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Sticky Post: Where Do I Start Reading?
I’ve just found your work and there’s a lot of it, where do I start? Welcome to my website! First off, my name is Johannes (Yo-Han-Ehz) T. Evans. I’m a gay, disabled, transgender man originally from Chepstow in the South of Wales, and I now live in Bradford in West Yorkshire, though for several years before now I lived in Galway, in the west of the Irish Republic. I’ve been writing for years, and you might actually already be familiar with my work – I’ve been on Tumblr under various URLs (before using my own name, JohannesTEvans, I was at…
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My Top Stories for 2023!
In case you missed ’em: these were my most popular works of fiction and non-fiction of the year! It’s very nearly 2024, and it’s been a big year for me! I’ve published so many short stories and new essays, I had a great time at EasterCon and BristolCon, and have published pieces with several new (for me!) publications on top of moving into my new apartment. I’m now based in Yorkshire instead of Ireland, and that means I’ll be attending a bunch more conventions and other events across Wales, Scotland, and England as well as still going back to Ireland from…
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Where do I find the queer people?
Making friends and finding social & community spaces as an LGBTQ+ adult. This piece originally published in Prism & Pen on Dec 31, 2023. A friend and I recently went to a Queer Open Mic night after I saw it advertised on the same afternoon. While we were on the way back, she asked about how I’d found it. “I just feel like you always know loads of queer events that are on,” she said, “and I don’t know how to begin to find them.” I sat down with her a few weeks later and showed her some of the ways…
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So you finished Our Flag Means Death…
What show do you want to obsess over now? So, Our Flag Means Death, unexpected workplace romcom chock-a-block with anachronistic 18th century fun, piracy on the high seas, gay and trans and otherwise genderweird and queer characters, not to mention neurodivergent and disabled ones, is over for at least another year. You’re aching for something of a similar flavour to fill the gap — especially if, like many of us, the finale has left you disappointed and eager to watch a show with a bit more care for its queer audiences. Want recs? After finishing Our Flag Means Death, I’m in the mood for……
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Raped and Ruined: Themes of Sexual Assault and Reproductive Coercion in Alien (1979)
Exploring the underlying anxieties around sexual assault, loss of bodily autonomy, and forced impregnation in Alien (1979). From Merriam-Webster: Rape: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person’s will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception Sexual assault: illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who…
Theme: Capitalism, Theme: Debt & Money Troubles, Theme: Gender Exploration & Nonconformity, Theme: Horrors & Thrillers, Theme: Misogyny & Sexism, Theme: Monsters & Monsterfucking, Theme: Patriarchy & White Supremacy, Theme: Pregnancy & Reproduction, Theme: Science Fiction Movies & Books, Theme: Sexual Abuse & Rape, Theme: Sexual Health & Midwifery -
Yes, Sir
Erotic short. A criminal accountant’s goon obeys his orders, then takes them a bit further. Photo by Scott Graham by Unsplash. 3.6k, cis M/trans M, rated E. A criminal accountant has his big bear muscle guy fuck him, and the bear does so until the accountant is a whimpering mess. Vaginal sex, size difference, rough sex, objectification, implied overstim, power dynamics and role reversal, age difference. Avaricious Snape scares the shit out of Spencer. He’s a diminutive man in his early fifties, small but compact, square. He’s called Avaricious because his mother was a King — and from what Spencer’s heard, one of…
Character: Avaricious Snape, Character: Spencer Folse, Kink: Age Gap / Age Difference, Kink: Doggy Style, Kink: Dom/sub, Kink: Objectification & Dehumanisation, Kink: Overstimulation, Kink: Praise, Kink: Rough Sex, Kink: Size Difference, Kink: Vaginal Sex, Theme: Crime & Criminals, Theme: Enforcers & Bodyguards, Theme: Organised Crime & The Mob, Theme: Power Struggles, Theme: Role Reversals, Theme: Trans Male Characters, World: Magic Beholden -
Workplace Connections
Romance short. A junior secretary makes a friend at work, and some more besides. Photo by Leah Kelley via Pexels. 10k, rated M, F/F. A young woman makes friends with one of the only male secretaries in her workplace. 1960s Manhattan, featuring lavender marriages, period queerness, misogyny, etc. Light-hearted age gap cheeriness. Elsa had considered herself lucky to work in an office like this one. A lot of the girls she went to college with went on to get fancy jobs in the city, but hers is almost certainly the fanciest — she works up so high in a Manhattan skyscraper, after all, and…
Category: F/F, Kink: Age Gap / Age Difference, Length: 10k+, Setting: 1960s, Setting: New York City, Setting: USA, Theme: Cats, Theme: Desk Jobs & Office Dynamics, Theme: Homophobia, Theme: Men Who Love Men | Homosexuality, Theme: Secretaries & Personal Assistants, Theme: Women Who Love Women | Lesbianism, World: Magic Beholden -
