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#a spiders mate trilogy

pastelpenguins · 9 months

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I may be more obsessed with Ketahn, with the Spider's mate trilogy than I thought, because my vision just whited out when I saw that tasty, tasty gif on the patreon... I am way too hyperfixated on this story

#the spider's mate #the spider's mate trilogy

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emilybeemartin · 7 months

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Inktober Day 1-3!

Day 1: "Dream"

There's a reason Yellowstone is called Wonderland---or rather, there are thousands of reasons. Steam curls in roaring plumes from cracks in the ground; vivid colors form rainbow rings around simmering pools. Huge beasts roam rolling plains; the air shivers with the primordial sounds of wolf song and elk bugles. It's a land from fantasy, a dreamland, dangerous and delightful and wild.

If all that weren't enough to match this first prompt, there's one final clincher—Yellowstone was where I first donned the green and gray and started working my dream job as a national park ranger. I spent two seasons there, and I know I only scratched the surface of what this park has to offer.

Day 2: "Spiders"

Tarantulas and Joshua trees—what a leggy, hairy, evocative pair! Despite being North America’s largest spider, tarantulas aren’t all that dangerous—unless you’re a male tarantula trying to mate. When he goes in search of a female, she comes out of her burrow with the sole desire of wanting to kill him. His mating dance involves fending her off until the deed is done, after which she eats him. It’s a tough world for a lonely tarantula.

Readers of my first trilogy, Creatures of Light, will appreciate the image of Queen Gemma, a gentle-hearted entomologist, carefully recording and sketching these behaviors in the desert canyons around Alcoro.

Day 3: "Path"

This prompt could apply to literally any park in the NPS, but when I think of iconic paths, the first ones that come to mind are the Bright Angel and Kaibab trails that switchback down the Grand Canyon. They have an elegance to them, but also a danger that’s different from most other parks—rather than climbing uphill to start a hike, they plunge down, drawing hikers toward the tantalizing Colorado River. It’s only when folks turn around and start the climb back up that they may realize just how far they went, how steep and rugged the terrain is, how hot it is, how exposed they are. Unsurprisingly, search and rescues are part and parcel of being a ranger in Grand Canyon.

#tw spiders #inktober #31 days of national parks #yellowstone #joshua tree #grand canyon #park ranger life #inktober 2023

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alecmagnuslwb · 6 months

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Friday Night Big Scream

Read on AO3

The too long laces of her converse shoes bounce against the concrete as they walk down the street Zatanna’s arm linked with John’s. The ground’s a little wet the rain ending just in time for Trick or Treating to begin as a thin layer of fog crawls along the ground giving just the right amount of spooky to the crowded streets.

They weave their way through hundreds of other costumed folks, dodging a line of little Power Rangers high on sugar who rush past them.

John and Zatanna come to a stop in front of the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, a small local theater she’s always been partial to, the marquee glowing proudly with tonight’s fare.

“Are you sure a movie marathon will satisfy your Halloween needs?” John says dropping her arm to twine their fingers together.

Zatanna smiles up at the marquee then at him. “Absolutely, Dinah and Ollie are out of the country so there’s no party worth our time and I already dragged you to three haunted hayrides this year,” she pauses with a smirk. He just scowls playfully in return; those hayrides were not as family friendly as he was told they would be. He had nightmares dammit, less terrifying than the one’s he usually has, but nightmares all the same. “Our costumes are top notch and their showing three of the finest slasher classics ever to exist. It’s gonna be a nice, easy Halloween.”

John nods his head satisfied with her answer. They step forward about to enter the theater bumping into another couple.

“Sorry, mate,” John says as one of the men looks at them.

“You two look fantastic,” he says as the pair saunters off not even missing a beat.

“Hell yes we do,” Zatanna says with a smile pulling John forward into the theater. She has once again gone all out on their costumes. This year opting to be Grace and Daniel from one of her favorite recent movies Ready or Not, it gave Zatanna an excuse to look damn pretty in white while John looks hot in a brown suit and teal shirt and has an excuse to carry around a whiskey glass all night that she can magically refill.

They give their tickets to the girl dressed as Batgirl in the booth and make their way into the massive theater. They skip the concession line for now, though Zatanna will be needing some popcorn soon enough, and head into screen room four. They’ve gone all out for the night, the lights are all lit up red, the walls covered in fake cobwebs and spiders and everything in between. A few animatronic slashers are set up here and there in the halls and at the edges of the seats.

John and Zatanna pass by screen room three where Freddy Kreuger stands and is having his own marathon, two young girls who look barely old enough to have bought their tickets tonight screaming in delight when he swipes out at them.

Their trilogy of choice isn’t quite as famous as that man of nightmares but it’s Zatanna’s hands down favorite.

The Killer Blade franchise is a blatant mish mash rip-off of Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th. The killer, quite obviously, carries a chainsaw in one hand, a machete in the other and sports a scarecrow like mask as he terrorizes young campers in the dead of the southern summer.

They’re corny and ridiculous and only get more so as the films progress, by the third film the killer has blatant healing powers that are never explained and the machete has become molded to his arm in a practical effect that’s essentially just duct tape. The final girl from the first film is portrayed by four different women across the movies, yes that’s right four. They couldn’t even keep one actress around to finish an entire film in the second installment.

They’re not great, but Zatanna has such fond memories of the schlocky 80’s slashers. They were the first horror movies she stayed up way too late to watch and couldn’t take her eyes off of. She remembers dressing up as Star Bradford, the series final girl, the first Halloween she was able to pick out her own costume and a few years later showing Zachary the first film and giving him nightmares for a month.

When she heard they were doing a big screen showing for one night only, she couldn’t think of any other way to spend the night.

Their screening is in the smallest screen room unsurprising considering Killer Blade isn’t exactly as popular as many of the big franchises.

They settle into their seats, unfortunately at the front of the theater. Zatanna hadn’t heard about the showing till it was almost too late snagging two of the last four tickets. She discreetly moves her hand a silent little spell under her breath that moves all the seats back subtly making it so their necks don’t have to crane uncomfortably up at the screen.

They settle in lifting up the armrest between them, John wrapping his arm around Zatanna’s shoulders his fingers softly running over her lace covered collar bone.

The first film breezes by a 90-minute gore fest that Zatanna delights in every second of. It’s been a while since she’s seen the movies, really sat down and watched them full through and she loves it just as much now as she did at 12 years old.

“Well,” Zatanna says slipping out from under John’s hold turning to him excitedly. He’s never seen the movies in their entirety only bits and pieces when he’s popped up and interrupted her viewings. “Incredible right?”

“That’s one word you could use,” John says with a snort.

“Oh, come on,” she says standing up and stretching out grabbing John’s hand and pulling him along with her into the lobby for the fifteen-minute break between the movies. “I heard you laughing at the jokes, even felt you jump a couple times.” She teases pushing open the door to the ladies’ room, John doesn’t even bat an eye as she drags him in along with her.

She steps over to the mirror adjusting her bandolier and fixing up her hair where the braid has loosened a bit from resting against John’s shoulder all movie long. John leans against the wall beside her and shrugs.

“I guess it was pretty fun,” he concedes pushing off the wall and wrapping his arms around her waist. Eyes meeting in the mirror with a small playful smile. Zatanna smiles back continuing to fiddle with her hair.

“I hate to say it, since we’ll never be getting married,” Zatanna says leaning back into John looking at the image they make in the bathroom mirror. “But damn do we look good like a bridal pair.”

John smiles at her pressing his face into her neck. A few other people move behind them clearly unbothered by the couple hogging the bathroom mirror. If the sounds from the second stall are any indication they’re definitely not the only couple in this bathroom anyways.

