The Whatnot of TJ

I Love You All

2026-04-21T03:12:01Z

It seems every time I come here, there is another loss. This one happened so long ago its reminding me how distant I've become.

I honestly can't remember how I first met minoanmiss they've just always sort of been there, randomly sending me things they thought I (and the kids in my care) would like, and they were always right. I cherished so much all the surprise treats that would just somehow show up and put a smile on my face. They were a much better friend to me than I was to them and I'm just going to have to sit with that for a long time.

And try to be better.

So, this is me being here, asking after you. How are you? What's driving you crazy? What's giving you joy? How can I help put a smile on your face? Who can I raise hell towards on your behalf?

I"m ready.

&hearts; &hearts; &hearts;

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Actual. Legit. To. Be. Read. 2026

2026-02-21T15:32:55Z

...or...

I Want to Finish What I've Started: Author Edition

The first 3 authors are the ones were I've read *almost* everything they've written. The last 3 are authors were I've read one book but loved it so much that they *might* be an author I need to read all of their work. The rest are just authors I've loved and want to read more of.

( TJ Klune (of course) )

( Cat Sebastian )

( Alexis Hall )

( KJ Charles )

( Freya Marske )

( Nora Sakavic )

( Rachel Reid )

( Maggie Steifvater )

( Scarlett Drake )

( Taylor Jenkins Reid )

( Frederik Backman )

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The ABC Challenge (But Make It Queer)

2026-01-22T06:58:10Z

Here is my first attempt to making a graphic of a Storygraph Challenge. I completed 3 challenges this year (A-Z Challenge, Read Queer All Year and the Trans Rights Readathon), but making this one exhausted me, so until I find a better way, this will be it for graphics. Maybe one day Storygraph will make some shiny graphics for their challenges, I mean, it's right there in their title, yes?

( A-Z Under Here )

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Fandom Snowflake Challenge #6

2026-01-13T05:03:01Z

Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge.

Cheating big time! But finding the Top 10 books I read this year was too daunting (even when I cheated and counted a whole series as one 😍). So here, have a few Top 10s. These are all books I've read this year (mostly). I didn't count re-reads (of which there were many and would have skewed the results drastically).

( Queer Male Romances )

( Sapphic Stories )

( Trans/Non-Binary )

*and yes, I loved that their were two re-tellings of Pride and Prejudice in there. ❤️❤️

( Mixed Bag )

If you want to talk about ANY of these books, I am HERE for it! If you want to give me recommendations based on these lists I'm also here for that! ❤️❤️

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Snowflake Challenge #4

2026-01-08T06:55:10Z

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page
( 7 Very Old Fics and 1 Very Recent )

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Snowflake Challenge #2

2026-01-06T01:16:33Z

Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

I had so many ideas, I could talk about my sister's ridiculous dog. I could talk about the important pets in the books I've recently read. But then I saw this on FB and thought it would be a fun game to play with y'all. 😍😍

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Snowflake Challenge #1

2026-01-01T21:48:39Z

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Hello! I'm TJ. I accidentally chose the pronouns any/any at my new job (remind me to tell you all about that later! ) and now, the more I think about it, the more I like it. I never really liked they/ them (but get why others do) but I really don't mind either he/she him/her.

I'm old. I've been here forever. Started doing fandom in 2009. Started doing the Snowflake Challenge in 2014, and accidentally got put in charge of running it in 2024. 😱😱 So, technically I'm here because I have to be. 🤣🤣 But really, I'm here because it's how I start the year. It's where I met my friends (either as reunion or as adoption). It's where I get inspired in my geek soul. I've carved out a queer space in my real life. I've carved out a writing community (and even a queer reading community) in my real life, but there is nothing like a geektastic, weirdo-centric, fan community to really make me feel less alone and ostracized.

Things I'll probably be talking about here for the next month (and forever after):

TJ Klune's Green Creek series (and probably other books he's written)
Cat Sebastian's and Alexis Hall's entire library of books
Murderbots
Queer media in general
Reading/writing in general

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TJ Reads November and December 2025

2026-01-01T09:58:20Z

I wanted to get this out before this journal becomes all about the Snowflake Shenanigans. It's not going to be as in-depth because I have lots of ends of year reading reflections planned already, and because I'm already two months behind, so I just can't put it off longer by stressing about reviews and whatnot.

