Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold (Abeni’s Song, volume 2) by P. Djèlí Clark
Dec. 19th, 2025 06:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
In which history long forgotten is recovered.
Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold (Abeni’s Song, volume 2) by P. Djèlí Clark
james_davis_nicollIn which history long forgotten is recovered.
Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold (Abeni’s Song, volume 2) by P. Djèlí Clark
Follow Friday 12-19-25
Dec. 19th, 2025 03:52 amysabetwordsmith posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
followfridayGot any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).
Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".
Wine Tasting at J. Lohr
Dec. 18th, 2025 09:32 pmcanyonwalkerThis past Saturday I went wine tasting with my friend Anthony at two nearby wineries. One, I already wrote about. That was Byington Winery, up in the mountains above San Jose. For our next stop we drove back down into Silicon Valley to visit J. Lohr Winery, in San Jose's Rose Garden neighborhood.
J. Lohr, like Byington for that matter, is a winery I've visited before. But my previous visit to their San Jose tasting room was 10 years ago! Things have changed a bit since then. Oh, the winery and tasting room are in the same place, but now they charge for tasting. (Free tastings are a thing of the past.) $25 for the cheap one, $50 for the reserve wines. Anthony and I both picked the cheaper flight as it looked more interesting. The reserve was all Cabs.
We sat down at a table— the tasting room being reconfigured for tables instead of standing at the bar is another thing they've changed in 10 years— and chatted amiably over a flight of 5 glasses of wine. The pours were more generous here than at Byington. That wasn't really a selling point, though, as I poured out the last bit of almost every wine instead of finishing the glasses.
"Oh, that's what these buckets are for!" Anthony exclaimed. Technically they're called spit buckets, because professional tasters spit out wine after tasting it so as not to get intoxicated, but I just poured out the excess from my glass.
Anthony wasn't impressed by the wines, either. "We visited these wineries in the wrong order," he quipped. J. Lohr's wines were soft and honestly kind of bland after the rich wines we both enjoyed up the hill at Byington. We finished our tastings, paid, and left without buying any bottles.
J. Lohr, like Byington for that matter, is a winery I've visited before. But my previous visit to their San Jose tasting room was 10 years ago! Things have changed a bit since then. Oh, the winery and tasting room are in the same place, but now they charge for tasting. (Free tastings are a thing of the past.) $25 for the cheap one, $50 for the reserve wines. Anthony and I both picked the cheaper flight as it looked more interesting. The reserve was all Cabs.
We sat down at a table— the tasting room being reconfigured for tables instead of standing at the bar is another thing they've changed in 10 years— and chatted amiably over a flight of 5 glasses of wine. The pours were more generous here than at Byington. That wasn't really a selling point, though, as I poured out the last bit of almost every wine instead of finishing the glasses.
"Oh, that's what these buckets are for!" Anthony exclaimed. Technically they're called spit buckets, because professional tasters spit out wine after tasting it so as not to get intoxicated, but I just poured out the excess from my glass.
Anthony wasn't impressed by the wines, either. "We visited these wineries in the wrong order," he quipped. J. Lohr's wines were soft and honestly kind of bland after the rich wines we both enjoyed up the hill at Byington. We finished our tastings, paid, and left without buying any bottles.
Just Catching Up on Some Shows
Dec. 18th, 2025 08:32 pml33tminionMade it down to the Seaport Winter Market this weekend. The hot-chocolate-filled ring croissant that Lakon Paris was serving up was the winning treat of the event. Those really are some genius patissiers.
I watched Murderbot, based on Martha Wells sci-fi series about a rogue security android (sort of) that has slipped the systems keeping it enslaved which, plagued with anxiety, is using its newfound freedom to keep its head down so it can spend more time watching its favorite TV shows. And, of course, keeping its head down means dealing with the latest batch of odd-ball idiot humans who are doing their best to get themselves killed. Alexander Skarsgård plays the lead, and aside from some cool effects on the main character's armor and helmet, the show tunes down the degree to which the protagonist looks like not a normal human so that the viewer can be hurled into the uncanny valley purely on the strength of Skarsgård's performance (IMO a good decision). It's funny and dramatic and the rest of the characters and cast are great as well. I think the shorter episodes worked well with the pulpy source material. Definitely recommend this one if you like this sort of thing, especially if you already like the books.
