Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXL · 9:12pm Feb 25th, 2021
I had an epiphany the other day. It was after sending a response to someone on Discord. Truth is, I don’t talk to people a whole lot. The vast majority of the time other people have to initiate contact with me. But this guy is the exception; we talk with great regularity. That’s not the epiphany. The epiphany is that we always talk about what he brings up. Rarely does the topic shift to what I feel like discussing.
This isn’t his fault. It stems from something deeper, something that has defined me my whole life. As a kid, I came to realize that what I enjoyed was not what everyone else enjoyed. I love video games, but my parents or sister or brother don’t really want to know why I like Final Fantasy 8 so much, or what I thought of the frustratingly multiplayer direction fighting games were taking. People don’t understand why I spent more than a week on Excel trying to build a spreadsheet to automate decisions in Civilization V. And they especially don’t want to know what I think about the latest horror movie or hear about my love of indie horror games like Rule of Rose or my fascination with FNAF lore. I was always under the impression that people don’t care about what I like, don’t want to hear my opinions, and certainly aren’t interested in whatever it is I want to talk about.
My solution to this? I shut up. I let everyone else talk. I sit back, I listen, and maybe, maybe, if a subject comes up that I happen to really care about, I’ll throw in a few words. But I never expect it to, because really, who cares about what Paul wants to talk about? And since I live with an eternal worry of causing discomfort to others, I figured it’s better to avoid the awkwardness of them pretending to be interested.
Heck, look at my blogs. What do I talk about? Usually it’s my writing progress (or lack thereof), or maybe a story that I know I won’t be able to release. That’s it. I figure nobody wants to talk about anything else. Which is also why I don’t pester people on Discord, because I really do feel like I’m inconveniencing people when I try to initiate a conversation.
I don’t want to inconvenience people. I can’t help it, it’s a personal issue. The idea of inconveniencing other people fills me with dread.
Which goes back to that one guy I regularly talk to on Discord. It’s not his fault he’s the one deciding what we talk about most of the time. If I’m not going to open up a topic, he has to, right? That fact that he’s been willing to keep doing so for years now… Well, that’s really the only way to keep talking to me. It’s kinda touching he’s been willing to for so long.
My assumptions and suspicions aren’t true. I love horror movies and games. Nobody in my family does, they treat it as almost taboo, so I came to think I was odd and shouldn’t bring it up. But don’t I watch Youtube channels like Dead Meat, and doesn’t it have over four million subscribers? There’s a whole community out there that loves this stuff! Why am I not talking to them?
I grew up in the late 80’s/early 90’s, when liking video games was for nerds and people might mock you for it. I didn’t share my love for them. It was easier that way. But video games are bigger than movies now, so why am I still thinking myself the weirdo for having over 130 games on my Steam account and blowing money on a top tier graphics card and a 34” superwide monitor?
I want to try to be more open about my interests and who I am. That may start with more regular blogs about things that aren’t pony-related. Things like the games I’m playing (because I’m always playing them), or the recent horror I saw and why it wasn’t up to snuff, or whatever. I’ve got to stop thinking that people don’t care about what I have to say. And I’ve got to start talking to people more regularly, people who share my interests and are willing to have discussions about them.
But first, I’ve got a few more “Concepts & Creations” blogs I recently decided I want to write. Look to see those starting this weekend.
Oh. And reviews. I suppose. Let’s get to them, shall we?
Stories for This Week:
Twilight's Dollhouse by Kaidan
Time of Death by Starscribe
Rarity Bakes Snickerdoodles by LimeAttack
Unsung by Fabby
Anonception by Thought Prism
Drip by ambion
This Is Gonna Be A Blast! by Eddy13
Mother of Nations by Benman
Thirsty by Samey90
Let the Silence Sing 2 by Aegis Shield
Total Word Count: 149,037
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 0
Pretty Good: 4
Worth It: 4
Needs Work: 2
None: 0
Twilight's Dollhouse
94,691 Words
By Kaidan
Shining Armor and Cadance are dead. With their loss comes Twilight’s inevitable realization that all her friends – all mortal life that currently exists – will pass and she’ll keep going.This is not acceptable. Researching immortality, she devises a means of ensuring nopony ever dies: by transforming them into tiny, living dolls and other toys. She’ll save everyone in Ponyville from death. Their consent is not required.
You’d think I’d have read this years ago. It’s concept is certainly the kind to draw my attention. Yet, despite hearing of it for pretty much my entire FIMfiction life, I never looked into it. And when I finally did, it had to wait years for it to hit the top of my lists. So… how did Kaidan do?
