Author: Art Over Chaos

On Death Stranding, Queerphobia, and Rape Culture

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This tweet was brought to my attention and I’d like to go over it. 

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In the following text, I will break down line by line this the above is just biblically old homophobia, recycled queerphobia in general, as well as sexism and rape culture.


The title says an “Asexual World” not a “Celibate World” not “A Population In Decline.” An asexual world. Many times casual acephobia would use those two words to mean the same, but what Death Stranding does is even worse. 

Line one and two reads: “Widespread aversion towards physical contact and intimacy”. Since we are talking about queerphobia and rape culture it should be noted that aversion towards physical contact and intimacy are not issues exclusive to asexuals. Not all aces have an aversion. Furthermore, sex repulsion and touch aversion are often found in rape survivors and other victims of abuse. It is a safety feature, not the back story to a horror genre. You also see an aversion to touch in same-sex couples that do not feel safe to even hold hands. If the societal issue is a “widespread aversion towards physical contact and intimacy” the issue is not “An Asexual World”. It’s a world were people have no ability be interact safely.

Line four, five, six read:  ‘”sexless lifestyle” among young people.” and “younger cohort were self-identifying as asexual, claiming to be incapable of feeling desire or attraction.” Once again asexuals may have sexless “lifestyles” but so may anyone. It is again not an inherent feature of asexuality.

You can also note in this section the double usage of young and younger. This is classic queerphobia of “the youth and their new labels.” It’s been said about every letter of the queer community. Death Standing further goes on to say people are “claiming” further removing the agency from those who gained enough agency to feel like they could safely label themselves in the first place. And year after year studies shows that the number of LGBTQ people goes up as awareness and safety for these groups go up. LGBTQ people vanish without labels, they hide.

Line nine, ten, elven reads: “demisexuals, who are incapable of sexual attraction without an emotional connection, and panromantics, who profess an attraction unrestricted by sex or gender–albeit one not necessarily sexual in nature.” I mentioned most acephobia is misguided definitions. These here have a flavor text of the game but are otherwise correct. This flavor text is not a misguided stray comment from Death Stranding. It’s someone who knows what the a-spec community is and still decided to take a shot at multiple queer communities. Attacking panromantics is an attack of any multi-spec person.

Line thirteen reads: “One theory posits that the Stranding accelerated the proliferation of these sexualities.” If you haven’t heard the recycled homophobia before this line, I hope you do here. This the classic homophobic line of: those social deviants are ending our society.

Lines seventeen, eighteen, nineteen reads: “Incidences of sexual harassment and assault have also seen a sharp decrease, which seems to suggest that sex could be further from our minds, for better or for worse.” First off, if anything that reduces sexual harassment and sexual assault. It is for the better. Rape culture is not the price we have to pay for having a culture, and it isn’t directly about sex being on the minds of rapists either. Even in a Me Too era Death Standing still does not understand that harassment and assault are abuses of power.

And while it is not directly mentioned in the screencap a few more things need to be mentioned. Two cis gay men did not produce offspring. They are not and should not be shamed for it. I point this out because  “Oh no, those queers are going to ruin the population” is a biblically historic form of homophobia. And the only reason Death Stranding isn’t direct homophobic is because those exact same believes are indirectly hiding behind willful acephobia. By taking a shot at asexuals for “not breeding” you are taking a shot at anyone who does not “be fruitful and multiply.”

Now that I’ve done a Scooby-Doo unmasking of homophobia, I’d also like to mention further implied rape culture and sexism. You’ll often find men like Hideo Kojima and his writers who concern troll over if those who can have children are fucking and having babies. You see this played out in the fight for rights for people to control their own bodies.

Horror as a genre can point out the unknown lurking out of our sight. Unmast it, or hold it just out of clear view. Death Stranding’s back story does not do this. Instead of subverting a society that already has rape culture, compulsory sexuality, heteronormatity, and sexism, Hideo Kojima theorizes that maybe the backstory to his great horror story is asexuals, the very same people who are not the monsters but the targets of those four things.

Suicide By Ghost Cover Reveal Day!

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I don’t want to keep this beauty hidden for a second longer! Ready?

3. 2. 1!

 

 

 

 

Spiritually divorced from the church, former exorcist Ryan Macy is finding his own path as a ghost hunter. Traveling with only what can fit in his trusty truck, he road trips around America trying to prove the paranormal. When he’s called to a church to investigate a demon possession, what he finds is unexpected and, perhaps, just as divinely in need: A seventeen-year-old kid named Andrew. Ryan is certain something evil lives within the house: home-grown hate. Kicked out for being gay, Andrew hitches a ride and joins the ghost hunting team. But something is following them…

You can pre-order the ebook now or pick up the paperback on Nov 19th! 👻

Book Announcement!

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I’m so excited, I’m just going to copy paste the announcement here.

Creative Aces Publishing Acquires Suicide By Ghost

Several books in our collection subvert tropes commonly found about our communities. “Bury Your Gays” turned into the Unburied Fables collection and brought together many authors to raise money for The Trevor Project.