The news continues to be terrible. The President responds to mass killings with essentially "stuff happens" and double homicides with, insanely, more or less "it's that guy's fault for being annoying about not liking me". Half the White House is gone with ever more ambitious plans to replace the wreckage with who knows what. What remains is being covered with ever more tacky and outrageous displays. We're hurtling towards another unnecessary war for oil. The nation has been made a laughingstock, and we deserve it.
My team's Android Jetpack library made it to its first stable release. A big milestone.
I'm exhausted and looking forward to winter break. I hope I can get some rest.
I watched Murderbot, based on Martha Wells sci-fi series about a rogue security android (sort of) that has slipped the systems keeping it enslaved which, plagued with anxiety, is using its newfound freedom to keep its head down so it can spend more time watching its favorite TV shows. And, of course, keeping its head down means dealing with the latest batch of odd-ball idiot humans who are doing their best to get themselves killed. Alexander Skarsgård plays the lead, and aside from some cool effects on the main character's armor and helmet, the show tunes down the degree to which the protagonist looks like not a normal human so that the viewer can be hurled into the uncanny valley purely on the strength of Skarsgård's performance (IMO a good decision). It's funny and dramatic and the rest of the characters and cast are great as well. I think the shorter episodes worked well with the pulpy source material. Definitely recommend this one if you like this sort of thing, especially if you already like the books.
The news continues to be terrible. The President responds to mass killings with essentially "stuff happens" and double homicides with, insanely, more or less "it's that guy's fault for being annoying about not liking me". Half the White House is gone with ever more ambitious plans to replace the wreckage with who knows what. What remains is being covered with ever more tacky and outrageous displays. We're hurtling towards another unnecessary war for oil. The nation has been made a laughingstock, and we deserve it.
My team's Android Jetpack library made it to its first stable release. A big milestone.
I'm exhausted and looking forward to winter break. I hope I can get some rest.
Gosh, don't you just hate it
Dec. 19th, 2025 01:35 pmconulywhen your boyfriend, who turned out to be a fabulously wealthy member of the magical nobility, insists on buying you an expensive ring, and not just to get at his awful family who all hate you?
Last time that happened to me, I told him, "The ring is nice, but seriously, get your shit together and stand up to your folks, or the wedding's off." And this is why I'm not married today. Fabulous wealth is all well and good, but there are limits, and realistically speaking, you probably can't murder all your inlaws.
Alas, our protagonist is going to take the next book and a half to put her foot down. I can just tell. Unlike any sensible heroine, she's going to spend all her time trying to placate those assholes instead. Honey, it's a wasted effort! If you insist on standing by your man, stand by him by booking a couples spa date - no parents allowed.
(The ring isn't even magical. It's just expensive. I mean, honestly, I would not put up with those people for a nonmagical ring, and here she is insisting that it's all too much, it's too valuable, is he sure he wants to spend what, to him, amounts to pocket change on little old her? Please.)
*****************
( Read more... )
Last time that happened to me, I told him, "The ring is nice, but seriously, get your shit together and stand up to your folks, or the wedding's off." And this is why I'm not married today. Fabulous wealth is all well and good, but there are limits, and realistically speaking, you probably can't murder all your inlaws.
Alas, our protagonist is going to take the next book and a half to put her foot down. I can just tell. Unlike any sensible heroine, she's going to spend all her time trying to placate those assholes instead. Honey, it's a wasted effort! If you insist on standing by your man, stand by him by booking a couples spa date - no parents allowed.
(The ring isn't even magical. It's just expensive. I mean, honestly, I would not put up with those people for a nonmagical ring, and here she is insisting that it's all too much, it's too valuable, is he sure he wants to spend what, to him, amounts to pocket change on little old her? Please.)
