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A space to chat fandom! Anon!

Got a WIP you're excited about? Want to rave about your fave? Or is your fandom absolutely in love with a character who detracts from every scene they bumble into, and you need somewhere to vent? You're in the right place!

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From: (Anonymous)

Genres? Fiction/nonfiction?

From: (Anonymous)

Anything really, slight preference for fiction but at this point I just want to read SOMETHING!

From: (Anonymous)

Hmmm, okay. Some random recs:

PICTURES:
Monstress - The graphic novel, super dense and fantastic
Blank Canvas - Fantastic autobiographical manga about becoming an artist
BL Metamorphosis - Really lovely slice-of-life manga about a teenage girl and elderly lady who bond through BL
Laid-Back Camp - Another slice-of-life manga, this one about a group of teenage girls who like camping

FICTION:
The Dream-Quest of Vellit Boe (Kij Johnson) - This is basically a super classy Lovecraft fanfic in the form of a novella with a female professor as the MC. It made me cry a lot at the end, in a good way.
Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant) - Trashy horror about killer mermaids, still fun
The Space Between Worlds (Micaiah Johnson) - Multiverse SF with a really satisfying f/f romance
The Outside (Ada Hoffman) - SFF with some interesting cosmic horror and a bit of f/f
Strike series (JKR, duh) - I love these more than HP, honestly, it blew my mind that JKR could write het I liked

NONFICTION
The Orchid Thief (Susan Orlean) - You WILL love orchids
Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson) - You WILL (not) love deepsea diving
Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) - You WILL NOT love mountain climbing
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon - You WILL love catty, thousand-year-old diary entries
Brazilian Adventure/News From Tartary (Peter Fleming) - You WILL love traveling with Ian Fleming's big brother! (Okay, these are oldies and nobody ever reads them when I rec them but they're so good and entertaining)

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks! I currently do have the Strike series on the shelf so may end up starting there (I've read the first one and yes, was pleasantly surprised. The romance in HP was underwhelming, to say the least (more like totally offputting and alien)(idk how/if it's possible to do strikethrough tags on here yet). And thanks for the manga recs; I haven't read a graphic novel in a while, but I've been vaguely wondering about what new good manga is around; I feel like my calendar stops around 2010... A lot of authors I haven't heard of, so that's exciting. :)

From: (Anonymous)

NA

Personally the second in the strike series is my favorite because I like the mystery the most. The third and fourth were ... more mixed, and the fifth is great but long.

If you are interested in The Pillow Book, A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki) is a novel that starts each chapter with short excerpts. It's an engrossing story about cross-cultural (mis-)communication, media, feminism, and the meat industry.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks! I'll add it to the list.

Looking forward to the second, then! :D Though with book series, I always seem to have odd opinions about which is best that don't match up with the fandom. Or the author; I've noticed I tend to like the one that the author hated writing the most...

From: (Anonymous)

It's clear that the second one was very cathartic, because virtually all of the suspects are in publishing or want to be. There are several very pointed character portraits. It was deliciously angry.

From: (Anonymous)

Bahahaha that sounds amazing! I always loved her satire; my fave HP was book 4 partly because she spent so much of it skewering the reporters who were constantly lying about her life.

From: (Anonymous)

Heh, I remember she used to have a section on her website (RIP flash!) for debunking lies told in the daily mail...

From: (Anonymous)

SA

(Gonna start the 2nd Strike book tonight!)

From: (Anonymous)

SA

Ended up 5 days late with it, but I did start it. Only 3 chapters in. I want to say that I like that he's a flawed character, but actually I'm super grossed out and annoyed at him for peeing in a doorway. There's a street near me that stinks alllllll the way along because men treat it like a toilet. So hat off to Rowling for not smoothing down her main character's rough edges, but also, on a personal level, EW.

From: (Anonymous)

LOL I don't remember that part. I did find it funny how often the characters needed to go pee, though; it's refreshing to me when so many authors stolidly ignore bodily functions.

From: (Anonymous)

Lol, if you read Each of us a Desert I promise you'll lose that preference forever... (The main character goes to the loo on like every page. It's really distracting. I get the impression the author read something like 'bodily functions add realism!' and decided he could make his book better than all the others JUST by having the main character wee all the time. It's also a generally terrible book so... best avoided.)

I think Strike's Antisocial Peeing Incident is in chapter 1, so probably easy to forget! Unless you're me. Who is still shuddering 2 chapters later. He ate a sausage right after without washing his hands.

From: (Anonymous)

Haha Strike's kind of gross, yeah. He does improve later, though!

From: (Anonymous)

SA

Up to ch8. Forgot what an emotionally abusive prick Robin's fiance was. I know you're supposed go go, "duuuuuump hiiiim", but still, duuuuuuump hiiiiiim!

From: (Anonymous)

He's horrible! But I kind of enjoyed hating him.

