mirlacca | Network

Today is partly sunny and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and a lady cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/19/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/19/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen two starlings and a male cardinal.

EDIT 1/19/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night. 5:20 and I can still see light in the west. :D

Current Mood: busy

gilda_elise

When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust… from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.

In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.

I love Cañas’ writing, but I felt that this book didn’t quite hit the mark. I never felt that the two main characters, Alba and Elías, were as compelling as they could have been. I never got to know them as well as I would have liked, and have come to expect from Cañas’ work.

I tend to think that part of the reason is that more time had to be given to explaining the situation, unlike her first two books where the situations were those most readers would be familiar with. Because of that, the romance side of the story was overwhelmed by the horror.

And horror there is in Alba’s possession. Some parts are out and out creepy and I liked that the reader is kept guessing as to what’s really going on and who can be trusted. But for my self, I would have preferred more time spent on the romance's development, which at times felt rushed.

I won’t go so far to say that I didn’t enjoy the story, because I did. But the book would place last in line when it comes to her three books.

Mount TBR 2026 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas

Possession of Alba Diaz

Main Character Female

Goodreads 3

Indigenous, Asian, or Latino author
1. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas

duskpeterson

So famed is the Empire of Emor for its law system that many foreigners do not realize that Emor holds accomplishments in other arts. Foremost among these arts is medicine.

Until the practice of medical training was formalized in Emor, the knowledge of how to heal was informally passed on by peninsularean men and women who received no special training. Despite these drawbacks, some of the healers were quite good; Koretia's healing women deserve special mention. But the creation of the Medical Academy during the period of the Middle Charas caused knowledge of healing to leap forward immensely. These days, many a healing woman, priest, or bard will travel north to spend time in the Medical Academy, learning valuable lessons.

The Physicians' Quarters next door were created after the Medical Academy, as a place to allow students to work under experienced doctors. The Physicians' Quarters cares for city residents and a select number of soldiers who are undergoing lengthy convalescence.

Because of the doctors' important work, visitors may find it difficult to obtain entrance to either the Quarters or the Academy. I've found that dropping a rock on my foot does the trick.

[Translator's note: The protagonist of Death Mask begins his journey at the Physicians' Quarters.]

shewhostaples posting in

fancake

Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey
Pairings/Characters: Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane (not requited - yet)
Rating: G
Length: 12,200
Creator Links:

nineveh_uk
Theme: crack treated seriously

Summary: Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey have triumphantly solved the Wilvercombe murder, and only want to return to London. But first they must solve a new mystery: why they have woken up in one another's bodies, and what on earth are they going to do about it?

Reccer's notes Bodyswap is a pretty cracky trope, but here

nineveh_uk uses it very effectively to explore the nuances of the complicated and touchy relationship between Peter and Harriet. As the summary suggests, it's set straight after Have His Carcase, where in canon they seem somehow simultaneously closer to and further away from resolving their relationship than ever. The bodyswap twist doesn't make things any less confusing. The voice is pitch perfect: if Dorothy L. Sayers had thought to write this premise, this is exactly what it would have sounded like.

Fanwork Links: My True Love Has My Heart

ffutures

This is an offer of the Sleepy Hollow RPG from Kids in the Attic, an early 19th-Century folk horror system based on the Year Zero rules for Tales of the Loop etc. The source for it is Washington Irving's original novel, not the Tim Burton film or the TV series.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SleepyHollow

Unlike Call of Cthulhu this system limits itself to a relatively small area and era, which may add more depth to games - characters will be protecting their home town, friends, and families, not the entire future of the universe. I'm probably not going to be taking on another horror system, but it looks like an interesting game and isn't incredibly expensive, if it's the sort of thing you might like it's probably worth a look.

james_davis_nicoll

The tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of early 19th-Century folk horror.

Bundle of Holding: Sleepy Hollow

annathecrow posting in

dreamwars

Hi,

welcome to the weekly chat corner. Have anything SW-related to talk about? Come and tell us.

~ ~ ~

Do you ever interact with Star Wars fans who aren't shipping-fandom fans? What has it been like?

I have a coworker who's a SW fan, and it's weird. He knows a lot of the lore, especially the older EU stuff, so I've had some really good talks with him, but the amount of times I did a tire-screech stop in the middle of saying something because oh SHIT, nope, that's shipping fandom, I will not openly admit to the guy I've read erotica about his favorite character...! XD

lannamichaels

Of all the sports I do not follow, american football is certainly up there as a sport I do not follow.

However, of all the sports I do not follow, american football is one where I think they are doing their post season completely correctly: as single elimination.

Can you win a game? No? Okay, season is over, bye bye.

Yes, yes, the season goes on way too long into weather not appropriate for the sport; american football makes sense as a summer or autumn sport, not so much when it's snowing.