( Read more... )
Wine Tasting at Byington
Dec. 18th, 2025 05:22 pmcanyonwalkerThis past Saturday I went wine-tasting locally with my friend, Anthony. He and I had done a wine-tasting afternoon back in August, when we visited David Bruce Winery and Thomas Fogarty winery. My original plan for that day had been to visit three wineries, but at the first winery it became evident that we wouldn't have time for all three. Trimming it down to 2 worked really well for that day. We had 2 great visits without feel rushed. And it gave us a clear reason to get back together and do it again. We had to hit that third winery!
Winery #3 from August's trip— the one we skipped— was Byington Winery. It's in the mountains of Los Gatos, perched about 2,000' above San Jose and the Silicon Valley.
Saturday turned out to be a great day for a visit, even though it was the middle of December rather than the middle of summer. That's because we had beautiful weather on Saturday. The sky was clear after morning fog burned off. Rain hadn't been seen for days. Down in the valley the daytime high on forecast was an average-for-the-time-of-year 60°F (17°C) or so. I expected it would be cooler 2,000' up in the mountains. But there seemed to be a temperature inversion up in the mountains, as it was shirt sleeves weather (high 60s) when we arrived. We stowed our sweaters in the trunk and headed inside.
We opted to take our tasting standing at the bar inside the hunting-lodge style main hall. A few other guests were at the bar so it was mildly social without feeling crowded. The tasting menu included 4 wines, which immediately turned into 5, then 6, then maybe 7. I lost count. One thing that's true about many wine-tasting venues is that if you're good company and you schmooze with the staff without coming across as a moocher, they'll open up some extra bottles for you. I can schmooze when I need/want to, though I often feel self-conscious about doing it. Anthony's a natural at it. In our conversation he talked about all the bars in town where he "knows" the bartenders and gets free drinks. 🍻
After drinking our fill at the bar we headed outside to appreciate the view from the hilltop. I kind of wish we'd done this earlier in the afternoon, as toward the end of our visit the weather had turned cooler.
We didn't leave Byington empty-handed. No, far from it! Both of us generally liked most of the wines they poured for us. Our discuss as we worked through the list wasn't "if" we would buy bottles to take home but which ones. Anthony picked a few bottles of lighter flavors, a sweet chardonnay and a pinot noir, as his wife likes lighter flavors. (He figured bringing home bottles that she'd like would get him a pass to maybe do this again. 😅) I chose two bottles of a surprisingly well balanced chardonnay and a spendier Bordeaux-style blend. The latter was curious because I was all set to buy a bottle of a Barbera that tasted really nice. Then they poured that Bordeaux and it was lights-out for the Barbera. 🤣
More wine ahead: We visit J. Lohr in San Jose later in the afternoon.
Winery #3 from August's trip— the one we skipped— was Byington Winery. It's in the mountains of Los Gatos, perched about 2,000' above San Jose and the Silicon Valley.
Saturday turned out to be a great day for a visit, even though it was the middle of December rather than the middle of summer. That's because we had beautiful weather on Saturday. The sky was clear after morning fog burned off. Rain hadn't been seen for days. Down in the valley the daytime high on forecast was an average-for-the-time-of-year 60°F (17°C) or so. I expected it would be cooler 2,000' up in the mountains. But there seemed to be a temperature inversion up in the mountains, as it was shirt sleeves weather (high 60s) when we arrived. We stowed our sweaters in the trunk and headed inside.
We opted to take our tasting standing at the bar inside the hunting-lodge style main hall. A few other guests were at the bar so it was mildly social without feeling crowded. The tasting menu included 4 wines, which immediately turned into 5, then 6, then maybe 7. I lost count. One thing that's true about many wine-tasting venues is that if you're good company and you schmooze with the staff without coming across as a moocher, they'll open up some extra bottles for you. I can schmooze when I need/want to, though I often feel self-conscious about doing it. Anthony's a natural at it. In our conversation he talked about all the bars in town where he "knows" the bartenders and gets free drinks. 🍻
After drinking our fill at the bar we headed outside to appreciate the view from the hilltop. I kind of wish we'd done this earlier in the afternoon, as toward the end of our visit the weather had turned cooler.
