If you follow me online, you know I play many, many dating sims, visual novels, and interactive fictions. I mean, I create interactive fiction, so it’s part of my job, but I mostly play for pleasure. One visual novel I play is Cinamon Games’ Maybe: Interactive Stories on my phone. The app hosts beautiful art and some truly memorable queer stories. While some of the stories are original work, others are adapted from novels. Action is one such adapted novel, and the adaptation is close enough that I feel comfortable to review it on StoryGraph.

Pete Griflow leads a secret life. No, his mom knows he’s gay. So do his coffeehouse coworkers and peers at university. What they’d never suspect is homebody, awkward Pete is also Jaden Prime. Jaden is a flirty power bottom for Murmur Inc., one of the queer porn industry’s top producers of erotic films. And, unfortunately, his career has hit a plateau. When his favorite director offers him a starring role in a hot summer flick, Pete grabs at the chance to fill his bank account. What he doesn’t take into account is his costar, Kyle Darko. Sparks fly on and off set with this confident star, who is out and proud with his sexuality and career. Pete must navigate the line between fantasy and reality—and choose between shoring up his defenses or living as his authentic self.

Everyone needs to read a sex work-positive romance, and by God, I finally found one. Action has got to be one of the most wholesome romances I’ve read in a while. Both Darko and Griflow are explored on a deep level and undergo organic growth. It was a breath of fresh air that the characters were already out as gay. The story instead focused telling family about sex work and choosing sex work as a career. Throughout the novel, the characters never once treated the porn industry as not real work, or unworthy of worker protections. It’s a business like any other. Another treat was the reversal of “gay-for-pay” to “straight-for-pay,” which made me giggle. Other reviews mention Action had some rough edges, but the adaptation seems to have smoothed those out. The visual novel’s art is lovely, so if you enjoyed the novel and have space on your phone, I do recommend playing.

Overall, Action is a sweet, character-intensive romance novel with the steaminess of an erotica. If you want to treat yourself, download Maybe or pick up the book!

Last True Poets of the Sea was a sapphic book club pick for June.

I wasn't in the right place to read this book. Both in terms what happening in my life this year and in terms of my expectations going in. Going by the blurb, I was expecting a Twelfth Night retelling with some light personal reflections and, overall, a romantic beach read. Nope. Last True Poets of the Sea is nowhere near a heartwarming comedy! More to my own fault, I thought this was an Adult book, and teenagers going through these heavy, intense mental health troubles squicked me out at times. Heed the content warnings! They're not kidding with this one!

To the book's credit, it's indeed beautifully written. On a sentence level, the novel is ornate without being overwrought, and the teenage voice is believable. Friends noted that their teenage selves would have appreciated this book so much. 

In my continuing quest to devour all things Cuthbert Beckett, I picked up Vampire: the Masquerade – Nights of Prophecy. And what can I say except the boys are fightinggggg

Nights of Prophecy is a tabletop sourcebook with five distinct adventures for Storytellers and players alike to enjoy. The first chapter details several shenanigans players can meddle with when the Succubus Club, under the jurisdiction of Ravnos Sennuwy, comes to town. The second chapter is racist drivel and a battle among the Kuei-jin, Camarilla, and Anarchs. The best section, in my opinion, is the following chapter on ending Baba Yaga’s reign of terror in Russia. The fourth chapter has a distinct red-haired middle child vibe—the writing is dense, the Las Vegas antics genuinely funny, and the hunters shockingly clever. Finally, we end with Beckett’s adopted sire Aristotle stirring shit in Montreal to distract from the fact he has literally zero character motivation to do so.

On a gaming level, what this sourcebook really needed was a better copyeditor. Spelling and grammar are fine, but the organization is atrocious. Likely reflective of their different authors, each chapter is organized differently. Some sections carefully explain the mood of the adventure, diagram out relationship charts, provide maps, and end with helpful Dramatis Personae character profiles. The action is neatly divided into Acts and Scenes. In contrast, other chapters are a sluggish, rote listing of events. Who appears in the Dramatis Personae is a dice toss. A better copyeditor would have standardized the chapters’ organization. Similar, background information is sometimes there; sometimes not. I know little about the Sabbat, and the Montreal chapter caught me up enough that I feel I could run a Chronicle there. At the other extreme, the Kuei-jin chapter gave zero explanation on Kuei-jin society and people, beyond the current political situation. If you haven’t memorized Kindred of the East, you’re fucked.

Speaking of Kindred of the East, let’s talk about the reading experience. At 162 pages, Nights of Prophecy should be a quick read. At times, I, riveted, flew through. The poor organization and disregard for minorities were like thick, brick walls I had to attack with a wrecking ball. The Succubus Club chapter was all fun and good until the bewildering transphobia against Celeste. Combined with the lack of background information, the Sinophobia made the Kuei-jin chapter basically unreadable. I recognize that not expecting racism/transphobia in these old tabletop books is like swimming in shark-infested waters and being surprised there’s sharks. But WOW, am I glad that Paradox Interactive took over Vampire. Modern Vampire has problems, but they’re not this egregious. 

