. "Quite the contradiction, aren't you?"

"I prefer to think of it as balance," you replied, finally satisfied with the wound's cleanliness. "Now, let's get those stitches in place, and wrap it up."

Without a word, you resumed your task, the man watched as you skillfully threaded the needle, your hands steady despite the tension in the air. While you worked, the swordsman winced occasionally, but he didn't protest. His wound now carries a weighty significance. Once the last stitch was in place, you leaned back, wiping your hands on the damp handkerchief.

The swordsman flexed his shoulder experimentally, a hint of relief crossing his face. After wrapping the makeshift bandage on his injury. Each fold of the fabric became a silent promise, a pledge to stand beside him in the face of the darkness that clung to his every step. The night deepened, and the stars overhead bore witness to the quiet exchange unfolding between you.

"Balance," the swordsman mused, his gaze drifting towards the stars as if seeking answers in their distant glimmer. "A rare concept in a world that often feels tipped towards chaos."

You nodded, your eyes following his to the celestial tapestry above. "Sometimes, balance is found in unexpected alliances and moments of kindness," you remarked, the rustling leaves and the distant hoot of an owl providing a natural backdrop to your words.

The swordsman's gaze lingered, contemplating the truth in your words. It was a truth he had seldom encountered on his solitary journey of vengeance—a journey marked by blood, betrayal, and a relentless pursuit of satisfaction.

"You're not like most people I've met," he confessed, his eyes returning to you, seeking a glimpse into the enigma you presented. "Most would either turn away or try to exploit my vulnerabilities."

A small smile touched your lips, the moonlight catching the subtle curve. "Perhaps, I see something beyond the surface. We all carry wounds, visible or not. Sometimes, a shared burden makes the journey a little less lonely."

The swordsman's gaze held yours, a silent acknowledgement passing between you. The night, now draped in a velvety darkness, seemed to hold its breath as the unspoken connection deepened.

"Thank you," the swordsman said, gratitude layered in his voice like the petals of a blooming flower. "I didn't expect to find this on my path."

With a hum and quiet understanding. "Paths have a way of converging when least expected. Perhaps, this encounter is a reminder that even in the pursuit of vengeance, there's room for compassion and shared moments of relief."

The night pressed on, and the river's gentle murmur accompanied the shared silence between you two. Companionship, ignited by a chance encounter by the river, continued to glow, casting a comforting light on the uncertain road ahead. The swordsman, his wound tended to and burdens shared, found himself tethered to a presence that promised more than mere stitches—it promised a companion on the winding journey that lay ahead.

You looked up at Mizu with a playful glint in your eyes. "Well, now that I've saved your life and mended your wounds, I suppose you owe me a favour or two."

Mizu raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips despite the lingering soreness in his shoulder. "Oh, is that how it works? I didn't realize healing came with a price." The sword wielder chuckled, a hint of warmth softening his stoic features. "I suppose I do. A debt of gratitude, and a pair of nimble hands with a needle."

"Ah, yes, the nimble hands that saved you from bleeding out. Quite the valuable asset, wouldn't you say?" you retorted, a playful smirk gracing your lips. Mizu's gaze met yours, a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"A healer with such a sharp tongue. It's a rare combination."

"Well, one must keep things interesting, especially when dealing with brooding swordsmen on a quest for vengeance," you replied, feigning an air of nonchalance.

The tension from earlier dissipated like morning mist. "I suppose I should be grateful for the unexpected twists on this journey."

"Gratitude suits you. Perhaps it will become a regular companion on your quest," you quipped, a playful glimmer in your eyes.

Mizu raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. "So you say? I'll have to get used to it, then."

You chuckled, the sound echoing in the quiet night. "Consider it a down payment for future rescues. Who knows when you'll need another skilled healer by your side?" Leaning back on the rock, his gaze meeting yours. “Fair enough. But I hope your future rescues involve less blood and more pleasant conversations.”

You grinned, the moonlight catching the mischievous glint in your eyes. "I cannot promise that maybe just some casual chatter and tea." Mizu scoffed, the tension of the night dissipating in the warmth of the moment. "Tea sounds good. I could use a break from the constant clash of swords and the sting of wounds."

As the night embraced its darkest hours, a playful smirk graced your lips. "Trouble seems to have a way of finding you. Maybe it's time you start offering it some tea instead of drawing your sword."

"Tea might perhaps be the key to resolving conflicts. A cup of tea and a good conversation."

