bethefirst | Fandom Promos

Damn Them All (vol. 1 and vol.2) is a 12-issue comic series written by Si Spurrier and illustrated by Charlie Adlard, with colours by Sofie Dodgson and lettering by Jim Campbell.

The protagonist is Ellie "Bloody El" Hawthorne, a woman involved in the London underworld in more ways than one. She's a magical fixer for the mob, and she's the only one with a chance of saving the day when 72 demons are summoned from Hell under what should have been impossible circumstances and bound in service to summoners who are trying to exploit their power.

Si Spurrier wrote this right on the heels of having his Hellblazer run prematurely cancelled due to the pandemic, and in my opinion it's a series that makes an excellent beverage out of those particular lemons. It's an homage to Hellblazer (with Ellie's Uncle Alfie, whose death kicks of the series, being a winking stand-in for John Constantine) and incorporates what I assume are ideas he'd have otherwise had to scrap post-cancellation, but its freedom to go completely original in terms of characters and worldbuilding makes for an even richer and more creative story, especially in its take on the nature of demons.

If you're interested in text-heavy dark urban fantasy with a messy bastard of a main character who faces her own demons while dealing creatively with real ones, some great art and design (the colours and lettering on this are especially fantastic), and a satisfying story arc that explores the nature of power and belief, you might enjoy Damn Them All.

Below are the characters I'm considering writing about.

Ellie Hawthorne: Orphaned as a child and having spent time in an abusive foster care situation before being taken in by her Uncle Alfie, Ellie is carrying a lot of old wounds and cold practicality when it comes to the meaning of life. All of which is challenged in the wake of her uncle's death and the potentially apocalyptic situation that upends everything she thought she knew about demons and humanity.

Dora Lafon: A former New Orleans police officer, Dora comes to London to investigate the death of Alfie, her one-time lover. Still struggling with PTSD after her involvement in stopping a school shooting, discovering the existence of the supernatural forces Dora to reassess her place in the world and the influence she wields on it.

Abshir Sinimo: A young doctor forced to flee persecution for his sexuality in Somalia, Abshir is living on the streets in London when he crosses paths with the demon Gusion. He proves to be one of the few humans who rejects the opportunity to enslave a demon for personal benefit.

Gusion: A demon of uncertain form, whose specialty is the ability to reconcile friendships, and who unexpectedly finds himself treated kindly by the human he's bound to.

Glasya-Labolas: A demon in the form of a giant murderous fiery dog (or a Yellow Labrador in its earthbound disguise) who, unlike most of the other demons, becomes interested in life on earth.

Hmm, not available through interlibrary loan. May have to invest in this one!

I hope you enjoy it if you end up getting your hands on it!

I want to write for Where's Marlowe? if possible given time and inspiration. It's a comedy movie about a pair of documentary film makers, Wilt and AJ, who decide to make a documentary about a small, struggling private investigation firm. They follow around Boone, a guy probably too nice to be a very good private eye, and his friend Murphy, who seems to be in the business solely because Boone wanted to do it. The usual cheating spouse and insurance fraud cases are interrupted when Murphy is abruptly killed, and Boone, Wilt, and AJ try to find his killer.

This movie was billed as a black comedy/mystery, but it's honestly so sweet? Murphy and Boone spend a lot of the time before Murphy's murder bickering, but there's a scene afterwards where the gang views Murphy's video dating tape (this movie came out in 1998, can you tell?) and Murphy explains to the women he's trying to date how much he loves his buddy Boone. Boone himself is a sweetie who can't hang onto money—he's always giving it away to people he thinks are in need. Wilt and AJ try for a while to hang onto their journalistic integrity but are eventually like, "Shit, we've grown attached. Guess we'd better start investigating cases so Boone's business doesn't go under."

I'm hoping to write about Boone and Murphy's relationship. It's one of my very favorite parts of the movie, and of course Boone is the usual Miguel Ferrer character I can project upon.

If you're interested in this movie, I got a copy of it for twenty bucks on Amazon, or you can rent it from google play, apple tv, fandango, and amazon prime for $4 each. You'll notice it has some low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, but what's a few rotten tomatoes between friends?

This sounds right up my alley - and aw, baby Mos Def!

I knowww, he was so young!

"Race the Sands," by Sarah Beth Durst, is a fantasy novel set in the empire of Becar. It's about changing your fate, monster racing, and reincarnation. I think it's very well-crafted, in the sense of, the writer took a relatively straightforward concept (souls are reborn as various humans or animals depending on their previous lives; "augurs" can read the status of someone's soul and determine whether they're on track for a good rebirth), and extrapolated it out to a lot of fascinating worldbuilding (how does someone become an augur? What happens to the most "monstrous" souls? How does the political system relate to this?) Longer review here.

