Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Proof
Jun. 5th, 2026 11:20 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
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This sort of thing is why I will likely never write fantasy.
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Today's News:
AI is not coming for my job
Jun. 5th, 2026 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfA friend asked me if I worked in an office (yes) and warned me that AI is probably coming from my job.
I told him no, I am very not worried:
1) I have a union, and
2) My company works with a lot of confidential personal info that needs careful handling, and
3) AI cannot do my job.
AI cannot even attempt to do my job.
I do document formatting & processing, and while I'm sure there are AI advocates who think they can have AI do that, it's because they've never done those.
( Read more... )
I told him no, I am very not worried:
1) I have a union, and
2) My company works with a lot of confidential personal info that needs careful handling, and
3) AI cannot do my job.
AI cannot even attempt to do my job.
I do document formatting & processing, and while I'm sure there are AI advocates who think they can have AI do that, it's because they've never done those.
( Read more... )
Fanfiction: The Other (The Goes Wrong Show, Robert/Chris)
Jun. 5th, 2026 11:44 amrionaleonhartI originally just wanted to write a PWP for smut practice! And then I got so tangled up in setup, and in the question of how Robert and Chris's relationship would differ in this AU, and in the end I toned down the intended smut because it no longer felt fitting to go into heavy detail, so my smut remains tragically unpractised.
It was an interesting challenge to write Chris as a cis woman, and I hope the result works for you! I think Robert would treat a female Chris much the same as he treats Chris in canon, but, aswolfy_writing commented, Chris would probably interpret Robert's behaviour differently.
This is technically set after Adaptability, my Robert/Chris/Robert fic in which people are similarly casual about the existence of other universes, but you can just read this fic on its own; it should make sense even if you haven't read its predecessor!
Title: The Other
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show
Rating: 15
Pairing: Robert/Chris
Wordcount: 3,600
Summary: “My alternate-universe self is a man,” Chris says. “And it didn’t occur to you to mention this?”
( The Other )
It was an interesting challenge to write Chris as a cis woman, and I hope the result works for you! I think Robert would treat a female Chris much the same as he treats Chris in canon, but, as
wolfy_writing commented, Chris would probably interpret Robert's behaviour differently.This is technically set after Adaptability, my Robert/Chris/Robert fic in which people are similarly casual about the existence of other universes, but you can just read this fic on its own; it should make sense even if you haven't read its predecessor!
Title: The Other
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show
Rating: 15
Pairing: Robert/Chris
Wordcount: 3,600
Summary: “My alternate-universe self is a man,” Chris says. “And it didn’t occur to you to mention this?”
( The Other )
Intergalactic Mixtape #56
Jun. 5th, 2026 05:20 amintergalacticmixtape_feedHey!
There are lots of award news this week, as we enter into Hot Genre Award Summer. If you wanted opinions on the winners of the Locus, this is the issue for you. It’s also the month for lots of reviewers to be like, “you know, I’m going to publish 56 reviews this month and make Renay agonize over which of mine to include.” I love the energy, though.
A-Side
Critical Friends Episode 24: On Oeuvres
This episode of Critical Friends (transcript available as usual) discussed the tension between reviewing newer works by authors with large backlists. There’s a balance between reviewing the work as it stands, but with authors who have been writing for years, it’s difficult know when references to their older work would be most relevant. They tried to tackle the sticky subject of “canon”, too, and how these days it’s hard to contextualize works among their predecessors because space in review columns is limited. One of my favorite type of rec lists is someone reccing an author and going, “Okay, here’s the reading orders I would suggest if you like Trope A, Trope B, or Trope C.” (Or genre, or plot, or character type for trope—there are so many options!) There’s a lot of value in resisting the “new stuff only” (she writes, in her Look At All This New Stuff Newsletter). Our genres are deep and one never knows when they’ll find their new favorite author because that author wrote a book in their favorite genre ten years ago. Yes, that’s right: the answer is, once again, more recs so reviewers can focus on other things. :D
Suzan Palumbo and Kate Elliott: in conversation
This discussion between Palumbo and Elliott at Speculative Insight was excellent. Probably my favorite thing for authors to talk about is how their interests influence what they choose to write about and how they decide to structure their stories. Here the big thing was family and food and if you’ve ever read a Kate Elliott novel, you know there will be descriptions of delicious food and the world building to support the food that appears.
which SFF-relevant or adjacent newsletters do you read and love? (and a second, much vaguer question: what do you wish was out there that isn't?