But they pick the location of the super bowl years in advance, they hype the fuck out of it, they make it an event, and they know three years in advance what day it will be.

They have achieved marketing perfection and among the reasons they can do that is: SINGLE ELIMINATION PLAYOFFS.

lydamorehouse

Image: Laser-eyed loon flying away with the "Don't Tread on Me Snake" in her beak. The words "Don't Tread on US" appear in laser light trails around her head (by Cas Fern, local tattoo artist.)

I took a break on Sunday. The weather here in Minnesota has finally stepped up to join the resistance. Today we are expecting -20 F/ -29 C windchills and yesterday the windchills were around -11 F /-23 C. I won't lie. I let Mother Nature take my shift. There were things happening, including my singing group, but I spent the day baking hot cross buns and snuggling under blankets.

Rest is resistance, too.

If you are not from around here and/or would like to watch

naomikritzer talk about her experiences "commuting," and talk generally, along with Diana McCleery, about what things are like on the ground here in Minneapolis and St. Paul. My friend Cliff interviewed her on an SFF videocast:

Watch on YouTube

It's a good watch? I will say that the guy who opens and closes the video, Bob, is a bit of a character, but if you can get past that and some of the echo in Naomi's microphone, it's very informative. Naomi recently did a ride-along with the folks who are self-organizing to follow and harrass ICE vehicles and so it's fascinating to hear how it's being done.

I always feel that people don't quite talk enough about the mutual aid that folks are up to--but the truth is the quiet revolution just isn't splashy enough for the front page.

used_songs

Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge. The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the to 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.

10 happy times

1. Quiet mornings before my wife gets up when I can read, write and update my DW with Ella nearby.
2. Hammock time with Ella.
3. Browsing in a bookstore.
4. Cooking for my parents and/or wife.
5. When I'm in the midst of a solid piece of writing that is flowing.
6. Puttering around outside looking at trees and rocks.
7. Listening to music, discovering new-to-me music, talking to people about music.
8. Sending and receiving snail mail, whether it's Postcrossing or mail to/from people I know.
9. Figuring things out, making something new, having to work out how to put something together.
10. When you see something or hear something and it sparks an idea.

missdiane

We don't have a massive ton that needs shoveled but we are legally obligated to shovel the sidewalk in front of the house and obviously need to shovel the sidewalk that gets TO the house and well, have to shovel the bits of driveway near the cars.

Between Emily's wonky back and knees and my...well everything, we're tired and sore from shoveling weighty snow yesterday and then trying to shave at the thin layer of refrozen stuff and new snow on top that fell late in the afternoon/early evening.

We're waiting on clearing off the cars, though, since it is supposed to get a few degrees warmer and we're hoping that makes things easier for doing that. Not sure whether we'll go to the grocery. It would be nice to pick up a few fresh items but we'll live if we can't do that since the freezer is plenty full.

I didn't sleep hardly at all last night. My shoulder and arm were bugging me (gee, wonder why?) and I was hot and cold and for some reason, I wasn't sleepy so I didn't finally drift off until 4am so I got about 3 or 3 1/2 hours and even that was broken sleep. If I get super tired today, I'll set an alarm and nap for no more than 20-30 minutes and if I get any indication that tonight is going to repeat, I'll take half a xanax to reset the system.

used_songs

Challenge #7

LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF. They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want.

I like my ability to be all in and focused in a conversation with a student, especially when it comes to their writing.

I like how I can chain together random things and make something beautiful.

I like my purple glasses.

used_songs

Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.

I keep copious notes on my phone and in commonplace books of raw material for writing. I collect stories from people, interesting words, bits of poetry, images, etc. When I have an idea for something, I page randomly through all of that and see what if anything sticks. Then I do an enormous amount of research (my favorite part of the process) and start a google doc with research notes and chunks of writing. Sometimes I do a sketch to help visualize the motion of the plot. When I wrote a crossover that involved House of Leaves, I sketched the house I was using as my setting so I could keep the physical space in front of me.

Then I write from both ends and the middle in pieces that are gradually stitched together. I'm not great at plots; I let the imagery and characters do the heavy lifting.

Once I have a draft, I rewrite it obsessively until I'm happy with it.

( pics )

I also generally carry sticky notes and have a lot of things jotted on those. I've been keeping commonplace books since middle school (they were spirals back then), so I have a lot of material. Honestly, I never have used most of it directly in my writing, but I feel like the ideas I have tried out in those pages are like training for when I do write a completed pieces. And sometimes I just enjoy writing short pieces that no one else will ever see, just for me.

torrentfreak_feed

Posted by Ernesto Van der Sar

https://torrentfreak.com/nvidia-contacted-annas-archive-to-secure-access-to-millions-of-pirated-books/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=276172

Chip giant NVIDIA has been one of the main financial beneficiaries in the artificial intelligence boom.