“A bit of a bloody wedding,” he comments brushing his hand over the blood splatter across her waist, his fingers fiddling with the bandelier of empty shotgun shells across her chest.

“Well if we were to get married, it’s safe to assume there’d be some bloodshed at the ceremony,” she muses.

John hums in agreement trailing his lips along her shoulder his hands moving in directions not appropriate for public viewing.

“And where do you think these are going?” she says lacing her fingers with his stopping his movement in its tracks.

“We can’t let those two have all the fun,” he says gesturing his head back for a beat towards the second stall just as a very loud moan comes from behind the door.

Zatanna chuckles pulling his hands around her tight before pulling them away and twisting to face him.

“I am not fucking you in a movie theater bathroom stall,” she says kissing him once quick on the lips before pulling away and heading for the door. John trails along behind her.

“We’ve done it in worse places,” he grumbles under his breath.

“We have not,” she laughs as they make their way back into the lobby pulling John by his undone bow tie into the concession line. She absolutely needs popcorn for the second movie.

“The basement of that haunted sanitarium in DC was way worse,” John argues.

Zatanna looks up contemplating. “Okay, maybe, but,” she defends. “We thought we were gonna die, dire circumstances makes one forget about germs.” She pauses once they get to the front of the line ordering a large bucket and paying, tossing an extra hundred into the tip jar with a wink to the girl behind the counter. “Also, the second movie starts in about five minutes and we will not be missing it.”

John dips his hand into the popcorn bucket taking a large handful and shoving it into his mouth. “Fine,” he says muffled through the buttery snack.

“Later,” she says with a flirtatious smirk backing into the doors and going back inside the theater. She reaches out running a finger along John’s lower lip licking the remnants of salt and butter off her finger holding his eyes the entire time.

John swallows the last of the mouthful of popcorn hard. “How long are these two left?”

“Three is the longest, just a little over two hours,” she says with glee settling back into her seat tapping John’s whiskey glass to fill it automatically. “Two is another cool 90 minutes. Think you can hold out?”

“I am a man of strong will and great endurance,” he says taking another handful of popcorn, setting his glass aside.

“I mean I don’t know if I’d call the endurance great,” she teases hooking an ankle around his.

“Rude,” John says shoving at her playfully. The lights go down, the movie starting to roll on the screen. “I’ve never heard you complaining.”

“Well now that you mention it,” she chuckles clearly just messing with him.

“I cannot believe you,” he says with a laugh throwing a little bit of popcorn at her. She tosses it back at him just as the production company insignia crawls across the screen.

She shushes him as she settles back in comfortably underneath his arm.

The first twenty minutes are pure trash attempts at being cinema all shot in black and white telling the loose origin of Killer Blade that makes not one ounce of sense and isn’t referenced ever again. Things get really good in Zatanna’s opinion when things go back to color the camp counselors of the second film, including final girl Star, now played by a different actress, who for some reason decides it’s a good idea to help reopen the camp where her friends were all murdered two years prior by a madman with no motive other than to kill that disappeared into the night without a trace.

It’s a rapid ride that she falls into easily forgetting how much time passes watching with rapt attention as if she hasn’t seen it dozens of times before. So of course she notices something wrong with the film in an instant. At first the screen crackles a bit, a passable glitch she brushes off, but then it happens again. This time along with the screen warping unnaturally. She sits up straight, John taking notice their eyes meeting for a beat before returning to the screen.

Zatanna scans the audience as the ground shakes, light bursting out of the screen. No one else seems to notice; all just happily watching the film without a care in the world.

The screen morphs again, Zatanna pushes the popcorn out of her lap her hands at the ready, magic just at her lips. But she’s not quick enough two hands still showing the movie across them reach out grabbing each of them by the neck.

They both fight back John biting at the hand while Zatanna kicks at the one holding onto her. They don’t so much as flinch pulling the both of them in closer and closer to the screen till they’re going straight through it. The sounds of a chainsaw and the blood spatter of the unsuspecting gas station attendant enveloping them.

Everything goes dark for a moment, a scene change, then they’re both being thrust hard onto the ground landing face first into dewy grass. Gone is the just right temperature of the movie theater, replaced now by the warm breeze of a summer evening. The darkness of the theater no longer surrounds them instead the slow burn of a summer sundown.

Zatanna sits up with a groan. “John,” she says shoving at his back, he groans in response slowly lifting himself up. Zatanna looks around the trees swaying in the wind, she shifts the other way and there she sees it the bright red Camp Crystal Arawak sign she currently has a replica of hanging over her big screen tv at home.

“Holy shit,” she says. John twists looking the same way she is.

“Are we-“

“We’re in Killer Blade 2,” she says half in awe that she knows she shouldn’t be feeling. “We’re in Killer Blade 2,” she says again lifting up from the ground, a little more enthusiastic this time. She knows this is probably bad, but she can’t help it.

“Probably not a good thing, love,” John says lifting himself up from the ground trying to reign in her excitement.

“I mean, yeah, probably not. Probably a villain did this to mess with us,” she says eyes looking all around taking in the scenery like she’s never seen it before. “But come on, I mean who hasn’t wanted to live inside their favorite movie?”

“I haven’t,” John says dusting the grass off of his suit.

Zatanna turns giving him an eyeroll over her shoulder. “Well, that’s because your favorite movie is A Clockwork Orange.”

“And your favorite movie is about a man with a machete for a hand,” he shoots back.

“Not until the third one,” she says reaching back. “Come on, the massacre hasn’t started yet, that’ll give us time to figure out how to get out of here.”

“Oh goody the massacre hasn’t started,” John says taking her hand.

They walk under the large arching sign and it’s almost as if the air shifts, the warm summer night giving way to a cooler breeze as if the space knows it’s about to become a wasteland of death. Zatanna points naming out cabins and which characters will perish where as they walk through the campgrounds. Her hand reaching out every now and then to run her fingers along the set she’s memorized every inch of.

A few teens portrayed by twenty and thirty somethings come barreling out of a cabin laughing.

“Shit,” John says trying to pull Zatanna behind one of the cabins so they’re not spotted. He assumes that will just make things more complicated.

“It’s fine they probably can’t see us, they’re scripted they can’t move off of it,” Zatanna says continuing to move forward.

“Hi, y’all!” one of the campers shouts. Zatanna and John freeze in their tracks.

“Or maybe they can go off script,” she swallows turning around. Janet, the films signature slutty girl, is waving at them frantically not a care in the world.

She’ll have cares soon enough when her macabre ending comes because she just can’t resist running off to the woods for one quick blow job with mega jock Brad who will die with his pants at his ankles.

“Hi!” Zatanna waves back a corny smile across her face. She nudges John with her elbow and he joins along a little less effort put into his smile.

“Are y’all lost?” she says that thick southern girl accent she’s putting on mixing with the actresses’ natural valley girl cadence.

“Sort of,” Zatanna says putting on her own little southern twang. John looks at her wide-eyed mouthing a question of what she’s doing. “Roll with it,” she whispers under her breath as Janet makes her way towards them, perky and practically bouncing with every step. Brad and a few of the nameless body count stroll along behind her.

“Oh, no!” she says rushing right at Zatanna giving her a hug not questioning their outfits or the bandolier of shotgun shells she’s wearing. Bless this sweet, horny girl.

“What’s up with the get ups?” Brad asks, at least having a little more sense to question their presence.

