#but it´s an academia novel so it´s actually research
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"If I’d waited for him I would probably have stayed to talk with him in such a way as to miss my train."
Did you know that you can read van Goghs letters and highlight your favorite quotes and have your heart broken in a million pieces ? This one was highlighted by Bob in antarctica and I´m fucking crying at my kitchen table.
Handshakes in thought.
Ever yours,
Vincent
#van gogh#vincent van gogh#letter to his brother and sister#letters of van gogh#netherland museum are the fucking best#quote#booklr#ever yours#handshakes in thought#needless to say i´m just procrastinating writing#but it´s an academia novel so it´s actually research
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https://twitter.com/Zulo_Ren/status/1770256561388101881?t=66YKLffNnA-VEcUhjybfLQ&s=19
My bad I probably should have just sent it to you in the first place!
Thank you, no worries! And...
Dude, I'm sorry, how the fuck does this individual think some professor is gonna walk up to HR and go "don't fire me, I thought it was okay because of this romance novel". Lmao be fr. I hate the phrase "touch grass" but touch fuckin' grass because what kind of separation from reality do you have to have to think that adults are going to abuse their power.... because of a book.
I actually think the relationship between Adam and Olive is really debatably dicey because they don't have professional interactions from what I recall? But it's been a while since I read the book, and again, the professors out there who are fucking grad students are already doing it regardless of how unethical it is, and regardless of whether or not that book is out. Like, I'm picturing a prof, probably in their 30s at least, going "you know, I though fucking my advisee would be a bad move... but I've been led on a different path by The Love Hypothesis".
And I do wanna make another thing clear here: I do not care if fictional advisors fuck their fictional adult students. I don't care! I don't care. Because fiction is not prescriptive, and I would also add that it is RECKLESS to compare two adults in a situation wherein there is a potential abuse of power but for all intents and purposes, both are consenting... to a teacher/student relationship, in which a minor is involved and CANNOT CONSENT.
I think that from a fictional perspective, an adult student fucking their prof is more akin to boss/employee romances, which I also think are fine. Advisable in real life? Probably not, though also not SET IN STONE disasters/crimes, the way an adult assaulting a minor is. Ethical? Probably not. But on a similar level in fiction, ESPECIALLY in Ali's settings imo because these students are really very much grown academics on their own research paths. There is a big difference between an undergrad and someone doing postgrad research. Jesus. Olive is learning, as an example, but she is also literally doing her work. She is working to cure a disease. She's not sitting there taking class after class, she is DOING WORK. Learning from people, but it's HER JOB, also. As is often the case in academia.
Which is why I compare her situation more to boss/employee, except ADAM IS NOT HER BOSS.
So yeah, idk, media literacy is dead goodbye lmao
#romance novel blogging#it's been a good while since i read that book so forgive me if i've confused some details but ffs#and pls i'm not telling anyone that fucking their boss or their prof is a good idea#don't do those things is my perspective#but let's not act like the fallout from those situations (which can occur! but is not guaranteed to occur)#is the same as a teacher preying on a child
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any girls! dark academia movie recs? i really struggle to find anything not about a group of boys (as much as I love them)
SO MANY!!! This is probably a far more detailed answer than you were expecting but this is a popular question and I want to keep a list for myself and others.
Feel free to add to it/give opinions. I've tried to give a tw for anything I can remember
Girls! Dark Academia Movies/TV Shows
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
1950s Women’s college
Art professor! Julia Roberts
She’s legit the female Mr Keating of the art & college world
Feminism vs. Tradition
Maggie Gyllenhall x Ginnifer Goodwin; their characters were more than friends. Fight me.
Does not end how you expect
Strike!/All I Wanna Do/The Hairy Bird (1998)
MY FAVOURITE!!!
Free on YouTube under one of its various names
Comedy
1960s all girls boarding school
Young Kirsten Dunst
Group of girls plot to sabotage a merger with a boys school less prestigious than their own
Secret attic clubhouse meetings of the D.A.R aka Daughters of the American Ravioli (eaten cold, ew)
girls get political & advocate for their rights using ANY elaborate and chaotic scheme
TW: eating disorder, vomiting & creepy male teacher but the girls plot against him too
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
based on a short book I read for uni by Muriel Spark
1930s girls school in Edinburgh
Scottish teacher! Maggie Smith, controversial with a focus on romantic ideals
Spoiler alert, the liberal teacher is actually a fascist
Her group of fave students has cult- vibes and it’s fascinating
Picnic at Hanging Rock
1970s movie or 2018 mini series
Never watched either but I plan to
Wild Child (2008)
00s romcom every UK teen girl loves
Emma Roberts as the spoiled rich American teenager sent to a strict English boarding school
Plots to get herself expelled but oh no she’s making friends with the girls who help her
And the headmistress has a hot son, and he’s nice??? Double oh no
ICONIC SCENES
Everything! Goes! Wrong!
omg she burns the school down
Feel good, comfort, nostalgia
St Trinians (2007)
English girls boarding school
The kids are all criminals, no joke
So are the teachers
CHAOTIC
gay awakening for british girls
Art heist pulled off by school girls
Government tries to shut them down but oh no, the education minister & the headmistress are ex-lovers
Colin Firth x Rupert Everett in drag
Superior cast: Jodie Whittaker, Gemma Arterton, Juno Temple, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, etc...
embodies the phrase 'problematic fave'
St Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (2009)
Mystery, pirate ancestors, hidden treasure
omg Shakespeare was a woman
girls disguised as boys to infiltrate and rob the posh boys school
Villain! David Tennant in that ICONIC boat scene
Teen girls vs. ancient misogynist brotherhood
like the first film but MORE chaotic and BETTER!???
The Falling (2014)
1960s all girls school
best friends! but its unrequited love
Agoraphobic + distant mother aka mommy issues
Sudden death and the school suppresses/ignores the students grief, sparking mass hysteria & a fainting epidemic in the girls
Cast: Maisie Williams (GoT) & Florence Pugh (Little Women) & Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders)
TW: teen pregnancy, death, vomiting, underage s*x, sibling inc*st, past s*xual assault
READ THE PLOT SUMMARY FIRST
The Book Thief (2013)
Based on an amazing book by Markus Zusak
set in 1940s Nazi Germany
Daughter of a communist whose family were taken by the Nazis/died is fostered by an older couple who teach her to read & she paints a dictionary on the basement walls
Coming of age story about a compulsive book thief. No joke, this kid steals books from banned book burnings and breaks into the mayor's library through the window
Family hides the Jewish son of an old friend in their basement and he helps her to start writing about her experiences in the war
TW: death, bombings, WW2 anti-semitism
Mary Shelley (2017)
Overall good & roughly biographical
Pretty costumes and aesthetic
Modern feminist take on Mary Shelly in her own time period
So many INACCURACIES for the drama so don’t take it as truth
Percy Shelley slander and not all of it is justified
Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, and Maisie Williams
The Secret Garden (1993)
Based on a fave childhood book
1901 colonial India & Yorkshire, England
Orphaned, spoilt & neglected girl sent to live with her reclusive Uncle in the English countryside
Gothic elements, mysteries, secret doors/passages/locked gardens
local boy with a flock of animals, magic, kids chanting around a fire and all around immaculate vibes
Happy ending!!!
Hidden Figures (2016)
African-American women as mathematicians for NASA
1960s space project
Women balancing a career and family obligations
Deals with racial & gender discrimination
Loosely based on the lives of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan who worked for NASA as engineers & mathematicians
Anne of Green Gables (1985) & sequel (1987)
Adaptation L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books
Canada (late 1890s/early 1900s)
Highly imaginative & bookworm orphan is adopted by a reclusive elderly brother and sister duo
Small town & school years comedic drama
Unrequited Enemies -> Friends -> lovers
Inspiring new woman teacher
Girls re-enact Tennyson’s poem and nearly drown for the aesthetic™
Dramatic poetry reading with INTENSE 👀eye contact👀
Writer! Anne & English teacher! Anne dealing with unruly girls school antics
Collette (2018)
biographical drama on french writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette
Victorian & Edwardian era France
More talented than her husband so she ghostwrites for him
Fight for creative ownership of her wildly successful novels
Affairs with a woman called Georgie and also with Missy, born female but masculine presenting
Cast: Keira Knightly, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark)
Enola Holmes (2020)
Netflix book adaptation
Younger sister of Sherlock Holmes
Victorian era! feminism/suffragettes
Mother-daughter focus
Mystery, adventure, secret codes, teens running away & escaping from (and eventually fighting) assassins
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw, Millie Bobby Brown
Ginger & Rosa (2012)
1960s England
best friends since literal birth navigating troubled teen years
poet & anti-nuclear activist! Ginger
off the rails but also catholic! Rosa
Shout out to Mark & Mark the gay godfathers we all want
family troubles
TW: older man has an affair with a 17 yr old
Testament of Youth (2014)
based on WW1 memoir by Vera Brittain
young woman (writer & poetry lover) escapes traditional family & goes to study at Oxford University
abandons to become a war nurse
romance, tragedy and war trauma
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington (GoT), Taron Edgerton (Rocketman), Colin Morgan (Merlin)
Little Women (2019)
Writer! Jo & Artist! Amy
Mother/daughter focus and sister dynamics
the March sisters’ theatre club is *chefs kiss*
champagne problems edits of Jo x Laurie are a mood
Ambivalent ending perfectly captures Louisa May Alcott’s dilemma with the book the movie is based on
set in 1860s America
ALL STAR CAST and a Greta Gerwig masterpeice
Lady Bird (2017)
coming of age in early 2002/2003 Sacramento, California
all girls catholic school
writer! Christine aka Lady Bird wants to get outta town and start her life again at college 'in a city with culture'
Mother/daughter dynamics - so realistic!