Of course if you want to chat about any of these books, I'd love to do that with any of you. Good or bad.

First: here is November's Reads with my ratings. (Sorry to the person who recced "I Kissed Alice" it wasn't you, it was me.❤️)

And here are December's reads. Sadly, I don't have the cool graphic because Fable is too busy giving me a lot of Year in Review graphics (more on that later). Fortunately (or unfortunately depending how you measure these things) I didn't read a lot of December.

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

And here's some more stats from Fable.

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Who's Ready?!

2025-12-28T19:22:59Z

It's going to be AWESOME!

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TJ Reads October 2025

2025-11-27T05:43:51Z

Ahhhh! So many things to share and of course, all I've got is books. 😭😭

( October 2025 ) And holy moly, I can't believe that took almost a month to write up. I should probably just add November's books, but nah. That just seems like too much.

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Sapphic September 2025

2025-10-18T21:34:59Z

I swear that it was just coincidence that I started off September reading a few lady-lovin’ diddies. But once I remembered Sapphic September, I leaned in, HARD.

( September 2025 ) So, what lady lovin’ story should I read next?

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Dear Yuletider!

2025-10-15T05:47:20Z

SORRY! First about the snafu in linking, and then at it not being posted by the time assignments went out. 😭😭 BUT I'M HERE! And you're here! And it's going to be awesome! HUZZAH!

Hello! I'm so glad we have at least one tiny fandom in common, that means I already love you and think you have impeccable taste! 😍😍

So, I thought I'd talk about tropes and general themes I love that these particular books hit on and then I'll touch on each of my requested fandoms with some of my favorite moments/relationships to give you some guidance if you'd like (no worries if not).

Found Family: I need it like breathing. It is the one thing that pretty much spans across all my favorite books. There's just something about Queer Found Families that gives me the sighs you know? It can be work found family, community of found family, or a big ol’ pack of werewolves 😍😍.

Lots of POVs: I love stories that let me peek into all (or at least some) of those wild and wonderful brains. Or, if that's not your thing, I'm also equally crazy about delving deep into one person's psyche, especially if it's someone we didn't get to in canon.

Tropeyness: I like to think of tropes as hooks. They're what draws me to a story, but then it's up to the characters to make it exceptional. Feel free to get as tropey as you want.

My likes in general are:

✔️Character studies

✔️Witty dialogue

✔️Road Trips

✔️Angst, but not dismal

✔️Feeeeeeelings

✔️Shenanigans

Now, I guess it's the time to talk about what I DO NOT WANT. I have two types of DNWs.

Hard DNWs: These are the things I don't want in ANY story I receive.

✔️Incest/chan/rape fantasy

✔️Extreme kinks-- sexual exploration is one thing, watersports/pony play is quite another. If in doubt ask yourself, is this something that the characters in canon, written by their authors, would do?

✔️Character bashing

✔️cruelty/abuse/torture

Soft DNWs: these are things I wouldn't want my assigned story to feature, but would be delighted to receive as a treat.

✔️Sappy, happy, overly fluffy

✔️PWP

NOW ONTO THE FANDOMS!

Green Creek

Two years later and I'm still OBSESSED with these fucking werewolves! I chose Ox, Kelly, Rico and Joshua because I couldn't find the “Any” button? Seriously, you can write any story you want. I would love some Kelly POV. Him and Ox are the characters I come back to over and over and I just felt Kelly had so much untapped potential for story, for Fill In The Canon bits. And Ox interacting with basically anyone would be golden.

I also chose Rico and Joshua because I'd love some Daddy Rico moments, maybe him teaching Joshua something to do with cars, or Rico playing with him as a wolf. Anything really.

How to Be Series

I feel the same way about Gustavo Tiberius as I do for Oxnard Matheson. I'd love to see any character interact with him. I especially love the friendship between him and Josiah, but also really loved that Quincy went to him for advice and can't imagine their “researching the internet” experience. Or maybe the planning of the wedding.

