I just finished reading The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards. Urban Fantasy. First person PoV. M/M romance and very inclusive. Almost all sexualities, identities and ethnic background are in here. There is a ‘found family’ if you like that. This is the first arc of a nine book series. It’s already planned, so apparently we won’t have a Song of Ice and Fire thing happen.

Atlantis has fallen and has 'moved’ to Nantucket. The main character, Rune, who along with his human bodyguard/companion, Brand, are the sole survivors of the fall of his father’s Sun Court. A magical psychic link bound Rune and Brand as infants. Brand always knows where Rune is, and if he is in distress or danger. They cannot, however, read each other’s minds.

After the fall of his father’s court, Rune and Brand sought refuge with his father’s friend, Lord Tower, who employs them. They do…'jobs’ for him. Assignments. Jobs that require Rune’s magic and Brand’s expertise. This goes on for ten years and after that, the two move out on their own with a housekeeper named Queenie (who is not what she seems, but we don’t know what she is yet) but they still work for the Tower from time to time. Rune and Brand’s relationship is so much fun. Snarking, bantering, just like brothers. It’s basically the heart of the books. Many people 'ship’ them but I don’t. I love this friendship. Queer Platonic relationships are a real thing (Klune had one in his Green Creek series). I hope it stays that way.

This universe names the cards after the Atlantean Courts, not vice versa.

One such job for Lord Tower is rescuing The Tower’s godson, Addam St. Nicholas. Rune is actually the one who 'rescues’ him and it’s an inverse of rescuing the Princess. Addam is beautiful, noble and calls Rune 'Hero’ and finds Rune attractive. Rune is smitten with Addam, but is unsure of the relationship for several reasons. One, he is demisexual, and the other is when his father’s throne fell, he was a victim of SA. Descriptions are in the past and just enough detail to show how graphic it was, so be aware! After an initial intimate encounter (awkward, but consensual) Addam agrees to take things slow. Any scenes between the two of them are mostly non-sexual intimacy, such as kissing, cuddling, and fade to black. We know when they’re by themselves, they’re doing 'something’ but we’re not told exactly what it is they’re doing. Brand calls it 'getting cozy.’ This establishes the main 'trio’ of the trilogy. Brand is okay with Addam, which was unusual because in the past he always chased Rune’s suitors away, usually because he could tell they were up to no good, but he can sense that Addam is a good guy who will have Rune’s best interest at heart. Over the course of the books, the three of them form their own unique bond.

I like to think of gritty, blunt, realistic Brand representing the way things are, and noble, altruistic Addam representing the way things should be!

As the series goes on, the trio accumulate a found family. It includes Aadam’s younger brother Quin, whom he raised and is a prophet (and is Ace), Max, who was part of a trade, and three relatives of Rune’s, The Dawncreek family, which consists Layne, who is gender fluid, Anna who has has powerful magic whom Rune designates as his heir, little Corbie who formed a magical bond with a prehistoric rhinoceros, (you read that correctly) and their Guardian, Corinne who was a companion to their late father and is now Anna’s companion. The Dawncreek Family have Native American ancestry. Yay representation!

Oh, can’t forget Ciaran. He’s fabulous, and a good friend to Rune and his 'family’.

The magic system is interesting. Apparently, all Atlantians are magical, but some are more powerful than others. They can store magical spells in devices called sigils. The more sigils you have, the better and never lose them, because creating them is a lost art. However, they can be given away or taken by conquest.

Some want Rune, Brand and Addam in a poly relationship. I’m not against it, just really like the idea of an actual QP. Oh, apparently Brand is aro? Addam is poly?

There is a mystery box arc to the entire trilogy. Who caused the fall of the Sun Court and why was Rune assaulted? Over this trilogy, we get 'some’ answers and hints and we learn Rune is an unreliable narrator.

It’s also the first part of a nine book series. Read it. If you like urban fantasy, m/m romance, lots of representation, this is it.

I have a fantasy that Sebastian wins an Oscar and sneaks something about Anthony into his acceptance speech..

I just finished the Green Creek Series and have some thoughts. First, I’ll have to read it again to pick up on clues I missed the first time around. It’s something I do.

It’s about a family/ pack of werewolves. All the werewolves seem to be gay except for the mom, and even she might have had a bit of a crush on another woman. There are three brothers and an uncle and they’re all gay. There’s even jokes in the book about how they’re the gayest pack, but apparently werewolves are sexually fluid and some are bi? That’s one reason I need to read it again. It’s not ABO or mpreg or anything like that.

