afkalways

Latest Posts by afkalways

Nevermind. Terrible.

The Wizard has seen your Tubi streaming future and it’s fantastic.

no no let them talk I think they have a point

Tubi Cowboy tryna lasso some last minute plans tonight. You in?

A story about a boy who wore his movie fandom on his head.

If it happened in the year of our Lord 2025, think of all the people who would have bet online without knowing anything about exy and accidentally won after making the stupidest bets in favor of the foxes

It's only just occured to me how pissed off sports betters must have been during Neil's freshman year. Like what do you MEAN the foxes won the championships AND I lost 500,000 dollars

It's only just occured to me how pissed off sports betters must have been during Neil's freshman year. Like what do you MEAN the foxes won the championships AND I lost 500,000 dollars

After the first book, I made a joke post about all the possibilities of what Arthur could have been doing for the 20 or so years befire returning to the island.

So glad Klune actually answered that question in sbts because while the post itself was a joke, I was genuinely so curious. And I love the answer. I should have known. Only a little disappointed that he wasn't a competitive Jenga player.

Arthur finding joy in little dumb things is actually so cute, he deserves all the things that make him happy

Actually I request more floof, if possible

Hmmmmmm I wonder should I make Bingge’s hair smoler, trim it down a little? I sometimes get carried away 🤣 his hair is too fun to floof

and of course the masked killers murder style of choice is injecting his victims with a syringe full of heroin

Don't ask about this weird process, it's probably because I was down a BuzzFeed unsolved and Ghost files rabbit hole.

I've been thinking though if there was a horror movie that Ryan and Shane were in it would start with them investigating a haunted location. Suddenly, they would be separated and can only communicate via walkie talkies as Ryan faces actual ghosts and Shane against a masked serial killer (things that are their own nightmares).

And as they survive the night it leads to the other thinking they were facing off against the same threat as them...just to end the movie on the joke of them bickering because they don't believe the other

Comprehensive Guide For Assassination Classroom Content

Because it's pretty hard to find a straight up list of it all. Please note that whilst I believe this is accurate, I was not involved in the fandom whilst the series was active and so could reasonably miss something.

Core Content

Assassination Classroom manga as serialised in Shounen Jump. If you buy the physical volumes, there's a bit of additional content between chapters, most notably introductory character profiles.

Assassination Classroom anime (some count seasons 1 and 2 as separate entities)

Assassination Classroom Meeting Time - an animated short featuring Korosensei and Karasuma's first meeting.

Assassination Classroom Extra Curricular Lessons - adaptations of a couple of manga chapters that weren't in the show itself. I'll just link a playlist here. Fun fact this is where Nagisa gets hit by a chair (lowkey he deserved it)

Additional Content

365 Days Movie. This isn't 'canon' as it's an anime original thing. There's no official English release that I know of. Honestly the movie is mostly a series recap, and only features Karma and Nagisa in new scenes. It's only really worth watching if you especially ship them as there's only maybe 10 minutes of actual content (and most of that is just montage, you can get the gist with this)

Roll Call Book - this was published mid manga run. It's mostly just a bunch of bonus content particularly character based. No official English translation exists, but snippets are easy enough to find online.

Graduation Album - as the name implies, it accompanies the end of the manga. About half of it is an art book, but there's extra character information especially about their post graduation lives. Crucially it includes a few manga shorts which extend past the actual canon ending.

Korotan A, B, C, and D plus Korosuu. They're mostly just Assassination Classroom themed text books (Seriously. My actual university book store sold them.) Korotans are for English vocabulary, Korosuu is for maths. Notably each book also contains a light novel (sometimes these are just referred to as 'the light novels'). It is debatable how canon these are as Matsui didn't write them, but he was involved through illustrating and overseeing the writing. Korotan D is especially debated because it's post canon content set when 3E are 18, but there's a small 'it was all a dream' implication right at the end of the book. Personally speaking I take them as full canon.

