Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday
Nov. 3rd, 2026 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyIn the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.
Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.
The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.
Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.
It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.
The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.
Well, if you're in the USA and haven't remembered the MidTerm elections are today then this is a gentle reminder to use your most influential power as a citizen, and go vote in whatever elections you have running, because these are kind of important ones (Sorry, my understatement-ometer just exploded).
In the UK, our Prime Minister has raised the notion of closer ties with the EU, given the complete lack of benefits gained by Brexit. The usual parties have clutched their pearls in outrage.
Last week we lost both Walter Koenig, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart (who has his own post to comment on). However at the weekend we lost another sci-fi icon, as John Leeson, the voice of K-9 from Doctor Who, The Sarah-Jane Adventures, numerous Big Finish dramas, his own spin-off pilot from the 80's and an Australian spin-off from the mid 00's also passed away.
The Archive Of Our Own website is currently out of action for a few weeks, so if you hear strange sounds online it might well be fanfic starved geeks wandering lost and alone... be kind to them.
The UK's second Celebrity Traitors season ended with an entertaining round of betrayals, admissions and double dealing with the high points being one traitor simply admitting that he WAS a traitor in the Round Table because he was tired of deception, and James Blunt managing one final magnificent self-destructive self-own beyond the expectations of even the most jaded viewer. The fact it turned out both winners were playing to support refugee charities (and one focussing on the plight of queer refugees at that) led to even more pearl clutching from the same people from three paragraphs up, so at least they're consistent.
Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.
The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.
Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.
It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.
The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.
Well, if you're in the USA and haven't remembered the MidTerm elections are today then this is a gentle reminder to use your most influential power as a citizen, and go vote in whatever elections you have running, because these are kind of important ones (Sorry, my understatement-ometer just exploded).
In the UK, our Prime Minister has raised the notion of closer ties with the EU, given the complete lack of benefits gained by Brexit. The usual parties have clutched their pearls in outrage.
Last week we lost both Walter Koenig, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart (who has his own post to comment on). However at the weekend we lost another sci-fi icon, as John Leeson, the voice of K-9 from Doctor Who, The Sarah-Jane Adventures, numerous Big Finish dramas, his own spin-off pilot from the 80's and an Australian spin-off from the mid 00's also passed away.
The Archive Of Our Own website is currently out of action for a few weeks, so if you hear strange sounds online it might well be fanfic starved geeks wandering lost and alone... be kind to them.
The UK's second Celebrity Traitors season ended with an entertaining round of betrayals, admissions and double dealing with the high points being one traitor simply admitting that he WAS a traitor in the Round Table because he was tired of deception, and James Blunt managing one final magnificent self-destructive self-own beyond the expectations of even the most jaded viewer. The fact it turned out both winners were playing to support refugee charities (and one focussing on the plight of queer refugees at that) led to even more pearl clutching from the same people from three paragraphs up, so at least they're consistent.
... I'd have two nickels
Nov. 3rd, 2026 08:10 amrydra_wongWe will draw no inferences from this.
Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 24
Nov. 2nd, 2026 11:52 pmsettiaiMy attempt at finally catching up on Critical Role continues. We'll see how long I manage it?
As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).
( Spoilers under the cut. )
As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).
( Spoilers under the cut. )
Daily Happiness
Nov. 2nd, 2026 07:14 pmtorachan1. The weather has warmed up from the rainy weekend and it's supposed to be high 70s/low 80s by the weekend, but it's still very chilly over night and in the morning and evening, so at least there's that! And even the afternoon didn't feel so bad.
2. I haven't seen Molly in the upper apartment of the cat tree in ages but randomly the other day she was in there while Chloe was up on the top. Just having some sister time!
2. I haven't seen Molly in the upper apartment of the cat tree in ages but randomly the other day she was in there while Chloe was up on the top. Just having some sister time!
Me-and-media update
Nov. 3rd, 2026 03:41 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the Muppets poll, 48.8% of respondents voted for "do-dooo do do-do", 39% for "do do-do do", and 34.1% for "mahna mahna".
In ticky-boxes, "mere cat" had a pretty good run but still came second to hugs, 58.5% to 78%. Thank you for your votes! ♥
Reading
Andrew and I listened to a bit more Memory (Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner) last night. We're five hours in, and a part of me is still waiting for Plot to kick in. I think the earlier works in the series have conditioned me to expect Action and Shenanigans.
Meanwhile, The Tainted Cup (Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Andrew Fallaize) is proving an enjoyable listen. I don't know how much it's the narrator's performance, but Din feels like a cross between Peter Grant (Rivers of London) and Koli (The Rampart Trilogy), Ana a cross between Nightingale and Ursala (ibid, ibid), and the world-building isn't far off a blend of the two either. Two great tastes!
And in graded reading, I just read a story about two cats on a snowy mountain, facing off against a large eagle who was out for vengeance. Very dramatic!