I live for that Jesus car stunt & the nun's reaction
school theatre program
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein
Another Greta Gerwig gem
Beguiled (2017)
Virginia, civil war era
Girls school with only five students and two teachers left
Find an injured Union army soldier & bring him inside
Women & teenagers want his attention (v. problematic) before uniting against him
(tbh you'll either love it, hate it, or watch once & forget it)
Sofia Coppola film so its very feminine gaze
TW: violence, death, underage
Legally Blonde (2001)
No questions will be taken
Elle Woods was the blue print
TV series:
House of Anubis (2011-2013)
I know it’s a kids/young teen show but I still unironically love it
ANCIENT EGYPT!!!!
Modern day with Victorian era links to treasure hunters & Egyptian research expeditions (stealing from tombs)
Chosen one plot lines, curses, kidnapping, mysteries, secret tunnels under the school, elixir of life
Teens have investigate & protect themselves cus oh no the TEACHERS are involved in some shady stuff
new American kid at British boarding school is the actual premise not just a fanfic au
Nostalgic, light-hearted, funny, and kinda cheesy but I will accept no criticism
The Alienist (2018 -now)
Mid 1890s, New York
Woman’s private detective agency (Season 2)
Serial killer mystery
Woman secretary turns detective and teams up with a criminal psychiatrist and a newspaper editor to solve crime
TW: violence, child pr*stit*tion
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, Daniel Bruhl
The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
Woman chess prodigy
1950s & 1960s
TW: drug & alcohol abuse
Gentleman Jack (2019 - now)
Based on the diaries of Anne Lister
Victorian Yorkshire, England
Upper-class lesbians
Confident, suit wearing! Anne Lister x shy! Ann Walker
Business woman! Anne running the family mines
Cast: Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) & Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders)
TW: violence
Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
bubbly/ambitious single mom + intelligent daughter
bookworm! Rory Gilmore gets into a prestigious private school and then an Ivy League college
Small town drama is comedic gold
Fast dialogue packed with pop culture and literary references
Comforting & nostalgic
TEAM JESS
Anne with an E (2017-2019)
Loose adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books
they completely change the plot lines but it’s still very good content!
Orphan girl with trauma and a love of books/poetry is adopted by an elderly brother & sister duo, bringing light and fresh ideas to a rural community
Feminism, girls writing club, lgbtq safe spaces, girls eduction, black/indigenous representation
Miss Stacy as THAT inspiring teacher
Aunt Josephine’s lavish gay parties have my heart
TW: creepy male teacher tries to marry a student, racial discrimination, indigenous assimilation school
Victoria (2016-2019)
Adaption of Queen Victoria’s life
Victoria navigating her political, royal, and personal life
Albert’s involvement with The Great Exhibition, 1851 (on cultural + industrial innovations)
Alfred Paget x Edward Drummond is exquisite
Gorgeous costumes and aesthetics
TW: bury your gays trope
Derry Girls (2018-now)
1990s Northern Ireland during the troubles
Comedy, episodes 20-25 mins long
English boy sent to an all girls Catholic school with his cousin
✨Dead Poets Society parody episode ✨with a free-spirited female teacher
Sister Michael, the sarcastic nun who hates her job & reads the exorcist for giggles
Wee anxious lesbian! Clare Devlin (plus her friends wearing rainbow pins)
Badass with bad ideas! Michelle Mallon
Main Character! Erin Quinn
Lovable weirdo who would fight a polar bear! Orla McCool
Wee English fella & honorary Derry girl! James Maguire
Dickinson (2019-now)
Loose adaption of the poet Emily Dickinson’s life
Set in 19th century Massachusetts, US
Historical drama with modern dialogue & music that works SEAMLESSLY
gives a great understanding of Emily Dickinson’s poems
💕Vintage gays! Emily x Sue💕
Theatre club, writing, poetry, dressing as men to sneak into lectures, love letters, teen drama, feminism, and an underground abolitionist journal as a brief side plot in season 2
Wiz Khalifa plays death in a horse drawn carriage
TW: opium use
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)
Based on great childhood books
Bookworm! brother, Inventor! sister, and baby sister with sharp teeth
Mystery, secret organisations, orphaned siblings figuring things out & fending for themselves against the villain after their fortune
Adults either cartoon evil, comedically incompetent, or SPIES
Boarding school, library owner, scientific researcher, and theatre episodes
Ambiguous time period which is really fun to try and pin point
Killing Eve (2018-now)
Classic detective who has homoerotic tension with the assassin she is tracking down
British Detective! Eve Polastri figures out the notorious assassin MI5 are investigating is a woman, is fired & then put on a secret MI6 case with a small team
Assassin! Villanelle, a psychopath with a tragic past and a mastery of both accents & fashion
Woman MI6 boss! Carolyn Martens, head of Russian section
Travel Europe following Villanelle’s killings and escaping the assassins sent by Villanelle’s organisation
‘You’re supposed to be my enemy and moral opposite but omg you’re the only one smart enough to get me and why am I obsessed with you????'
🚨 GO IN FOR A KISS AND THEN STAB YOUR ENEMY 🚨
Cable Girls/Las chicas del cable (2017-2020)
Spanish drama set in 1920s Madrid
Four young women at a telecommunications company form a group of friends and help navigate the difficult situations they are all in
Secret identities, dangerous pasts, murder, crime, lgbtq couple & throuple, trans man character, feminism/suffragists
girls commit crimes for humanitarian reasons and cover! it! up!
UNDERRATED SHOW!!!!
Gorgeous costumes and set
Haven’t finished it yet and I’m catching up
TW: abuse, violence, death
Outlander (2014 - now)
haven’t watched yet but plan to
Woman time travels to Scotland, 1743
Rebel highlanders, pirates, British colonies, American revolutionary war
Time jumps between 18th & 20th century
#CO posts#answered asks#asks#dark academia girls#dark academia recommendations#dark academia recs#dark academia women#dark academia movies#dark academia tv
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Day 6 of the Black History Month Featured Author Interviews, featuring Jade!
Jade, author of Redwood
Black History Month Featured Author
Congratulations! You have just received an acceptance letter from one of the most elite universities in the modern world.
Yet, due to sudden unforeseen circumstances, your college fund has been drained of all resources. However, you suddenly have a benefactor who is willing to pay for your college fund, but there is one catch.
You have to pledge for one of the universities’ controversial ‘Houses’. However, everything powerful harbours secrets, the question is, are you willing to uncover them?
Read more about Redwood [here]
Redwood Demo TBA | Author’s Ko-fi |
Tags: Romance, Mystery, 16+
[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]
Q1. So, tell us a little bit about the projects you're working on!
So, I’m currently working on three projects at the moment! I took a hiatus due to exam season and personal issues but I’m working on redwood and a non-interactive coming of age. I also consider Redwood to be a coming of age too so I tend to have a theme i think. Redwood is a story about the mc attending a prestigious college only to find out that they’re unknowingly embroiled in something bigger. It is a mix of genres, and allows you the option to romance any of the four LIs or stay single! It attempts to analyse relationships of all kinds, as in how far would you go for the people that you love. It should make you think.
If you like dark academia, comedy and thrillers, you should like Redwood!
Q2. What inspired you to start writing your current project(s)? Why in Interactive Fiction?
I love dark academia and I wanted to write something that would be along those lines. This book has been years in the making honestly, I only just recently started to formulate and plan it now. I chose IF because I wanted the reader to immerse themselves in the novel and having them choose what the MC does helps them to align with them a little bit.
Q3. What is the most rewarding part of creating for you? The most challenging?