Official Spin Offs

The live action movies (part one and two). They change a lot of plot so I place them more in the spin off area. Easily skippable.

Korosensei Quest Manga (otherwise known as Koro Q) - a spin off gag manga set in a fantasy/video game inspired universe. This is not canon (unfortunately) and as far as I understand Matsui isn't involved in it. There's an implication of the idea it's Fuwa's own manga creation. Overall there are four volumes but there's no official English version (though fan scans aren't hard to find).

Korosensei Quest Anime - lightly based on the Koro Q manga. This is only a short 10 episode series though, and was complete long before the original, as such only the first few episodes are actual adaptations and it starts doing its own thing. All voice cast return so that's neat.

The OVA - basically an early adaptation of the Kyoto arc. Link here. It was released in 2013 so predates the actual anime, and a lot of the voice cast are different.

White day shorts featuring Karma, Maehara, and Nagisa - posted on official website as an otome game parody for promotion. Included because they're voice acted.

The 3DS games. They're region locked as far as I understand, and there's no translation of them. You can find it dumped if you know what you're doing with emulators, I've only played a few minutes of it myself.

The app game - no longer available. It was a gatcha tie in game featuring a variety of character illustrations.

Various merch lines and related illustrations. There are far too many to list and new ones still come out sometimes.

As I said, I hope I covered everything but there's a good possibility something slipped my mind.

going to bold the ones you’ve probably never heard of!

Romance

Devils line, My little monster, Kamisama kiss, Brothers conflict, Hitorijime My Hero, Say I love you, And you thought there is never a girl online?, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Wolf girl and black prince, Nijiiro Days, Uta no Prince-sama ,Diabolik lovers, Net juu no Susume

Action

Mob Psycho 100, Code Breaker, Noragami, Dororo, Shingeki no Kyojin, Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, Claymore, Btooom

Mystery

Monster, King of Thorn, Psychic Detective Yakumo, Ajin, Death note, Another, Death parade, Zankyou no Terror, No 6

Drama

Kiseijuu Sei no Kakuritsu, 91 days, Gangsta, Banana fish, Nana, Inuyashiki, Inuyasha, In This Corner of the World, Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

Slice of life/Comedy

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Blood lad, Masamune-kun’s Revenge, Beck, Nanbaka

honorable mention

Ghost hunt

thought I should recommend a spooky anime since its October👻

Top 10 roles of Megumi Ogata: INPO

10. Kurama - Yu Yu Hakusho

9. Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenoh - Sailor Moon

8. Hanako-kun - Toilet Bound Hanako-kun

7. Shinji Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion

6. Ken Amada - Persona 3

5. Tier Hannibal - Bleach

4. Princess Emeraude - Magic Knight Rayearth

3. Makoto Naegi - Danganronpa

2. Yukito Tsukishiro - Cardcaptor Sakura

1. Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi - Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0

A Running List of Books I’ve Read in 2022

My Most Favorites:

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston (2x)

Love + Other Disasters - Anita Kelly

Red, White + Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston (2x)

The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care - Ashley Herring Blake

The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun

Heartstopper 1 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 2 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 3 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 4 - Alice Oseman

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston

She Gets the Girl - Racheal Lippencott + Alyson Derrick

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

Wherever is Your Heart - Anita Kelly

Aristotle + Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins-Reid

I Liked It - A LOT

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Any Way the Wind Blows - Rainbow Rowell

Malice - Heather Walter

Misrule - Heather Walter

Our Favorite Songs - Anita Kelly

All Our Hidden Gifts - Caroline O’Donoghue

This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar + Max Gladstone

I Liked It

Criers War - Nina Varela

Iron Heart - Nina Vareles

Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

She Drives Me Crazy - Kelly Quindlen

Wayward Son - Rainbow Rowell

The Girl in the Sea - Molly Ostertag

Satisfaction Guaranteed - Karelia Stern-Waters

Sing Anyway - Anita Kelly

Not My Personal Favorite

Queerly Beloved - Susie Dummond

Chefs Kiss - TJ Alexander

I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre

Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner

Currently Reading

She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan

Current TBR (in my possession)

I’m So Not Over You - Kosoko Jackson

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven - Juno Dawson

The Extraordinaries - TJ Klune

What If It’s Us - Albertalli + Silvera

Beastiary - K-Ming Chang

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab

Outlawed - Anna North

Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune

Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For - Alison Bechdel

last updated 7/29/22

((always accepting recs!))

