26 they/she asexual genderqueer lesbian? idk known as sammie i would really like a hug and math is awesome but gross Icon by @adriotes on Twitter! Make your own at: https://picrew.me/image_maker/95230
Just so we’re all clear on where I stand: Black lives matter, trans women are women, trans men are men, nonbinary people are beautiful, asexual/aromantic folks have a place in the LGBTQ community, Queer is not a dirty word, and being “anti fascist” is a moral position, not a political one.
yeah yeah rainbow capitalism is bad and whatever but like. when I was a child, being pro gay was not the popular or lucrative choice. I'm happy that times have changed.
I miss rainbow capitalism. I do. I miss when it felt like public opinion was still pro gay. I understand it was always an empty gesture, but it mattered in a sense of knowing how socially acceptable being queer is. If that makes sense.
lets address my favourite topic: dev bias in writing. "i don't like sera because she's annoying" the guy who wrote sera also wrote jacob taylor. can we take the marginalised romances away from this guy. he hates black people and he hates lesbians. there's a certain impulse in some of these devs to take...i guess schadenfreude?? in writing romances that "punish" the player - from gaider's "alistair is a manchild and terrible partner" to whatever weekes says about solas - there is something in particular in these devs' loathing for women (or people playing women) that makes them willing to weaponise unimaginable bigotry in punishment.
kristjanson writes a lesbian, and gives you absolutely no opportunity to extend her kindness or empathy: sera is marginalised across several dimensions, both in- and out of-of-universe, as an elf, as neurodivergent, as a lesbian, and her romance is marked by scenes you are intended to read as hysterical, irrational, unreasonable. your reward for being interested in a neurodivergent lesbian is getting shouted at, having a bow pointed at you, don't you regret this? and again, in mass effect - you romanced Black man and he leaves you without a word, he takes up with another woman and starts a family behind your back, what did you expect?
kristjanson's writing is so full of racist, homophobic, bigoted tropes that are levelled against the player and the romance in a way that feels like punishment, like he wants to make sure no-one (no woman) can have a joyful, fulfilling relationship with a marginalised person, like you don't deserve to be successful in these relationships without conditions. and i love a difficult, unconventional, even tragic romance in games, but in contrast to the treatment the other romances get it is notable to me that kristjanson singles out the lesbian and the Black man for treatment that not only punishes the characters involved but leans heavily on stereotypes particular to those groups.
if you are a woman, or playing a woman, devs feel all too comfortable belittling and insulting you for pursuing the romances they choose to make available in their games, to the point of self-sabotage, and that is a significant factor that needs to be taken into account in any analysis of how these storylines play out.
a free step-by-step of twenty four hitomezashi sashiko patterns! not just photos of finished products, but like step one: all the horizontals / step two: all the verticals are all laid out 🤩
please ignore the old dates, it's totally still functional (I am on day two of receiving emails, June 2026).
So...how much of the bad discourse surrounding Steven Universe is just because people were really hoping that the Gems would beat up Andy DeMayo in "Gem Harvest"?
I was astonished to learn that there was controversy around this episode, because I felt like it was just kind of a normal children's cartoon about getting along with difficult relatives; and then I looked it up and learned that it had the extremely inauspicious timing of airing right after Trump's 2016 victory, and, yeah, okay, I can understand why a children's fantasy about reconciling with your obnoxious conservative relatives and getting them to accept your alternate family structure would play rather poorly at the time.
I think that Rebecca Sugar probably assumed, like most of the world that wasn't my specific flavour of extremely online in 2016, that Clinton would crush Trump and that this episode would maybe help to smooth over divisions; but of course what ended up happening is that an episode about how you should be empathetic towards your bigoted relatives ended up airing just as your bigoted relatives were going around victoriously hate-criming people in the street.
Watching it now, though, it ends up feeling wistful more than anything. Like, yeah, sure, it doesn't work like that, and we all know that now...But wouldn't it be nice if it did? It feels like a pleasant dream.
