Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts

Sunday, July 15, 2018

The JimFear138 Podcast Ep. 91 - Some Politics, Atlas Shrugged, & Objectivism



Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the podcast! This time I talk about some of the crazy developments in politics for a while, then get into a discussion of Atlas Shrugged as a book (from what I've read so far), then move from that into a discussion of Objectivism (Ayn Rand's philosophy). Hope y'all enjoy!

Mp3 Download of this episode: 
https://ia800408.us.archive.org/25/items/jimfear_audio_productions/ep91.mp3

Places to buy Glimmer Vale (my new audiobook): 

https://ssnstorytelling.com/product/glimmer-vale/

https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Glimmer-Vale-Audiobook/B07DGLMLDF/

https://www.amazon.com/Glimmer-Vale-Chronicles/dp/B07DGVMKS2/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/glimmer-vale-glimmer-vale-chronicles-volume-1-unabridged/id1394885090

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Michael_Kingswood_Glimmer_Vale?id=AQAAAEAM1RaVCM

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/glimmer-vale-1

https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/glimmer-vale/335483

https://play.playster.com/audiobooks/1001800000000231421/glimmer-vale-michael-kingswood

https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/378877692/Glimmer-Vale
Relevant Links:

Rucka Rucka Ali: https://www.youtube.com/user/itsRucka

Rucka Reacts: https://www.youtube.com/user/RuckasBlack

Charles Tew:  
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8iOCGZj09rvCXhXeya4vkw

Gulf City Cartoons: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGx6IVMJJEtR7rcGa5_Ojrg


Social Media Dump: 

FeedBurner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jimfear138

Maker Support: https://www.makersupport.com/JimFear138

Ko-Fi: http://ko-fi.com/jimfear

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@jimfear138

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jimfear138/id1107844659?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LichJim

Tumblr: https://jimthedefiant.tumblr.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimFear138

Blogspot: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/

Wordpress: https://jimfear138.wordpress.com/

Bandcamp: https://jimfear138.bandcamp.com/

Gab: https://gab.ai/JimFear138

Minds: https://www.minds.com/JimFear138

Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/jimfear138

Opening Music:
Honey Bee by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100755
Honey Bee Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Death Flowers - Part 2 on Steemit!


Wounded, Zyrkana retreats to the house of the one who summoned her to recover. But just who was that alluring warrior?

https://steemit.com/fiction/@jimfear138/death-flowers-part-2

The JimFear138 Podcast Ep.90 ft. Rawle Nyanzi



Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the podcast! This time I talk with Rawle Nyanzi about a blog post our mutual friend JD Cowan made (linked below) about genre, and over the course of the show we get into that, anime, My Hero Academia, storytelling, American history, and all kinds of other topics! There was a bit of a technical issue near the end, where the skype call dropped. Because of this OBS reduced Rawle's volume, but the final few minutes are still audible, just not optimal. I'll keep an eye out for that should it happen again. Hope y'all enjoy!

MP3 download of this episode:  https://ia800408.us.archive.org/25/items/jimfear_audio_productions/ep90.mp3

Rawle's Links:

Website: http://rawlenyanzi.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RawleNyanziFTL

Sword & Flower

At The Earth's Core Review: http://rawlenyanzi.com/earths-core/

Relevant Links:

The Death of the Genre Wars by JD Cowan: https://wastelandandsky.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-death-of-genre-wars.html

Correia On The Classics by Larry Correia:  http://monsterhunternation.com/2011/01/12/correia-on-the-classics/

Black Pulp

Cirsova #8

Planetary: Earth


Social Media Dump:

FeedBurner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jimfear138

Maker Support: https://www.makersupport.com/JimFear138

Ko-Fi: http://ko-fi.com/jimfear

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@jimfear138

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jimfear138/id1107844659?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LichJim

Tumblr: https://jimthedefiant.tumblr.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimFear138

Blogspot: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/

Wordpress: https://jimfear138.wordpress.com/

Bandcamp: https://jimfear138.bandcamp.com/

Gab: https://gab.ai/JimFear138

Minds: https://www.minds.com/JimFear138

Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/jimfear138

Opening Music:
Honey Bee by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100755
Honey Bee Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Closing Music:
Crunk Knight by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400044
Crunk Knight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Friday, June 1, 2018

Cirsova #8 Available!