This Bluesky discussion by Molly Templeton is full of recs of cool newsletters. My contribution was “people need to rediscover RSS”, because they could then curate their own “magazine” of things via the feeds they follow. That’s probably not what people want (the curation is the hard part, I know,), but it’s the best thing we have right now. I know newsletters and blogs aren’t the same, but I sure do treat newsletters like blogs regardless by slapping them into my RSS reader whenever I can, and it’s solved a lot of my problems.
Reviews/Discussions
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Allison Pottern @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore (Sean Guynes @ Genre Fantasies)
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Womble @ Runalong the Shelves)
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe (A Meal of Thorns Podcast)
The Heart of the Nhaga by Lee Young-Do, translated by Anton Hur (Trish Matson @ Skiffy and Fanty)
Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall (Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme)
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus)
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (Galen Strickland)
The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr (Joe Sherry @ Nerds of a Feather)
Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite (Liz Bourke @ Locus)
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford (Mark Yon @ SFF World)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Becky’s Book Blog)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Cheryl Morgan @ Salon Futura)
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie (David Tierney @ Ancillary Review of Books)
The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel (Ian Mond @ Locus)
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (Alex Brown @ Reactor)
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim (Tar Vol on)
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Niall Harrison @ Locus)
Transmentation | Transgression by Darkly Lem (Jake Casella Brookins @ Locus)
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Hugos There Podcast)
Two Dooms by C. M. Kornbluth (Brian Collins @ SFF Remembrance)
The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden (Scott @ Too Many Fantasy Books )
Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (Marlene Harris @ Reading Reality)
Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (Narrated Podcast)
Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (Sia @ Every Book a Doorway)
The Weathering by Artem Chapeye, translated by Daisy Gibbons (Abigail Nussbaum @ Locus)
Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis (Alexandra Pierce @ Locus)
Your Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin Feinstein (Jacqueline Nyathi @ Harare Review of Books)
Your Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin Feinstein (Paul Di Filippo @ Locus)
B-Side
The Locus Awards were given out last weekend; you can watch the ceremony on their Youtube channel. Here’s some reviews/commentary about some of the winners from my archive; I’m very amused by the breakdown.
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor: A Meal of Thorns Podcast; Alexandra Pierce; Tar Vol on; An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow: Liz Bourke; Bailey; Narrated Podcast; Galen Strickland; Stewart Hotston; Tar Vol on; Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus; Beth & Nils @ The Fantasy Hive; Mark Yon @ SFF World; Rob B. @ SFF World; Clara Cohen @ Nerds of a Feather; Elias @ Bar Cart Bookshelf; Dina @ SFF Book Reviews; Nick Hubble @ Strange Horizons; Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme; Andrew Liptak @ Transfer Orbit; Bill Capossere @ FanLit; Cheryl Morgan @ Salon Futura; Grady Shelton @ SFF Insiders; Martin Cahill @ Reactor; Roseanna Pendlebury @ A Reader of Else; Paul Weimer @ Skiffy and Fanty
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones: Tar Vol on; Camestros Felapton; Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme; Womble @ Runalong the Shelves
Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou: Roseanna Pendlebury @ Ancillary Review of Books; Gary K. Wolfe @ Locus; Jonathan Thornton @ The Fantasy Hive
On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, tr. Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell: Rachel Cordasco @ Ancillary Review of Books; Roseanna Pendlebury @ A Reader of Else
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar: Kristen @ Fantasy Cafe; Bookforager; Womble @ Runalong the Shelves; Archita Mittra @ Strange Horizons; Rob Maslen @ The City of Lost Books; Susanne Salehi @ The Lesbrary; Danika Ellis @ The Lesbrary; Nick Hubble @ Prospective Cultures; Bonnie McDaniel @ Red Headed Femme; Kathryn Adams @ Pixelated Geek
On Literature Science Alliance, Angela talked about two Hugo finalists winning their respective Locus Awards and what that might mean. I think the Locus Awards still gives extra votes to subscribers? Whereas with the Hugo Award, you’re either a member of WSFS or not. As always, it will depend on who votes!
