#neetols

Owned: No, library Page count: 189 My summary: Damian wants one thing - to bring his mother back, just for a day, so that he can understand how she felt about him. But when the memorial he visits turns out to not be his mother's, Damian is saddled with an energetic young ghost girl named Saskia. He wants to get rid of her, but it's not that easy; particularly not when Saskia has her own traumas to deal with. Both of them need peace. But how can they help each other? My rating: 4/5

Once again, I am plundering the shelves for any interesting-seeming graphic novels that I can find. This time, I've got a crop of three, which I will cover in quick succession. This first one is a teen story, about loss and grief and lies. It's a good premise - a boy comes into possession of a flower that can bring the dead back as ghosts for a short visit, something common but expensive in this world. There's a touch of magical realism here, a hint at fantasy, but other than the ghost conceit there's nothing here that isn't present in our reality. It's a story that's nakedly about pain and trauma and grief, but there's still heart to it, and the overall tone is bittersweet. It's nice, is what I'm trying to get at. It's just a nice story.

Our dual protagonists are well-laid. Damien has an idealised image of his dead mother, and is actively suppressing the reality that she might have been a more complicated woman than he wants to remember. Saskia tries to defy being a little tragic dead girl, she's angry and hot-headed and doesn't suffer people's attempts to infantilise or lie about her, which causes friction when Damien's friend claims that she's met her. Damien is torn between this kid he has no relation to and what he wants for himself - his crush on a cute guy at his school, him wanting to fit in and be a part of the social world of high school, but it seems like he can't get what he wants without betraying Saskia, this kid who despite being annoying didn't deserve any of this. Damien is grieving his mother; Saskia is grieving herself and the life that she used to lead, and these two stories entwine around each other well. The book is simple, but it gets out all that it needed to examine. Life and death and grief are complicated, and we're going to make mistakes. The truth is in how we perceive ourselves, how we let ourselves love regardless. Which is a nice thing to read.

I just got one of @neetols print in the mail today- this is legit one of my favourite fanart pieces in this entire fandom! It's so good and the paper quality and texture is awesome 💖💖💖

"We were all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both"

-TSOA, Madeline Miller

This was drawn by the amazingly talented @neetols

I commissioned this scene from TSOA because this is the one moment that brings me to tears every time. Two enemies uniting over the boy they lost. Sharing their grief.

I had to share this commission artwork I received from @neetols yesterday. It’s from a scene in the first chapter of SineadRivka’s fic “Not This Time” where Jim is watching over a bunch of young Vulcans after the Battle of Vulcan. I adore the story, and this is one of my favorite scenes.

* who has shipped Spirk since that night in 1967 that Amok Time first aired * and helped storm NBC to keep TOS on the air for a 3rd season * and wrote fanfic way back in the day * and was privileged to be around for the earliest days of fandom, when Leonard used to come to your house if that’s where the fan club was meeting and sit on the sofa with you in that Spock hair cut and eat cake

All of you who are writing TOS/AOS fan fiction and creating fan art now: remember, YOU are the ones shaping the traditions of fandom. You have inherited the kingdom. Bless you for keeping it vibrant, growing, alive. In fifty years, you will be the ones who are remembered for molding it and handing it down to the future. It probably doesn’t feel like now, but you are making history.

Your current addiction to TOS and the feels you get when you contemplate the love between Jim and Spock will be with you for life. It won’t always be in the forefront; you will sometimes go years, sometimes go a decade, without Star Trek being more than a passing thought. But then something will remind you and every consuming feeling you feel right now will come rushing back, every bit as powerful and deep and strong as it is today. All there, right where you left it.

The friendships you make in fandom will be with you for life. Like all friendships, they will wax and wane as the focus of your life shifts over time, but you will always be able to pick up the thread. You will — to give you a hypothetical example — be 77 years old and discover Tumblr and get a rush of Spirk feels after a decade of not giving TOS a thought, and contact your 83-year-old fangirl friend in the nursing home, to whom you haven’t spoken in several years. You will open the conversation with, “So, Jim and Spock love each other and that just makes me so happy.” And your friend in the nursing home will sigh and say, “Yes. They do love each other. It’s such a comfort.”

That look that Jim and Spock give each other, of absolute adoration and acceptance and love? That’s real. It’s rare, but it’s real. One of my greatest joys in life is to see my son and his husband give each other looks like that. Of course I don’t know you; I don’t know your strengths and struggles or your place on the spectrum of gender or anything about your sexuality or what you look like or what your life has taught you to believe about yourself, but I do know this: YOU DESERVE TO BE LOVED AND LOOKED AT THE WAY JIM AND SPOCK LOOK AT EACH OTHER. Please don’t accept less than that in your life.

The future of our planet does not seem very hopeful at the moment. But please remember that when Gene created Star Trek, the world was in turmoil and the future seemed very bleak. Star Trek is, was, always shall be about hope. Reach for it. When TOS first aired, we hoped to see some form of a Starfleet on the horizon in our lifetimes. That vision must be passed on to you. Do it. Make the world worthy of launching the human race out into space. CREATE STARFLEET.

You are all creative and funny and amazing. Far more amazing than you know. Be kind to yourselves. Live long and prosper, kids.

HEY REN IM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE BUT IT TOOK ME THE WHOLE DAY TO DRAW SOMETHING I AM REMOTELY SATISFIED WITH (BELIEVE IT OR NOT) + I WAS ASHAMED OF POSTING IT BUT NOW I SAID WHAT THE HELL LMAO

behind the drawing is a letter, I will ship it to u soon babe 💛

ILY HAPPY BIRTH HUN!!

#thotspocklives