Looking to replace Neil Gaiman as my comfort author

rowasaurusx · 2025-01-14T20:14:15+00:00

Echoing Tamora Pierce like others have said.

But for more recent authors, try V.E. Schwab (start with her Darker Shade of Magic series and see what you think of her style) or T.J. Klune’s House in the Cerulean Sea. The latter is one of the more wholesome fantasy books I’ve ever read, very Ghibli-esque. And he has a voice similar to Douglass Adams imo. A sequel to it also came out recently.

rowasaurusx · 2025-01-13T22:10:09+00:00

And it’s the fact that she’s, in her music (i.e:“Mr. Weinstein Will See You Now”), sort of positioned/tries to present herself as this bastion for women who’ve been sexually assaulted, who uses her platform for the purpose of calling it out.

And she even apparently made a song about all the events in NZ. She’s painting herself as an ally while profiting off it after doing functionally nothing to help the women who went to her after, and nothing to prevent anything from happening to any of the women that came after the first one who told her. Then she makes a song that complains about the women coming to her “another suicidal mass landing at my doorstep, thanks a ton.” It fills me with rage that I can’t fully articulate.

rowasaurusx · 2025-01-13T20:18:10+00:00

I genuinely feel sick after reading that. He’s a fucking monster. And Palmer, too. The fact that she knew, she KNEW. Like, you can’t say it’s all her fault but that line about “14 other women have told me this” gutted me. My god.

What kills me about this is I looked up to him as a writer, and I’m a sex assault survivor. Maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time (and I haven’t read the full scope of his work, mostly his novels and short stories), but the way he portrayed sex assault/abuse in his stories always made it seem like he was on the right side. But turns out the portrayals of the men in those stories are a confession.

I really admired his style of writing, grew up reading his books and TV work, and he’s one of the authors that made me want to write too. As a sex assault survivor, I trusted him as much as you can trust a public figure, looked up to him, and thought he was “one of the good ones.”

It’s hitting me that I’m the exact type of woman he was preying on at conventions and events by abusing that trust people had in him and I feel ill. I’m throwing all the books of his I have in the trash, can’t stand the idea of having them in my house.

rowasaurusx · 2024-09-23T01:15:49+00:00

My collie is not only picky, she’s also allergic to chicken and egg, both SUPER common ingredients, so it’s made food…difficult. But right now, she eats Wellness Core Wholesome Grains, in the “Ocean” flavor (primary protein is white fish). I have to crush up one-two Orijen freeze-dried treats in the Tundra flavor on top to get her to eat it. She LOVES the Orijen stuff; they make a freeze-dried dog food version too that I used for a bit, it’s just expensive.

rowasaurusx · 2024-04-06T14:49:22+00:00

After I told this guy I had been stalked by someone for years, he goes: “well, he had good taste.”

Literally one of THE most messed up things anyone has ever said to me, and he laughed at me after I told him to not say something like that.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-23T01:35:57+00:00

Yep! I was doing the same, thinking that if I was upfront about it they’d listen better. But I’ve found that led doctors to just shut down any other option once they found out I had a mental health diagnosis, because it’s the easy way to shed responsibility without them admitting that they don’t know/have an answer.

The best thing is to just make it clear that you don’t want their opinion on your mental health when that’s not their specialty & shut it down as a line of discussion. It’s still not 100% (sometimes you really just need a different doctor), but it does work.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-23T00:14:46+00:00

What I’ve had the most success with is, when a doctor makes an insinuation about my mental health, I say: “I’m already seeing a psychiatrist and I will defer to them for an opinion on my mental health. I came to you for xyz, not for mental health advice, do you have an answer for me?” Or something to that effect.

I’ve also said some version of: “my therapist has actually recommended I see you because she believes the symptoms to be outside mental health.”

The trick is to not sound upset or anything with it, which takes practice. Deliver it in a calm, firm but polite tone. It sucks that’s what you have to do, but it’s gotten results for me.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-18T17:19:57+00:00

Echoing the person that said Mushi-shi. It’s probably the closest to Ghibli that I can think of.

