i get that americans love their cultural imperialism, but it really does piss me off that june is “international” pride month just because something happened in the united states.
in aotearoa, june isn’t our pride, it’s theirs. marsha p johnson and sylvia rivera are their historical figures, not ours. the phrase that “you owe your rights to Black trans women” is true there, but here we owe our rights to (mostly) Māori historical figures. i have the freedoms i do because of the legacy of an entirely different set of people operating in an entirely different context at entirely different times.
But because of american cultural imperialism, most queer people in Aotearoa don’t even know our own queer history. Carmen Rupe, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the Dorian Society, Gillian Laundon, Georgina Beyer, and the Wolfenden Association are some of our queer history. We should know their names! we should know what they did for us! but because of the power of the american imperial machine, we don’t.
our national pride month should be july, the month that the Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in 1986. our two largest cities hold their pride festivals in february and march, respectively. american queer history has very little (or nothing, depending on who you ask) to do with our queer history. anecdotally, from my own queries, queer youth in aotearoa know more about american queer history than our own.
anyway, happy pride, americans. i’m truly sorry that most of you don’t see the negative impact your nation’s culture has on the rest of the world. and to the rest of the world reading this, try searching for your own country and culture’s queer history, don’t accept the american narratives as your own. we deserve our own histories divorced from the cultural hegemony of the USA.
(this came out of a conversation in the comments on a previous post about an author threatening to stop updating a fic because of lack of engagement)
So there’s this idea that fic writers should write for themselves and not care too much about stats or engagement,
and i totally get the sentiment behind that. if writing becomes entirely about stats and external validation, something important does get lost - creative freedom and joy, conviction in your own writing
but i also think:
“i write for myself, but i post for others.”
because posting fic is not only self-expression. it’s social. ao3 is called an archive, but emotionally it often functions as a community space.
people post for connection, for participation, for others to bear witness to their pain and trauma and grief,
and i don’t think most people are asking to be admired so much as acknowledged. there’s something deeply human about wanting another person to encounter something that mattered to you and go:
“ok, yeah, I see what you were trying to say. I see you.”
especially because fanfic is often people processing very real feelings through fictional characters at a safe distance, one step removed,
and then uploading that deeply personal thing into a shared archive and hoping somebody else might connect with it.
And i think that’s why it hurts so much when you summon up the courage and post a fic into the void and you get nothing back,
Whenever I mail out papercraft, I draw a little doodle on the outside of the envelope. I thought this envelope doodle of JC and WWX turned out extra cute, so I decided to color it! Yunmeng Shuangjie!!
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
it’s really important to me when men put their heads in women’s laps. one of the most important things i can see on my tv. men laying their heads in women’s laps or men sitting and women standing and the man holds her around the middle and presses his face into her tummy as she hugs him around the shoulders. two very important poses. extremely soul igniting tableaux.
little sukugo piece for my darling precious coco (@thehoardofthegreatdragon), who just debuted her new [AND ABSOLUTELLYYYY PERFECT] fic, the small relief of dream. please give it a read & leave her some love! ♡
Hey, Usopp… Natural disasters can’t be blamed on anyone, right?
Huh? You mean like earthquakes, floods and thunderstorms? Yeah, I guess you can’t blame anyone for those…
Now Available: Monsterotica Book and Leftover Merch!
Happy release day!! Our latest anthology, Monsterotica: Tales of Unusual Courtship and Coupling, is now officially published and available to people who didn’t back our crowdfunding campaign.
You can buy Monsterotica in e-book or print formats direct from our webstore, via itch.io, or through one of the many other places that carry out books.