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @princessfbi

Buck is hurt, again. But it’s not his fault. 

It’s not like any of the other times he’s been hurt on the job were his fault, but he still feels the need to defend himself. A change from how he’s felt in the past. His therapist would probably be proud of him. 

Loopy off pain meds and slurring all his words, Buck had told anyone who would listen that it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t been trying to get hurt, he hadn’t even been doing anything reckless. 

Bobby had given Buck a sad smile, gently pushing him back against the hospital bed as he said, “I know, Buck. I know.” 

Other people had been there. Hen and Chimney had been the ones to bring him into the hospital. Buck remembers their tense faces in the back of the ambulance as he tried to keep himself from screaming — the cool drip of morphine in his veins not enough to dull the roaring fire of pain surging through his body. 

In his hospital room, after the fire simmering in Buck’s veins had been doused by heavy pain medications, Hen and Chimney still looked tense, but less so. Fine lines of worry still gathering around the corners of their eyes, pulling the lines of their smiles too tight. But that’s normal any time one of them ends up in the hospital. 

Buck is familiar with all their worried faces and these ones mean he’s hurt, but not dying. 

Between the pain, the drugs, and being whisked away to surgery — Buck can’t remember everyone that saw him in the hospital. It’s all become a blur. He thinks that after Hen and Chimney… Bobby had been there, maybe Athena too. Buck thinks he remembers the smell of Maddie’s shampoo, the feeling of her soft hand holding his much larger one, thumb rubbing over the tape keeping his IV line in the back of his hand. 

Eddie had been there too, in the ambulance, the emergency room… his face had been the last thing Buck saw before going into surgery — feeling his heart beating in his throat as memories of a doctor telling him he might lose his leg choked all the breath from his lungs. And Eddie’s face was the first thing he saw when he woke up, feeling lost and scooped out, his body feeling disconnected due to the anesthesia. 

The soft rumble of Eddie’s voice had kept Buck grounded when he felt like he was spinning out into the stratosphere. His warm, brown eyes kept Buck tied down to earth. Eddie’s hand had been so warm where it curled around Buck’s arm. It had been like he was carrying the heat of the sun in his palm and pressing it into Buck’s skin. Through the haze of pain, drugs, and old buried fear brought back to the surface, the heat of Eddie — alive and whole, it had been the only thing to keep Buck from ripping out all of his lines and leaving the hospital against medical advice. 

Now, discharged from the hospital, still sore and aching, Buck feels bereft and alone. 

Eddie won’t touch him. 

Bundled in too many blankets in the middle of their shared bed, Buck feels more alone than he did lying in the sterile and cramped hospital bed. 

Every time Eddie comes close to him, he treats him like spun glass, like one wrong move and Buck will shatter apart. 

I'm going to tag @lesbianbuck, @honestlydarkprincess, @sainteddie, @lesbiandiaz, @morganofthefairies, and @cowboydiaz (there is no pressure to do this i just tagged y'all cause i luv y'all)

WIP Wednesday 

I was tagged by @madneyfiles

“Sorry but you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

Bobby already ripped him up a new one when he found out what Buck had done. Eddie didn’t get to do it too. Eddie made a noise of discontent as he stepped into Buck’s office, closing the door behind him with a something a little close to a slam that had Buck tossing off his glasses so he could glare up at Eddie properly. 

A simple thank you would suffice but apparently that wasn’t what he was getting. Not judging by the downward twist of Eddie’s lips and the heat smoldering the anger in his eyes. 

