My Playlist
Lots of the Things Press Corps Writer Leon V.A. Likes
About the DJ: Leon is a 17-year-old in their second quarter of college in Bellevue. They like a lot of things, mostly relating to writing, the paranormal, Paganism, and LGBTQIA* representation — paranormal novels about queer Pagans are pretty much the best thing that they can imagine. They go by they/them and he/his pronouns; and they also like writing bios about themselves in the third person.
Remember what I said up in that intro, about loving the paranormal and queer rep and writing? Welcome to Night Vale combines those into a podcast about a surreal desert town in the United States, called Night Vale, wherein angels roam the grocery stores, giant glowing clouds throw animals from the sky, and a radio host (Cecil Palmer, voiced by Cecil Baldwin) describes it all in addition to gushing about the attractive new scientist in town (Carlos, voiced by Dylan Marron).
2. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making follows the 12-year-old September Morning Bell, a young girl from Omaha who gets whisked off to Fairyland. It’s a traditional hero's journey with a few twists: Action and wit get equal turns in the spotlight as ways to solve problems, and there are no sharp swords. Our protagonist is not the 13-18 year old boy usually starring in this story, but instead a 12-year-old girl. And — don't let the whitewashed cover art fool you — a girl of color at that.
The webseries Whatever this is. follows the lives of three New York roommates: Ari (Dylan Marron) and Sam (Hunter Canning) are working for a production company and trying to make a name for themselves; Lisa (Madeline Wise), Sam’s girlfriend, is a school teacher trying to find employment over the summer. The first season of the show follows them struggling to get together enough money to pay rent for their apartment while also dealing with the struggles of being young, on your own, and having a life that isn't going quite the way you planned.
A prequel to Red Dragon and its sequel Silence of the Lambs, NBC's Hannibal follows FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and his cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter. Graham helps the FBI hunt several serial killers — including the Chesapeake Ripper, the nickname assigned to the murders of Dr. Lecter.
Laura Marling is a folk artist who's notable for her haunting vocals, melodies, and instrumentals — and the fact that she writes them all herself and has been doing so since she was 16. The now 24-year-old singer/songwriter is from England but is currently based out of California and has released four albums: Alas, I Cannot Swim, I Speak Because I Can, A Creature I Don't Know, and Once I Was an Eagle.