Revenue surged due to high demand for its AI-learning chips and data center services, and the end doesn’t appear to be in sight.

Besides selling the most sought-after hardware, NVIDIA is also developing its own models, including NeMo, Retro-48B, InstructRetro, and Megatron. These are trained using their own hardware and with help from large text libraries, much like other tech giants do.

Authors Sue NVIDIA for Copyright Infringement

Like other tech companies, NVIDIA has also seen significant legal pushback from copyright holders in response to its training methods. This includes authors, who, in various lawsuits, accused tech companies of training their models on pirated books.

In early 2024, for example, several authors sued NVIDIA over alleged copyright infringement.

Through the class action lawsuit, they claimed that the company’s AI models were trained on the Books3 dataset that included copyrighted works taken from the ‘pirate’ site Bibliotik. Since this happened without permission, the authors demanded compensation.

In response, NVIDIA defended its actions as fair use, noting that books are nothing more than statistical correlations to its AI models. However, the allegations didn’t go away. On the contrary, the plaintiffs found more evidence during discovery.

‘NVIDIA Contacted Anna’s Archive’

Last Friday, the authors filed an amended complaint that significantly expands the scope of the lawsuit. In addition to adding more books, authors, and AI models, it also includes broader “shadow library” claims and allegations.

The authors, including Abdi Nazemian, now cite various internal Nvidia emails and documents, suggesting that the company willingly downloaded millions of copyrighted books.

The new complaint alleges that “competitive pressures drove NVIDIA to piracy”, which allegedly included collaborating with the controversial Anna’s Archive library.

Competitive pressures

According to the amended complaint, a member of Nvidia’s data strategy team reached out to Anna’s Archive to find out what the pirate library could offer the trillion-dollar company

“Desperate for books, NVIDIA contacted Anna’s Archive—the largest and most brazen of the remaining shadow libraries—about acquiring its millions of pirated materials and ‘including Anna’s Archive in pre-training data for our LLMs’,” the complaint notes.

“Because Anna’s Archive charged tens of thousands of dollars for ‘high-speed access’ to its pirated collections […] NVIDIA sought to find out what “high-speed access” to the data would look like.”

Anna’s Archive Points Out Legal ‘Concern’

According to the complaint, Anna’s Archive then warned Nvidia that its library was illegally acquired and maintained. Because the site previously wasted time on other AI companies, the pirate library asked NVIDIA executives if they had internal permission to move forward.

This permission was allegedly granted within a week, after which Anna’s Archive provided the chip giant with access to its pirated books.

“Within a week of contacting Anna’s Archive, and days after being warned by Anna’s Archive of the illegal nature of their collections, NVIDIA management gave ‘the green light’ to proceed with the piracy. Anna’s Archive offered NVIDIA millions of pirated copyrighted books.”

The complaint states that Anna’s Archive promised to provide NVIDIA with access to roughly 500 terabytes of data. This included millions of books that are usually only accessible through Internet Archive’s digital lending system, which itself has been targeted in court.

The complaint does not explicitly mention whether NVIDIA ended up paying Anna’s Archive for access to the data.

Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that NVIDIA also stands accused of using other pirated sources. In addition to the previously included Books3 database, the new complaint also alleges that the company downloaded books from LibGen, Sci-Hub, and Z-Library.

Direct and Vicarious Copyright Infringement

In addition to downloading and using pirated books for its own AI training, the authors allege NVIDIA distributed scripts and tools that allowed its corporate customers to automatically download “The Pile“, which contains the Books3 pirated dataset.

These allegations lead to new claims of vicarious and contributory infringement, alleging that NVIDIA generated revenue from customers by facilitating access to these pirated datasets.

Based on these and other claims, the authors request to be compensated for the damages they suffered. This applies to the named authors, but also to potentially hundreds of others who may later join the class action lawsuit.

As far as we know, this is the first time that correspondence between a major U.S. tech company and Anna’s Archive was revealed in public. This will only raise the profile of the pirate library, which just lost several domain names, even further.

