full_metal_ox: Vintage Doctor Strange blacklight poster. (blacklight)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox
A Zoomer friend of mine was wondering how old this trope was, and I found myself recalling the following comics story, probably from a 1960’s issue of Creepy or Eerie; the writer was almost certainly Archie Goodwin, and the artist may have been Steve Ditko.

As I remember it, a foolhardy wizard manages to broach all the security measures surrounding the ultra-classified This-Is-Not-A-Place-Of-Honor containment chamber for a forbidden spell that he believes will neutralize his rivals’ powers. Turns out that he’s right—because the spell causes magic, period, to self-destruct. Fleeing the Wizards’ Council HQ, he consoles himself with the thought that his rivals are at least powerless against him—except that the populace have gotten wind of the fact that the healing, blessing, and fertility magic is gone (and who’s to blame), and torches and pitchforks still work just fine.
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox
Okay; this one has been causing me a nagging itch in the brain. I recall having seen—probably on some incarnation of Scans Daily on another platform—a U.S. romance comic from the 1940’s or 1950’s that had an anthology host—something more characteristic of horror comics. He was a Zorroesque Masked Lover who narrated love stories throughout history (and may have been an immortal or time-traveler who’d personally witnessed/taken part in them); the specific story featured a girl who was concealing her blindness—which she felt made her unfit to marry.

Even after specifying romance, the sheer number of masquerade balls, highway robbers, masked vigilantes, and tragic disfigurements in the genre has made this a royal pain in the kazoo to Google.

ETA: FOUND: Jon Juan #1, with the help of [personal profile] superfangirl1 on [community profile] scans_daily, who directed me to https://comicbookplus.com/, an online archive of public domain comics; there I found Great Lover Romances #1 (Toby/Minoan, 1951)—an anthology including a story starring a character called Jon Juan: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=41459

That, in turn, gave me the search term I needed to track down Jon Juan’s own comic (under One Shots rather than Romance):
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=1829

Shout-out as well to the helpful folks at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2023/08/habo-vintage-comic-search/#comments

Jon Juan was an immortal from Atlantis who went swashbuckling through history, dallying with history’s legendary beauties and rescuing damsels from Durance Vile, only to ride off into the sunset as wandering adventurers are wont to do; this didn’t stop him from archiving cherished memories of all his paramours (housed in his own Inner Sanctum, the Secret Archives of Love.)

The story I remembered was “Lady in the Dark”, pp. 27-35; the setting is (19th-century?) Spain, and Jon Juan is dressing and comporting himself very much as a capa y espada adventurer—but it’s the titular Lady who wears a mask/veil, to disguise her condition; the Reveal, coming abruptly from her duenna, has the air of an ableist punch line: sorry, Carmelita has a ding in her, and that’s that.

It’s easy to see what doomed Jon Juan to be a one-off experiment: Spicy Adventure is a genre that Siegel and Schomberg couldn’t do justice to under the restrictions of 1950’s US comics, and romance readers tend to want commitment as a payoff. It’s still an exercise in delightful cracktacular weirditude, much like The Continental or Korla Pandit's Adventures In Music.

And here’s the [community profile] scans_daily post, from 14 January 2011: https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2691288.html#cutid1
[personal profile] fin3apple
I read this book about 14 years ago. It was about a world where there were red and green dragons, except all the green dragons were extinct except for one. The story was about two best friend dragons (a girl red dragon and the one green dragon who was a boy). I think the girl red dragon's dad was king of the red dragons? And he banished the green dragon maybe because they fell in love? I am uncertain.

So the green dragon left to go see if there were other green dragons and I think the girl red dragon went with him.

I DISTINCTLY remember the cover, which had a red dragon and a green dragon flying on it.

Any help finding this book would be so appreciated!
computerrenegade: Space (Default)
[personal profile] computerrenegade
Edit:
*I FOUND IT FINALLY*

My ADHD has its uses when I'm trying to solve complex problems or identify all outcomes/possibilities; but it's proven to be a nightmare for short-term memory! 
So, because a book blurb/summary doesn't fully represent the details found by reading the story, I started re-reading books that may of had the slightest possibility of being the one I'm seeking. I found myself completely baffled when the 2nd book I tried was it! Although it took me hours of reading with the 1st book, I hit the jackpot shortly after starting the 2nd. So the series I was searching for is......
"Academy of Assassins" by: Stacey Brutger.