"Who knows," you replied, a mischievous glint in your eyes. "Maybe you'll find your sworn enemy sipping tea at a local tea house, and you can settle your differences over a matcha ceremony instead of a duel."

The swordsman shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. "A novel approach, but I doubt my sworn enemy has a taste for tea."

"Well, then," you said, rising from your spot by the river. "We'll just have to introduce him to the finer things in life. A well-brewed tea might just be the key to unlocking a truce."

Mizu followed suit, the night now alive with the shared promise of an unexpected encounter. The moonlit path ahead seemed less daunting, and the weight of vows and vendettas felt momentarily lifted.

And maybe that tea ceremony would come sooner than expected.

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tanoraqui · 2 years

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actually the best part of an AU where Annatar simply does not revert to evil, but does eventually admit to having been evil, is if he stays on good terms with Khazad-Dum forever and one day in the mid-Third Age the dwarves palantir-call him like, “Hey, Annatar, we think we found one of your old guys? Could you come get them out of our mineshaft?”

Celebrimbor, leaning over Annatar’s shoulder: ‘One of his old guys’ as in a Maia, or as in an evil monster?

Dwarves: Yes. That is, it killed Durin, and the survivors of his party say it was a nightmare of fire and darkness.

Annatar: We’ll be right there.

Annatar a couple days later, peering down a deep, deep mineshaft both physically and spiritually: Holy shit, it’s Dave. [to Celebrimbor] Star-gem, stand back. Everyone else, too. [leans further down the shaft] HEY, DAVE, KNOCK IT OFF! I’M TRYING TO RUN A FAIR AND STABLE GLOBAL ECONOMY UP HERE!

#lotr #second age shenaniganry #annatar #sauron #celebrimbor #listen I’m sorry but the only logical conjunction of ‘sauron maia of math’ and ‘still seeks world domination but is being polite about it’#is 100% ‘sauron creates/encourages globalized economy controlled by him’#though in that au that I haven’t finished writing I’m not actually sure they build a new ost-in-edhil or anything #traveling magicians inventors advisors to kings…and sometimes that thing baru did on that one island with shares in the local crop…#also a balrog now I guess

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pixlokita · 3 months

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Oh that’s right, Gregory time traveled. Totally forgot that’s how the story started lol.

Me too

I mean what-

#plot and planning out the story you’re literally writing and drawing ? wha? who does that?#pix answers #fnaf #in this economy ?!#I’m so tempted to merge the timelines somehow lmao but idk how that would even work #been sad thinking about three star fam and 80’s fam being separated

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thoughtportal · 1 year

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list of books https://www.versobooks.com/books/3665-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline https://davidgraeber.org/books/bullshit-jobs/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215462/dark-money-by-jane-mayer/ https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674238091 https://www.emilyhund.com/ https://www.emilylynnpaulson.com/books https://emilycontois.com/dinersdudesdiets/ https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?content=reviews&isbn=9780674241213 https://brownstargirl.org/the-future-is-disabled/ https://beltpublishing.com/products/radical-suburbs https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/H/bo28433484.html https://www.juliberwald.com/life-on-the-rocks/ https://beltpublishing.com/products/rethinking-fandom-how-to-beat-the-sports-industrial-complex-at-its-own-game https://firestorm.coop/products/18989-laziness-does-not-exist.html https://www.harvard.com/book/cultish/ https://americanexception.com/book/

#tiktok #books and literature #books and writing #books and libraries #books and reading #books and authors #books #read this #reading #capitalism is a scam #Healthcare #profit #economy #economics #technology #technology history #tech bros #tech #climate crisis

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pa-stella · 11 months

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From the sleepy prompts list might I request, “Do you think it would be helpful if we were cuddling?” with Rio and Jyuto? Rio just asking point-blank something like that and Jyuto slowly losing his mind but pretending not to… yeah. Goofs and fluff, the greatest combination.

Super super super short but still cute! I forgot of making Jyuto lose his mind haha I hope you'll enjoy it anyway! Title: Tempest NightFandom: Hypnosis Mic Pairing: Rio/Jyuto Prompt: “Do you think it would be helpful if we were cuddling?” Content: Established relationship.

This was not what Jyuto thought would happen that night.