I have Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin out of the library, thanks tosanguinity's review, but I haven't opened it yet. (I also have Ann Leckie's Radch short story collection and a Wellington novel titled Rat King Landlord by Murdoch Stephens (I believe the landlords are literal rats), so if I find myself in the mood for paper reading, I have a good range of options.
Watching
( Cut for length )
Audio entertainment
Not a great deal. I've mostly switched back to ChinesePod's pre-intermediate lessons. One episode of local political podcast Cross Party Lines, though they're very establishment.
Online life
Hosting WED was so good. Even if I didn't make much progress during the hosting period, it helped me to turn some of my attention back to writing. And while I know the AO3 outage is really hard for some, I personally am enjoying what feels like an up-tick in activity on Dreamwidth. Silver linings, and all that.
Writing/making things
In a break from my usual habits, I've been writing random snippets of something in my notebook before I turn out the light at night. It's Guardian, but sufficiently niche that I'll probably never bother to assemble it into a coherent story. I'm just dipping in and toying with it from various angles. It feels nice to even be doing that much.
Other than that, I'm pretty motivated to write Yuletide treats. Let's see if I can.
Life/health/mental state things
I feel like I've been socialising more than usual, which is probably good for me, but: *grabbyhands at keyboard and Dreamwidth* *grabbyhands at Chinese apps* *grabbyhands at couch and cat and Andrew*
I voted today, to avoid the Saturday rush.
Language Learning
I passed my six month-versary of starting Chinese a few days ago. Stepping back, I'd say that I'm happy with where my reading is, a bit hazy on writing (I haven't done much in a while), and my listening and speaking are falling behind. I knew this was happening -- I just haven't made time to do anything about it. I'd really love to practice with another learner, but I don't know how to find one. Relatedly, it's become apparent I started language exchange too early; I can't pull sentences together fast enough, and I'm not confident in my pronunciation, so we mostly just speak in English.
Food
I made a carrot, sultana and walnut cake for Saturday night and left it in the oven too long. It was fine, just a bit dry. Note to self: trust your oven! This is not the inefficient gas monster of yestermonth.
Good things
My physio encouraged me to take more baths. These chocolate fish. Frankenpegs. Not everything has to happen all at once. Friends online and off. Andrew. Halle. Sleep.
In the Muppets poll, 48.8% of respondents voted for "do-dooo do do-do", 39% for "do do-do do", and 34.1% for "mahna mahna".
In ticky-boxes, "mere cat" had a pretty good run but still came second to hugs, 58.5% to 78%. Thank you for your votes! ♥
Reading
Andrew and I listened to a bit more Memory (Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner) last night. We're five hours in, and a part of me is still waiting for Plot to kick in. I think the earlier works in the series have conditioned me to expect Action and Shenanigans.
Meanwhile, The Tainted Cup (Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Andrew Fallaize) is proving an enjoyable listen. I don't know how much it's the narrator's performance, but Din feels like a cross between Peter Grant (Rivers of London) and Koli (The Rampart Trilogy), Ana a cross between Nightingale and Ursala (ibid, ibid), and the world-building isn't far off a blend of the two either. Two great tastes!
And in graded reading, I just read a story about two cats on a snowy mountain, facing off against a large eagle who was out for vengeance. Very dramatic!
I have Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin out of the library, thanks to
sanguinity's review, but I haven't opened it yet. (I also have Ann Leckie's Radch short story collection and a Wellington novel titled Rat King Landlord by Murdoch Stephens (I believe the landlords are literal rats), so if I find myself in the mood for paper reading, I have a good range of options. Watching
( Cut for length )
Audio entertainment
Not a great deal. I've mostly switched back to ChinesePod's pre-intermediate lessons. One episode of local political podcast Cross Party Lines, though they're very establishment.
Online life
Hosting WED was so good. Even if I didn't make much progress during the hosting period, it helped me to turn some of my attention back to writing. And while I know the AO3 outage is really hard for some, I personally am enjoying what feels like an up-tick in activity on Dreamwidth. Silver linings, and all that.
Writing/making things
In a break from my usual habits, I've been writing random snippets of something in my notebook before I turn out the light at night. It's Guardian, but sufficiently niche that I'll probably never bother to assemble it into a coherent story. I'm just dipping in and toying with it from various angles. It feels nice to even be doing that much.
Other than that, I'm pretty motivated to write Yuletide treats. Let's see if I can.
Life/health/mental state things
I feel like I've been socialising more than usual, which is probably good for me, but: *grabbyhands at keyboard and Dreamwidth* *grabbyhands at Chinese apps* *grabbyhands at couch and cat and Andrew*
I voted today, to avoid the Saturday rush.
