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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-11 02:26 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged



Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles, tabletop roleplaying games of perilous fantasy, space opera, and seafaring adventure by Tomkin Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged
Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books ([syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed) wrote2025-08-11 03:30 pm

Sonali Dev, Fantasy, & More

Posted by Amanda

The Ruin of a Rake

GUEST RECOMMENDED: The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian is $1.99! We had a guest review of this one from Heather Morris and they gave it an A-:

That quibble aside, there are so many things little things that I loved. Platonic male-female friendship. Sharpshooting and fake duels. Seduction-by-bookkeeping. A frankly excessive amount of kittens.

Rogue. Libertine. Rake. Lord Courtenay has been called many things and has never much cared. But after the publication of a salacious novel supposedly based on his exploits, he finds himself shunned from society. Unable to see his nephew, he is willing to do anything to improve his reputation, even if that means spending time with the most proper man in London.

Julian Medlock has spent years becoming the epitome of correct behavior. As far as he cares, if Courtenay finds himself in hot water, it’s his own fault for behaving so badly—and being so blasted irresistible. But when Julian’s sister asks him to rehabilitate Courtenay’s image, Julian is forced to spend time with the man he loathes—and lusts after—most.

As Courtenay begins to yearn for a love he fears he doesn’t deserve, Julian starts to understand how desire can drive a man to abandon all sense of propriety. But he has secrets he’s determined to keep, because if the truth came out, it would ruin everyone he loves. Together, they must decide what they’re willing to risk for love.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

There’s Something About Mira

There’s Something About Mira by Sonali Dev is $1.99 on Amazon! I believe this is Dev’s latest release and features main characters who are trying to track down the owner of a ring.

From USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev comes the heartfelt story of a woman determined to reunite a lost ring with its owner, who ends up finding herself along the way.

Mira Salvi has the perfect life—a job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she’s always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn’t a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone.

While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.

As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason…right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn’t been written yet either.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

A Duke in the Rough

A Duke in the Rough by Trisha Messmer is $2.49! This is book one in a historical romance series and features a new duke hiding his identity.

How can a newly minted duke escape title-seeking debutantes? Lie, of course!

Lady Honoria Bell never recovered from her broken heart. Fending off suitors her marquess father forces in her path, she’s put aside hopes of marriage. However, word of a house party hosted by the new, eligible Duke of Burwood brings a renewed gleam to her father’s eye. But regardless of the new duke’s appeal, Honoria knows he won’t fill the void Drake Merrick left.

If there’s one thing Drake Merrick knows, it’s that aristocratic women care more about a title than they do love. Losing the love of his life because he was a lowly groom proved it. So, when a twist of fate makes him the new Duke of Burwood, he’s determined to choose a bride who wants him—not his title.

Switching places with his man of business seems like the perfect plan to test the affections of eager debutantes. Until it backfires the moment Honoria arrives, and he realizes his heart will always be irrevocably hers.

But will his deception allow her to prove her love? Or will his lies destroy it?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Rook

RECOMMENDED: The Rook by Daniel O’Malley $2.99! Carrie loves the series, especially the sequel Stiletto. It’s urban fantasy set in London with a badass cast of characters. But some found the book to have a lot of info-dumping. Have you read The Rook?

“The body you are wearing used to be mine.” So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

resonant: Ray Kowalski (Due South) (Default)
resonant ([personal profile] resonant) wrote2025-08-11 10:51 am
Entry tags:

Fic anniversary

It was on August 11, 1999, that I (terrified, heart pounding, with a newly chosen pseudonym that I wasn't even quite sure I liked) hit Send on the message that put a Sentinel PWP called "Anoint" out on the SXF mailing list.

(This is really not meant to encourage anybody to go read that story, because I put it on AO3 for what felt like historical reasons, but I do not in any way think it's GOOD.)

I'm still happy to be here.[waves at old and new friends]
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-11 11:18 am
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Clarke Award Finalists 2009

2009: The Horrible Histories TV show debuts, Britons are treated to a Giles-worthy winter, and police decline to investigate the cash for influence incident so that they might better focus on the custard-tossing scandal rocking the nation.

Poll #33480 Clarke Award Finalists 2009
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31


Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
1 (3.2%)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
26 (83.9%)

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
9 (29.0%)

Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
0 (0.0%)

The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
6 (19.4%)

The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
7 (22.6%)



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley


With an * on the McAuley because it was too grim and I didn't finish it.
Cake Wrecks ([syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed) wrote2025-08-11 01:00 pm

International Incidents

Posted by john (the hubby of Jen)

What do you get when you go into a Mexican bakery, where they speak English, and ask them - in Spanish - to write "Happy Birthday" in English?

I mean, besides confused.

You get this:

Which, if I remember my 1st grade Spanish, means "The Happy Complaining Eagles."

Wait.