Guess what's on sale!

And guess who's name is on the cover!



Gotta say, it feels weird to see my name on a magazine cover, even weirder that it's my favorite SFF magazine. But I'm not complaining! It's very exciting, and I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's stories. 

To whet your appetite, mine is one of the novellas. I didn't think the story was that long but whatever, I'm not putting the magazine together. It's an "Old Venus" style story, with a jungle planet, lizard aliens, giant dinosaurs, swords and rayguns, and maybe a little hint of romance in there for flavor. I can't wait to see it in print, and I hope you guys'll pick up a copy too.

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell people you don't even like!


And if you wanna tell me what you thought of the story when you read it, drop me a line on twitter, tumblr, gab, or minds and let me know! I'd love to hear from people and get some feedback. Especially if you want more of it. And if you do like the story, you can find similar work on my steemit, where I'm publishing short 6k words-or-so stories pretty much whenever I get them written and don't have plans to try submitting them someplace.

Thanks for the time, and I hope you guys enjoy the stories!

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

New Original Fiction Page!



So, because I'm a complete goober, I never actually put all my fiction in one place. I just kind of assumed people would go to my steemit profile and read it if they wanted. Like an idiot, I just left it floating out there in the ether, because I'm not a clever man, apparently. However I've now taken steps to fix this. If you look at the top bar of the blog you'll now see a button called "Original Fiction". 

Should you click this, you'll find links to all the parts of all my steemit stories, in order from oldest to newest. It will be continually updated as more stories are released. I'm trying to get about a story a week out, but honestly I need to write more. I'll get on that, I promise. Lots of ideas for stories, I just need to put on some tunes and buckle down and write them. I'm not gonna match Robert E. Howard's or, heaven forbid, Walter B. Gibson's output by shitposting on twitter.

Fun as that is.

But yeah, that's it. Now you can find all my stories collected neatly in one place, and no longer have to go hunting all over the four corners of the net for them. I hope you guys enjoy the stories, and keep coming back for more, because god knows I've got more to give!

And speaking of, part 4 of Bringing Down The Mountain will be out tomorrow! Don't miss the thrilling conclusion!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

The JimFear138 Podcast Ep.86 - Another Whole Sort of General Mish-Mash



Hello everyone and welcome to another very disorganized episode of the podcast! This time I go over the Creepypasta Comic Kickstarter debacle, talk about a very silly article denigrating a lot of books I happen to like, and spend some time working out where the line is between objective measurements of artistic merit and personal enjoyment. Hope y'all enjoy!

MP3 Download of this episode: 
https://ia800408.us.archive.org/25/items/jimfear_audio_productions/ep86.mp3

Creepypasta Comic - What Went Wrong: https://midnightauthor.com/2018/04/11/creepypasta-comic-what-went-wrong/

archive: https://archive.fo/WZvL4

Christopher Warren: midnightwarren@gmail.com

Slimebeast: chris@slimebeast.com

21 Novels You Don't Have To Read: https://archive.fo/lOWxz

Frederick Douglass Infogalactic: https://infogalactic.com/info/Frederick_Douglass

The Worst Journey In The World Kindle Zero Dollars: https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Journey-World-Antarctic-1910-1913-ebook/dp/B004TIKVGM/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1525242941&sr=8-2&keywords=the+worst+journey+in+the+world

Pedantry: Let's Kill Fantasy: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/2017/09/pedantry-lets-kill-fantasy.html

Jack Ketchum - Garden State Horror Writers - February 12, 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIQzgtjzzpY



Social Media Dump:

FeedBurner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jimfear138

Maker Support: https://www.makersupport.com/JimFear138

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@jimfear138

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jimfear138/id1107844659?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LichJim

Tumblr: https://jimthedefiant.tumblr.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimFear138