Suicide By Ghost will be the second charity book. This time fifty percent of the proceeds will go to True Colors United, an organization working to prevent youth homelessness in the LGBTQ community.

This novella will continue in the vein of acknowledging the bad, while refusing to forget the hope and community that can be found together. Suicide by Ghost has an expected release of Winter 2019.

Spiritually divorced from the church, former exorcist Ryan Macy is finding his own path as a ghost hunter. Traveling with only what can fit in his trusty truck, he roadtrips around America trying to prove the paranormal. When he’s called to a church to investigate a demon possession, what he finds is unexpected and, perhaps, just as divinely in need: A seventeen year old kid named Andrew.

Ryan is certain something evil lives within the house: home-grown hate. Kicked out for being gay, Andrew hitches a ride and joins the ghost hunting team. But something is following them….

If you’d like to join the early reader team, be sure to sign up here.

So exciting, right?!

Same Books, New Me

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There’s a Shakespeare quote I think of fairly often. “A rose by another other name would smell as sweet.” It’s a line that claims that names don’t change what things are. While I believe in this, we also all know the power of names, and to the trans community they often have a phoenix-like property to them.

That’s why I’d like to introduce my new name to you.

Rose Sinclair

Not only do I love the look and sound of this name, I also think it will be a benefit to me as an author. It’s easier to google for example, it’s has a clearer tone for my genres, and so on. Most authors once they have a book out are stuck with a name, but thanks to people I work with I’m not. Hopefully, with your help the progress made with the old name is ground that can be quickly regained.

Bone Diggers and Unburied Fables over the next few weeks will be updated to reflect this change. Since Pandamoon Publishing has elected not to join in, Hello World will have the old name until the contact’s end in 2021. Because of that you don’t have to treat the old name as a no-go zone. This serves as another reason why I wanted to write to clarify that the two names are not pen names of each other, and wherever it can be avoided I won’t be writing under multiple names. Everything is heading in the direction of this change.

I’m really excited for it and even more excited that I can do so without leaving behind works that have meant, and continue to mean, so much to me. Not everyone is able to do that and while my path may not be traditional, it is somewhat blessed. I hope you find this news half as magical as I do. Thanks for much for reading!

⁃ Rose Sinclair

Why I’ve Given Up Hope For Cyberpunk 2077

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A short essay on marketing, flavor text, and Poe’s Law

Cyberpunk 2077 is no stranger to controversy when it comes to its behavior towards trans people.  Faith was all but lost when their official twitter replied with a transphobic meme.

They said sorry, and there’s a rumor that whoever tweeted this was fired, who knows though.  The point I want to make is highlighted by this nearly year-old tweet. In order for this joke to be funny, you have to believe that misgendering is funny when it’s been shown that doing so leads to higher suicide rates. This types of jokes come at the expense of trans concerns and always from an outsider pov.

Many found new love for the name when Keanu Reeves appeared by surprise announcing he’s in the game. Known for the Matrix, a movie that has strong trans themes and was made by two trans siblings. And as much credibility Keanu can bring, Cyberpunk 2077 has a huge problem: Poe’s Law

It’s an internet adage that says without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the parodied view.

This week at E3 when they showed off more of the game, a lot of people saw a new problem. Namely, this fictional soda ad:

On it you have a femme model with a penis showing, which caused many to ask why. And the art director was quick to defend saying, “their beautiful body is used — for corporate reasons.” as reported by Polygon. Not only am I concerned that irony has died in the year 2077, but here’s where Poe’s law kicks in.

The art director went on to say:  “In [the year] 2077, especially with how much body modifications are available, I think people just mix and match however they want, however they feel. […] This is not to say that the player should see this kind of advertising as good. Redesiuk said that it was designed to feel jarring and overly aggressive, like all the other ads in the game, but not because of the femme-presenting trans model.

While that’s all well as good, it has the same problem that “did you assume my gender” jokes have if not something worse and worthless.  2077’s critique of “soda companies sell to trans people” is not criticizing rainbow capitalism. It’s hardly even critiquing capitalism. It’s largely saying “isn’t it edgy to be trans, mix it up, buy two of our sodas and combine them.”

Let’s look at Watch Dogs Legion, another do crime ‘n hack shit game coming out around the same time. In the top image, their flavor text images show something that is clearly pro-nationalism, and if you ‘misread’ or even agree with these ads the whole plot is there to correct you. It’s a game about subverting the police state, something they make known from the first seconds of the trailer.

Cyberpunk 2077 (shown again as the second image above) instead uses this background space to have two meaningless ads and then this one. And here’s the point I don’t think I can emphasize enough. If you “misread” 2077’s ‘critique of capitalism’ you end up with ‘soda companies are selling transgenderism, aren’t they out of control?!” That’s a problem, one the developer CD Projekt Red could have easily avoided instead of trying to play a double negative about hypersexuality.