We didn't leave Byington empty-handed. No, far from it! Both of us generally liked most of the wines they poured for us. Our discuss as we worked through the list wasn't "if" we would buy bottles to take home but which ones. Anthony picked a few bottles of lighter flavors, a sweet chardonnay and a pinot noir, as his wife likes lighter flavors. (He figured bringing home bottles that she'd like would get him a pass to maybe do this again. 😅) I chose two bottles of a surprisingly well balanced chardonnay and a spendier Bordeaux-style blend. The latter was curious because I was all set to buy a bottle of a Barbera that tasted really nice. Then they poured that Bordeaux and it was lights-out for the Barbera. 🤣
More wine ahead: We visit J. Lohr in San Jose later in the afternoon.
Unwrapped Surprise (part 1 of 1, complete)
Dec. 18th, 2025 06:23 pmdialecticdreamerUnwrapped Surprise
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1168
[Second week of December 2016]
:: Shiv is wrapping his gift for Luci when… I was ambushed by a plot demon. Written as an extension of an earlier prompt for the December of 2025 month of gifted stories, this was in mind immediately after receiving the prompt. My thanks to the readers and the prompters! ::
Shiv smirked as he used the scrap of metal under his fingernail to cut a strip of aluminum foil from the roll, making the strip as wide as his pinky nail, then repeated the process four more times. He picked up the box that Genna had given him, a fancy one for necklaces, even padded with pristine cotton batting, as if she’d bought it new and then just set it aside for later.
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1168
[Second week of December 2016]
:: Shiv is wrapping his gift for Luci when… I was ambushed by a plot demon. Written as an extension of an earlier prompt for the December of 2025 month of gifted stories, this was in mind immediately after receiving the prompt. My thanks to the readers and the prompters! ::
Shiv smirked as he used the scrap of metal under his fingernail to cut a strip of aluminum foil from the roll, making the strip as wide as his pinky nail, then repeated the process four more times. He picked up the box that Genna had given him, a fancy one for necklaces, even padded with pristine cotton batting, as if she’d bought it new and then just set it aside for later.
( Read more... )
Christmas music
Dec. 18th, 2025 04:51 pmbrithistorianLast night I discovered that Kiiras had released a Christmas song, called "Kiirasmas." I don't think I'd objectively say it's a good song, but it's still fun to listen to.
A few years ago, I did a K-pop Christmas song Advent calendar. This morning, as I added "Kiirasmas" to my K-pop Christmas playlist, I realized that if I wanted to post the whole playlist one song a day, I'd have had to start back on October 15! ^^
After having to spend 40 minutes listening to the store playing Christmas music while I waited for the pharmacy to fill a prescription. I'd like to say: No matter how Christmas-adjacent some of its lyrics may be, "My Favorite Things" is not a Christmas song. I'm willing to get seriously injured on this hill. However, if it means that I'll hear "The Christmas Song" less often, I'm willing to act like it's a Christmas song.
URGENT: IMMEDIATE CALL FOR HELP, 18-December-2025
Dec. 18th, 2025 02:57 pmcallibr8URGENT: IMMEDIATE CALL FOR HELP, 18-December-2025
This is a duplicate of a post on Facebook. I'm trying to cast as wide a net as I can.
My friend Shannon McKinnion is stranded in Ellensburg, WA. She can't leave until the truck she has rented is loaded up with the contents of her student housing. Because of the weather in Washington state, she'll have to drive west using the Columbia Gorge (over 400 miles) to reach home instead of taking the direct route (only 125 miles), due to worsening conditions in the Cascade Mountains.
If you are in or near Ellensburg and can help Shannon and Tabi load their truck, please let me know and I'll put you in touch.
If you are in or near Tri-Cities and could offer two women and their cat an overnight refuge, please let me know and I'll put you in touch.
If you have any funds to spare to help her cover the extra costs that are accruing because of the delays, extra mileage/gas, etc, her GoFundMe is here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-shannon-complete-her-masters
If you'd rather PayPal her directly, use @patgund
Please read, respond, forward... let's help Shannon get home safely!