The Clarke Award also dropped their shortlist (the quotes have more commentary):
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Luminous by Silvia Park
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift
The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson
My immediate reaction was “Dungeon Crawler Carl??????” As I was telling my pals, it feels very anomalous to this award! It’s going to be a spicy Clarke Award season. Nicholas Whyte was ready with the shelf stats from the three big book social media sites for the finalists. Octothorpe dropped Episode #161 today, where John, Alison, and Liz talked about the finalists and I immediately poured it into my brain and get to include it here.
In Hugo discussion, Dina ranked the Novelette finalists and reviewed The Human Division by John Scalzi, nominated in Best Series. Why yes, I am encouraging her to read everything all at once. I’m guilty of nothing but passion. Tar Vol on reviewed Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite in early May and Kathryn Adams reviewed Cinder House by Freya Marske, both nominated for Best Novella. Nicholas Whyte wrote about the elibility conversations going around for Best Related Work. An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog went back to 1992 to look at the films nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation. At Five Books, Sylvia Bishop shared some thoughts about the Nebula finalists for Best Novel. The Nebulas will be given out this weekend, and you can watch online via their Youtube channel. Will Death of the Author continue its winning streak?
The other big news of the week was the Nuremberg 2028 bid ending their run for Worldcon. It does seem like the Nuremberg folks want to bring Worldcon over to their neck of the woods, they just want some additional time to prepare. It must have been a hard decision, but I hope they bid again! It’s still not a bad idea to vote in site selection; you’re becoming a 2028 WSFS member early and providing the Brisbane bid advanced resources so they can prepare the best event.
The Fantasy Hive crew picked their favorite reads for May. Transfer Orbit has a list of 15 new SFF books out in June. For even more new books, Gizmodo has a list of 90 titles in all genres. Reactor has a big list of June fantasy titles. S.L. Dove Cooper shared the first column for new aspec book releases. Future columns will look at one month at a time, it seems, but this one includes previous months in 2026. Ancillary Review of Books posted their Call for Reviews & Essays for September 2026. Dina at SFF Book Reviews has her The State of SFF column out for June. Kila Writes has a big list of queer SF out in May. The Fantasy With Friends discussion for the week was, “What are some of your favorite fantasy tropes?”
In short fiction, Brian Collins reviewed “Always” by Karen Joy Fowler. Tar Vol on reviewed and chose favorites in issues of Adventitious and Lightspeed. Maria Haskins read and recced stories from PodCastle and Beneath Ceaseless Skies at Locus. [RECORDED], a found footage anthology, launched on Backerkit recently. I love the idea of this a lot. Common Bounds 3 is getting close to their crowdfunding goal. Emmie Christie shared her favorites from May. If you want some dark/horror recs, flameswallower on Tumblr has their May faves. Andrew Liptak has his Table of Contents column up for June, with updates to the May version. It’s great if you want to keep up with SFF short fiction!
Stewart Hotston shared some thoughts about The Sheep Detectives. Leah Schnelbach reviewed Backrooms at Reactor, and y’all, the FOMO is incredibly strong for me on this one. I comforted myself with second half of the short film series Back in the Backrooms. I’ll miss you, Greg. Phantasmag shared a list of books to read after watching Backrooms. I expected more of these types of rec lists than I’ve been seeing, but the film is still pretty new so I will be patient.
