Ugh!

We're the ones who spent twenty years fucking up their country and murdering their civilians "for fun." And then we just collectively drop everything and say "the Taliban can have you."

Fuck that noise. It's disgusting. There are untold numbers of people fleeing the Taliban right now, across the whole country, with all of them -- but especially women and anyone who might be accused of helping the old government/foreign armies -- fearing for their lives.

The Western countries that have spent two decades fucking up Afghanistan have a duty of fucking care to the civilians left behind.

Breaking news as of 16 August 2021 is that the Afghan president and all other government officials have fled Kabul. The "last stronghold" that was predicted to "hold out against the Taliban for three months" has fallen within a week, and most civilians in that city and others that have been overrun are now fearing for their lives.

“FAA is now saying that would-be astronauts must also have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,” and neither meets this requirement. The change went into effect on July 20, the very day when Bezos made the inaugural 11-minute flight on the reusable rocket New Shepard.” (x)

His Court was under occupation, he never actually aided H/ybern, and it is acknowledged by F/eyre and R/hysand that he always had the intention to betray H/ybern. When F/eyre DESTROYED the court — and we will ignore the logistics for a second — SHE let H/ybern walk right in. Something that IS acknowledged in the text by T/arquin. Did T/amlin not rally B/eron and destroy the Faebane and blow his cover to save F/eyre???

F/eyre had the opportunity to devulge what she knew, and honestly, so did T/amlin but that’s not what she did. Instead of literally, LITERALLY having a conversation about the actual threat of H/ybern — which up to this point NONE of the High Lords are aware of, F/eyre sets up elaborate honey-traps that did way more damage than good. T/amlin’s army/image of strength was the only thing keeping H/ybern from invading. That’s basic war knowledge. But because neither of them, specifically F/eyre (only because she has access to valuable knowledge that T/amlin isn’t privy to), ever talk, the infiltration of Spring did nothing. There isn’t even a scenario where F/eyre’s infiltration would have been logical.

R/hysand’s court was synonymous with A/marantha, R/hysand himself withheld information from everyone, I just don’t see how this is a fault of T/amlin. T/amlin being F/eyre’s abuser did not give her the right to hurt other people. She was no better than T/amlin when she let her rage get to her. All those people In Summer and Spring are dead or displaced because a literal DIPLOMAT could not sit down and have a conversation, and put P/rythian first.

Now, Mal is between the ages of 17 and 18 in the trilogy, just like Alina. This interview was 5 years ago, and Sarah was 30. So, basically this is a 30 year old grown woman talking about feeling attracted to a character while he is literally a teenager in the books. This, when most of her work is targeted as YA and sold for actual teens.

What makes it even worse is that Leigh opened up about being a victim of SA as a child not long ago. She's there having to listen to an adult YA writer go off about how she feels sexually attracted to her teen character.

She laughs but she seems to be unconfortable, then follows with a "isn't she classy" in a tone that doesn't actually suggested it being the case.

Don't come at me with "he is just a character" or "he doesn't exist" thing. Yeah, is obvious Mal doesn't exist, but the point is that she still imagines him as a teen in her head and feels attracted to that image. Leigh writed Mal and Alina as teenagers/kids because that's what they were. If that was a man in his 30s saying he though 17-18 Alina was "super hot" and talking about him sweating thinking about her, I bet there would be a lot more people talking about it. I'm just not ok with an author who writes for teens talking about feeling something for one, even if he is fictional, because the idea she has on her mind of him and is drawn to is still of a child.

I’m talking about the booing of the Italian national anthem and the mistreatment of the fans.

I’m talking about the fact that domestic violence goes up by fucking 38% when England loses.

I’m talking about the reports of assault and literal stabbings happening in London right now.

I’m talking about the appalling racism that Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka are facing on social media. That the support of black players is purely conditional.

Dear [Agent], 

[An optional brief introduction, no longer than 2 - 3 sentences, perhaps where you elaborate on the #ownvoices of your manuscript, or pointing out certain things in your manuscript that the agent asks for. I reiterate that this paragraph is optional. Unless you have a very specific reason to be querying this agent—for instance, if they tweeted an MSWL for a heist novel and you’re querying a heist novel—there is no relevance, so don’t include this paragraph.]

[The first paragraph of your summary introduces the world, the main character, and their Normal. For instance, Cynthia lives in the times of a pandemic and works to continue living in their new normal. Every day, Cynthia choose to get up and keep living and making the most of their situation while trying to find something to do to be useful.] 

[The second paragraph of your summary introduces the plot. To continue with the above idea, Cynthia has been tasked with trying to find a cure to coronavirus, but all they have to work with in their home is duct tape, tangerines, Tylenol, and a never-give-up attitude.] 

[The third paragraph introduces stakes, aka what will happen if Cynthia doesn’t discover a cure with the resources they have at home. Luckily for them, however, a woman named Jane they had a one night stand with needs a place to crash after she was evicted. Cynthia agrees to let her stay as their roommate, especially because Jane brings with her the missing ingredient to the cure for coronavirus, a magic bean she stole from a giant–but there’s only one magic bean. If Cynthia and Jane can’t find a way to make more beans, they might be sent to the realm of giants forever.] 

[The closing paragraph goes like this: Complete at 89,000 words, THE MAGIC BEAN is an Adult contemporary fantasy with potential for a companion novel. I believe it will appeal to fans of Erin Morgenstern and Naomi Novik. Briefly explain who you are and share what you’re comfortable with about yourself—I say I’m 26, headed to grad school for archiving, and that the book is #ownvoices for genderqueer representation. Also mention if you have any connection to the publishing industry. I mention who I was previously represented by, why we amicably parted ways, and that I’ve mentored in many writing contests.] 

[Final closure: Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you again!] 

[Best,]

[My name]

[My phone number and, though optional, my twitter handle] 

i liked him best in the first book when he was allowed to be problematic and morally grey. even though rhys in acomaf was a total game changer for me in how i viewed romance stories and male leads when i was young, i recently skimmed through it and found some of the dumbest shit coming out of his mouth. he wasnt written with the intent to be self-centered or hypocritical, obviously, but the narrative covered it up because sjm holds her main characters to a completely different standard than her side characters. the series's biggest mistake was trying to make rhys the perfect man and setting him on a pedestal above the other characters; this is something that only works in books where the side characters are boring/irrelevant imo. sjm's side characters are way too interesting and complex to be relegated as inferior to feysand, and it's outright cringy how rhys and feyre consider people who exist outside of their inner circle. i remember the first dinner lucien had with the ic, feyre kept shooting him looks like "are u impressed yet? are u totally blown away by me and my friends' awesomeness yet?" the superiority complex is honestly gag-inducing. i also think it's funny how he holds nesta's and lucien's treatment of feyre against them but manages to forgive himself for how he first treated feyre pretty easily. (does nesta even know about what rhys did under the mountain? would SHE forgive him for what he did to her sister?)