Blogspot: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/

Wordpress: https://jimfear138.wordpress.com/

Bandcamp: https://jimfear138.bandcamp.com/

Gab: https://gab.ai/JimFear138

Minds: https://www.minds.com/JimFear138

Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/jimfear138

Opening Music:
Honey Bee by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100755
Honey Bee Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The JimFear138 Podcast Ep.82 ft. Not John Daker



Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the podcast! This week I have my buddy Not John Daker on again, and boy is this a doozy of a conversation. Not quite as long as my last guest podcast, but getting there. Hopefully next time we'll be able to keep the length manageable. In the meantime, enjoy this conversation that meanders from tabletop games, rpg's, monster girls, feminism, mgtow, and more! Hope y'all enjoy!


MP3 Download of this episode

NotJohnDaker On Twitter

NotJohnDaker On Steemit

NotJohnDaker On Gab



Social Media Dump:

FeedBurner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jimfear138

Maker Support: https://www.makersupport.com/JimFear138

Hatreon: https://hatreon.us/JimFear138/

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@jimfear138

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jimfear138/id1107844659?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JimFear138

Tumblr: http://jimfear138.tumblr.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimFear138

Blogspot: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/

Wordpress: https://jimfear138.wordpress.com/

Bandcamp: https://jimfear138.bandcamp.com/

Gab: https://gab.ai/JimFear138

Minds: https://www.minds.com/JimFear138

Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/jimfear138

Opening Music:
Honey Bee by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100755
Honey Bee Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


Monday, March 12, 2018

4chan Does It Better: Katawa Shoujo

So as I stated in the last segment of my most recent podcast, I've been getting into the whole "visual novel" thing. Up till recently I've only played Sakura Dungeon, which was fun because it had girls with animal ears (with copious amounts of lewds because let's be real here that's what those Sakura games are for) as well as a dungeon crawl and battle mechanic that kept the fun going beyond what mere breasteses could provide. I'd heard people talking up Doki Doki Literature Club, and I played that and was severely disappointed. 

Then a friend introduced this game to me. 

[Sidenote: I don't consider visual novels video games because they have only the most basic of gameplay mechanics, and are far more accurately described as slightly interactive, choose-your-own-adventure comic books. In the case of the ones that are specifically romantically focused they're choose-your-own-waifu adventure comics. I'm just going to refer to them as "games" because it's a useful shorthand rather than having to type all that bullcrap out every time.]

And this game changed my opinion on the whole visual novel thing. I won't say it was an earth shattering revelation, or a game that completely revolutionized how I think about visual novels (VN's for short from here on out), or that it was even a really fantastic game in its own right. Because at base it isn't anything particularly special. The music is decent, the art is okay, the animation (what little there is) is on the good side of amateur hour, and the writing isn't anything to write home about in and of itself. However, it's the overall effect that brings this game home as something that is obviously a labor of love, and is more than anybody currently bitching about representation has ever done in their lives to further representation of people with disabilities in video games. 

Did I mention that? That all these characters are disabled in some fashion? 

Because I should've. Maybe I need to back up a step and explain what the game is actually about, here. 

So Katawa Shoujo (literal translation: Cripple Girls, colloquial translation: Disabled Girls) is a visual novel about a last-year high school student who has a heart attack and discovers he has arrhythmia. He is placed in a boarding school for students with disabilities, and over the course of his first few days meets several girls that are all in some fashion disabled. Shizune is a deaf-mute, Hanako has burn scars and severe psychological issues because of this, Lily is blind, Emi had her legs amputated just below the knee, and Rin has a birth defect that stopped her arms from growing and as a result has stumps just below the shoulder. Over the course of the game you as the player pick which girl you'd prefer to romance and attempt to follow their arc to the "good" ending. "Good" is in scare quotes here because it doesn't always end on the happiest note. 

