#an arrow's flight

[cephalophcre]

my awesome beautiful son neoptolemus <33

[mi-estas-birdo]

Do you remember? Loitering outside the disco, finally making yourself go in. You paid your three bucks to an improbably muscular man who looked at you with incurious disdain, got in return a little ticket good for one drink, then turned a corner and beheld: HUNDREDS OF US, under the flashing lights. Sometimes it can seem as though all the repression was almost worth it, because it made possible that explosive discovery: hundreds of us, in the disco, free, and you had turned a corner and were one of them.

An Arrow's Flight, or Pyrrhus, by Mark Merlis, Pg. 319

[gracchisuggestions]

Talk on my dash about the erasure of classical homoeroticism reminded me of the gay retelling of Philoctetes where Philoctetes is afflicted with an HIV metaphor and Troy survives because no Deus Ex Machina Heracles shows up, so he elopes with ex-stripper Pyrrhus.

Well, that wasn’t the part I was reminded of. Rather, I was reminded of how Admetus was a member of the supporting cast, immortality and all, and the idea of anything sexual between him and Apollo was flat-out dismissed. Also, Achilles was the personification of militant straight masculinity, the Formidable Father Figure, and absolutely never ever cross-dressed. This despite the author knowing about ye olde Patrochilles vs Achilloclus shipwars. I enjoyed the read in other respects but found these writing choices somewhat confusing.

[snowgoldwords-blog]

The most terrifying thing that could happen to anyone: to have to stand there and hear, from someone who knew everything, the worst you’ve ever thought about yourself.

Mark Merlis, An Arrow’s Flight

[seagodofmagic]

solointhesand replied to your post “should i read song of achilles? people who know me well have made me...”

An Arrow's Flight!!!!!! Technically Modern AU Philoctetes pro-level slashfic, but surprisingly enjoyable for all its trashiness!

OMG I looked this up and it looks great????  Definitely going to check it out and read it just as soon as I’ve paid off my embarrassing high Brooklyn Public Library fine...

[nitrogennarcosis]

He felt about sex the way you might feel if you were standing in the checkout line at the supermarket and suddenly remembered that the recipe you were planing to prepare called for fresh ginger.  You could go back to the produce section and lose your place in line, or you could stay where you were and accept the prospect that the entree might be missing a little something.

Mark Merlis, An Arrow’s Flight