#ks merbeth

[elvishdemigod]

No, no. You misheard me.

I'm an only fan

I'm in a fandom so small, I'm the only fan blowing any air in this gods forsaken desert.

All the other fans stopped spinning before I was here.

[allisonarghent-archive]

endless list of characters i love (5/∞) — dolly

“she was still and silent the whole time they waited for my answer, but now she turns around. it’s impossible not to stare at her hair. it’s very long, nearly waist-length, and oddly straight and sleek. i really don’t understand how someone could have hair so perfect looking or how and why her hair is colored electric blue. the color is incredibly vivid in the dust-colored world around us”

[elvishdemigod]

I just realized that Dolly from Bite reminds me of Darlin.

If you don't know Bite, it's a book by K.S. Merbeth. It's like if the raiders you hear stories about in Fallout were the main characters, cannibalism included, and it's in the POV of a 16 year old who slowly sees them as her sort of family.

Anyways. One of the characters is Dolly. While she's a badass who can keep a stone face, she also cares about her group, especially the MC, Kid. And she's not always stone faced, she also smiles or gets visibly angry.

And her character and the way she acts and such, she somewhat reminds me of Darlin.

Ironically, one of the members of the crew is named Tank. And their leader is named Wolf. Which, you may be noticing a pattern. They all go by nicknames instead of official names, there's also Pretty Boy (which, funnily enough, I've seen people give Vincent that nickname, especially jokingly from Darlin...although this one is far from Vincent's level.)

And if anything, the guy, Tank, makes me think of David's patience mixed with a bit of Asher's optimism.

It makes me want to see Darlin switch between electric blue and hot pink wigs.

I was actually in the middle of a reread of it, trying to note characters appearances (there's actually a lot of good descriptions) because there was no fanart whatsoever, when I got into RA and just...didn't get back to the book for a few months XD

I feel like Wolf would like Milo and his take-no-bullshit attitude. I feel like those two would banter for a while.

Meanwhile Pretty Boy somewhat reminds me of Kody. Pretty Boy has his moments, but he's a bit similar. A coward who will leave others behind for his own ass. He does try to push himself on the MC when they were both drunk (Dolly stops him, and he later apologizes but it's never made where Kid just smiles and forgives. She straight up tells him that, and that he'd have to work to regain any trust from her). He uses his charm to manipulate. The only difference is I can feel some pity for Pretty Boy because he's like 17 or 18 who is abused by an old woman, implied to be going on for a while and he's stuck just accepting it (doesn't excuse him though). And that he's part of the main crew (spoilers: he does die, though).

I almost want to put the Bite characters into the Redactedverse. You think RA is underrated? I'm not kidding when I say the Bite fandom is literally just me. There was maybe two others, one here and one on ao3, but they're radio silent and didn't post much before. Sooooo the idea is only up to lil ol me.

[elvishdemigod]

I just realized that the bond between Wolf and Kid (also sort of Dolly and Kid) reminds me of Jinx and Isha, but Wolf has a little more of a Tough Love thing going.

Like, it's hard to really classify them as adoptive parent and their kid. But there's definitely a close mentor bond. With both.

Also, both Jinx and Wolf are a little unwell in the head, but that doesn't mean they're without care. AND they both like explosions.

Wolf is like Jinx if she were a cannibalistic guy in the apocalypse (which is ironic considering the setting of Bite is like Fallout some, while Jinx's VA is in Fallout), and had just a little more of a Tough Love thing. Maybe a little more selfish.

And then you've got the young girl, who people have mistaken for a boy, who just sort of became attached. Who fell into the lap of this older wanted criminal and tagged along. And while there was pushback at first from the older, they eventually do care.

And I can totally see Wolf smiling as someone gets torn apart while Kid sits in a mix of horror and curiosity. Like, I might need to draw that as them.

And Dolly, too. Dolly actually also starts off with blue hair, and then later gets red hair. And she does care about Kid, too. She keeps like this stoic mask on, but she does care.

Seriously, if you like Jinx and Isha, you might like Wolf and Kid. They're from the book Bite by K.S. Merbeth. Very underrated...I mean that genuinely. I'm the only active fan, as far as I could find. There's not even any fanart, the only official art is book covers. I've been writing down every physical description I could find in the book to make my own fanart. I will warn that as it is a dark wasteland with almost no laws, there may be some content that's triggering.

[elvishdemigod]

Something I like about Bite is that the protagonists defeat the antagonists not because they need to "save the day and save innocent people."

They not only did it strictly because the antagonists were targeting them, but Wolf, the leader, said he wanted to go raid a town immediately after everything was said and done JUST because he realized they were the heroes.

Morally dark gray cannibalistic raider anti heroes who take in kids and only fight the villains when it gets personal, I love you.

[ksmerbeth]

2 months until RAID!

Holy shit, RAID’s release is creeping up fast! I can’t wait for you all to meet Clementine. Have you pre-ordered your copy yet?!

http://booklaunch.io/ksmerbeth/raid

[ksmerbeth]

Review of Bite by K. S. Merbeth (2016) Orbit,

If you are looking for a gritty story with a bit of a difference and that tackles unthinkable subject matter... with the kind of dysfunctional anti heroes that make a change from the well-polished leading characters present in a number of different narratives, this one is worth a try.“

A great review of Bite in  SF2 Concatenation‘s autumn edition!

[ksmerbeth]

Enter to win one of 2 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Jun 10-Jul 19, 2016. Kid is trying to survive in a world gone mad.Hungry, thirsty and ...

Two copies of BITE are available in a Goodreads giveaway! Enter to win!