Martha Wells was interviewed by Tube Talk about everyone’s favorite fake soap opera, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, and the way it works in the canon of The Murderbot Diaries. Isabel J. Kim has a Big Idea column about her new novel, Sublimation. Kim was also interviewed on Youtube by Gryftkin, in the latest issue od Clarkesworld, and on the SFF Addicts podcast. Naomi Kritzer also has a great interview in the June Clarkesworld. If you’re excited about The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus, you can read an excerpt on Reactor.
For more SFF links, don’t miss last week’s Wombling Along!
Art recs: fluffy cats by Joy; Jiji (Kiki’s Delivery Service) by Bryan Mon; hey, cool screensaver by miski; Summer lizard by Victoria Maderna; oort cloud drawing by parker parrella
Outro
This week I wrote about Platform Decay by Martha Wells. It’s the eighth entry in the series and I loved it (even though Network Effect remains my favorite, because of The Magic of Friendship). It’s hard writing about books that are deep into a series, so I had to come at it from a different angle. Raise your hand if you’re going to do a complete series reread with Kevin R. Free in 2026 to incorporate your experience of Platform Decay.
Recent Reading:
(Last) The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi by Pat Cadigan (I got a late night urge; it’s still a banger)
(Now) Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus
(Next) Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer (B&N 100% lost my preorder that I placed in October 2025)
SORAYA SAID PRIDE MONTH
Jun. 5th, 2026 10:36 ammichifuguAlert, alert for Xenoblade fans (or Xeno fans)!
Soraya Saga (the co-creator of Xenogears and Xenosaga, and the wife of Tetsuya Takahashi) said "Happy Pride Month!!!"
Source: twitter / archive
OMG, I can't believe I'm seeing one of my favorite creators openly support LGBTQ+ people. And what's even more shocking is that she openly identified herself as pansexual!
It's really nice to know that one of the former Xeno creators is a queer woman.
I always knew she was a pretty progressive person, and learning that Takahashi is an ally is honestly wild to me.
I agree with her sentiment though, I also not really like it if people conflate character sexuality with author' sexuality just because they happen to be queer
It's no wonder that Xenoblade, despite being "straight" media on the surface, often has queer undertones, or why so many queer people love it. There's just something about the Xeno series that resonates with queer audiences.
Anyway, I'm also incredibly happy that she liked my tweet!
I'm so happy to be a Xeno fan.
some good things
Jun. 4th, 2026 11:41 pmkaberett- was invited to read A Bedtime Story :)
- fresh new bedlinen
- Eating More Food has in fact fixed the muscle soreness, again
- successfully achieved a favour for a person (via venturing into the Warhammer shop halfway down the hill)
- after the torrential rain, the sunset
Stardew! And sewing.
Jun. 5th, 2026 02:33 amtygerSooo I slept in pretty late (protip: if someone is going to probably-accidentally lovingly harass you into getting up via slightly-too-loud music, Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a pretty damn good choice. Even if it is now stuck in my head), and played Stardew with Azaria for uh. Several hours!
By the time we were done it was a liiiittle late to go cut the two bottom bars I still need to cut, so the blinds aren't done yet. >>;; I DID sew the guide-cats onto the biggest blind, though, which took WAY more time than I expected. It's not like they're hard to attach? Or that much work?? But it still took at least an hour, probably more like an hour and a half. What even.
I probably would have pushed it a bit more and tried to at least sew the bottom hem-pockets as well, I can use the one from the completed blind for that, but we're planning on going out to another bathroom supply shop tomorrow morning, so I am attempting to get to bed uh. Earlier. And hey, it's almost three hours earlier than yesterday, that's something... :D???