“Oh yeah?” There was a mean edge to the tease in that drawl that made the heat in Buck’s skin flush hot and not in the good way 

Eddie was poking him, prodding for a fight that Buck wasn’t interested in giving him. Not when he would've made the same choice every time. Buck pressed the button on his desk that frosted out the windows and made his office soundproof so that all of Q-Branch didn’t have to hear Eddie and him fighting before he stood up. He rounded his desk and met Eddie toe to toe, ignoring the stutter of his heart against his chest when he caught the purpling bruise on Eddie’s cheekbone. 

“When it comes to your safety and getting you home then I’m going to do everything I can to protect you.” 

Buck had said something along the same lines to Bobby but there was something different that time when it was with Eddie. The words felt raw in his throat, cracked and fractured for anyone to see if they looked closely enough. He knew what he did was impulsive. He knew that he exposed himself in a way that went against protocol. 

But Buck wasn’t about to be bullied for the choice he made because he would do it again in a heartbeat. 

“Just mine?” Eddie asked, his mouth still tight but something softening in his expression that Buck wanted to lean into and never let go. 

The heat against his palm surprised him and Buck didn’t even realize he’d lifted his hand to settle against Eddie’s chest until he felt the low murmuring thump of his heart. A knot twisted in his throat, choking off the rest of his anger and burning away the lingering panic that he he’d been holding in his chest for days now. 

“They…” Buck breathed and tried to blink away the hot pressure building up behind his eyes. No. It was just the adrenaline. The adrenaline and the fumes. He stared down hard at Eddie’s chest where his heart was beating against his palm. “They touched you.”

Eddie’s hand curled around Buck’s wrist. “Lots of people touch me, Buck.” 

The flippancy made the anger sizzle in the back of Buck’s throat and he clawed his hand into a fist, twisting the fabric of Eddie’s henley with his fingers. He shook his head, sniffing again so he could shove back the tears and the worry and everything else he didn’t know how to identify without doing some serious soul searching and he would rather stick a laser in his eye, thanks. 

I'm going to tag @lovebuck @renecdote @homerforsure @mellaithwen @annabethwrites and @bigfootsmom

please give me a jmart meet-ugly where jon, a librarian, goes to a poetry book release party at a bookstore and before it starts he's kind of reading the book being released. And as he's flipping through it some hot guy starts chatting him up, asking him like, "oh, what do you think of poetry? Did you like this poetry collection?"

and jon is like "not really, the author's clearly enamored with keats and the poetry is overly abstract and it's a shame what literature and art has come to these days". and then he's like "what about you?"

and martin just points to the book and is like. "oh I wrote that."

So since tomorrow is Halloween, I decided to make a recommendation list of my favourite horror podcast episodes to recommend on Halloween as a way of celebration, and for anyone looking to get into podcasts but maybe being too intimidated by starting a whole series at once and just wanting a taste. As such, all of these episodes can be enjoyed as a stand alone and without needing the context of the rest of the series' story.

1) Penumbra Podcast

( 1.13 Home)

Summary:

When a family is preparing to move out of their old house in a week and the parents are away for a night, siblings Jake and Lily find out their home has a lot more heart than they may be comfortable with.

This was the last stand alone oneshot episode the Penumbra Podcast did, and one of the only horror ones. I'd say it's more spooky than scary with a wholesome twist to it, which makes it welcoming for any newcomers to the horror genre or someone looking to listen to something for Halloween that isn't as dark as the other recommendations on this list. It does get intense in certain parts, and while it isn't a story about domestic abuse it may be disturbing to those who find those themes triggering.

Runtime: 30mins

2) Old Gods of Appalachia

( 0.5 The Witch Queen)

Summary:

They say there's a witch in that valley, and you'd do well to stay away from there. Journey back to the settling of the central plateau and witness the power of mountain women.

