Derivakat's Music Has Only Gone Up In Quality Since The Dsmp Days And I Wish People Recognized Her More

they're so pretty

NASA released the clearest pictures yet of our neighbours in the solar system

Oh and of course us

Honourable mention

Sci-fi and fantasy need to be combined more often, and here's what I want to see more of:

Mythical space creatures. Give me cryptids and not just big scary monsters. Odd little guys like platypuses and fun pets like parrots or monkeys. Give me space moray eels that hide in black holes and poke their heads out at passing ships.

Magic. Besides Star Wars, I feel like sci-fi and magic aren't things that are combines a lot. You could argue Voltron has a bit of that, but most of the time it's technology based (hints the name science-fiction, crazy I know). Give me space wizards, space apothecaries, and healers that use the magic of planets in their daily lives. Give me technology and vehicles run on magic-based sources.

Old ruins. Lots of sci-fi stuff is new and shiny - give me technology that is outdated, robots that don't function anymore. Old buildings that used to be the pinnacle of innovation now abandoned and overrun.

Give me a mix of both very clean planets and very dirty. Sci-fi can be super grungy or super clean - the world has a mix of these things. Have a sprawling city of perfection with low slums and muck.

Prosthetics! Cyborgs and mechanical arms and legs. Electronic eyes that see heat signatures. Exchangeable parts! Ones that glow and light up like those light-up sneakers!

Pretty space food! Infuse pancakes with glowing berries that ooze out of a fluffy cake. Magical teas that heal or give immunity. Magic-infused coffee that gives resistance and energy! Skewers of alien meats grilled to perfection.

Jet lag. Give me characters who get exhausted on another planet because the days last 8 hours longer than they do on their home planet. Characters who stay up until 3 a.m. because their old home had 30 hour days and this new planet has 10 hour days.

I have more, but a lot of these things are in my sci-fi/fantasy story I'm writing right now. I love space and I just think there's so much more we can do with the sci-fi genre.

The Heart Nebula (Sh2-190, right) and the Soul Nebula (Sh2-199, left) // giuseppiallegro

Finn was literally born to be a Jedi. Force-sensitive, escaped from a life of trauma, a passion to help people. He literally has the same kind of build-up as Luke (Force-sensitive, escaped from what could have been his death, a passion to help people). The missed opportunity for that man to hold a lightsaber haunts me to this day.

Worldbuilding has my brain ping-ponging around with ideas. I've gone from space pirates, to monarchies, to fleet creation. 14-year-old me would be so proud.

#literature is a conversation and a connection to our world and it's such a pleasure to be able to dip your toes into it

i love reading, i love thinking about what i am currently reading, i love thinking about what i am going to read next, i love being privileged enough to be able to read, read, read, and read so much that i never tire of it

find comfort in envisioning the end

i love a drunk father-figure who cares deeply for his adopted kid

sometimes you just need to go to the beach and then everything’s ok

I have finally read and watched through the Hunger Games (and am currently reading Ballad) so here are some of my thoughts because this series has me in a chokehold:

had never heard how detailed the PTSD is in this series??? the amount of description and panic written into not only what Katniss is feeling but also what Peeta and other background characters are feeling is incredible. we need more PTSD representation in literature, but this was a perfect way to do it

Finnick. like hands down one of the best characters in the series and then him just dying I am unwell

on the same topic of favorite characters, Haymitch. no, I haven't read Sunrise yet (and I'm terrified) but man. I love how the books have Katniss's snarky opinion of him at first, but the movies show how genuinely concerned he was for both her and Peeta. Best man, I will never turn down a father/daughter duo

Katniss's mother. I will go on a whole rant about her because she's so fascinating to me.

Katniss not being the actual rebel leader, rather just a girl being dragged along in something she can't control

the similarities between the Capital and 12 - they are the same in a way: both using Katniss to achieve their political goals

the amount of despair in Prim's death, knowing from the very beginning it didn't matter. she was always going to die, and Katniss wasn't able to save her. The reality of war is heavy

the worldbuilding: from the districts to the mutts, I love how subtle and yet how crucial everything is. just enough detail to satisfy, but just enough room to expound upon

Katniss.

Peeta.

the fact that, just like the actual Hunger Games, the Hunger Games series was simplified to a love triangle and not the political commentary that it was meant to be. the fact that the Hunger Games are happening now, in our own country, and only we can decide how we will face it

Collins knows what she's doing and I wish I could be half the author she is