The first thing we have to accept is Twilight being bat-shit insane. Her manner is completely illogical, as she constantly contradicts herself with a desire to both make her friends happy and doing everything in her power to ensure they never are. Even when she legit murders ponies, she tells herself she’s doing the right thing and saving everypony in Ponyville. Is it OOC? Absolutely.
BUT, the entire story runs on the premise that Shining Armor’s and Cadance’s deaths caused Twilight to snap irreparably. From that perspective I’m much more forgiving. I mean, when the premise centers upon the complete loss of Twilight’s ability to think rationally, we can expect her to be OOC. As long as I kept that in mind, it didn’t bother me too much. My only real concern here is that I don’t think Kaidan approached the topic correctly. We jump directly into Twilight’s insanity, as opposed to building up to it, and that can make accepting the entire premise harder for the audience.
Instead, Kaidan devotes writing time to Twilight and Silver Spoon torturing their dolls (and I do mean torture). Why? To provide some pointless horror moments? Meh.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the moments worked well, such as what happened to Filthy Rich. I’m not even opposed to what happened to Rarity – it fit with where the story was at the time. So I suppose in retrospect it’s only the whole Silver Spoon thing that struck me as excessive.
Then there’s Lyra, Twilight’s first victim and the one that is the most frustrating. Sometimes I wondered if she wasn’t as insane as Twilight. It’s even more frightening to think that there may actually be people like Lyra in the real world, people who would much rather treat demented serial killers with kindnes and compassion even while their best friend is being murdered.
Kaidan’s concept of the Elements of Harmony for this story also annoyed me. This is a headcanon thing, I suppose, but when an author depicts the Elements as being corrupted for no other reason than the Bearer did a bad thing, I can only shake my head in frustration. If it were really that easy to corrupt the Elements, why didn’t it happen when Luna became Nightmare Moon? So when I see the Elements still actively trying to aid and protect Twilight despite her being totally evil, I call shenanigans. And yet that very assistance proves critical to Twilight surviving a brawl against Luna.
...and then Twilight goes horn-to-horn against Celestia and, at least briefly, holds her own. So, what? Did she not even need the Elements of Harmony against Luna?
Of course, we also have the conceit that Twilight can start kidnapping and murdering ponies, tell everyone “oh, they moved out. That’s right, half the town has moved out!”, and get away with it. And then telling the Apple Family that Big Mac got drafted for a war that everypony knows doesn’t exist? At least AJ didn’t fall for it, though I question why she didn’t act on the obvious lie right away.
And Pinkie Pie – Pinkie Pie – breaks a Pinkie Promise to Applejack.
So yes, there are issues. A ton of them, of the variety typically tossed out by horror writers who want to justify their premises without a care for whether their justifications make any sense. I’m not sure if Kaidan knew the justifications were bullshit or did and didn’t care. What bothers me is that with this specific premise, the author didn’t need to make bullshit justifications. You could make this concept work within the regular bounds of Equestria and common sense. Had Kaidan bothered to do so, Twilight’s Dollhouse could have been a masterpiece of horror fiction.
Having said all of that, this could have been far, far worse. While the plot is kind of meh, Twilight’s mental collapse is quite well done and the reactions of most ponies in response are also commendable with one or two exceptions (like Lyra or the police chief of Ponyville whose name I can’t recall). We’ve got Bon Bon, Vinyl, and Octavia leading a veritable insurrection against Twilight, Scootaloo and Rainbow bonding over their imprisonment (a minor but nice feature), Princess Luna’s investigation into the disappearances. There’s some great stuff in here in terms of character interaction.
The action scenes are decent, Twilight’s madness is handled as well as can be expected under the circumstances, the dolls’ solutions to their problems are great, and the open ending leaves a lot of room for expansion on the concept (even if you’ll never convince me Luna forgot the name of the pony who rescued her from the Nightmare, even a thousand years later). The writing is generally good, if a little underwhelming in atmosphere and possessing some inconsistent narrative voice.
Ultimately, the story is a mixed bag, with some elements being great and others being sort of ‘meh’ or even ‘WTF?’. There’s a lot to appreciate in this story, particularly for horror buffs, but the more literary-minded sorts and those seeking plotholes will find plenty to rip apart. I’m willing to set this on the middle ground.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author! (Wait, really? I could have sworn…)
Time of Death
20,114 Words
By Starscribe
A necromancer named Dirge decided to punish the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Specifically, he picks six ponies who he believes are close to each of them and casts a curse that will kill them in exactly one year. The curse is so powerful, so terrible, that it kills Dirge instantly. Twilight races to solve the problem… But odds are good that there is no solution.