OR, ORRRR (and this is a long shot, but some sort of crossover with other Klune books? Of course, that's only if you've read any other of his works and ignore it if you haven't, but I was struck by the fact that in my latest re-read of Ravensong, that Dale-- that asshole-- worked at a coffee shop in Abby Oregon! 😱😱 Seriously, how many of those could there be? I'm not saying I want a Dale in Abby story, but that just proves that they co-exist and that the two towns are relatively close to each other 😉🐺😉)

Murderbot

I am really going through a robot phase right now and it started with this series. I devoured the entire series of books this year and then watched the TV series repeatedly. I think what I like about robots (and other non-human protagonists) is their honest (and often hilariously) ambivalence to all of humanity. I'd love to see Murderbot having to endure humanity at its messiest and annoying and see them accidentally, and against their will, become more and more fond. ❤️❤️

Running Close to the Wind

Another theme besides Non-human Protagonists Who Have Had It With Humanity‘s Bullshit that I've fallen in love with this year is, Agents of Chaos and The Shenanigans They Get Up To.

None more than Avri. He is just too precious for this world and the only thing that makes me more giddy than the antagonism between him and almost everyone else is how very turned on he is by their disgruntlement.

And while I say I don't really want PWP in a gift story, here is where I'll eagerly accept it. Don't get me wrong the book was perfection, but JFC, talk about a cock tease of an ending. After ALL that!! 🤣🤣 So, by all means, feel free to Sexpilogue that motherfucker! RHEEEEEEE!!

Arden St. Ives Series

This series is so fucked up and I'm in love with it! The first two books I wanted nothing more than Caspian and Arden to find their way through all their fuckupedness (and I guess I'd still love to read about that) but somewhere along the way, I also just wanted more of the other characters too--Ellory and Bellrose ~~and George though I didn't have room to nominate them~~-- either with or w/o Arden and Caspian.

Midcentury NYC series

I ❤️ all these characters SOOOOO much! (And as you'll see in the rest of my requests, Cat Sebastian in general). I just love reveling in her characters and how much they love each other and make each others’ lives better.

I'd love anything from these books. From a big, gay, NYC, journalistic hang out, to following these couples into the future (maybe they all venture to Fire Island or Provincetown together sometime? Maybe a time share in the Poconos/Berkshire?) Or maybe just a family meal with Andy's dad/ Nick's family?

Seducing the Sedgwicks

HARTLEY! I want all the Hartley! I love everyone and would love them all included, but I really want a focus on him. Maybe more of him and Martin becoming friends as Hartley and Will work on more plays together? Or him trying to bring his family together finally?

Page and Sommers Series

I just really love how James and Leo interact and I loved that they're were honest-to- goodness mysteries solved while these two beautiful men fell in love and made sense of each other's lives. More of that please! ❤️❤️

And that's it. Take what you want from this, disregard what you want. Just have fun, that's all I want for both of us. Fun and shenanigans (even the heartbreaky sort). ♥ ♥

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August 2025 Reads

2025-09-14T08:12:54Z

Oddly light month. I'm not sure why. I mean I did accidentally get a new job towards the end of it (a story for another post), but before that I should have gotten a lot more read. I think it was because I had way too many books going at the same time this month.

( August 2025 )

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6 Sentence Sunday

2025-08-10T20:28:56Z

Trying to find something to share for today and I'm again reminded that my sentences have two speeds: super ridiculously short or probably- too- long. Guess which one these fall into. 🤣🤣

Spoilers for the Green Creek WIP series I'm currently working on, "In the End, It All Comes Down to Choice."
( 6 Sentences )
Would love to read your 6 sentences!
❤️❤️

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TJ Reads (and writes) July 2025

2025-08-07T06:48:26Z

Okay, before I drop some reviews, I thought I'd share that I actually wrote something-- or am in the process of writing somebody. I figured since I talked some of you into reading Green Creek with me, that maybe I can get you to read some Green Creek that I wrote/ am writing. ❤️🐺❤️🧙‍♀️❤️