My favourite part is planning the story! I have the entire story planned and written out, it’s all in multiple forms. I have some on my phone, some on my pad and some on paper. The hardest is setting deadlines for me to actually write it, especially with work and university but I’m determined to get it done hopefully.
One thing I do like to do is send snippets of my writing to my friends, they usually hype me up and it makes me a lot more confident about my work because one thing that no one tells you is that it is scary to put your work out there on the internet. I’m terrified of people not liking it but you have to tell yourself that at the end of the day, it is a project for fun and it should be fun!
Q4. Does your heritage have a lot of influence in your work? How?
It was one of the main reasons I chose interactive fiction as I wanted the reader to be able to see themselves in their MC if needed be. I had read many projects which alienated readers of certain backgrounds by describing the MC in a certain way, which is why I refrained from using certain descriptors like ‘blushed’ for the MC.
Q5. What is something you would like to see more of in IF works and in the community?
This was probably the hardest question to answer, as the IF community has been incredibly welcoming to me but one thing I would love to see is more research into writing characters of colour. Tokenism is something that is easy to accidentally do even if you have good intentions. I would just say to do your research, listen to marginalised voices and be open to constructive criticism.
Q6. Describe something that you love about your work or are excited about sharing in your story.
The characters. If you ask a writer what the most important part of a story is, the answers would differ but I think the most important part is the characters. Not only the main four but I think the side characters in the story all add their own personalities and quirks to the story and I’m excited for everyone to meet them! Also the plot, there are certain choices that I think will be extremely difficult for the reader to make and I’m excited to see what everyone picked and why.
Q7. Any advice to give to your fellow writers?
Write a little every day. Honestly, even if it’s bad. I constantly write little lines on my phone whenever they come to mind and they help so much. I also would say make sure you know your characters inside out as it is important to be able to write as them and figure out what decisions they would make in the moment.
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realistic dark academia tips
i love this aesthetic to DEATH don’t get me started... but let’s be honest, a lot of it is impractical in real life. so here are my realistic dark academia tips.
books to read (these are the only true dark academia books i’ve read. if u have suggestions pls let me know):
- the secret history by donna tartt
- if we were villains by m. l. rio
- the goldfinch by donna tartt (not DA, but an honorary mention bc it’s a masterpiece and some of it takes place at school + college):
clothes, jewelry, shoes, makeup, nails:
- oxfords
- cardigans
- thick black t-shirts
- plaid and corduroy pants from the local thrift store
- overcoats
- delicate silver, gold, or stainless steel necklaces, rings, and earrings
- turtlenecks
- tailored (or not) blazers (i’m too chicken to wear these out in public, but if i were more confident, i would ROCK these)
- cArDiGaNs
- dark red drugstore lipstick
- chipped dark purple nail polish, or no nail polish at all
- thick and thin black and brown vegan leather belts
- C A R D I G A N S
life and academic tips (inspired by my life as a classics major):
- stay up till 2am researching your favorite greek god or finishing up your latin assignment (i’ve done both of these things, and regretted my choices in the morning).
- or, go to bed at a reasonable hour and do the above things during the daytime.
- explore the woods surrounding your college under a full moon after a night of ghost stories and homemade hot chocolate in the classics department’s library. forget to bring a coat and slip on the icy snow every 5 minutes (i’ve also done this).
- wear tweed. or don’t. it’s EXPENSIVE!! and hot (not in the good way). get it used if you can.
- write short essays for fun on topics that interest you (my favorite is the one where i absolutely obliterate odysseus as a character. i don’t like him. you shouldn’t either.) the essays only have to be a paragraph or two, really. basically you can just word vomit about anything you’re passionate about. unless you’re on a break from school, you probably won’t have time to do this in a lengthy format. and that’s okay.
- make hot tea and forget to drink it until it’s cold. also. hoard canisters of tea like it’s your purpose in life.
- find friends in real life or online who are interested in DA like you are. if you all have that in common, you can discuss it and try to do some of these things together. it’ll make the experience a lot more fun.
- buy used books. try to read them.
- enjoy autumn to the fullest. breathe in the cool air. admire the colorful leaves. curse the wind for biting at your exposed ankles. think about how death is inevitable but somehow life always finds a way to come back.
- haunt forgotten places in your library. never leave.
- try to do your homework but get distracted every 5 minutes by your phone, specifically by tumblr.
- write entirely too many notes in your novels and textbooks. in the same vein, write bad poetry in your notes app.
- drink coffee at 5pm to keep yourself awake enough to do homework but then flash forward to 1am and you’re awake and shaking from the caffeine...actually don’t do that. it’s not pleasant.
- memorize your favorite poems and book passages (i haven’t done this much at all but i should. it’s fun!).
- join a classic literature book club. or start one. make your life what you want it to be!
- but most important of all.... ROMANTICIZE YOUR LIFE. it’s the only one you get (that we know of). might as well enjoy it.
#dark academia#tips#cottage core#cottagecore#DA#the secret history#the goldfinch#donna tartt#if we were villains#m l rio
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some dracula-inspired books that i’ve read
The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
A young adult take on the backstory of the Brides of Dracula - just two out of three, mind you. I was convinced that it was about all three of them as I started reading, remained convinced almost until the very end (because there were, in fact, three girls at the centre of the story, but I won’t spoil how and why), and was a bit disappointed with the ending as a result, even though it was rather my own fault than that of the book. It does not have much connection (apart from some foreshadowing) to Dracula until several last chapters, as it mostly deals with the lives of the girls (the future dark-haired Brides, who in this version are sisters) before they become vampires. Unfortunately, I have no idea how correct the portrayal of Romanian and Traveller cultures is in this novel, but I found the writing beautiful, and overall enjoyed the book.
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Another novel about the Brides of Dracula. This one a reimagining, not a prequel - although there's a mention of the "dreadful Victorians" Harkers, it is mostly not compliant with Stoker’s novel in terms of events, and besides, one of the “Brides” in this version is actually a young man. The story is told in the form of letters that the oldest of the Brides addresses to Dracula. In its essence, this book is about learning to recognize a toxic relationship - the kind in which one of the partners tries to limit all interactions of their partner(s) with other people and the outside world and generally completely bends them to their will, all while claiming that they’re only doing what’s best for everyone - and then finding strength and courage to get out of that relationship. Also, there’s passion, polyamory, purple prose (in the best of ways), and Sapphic Longing at the Opera™. Delicious.
Ex-Wives of Dracula by Georgette Kaplan
This is basically a huge “fuck you” to the Mina-the-reincarnated-wife-of-Dracula trope (we love to see it!): in a 21st century American small town, Dracula tries to get his hands on the reincarnated Mina, except the reincarnated Lucy is also there, the girls fall in love, and work together to defeat him. I’d say it feels more like Jennifer’s Body than Dracula, and the main characters, regardless of reincarnation, do not resemble Mina and Lucy from the original novel much (at best from the 1992 Coppola movie). The book is extremely funny (sometimes crudely so, but then high schoolers are crude), while also dealing rather seriously with the topic of internalized homophobia. There’s a lot of references to Dracula and even Carmilla: from the story being set in Carfax, Texas, and the girls going to a school called Millarca High to Dracula’s speech about his ancestors and past conquests in a hilarious context I won’t reveal because spoilers. It was a lot of fun to read, but also made me wish for a modern retelling in which the characters actually resemble their book counterparts, you know? (Yes, I know about Murray Mysteries, but I’m talking literary retellings specifically). Also, I’m going to be forever mad about Lucia's (reincarnated Lucy's) shitty cheating boyfriend being named after Quincey (Quentin Morse)... the disrespect... if you can't make lumina happen without turning the men of the Crew of Light into jerks, you're not trying hard enough.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
This one is different from the others, as it is inspired rather by the legend surrounding the real Vlad the Impaler than by Stoker's novel, though some aspects of the ending reminded me of the latter a lot (also, in my opinion, Professor Turgut Bora has Big Van Helsing Energy). There are two main plots: one is a story told by a father to his daughter, about his journey in the 1950s to find his mentor who mysteriously disappears after revealing that he has researched Vlad Dracula in the past and experienced strange events that made him believe Dracula is still alive, and another told from the point of view of that daughter in the 1970s, when her father, in turn, also disappears under strange circumstances, and now she has to find him. It’s first and foremost a book about scholars (even Dracula himself is a kind of a scholar in it) so if you enjoy academic settings but not the standard dark academia tropes, check this one out - no pretentious kids murdering each other, just a lot of actual research (and some vampires). I found it a bit dragged-out at times, but in general it’s really gripping and well-researched, and I loved it a lot.
(to be continued?..)