This is a duplicate of a post on Facebook. I'm trying to cast as wide a net as I can.
My friend Shannon McKinnion is stranded in Ellensburg, WA. She can't leave until the truck she has rented is loaded up with the contents of her student housing. Because of the weather in Washington state, she'll have to drive west using the Columbia Gorge (over 400 miles) to reach home instead of taking the direct route (only 125 miles), due to worsening conditions in the Cascade Mountains.
If you are in or near Ellensburg and can help Shannon and Tabi load their truck, please let me know and I'll put you in touch.
If you are in or near Tri-Cities and could offer two women and their cat an overnight refuge, please let me know and I'll put you in touch.
If you have any funds to spare to help her cover the extra costs that are accruing because of the delays, extra mileage/gas, etc, her GoFundMe is here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-shannon-complete-her-masters
If you'd rather PayPal her directly, use @patgund
Please read, respond, forward... let's help Shannon get home safely!
Liminal time
Dec. 18th, 2025 09:00 pmcosmolinguistThis morning I mused that today is in that liminal space where I cannot yet eat the cheese we bought for Christmas but there are mince pies on the countertop and I could have one for breakfast.
I did have one for breakfast. (With a slice of regular cheese because mince pies are too sweet for me on their own and taste really good with strong cheese.)
D and I are off to family Christmas celebrations tomorrow, so I signed off work this afternoon for the last time until 2026!
In the three previous years I've had a white collar job, I've never taken this long off, I've always worked a little between Christmas and new year. I kinda like it for catching up on stuff when work is quiet and people leave me alone, and long stretches of unstructured time isn't good for my mental health.
But this time, I'm so ready for this. This year has been so long.
(I know myself well enough to expect that I'll be horrified on the 27th of December when I have a whole week ahead of me with nothing to do. But I can worry about that when I get to it.)
I'm a little sad to be missing queer club's Christmas party this evening, but my carefully planned after-work itinerary fell apart almost as soon as I made it, when my friend L texted and asked if I could come over because he and his husband (also my friend) were having a bad mental health time thanks to the DWP (they are both disabled).
I almost literally dropped everything and left the house, because L isn't the kind of person who gets in touch spontaneously, has the energy for social stuff, or can ask for help easily, so for him to do all these things felt like a big deal to me.
It felt kinda weird to leave in what felt like an emergency and arrive only able to offer hugs and silly, distracting conversation. But I'm assured that it did help. And I'm glad I could do it, I like them so much. It was a good use of my social spoons for the evening.
almost a good dream
Dec. 18th, 2025 12:53 pmsistawendyLast night I dreamt that a totally hot younger brunette woman was into me, and we were about to have sexy times. But first she wanted to tidy up her room and put away her recreational drugs, and of course I helped. And then I woke up.
This may be the most me dream ever.
This may be the most me dream ever.
Thankful Thursday
Dec. 18th, 2025 04:05 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. (See also, the Wikipedia article, Watch out for the rabbit hole -- this is a deep one.
- Mail arriving in time (though just barely). Don't count on UK's Royal Mail being as fast and consistent as Postnl.
- Receiving packages that I feared had gone astray. Looking deeply enough into them to realized that, in addition to failing to provide my house number on one order, I had mixed them up because their package numbers had the same last digit.
- Nanobag and Roamate. (See above.) (I want to review the latter eventually. However, the best-laid plans, etc.)
- Not sure how thankful to be for decade-old scratch tracks, but they deserve a listen at least.
dystopian drugstore
Dec. 18th, 2025 06:33 amsistawendyYesterday morning I needed to pick something up at the drugstore. The nearest one to the Devil Girl House is a Walgreen's, and I stopped by on my bike.
I knew something was up immediately when I went to get a hand basket and they were missing, just a wire cart with wheels left. When prompted, I asked the dude behind the counter where they were. "They got stolen," he replied.
"Good God!"
As I walked around the store I noticed an awful lot of big bare spots on the shelves. Laundry detergent behind lock and key. I felt fortunate to find (something like) the items I came for. It was almost as bad as the early pandemic supply chain interruptions or even Bartell's death spiral.