Part One: Choose Me (4970 words) by tjs_whatnot
Chapters: 3/4
Fandom: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mark Bennett/Gordo Livingstone
Characters: Mark Bennett, Gordo Livingstone
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Blow Jobs
Series: Part 1 of In the End, It All Comes Down to Choice
Summary:

It's about the choices you make, not the ones forced upon you.
--Ravensong

( July 2025 )

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June Reads and Pride Shenanigans

2025-07-14T06:00:12Z

The only (slight) downside of reading primarily queer books all year long is that June hits differently for me. I want to go big, but how? How can I differentiate it from any other month? Ho hum. * ponders * But anyway… on to this month's mixed bag of delights.

( June 2025 ) Oh, but speaking of Pride. I should probably make another post for this-- but I know myself enough to know I won't-- so here, have some pictures I took in my medium-ish city's Pride Parade:

So, this is the first Pride since moving back to my hometown last summer (did I ever tell you guys I moved across the country? No? Ooops, sorry).

Anyway, I did not know what to expect, but I was excited because they didn't do any pride related things when last I lived here (but that was like 30 years ago, so that wasn't too rare) and it's a middle-ish sized big town, but it's in a red side of a very blue state, so who knows that that means.

But it was lovely! They had a parade, then a festival and at the end, since it was on June 14th, a No Kings rally. I went to the parade and then volunteered at the booth my employer had there and that was great fun. Then I hung out at the protest before taking the bus home. It was a great time!

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Six Sentence Sunday (and something I've actually finished!)

2025-06-24T06:02:30Z

I was just going to drop a link to something I actually wrote and uploaded to AO3, but then I saw delphi's Six Sentence Sunday and remembered that was something I wanted to start doing (which will hopefully keep me writing). ❤️❤️

If anyone else is doing this, please link me yours. And, if your don't want to post your own, feel free to do it in the comments. I'd love to read it.

So, first this, and then the other story. These 6 sentences is from a Green Creek story I've been plugging away on for a very long time. It's Mark/Gordo:

When it all got to be too much, when the multitudes of blues became too vivid and overpowering, he ran. When that didn't work, he drove. And when even that didn't stop the drowning feeling of ocean waves of blue crashing around him, he kept driving until he could breathe again, could see the familiar trees engulf him, the familiar scents inflame him. Dirt. And grass. And leaves. And smoke mixed with motor oil.

He could breathe again when he could breathe in those aromas.

This time though, this time the smell of other overpowered all else. Made his blood boil.

*sigh* I just love these two knuckleheads.

And speaking of people I love. Last week was long time friend kaalee's birthday. And I was asked on the Heartstopper Discord if I'd like to create something for her. And, of course I did. So, I wrote something that kinda of paid tribute to all the fandoms we've followed each other through Sherlock/ HP (but only slightly as I'm all not ready to write in that world, or ask others to read in it)/ and of course, Heartstopper ❤️❤️

In My Pocket (Universe), You Will Always Reside (2081 words) by tjs_whatnot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic), Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring
Characters: Nicholas "Nick" Nelson, Charles "Charlie" Spring (Heartstopper)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Friends to Lovers, We definitely have a type, allusions to magical school, Fuck You JK Rowling, no plot just vibes
Summary:

There is a Charlie for every Nick...

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May 2025 Reads!

2025-06-02T00:30:58Z

HAPPY PRIDE!

I hope to come back some time in the near future and talk about things and stuff. But until then, here, have some book recs.

( May 2025 )

So, what is everyone reading for Pride? So far, I'm just set to finish:
*When The Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
*Even Though I Knew the End by C.I. Polk
*Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
*Missing Page by Cat Sebastian
*A Destiny of Dragons by TJ Klune

And then we'll see where the muse takes me. Recs, of course, always welcome. ❤️❤️

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Purely Masturbatery Navel-Gazy Writing Meme

2025-05-20T03:05:57Z

I put off doing this meme for a few reasons, the first being that I thought it looked like a thing that would be hard to gather. But corvidology assured me it wasn't, and I trust them. ❤️ The second was because I knew that a lot of it would be HP, and as I've discussed before, I have complicated thoughts of my output in that fandom. But, I am proud of a lot of the works I produced, and feel like most (if not all) of them have always been a Fuck You to Rowling, so… here goes.