#the deathless girls#kiran millwood hargrave#a dowry of blood#s. t. gibson#ex wives of dracula#georgette kaplan#the historian#elizabeth kostova#talk talk talk#gella talks dracula#dracula#bram stoker#i promised someone on tumblr to write about ex-wives of dracula and then decided that i might as well write about other related books too
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My Guide to Romantic Academia
I have to admit, I’m only new to this myself. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, trying to teach about something I am myself only learning. But I suppose, I have always been an academic, and I am a bit of an expert in hopeless romanticism. After extensive research, here is what I have come up with (should I put this in two parts? I don’t think so. If you really want to be a romantic academic, you’ll read to the end):
Fashion:
Tops:
Turtlenecks! Any academic’s best friend, they are not only soft and cosy, they are also really cute!
Cowl necks. These are great for winter, and go with literally anything.
Blouses. Specifically with poofy sleeves.
Cardigans. Either the thin, fitted kind or the chunky-knit, over-sized kind; both are great.
Blazers. Don’t know if this should go into outerwear or not. Anyway, these are lovely and go great with fitted skirts and dresses (or jeans, or trousers, if you’re not a skirt-wearer)
Vintage jumpers. I especially love faded mens’ v-necks.
Bottoms:
Pleated skirts. These give off great Catholic school-girl vibes (it doesn’t matter if you’re not catholic. I go to an actual Irish all-girl Catholic school, and I’m not Catholic [nor do I wear pleated skirts, to my dismay])
Woolen skirts. So cosy, and so romantic.
Tweed trousers. I personally don’t own any of these because I don’t really wear trousers, but I intend to buy a pair.
Jeans. Nothing wrong with jeans once in a while! Try to style them with more academic-type tops and outerwear, though.
Outerwear:
Overcoats. Just soft, woolen winter coats. Impractical (since they don’t generally have hoods and I live in the rainiest country ever), but the things we sacrifice for the aesthetic, eh?
Trench coats. These are great for spring.
Hats: berets and caps.
Scarves: honestly, anything. Scarves in and of themselves are very romantic academia.
Gloves: I personally prefer leather, with cotton houndstooth detailing, but this is up to you!
Shoes: oxfords, loafers and pumps (specifically patent) are all great choices. I also love knee-high boots, especially for winter.
Nightwear:
Flannel suits. Stripy flannel. So soft. So cosy. Mine are pink.
Silk suits. Very classy and debonair, and they feel great.
Silk/cotton nightgowns. Another step up with the class! These are great for the summer.
Robes. Any robes, all robes. I recommend having at least three, in various colours, styles and fabrics (you think this is a joke. It’s not. I have four.)
Miscellaneous/Tips:
Dresses (I didn’t know what category to put them in). Vintage is great, but any style that isn’t overly modern is fine.
Fabrics: tweed, wool, cotton, the like. Also, lace. Lace is great.
Colour dos: Muted colours (greys and beiges). Cream is always a win. Jewel tones (emerald, ruby). You can’t go wrong with black, though I try not to go overboard with it.
Colour don'ts: Neon colours are a big no-no. Pastels are a hit-and-miss situation. For example, soft dusky pinks are great, but too much baby blue and you’re straying away from the tortured-academic look. Try and avoid bright scarlets and royal blues.
When wearing basically any top that isn’t a cardigan or a blazer: tuck it in! Whether tucked into a skirt or trousers, this gives off a put together, I-know-what-I’m-doing vibe that is essential (even if you don’t know what you’re doing). It’s also very flattering on a lot of body types.
Of course, fashion isn’t essential to the aesthetic. Adjust this to your tastes!
Media:
Writers/Poets:
Jane Austen
William Blake
Brontë sisters
Lord Byron
Donna Tartt. You know I had to put her in here.
Oscar Wilde (he’s not actually Romantic, but he is Oscar Wilde)(and he’s Irish!)
Maria Edgeworth
Victor Hugo
John Keats
Edgar Allan Poe
Mary Shelley
Henry David Thoreau
William Wordsworth
Feel free to add to this; it’s nowhere near complete.
Composers:
Tchaikovsky
Chopin
Schumann (Clara and Robert)
Liszt
Brahms
Offenbach
Dvořák
Again, not complete!
Movies (because we can’t be 19th century nobility all the time)
Jane Eyre
Dead Poets Society
Kill Your Darlings
Pride and Prejudice
Any other Jane Austen adaptation
Clueless (because of the Jane Austen affiliation!)
10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew!)(can you tell I’m making excuses to put 90’s chick flicks in here?)
Becoming Jane
Good Will Hunting
The Princess Bride
Maurice (Hugh Grant!)
Les Misérables
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (honestly, the classy, vintage feeling you’ll get from watching an Audrey Hepburn movie is irreplaceable)
Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party (not even a movie, it’s just really good)
To be honest, this isn’t even trying to be a complete list. These are just my favourite movies that I can squeeze into the genre.
Lifestyle (the most important bit!):
Carpe Diem. The number one tip for any academic. I feel it’s important to note, this is different for everyone. For some people, ‘seizing the day ’ is skydiving, or dropping everything and travelling the world. For others, it’s simply getting out of the house in the morning, and neither is any better than the other!
Create. This, again, is different for everyone. If you’re a writer, write! This could be a poem, a full blown novel, or just some Oliver/James fanfiction (did I mention I love If We Were Villains?)! If you’re an artist, do art! Whether it’s an oil portrait or a sketch of Richard Papen looking like the lovesick idiot he is, it’s all the same!
Be Mysterious. Honestly, I don’t even know how. I’m still getting the hang of this myself.
Read! Read everything! You don’t have to limit yourself to classics. Also, reading in public is great.
Be polite. Of course, this is a given for everyone. But, if you have the manners of a Victorian lady, it’ll give you definite Mysterious Points.
Drink tea. Or coffee. Or even hot chocolate. And it doesn’t have to be black tea and dark chocolate, because we’re not as bitter as the dark academics.
Take up an instrument. People seem to think this has to be the violin, but it doesn’t. I play the clarinet, and also the ukulele! Whatever is right for you!
Well, I hope this helped people. Remember you don’t have to follow this to the word! Feel free to adapt to your personality, add things, and ask questions!
#romantic academia#dark academia#light academia#fashion#literature#lifestyle#music#romantic academia tips
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Why we petitioned the FDA to refrain from fully approving any covid-19 vaccine this year
June 8, 2021
We are part of a group of clinicians, scientists, and patient advocates who have lodged a formal “Citizen Petition” with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), asking the agency to delay any consideration of a “full approval” of a covid-19 vaccine. The message of our petition is “slow down and get the science right—there is no legitimate reason to hurry to grant a license to a coronavirus vaccine.” We believe the existing evidence base—both pre- and post-authorization—is simply not mature enough at this point to adequately judge whether clinical benefits outweigh the risks in all populations.
The covid-19 vaccines in widespread use have emergency authorizations (EUA), not actual approvals, a crucial regulatory distinction that reflects major differences in the level of regulatory scrutiny and certainty about the risk-benefit balance.
Our petition doesn’t argue that risks outweigh benefits—or that benefits outweigh risks. Rather, we focus on methods and processes, outlining the many remaining unknowns about safety and effectiveness—and suggest the kinds of studies needed to address the open questions.
If the FDA listens to us, they won’t give serious consideration to approving a covid-19 vaccine until 2022. Our first request is that the FDA require manufacturers to submit data from completed Phase III trials—not interim results. Trials by vaccine manufacturers were designed to follow participants for two years, and should be completed before they are evaluated for full approval, even if they are now unblinded and lack placebo groups. These Phase III trials are not simply efficacy studies; they also are necessary and important safety studies (as thestudy titles say), and all collected data remain invaluable.
We also call on FDA to require a more thorough assessment of spike proteins produced in-situ by the body following vaccination—including studies on their full biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and tissue-specific toxicities. We ask the FDA to demand manufacturers complete proper biodistribution studies that would be expected of any new drug and request additional studies to better understand the implications of mRNA translation in distant tissues. We call on data demonstrating a thorough investigation of all serious adverse events reported to pharmacovigilance systems, carried out by independent, impartial individuals, and for safety data from individuals receiving more than two vaccine doses, in consideration of plans for future booster shots. We ask the FDA to request necessary studies in specific populations, including those previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, pediatric subjects, and those with immunological or other underlying medical complexities. Given the nature of the novel vaccine platforms, our petition asks for experts in gene therapy to be included among the external committee advising the FDA.
These are several of our major requests. The petition has been signed by a group of 27 clinicians, researchers, and consumer advocates with diverse experiences and thoughts about the pandemic. We all agree that there remain many open, unanswered questions surrounding the efficacy and safety of covid-19 vaccines that must be answered before the FDA gives serious consideration to granting full approval.
