dhampyresa

Title taken from this year's Austrian Eurovision entry which is a fucking banger.

Watch on YouTube

Quite looking forward to Netflix' s upcoming The Fall of the House of Usher. The trailer also has some Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, The Black Cat and possibly some Tell-Tale Heart. Murders in the Rue Morgue, maybe?

Anyway, I hope it fills the E A Poe mash-up hole in my heart left by the Nevermore webtoon being on hiatus. Gothic ghost lesbians <3

In the I'm the Grim Reaper by GRAVEWEAVER, there's a character called Ante Nora. This character has (a) been condemned to the Ninth Circle of Hell because of (b) committing crimes against humanity (exact details tbd as of writing).

In Dante's Inferno, Antenora [1] is the name of the second ring of the Ninth Circle. It's dedicated to traitors to their country.

This is THE DEEPEST FUCKING CUT, seriously. I just now noticed this, even though I've read the entire The Divine Comedy (in French, admittedly, but placenames are the same) and have been reading the comic for years/since before the appearance of this character name. The only reason I noticed is that that's the part of Inferno I'm currently rereading.

The slow "waaaaaaaait... is it? it IS!" realisation was a moment of pure joy I really needed lately, so thank you GRAVEWEAVER.

And bravo. Please leave more obscure references in your work, you lovely nerd.


[1] Antenora is named after Antenor, who let Ulysses's [2] treacherous horse into the city.

[2] Ulysses is also in Hell, in the eighth bolgia of the Eighth Circle, the place for fraudulent counsellors. Dante made up a last voyage of Ulysses, where he sailed past the pillars of Hercules in an unending, prideful and fatal search of knowledge. Dante will get his headcanons aaaaaaaaaaall over your classical texts. According to the France Culture podcast Dante, bienvenue en Enfer; Épisode 3 : Mort d’avoir trop voulu connaître (Dante, welcome to Hell; Episode 3: Died of wanting to know too much) [3] Dante didn't have access to a complete version of the Odyssey as we know it now. If memory serves, the first complete Odysseys came to Europe post the fall of Constantinople in 1453, a good 120+ years after Dante magnum opus came out.

[3] Did I find out about Stromae's L'enfer from the first episode in the series? You can't prove anything.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Thoughts on The Tumblr SituationTM:
1. Curse your sudden and inevitable betrayal!
2. Hi, people back on Dreamwidth!
3. WOW, this is going to really screw over artists, especially those using the site to get visibility and/or paid work.

But ANYWAY! I want to talk about the new Captain Marvel trailer!

"Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel - Trailer 2" (Watch on YouTube)

And by talk I mean clutch my face while going "I LOVE HER aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah LOOK AT HER GO *o* SHE'S SO AMAZING she gets knocked down she gets back up again". REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS MOVIE

The special effects look great! And I'm enjoying the Fury + Carol dynamic so far. When Carol and Maria did the hang loose hand gesture, I found myself doing it at the screen too, lol. Hope Monica gets a cameo of some sort! "I'm not going to fight your war. I'm going to end it." I LOVE HER aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah LOOK AT HER GO *o* SHE'S SO AMAZING

Also, kitty! It's probably a Skrull

Also also, urgh, can you believe it took this fucking long for the MCU to have a female-led superhero movie? You should have given Wanda a movie instead of Doctor Strange, MCU. Hell, you should have given her the same movie -- "devastated after the death of her twin, Wanda Maximoff travels the world to ~find herself~ and ends up becoming Sorcerer Supreme" (I have not actually seen Doctor Strange) -- come on, MCU. SORCERER SUPREME WANDA MAXIMOFF!

1. It was a colossal mistake I did with my computer a week ago. Fixed now. Let us not speak of it again.

2. I read Wendy Pini's Masque of the Red Death, a comic adaptation of the E.A.Poe story of the same name. It was okay-ish. I was not fond of the art, but some parts of the worldbuilding were good. I was disappointed because, in general terms, there was too much set-up and not enough payoff and in specific terms ( spoilers ).

3. I HAVE WATCHED THE NEW DOCTOR WHO AND I LOVE THIRTEEN SO MUCH. Grace was my favourite of the non-Doctor characters this episode.

What did you finish reading

La fabrique des corps: Des premières prothèses à l'humain augmenté by Héloïse Chochois: This was a re-read. I enjoyed it. It's very well-done, interweaving the personal journey of a man who loses his arm at the start of the book and how he adapts to life with a prosthetic and the historical journey of prosthetics as a part of medicine. I'm not sure fond of the 'future' part. Also Ambroise Paré is in it! I like Ambroise Paré.