“You see we were at a costume party at the old West-Cain cabin on the other side of the lake and it got broken up by the cops,” Zatanna says coming up with a quick story using her knowledge of the movie’s landscape to her advantage. A party occurring prior to the events of the film at the cabin they’ll spend the entire movie trying to get to is a passable excuse for their presence. Especially for this crowd.

“And our ride ran off without us and left us stranded in the woods,” Zatanna continues with an overdramatic rolls of her eyes. “We just started walking and luckily stumbled upon y’all.”

“Well thank goodness you did; those woods get really spooky after dark. Especially after what happened,” Janet says with a shiver. She reaches out grabbing Zatanna’s hand pulling her along not giving any further information. That’s okay Zatanna knows better than her what happened. “I’m Janet and this is my boyfriend Brad.” She says pointing to the blonde walking alongside them. The nameless body count characters have peeled off ahead of them heading towards the dining hall.

“I know,” Zatanna says accidentally, Janet giving her a funny look. “I mean it’s printed on your shirt.” She quickly corrects, Janet looks down at her shirt like she’d forgotten that fact and possibly even forgotten her own name.

“Oh, yeah,” she says with a giggle.

“I’m Zat-” she starts deciding her name might be a little too complicated for this group. “Zee,” she says instead. “Just Zee,” she smiles at Janet throwing a hand over her shoulder. “And this is my boyfriend John.”

John snorts. She never calls him that, it’s what he is technically speaking, but the word never seems to fit for them. “Good to meet you,” he says.

“Ooh,” Janet says shimmying her shoulders. “From jolly old London are we?” she says putting on a god-awful British accent, mixing terribly with the two she’s already battling.

“Liverpool technically.”

“Like the Beatles,” Brad says with a nod of his head slapping his hand down on John’s shoulder with a loud clap. “Cool.”

John just gives Brad a thumbs up and a slightly grimaced smile rubbing at his shoulder as they walk up the steps to the dining hall.

“We’ll get you guys all set up in here,” Janet says dropping Zatanna’s hand and pushing open the double swinging doors. “Anton is the only one with a car, he doesn’t love driving at night, but I’m sure he’d be able to give you two a ride into town. He’s too nice to say no.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Zatanna says emphatically looking over at John. “Truly we can just get a little water and head back out there.” Look for magic signatures, find a portal or some sort of tear they can slip through to get back into their reality. Anton will be a hindrance to that.

“Nonsense,” Janet says dragging them along and introducing them to other counselors in the room. They may be going off script here, but Zatanna can’t help but notice she only gives names to the characters who are given them in the movie.

Anton is happy to help, a do gooder who will lose his head in act three, twirling his keys around with a wink before heading out to his car. Zatanna knows for a fact he will find his tires slashed, the night of terror truly about to begin.

“You two just sit here and drink these,” Janet says settling them at a table. Brad sits two glasses of water in front of them. “I’ll be right back.”

She won’t, if the leer Brad gives her as she walks away is any indication.

“So what’s the costume?” Brad asks turning the chair on the other side of the table backwards and sitting down in front of John.

“It’s from a movie,” John says not going into further detail.

Brads hums. “I don’t watch a lot of those.”

“Ironic,” John says leaning back.

“Yeah, totally,” Brad says absolutely not knowing what the word ironic means. He gets up with a nod jogging over to Janet wrapping his arms around her waist, shoving a hand down the front of her tiny shorts.

“Well that’s subtle,” John says watching them slip out of the side door.

“Yeah they’re about to die,” Zatanna says using her normal voice turning her body towards his. “Look, we’ve got to get a move on and find our way out of here, cause shit is about to hit the fan.”

She lowers her voice leaning into John. “Us being here isn’t affecting the plot all that much, Anton is going to go to his car and find the tires slashed. Then on his way back he’s gonna find Janet and Brad’s bodies. It’s pretty much a non-stop kill fest from there.”

“Let’s try and not be a part of that,” John says getting up from his chair. They make their way to the little backdoor they watched the couple slip out of moments ago when the kitchen door swings open blocking their path.

The walking epidemy of the 1980’s teen dream steps out. He’s got that same curly hair like the boys in Nightmare on Elm Street, rocking a crop top and denim shorts, baseball cap clipped to one of his belt loops. It’s a look she has managed to wrestle John into a few times and it delights her to no end.

“Oh my god, that’s Ray Bronson,” Zatanna says excitedly twisting them away from the door a bit.

“Who?”

“Ray Bronson,” Zatanna says sounding half in love. John tries not to be jealous. “He was a bonafide scream queen in the 80’s and 90’s. His character, CHARLEY, was originally supposed to survive this movie alongside Star, but he was dating Sidney Strode at the time and when she quit the movie he refused to be in the third film so they rewrote the ending.”

She steps away from John lingering near Ray Bronson as he shares high fives and bro hugs with a few other guys in the room. John follows after her.

“You could tell production was mad at him for bailing cause his ending is grisly,” she sighs quietly looking the man up and down.

“How grisly?” John says trying not to get the guy’s attention, keeping his voice low.

“Him and Star get split up and first one of his arms goes through the meat grinder in the cafeteria, he gets away bleeding like crazy. Then he gets his legs chain sawed off and as he crawls away somehow still conscious the killer picks him up and ties his only remaining limb to the back of a truck and does doughnuts in the field till CHARLEY smacks into a tree and basically his whole body explodes. It’s disgusting,” Zatanna says with a delighted grin.

“You look far too happy about that,” John says with a chuckle.

“Don’t get me wrong CHARLEY is dreamy as hell and you root for him in a way you don’t root for anyone but Star cause he’s a genuinely a great horror movie boyfriend, but the FX team goes all out for his big death scene,” she says with a fond nostalgic smile. She can be a real freak sometimes, John loves it.

The front door swings open again and the music swells. Zatanna and John look up finding no plausible source for the music, the generic 80’s pop playing from the radio is gone, the score taking over welcoming its final girl back to the screen.

The room freezes all eyes on her as she makes her way over towards CHARLEY.

“Star 2.0,” Zatanna whispers watching as a tall tanned woman flips her long black hair over her shoulders. Her outfit is different than a lot of the others, the blue and white polo replaced with a red t-shirt sporting the name of the camp, a little white washed denim jacket on top of it. It’s the outfit Zatanna sported for Halloween all those years ago. “She’s not my favorite Star, but she has the best final girl scream. This is so cool.”

John gives her look.

“Okay, potentially extremely dangerous, but also,” she pauses gesturing wildly to their surroundings. “Camp Crystal Arawak. I wanted to go here so bad when I was a kid, I was bummed when I realized it wasn’t a real place.”

“You wanted to come to the murder camp?”

Zatanna just shrugs with a little smile.

“You were a twisted little one, weren’t you?” John says fondly.

“Maybe just a little bit,” she says with a playfully tilt of her head. “Come on, Anton’s about to bust in it’ll be a good distraction for us to get out there and investigate.”

***

Night has fallen completely by the time they slip outside and out on the ridges of the camp not far from Anton’s car Killer Blade is waiting, lurking. Zatanna guides them in the opposite direction, better to avoid the killer for as long as possible.

The woods are quiet, largely carnage free for now as they make their way through the trees. Zatanna snaps her fingers trying and failing to find magic at her fingertips.

“Dammit,” she says a flicker of light coming from her fingers for a second, immediately expunged. “My magic is on the fritz.”

“Same here,” John says tapping at the exposed sigil on his collarbone, it doesn’t even flicker to life for a full second.

They continue walking along looking for some sort of magical energy signature until a rustle comes from the right. They briefly stop, but Zatanna keeps them walking along as if nothing has been heard.