Oh I do love a good witch character, and the Witch Queen is one of my favourites. It feels somewhere half between a fairytale and a ghost story. This is the prologue to the main series (and the first chapter in the Witch Queen storyline). It's well written, performed, and genuinely creepy. The setting of the story is an alternate Appalachia (that draws from the real life events and history of Appalachia) where the supernatural is real and impossibly strange, with what lies beneath the mountains and the power that dwells within the forests.

Runtime: 24mins

3) The Silt Verses

( 1.04 Of Lovers, Gods and Beasts)

Summary:

We follow Sister Carpenter, worshipper of an outlawed river god, travelling up the length of their deity’s great black river, searching for holy revelations. As she attempts to locate the Trawler-Man's church in the woods of Penda's Slake she runs into trouble instead, in the way of a strange elk.

This was the first episode of the Silt Verses that gained the series a level of attention, and it's through that I came to hear about the series. This is certainly one of the more dramatic episodes, and it's worth listening to for Méabh de Brún's performance alone, but if you like allusions to greek myth and themes of religious existentialism interwined with body horror, then this episode is an absolute delight.

Runtime: 55mins

4) The Magnus Archives

(1.32 Hive)

Summary:

Statement of Jane Prentiss, regarding… a wasps’ nest in her attic. Original statement given February 23rd, 2014. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

"There is a wasps’ nest in my attic. A fat, sprawling thing that crouches in the shadowed corner. It thrums with life and malice. I could sit there for hours, watching the swirls of pulp and paper on its surface. I have done. It is not the patterns that enthral me, I’m not one of those fools chasing fractals; no, it’s what sings behind them. Sings that I am beautiful. Sings that I am a home. That I can be fully consumed by what loves me..."

I am sorry. Every other episode on this list is fantastic, but Hive will always be my favourite. The nature of the Magnus Archives as a horror anthology podcast that has an overarching meta plot means I could've picked any episode from the first two seasons that would've worked well for this list to jump into. But it had to be Hive. This is the kind of thing that reminds me why I love horror. The structure of the episode devolving into Jane's mind, the blurred lines between human and monster, the powerful imagery squirming it's way into your brain, crawling under your skin, the way Jon's voice shifts as he's recording the statement, slipping further and further away, becoming more intensely hypnotic, I just... please listen to it. It will deeply unsettle you. (warning for trypophobia). Also, for anyone curious about getting into the Magnus Archives, this episode is filled with a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism, so it's a great one to listen to on its own and also within the context of the series!

Runtime: 20mins

5) I Am in Eskew

(Ep4: Culpability)

Summary:

In a city of steep and winding streets, where the mime artists prance in their ghastly masks and the rain never stops, is the monstrous kafkaesque city of Eskew. David Ward, our protagonist, records his strange experiences with the city that was not built or made, but born.

David meets a murderer - and hears the story of a horrific, life-altering childhood experience.

I almost feel guilty for including this one, since I already have Of Lovers, Gods, and Beasts from the Silt Verses on this list, which is by the same writer Jon Ware. Buuuut I just really like this one and think it's a shame it sometimes gets overlooked. I liked listening to I Am in Eskew, but it wasn't till this episode that I was truly intrigued by it. Culpability feels like a murder mystery being unravelled where you're waiting for the unexpected twist round the corner only to find the knife was sticking out of your back the whole time.

This was also the first time the series made me sit down and think about what it was trying to say, the potential metaphors of depression, guilt, disassociation, and isolation. As well as the idea of becoming so accustomed to pain and fear that hope and comfort become the greater and unfamiliar terrors to be used against you. You can probably summarize from that this is the bleakest episode on this list, though not the goriest (though there is some child violence/abuse/body horror) but not bleak to the point of pointlessness.

Runtime: 28mins

6) Tales from the Gas Station

(A Murdxr at the Gas Station)

Summary:

While working the nightshift at the gas station at the edge of town, Jack Townsend is used to having encounters ranging from weird to downright horrifying. Tonight is no different, when a crow suddenly flies in.

