singedsun

Day Seven

In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a wishlist of sorts.

I feel like every year I fall in love with a fandom (or a fandom idea) that literally no one else is interested in that I also can't seem to wrap my head around how exactly I want to do it either. So I don't know if it's that people struggle like I am about how to make that first thing for it, or if it's just that I'm just a sucker for really niche things.

I've talked about it before... actually I think I talked about it in a previous snowflake challenge (I did - it's here), one of the television shows I really love is the Dracula television show from 2013 with Katie McGrath and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Very very very rarely and usually only for Yuletide, do I get any Lucy/Mina anything for that show.

Last year though, I really wanted something for the band, Sleep Token - like a bunch of people are writing smutty fanfics about their ofc and how hot the singer is for her and sure, great for you. What I want though is like worldbuilding for that band. They already have some but there's a whole cosmic potential with their lore and I'd love to see what people come up with for it. Like give me D&D campaign level worldbuilding for this band. (Also a D&D Campaign based on their lore would fucking rock.)

This past Yuletide it was for the Butcher & Blackbird novel (or the whole Ruinous Love series) by Brynne Weaver. Sorry, I love Hannibal and you thought two serial killers who fall in love wasn't going to make me want fanfic? I get it, they're straight and it's less exciting so I haven't really seen anything for it. HOWEVER I want more of them so much.

Day Eight

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for a beloved character, relationship or fandom.

Let's talk about Sleep Token in fact. Their genre is a little rock/metal amorphous. Technically I think they count as Prog Rock/Metal, but there's so much of it that could straight up be pop if it wasn't for a mid song breakdown, or a lyric of screamed lyrics. However, if you like rock and or metal music here's a few comps - Bad Omens, Dayseeker, Starset, Architects, Leprous, Nothing More, We Came As Romans. And I don't think they're a far comp from more mainstream rock bands like Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park, Sevendust, Deftones.

My favorite Sleep Token song is Alkaline (link to the YT video).

LORE: Sleep Token is a masked, anonymous band. You COULD look up who the singer is and find his name (and maybe the names of other band members) but that would make you a bad fan. They're specifically going out of their way to stay anonymous.

The lead singer is called Vessel. This is his name because he is the Vessel for the god they worship, Sleep. The rest of the band is known as II "Two" (drums), III "Three" (bass) and IV "Ivy" (guitar). They all wear masks. In the last year they've also added a few backup singers (also masked) who go collectively by Espera.

The songs (as far as the fans know) are telling a story about Vessel and Sleep's relationship. When asked about Sleep, Vessel has said, "We are here to serve Sleep and project His message. He is everywhere, at all times." Vessel encountered Sleep in a dream, with promise of glory and magnificence if Vessel followed Him. (That said, a lot of people and I think the songs too, often make it feel like Sleep is a woman - but perhaps they're just a genderless cosmic entity.)

Vessel writes most of the songs (sometimes with help from Two). The lyrics are often complex and personally I feel like there's a lot of water and technology imagery. There's also themes of death and possession (or feasting) and it's hard to tell if Vessel is afraid of Sleep taking him over, or if Vessel feels as though Sleep is helping him through things and welcomes this kind of ownership/possession. 

I don't particularly agree with all of it, but on Reddit a few years ago someone went through and put some thoughts into their whole discography to try and fit it into the Sleep/Vessel lore. It's a fun read. 

I think all the songs are bangers personally, but if you listen to Alkaline, like it and want more, I suggest the Take Me Back to Eden album. It's varied and interesting and the most recent of their albums. "The Summoning" is usually a hit for just about everyone (link to YT video). 

For Challenge #3 of sunshine_challenge

I have two recs for you, if you're looking for small fandoms no one knows about.

First, DRACULA (TV 2013)

It's Dracula, but hear me out. It's 2013. NBC teams up with the British Sky Witness channel to make this RIDICULOUS update to the Dracula mythos in Victorian England. Dracula, called Alexander Grayson and played by notorious scene-chewer, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, pretends to be an American in London. He falls madly in love with Mina Murray played by the gorgeous Jessica De Gouw, who he believes to be the reincarnation of his dead wife. Her best friend and hopeless gay, Lucy Westenra, played by a very blonde Katie McGrath gets lured to the dark side by a fashionable noble huntswoman played by Victoria Smurfit.

There were only 10 episodes of this crazy show and sure, it was likely cancelled because they didn't quite know what they were doing with the plot beneath the main story, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH. This weird Dracula is posing as an American who wants to bring SCIENCE! to England, touting these electric lights (it's a whole thing). He's got a weird and confusing past with Van Helsing who poses as Mina's teacher at University (she's studying to be a doctor) and the two of them, Van Helsing and Dracula are out for revenge on this secret Order of the Dragon. Which to be honest is ill-defined and one of them immediately gets turned, it's great.

Not too mention, if you, like me, like f/f ships this show is a gift. There are multiple options and I love them for it.

I won't spoil it for you, but for the love of all things overdramatic and beautifully costumed, you owe it to yourself to watch it. It was nominated for Cinematography awards and for People's Choice awards and it's a damn shame it didn't get a second season.

It's one of the best vampire shows people don't know about (the Carmilla web series being another) and I shamelessly request it every year for Yuletide.

You can watch the whole show for free on the NBC website here or shop for episodes pretty much anywhere you buy tv shows.

Second, BEING ERICA (TV 2009-2011)

This was a CBC show that ran for four seasons, staring Erin Karpluk as the titular, Erica. Erica's life when we meet her at the beginning of the show is sort of falling down around her. She's in her early twenties and she's like most of us in our early 20s, a mess. She meets a man named Dr. Tom, a therapist. Only he's no ordinary therapist.

During each episode, Erica's sessions with Dr. Tom take her back in time to different parts of her life that center around moments she regrets, or would like to change. She gets to relive those hours/days in the session and see them from her new grown-up perspective, or with the guidance of Dr. Tom, how those moments she regrets might have actually led her down a specific path.

There's a lot of philosophy at play here, it's more comedic than it is dramatic, but it definitely made me cry more than once. The show makes a lot of metaphors about choice and regret and learning to move on from both the painful and ridiculous memories we so often replay in our heads. There's a kind of "let go of what doesn't serve you" kind of vibe about what she learns from Dr. Tom that I really love.

Again if you're into f/f romances you have some options here. But to be really biased there's a relationship between Erica and another "time-traveler" she meets that just undoes me. There's angst there to explore if that's the kind of thing you like too.

If you have Hulu or Amazon Prime, you can stream all four seasons on both sites.