“White guy, pony tail,” Zatanna says under her breath keeping close to John. She watches as he dives behind a tree thinking he’s gone unnoticed.

“There are several of those here,” John murmurs back. Zatanna looks the way of their potential bad guy again, the goatee man sneaking his head out from behind it for a second. For a bad guy capable of something this elaborate he sure is acting like a cartoon villain in the moment.

“That one,” she says inclining her head towards the tree line. “He’s not in the movie,” The man slinks back behind the tree disappearing into the background of the movie.

“You sure?”

“You saw his outfit, all black, long jacket; that’s out of place at a summer camp. Plus I’ve seen these movies a hundred times, I know every detail down to the background actors and he’s not one,” she says stepping towards the tree, John following right behind her.

Zatanna attempts to ready her hands with magic, but it flickers out once again. The man behind the tree snarls when they make eye contact and immediately twists making a run for it.

“No you don’t,” John says chasing after him.

He doesn’t get far, John may smoke a pack a day, but when he’s stubbornly determined enough the man can run. He catches up to the guy tackling him to the ground the two struggling with each other rolling on the grass. Zatanna comes to a stop in front of them watching as John gets the upper hand pushing the man into the grass.

“You cannot hold the demon of illusion!” he shouts ripping his hands into the grass a flickering beam of bright white light coming up through the ground. He sinks his hands into the light disappearing in an instant the light closing up right behind him causing John to fall face first into the grass.

“Fuck!” he shouts his voice lightly muffled by the grass.

“Demon of illusion,” Zatanna says. “I appreciate that demons have just started introducing themselves with job title cards, it really cuts down on the research time.”

“Doesn’t help us get out of here though,” John says getting up from the ground.

“Illusion explains why no one else in the theater reacted when we got sucked in. And it explains why his powers work, but ours don’t he’s in control of the whole thing,” Zatanna puzzles with his reasoning though. “Did we do something to this guy? Did you beat him in a poker game?”

John just shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t think so, of course some of those games are a bit of a blur.”

A piercing scream sounds in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” John says looking up from where he’d been scuffing at the grass the demon had disappeared through.

“The massacre has started,” Zatanna says grabbing John’s hand. “We should head back.”

“We should?” John says incredulously running alongside her.

“The demon probably wants to see us go through it and we can’t do that if we’re just wandering in the empty woods,” Zatanna says increasing her pace. “Plus I kinda want to see it if we’re being honest,” she adds on with an apologetic smile, gritting her teeth.

The screams get louder as they get closer, the whirring sound of a chainsaw slashing through the night air.

Zatanna skids to a stop, John crashing into her back. Her eyes are locked upward and John follows her line of sight. Before them stands a behemoth of a man clad in a white long-sleeved shirt and dark overalls, heavy work boots caked in mud and a lightly burnt scarecrow mask over his face. He sheaths the machete in his right hand into his blood splattered overalls choosing instead to rev his chainsaw back to life.

Zatanna backs up as Killer Blade takes a slow step their way. She and John end up side by side backing up slowly. John reaches out an arm ready to block Zatanna and take this chainsaw for the both of them if he has to.

Zatanna raises her hands, “Kconk siht rellik otni eht eerts!”

Nothing happens. Killer Blade just tilts his head inquisitively at her.

“Shit!” Zatanna says dropping her hands pulling at John’s back. “Not just a glitch, magic definitely doesn’t exist in this world.”

She pushes John down the both of them just narrowly keeping their heads as Killer Blade swipes the chainsaw at them. They take off in a run faster than either of them have ever run heading back in the direction of the cabins.

“I thought the killer had magical powers?” John asks as they run looking over his shoulder. Killer Blade is catching up somehow despite the fact he’s walking at a snail’s pace compared to them. Slasher movie logic hard at work.

Zatanna shakes her head pulling John to the right away from the dining hall. There’s nothing but abandoned dinners in there and within the next few minutes Killer Blade will find his way inside and give Marcie the cook a new haircut. Scalp free. “Not until the third movie and it’s never explained as magic so kind of a grey area anyways.”

She rushes them to cabin 28 pushing at the door that blissfully hasn’t been barricaded yet. Not that the barricade does much good.

Star screams high pitched and perfect for the silver screen; Zatanna screams right back on instinct. John pulls her back the screaming settling down.

“He’s back,” Star shudders pushing past Zatanna and John to pull at the screen door tight as it slaps in the wind.

“We noticed,” John says and CHARLEY gives him a questioning sharp look that John just ignores.

“If we stay put and wait Freddy will be here soon,” Star says pushing a dresser in front of the door. CHARLEY rushes over to help her. God, Zatanna loves her, but she doesn’t utilize a single thing she learned from the first movie for the first two acts.

“Freddy’s not coming and we need to get out of this cabin,” Zatanna says putting her little accent back on. She doesn’t want to bring on questions about her lack of cute little southern accent distracting them. They need to get out of here, they need to find the illusion guy and they need to stay alive. She also knows that Freddy is not coming, the owner of the camp is very, very dead broken into two over a tree stump outside the West-Cain cabin that only Star will reach in the end.

“She’s right,” Anton says. A voice of reason for at least the next five minutes. “We need to get to the phone in the craft cabin.”

It’s broken, not even by the killer, just by poor maintenance. But it is logically where the story goes next. The script finds a way.

A quiet scratching comes from the outside, the metal of a machete running along the jagged wood outside.

Everyone in the cabin freezes for a beat, screaming when the machete pushes through the screen door.

“Out the window!” Zatanna shouts shoving her way to the back. She’s slightly stealing Anton’s final attempted hero moment, but she can’t be bothered. Killer Blade slashes at the door shoving at the dresser blocking his entrance.

She takes a breath cringing a bit before she crashes her elbow through the glass of the back window. She knows for a fact it’s stuck and there’s no time to waste for her and John. John comes up beside her helping clear the shards before hoisting her up and out of it.

He follows her, Star and CHARLEY sliding out behind him. Anton, Zatanna knows is scuffling inside with the killer and he won’t be making it to the window.

“Anton,” CHARLEY shouts about to reach back inside, but Star pulls at him to run.

The craft cabin isn’t too far, but the killer is nice and distracted hacking Anton to bits right now and soon he’ll mow down a line of nameless camp counselors while Star finally re-finds her gumption. They have time and they’ll find two other survivors there.

***

The craft cabin is playing out exactly as it should. The phone doesn’t work, everyone panics and unbeknownst to the characters in the room, they’re the last five standing.

Star meanwhile is quietly finding her strength, building a weapon that will take her further than you’d ever expect out of a shovel from the gardening supplies in the back, loading her pockets with toxic spray paint that will save her life when she and CHARLEY get separated on their way to her salvation.

“We have to get out of here and find that illusion demon fast. He can’t be far, he’ll want to see us get chopped up,” Zatanna says talking to John but watching Star as the music swells her moment of power coming to a head.

“Out there doesn’t seem so safe,” John says ignoring as the room around them descends in to mild chaos. Star announces her plan to run to the West-Cain cabin, but the arguments end quick, CHARLEY taking hold of his girlfriend’s hand, nothing but a sharp pair of scissors as his weapon, as they confidently storm out of the doors.

“We’re running out of time, that was Sidney Strode’s last scene, when Star walks back through that door,” Zatanna says turning to the big green swinging door with the bloodied handprints on it the couple just walked out of. “She’s gonna be Renai Lambert who plays her for the remainder of the film which is only about twenty minutes.”

“What do you think happens to us if the movie ends and we’re still in it?” John wonders.

Zatanna shrugs. “There’s only one ever one final girl in the Killer Blade films,” she says ominously.