Cold Comfort
Queer fiction. A mob boss takes in a rival’s hostage, and tries to keep him from suicide. Photo by cottonbro studio via Pexels. 14k, M/M, rated E for equally explicit sex and violence. Set in 1920s New Jersey. Nasty and violent. Alvis Hunter, boss of a significant crime operation, steals a captive out from under a rival—Naham, a rabbi’s son who immediately attempts to kill himself. In the aftermath, Alvis tries to keep him alive; Naham tries to find something worth living for. Some philosophy and introspection in this one along the way of the rape recovery. Warnings for rape and sexual…
Category: M/M, Kink: Knifeplay, Setting: 1920s, Setting: New Jersey, Setting: USA, Theme: Antisemitism, Theme: Class & Caste Differences, Theme: Crime & Criminals, Theme: Crises of Faith & Belief, Theme: Faith & Religion, Theme: Homophobia, Theme: Immigrants & Immigration, Theme: Incarceration & Imprisonment, Theme: Intersex People & Intersex Bodies, Theme: Jewish Faith & Identity, Theme: Jewish Religion & Mythology, Theme: Mental Illness, Theme: Organised Crime & The Mob, Theme: Power Struggles, Theme: Queer Community, Theme: Servants & Service, Theme: Sex & Sexuality, Theme: Sexual Abuse & Rape, Theme: Trauma & Trauma Recovery, Theme: Violence & Killing, World: Magic Beholden -
Little Devils: Chapter Six
Fantasy Serial. Velma meets two angels in Burnham-on-Sea. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Previous Chapter Directory of Chapters Next Chapter The man that met her in the car park in Burnham-on-Sea was one of the biggest men she’d ever seen in her life. He was huge, hulking, and his bulk was made all the apparently heavier by the large great coat he wore, which she knew by sight was an antique — and…
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Little Devils: Chapter Five
Fantasy Serial. Velma tries to get a cat into a bag. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Previous Chapter Directory of Chapters Next Chapter The drive down to Falmouth was a long one. She’d packed an overnight bag fit for three days, wanting to ensure she was allowing for the maximum she could expect, and then if she really had to stay for any longer, she could just pick up some of the…
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Little Devils: Chapter Four
Fantasy Serial. Velma captures some demons, then visits Hamish MacKinnon. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Previous Chapter Directory of Chapters Next Chapter The Atermorpha family was fairly wide-ranging, with all sorts of colours and subtleties, but the main shape remained the same: Velma thought they looked rather like caterpillars, but with harder, chitinous shells instead of softer skins. The segmentation of their bodies was obvious on sight, the many rounded pieces…
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Is the Homophobia Worth a New Hobby?
Rolling the dice on homophobia in nerd spaces. Originally published in Prism & Pen. I went to a board-game evening last night with my boyfriend Lewis, who’s nonbinary and uses he/they pronouns. Frequently, people assume they’re cisgender, especially because he’s fat and has a gorgeous, thick beard. I’m a gay trans man, I only use he/him pronouns, and I’m at a point in my transition now where I almost never get clocked as transgender even by other trans people — a lot of the time other trans people don’t even realise I’m trans too unless I say it explicitly or take my shirt…
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Little Devils: Chapter Three
Fantasy serial. Velma goes home and calls Aunt Ginchiyo. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Previous Chapter Directory of Chapters Next Chapter Velma had grown up in Glasgow, but when her father’s shop had gone under, at about the same time her mother had been made redundant, they’d moved down south to Nottingham, to be closer to Aunt Ginchiyo in London, as much as all the other reasons. The bulk of her…
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Barbie Isn’t Anti-Men — It’s Anti-Toxicity
Patriarchy does damage to us all, and Barbie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig) clearly depicts that. Via IMDb. We went to see Greta Gerwig’s Barbie at the weekend and I was honestly surprised by how much I engaged with it — it’s a fun, entertaining flick, but where it really took me by surprise is in the three-dimensionality and nuance it applied to the male-female divide in the film, and especially the care it extends to its male characters. As a gay man and especially as a trans one, I’m often left a little cold when it comes to some films’ explorations of gender…
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Little Devils: Chapter Two
Fantasy serial. Velma Kuroda first enters MacKinnon Antiques. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Previous Chapter Directory of Chapters Next Chapter Velma stood sceptically with her hands in the pockets of her orange denim jacket, leaning back on her heels. It looked suspiciously nice for a place that was going to take so much as a haunted tinderbox off her hand, let alone a demon-possessed piece of wood bigger than she was.…
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Little Devils: Chapter One