—

A copy of the first consolidated and amended complaint, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is available here (pdf). The named authors include Abdi Nazemian, Brian Keene, Stewart O’Nan, Andre Dubus III, and Susan Orlean.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

https://torrentfreak.com/nvidia-contacted-annas-archive-to-secure-access-to-millions-of-pirated-books/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=276172

torrentfreak_feed

Posted by Ernesto Van der Sar

https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-torrented-pirated-movies/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=186926

zootopia 2 The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

This week we have one newcomer on the list. “Zootopia 2” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on January 19 are:

Movie Rank	Rank last week	Movie name	IMDb Rating / Trailer
Most downloaded movies via torrent sites
1	(1)	Zootopia 2	7.6 / trailer
2	(…)	The Rip	6.9 / trailer
3	(2)	Predator: Badlands	7.5 / trailer
4	(3)	Wicked: For Good	6.8 / trailer
5	(…)	Rental Family	7.7 / trailer
6	(6)	Avatar: Fire and Ash	7.4 / trailer
7	(…)	Dust Bunny	6.6 / trailer
8	(8)	Nuremberg	7.6 / trailer
9	(9)	One Battle After Another	8.1 / trailer
10	(7)	Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery	7.5 / trailer

Watch on YouTube

Note: We also publish an updating archive of all the list of weekly most torrented movies lists.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-torrented-pirated-movies/

https://torrentfreak.com/?p=186926

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Communities
OPN Seed Order
Website Updates
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Poem: The Flavors of Our Days
Poetry Fishbowl Themes for Early 2026
Creative Jam
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Democracy
Greenland Defense Front
2025 Photos
Photos: Three for the Memories from 2025
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Birdfeeding
Poem: "People of Every Ethnic Persuasion"
Follow Friday 1-16-26: Leverage
Poem: "There's an Art to It"
Read "Hordes of the Khan"
Wildlife
Neighborhood Poetry
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Birdfeeding
Poem: "The Most Dangerous Animal in the Zoo"
Cuddle Party

Animal Communication has 30 comments. Food has 53 comments. Trauma has 51 comments. Affordable Housing has 84 comments. Robotics has 125 comments.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

mific

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - a GoT prequel set some considerable time before GoT, and has a 9.2 rating on IMDB so far (which mostly seems based on fans having loved the book and feeling the show hasn't fucked it up so far in ep 1). Anyway, it was mostly fine, but nothing spectacular. Sir Dunc is a hedge knight's squire who's trying to pass himself off as a knight at a tournament. He's dirt poor so it's all very homespun and common folky so far. Presumably the show's world will get more complex and interesting as we go on.
My main gripe was the shitting scene, to which my reaction was you've gotta be shitting me! Dunc has a projectile shit from a standing position (slightly bent forward), like one of his horses but with way more rearward velocity. Was it supposed to be "gritty reality"? Because no one shits standing up like that ffs, and if they did it'd for sure go all over their legs. Presumably there's nothing wrong with his legs so why the fuck not squat like a normal, limber young person? Stupid nonsense, which I can only assume was supposed to be humorous. I was not amused.

The Pitt - I'm not liking it quite as much as season 1 so far but that's probably me finding anything not HR a bit lacklustre. Very happy Dana the charge nurse is back and in fighting form, and am enjoying all the usual suspects. One major plot point is that Dr Robbie's about to go on sabbatical and is being replaced by a new female consultant with whom there's a lot of friction as they do things very differently. She's a fan of generative AI for note-writing, for example. I can see they wanted the drama of the clash, but did they have to make her uptight, rulebound, female and with a Muslim name? Sigh. I really hope the drama's not going to play out in as stereotypical a way as it's currently threatening to, but the writing was good last time, so they get the benefit of the doubt.

Landman season 2 is on Prime, and is excellent as always. Superb writing, great acting and characters. It's about a Texas oil industry guy who is 2IC to the company CEO, and who does all the hands-on practical management and troubleshooting, including dealing with the local drug runners, wells blowing, and workers getting injured etc. His wife and daughter at first glance seem complete rich dumb blonde stereotypes, but underneath that facade both are interesting and funny, and cunning in the ways of their people (mostly at manipulating men). I enjoy it.

sholio

See Part One here.

4. Babylon 5, G'Kar & Londo, post-canon, spoilers
any, the minimum amount of communication needed for a fix-it AU
Originally posted here

( Slightly more than 3 sentences of overthinking )

5. Babylon 5, early season one
any, low-effort illustration of something important
Originally posted here

( More than 3 sentences of ambassadorial bickering )

6. Murderbot, MB + Gurathin
any, "I adore floating." (Peggy Guggenheim)
Originally posted here

( 3 sentences for a change! )

7. Murderbot bookverse, MB + Mensah + Mensah's family
any, snowstorm
Originally posted here

( 350 words of fluff )

8. Murderbot, TV or bookverse, Bharadwaj
any, fossil footprints
Originally posted here

( A lil Bharadwaj character study )

tamaranth

2026/011: Old Time Religion — E H Lupton

...there was something delightful about being able to feel Ulysses’s emotions, even if it was also sort of terrifying. Ulysses had big, messy, complex feelings that reminded Sam of dahlias, so bright and intricate. [p. 153]

As soon as I'd finished Dionysus in Wisconsin I went on to this sequel, set a few months later. Ulysses has almost finished his dissertation (which is about Sam and 'the problem of demigods') and winter is over. All seems promising until Livia, Ulysses' ex, turns up with a tale of woe about a murdered husband.( Read more... )

Current Mood: cheerful

mific

Click banner for more info

Collage of non-mcshep SGA characters. Text reads Romancing SGA.

the companion festival to Romancing McShep
and Romancing SG1

ruric

Having said I'd try to be more consistent about the weekly check-ins I completely flaked on week 2!