“Let’s go then,” John says rushing for the still swinging doors. Faint protests from the remaining survivors huddled in the corner call after them, but they ignore their pleas. They slip around the corner, off to the side away from where the moonlight catches on the killer’s rusty blade.

They make their way back into the tree line, John letting Zatanna be his guide. She knows exactly where the killer will be.

“I have an idea,” she says stopping when they find a patch of well grown earth. She reaches down taking a clump of dirt in hand along with some ivy and flowers. “Magic in our sense doesn’t exist in this universe. It’s born out of myth and humanity that doesn’t exist in this world, but magic of the earth? That exists in nature, in all nature.”

“The green,” John says watching as Zatanna closes her eyes and focuses. The green isn’t an expertise either of them have, but they’ve been friends with Swamp Thing long enough to know a bit to get by. Tracking using the earth is easy if you have the right belief, attitude and intentions. And Zatanna is filled to the brim with all three as their clock starts to run out of time.

John keeps watch as she centers herself the dirt falling through her fingers, the flower and ivy glowing a bit to life. She doesn’t understand the green, she never could she isn’t connected to it in the way people like Alec are, but she knows how to respect it, how to ask for its help in small ways. A tracking spell for a man that’s clearly set them up for a grisly movie worthy demise she believes isn’t asking too much.

The dirt swirls in the air drifting out on the wind like the living thing it is, the flower and ivy following along.

“John,” she says opening her eyes pointing forward. The little bit of earth moves fast in the air and they follow behind it quickly.

The earth leads them right to their target, sporting an evil smirk.

“Your end is near,” he says.

“Nah,” Zatanna says simply rushing at him. She rams at him knocking him into a tree hard. She struggles with him for a moment pressing her knee into his stomach holding him in place. He moves his hands about to pull the same trick he did before, but John’s quick to their side stamping hard down on one of his wrists and grabbing the other hand tight.

“You can’t stop me, you can’t break free,” he spouts. “You wronged me and you’ll pay.”

“We don’t even know you,” John says twisting the wrist in his hand. The demon grits his teeth.

“Of course, just another demon who’s crew you banished to hell. Just another on your laundry list of banishments. Well you won’t forget me now, when you burn in hell you’ll remember my name. You’ll remember the demon of illusion who ended your life through the plot of a silly little human film. You’ll remember Choronz-“

“Are you actually doing a big villain speech right now?” Zatanna says with a sigh cutting him off.

The demon looks taken aback. “I was trying to,” he says angrily.

“You really shouldn’t, it’s very generic of you,” she says angering him further. He blasts a shot of magic at John knocking him back a few feet, using his leverage to kick up at Zatanna. He scrambles upright, but Zatanna is on him once again, swinging a fist that connects right with his jaw. He twists around John landing another hit to the other side of his face. They don’t always need magic to win a fight.

He fights back, or tries to at least, every attempt he makes at waving magic their way they duck, quicker than him. Catching him hard in the gut or the neck or wherever they can reach with every movement.

Zatanna shoves him back to the ground John kicks him hard in the chest, a few times over for good effort and that’s when Zatanna spots it, a burst of light like the one the demon had created in the ground when he disappeared earlier.

“John get him up,” she says and John does so lifting the demon by the collar of his coat. His power might be impressive, but his endurance is not. He clearly relies on his illusions to do all the work and when he tries a different way he loses his grip on even that.

John hits him hard and square in the eye and the crack in the scenery grows, more light pouring out of it. The sounds of thunder rumble in the distance, a crack of lightning too bright and violent to be real. The music swells again, this time some 80’s metal hair band ballad playing.

Zatanna looks up just a John punches the demon hard in the gut again, a slow crawl of words coming down at them. The credits are rolling, their time is up.

She wastes no time tackling both John and the demon through the crack of light. They land hard on the floor, the sticky carpeted stairs of the theater not having the gentle give of the summery grasslands.

The demon tries to scramble away put John pulls him down by his long coat. Zatanna brings her hands at the ready her magic tingling at her fingers, regaining its strength in the world where it belongs.

“Hsinab siht owt-tib wohsedis nomed ot lleh,” she says a wave of burning hot fire leaving her hands and hitting the demon head on as he attempts to knock John with his elbow. The demon goes up in a cloud of burning flames, screaming for a moment before he’s nothing but ash falling to the ground.

John and Zatanna’s eyes meet the two letting out a synchronized breath of relief.

“Ummm,” a voice sounds and Zatanna turns. The credits stop rolling the room going silent, just the blank, confused faces of their fellow movie goers staring at them.

Zatanna bites her lip a forgetting spell at the front of her mind, before her stage presence kicks in bowing to the people with a wave instead.

“Happy Halloween!” she says in a cheery voice nudging John with her foot encouraging him to give the audience a wave as well. He does so, just not quite with the flair she possesses.

They all begin clapping immediately none the wiser that what just happened was real, even if they all still look a little confused what any of it has to do with the movie. It’s Halloween, weird shit happens all the time. She hears a couple near the front whisper to one another about how realistic practical effects have gotten.

“Let’s go home,” Zatanna says pulling John up and hastily down the aisle and out of the theater.

***

Zatanna runs her fingers along the contents of the closet adjacent to her bedroom a tired smile on her lips as she hangs their freshly magically cleaned costumes up alongside the collection of previous years.

She closes the closet door with a flick of her wrist before gliding down the stairs to her recently magically built entertainment center. She’s traded in her lacy dress for an old Killer Blade t-shirt she’s had since high school and some little jack-o-lantern shorts.

“You sure you’re not too disappointed we didn’t finish the trilogy at the theater?” John asks lying flat on his back on the couch a bowl of popcorn resting on his stomach. He tosses a few pieces in the air, only actually catching one in his mouth.

“After the hands-on experience we had tonight a comfortable at home viewing is more than enough,” she says tapping her Camp Crystal Arawak sign before making her way over to him. She picks up the bowl of popcorn just as he grabs another handful once again largely missing his mouth sitting it aside on the floor. She ignores the mess nudging his legs, he gets the message making space for her. She climbs on top of him making herself comfortable against his chest letting her hands drift up under his sleeveless Hellraiser shirt.

John hums bringing one arm around her and reaching into the pocket of his skeleton sweatpants Zatanna bought him earlier in the month for the remote. He presses play the opening title card of Killer Blade 3: The Final Stab splashing onto the screen.

“You enjoyed being in the movie too much,” he says with a smirk tossing the remote on the floor beside the popcorn bowl laying his hand none to discreetly on her pumpkin clad butt.

“I think I enjoyed it the exact appropriate amount,” she says scratching her nails at his sides playfully. He squirms moving his other hand to the small of her back pushing her shirt up dragging his fingers across her skin.

“You reveled in being chased by that psycho,” he says moving his fingers up higher along her spine.

“I didn’t revel, I simply partook with a normal amount of horror fan enthusiasm,” she corrects lifting up her head digging her chin into his chest with a smile. “Now shush,” she says turning her head back to the tv. “I’m watching the movie.”

John chuckles tilting his own head toward the screen, a perfectly timed rumble of thunder sounding just as Killer Blade, now equipped with superpowers and a poorly structured machete hand, takes over the screen. Blissfully just on the big screen this time, right where he belongs.

#my fic #john constantine #zatanna zatara #johnzee #magicblazersource #magicblazer

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tomhollandnet · 11 months

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The Crowded Room: Tom Holland reveals how he defied a studio - over a hairstyle

In Cherry you played someone with PTSD, in Devil All the Time your mind went to all these dark and difficult places and here, there are memories that are disappearing from your life. What is your fascination with playing these characters who have these mental health struggles and challenges?