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Gland
Jun. 4th, 2026 11:20 amsmbc_comics_feed
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Hovertext:
If you disagree, find me a recent source specifically proving Descartes wrong.
Today's News:
The Witness -- trailer
Jun. 4th, 2026 10:23 amCommunity Recs Post!
Jun. 4th, 2026 10:04 amglitteryv posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
recthethingEvery Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fics/fanvids/fancrafts/fanart/other kinds of fanworks/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fics/fanvids/fancrafts/fanart/other kinds of fanworks/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
It Turns Out That Writing Is Impossible.
Jun. 4th, 2026 01:09 pmrionaleonhartMy thought process over the course of the fic I'm currently working on:
- I'll just write a simple PWP for smut practice.
- I've been sort of wanting to write Robert/female Chris Goes Wrong fanfiction, given that Chris is occasionally a woman in unofficial Play That Goes Wrong productions; let's go with that as the premise. Just get them into bed, and...
- ...
- But it'd be interesting to explore how Robert and Chris's relationship is different when Chris is a woman, isn't it?
- Actually, what's most interesting is all the ways their relationship isn't different, and it's hard to demonstrate that when male Chris isn't there.
- So if I summon male Chris from a parallel universe—
- In which case I suppose it makes sense to make this a sequel to my fic in which Robert summons himself from a parallel universe—
- But I need this to stand alone, because 'M/M/M Robert/Chris/Robert selfcest threesome' and 'M/F Robert/Chris AU' probably appeal to different people, so I'll need to incorporate enough setup for this to make sense if people aren't interested in the preceding fic—
- oh, God, I'm never going to get to the sex, am I
I can't just write smut! I don't know how! I thought the issue here would just be my inability to write sex, but apparently I also have to jump the hurdle of making the characters have sex in the first place. Somehow I find myself unable to write them in bed without first going 'but how did they get into the bed?', and the bed just keeps moving further and further away.
If you have any tales of your own silly struggles with writing, I'd love to hear them!
- I'll just write a simple PWP for smut practice.
- I've been sort of wanting to write Robert/female Chris Goes Wrong fanfiction, given that Chris is occasionally a woman in unofficial Play That Goes Wrong productions; let's go with that as the premise. Just get them into bed, and...
- ...
- But it'd be interesting to explore how Robert and Chris's relationship is different when Chris is a woman, isn't it?
- Actually, what's most interesting is all the ways their relationship isn't different, and it's hard to demonstrate that when male Chris isn't there.
- So if I summon male Chris from a parallel universe—
- In which case I suppose it makes sense to make this a sequel to my fic in which Robert summons himself from a parallel universe—
- But I need this to stand alone, because 'M/M/M Robert/Chris/Robert selfcest threesome' and 'M/F Robert/Chris AU' probably appeal to different people, so I'll need to incorporate enough setup for this to make sense if people aren't interested in the preceding fic—
- oh, God, I'm never going to get to the sex, am I
I can't just write smut! I don't know how! I thought the issue here would just be my inability to write sex, but apparently I also have to jump the hurdle of making the characters have sex in the first place. Somehow I find myself unable to write them in bed without first going 'but how did they get into the bed?', and the bed just keeps moving further and further away.
If you have any tales of your own silly struggles with writing, I'd love to hear them!
Gingaman thoughts! (Episodes 27-34)
Jun. 3rd, 2026 08:34 pmalchemicinkIt's been way too long since I wrote about Gingaman! I'm enjoying this show a lot but my brain keeps wanting to take long breaks from it for some reason.