HOME: progressing with the declutter and sorting out of 'stuff'. I'm #orjenise100-ing again but am about a week behind. However things are getting moved around, piled up, recycled, donated or dumped. My bedroom is looking slightly better and I aim to finish by the end of the month.

HEALTH: I spent far too much time closely following the news/being on social media at the end of week 2 and had to take some mental health time last week. There was a lot of sleeping involved and diving into rewatching comfort viewing when not napping.

LIFE ADMIN: I have ticked off a few thing - subscriptions reviewed and renewed/cancelled, the car got its MOT and they also valeted the inside and washed the outside! Money has been shuffled around, paid off a chunk of my 0% credit cards, set up some more savings. So yes - things have been ticked off that list!

DIGITAL DECLUTTER: email is still hovering around 11,000; have uploaded more things from tablet to dropbox, deleted a few apps and loads of images from my phone, then took a load more screen shots!

GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold and/or wet.

COOKING/EATING: batch cooked for week 2, snacked my way through last week. Having gone on the 'must hibernate or melt down' spiral last week and sleeping/napping a lot I only really needed one meal a day.

READING/LISTENING: now reading Lessons in Desire, book 2 of the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries by Charlie Cochrane. Edwardian murder mysteries. She's describes her books as "mysteries with a dash of slash". They're the kind of suitably lightweight thing I need right now. Also pick up Audible again and finished The Hanging Tree (Book 6 of Rivers of London), A Rare Book Of Cunning Device (Book 6.5 of Rivers of London) and am now on Lies Sleeping (Book 7 of Rivers of London). I've downloaded the free Storygraph app to track reading and am also going to try and remember to update Goodreads.

WATCHING: Still not caught up on Stranger Things and have only managed one episode of Heated Rivalry. One advantage of the end of Stranger Things is the sheer volume of delightful interview clips of Jamie Campbell Bower that appeared all over my IG and the algo is still delivering. I've enjoyed watching those and may have also done a sneaky rewatch of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones because there is no downside to JCB Jace Waylanding it over my screen. In terms of comfort viewing I inhaled Stargate SG1 Seasons 1-3 which were pretty much playing consistently last week as I napped my way through the days. My comfort viewing is always going to be the Stargate series, Buffy and Angel, Higlander and Hercules plus Krycek eps of X-files. My usual raft of TV shows are coming back and I'm happy that Sanctuary - A Witch's Tale and The Hunting Party got second seasons.

CREATING/LEARNING: two weeks of crochet club under my belt and I've finished the blanket I started in mid December. I now need to block the original granny square and Halloween blankets and stitch them together. Then I can start on the utterly mad boho blanket. I've signed up for a 3 week hexi-cardigan class (first session this coming Saturday and then 2 more later in Feb) and our teacher is also running a 1 day bag session on Sunday 1st Feb and an 5 week make a spring wreath session on Weds evenings starting 4 Feb. So its going to be a busy andcrafty start to the year.

CATS: all good.

VOLUNTEERING: first meeting went well - only 1 task to do from it.

SOCIALISING: nope. I was back at work week 2 and then a proper hermit last week.

WORK: enjoyed being back in the office from 5th onwards then was out last week.

Plan for this coming week - work from home Monday, Wednesday and Friday, two long office days Tuesday and Thursday.

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the location notes for "People of Every Ethnic Persuasion."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

sovay

Tonight after my second and last panel of the convention, I was told by one audience member that they would listen to me read the phone book because even under those circumstances they would learn something interesting and Tiny Wittgenstein was definitely confused.

The panels went chaotically well. "Cursed Literature" lived up to its name by losing two panelists before the con even started, but in practice it turned into a freewheeling discussion less of literature in particular than the concepts of hazardous information, the spellmaking of language, and narratives as contagion, which gave me an excuse to boost Emeric Pressburger's The Glass Pearls (1966), An-sky's Jewish Ethnographic Program of 1912–14, and Aramaic incantation bowls plus the inevitable M. R. James. "SFF on Stage" had a supersaturation of panelists mostly from the performing arts and could have gone an extra hour at least as we started with the inherently liminal nature of theater and bounced around through all the ways that the speculative can be invoked on stage through conceits, stagecraft, scoring, nothing but the contract that reality changes because the actor says it does. I went all in on twentieth-century opera and weird technically realist plays and discovered that there has actually not been another production of Jewelle Gomez's Bones & Ash: A Gilda Story since the one I saw with my grandparents in 1996. As always, members of the audience asked such good questions that they should have been on the panels to start.

