flemmings: (hasui rain)
([personal profile] flemmings Nov. 12th, 2025 07:08 pm)
Apparently the aurora borealis will be visible tonight in places where it's not raining, which is not here. At least the sidewalks were somewhat dryer than yesterday so all I had to do was wipe the wheels down at each stop, not poke into the housings with a screwdriver like yesterday.

Continue to throw out bits of the dead past for recycle. Am now into the bedroom boxes and their stash of APAs from the latter 90s, which left me feeling oogier than even the doujinshi do. There's a nightmare feel about aspects of those four years.  I know it took me a good year to get over the reverse culture shock and the loose-endedness of not knowing what I was going to do next. Dépaysée is what the French call it and what I was, even if I was also in my own pays. So glad those days are over.

The one thing I can't throw out are the original Takamatsu / Jan episodes of Channel 5, which ran in Animage. Yes I have the tanks and yes I threw out the other eps but those, obscure as they are, I need to keep. Hoping vainly that some day I'll figure out what's happening, though Minekura will never tell me.

As for reading, I reread House of Many Ways since DWJ doesn't stick in the memory, and also Enchanted Glass, which I thought was her short stories but isn't. Several Desmond Merrions on the tablet and phone. Heir to Murder, A Smell of Smoke, Murder M. D. Dipping into the Leonardo biography but All Those Painters! besides the fact that it dates to 1988 and the author's speculation about the character of Da Vinci's mentor Verrocchio, based on his portrait, are nullified by the fact that said portrait is now firmly identified as one of Perugino.

Started The Place of Shells which has that 'translated from the Japanese' feel to it, because it is. But it led me down a rabbit hole looking at Soseki's Ten Nights of Dream, of which there is a bilingual edition on Kobo if I find my Japanese copy too obscure, and I do, which then led me to look at a new translation of Mon/ The Gate with an introduction by Pico Iyer, which I read. Iyer says it's not what Soseki says but the things he doesn't that count,  which means I will never read Mon, thank you, because I am not Japanese and can't pick up on stuff not-said when it's text. Iyer compares Soseki to Ishiguro, and I see what he means. He also compares him to Murakami and I disagree completely, at least where style is concerned. Murakami I find refreshingly straightforward. But he may have been talking about the haplessness of both authors' characters, which, well, maybe.

Posted by Wil

There is a massive winter storm barreling toward us right now, expected to arrive in the next 18 or so hours. Yesterday, it was unseasonably warm and stupidly beautiful. Today, it’s eerily calm, under grey skies. The air is so still, it carries the train whistles from all the way across the valley, and every lawnmower in town sounds like it’s next door. You walk outside, and everything just says, soon.1 Even the corvids and squirrels seem reluctant to come out of the trees, It never rains in Southern California, man. It pours.

This past weekend, though, it was great, and I was grateful for it.

Last Friday, Anne and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We have both been so busy and overwhelmed for so long, we planned to skip our usual weekend getaway and just go out for a really fancy dinner, instead. So we went to Mozza in Hollywood, where I think Anne discovered that pasta can actually be wonderful and not what her husband struggles to assemble in our kitchen.

We had such a wonderful meal, and such a nice time out, on a Friday night like PEOPLE WHO GO OUT TO DO THINGS! And that would have been enough, but about two weeks ago, Anne said that she was really missing our usual weekend away, and how did I feel about using points to go somewhere close? I admitted that I, too, was feeling sad we weren’t going to have two days of absolutely nothing but Us. Funny how we both really wanted to do this together, but kept talking ourselves out of it because we’d agreed together that we would.

Anyway, she found a place, cashed in some points, and we spent the weekend up in Santa Barbara. It was nothing but long walks, petting dogs, eating incredible food, and prioritizing each other, our relationship, our friendship, and our marriage. Each of us truly is married to our best friend, and even after 26 years (30+ total), we still have all kinds of fun goofing off together. We have consistently done the hard work of being married and being a family, and that investment pays off at like fifty million percent all the time.

It’s just like … it’s such a blessing and so awesome to spend our lives together, and be mom and dad to our kids. We have worked really hard for a good life, and I’m grateful that I’ve worked so hard to heal my PTSD, so I can actually enjoy living it.

And now…

This week’s story dropped earlier today! It is Dissembling Light, by Kel Coleman. It originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue 385.

