2026 February questions meme.

Feb. 3rd, 2026 11:26 pm
pattrose: (Default)
[personal profile] pattrose
4. How old is the oldest book you own?

I have Ten of a large series by Dell Shannon. (this author is a woman) They are cop mysteries. I just love them. They are from the 60s so they are dated but still good reading. Wonderful case driven stories. I fell in love with the entire station house. Each book was like watching a great episode on tv. Then I have a set of ten by Ed McBain. It was another series that I loved. They were written in the 60s also. Gosh I was young when I got those books. The next set were from țhe 70s and 80s. His name is Lawrence Sanders. He's my favorite by far.
The First Deadly Sin. (1973)
The Second Deadly Sin (1977)
The Third Deadly Sin (1981)
The Fourth Deadly Sin (1985)
The Sixth Commandment (1978)
The Tenth Commandment (1980)
The Eighth Commandment (1986)
The Seventh Commandment (1980)
I own some cook books that are from the 50s and the 60s. I save books for a long, long time.

How about you? How old are your oldest books?

2026 60 questions meme

Feb. 3rd, 2026 11:09 pm
pattrose: (Default)
[personal profile] pattrose
Write about an act of kindness that someone did for you that took you by surprise.

For our 55th anniversary, hubby took me out for dinner and told me he got tickets for a cruise to Greece. What a shock. I always wanted to go. My father was Greek and always wanted to go but never got around to it. So, hubby thought it would be nice if my dad could see it through our eyes. My dad died 14 years ago. It was sweet and loving that hubby did that. And hubby made it a wonderful trip. We've been so blessed.

Time out

Feb. 4th, 2026 05:26 am
vriddy: Two cups of coffee on a tray (friendship)
[personal profile] vriddy

Going on a Discord time-out for a few days (longer would probably be better, but let's start where we can). My skull feels like a hedgehog turned inside out with all the spikes drilling into my brain lately, and synchronous conversations (or even just the possibility of it) are like electric shocks running up and down the spikes.

I don't know why I'm always working so hard to find metaphors that probably only make sense to me. "And today's headache is... drilling into my brain through the temple! ...cerebellum massage with boxing gloves...!"

....I actually didn't know this bit was called cerebellum hahaha I thought it was the amygdala. Nothing like looking at diagrams of brain slices in the morning.

I wanted to post a book rec so it's not all eldritch hedgehogs and brains, but the BuJo with the rec I was thinking of is out of reach... Hm. Here are a couple of other books I enjoyed more recently though!

  • August Kitko and the mechas from space, by Alex White. With its bright pink cover, you know it's going to be as crazy as the title suggest, and it was a ton of fun! With mechas! From space!! Haha. Crack treated seriously at its finest. Fun premise, set a few hundreds years in the future, and written so well. Loved that one of the MCs was a bisexual dude and the second MC/love interest is nb with they/them pronouns. Not plot relevant, it just is. Great space opera overall.
  • A Darker Shade of Magic, by VE Schwab, which I got from a rec here (I mean I get like 90% of my book recs from my Dreamwidth reading page at this point I believe :D Thank you all!). Wonderful worldbuilding, wonderful writing, great characters. Great concepts, used really well. The kind of books that makes me want to write. I'm impatiently waiting for my library hold on the second one to be released!!

To quieter brains and asynchronous conversations! \o/ Please be patient with me if you expect a reply from me on discord. Or Dreamwidth, for that matter. My inbox is not quite empty yet but I'll get there, in time :D <3

in the files

Feb. 3rd, 2026 09:06 pm
calimac: (Default)
[personal profile] calimac
John Scalzi found himself in the Epstein files. (It was a reference to his "Lowest Difficulty Setting" essay in an article included there.)

It occurred to me to look up Tolkien, because I'm historically beholden to look up Tolkien in everything. And besides a couple of references in clippings included there, he's quoted in an e-mail sent to "undisclosed recipients" by someone named Will Ford. I don't know who that is; probably not William Clay Ford Jr. of the eponymous motor company, as according to Wikipedia he's called Bill, not Will.

Anyway, it's from a daily "tidbits & quotes" e-mail, and among the entries is: "The road goes ever on and on..." - J.R.R. Tolkien. Probably one of his better-known lines (the poem it comes from has been set to music an amazing number of times), but what it means in this context I can't say.

Talking Meme Month - day 3

Feb. 3rd, 2026 09:02 pm
hafnia: Animated drawing of a flickering fire with a pair of eyes peeping out of it, from the film Howl's Moving Castle. (Default)
[personal profile] hafnia
(For all the questions, or to submit one of your own, the post is here ♥ )

Favorite song of the moment?