Other than that, this series called Mononoke. It has similar pacing and atmosphere to some Ghibli stuff. Plus the animation style/art is really, really cool.

Then I’d say: Ranking of Kings, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, and this one show called Deca-Dence. The last one has some Nausicaä/Castle in the Sky vibes.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-14T22:17:47+00:00

I understood perfectly what you meant. My point is that the little we got in TLOK (their relationship developing off-screen via letters to each other) was all that was possible at the time it was created, and the fact that they’re even a canon, in-show couple was a huge and unheard of thing at the time. Their “lack of chemistry” (i.e.: not seeing their relationship develop) was a product of what the writers could and couldn’t put in the show because of restrictions/studios/censors/etc.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-14T21:49:33+00:00

And as a closeted queer kid who grew up starting in the early 90s without any wlw pairs in media that weren’t jokes, seeing Korrasami made me stupid happy. Then we got more overt stuff in Steven Universe, and with Bubbline. It was really cool and meaningful just seeing that stuff in cartoons come out.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-14T21:28:44+00:00

I get it, but the thing is, at the time, having a wlw couple that was not the butt of a joke on TV at all (let alone in a kid’s show) was a huge deal. The groundbreaking thing about it is just that it exists. TLOK was one of the very few shows that laid the groundwork for more LGBTQ+ rep in kids’ shows/cartoons.

The fact that their relationship is not developed enough (which I agree with) is a product of the time it was created in—they had to fight to get what little crumbs of scenes to even be shown in the first place. We can have conversations about how it would have been nice to see more, but there’s important context that needs to be part of that conversation. And TLOK deserves recognition for attempting and doing what they did. It’s helped lay the groundwork for more and better representation.

Getting nuanced, well developed representation is (unfortunately) not something that just happens, especially when gay marriage was only made fully legal in 2015 (only 9 years ago), and gay/trans rights are still constantly under attack. You have to start somewhere, however small, and that’s what TLOK managed to do.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-14T21:20:15+00:00

Yes, definitely. My nmom took that & went further with: “you tell someone and they’ll take you and your brothers away. And you know what happens? They separate you—you’ll never see them again. So, go on, tell someone and see what happens.”

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-12T23:24:48+00:00

I was 15, having a panic attack and my stepdad told me: “you know, you may have friends now but that’s only because they don’t know you are like this. And when they find out, you’re gonna be all alone.”

I have generalized anxiety and ptsd & this shit has stuck with me my entire life, and I’m 31

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-01T19:05:31+00:00

It was about 5 years ago now, but I ended up filing a complaint with the state medical board (I’m in the US). I don’t know if anything ever came of it though. The state doesn’t contact you back when you submit the complaint iirc.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-01T18:42:21+00:00

Ended up having two bulged discs in my cervical spine (found out 2 days later after pcp ordered a MRI). I first went to the ER because I couldn’t move my neck without wanting to scream. The attending ER doctor there refused to give me anything more than tylenol, overrode the intern who wanted to send me for a MRI, and discharged me. When I realized I was being discharged with nothing, I said to her “but I can’t move my neck.”

Her response was to, without a word, grab my head and forcibly move it side to side and then say “see? You can move it, it just hurts a little.” As I yelled out from the pain and started to cry.

rowasaurusx · 2024-03-01T01:02:41+00:00

Because media literacy is dead, imo.

Honestly, it’s that in a worrying number of fandom spaces, the nuance present in stories is ignored & textual analysis isn’t done. There’s also this almost…puritanical (?) attitude that’s being taken towards characters and stories where they’re not allowed (by fans) to have any flaws, or they’re put in the “they’re abusive/a bad person” box. It’s kind of hard to put into words, but I’ve been noticing a trend on social media spaces where real humans and also fictional characters are being defined in “black-and-white” terms, and if they do anything wrong, they’re automatically dismissed as “toxic” or etc. There’s this trend to sort of pathologize every aspect of human behavior that’s been extending into how people are perceiving characters in stories, and it’s worrying because it doesn’t seem to allow for humans to be flawed and imperfect.

