Prince of Swords

Genderqueer trans guy who goes by the name Tom. Also, a nerdy pagan magician, history geek who writes fantasy fiction and likes to read it too. Has fannish type feelings. Probably a lich. In reality, this blog is a mess and has no theme. I follow whatever my whims take me. I tag for snakes.

[winteryserpent]

I really hate how hostile American infrastructure is to people who don't drive. It is extremely frustrating and forces people who would much rather not drive to drive. It really makes independent living hard.

[dartmoorpixie]

[winteryserpent]

Sometimes I wish people remembered that the first state sanctioned mass murder in Nazi Germany was that of disabled people.

[winteryserpent]

Aktion T4 - Wikipedia

[winteryserpent]

Sometimes I wish people remembered that the first state sanctioned mass murder in Nazi Germany was that of disabled people.

[pangur-and-grim]

Queer Books and Authors are at a Breaking Point

Authors, agents, publishers: every part of the industry is seeing the strain of five years of escalating anti-LGBTQ censorship.

[pangur-and-grim]

if you'd like to show support, here are some upcoming queer books:

When Life Gives You Corpses is a brilliant YA about a cursed praying mantis who falls for a young witch. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a raunchy, but surprisingly sweet story of two men repairing their relationship. Fabulous Bodies is a horror story about a queer rockstar rising from the dead.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is a fantasy set in a vividly imagined land, where two women (who happen to kiss) are the key to healing the broken sky. You're No Better is a story about a teen struggling in the shadow of his murderous parent. Oil on Canvas is about a woman who finds disturbing paintings in the home of her dead mother.

and then here's a list of 26 queer books by Black authors set to publish this year, and a 10 upcoming books by trans authors. if you want to fight back against queer censorship, use your wallet! or (if that's not an option) you can contact your local library and ask them to stock a copy.

[adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction]

Blood on the Icehouse Wall is a fantasy with a time travelling lesbian witch and her asexual werewolf girlfriend trying to undo their mistakes.

Salts of Mercury is the best book I've read this year and features a non-binary necromancer explaining why they did all that treason.

An Unexpected Attachment is an erotic novella about an android who's just got a penis attachment and wants to try it out for the first time.

Three Men in Orbit is inspired by Three Men in a Boat and tells the story of three men taking an excursion to a space station and then the moon. One of the characters is a trans woman and the author is openly trans.

[imdrinkingmiso]

I am doing whatever the opposite of locked in is .

[taavicleric]

I am locked out. I am in the parking lot. The rain is coming.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

i NEED people to realise foreshadowing is. in fact. a literary device. and not a Bad Thing. the audience picking up on your hints is a Good Thing. because. it makes the story and it’s conclusion make sense. and some people will not see those but enjoy seeing them on a second read through. red herrings are one thing but if your novel consists of nothing but red herrings it’s not a coherent story it’s just a collection of paragraphs that don’t actually plausibly link to one another. you're not fighting with the audience you don’t look clever you look like you don’t know how basic fiction works. be vulnerable for once in your goddamn life and don't treat writing like a game to be won where the audience losing is a good thing.

[ineffectualdemon]

Getting to the end of a story and going "THE CLUES WERE THERE THE WHOLE TIME!" is always joyous for me whether or not I picked up on the clues leading up

If I saw the clues and caught the hints then yes! I am clever and me and the author/creator/artist etc were in on it together the whole time!

If I didn't notice the clues or got fooled but can clearly see them in hindsight then "Ha! You won this time storyteller! I am delighted by this game we play!' and then I enjoy putting the pieces together afterwards and enjoying how clever it was. I feel like the creator respects me as an audience

If there is a "twist" that comes with 0 clues or foreshadowing at all I'm annoyed. I'm pissed off. I feel like I'm being condescended to and patronised. It's not clever or interesting and makes me annoyed I ended up caring about characters and plot points that ended up meaningless.

Because it's not that these stories don't have foreshadowing or plot clues. They just abandon it for a "surprising twist"

A story that pays off the clues is letting me into the fun and makes a participant in the story

A story that just gives me a "shock" but no pay off is telling me not to engage or get attached or care. So why would I watch?

[s-n-arly]

OMG! THIS!