My other note is more of a quibble. The inciting incident of the Montreal adventure is the Kaymakli Shroud’s discovery. The trapped Okulos finds and gives it to Beckett, who sends it to Aristotle for translation. The narration states Beckett wants to save Okulos and he thinks the translation might help. The narration states Aristotle wants more time to study the translation before making it public. Beckett doesn’t care about the public—he only wants the translation to save his friend. These desires should not contradict. Aristotle could translate the Shroud and tell Beckett it isn’t relevant to Kaymakli’s curse. Instead, he throws a copy of the Shroud into the Montreal Kindred chaos. Which makes it public. And doesn’t save Okulos. So neither of them are happy. I couldn’t follow this logic leap. I wanted more insight into Aristotle’s reasoning, even if it was a lazy “Malkav told him to.” The way this event was written made it seem like Aristotle got infected with Backstabby Disease. Proper character motivation and internal reasoning would have increased the horror of Aristotle’s betrayal. As is, the betrayal is very random.

Overall, Nights of Prophecy was a middling book. Next up is Gehenna: the Final Night.

After witnessing the scrapped raw humor of Hyperbole and a Half, I was curious where Brosh would go with this sequel memoir. Also: a library shelf was left unattended in my vicinity. 

Like its predecessor, Solutions and Other Problems is a collection of comics. The memoir has no plot per se: only a journey. It took me a bit to figure out where Brosh was going. Hyperbole’s intense exposure and authorial vulnerability carries over this sequel. At first, these stories seemed like lone fragments with little connection. Then came the chapter where Brosh discusses her younger sister’s sudden, violent death and I went oh.

I have a brother. He is not dead. But, my God, I cannot imagine any greater, utter shattering of the self than the loss of him. I cannot imagine ever again feeling the earth’s spin the same way. Each of Brosh’s chapters were spokes on the crushing wheel of grief, and the central hub was the gaping wound of her sister’s absence. Stack that on top of Brosh’s own health problems, the pandemic, the 2016 USA Election, and damn. It’s a wonder Brosh can get out of bed. 

Solutions and Other Problems is funny—but the humor is bleak. Nihilism threads itself through each piece. Brosh’s “nothing matters, life’s not fair, and everything’s absurd, so we might as well have fun” philosophy seems to get her through the day, so kudos to her. Thankfully, the book ends on a hopeful note and urges the reader to befriend oneself in all one’s weird glory.

Overall, I’d recommend this comic to adults who need someone to be with them in a dark place. Check the content warnings, and best of luck out there. 

If you heard far off cackling, it was me reading this book. Last year, my partner and I watched The Untamed on Netflix and we fell asses over teakettles for the xianxia and wuxia genres. Watching the series led to watching the donghua (cartoon), which led to reading the manhua (comic). I decided to shelve the novel for later and explore other MXTX goodness. Reading the blurbs of her other books, I chose The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System and devoured a fan translation. I had an absolute blast. When I heard that Seven Seas was publishing official English translations, I knew I had to collect ‘em all. Since I never got around to reviewing the unofficial translated novel, I figured I could review each official volume.

Shen Yuan is the #1 toxic superfan of popular stallion webnovel Proud Immortal Demon Way. The author, Airplane Shooting Through the Sky, uploads around 10,000 words every day, and every day Shen Yuan rips the chapter apart in the comments. Why can’t the author treat his protagonist, Luo Binghe, better! When the novel finishes, Shen Yuan is so enraged he chokes on his lunch, dies, and…transmigrates into the Proud Immortal Demon Way universe?? And into the role of the villain! Oh no! Determined to avoid the original character’s horrible fate, Shen Yuan (now Shen Qingqiu) sets out to change the trashy webnovel plot into high-class literature. Little does he know that high-class literature means gay romance.

First and foremost, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System is a parody of online male power/romance fantasy novels. Ya know, those super misogynistic, toxic masculine stories where victory and defeat is played out on the pleasure/pain of women’s bodies. One guy is buff and has all the answers. In any case, Shen Yuan’s inner narration is hilarious as he constantly snarks and critiques such-and-such cliché. Even though I’m not super familiar with stallion novels, this book hit my funny bone often. I’m still not over the fucking power move MXTX pulled with this premise of turning a patriarchal trash fire into a tender love story between two men. Additionally, MXTX’s use of POV is fascinating. In most places, the novel’s in 3rd person limited to Shen Yuan. Then, for a paragraph or two, we see another character’s thoughts, almost reminiscent of 3rd person omniscient. Usually, switching POV mid-chapter would bug me. But here it worked, and worked well. Third person omniscient is not a popular writing choice nowadays, so I’m eager to see how MXTX’s technique shakes out with readers. Many of the story’s themes are still being set up in this volume, so I can’t say much more. For reference, Volume 1 covers the beginning to retrieving the plant!zun mushroom.