Plutona by Jeff Lemire (scenario + backup art) and Emi Lenox (art): I picked this up at the library (so I read it in French translation) because I liked Lemire's work on Justice League Dark, way back when. This was an enjoyable read and Lenox's art is very nice, but I expected a bit more. The superheroes feel like a gimmick and not an integrated part of the story. Furthermore, I feel like there's not much there there, if you know what I mean? Do not regret reading it or borrowing it.


What are you currently reading

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson: Haven't touched since last time. It's really dense and I don't have the barinpower in the evenings.


What are you reading next

Fuck if I know.

Thank you for writing for me! I'm sure whatever you write me will be wonderful.

Feel free to poke around this journal or my Ao3 account (username: sevenofspade ) if you want to. My letters tag is here.

I have six Do Not Wants: allegory/metaphor of real world politics, incest, rape, child abuse, character death and dysphoria. When these are canon, please don't focus on them. I would also prefer not to have to deal with people losing things important to them and toxic living arrangements, be that family or roomates. Thank you.

On the other hand, there are a lot of things I do want. Here’s a partial list. (I obviously don’t expect you to stick all of these in one story, that would be impossible.)

( General likes )

Feel free to take prompts in whichever direction you like! And if none of my prompts work for you, then write whatever you want -- I'll be happy with anything.

[Prompts to be expanded as soon as I can.]
[EDIT OCTOBER 15: Prompts added. Sorry for the delay.]


Campaign (Podcast) (Bacta (Star Wars: Campaign Podcast), Lyntel'luroon (Campaign), Tamlin Jorun)

Short version: Teenage clone dad, action archeologist aunt, Force sensitive five year old who is also a noir PI. Gen adventures!

Long version:
The canon: This is a podcast set in the Star Wars universe, about five years after Revenge of the Sith. It's actual play, meaning that you listen to a bunch of people play the Star Wars RPG. Each episode is about an hour. The story follows the crew of the Mynock as they flee the Empire and attempt to raise a Force-sensitive five year old. It's free online here.

The prompts: I love everything about these three. Tamlin narrating à la noir movie outloud is AMAZING and I wish it showed up more. More archeology adventures funtimes with Lyn! With her teaching Tamlin maths, why not teach him archeology as well? And you know Bacta is going to need to teach the kid how to use a lightsaber. How did Bacta end up in that prison in the prologue? I would love to hear about the three of them working on an episode of their podcast.


Cleverman (Alinta West, Latani (Cleverman) )

Short version: Teen girls on the run for the dad of one of them. I ship them. Please let them be happy.

Long version:
The canon: Cleverman is an Australian TV show. It currenly has two seasons of 6 episodes each, with episodes being around 50 minutes. The story is set in an alternatr Australia, in which the Hairy people became known sometime back. This has caused racial tensions and the creation of a Zone by the Australian government to park Hairy people in and genetic screening. Also, there are ghosts and superpowers!

The prompts: I'd love futurefic where everything is okay and they're happy, either because the government got its shit together ethics-wise or because the two of them made it out somewhere. Maybe an AU in which things never went wrong. Angst related to the fact that Alinta's dad is the one hunting Latani's people would be great or about how Alinta sacrificed her freedom for Latani.


Locke & Key (Any of: Jackie Veda, Kinsey Locke, Lucas "Dodge" Caravaggio )

Short version: Two teens and the eldritch horror one of them dated. Worldbuilding.

Long version:
The canon: This is a finished horror comic. It has 37 issues, collected in 6 tpbs. Following the brutal murder of the father, the family moves back to his childhood home, Keyhouse, in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. To say more would spoil it. It goes through a bunch of different kinds of horror as it makes it way through the intricate plot.

The prompts: I would love worldbuilding fic and if you have to go canon-divergent AU or future!fic or past!fic (is that a thing? It should be a thing) to do it, then go right ahead. I would love fic that explore more mundane uses for the Keys or explains what this-or-that Key that never got used in canon does. Or make up an entirely new one! Or write about the Lovecraft psychiatrist (because SO MUCH THERAPY is needed, by pretty much everyone at every point) that somehow everyone tells the truth to and so has to deal with Lovecraftian terrors on their couch. An AU in which they use the Keys to be superheroes!