I enjoyed that book a lot! What are you planning to write for it? :D

A little post-canon ficlet with Shalla!

spoiler title

And a beetle who might or might not be the reincarnated Augur Yorbel ;)

Very cool, looking forward to it :)

"The Celebrant," by Eric Rolfe Greenberg, is a historical fiction novel set in New York City in the early 20th century, but written in the 70s/80s. The narrator, Jackie Kapp|Yakov Kapinski, is a Jewish immigrant whose family assimilates and, over the course of decades, establishes a thriving jewelry business. Jackie is also a huge baseball fan; he loves the New York Giants and their star pitcher, Christy Mathewson. All the baseball in the book is real, and a lot of it I'd been familiar with from various secondary sources (there weren't as many secondary sources at the time the book was written, so Greenberg's research is more impressive in that context). So it's one of those "I know how the pennant race is going to turn out, but tell me more about Jackie and his relationships."

For whatever reason, this non-speculative historical fiction book is calling out to me for absurd, over-the-top fannish tropes. I'm not sure if I'll have time to do something for this event, but I'm hoping to write an AU with unreliable narrator Jackie dealing with plot devices that definitely weren't in canon. (Also, probably not for this event, but the Mathewsons and McGraws would be a great sedoretu foursome.)

A lot more thoughts here.

This sounds like a great book, going to see if my library has it

I'm planning on writing something for Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a live action Disney movie from the 50's that revolves around a man and a leprechaun trying to outwit each other, and all the trouble that results from that. They have an interesting "worthy adversary" thing going on between them (with mutual kidnapping attempts), and its their relationship that I'm interested in exploring one way or another.

This sounds like a movie I'd enjoy! I didn't even know it existed.

I like that movie a lot, so I really look forward to reading this!

Walk Like a Panther! 2018 wrestling comedy featuring a group of washed out '80's wrestlers who team up for a charity wrestling event to save the local pub. I got Ideas from it.

Gonna be lazy and just link to the rec post I wrote a while back for 早安！三国打工人/Good Morning! Workers of the Three Kingdoms, which insta-landed in my top 3 fave cnovels after I finished reading it *__*

So IF I manage to pull it off this year (I have something else that needs to be finished first as I sort of put myself on deadline Oo), it will be I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle (link goes to my DW where I flash-reviewed it).

AO3 and a cursory google search have not turned up anything so... If I manage from a timeline perspective, that's my target fandom. Probably a short one! But I've had an idea since I read the book.

That looks great! Placed a hold at the library.

Ooh, someone rec'd Beagle recently so this is on my to-read list - but I might move it up the queue, hearing you got an idea makes me more intrigued 👀

I want to write about Virgo vs. the Zodiac, an indie game I found on Steam. I really enjoyed playing it and want more people to know it, and perhaps play it :3

The author of Cherry Magic has an earlier series, Papa and Daddy's Home Cooking (パパと親父のウチご飯), which I ADORE. I plan to express that adoration by making some characters kiss.

Cooking manga is a fave genre, and this has some sweet co-parenting + chosen family plotlines as well. It's perfectly lovely slice-of-life, but the premise of 'two friends and single dads of preschool kids decide to live together to make the daily life of parenting easier' is also too enticing a shipping setup to pass up.

I love the quiet, low-stakes atmosphere, cute family dynamics, and the sincere moments when characters deepen their understanding of each other. The art is lovely and expressive, too, and the two main characters have wonderful odd-couple chemistry - Sengoku used to be a delinquent and still has a rough, aggressive demeanor, while Harumi is an easy-going, soft-spoken manga editor.

If anyone wants to check it out, there are 4 volumes (20 chapters) currently released in English, available on MangaPlanet (paid access).

Edited 2025-03-02 01:06 (UTC)

Oooh, I'd love to write something for the Dragons Mega Bloks line! Specifically their 2004 movie!

Borrowing my bite-sized fandom promo post

I'm going to write for one of these 15 seconds Instagram Reels/short video stories. Think of a movie short that's only a few lines/20 seconds long. Previously I had nommed it under Dialogue scenes - iphilgood & timothylinnik (Instagram Reels) as a fanom, but I think for Be The First I will use a specific clip, which means if you're looking for something you can use a clip too! ;)

For clarification, this is fiction, not RPF

Where to find it:
https://www.instagram.com/iphilgood/ or https://www.instagram.com/timothylinnik/
Here are some of my favorites:
- tired https://www.instagram.com/iphilgood/reel/C1r64cRgqzy/
- meant to be https://www.instagram.com/iphilgood/reel/C3VfjlAA6dh/
- to the sun https://www.instagram.com/iphilgood/reel/C2VD8NAABcC/
- there is no answer https://www.instagram.com/iphilgood/reel/C0b8ZbzAoxk/

You know when you feel poetry in your guts? What if it came in video form and it had a dark academia/dead poet society aesthetic?

These are videos around 20 seconds with a main speaker, set in some fictional world saying some hard hitting words.

For example from tired: "I'm sick. I wasn't born to live a dying life"
I'll probably write for Tired or Meant To Be and I'm excited!!

