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Pope Evaristus

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"Ah, I love being a writer!"
- Shizuku Tsukishima, Whisper of the Heart

registered at: Jul 12, 2022

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aaa

Dec 08, 2025

To:Hype

Thanks for reading! Definitely was the right season for it. I'll write Thanksgiving and Christmas stories some day...

Agreed on the Lot 49 comparisons. This was the first thing I wrote after reading Pynchon for the first time (Gravity's Rainbow and then Lot 49, funnily enough) and it definitely shows. It wasn't intended to be, but it ended up being a good practice run for AIFF (for extra insight, the actual plot of AIFF was heavily inspired by Pynchon's V).

I said it somewhere on a different comment, but I've always wanted to write an Americana-themed story set deep in fall. It just feels right. This was written for some mini-contest, so having word constraints finally got me to turn that grand idea I would likely never write into something smaller and tighter. Perhaps a full-on anime-inspired Americana epic (contradictory, I know) will be on the cards one day too...so many things to write, not always enough time.

I'm glad you liked the humor. It was an interesting challenge to have cheeseflurger jokes mixed in with some absolutely dark subject matter. I'm a sucker for including whatever piece of media I most recently consumed into my stories; for instance Nat's WWI scene in AIFF, along with Altamont the pigeon, came from Charlie Brown specials with Snoopy and Woodstock. For Mary Lou, I had just finished Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder, so...yeah. And if the Lot 49 comparisons weren't obvious enough, Lot 49 has former SS Doctor Hilarius as a major character.

I'm glad you liked the story structure and the one-night plot aspect to it. I'm genuinely curious - what parts of the structure and chapters stood out to you? I'm my own beta reader so some insight would be great. I basically took all of 2025 off from writing, so I'm shaking out the rust now and I'm curious about what really worked. If you'd prefer to discord DM that's cool too, I'm just wondering and appreciate the insight! And all good if not.

All in all, thanks again for reading! I see you have another story recently out, so I'm glad there's another thing of yours to read!

Mary Lou Sunday

Chapter:15

Oct 28, 2025

Waddya mean, Pani Poni Dash doesn't take place in real life?

Also, I see what you're doing here with the VN routes for a different girls. I think I actually gasped when it all clicked. Have you ever seen Abenobashi? It's a similar concept with the same characters in different settings each episode and just as comedic...I distinctly remember the Rei Ayanami expy turning into a car in one episode (I couldn't tell you why)

Isekai Waiting Blues - Refusing to be Reincarnated into an Oversaturated Genre! Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Isekai-Industrial Complex. (Is This Title Long Enough? Shall We Make It Longer?)

Chapter:31

Oct 21, 2025

To:Hype

Inspiring others is one of my favorite parts of being a writer, so hearing that makes my day!

Chapter:12

Sep 23, 2025

I'm dying at those backstories

Chapter:18

Sep 23, 2025

"Joker, what is this?"
"It's an anime meme, Batman."
"I don't get it."
"You don't get it? You see, this anime girl named - Chika Fujiwara - is doing the T-pose. T-posing is a sign of dominance."

Chapter:13

Sep 23, 2025

I need a bumper sticker that reads "I survived the Endless Eight" (they could've accomplished the same thing with just four episodes). Love Haruhi though, especially Disappearance

You mentioned a 12 year novel in a comment on Crystalline Summer - I have to know if you really did have a 1,079 word sentence in there

Excited to see where this goes! It's definitely turning the concept of isekai on its head. And as always your creativity is astounding, especially with things like the bold title words crashing into the scene. I love playing with the medium like that

Chapter:12

Sep 06, 2025

Never in a million years did I expect a Teekyu reference. Not just on honeyfeed, but anywhere on God's green earth. Unfathomably based

Chapter:7

Sep 01, 2025

To:Hype

For what it's worth - I really did like the break-up scene. No wacky misunderstandings or anything, it felt pretty natural.

And thanks for the kind words! Reader reactions are some of the best parts about posting stuff. I've been slow cooking on my next story, but it's almost out of the oven (or crockpot rather).

And I've read the first few chapters of Isekai Waiting Blues, it's great stuff! Looking forward to reading more.

A Crystalline Summer

Chapter:36

Aug 04, 2025

The Place Promised in Our Early Days meets 5 CM per second meets Attack on Titan Season 4.