I took French.

[Googling]

Ah. "Happy Birthday English!" I guess that does make more sense.

 

Or...

What do you get when you go into a Chinese bakery and ask them to write "Congratulations Ian!" in both English and Chinese?

You get some reeeally enthusiastic “Englrsh chunese”, that's what.

 

Hey, I'm actually starting to feel a bit better about U.S. bakeries! Maybe we're not the only wreckerators out there. Maybe there are places even worse off in the wreckage department!

Never mind. Feeling's gone.

 

Thanks to our wrecky ambassadors Chris L., Mary S., and Kendra P. for fostering international unity. In wrecks.

*****

P.S. Here's a (hilarious) reminder that English is almost as confusing as these cakes:

P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books ([syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed) wrote2025-08-11 06:00 am

Cover Snark: How Do Legs Work? (Diagrams Included)

Posted by Amanda

Welcome back to Cover Snark!

Love the Duke by Amelia Grey. A historical cover. A man and woman are in a parlor. The man has blond hair and his navy coat is slight open to reveal his chest. He's behind a blonde woman in a blue dress, who appears to be squeezing her legs together.

Amanda: Does she have to pee?

Claudia: Yes! Also, his left pant leg is missing?

Sarah: Why is the perspective weird? Their legs look so short and their heads are so large?

Okay taking another look, I think the angle of her hip looks too low.

So it looks like her legs are short and her midsection is bizarro long, and her head is sized correctly, just looks out of whack with the leg.

Sarah: So frame one is where her hips likely are, and frame two is where it looks like her hips are because of her leg position.

Elyse: That’s like the walk you do when your period gushed and you’re trying to get to the potty without spillage.

Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West. A bright green illustrated cover with the title and author name in what resembles crime scene tape. Each of the characters are displayed in four boxes. Top left is a white woman with red hair pulled into a ponytail and holding a hand weight. Top woman is a white woman with curly blonde hair. She has on bright red lipstick and is winking. Bottom right is a Black woman with gray hair and glasses. She's looping upward and holding a gavel. Bottom left is a white woman with a blue bob sticking her tongue out at her phone.

Sarah: COME ON. YOU’RE NOT EVEN TRYING.

Tara: This is so bad it might actually be…perfect?

Sarah: It reminds me so much of 2010s web design when folks were going for an 80s aesthetic updated.

Tara: It also feels like one of those “which mood are you?” memes. Yesterday I was a bottom right, but today I’m a bottom left.

Sarah: Oh my gosh you are RIGHT.

A continuation from last Snark’s Hanover Square romance:

Pall Mall Peer by Annabelle Anders. A headless woman in a green dress sits on a brown horse. A blond man in a green waistcoat stands nearby, holding the woman's calf.

From Susie: Do all these heroes in this series have a Leg Thing? I mean, no shame, but that last one is giving me pause. Like even that horse is offended.

Sarah: She’s not really on that horse, is she?

Elyse: The horse is like “WTF. Why am I involved in this?”

She is floating in the air next to that horse.

Amanda: Pall Mall like in the cigarettes?

Fleet Street Scoundrel by Annabelle Anders. A room with a purple chaise and a lit fireplace. A headless woman in a purple dress stands in front of the chaise. A man in an open white linen shirt sits on the floor. He's wearing glasses and has his arm wrapped around the woman's knee.

Sarah: OH MY GOOD GOD HOLY HELL

Y’all are not going to believe this one.

LOOK at that fucking guy.

Elyse: How long is her upper leg? How is her knee attached? What in the orthopedic hell is happening here?

How. Just how.

Sarah: this is going to be a “trying to figure out how legs work’ cover snark

The outward curve of purple fabric near or at her hip is disorienting.

Elyse: Maybe she has backwards knees like the horse her sister is inexplicably floating next to it.

Bond Street Bachelor by Annabelle Anders. A man with dark hair and a light beard in black jacket, silver waistcoat, and white ascot, walks along a dimly lit street. A woman is in a teal dress is tossed over his shoulder. We just see her butt and legs.

Sarah: All these folks have leg fetishes. Or specifically behind-the-knee fetishes.

Elyse: Has this artist not actually seen a human leg before?

Sarah: The over-the-shoulder, fondling the back of her knee cover is giving me SO MUCH ICK.

Kiki: Is she even conscious?!

Amanda: Well, I admire the consistency.

 

conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-08-12 02:23 pm

A few unrelated questions

(Some of which I may have asked before, in which case, forgive me.)

1. People often do say that the English subjunctive is in decline. However, literally nobody I've ever heard say this has provided any sort of evidence. Is there any data on this other than "yeah, feels that way to me"?

1a. I've also heard that the subjunctive, or at least some forms of the subjunctive, is more common in USA English than UK English, from somewhat more authoritative sources but with roughly the same amount of evidence.