So far as the first act goes (wherein you pick which girl you're going to go after) it's fairly well written, and your choices in dialogue do have an effect on how this game ends up, which is more than you can say for Mass Effect 3. But you get introduced to all the girls, and via these dialogue choices you choose which you're going to get involved with. I actually had to look up a flow chart to figure out how to get the entire story from this game, but thankfully they had the foresight to put in a "skip" mechanic so you can fast forward through stuff you've seen already.

Personally I've only completed two arcs and am working on a third, eventually planning to make my way through the entire game. However I noticed some things while playing this game. The rest of this ramble is basically going to be some thoughts that I have about it and how it relates to the incredible disconnect between an internet culture like 4chan and an internet culture like Tumblr, so if you want my verdict I'll go ahead and give it here before I get into a shit ton of pointless bloviating. 

The game is good, and in my opinion you should play it. It's free, available via direct download from the website or via torrent. The writing is a bit simplistic, and as I said the music (while good) isn't going to be starting any revolutions anytime soon. However it's absolutely worth a play, and to be honest they should probably be charging for this given how well it's done considering where it came from and how emotionally impactful it's capable of being. If you're into VN's, or romance in general, or just want to experience 4chan kicking the absolute shit out of Tumblr in terms of representation done well, then I'd recommend it. But if you're anything like me, just remember this is more of a comic book than an actual video game and you'll be good to go.

So that done, let's talk a little about the development process with this game. Because frankly I can't talk too much about the story without spoiling things, and if you're going to go play it I don't want to ruin things for you.

This game came about because of a sketch from a doujin artist that 4chan just would not shut the fuck up about for years. So eventually, a bunch of anons got together and made a game studio specifically to produce this game. They called themselves 4 Leaf Studios (based on the 4 leaf clover 4chan logo) and got to work. It took a while, but eventually KS came to be and has since been translated into god only knows how many languages. Now as far as I know, and I'm open to being corrected on this, the first act was written by one guy, and then each girl's individual arc was written by different people who were invested in telling that girl's particular story.

Apparently Shizune, the deaf-mute girl, was subject to several re-writes, and looking at the flow chart I can believe it. Every other girl has plenty of decision moments, and Rin's is just completely fucked up, but then you bird's-eye Shizune compared to the rest and it's a straight line with one branching decision that leads to either the good or bad ending. So if you decided to go after the deaf-mute girl, your mileage may vary. This is the one I'm currently playing through, and I haven't gotten far enough to say one way or another. Just be aware this apparently isn't the best written of the arcs. 

However, the complete autist writing and rewriting Shizune's arc aside, each arc for this game was essentially written by somebody who thought that particular character was best girl. Therefore all the arcs (exempting Shizune of course) are written with a kind of loving care that has the quality you'd expect from an image board like 4chan, but the passion shines through beyond clumsy turns of phrase or echoed words. It's quite obvious that the people writing these different arcs cared about telling a decent story within what they were given to tell, and this leads to some legitimately heart-wrenching moments depending on what girl you've decided to romance for this playthrough. 

So here's the part where I devolve into random social science bullshit because to be honest this is the thing that really astounds me.

4chan is an anonymous imageboard. It has a well deserved reputation for being one of the worst places on the entire internet, and before Tumblr turned into the absolute fucking dumpster fire it is now, that was true. However, there's a distinct disconnect between the approach towards representation in media taken by 4chan, and that taken by Tumblr. I should be clear here, I spend a fair amount of time on Tumblr, and comparatively far less on 4chan. So while I've heard of 4chan's excesses and depredations, I've actively seen Tumblr's in real time. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Tumblr is the worse of the two. 

4chan is akin to the internet's red light district. You walk in there knowing what you're about to get, because of the reputation. And because of the way deindividuation works (basically anonymity), you're likely to be metaphorically stabbed because you simply look like (or sound like, given the medium of text people interact with each other through on that site) you haven't been stabbed yet. It's a kind of initiation ritual and fact of that website that if you appear to not have been stabbed yet, someone will eventually try to stab you. 