These are the reasons why we lodged our petition. There is no need to rush approval to help stop the pandemic because the vaccines already have Emergency Use Authorization. Yet a rushed process is the very possibility that now confronts us. In the past month, Pfizer and Moderna submitted formal applications for “full approval.”
Covid-19 vaccines are already fully accessible to all Americans who want one. EUAs have enabled their widespread use, and can remain in place even after the expiry of the SARS-CoV-2 public health emergency declaration, as is the case for various Zika products. Even without full approval, covid-19 vaccines will remain available for all who want them under EUA.
Some surveys suggest that vaccine hesitancy in the United States is due, in part, to lack of full FDA approval. While approval might lead to increased public confidence in covid-19 vaccines, as well as provide legal support for employer-instituted vaccine mandates, to approve a medical product for these reasons is outside FDA’s regulatory purview. Approval decisions must be driven by the safety and efficacy data. The potential unintended consequences of a rushed approval may contribute to growing mistrust of the US public health and regulatory institutions.
Finally, regarding the elephant in the room: publicly raising any element of hesitation about covid-19 vaccines will be seen by some as irresponsible, stoking unfounded fears in the public’s mind and contributing to the “vaccine hesitancy” problem trumpeted every day. But the alternatives—privately raising concerns or simply remaining silent—are arguably more detrimental to public trust in the long run. Staying silent is not the responsible option. And the implications of only privately raising concerns to regulatory bodies are murky—most would probably not be acted upon, and if they were, it would promulgate the baggage of insufficient accountability and transparency in decision making.
To us, the Citizen Petition seemed the most responsible approach: voice our concerns in our own words, in a professional and transparent manner, through a formal mechanism that can promote accountability in regulatory decision making.
Approving a covid-19 vaccine now risks setting a precedent of lowered standards for future vaccine approvals. The “FDA approved” seal must represent a high bar—and premature licensure of a covid-19 vaccine could seriously damage public confidence in regulatory authorities, particularly if long-term safety issues were to emerge following licensure. Keeping covid-19 vaccines under EUA regulations would also encourage vaccine manufacturers to continue investing resources in completing the necessary safety and efficacy studies for a potential FDA consideration of full licensure in the future.
For each covid-19 vaccine, the benefits may ultimately outweigh the harms. Or not. Or we may end up in a more nuanced position, finding that benefits outweigh harms for some populations, but not others. Only time—and better evidence—will tell. And so it is vital we allow the scientific process the time required to gather and assess the evidence to be confident in the decisions we ultimately have to make.
Our citizen petition is filed under Docket ID FDA-2021-P-0786 on regulations.gov. Anybody can comment on the petition, or read others’ comments, including the FDA’s official reply once it arrives.
See also:
Covid-19 vaccines: In the rush for regulatory approval, do we need more data?
US college covid-19 vaccine mandates don’t consider immunity or pregnancy, and may run foul of the law
Linda Wastila is Professor and Parke-Davis Endowed Chair of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Pharmacy. She has conducted policy and epidemiological research focusing on intended and unintended outcomes of clinical and policy interventions involving medications and their safety over the past 30 years.
Peter Doshi is an associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research at University of Maryland Baltimore School of Pharmacy and senior editor at The BMJ. He has been calling for greater independence and transparency in covid-19 vaccine related decision making.
Hamid Merchant is a subject lead in pharmacy at The University of Huddersfield and has experience in pharmaceutical research and development both from industry and academia. His clinical knowledge and expertise in pharmaceutical formulation helps in understanding the clinical and therapeutic principles underpinning drug delivery and the science of dosage-form design.
Kim Witczak is a global drug safety advocate with over 25 years of advertising and marketing experience. She co-founded Woodymatters, an organization started after the death of her husband due to undisclosed side effects of antidepressants. Kim is currently Consumer Representative on the FDA Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee.
Competing interests: PD has received travel funds from the European Respiratory Society (2012) and Uppsala Monitoring Center (2018); grants from the FDA (through University of Maryland M-CERSI; 2020), Laura and John Arnold Foundation (2017-22), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (2015), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (2014-16), Cochrane Methods Innovations Fund (2016-18), and UK National Institute for Health Research (2011-14); was an unpaid IMEDS steering committee member at the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA (2016-20), and is an editor at The BMJ. None further declared.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official policy or position of the University of Maryland or the University of Huddersfield.
Editor’s note 30 July 2021: The links in this article have been updated to reflect the re-filing of this petition under the group name Coalition Advocating for Adequately Licensed Medicines (CAALM), which has been assigned a new docket number (FDA-2021-P-0786).
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TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 5 of 26
Title: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) (2019)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Third-Person, Unreliable Narrator, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist (?).
Rating: 9/10
Date Began: 1/31/2021
Date Finished: 2/06/2021
Alex Stern's had the ability to see ghosts for as long as she can remember-- and it's led her life in a terrible direction. At twenty, she is the sole survivor of a gruesome multiple murder case in Los Angeles. In the hospital, she's given a chance to turn her life around. She receives a full ride scholarship to Yale, but in return has to serve as an apprentice to Lethe House, an organization tasked with monitoring the shady magical dealings of the university's secret societies. Determined to leave her past behind, Alex accepts the offer.
But things start to go wrong partway into the school year. Her mentor Darlington disappears under mysterious circumstances. Months later, a young woman named Tara Hutchins turns up dead on a ritual night. Alex suspects the secret societies of Yale are involved in the murder, but no one seems willing to believe her. Going off a hunch, Alex decides to investigate on her own. But the past she's running from threatens to return and change everything.
“All you children playing with fire, looking surprised when the house burns down.”
Full review, minor spoilers, and content warnings under the cut.
Content warnings for the book: Graphic violence, gore, murder, death, etc. R*pe, p*dophilia, grooming, abuse, and associated trauma depicted/discussed. Drug use, including recreational drug use, underage drug use, addiction, overdoses, and drugging without consent. Mind control/altered mental states. Body horror. Depictions of racism, antisemitism, and misogyny.
Ninth House is not the book I expected it to be. It has a generic-sounding concept; urban fantasy murder mystery! Protag with mysterious powers! Secret societies! I really liked Bardugo's YA Six of Crows duology, so I went in knowing she's a good writer and hoping for the best. Ninth House exceeded expectations for sure. This is one of those stories that has a lot going on beneath the surface, full of interesting twists, turns, and all-too-real social issues.
While this might seem like a “dark academia” kind of story, Ninth House is actually critical of the whole concept. The story takes place around Yale, stars college students, and focuses on the real-but-fictionalized secret societies of the university. But these details often feel incidental. Alex’s (and to some extent, Darlington’s) past, the murder investigation, and her ability to see ghosts is more important to the story. The societies are groups of privileged rich kids using magic for stupid and selfish ends. For example, one society kidnaps a dude, performs involuntary surgery on him, and reads his intestines to predict stock futures. Magic is apparently dying, and the societies have built themselves on top of the few nexuses of magical power in New Haven. The fact that a bunch of asshole college kids have near-exclusive access to a limited and powerful resource sure is a big problem. They’re also ultra pretentious, using certain languages or appropriating certain mythologies just because they seem more magical.
That’s not to say true mythological symbolism is totally absent. Water is a notable part of Ninth House, along with its associated meanings -- change, death, rebirth, cleansing the past, and so on. Lethe, the titular ninth house, gets its name from the river in Greek mythology. Anyone who knows its role there will have a fun time with certain story developments. There’s also a lot of tarot imagery not directly addressed in the story. So history/mythology is significant, but it’s not spoon-fed to the reader.
There’s a lot of social commentary in the story told through a fantasy lens. Probably the most obvious one is r*pe culture and its horrific effects. Considering the numerous scandals centered around sexual violence, especially in colleges, it all feels very timely. There’s also a more general discussion of privilege and how it affects one’s access to a school like Yale. Alex is notably a victim of racism, misogyny, and poverty to some extent. Bardugo clearly did a lot of research about Yale and the social issues in the novel, and this comes through while reading. She even cites her many sources in the acknowledgements.
While Ninth House is written in third-person, I still consider it an unreliable narrative. At the beginning, we know two major things about the past. (1) Darlington (the deuteragonist) disappeared under mysterious circumstances a few months ago and might be dead. (2) Alex, the main protagonist, was the sole survivor of a multiple murder case, but was cleared as a suspect For Reasons. Other than that, the narrative reveals few specifics about either event until much later in the story. When this finally happens, it changes a lot of things. There is also an interesting, character-driven reason why this information is obscured for so long-- but it's a big spoiler.