Please excuse my ramblings. I'm just thrilled my mental torture  with this is finally over! By the way, this series is wonderful. Yeah it is a paranormal romance, but the female lead is bad@** and it focuses more on the story than intimate scenes.

      *...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*

My OP:

I've searched for a series I had read, but can't remember the name, for a year now. I don't know how old the book was, but I believe it was definitely within the last decade.
I can only remember a specific scene, some characters involved, & a general plot (that may even be wrong). I don't know if I accidentally deleted the book or if I've overlooked it in my library due to the only clues I remember maybe not aligning with a book's description/summary. I'll be grateful for any suggestions, so please don't feel negative if you're not sure either. Any lead could end up becoming the one that helps me to remember!
Thank you!

So now the pieces I remember...
Sorry for poor editing, I'm on my phone. 

The characters:
1.  Female lead -- she's either a witch, demon, fae, or hybrid who hasn't fully come into her power yet. She's very powerful, smart, & can fight. I can't remember how she appears in the story, but it feels like she was thrust into the group of men for either protection or a way to train her.
2.  Male 1 -- Siren or Incubus -- he harbors some self loathing for what he is. In this world, his kind & shifters are looked down upon as lower-classed persons. The main character is immune to his powers.
3Male 2 -- Shifter (wolf or bear) -- he has issues with himself as well, since he's considered a lower-class, but he's very powerful & protective. 
4. Male 3 -- Demon? -- I can't remember what he is, but he's the brooding, solitary type. He's powerful & the defacto leader of the group. 
** There may be other male characters, but I can't be sure **

Story Background:
The men fight random otherworld/underworld portals that keep appearing (mainly in a warehouse district). Sometimes only a low-level demon was spawned, other times it could be a horde of goblins, hellhounds, or other creatures. The female is with them for the scene I remember. 
** I believe the men live in a house they, or the organization they work for, own or they live in a secluded area within a compound (I remember them having privacy in their living space but not what the building actually is). The female has been staying near them as well.
** I believe this is a Reverse harem series that may or may not advertise as such (it may state paranormal romance or the like).

The Scene I Remember:
The group received a call/text about a disturbance in a warehouse they are to check out & neutralize any threats. They gear up & drive over in an SUV (black?). They split into 2 groups (the female & Siren) and (demon guy & shifter). The story follows the female & initially the warehouse is dark, so all she sees are dozens of beedy, yellow eyes staring at them. Either she uses her powers to see in the dark or the lights are turned on. That's when they realize there are dozens of goblins everywhere. They know that if they capture the queen, the males will follow her when they get her back through the portal. I believe the female is capable of creating these portals too. Anyways, the female debates with the Siren on how to capture the queen (as the goblins are gathered throughout on tall, metal, warehouse-type shelves). Since he's heavier, he's to be the ground guide, then help her get ready & ascend with the climbing gear they have. After she's hooked up, she starts to climb & she notes that goblins smell & they begin hissing at her the closer she gets. She reaches the queen then realizes they're all talking amongst themselves in some language & then the males start attacking. She gets hit with their claws but manages to knock several out. Then she attempts to sing to calm them (I don't remember how this came to occur). Her voice is too low to reach all the goblins as they begin to surround her & the Siren. She begs the Siren to start singing as his voice will have more reach. He hesitates, because he doesn't want to affect her & cause her to react; but he finally realizes they're out of time. So he asks her to cover her ears as best she can & he then starts to sing, softly at first, but then louder. All goblins fall entranced in his voice & begin to fall asleep & then she removes the barrier  to listen to his voice (she's enraptured but not from his power, but by the absolute beauty of his voice). Eventually, the other teammates come over & are mad he risked the female by singing but she intervened to say it was her idea. They all begin to grab the goblins & send them back through the portal. The demon wanted to stay inside to investigate more, so the other 3 go to the SUV. The Siren is amazed that she isn't affected by his powers. She basically tells them both that she likes them in a romantic way but the Siren is appalled. He says something like "but I'm a Siren & he's a shifter..." (in an attempt to get her to see the are low-level beings in this society so why would she like them since she's considered royalty or upper-level in society). The shifter gets frustrated & walks to a nearby stream to clean off (I can't remember why he got upset). The female goes to him & gets him to calm down by saying that she accepts him as a shifter & she doesn't believe in the societal norms of treating him poorly. He grudgingly let's her see his animal form & she loves it. They eventually walk back to the car where the Siren & Demon are waiting for them. The team begins wondering who gave them the lead to the warehouse with goblins & why.
** I believe the premise is that all these portals are attempts at pulling the female character into whatever realm they come from (someone is after her). The summoned creatures are to be trying to get her into the portal.


