seen from United Kingdom
seen from Algeria
seen from India
seen from France
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from United Kingdom
seen from South Korea
seen from United States
seen from Algeria
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Singapore
seen from Algeria
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Vietnam
seen from United States
seen from Bulgaria
"your obsession is flattering, pan. and i share it." "obsession?" "is that not what they call it, when two men can think of nothing but each other?"
my full piece for our favorite scene charity zine! i drew my favorite scene from peter darling by s.a. chant 🧚🗡️
VERY EXCITED TO FINALLY SHARE.... The endpaper illustration I did for the @rainbowcrate edition of Peter Darling (by @essaychant)! It was an honor and an absolute delight to paint this view of Peter, Neverland, and [sexy sexy] Hook. (In Rainbow Crate's "Hoist the Colors" July 2025 box! Extras are available now. Link to get your very own, very fancy copy of Peter Darling. )
The books I plan to read for the trans rights readathon this year! March 21st-31st!
Alternatives to Harry Potter bc FUCK JK Rowling:
«Tu obsesión me halaga, Pan. Y yo la comparto». «¿Obsesión?» «¿No es así como se llama cuando dos hombres no pueden pensar en otra cosa que no sea el uno al otro?»
Peter Darling de Austin Chant
Okay, I'm not sure if this particular genre of books has a name, but it's books where the author has taken a classic or fairytale story and has made it queer?
Like
Most ardently (pride and prejudice retelling)
Peter darling (Peter pan retelling)
Teach the torches to burn (Romeo and Juliet retelling)
Self-made boys (the great Gatsby retelling)
Ash (Cinderella retelling)
Mad for the hatter (Alice in Wonderland Retelling)
Cinder house (Cinderella retelling)
If anyone has any suggestions could you rec them to me. Please and thank you.
I have been informed that this is called a queer retelling.
Peter Darling (Austin Chant)
What's it about?
I'm gonna be real with you. This is Peter Pan fanfiction. It is Pan/Hook fanfiction. And you should read it.
Did I finish it?
Yes! This one went down smooth.
Was it any good?
Listen. I like to avoid reading blurbs or summaries as much as possible. I like finding out what kind of a story is going to happen as I am reading it. So for the first like, chapter and a bit, I wasn't really vibing. Like, it was fine enough, but I've never really been one for Peter Pan retellings, and I wasn't sure what this book was going to bring to the table.
So finding out the reason that the book is titled as it is read like a reveal to me, and one I didn't see coming. I don't often get a lot of moments like that any more, those lines that make everything click into place and you go 'OHHHH. Oh okay. That's what this is about, huh?'. So this one was just, excellent. For those that don't know, I won't spoil it. Don't read the blurb. Just the first couple of chapters. It's worth it, I promise.
Some of the other choices made are... interesting. The fairies become 'fae'-- a tiny change, but one that dates the book to a certain aesthetic period, one afraid of the silliness associated with Barrie's fairies. More noteably, the Red Indians and Tigerlily are quietly excised entirely. An understandable decision, perhaps one made out of caution, politely ignoring the less desireable elements of the original.
Then the thing that stuck out to me most of all-- the lack of the 'mother' motif that's so prominent in both the story and the cartoon. Again, I can see why-- the key change made in this retelling would make the way the original Wendy embraces the role fundementally impossible to replicate-- but in a book literally about queering gender as both play and defiance, the book's choice not to engage with the original's ideas of motherhood at all is glaring. Like, come on. The kraken is right there. That's a Freudian manifestation of all-consuming feminity if ever there was one.