Bardugo also takes advantage of perspective limitations when switching between the Alex and Darlington chapters. One character might assume something, only for another character to introduce new context about it much later. This might be a simple concept, but it’s great when executed well. In particular I remember Alex doing something in an early chapter that seems in character at the time. Then a much later Darlington chapter throws it into question with a one-off line. I really like this kind of stuff in stories! It's an interesting way to characterize and worldbuild that's just plain fun to read.
My LGBT Protagonist tag is a little vague because, while I'm reasonably sure Alex is bisexual, there's no direct confirmation in the story. Her relationship with Hellie does NOT come off as platonic, though. And while I'm pretty sure Darlington is meant to be the romantic interest character, Alex’s interactions with Dawes certainly give me Vibes. I have some suspicions where this might be going. Future volumes will probably address this more.
While I really liked the book, it's not quite a 10 because it's really dark, even for me. There are several (intentionally) disturbing and disgusting scenes that made me uncomfortable. Sexual violence is repugnant, and I appreciate that Bardugo depicts it in such a negative, traumatic light. But unlike Six of Crows (which explores this as well), Ninth House is pretty graphic, and I had a hard time getting through several scenes. It's a personal thing but did affect my overall enjoyment of the book. I can easily see other people having problems, too: it depends on your sensitivity to such content.
In addition, Ninth House’s pacing drags after the big mid-story reveals. There's two exciting twists in a row, then a good quarter of the book to go after that. It's nice to view the story with new context in mind, but it feels slower and less interesting than the reveals themselves. The story also takes on a predictable "we SOLVED the mystery! ... or did we?" story loop, which I feel I've seen a million times. Alex does some real dumb/out-of-character stuff near the end in order to keep this going. That being said, while I predicted some of the final ending, I think it all comes together in a satisfying way. There's lots of little hints that are fun to go back to; Ninth House is one of those books where looking stuff up as you go REALLY helps.
Ninth House lays the groundwork for an interesting series, and the ending is obvious sequel bait. I'm interested to see where the story could go based on some of the reveals and conclusions of the ending. There's also the impossible-to-ignore social commentary of the book; I have to wonder if that will continue in future plots, and what form that will take if so. Either way, whenever the next book comes out I’ll probably read it!
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I was tagged by @bereft-of-frogs! Thank you! I’ll tag @mareebird and @franniebanana
Some commentary:
1. I have both an ff.net and livejournal account, but I don’t use either of them anymore. I stopped using ff.net only a year ago because of the lack of engagement. I do write primarily for myself but man, it really is like screaming into the void over there.
2. You all know my ao3 account, right?
3. So much smut. I think the first smut I ever wrote was when I was 14? Maybe 15. It wasn’t very good. I actually didn’t really write much until my very late 20s. My smut writing currently is totally an outlet for the fact that I’m writing the slowest slow burn that I’ve ever written in my life. You guys, Loki and Stephen definitely would have kissed by now in my series if I didn’t channel that into writing smut, lol.
4. I used to do Darkwing Duck roleplay in the 90s via email.
5. I’m @mareebird’s beta.
6. And she’s mine, but I still post a bunch of unbeta-ed stuff, haha.
7. I think all of my fic is a bit self-indulgent tbh. But like, on a scale, everything I’ve written for MCU Kink Bingo is really self-indulgent. Literally just an excuse to write explicit sex and Loki and Stephen telling each other how in love they are.
8. Well, obviously my OTP is m/m. I’ve written f/f as well.
9. Yes, fanfiction has its own set of tropes and patterns that set it apart enough to be considered a genre of its own.
10. I’m not sure if this means like, multifandom at one time? Or just, has written in multiple fandoms? But yeah, I mean I’ve been writing since like 1994 so I’ve written in a lot of different fandoms. I tend to only write in one at a time, though. Not always.
11. I also love researching as I’m writing haha. I do more research beforehand for my original fiction. I was proud of myself yesterday though for researching boat makes prior to actually sitting down to write the stuff about the boat that I intended to write.
12. Doesn’t everyone wait anxiously for feedback?
13. I commission fanart all the time, and I collab with @nonexistenz on tons of stuff.
14. Haha SO MANY unpublished fics. Most of my kink bingo fills. Fics 4 and 5 of my Loki series (and 6 is almost done). It will all be published eventually. Also my original fiction is unpublished. I have two completed novels.
15. I more get ideas right before I go to bed. I’ve also dreamt ideas. There are some things in The Real Asgardians of the Galaxy that came to me in a dream.
16. One time I was trying to finish a fic and I purposefully got drunk to do so.
17. I mean. I kind of think a lot of my fics deserve more attention lol. I have niche interests, though.
18. I need to get my shit together and actually query agents. Also I should finish my Froststrange Academia AU and file the serial numbers off because I feel like someone might publish that.
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Darth-Salem-Emperor-of-Earth’s Writing Commissions
When I have some more time (and reinstall my old Adobe Photoshop software to either my desktop computer or laptop), I’ll create an actual banner or header for my commissions post. Until then, it’ll just be in text.
As I alluded to a previous post of mine, I decided to start taking on writing commissions and see how I do. I’m going to start off slow and take on only two commission slots because I’m not sure how long it will take me to write each piece.
1. Open
2. Open
My options right now:
500 words = $15.00
Extra 200 words (+$3.00)
1000 words = $25.00
Extra 500 words (+$10.00)
Fandoms I am most comfortable in writing about: Fire Emblem (Blazing Sword, the Sacred Stones, Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses), Harry Potter, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Naruto, KOTOR/SWTOR/Star Wars, Van Helsing, the Witcher (I am more familiar with the games than the books but I can do my research for any specifically book orientated), Once Upon a Time, the Tudors (both for history and the TV show), A Song of Ice and Fire, the Fable games, Marvel (movie-verse), and certain otome games or visual art novels (ex: Voltage games, When the Night Comes, The Arcana) that I have played before and have some knowledge of the story. I am also familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist, Boku no Hero Academia, and FFXIV but I haven’t written in those fandoms before and I’m not quite caught up with the current events in BNHA (even though I have read some spoilers, I might not know all the full details). For FFXIV, I'm in the middle of Shadowbringers. If you don’t see the fandom you want me to write on this list, you can always double-check with me to see if the fandom is doable for me.
What I’ll need from you: References, images, descriptions of your character(s)/OCs, and their relationship with other characters, canon or another OC. If you have a story or setting in mind, please give me some idea in what you have in mine for the fanfic. AUs, Universe Altered, canon divergence, etc are all fine with me, I’ll just need some extra details about this non-canon universe so I can capture what you’re looking for.
Contact: You can either PM me or send me an ask on my tumblr, or email me at [email protected] to save a slot and tell me which commission you want along with the references, ideas, character descriptions, and your PayPal email so I can send you invoice.
I have the right to turn down any commission. If you have any questions, feel free to send me and ask or PM.
(Signature done by TwinEnigma. Link to profile here.)
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do y’all wanna read one of my novels?
i finished editing it a few weeks ago and i thought i would try (emphasis on try) to get it published in the traditional manner but actually fuck that, too much of a bother for a very slim chance, so
if anyone wants to read a bizarre, occasionally funny, occasionally trippy sci-fi adventure with a queer + autistic + woc protagonist, like/reblog/let me know in other ways that there’s Interest
here’s the summary:
Everyone hates Amber. And she isn't that fond of everyone either.
At the age of 25, she is a PhD and a professor of history, with marvelous prospects and overwhelmingly positive reviews of her work. She speaks seven languages, is a piano prodigy, and can wipe the floor with her opponents in any debate.
The only thing she can't do is find a partner for a research project.
She is ready to give up and leave academia when her supervisor (and adoptive father) gives her a new job opportunity. An artifact has been uncovered in an unexpected place, and it might just prove the ancient legend of the Aquamarine Moon to be fact, not fiction. It is also an opportunity for Amber to leave the secluded human reservation of Alexandria, which is being sustained by the almighty and mysterious Muuk.
On her quest to solve a millennium old mystery and see the galaxy for herself, Amber finds a whole lot of trouble on her head, a few new friends, and answers to questions she never even dared to ask.
Why did the ancient race disappear? Why are there no real stars in the Alexandrian sky? And who the hell are Light, Darkness and S?
You'll discover it all on the pages of Enlightenment. And be warned: once you read this book, you can never, ever unread it...