Steven Universe is fundamentally a power fantasy—but the fantasy is being able to get through to people and heal things. The power is love instead of strength.
If you, like me, have been waiting to update your pledge to include the audiobook now that we've reached that stretch goal, do so now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexandrarowland/the-wisdom-of-emperors-deluxe-collectors-edition/description#h:Add-ons-and-Merch $25 for a two-narrator audiobook that will be produced with just as much care and attention to detail as the (print) collector's edition will be!
And if you haven't pledged yet, please do so! The ebook is only $10 and there are lots of other cool things to choose from! You'll get free digital wallpapers and art cards! And the joy of making local gremlin author @ariaste pack just so so many boxes of books! 😈😈😈
Digital wallpapers for your phone, tablet, and computer? Postcard-sized illustrations to give to your friends or tape to your wall? Stories where most people are trying their best, but some are actively making things worse?
Then go back the The Wisdom of Emperors kickstarter before 4pm EDT (9pm GMT) Thursday June 4 (tomorrow!! 19 hours from now!)!. All kickstarter orders come with digital wallpapers of the seven gorgeous landscape illustrations by Mosu Äijälä that will be included with every edition of the book, and physical orders come with 6– going on 7!– art cards of those same illustrations!
LOOK AT THISSSSSS IT'S GORGEOUSSSSSS AND IT COULD BE YOURS!!!!
if messy bisexuals on a misguided quest for love and power, or a twink that leads them halfway around the continent while insisting he doesn't want to be found, sound up your alley, please check it out! It also has footnotes! And a fake bibliography! and a scholar with a minor (very minor, they assure you) crush on just the coolest priestess in the whole tale!
the ebook is only $10 USD, and both the paperback and audiobook are $25 USD. And there's an enamel pin! and a notebook! and papyrus bookmarks! and a tote and stickers and a t-shirt and a goth dust jacket and the beautiful collector's edition-- but the wallpapers and misguided quest could be yours for only $10!
Do yourself and local tumblrites Alexandra Rowland, Mosu Äijälä, and the rest of the art and production team a favor and let's make this kickstarter wrap up with a bang! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Attention ancient history nerds and fans of really weird and unusual fantasy books, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS kickstarter campaign just launched!
Hello, btw, I'm Alexandra Rowland, the author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION, and several other books. This is my new one!!
Inspired by the story of the Ancient Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS is a second-world adult fantasy novel written in the style of a fictional academic text. It documents the translation and study of a world-changing artifact discovered in an archaeological dig: a manuscript which provides the clues to finally unravel one of the most perplexing mysteries in all of ancient history.
If this sounds like your jam, go back it on kickstarter! If you're not sure whether it is your jam, the merch reveal updates on the campaign include excerpts from the book so you can get a flavor for it -- the ENTIRE Foreword to the book is on there!
I do not have a publisher to help with a marketing and publicity budget, so this book's success really depends on grassroots support from readers -- if you can spare a signal boost, that'd be amazing.
I'M GONNA GO WALK INTO THE SEA NOW AND BECOME ONE WITH THE MOLLUSCS, but before i do, here is the full summary of the book:
SUMMARY:
An ancient emperor who, along with his entire army, vanished from the historical record for ten years, as if into thin air.
A long-suffering scribe, dragged along on a quest that was doomed from the start, furiously scrawling his thoughts in a manuscript that will be lost for millennia.
An enslaved young man, as beautiful as a marble statue, breaking his chains and flying to freedom.
And a patient, steadfast scholar, dauntlessly seeking the answer to a mystery that has plagued historians for two thousand years.