Language Learning
I passed my six month-versary of starting Chinese a few days ago. Stepping back, I'd say that I'm happy with where my reading is, a bit hazy on writing (I haven't done much in a while), and my listening and speaking are falling behind. I knew this was happening -- I just haven't made time to do anything about it. I'd really love to practice with another learner, but I don't know how to find one. Relatedly, it's become apparent I started language exchange too early; I can't pull sentences together fast enough, and I'm not confident in my pronunciation, so we mostly just speak in English.
Food
I made a carrot, sultana and walnut cake for Saturday night and left it in the oven too long. It was fine, just a bit dry. Note to self: trust your oven! This is not the inefficient gas monster of yestermonth.
Good things
My physio encouraged me to take more baths. These chocolate fish. Frankenpegs. Not everything has to happen all at once. Friends online and off. Andrew. Halle. Sleep.
Poll #35412 Outage
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27
How's your AO3 withdrawal?
View Answers
mild
13 (48.1%)
medium
7 (25.9%)
severe
2 (7.4%)
critical
1 (3.7%)
I miss kudos emails
11 (40.7%)
n/a
0 (0.0%)
other
0 (0.0%)
ticky-box of interesting times are so time-consuming
20 (74.1%)
ticky-box full of luck and crossed fingers for those of us with elections this week
19 (70.4%)
ticky-box full of porcupines playing jenga
10 (37.0%)
ticky-box full of lingering traces of Halloween
12 (44.4%)
ticky-box full of hugs
21 (77.8%)
Advance Notice of Potential Downtime
Nov. 3rd, 2026 02:34 amsquidgestatusOur ISP notified us that they will be doing maintenance on fiber lines (which is what we're on) on November 12th from 00:00 (midnight) Pacific. Time to 06:00 (6am) Pacific Time. They said that we will experience intermittent outages of up to 15 minutes, multiple times during that timeperiod. Tags indicate all the services (everything but FenRecs.com) will be affected.
So if you're up and about during this time, be aware that connectivity will be hit and miss.
So if you're up and about during this time, be aware that connectivity will be hit and miss.
(no subject)
Nov. 2nd, 2026 08:20 pmskygiantsI had a pretty accurate general sense of the vague plot of Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel going on, and there's not really more to the the plot than my general sense suggested -- young man catches complicated feelings for the beautiful and mysterious in-law who may or may not have murdered beloved relative, ( spoilers ) -- so the fact that I was nonetheless riveted the whole time is a great testament generally to Du Maurier when she's On, and in particular to the title character of Rachel.
Rachel's one job in this book is to be a Real Human Person who is always too much and too specifically herself to be easily defined by the femme fatale outlines that the plot is always trying to trap her in; if she did not do this job well the book would not work, but fortunately she is absolutely nailing it.
We-the-readers are first introduced to the concept of Rachel through the eyes of our unreliable narrator, Philip Ashley, who himself is first introduced to the concept of Rachel through the letters of his unreliable narrator, his cousin/guardian/father-figure Ambrose. A lifelong avoider of women, Ambrose in his middle age goes on vacation to Italy, meets the half-Italian widow Rachel, flabbergasts Philip and the world by marrying her, spends almost two years sending a series of very enthusiastic letters followed by a series of increasingly worrying letters, and then unexpectedly dies after sending one last letter to Philip that includes the incredible phrase she has done for me at last, Rachel my torment.
The doctors say that Ambrose died of a hereditary brain tumor, side effects of which often include personality changes and paranoia.
Anyway, Philip has spent all this time rotating possible Rachels in his head, each more unpleasant than the last, until he finally meets Rachel. Not only is she beautiful and kind; not only is she socially deft in a way that Philip, raised alone in the countryside by Ambrose, has never experienced; not only is she the only other person who seems to truly enter into Philip's grief about Ambrose; not only do all his beloved dogs adore her; also she is funny. Philip doesn't stand a chance.
Oh, and also Rachel is tragically penniless, because Ambrose never wrote her into his will, and left everything to Philip. She would, very obviously, never dream of asking Philip for anything, which of course makes everything worse.
Du Maurier, at her best, knows that nothing is more haunting than ambiguity. The shadow of Rachel-and-Ambrose, the fact that Philip can never know the truth that lies in somewhere between what Rachel says to him about Ambrose and what Ambrose has said to him about Rachel, serves as the uncertainty engine that propels the book -- and Ambrose raised Philip to be his successor in every possible way. They are each other's ghosts. It's not going to go well. Everyone, from the reader to all the neighbors, can see the approaching trainwreck, with an increasingly uncomfortably obsessed Philip driving the train. And because when Du Maurier is good she is very very good, you can't -- or at least I can't -- look away!
Rachel's one job in this book is to be a Real Human Person who is always too much and too specifically herself to be easily defined by the femme fatale outlines that the plot is always trying to trap her in; if she did not do this job well the book would not work, but fortunately she is absolutely nailing it.