I do appreciate that it's "of the moment", ha. :D

There's a few — we'll go with different genres!

1). The weird: "Ants in My Room", Carter Vail.

You'll be fine, my baby
Oh, you've got to trust me
It'll all work out in the end, just maybe
You'll be fine, my baby
Oh, you've got to trust me
It'll all work out, 'cause
No onе's gonna love you like


It's weird, it's incredibly fucking catchy, it's great, I...don't know what else there is to say? Max made me listen to it on Friday and I love it.

2). What people probably expect from me: "Votive", the New Pornographers.

My hands are cupped around a match
I'm just trying to keep the lights on


That...feels familiar. To say the least.

3). Old but still good: Blood in My Mouth, Djrum

That cello opening is so good. The music layered over ambient noise — the result is this really weird, wistful soundscape. The fact that the only words we get are at the very end is also choice. I've had this album in particular on repeat a lot while writing lately. ♥
cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
Our beloved problematic author, Flavius Josephus, with the wild plot twist in the middle! Is anyone still interested in doing this thing?

I have the Oxford World Classics edition; I looked around and I liked this translation, and it's got copious footnotes. Each "book" is a little less than 100 pages on my kindle, and I think I can probably read about 50 pages every week (we can see how it goes and whether I can go faster or must go slower), so I propose dividing the first "book" into two, and reading half one week and half the next. (I did read the intro this past week, but I'm not sure how much I got out of it.) [personal profile] selenak, would you be able to find a good dividing point of that first book? My goal would be to post every weekend (probably on Sunday, but depending on time) on the reading thereof.

I also feel I should open up this post for general classics discussion if anyone wants it. Depending on how my reading goes I also reserve the right in this post to review whatever other random classics-related or modern-historical-novels-set-in-the-time-of-the-classics reading I do.

Fig (2011 - 2026)

Feb. 3rd, 2026 11:45 pm
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


I just got email from Fig's owner that Fig (who I owned from 2012 to 2017) passed away this evening. Cause unknown. My impression is Fig just didn't wake up.

a very nerdy flex

Feb. 3rd, 2026 09:57 pm
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)
[personal profile] seekingferret
a Hugo Award for Best Novel meme

Bold if you've read it

2025 The Tainted Cup Robert Jackson Bennett
2024 Some Desperate Glory Emily Tesh
2023 Nettle & Bone T. Kingfisher
2022 A Desolation Called Peace Arkady Martine
2021 Network Effect Martha Wells
2020 A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine
2019 The Calculating Stars Mary Robinette Kowal
2018 The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin
2017 The Obelisk Gate N. K. Jemisin
2016 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin
2015 The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
2014 Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie
2013 Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas John Scalzi
2012 Among Others Jo Walton
2011 Blackout/All Clear Connie Willis
2010 The City & the City China Mi�ville
2010 The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi
2009 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman
2008 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon
2007 Rainbows End Vernor Vinge
2006 Spin Robert Charles Wilson
2005 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke
2004 Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold
2003 Hominids Robert J. Sawyer
2002 American Gods Neil Gaiman
2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling
2000 A Deepness in the Sky Vernor Vinge
1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog Connie Willis
1998 Forever Peace Joe Haldeman
1997 Blue Mars Kim Stanley Robinson
1996 The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson
1995 Mirror Dance Lois McMaster Bujold
1994 Green Mars Kim Stanley Robinson
1993 A Fire Upon the Deep Vernor Vinge
1993 Doomsday Book Connie Willis
1992 Barrayar Lois McMaster Bujold
1991 The Vor Game Lois McMaster Bujold
1990 Hyperion Dan Simmons
1989 Cyteen C. J. Cherryh
1988 The Uplift War David Brin
1987 Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card
1986 Ender's Game Orson Scott Card
1985 Neuromancer William Gibson
1984 Startide Rising David Brin
1983 Foundation's Edge Isaac Asimov
1982 Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh
1981 The Snow Queen Joan D. Vinge
1980 The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C. Clarke
1979 Dreamsnake Vonda N. McIntyre
1978 Gateway Frederik Pohl
1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm
1976 The Forever War Joe Haldeman
1975 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin
1974 Rendezvous with Rama Arthur C. Clarke
1973 The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov
1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip Jose Farmer
1971 Ringworld Larry Niven
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner
1968 Lord of Light Roger Zelazny
1967 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein
1966 Dune Frank Herbert
1966 This Immortal Roger Zelazny
1965 The Wanderer Fritz Leiber
1964 Way Station Clifford D. Simak
1963 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick
1962 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller, Jr.
1960 Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein
1959 A Case of Conscience James Blish
1958 The Big Time Fritz Leiber
1956 Double Star Robert A. Heinlein
1955 They'd Rather Be Right Mark Clifton & Frank Riley
1953 The Demolished Man Alfred Bester