Hobo: Tough life is a PC RPG survival game featuring, you guessed correctly, the player as a homeless man. You wake up in the middle of "Praslav" (heavily based on Prague) with no memory of how you got there or what happened... and then it's a hard struggle to get through the day before cold, hunger, illness or injury kills you. If you're looking for a feel-good game, this isn’t it.

But it's good.

See, the game was made by a person who was actually homeless for two years, and it shows. The survival mechanics, the visuals, the crafting etc. - all of that is good, but you can get that in other RPGs. What really makes this game stand out is the people. Every single named character (homeless or not) has a story. You might not learn it (and you won’t, in most cases, because it's none of your business), but you know they have it. And, yeah, a lot of these people aren’t very nice, but the game doesn't judge or decide what's "good" and "wrong" - in a way, it's like an interactive documentary. It's raw and realistic and it might be fictional but you know there are places, people with stories like this.

There are so many characters that one could write about. In the end, I picked the old lady who sometimes fixes your hobo's clothes if you're polite and friendly. She has maybe eight lines in the game, but you know there is more to her story. Just like everybody else.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey is a standalone horror novel published in 2022. The summary from goodreads:

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories -- she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

This is a classic gothic haunted house story in the guise of a true crime thriller. It's a story about family and how love can haunt you years later even though (or perhaps because!) it is monstrous. It asks the questions "Who are the real monsters?" and "What terrible, beautiful things can love create?" I will admit that it's a pretty slow read for the majority, but the end more than makes up for that for me. Sarah Gailey's writing is full of fantastically visceral imagery, and this book really reflects that.

CW: blood, gore, toxic/abusive relationships, character death, torture, presumed hallucinations, possession (highlight to read)
Feel free to hit me up if you're interested and would like more detail on anything!

Edited 2025-03-06 16:07 (UTC)

I just realized—I think I may have read this book? Never made the connection that it was Sarah Gailey of River of Teeth fame?

They've got very different vibes, so I can see why you wouldn't have made the connection!

I'm going to be writing for "All My Gods", a game in a world with roman gods where you play as a new god and develop your own city!

I'm writing pwp for a f/m romance novel named Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It's available probably best on ebook platforms and secondhand, as it's not among her most popular work.

The plot is basically Eat Pray Love without the globe-hopping and with bonus kink! A bestselling therapist watches her life fall apart just before she's about to take a vacation in Tuscany. She ends up meeting the owner of the villa she rented, a hot Italian-American actor, who she has a no strings attached affair with while solving a mystery, eating a ton of great food and discovering more about what really makes her happy. It's pretty standard women's fiction/chicklit/romance, but I just found it very fun and breezy, with lots of delicious description of the Italian countryside, fun chemistry between the characters and a surprising amount of kink.

So I read this Tumblr post reccing Shinyuutte Soko Made Shinakucha Ikenai no? or Does a Best Friend Have To Go That Far? When it was recced as 'the prostate manga' I had to try it and read the whole thing. It's a porn premise turning into friends-to-lovers in a heartwarming (and slightly ridiculous) way. I desperately want to write either post-canon or edging fic.

Manga is available free here: https://bato.to/series/67620

This manga was so cute and hot! I hope your writing is going well.

I’m late to the game, but I’m going to try and dash out a fic for the short film Finding Richard.

It’s a fourteen-minute feature about a lonely grandfather (played by Colin Baker) and his history-loving grandson who team up and dig for Richard III relics in their neighborhood. It’s a pretty heartwarming story about friendship and familial bonds.

It can be watched officially through Vimeo

EDIT: I have also decided to write for Rhino Wants a Wife, a short children’s picture book written by Lucy Baker (completely related to the Baker mentioned above). It’s a cute tale about Rhino, a…rhino…who treks about his habitat, asking his friends about what qualities he should look for in a potential partner. Of course, every animal says something different, leaving him stumped!

Edited 2025-04-27 13:11 (UTC)

Sesame Salt and Pudding is a josei romance manga written by Suzuki Yufuko. It's also known as Goma Shio to Purin, Black Sesame Salt and Custard Pudding, and Salt & Pepper and Pudding.

It was officially translated once before, but there's a brand new English translation available to read on MangaPlaza!

Summary from MangaPlaza:

"On the day they met, they got married and started living together?! While out drinking, Haruhi, a construction worker who's always surrounded by men, meets Nagato, a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair. She drunkenly tells him to marry her, and just like that, they get married and start living together! A heart-pounding rom-com about a shotgun wedding between a middle-aged man and a blue-collar working girl!"

I saw the manga recommended online around the time I really got into age-gap ships, and I enjoyed it! The MC is much younger than the love interest, but she's in a better financial position than him, and has an unorthodox job which subverts the trope in an interesting way. The characters are compelling, and I enjoyed watching them struggle to hide their accidental marriage from people while slowly falling in love.

Sadly, I don't see many people talking about the manga. I really hope one day it gets more popular and the series can get a physical English release!

Fandom Promos

Damn Them All

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Race the Sands

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The Celebrant

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Papa and Daddy's Home Cooking (manga)

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Just Like Home

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