We-the-readers are first introduced to the concept of Rachel through the eyes of our unreliable narrator, Philip Ashley, who himself is first introduced to the concept of Rachel through the letters of his unreliable narrator, his cousin/guardian/father-figure Ambrose. A lifelong avoider of women, Ambrose in his middle age goes on vacation to Italy, meets the half-Italian widow Rachel, flabbergasts Philip and the world by marrying her, spends almost two years sending a series of very enthusiastic letters followed by a series of increasingly worrying letters, and then unexpectedly dies after sending one last letter to Philip that includes the incredible phrase she has done for me at last, Rachel my torment.
The doctors say that Ambrose died of a hereditary brain tumor, side effects of which often include personality changes and paranoia.
Anyway, Philip has spent all this time rotating possible Rachels in his head, each more unpleasant than the last, until he finally meets Rachel. Not only is she beautiful and kind; not only is she socially deft in a way that Philip, raised alone in the countryside by Ambrose, has never experienced; not only is she the only other person who seems to truly enter into Philip's grief about Ambrose; not only do all his beloved dogs adore her; also she is funny. Philip doesn't stand a chance.
Oh, and also Rachel is tragically penniless, because Ambrose never wrote her into his will, and left everything to Philip. She would, very obviously, never dream of asking Philip for anything, which of course makes everything worse.
Du Maurier, at her best, knows that nothing is more haunting than ambiguity. The shadow of Rachel-and-Ambrose, the fact that Philip can never know the truth that lies in somewhere between what Rachel says to him about Ambrose and what Ambrose has said to him about Rachel, serves as the uncertainty engine that propels the book -- and Ambrose raised Philip to be his successor in every possible way. They are each other's ghosts. It's not going to go well. Everyone, from the reader to all the neighbors, can see the approaching trainwreck, with an increasingly uncomfortably obsessed Philip driving the train. And because when Du Maurier is good she is very very good, you can't -- or at least I can't -- look away!
Performances.
Nov. 2nd, 2026 08:54 pmhannahTwo of the last four phone booths in New York City are both within ten blocks of my apartment. I walk past them often enough I register them as part of the scenery. Today I saw one being used as something more: a filming location. The actor and the cameraman were there when I was going to the grocery store for some more canned seltzer, and they were there when I was headed back to my place. They'd started with the cameraman across the street, and then moved to close-up coverage - dropping the quarter into the slot, punching the buttons, turning the crank, all the little fiddly details of making phone booth phone calls. They shot some general coverage, too, and to make it look more authentic, the actor kept talking so it was clear his lips were moving.
He didn't exactly say, "We're shooting coverage so I'm talking so that it'll look like I'm participating in the conversation. I'm facing away from the camera so you can see the phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder," but it wasn't far off.
It was fascinating to see how the digital camera adjusted its focus, and the way it needed a battery to keep going. When they were done shooting and had a few moments, I commented that they'd kept chatting about where to shoot, how much, and how the camera kept rolling, and how if it'd been a film camera, they'd have had to figure that out ahead of time on account of the physical limits of finite film.
They asked me what I was doing - not unkindly, just curiously. I said I lived nearby, and that since I saw something interesting, I figured I'd stop and watch for a while.
He didn't exactly say, "We're shooting coverage so I'm talking so that it'll look like I'm participating in the conversation. I'm facing away from the camera so you can see the phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder," but it wasn't far off.
It was fascinating to see how the digital camera adjusted its focus, and the way it needed a battery to keep going. When they were done shooting and had a few moments, I commented that they'd kept chatting about where to shoot, how much, and how the camera kept rolling, and how if it'd been a film camera, they'd have had to figure that out ahead of time on account of the physical limits of finite film.
They asked me what I was doing - not unkindly, just curiously. I said I lived nearby, and that since I saw something interesting, I figured I'd stop and watch for a while.
FFA DW Post #2541 - People don't even really like your nipples, they're subpar nipples ...
Nov. 3rd, 2026 02:12 pmsunnymodffa in fail_fandomanonbut also: keep them open for access at all times!
These nipples are terrible. And such small portions!
What a beautiful jewel of a subthread in the middle of catching up with all the rest of this crap.
+1
may it never get caught in the foldout bit
All the
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Post #2500 / emergency AO3 downtime prompt & fill fest is OPEN. There is a prompts index and a fills index.
Halloween!
Nov. 2nd, 2026 05:12 pmtorachanI finally got all the Halloween decoration pics from the other day edited, so here we go.
( Nearly 90 pics of neighborhood decorations! )
I'm definitely going to explore that neighborhood again next year, and I'll be checking it out as we get closer to Christmas, too, to see if they go as hard for Christmas or if it's just Halloween.
( Nearly 90 pics of neighborhood decorations! )
I'm definitely going to explore that neighborhood again next year, and I'll be checking it out as we get closer to Christmas, too, to see if they go as hard for Christmas or if it's just Halloween.
Fanworks archiving poll time!
Nov. 3rd, 2026 12:23 amtrobadoraOpen to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37
Have you been posting your fanworks somewhere other than AO3?