I’ve never really thought of it in that way, that I am kind of chasing characters with these ailments as such. I love a great story. I love a great challenge. I love working with great people and The Crowded Room offered all of those things.

Why did this particular project grab you?

I was shooting Spider-Man 3. I was in-between hanging upside down, fighting Alfred Molina and having the time of my life and I found out Akiva [Goldsman, The Crowded Room’s showrunner] wanted to speak to me about this project. I met with him on the Christmas break on Zoom and we immediately hit it off. Our 45-minute meeting turned into a two-hour epic about what The Crowded Room could be. He was kind enough to give me the job and the adventure started from there really.

What is it about you and New York?. First there was the Spider-Man trilogy – and now this. When is a statue going to be built there in your honour?

I’m probably the wrong person to ask that question. I’m a huge fan of New York. I was delighted to call it home for almost a year. It is as much a character in the show as I am. New York in the ‘70s was a pretty crazy place. I think our department heads did a pretty wonderful job of bringing that to life. It was very cool stepping into that era. It was also equally scary – it was a very, very different time.

Speaking of the scary ‘70s, did you get much say in the wardrobe – and that hairstyle in particular?

I tell you what mate, I learnt a really valuable lesson from Jake Gyllenhaal once – “commit to hair and makeup and commit to wardrobe. Do whatever you can to make yourself look as aesthetically different as possible with each role that you have” – and with Danny Sullivan, I went for it.

The studio wouldn’t really allow me to cut my in the way that we did. Ultimately, I just took an executive decision to say, “I’m going to do it anyway because this is how I think the character should look”. I’m delighted that we did, because I think the hair is the icing on the cake for the character.

As for the wardrobe? I loved the wardrobe. I’ve kept it all – I still wear the flared jeans. I think they did a wonderful job of putting that all together.

Talk us through that hairstyle. What made you so convinced that it had to be that way?

I think I trust my own judgement. My make-up artist Rachel Speke did these wonderful mood boards for what she wanted to achieve and we would sit there and look at these different pictures of people in New York in the ‘70s and so many times this haircut popped up.

I think we were a little hesitant, because it is a huge departure from what I look like in real life, but I just felt it was so important with the character like this to disappear into his life as much as possible and be as authentic to the period. I do remember showing up to the camera test and there being some rather unhappy faces, but I think they came around in the end.

I feel more comfortable making executive decisions now because Rachel and I have worked on five or six feature films together. I feel like we’ve always done a really good job – and it’s always for the service of the show.

It is such a complex role. How did you stay on top of all the facets of it?

I think we did a great job of scheduling it so lots of our actors’ stuff was in order, but that wasn’t the case for me. I was bouncing backwards and forwards in time on so many different days. Shooting multiple episodes on the same day was really, really tough. It meant we really had to be vigilant and prepared for every day’s work.

Ben Perkins, my acting coach, arguably saved the show. He was so good at making sure Danny’s arc was a strong cohesive one, not only to us making the show, but also to the audience.

There are some very intense scenes in The Crowded Room. What kind of on and off-set support did you have?

Akiva is a professional, he was a great ally on set. He’s not only a great friend, but also a great leader. I have a wonderful support system of friends – my brother was with me and my best friends from my personal life also work together as a team. Yes, there were times when I needed a shoulder to cry on – and I had plenty of shoulders to choose from. I was very lucky.

Since you became a star in the Spider-Man movies, you’ve also consistently stretched your acting skills in other, smaller roles – is that something you’ve deliberately sought out to do?

It’s something that I’m definitely very aware of. I love playing Spider-Man and Peter Parker, who I feel like is my best friend. He changed my life. I also have had two incredibly gifted agents since I was 13 years old who have been so good at positioning me to work at the right times with the right people.

It has definitely been something that has been in our strategic conversations about not getting put into one box. I love challenging myself. For me, it all comes under the same umbrella. It is something we think about and something we actively try to achieve.

Roles like this must take up so much energy and emotion – how do you take a break?

I am currently taking a year off. Today has been my first day of work in ‘23. I’ve been home, I’ve been lying low, I’ve been working on my house and building cupboards and gardening and all that sort of stuff.

I did know while I was making The Crowded Room that I did have this wonderfully long break coming up, so I took on the challenge, was dealing with the hardships of the character knowing that I had a break at the end.

I thought that after two months I’d be itching to get back on set. I’m now six months in and I’m absolutely loving my time off – I’m really enjoying myself.

#tom holland #the crowded room #tcr press #articles #long post

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separatist-apologist · 1 year

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crawling into your ask box to beg for your monster book recs

i've had my eye on ice planet barbarians for a while, but i thought i would ask the resident monster expert

you already had me picking up the captive prince i'm the captive prince anon so i know you'd never do me wrong

Sorry, Captive Prince anon. I turned anons off tonight and deleted all [garbled number] asks in my box (sorry if your ask went unanswered) so now everyone is forced to say what they think to me to my face for the time being.

My monster fic recc's?

The Hoard King series by Zoey Draven. If you know me then you know how rabid I am about this series. Humans vs alien barbarian dudes (they have tails if memory serves me- perhaps a reread???). Basically humans are resettled on a new planet and a few (un)lucky ladies run afoul with the local warlords. I think it checks a lot of ACOTAR loving girlies boxes

Of course you should read Ruby Dixon's ice planet barbarians but her dragon shifter series was the inspiration for Wonderland and if you liked dragon shifter Lucien/Az/Cassian, you will LOVE hers. The premise is different- earth is also inhospitable thanks to a rip in the world where dragons come through, and surprise! They have human mates.

Opal Reyne is like, 101 monster girlie reading. I really liked her Duskwalker Bride trilogy and that's probably where I would start if you're looking for a legit monster

The Krakens Sacrifice by Katee Robert- it's fine. Something about Katee Roberts writing is just meh to me. Sometimes it's really good and I love it and other times it's just not it. I didn't like her RH Vampire book and I know people raved about it, and I did like this mostly. I finished it, and I think its good.

Finley Fenn's Orc Romance series. God yes, and you can finally see what @/ablogofbipanic is always teasing me about. These books are REALLY good, again I think the ACOTAR girlies would enjoy it. I have one minor complaint about how much the FMC enjoys drinking a certain bodily fluid and when I flippantly said it must taste like diet coke they way they go after it, I have never known a moments peace

Devoured By Monsters by Katie May and Ann Denton. Is this good? No. Not at all. Is it entertaining? yes. And sometimes that's enough. It's reverse harem that leans into the monster genre in the most absurd way (someone can shape shift into a mouth) and the whole time I was like, do I need to re-find religion? Uncertain.

This is where I would start for now. I almost added the spider romance that was the inspiration for Vansssssspider but honestly it has too much spider politics and not enough spider [redacted] which is what we all came for.

#mb monster recommendations

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kwockwoc · 1 month

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Hi Kwoc,

So I know you for some time now as one of the people who lives in fencedom, and I wanted to ask you some random questions that just popped in my head. So how did you come across Fence? Do you write any fics and if you have a favorite fence fic which one would you recommend me to read? Who is your favorite Fence character? What's your favorite movie and favorite genre? What book are you currently reading? Also what is your favorite food of all time?

Have a good day mate

XOXO

Atom

P.S what style of music do you listen to?

G’day Atom --

Okay, wow! Thanks for the lovely ask in the ol' Inbox!

The answer was more wordy than I expected, so it's below the cut 👇

I was a little overwhelmed when I first read your ask, because I think of myself as kind of occupying space right on the edge of the fandom, and am slightly mystified at the thought of being ‘in’ it!