Rio had suggested a nice and calm stroll in the forest after their dinner at the soldier’s camp and Jyuto had gladly accepted the offer (he’d do anything to forget what he had just eaten). Even if the sun had already disappeared behind the mountains, leaving the forest in complete darkness, Rio had shown Jyuto the way with no problem.

The officer had no idea for how long they had walked, but at some point they had reached a small clearing and Rio had pointed at the sky. He told the other man about stars and constellations as they had intertwined their hands. It had been a tender moment, interrupted by a sudden strong wind. Dark clouds covered the starry sky in an instant as the temperature dropped slowly.

“An unexpected storm… It happens a lot during the summer.” Rio had commented while looking around the clearing.

“We should go back to the camp then.”

The soldier had just shaken his head. “It’s too far away and we don’t have time.” Without letting go of Jyuto’s hand, he had started to move in the opposite direction of the encampment. “There’s a place where we can wait for the storm to pass.”

And now there they were, in a hidden cavern on the side of a small mountain. The wind was still howling as the first lonely raindrops were starting to fall from the sky.

“Are… are you sure there are no wild animals here?” Jyuto asked, as he sat down on the pebbly ground.

Busy trying to light a fire with branches he had collected while walking towards the cavern, Rio nodded. “Don’t worry. It’s completely abandoned.”

Jyuto sighed loudly and grabbed his knees in a way to feel a little warmer. Looking back, he should have taken at least a hoodie before leaving the camp as Rio had suggested. He silently cursed his overconfidence for once.

Thankfully, after a few minutes, Rio triumphed and a fire started to warm that small area. With a soft smile, the soldier sat down next to Jyuto. “At least, we already ate dinner…”

Jyuto mirrored his smile before looking outside the cavern. “How long will it last?”

“Some minutes, some hours… summer storms are unpredictable.” Rio stifled a yawn and leaned against the wall. “I think we’ll have to sleep here tonight.”

Another sigh. “As if I’ll be able to get some sleep in a place like this…” He needed months to get used to Rio’s tent. A cavern in the middle of the wilderness would take him years!

The soldier waited an entire minute before talking again. “Do you think it would be helpful if we were cuddling?”

“Huh?”

Without any warning, Rio put an arm around Jyuto and moved him closer to his broad chest. “Maybe you’ll be able to relax…”

“Oh… well, it might help a little…” A faint blush appeared on Jyuto’s face as he took off his glasses. He then let himself rest against Rio’s body. By now, he knew the skin of the other man was naturally warm, so warm he could feel it through his clothes, but it was always a pleasant surprise.

As the sound of rain and wind became distant and his eyes felt suddenly heavy, he heard the soldier chuckle. A pair of lips touched his forehead for a brief moment.

“Good night, Jyuto.”

#riojyuto #rio mason busujima #jyuto iruma #hypnosis mic #writing? in this economy?#hypmic

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worldbuildingwanderlust · 28 days

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People over profit

Benevolence over business

Generosity over greed

#my writing #poetry #poem #creative writing #anti capitalism #anti imperialism #anti work #anti facist #economy #government #legislation #spilled ink #poets on tumblr #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #quick write

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elizabethminkel · 4 months

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For my second fan culture column for Atlas Obscura, I wrote about Yuletide! (The first was on 18th-century sentiment albums as proto-Tumblrs.) This piece features several longtime Yuletide participants, including Dr. Anna Wilson, who wrote this great TWC article (partly) about Yuletide, and fic writers Sandrine and Petronia:

“What I really love about Yuletide is the potential for kismet,” says Petronia, “the story that, as a recipient, I always wished existed, [and] turns out to be the story someone else always wanted to write. The idea that I always had percolating as a writer, that was too niche to put energy into, turns out to have an audience after all—even an audience of one, which is all I need.” Sandrine echoes that love of serendipitous connections. “It’s great when there’s an obscure fandom of your heart which you thought was something only you cared for, and then someone else offers it—or requests it!—and you realize it wasn’t actually a fandom of one after all.”

(Also a note: I'm aware of the irony of a fandom juggernaut being the lead image for a piece on a rare-fandom exchange. 😭 While I did not choose the image myself, I do mention it in the piece—The Untamed was a Yuletide fandom its first year!)

