Snow White & the Seven Angels by Rhys Christopher Ethan (Queerky Tales #1)

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CW: Suicide, transphobia

Title: Snow White & the Seven Angels
Series: Queerky Tales
Author: Rhys Christopher Ethan
Illustrator: Ethereal Ealain
Date Added: August 23, 2017
Date Started: November 7, 2018
Date Finished: November 9, 2018
Reading Duration: 2 days
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Romance, LGBTQ+, Short Story


Pages: 54
Publication Date: April 28, 2012
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

The classic tales you know, the characters with secrets you don’t
***
Blurb:
White has a secret. One he has shared with his family to no avail. When he meets the Prince of his dreams, he decides he can no longer live a lie, but in order to do so, he will have to face his worst nightmares.

Queerky Tales is a series of classic fairy tales retold with LGBT characters. Snow White & the Seven Angels is about fighting for your happy-ever-after, whatever shape it comes in.

For children and adults alike.

Snow White is one of the most popular fairytales for revamping possibly because it contains so many of the tropes and motifs we’re familiar with: the evil mother/matron, the maiden lost in the woods, the forbidden fruit, the magical/lucky number seven, and some I might be forgetting.  Ethan’s version adds an aspect I think is even more vital since the titular character is trans, and he (the author) dedicated it to Leelah Alcorn, a trans teenager who committed suicide due to lack of familial support, leaving behind a heartbreaking note asking for something to change so people like her would actually want to live in this world.  To this day (so far as we know) her family continues to deadname and misgender her, taking zero responsibility for what they drove her to do and it’s disgusting.

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My Brother Rabbit

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Title: My Brother Rabbie
Genre: Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Adventure
Developer: Artifex Mundi

Cover of My Brother RabbitSystem: Nintendo Switch
Regular Price: $14.99
Release Date: September 21, 2018

My Brother Rabbit is point-and-click search and puzzle game released by Polish game developer Artifex Mundi for a variety of platforms and consoles.  It is set in a surreal and beautifully drawn world that explores how a young child uses imagination to cope with an uncertain and frightening situation.

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The State of the Gamer: 11/3/22

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<–The State of the Gamer: 10/20/22           The State of the Gamer: 11/17/22–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

Games Demoed: 0

Games Purchased: 3

  • Harvestella – $59.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • The Journey Down: Chapter Two – $11.24 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Bear With Me: The Complete Collection – $9.99 @ Nintendo eShop
Total: $81.22

Games Finished: 0

Games On Hold: 1

Title: Cris Tales
System: Nintendo Switch

Cover of Cris TalesDate Started: October 24, 2022

On one hand I should make my own decisions about games and not follow the comments/critiques.  On the other hand I was already meh on this game anyway.  It’s very pretty; cel shading holds up so well (see Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker), but graphics to me are like icing on the cake for other people (I…love icing; it’s better than cake for me lol).  It’s a nice addition (no one has heard me complain about FFVIIR’s aesthetic), but it won’t keep me interesting in a game.

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The State of the Reader: 11/2/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 10/19/22         The State of the Reader: 11/16/22–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 2

Total: $3.98

Books Finished: 1

Title: Flowers for the Sea
Author: Zin E. Rocklyn
Date Added: December 4, 2021
Date Started: October 18, 2022
Date Finished: October 27, 2022

Cover of Flowers from the Sea by Zin E. RocklynMedia: eBook/Kindle

This was decent.  I wanted some more information about the nature of the pregnancy/child, but it did live up to it’s Rosemary’s Baby reference if not Octavia Butler.  Since I haven’t read her yet I can’t say, though I do understand why her name was invoked.  I think the author was going for the more vague “the unknown is horrifying” angle, but some more details would’ve been nice.  The final line of the novel is bad ass though.

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The State of the Writer: 10/30/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 10/16/22         The State of the Writer: 11/13/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Working on language details

One of the many pictures I have saved on Pinterest for potential settings.  I love this as a view from train tracks, though of course you’d have to be walking along them in order to see something like this, not riding in one as my characters would ostensibly be doing.  My initial method of transportation was going to be horse and carriage, but then I started thinking about what technology they might have and I realized a train might absolutely be possible.

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The State of the Gamer: 10/20/22

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<–The State of the Gamer: 10/6/22           The State of the Gamer: 11/3/22–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

Games Demoed: 0

Games Purchased: 1

  • Dinogotchi – $1.99 @ Nintendo eShop
Total: $1.99

Games Finished: 2

Title: The Journey Down: Chapter One
Series: The Journey Down
Developer: Skygoblin

Cover of The Journey Down: Chapter OneDate Started: October 18, 2022
Date Finished: October 20, 2022

I finished this so quickly it didn’t even make it to a Currently Playing.  The world of this game is really interesting, and I like how it weaves in the lore without beating you over the head with it.  You get enough information to make you really curious.  Like what is the Edge?  Is it some sort of Discworld situation?  What is Underland?  What’s there that’s so dangerous and why is the Armando Power Company so interested in it?  They’re giving me Shinra Electric Company vibes tbh especially since they’re controlling everything and looking for something in this weird, off-limits place.  All the characters’ faces are more like masks, and there’s a section in the game where you can see that’s exactly what they are.  Bwana and Kito, the main characters, have faces inspired by real African masks.  More than inspired by actually.  Their faces were based off the masks.  I was afraid the game was going to end once I finished up with the airplane lol.  I’m definitely getting the next chapter.  Oh, and the music slaps.