#addressing this solely to my followers#who i am guessing are either doctor who fans or dirk gently fans or both#in which case you will probably love this book#it's. well. it's complicated lol#it's a book about a little bit of everything#ultimately about the meaning of life i guess#but don't be fooled it is not some serious high lit manuscript#it's very silly in places#and the character is a delight like#she comes off as an asshole at the beginning but it becomes clear very fast#that it is more of an act/protective coping mechanism#cause being autistic kinda sucks a little bit even in a sci-fi utopia#and a lot of the book is me roasting the ideas and methods of my 18 year old self lol#when i was an atheist edgelord#also the second main character is a huge humanoid insect called Lullaby and they are the best#so yeah please#if i get idk 5 likes lol i'll post it#oh who am i kidding i will post it in any case#paradox nerd post
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tell me about your wips bro! 🤠
Okay dude 🐸
WIP 1: Contemporary novel set within the South-Western districts of NSW. The main characters are mostly Middle-Eastern or North African, with the narrator being Somali-Assyrian. Through him and his friends, I want to be able to explore themes of mental health, sexuality, and religion whilst they’re in their last year of high school, leading up to the HSC. The book is more of less a book for me to vent what it’s like growing up biracial, middle-eastern, mentally ill, questioning my sexuality and religion in a low-socioeconomic area. Ik this concept is nothing new, and Idek if I want to publish it since it’s so personal and since there’s a lot of cultural references and things like that that would go over some ppls heads. It’s just something fun I want to write. Something cathartic.
WIP 2: Fantasy novel, or potentially series, which will explore themes of environmentalism, imperialism, propaganda, faith, and marginalisation. I’ve read/watched too many fantasy series set within a world inspired by the European Middle-Ages so I decided fuck that, we’re doing one that features cultures inspired by North Africa, West Africa, Mesopotamia, East Asia, South-East Asia, and possibly South Asia. It’s going to take me a while to figure out the whole plot and arcs, how long it’s going to span for and shit, but I have some ideas for characters, plot, and their backstories. There’s definitely going to be mermaids in their so uh yeah, I hope that’s incentive enough for ppl to be interested. I’m definitely gonna spend a lot of time doing research on this, as well as making sure each culture has unique qualities that don’t seem like they’re copy+paste. So yea, this book(s) will probably be published in like 24685422 years.
WIP 3: I want to write a historical dark academia novel; however, with more POC and LGBTQ+ rep because for the love of baby Cheesus and crackers, there is not enough. I also want to add potential fantastical and horror elements, and potentially a mystery. Hmm we’ll see. I haven’t put too much thought into it.
WIP 4: (as I’ve already ranted to u about it and I’m sorry that you have to hear it again) I want to do a more concise rewrite of the Demon Road trilogy because Dirty Laundry must have been sniffing some glue when he wrote that series. Some obvious changes include: Milo is a Mexican-American bi man with an actual backstory (since I have some ideas teehee), Amber isnt in a relationship with Kelley because ew Amber deserves to be with someone who isn’t toxic and is HER AGE, I’ll see if I can flesh out Glen’s character more, Milo is getting a bf because I said so, the women and girls in the series won’t be sexualised, Amber won’t act like such a white feminist anymore, Amber deserves some more love, Milo actually needs to have his character fleshed out as well because I hated that he was so similar to Skulduggery, oh yeah, and he needs to actually have emotions. And don’t get me started on how much a mess the third book was. But whatever I’ll shut up because I’m sure you get the idea.
Anyways I have more WIPs but these are the ones I’m mainly focusing on.
Thanks for the ask Mïmī 👁👅👁
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Review: Kösem Sultan (İktidar Hırs ve Entrika) by Özlem Kumrular
my Goodreads rating: ★★☆☆☆
Positive parts: the extensive bibliography which made me discover more books that I now want to read
Negative parts: her way of presenting information, the almost total absence of historiography reasoning and if present its weakness, the lack of more information in the notes section.
I am often asked what I think about this book, so I have finally picked it up. I'll admit I have not read it all: I have skipped paragraphs or even whole pages. I did not read chapter 3, “Valide Sultan in the Old Palace: Mustafa I, Osman II and again the reign of Mustafa I”, because I have read in a review that it is not really about Kösem... and I was not interested.
I must say I am very disappointed. I don’t know if I had high standards or what, but it really wasn’t what I expected. I thought it was academia but it may have actually been popular history. I hope it’s popular history at this point, because it doesn’t seem like academia at all. Information is just presented like that, there are no explanations about how the author reached her conclusions-- which is something that I love reading about in historiography books, as someone who wants to do this job.
On the other hand, I deeply appreciated the research she did for this book: she drew from Spanish, Turkish and Italian archives, and books in english are listed in the bibliography as well. I particularly liked that she used Pedani as one of her sources in harem matters, it made me very happy as an Italian. Unfortunately, she did not transcribe the quotes she got from ambassadorial reports; this doesn’t allow you to check her translation, which is something that is very dear to me.
[very long rambling ahead-- I am so sorry]
As for her more unconventional claims: that Ahmed I had married Kösem and that şehzades Selim and Orhan were two of Kösem’s children, I was not satisfied with her reasoning. Her claims rest on a letter that - apparently - was sent to Venice on Kösem’s orders when Murad IV ascended the throne; it was found in the archives of Venice and it was in Ottoman Turkish. Kumrular included a translation in Latin Alphabet in her book of the important passages. [you can look at it here: x]:
“His generous mother Kösem, for the dead Sultan Ahmed, whom Allah took with him, was a very important person and the Sultan loved her so much that he honoured her by marrying her. In addition to the ruling sultan, she has two younger sons named Sultan Selim and Sultan Orhan.”
Now, Kumrular claims that the prince Selim who was born in 1611 to Ahmed was the son of another concubine, and that this is another Prince Selim. She explains the absence of Kasim and Ibrahim (who were clearly very much alive) saying that Venice probably already knew that they existed... it’s a little weird. Historian Erhan Afyoncu says that Selim and Orhan may have been Kasim and Ibrahim’s other names, but Kumrular answers this by saying that no source mentions that they had more than one name. Which is true but I remembered when I read some Venetian ambassadorial reports back in November, and Giovanni Cappello in 1634 clearly calls Murad IV’s younger brother “Orcan”:
“Tiene Sua Maestà due figliuoli nell'infanzia, d'incerta riuscita. Ha due fratelli, li quali, non ostante l'uso contrario della morte nell'assunzione degli Imperatori, vivono tuttavia; il maggiore di nome Orcan è in età di anni 19 con concetto di buon talento. Il Re sovente seco tratta con umanità, permettendogli la barba, privilegio riserbato alla sola persona del Re in serraglio...”
“His Majesty has two sons in infancy, uncertain in survival. He has two brothers who - contrary to the tradition of putting them to death on the emperors’ ascension - nevertheless live; the eldest named Orcan is 19 years old with a good intellect. The King often treats him with kindness, allowing him to grow a beard, a privilege reserved to the only person of the King in the Serraglio...”
At the time I thought that it was a simple mistake of Cappello’s, who misunderstood “Kasim” (I mean, Mihrimah was called Cameria in Italy so everything is possible at this point), but maybe he did not and he was right? Maybe Kasim was truly called Orhan Kasim or Kasim Orhan? Cappello says that in 1634 he was 19 years old, which means that he was born in 1615-- a date often attributed to Kasim’s birth.
While he mistakes Orcan for the eldest of Murad IV’s brothers (Bayezid was in fact the eldest, being born only a couple of months after Murad IV), we cannot simply distrust his whole testimony.
It is sad that Kumrular did not read this relazione (or did not find it useful to her book) because I would have liked to see her conclusions.
About Kösem’s marriage, her reasoning is... pretty weak, in my opinion: she first says that the letter must have been written on Kösem’s orders, who knew that official wives had a great importance in Europe so she could have said that just to enhance her status.... but then says that it is unlikely that she outright lied in a state document:
“It is obvious that Kösem, in front of a country as important as Venice, wanted to mark the legality of her position. Emphasizing that she is the wife of the deceased ruler and the praises directed at her were aimed at raising her relationship with the Venetian state, gaining respect for her and therefore listening to her words.”
To be honest, the claim that Venetians would have looked down a non-married consort is out of the world; they had entertained relations with the Ottomans for two centuries at that point and they very much knew that Ottoman sultans did not frequently get married.
Moreover, there is no proof that this letter was sanctioned by Kösem herself. It was written by one Mustafa çavuş in 1624 (dated by Pedani), who says that it is the second time he is sent to Venice as an Ottoman emissary. It is certainly strange that in it he claims that Murad IV is fifteen years old, which he definitely was not. At the end of the letter he says that the rest will be included in the letters penned by the Sultan and the Grand Vizier. Unfortunately, either these letters did not surive or Kumrular did not read them... she did not explain it in the book.
