This Is Oddly Enthralling.  You Build Towers Of Sand, And Periodically, A Wave Comes And Dissolves Them. 

Apparently by reblogging this screenshot.  I’m not *quite* this bad right now, but being social is hard for me at the best of times.

Have yourself a pretty decent little Christmas, a not-so-bad Hanukkah, a mediocre Hogswatch, and/or a reasonably happy Whatever You’re Having.  Enjoy it in your own way, whether that’s glittery or gloomy.  You certainly don’t need my permission, but if you want someone to say, “Yes, it’s ok if this year isn’t the best, the brightest, the most amazing ever,” I’m here for you.  (And if it is the best and brightest and most amazing, that’s ok, too.)

I was looking at making a family christmas card for the first time in our eight years of being a family, and i feel. just.  kinda bummed out.  all these cards on shutterfly are foil-stamped and covered in glitter and say things like “merriest christmas,” “happiest holidays,” “best year ever,” “awesomest year ever.”  and maybe for some people it was.  but this wasn’t our glitteriest happiest merriest awesomest year.  and i know it wasn’t the happiest merriest awesomest year for a lot of other people too.  

for me one of the crappiest parts of commercialized christmas culture is all this pressure to make it pretty.  to be the -est: the best, the merriest, the happiest.  like if you go get professional photos taken at a christmas tree farm with wavy hair and coordinating outfits and put those photos on a embossed glittery card then somehow it erases the fact that your wife lost her job or your new baby spent three months in the nicu.  

why isn’t it ok to just have a mediocre christmas? why isn’t it ok to have a christmas card that just says plain old “happy holidays” with a mediocre pixelated cell phone pic of your family where the toddler isn’t wearing pants and you have your glasses on and no one matches?  why isn’t it ok to say this ISN’T going to be the merriest christmas? that no one is getting the shinest newest cell phone or toy because dad is in the hospital and we can’t afford it?  that some families are tired and stressed to even put up a tree or hang up lights?  

when you can’t do Big Best Christmas the way all those perfect families on instagram do christmas, the way all those families in commercials and sitcoms do christmas, it starts to make you feel.  like.  left out.  like your little bit of christmas isn’t enough.  like your twenty-dollar plastic tree with tinsel and two ornaments isn’t enough.  like your .99 cent felt stockings with names glitter-glued on isn’t enough.  

the world chants joy!! merry!! bright!! stocking stuffers!!! and you just feel alienated because the world is bellowing CHRISTMAS!! at you through a megaphone but all you want is just to whisper it quietly this year.  not every year is going to be your best christmas ever.  christmases aren’t an escalating crescendo of personal happiness and fulfillment.  some years will be harder than others.  i just want it to be a normal, good, happy thing to just have a little christmas.

This is a rough time for a lot of people.  Please take care of yourselves!

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

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FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

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(Source)

Wow.  Just ... wow.

Well, crap.  Raven is a great comic with lots of action, drama, and humor.  I would be very sad to see it end.  If you can’t or don’t want to buy it yourself, check it out from your local library!  If they don’t already have it, please recommend it.

Raven the Pirate Princess is Sinking

I despise doing posts where I ask for help, but here we are.

About two years ago I started a new creator owned project.  It began as a spin-off of Princeless, but the reality is this - Raven The Pirate Princess is its own thing altogether.  I knew this from the first issue and if you’ve been reading, so have you.

Sure, the first few issues of Raven: Pirate Princess had that heroic lady feminist banter for which Princeless has become known both among its fans and detractors.  I mean, Raven had this scene:

and issue 1 had this scene:

But perhaps much more importantly, the first issue of Raven had this:

but that wasn’t where that ended.  This is a book about a community of diverse queer women actively claiming their place in the world and taking what’s theirs.  It’s about Raven, who is desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ximena

It’s about Ximena, a girl who was held captive for years by a pirate king who pretended to be her liberator.  Who fell in love with the pirate’s daughter, only to be left behind by that father when she outlived her value.

About Sunshine, the thief that chose the wrong target and ended up falling in love with a woman already hopelessly in love with somebody else.

It’s about Katie, the bisexual second in command who’s motivated by honor…and occasionally beating the snot out of a dude or two

Oh and in case I forgot to mention, Katie is also incredibly muscular:

And Jayla, the asexual science genius who’s tired of being treated like a little sister

and Cid, the deaf engineer who quietly keeps the ship running

and of course, these two:

The socially awkward poet and the angry sword fighter who couldn’t stand her who have somehow become these two:

But here’s the thing: this comic is failing.  It has a very dedicated and exuberant but at this point SMALL fanbase.  Today I had a hard conversation with Action Lab about the reality of the numbers on this book versus what it costs to produce this book and, suffice it to say, Action Lab isn’t ready to cancel the book, but they aren’t ready to greenlight year 3 either.  After Year 2 #13, Raven is set to go on the shelf until numbers can support continuing it.

This is where I need your help

If you care about this book full of queer pirate ladies and you want it to continue, we need to find a way to spread the word about it.  We don’t need to sell single issues (it would be nice) but ultimately we need the trades sales that back up the continuation of this big YA Pirate/Revenge/Adventure/Romance thing.