I have been asked multiple times if I will be around for the last day of Arisia and since I have no further programming the odds are unfortunately good that I will be flat in bed, but at the moment I regret nothing. I saw a

genarti! I saw a

skygiants! I failed to write down the names of a pair of extraordinarily well-dressed attendees who wanted to talk about Jewish folk magic and were thrilled that I recognized their Babylon 5 tie-in novels!

nineweaving and I shared a panel for the first time since virtual 2021! I did not make it back to the dealer's room before it closed and instead sort of keeled over in the disused cosplay repair area with

choco_frosh and presently a friend of his who is unlikely to be on DW, since this time around people were giving me their contact information on Instagram and I felt as though I should have business cards printed on papyrus scraps. I had genuinely not been sure how this experiment in professional interaction would go. It is snowing as busily as a real winter in New England and without begrudging a second of this vanishing season, I am looking forward to Readercon.

Current Music: Blondshell, "Berlin TV Tower"

ysabetwordsmith

Radical Neighbouring: The Farm Where Nothing is for Sale

This video asks a compelling question: What does a human look like who isn't a consumer?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

watersword

I am planning to go on a walking holiday in Europe in late 2026! I am very excited.

I know a few of y'all have done these, and I would love to get your advice and recommendations. The things I am primarily thinking of include, in no particular order:

organizing flights to and from the start point; I don't think the walking holiday company does this since I'm in the US -- I may have some complications and don't love the idea of sorting it out entirely on my own
what to wear on the daily hike & what supplies to carry with me

but I would be very grateful for suggestions of things to consider that I have not thought of! I have wanted to do this for a long time but I have not ever done it.

flareonfury posting in

dw_community_promo

svpromptstables is an Arrowverse (*coughs* check out it's multiverse *winks*) & Smallville Prompt table challenge, with prompt tables options ranging from 7-100 prompts. Low stakes, no limit on how much you can "claim" (and anyone can "claim" the same things), only a minimum of 100 words and no deadlines.

Tables | FAQ | Claim & Claim List

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

osprey_archer

I have returned from a weekend of dissipation in Bloomington! We visited FOUR local bookstores, during which book-shopping spree I bought:

Used copies of Gary Paulsen’s The Cookcamp and Ngaio Marsh’s Singing in the Shrouds, both from the public library.

Used DVDs of Chernobyl and the Ruth Wilson Jane Eyre for myself, plus Brideshead Revisited and season 3 of the 1960s Batman for a friend (who will be therefore enabled to return my copy of Brideshead Revisited)

Mary Stolz’s Ready or Not, which has simply gorgeous endpapers (would any of my fellow Stolz fans like a crack at this book after I’m done?)

And Knight Owl and Early Bird, a birthday present for my niece, whose birthday is not until March, but who am I to turn down an opportunity to support the Book Corner? (I’ll probably also buy her a picture book from my beloved Von’s.)

We also hit up Goods for Cooks, which tragically did not have my beloved dark chocolate hobnobs, but I DID buy a sieve and a garden herb themed dishtowel and a bright springy oven mitt. (I liked to have seasonal dish towels, oven mitts, napkins etc; an easy way to decorate for the seasons.) In between the sieve and the potato masher I got for Christmas, I feel rich in kitchen ware.

And we went to my friend Becky’s house to hang out with the dog and three cats and the baby, who gave us the grumpy Churchill face for about half an hour before deciding that we were all right and toddling over to the coffee table (with the help of her baby walker) to pick up one of our shortbread cookies. To eat it? No. Just to hold it. An interesting texture perhaps.

And then Caitlin and I went back to her place and watched a couple Poirots and ate more cookies, and then I went to bed and read The Cookcamp, a short memoir about the time he spent with his grandmother as a small child when she was working at a road-grading camp, companion piece to Alida's Song and The Quilt. Sweet and poignant if you enjoy a childhood memoir.

Then this morning I drove home and began rewatching Chernobyl. (What a good show! Already watched two episodes and only paused with difficulty to make dinner.) A most successful visit.

amperslashexchange

The collection has now been revealed!

Please remember to kudos and comment, especially on your gift. Creators appreciate feedback.

muccamukk

Mostly posting these without commentary.

Uncategorised Stuff:
CCF: Anger is beautiful. Anger is generative. Anger is ancestral. By Chantelle Ohrling, a justifiably angry defender of Turtle Island.

dolorosa_12: Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure: suggestions for concrete actions.