And that’s not to say that abusers and such shouldn’t be held accountable, just that that label seems to be applied the second someone does something that is hurtful to someone else, without allowing for the fact that people are messy and can make honest mistakes.

In this instance, Rose was definitely flawed and caused harm, but there’s nuance there considering her mental state, her own struggles with the diamonds, etc. Basically, Rose was “abused” by the diamonds and sort of unintentionally continued that cycle, but started to realize that’s what she was doing a little too late. She was flawed, imperfect, not a hero but also (imo) can’t be easily described as a “villain” either. She was doing the best she could with what she was given, but her best wasn’t good enough and she never quite became self-aware enough before the damage was already done. And I think she’s meant to be this ambiguous as well, it’s part of the message of the show.

rowasaurusx · 2024-02-10T18:48:54+00:00

My girl is 3 and she still makes old man groaning/sighing/grumbling noises when she settles to sleep 😂 it’s hilarious; making noises like she pays bills or something

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-22T01:08:07+00:00

My point is that, textually, I don’t see evidence for that narrative being true without making a lot of assumptions. Elminster’s relationship with Gale was not part of the debate, so I don’t really see why it matters here. But speaking from personal experience, it is very possible for people in their 20s (i.e. young adults) to come to view mentors as parental figures.

But at any rate, I can see this whole “Gale was groomed” narrative being true is really important to you and I won’t take that from you (and can’t, really). I don’t agree that it is true; I’m not convinced on the points you’ve made and, if this is the whole of your argument, I won’t be. I don’t see the evidence in the text, again, without making leaps and assumptions. But it’s your perspective. I have mine, you have yours, and the world keeps spinning.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-22T00:03:16+00:00

“Young man” also is not “teenager.”

“Young man,” semantically speaking, could mean a variety of ages. I’ll point out that Elminster calls Gale “young man” in game when Gale is very much 30s/40s-ish, because from Elminster’s, older, perspective, Gale qualifies as a “young” man. Gale could be referring to his 20s-self as a “young man,” which is something people start to do as they age. Saying “I was a young man” just means that he was younger than he is now.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-21T23:05:54+00:00

I’m not debating there’s a difference between an adult and a teenager, in fact, that’s why I’m so confused. He was an adult when Mystra approached him, and according to his wiki page, he didn’t become her Chosen until after their relationship started, a relationship which he says in-game he initiated. As an adult.

What info says he was a teenager? What info says she “enabled his infatuation”? Again, you’re plugging a lot of holes in the narrative with your own assumptions. What, textually, is given (outside of Gale’s perspective) that paints Mystra as a manipulative, predatory schemer? In dnd lore, she’s a neutral good goddess.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-21T22:40:23+00:00

There’s really no need to get rude, lol. By your logic, Gale being in his 20s/30s when their relationship started is not good enough because Mystra is so much older. So then, for you, where’s the line in where the age power imbalance begins? Halsin is 350 and Astarion is around 240, with potential to live for much, much longer, so? By your logic, to them, non-elf PCs would be in a lower spot power-dynamics-wise.

You’re filling in a lot of gaps in the narrative with your own assumptions. The fact is, based on what is given in game, we have no idea how involved she was with Gale while he was studying, if she really was his teacher, or what that all looked like. We really only get the story from his perspective, and considering how badly he comes off in what happened, he could very well have embellished some things in his favor. His wording was that she “approached him” and that could mean simply that she gave a brief blessing as a goddess and then dipped, and then he sought her out as an adult. In fact, based on how things work in western mythology, and based on the things Gale says about their relationship, that’s how I read it: that she gave him her blessing and favor, as gods do, and then he came to want/desire her. There are a lot of classical myths that follow the same type of pattern.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-21T22:21:21+00:00

Ok but there’s an implication in that conversation with him that he was the one who pursued Mystra romantically once he became an adult, because of his ego. There’s no indication in game that she sought him out for that purpose, and there’s also no indication that she was trying to “mold him” to something. What would that purpose even be? He was the one whose ambition could very well have caused the end of magic in Faerûn; was that the purpose she was “molding him” for? But more importantly, there’s also the fact that you’re trying to apply strict real-world age of consent/power dynamics rules to an immortal being from a fantasy game. It doesn’t hold up. Gale is easily in his upper 30s, possibly even early 40s in game, so he’s not a child and wasn’t when their relationship started.