Digital copies can be bought instantly right on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Princeless-Raven-The-Pirate-Princess/comics-series/46971

You can buy the physical volumes on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01BF7U91Q

In fact, if you’ve already purchased volumes 1-4, volume 5 is available for preorder there right now! 

Maybe you’ve bought all the issues already.  Thank you!  If you still want to support Raven, you can review the books on Amazon or other retailers, you can share, reblog or retweet this post.  You can tell a friend about the book! 

If you have a comics review site or, say, a blog where you talk about LGBT media, contact me for review links or interviews.  Please, help us save our ship.

Check this out if you’re on Instagram and want to try to win a book with an ace character!

Win an asexual book of your choice! [Details here]

This is very well done, and I love the Small God series.  However, I read the title, and my first thought was, “Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of Elder Bunnies!”  And now I can’t stop thinking that.

What is he an elder of?

No one knows, exactly.

Not an elder of rabbits, since foxes can also be fluffy, as can cats, and so very many of the other dangers that stalk the night looking for a belly full of bunny; the prince with a thousand enemies can run and run forever, but in time, his legs will always be exhausted, and he will always be caught.  So no, he is not an elder of bunnies.

Not an elder of plush toys, which slip from his realm as they lose their youthful vigor and dewy softness, slipping into the realm of the Skin Horse, small god of Involuntary Reality.  He doesn’t save them, doesn’t protect them, doesn’t particularly mourn them once they are gone.  So no, he is not an elder of stuffed things.

Perhaps he is an elder of an aesthetic, of the ones who realize early on that a suitable amount of fluffiness can conceal an infinite number of knives, the ones who dress the hatred in their hearts in lace and bows and pretty pinkness in order to seem more harmless than they are.  He is an elder of appearances, and a small god of that which seems defenseless but is all the more dangerous because of that illusion’s grasp.

He is not a small god of goodness or of evil, but of the misunderstood and picked upon that can nonetheless defend itself no matter the danger.  Even rabbits, the icon of softness and vulnerability, have claws that catch and jaws that bite, and the foxes of the world forget this at their peril.

.……………………………

Artist Lee Moyer (The Doom That Came to Atlantic City, Starstruck) and author Seanan McGuire (Middlegame, Every Heart a Doorway) have joined forces to bring you icons and stories of the small deities who manage our modern world, from the God of Social Distancing to the God of Finding a Parking Space.

Join in each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a guide to the many tiny divinities:

Tumblr: https://smallgodseries.tumblr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallgodseries

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallgodseries/

Homepage: http://www.smallgodseries.com/

As a librarian, and especially as a cataloger, I have Feelings about the arrangement of books. However, one of those Feelings is that, in your own personal/household library, you should arrange your books in ways that make sense for you/your household. Part of that is going to depend what types of books you have, part on how much shelf space you have where, and part on how you use and look for your books.

In my household, we have several broad areas for books. General fiction is arranged alphabetically by author; books by the same author are alphabetical by title unless I can remember a series order easily or at least separate distinct series from one another. Anthologies are arranged alphabetically by title. Graphic novels and collections of comics are arranged by series, character, or title (depending on whether they're part of a series and/or how we would look for them).

Nonfiction books are organized by subject, with similar topics generally grouped together and flowing into each other in ways that made sense when I set up the shelves after we moved here. For example, one shelf has yoga/stretching -> massage -> first aid -> general science -> animals -> field guides for birds and plants -> pets -> art books (because we have some art books focused on different animals) -> biographies (because we have biographies of artists).

A few collections are separated out for various reasons. Picture books are in their own area because I had a small bookshelf with high enough shelves for them to fit in (mostly) comfortably. Cookbooks are on their own set of shelves in the kitchen, roughly grouped by topic or type of food (general, slow cooker, chocolate, bacon, etc.). Gaming books are organized by gaming system, then generally by title. Books on sex and sexuality, erotica, and NSFW graphic novels/comics are in the bedroom but otherwise mirror the organization of the main collection.

The guest bedroom has collections of miscellaneous information and short essays, as well as books that we have two copies of, so we don't mind if someone borrows them indefinitely.

This is very important research so I can figure out how to arrange my books

I like the video (especially the puppies!), and I can definitely see where they’re going with emulating sexy girl videos.  However, in addition to having a much wider variety of cuteness, most of these guys are waaaaay overdressed for a sexy girl video.

This post on the desexualisation of men made me think of this Charli XCX video.

Charli XCX directed this with Sarah McColgan, and asked the boys in question to do “all the sexy things that girls usually do in videos”. They include Riz Ahmed (this is the source of those gifs of him with a big pink teddy bear), Stormzy, Josh Ostrovsky (aka thefatjewish), Tom Daley, Jay Park and more - full list here. It is pink and fluffy and female gaze-y, and everybody looks happy.

It also has a much, much more inclusive idea of cuteness than sexy girl videos, and doesn’t dehumanise its subjects. Which is lovely, but underlines that when men are treated as objects of desire, they’re much more likely to keep a sense of agency.

They’re so cute!

funky lil pride kitties!

planning on making them into holographic stickers ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