From: (Anonymous)

Yeah, I feel annoyed with myself for being so easily manipulated by the narrative, since I know I'm supposed to hate him, but at the same time, he's terrible! And you can see jkr having a great time making Robin blind to how crappy he is. xD So am having fun with that.

From: (Anonymous)

Up to ch12 now. I <3 Rowling's observation of people so much. Both the feeling of introducing a friend/partner to another friend, hoping that that friend/partner will showcase everything you like about them and then the tension when it doesn't work out that way, and also the displaced anger-- I think a worse writer, after putting Robin in that situation, would have made her angry with Matthew. Whereas the anger being displaced onto the innocent party for the crime of looking good comparably seems a lot more true to life. :P

From: (Anonymous)

Nearly halfway through... Some speculation:

Jrveq zheqre (jryy, nal zheqre, yoe) fpernzf znyr phycevg, ohg Yvm unq n *pbhtu* naq gur npvq shzrf uheg crbcyr'f guebngf! Naq ure qbt jnf fvpx. Znlor vg ngr Dhvar'f vagrfgvarf ohg fur qvqa'g npghnyyl pbzzvg gur zheqre. Wreel frrzf gbb boivbhfyl fhfcvpvbhf. V guvax Yvm'f nffvfgnagf znl unir orra hc gb fbzrguvat zber guna zrg gur rlr ng gur fgneg bs gur obbx, naljnl. V'z naablrq ng zlfrys orpnhfr V thrffrq gur evtug phycevg va gur svefg obbx gura yrg zlfrys trg zvfyrq ol erq ureevatf, fb gelvat gb nibvq gung guvf gvzr. Uzzzz..

From: (Anonymous)

Naq ure tneqra pbagnvaf ynoheahz! Fb znlor Dhvar'f thgf jrer erzbirq gb uvqr rivqrapr bs uvf univat pbafhzrq vg, ohg ur qvrq sebz fbzrguvat ryfr? (Fhccbfr gur oyhag sbepr genhzn pbhyq unir orra cresbezrq nf n qvfgenpgvba naq ur npghnyyl qvrq bs cbvfbavat, juvpu vf fgrerbglcvpnyyl ubj jbzra zheqre crbcyr... Ohg frrzf n ovg gbb rnfl. Fb V pheeragyl guvax gur erzbiny bs gur vagrfgvarf vf frcnengr gb gur zheqre. Ohg gur vagrfgvarf pbagnvavat n cbvfbabhf fhofgnapr svgf jvgu gur qbt trggvat fvpx vs vg ngr gurz).

Nyfb YBY ng gur vqrn gung na nhgbcfl pbhyq erirny jurgure n gnxrnjnl jnf unyny be abg. Gubhtu gung fhttrfgvba cebonoyl qbrf npphengryl ersyrpg gur pbashfvba bs zhpu bs gur Oevgvfu choyvp.

From: (Anonymous)

Fur yvxrf navznyf orggre guna crbcyr naq fur jnf gelvat gb senzr Snapbheg! Rira zber fhfcvpvbhf. V abgvprq gur "frny-yvxr onex" guvat, juvpu jnf jrveq (vvep gung jnf rcvpbprar va gur obbx?) V srry yvxr V fcraq gbb zhpu gvzr ba gur tp vagrearg orpnhfr abj V unys rkcrpg rirel punen gb or genaf. Ohg zl zbarl jbhyq or ba cvccn sbe gung, tvira gur ivbyrag guerngf. Fb ru vqx gur qrny jvgu gur frny.

From: (Anonymous)

Nyfb jbaqrevat vs Yvm jebgr gur obbx naq fgntrq guvatf gb cebivqr sbe Beynaqb. Fvapr V'z thrffvat fur jebgr gur cnebql bs Ryfcrgu'f. Naq nf gur pyhr gb gur ynfg obbx jnf va gur gvgyr, V svther znl or gur pnfr urer gbb, naq gur qenzngvpf ner gb znxr gur obbx fryy, ohg abg sbe crefbany tnva. Gubhtu vs fur qvq obgu, gung qbrfa'g svg jvgu zl fhfcvpvba gung fur'f abg gur npghny xvyyre, whfg znqr gur pbecfr zber vagrerfgvat.

From: (Anonymous)

Bu npghnyyl V jbaqre vs ur'f ersreevat gb ure nf n "urezncuebqvgr" orpnhfr fur pna jevgr naq ur'f n qvpx jub guvaxf bayl zra pna jevgr. Fb gura fur jnf uvf rk ybire jub nobegrq uvf puvyq? Gub qbrfa'g svg jvgu gur "nqbcgrq ol Unecl/Xnguela Xrag" ovg bs Obzolk. Nyfb Ebjyvat vf rrrrivy sbe znxvat ure ernqref ybbx sbe pyhrf va GUNG fgbel vfgt.

Depth: 16

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