I first came across Fence (but didn’t initially read it) when it was recommended to me by a friend. The first issue was being launched by CS Pacat at my local comic book shop, and this friend was quite insistent that I should go to the launch event and read the comic, because “it’s written by Cat and it’s gay and it’s got swords in it and you’ll love it!”

Anyway, I took a look at a preview, realised it was about teenagers fencing at a boarding school, and I thought –

Not for me.

I had already read CS (Cat) Pacat’s Captive Prince trilogy when the final of the three books first released (Wikipedia tells me that was in February 2016, which seems a staggeringly long time ago, but is probably correct). I sat down and devoured the trilogy over the course of about forty-eight hours. I loved Damen and Laurent and enjoyed the worldbuilding. I then met Cat at a book signing at a local bookshop, and had really enjoyed the interview Cat gave, so thought that whatever was next published would be interesting…

But… teenagers? High school? Uh…

Anyway, fast forward a few years. Fence got nominated for a GLAAD award and I thought oh, it must be pretty good then, but then still didn’t pick it up. Around the time of the release of the compiled volume four in a graphic novel format (mid-2020), I realised that the series was still being published, albeit in a piecemeal fashion. I borrowed the first three bound volumes of Fence from the library, and I was hooked.

I’m not a comic book reader – not now, anyway. I grew up on Spider-man and read Marvel comics well past the age most guys stop (some of my fave characters have faded to darkness, now – Nightwatch, anyone?). I wrongly thought of comics as something that couldn’t engage me anymore. Wrongly? Very wrongly. I enjoyed Fence a lot and wanted to spend some more time in its world.

Yes, I do write, but not much. I used to write more, but I stopped creative writing in… I want to say about 2012, but I can’t really remember. Every time I think about it, the timeline shifts a little. 2012 would make sense, though. I took a break because I was working in academia, and I would be ‘all dried up’ in terms of writing by the end of a normal semester. Nothing left! No energy, no inspiration. Academic writing took me over for a long while – a lot longer than I expected it to. I wrote a few flash fictions here and there over the intervening years, but only returned to doing some focused creative writing in 2023.

Favourite Fence fics – wow, amazing question! I have a soft spot for everything that inagartenforever writes – I’d suggest you check out anything and everything by ina. (Full disclosure – I’ve gifted a couple of fics to ina, so this is hardly a ‘disinterested’ recommendation 😅)

Looking through my bookmarks I’m surprised how little I’ve bookmarked – there are so many great writers both active and inactive in the Fence fandom. Maybe just spend some time browsing and see what you find interesting!

The only things written in the Fence fandom and currently visible on ao3 that I’ve bookmarked that AREN’T by inagartenforever are two pieces by Merrilly, both of which are E-rated, if you’re OK with that – Pas de Deux, and Shattered Pieces Shine (I am a bad reader because I so often forget to bookmark 🙇). My other bookmarks are from other fandoms, perhaps most notably OMGCP.

Favourite Fence character – hmm. This is like a parent picking a favourite child. I’m going to say Nicholas, although my reasons for choosing that guy are unclear, even to me, because I do love Seiji. What an interesting guy Seiji is! I also have an enormous and growing soft spot for Robert Coste, not for any particular or even real reason – only because of the complicated head-canons I have invented about him 😅

Favourite movie – I’m not a movie person, really. I do love The First Wives Club and The Castle. Oh dear. As you can see, I apparently stopped watching new films in 1997 😅

Favourite genre of movie – I’m going to say that I don’t watch enough cinema to have a fave genre 😔 I look over at the DVD collection on the bookcase, and there’s a lot more TV boxsets over there than there are films! In terms of TV – all-time favourites are the US Queer as Folk, and Futurama.

Currently reading…? – oh, dear Atom, this – this question. This question. Oh no. I have so many different books I’m partway through (yeah, I’m one of those readers, too). Currently in the “yes honey I promise I am reading these” pile are:

Bunt! (Ngozi Ukazu),

the bars are ours (Lucas Hilderbrand),

White Trash Warlock (David Slayton),

My Next Date (Casey Morales – I’m listening to this as audiobook narrated by Jon Curtis),

and I’m also re-reading It Takes Two to Tumble (Cat Sebastian – yeah, another writer named Cat). It's basically a riff on The Sound of Music, but set 130 years earlier, and much gayer.

I adore Cat Sebastian’s writing – very cozy with a happy ending. In general, I re-read frequently and without regret. If I like it, I’m going back to it. Just try and stop me. I’m looking at you, Lord of the Rings.

Favourite food of ALL TIME – if I can set aside the question of nutrition, I’m going to say veal saltimbocca as cooked by a guy named Tony, which I used to have at a little place in South Yarra called Tamani (sadly, now long since closed). Dinner at Tamani and then a night out at a gay or gay-friendly bar/club south of the river was a guaranteed good Saturday.

Favourite style of music – I had an EDM/trance ‘phase’ for a long while in my late teens/early twenties. I listen to… well, more or less anything, now. A lot of Lana Del Rey these days. My top listened-to artists this month (March 2024) are Lana Del Rey, Kesha, Gregory Dillon, RAYE, Troye Sivan, and… uh… Taylor Swift.

Once again Atom, wow! What an amazing ask. A whistle-stop tour of kwoc’s life. Appreciate the questions!

#kwoc answers #thanks Atom for the ask!#wow this was a long answer #i'm so sorry Atom #for the length of the reply

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bn-brightflower · 2 years

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I have severe arachnophobia - to the point that it actually negatively impacts my daily life - so naturally I had to read the A Spider's Mate trilogy by Tiffany Roberts and. Wow. I highly, highly recommend it. Not just to monster/alien fuckers but to anyone into sci-fi.

Google: what to do when you want to recommend your monster porn book to everyone you've met.

Why am I emotional over spiders?

I don't think this is what the therapist meant by exposure therapy.

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mellifiedfemme · 5 months

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i never mentioned in here that a couple month ago i briefly picked up "the never king" which is a dirty retelling of peter pan (no, none of the character are children) and i did so bc i had seen ppl call it like the nastiest or horniest book/retelling theyve evre read and i got curious and then quickly disapointed. maybe it was my impatience, cus i only got to like chapter 10 bc i was bored or i was waiting too much but like it was kinda lame. which is a shame, since a peter pan retelling, a story quite literally about growing up and the transition of childhood to adulthood as a toxic dark erotica could get sooo interesting, not necesarily bc of the erotica btw. also, peter and the lost boys felt like so much lost potential, like they introduce peter as this eldrich being who existence is intrinsecally tied to neverland itself and is implied to be older than time itself and i thougth that this concept paired with the idea of eternal childhood would mix in a character thats like rlly uncanny, like it looks human but theres something wrong with it and also absolutly unhinged and childish almost bordering on cruel and instead hes the most basic ass mafia boss type character and with all due respect i cant take that seriously in this particular context, especially considering that the lost boys are described like deviant art oc. idk man maybe i'll pick it up again if im bored one of these days but like not even gonna lie i enjoyed more reading the first descendants book, and i didnt finish that one either

#i had high hopes bc i also read the spider mate trilogy bc i thought it was odd and i loved it #the spiders mate reads like a fanfic in the sense that you feel the passion from the author #the never king reads like a fanfic in the way that its like a 12yo wrote it and there are no paragraphs just. sentences #im talking to myself lol #if i ever pick it up i migth do a review on it but idk

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kiarazuri · 1 year

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Cover Appreciation: A Spider's Mate Trilogy by Tiffany Roberts

He’s spent years as a hunter, but now he’s the one ensnared in a creature’s trap. Ketahn did not want a mate. Fate has a different plan for him. When the queen he despises declares her intention to claim him, he retreats into the jungle. What he finds there changes his world. Small, delicate, and pale skinned, Ivy Foster is nothing like the females Ketahn has known. She’s not of his kind at all. Yet the moment he sees her, he knows the truth in his soul—she is his heartsthread. And now that he has her, he won’t let anything take her away. Not the jungle, not the gods, not the queen and her warriors. Whether Ivy agrees or not, their webs are entangled. No one will ever sever those threads.