Contrast this to Tumblr, wherein you have actual screen names (a feature actively and vehemently discouraged on 4chan, despite the ability to engage in it), as well as an email address tied to your account, and shit gets far nastier than a metaphorical stabbing. People have been SWATted, reported to the police for false crimes, had their pets taken away and euthanized, driven to suicide, and all manner of other nasty shit. There are decent parts of Tumblr, but eventually that part (which is most of the site's userbase) is going to find you and decide that you are problematic in some fashion, and as such not human and not deserving of human decency, mercy, or opportunity for redemption.

And what really sets this in sharp focus in regards to Katawa Shoujo is that 4chan bitches a lot, but they don't bitch about representation. Just stroll into any thread on /v/ and you'll be subject to a deluge of autists screaming about a video game that got them all upset. But very rarely do you see 4chan wanting [x] people group to be represented more often in video games. There are occasional threads, but those are obviously troll threads and get the treatment they deserve. Overall, /v/ really seems to just want decent games. Apart from the people who are there to just interminably bitch about literally everything, of course. 

Now Tumblr? 

These people bitch on the fucking daily about how we need more representation of [x] demographic in video games. Very rarely does a day go by when I'm scrolling Tumblr and I don't see someone bitching about this very thing. They constantly whinge about this kind of stuff, and the most stunning thing about it is they never do a god damned thing about it other than bitch, despite the fact that tools like RPG Maker exist that would give them the opportunity to do exactly what they want. Game development is hard, yes, but it's not impossible. It's a learnable skill, and any one of these people shouting into the void on Tumblr could learn it and be the change they want to see.

And yet they don't. Because bitching is easy. Actually doing something about it is hard work. 

So when it comes to a game like Katawa Shoujo, I'm standing absolutely gobsmacked by the fact that 4chan indeed did this thing. Granted, a VN isn't exactly the most difficult game to produce. However they actually got off their duffs and did the thing rather than constantly bitching and hoping that someone would do it for them. And so far as I know, this wasn't done out of any kind of call for representation of cripples in video games.

It was done because these particular anons wanted to tell these particular stories involving these particular characters, and so they went out and did it. They made it happen, and that's why I say 4chan does it better. Because to do something better than someone else, you actually have to do more than complain. You have to lace up your boots and get to work. These anons have done more for the representation of cripples in video games than anyone currently pissing and moaning on their Tumblr blog about how terrible it is that there aren't more crippled people in vidya. 

These random anons approached this subject matter with a respect and tenderness that outshines the best AAA company you can think of on their best day, and they did it all for no recognition and no money. I think this was a bad move, because they had all the makings of a talented development studio, but I wasn't involved and their decision to do it for free is their own. This actually gives me a bit of respect for the anons of 4 Leaf, because putting the game out for free proves this was a labor of love rather than a cash grab.

Which, I can guarantee that any game coming from Tumblr in a similar vein would absolutely be a cash grab.

These anons cared about these characters and these stories, and as such they made a product that even the best of what Tumblr has to offer from the people who seem to be very opinionated on these matters wouldn't be able to match in a thousand years. And to be perfectly honest, when the infamous internet hate machine is giving you exactly what you ask for and doing it far better than you could ever hope to do, it might be time to hang up your spurs, cowpoke. So at bottom this post here comes down to a challenge.

4chan has already outdone Tumblr by leaps and bounds just by putting this game out. If you're really so concerned with representation of demographics in vidya, then step up, learn to make a video game, and be the change you want to see.

Because if 4chan is being the change you want to see in the world, and doing it better than you could simply by virtue of having done it in the first place, maybe you don't actually want to see this change happen. Maybe you just want to bitch. Maybe, like the cartoon says, you don't want a solution. You want to be mad.

But so far as Katawa Shoujo goes, as I said, it's a VN. You should have a basic understanding of what you're getting into, but go play it. It's worth the time it'll take you to download and play the game. Find your cripple waifu, dear reader. Because this is probably the only game that'll give you the chance. 

I realize as I'm finishing this up that I should absolutely mention the problem with Emi, and the h-scenes. Because those are things that should be addressed. 