Technology and Media Criticism: ( L.L.M. slop, gender-based violence, transphobia. )

Canadian News That's Pissing Me Off ( Various human rights violations. )

The United States Immigration Stuff: ( No images of violence, but cutting for folks already burned out. )

ysabetwordsmith

Today we ordered seeds from OPN Seed. This completes my goal of making at least 2 catalog orders by the end of February. I still have more catalogs to go through, but I got two of the most important done. \o/

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

lannamichaels

Had a moment last week where I was like "that Parent Trap post canon fic where the twins encounter Meredith in an airport is, like, basically done, I just need to smooth it all out, how long could this possibly take, 10 minutes" and then had the horrified realization that this fic is in my Started In 2023 folder. Truly, I have no intuitive understanding of time.

On the other hand, when doing a quick note to self on this to figure out the time period, I gave in and referred to the twins as Allie and honestly it just makes life so much easier.

Meredith is so much fun to write, she's got such a specific point of view.

"Oh, girls, girls, girls," Meredith chides them. "Let bygones be bygones! I don't hold a grudge. You made your point perfectly clear: you weren't going to allow your father to use me like that. I respect that in a preteen. You knew your minds and you were looking out for me, truly."

Also and here's a bit from my initial notes from the rewatch, which informs the whole thing:

but wow yeah annie's being such a jerk here, and meredith is rising to it and kind of liking it. I think she sees Annie as more of an intellectual equal than Nick is.

james_davis_nicoll

One potlight is still illumination.

kaberett

Reading. Small progress on Index, A history of the (Dennis Duncan); quite a lot of Wrangling My Terrible E-mail Situation feat. skimming geochemistry abstracts; flipped through some of the latest batch of Alex Was Sad cookbooks; also some more poking to see if there's, like, An Official Formulation of CBT-(for-)I(nsomnia), and came to the conclusion that the reason I can't find it is that there isn't. Exactly.

Writing. Alas I have not made sufficient progress this week to announce that the number at the front of the wordcount of The Putative Book has got bigger, BUT I have spent a bunch of time tinkering with ideas and asking you lot things, so. Maybe. Maybe this will be the week the second complete reworking of the introduction actually takes shape.

Playing. I continue with Squardle (via vass) and, despite its shortcomings, Metaflora (via ewt). Sudoku remains The Special Interest Of The Moment.

Cooking. It has been a Weird Week for food because A and I have mostly not been eating together (because A has been unwell and mostly not eating), but: another dal variant for my breakfasts (thereby also ticking off another item on the Cook The Cookbook project list), and lots of minor variations on Leon's ~superfood salad~ from days of yore.

Making & mending. Technically progress on glove and learning continental knitting; in practice I'm probably going to frog it and have Attempt #3 At Tension.

Growing. Lemongrass is germinating! Lithops are germinating?????

At home: the overwintered bell peppers and ancho chilli are turning Ripe Colours. The overwintered jalapeño is extremely unwell and I should... do something about that. Both orchids continue Determinedly Making Flower Stems.

At the plot: I MADE IT TO THE PLOT, Project: Bulk Up The Spinach Seed is progressing, and I have done a tiny bit of weeding and infrastructure (mostly taking down last year's growing supports...). At some point I will want to kick the things that are currently in the propagator out of the propagator in order to sow the next batch of seeds, but they'll get a little longer yet.

And more saffron keeps appearing in the various places it's planted on the patio, though I sincerely doubt any of it will flower...

shewhostaples

Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.

Talk about your creative process.

Five years ago I'd have talked about volcanic islands rising out of the sea, and building causeways between them. A good premise or prompt would spark a snappy exchange between two characters, or a vivid little snapshot of background, or a moment of insight. I'd write them down as soon as I could.

Then I'd build on them, adding the line that followed on naturally, the reply that the other character would have to make, setting up the scene so that this moment could happen. And then I'd work out how they all related to each other, what order they came in. I'd consider what needed to have happened by the end of the story in order to make it satisfying, and I'd add a bit here and a bit there until my lonely archipelago had a fully functional infrastructure.

I am still trying to do this, but it's not working as well as it used to. A toddler who just doesn't go to sleep, a commute (once my best writing time) that's down to one day a week, and a dying laptop have all made writing hard, and frankly I'm just too tired a lot of the time.

But I am exploring other creative realms, and the one that's currently interesting me most - knitting - is about as different as you can get. You have to do that in the right order.

At the moment I'm trying to design my first pattern: a slipover. It's going to have to be a slipover because I only have five balls of this yarn. I bought it in a charity shop and the Internet has nothing to say about it. I am having to plan: to measure, to practise, to calculate. I can't just make it up as I go along. It is an alien process to me, but, rather to my surprise, I'm enjoying it. The secret is, I think, being just good enough to be able to do things that make all that interesting rather than tedious. By which I mean, cables. I really like cables. I'm even enjoying the tension square.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: cat purring

ysabetwordsmith

xt1me posted samples of Avatar: The Last Airbender playing cards, very well designed.