View Answers
yes, I've been crossposting all along
9 (25.0%)
I used to, but not recently
13 (36.1%)
no, I've never crossposted AO3 works
8 (22.2%)
it's complicated (see comments)
6 (16.7%)
Are you currently (during the outage) crossposting older fanworks?
View Answers
yes, I'm on it!
7 (18.9%)
no, but I'm planning to
5 (13.5%)
no, because I already have everything crossposted
8 (21.6%)
no, I'm not crossposting
10 (27.0%)
other (see comments)
7 (18.9%)
Are you planning to crosspost your fanworks after AO3 comes back?
View Answers
yes, I'm planning to crosspost going forward
17 (45.9%)
no, I'm not planning to
5 (13.5%)
I haven't decided
10 (27.0%)
other (see comments)
5 (13.5%)
Tickybox for redundancy
View Answers
here's to redundancy and backups!
22 (62.9%)
who needs backups? live dangerously!
7 (20.0%)
extra tick for the tickybox
28 (80.0%)
Birds returning!
Nov. 2nd, 2026 04:54 pmprettyarbitrary in birdfeedingOur bird activity here is picking up. It's been low the past few weeks, for various reasons. Feeders left empty in September, we lost most of the underbrush on the property for various reasons.
But after a few weeks of consistent feeding, and the maple trees losing their leaves (I don't think the birds liked the feeling that raptors could peer down through the canopy when they didn't have shrubs to hide in but they couldn't see up very well), we're starting to see birds come back. Yay!
Next year things should be better. The honeysuckle vine had a lot of die-back this year, but it got good pruning, regular water and a new trellis, so next year we should see a lot of regrowth. And I've put in a couple of native shrubs to replace the invasive buckthorn I took out. Those'll be a couple years to grow to full size, but they'll be something in the meantime.
But after a few weeks of consistent feeding, and the maple trees losing their leaves (I don't think the birds liked the feeling that raptors could peer down through the canopy when they didn't have shrubs to hide in but they couldn't see up very well), we're starting to see birds come back. Yay!
Next year things should be better. The honeysuckle vine had a lot of die-back this year, but it got good pruning, regular water and a new trellis, so next year we should see a lot of regrowth. And I've put in a couple of native shrubs to replace the invasive buckthorn I took out. Those'll be a couple years to grow to full size, but they'll be something in the meantime.
The Tarot Trials, by Katee Robert
Nov. 2nd, 2026 01:38 pmrachelmanija
Very pretty book in person, with gorgeous sprayed edges. But why such a measly use of Tarot iconography?
This novel is basically The Hunger Games but with a Tarot card theme and in a fantasy world. Kestrel is a young woman who's the sole provider for younger siblings. They all live in the poorest of the poor section, called the Dregs, in sight of the fabulously wealthy area. The whole city is surrounded by a giant wall because supposedly there are monsters outside that eat everyone. Kestrel is dubious about that and so am I.
Kestrel's mother was one of the five winners of the Tarot Trials, where every 22 years, 22 volunteers take on the mantle of one of the Major Arcana and get related powers. They then fight each other until only five survivors are left. Those five become the Cinque and gain a moderate level of political power. (They're part of a much larger government - it's roughly equivalent to becoming a state governor in America, I think). But soon after Kestrel's mother became the Moon ("My girlfriend turned into the moon." "That's rough, buddy.") and then part of the Cinque, she supposedly went insane and was executed by Death.
Kestrel is now 22 and determined to get into the Tarot Trials to learn the truth about her mother by demanding it of Death. You get to be one of the 22 volunteers by jumping into a giant bloody melee when your chosen card is called out. Kestrel figures that the Moon is considered unlucky and no one but her will want it. Lucky for her, she's right! She just walks up and takes the role, while literally every other character can only get a place in the Trials by means of stealth, agility, skill, brutality, etc. This sums up a lot of what's wrong with this book.
I finished this book mostly because I really liked the idea of Tarot-related magic powers. The Fool can turn parts of his body into animal forms, mimicking the dog on the card only much creepier. Justice can inflict literally crippling guilt on people. The Chariot gains strength, speed, and mass as long as he keeps moving, so once he starts running, he quickly becomes a terrifying giant. There's also some interesting stuff going on with the Tarot Gods, who grant these powers but whose worship is being supplanted by the worship of elemental forces.
I also liked that this is a world where gender is entirely self-constructed. You wear a ring on your left thumb if you identify as female, right if male, and both if both/neither. At one point a character switches ring placement, and everyone just switches pronouns after a glance. (In context, this character is genderfluid, not trans; trans wouldn't really be a concept in this world because your gender inherently is whatever you say it is.) A king is she. Etc. There's also solid disability rep.