So the issue with Emi is that she's the main storyline, and the one that (apparently) most people fall into on their first playthrough. I felt like this was railroading, and it kind of is. There's one dialogue choice that flags you for heading towards Emi's arc, and you have to do some ridiculous bullshit backflips to get out of it. This is a design flaw in my opinion, but if you just make the proper choice at the proper time (depending on whether you're planning to romance Emi or literally anyone else) it can be easily avoided. It just seems a bit bullshit to me to make her that important that it's basically one or two dialogue choices that decide whether you get shunted into her arc, or whether you get to go for another girl.

That being said, Emi's arc was very well told and enjoyable. 

She just isn't best girl.

Because apparently I have a taste for bacon. 

Now to the h-scenes. 

Being a romance VN, this game eventually rewards you with "porn" of the character you've decided to romance if you make the right choices. There is an option to turn this off, and from what I've read doing my research because I'm absolutely that much of an autist, it doesn't effect the game or the character development all that much. From what I've seen (because y'all already know what time it is if you're reading this) the h-scenes are tastefully done for porn and actually do have an effect on the relationships between the characters themselves. 

This isn't the kind of game where sex is just an, "Oh, I love you so I'm going to have teh sessy teims wit u" kind of thing. Shit has real consequences, and even gets into the personal psychology of the characters and how they react to the main character showing interest in them and actively pursuing them as a romantic prospect. This was really interesting in a few instances because, as I said, it had an effect on how the game progressed and how these characters reacted to you. 

Ostensibly, if you got the h-scenes of the character, you got the "good" ending, but this isn't always the case. There are ways you can severely fuck this up between that and the end of [x] arc. To the point of that character hating you and never wanting to talk to you again. Which is an interesting dynamic I haven't seen in my (admittedly small) experiences with games like this before. 

In my opinion this just proves that this game wasn't meant to be a vehicle for amputee porn. If they'd wanted to do that they could've just come up with the basic character designs, posted them in a thread, and let the drawfags have a fucking field day making lewds of them all day. That didn't happen.

Well, it might've happened, but I haven't seen it, and what Katawa Shoujo threads I've actually seen on 4chan nowadays have not included the lewds that may or may not exist of these characters. 

This game is meant, in my opinion, to be a heartfelt story of a young man finding out he has a disability, meeting various girls, and coming to love them not because they're disabled, but for who they are beyond the disabilities. The h-scenes are, I think, them not flinching away from difficulties and realities of getting romantically involved with a disabled person. Much like (and I know this is a stretch but bear with me) Henry Miller didn't shy away from his sexual liaisons in his various novels. It's an unflinching look at what engaging in a romantic relationship with a disabled person might be like, and given the writing I can't tell if the particular anons who wrote this game have experience in this area or if they're just extrapolating based on what they think would happen in individual situations. It gets right down to the nitty gritty, and it would've been very easy for them to shy away from this and not include it, despite the fact this is a romance game. 

They didn't, and I think that takes balls, to be honest.

But overall, Katawa Shoujo is a good VN, and moreover it shows what a bunch of autists on an imageboard can do when they put their minds to it. As I said, they've officially done more for the representation of cripples in vidya than anyone on Tumblr has ever even thought of doing.

So go give it a play.

It's free, and there are worse ways to kill an afternoon.  

Here's the link to the website for the interested.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

The JimFear138 Podcast Ep.81 - More Memos, YouTube Purge, & VN Wars



Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the podcast! This time I go over the Democrat Memo and the Grassley Memo, talk about the YouTube Purge currently going down, and weeb out about the weird juxtaposition between the visual novels Doki Doki Literature Club and Katawa Shoujo. 

Hope y'all enjoy!