We also have some leftover campaign merchandise for you folks who missed the chance to buy the merch during the campaign!
art print of the full wrap-around Monsterotica cover art by Siao Bell
stretch goal art print of The Riddle by Shea Sullivan
enamel pin featuring a monster licking a person as they embrace, with art by reshipkmn
our signature campaign dux, this time in purple and rather tentacly, by Alessa Riel
a very snakey, Medusa-esque bookmark with art by Jagoda Zirebiec
our quirky, funny postcard set, featuring the designs of Xianyu Zhou
the amazing (and huge!) folding fan of a person only too delighted to be abducted by a dragon, with art by pukamuriska
i know i say this often but i cannot say it loud enough: people who comment on fics, people who reblog posts and engage with fanworks are the people who generate community and without them fandom would be nowhere, so truly thank you for your presence, you make the world go 'round <3
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: One Piece (Anime & Manga)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Boa Hancock/Portgas D. Ace
Additional Tags: Portgas D. Ace Lives, Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Thru the power of a woman who doesn't know the meaning of Losing, Pirate Empress title carries actual weight in this fic, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fake Marriage, Strangers to Lovers, Pre-Relationship, By which I mean they get married then fall in love, Spouses to Lovers I guess, ASL Brothers (One Piece), Queerplatonic Vibes, Protective Sabo (One Piece), They're all a little feral protective ngl, Boa Hancock is a menace, Arranged Marriage
Summary:
Out of all the people Ace expected to appear in his prison cell prior to his execution, Boa Hancock hadn't been one of them.
Or
Luffy goes "I need to free my brother" and Boa goes "I’ve got an idea” and doesn’t stay long enough to explain.
Oh sorry i took a long ass time to reply and didnt say anything. I got arbitrarily scared and tired myself out so now i cant say much. Oopsie teehee. it makes you feel like a huge dickhead
Oh sorry i took a long ass time to reply and didnt say anything. I got arbitrarily scared and tired myself out so now i cant say much. Oopsie teehee. it makes you feel like a huge dickhead
Meet the Contributors to “Wild and Full of Marvels”
Our next anthology, Wild and Full of Marvels: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Folklore and Fairy Tales, will be crowdfunding in May. You can follow the pre-launch page on Kickstarter here.
And now, we’re pleased to introduce the contributors to this awesome collection!
Artists:
A. A. Weston (Archive of Our Own | Instagram | Tumblr)
Jinx Inks (cover artist!) (Personal Webpage | Art Station | Bluesky | Instagram | LinkTree | Patreon)
Jupiter V (Personal Webpage | Instagram)
Kendall Pletcher (Instagram)
Luck Stellaluna Faer (Instagram)
Max Jason Peterson (Personal Webpage)
May Barros (Personal Webpage | Tumblr)
radicalhoodie (itch.io | Tumblr)
Razz (Bluesky | Tumblr)
Sam Inverts (Bluesky)
Shea Sullivan
Xander Day McCafferty (Archive of Our Own | ArtStation)
zazrichor (Bluesky | Cara | Carrd | Tumblr)
Authors:
Alex Pfaw (Bluesky | Tumblr | Twitter)
Beth Elderberry (Archive of Our Own | Tumblr)
boneturtle (Personal Webpage | Bluesky)
Cedar D. McCafferty-Svec (Archive of Our Own | Bluesky | Tumblr)
E. V. Dean (Instagram | Tumblr)
Em Rowntree
H. Armstrong (Bluesky)
ilgaksu
Isabelle Delisle
J. D. Harlock (Bluesky | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter)
J. D. Rivers (Personal Webpage | Bluesky)
Joy Summer (Archive of Our Own)
Lyonel Loy
Mikki Madison (Personal Webpage | Bluesky | Tumblr | Storygraph)
Nicola Kapron (Personal Webpage)
R. L. Houck (TikTok)
Robin S. Blackwood (Personal Webpage | Bluesky)
S. J. Ralston (Personal Webpage)
Sage Mooreland (Bluesky | Instagram)
Sue Wilson Munro
T. L. Sly (Archive of Our Own)
Terra P. Waters (Archive of Our Own | Instagram | Patreon | Ream | Tumblr)
Zel Howland (Archive of Our Own | Bluesky | Ko-Fi | Tumblr)
Follow us on the social media platform of your choice for more updates about this project (including the reveal of the gorgeous cover!) and become a follower of our Kickstarter pre-launch page to make sure you hear when the project goes live!
Raining Sky Guy (Sky_King) @rainingskyguy - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
blakekathryn
stormborns
vaporwave
titsay
kaledo-art