That said, the majority of the book was extremely familiar and comfortable to me. When I say it's Peter Pan fanfiction, I don't mean that as an insult; it's a formal description of aesthetics and mechanics. There are nods here and there to Barrie's style of humour, but the tone is wholly the authors own, for better and for worse. I enjoy it-- the pseudo-sex through sword-fighting is great, Ernest is a dear (if a little underwritten), and the scene in the cave after Pan and Hook escape the kraken reads exactly like scenes me and my partner have roleplayed with our own characters time and time again. I love it, and it's not what I started this project for. 8/10
Up Next: A Family Affair by Harper Bliss
Fantasy romance vs. romantic fantasy vs. romantasy
(according to me a mere English lit major)
Fantasy romance
The main genre is romance, the fantasy element is secondary. The plot revolves around something mainly seen in romance novels such as fake dating, forced proximity, etc. but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to take the fantasy elements out. The main reason you pick up the book is for the romance. It’s regular rivals to lovers but they happen to be witches. It’s the one bed trope but they’re vampires and it’s a coffin instead.
Examples:
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Reason: While the characters would have a harder time meeting without the fantasy element (or mating, for that matter), it’s still possible. The main plot is the romance. Everything else comes secondary.
A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone
Reason: the fantasy is barely present in this first book, but even in the main series, we mainly read to learn more about Proserpina, Auden, and Saint’s relationships. Why they fight, why they hate, why they love each other in their own fucked up way (cough cough Auden). If Thornchapel weren’t magical, everything would stay the same.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Reason: the first good chunk of the book is romance. This isn’t the best example, but people don’t read Twilight for the inner vampire politics. They read it for the will-they/won’t-they of Bella and Edward’s relationship.
Romantic fantasy
These are fantasy books with a rather nice romantic subplot, but it’s very much a subplot. It’s not doing any of the heavy lifting. It may motivate a character’s actions, but the plot doesn’t hinge on the romance. The plot more revolves around whatever large fantasy issue is happening, usually world-changing. But there’s a lil bit of romance sprinkled in as a treat.
Examples:
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Reason: The main plot revolves around Silas and the school, figuring out the mystery. Daphne’s existence is primarily to affirm Silas’s and to rescue him during one moment. They have my favorite romance in any book ever, but it truly is a subplot.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
Reason: While I love Elspeth and Ravyn, their romance doesn’t do much for the plot until the second book. Everything, for the most part, continues as it should, without the romance. If you wrote out the romance, not much would change.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Reason: While a big selling point for this book is its unique love triangle, the plot doesn’t change much if the main three were friends instead of lovers. The plot doesn’t hinge on them being lovers until the second book, or until the very end of this one, depending how you look at it. They do have an absolutely stellar throuple, though.
Romantasy
To qualify as a romantasy novel, a book must balance the fantasy and romance plots with near equal precision and entwine them so that they become inseparable. If you get rid of the romance, then the third act crumbles entirely. Or if you remove the fantasy then the romance dies. This is a lot trickier to do which is why a lot of romantasy books feel similar to each other or feel like they have cheap quality.
Examples:
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Reason: Without the magical war, there’s no reason for Violet and Xaden to be enemies. They wouldn’t have fallen for each other without magic in varying capacities. But also the actions they take are completely dependent on their love for/obsession with one another, sometimes to the narrative’s detriment.
Peter Darling by Austin Chant
Reason: Peter and James would never have met without Neverland, but they never could have escaped Neverland without each other. Their romance affects the fate of the island, literally. Peter’s heartbreak freezes the surrounding ocean and keeps James trapped on Neverland, and it’s their love for each other that melts the ice and allows them to go home with each other.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Reason: Wei Ying and Lan Zhan would never have met without cultivation. They hunt demons together, fight in wars, learn magic, it’s all fantasy. And Wei Ying coming back to life through necromancy is what allows their relationship to come to fruition. Without the demonic cultivation, Lan Zhan never would have been able to be with Wei Ying. But without their romance, a lot of the plot wouldn’t exist. Lan Zhan stays by Wei Ying’s side no matter what, and his choices because of that change the outcome of both plots. But additionally, most people go to it for a mix of the fantasy plot and the romance. Xianxia does as xianxia do.