( Sort of interesting…ish )

Any key takeaways? Just that I need to write more, and tag better. ❤️❤️

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April 2025 Reads!

2025-05-05T06:22:57Z

According to Fable, at this speed, I will reach my 2025 reading goal by August. 😍😍

Oh, and hey, let's follow each other on Fable! (That link will give us both 5$ to spend on books through their stores and I'll love you forever. ❤️)

( APRIL 2025 )

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March 2025 Reading List

2025-04-17T01:51:26Z

And before I begin, this is where I beg you to join Fable (and give you a cool invite code that gives us both $$ for one of their interactive ebooks). Fable is AWESOME! ❤️

( March 2025 ) And that was my March. How about you all?

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Snowflake Challenge #12

2025-03-30T05:57:34Z

Challenge #12 Create a Rec Countdown

I know I'm obscenely late and who needs recs anyway? Oh, but wait, maybe now is the perfect time to rec, after the season is over when you're done reading all the stories your had bookmarked to read, after you've checked out all the communities/ discords/ books that everyone has already suggested. Here I come out of the kindness of my woefully procrastinatey heart with a post just for you. YAY ME!

( My Stories of 2024 )

( Green Creek Recs )

( CommunitiesEveryoneShouldJoin )
( Kickstarters to Support )

( One AuthorEveryoneShouldKnow )

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February Reads!

2025-03-12T04:29:24Z

Buckle up, this is going to be long! I can't believe how much I read in the shortest month of the year. I don't even know how it happened besides joining book clubs and following interesting people who recommend interesting books both here, and on Fable. (if you join through that link-- and everyone should be on Fable! It's awesome-- both you and I will get a 5$ credit for one of their interactive ebooks).❤️

I guess it also helped that it was SOOOOOO fuckin’ cold there wasn't anything else to do. 😍😍

( February 2025 ) So, that was my February. How about you?

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Friday Five

2025-03-08T02:11:42Z

1. Did the house where you grew up have a newspaper delivered regularly?

Growing up, I was a paper-boy. And yes, I was called that even back then. Hmmmm, I wonder how my complicated understanding of my own gender happened.

I remember my dad reading the paper whenever he was home, but I think that was just a perk of delivering them.

2. Have you ever subscribed to an actual print newspaper?

A family I lived with in Connecticut got the local paper and the New York Times delivered and the dad read them every night at dinner.

3. When was the most recent time you physically picked up and read a newspaper?

I honestly can't remember. Oh yeah, I remember, in a coffee shop in Auckland while I was visiting there last summer.

4. Do you pay for news online now?

Nope.

5. Do you have any saved newspaper clippings?

I used to be a freelance journalist for the Arts and Entertainment section of our local paper (the one that the dad read every night during dinner on question 2's answer) and I have clippings of all those articles. And ones I wrote for my highschool newspaper.

There was a long part of my life where I wanted to be a journalist. I even went to school for it, but soon discovered that I like making up people's stories moee than writing the truth of people in the world. Still... I did have fun when I did get to do it for real.

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Friday Five

2025-02-28T19:01:40Z

1. Would you rather have a fun job that doesn't pay well or a boring job that does?

Seeing as how I actively have an exhausting, demanding and super fun job that doesn't pay well, I'd have to say, it's still better than office work. 😍😍

2. Would you sacrifice your morals for a job?

Um... probably not. I guess it depends if they're my morals or societies morals and if I also believe in them.

3. Would you ever take a job that requires you to be in costume?

In my experience and from those I've heard from, jobs that require a costume aren't jobs where the employer respects their staff and the costumes are not user-friendly to say the least. So, proudly not.

4. What is your fantasy job?

Successful author who sells so many books from their cabin in the mountains that they don't have to do any of their own PR. Hey, it's a fantasy, yes?

5. Would you like fries with that?

I've joined the Keto Cult so GOOOOOOOD GOD YES!! PLEASE! ALL THE FRIES!!

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