The aforementioned dude offered me a credit card as I was checking out. Really? "No thanks," I replied.
I said as I was leaving that stealing all the baskets doesn't make sense even from a thief's perspective. "It helps them carry more stuff," he said. As if they're organized or at least cooperating.
Now, we've all heard by now that claims of rampant theft by retailers in the Seattle area and surely other cities are horseshit meant to excuse management's bad decisions, e.g. treating all their customers like criminals. Why aren't supermarkets locking up their detergent?
So now I'm wondering, did my local Walgreen's really get cleaned out by thieves, or are they being run by idiots like all the other drugstore chains? It's bizarre that I'm even asking that question.
I knew something was up immediately when I went to get a hand basket and they were missing, just a wire cart with wheels left. When prompted, I asked the dude behind the counter where they were. "They got stolen," he replied.
"Good God!"
As I walked around the store I noticed an awful lot of big bare spots on the shelves. Laundry detergent behind lock and key. I felt fortunate to find (something like) the items I came for. It was almost as bad as the early pandemic supply chain interruptions or even Bartell's death spiral.
The aforementioned dude offered me a credit card as I was checking out. Really? "No thanks," I replied.
I said as I was leaving that stealing all the baskets doesn't make sense even from a thief's perspective. "It helps them carry more stuff," he said. As if they're organized or at least cooperating.
Now, we've all heard by now that claims of rampant theft by retailers in the Seattle area and surely other cities are horseshit meant to excuse management's bad decisions, e.g. treating all their customers like criminals. Why aren't supermarkets locking up their detergent?
So now I'm wondering, did my local Walgreen's really get cleaned out by thieves, or are they being run by idiots like all the other drugstore chains? It's bizarre that I'm even asking that question.
Costco Elite Membership Rebate Check Doesn't Quite Measure Up
Dec. 17th, 2025 08:17 pmcanyonwalkerOur Costco dividend check arrived this week. It's for $55.50. That's less than last year's $68 rebate and way less than the nearly $114 we earned in 2023. But still, $55 is nice, right? Welllll....
This $55.50 isn't free money. We paid to get this money. We paid $60 for Costco Executive Membership. So we actually lost $4.50!
This rebate is the big selling point of executive membership. Costco charges an extra $65 (now; up from $60 last year) for this elite tier of membership and, in return, gives you 2% back on all Costco purchases, except gasoline.
I'm sure for many families it's a win. I know because I see them in the checkout lines with their carts full to the rim. Meanwhile we virtually never have more than 1 layer of items resting in our cart. The previous two years we came out ahead on the deal. This year we paid our money and came out a bit short.
Coincidentally our Costco membership is up for renewal right now. I'm of two minds about whether to re-up at the executive level.
This $55.50 isn't free money. We paid to get this money. We paid $60 for Costco Executive Membership. So we actually lost $4.50!
This rebate is the big selling point of executive membership. Costco charges an extra $65 (now; up from $60 last year) for this elite tier of membership and, in return, gives you 2% back on all Costco purchases, except gasoline.
I'm sure for many families it's a win. I know because I see them in the checkout lines with their carts full to the rim. Meanwhile we virtually never have more than 1 layer of items resting in our cart. The previous two years we came out ahead on the deal. This year we paid our money and came out a bit short.
Coincidentally our Costco membership is up for renewal right now. I'm of two minds about whether to re-up at the executive level.
- On the one hand, it wasn't worth it this year. We lost a few dollars. Even last year, it didn't pay off hugely. We only netted $8 on the deal.
- On the other hand, coming up $4.50 short at the end of the year isn't anything to get upset about. It's not even milkshake money nowadays. And maybe next year we'll earn more. Though the ante has been raised. Membership is now $65 for basic tier plus an extra $65 for executive.