Be wary if you value your feels, as this story will give them a solid buck in the gut. Each chapter shows how the individual victims are taking their inevitable demise, with each scene being set closer and closer to their “due date”. Some of them take it about as well as can be hoped, such as Big Mac and (especially) Maud. Others try to live on and hold out hope that something can be done, like Trixie and Gilda (the latter after some encouragement). Others don’t take it all that well, like Zephyr Breeze and Coco Pommel. These scenes are all well developed in their own ways, although I strongly favored Coco’s and Maud’s.
Then we get the ending. Or rather, endings. I’m normally not one to appreciate alternate endings. A normal author would have given readers a happier ending to appease the whiners. I hate that.
Starscribe surprises me, and in the process shows they may not be your average writer. The alternate ending isn’t necessarily happy. If anything, it’s thought provoking. Starscribe claims it’s non-canon, and far be it for me to disagree with the author, but… I disagree with the author. The solution held within the alternate ending is such a powerful one that, if we accept it as true, both endings are canon. This makes the entire story much more interesting, and in ways that aren’t entirely positive. This is one of the very precious few times that an alternate ending doesn’t make the story worse, but instead accentuates it and turns it into a whole new creature worth pondering over.
There are plenty of reasons to read this one. Sadficionados will love it, for the scenes are all strong in one way or another and only get better as the story goes on. The philosophers (and perhaps the quantum physics professors) among us will love the two endings taken together. Overall, it’s an ambitious bit of sadfic that I’m glad I took the time to read.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Rarity Bakes Snickerdoodles
1,100 Words
By LimeAttack
Somehow, Rarity fails to realize that making a bet with Pinkie Pie is a stupid idea. Thus: snickerdoodles.
This was… uh… Yeah. It was. There’s no real purpose to the story. Rarity goes to Sugarcube Corner, she and Pinkie bake snickerdoodles, the end. The story isn’t trying to be funny, it’s not teaching any valuable life lessons. It doesn’t seem to have any purpose at all, except perhaps to be a scene where Pinkie and Rarity bake cookies together.
This is Slice of Life in its most unfiltered form, without any distractions or motivations. It’s a scene, set aside from anything else, which exists purely for the sake of existing. If that interests you… well, it’s not like it’s written poorly. LimeAttac does a decent enough job. It just doesn’t do anything.
Although I was pleasantly amused by Twilight’s inevitable fate.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Daily — Worth It
I now understand that when Fabby says “Don’t think about it”, they really mean it.
This story is one giant WTF. Twilight arrives at her home in Canterlot. Why is she living in Canterlot now? No way to know, because Fabby makes no attempt to explain. Then she tries going to bed with a candle lit for some insane reason. Then she goes to blow out the candle. Then she’s… in the dark. In her room, but… not in her room. In space, but not space; a void of absolute nothingness, and she’s starting to lose her sense of—
I have no idea what is going on with this story. Neither will you. Neither does Twilight. I went through the (unfortunately few) comments and saw that Fabby acknowledged the cause of Twilight’s situation, but nothing more. There’s no why or how, it just is.
As much as I enjoy Weird Tales, this one went too far with its unanswered questions. Even the ones meant to be confusing can flounder if they don’t give us enough of a starting point to work with. I was ultimately far too confused to get into the apparently dark and dreary mood the author was trying to instill in me.
An interesting piece, and not poorly written by any means, but too nebulous for even my tastes.
Bookshelf: Need Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Delirium — Pretty Good
Silent Night — Worth It
Anonception
1,091 Words
By Thought Prism
Requested by Thought Prism
You’re back from the pony convention with loads of loot, but the best by far is the Anonfilly body pillow. Which… promptly transforms into an actual pony version of you. You’re pretty stoked until you find out you are every bit the asshole you always knew you to be.
“An unhealthy quantity of second person narration”. Talk about understatement.
This was weird to say the least, but also amusing. It makes “you” into a (negatively) stereotypical brony. It also makes “you” into an earth pony filly. At the same time. Filly “you” then begins to brutally acknowledge all the horrible things about human “you” in the cruellest way possible. Filly “you” is kind of a jerk, but human “you” sorta have it coming, so…
I don’t know what crack Thought Prism was on when they decided to write this, and no, I’m not interested in having any. I am curious about what possessed them to subject yours truly to this weirdness. That’s not to say I didn’t like it, it was kinda fun in a “WTF did I just read?” way. And it happens that a lot of people really like that kind of craziness.
My personal favorite element is the use of second person narration for two different characters. I generally don’t like second person narration, but this little gimmick was well done and the most entertaining part of the whole story. Good luck trying to keep up!
Weird, but not in a bad way. Give it a try and prepare to go crosseyed.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Below — Pretty Good
Name Rater — Pretty Good
Antithesis — Worth It
Pie Family Weirdness: The Secret Origin — Worth It
Operation: Replace — Worth It
Princess Celestia has the common cold. Princess Twilight is there to help.