First book- Wolf Song. Romance of Ox and Joe. Ox is human and Joe is the youngest brother and also the Alpha Wolf in training. This is a crush that turns into love. Couple is very young but they don’t ‘do’ anything until they’re in their twenties. There is a separation BY CHOICE, which leads to angst and misunderstanding. Limited smut.

Second is Raven Song-This is 'Second Chance at Love’. Gordo is the pack’s witch and he and Mark, the uncle of the pack were mates at one time but forcibly separated. Mark leaves and Gordo becomes angry and there is a love/hate thing going on. Some smut.

Heartsong-Between Robbie, a newcomer to the pack and Kelly, the middle brother. Once again, a separation, this time it’s no one’s fault and finally someone FIGHTS to be get their true love back. This is an amnesia trope. I love you, even though you don’t remember me and I’ll make you love me again. It’s sweet. Kelly is sunshine…and ace and it’s understood that while he agrees to have sex with Robbie, he doesn’t 'need’ it. If there’s such a thing as a tasteful smut scene, this book has it.

Brothersong-Which, in a way, is probably the funniest. Oldest brother Carter and his true Love Gavin, who is the half brother of Gordo from Ravensong. It starts out dark, but gets lighter as the story goes on. Gavin has been a wolf for a long time and is just learning how to be human again…and it’s funny, They know they should be together but they keep fighting it…and calling each other stupid. The funniest is when Carter, who has only been with women and discovers he’s bi, doesn’t know what to do with men, is given a how to book by his brothers.

And there are humans who are part of the pack, and a town that knows all about them and helps them…good stuff.

There are other types of love represented. Kelly and Carter have a strong brotherly bond that is beautiful. Two men of the pack agree to be 'platonic mates’, which is another overlooked kind of love.

Some cons. Some tropes are repeated. “I’m going to leave, make you angry, come back and you’ll yell at me and be angry for a long time despite us still being in love, but then we make up’-except for Heartsong, where there is none of that, except maybe by the person with the forgotten memories who is just confused.

There are a lot of MCU type quips. A serious moment happens and someone quips about sex or mating or whatever. It was funny at time, other times it was annoying. They’re in the middle of a battle and….quip.

The author employs a highly stylized, almost blank verse style in some of the writing. It works for me, but some might be put off by it.

However, overall a wonderful series.

My favorite? Hard to say. Maybe Heartsong? I love Kelly.

I can’t help but laugh every time I see this on the top of this page when I log onto this subreddit. It’s RoP friendly btw.

I’m watching Season 2 of The Rings of Power.

Everyone is right, it’s a big improvement on Season 1. Better pacing, better dialogue, it’s just…better.

If you’re a Lore purist though (and that’s not a slur or an insult) just stay away. Save yourself the frustration because of the time compression and original characters. For me, it’s good.

I know its been what….four years? Had a YouTube recommendation show up about how awful Avengers Endgame which brought back old memories. Yes, at first I was impressed by the shiny (except for Steve’s ending…barf). I nodded along in agreement. Looking back, the only story line I halfway liked was Scott Lange’s.

But even then, couldn’t they have shelled out a little money and had Louis be the one messing around in the storage unit, thinking about Scott and randomly playing with the keypad and HIM being the one to bring Scott back instead of a random rat? We could have gotten one of his famous monologues about what happened, yes, with a little humor thrown in…but before he can tell him Cassidy is okay they arrive at the memorial and we still have THAT scene.

I also liked the idea that someone had about the Avengers being the ones snapped and the ‘new’ people being forced to work together to form a cohesive unit, with the Pyms being the brains behind it all….and NO time travel. Maybe they’ll do a What If about that.

The idea (the theorist was smarter than me and went into detail about how it would work) was that they would find a way to recreate the stones,. They would have Captain Marvel, they would have Wanda who had knowledge of the mindstone, the could use Tony’s Barf to go into the past and look for hidden clues that was missed the first time around….maybe finding Thanos before he reduced the stones to atoms and getting the gauntlet back again….the only thing I couldn’t figure out was they needed the Guardians and I have no idea how they would fit in…anyway….there were so many different ways to tell that story and what we got was honestly…a mess. I never re-watch it. I watch Infinity War and then go binge on fix it fics.

Bucky: Before he left, Steve and I had a talk.

Sam: I know. We did too.

Bucky: He told me to look after you.

Sam: That’s a lie! He told me to look after you!

Bucky: Why would he tell you to look after me?

Sam: Because of your whole messed-up brain thing. Why would he tell you to look after me?

Bucky: Because you’re kind of weak, compared to me, and my brain is fine!

Sam: I am not weak! I’ll show you how weak I am!

Fight ensues. They wrestle and roll around on the ground. Old Steve walks in the room to find them in a compromising position.

Old Steve: Guys, that’s not what I meant.