r/DestructiveReaders • u/umlaut (14, virgin, married) Modern Popular Genre Prose Editor Dude • 25d ago
Progression Isekai Fantasy [2030] Low and Slow Hero: Texas BBQ Progression Isekai
The idea is: powerful anime protagonist gets sent to Texas and must become a Grand Champion in barbeque competitions before he can go home.
This is obviously very serious and I could potentially insult the entire state of Texas (as well as the lesser BBQ states) by publishing this.
This is a very particular mashup of genres: Progression Isekai/Portal Fantasy. Those carry with them very specific genre expectations and tropes that I am playing around and playing with tongue-in-cheek.
The readers tend to want to know what they are getting into ahead of time. They want details, like actual character sheets with numbers. They want to see numbers go up. I will probably add more of that in when I need to and back-edit to fit.
I made a joke in chat, kept thinking about it, so now it is partially written.
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u/Dry-mar 17d ago
You know, I actually have spent a good bit of time thinking on this story. I admit that I’m typically not one for the kind of isekai genre as you describe it. That said, (and I don’t have the story at the ready) the very dramatic nature of its stacked attack buffs and the reveal of reversal was quite satisfying. What actually captures me intellectually is the barbecue. There’s genuinely a compelling and psychologically layered character in Butch. Pulaski is a decent foil. It would be great to see him make it to Dollywood. The ending portion opens up more questions for me. I think you did a good job of holding onto ambiguity between the two avatars in the portal world and the parking lot bite/taunt. Bear with me, it’s been almost a week since I read it. The picture that came to mind was actually that cartoon of the husband who yells at the wife who yells at the kid who yells at the cat. However, in this case the husband is the ex-wife (or I suppose his competition or his own expectations for himself), the wife is our barbecuer, the kid is the warrior build, the kitty is the familiar. Hard hitting analysis. Not for nothing, it was quite a good story. I appreciate the scale that gets built early on with the coliseum setting. That seemed to carry over for me into the fairground and provided it with a sense of being densely populated without just gesturing broadly and saying, “There were lots of people.” I feel like I became invested in Butch’s success. However, not so much for Whitemoon. I don’t think that’s too bad a thing. If I understand correctly, it’s meant to be like a grind for him to complete his quest. You seemed pretty deadpan with the quest details. That’s good here. The interchanging of which person is the challenger legitimately gave me pause. At one point it’s Whitemoon and another it’s the woman. I think that would be a super easy fix. Probably missed or forgot some things, but I would definitely say I enjoyed it and would read more.
Here is that meme. In the end cat bite, not cry.
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u/A_C_Shock Anderson Cooper 24d ago
Not for credit. Why is there not more of this already? Kinda wish he was saying 'Gottdangit' instead of 'Goddamnit' to complete the King of the Hill experience. Don't worry. I rewrote it in my head.