 Re-reading brought whole new levels of delight. On a plot and character level, I gained new insight. Sometimes in the story, there will be little asides or small character moments. The first time reader knows Something Is Being Communicated, but doesn’t know what. Now I do! While the novel is mostly from Shen Yuan’s POV, knowing what I know brought greater clarity to Luo Binghe’s journey. Though these same translators worked on the unofficial one, slight word changes teased out the homoerotic. For me, one of the most frustrating scenes is the one when Shen Yuan follows the original plot and throws Luo Binghe into a demonic Abyss. Here, the dialogue and narration are softened, and I Like That(TM).

My final note is on the art and back matter. ART IS PRETTY. I haven’t read a light novel yet, so it was pure novelty to have certain scenes illustrated. Last time I experienced that was reading the Illustrated Classics series as a child. The back matter has a Character & Name Guide and Glossary. The translators put in a lot of work to make Scum Villain and danmei accessible to newbies. The information is meticulous and comprehensive—a brilliant starting point, as intended.

Honestly, The Scum Villian’s Self-Saving System is worth every cent. Though the story has problems—which we’ll get into later—the characters, the themes, the humor, and the premise are a fantastical treat. If you like queer historical fantasy, if you want to shake up your TBR with modern Chinese literature, dive in.

My review of Heaven Official's Blessing, Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7ee6755d-ec9e-4ff1-a3ab-c4e0c133ca75

Review of Scum Villain Vol 2: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/64a2b986-fd86-4f98-9d8e-b680ad6e9e5a

Review of Scum Villain Vol 3: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a3156dc1-eaa9-45ef-8a33-96febcee9cf2

Review of Scum Villain Vol 4: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4426ae1a-2105-4c8e-b4ce-94e2793b5501 

World Citizen Comics were left unattended on the library shelf long enough that I finally caved and borrowed one. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Ultimately, I’m surprised RE: Constitutions is shelved with the Adult nonfiction graphic novels. While I had a pleasant experience, the audience is clearly the Youth(TM).

Fresh from a summer helping would-be American citizens pass their citizenship tests at the local Welcome Center, high schooler Marcus needs to write a paper about the experience for class credit. The paper’s topic is innocuous enough—what does it mean to be a citizen? I wrote a dozen papers like it in high school (thanks, Government class). However, those would have been way better papers if I’d asked my community for help like Marcus did. When Marcus confesses having difficulty writing at a neighborhood picnic, everyone pitches in ideas. Each neighbor has a unique experience and meaning of citizenship. Collectively, we got this.

RE: Constitutions was a breath of fresh hair to be honest. While I studied the USA Constitution in school, the rhetoric had a certain, um, angle (*cough* American Exceptionalism *cough* *cough*). RE: Constitutions certainly centers the USA Constitution, given the setting, but the Constitution is placed in context. It’s treated as a phenomenon, not this evidence that America isn’t terrible. Feathers eloquently makes her points, the art is charming, and I was pretty engaged in what would have been a boring treatise in lesser hands. The salient bits are summed up in the back matter for easy reference. This book seems like a great resource for high schoolers. It provided a balm for me in a tumultuous week. 

Invisible Kingdom has been on my To Read list for awhile, because G. Willow Wilson is one of my favorite authors. When I saw it on the library shelves, I snatched the series up. My thoughts maintained the same “squee!” noise throughout the series, so this review is for the whole shebang.

Invisible Kingdom is a fast-paced space adventure to punch not-Amazon Amazon in the face. In galaxy basically ruled by not-Amazon, Captain Grix and her crew are delivery people flying paycheck to paycheck. Vess is a “none” (a fun wordplay on nun) who seeks to escape the corrupt system by joining a convent. When Vess and Grix discover the “alternate” religious lifestyle is actually in cahoots with Amazon, shit hits the fan.

My whole brain was like “YESSSSSSSSSSSS!” on reading this book. Vess provides the bone-deep, quiet spirituality I’ve come to expect in Wilson’s works and I loved her talk of the path, her pursuit of truth, and her slow journey to realizing the body is to be as honored as the spirit. Perhaps unsurprisingly since they share hair color, personality, and love for muscles, Grix reminded me of Gideon from The Locked Tomb series in the best way. Ward’s art is truly incredible use of color: dizzy, dream-like, epic. I wish for posters.

All in all, Invisible Kingdom is a fantastic space adventure for our times. I recommend to everyone.