But instead, their defense is: There are many examples of hypersexualized women, hypersexualized men, and hypersexualized people in between. […] You fight against corporations. That [advertisement] is what you’re fighting against.”

In 2077, the “we’re not sexist, we objectify everyone” defense is still around?
That’s cispicious.

Best Bath Ever

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I feel like I’m sticking my toe into “lifestlye blogging” today because I want to talk about things you might otherwise see on HGTV. That’s the trick kids, few care about HGTV until you are old enough.

I once had an apartment that when we toured it the guide said, “that tub is so big you could have a party in there.” It was a wasted opportunity because we have since moved and have a tiny shallow bathtub combo that Home Depot workers looked at and said nope, you are on your own replacing that one. We can’t even use those bath trays because there’s no lip for it to sit on. If you bath prospects look grim like mine did, I’m here to help!

My move to try to reclaim bath time as part of my best life was inspired by these Sugar Fizzies on Etsy. I’ll talk about them more soon, but the first step of my journey was to ask myself what I liked and disliked about baths. and here’s the winning combination of inexpensive products I got.

Waterproof eReader Case – Paid $10 
This is designed for an apple device, and I do want to try just watching movies in the bath, but I stuffed my kindle paperwhite into it and it worked perfectly. I read without worrying once that the water or even stream was going to ruin the device.

Magic Shower Hook – Paid $2.14 
A shelf or a short table will really prevent you leaning over to tub and dripping water on your phone or anything you keep near you on the bath. Since mine doesn’t have that and I didn’t always want to move a table in and out I got this shower hook because the eReader case has a big string on it. That way I can put the kindle down without getting it soaked. I mean the case worked, but do you really want to fish around in the water for it?

Bath Pillow – Paid $11
These things can get sooo expensive.  I didn’t want the cheapest one but I also didn’t want to blow the budget on a pillow I may or may not use much. I tried this pillow because like everything listed so far, it was returnable. But no need, it’s great! Small enough to dry fast, didn’t have to blow it up with air. Simplicity is a wonderful thing.

Sugar Fizzies – Depends on quantity 
I actually got mine as a pre-lease trial from my friend and mod who fights for everyone which is why I can honestly say the themeing of these sugar fizzies as self care is not a marketing ploy, they are a thought out act of pride and self acceptance.  I used the “Merlin” one which had a great smell of Apple Cinnamon. Normally scent appears then vanishes for me, but from start to finish it lasted. Zero clean up, didn’t have to try to get it to dissolve. Effortless. I have two left and I’m excited to make the best of them!

Shelby Eileen’s Goddess of The Hunt

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I was given a review copy of this book, because I wanted to be able to review in time for aro week. As you might know, I love aro ace Artemis. It’s something that shines the truest to me so if you also want more a-spec Artemis this is a great option. Just out of the gate, you might like this for that.

I’ve posted Sappho’s poem was about Artemis before, that felt divine in a way. This is from a far more personal standpoint and will connect to those struggling with their identity. It’s not a book of greeting card affirmations, it’s honest and full of things that need to be said just as much.

From a pure poetry style point of view, it’s not my favorite style, but let’s be honest, poetry so wide ranging it’s a matter of personal taste. So if you’re unsure, give it a try because you wouldn’t want to miss something wonderful. I think everyone can find a gem in here that they’ll want to carry with them after reading.

Overall, it’s a worthy addition to any a-spec or Hellenistic pagan’s bookshelf.
Be sure to check it out for yourself!

Creative Aces Publishing Is Live!

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Publishing news isn’t rare, but making an announcement yourself is, and I’m so thrilled to say I have some news today!

Creative Aces Publishing was a brainchild I first had in 2015, and thanks to other aces over the years we published two community projects: What You See, an art book featuring two dozen aces, and Unburied Fables, an LGBTQ charity anthology benefiting The Trevor Project.

If you heard of us before, here’s how we’ve changed since then. Unlike other indie publishers, we seek to build from a community standpoint. Not only saying we put authors first, but also paying them a highly competitive rate unheard of for a group so small. Offering upwards of 50% royalty, and sometimes even an author advance.

As a full-service publisher, authors can also expect a professional looking cover design, comprehensive editing, a personalized marketing plan, training and support as an author from signing and beyond at no cost.

All made possible by a slow and steady mentality that makes sure you don’t get lost in a sea of other authors. Because of this, we aren’t currently open for submissions, but already have signed authors and will be making more announcements soon.

If you have any questions please contact us at info@creativeacespublishing.com.

Here’s what this means for anyone who knows me personally, I’ve been dealt a hand of cards that allows me to take the project to a level I always wanted and make it a full-fledged publisher.

I’ve been working for various publishers since 2015, and love helping authors. But I also see areas where many barely even get a chance because of factors around their disability or identity. As the company’s co-founder and creative director, I can’t fix the industry as a whole, but I can set a standard I believe in. One who’s core goal takes pride in creating art and supporting those artists.