These Are Cool, Wouldn't Mind Owning A Handful.

Beautifully illustrated and written story comic. I would love to see this in full graphic novel format or as a written novella. It's such a cool concept.

This has to be my new favorite thread/story I've discovered on this crazy app.

This just hit me. I’m so Southern my family has a matriarch and no one in the family knows for sure how old she is. We all also got into a heated debate about the existence of her glass eye (still not confirmed). She’s in her 90s- we think- beat cancer, outlived two husbands, had seven children and has outlived three of them, survived The Great Depression, and either her dad or her grandfather was a full blooded Cherokee Indian… possibly the tribe’s leader but no one really knows for sure.

She also once lit into my dad’s school bus driver, cussing him black and blue about how he treated the kids and didn’t realize she had a butcher’s knife in her hand until he RAN away. She didn’t have any more trouble out of him.

Plant cathedral, Remedios Varo

Fandom Book Club

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Sam Winchester’s pick

“This book goes into the mind of a totally psychotic killer. I loved it.”

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Poe Dameron’s pick

“I thought Katniss Everdeen was such a good leader, she reminded me of my fearless leader General Leia Organa.” 

Tales From The Loop by Modiphius 

Mike Wheeler’s pick

“It is like Dungeons and Dragons, but set in the 80s and we solve mysteries and fight robots instead of shadow monsters!”

Magicians Book by Lev Grossman

Harry Potter’s pick

“Would my life have been easier at Brakebills? Probably not!”

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Will Byer’s pick

“There’s a dark and scary place called Wood on the edge of a village and a wizard named Dragon who steals girls from the village. This book reminded me of the upside down.”

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

“A demon named Crowley,  the anti-christ and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse? Sounds perfect.” -Crowley (the king of Hell)

Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Finn’s pick

“I really identified with Elias because we both took issue with the ideologies and rules of the governing powers we worked under. Without that experience, I might not be what I am now: a rebel.”

Pie & Whiskey by Kate Lebo, Samuel Ligon

“This book didn’t have any pictures of pie or whiskey, but for a book with words it was pretty freaking awesome!” — Dean Winchester

Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger

Kylo Ren’s pick

“This book has so much angst and rebellion in it. Holden Caulfield understands me.”

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Ron’s pick

“This book made me feel a lot of feelings. Stupid sad mouse. And there’s a guy and an intelligence spell that goes wrong I guess.”

Dune Dune by Frank Herbert

Princess Leia’s pick

“Sandworms are terrifying no matter what universe you’re in.” 

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Rey’s pick

“I felt very in tune with the girls in this book. I read this while doing force training and felt like Alderman’s girls got stronger along with me!”

Hild by Nicola Griffith

Hermione’s pick

“I felt I learned more from this girl’s story than from weeks of divination class. She is also uncommonly bright with wild hair so I found her very relatable.”

Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein

Finn’s pick

“I really indentified with Johnnie Rico and what it means to be a soldier in a war you don’t really believe in (or understand.)”

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

“Chuck Shurley ain’t got nothing on Vonnegut. Vonnegut is good.” — Dean Winchester

Grunge Sponge Plaid Set of 2

“This is exactly what those flannel-wearing morons, the Winchesters would use.” — Crowley

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Sam Winchester’s pick

“So get this, 2 guys, one named Dean, go on a road trip. Sounds familiar, well, minus the monsters.”

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Poe Dameron’s pick

“Admiral Holdo made me read this. I have to admit, it helped me a lot.” 

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Ron’s pick

“I got so hungry reading this book. These mice are always eating delicious berry cakes and whatnot. Plus it is full of ferrets and rats with swords. Wicked!”

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Hermione’s pick

“I find this every bit as engaging as Hogwards, a History.”

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Princess Leia’s pick

“I would recruit the crew of the Wayfarer in a second. The Rebellion could use their heart and capacity for hijinks.” 

Wizard of Earthsea Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin

Will Byer’s pick

“This book made me wish I had magic to defeat the shadow monster in my world.”

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

“I really dig this Edward guy. I get it. My younger brother is taller than me, too. But I’m the better hunter.” — Dean Winchester

A Series Of Unfortunate Events Bad Beginnings by Lemony Snicket

Harry Potter’s pick

“I identify with the Beaudelairs more than I’d like.” 

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Rey’s pick

“The Renegades reminded me of the Jedi Order - fierce champions of justice and hope, but almost too idealistic.”

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Sam Winchester’s pick

“This guy Dexter kills the bad guys but man is he twisted.”

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Mike Wheeler’s pick

“A group of teen detectives have all grown up and the men-in-masks are now real monsters.”

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Eleven’s pick

“She is like me.”

This one really tripped me up when I first saw it. Amazing use of perspective and foreshortening in this work though. He was a master at it, foreshor.

In Praise of Dialectics, 1937, Rene Magritte

Size: 54x65 cm Medium: oil, canvas

🌈The more you know!

just learned that magnolias are so old that they’re pollinated by beetles because they existed before bees

I love Ghibli rain scenes.

Love this, it reminds me of 'Over the Garden Wall'.

by Sam Heimer

On Portals and Trees...

So, the general consensus I’ve found concerning lore with trees and portals concerns faefolk! This made a lot of sense to me actually, as I’ve always associated this concept with the fae. There are more natural structures (like faerie rings) that once a mortal steps into or passes through, they are thus thrusted into another realm unlike our own. I found in a post on the internet that “an entrance to the faerie lands can be found at the trunk of a tree.” With that, many people often leave offerings to the fae at their favorite trees, usually an oak or hawthorn tree. Hawthorn trees are especially important to the Celts and the lore concerning fae folk. (I may make a post about this later because it was interesting). I also found other folklore of odd structures made from trees, and people claiming they are portals to the devil and whatnot. Nonetheless, people are seemingly fascinated but fearful of these structures, and consider them portals into other realms and a nexus of supernatural occurrences. Trees in a span of mythology and humanity are hubs of knowledge and creation, so the origin of these myths and folklore are not unusual.

Sources; https://www.paganspath.com/meta/faeries.htm

https://backpackerverse.com/heres-why-locals-call-the-devils-tree-a-portal-to-hell/

Hey btw, if you're doing worldbuilding on something, and you're scared of writing ~unrealistic~ things into it out of fear that it'll sound lazy and ripped-out-of-your-ass, but you also don't want to do all the back-breaking research on coming up with depressingly boring, but practical and ~realistic~ solutions, have a rule:

Just give the thing two layers of explanation. One to explain the specific problem, and another one explaining the explanation. Have an example:

Plot hole 1: If the vampires can't stand daylight, why couldn't they just move around underground?

Solution 1: They can't go underground, the sewer system of the city is full of giant alligators who would eat them.

Well, that's a very quick and simple explanation, which sure opens up additional questions.

Plot hole 2: How and why the fuck are there alligators in the sewers? How do they survive, what do they eat down there when there's no vampires?

Solution 2: The nuns of the Underground Monastery feed and take care of them as a part of their sacred duties.

It takes exactly two layers to create an illusion that every question has an answer - that it's just turtles all the way down. And if you're lucky, you might even find that the second question's answer loops right back into the first one, filling up the plot hole entirely:

Plot hole 3: Who the fuck are the sewer nuns and what's their point and purpose?

Solution 3: The sewer nuns live underground in order to feed the alligators, in order to make sure that the vampires don't try to move around via the sewer system.

When you're just making things up, you don't need to have an answer for everything - just two layers is enough to create the illusion of infinite depth. Answer the question that looms behind the answer of the first question, and a normal reader won't bother to dig around for a 3rd question.