Current Mood: busy

trobadora

Rushed post again - time keeps getting away from me!

Today's writing

Not as much progress as I'd have liked ... see above re: time. *sighs*

Tally

( Days 1-15 )

Day 16:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 17:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 18:

trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

sholio

1. MASH, Margaret
any, I'll be damned if I wash my hair in cold water.
Originally posted here

( 3 sentences of bickering )

2. Stranger Things, Robin/Vickie
any, and your friend steve
Originally posted here

( Actually it's 4 sentences )

3. Babylon 5, Londo & (or possibly /) G'Kar
any, get your dog on a leash
Originally posted here

( Went way over 3 sentences on this one )

ysabetwordsmith

Artists of Destruction, Coracle Shores, Crystal Wood, Strike of the Thunderbirds, and The Wandering are all up on the Serial Poetry page. These are all small series with just a few poems, but they can grow if readers like them enough to prompt for more. Big thanks to

fuzzyred for posting these.

Current Mood: accomplished

queenoftheskies

Back in 2007, I started a story in one segment of my series entitled Dumps, Dives & Divas. Over the years, I would add to it. It would change direction. Until I decided wasn't the story I wanted to use to present my series to readers.

I wanted to start with before my characters came to Earth.

I have 5 of those novels finished and several others almost finished. I had plans for them, the order I was going to release them in, etc.

(You're going to laugh at me from this point on.)

Until I saw K-Pop Demon Hunters, I was going to finish another one of those pre-Earth novels.

But, once I saw it, I realized, as popular as it was, there might be a better market for DDD first.

Why?

Because my aliens on Earth became rock stars and used the cover of their concerts to go to areas where they needed to fight monsters. This was originally going to be my introduction to music as magic in my series.

So, I pulled it out, finished it and started revising.

Another point that might be in its favor is that my characters have "magic armor", and Disney is talking about making an all new Power Rangers to release. And, there's magic/tech armor there.

So, this is where I am currently:

book cover

Need to finish revisions.

Need to find beta readers.

Need to revise again.

And, hope that decision to pull this novel out of the trunk pays off.

Edited to add: I've only shown this cover to my kids and to a friend I write with. Would love reactions if anyone has one.

I just got the finished file the end of last weeek.

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mirlacca

Ashley McConnell

December 2025

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Page Summary

ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
gilda_elise - The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
duskpeterson - FIC: Physicians' Quarters and Medical Academy (Tempestuous Tours)
shewhostaples in fancake - Lord Peter Wimsey: My True Love Has My Heart by Nineveh_UK
ffutures - Another Horror Bundle - Sleepy Horror
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Sleepy Hollow
annathecrow in dreamwars - Chat corner 2026-03, socially awkward edition
lannamichaels - this is a post about sports that is not brought to you by dayquil
lydamorehouse - Your Daily Laser Loon Art from the Resistance
used_songs - Snowflake Challenge #6
missdiane - White crud
used_songs - Snowflake Challenge #7
used_songs - Snowflake Challenge #8
torrentfreak_feed - ‘NVIDIA Contacted Anna’s Archive to Secure Access to Millions of Pirated Books’
torrentfreak_feed - Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 01/19/2026
ysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 1-19-26
mific - Shows: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ep 1, The Pitt eps 1&2, Landman s2
sholio - 3 Sentence Ficathon, part two
tamaranth - 2026/011: Old Time Religion — E H Lupton
mific - Pimping Stargate fests!
ruric - Week 2/52 and 3/52 roundup!
ysabetwordsmith - Location notes for "People of Every Ethnic Persuasion"
sovay - I want to show you all the versions of myself
ysabetwordsmith - Communities
watersword - walking holiday!
flareonfury in dw_community_promo - svpromptstables | arrowverse & smallville prompt tables
celli - Completed BTS Fic: sentinel/guide speed dating
osprey_archer - Bloomington
amperslashexchange - Collection Revealed!
muccamukk - Links Lists: The Angry Political One
ysabetwordsmith - OPN Seed Order
lannamichaels - Six Sentence Sunday: The Parent Trap remake, post-canon
james_davis_nicoll - Technically I am not breaking the rule against me sitting in the dark in 161
kaberett - vital functions
shewhostaples - Snowflake Challenge: day 8
ysabetwordsmith - Art
trobadora - Write Every day 2026: January, Day 18
sholio - 3 Sentence Ficathon, part one
ysabetwordsmith - Website Updates
queenoftheskies - Dumps, Dives & Divas

Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

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