Reading Wednesday
Mar. 25th, 2026 06:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyJust finished: To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose. I absolutely loved this—it was a worthy sequel to the first one, and I ended up kind of binge-reading it because it's so compelling even though for the first three quarters, nothing much of anything happens. It's just a slow burn of political tensions so by the time things explode, you should have seen it coming but maybe don't, because as wise and savvy as our heroine is, she's still a 16-year-old girl navigating school, relationships, and family.
I immediately went to one of my Discord servers to squeal about it and was rewarded with some uncomfortable speculation about the author's heritage so I am hoping those rumours aren't true because I need her to be as cool as she seems.
Grendel by John Gardner. I have been meaning to read this for ages as it's one of those books where when people get to know me, they'll say "oh have you read this" and I'll say "no but it's on my list." Anyway it lives up to the hype. I don't know that the idea of telling a well-known story from the monster's perspective was all that new in the 70s, but it's far more than that. It's a literary masterpiece in terms of the prose, which is squelching and visceral, and it takes some unexpected philosophical turns, especially the bits with the dragon and the mad peasant, that feel fresh and relevant even today.
Currently reading: Always On by Helena Trooperman. And now we're back to the world of indie SF. This one is about an inventor, single mom to five children after her husband's death, struggling to get her career back on track. She discovers a way to power cellphones through human static electricity, which brings her in direct conflict with Big Oil. It's pretty interesting, brought down a little by some strange dialogue choices, but overall compelling character and a cool type of plot that the genre doesn't usually do anymore.
I immediately went to one of my Discord servers to squeal about it and was rewarded with some uncomfortable speculation about the author's heritage so I am hoping those rumours aren't true because I need her to be as cool as she seems.
Grendel by John Gardner. I have been meaning to read this for ages as it's one of those books where when people get to know me, they'll say "oh have you read this" and I'll say "no but it's on my list." Anyway it lives up to the hype. I don't know that the idea of telling a well-known story from the monster's perspective was all that new in the 70s, but it's far more than that. It's a literary masterpiece in terms of the prose, which is squelching and visceral, and it takes some unexpected philosophical turns, especially the bits with the dragon and the mad peasant, that feel fresh and relevant even today.
Currently reading: Always On by Helena Trooperman. And now we're back to the world of indie SF. This one is about an inventor, single mom to five children after her husband's death, struggling to get her career back on track. She discovers a way to power cellphones through human static electricity, which brings her in direct conflict with Big Oil. It's pretty interesting, brought down a little by some strange dialogue choices, but overall compelling character and a cool type of plot that the genre doesn't usually do anymore.
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 14
Mar. 24th, 2026 11:45 pmmarycatelli posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
booksWitch Hat Atelier, Vol. 14 by Kamome Shirahama
The tale continues! Serious spoilers ahead for the earlier works.
( Read more... )
The tale continues! Serious spoilers ahead for the earlier works.
( Read more... )
Snowflake Challenge: day 6
Mar. 22nd, 2026 11:04 pmdancesontrainsChallenge #6
Top 10 Challenge.
The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the top 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.
I was very stuck on this for some time - hence the lack of updates since January - but then I remembered that last year I participated in the subreddit r/GraphicNovels's tournament of Top Twenty graphic novels (actually any form of sequential art even vaguely applicable, the guy running the Tournament joked that he was waiting for someone to send in a long tapestry as one of their faves)
My matchup - I was very soundly trounced in the first round by one of the most prolific posters there, and rightly so https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/comments/1o5ssuv/tournament_of_lists_2025_all_time_top_20_comics/
The eventual winner, it's a really interesting collection and I had a good time thinking of what to add- https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/comments/1omr7k3/congratulations_to_americantabloid3_for_winning/
The only work I regret not including is Calvin and Hobbes, which I read as an adult and have loved ever since.
Top 10 Challenge.
The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the top 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.
I was very stuck on this for some time - hence the lack of updates since January - but then I remembered that last year I participated in the subreddit r/GraphicNovels's tournament of Top Twenty graphic novels (actually any form of sequential art even vaguely applicable, the guy running the Tournament joked that he was waiting for someone to send in a long tapestry as one of their faves)
My matchup - I was very soundly trounced in the first round by one of the most prolific posters there, and rightly so https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/comments/1o5ssuv/tournament_of_lists_2025_all_time_top_20_comics/
The eventual winner, it's a really interesting collection and I had a good time thinking of what to add- https://www.reddit.com/r/graphicnovels/comments/1omr7k3/congratulations_to_americantabloid3_for_winning/
The only work I regret not including is Calvin and Hobbes, which I read as an adult and have loved ever since.
Glinda Go Zoom!
Mar. 22nd, 2026 06:56 pmglindaOooft, I have missed skating.
(For the newer readers, I used to be a roller derby referee. Roller skating - quad skates - was a big part of my life for the back half of my twenties and my early thirties. I drifted away from it after I moved up to Inverness, but I’ve loved roller skating since I was a little kid, so while I don’t really miss derby these days I do miss skating.)