Fantasy Serial. A specialist in magical antiques investigates a haunting. Velma Kuroda, a young specialist in magical and enchanted antiques, is taken under the wing of Hamish MacKinnon, a master enchanter and centuries-old immortal — a crotchety old man possessed by a horde of little demons. Directory of Chapters Next Chapter Prologue It was a bright and sunny day when Hamish woke up, but because it was January, the light was somehow anaemic, neutered. It came through the window in a neat square, directly upon his pillow, and he groaned quietly, reaching up and pressing the heels of his hands against his…
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Yentl: A Trans Man Studying Talmud is Distracted by Gay Thoughts
Yentl (1983, dir. Barbra Streisand) and Yentl the Yeshiva Boy by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Any of us would be distracted from study by Mandy Patinkin. Via IMDb. It’s a sad thing, hearing cisgender people talk about Yentl — especially the short story — and think they understand it, that they’re getting everything from it, while at the same time, they can’t conceive that transgender people even exist. It’s a strangely joyful short story to read as a trans man, as sad and complex as it is, and the film has a similar bittersweet warmth to it. “Yentl — you have the soul of a man.” “So why was I…
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Close Reading: A Deep Dive into the Process
An in-depth guide into applying analysis to a piece of text and extrapolating meaning. A close reading is what we call an in-depth analysis of a piece of text, which might be in the case of fiction a short story, or for novels and novellas might be a portion or an extract from the text. A “text” can refer to virtually anything — this piece is going to focus on reading and interpreting written fiction, particularly short stories and extracts from novels, but a “text” can be anything: a photograph or a painting, an essay or an article, a television show or…
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Public Performance
A vampire shows off his toy for a club. 1k, cis M/trans M. A vampire fucks his trans boyfriend in a crowded nightclub as people dance below them. Featuring some chem sex with the drugging effects of a vampire belt, public sex, fingering and vaginal sex, overstimulation, and implications of a fevered gangbang in the aftermath. It’s busy in the bar, and Lars has Laurence leaning back against his chest, his legs spread wide, Lars’ lips against the side of his neck. Laurence’s eyes have been closed for some time, not wanting to sit with the flash and burst of the…
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Writing Advice: Crafting Richer Erotica
Adding depth and complexity to your sex scenes. From my Tumblr! Photo by Ketut Subiyanto via Pexels. Anonymous asked: Your smut is always so good, I hope it’s okay to ask for advice, but I’ve been struggling with writing smut in that my sex scenes always end up so short — I don’t want to just pad them out for the sake of it, but when I read them back they always seem to be over so quickly and it’s bothering me, but I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong. do you have any tips for keeping up longer sex scenes? I responded:…
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The Relief of a Queer Audience as a Fruity Stand-Up Comic
Explaining one’s existence takes up time. Originally published in Prism & Pen. I’m a stand-up comedian. Last week, I did some comedy at a queer-run, queer-centred open mic — suddenly, a twelve-minute set fit into six, because I was in a room full of queer people who knew exactly what I was talking about. I didn’t have to take time to explain what bears, twinks, and otters are; I didn’t have to make sure everyone had a working understanding of what Grindr is; I could make puns and little quips that because of the sheer cultural gap, a cis straight audience just wouldn’t…
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The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy)’s Spit in the Face of Cops and Colonialism
Exploring The Wicker Man’s themes of authority and control on its 50th anniversary. Still from The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy), via FILMGRAB. The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy) is a stalwart classic of the horror genre, and particularly the folk horror subgenre. It was re-released in 4K for its 50th anniversary on the Summer Solstice last month, and after all these years it’s as impactful as it ever was. The Wicker Man opens with the arrival of Sergeant Neil Howie, a police officer from the mainland of Scotland, on Summerisle, a strange island in the Hebrides. After…
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Sickbed Trade
One sailor tends to another in his sickbed. Just a little M/M piece with some love and intimacy. 500w. The air is cold and wet and dank, the chill sinking in through the ship’s hull from the rolling rainstorm outside, but Hamish is still sweating buckets, feeling as though there’s a burn under his skin, his blood feeling as though it’s bubbling in his veins. He tosses and turns, constantly shifting in his bunk — he’s been shifting and fidgeting for hours, unable to relax and really sleep, and the surgeon has been in and out of the infirmary to check on him,…