This series is just some fun horror comedy that pokes fun at horror tropes while leaning into them, maintaining its own sense of unsettling and weird. There are a few intense and gory moments in this episode, but I picked this one simply because it's the stand alone episode in the series that made me laugh the most, and the one I relisten to the most frequently. It's dark, it's fun, it's spooky, plain and simple. (This one is only available on YouTube to listen to and not on any other usual podcast platforms)

Runtime: 30mins

And with that, I hope there is something on this list for everyone who loves or is new to horror podcasts to enjoy!

And I wish you a very Happy Halloween!

A Summary of the Magnus Archives, written by someone who has never listened to it

So there’s an archive, and they keep scary stuff in it. The archive is one really long hallway like the one in the penitentiary episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved, and I think every door has a monster behind it? It looks like this. The main character is just roaming around with a tape recorder. 

For the first few episodes you aren’t aware there are characters. Then later you meet the archivists. They have names like Peter Lukas, who is a rip-off of Peter Nureyev but also is kind of like Cutter from Wolf 359, Elias Pritchard I think is how you spell it, Basirah, who is a bad-ass I think, Martin, who is very soft and sweet and looks kind of like Aziraphale, and Jonny Sims. The guy who writes the show is also named Jonny Sims, like Night Vale. 

The whole show is kind of a weird mash-up of Night Vale, Wolf 359, The Bright Sessions, and Death by Dying. It takes the oh-no-weird-paranormal elements of WNTV and DBD and the oh-no-Capitalism-is-going-to-kill-us-all elements of TBS and W359. Everyone has a British accent. (I’ve listened to one audio clip and the guy had a British accent so I assume they all do.)

The man that built the archives was named Magnus. I think. Magnus must have been a really f-ed up guy. Then he died. He got eaten by the big crab thing, because apparently there is a big crab thing. Now the archives are run by the Johnny Sims guy, and he has major depression. He’s in denial over the fact that he is gay for Martin. Martin knows he is gay for Johnny but won’t tell anyone. There are lesbians but Elias somebody is lesbophobic. The fandom fights over this a lot. 

Basically, the show tells you about the ways that people have died by the monsters, especially the crab-monster, and some other monster that I think is called the Silencer? I imagine it as looking like the Nightmare from Metroid Fusion. I mean look at this goddamn thing. 

That’s what the archive is hiding. It’s clearly hiding something. I think Elias and Peter are the bad guys? One of them dies, or maybe both. The Silencer eats Peter I think. Elias gets eaten by the crab. All I know is someone gets eaten by the fucking enormous crab. 

I think the show is very diverse, but I see a lot of people yelling at each other about it, so maybe it has issues? Maybe it’s like Voltron. Is this show like Voltron? I used to really like Voltron. Then Season 5 happened and I stopped liking it. I’m not sure how many seasons this show has. Six, I think. 

I think the archives are set somewhere where there is snow, because I see snow in fanart a lot, and big sweaters. Maybe like Northern Ireland. That explains the British Accents. 

Yes but no but yeah actually ig

To avoid doing work, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and make another taste in men quiz. This one isn't exclusively pictures of celebrities, to make it a little different.

why you should read the fire and brimstone scrolls by nikole knight

HELLO y'all. you might remember me from this post where I went on about why people should read wolfsong, the first book in the green creek series, and it’s been two years since I made that post. it still gets notes, and judging by how many it has I’m guessing I got a good portion of y'all to read it. so I figured I’d try again with a new book series and a new author!! I completely devoured this series over the last week and a half, and as far as I know, it has almost no fandom on here or anywhere else I’ve seen and I need to fix that. SO, here we go:

it’s six books (the first one is called revelations, shown above), so there is plenty of content for you to absorb!

and the series is completed so there will be no agonizing waiting between books, you can just read the next one right away!

it’s a dark new adult fantasy/romance set in a world of angels and demons, heaven and hell

sloooooow burn at first. but oh my god the payoff. 

