nopoodles the writer

Body Horror: Things that cannot happen in real life. EX: The Thing, stomach mouths, eyes on hands, etc

Gore: Fresh injuries, often severe. EX: Severed leg, gutspill, deep gashes, etc

NEITHER: Healed injuries and burns, congenital differences, missing appendages, etc. If I could theoretically go to the store and see that character browsing the isles- It isn't body horror or gore. That's just a person. *AND the amount of people that tag, not just fictional characters, but real human beings as body horror is staggering. Its not solely a fandom issue, ableism and bigotry against anyone that looks sufficiently "different" is prevalent in real life and has devastating consequences.

A big part of body horror is obviously about the unnatural, but there is also a large part of it that is about violation and/or loss of control of your body (whether by someone else or through some other force).

For example, I've written body horror about the tumors my body keeps growing, because there are ways in which that feels like a violation of my body, even if it is coming from my own body. Forced or unwilling pregnancy is another thing I have thought of writing in that way, and that I think there absolutely should be space for in the genre.

Some confusion is normal.You will be housed in the Newly Re-Animated Suites (N-RAS) for two weeks.

From there you will be collected by your sponsor.

DO NOT try to unlock your memories.

DO NOT try to upgrade your mechanics at home or in a chop shop.

If you are having difficulties, talk to your sponsor.And then in bigger, red letters: Welcome To Your New Life.

Ravi read and re-read the last sentence. Welcome to your new life. A new life. Was that a good thing? Did it depend entirely on the life that came before? The life Ravi had no hope of remembering thanks to the chip installed in his brain.

He had read the statement at least fifty times already, each time triggering new thoughts about who he once was. Even so, his eyes scanned over it once more as his right hand fisted and unfisted of its own accord, halfway through the word ‘your’ when the wall exploded, jumping toward him.

Leaping to his feet, Ravi found himself in a combat stance. A person emerged through the dust that had once been a recycled plastic wall. Deep brown eyes raked over Ravi: Examining, assessing.

"Petite," they called over their shoulder. "This is the wrong room." Flicking their head back to face Ravi disturbed their choppy pale hair so it fell into their eyes.

Their sturdy black boots picked their way over the pile of plastic that used to be a wall as they tugged at the collar of the white jacket that could so easily be mistaken for a medical uniform. They turned their full attention back on Ravi where he stood frozen in his combat stance.

They offered a dangerous smile. "Okay, Re-An. I have to move fast so you have two options: you come with me, or I punch you out – and by punch I mean flip the switch that sets you to standby mode so you need rebooting."

Welcome To Humanity by Will Soulsby-McCreath

Available in signed paperback and from other retailers in eBook and paperback.

Welcome To Humanity is a standalone sci-fi dystopian short novel posing the question What Does It Mean To Be Human.

*After the anti-magic paramilitary group finds Alex and Lindiwe in The Bind, Alex bolts and Lindiwe is left to find her own way to safety and perhaps a discovery.* Lindiwe never intended to become the werewolf alpha. She never intended to become important in any way. She avoided responsibility pretty steadfastly throughout her life thus far. It was why so many people— Alex, the bounty hunter…

Make her shorter if you must

Make them exactly the same size and shape but different colors

Give him a huge flock of babies following him around to show off what a great lay he is

Surprise mPreganté

Exactly the same but one of them has a cool hat (you decide which)

Give her a sensible haircut for successful hunting while he has a big dumb mullet so big and dumb the food can see him coming and book it

Yup.

Unlicensed Delivery

A sci-fi space romp (mostly light-hearted)

Matter, one of our 5 protagonists, has a chronic pain condition including a pain flare day on page and snark when people ask the dreaded "what happened?" question

Accomodations built in for our character who sees the world through sensory input not sight (Sauraxen, also a protagonist).

Welcome To Humanity

A sci-fi dystopia (will make you laugh, might make you cry)

Ravi, one of our 3 protagonists, was reconstructed sci-fi style and now has a cybernetic prosthetic right hand side (leg, arm, eye). It causes him trouble and doesn't always work the way it should. He also has PTSD.

Blue, one of our 3 protagonists, is a malfunctioning cyborg who can no longer charge properly (chronic fatigue?) and can no longer be repaired. They also have a broken emotional surge adaptor, aka a heart condition.

Lots of background characters have disabilities too, since the whole narrative is an allegory for what it is like to be disabled/neurodivergent/trans in the world we live in now. Particular mentions to Toria, the resistance leader who has cybernetic legs and Star as chop shop owner with a cybernetic eye.

Guardian Cadet Series

A traditionalish fantasy, sword and sorcery style (light-hearted)

Merry, our protagonist, gets bonded to a magical artefact inside book 1 (Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse) leaving her with limited use of and pain in her dominant left arm.

PT is semi-retired because of injuries he sustained in the line of duty.

In book 2 the Elven Queen is a wheelchair user.

Not That Kind Of Dandy

A pseudo-historical pirate fantasy (light-hearted)

[ survey.gendercensus.com ]

The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th August 2026.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

me: ugh I can’t include a mind-meld in my campy sci fi pastiche/parody because it’s too self-indulgent

also me, hours ago: what if there’s a trashy reality dating show where they’re like, on this episode, it’s fuck or die: this contestant needs to mate within the day or they DIE, but this OTHER contestant’s species engages in obligatory sexual cannibalism. our lawyers hate us!!! filmed on the largest moon of Exploitatus-2 where there are NO labor laws!!!!

The con in Leverage: Redemption S3 E3 The Future Job

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Welcome To Humanity, short novel by Will Soulsby-McCreath

Re-Animation of deceased peoples

Resistance who pick up people in rather chaotic fashion

Disability inclusion