The first story featured Twilight getting a dragon-based illness and being nursed by Celestia in… unconventional ways. This story reverses that, but instead of an unconventional illness we have an unconventional patient, one who tends to create a whole new sunrise every time she sneezes. Metaphorically speaking, that is.
ambion’s ever-present narrative wit sells this story. Without it, it’d be just another “pony takes care of sick pony” moment. Here we get an endlessly whimsical literary style that never lets up on keeping the scene amusing and vivid. It’s a short and highly entertaining piece, and I loved it.
I don’t think I need to say anything else. The story is fun, and that’s all it needed to be. A suitable successor to the delightful Melt.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
A Ballad of Eeyup and Nope — WHYRTY?
Melt — WHYRTY?
Sun Blocked — Pretty Good
Tricks and Treats — Pretty Good
This Is Gonna Be A Blast!
3,138 Words
Eddy13 failed to provide cover art.
Sequel to You Call That A Costume?
Pinkie Pie has been put in charge of the local Fourth of July celebrations. Twilight and Sunset want to help. Spike wants to hide.
The first thing that came to mind as I was reading this was that Principal Celestia must be insane, asking Pinkie Pie to be in charge of the fireworks. The second thing: so is Principal Celestia, like, the mayor or something? Why is she the one deciding who gets to do what with the town’s fireworks show?
I’m also curious as to when Rarity developed Pinkie Pie’s unique abilities. Unless she was carrying that fainting couch on her back all this time and Eddy13 simply forgot to tell us. I mean, I get Pinkie doing the impossible, she’s Pinkie,and I might be willing to believe it with Pony Rarity. But Human Rarity?
I digress. The was a story meant to be silly and not taken very seriously, and in that regard I suppose it works. Was it hilarious? No. At least, not for me. But it’s certainly amusing in its own way, which is mostly centered on Pinkie being Pinkie. If her just going around doing perfectly normal Pinkie Pie things like pulling objects out of thin air is your idea of hilarious, then you’ll probably be laughing nonstop. I suppose Looney Toons fans will get a kick out of the ending too.
It has the benefit of not being remotely related to its predecessors, so no knowledge of the previous stories is necessary to read this one. On the other hand, Eddy13 still has no idea how dialogue punctuation works. On the other other hand, the writing feels like an improvement to its predecessors in other ways. It’s hard to put my finger on it without going back and re-reading the prior stories, but the overall plot flow and ease of reading felt like a grade up from what I’ve seen before from this author. Then again, this is the shortest story I’ve read by this author. That may have something to do with it.
Not bad. Not amazing. Provided you can ignore the poorly punctuated dialogue, it’s a decent way of blowing a few minutes.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
You Call That A Costume? — Needs Work
Always The Quiet Ones — Needs Work
Mother of Nations
8,432 Words
By Benman
Sequel to Mortal
Centuries ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle defied Celestia by sharing the gift of immortality with any who desired it. It was an extremely dangerous move that Celestia answered with extremely dangerous countermeasures. Communication between Equestria and Elysium are rare, with strict non-contact policies in place, yet every year Equestria grows smaller and smaller as more and more mortals cross the border to embrace alicornhood. But today, something different: Princess Twilight’s youngest daughter has come to Equestria in hopes of starting a life among mortals. Her appearance forces the two leaders, formerly student and teacher, to meet again.
This was an interesting look into a future where mortals and immortals live in the same world and are most decidedly not getting along. Twilight’s new-ish nation, Elysium, is composed of naught but alicorns who live forever. This comes with its own social and societal issues, issues that Celestia gets to witness directly for the first time. It’s not as terrible a land as she expected. Not perfect, but the horrors she’d long thought were inevitable seem to have been naught but paranoia.
Curiously, the story doesn’t give Celestia time to really come to terms with what she finds in Elysium. Benman grants us only a brief glance. It’s a very nice glance, but I wish we could have had more than just that. It’s an interesting piece, for certain, and I especially enjoy how it makes sure we know that even immortality doesn’t equate to paradise, even if it may look like it. I think my only real disappointment is that there isn’t a third story to show us how Celestia reacts when Equestria has finally run out of mortals, which is very clearly coming.
Not as strong a story as its predecessor. Not by a long shot. But still an interesting look at the future as brought about by Mortal.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Mortal — WHYRTY?
Friend and Foe — Pretty Good
Berry Punch is currently serving life in prison for murder. With that on top of her daughter having been killed by Diamond Tiara, things are quite miserable. Her only remaining friend, Minuette, decides to help her by using a spell to cure her alcoholism. Unfortunately, she uses the same spell that Twilight once did to stop the parasprites from consuming everything in Ponyville.