Marvel Secret Wars Battleworlds (Victor von Doom | God-Emperor Doom, Valeria Richards | Head of the Foundation)

Short version: A mad scientist who became a god and his daughter who is a science genius. SCIENCE! Worldbuilding.

Long version:
The canon: The nine issues miniseries from 2015 about the time the entire Marvel multiverse got destroyed and Doctor Doom made himself a god by saving what he could and turning into a patchwork universe, Battleworld.

The prompts: Anything expanding on Doom and Valeria and/or God Emperor and Head of the Foundation would be great. I also like Susan and Strange a lot, so you're welcome to include them. And of course worldbuilding would be AMAZING. There are hints Valeria knows something's off even before the ship crashes. Maybe she confronts Doom over it and things go differently? Future fic in which Battleworld remained and Doom gives Valeria the God Emperor/Ruler of Battleworld mantle.


Punic Wars RPF (Hannibal Barca (Punic Wars RPF), Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Maior (Punic Wars RPF) )

Short version: Ancient Mediterranean generals! I ship them. Please let them be happy.

Long version:
The canon: The Second Punic War is a war that is full to the brim with feats of badassery (the Crossing of the Alps, Cannae, the fall of Carthago Nova) and things ridiculous, yet epic (Archimedes' death lasers). There's a movie starring Alexander Siddig as Hannibal for the war itself and Extra Credit: Extra History: The Punic Wars for the war and some more context, both before and after. Polybius can be found on Project Gutenberg, Perseus and Wikisource, as can Livy.

The prompts: An AU in which they're somehow on the same side (whichever). The Pun-ic War (I LIKE PUNS OK). IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE AU. Hannibal wins AU. He's a Carthaginian general sworn never to be a friend to Rome, he's a Roman general trying to avenge his father's death by Carthaginians, TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME. I ship them, but you can totally go gen or with other ships instead, idc. Hannibal/Maharbal? Yes. Aemilia/Scipio? Also there. Ditto Aemilia/Scipio/Hannibal.



Unbelievable Gwenpool (Gwen Poole (Unbelievable Gwenpool) )

Short version: Girl transported to her favourite fictional universe who became a superhero! I ship her with Sarah (Terrible Eye). Friendship fic.

Long version:
The canon: A mostly self-contained Marvel comic about a girl from a world much like outs who got transported into her comics. She models herself after the most popular character, Deadpool -- the only way not to die is to set herself up as a main character, because everyone else is just cannon fodder, right? And then she makes friends with a bunch of misfits.

The prompts: Team fic! Friendship fic! Mostly here for friendships and shenanigans, honestly. If I ship Gwen with anyone, it's with Sarah, but friendship between them is also supercool! Maybe bonding with Vincent the Doombot? What about exploring one of the weird holidays in that one issue? What about Gwen's early days? How did she meet Ronnie? Futurefic! Maybe they save the world!


Thank you so much for writing for me!

(Comments welcome.)

My dream last night consisted entirely of me finding out the last book of a series I've been following was out, acquiring said book from my comicshop and then reading said comic book for the rest of the dream (90+%). It was a damn good comic book, I have to say, and I enjoyed it greatly. It did have some issues though, and I'm glad to say the actual series is still going in real life (the dream!last book's number actually came out several years/books ago).

It's not even the first time I've had a dream consisting almost entirely of me reading a comicbook. They're good comics, every time, so I can't complain, really.

My wrist really hurts lately and idk why. I'm hoping it's only temporary and not linked to the back pain. Anyway, going to go easy on posting, I suppose.

And so, I'm cancelling the giant post of all the books I read in 2016 and didn't talk about. Have part of it instead.


What did you finish reading

Cixi de Troy, by Christophe Arleston (scenario) et Olivier Vatine (art): This is a spin-off from Lanfeust de Troy, telling the story of Cixi between volumes 5 and 6 of that series. Same writer as the main series, different artist. A lot happens in quite a short time! I like Cixi a lot and tbh I'd been wanting to know more about that period of time where she was exclusive mistress to omnipotent tyrant by day and DRAGON RIDING VIGILANTE fighting said tyrant by night, which this comics trilogy is at least partly about, so yay! Also, pirates. Also also it makes it canon that Cixi is bi. Way back when I reviewed Mike Carey's Lucifer, I mentionned "it feature[d] the longest roadtrip I have read for someone to get an abortion that they cannot get through other means" -- this book is the basis of comparaison for that. In both cases the fact that outside magical forces prevent these women from seeking an abortion is treated as a violation, fyi. Anyway. I quite enjoyed the friendship between Cixi and her maid, and Cixi and her dragon.