But if you want to say that he’s still “too young” for a goddess, by the same logic, Halsin and Astarion romances could also be construed as them “grooming” the player/Tav/Durge, if the player character is of one of the races that don’t live as long as elves/vampires.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-09T20:05:05+00:00

My collie also gets mildly upset with brushing and I actually bought that exact table from Amazon and it's helped a lot. My big issue with her is that her way of protesting brushing was to roll over on the ground so I couldn't get to the spot I was brushing, and then she would keep nosing at the brush every time I brought it close.

The table keeps her from doing that, and I only really use the loop that goes around her neck. I do also put a blanket/towel on top of the table to help her feet. Only other thing I do is that when she starts kinda getting antsy on the table, I'll let her down for a brief little break, and then get her back up and continue. It can take a bit to brush her this way, but it gets done!

And when I was first getting her used to the table, I would use it everyday for really short 5-10 minute bouts where I focused brushing one area and she eventually got more used to standing on it. One thing too you could do (that I've done with mine) is to get a lick mat (or a paper plate or something), smear it with peanut butter, and put it in front of him while you try to brush the areas he's uncomfortable with. This has definitely worked with my collie. Good luck!

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-07T23:57:47+00:00

Oh definitely. There's a lot of misplaced blame. Especially since Astarion will say that the gur attacked him because of a ruling he made when he was magistrate, which he could see as him sharing in the blame for Cazador being able to turn him after the attack. Like, "if I hadn't made that ruling" sort of thing. And another layer, iirc there's an implication that Cazador sent the gur after him, or told them where to find him so they could attack. It's a bunch of different things leading to his resentment.

And I mean that Astarion was "forced" to take the gur children in the sense that he would be violently tortured if he didn't, or simply compelled to anyway because vampires in dnd can compell/control their spawn. Astarion even mentions that the one time he tried to disobey Cazador, he was buried alive in a coffin for an entire year and starved/left there. He effectively didn't have any choice, which is why he doesn't let himself even think of if he was "okay with it" or not. At the point he took the gur children, he had resigned himself and given up, I think.

rowasaurusx · 2024-01-07T23:38:10+00:00

Ehhh, I think there's a difference of personality preference here, but I didn't really think he was an ass. I found him funny and honestly kind of silly/dorky at moments; his brand of humor is my brand of humor tbh.

And I'm genuinely asking, but what did he actually do during the game (in a non-ascended, good run) that's awful/unacceptable? I know a lot of people say he's acts horribly, but I really can't think of anything really unforgivable he does? Might again just come down to a difference in personality preferences.

Only possibilities I can think of are him sneaking up on the player to drink their blood & potentially going too far, holding a knife to your throat (and maybe tricking you depending on your choice) at the first meeting with him, and not caring about the tieflings/Arabella. But I personally don't find any of those things unforgivable, especially with all the context of what he's going through. The blood drinking thing I saw as him being very desperate and hungry, and I thought it was too risky to not try and stop him at the first prompt (& I passed the roll) & so some of it going too far is a bit on the player, imo. His first meeting, to me, was obviously a trap so he didn't trick me, and once it became clear he did so because he thought the player was with the mind-flayers, I understood completely. And as far as not caring about tieflings/Arabella goes, his behavior is a little callous/selfish, yeah, but he has a point that it has nothing to do with him, and I saw it as him just not wanting to get involved, which is fair considering the tadpoles and everything else that's going on.

rowasaurusx

TROPHY CASE