Told from the perspective of Dr. Stable, the story recalls how Berry Punch was magically altered to go from desiring alcohol to desiring pony flesh and proceeds to terrorize Canterlot by going on a cannibalistic killing spree. And you know, this would have been perfectly fine on its own. Seriously, what more do you need? That’s legit creepy stuff.
And then Samey90… decides to go… Lovecraftian?
wut?
I’m not sure why the author felt the desire to take a perfectly good premise and turn it in a whole new direction. If this was going to be a supernatural horror story, I’d have appreciated the entirety of the plot reflecting that. The twist isn’t all that bad, I suppose. But this story is set in the same universe as Sleepless, which used entirely realistic, non-supernatural tools to craft a harsh and cruel tale about the nature of humanity and how good people can make terrible decisions. Sleepless was a gem because it showed Samey90 didn’t need anything more than normal, everyday ponies to be disturbing, and now we’re throwing Lovecraftian monsters into the mix? I am disappointed.
Especially after Thirtsy spent so much time building up Berry Punch as the major threat only to throw all of that away for some crazy twist ending that makes the prominent purpose more-or-less pointless.
Throw on top of that a writing format that can’t decide whether it’s journalistic or first person. Or some weird descriptions that don’t match the ongoing reality, such as Dr. Stable claiming he has no idea where his companions are only to immediately contradict that by making observations about his companions. Or similar proofing issues as what littered Sleepless. Or Princess Twilight telling Minuette “I’m not going to cast a spell that I know from experience is wrong and can have terrible, even fatal consequences, but you can go ahead and try it and make all the same mistakes for yourself.”
I hate to say it, but this just doesn’t have the same quality as Sleepless. Not even close. It’s a shame, I was really looking forward to this author demonstrating more talent at making the everyday pony scarier than any monsters we could dream up. But I’m not done with Samey90; there are more stories in this series, and I still have high hopes that they can capture the same kind of plot magic Sleepless had.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Elektrichka — Worth It
Sleepless — Worth It
Let the Silence Sing 2
12,607 Words
By Aegis Shield
Sequel to Let the Silence Sing
Big Mac and Celestia’s relationship as a couple is now public knowledge. Which is nice… but also leads to new problems. Like paparazzi. Like the scorn of the nobility. Like the judging looks of all the royal guards. Like Granny Smith.
But they’re big ponies. They can take it.
Written just as the prior story is, this one offers no dialogue at all save for in the very last chapter. It’s all written in this offhand, “observer from the outside” manner. It has a few strange quirks, such as reminding us of Celestia’s authority and power only to turn around and give her traditional feminine traits that may rub some people the wrong way. Or that one time they introduce a griffon prince out to steal Celestia from Big Mac and declare him to not be a muscular guy, only to turn around a chapter later and declare him a prime specimen of griffon physique.
But ignoring these oddities, I enjoyed the story. Aegis Shield tries out a few new tricks against the formatting, which aren’t all hits, but I won’t begrudge them the experimentation. The duel “for Celestia’s honor” is a particularly good example of this; the offhand, “observing from a distance” manner of the writing style just couldn’t capture the fight with any sort of intensity.
At the same time, the intentional dodging of dialogue worked decently. It’s clear that there is dialogue being spoken throughout this story, much more so than the last one. Aegis Shield simply doesn’t write it. It’s odd, and I can see many a naysayer asking “why not just write the dialogue?” But for the sake of the experiment, I think it worked.
I also enjoyed the very few idiosyncrasies of the world the author slipped into the story. My favorite was the coy fish pond. Yes, “coy”. At first I thought this was a mistake. Everyone knows it’s spelled “koi”! Then I paid closer attention, noticed the behavior of the fish, and realized that, no, it’s not a mistake, it’s a pun. It struck me as a perfectly MLP:FiM idea and I loved it immediately, despite lamenting that the majority of readers probably won’t get it.
Overall, this gets my approval. It starts off as “more of the same” but gradually expands to include the issues we all expect are coming but didn’t get to see in the first story. Plus, we finally got the rest of the Apple Family and how they feel about the relationship, if only briefly. That felt like a big omission last time.
If you want to read some romantic CelestiMac fluff or something experimental in nature, this series may do it for you.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Let the Silence Sing — Pretty Good
Stories for Next Week:
Waiting For You by Rainb0wDashie
Stargazing by alexmagnet
Diamond Ring by DemonBrightSpirit
An Academy Record by Darksonickiller
The Dusk Guard Saga: Hunter/Hunted by Viking ZX
The Talk by Dreadnought
On The Transience Of Adelasters by WritingSpirit
The Bombed Audition: A Ponies Protecting Ponies Tale by Venates
Sunsplit by Masterweaver
The Company We Keep by Ice Star
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Melt has a sequel? Awesome!