#fanfiction #yuletide #anna wilson #sandrine #petronia #fic exchanges #gift economy #atlas obscura #my writing

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cooltuna69 · 9 days

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I want his devotion

#I guess I will need a rich supportive farmer spouse that single handedly carries the economy of our small town #any takers?#stardew valley #sdv elliott #writing

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greenerteacups · 13 days

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What do you think as Hermione's career would be post battle of Hogwarts? To me her being minister for magic really doesn't make sense. She does not have patience or tact to wade through murky waters of politics 😭😭

So hard to say! The Trio are so, so young when we leave them, I find it almost impossible to project their futures farther than a few years out. The job that suited me at 17 would be radically unsuited to me now. That's why of all the Trio, Ron's ending strikes me as the most realistic — he jumps straight into the save-the-world business again, burns out, realizes he's actually Done The Fuck Enough, Thanks, and pivots into a low-stress career where he gets to see his family a lot. Feels accurate! The others are weirder to me because they do seem to just... pick a lane and stay there.

With Hermione, you could spin her a couple ways. You could say that she leans into her bookish side and does research or teaching, which is not my preference for a couple reasons (namely, I don't think Hermione would like academia as a profession; she finds her classwork interesting and enjoys intellectual validation, but she'd be stifled and wasted in a DPhil program, and she'd be infuriated by the administrative politicking of your average higher-ed faculty). You could say that she gets disaffected with politics and ends up as a barrister or a lobbyist of some kind, but if anything that requires more political finesse, because you don't actually have institutional power, you're just handling the people who make decisions and trying to persuade them of your goals. This is not Hermione's preferred method of influence. She's not even particularly good at persuasion, she just happens to be smart enough (and right often enough) that people take her ideas seriously.

Or you could say her brashness fades with the years into a softened flavor of tell-you-like-it-is honesty, which some politicians actually do successfully trade on; as we see in British politics today, you don't have to be all that charming or clever to get ahead, you just need to be really driven and well-connected (which Hermione completely is; she fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the first postwar Minister and her bestie, the Literal Messiah, runs the Auror Office.) But I don't know if Hermione especially wants to be Minister, after the war. She's just watched years of horrendous bureaucratic incompetence plunge the country into a violent civil conflict. She's had not one, but two Ministers of Magic try to bully or shame her friends into complicity with fascism. Her view of government is... likely extremely dark.

But Hermione also isn't the kind of person who sees her life as a quest for happiness. Babygirl has a savior complex that makes Harry look selfish. (She basically kills her parents — yeah, obliviating is a form of murder, #changemymind — "for their own good," and justifies every batshit, vindictive, mean-spirited move she ever pulls on the grounds that it "helps" one of her friends.) She is a mean, lean, dragon-slaying machine, and she needs a dragon. After Voldemort, the Ministry is the no. 1 threat to muggle-borns and non-wizarding Beings. As a war heroine with basically infinite political capital, I'd be surprised if she didn't try to do something there. That said, Hermione is so vivacious and dynamic that she could potentially grow in a hundred different directions; it's possible that all of this, while true of her at 18, becomes completely inaccurate by 22. That's why I'm not too fussed about any particular fanon interpretation.

#greenteacup asks #sidebar: I know Minister “of” Magic is an Americanism but mea culpa #Someday I might actually bite it and pay someone to britpick Lionheart but I can't do it now #because I have a ban on editing published fic unless it's finished. Otherwise I'll never get around to writing the actual ending #I have a Process #is it the best process? likely not! but it makes the words go. so here we are.#I also think the fact that JKR is Gen X makes a difference here. careers worked differently in the 80s and 90s than they do now #i.e. we have the gig economy and a lot more mobility and EXPECTATION of mobility in your early life #that means career changes & professional pivots through your 20s and 30s are increasingly normal #and in fact have always been normal — but the image of the 'true' or 'ideal' career has changed #so we look at those careers and go hm. really? none of them changed?#none of them even went to uni? do wizards... just not?#but again. I believe the epilogue was written almost completely without consideration as to what happened between the BOH and then #I really believe that JKR did not know what happened to Harry except a wedding and 3 kids. because that was the whole point #I don't think she even knew what his career was when she wrote that scene #It existed to marry everyone off and do a quick munchkin headcount #because of the understandable temptation as an author to keep your hand on the wheel. but it didn't even matter!#the epilogue changed NOTHING! it was the most useless chapter in the series! I just — GOD #you can absolutely accuse me of being sour grapes about my ships getting nixed. I AM sour grapes. I AM a hater.#AND I have plot/theme/craft reasons for disliking it.#I'm not objective. I just want credit for being a sophisticated hater. my grapes may be sour but they're still artisinal.

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