as of now there are only 2 (TWO!!) fics on ao3 and NOTHING in the tags here (except a moodboard I made hehehe) so just like when green creek was just starting to be popular, we all have the opportunity to build up the fandom and spread word of it around!

eventually ends up being a poly romance!!!

poly rep, ace rep (in a main character!), gay rep, bi rep, fluid characters (characters who identify with he/him pronouns but like to dress up occasionally/wear feminine things), just delightfully queer from beginning to end

begins with our hero riley shephard, sweet, sweet, sheltered riley, who has grown up in an abusive household and is away from home for the first time at college

in the first book you can tell that he’s very innocent and naive, he hasn’t been exposed to the outside world much due to his upbringing with an abusive foster parent, so to watch him grow and discover himself is just so incredible, and by the end of the sixth book you’re like WOW!! MY BABY GROWN 

a heart-wrenching journey of self-discovery, freedom, and love and acceptance that I just could not stop reading from start to finish, I literally finished every single book within a day or two and I can’t remember the last time I binged a series like that

will definitely not be for everyone, but if you can handle all the stuff listed below then I promise it is SO worth it to read because of the story at the heart of it

TRIGGER WARNING: the whole series contains graphic violence, gore, scenes of traumatic sexual assault both on and off page, child abuse, torment, and a couple other things that might be difficult for people to read, but the author includes a content warning at the beginning of every book!! 

hella, hella angst

but so many beautiful scenes too, scenes of coping and healing from trauma and incredible chemistry between the characters!!

did I mention the poly romance

it’s a long journey to get there, but it ends happily and in such a satisfying way!!

the development of the main character is just such a great thing to read, it made me cry to read how he changes for the better but also has to fight the darker parts of himself

if you liked the green creek series I truly believe you’ll like this too! and if I’m wrong you can come into my inbox and drag me! but this is one of my new favorite series ever and I have no one to talk about it with!

but seriously if you like gay werewolves and gay witches, try some gay angels!

I just love Riley Shepard so much

and the angels. oh my god the angels. jairus, noel and gideon. I love them all so much.

I don’t know what else to say I just want to spread this series around because it deserves the love!! it’s so good! so fucking good! 

I’m just begging y'all to give this series a chance so I won’t be alone in my little corner

Editing this to add: Kirt Graves, the same person who narrates TJ Klune’s audiobooks, will also be narrating this series!!

To end out 2021, here are some more books that fall into the category "it's gay and it slaps." Once again a range of styles and genres, but if there's a queer main character and it's a 4-5 star book, it's gay and it slaps. 😁

Not pictured but also gay and they slap, so they deserve a mention:

- Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

- The Incubus series by A. H. Lee (warning that these are an mmf relationship that's pretty weird/paranormal and very spicy but I enjoyed them)

- Covenant (webtoon) by explodikid

- Six of Crows (the first in the duology with Crooked Kingdom) could be on this list, but no one is really explicitly queer until book two. Still a great book though!

Go forth and enjoy, my friends! And as always, feel free to recommend me more. My giant tbr can always get bigger!

ALL THREE MXTX NOVELS ARE GOING TO BE OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, IT'S REAL AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

Here is the link: http://sevenseasdanmei.com/

Also, please check suika's tweet for more details: https://twitter.com/yummysuika/status/1422968206420021253

This is what a sexuality crisis does to you.

Alternative title:The gay agenda is consuming as much queer media as possible in quarantine.(also yes I did call TENET queer media.)

Day 8: Your Favourite LGBTQ+ Book - I couldn’t possibly choose just one!

BRIAN’S BOOKSHELF | SEPTEMBER 2021

So, I recently rediscovered my love of reading and delved head-first into the LGBTQIA+ genre, specifically looking for books written by members of the community. Considering I read 9 books last month, I’d say I was pretty successful. 