MP3 Download of this episode:  https://ia600408.us.archive.org/25/items/jimfear_audio_productions/ep81.mp3

Democrat Memo: https://www.scribd.com/document/372309313/Democrat-Memo

Powerline Article on Grassley Memo: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/02/enter-the-grassley-memo.php

Grassley Memo: https://www.scribd.com/document/370817276/Grassley-Memo#fullscreen&from_embed

18 U.S. Code § 1001: 
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001

YouTube Purge from Dangerous: https://www.dangerous.com/41968/youtube-suspends-warski-live-host-internet-bloodsports/

YouTube Purge from Breitbart: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/03/01/the-purge-youtube-mass-censors-conservatives-new-right-classical-liberals/

Alex Jones Carving a Pumpkin & Talking About Police Conspiracies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbRJt6iKCc8

Sen. Ted Cruz Goes At The Asses Of Social Media Representatives: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4716297/sen-ted-cruz-questions-big-tech&editTime=1519759988

Doki Doki Literature Club: http://ddlc.moe/


Katawa Shoujo: http://www.katawa-shoujo.com


Social Media Dump:

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@jimfear138

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jimfear138/id1107844659?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JimFear138

Tumblr: http://jimfear138.tumblr.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimFear138

Blogspot: http://jimfear138.blogspot.com/

Wordpress: https://jimfear138.wordpress.com/

Bandcamp: https://jimfear138.bandcamp.com/

Gab: https://gab.ai/JimFear138

Minds: https://www.minds.com/JimFear138

Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/jimfear138

Opening Music:
Honey Bee by Kevin Macleod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100755
Honey Bee Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Monday, March 5, 2018

Guest Post: Monstergirl Madness by Anon

Image Credit to Alexander of Cirsova


[Jim: This is a guest post written by an anon who approached me about this essay they've written, but were nervous about featuring on their own website or blog. Given that I'm a total and complete sperg, and have no filter with regards to my power level, I offered to post it here so their hard work wouldn't go to waste. I was also asked to keep their name secret, so the only thing you guys know is that this isn't me. Because if I'd written something like this, you know I'd take credit for it. Enjoy the guest post!]


WARNING

This essay may touch on issues that some may find uncomfortable, including fictional accounts of sexual assault. Better safe than sorry!

Introduction

I am fascinated by the monstergirl fandom. It has its excesses...oh boy it has its excesses, but at the core, the monstergirl fandom is full of young men who have been hurt by the false promises given to them about the world from their elders. It is both a longing for and a reaction to those false promises. This fandom can do more than produce erotica; I believe that there is some serious storytelling potential in monstergirls.


What precisely is a monstergirl?

Generally a monstergirl is a humanoid female with many animal-like or monstrous features. Generally, they are hyper-sexualized, but this is not strictly necessary. Many beings from mythology fall squarely into monstergirl territory, like mermaids, centaurs, and the Medusa. However, there are many, many other “species” that have been imagined.


Here are some VERY NSFW resources to learn more about them.

8chan's Monstergirl Board
- Repository of stories, pictures, and discussion. Did I mention VERY NSFW? This place is VERY NSFW.
Touch Fluffy Tail
- Story repository.
Monstergirl Encyclopedia Wiki
- This a wiki about a Monstergirl Encyclopedia created by some people in Japan. It is often abbreviated as MGE. For many monstergirl aficionados this is the “canon” of monstergirls, much like the George Romero movies are the “canon” for modern zombie movies. There will be deviations (fast vs slow zombies, for example), but when in doubt, when it comes to the look of a monstergirl, this is the place to go.
Monstergirls are often stronger and faster then humans, and sometimes possess magical powers. Yet, for some reason, they enjoy the company of (relatively) weak men. In the MGE world, they generally feed off of the spirit energy of men, which is found in high concentrations within the semen of men. Thus, the sex.
Also, in most "canons", only females are monster-ized. There are no monsterboys, so the monstergirls need human men for reproduction. Once again, another reason for the erotica, but from a storytelling perspective, it gives reason for human societies and monstergirl societies to interact, which can lead to all kinds of conflict and storytelling potential. Or lots of monstergirl on human male rape. That is a distrubing trend in many monstergirl stories.


Are monstergirls the same as furries?

No. I would argue that they are the mid-point between human and furry. A good cutoff point between monstergirl and furry is the face. If it has a snout, it is furry. If it has a human-ish face, it is a monstergirl.