Wednesday Reading Meme for Dec 17 2025
Dec. 17th, 2025 08:13 pmkitewithfishWhat I’ve Read
The Fortunate Fall – Cameron Reed – A book worth reading! I really enjoyed the writing style and it felt like it was making interesting observations about life in this future fictional world that mapped onto our own in surprising ways. This book was originally published in 1997 and it feels shockingly modern in the same way that 60s Star Trek does – sometimes a keen eye can just see where things might go and map out options, even if reality did end up in a slightly different direction.
I haven’t seen a summary of the plot anywhere, so I will write a short one: Vague spoilers under the cut!
I really liked it and I think it will actually unfold better on the re-read!
Into the Drowning Deep – Mira Grant – I think I can call it at this point: I am not for Mira Grant and Mira Grant is not for me. This book contains scenes that have action; it does not convey a feeling of action. It has scenes that contain horror; it does not convey a feeling of horror. The writing problems were on a scene level, as opposed to sentence or book level: Grant kept setting up scenes where vital and life-altering, even life-saving!, information would be almost revealed! But, then we pivot to another topic, interrupting the focus in the middle to add extraneous characterization or shift focus to something completely nonurgent, and never really getting back to the sharp punch she was winding up. The pacing got fucked. There was info-dumping about the wrong things, things that were not really relevant to the present situation! The cumulative effect was to make every character so wooden that even the ones that were deep and heroic slowly drained of all life after delivering extensive sidebars during life-threatening danger. I ended up complaining about this book at some length to a friend. I could have edited this book into something I adored and cut off about 25% of it. Since I had a similar, but not so pointed, set of thoughts about Newsflesh, I think this proves Grant is not for me. I heard good things about October Daye, but I hate the fey as a writing concept, so. Probably done here.
A Contracted Spouse for the Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath (audiobook) – Audiobook romance by a favorite author. This is the third in a series that focuses on the lives of Victorian working class people in a variety of jobs. Our heroine, Theodora, wants to be on the stage doing the fun, risque musical hall act that she has been working on for years – but her stuffy family wants to be respectable and will not allow that kind of act in their theatre! When her sister elopes and her brother pulls her out of acting entirely to work as the family’s drudge, Theo runs off to a prizefighter turned music act manager as part of a deal – she’ll marry him and give him control over her 25% share of the family theatre so that he can get his foot in the door and expand his music hall to the larger venue, and he has to support her male impersonator career attempt.
These books suffer a bit on the male leads – they are kind of big sexy small time businessmen with a surprising amount of self-insight for the period (and for their nationality). The women are FANTASTIC. They are so interestingly weird and trying to find an interesting life for themselves – these are the kind of women who end up the poor relation receiving charity in other books set in these periods, and overall, it’s really nice to see them thriving in unconventional jobs or settings. I am a sucker for people marrying for pragmatic economical historical reasons and then finding out how much they like each other.
A flaw in these books is that they often throw in an epilogue about how the female lead is So! Happy! To be! Pregnant!, and I'm like, thanks, I'll be skipping that, byyyyye.
What I’m Reading
Guillermo del Toro: Cabinet of Curiosities – on hold. (This book is just obnoxiously large.)
Heated Rivalry: Started and promptly abandoned. Thanks, but no, thanks. I have Ovechkin/Crosby RPF fic at home, I will not be accepting the watered down version. The show is cute and distinct enough that I’ll continue watching but the idea of reading hockey fic that filters out the hockey.... not for me.
The Hunger Games – Book club pick! I’m finding that this book stuck in my head surprisingly well. I think I read thru the original series but bailed on the final book.
What I’ll Read Next
Natural History of Dragons
The Fortunate Fall – Cameron Reed – A book worth reading! I really enjoyed the writing style and it felt like it was making interesting observations about life in this future fictional world that mapped onto our own in surprising ways. This book was originally published in 1997 and it feels shockingly modern in the same way that 60s Star Trek does – sometimes a keen eye can just see where things might go and map out options, even if reality did end up in a slightly different direction.
I haven’t seen a summary of the plot anywhere, so I will write a short one: Vague spoilers under the cut!
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I really liked it and I think it will actually unfold better on the re-read!