This is a magical story (meaning that Magic features prominently in the narrative) about a man who holds tremendous knowledge and skill in his heart, and the hopeful apprentice who comes to learn from him. It also makes me wonder what good is knowledge, if its holder doesn’t freely share it?

You can get It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s some links to the more popular services:

You can also support the show on Patreon, where you’ll get the show with no ads, as well as some spiffy extras that all the cool kids are into these days.

Today, I recorded two episodes. One of the things we did is the most beautiful, heartbreaking, I-need-a-minute-to-compose-myself story I have read in a long, long time. I’m so excited for you to hear it. It’s also the source of the show’s first official blooper, where you will get to hear me use all my, uh, colorful metaphors in rather creative ways.

I would absolutely love to hear your feedback on the show, if you’re a listener. I feel like we’re doing good work, and putting good art into the world, but I have no idea what the audience thinks if I don’t ask, because we aren’t exactly in a theater together. Although, if I can figure out how to stage one of these stories, I’m into seeing what that would look and sound like. Maybe something cool is there, way off in the mysterious future.

  1. Unfortunately, it’s not the soon we are all waiting for ↩
Recently I finished assembling the lantern terrarium. I installed the branches, air plants, and other decor. \o/ (Start with Photos: Fairy Garden Lantern Deconstruction, Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 1 Gathering Materials, and Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit.)

Read more... )
A very interesting and informative article over at Forward Kentucky by Bruce Maples: “Christian Nationalism…or Christo-Facism?” .  It was written back in April of 2023 but is even more salient now.

We are without a doubt now living in the Christo-Facist Dictatorship of Trumpistan.  There is not a single, solitary doubt in my mind that Der Wannabe Führer will not give up the Presidency in 2029, if we even have an election in 2028.  He fomented insurrection when he lost in 2020 and now that he has the Supreme Court locked in and so many of the senior leadership of our military either fired by him or retiring/resigning because they refuse to serve under him, he will likely not have even that as a speed bump to declaring himself President for life.  

On a more personal note, I am very glad that my daughter and her partner have already emigrated to the Netherlands.  If it wasn’t for my 87 year old parents being in an assisted living facility and refusing to leave, I would join them as soon as I could offload my house.  
tassosss: Ye Zun Energy (Ye Zun Energy)
([personal profile] tassosss Nov. 12th, 2025 05:23 pm)
I want to take a second and say goodbye to this break from the grind. I am very lucky to be able to say that given we have the savings to weather missing three paychecks. This is the longest break I've had from working being a student full time since I was 17. I think 3 weeks in 2012 was the last time. (I was a contractor in 2019 and so worked that shutdown).

I think what this has really hit home is how much I would love to have a sabbatical every few years from work. I'm not sad to be going back, but it's so frenetic, and everything is a crisis, and the day in and day out is so wearing. I know I'll get used to it again, but it would also be nice not to be looking down the road at 27 more years of this. This is where midlife crises come from. I mean, fantasizing about not working full time has been a full time hobby of mine for about 15 years, so my definition of midlife is generous, but the point stands.

So farewell time to work on author stuff and editing. Farewell long hikes in the middle of the day. Farewell not having to cram everything into the weekend and feeling like a bad friend when I have to say no. Farewell kitty playtime and reading a book while doing nothing else. It was nice while it lasted.

Tags:
sovay: (What the hell ass balls?!)
([personal profile] sovay Nov. 12th, 2025 04:54 pm)
Does anyone know how to remove the floating Copilot button from a version of Microsoft Word on which I disabled all so-called connected experiences the day I bought the new license more than two years ago and which has nonetheless just sneakily updated itself so that I have an AI-inducing rainbow-colored heartworm constantly keeping pace in the down right corner of the document, blocking out text which I am trying to write? I have looked for suggestions online and most of them seem to require preference options not available in my Mac. But what I need in a Word document is words and nothing else and I cannot deal with a planet-killing visual fault in the middle of them, on top of which the fact that this obscenity can be intruded into my software makes me want to headline the news for the disappearance of the Roko's basilisk boys who put it there. If a program is on my computer, the only person who should be able to tinker with it is me. I am not even eloquent, I am so furious. Any actionable suggestions would be appreciated.
sineala: Detail of Harry Wilson Watrous, "Just a Couple of Girls" (Reading)
([personal profile] sineala Nov. 12th, 2025 04:45 pm)
What I Just Finished Reading

Diane Duane, Dark Mirror: Reviewed here.