Anyway, here's a few (mildly spoilery) thoughts about episodes 27-34:
( Read more... )
I guess my next Gingaman post will be the final batch of episodes! Previous posts: episodes 1-14 and episodes 15-26
Anyway, here's a few (mildly spoilery) thoughts about episodes 27-34:
( Read more... )
I guess my next Gingaman post will be the final batch of episodes! Previous posts: episodes 1-14 and episodes 15-26
Reading Wednesday
Jun. 3rd, 2026 06:29 pmtroisoiseauxInstead of starting one of several recently-acquired new books, or picking back up on any of my increasingly ridiculous number of books in various stages of progress, over the past couple of days I started and finished This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman, a novel that feels like a short story collection since each chapter focuses on a different member of an extended Jewish family scattered mostly along the East Coast and split by a feud between two elderly sisters - the family matriarchs - who had a falling out at the deathbed of their other, younger sister. Domestic but compelling; I liked that most of the individual plot points were never really - or at least not tidily - resolved, per se, leaning into the snapshot/short story feel.
Probably won't get around to those unread books any time soon, because I got a "skip the line" Libby loan for Lena Dunham's new memoir, Famesick, and as I was otherwise 383rd in line for 55 copies, who am I to look a gift library book in the mouth. I've been vaguely aware of Dunham as a controversial and/or maligned pop culture figure for what seems like my entire teenage/adult life, although I don't think I've ever actually watched any of her work; I'm like 2-3 chapters in and terribly endeared by her portrait of the artist as a young dumpster fire, and also preemptively sad for that starry-eyed 20-something, who is going to go through some stuff.
Probably won't get around to those unread books any time soon, because I got a "skip the line" Libby loan for Lena Dunham's new memoir, Famesick, and as I was otherwise 383rd in line for 55 copies, who am I to look a gift library book in the mouth. I've been vaguely aware of Dunham as a controversial and/or maligned pop culture figure for what seems like my entire teenage/adult life, although I don't think I've ever actually watched any of her work; I'm like 2-3 chapters in and terribly endeared by her portrait of the artist as a young dumpster fire, and also preemptively sad for that starry-eyed 20-something, who is going to go through some stuff.
[books] Fight Right, Julie Schwarz Gottman & James Gottman
Jun. 3rd, 2026 09:25 pmkaberettI am going to lead, moderately emphatically, with: this is not a recommendation for this book (which in any case I haven't finished). The strapline is "how successful couples turn conflict into connection"; it was published in 2024. As recessional has pointed out to me, some of what's going on is that their target audience is specifically people who are treating each other shittily but don't want to break up/divorce/etc, and do want to learn to do better, but don't have the tools for how.
I, however, am very much coming from a perspective of being much more inclined to push for, if not breakups, the idea that there exists unacceptable behaviour one gets to just nope out over, and also of the tradition of DBT workbooks where there is a heavy emphasis on explicitly acknowledging, out loud, with your words, that the shit you just did is not okay.
All of this having been said, there are two things about this book (so far) that I Must Share.
The first is about a tool the (Schwarz) Gottmans' research group uses. Their research group, for context, is called the Love Lab.
Much of the data and observations about couples in conflict in this book comes from our decades of work in the Love Lab and from other important and groundbreaking observational studies by ourselves and other researchers. But now we are getting even more sophisticated and granular information from the AI we trained with John's emotional coding system, called SPAFF, short for Specific Affect Coding System.
... the second, I say, moving swiftly on, is that a little further on in the book I have encountered a genuinely new-to-me evopsych argument: that because of evolutionary pressures it is men who get Extremely Emotional very quickly, and take a long time to calm back down and reach a point where they can engage rationally again!
... At this point: He's flooded. She's flooded. Both hearts are hammering hard; adrenaline is zinging through their veins. Stan's physiological response has ratcheted up and overwhelmed him even faster than Susan's, and he'll take a lot longer to come down from it.