Random plot twists that don't connect to anything in the story are not clever. If we don't see it coming because the writer didn't provide any clues, they aren't clever and it's totally unsatisfying (and I will NEVER read this writer again). These clues need not be lit up in neon with a parade of elephants and showgirls. But they need to be present

I'm a writer and am rarely surprised. Often, if I am surprised it's because the writer was a dumbass and included a "twist" that makes no sense (and therefore isn't really a twist, it's just random bullshit). If a writer genuinely surprises me, without being an absolute dumbass, I am FUCKING DELIGHTED! I will tell everyone I know to read the book/see the movie/watch the show.

[ardentmystacina]

Foreshadowing is the reward for paying attention. It's the story letting you in on the secret like a co-conspirator because you're the clever little audience member who has been picking up on the clues the writer has been setting up.

It even makes watching/reading again more worthwhile because if you didn't notice the foreshadowing the first time you have the joy of being able to notice the things you missed!

[weirdvintage]

An early 20th century postcard against the coercion of motherhood and promoting the usage of contraception.

[tr-p-antoninvs-pivs]

She is going to hit that Christian baby for a home run.

[spore-carrier]

medieval troubadour gets isekaied into early 1970s england but ends up blending in perfectly with the local prog rock scene

[despazito]

I don't have time for tumblr discourse they're calling the very hungry caterpillar degenerate art over on twitter

[despazito]

good art is when something looks like real life, the more real it looks the more better the art. abstracted figures give my trad children nightmares, one time they were exposed to cubism and couldn't go outside for a week

[draculasstrawhat]

Huh fascinating, I wonder what the fash have against Eric Carle? I wonder what he might have said about his life, and influences, and early experiences that makes them say he’s part of an ‘insalubrious culture’?

Carle's 'Blue Horse' teaches kids to think outside the box

Franz Marc (1880-1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement.

[winteryserpent]

I really don't like people who try to mother hen me. I already have a mother who gives unsolicited advice, I don't want another. I'm not a child ffs.

[tboy-trash]

i have nothing but respect for fujoshis but i will say i don't know where this thing of "the one who wants to feel taken care of will bottom and the one who wants to feel like he's taking care of his partner will top each time they have sex" because it's about as weird as seeing top/bottom (sides don't exist, remember that) as immutable characteristics inextricably linked to one's dominance in the bedroom

[tboy-trash]

there's a lot to say about the trope (it's basically another way of looking at topping as an exclusively dominant activity and bottoming as submissive) but what i don't get is: isn't there more intuitive ways of doing the same thing? sure sometimes you wanna feel taken care of during sex (doesn't matter where you fall in top/side/bottom dominant/submissive btw) but idk in my experience that's usually done with. communication. i've never had a guy tell me "let me take care of you tonight" to mean topping me and thank christ for that

[tboy-trash]

what "let me take care of you" means in trashy gay fiction: i'll top tonight babe ;)

what i hear if a man says "let me take care of you": fuck yes boys this night i finger

[megacarapa]

ok so this is another long shot but a few years ago there was a twitter post (in japanese i think?) that had measurememts for how to make this book stand thing out of cardboard that you could use to double up books and use up more space on shelves

back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore

if it comes down to it i can just take one apart and get the measurements from there but i would be very grateful if anyone happens to have the original post or something similar??

[megacarapa]

don't mind how long it's been since i made this post, anyway i realized that i don't even need to take one apart to get the measurements when i can literally just unfold it and refold it /FACEPALM

so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!

this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together

and then in the end you put it together like this!!

and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy

EVERYONE START GETTING MORE USE OUT OF YOUR SPACE NOW!!!!

[catprinx]

Just between us, my YA figure skating graphic novel about two rivals who fall love, is out in the world now!!!

Get it anywhere you can buy books(check your local indies/chain bookstores in whatever country you’re in) ⛸️⭐️🥇

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

Give me less "being kind requires zero effort" and more "being kind is worth the effort it takes."

[winteryserpent]

Currently re-watching the Sailor Moon S episode in which Minako is upset over the enemy not targeting her for her pure heart and it just reminds me of how complex her character is.

She's a fun character.

[winteryserpent]

I still exist I am just busy.