Avengers Disassembled: Reread this for 616 Book Club; giving myself credit because otherwise I will not make my Goodreads goal.

What I'm Reading Now

Comics Wednesday!

1776 #1, Fantastic Four #5, Iron and Frost #2, New Avengers #6, Ultimate Black Panther #22, Ultimate Wolverine #11 )

What I'm Reading Next

Not sure yet.
trobadora: (terrible)
([personal profile] trobadora Nov. 12th, 2025 10:00 pm)
In order of deadlines:
  • Fic in a Box: I'm deep into the rewriting/editing and can't talk about any of it without breaking anonymity. *g* Reveals were supposed to be Saturday night, but we'll know by tomorrow morning whether there'll be a delay. It's looking very likely, and honestly, I'm not complaining.

  • Yuletide: Only a very vague idea so far. Once FIAB is over I'll do thorough canon revision (thankfully it's not one of the fandoms where that would take me fifty million hours), hammer out a proper plot, and then there'll be plenty of time left to actually write. It helps that December will be less busy at work again!

  • Five Figure Fanwork Exchange: Until today I only had a very vague idea of "I want to do something in that era of canon that my recipient mentioned", but today I went on a walk during my lunch break and a concept popped into my head fully-formed. I still need to figure out about half the plot, but that's for after Yuletide. (Unless it just pops into my head like this too! I wouldn't complain. *g*)

  • Other writing: Ahahaha, what other writing? I have no time and so many things to do. RL is so busy right now ... /o\

Posted by Amanda

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.Welcome back!

We’ve made it to Wednesday. Congratulations!

I have personal training on Wednesdays, so most of my day is a sense of dread up until my appointment. However, I’m always glad I went when the session is done. Even if my trainer kicks my ass. I’ve been attending sessions since July and I think I just need to come to terms that I will never be a gym person.

Are any of you the same away?

There’s a Kickstarter for a romantasy board game. I think the concept is interesting, but I think there should really be a solo gameplay version. It has roughly three weeks left and has raised $8k out of their $20k goal.

Over on Threads, people were sharing their mom/daughter glamor shots. I loved this. Did you ever take any? I know my mom had some of just her. I had some childhood photos taken at Olan Mills, but I wouldn’t call them glamor shots.

A new audiobook project was just announced and it aims to “stand against the exploitation of artists–by platforms, corporations and AI alike.” A lot of well-known women and non-binary voice actors from popular video games have signed on to the project.

Boston has a Goodnight Moon themed hotel room! I’m living vicariously through this reel.

Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

What I read

Well, most of the time it was One Clear Call, which had (as had preceding volumes) a certain amount of resonance with contemporary events.

Read The Scribbler Annual no 1, which was a change of pace.

On the go

Dipped a bit more into Some Men in London, 1960-1967.

Started the final book in my review pile, which is pretty good though also raises, I think, some interesting points for discussion. (And as a rather tangential thought, during the heyday of lesbian murder mysteries from feminist presses, were there any set in wymmynz communes?)

Have also started a re-read of The Golden Notebook - given how long it is since I last read it, so much seems very familiar.

Up next

Still haven't got to the latest Literary Review. Otherwise, dunno.

lovelyangel: (Tachikoma Excited)
([personal profile] lovelyangel Nov. 12th, 2025 10:57 am)
I have really, really missed working with my full, dual-monitor computer setup. It is such a joy to have six Workspaces distributed across two 5K monitors.

A new joy is the uncovering of the tall window to the right of my fireplace. That window had always been blocked because the light coming in was harsh. Now that it’s open (after, like, 20 years), I’ve discovered that the covered deck that we added in 2020 blocks some direct sunlight – and also the neighbor’s trees have grown, and they also filter the light. My view outside is now a pleasant, green scene with my patio table and chairs in the foreground.

Belldandy is fully connected now. Yesterday I activated the twin Time Machine drives (Makina II and Michiru II) and manually launched an initial backup, building off the older archives on the drives. (Belldandy/Madoka has never had a Time Machine backup. The previous Time Machine backups were Belldandy IV (Frieren)/Amane back in May 2025.)