Here's why: For evolutionary reasons having to do with protecting the tribe and hunting dangerous animals for food, our prehistoric male ancestors gained a survival advantage by being able to quickly mount and sustain an adrenaline-packed response to danger. Those with this rapid response were better able to fight off enemies and hunt for food, and because they were better survivors, their genes were more likely to get passed down and eventually inherited by our men today. That kind of enduring fight-or-flight response might have helped Stan's distant ancestors survive, but it isn't doing him any favors now.
tl;dr for all that I regularly kind of want to throw it across the room there are some amazing moments in this thing. I'm only about halfway through! WHO KNOWS what wonders await me!!!
word game: chain
Jun. 3rd, 2026 04:32 pmmuseaway posting in ficwipThis week's word is...
chain
How to play: Find the word in any WIP and comment with the sentence containing it. Just the one, ideally! The less context, the more hilarious & interesting it can be.
Rules:
- All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome
- Give a head's up for disturbing/distressing content
- If you share a sentence, please read some left by other writers and drop at least one person a comment. (If you leave the first comment, thanks for starting us off and please stop back later!)
chain
How to play: Find the word in any WIP and comment with the sentence containing it. Just the one, ideally! The less context, the more hilarious & interesting it can be.
Rules:
- All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome
- Give a head's up for disturbing/distressing content
- If you share a sentence, please read some left by other writers and drop at least one person a comment. (If you leave the first comment, thanks for starting us off and please stop back later!)
Victory!!!
Jun. 4th, 2026 05:23 amtygerToday I went to Bunnings (Mama drove, which was nice, she wanted to see if she was able to do it yet. Thankfully yes!), and eventually settled on a type of bracket. Unfortunately there weren't any that came in single versions, so I also had to learn how to use the angle grinder so I could split it up - but hey, now I know how to use the angle grinder! :D And after that my father and I figured out how to bend it so it's the right shape, and then I put them up! And now all my blinds are hanging up!!!! :D :D :D
Still have to do the bottom weight and string up two of them but!!! Now I CAN do that! Figuring out where exactly the bottom weight needs to be placed is very much recommended to be done once it's hanging, so! Job for tomorrow, though, yes.
Anyway other than that uhhhh. Not much. Something something brains something something - seriously, they're just being a butt with the zoning out, likely because I've been working them hard figuring out How To Do The Thing. Anyway that's how accidentally five-fucking-thirty-am, whoops. =_=
The Good Luck Girls, by Charlotte Nicole Davis
Jun. 3rd, 2026 12:07 pmrachelmanija
In a country with Wild West vibes, young girls are often sold to brothels, to become sex slaves when they come of age. They are given magical tattoos of buds when they're bought. These tattoos slowly grow and blossom into flowers that the girls are nicknamed for. They cause excruciating pain when they're covered up, preventing the girls from fleeing and blending into the populace. But this isn't the only barrier to escape. The entire wilderness area is haunted by angry ghosts that can take physical form and rip you to shreds.
On Clementine's inaugural rape night, her would-be rapist nearly suffocates her, and she brains him with a lamp. As she would be executed for that, she, her older sister Aster who's been a sex slave for years already, and three other girls manage to escape the brothel and flee in search of a rumored woman who can remove the magic tattoos.
By far the most interesting character in the book is Violet, the brothel bully, spoiled brat, and magical opium addict who is the only one who knows where to find the woman who will be their salvation, if she actually exists. As they flee across the haunted wilderness, they're pursued by magical slavecatchers, are joined by a boy, and meet some rebels. Clementine has a romance with the boy, two of the girls have a romance together, and Violet and Aster have intense feelings which hopefully go somewhere in the sequel.
This novel has an extremely cool setting and unusual worldbuilding. I love ensemble casts and wilderness traveling. I expected to adore this, but while I did enjoy reading it, I didn't love it. I had been under the impression that the girls all had different magical powers, which is my own fault for misreading the blurb, but I was disappointed that they don't have any, except that Clementine can talk to ghosts a bit. More importantly, only Aster and Violet, plus Clementine to some degree, get any real characterization. I was interested in them enough that I'll read the sequel, but the book overall felt like it should have been fantastic but ended up merely good.
Content notes: There is a very violent, graphic rape attempt in chapter one. That's it for that but the repercussions of years of sexual abuse are felt throughout the novel.