I apologize for the lengthy descriptions; but I figured the more detail I provide, the higher the chance that someone out there recognizes the series I can't remember! Even figuring out a character name, author, something more will help me in uncovering this mystery. I've been searching off & on for a year, so hopefully I'm getting close!

[personal profile] nightrayne
Read a book ages ago in the old school sci fi/fantasy genre popular in the 90s or so. Can’t remember a whole lot about the plot anymore but could have sworn the book was called the Three Sisters. Definitely set in a fantasy world with one sister being I believe a warrior/soldier, another may have been a healer, and the third was more of a helpless female/seductress in the way a lot of female characters were written in that time period. Not sure if anyone knows what I’m talking about but have googled so much and still can’t find it!
[personal profile] shieldmaidenofsherwood
My friend and I both remember reading this around middle school. There were necromancers (we think) and alchemists and at some point a girl cracks a pitcher over the head of the villian. The cover was really full of details and had a crow on a skull, maybe some scrolls
[personal profile] mattevansc3
My local library had a series of books (possibly a trilogy) that I enjoyed when I was younger in the mid 80’s. I want to track them down to read to my children.

The library never had the first one but the basic plot outline is;
A boy does a weird monster dance to scare his younger sister which accidentally teleports them to a fantasy world. They are separated and the locals treat his sister as a powerful sorceress because of her torch.

I can’t remember the outline for the second book.

In the third book he does the dance but when he’s teleported he’s shrunk to the size of an insect and gains leaf armour made by ants. He eventually meets a wizard from an earlie book that resizes him but he’s a few inches smaller. Him and some adventurers from an earlier book go into a dungeon where they start getting “killed off” with venomous crossbow bolts and nerve gas.

One of the covers is of the boy doing the dance and the back cover summary always discusses the dance/movements in detail.

Any help would be much appreciated.
[personal profile] lottief8
I'm trying to find a novel that I read on Wattpad within the last 3 years, although it could have been written earlier. It's a combination of fantasy, chicklit, ya fiction, romance, and adventure. The female protagonist is a princess (or some type of royalty) in her late teens or early twenties and has the ability to manipulate/bend water. Her powers can be dangerous and hard to control at times, which is a plot point that jumpstarts the novel. She accidentally kills someone at the beginning of the novel which leads to her running away and joining a group of pirates. They go on a series of adventures that build up to a massive battle at the end. The pirates don't like her at first but they grow close and she becomes part of the crew. She and the pirate captain - whose name I'm pretty sure is Gideon but I could be wrong - fall in love along the way. It's one of those will they-won't they situations and one where their feelings are obvious to everyone around them. One of the plot points includes them searching for a magical ring or similar object connected to the female protagonist's powers/some ancient force. Ending scene includes a battle with plot twist (included at bottom of post)

Other random details:
- The author started a sequel that I remember having a reddish orange cover and was more fire based/had fire as a plot point (as opposed to the blueish cover/water based plot of the first book), but then discontinued writing it because of writer's block or a similar issue. She never said anything that I can remember about taking the books down, so the first one at least should still be up.
- the female protagonist's mother is dead and her father remarried. I'm pretty sure the stepmother ends up being the big bad but I could be wrong.
- Gideon/the pirate captain has a tragic past that includes a dead fiancée (I think she died in a fire? which might have influenced the second book)
- there's a scene in the book where the female protagonist and Gideon are alone, somewhere on an island or a beach. She touches an ancient sword/magical object (it might have been the one they were looking for) and blacks out/has a vision. She wakes up to Gideon holding her to his chest, thinking she's dead
- I vaguely remember the main character cutting off her hair/having to disguise herself as a man to hide in an army

- at the end of the novel, the female main character and Gideon end up fighting the big bad. AND ***SPOILERS*** IN A MAJOR PLOT TWIST (at least to me, I totally didn't see this coming)










Gideon betrays the female protagonist, in a move related to his past trauma. The main character was trying to persuade him to either kill or not kill the villain, or something like that. He does the opposite of what she whats him to do, despite loving her and having gone through so much. It was a really upsetting moment for the characters and the second novel picks up immediately afterwards.