(Note: Boyfriend Material was actually a re-read this time, but I’m very much looking forward to the sequel, Husband Material, which is expected August 2022.)

My TOP THREE for the month were: One Last Stop (wlw, found family, queer and trans POC characters that I absolutely L-O-V-E-D), Cemetery Boys (mlm, trans Latiné lead, truly the *perfect* October read), and The Witch King (mlm, trans lead, BIPOC side characters, modern fantasy aspects that worked really well, PLUS a sequel - The Fae Keeper - slated for a May 2022 release).

I also really enjoyed The Darkness Outside Us, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and The Charm Offensive. 4/5 stars for all of them, very solid books.

I struggled through the first half (yes, 200+ pages) of Winter’s Orbit, but found the second half to be much better, I zoomed right through to the end. I never really got into We Are The Ants, which I’m fairly certain is the oldest book on the list, but I ultimately did finish it. 

Serial Killer Au

Where Adam has been killing off abusive assholes for years, and the FBI brings in special agent Ronan Lynch to help find the Killer . But (surprise) Ronan and Adam end up falling in love, and Ronan needs to help Adam get away from the FBI

yesterday we had a bit of a discussion on whether adam did or didn’t murder that guy so here’s my final take on it. i don’t know why i spent my entire afternoon on this but i did

(also, i know i didn’t cover every type of homicide in this- i did look into it, but none of that information seemed to be relevant enough)

juno steel and what lies beyond: pt 3 except it’s just the bits when joshua ilon’s voice acting made me cry

QPoC Reads of 2021

It’s June! Which for me means Pride Month, staying cool with endless smoothies, and posting a round-up of LGBTQ PoC young adult reads. This year, let’s take a look at some YA books centering QPoC characters that came out in 2021 so far… plus a couple launching this summer! Of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list. With that said, here we go!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the Red Scare.

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore When two teens discover that they were both sexually assaulted at the same party, they develop a cautious friendship through her family’s possibly magical pastelería, his secret forest of otherworldly trees, and the swallows returning to their hometown, in Anna-Marie McLemore’s The Mirror Season… Graciela Cristales’s whole world changes after she and a boy she barely knows are assaulted at the same party. She loses her gift for making enchanted pan dulce. Neighborhood trees vanish overnight, while mirrored glass appears, bringing reckless magic with it. And Ciela is haunted by what happened to her, and what happened to the boy whose name she never learned. But when the boy, Lock, shows up at Ciela’s school, he has no memory of that night, and no clue that a single piece of mirrored glass is taking his life apart. Ciela decides to help him, which means hiding the truth about that night. Because Ciela knows who assaulted her, and him. And she knows that her survival, and his, depend on no one finding out what really happened.

Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan Zara’s family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become US citizens. But it only takes one moment for that dream to come crashing down around them.

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar Everyone likes Humaira “Hani” Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita “Ishu” Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Felix Ever After meets Becky Albertalli in this swoon-worthy, heartfelt rom-com about how a transgender teen’s first love challenges his ideas about perfect relationships.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Out now, as of yesterday! (or June 10th in the UK!) Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura Out June 8th! When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind. That was before she met the perfect girl. Willow is gorgeous, glamorous, and…heartbroken? And when she enlists Nozomi to pose as her new girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Nozomi is a willing volunteer. Because Nozomi has a master plan of her own: one to show Willow she’s better than a stand-in, and turn their fauxmance into something real. But as the lies pile up, it’s not long before Nozomi’s schemes take a turn toward disaster…and maybe a chance at love she didn’t plan for.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta Out June 29th Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they’re fighting for a common purpose–and falling for each other–in Zoe Hana Mikuta’s high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu’s Legend series.

Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson Out July 6th! Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Olivia is an expert at falling in love … and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her. Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward. When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined.

Note: Images and summaries via Goodreads!

no one: me: here’s a flow chart of 41 lgbtq+ book recommendations, have fun! disclaimer: this is a very non-comprehensive list since I’m only including books that I’ve read