The big problem with this book isn't that worldbuilding is totally vibes-based - that's fine, vibes are fine - but that Kestrel is irritatingly naive though we're told she's street-smart, and succeeds because everyone helps her and crushes on her. I also didn't like the sassy, ultra-contemporary writing style that this and almost every other romantasy is written in. The ending was very anticlimactic.
( Read more... )
Announcements And Such
Nov. 2nd, 2026 09:11 pmsquidgestatusFirst off, a gentle reminder on a few things.
1) You may NOT post another person’s works, even with their permission. We’ve found half a dozen of these types of works, often marked as “NOT MINE, Please credit original author” and such. If you want to share someone’s work, then share it amongst your friends, but DO NOT POST to SquidgeWorld.
The only exception we’ll allow is if BOTH the poster AND the original author have SqWA accounts, and the poster posts the fic and makes the original author as one of the “owners” of the work. Then, of course, proper attribution is given, like, “Originally posted to AO3 by (oringal author) who is marked as a coauthor here.”
Otherwise, DO NOT POST.
2) Profile pictures do not work. This is intentional due to a security incident. Sorry, but no exceptions.
3) We do not allow Ko-Fi, Patreon, or other links to be added to people’s profile, nor in their works. The only exception to this rule is if you are creating works in the public domain (e.g. Bram Stroker’s novel ’Dracula’, Charles Dickens’s ’A Chrismas Carol’, works by Shakespeare). Otherwise, it jeopardizes our 501c3 non-profit status.
What you can do, if you’re one that has Patreon/Ko-Fi, etc., is you can create a space off of SquidgeWorld that has links to your support platforms, like on Tumblr or a personal webpage or the like. Then you can add in your stories, “Learn how you can support my work!” and link to that Tumblr/personal blog/etc.. But, unless it’s public domain OR original works, you cannot include links to financial-gain websites.
4) We go down every Sunday for maintenance. Usually just 2 hours, but it might take longer (we’ll plan for 3 hours total, 7am Pacific to 10am Pacific) on this older piece of hardware we’re on.
And now a happy thing to post.
Because I “ran out of spoons” and didn’t finalize Squidge’s “Hot Fic Summer” fundraiser at the end of September like I was supposed to do (hey, ::waves hands at the state of the world::) and because the AO3 incident has led to Squidge being a lot busier than normal, it’s been decided that “Hot Fic Summer” is going to extend until November 30th, 2026. This doesn’t really mean much, besides the fact that anyone who has donated at least $10 from May 2026 to the end of November (even if you gave $2 five times) will get a Hot Fic Summer sticker. And anyone who has donated at least $100 gets a Hot Fic Summer t-shirt.
More details after November 30th; we’ll contact donors by email to arrange stickers and t-shirt sizes and such. Until then, keep being awesome, and long live fandom!
1) You may NOT post another person’s works, even with their permission. We’ve found half a dozen of these types of works, often marked as “NOT MINE, Please credit original author” and such. If you want to share someone’s work, then share it amongst your friends, but DO NOT POST to SquidgeWorld.
The only exception we’ll allow is if BOTH the poster AND the original author have SqWA accounts, and the poster posts the fic and makes the original author as one of the “owners” of the work. Then, of course, proper attribution is given, like, “Originally posted to AO3 by (oringal author) who is marked as a coauthor here.”
Otherwise, DO NOT POST.
2) Profile pictures do not work. This is intentional due to a security incident. Sorry, but no exceptions.
3) We do not allow Ko-Fi, Patreon, or other links to be added to people’s profile, nor in their works. The only exception to this rule is if you are creating works in the public domain (e.g. Bram Stroker’s novel ’Dracula’, Charles Dickens’s ’A Chrismas Carol’, works by Shakespeare). Otherwise, it jeopardizes our 501c3 non-profit status.
What you can do, if you’re one that has Patreon/Ko-Fi, etc., is you can create a space off of SquidgeWorld that has links to your support platforms, like on Tumblr or a personal webpage or the like. Then you can add in your stories, “Learn how you can support my work!” and link to that Tumblr/personal blog/etc.. But, unless it’s public domain OR original works, you cannot include links to financial-gain websites.
4) We go down every Sunday for maintenance. Usually just 2 hours, but it might take longer (we’ll plan for 3 hours total, 7am Pacific to 10am Pacific) on this older piece of hardware we’re on.
And now a happy thing to post.
Because I “ran out of spoons” and didn’t finalize Squidge’s “Hot Fic Summer” fundraiser at the end of September like I was supposed to do (hey, ::waves hands at the state of the world::) and because the AO3 incident has led to Squidge being a lot busier than normal, it’s been decided that “Hot Fic Summer” is going to extend until November 30th, 2026. This doesn’t really mean much, besides the fact that anyone who has donated at least $10 from May 2026 to the end of November (even if you gave $2 five times) will get a Hot Fic Summer sticker. And anyone who has donated at least $100 gets a Hot Fic Summer t-shirt.
