Honestly, you know what I'm in the mood for?
Some earnest fantasy or sci-fi.
I'm kinda bored by dark and edgy speculative fiction stories, regardless of their medium.
The subversive thing anymore is to play those tropes straight.
@witchfynder_finder Hmmmm. I agree. Or at least don't just vapidly flip the trope. Play with it and subvert it but subtly. Say something with our about it more nuanced than, "What everyone else does, but backwards."
@witchfynder_finder Maybe Among Others for fantasy. Hmm…
@benhamill At the moment I'm reading some pulp sci-fi from the 60s to hopefully fill this need.
@benhamill Yeah!! Like, the D&D campaign I'm in the process of writing is largely going to be playing these tropes straight because I do love them, but I am gonna have some fun with them too and try and do interesting stuff with them.
I'm just very tired of grimdark and people being afraid of emotions. We can have conclusive happy endings sometimes, y'know?
@witchfynder_finder I hesitate to recommended it because it is dark and the second and third books need a CW for various kinds of trauma. But the Dragonoak trilogy plays a lot of things straight (well, except basically everyone's queer and mostly ladies) and it treats the traumas thing very beautifully. If that makes sense. And there's a happy ending. But… a lot of not happy things happen along the way, so not for everyone.
@benhamill @witchfynder_finder i think this is why i'm weirdly distanced from fiction as a current event
i feel like the most important narrative is the one we're writing right now together
@amphetamine @benhamill Yeah, I feel it.
Like. I love horror and actually well-written "dark fantasy" (even though that term is literally useless anymore) and things of that nature, don't get me wrong, but I'm tired of speculative fic being overrun with things in that tone. What makes the things that do that aesthetic special is the fact that it's not just "Fantasyland but also we put in Bad Things," it's "Fantasyland but we twisted it in some way to Make A Point."
@benhamill I was sold when you said everyone was queer =P That's gonna go on my list for sure.
@witchfynder_finder I'll have to think about recommends for this.