Clarke Award Finalists 2024
Dec. 1st, 2025 10:59 amWhich 2024 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
0 (0.0%)
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
0 (0.0%)
Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner
1 (25.0%)
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
4 (100.0%)
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
3 (75.0%)
The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
1 (25.0%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2024 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Prompt Call December (2025)
Dec. 1st, 2025 09:09 am( Read more... )
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Back Home from Thanksgiving. Let's Eat!
Dec. 1st, 2025 05:51 amSunnyvale, CA · Sun, 29 Nov 2025. 7:30pm.
We're back home from our Thanksgiving travels. Though it's rolling up on 7:30 now we actually got home at 5:10pm. We stowed our bags and headed straight back out for dinner at La Fiesta, a favorite local Mexican restaurant.

The flight from BWI to SFO was mostly boring. It was on Southwest, so wouldn't you know it...

It was late. We departed 20 minutes late and arrived 20 minutes late. Aside from our general frustration (and resigned amusement) with Southwest's behind-as-usual operations it didn't matter much to us. We booked a nonstop flight specifically because it meant not having to worry about delays causing missed connections on this busiest air travel day year. And traveling earlier in the day— we left Hawk's parents' place at 8am to drive to the airport— meant, even with delays, we were home in time for dinner.
#47 Mismatch (part 1 of 1, complete)
Nov. 30th, 2025 09:46 pmBy Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1415
[Sunday, May 10, 2020, night]
:: Regrouping leads to an unexpected insight. Plans change. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::
The crowd followed Aidan to the front door of the garage apartment. Shandiin murmured, “Are the kids asleep?”
“Vic isn’t. He’s keeping watch over Ed, who may not have gone back to sleep. If he isn’t asleep now, we’ll just stay home during the day to that he can try to nap at least once.” Aidan paused, hand raised over the doorknob.
He stepped back. “It’s your home,” he began.
( Read more... )
Leaving Pennsylvania... in the Snow!
Nov. 30th, 2025 06:35 pmSouth of Harrisburg PA · Sun, 29 Nov 2025. 8:20am.
Today's the day we run the gantlet of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles to head home from Pennsylvania after Thanksgiving... and it's snowing! I'd seen precipitation in today's weather forecast a few days ago. I figured it would come as rain as the temperatures were too warm for snow. But evidently it's a bit cooler than the forecast as I woke up to this sight.

Well, this isn't what it looked like when I woke up. This photo is from just before we left my inlaw's house at 8am. I think the snow only started at about 7am since I watched it accumulate outside the window as I sat down to eat breakfast.
Will this snow interfere with our travel today? I hope not. I figure, one, we're leaving early enough in the morning that won't encounter much holiday traffic. Two, I figure this snow will quickly turn to rain as we drive south. Indeed, traffic maps show that the drive to BWI airport is still expected to take just 90 minutes. And three, the airport is far enough south that it would be out of this band of snow.