I’m still on my ice hockey kick after the Olympics and one of the knock-on effects is being really aware of how much I miss skating. I’ve been meaning to check when the public ice skating sessions are and try to convince one of my skating buddies to chum me along to a session for ages, and this weekend I finally did it. And it was great!
I haven’t been on any sort of skates since before the pandemic and I think the last time I was actual ice skates was in Princess Street Gardens just before Xmas 2013 when my then girlfriend decided that would be a cute date idea and then spent the whole session clinging to either the edges or my hand! I wasn’t sure how well it would go, but after a slightly wobbly start it all came back to me satisfyingly fast. (My buddy was even rustier but also got the hang of it eventually, we did a fair bit of skating round holding hands like kids because she’s had a stressful week and was getting into her head about it. That was pretty fun too. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about ice discos from our teen years.) The ice was a mess so I didn’t dare try crossovers or anything too fancy. (The kids team had practice that morning, and I don’t think they bothered to send the zamboni out between sessions as we got there at the start of the session and it was pretty roughed up already.) The rink skates are super rigid so my feet are a bit sore from that - actually I ache all over from nearly 90 minutes of skating, but I had so much fun. My buddy gave up after the first 45 mins of so and went and got a hot drink and heckled from the sidelines while I went zooming around gleefully with a big stupid grin on my face. I was high as a kite, all the good endorphins. We’re going back - or at least we’re going to try the rink at Aviemore instead. I cannot stop grinning!
( I do not need my own ice skates. I do not.)
(For the newer readers, I used to be a roller derby referee. Roller skating - quad skates - was a big part of my life for the back half of my twenties and my early thirties. I drifted away from it after I moved up to Inverness, but I’ve loved roller skating since I was a little kid, so while I don’t really miss derby these days I do miss skating.)
I’m still on my ice hockey kick after the Olympics and one of the knock-on effects is being really aware of how much I miss skating. I’ve been meaning to check when the public ice skating sessions are and try to convince one of my skating buddies to chum me along to a session for ages, and this weekend I finally did it. And it was great!
I haven’t been on any sort of skates since before the pandemic and I think the last time I was actual ice skates was in Princess Street Gardens just before Xmas 2013 when my then girlfriend decided that would be a cute date idea and then spent the whole session clinging to either the edges or my hand! I wasn’t sure how well it would go, but after a slightly wobbly start it all came back to me satisfyingly fast. (My buddy was even rustier but also got the hang of it eventually, we did a fair bit of skating round holding hands like kids because she’s had a stressful week and was getting into her head about it. That was pretty fun too. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about ice discos from our teen years.) The ice was a mess so I didn’t dare try crossovers or anything too fancy. (The kids team had practice that morning, and I don’t think they bothered to send the zamboni out between sessions as we got there at the start of the session and it was pretty roughed up already.) The rink skates are super rigid so my feet are a bit sore from that - actually I ache all over from nearly 90 minutes of skating, but I had so much fun. My buddy gave up after the first 45 mins of so and went and got a hot drink and heckled from the sidelines while I went zooming around gleefully with a big stupid grin on my face. I was high as a kite, all the good endorphins. We’re going back - or at least we’re going to try the rink at Aviemore instead. I cannot stop grinning!
( I do not need my own ice skates. I do not.)
starting week 4 of life on hold
Mar. 22nd, 2026 06:15 pmroga( Fun times )
I will say - it was really nice to get some rain this week, late in the season. Also risked an hour-(gasp!)-long drive to go to the Nachsholim area, a little north of Caesarea, on the coast, for a night of basically nothing but chilling in a hotel with a seaside view withmarina, with a stroll down the historic pedestrian mall in Zichron in the afternoon, which felt like being a tourist in some other universe.
Following recs, I've been reading some Heated Rivalry fics, including Apogee by OpalApparition, a 50k space AU which I enjoyed a lot and felt a little like an Andy Weir book but with good UST and sex, and then followed that up with Wolfbird by the same author, a 170k pro-dom!Ilya AU which has taken over my brain and I am now obsessed, destroyed, all of the feels about. It is also a WIP so read at your own risk (but my god, read it).
Movies I have watched this week: Chaplin (1992), Zootopia 2, old home movies.
Words I have written this week: zero. At some point in 2023, before the first war (that one) started, I started writing a KinnPorsche/Discworld crossover, and then later 2023 happened, and I have written zero words since other than yuletide, and I really want to finish it before moving on to other stuff! It has, in fact, the potential to be a very cute story! I just need to... get there. And then I can write at least one of my HR fic ideas, which I would really, really like to happen sometime this year please, fingers crossed.