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The State of the Reader: 10/19/22

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<–The State of the Reader: 10/5/22         The State of the Reader: 11/2/22–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 3

Total: $19.12

Books Finished: 2

Title: The Girl from the Well
Series: The Girl from the Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Date Added: February 28, 2022
Date Started: September 22, 2022
Date Finished: October 17, 2022

Cover of The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (The Girl from the Well)Media: eBook/Kindle

It’s time for a new library book.  I finished this a few days prior to its due date.  Read some of the comments/critiques and apparently people found it boring and not scary?  I guess they were expecting it to be scary like The Ring, but even though I noticed the similarities (and with a little digging found out it’s a very common trope in Japanese horror), I wasn’t expecting the story to be like that.  Idk.  There’s no accounting for taste, but I think people judged the book based on their expectations not on what it was (the same thing happened with Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement).  I’m interested in reading the sequel The Suffering.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 11 – Dear Aeris II

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Update: I was hoping to update this before my last SOTW post, but things have been hectic lately, and I feel awful because Bethany is doing such an amazing job on these and I feel like an ass for not getting them up as soon as I can.  Here are the links to the image on Deviant Art and Artstation.

The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 10                                                                                                                                 Chapter 12–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Aeris’s second letter of self-reclamation.

Chapter 11 cover

A white and pink rose sitting by what looks like a glass necklace. In the top right corner Chapter 11 Dear Aeris II is in dusky pink.

Dearest Aeris,

It’s been fifty-five days since last I was used, and I never will be again.  My general promises that every day and every day proves it more true. I’m his Aeris and his alone.  Brutal men can never have me.  I cry and cry when I think about that…how I’ll never again be abused.  I’m his.  I’m his.  I’m forever his.  He guards me.  He shields me.  I’m safe.  He tells me the best and most wonderful things like just how cherished I am.  He could hurt me so badly, but he hasn’t. He won’t.  He’s gentle.  He’s careful with me.  I live in a palace by the sea under his endless protection.

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The State of the Writer: 10/16/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 10/2/22         The State of the Writer: 10/30/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Working on language details

The last few weeks have been spent figuring out surname naming conventions for different groups with regards to marriage.  Since I work better when I have examples to use, I had to make up last names for said groups, and those last names had to make sense in terms of the groups’ cultures/background.  I do like that in working on one worldbuilding aspect, I can solidify others.

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Eating Robots: And Other Stories by Stephen Oram (Nudge the Future #1)

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Title: Eating Robots: And Other Stories
Series: Nudge the Future
Author: Stephen Oram
Date Added: April 10, 2017
Date Started: October 23, 2018
Date Finished: November 6, 2018
Reading Duration: 14 days
Genre: Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Speculative Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Short Stories

Cover of Eating Robots: And Other Stories by Stephen Oram (Nudging the Future)Pages: 141
Publication Date: May 31, 2017
Publisher: SilverWood Book
Media: eBook/Kindle

The future is bright…or is it?

Step into a high-tech vision of the future with author of ‘Quantum Confessions’ and ‘Fluence’ Stephen Oram. Featuring health-monitoring mirrors, tele-empathic romances and limb-repossessing bailiffs, ‘Eating Robots’ explores the collision of utopian dreams and twisted realities in a world where humanity and technology are becoming ever more intertwined.

Sometimes funny, often unsettling, and always with a word of warning, these thirty sci-fi shorts will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Stephan Oram, the author of this volume, intrinsically understands the function of a short story and does an excellent job with the ideas he presents.  The collection uses a variety of genres/subgenres like the subtle horror of “Disjointed” to the satisfying, poetic justice found in “Little Miracles.”  Most importantly, these stories reveal a glimpse of a much closer future than expected where the disenfranchised become even more so due to public opinion turned policy, and there’s a sinister similarity between the mien of many of them and the show Black Mirror.  Some of these stories touch on the same topics as Jonathan Luna’s Alex + Ada (a review I’ve put on hold as I think I need to read the graphic novel again before I can adequately discuss it) with respect to AI rights.

We are reaching the point where speculative fiction is not so speculative anymore, nor is cyberpunk dystopian.  Spend any time on Disabled Twitter and you will see stories of people priced out of life improving if not saving technology.  Substances or activities the abled bodied can do without assistance (produce insulin or even breathe) are behind a paywall for diabetics and asthmatics respectively.  What was once merely metaphor has become reality.

5 stars.

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