2. I got into it with somebody on the subject of "flammable/inflammable". I am aware that there are signs that warn about inflammable materials, and also signs warning about flammable materials. Is it actually the case that anybody has ever been confused and thought they were being warned that something could not catch on fire? Or is that just an urban legend / just-so story to explain why the two words mean the same thing and can be found on the same sorts of signs?

3. Not a language question! I've recently found one of the Myth Adventures books in my house. Gosh, I haven't re-read these in 20 years. Worth a re-read, or oh god no, save it for the recycle bin?

*****************************


Read more... )
rarepairmod: (Default)
Rare 🍐 Exchange ([personal profile] rarepairmod) wrote in [community profile] rarepairexchange2025-08-11 02:00 pm

Nominations for 2025 are closed! 🥳

Nominations are closed! I will be working through the remaining nominations that have yet to be reviewed. I do not have any plans on posting another query post, although I will if I have any questions.

A huge thank you to the tagmods for helping me tackle our massive nominations dashboard! We have over 3,000 nominations and I would not have been able to climb that mountain as quickly as I did without you. You have been a tremendous help. ♥

*

In the meantime, please have a look at the tagset, specifically what you're interested in requesting and offering, and let me know if you see any errors such as duplicates or strange typos by Tuesday 12 August at 11:59pm EDT. [ In your timezone. ] The tagset will be finalised by this time and will not be changing for any edit requests.

When flagging errors, please provide the fandom and the nomination as it sits in the tagset so I can easily find them! Thank you to everyone who has already flagged duplicates and errors!

Sign-ups will open on Wednesday 13 August, time unspecified. Please be aware that Tuesday 12 August at 11:59pm EDT. [ In your timezone. ] is the deadline for 2024's participants to have commented on their gifts from that round. Here is a handy link for the 2024 collection. (If your nominations are fine, perhaps have a look around at our previous collections and comment on some of the gifts! We have fantastic works in our collections!)


*

Thoughts on fandom
Fantastic Four (2025) vs Marvel Cinematic Universe
I have several nominations for Fantastic Four: First Steps characters, but we have them split across MCU and FF:FS in the nominations dashboard. Did the nominators—or those who are interested in requesting/offering—oppose me placing them under "Fantastic Four (2025)"? I know that this movie is technically in the MCU, but as it takes place on another Earth, I'm considering accepting it as a different "continuity" to the other MCU relationships.

All the nominations that have been submitted for this sub-fandom are approved, even though, at the publishing of this post, I have not officially approved them yet. I just need to know where to put them.


*

Rejected nominations
If you oppose a rejection because it's eligible or I've made a mistake (it happens—I have been hit with AO3's "Retry Later" and "You're clicking too quickly" messages repeatedly over the last 48 hours that has reset my progress when approving nominations 😫), please let me know before 11:59pm on Tuesday 12 August so these nominations can be reinstated into the tagset.

These nominations were rejected during the last round of nomination review:

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood (HP) - Over 250 works.

due South
Benton Fraser/Margaret Thatcher - Over 250 works.

Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield (Stranger Things) - Over 250 works.
Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair (Strainger Things) - Over 250 works.

Quantum Leap (TV 1989)
Sam Beckett/Al Calavicci - Over 250 works.


Thank you!
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-10 10:18 pm
Entry tags:

Congratulations to the 2025 Aurora Award Winners!

The winners are:

Best Novel: The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed, Solaris
Best YA Novel: Heavenly Tyrant, Xiran Jay Zhao, Tundra Books
Best Novelette/Novella: The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed, Tordotcom
Best Short Story: “Blood and Desert Dreams“, Y.M. Pang, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 408
Best Graphic Novel: Star Trek Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio, IDW Publishing
Best Poem/Song “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka“, Y.M. Pang, Invitation: A One-shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction
Best Related Work: Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two
Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press
Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration: Augur Magazine, Issue 7.1, cover art, Martine Nguyen
Best Fan Writing and Publication: SF&F Book Reviews, Robert Runté, Ottawa Review of Books
Best Fan Related Work: murmurstations, Sonia Urlando, Augur Society, podcast
aurumcalendula: the titular station from Deep Space Nine (DS9 station)
AurumCalendula ([personal profile] aurumcalendula) wrote2025-08-10 07:25 pm
Entry tags:

Star Trek Meme

(snagged from [personal profile] colls' post)

Read more... )
loganberrybunny: Drawing of my lapine character's face by Eliki (Default)
loganberrybunny ([personal profile] loganberrybunny) wrote2025-08-10 11:32 pm
Entry tags:

Into the woods

Public

Octagonal structures, Wyre Forest, 10th August 2025
191/365: Industrial remnants, Wyre Forest
Click for a larger, sharper image