(Yes, I've already read it, but it's such a joy to go back and experience it again after (counts) seven years)
Glad to hear about your epiphany. I find Discord's the best place for me to discuss stuff I don't think anyone cares about in real life. I'm in servers full of other nerds discussing the subjects they're passionate about. The floor is clear. But I do still hesitate from time to time, worried about dismissal or derision. But much more often than not, it sparks a lot of entertaining conversation.
Also, just discovering Starscribe? You're in for a treat. A lot of treats, really.
(Also also, just going to note that you probably meant
CCLXCCXL. (Thanks, FTL!))This. This was why. I wanted to prove to you that a second person narrator could be fun. Judging by your reaction, I can safely declare 'close enough'.
I for one would be happy to talk to you about topics you like!
Interestingly, long ago I had a similar idea to that first one. Something along the lines of "Cupcakes but with Twilight", which really makes me question everything I know and love? c.c WTH was I thinking?
Anyway, glad I never wrote it now. :D
I’m always down to talk horror. I got into it late and would love recommendations from you; I’m always after more material to fine tune my own writing in the genre.
I have a similar issue. I'm reluctant to suggest things to do or music to listen to or TV shows to watch because I feel like people are just going to be bothered by me suggesting them. My mom has very similar music tastes to me, and whenever she travels up here or we go there, I'll have several things in mind that I'd suggest for to listen to, but I can never find the right moment and just feel like it's an undue bother to her to have me even suggest it. Same with just sending her links via email.
It seems like we have a lot of similar interests, and one of them is odd for me. Curious you mentioned Rule of Rose. I generally don't like horror shows/movies. There are only two horror movies I can say I liked, and only one of them that I'd watch repeatedly. Yet the topic of horror video games really interests me. There used to be a program that aired after an anime showcase I liked to watch, and I'd stay up to catch it too. It just showed footage from video games. Not as a "let's play" kind of thing. It was just meant to show some snippets of art and story and music from various games, and for some reason, the horror ones always caught my eye. I'd go look them up, then spend a long time reading over the lore. I have zero interest in playing such games, but the story and world to them often fascinates me. Rule of Rose was probably the first of those that I looked into in that manner, and later I spent hours reading up on the Silent Hill mythos.
There's another one whose name escapes me right now, that's a very expansive world but fairly low-res, old-style looking graphics, where you play as a girl who sneaks out of her room to explore this vast place. Most of the endings involve you finally being able to go out on your balcony and jump to your death, though there's a "good" ending where you just party out there.
I feel you. I've been on the "pretending to be interested" side of things very very often, and even something like "you should check out this show, you might really like it" is, like... I know they can say no, but I'm asking someone to sink maybe eight hours or more into something, and that always feels awkward to me.
But people are probably more likely to start conversations with you if they know what you like talking about :P
“I’m gonna be myself, no matter what I do, and if we’re different then I want you to be true to you!”
Well Paul, I love to talk about storytelling and creative writing in general—what makes a plot engaging, what entails good pacing, etc—almost as if it were a science. Like, I don’t think being relatable is necessarily a good character trait. Am I right? Am I wrong? Who knows. I just say whatever I intuitively think is true. We can talk about this stuff anytime you want.
5461841
Don’t you just love those crazy Romans!
Actually... probably CCXL.
5461811
TFW you realize that some of the fanfic you're reading are older than some family members.
5461841
Yeah, now I just have to find the servers. And be willing to stop playing video games for an hour or two so that I can actually get on them. That second part will be the hardest. Old habits and all that.
5461861
Fun? Perhaps. I'll grant you that one.
5461906
And I'll be glad to bring them up! As soon as I figure out the whole "initiate the conversation" thing. Curse my Season 1Twilight Sparkle-ness!
5461957
I created a mental disorder for my No Heroes series that existed entirely to be a nod to Cupcakes and gave it to two of the character, one of them being Pinkie. I didn't do it because I particularly liked Cupcakes, but because I figured it was "popular" and doing something like that might draw more attention. It was an entirely dumb reason.
On the upside, the final story of the series was all about the two of them bonding over their past/condition and came out to be one of the better stories in the series (at least to me), so it worked out okay.
5461964
Well first, what kind of horror are you into? I'm more into supernatural-based material than anything, though I won't say no to the slasher classics and there are a few creature features I'm very fond of. I haven't seen as much of the newer material, mostly because I kinda quit watching movies in general for a while because I realized I could use the time watching them to do other things. I'm planning to get back into them sometime in the near future, though.