South of Harrisburg it's still snowing. It's freaky how big the snowflakes are. I think that's a consequence of the temperature being just near freezing. It's only about 34° F (1° C) outside. Snow is just barely sticking to the grass and the margins of the road. In the traffic lanes it's melting immediately. Still, it's good we've left early when traffic is light. If we had to contend with holiday traffic in this weather it could quickly turn into a mess.
Update: The snow tapered off by the time we reach York, as I expected, but then it came back as a mix of snow and freezing rain as we crossed into Maryland. Thankfully it's just rain at BWI airport. Our inbound aircraft is coming from Florida and is tracking on time, and weather to the west (where we'll fly) looks fairly clear.
Forget not
Nov. 30th, 2025 09:56 pmToday my online pal Ri, in the Netherlands, said
My sister is going to the MECFS protest in Den Haag today, on my behalf. She has a piece of cartbord and is asking me what to write on it.
Any ideas?
I suggested "Don't forget the people you don't see."
(I think about this a lot, at every protest I'm at.)
Their sister chose this from the suggestions Ri made. They shared a photo their sister took. Written on the cardboard is:
Vergeet de mensen die je niet ziet niet.
- Ri, ME sinds 2012, bedbound sinds 2021
Ri also gave the English translation:
Don't forget the people you don't see.
- Ri, ME since 2012, bedbound since 2021.Vergeet and Niet (forgot and not) are bolder and bigger than the other words.
(no subject)
Nov. 30th, 2025 09:10 pmTitle: Dive In
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Rating: Explicit/Adult
Summary: They take their first nap in the Hamptons.
Notes: 1843 words.
Done Since 2025-11-23
Nov. 30th, 2025 08:43 pmMixed. A couple of minor high points, including a very nice Thanksgiving (observed) dinner yesterday evening, but enough lows to more than compensate, plus enough problems with both my health, and my abject failure to get those across during my appointment Friday morning, to throw me into a tailspin that I still haven't fully recovered from. Oh, and Leslie Fish died yesterday. There's another bit storythere, too, but it'll wait for another day.
Three walks. One guitar practice, Friday, but after spending the day in a funk it lifted my spirits a litte, as did a little more Dutch on Duolingo. I take what I can get. The top quote of the week, from Paradox of hedonism - Wikipedia:
Happiness is like a cat, if you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap.
Apparently the same thing applies to sleep. But it's only 20:48, so I have two hours, more or less, before I have to not-try to put that into practice. If the cats will let me. But I'll stop here, incoherent as this post is, because between now and then I have to compose an email to my doctors. (Or at least their clinic. It's complicated, and a large part of Friday's trainwreck was because I didn't know how complicated it had gotten while I wasn't looking.)
Why Nature will not allow the use of generative AI in images and video So apparently Nature abhors AI.
How about ending with The Illustrated Version of “Alice’s Restaurant”?
Second Thanksgiving
Nov. 30th, 2025 08:08 amCamp Hill, PA · Sat, 29 Nov 2025. 9pm.
Today was Second Thanksgiving with my inlaws. It's kind of like being with Hobbits. ...I mean, in the sense of them having Second Breakfast, not in the sense of being around short people with hairy feet.
Second Thanksgiving happens because MIL and her longtime family friend, Lynne, both loving cooking. Each wants to cook a delicious Thanksgiving meal. So they agreed they'd take turns. One hosts Thanksgiving, the other hosts Second Thanksgiving a day or two later. 😅
Second Thanksgiving was at my inlaws' house. It was also a smaller party than Thursday. Beyond the 5 of us in the house (MIL, FIL, BIL, Hawk, and me) the only guests were Lynne and Dean.
What's on the menu for Second Thanksgiving? Well, since it's not really a traditional thing there's no expectation of it being about turkey. Which is okay with us, as I don't particularly enjoy turkey (though I'm okay with it) and Hawk really hates it. So MIL made a roast of beef that was deliciously tender. 😋
Right now it's a bit after 9pm, and I'm fading, hard. The company left a few minutes ago. It was none too soon for me as I was struggling to stay awake. Though now that I'm laying down for a bit I'm waking back up. I might go back downstairs soon to hang with family as they unwind for the night.
Nun savors a schadenfreude sandwich.
Nov. 30th, 2025 07:55 amBut what really got my attention was
Oh: Frankie & Jo's oatnog flavor – vegan "ice cream", if you'll recall – is pretty great! Ah luv me some egg nog, and this is the kind I could share with, for example, the Tickler.
Final update on AO3 tag wrangling
Nov. 30th, 2025 09:44 amI finally got an answer on my AO3 tag wrangling application. I was not selected. I'm feeling pretty pissed-off and crappy and unwanted over the whole thing. I'll be over here having a pity party today; feel free not to come — I don't even like interacting with me when I'm in this kind of mood.
ETA: A couple of hours later, I'm feeling somewhat better.
November 2025 in Review
Nov. 30th, 2025 10:29 am
21 works reviewed. 11 by women (52%), 10 by men (48%), 0 by non-binary authors (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (38%).
Book by book, closer to aleph null.
November 2025 in Review