Thanks in advance for any help!
[personal profile] jodran2005
I am trying to find a book series (It was of three or four books). The book covers lined up to form one large image if the books were laid side by side in order. Color was orange.

The books had multiple perspectives. It was centered around the festival of Beltane and they burned effigies of the queen. There was some element of factions/getting chosen for specific jobs. The main characters were orphans? Or non-chosen-people. I remember one person running errands for people and getting bread for prostitutes. There was a castle/palace which had fine marble for the halls I think. Farmers from surrounding areas would set up in a field outside city limits during the festival.
[personal profile] blades454
Hello everyone, I recently thought of a book I read about 8 years. But I cant remember any names so its a bit difficult to find it. I remember a few details. Its a fantasy book, it has and human traveling with a halfling, I think, the human had gotten into a duel with an elf and had cut off the elfs hand. Later on the elf had a metal hand and ended up cutting off the humans hand, who ended up taking the hand and using it. Please help.
[personal profile] mewmew13
Book #1
In 3rd grade like 2002-2003 I read a novel that was about a boy who got caught in a wildfire. He ran towards a creek to escape but the creek was full of fish that had "boiled" to death, so he got out of there. Next he ran to a cave but came to the conclusion that he would cook as if he were in an oven and ditched that idea too.
I cant remember anything else about it except that teenagers accidentally started the fire with matches.

Book #2
I read this book in 5th grade. Everyone believes it's "the house with a clock in its walls" but I'm pretty certain it's not!
It's about a boy who goes to his uncle or grandfathers mansion type thing. Everything on the property is overgrown. The boy finds a secret passage in the house with stairs that go on forever. At the base is a weird looking thing on a boat that takes people to whatever is on the other side of the water.
There turns out to be a city or something after that but I've forgotten!
[personal profile] tyxeros
I'm really glad I found this community, I read a looot of books, so hopefully I can contribute in answering questions as well as getting help!

Speaking of which, I just remembered a YA fantasy novel I read around 2008. It has (at least) two main characters, a boy and a girl, whose perspectives are switched between. The girl is a dragon/fairy creature locked away in a tower and has been since she was little, and the person who locks her in stole her wings - ripped/cut them right off her back, I remember them describing the wounds. I think the captor claims she saved the girl from being murdered. The captor wears the wings as a cape, and either uses them to fly or is trying to figure out how to use them to fly. Near the end of the book the girl breaks out of her room and finds her wings up on the wall, at which point her magic calls to them and they reattach. She flies away and meets the boy who was racing to the tower on horseback.

That's as much as I can remember! One or two details might be slightly wrong, but I distinctly remember the scene where her wings flew to her and reattached to the scarred nubs on her back.

Any help appreciated!
nayaranightroo: (pretty)
[personal profile] nayaranightroo
EDIT: Found! It's Cry of the Icemark, by Stuart Hill.

I've been trying and failing to find this book for years, so I might as well try here! \o/
I read this YA Fantasy book in 2012 at the latest, but I doubt it was published earlier than 2000. What I remember:

1) The protagonist was a princess of some kind(?), or possibly the daughter of the leader of some kind of warrior tribe. Possibly red-haired.
2) The mother of the protagonist is dead pre-book. I think the father dies at the beginning of the first book.
3) The protagonist goes to a land with ice/snow and makes peace with a race of giant talking beasts that her people fear. I'm pretty sure the beasts are snow leopards. The protagonist rides at least one of them at some point, I think.
4) The protagonist has a guy love interest. When she meets him, he's trying to help heal someone, I think? He's some kind of wizard / has magic. He might be called Oscar.
5) At some point, near the end of the book, the love interest bursts into flames (due to magic gone wrong, maybe?) and he's horribly burnt. I seem to recall him running around a courtyard of some kind while naked?
6) The cover might be the red-haired protagonist accompained by a snow leopard / white beast, but I might be confused here.
7) There's a second book, in which the protagonist and her love interest are not teens anymore, but adults with several children, and those children are the main focus. I think the book starts with one of their children betraying the rest.
[personal profile] reniechan
I remember only a few things:

1) the protagonist was female

2) she was in a cult that was literally under ground.