I really dug this story. First and foremost, Heinrich is an absolute comedic weapon. It's not an exaggeration to say I laughed basically every time he opened his mouth. I think out of this and Usagi Days, he's the strongest character you've created. It's just so much fun whenever he's involved in a scene. I did like the other characters too. I know there's been discussions of archetypes but archetypes are archetypes for a reason - they're effective and create fun dynamics. And I don't even know if archetypes is the right word here. Compared to Violet/Ivy in Usagi Days, no character is interchangeable here. Cameron is an overthinking engineer, Miyu likes to tease and can be a little childish, Yuka is strong-headed, Heinrich is my waifu. I thought the characters were strong enough that calling them just archetypes is selling them a bit short. I did get a good sense of who they are and the character interactions are fun. Would it be fun to have a couple more chapters of them lazing around in the summer shooting the shit, and learn a little bit more about them that way? Sure. But I don't think that's necessarily needed. I do think a few more scenes with Miyu's parents and the townspeople would be good to flesh out Lazumere though, since you have a lot of opportunities for "fish out of water" type scenes there.

And I did like the romance a lot. The 5CM part after the village with Cameron hit like a truck, as did the last five or so chapters. You really knocked it out of the park with the epilogue(s) and the ending. I thought the war was well foreshadowed, I did get the sense that they were in the fantasy equivalent of the summer of 1914 or 1939 before shit hits the fan. It was a huge tone shift but I think the 5CM part built up nicely to it.

The prose was fun, and like I said with Usagi Days, you really make your style work. I really love it when somebody else is talking but then another character comes in and makes an aside comment (in parenthesis).

There's a book called Tears of Autumn by David Wiltshire I think you'd enjoy, I stumbled upon it online a while back. It's similar vibes as Crystalline Summer - an old man reflecting on his youth and first love before World War II breaks out. I thought of it a decent amount while reading this.

Thanks for writing this, I really enjoyed it. Your creativity always astounds me and whatever you write next, I'll read. I'd be very interested to read something written outside of a contest. With no time or word constraints, I'd think you'd cook something up that kicks even more ass. And your contest stories kick a lot of ass already.

PS - shout out my slimes Demetri and Walter. I thought they were fun little characters

A Crystalline Summer

Chapter:36

May 19, 2025

To:Hype

RE: Arrested Development - Where do you think I got Lucille's name from?

Just East of Eden

Chapter:22

May 13, 2025

To:Hype

Lot of reflection in this chapter. Wouldn't call The Web Novel Club my best story, but I think it has the most heart out of all of them.

Also, what I'm currently cooking might not come out of the oven until late summer or even the fall...but let's just say that this might not be Natsuki's last appearance in the Pope-verse

Just East of Eden

Chapter:20

May 13, 2025

To:Hype

No guarantees there won't be a third time!

Just East of Eden

Chapter:8

May 05, 2025

To:Hype

Thanks so much for reading! Sorry about the delay, I haven’t been too active (or at all) on the site recently. Best of luck to your contest entry, gonna try to binge it sometime soon.

Lucille is a “literally me” character in the sense that she’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to a self-insert. Her worries and fears are (were) my own, especially when I wrote this since that’s when I was going through some big changes in life. Life would be so much simpler if I lived in Japan…right? But there’s that saying, something along the lines of “wherever you go, there you are.” When it comes to the time period, perhaps it’s whenever you go, there you are. And I 100% agree with your final parting thought. Check out my bio quote - being a writer, or an artist, or anything creative, is a wonderful thing.

Regina’s sour diesel-fueled powers were inspired by the Towelie episode of South Park. Don’t forget to bring a towel!

And nothing will ever come close to ordering an obscene of Taco Bell chalupas on a Friday night in college…

Letter From Yokohama

Chapter:10

May 05, 2025

To:Hype

I need another movie like 5 cm per second like you wouldn’t believe

Letter From Yokohama

Chapter:7

Apr 16, 2025

This is an absolute banger. It's amazing how you keep the vibes and characterization of Usagi Days, but through this new lenses of phenomenal prose and style. Not that I didn't enjoy either in Usagi Days, but they're clearly a step up here. And to top it all off, you also brought back some of the style from Usagi Days (things like "H: Can you teach me these superpower" and the asides in parenthesis). It's been incorporated into your newer style very well. Interested in seeing how it all comes crashing down for these characters.

And just in time for Pynchon's new book!

A Crystalline Summer

Chapter:4

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