(no subject)

Feb. 4th, 2026 01:48 am
beccaelizabeth: my Watcher tattoo in blue, plus Be in red Buffy style font (Default)
[personal profile] beccaelizabeth
Two more episodes of Constantine, before and after midnight, and I know I am going to be watching these again for details, but not in a plot way. John remains fascinating, everything else remains mostly okay with a side of horror only mentions the evil bits and is therefore bad with race.

I do like the recurring bit where John hands out his business cards and they're like deeply skeptical of the 'master of the dark arts' bit. Like okay, exorcism and demons, but they look at him and are not going to believe he has a BA, or possibly even a high school diploma.

I quite liked 'Jackass of all trades' as a description. Because how he does magic is going to piss off literally every tradition and they're right to call him on it, but also, he's right to say it works. Appropriation vs asking what it's all actually for.

John is fascinating and sympathetic and clearly not always right, and I like that in a story. Enough of a bastard to make more work for himself, arrogant and bad at listening but he tries when prompted, and so sure it has to be him that does the work, because who else is there? Only he keeps asking.

Legends is one answer, ish.

I want to see how this story plays out and the episode count isn't giving me optimism on that, but I'm not even reading the episode descriptions so I shall find out as I watch.


Tumblr has provided me many stills of John's tattoos but delightfully there are even more opportunities to see them.

Is good to watch so far.

Slow Gods by Claire North

Feb. 3rd, 2026 07:46 pm
lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
[personal profile] lightreads
Slow Gods

3/5. Science fiction about a guy who grows up in and gets crushed by a kleptocratic fascist state, and how he is transformed, and what happens when an alien arrives to tell the scattered worlds of humanity that a supernova is about to wipe half of them out.

Interesting. Lots of things to say here. First, to be clear, you won’t ever catch me arguing that North isn’t a talented and unusual writer. She’s a good stylist, too. This book is science fiction in set dressing, but that’s wrapped around an eldritch and fantastical core that she is too smart to ruin by explaining or caging. I won’t spoil it more than to say that a lesser writer would have made this book about the protagonist’s attempts to understand the weird and creepy thing that happened to him. Instead, the reader understands that, mostly implicitly, and the book can go on about its business of being about immigration and politics and cultural preservation and assimilation.

Also, this is a book about autism. An autism metaphor, specifically. North has said this was a result of her own recent diagnosis, and I’m not in the business of critiquing how a person processes that in fiction. I will say that I would be critiquing the substance of it if this were not own voices, because I think parts of the portrayal (the equivalent to autism meltdowns, in particular) lean into a kind of scary stereotype of the violently uncontrolled autistic person. But because it is own voices, I’ll sit here and defend North’s right to process as she sees fit, even if that means grappling with some stereotypes in a messy way that didn’t land, at least for me.

All in all it’s an interesting book and I’m glad I read it.

Content notes: Fascist hellscapes – debt slavery, violence, imprisonment, medical experimentation, mass death and genocide through negligence.
thisbluespirit: (winslow boy)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
In the midst of writing five ways Sir Robert and Catherine could have got together post-canon for [community profile] yuletide, the inevitable result was also thinking about what if they were just married already. And I hadn't yet actually written them for [community profile] 100ships or TWB for [community profile] 100fandoms, so I scribbled this down somewhere in between or after the assignment, and here it is.

when all the leaves are gold (1497 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow
Additional Tags: Community: 100ships, Community: 100fandoms, Community: allbingo, Post-Canon, Edwardian Period, Marriage, Suffragettes, World War I, (outbreak of), Vignette, Happily married Sir Robert and Catherine, Established Relationship, 1910s
Summary: Catherine and Sir Robert, making a marriage work.


([personal profile] edwardianspinsteraunt, the second section centres around the imminent announcement of WWI and fears in that regard, but only discussions of it, and the first section is entirely war-free anyway, so you are definitely safe there.)

Things learned in January

Feb. 3rd, 2026 09:34 pm
tinny: Something Else holding up its colorful drawing - "be different" (Default)
[personal profile] tinny
There's not much and I'm not surprised. But I am sticking with this until I am more awake again and my ability to write down (and hopefully remember) things will be better again. It's marginally better than the eight things I had in December.

10 (+2 related) things I learned in January )

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