3) when she got out she marveled at the fact that women's dresses no longer had large poofy sections at the wrist and instead had poofy sections at the shoulder.

4) she was shocked at how much time had passed.

5) she was nobility of some kind
[personal profile] ewyn
Hi everyone, I am wondering about a book-series (at least what I remember being a series) I read in the mid-2000s.

From what I can remember, the book was centred around two children/teenagers. One of them a boy, the other a girl. They might have been related, as well. Somehow, they arrange some magic stones that open a portal into a different world where magic is present. It becomes apparent that there are several different worlds that they can travel to through these rocks, each rock having signs that symbolize what world they visit might consist most of (like rocks with ice, water and snow will send them into a very cold and chilly world). They meet a wizard (I'm pretty sure), who belongs to an order. He turns out to be not that nice. The girl has strong magic abilities, she also finds out that her father might belong to one of these worlds and she becomes desperate to find him. I think the wizard hatches a basilisk, who is very intelligent, and who begins to turn everyone in the village to stone. The boy, if I am not remembering wrong, has the ability to shapeshift. I am pretty sure he is able to turn into a wolf.

I cannot for the life of me find out what this series is called, please help me! I would love to revisit them.
[personal profile] gaiamoore17
I didn't read this book but someone else was trying to find this book for 6 years and had no luck so I thought I would try posting their description here.

"I remember reading this fantasy romance novel about a princess (or of a similar standing) being arranged to marry prince from another dark place. I can't seem to remember the name of the book and I never got around to finishing it. Every year, several times a year, I try to do random searches on the net to see if new search terms will reveal this book to me.

I have failed for the past 6 years, so I thought it was high time I asked you guys.

This is what I remember from the novel:

1) The heroine was betrothed from someone from her kingdom/place.

2) She was arranged to be married off for reasons of alliance.

3) It was not forced, in the sense that she knew it was her duty to do the best she could for her people. Her parents also loved her and loathed to have her married off.

4) She sees the hero for the first time at her wedding, she describes him as big and wearing all black. She is somewhat afraid of him.

5) They leave for his kingdom, pretty much after the wedding. On the way there they are assaulted by a band of bandits, or enemies who do not want this alliance (can't remember which one).

6) The heroine is pretty good with a sword and uses that to defend herself. Her new husband becomes enraged that she would defy his orders to stay in the carriage. This other older man is there, a knight? but someone who is almost fatherly towards the hero (later on the heroine finds out that this older man is the hero's father).

7) The couple consummate their wedding in a pond on the way to his kingdom. An affront to my since found feminist sensibilities, but the heroine was a virgin.

8) The hero's castle/home is described as dark, gloomy.

9) The hero lives with his mother and mother's father (the king?) in the castle. The grandfather hates the hero's mother. His mother was married to someone

10) I think, now here, my memory becomes a little fuzzy, but the heroine might have some powers of healing?

11) There is a scene in the bathtub between her and the hero. I don't know why I remember these scenes. :D

12) The heroine finds out something that might affect her kingdom's safety and so she gets on a horse and rides all the way back to her kingdom. She knows that her husband will come back to get her. He does."
[personal profile] maidmerien
This has been driving me nuts for years. It's a book I read when I was a little girl. All I can really remember about it was one of the two main characters was a gypsy and she could tell fortunes. I remember that she was better at it than her mother and she could do magic through meditation - breath in one nostril and out the other. I also remember the book started with the villain going to visit the girl and her mother to get his fortune told.