More details after November 30th; we’ll contact donors by email to arrange stickers and t-shirt sizes and such. Until then, keep being awesome, and long live fandom!
Write Every Day: final tally
Nov. 3rd, 2026 10:11 amchina_shopAs always, it was a great pleasure to host you all. Thanks for being delightful guests, and best of luck with your writing projects in November! The lovely folk at zwei_hexen have taken the reins now.
Here's the final tally for Write Every Day, 15th to 31st October 2026.
( Tally )
Day 30:ashelterofpages, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, glinda, goddess47, sanguinity, shippen_stand, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 31:badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, glinda, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shippen_stand, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Please let me know if I've missed you, and feel free to check in belatedly. :-)
zwei_hexen have taken the reins now.Here's the final tally for Write Every Day, 15th to 31st October 2026.
( Tally )
Day 30:
ashelterofpages, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, glinda, goddess47, sanguinity, shippen_stand, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 31:
badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, glinda, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shippen_stand, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmePlease let me know if I've missed you, and feel free to check in belatedly. :-)
The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn
Nov. 2nd, 2026 04:55 pmlightreadsThe Thirteenth House
3/5. Let’s fucking go with spoiler cutting this extended discussion of a romantasy published in 2005.
Right, so this is technically the second book, and I read the first book more than a decade ago, but whatever, it’s one of those a-couple-per-book-with-an-overarching-plot situations. Here, our fantasy realm teeters on the brink of war amongst its noble houses while hatred is stoked against the magically gifted. Thematically, all the romances here are forbidden in some way, generally because of class prejudice. Except in this one, it’s that he is married. Which is a big swing; most romance authors do not go there.
I should say, as a side bar, that this is romantasy in the sense of a fantasy that structurally centers a romance. People were definitely writing those twenty years ago, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s not a romantasy in the sense that it does not share a tone or a trope set with a lot of romantasy of the 2020’s, much of which reads to me like YA with added sex scenes. This does not read like YA and fades to black.
Anyway, Shinn goes there. And I kind of did not respect it because there were no real consequences for 90% of the book. I mean, the wife literally appeared in 1.5 scenes. But then Shinn surprised me and, in fact, by some definitions ( ”spoilers ). I mean, that was earned and appropriate. But the thing I should clarify is that ( ”more ). Woof. So then I didn’t respect that, because the real problem is that it's tonally pitched as a tragic but noble sacrifice on her part, not, you know, a hideous power trip and violation. So that was a ride. A big swing, a big WTF.
I still like this series, is the thing. The group dynamics in the found family are terrific, and it has flashes of complexity. But man. That’s a whole mood.
3/5. Let’s fucking go with spoiler cutting this extended discussion of a romantasy published in 2005.
Right, so this is technically the second book, and I read the first book more than a decade ago, but whatever, it’s one of those a-couple-per-book-with-an-overarching-plot situations. Here, our fantasy realm teeters on the brink of war amongst its noble houses while hatred is stoked against the magically gifted. Thematically, all the romances here are forbidden in some way, generally because of class prejudice. Except in this one, it’s that he is married. Which is a big swing; most romance authors do not go there.
I should say, as a side bar, that this is romantasy in the sense of a fantasy that structurally centers a romance. People were definitely writing those twenty years ago, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s not a romantasy in the sense that it does not share a tone or a trope set with a lot of romantasy of the 2020’s, much of which reads to me like YA with added sex scenes. This does not read like YA and fades to black.
Anyway, Shinn goes there. And I kind of did not respect it because there were no real consequences for 90% of the book. I mean, the wife literally appeared in 1.5 scenes. But then Shinn surprised me and, in fact, by some definitions ( ”spoilers ). I mean, that was earned and appropriate. But the thing I should clarify is that ( ”more ). Woof. So then I didn’t respect that, because the real problem is that it's tonally pitched as a tragic but noble sacrifice on her part, not, you know, a hideous power trip and violation. So that was a ride. A big swing, a big WTF.
I still like this series, is the thing. The group dynamics in the found family are terrific, and it has flashes of complexity. But man. That’s a whole mood.
maths
Nov. 2nd, 2026 02:10 pmmelannenSo I have, by the way, still been pretty deep in Project Hail Mary fanfic since May. The toughest thing about the AO3 outage is I have plenty of alternative sources of stuff to read but none for Project Hail Mary ;_; where is the PHM kinkmeme already?
I do have 40k words of wip fic though, somehow???
Anyway in the spirit of "actually post to your dreamwidth" - Project Hail Mary is an interesting fandom for me because the book is very transparently meant to be a Hard Sci-Fi Novel For People Who Want To Do The Math. The movie is not for people who want to do the math, but does a great job turning the book into a better story while still leaving it, mostly, a story you can do the math about if you want.
The thing is - hard SF that actually hangs together both as a story and as fully accurate physical science is really, really hard. Andy Weir at his best manages neither but does a good old-fashioned try at both and makes something reasonably compelling out of it, and very few authors these days even try, so I give him a lot of grace for that.