5461998
I played Rule of Rose right when it was released, more out of curiosity than anything. I've got a thing for exploring indie horror games and RoR looked pretty indie. It had a delightful story and unusual graphical style that really drew me in. Gameplay was frustrating and it had a pretty bad loading screen problem, but I felt the complex plot made up for it.
Fun fact: Because the game had a very limited number of copies and was never ported to any later systems, it has become one of the most expensive PS2 games ever. Seriously, I've seen copies being sold as low as $600 and as high as $1,100. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't test my own...
Don't know about the one with the girl sneaking out of her room. I've played one or two that sound similar, but none really match that overarching concept.
5462047
True, true. And they have no idea what I'm interested in if I don't say something. It's the art of the ice breaker, a talent I never developed.
5462328
Ah, so that's why you always write assholes instead of characters most people want to read about? Curious. Well, it certainly works in a "I've got to see where he's taking this" kind of direction!
I wouldn't mind discussing such things. But, as we found out earlier this week, I don't know if I'm all that good at getting my points across. No, I know I'm not good at it. More often than not such conversations leave me scrambling just to keep up. As long as you're willing to tolerate a debating wimp, though...
5462429
5461841
Y'all're right about the Roman Numerals. Fixed them! I usually check with a converter t be sure, but I've been neglecting to do that these past few weeks.
5462446
Well, I’m not so well versed to really tell, hence the search for recommendations. I can list the ones I’ve really enjoyed, though.
Story wise, I have devoured most of Lovecraft’s work. On the movie front; Alien, Shutter, and The Thing (both versions) are favourites, along with Cabin In The Woods depending on how loosely we’re defining “horror”.
I think a lot of that falls under supernatural; it generally tends to be suspenseful, atmospheric movies that I enjoy the most. Due to my association with Rainbow Factory, people tend to expect me to like goreporn like the Saw Series or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but those aren’t my thing to watch.
5462450
It's gonna drive me nuts that I can't remember that game's name. It's probably about 7 years old, and it looked like an old-school Nintendo game in the overhead viewpoint and graphics. You play a girl who can leave her room and wander around the world, and as you pick up different inventory, it can unlock different places to explore. And the world is huge, like you can wander around this immense landscape just to find the one little thing in it. You can return to your room (which appears to be an apartment in a high-rise building) and unlock areas of it once you return from a journey. And the ultimate point is for you to be able to go out on the balcony, climb up on the wall, and jump to your death. There are multiple ways to have that happen, and there's one ending that has you holding a party on the balcony instead. And there were little rare things in the game as well. I remember one being in an hour-long YT video. There's some house in the middle of nowhere, and you can go in to search it. Once in a rare while, leaving and coming back in changes the interior to look all creepy, and there's a nasty-looking ghost staring at you. The whole video was just the player repeatedly leaving and re-entering until it finally randomly happened. I think it was only on PC. I thought it was pretty well known, and I have a vague impression that the title was the girl's name or some other non-English phrase? I don't see it in Wikipedia's "List of horror video games," so maybe it's not really considered horror, but it was definitely dark and with a creepy atmosphere.
AAAAAAAAA! I just found it. It's called Yume Nikki.
I do like reading Lovecraft (though I guess these days we're supposed to deny he exists). The only two horror movies I've ever liked were Cabin in the Woods (far too gory for me, so I'll never watch it again, but I liked the Lovecraftian feel to the ending) and The Haunting (the original version, and I could watch it over and over). That's the kind I like best, the more existential horror, and the kind where the scary stuff remains unseen. Though I do like reading about the kind like Rule of Rose and Silent Hill where it's like a warped reality created by a very broken person. I'm surprised that TV program showed as much Rule of Rose as it did, if it was such a limited release, though they did have a number of other obscure games.
If you haven't heard of it, there was a series of point-and-click puzzle games called Rusty Lake that were pretty creepy, and I enjoyed those. Most of them were free on the developer's site, but I think they've moved it all over to Steam.
5462453
Hey come on, only 90% of my characters are jerks. Airglow was a total sweetheart. Ironically enough, I never actively tried to make her likeable, she just happened to turn out that way. I think it was a smart move to make her the MC.
But like I said, I’m always down to discuss whatever with you that’s story-related. I also have my moments of being unable to express my points properly, so it’s fine.
5462475
A good start. Good on you for not giving the gore-fests their undue attention. Looks like you have a bit of variety, so I'll just recommend some favorites:
For reading material, let me strongly recommend The Weird, which I've mentioned in my blogs more than once. Published in 2012, it's an anthology of creepy shorts spanning a century of material. Intended to show the evolution of such stories over history, it includes some classics, some little-known gems, and some surprising inclusions from famous authors such as Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Franz Kafka, Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, and George R.R. Martin. Truly a treasure trove for the lovers of unusual, quirky, and dark stories.