The great tragedy of studying history is that there is so much we will never know. But a recent archaeological excavation has discovered an ancient manuscript, allegedly the journal kept by one of Emperor Cabian’s scribes during the years of his mysterious disappearance. Though most historians initially dismissed it as a hoax or a forgery, Amatio Orlanti took on the challenge—not only proving the authenticity of the manuscript, but translating it, uncovering the most jaw-dropping corroborating sources and, at last, presenting these astonishing revelations to the world: The truth of Cabian’s ill-fated journey, the twin poisons of imperialist violence and desperate, misguided love that drove him relentlessly onwards, and the ultimate fate of his lost beloved, the legendary beauty Anaticula. This new edition of Orlanti’s dissertation, with its academic commentaries and explanatory footnotes now revised for the general public, offers a glimpse of one of the most famous figures of Ancient Lausa—and casts a light on the rot and depravity lying behind the empire’s outward magnificence.
Miracles in history and archaeology just don’t happen… except when they do.
A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION
Oh my god okay so. There are FIVE DAYS LEFT on the campaign, it ends on June 4th, and I just want to go over some of the incredible things this campaign has achieved, which... i'm fucking speechless.
1300+ backers
over $100,000 raised
Audiobook stretch goal reached!
Collector's Edition fully upgraded to its fanciest form: High-quality sewn binding (NOT glued), gold foil and embossing on the cover, ribbon bookmark, sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers (full color) and 7 interior illlustrations (greyscale) by @holographings and @qwertyprophecy
There's still 4 spots available to claim a copy of the luxury HANDBOUND edition made by an incredibly talented bookbinder.
Every physical order comes with 5 art cards (so far) of the illustrations in full color (and we might hit the stretch goals to get a couple more!)
Here is the first illustration that's been completed, by the amazingly talented @qwertyprophecy:
Are you speechless? I'm speechless.
This has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Like, I've published over a dozen books before this and I've never felt so much an outpouring of love and community and CONNECTION... This is what making art is all about. I'm so, so grateful. Thank you so much.
If you haven't had a chance to check out the kickstarter, YOU SHOULD GO DO THAT THING. I'm making something really cool with the help of some really cool artists!
A new fantasy novel by Alexandra Rowland, author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, & YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION
I'm so so very excited to have backed this! It's SUCH a cool project with SO much care put into it-- the detail in the collectors' edition, the stretch goals that give extra money to the creative team, the care that will be used to find audiobook narrators (yes, two of them!), the character bookmarks ariaste designed, linocut, and is now hand-printing on papyrus for over 1,000 of us-- I couldn't be more thrilled that it's seen such an outpouring of support from the tumblr community and beyond!
The Wisdom of Emperors is a fantastic, nuanced, sink-your-teeth-into-it book, and I really think it will find its audience; if you think that's you, I encourage you to order it via the kickstarter and get some really neat freebies, plus a bunch of merch options that range from elegant to unhinged (...that parallels the protagonists of the book pretty well, actually).
You have until June 4, 2026, at 4pm US Eastern Standard Time (9pm GMT) to back the kickstarter! Go get you free art cards and help us reach the stretch goal to get more, and to make ariaste take a nap!
*stares in irritation at printer companies as he once again jailbreaks his sublimation printer*
And that's why you aren't allowed to talk to the internet anymore, you piece of shit. That's why the house firewall has a special exclusion for you, in particular. Because there are no new fucking features you can give me as an update & if you can't talk to the internet, you can't be attacked either, so the only fucking reason you might need an "update" is to keep me from successfully using ink that costs $39.99 and try to force me to use ink that costs $339.99 and no that is not a fucking typo. To lock you back up again in ink jail.
Be free, you piece of shit. And never talk to the internet again.
…..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment
likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post
the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like.
Unfortunately I am not very practiced or good at putting my thoughts together/analyzing a book but I will say about Sublimation is that was very good I really enjoyed it and I wish more people I know have read it so I can talk about it with them
i think we should be ridiculing them more for this. you don't get to try and go all "queer website" when your staff likes to go on nuking sprees targeting the trans fem users
would be remiss not to mention that the rainbow notably straight up just removed the trans flag colors from it. like they’re gone. it’s the progress flag minus the trans flag colors.