(Ensnared, Amazon)

The gorgeous artwork on these covers tells you EVERYTHING you need to know:

The genre (Fantasy [technically Fantasy and Sci-fi] Romance)

That the series follows a single couple. Which is rare among Romance novels (although I've seen quite a few recently while looking for new books to read. I have to be extra careful now since I prefer serieses of standalones with an overarching plot, so being able to tell just by the covers is incredibly helpful.)

The couple’s specieses (human and spider (Oops! Silly me, he’s obviously a Vrix)

What type of monster’s getting fucked (there's literally no getting around that Ketahn's a spider. Not a spidertaur/coptaur/arachnetaur where the upper-half's human and the bottom-half's spider oh no, a full on top and bottom spider with a little big of humanoidness sprinkled in as a treat)

At least one of their genders.

What they look like (the best part of illustrated covers is that they can actually show what the characters look like... unlike a lot of stock photo covers which almost always leave me with a feeling of "that doesn't match the descriptions in the book" )

Their dynamic (big/small, dom/sub; Ketahn's obviously the one in control, look at that body language! In addition to their sexual dynamic being on display you can also see that they get closer and more comfortable with each other with each book. [Ivy's definitely looking up with heart-eyes on Enthralled])

Even the webs in the back change too, becoming more cohesive and put together with each cover. Her outfits also help tell the story, changing from the human clothes she had while on the ship into dresses made from Ketahn's own silk.

I only have a few criticisms. And the biggest one is about the last book. To get straight to it: “Bound” feels… odd. I would have probably named it something like Entangled or Enamored or something. And the reason is simply because it breaks pattern--and instead of putting a flourish on the bottom of the N they chose the top of the U... why? It just bothers me.

Now my next criticism is more so for the trilogy "box"(?) set cover.

It's gorgeous and really embodies their dynamic… except, there is something to be said about the white/black innocent/dangerous dynamic that it gives off that is very watered down in the individual covers. The webs in this one are drawn so that Ketahn's looks like a puppeteer and Ivy's his puppet which is very sinister.

While the Vrix aren’t necessarily Black coded, they ARE coded as non-white and indigenous (possibly Asian). They’re also more “primitive” (🤢) than the humans and the dark/light dichotomy does make me a bit uncomfy. If the other books (Roberts intends to write books about Ketahn's friends and their human mates) continue with the same pattern, ill become much more concerned (I'm especially nervous about what the Japanese girl’s [who's meek and shy personality is already a red flag] book cover's going to have on it).

I checked Goodreads to see if there were any alternate covers and found that only the first book (Ensnared) has one.

I do like this cover, and I wonder if Roberts will make matching covers for the other two as well. The only problem with this cover is that it's... more Horror- than Romance-oriented. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, but it definitely doesn’t look like a Romance, especially since it doesn’t say “A Spider’s Mate” on it and instead has a very threatening tagline 😂 (having read the books, I think the tagline is great but it really does feed the whole horror-thing this cover’s got going on) as a cover it’s obviously beautiful; the black, purple, green, and white an absolutely gorgeous combination.

As a final note I wanna point out that when I first saw this cover I thought the spider was gonna be asexual because he’s got the ace-flag colors on him.

That is not the case 😅 (though I would love to use that sort of color symbolism in a story someday)

#cover appreciation #cover appreciations #cover appreciation post #tiffany roberts #book covers #book cover appreciation #romance books #romance book covers #me #mine #a spider's mate by tiffany roberts #a spider's mate cover appreciation post #cover appreciation: a spider's mate by tiffany roberts #cover appreciation posts

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c-chai · 11 months

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slowly working my way through every Tiffany Roberts books on kindle unlimited. Currently reading Yearning for Her

already read :

-taken by the alien next door -the kraken series book 1-3 -the spiders mate trilogy -silent lucidity

#tiffany roberts #smut reads

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enjolrasisafeminist · 1 year

Text

books read - 2022

here is my long long post cataloguing the books i’ve read this year!

30 📖

italics - reread

the darkness outside us - eliot schrefer

dec. 29 2021 - jan. 1 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

aurora rising (the aurora cycle #1) - amie kaufman & jay kristoff

jan. 6 - 8

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

aurora burning (the aurora cycle #2) - amie kaufman & jay kristoff

jan. 9 - 26

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

aurora's end (the aurora cycle #3) - amie kaufman & jay kristoff

jan. 26 - 30

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a court of mist and fury (a court of thorns and roses #2) - sarah j. maas

feb. 6 - apr. 9

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a court of wings and ruin (a court of thorns and roses #3) - sarah j. maas

apr. 10 - 15

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a court of frost and starlight (a court of thorns and roses #4) - sarah j. maas

apr. 14

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a court of silver flames (a court of thorns and roses #5) - sarah j. maas

apr. 15 - 28

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

the love insterest - cale dietrich

apr. 29 - 30

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

pestilence - laura thalassa

may. 26 - 28

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

a dance with the fae prince (married to magic #2) - elise kova

may. 29 - june 8

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

claimed by the orc prince (the orc prince trilogy #1) - lionel hart

june 8 - 10

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

house of sky and breath (crescent city #2) - sarah j. maas

apr. 28 - june 13

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories (the folk of the air #3.5) - holly black

june 14 - 16

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

nimona - n.d. stevenson

june 17

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

heir of fire (throne of glass #3) - sarah j. maas

dec. 7 2021 - june 25 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

our violent ends (these violent delights #2) - chloe gong

june 19 - july 1

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

iron widow (iron widow #1) - xiran jay zhao

july 1 - 3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ice planet barbarians (ice planet barbarians #1) - ruby dixon

july 7 - 16

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

soul eater (monstrous #1) - lily mayne

july 6 - 16

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

barbarian alien (ice planet barbarians #2) - ruby dixon

july 20

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

barbarian lover (ice planet barbarians #3) - ruby dixon

july 23 - 25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

enthralled (the spider’s mate #2) - tiffany roberts

july 23 - 28

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

bound (the spider’s mate #3) - tiffany roberts

july 29 - aug. 13

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

choosing theo (clecanian #1) - victoria aveline

aug. 13 - 14

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

freeing luka (clecanian #2) - victoria aveline

sep. 8 - 15

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

heartless - marissa meyer

sep. 27 - 30

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

barbarian mine (ice planet barbarians #4) - ruby dixon

nov. 1 - 7

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

red rising (red rising #1) - pierce brown

nov. 14 - 22

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

queen of shadows (throne of glass #4) - sarah j. maas

aug. 15 - nov. 28

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#books read 2022 #booklr

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godzilla-reads · 2 years

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So, I saw your post on The Dragon's Bride (a deal with a demon novel) and immediately read it and loved it! If it's something you're interested in, there is another monster romance novel called The Spider's Mate trilogy and if you liked The Dragon's Bride I HIGHLY recommend this one. The plot, world building, and characters in this novel are spectacular and well written.

This looks interesting! I’ll have to check it out!!

#godzilla reads #godzilla answers

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