OK, SO: before I begin tonight's critical skim-reread of Anne McCaffrey's Damia (which, if you're wondering why I'm doing this, check the threads linked above), some background: Damia is the 2nd book in The Tower and the Hive series, which I haven't read since I was a teen.
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Hey, I’ve just met you and this is crazy, but do you wanna come to a brothel maybe?pic.twitter.com/6viwaBA2QM
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When I tell you my heart rate LEAPT before I realised this was referring to a cat!! Like. I assume this is a reference to the Main Coon breed, but Perhaps This Wasn’t Entirely Necessary??pic.twitter.com/Tgr1VXM2yn
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Ah yes, the evergreen trope of Boy Losing His Virginity So Good That Sex Worker Declares Him Her Favouritepic.twitter.com/5m2D09uuK0
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Super cool to talk about needing a “mate” because you’ve gotta breed your special psychic talents into the next generation!pic.twitter.com/MXU3ngFOZn
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McCaffrey is just... So Weird about sex, you guys. It always comes out Weird.pic.twitter.com/vPy4ad1B1N
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This is some skeevy fuckin’ foreshadowing and also eerily close to what the pedophile substitute teacher says to Tiffany in that one episode of Daria, so like. Unintentionally apropos!
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also if every single dude could stop obsessing over who the rowan is gonna fuck that would be Nice, but given these first few chapters are just a recap of the first book only from Afra’s POV that is Unlikely
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“So hey, this is a totally normal thing for your big boss to ask, but your other boss might’ve just lost her lover so I need you to pinch-hit and fuck her so she doesn’t go crazy - I’d do it myself, but I’m too far away.” Y I K E Spic.twitter.com/yD4qx8AZaC
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She has been gone for literally THREE WEEKS, YOU ARE NOT NOTICING HER PREGNANCY BECAUSE OF WEIGHT GAIN AT THIS POINTpic.twitter.com/ZzTCXB4UY2
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In a better universe, “Do you love her so little that you cannot welcome her husband with open arms?” would be the prelude to a bi and poly OT3 instead of Afra waiting to fuck their daughter. AND YET.pic.twitter.com/FGCv9wCrNa
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“Is it cool that I would’ve been willing to fuck your wife?” “It’s the coolest; I’m only sorry I don’t have any spare female relatives for you to marry.”pic.twitter.com/zsIOZfx5hx
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Well, THAT adds another layer of skeevy to the eventual relationship
Also please note that we’re now 89 pages into a book called Damia and DAMIA HASNT EVEN BEEN BORN YETpic.twitter.com/dtbcoNbyHO
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108 pages into a 336 page book, the titular character has finally been born!pic.twitter.com/1iYTdYJTk2
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And lo, the meet-cute between a one-year-old Damia and grown-ass adult Afra.pic.twitter.com/ZEAbwYC2d3
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brb, throwing up in my mouth a bit at Afra calling baby Damia “minxlette” because of the future context


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I knew things were gonna get skeevy but the romance-coded puns and language used to talk about Afra and baby Damia is REALLY FUCKING UNSETTLINGpic.twitter.com/OOOHzVVc4R
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This book: Afra is old enough to think a 29yo is a child Also this book: Afra will be seduced by a tween he’s known since infancypic.twitter.com/yhtXrUsv9Y
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Very cool that the Rowan is apparently willing to, in effect, rape her husband to get another kid that he isn’t ready for yet!pic.twitter.com/hwWfKfEwNy
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OH WAIT COOL SHE ALREADY WENT AND YOINKED HIS SPERM WITHOUT ASKING, THAT’S NOT A CREEPY BODILY VIOLATION AT ALLpic.twitter.com/NAUpp8yX9U
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I’ll say this for McCaffrey: she’s willing to let her female characters struggle realistically with the balance of work and family as well as the trials of different pregnancies and children’s personalities in a way that a lot of authors still struggle with.pic.twitter.com/yIMMWFJrXg
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This book is so messed up in so many ways, but the Rowan having to deal with gestational diabetes and feeling a failure because of it rings very true - and is, again, a realistic, difficult aspect of pregnancy often missing from SFF novels.pic.twitter.com/UJJwrd7fPh
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...aaaand we’re back to the nonsense. Damia is TWO, the words “coy” and “beguiling” have NO PLACE BEING ANYWHERE NEAR HERpic.twitter.com/bEBLnuRraJ
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Damia is now nine, recovering from a head injury, and this is some Renesmee/Jacob bullshitpic.twitter.com/9ZUUk7Drd3
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The last time we got Damia’s age she was nine. It’s possible she’s older now, maybe 11 or so, but this is still a reeeeeally skeevy conversation for her parents to be having.pic.twitter.com/a3UCJ9MQN0
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