Why I am interested in monstergirls

There are two main reasons I am interested in monstergirls. The first is the way it reflects modern Western society (particularly in the United States) and the second is the storytelling potential.


1. Reflection of modern Western society

Within the monstergirl fandom, there is a strong desire for a so-called "trad" relationship. Modern society has effectively shat all over young men and even well-meaning people have lied to them. Work hard, go to college, find a good job and a nice wife, get the 2.5 kids plus the white picket fence, etc. That is a lie.
I bought this lie hook, line, and sinker from my well-meaning Boomer parents. For most Boomers, this was enough. Even if they made awful decisions, they still generally succeeded. But, the world was changed by the Boomers. Doing the "right" thing is not enough nowadays to succeed in our society.
In the fucked-up world that the Gen-Xers, Millenials, and Generation Z inhereited from the Boomers, following the nice Boomer advice is a recipe for failure. Most Boomers do not realize that the world has changed and their advice no longer is accurate, but there is a whole generation of men who are left with no good advice on how to live their lives. Add no-fault divorce, increased number of women in the workplace driving down wages, and a loss of community through the tearing down of local organizations (federal government giving out welfare, rather than local churches doing charity), and you have a perfect recipe for hurt young men.
For example, women are still treated as "better" than men. The HR departments and courts will side with them. A woman can fuck a bunch of "alpha studs", get knocked up and the government will pay to support the woman. Now remember, where does the government get this money? Hell, a woman can claim sexual harrassment against a guy, get him fired, and take his job. Women have no real incentive in modern society to "behave" nicely. But should a man decide to not engage with society and go his own way, he is told to "man up" and marry the washed-up women who have rode the cock carousel for 15 years. How dare he not financially support a woman who does not care for him and would leave him in an instant if a handsome man shows even the slightest amount of interest!
Men are expected to just suck it up and deal with it. But without the support groups that men traditionally have had with other men, where is the strength to do that? Men need each other and need to lean on them from time to time. Yet, our society no longer values groups of men being men. We are atomized and disconnected.
No jobs, no stable families, no community to support them...where will young men turn?

Fantasy.

No amount of cleaning one's room can replace the gaping hole where healthy masculinity once was in society.
Where will men retreat to? A world in which the Boomer promises are true. Being a honest, decent person means that life turns out okay. You don't have lie, cheat, steal, and betray to get ahead. A world, in short, of monstergirls.
In a a very real sense, monstergirls love men for their manliness. (gotta get that spirit energy from his semen!) They are loyal to their men, appreciate them, and care for them. Likewise, the men support and love their monstergirl. Rather than trying to be a roommate that sometimes has sex with them (which is what modern feminism was turned many wives into), monstergirls revel in their femininity and encourage the masculinity of their men. Each partner builds the other up in positive feedback loop.
The rise of monstergirls online is a damning inditement of modern society.


2. Storytelling

Who is sick of Tolkien-knock-off elves and dwarves?
I cannot speak for the kind proprietor of this webzone, but I am sick of the same old fantasy races. Let's try something different!
Monstergirls offer an opportunity to do something new and interesting with fantasy races. The author can put new blood into fantasy / sci fi settings. For example, imagine a forest full of elves prancing about under the full moon.
B O R I N G
Now imagine a forest full of spider women who spin webs in the tree to catch birds that they then eat. And the main character of your story gets trapped in a web.
Will they try to eat him? Enslave him? Let him go? Marry him? Send him on a quest?
Because they are an unknown, there is an element of mystery to their motives and desires. An author can play with the mystery and hook the reader's attention.
True, most monstergirl fiction is a ghetto of erotica, but it does not have to be that way. Even in the erotica ghetto, there is (usually) a healthier sexuality on display than is encouraged in our society. Monogamy is assumed as the default (or at least the ideal) in a monstergirl world.
Here is an example of a good use of a monstergirl in a story...JimFear138's story: The Tower of Benshi features a princess who is actually a dragon monstergirl!


In conclusion

Give monstergirls a try. Stick them in your stories. See what happens. I guarantee that something interesting will come out of it.