I had a quiet Sunday, which was fine by me, but I did go for a fairly long walk in the afternoon. This took me off the beaten track in the Wyre Forest -- although there were footpaths, I met one person (and his quiet dog) in at least half an hour, and this on a dry Sunday in August. Anyway, I went looking for structures I remembered from several years ago, and happily I found them. These are almost certainly relics of the once-significant charcoal burning industry in the forest, which survived into the early 20th century. The flat light makes it hard to see, but there's a second octagonal, brick-sided structure behind the main one. Perhaps they were part of small kilns, or perhaps they held pools to wash charcoal. I don't know.
dorchadas: (FFX-2 Yuna Gravity Release Me)
dorchadas ([personal profile] dorchadas) wrote2025-08-10 11:40 am

Stressed about stress tests

More spontaneous restarts with WHEA errors (could be caused by...a ton of things).

So I'm sitting here running some diagnostics and seeing if I can fix the problem. Hopefully I don't need a new computer.
dorchadas: (Sawa-chan headbanging)
dorchadas ([personal profile] dorchadas) wrote2025-08-08 11:20 am

Wamono: the Art of Japanese Rare Groove

[instagram.com profile] sashagee and I went out to an event!

2025-08-07 - Wamono Splash image

Ever since Murasaki closed last year, I've been glad that I got a chance to take [instagram.com profile] sashagee there to see Van Paugam spin one of his sets before the end, and I've been on the lookout for more chances to see him. The people at the Anime Club mentioned this event, hosted by the Japanese Cultural Center in Kamehachi, the first sushi bar in Chicago, so I got tickets, yesterday morning [instagram.com profile] sashagee drove Laila out to spend some time at the grandparents--not a problem, Laila has been clamoring to see grandma and grandpa basically all week--and in the evening we got on the L and headed down to Kamehachi. The hostess saw how we were dressed and immediately asked us if we were there for the event and then ushered us upstairs.

The music schedule was Japanese vinyl from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and we arrived during the 70s section, took our bentō and out complimentary drinks, and sat down on one of the high tables.

It was a lot of fun! [instagram.com profile] sashagee, inveterate gacha fan that she is, bought a mystery box and then when Van Paugam offered another mystery box to the couple with the best dancing, we went out on to the dance floor and won the box! We got a lot of dancing in--though not as much as one guy, who spent basically the entire evening on the dance floor even when he was the only one there--[instagram.com profile] sashagee got to hear her favorite city pop song, Mayonaka no Door -stay with me, when the Hits section came on at the very end, and we chatted with people and had a lovely time. They even promised to do another event, though since we were in the slightly closed-in upstairs of Kamehachi and it was kind of hot, Van Paugam mentioned it would probably not be until next year to avoid the heat from causing any more problems.

I need to keep better tabs on his sets. The only problem is that they're mostly only announced a short time beforehand, and having Laila means we can't exactly drop anything and head out on a moment's notice. But right now we almost never get a date night, and that's definitely not helping things. It'll be better when Laila's speech is better, because right now [instagram.com profile] sashagee is worried that if we got a babysitter and something happened, Laila wouldn't be able to tell us what was wrong. So we need to wait a few months and see if her speech improves, and then we can re-evaluate.
pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
pauraque ([personal profile] pauraque) wrote2025-08-10 11:08 am

Wheel of Fortune (1987)

I have a running list of games I remember from my childhood that I add to whenever I think of one. I always think there can't possibly be any more game memories to unearth, and I'm always wrong. For this one I blame/credit [personal profile] zorealis, who brought it up during one of our regular nostalgia rambles.

Wheel of Fortune is a letter-guessing game based on the long-running US game show. It's like Hangman, or if the kids don't play Hangman anymore then it's like Wordle. The added strategy element is that before you guess a letter you have to spin the wheel to determine how many points your guess will be worth if it's right. The wheel also features bad outcomes like skipping your turn or losing all your points.

vanna white gestures to an unfinished puzzle TH_ P___T_D D_S_RT

This DOS version of the game is very easy and probably aimed at children. You can play hotseat multiplayer, otherwise the game provides NPC opponents who don't exactly pass the Turing Test; I found it difficult to lose to them even when I tried. They'd cheerfully guess Q or Z for no reason, even while R and T were still sitting there like so many low-hanging consonant fruits. Poor pixel Vanna White always kept a professional smile on her face as she clapped encouragingly for each spin of the wheel, but I know she was secretly judging us, languishing in her pixel heels as she waited for someone to guess a right letter so she could awkwardly shuffle over there and turn it already, for God's sake.

The reason I was trying to let them win was that I was curious what would happen. When a human player wins, they get to do a solo bonus round. Would it make me sit through the computer doing it too?

Let's find out )

I don't think I played this game very much as a kid. Even in 1987 there were more engaging options. But if you're like me and have been holding onto memories of it in some dusty disused corner of your hippocampus, you can play Wheel of Fortune in your browser.