In any case, she attributes mistakes to the person who actually wrote the letter (high-ranking women dictated their letters) which is... rather convenient, I guess.
The rest of the book is just a narration of Kösem’s life. There is so much she doesn’t look at in depth and at the end of every section I was not satisfied with the amount of information given. There was always something lacking, I felt like there was more she could have said but for some reason didn’t.
The book is 336 pages long and at the end you’re left with only the surface of Kösem’s life. It was more like reading an - admittedly long - Wikipedia article than a biography.
Unfortunately this book was not very reviewed by her peers, which is a shame. I could only find one review, by Hüseyin Çalış (who is apparently a member of the Izmir Katip Celebi University), who says that the book sometimes seems like a novel and that there are deficiencies in it but that all in all is a good contribution to Ottoman historiography, considered that it was written in just one year.
I am not sure I agree with his positive view of this book. I didn’t feel satisfied when each topic was over, it felt like she was just listing events happening - most of them not about Kösem - with no reasoning behind. I am also disappointed that the notes section is very poor of information; she did not add anything in it except the titles of the books she had drawn her info from-- often they were books which contradicted her own claims but she did not explain that.
The bibliography part was very rich, though, and this is what I most appreciated about this book. I have written down a couple of books I want to read, among them: Murat Kocaaslan - Kösem Sultan. Hayatı, vakıfları, hayır işleri ve Üsküdar’daki külliyesi, which I think may be better than this book altogether. I had the chance of reading a chapter of his book about Mehmed IV and it’s more academia than Kumrular’s: better written, better researched, better noted as well.
In conclusion (I am so sorry this got way too long, I was supposed to write just a couple of things about this book), maybe it’s my fault but it truly was not what I thought it would be and I am not sure I will buy her book about Nurbanu and Safiye after all. I personally prefer pure academia compared to... whatever this was (half and half? who knows)
If you can’t stand academia, though, and want something... lighter? maybe this book will be for you. It certainly looked like popular history sometimes.
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I just saw the Dictionary.com tweet on the use of singular “they” in old texts, and I actually have a bit of information regarding the history of singular “they”! It’s true that ‘they’ was used as early as the 14th century as a singular, gender-encompassing pronoun — take, for example, this quote from the Wycliffe Bible:
Eche on in þer craft ys wijs." ("Each one in their craft is wise.") — Wycliffe's Bible, Ecclus. (1382)
As a rule of thumb, if something crops up in writing during a time when the production of manuscripts was far more difficult than it is today, it is safe to assume that it pops up in daily speech quite often. For “þer” (their) to be used as a generic singular pronoun indicates its usage in speech was quite common — yet something changed around the 18th century (around the 1750s, to be exact). There was a movement grammatically to move away from the singular “they” due to the argument that ‘they is always plural, and a plural pronoun cannot take a singular antecedent’. I find this highly ironic, as this movement was coming on the coattails of the canonization of ‘you’ as being able to function both as a singular and a plural pronoun — so recent, in fact, that in 1660, George Fox (the founder of Quakerism) had published a novel deriding those who used the singular “you” as being uneducated and a degrading force upon the English language.
So, what gives? Why the pushback against ‘they’ as being the singular generic pronoun?
Well, first of all, let’s look at the function of grammar and the context of the time. Grammar can serve two purposes: first, as a tool that enhances clarity in communication, and two, as a tool that hinders clarity in favor of creating a way to distinguish class via forms of speech. When looking at the context of the 18th century, there would have been many reasons why the upper echelons of society would have been facing anxieties surrounding their prestige and importance in society. (Zuber & Reed)
Although historians debate whether the political upheaval between 1642 and 1660 counts as a “revolution,” there can be no doubt that these events had a profound and lasting on impact on how writers and readers perceived the nation’s social hierarchy. The creation of a republic in 1649 not only eliminated the king but also temporarily raised a stratum of the “middling sort”—including minor gentry, yeomen, domestic traders, shopkeepers, and army officers—into positions of unprecedented power and influence. This upstart regime abolished the House of Lords and subjected the royalist aristocracy and gentry to sequestration, severe fines, and the ruinous exploitation of their land... The restoration of the old regime in 1660, including the nobility and the bishops, was celebrated with a ceremonial magnificence that impressed even former officials in Oliver Cromwell’s government, such as Samuel Pepys, with a sense of royalist fervor and gratitude for restored order.
[In the coming years, s]waggering displays of rank in the English aristocracy in fact disguised its own internal divisions, anxieties, and diminished confidence. (Hudson)
In essence, although the aristocracy managed to hold onto immense power, their social prestige was fraught — plays and literature at the time reflected this, with many pieces raising a critical lens to many of the elements of the upper class. As Terry Eagleton in The Function of Criticism writes, attempts to conserve authority crop up in times of political and economic upheaval, with linguistic authority being no different, and a threatened aristocracy could preserve its status by distinguishing itself grammatically (Zuber & Reed). As Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner explain, grammars also serve to “defend the language from ‘decay’” (49), i.e. from change associated with those who threatened social order (Zuber & Reed).
Furthermore, England was staunchly coming into its position as a brutal imperial power. In “So Male a Speech”, Elizebeth Sklar suggested that codifying the language as “masculine” was a tool necessary to instating England’s specific type of colonialism — one that invaded the countries it imposed itself upon on a linguistic level as well as physical and political (think about why so many non-American and British individuals end up speaking English due to the historical presence of these powers on a global scale). In Zuber and Reed’s analysis of Sklar’s work, they write that, “in respose to perceived threats to established social hierarchies, to Britain’s imperial role, and to [patriarchical hierarchies], grammar[ rule books’ appear in unprecedented numbers: Sklar observes that more than 200 were published in England between 1750 and 1800″ (Zuber & Reed).
This trend would continue, with in 1850 parliament passing “An Act for shortening the language used in acts of Parliament,” which ordered, “that in all acts words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females” i.e. that the singular he should be used instead of the singular “they” in pieces of law.
Now, regardless of this trend in the 18th century and early 19th, people still used singular “they” — it is and always has been more inclusive, less presumptive of gender, and more intuitive than alternatives. However, a similar trend has been cropping up in the second half of the twentieth century. Zuber and Reed have noted that this trend of cracking down on the usage of the singular “they” mirrors the trend in the 18th century, with the anxieties this time of the “aristocracy analog” playing into a staunch refusal of linguistic evolution that has already come and passed them by. In Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg’s, “The Rhetorical Tradition”, the authors point to this trend of the rejection in high-society of the singular “they” as coinciding with the sixties, “when [a] burst of theory, combined with campus political activism, led to self-evaluation and efforts at disciplinary renewal [of conservativism]” — and Zuber and Reed point to the 60s and 70s as the time when many American colleges and universities established open-admission policies that seemed to threaten the prestige of traditional higher education — just as the aristocracy of 18th century England used language to distinguish themselves linguistically from the common man, so did high academia wish to create a similar distinction when the simple association of higher academia and monied whiteness began to break apart.
tl:dr? “they” should be considered grammatically correct as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun, and arguments against the usage of ‘they’ as a singular pronoun are part of a history that attempts to use grammatical rules to impede, rather than enhance, clarity of communication.
Sources
Gerner, Jürgen (2000). "Singular and Plural Anaphors of Indefinite Plural Pronouns in Spoken British English". In Kirk, John M. (ed.). Corpora Galore: Analyses and Techniques in Describing English: Papers from the Nineteenth International Conference on English Language Research on Computerised Corpora (ICAME 1998). Rodopi. pp. 93–114.
Zuber, Sharon, and Ann M. Reed. “The Politics of Grammar Handbooks: Generic He and Singular They.” College English, vol. 55, no. 5, 1993, pp. 515–530. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/378587.
Meyers, Miriam Watkins. “Current Generic Pronoun Usage: An Empirical Study.” American Speech, vol. 65, no. 3, 1990, pp. 228–237. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/455911.
Baron, Dennis E. “The Epicene Pronoun: The Word That Failed.” American Speech, vol. 56, no. 2, 1981, pp. 83–97. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/455007.
Baron, Dennis. “A Brief History of Singular 'They'.” Oxford English Dictionary, 29 Mar. 2019, public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/.
Sklar, Elizabeth S. “So Male a Speech: Linguistic Adequacy in Eighteenth-Century England.” American Speech, vol. 64, no. 4, 1989, pp. 372–379. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/455731.
Hudson, Nicholas. "Literature and Social Class in the Eighteenth Century." Oxford Handbooks Online. April 17, 2015. Oxford University Press,. Date of access 18 Jun. 2019, <https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935338-e-007>
Postman, Neil, and Charles Weingartner. “Linguistics: A Revolution in Teaching”. New York: Dell, 1966.
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