I will say - it was really nice to get some rain this week, late in the season. Also risked an hour-(gasp!)-long drive to go to the Nachsholim area, a little north of Caesarea, on the coast, for a night of basically nothing but chilling in a hotel with a seaside view with
marina, with a stroll down the historic pedestrian mall in Zichron in the afternoon, which felt like being a tourist in some other universe.Following recs, I've been reading some Heated Rivalry fics, including Apogee by OpalApparition, a 50k space AU which I enjoyed a lot and felt a little like an Andy Weir book but with good UST and sex, and then followed that up with Wolfbird by the same author, a 170k pro-dom!Ilya AU which has taken over my brain and I am now obsessed, destroyed, all of the feels about. It is also a WIP so read at your own risk (but my god, read it).
Movies I have watched this week: Chaplin (1992), Zootopia 2, old home movies.
Words I have written this week: zero. At some point in 2023, before the first war (that one) started, I started writing a KinnPorsche/Discworld crossover, and then later 2023 happened, and I have written zero words since other than yuletide, and I really want to finish it before moving on to other stuff! It has, in fact, the potential to be a very cute story! I just need to... get there. And then I can write at least one of my HR fic ideas, which I would really, really like to happen sometime this year please, fingers crossed.
(no subject)
Mar. 20th, 2026 08:52 pmursamajorI spent half an hour of my one wild and precious life filling out the Serious Eats Starch Madness bracket, because the world is going to hell so why not. (I will take the tiny light that California will be renaming Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day, and still observing it as a state holiday. Better to honor farmworkers as a class rather than continue the grand American tradition of hero-worshipping fallible individuals and then being shocked that "good people" can do "bad things" because we refuse to understand nuance, let alone act intelligently upon it. But goddammit that's one hell of a missing stair.)
( in which I get highly opinionated about baked goods, join me! 😁 )
Okay, I guess I should go figure out dinner that doesn't involve a stove because it got to 90F today, like 25-30F above normal. Rude. And yes, I started with ice cream. But I may need something a little more substantial.
( in which I get highly opinionated about baked goods, join me! 😁 )
Okay, I guess I should go figure out dinner that doesn't involve a stove because it got to 90F today, like 25-30F above normal. Rude. And yes, I started with ice cream. But I may need something a little more substantial.
Follow Friday 3-20-26
Mar. 20th, 2026 09:55 pmysabetwordsmith posting in followfridayGot any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).
Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".
podcast friday
Mar. 20th, 2026 09:46 amsabotabby I mean I have to recommend Wizards & Spaceships' "Amazing Stories 100th Anniversary ft. Steve Davidson, Kermit Woodall and Lloyd Penney." It's in my contract. :) If you're into classic SF, you'll dig this one a lot.
Godwinning all over the Firefly reboot
Mar. 19th, 2026 04:25 pmsabotabbyI feel guilty every time I post about something shallow and trivial. However, I enjoy shitposting and we could all use the distraction. The way I distract myself is being spicy in fannish communities.
If you have emotional attachments to a certain cancelled sci-fi show and its creator, skip this post.
Still with me? Okay.
So I want to propose a new TV show for you. It's set IN SPACE in the far-flung future, think gritty space dystopia, think found family, think QUIPS and BANTER and BIG DAMN HEROES.
Our heroes are the crew of a spaceship. They dress in snappy black and silver uniforms. They're all played by white guys and women, most with blond hair, all of them extremely fit and attractive. They have a cool logo that looks great on merch. Their ships are very cool looking and the best in the galaxy. They stand up for the common man.
They are fighting a snivelly and sinister enemy, a vast galactic conspiracy that is secretly pulling the strings behind every bad guy of the week. Maybe they turn out to be, IDK, some kind of lizard alien or something.
By the way in case you're getting ideas about historical analogies here, I should make it clear that the first officer on the heroes' ship is a Jewish woman and the heroes don't commit any genocides on screen. In fact, one of them has a speech about how violence is bad in the first episode! They are shown to be very against war crimes in fact, it's the antagonists who are doing all the war crimes.
Now, a poll:
If you have emotional attachments to a certain cancelled sci-fi show and its creator, skip this post.
Still with me? Okay.
So I want to propose a new TV show for you. It's set IN SPACE in the far-flung future, think gritty space dystopia, think found family, think QUIPS and BANTER and BIG DAMN HEROES.
Our heroes are the crew of a spaceship. They dress in snappy black and silver uniforms. They're all played by white guys and women, most with blond hair, all of them extremely fit and attractive. They have a cool logo that looks great on merch. Their ships are very cool looking and the best in the galaxy. They stand up for the common man.
They are fighting a snivelly and sinister enemy, a vast galactic conspiracy that is secretly pulling the strings behind every bad guy of the week. Maybe they turn out to be, IDK, some kind of lizard alien or something.
By the way in case you're getting ideas about historical analogies here, I should make it clear that the first officer on the heroes' ship is a Jewish woman and the heroes don't commit any genocides on screen. In fact, one of them has a speech about how violence is bad in the first episode! They are shown to be very against war crimes in fact, it's the antagonists who are doing all the war crimes.
Now, a poll:
Poll #34385 Which would be less bad?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18
Which would be better, if this show concept HAD to exist?
View Answers
Depicting the protagonists doing war crimes
10 (55.6%)
Not depicting the protagonists doing war crimes
8 (44.4%)