#WordWeavers 6/3
Who is your most creative character?
Definitely the minstrel, Shawmelle. She sings, plays a lute and writes her own songs. Her father was a minstrel, as well, and was the one who taught her to play.
She's also very lucky, in that one of the kingdom's squires takes a liking to her. 🙂
Fantasy need not be epic! My first fantasy is out now. The Tyrant of Spite is a light-hearted novella with coming of age and romance themes. Nothing epic or grim, I went for a very light touch with a little magic.
I designed the cover using a licensed image from Tithi Luadthong (@grandfailure on iStock) and Photoshop. This wonderful illustration inspired the story.
At the #library, I picked up the debut novel by Tommy Orange, an #Oakland-based Native writer.
I couldn’t put it down for 100 pages. It’s like it was written for me: Oakland streets, bikes, Radiohead, MF Doom, the Coliseum, BART, ethnic food, family stuff.
Review - Murder in the Basement, by Anthony Berkeley: really cleverly constructed, and actually pretty entertaining too. Not sure it's a 100% fair play mystery, but still entertaining. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").
Starting the second of Iain M. Banks’ Culture books, “The Player of Games”. I liked the concepts in book one, but I’m told that this is where things get really good. #Bookstodon
I feel on edge. Maybe it’s the obscene amount of caffeine I’ve consumed. I’ve just got to finish making the dinner, then after we’ve eaten I’ll probably continue reading The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout, which I am very much enjoying #AmReading#bookstodon
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
💙📚 You may presume you'll know the story that unfolds in I THINK I'M ALONE NOW, but you'll be wrong as hell. I read this novella in a single sitting: Ali Seay has written a thoroughly enjoyable, vivid, violent, deliciously dark chunk o' horror set in the 80's that's, like, totally rad. (Grindhouse Press)
As I noted right here in this feed, this past Saturday was Towel Day. That inspired me to check out The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy from the library to re-read it for the first time since 2000. It still holds up! What a delightful classic.
Also worth noting: Douglas Adams basically described an e-reader device almost 30 years before Kindle came on the market.
And if you haven't read The Way of the Wielder yet, no worries! You can buy your copy on Amazon now (or read it on KU for free): https://a.co/d/hRZOw8j
#PennedPossibilities 330 — How does your MC go about expressing or not expressing their sexuality?
Suetonius, like many gladiators, is pimped out by his lanista -- and he's very popular with the clients. When he falls hard for Drusilla, his experience is translated into tenderness.
Viele der Erinnerungspassagen in #IlkaRakusa|s Text #MehrMeer drängen fast, mit den eigenen Erinnerungen schriftstellerisch umzugehen. Vielleicht auch, um sich nochmals des eigenen Lebens zu vergewissern.
"Es denkt sich zurück. Die Gravitation der Erinnerung kennt kein Halten. Damals, dort, weisst du noch, ach ja. Vor wieviel Jahren? Dreissig? Vierzig? Mein Gott! Wie auf einer Kinderrutsche schlittert der Gedanke in die Tiefen der Zeit, ganze Dezennien hinab."
I feel a bit stuck in my reading. The cosy mysteries and fantasies are becoming a bit boring. (Just read a few to many one after another) But my brain is unwilling to process harder SFF or litfic. Nothing on my tbr really appeals. Anyone have ideas for genres I could try? @bookstodonmy@boeken#bookstodon#books#reading
@bookstodon Another really good graphic nonfiction book I've read recently, and recommend, is WE HEREBY REFUSE, regarding the Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps in WWII.
The story addresses a common victim-blaming response to the plight of others: "Why didn't they fight back?" It's almost always the wrong question, even though indeed, they did fight back. Victim-blaming is a pernicious permission structure, allowing us not to care about terrible events that happen to other people.
Hoy se publica "Amigue, date cuenta" de Gabriel D'Artemius en LES Editorial. En catalán tenéis la "Guía de llenguatge gramatical no-binari" de Raig Verd. #Bookstodon#Literaverso :Blobhaj_Flag_Nonbinary:
Zacząłem czytać tom drugi serii "Trylogia Licaniusa". Tom pierwszy, przeczytany jakiś rok temu, nawet mi się spodobał.
Problem w tym, że zdążyłem zapomnieć co się działo w pierwszej części. Przed rozpoczęciem tomu drugiego udało mi się zebrać kilka wspomnień i jakoś tak z grubsza poukładałem sobie niektóre elementy.
Pomyślałem sobie, że fajnie by było, aby pojawił się jakiś blurp przypominający tom pierwszy. Jakieś było moje zaskoczenie. Autor pomyślał o tym i na początku umieścił streszczenie tomu pierwszego 🖤
"Im Übrigen gab es nichts zu verschweigen. Der Osten war unsere Bagage. Mit Herkunft und Kindheit und dicken Pflaumen. Mit Braunkohle und Ängsten und Dampfloks und sukzessiven Fluchten. Wir kamen von dort und kappten unsere Verbindungen nie (...) Die Regime waren eines, die Topographien ein Anderes. Die Sprachen, die Speisen, die Gesten. Gefühlsalphabete."
looking for horror book recommendations, ideally from women and/or queer authors. starting by listing every horror book and deleting everything on any r/horrorlit recommendation thread because holy fuck how is anyone still stuck on Stephen King in 2024.
okay but seriously though. i don't know what's out there because i've been reading mostly short web fiction for a year. the last few formal horror books i've read were:
gonna throw out some keywords and generalities: i'm about to read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58830202-from-below. i vibe with Empty Spaces, some Cthulhu Mythos stuff, i love the sci-fi horror in the Southern Reach trilogy and Roadside Picnic and The Descent and pretty much everything by Peter Watts. i like Seanan McGuire and i liked the one book i've read by Seanan McGuire as Mira Grant (but it was the magical girl one so idk how much it applies to her actual horror stuff). i've read Ada Hoffmann but i only liked the first one. i think China Miéville is pretty good and Clive Barker is kinda mid. i think anything as trope-frozen as vampires and werewolves and ghosts is for children and yes i realize i said i liked Mythos stuff earlier. anything marketed as a "thriller" or "psychological horror" i will probably hate.