Into the Drowning Deep – Mira Grant – I think I can call it at this point: I am not for Mira Grant and Mira Grant is not for me. This book contains scenes that have action; it does not convey a feeling of action. It has scenes that contain horror; it does not convey a feeling of horror. The writing problems were on a scene level, as opposed to sentence or book level: Grant kept setting up scenes where vital and life-altering, even life-saving!, information would be almost revealed! But, then we pivot to another topic, interrupting the focus in the middle to add extraneous characterization or shift focus to something completely nonurgent, and never really getting back to the sharp punch she was winding up. The pacing got fucked. There was info-dumping about the wrong things, things that were not really relevant to the present situation! The cumulative effect was to make every character so wooden that even the ones that were deep and heroic slowly drained of all life after delivering extensive sidebars during life-threatening danger. I ended up complaining about this book at some length to a friend. I could have edited this book into something I adored and cut off about 25% of it. Since I had a similar, but not so pointed, set of thoughts about Newsflesh, I think this proves Grant is not for me. I heard good things about October Daye, but I hate the fey as a writing concept, so. Probably done here.
A Contracted Spouse for the Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath (audiobook) – Audiobook romance by a favorite author. This is the third in a series that focuses on the lives of Victorian working class people in a variety of jobs. Our heroine, Theodora, wants to be on the stage doing the fun, risque musical hall act that she has been working on for years – but her stuffy family wants to be respectable and will not allow that kind of act in their theatre! When her sister elopes and her brother pulls her out of acting entirely to work as the family’s drudge, Theo runs off to a prizefighter turned music act manager as part of a deal – she’ll marry him and give him control over her 25% share of the family theatre so that he can get his foot in the door and expand his music hall to the larger venue, and he has to support her male impersonator career attempt.
These books suffer a bit on the male leads – they are kind of big sexy small time businessmen with a surprising amount of self-insight for the period (and for their nationality). The women are FANTASTIC. They are so interestingly weird and trying to find an interesting life for themselves – these are the kind of women who end up the poor relation receiving charity in other books set in these periods, and overall, it’s really nice to see them thriving in unconventional jobs or settings. I am a sucker for people marrying for pragmatic economical historical reasons and then finding out how much they like each other.
A flaw in these books is that they often throw in an epilogue about how the female lead is So! Happy! To be! Pregnant!, and I'm like, thanks, I'll be skipping that, byyyyye.
What I’m Reading
Guillermo del Toro: Cabinet of Curiosities – on hold. (This book is just obnoxiously large.)
Heated Rivalry: Started and promptly abandoned. Thanks, but no, thanks. I have Ovechkin/Crosby RPF fic at home, I will not be accepting the watered down version. The show is cute and distinct enough that I’ll continue watching but the idea of reading hockey fic that filters out the hockey.... not for me.
The Hunger Games – Book club pick! I’m finding that this book stuck in my head surprisingly well. I think I read thru the original series but bailed on the final book.
What I’ll Read Next
Natural History of Dragons
Feather-Light Touches (part 1 of 1, complete)
Dec. 17th, 2025 08:17 pmdialecticdreamerFeather-Light Touches
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1094
[Second week of December 2016]
:: Toward the later part of Shiv’s visit with Genna, she shows him a new handicraft. Written as an extension of an earlier prompt for the December of 2025 month of gifted stories, this was in mind immediately after receiving the prompt. My thanks to the readers and the prompters! ::
Genna laid down three glossy, mismatched ball ornaments, both old and even scratched in places. “This is one of the easiest ways to learn macrame because the ball helps support he work, the same way that a frame holds up the warp and weft threads on a loom.”
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1094
[Second week of December 2016]
:: Toward the later part of Shiv’s visit with Genna, she shows him a new handicraft. Written as an extension of an earlier prompt for the December of 2025 month of gifted stories, this was in mind immediately after receiving the prompt. My thanks to the readers and the prompters! ::
Genna laid down three glossy, mismatched ball ornaments, both old and even scratched in places. “This is one of the easiest ways to learn macrame because the ball helps support he work, the same way that a frame holds up the warp and weft threads on a loom.”
( Read more... )