What are you currently reading

A satirical newspaper that comes out on Wednesdays. I'm reading Le Canard Enchainé, Journal satirique paraissant le mercredi, because it's Wednesday and if I'm going to buy a fucking newspaper, I'll be damned if it's a newspaper that isn't independant.


Stuff finished in 2016

( Mostly comics )


Stuff finished in 2017
( Also mostly comics )


What are you reading next

In French: a book on Parisian folklore, a book of first-hand accounts of the Paris Commune (with an eye both to the general history and to writing a Rogue One AU) and a book on Brittany. Also, comics.

In English: fuck if I know, mate.

This evening I patronised my local comic book store. It's been ages since I went and I want to buy ALL OF THE THINGS. I have (so far) restricted myself to one comic for me and one as a gift for someone else. (I'm going to go back and buy more stuff for me -- as long as I'm also buying people gifts, it's not being selfish.)

I did however get my headcold germs aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall over the shop. Sorry to anyone who catches it.

Okay, usually I don't buy books in translation when I can avoid it, but HOLY SHIT the intégrales of Locke & Key are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. Seriously. This is literally the first time I've wanted to own books not because of the content but because the physical objects themselves are so beautiful.

Scarlet Witch 7 came out recently.

I don't know if I want to read it.

On the one hand: WANDA MAXIMOFF ♥!

On the other hand: issue #6 used French national tragedies in a really crass way that really soured me on it.

On the third, tentacular, hand: It doesn't matter whether I read this comic or not. Really, it doesn't! Because I, being French, do not count as a costumer for Marvel in the first place! Seriously, folks. I cannot boycott shit even when I want to, because I am not a costumer. It's really that simple. I cannot vote with my dollars, because Marvel would not have been getting my dollars anyway (or my euros).

On the fourth, robot, hand: I feel like nobody gives a single fuck how offensive Scarlet Witch #6 was. I haven't seen anyone else say anything about it. And that's fine, not everyone has to be offended by the same things! I just feel a little alone. (I suppose Marvel doesn't have to care if they lose my business.)

On the fifth hand: I don't know. I guess this makes me not a real fan.

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Often when I pass the place where I've hung original artwork of Gwen Stacy on one wall facing original artwork of Wanda Maximoff on the other, I think about how cool a team-up between those two would be.

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I think I need some sort of three strikes system, like "If you feel the need to vent about X more than three times, time to consider if getting rid of X in your life wouldn't be a good idea". (Not that this is always feasible, but. You know.)

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MY DRAWINGS ARE TOO BIG! Seriously. I have a pastel work that's too big for my art folder. That's never happened before; usually I feel a little self-conscious about how much bigger than my works the folder is. I need a new folder.

I also need to figure out if my scanner drivers survived the recent system reboot and how to scan gigantic artwork.

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I had semi-impromptu lunch with one the fandom folks today and it was lovely ♥!

We spent the entire time talking in French. I don't think I've ever spent this long speaking about fandom in French before.

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In 1862, Gustave Flaubert published a novel, Salammbô, in which Hannibal Barca is a character. I haven't read it.

This is mostly because the novel is entirely straight-faced about and in part responsible for how popular the image of Carthaginians sacrificing children is -- and I am always very wary of taking the words of the victors about the habits of the people they commited genocide upon. (Flaubert, by necessity, drew only on Roman sources.)

Also, it takes place right after the First Punic War, while Hannibal is still a child -- by all accounts his role in the novel is minimal -- and I'm really more about the Second than First Punic War.

That said, I did enjoy what I saw of it in the tome 2 of the Koblenz comic (Marcher dans Carthage une nuit sans lune) -- the comic had some very pointed commentary about how purity != virginity, too, which I appreciated -- especially the veil of Tanith, that was some awesome stuff. Anyway, I have the Lone Sloane/IN SPACE adaptation of the Flauber novel by Druillet somewhere, I think, maybe I should read that.

Anyway, not only did the novel give its name to one pf my favourite Indochine song, Salombo (Hanoi 2006 orchestral version), but I recently discovered it's also given its name to a pastry.

So naturally I had to try it. It's okay. It's a lot like an eclair.

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I finally signed up for fandomgiftbox.