5462512
Yume Nikki, huh? Looks like a little-known piece. I may just try it and see if it's up to snuff. I've played some RPGMaker horror games and they can be pretty good (Mad Father comes to mind).
If you're interested in more horror movies/reading material, see my response to AuroraDawn below for some recommendations.
Wow, Rusty Lake doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry. I'll have to look into it.
Obscure horror games can be awesome, but I do miss some of the classics. I'd kill for a PC release of Fatal Frame 2. It's still one of my all-time favorite horror games. Imagine running around an entire haunted village as a little girl armed with nothing but a camera. Great gameplay, great story. Shoddy voice acting, though. Le sigh.
5462513
Airglow was a sweetheart? Oof, that worries me.
5462583
Huh, it looks like they did go back to hosting a lot of the games on their own site. There's a continuous narrative that goes through all of them. I've played all the free ones.
5462584
Let’s just say she goes through her fair share of character development. Kinda hard to explain though without spoiling it, so I won’t.
5462577
Yeah, and even with my own writing, I like to think I’m less Saw and more Scream; I don’t consider Pegasus Device to be anything like SAM or Cheerilees Garden, despite them being grouped together often.
Thank you so much for this brilliant list. I can’t wait to take a look at these sometime soon.
On the subject of anthologies, if you like post-apocalypse fiction, the Wastelands anthologies put together by John Joseph Adams are some of my favourite. They span a lot of genres from drama to scifi to horror, so there’s generally something for anyone in them. Of particular note from the first one is The End of The Whole Mess by Stephen King. It’s a great piece on the consequences of well intentions, and I heartily recommend it.
5462657
Wastelands, huh? I shall add it to my wishlist!
Oof. That intro was a bit relatable there. I still don’t bring up a lot of my hobbies until a while after getting to know someone, all too often they just caused me to end up being isolated. Hope you can work past that, cause what you enjoy is important yo.
Little late to the party here but a lot of what you've said here feels familiar to me. Too familiar, to be honest.
I'm currently trying to overcome some personal insecurities about myself too, so it's nice to read about a similar experience or two once in a while. When it comes to horror, I guess part of the reason why I adore flirting in the darker side of things so much is because of what it allowed me to explore and ventilate by my lonesome. I do think my overindulgence in all things gloomy is getting unhealthy these days however. Probably why I'm taking my time with my more somber work beyond self-induced perfectionism.
Speaking of overindulgence, I absolutely loved the movie and game recommendations everyone had listed here. A lot of great picks to choose from. I can't really think of any video games off the top of my head to add to the list, but movies I can do, especially the more recent ones. I guess I should recommend these four to 5462657 as well.
Also, since I can fill that niche, here's a portion from a superbly long list of horror-tinged albums I'm making. I usually listen to these when I want inspiration or when I just want to scare myself for whatever reason. Hopefully you get some good recommendations from these ones as well, though I should preface that they're not really for casual listening.
5465315
100% of my writing inspiration comes from music, so believe me when I say this is a godsend for me. Like, when I was writing Pegasus Device Reckoning, I had two playlists I alternated back and forth, and I'll share them here as a paltry repayment of these fantastic recommendations;
1. A random list of music that inspired bits of the story
2. This Gloriae Templum collection.
5465315
Oooh. I shall explore! Thanks for the recommendations.
I don't know why I like horror and dark material so much. I didn't even realize my fascination until I was in my early twenties, but the signs were there all the way back in my 4th Grade days, when I'd borrow books from the school library about old black and white horror movies. When my parents brought us to rental shops like Blockbuster (and here I'm showing my age), I often roamed the horror section, but never took anything from it simply because I didn't think my parents would let me. Then I hit adulthood and suddenly I'm like "Why didn't I connect things like that with a love for the macabre?"
I'm very unobservant.
5462583
Just saw another game recommended that might be up your alley. It's called Devotion, and it apparently was well-received until someone noticed a background poster that was somewhat derogatory of China's president, which led to China blackballing it, and then most businesses don't like to anger China, so it mostly disappeared. The reviewer says the only place you can get it now is a site called Red Candle Games, but he highly recommended it. Might be worth looking it up.
5517527
Ooh. I'm getting mild Fatal Frame 2 vibes and a lot of Dread Out vibes from that trailer. Consider me interested! Opportunities to thumb my nose at the Chinese government is a nice bonus or support those who have is a nice bonus.
Thanks for the head's up!
5517527
Ho. Ly. Shite.
Thank you for suggestion Devotion. Just ran through it one sitting and you were absolutely right about it being my kind of game. It's a shame something that good got shut down because China.
I'm going to be recommending this one to my cousins for this coming Halloween gathering.