But it wasn't until I started writing fanfic for it that I realized just how hard it is. I'm poking at a story where I want them to revisit the Blip-A for emotional arc reasons; but in order to do that, I need to figure out where the Blip-A is. Not even with any precision! Just "Will it be arriving at Erid sometime this century" levels.
To answer that question I have realized I need to know how fast it's going and in what direction. You'd think this would be simple.
( Read more... )
What I have learned:
* Hard SF is in fact hard
* I now have no patience for any fics that have the Blip-A just sitting motionless in space near Tau Ceti. It was moving a significant fraction of the speed of light relative to the stellar neighborhood, and is going to get somewhere.
* In the best case scenario, where it stays on course for Keid and doesn't lose speed, it's probably going to get there well within Grace's lifetime. But I don't know if that best case scenario is plausible enough to hang a story on.
* In the worst case scenario, it either came to a dead stop somewhere between the two stars, or it got slingshot by a rogue planet in a random direction several light-years out of the galactic plane.
* I also don't know how accurate Eridian astronomers would be able to be in order to predict where it would be - would they get results anything like mine? Would their results be any good either?
* I should go back to writing the Stargate crossover which I decided runs on Stargate Science rules not PHM ones ('whatever makes the story work').
I do have 40k words of wip fic though, somehow???
Anyway in the spirit of "actually post to your dreamwidth" - Project Hail Mary is an interesting fandom for me because the book is very transparently meant to be a Hard Sci-Fi Novel For People Who Want To Do The Math. The movie is not for people who want to do the math, but does a great job turning the book into a better story while still leaving it, mostly, a story you can do the math about if you want.
The thing is - hard SF that actually hangs together both as a story and as fully accurate physical science is really, really hard. Andy Weir at his best manages neither but does a good old-fashioned try at both and makes something reasonably compelling out of it, and very few authors these days even try, so I give him a lot of grace for that.
But it wasn't until I started writing fanfic for it that I realized just how hard it is. I'm poking at a story where I want them to revisit the Blip-A for emotional arc reasons; but in order to do that, I need to figure out where the Blip-A is. Not even with any precision! Just "Will it be arriving at Erid sometime this century" levels.
To answer that question I have realized I need to know how fast it's going and in what direction. You'd think this would be simple.
( Read more... )
What I have learned:
* Hard SF is in fact hard
* I now have no patience for any fics that have the Blip-A just sitting motionless in space near Tau Ceti. It was moving a significant fraction of the speed of light relative to the stellar neighborhood, and is going to get somewhere.
* In the best case scenario, where it stays on course for Keid and doesn't lose speed, it's probably going to get there well within Grace's lifetime. But I don't know if that best case scenario is plausible enough to hang a story on.
* In the worst case scenario, it either came to a dead stop somewhere between the two stars, or it got slingshot by a rogue planet in a random direction several light-years out of the galactic plane.
* I also don't know how accurate Eridian astronomers would be able to be in order to predict where it would be - would they get results anything like mine? Would their results be any good either?
* I should go back to writing the Stargate crossover which I decided runs on Stargate Science rules not PHM ones ('whatever makes the story work').
Various Fic Not on AO3 Things (ordered from bad to fun)
Nov. 2nd, 2026 12:35 pmmuccamukk- There's a site called ao3.live that has copied a bunch of shit and is trying to sell it. More details on tumblr or on this tumblr, and a script for what to say if you want to email the domain host. OTW legal says not to contact AO3.life itself; I guess their lawyers are handling it, and don't want any chaff. Do what you will with the slightly conflicting information above. I plan to take no action of any kind, and hope it goes away.
ETA: Ding dong, the witch is dead. Carry with your life. - I'm pretty meh on the gdrives of fic that are getting passed around since
- Google probably scans everything into its LLM, even if they say they don't.
- A lot of people have user statements asking for their works not to be copied to other sites, and yet...
- It seems to sever the connection between creator and reader, which I thought was the whole point of fandom? Like... our community should mean more than needing to read fanfic this very minute? And I know life is really rough, and fic is an escape for a lot of us, but still, people are writing it out of love, as a gift to the community.
- However, in absence of AO3, people are running fun events! Yay!
![[bsky.social profile]](https://web-cdn.bsky.app/static/favicon-16x16.png)
lilfandomcal.bsky.social is keeping track of new events.- ao3_isdown: is hosting a prompt fest with a 1k min.
- fancake is hosting recs on the theme of No AO3 November.
- girlsavesboyfic is running a ficathon on the theme of Girls Saving Boys.
- Sunset Archive hosts works about sapphic and non-binary relationships. I think their queue might be closed? But lots of people have work posted there.
- saiditallbefore is hosting a femslash drabble-a-thon.
- satsuma has made a list of archives!
- There's a bunch more I'm missing. People are having fun!