I think there was a second character who was a boy and there was an adventure to save their world or kingdom or something similar. I know it's not a lot of information, hense me never being able to find it on Google. >.< Any points in the right direction would be wonderful.
[personal profile] fin3apple
I read this book I think around 2014 but definitely within the range of 2010 to 2015. I think this book was part of a series, but I only read the first one if that is the case. It was definitely fantasy, and I would guess that it is young adult. It was about a boy and a girl, either cousins or brother and sister, who were both high school age. The boy was slightly younger than the girl and he was much more serious. The girl was more of a typical teenager, and I think a bit of a rebel. I don't remember how but somehow the boy and the girl get transported to another world - possibly this is caused by the father? This new world exists outside of time, in a way. It's populated by all kinds of ancient civilizations who have been living there for a long time, basically not aging. The civilizations include Neanderthals, Aztecs, possibly Vikings or Amazons, and a few others. They also are all able to communicate with each other, which is due to the magical properties of these crystals that are plentiful in this realm. The color of the crystals corresponds to its abilities. One color of crystal acts as a translator. Another color is a source of energy. Another color causes them to live forever. Another color acts as a protective barrier. One thing I DISTINCTLY remember happening is when the boy and the girl end up there they are taken to the leader, who questions either their cell phones or their flashlights. At this point the boy attempts to explain science to the people, but the translator crystal keeps translating the word "science" as "magic". The boy tries a couple of times and then finally is able to say "science", but that has no meaning to the crystal people.

I don't remember exactly what happens next, but I know that the girl joins a tribe of female warriors - likely either Amazons or Vikings. The boy befriends several teenagers of different civilizations, including a Neanderthal boy. I remember that there is a clear class system in the crystal realm, and that the Neanderthals are basically treated as idiot servants. But **SPOILER** they are actually extremely intelligent and faking their stupidity out of paranoia. **END SPOILER**

I don't remember much of the overarching plot but I think there might have been some evil scheme and unrest brewing between civilizations. Also possibly crystals going missing?

Anyway, that's all of the information I can remember. Does anyone know what book I mean? Thank you so much!


**Edit**
This book has now been found, thanks to the much appreciated efforts of the glorious and lovely kaylee66!!!

The title is Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow.
[personal profile] doctormexicanmd
I read the first one of this series between 2008 and 2009. The parts that I remember about it was that the main character was a virgin and somehow her being a virgin gave her abilities of some sort. early in the book she got drunk and had a one night stand, also there was a horse that ate a human in order to get three wishes one of which was the ability to digest meat so he wouldn't die, the other was the ability to breathe fire and the third was to be giant.
[personal profile] wanderingbibliophile
I'm looking for a series that I read back in the early 2000's that I found in a Friends of the Library sale so I don't know how old the actual series is or when it was published. But, I know two books were published with the author using a pseudonym for the second. A third book was meant to be printed, but I was never able to find it.

It's set in a fantasy world. The series revolves around a woman who has some degree of control over fire. She is meant to find other people like her who can control other elements. The first book revolves around her and her back story. She is a bastard child of a well-off (possibly royal) father. IDK how but she eventually ends up being taken in to live with her father, his wife, and his children. The main character (MC) becomes close with her half-brother. Her stepmother sees the MC as a threat of sorts and constantly belittles her. MC eventually ends up falling in love with her half-brother. They consummate said love, which ends with him dying as a result of "spontaneous" combustion.

MC discovers that she is living through her fifth and last reincarnation. Each previous life her mission was to find other humans who can control various elements and defeat a great evil. In two of the four lives she has managed to defeat said evil and the other two she's failed. She discovers that this great evil has come to "possess" her stepmother. Some sort of other voice shows MC a "what-if" situation in which her stepmother slowly accepts MC into her life. Her half-brother and herself don't fall in love and he remains alive. In each life, there isn't just a "great evil," but also a guide of sorts to help MC defeat the great evil. That guide is her half-brother. But, because the stepmother tried to break apart their relationship, the relationship changes from platonic to romantic. It's weird. I know. But that's the first book. MC's stepmother is evil. Half-brother dead and still acts as a guide, though in her head. And she's now looking for a man who control some aspect of "earth."

The 2nd book in the series centers on the original MC finding a man who has the power to bring Spring back to this world.

The 3rd book centers around the "water" representative in the group. I don't know if this was published or not.

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