Today I moved the printer from the bedroom to the library. I’ve connected the subwoofer and desktop speakers to Belldandy and tested sound. I borrowed a Cat6 Ethernet cable from my stash of cables so that I could connect Belldandy directly to the Netgear box, bypassing wifi. I have to say, I wasn’t able to avoid a massive snarl of cables and cords behind my desk. I don’t know if there’s a solution to that.

I am slowly re-adding items to my desk. I’m trying not to bring back the full clutter, and I’m bringing back only things that are essential to operations. The lesser-used items I hope to store offline (that is, in the office cabinet). It’s a process. A slow, deliberate one. This will take weeks, I think.

The printer cabinet and the oak file cabinet are temporarily set about 10" behind my desk. They look pretty crude compared to all the new furniture in the library. I’ve asked my interior designer to look for a single furniture piece to replace them both.

I have to say, though, the view from my chair at my desk is totally wonderful. I’ve very much spoiled myself.

The View From My Desk, November 2025
The View From My Desk, November 2025
iPhone 13 mini photo
thegreatratsby: (Default)
([personal profile] thegreatratsby Nov. 12th, 2025 01:30 pm)
oh I'm doing soooo bad. happy first tuesdaypost in 3 weeks I am going to [redacted because it's bad to make jokes about killing yourself]

listening:


bbno$ 2025 album good

trueanon ep on the kolitz gooning article (in reading) (it's on their patreon but I got it from a friend, dm me if you are interested)

Read more... )
yourlibrarian: It Begins with Angel and Darla (BUF-ItBegins-elizalavelle)
([personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] everykindofcraft Nov. 12th, 2025 12:02 pm)


Although a number of necklaces I make have themes, some are inspired by types of fandoms or specific ones.

Although I have made other steampunk pieces with more direct allusions to machinery, I wanted to go more elegant with this one. The Steampunk heart above was a wide pendant though, so I used wide beads in red for a chunky look. Then I added in various types of metal beads -- some small alternating color heart ones in the extension, and wide silver and brass ones to echo the pendant metals.

Read more... )
raven: black and white street sign: "Hobbs Lane" (quatermass - hobbs end)
([personal profile] raven Nov. 12th, 2025 05:49 pm)
I’ve been rewatching Quatermass and the Pit for the last week, which is apparently something I do every few years and then never write anything about. It’s a black and white BBC serial from 1958, to our eyes science fiction horror though a massive leap beyond genre in its own time, and I love it very much. I honestly think it’s perfect. There isn’t anything I’d change except put more women in it and even so at least it does have one brave 1950s lady scientist academic trying her best. Could be worse if not by much.

So the Quatermass in the title is a person – named by writer Nigel Kneale with what he called the weirdest name in the phonebook; he’s Professor Bernard Quatermass, a restrained, charming British academic in charge of something called the British Experimental Rocket Group. By the time we meet him in the Pit, there aren’t so many rockets; Quatermass the pacifist is in the middle of being told the military are taking over his research; that his planned moonbase is going to be used as a place to build up armament. No one mentions Sputnik or the USSR, but no one has to. This was absolutely on-the-minute current when it was made. Quatermass is furiously angry and kind of heartbroken; then he discovers an old friend of his has a very similar problem, and decides to be a dick to his new employer while he solves it.

There really aren’t a lot of rockets in this story! Matthew Roney, Quatermass’s old friend, is a paleontologist, who has discovered an ancient site of prehistoric hominids in… Knightsbridge. (There’s been construction, ok.) But deep down in the pit there’s also an unexploded bomb (!) left over from 1944, so the military have taken over. Quatermass plays silly buggers with the army folk until they leave Roney alone, and then hangs around to see what happens next. That’s the set-up. And I love it, largely because Quatermass is incredibly charismatic (he was played by five different actors, but this one is my favourite) and also just… you can see here how the series was an influence on every SF, horror or fantasy thing to ever be on television. It’s so fucking interesting and intelligent.

But then. Everything that happens next is creepy in the best way. creep creep creep - rather than cut tag the most horrifying bit of the serial, I have simply not included it so this is cut for length not horrors )

I wanted to finish off this extremely long post about a seventy-year-old piece of television by posting a snippet of it, but I actually couldn’t find anything. Perhaps even better: this was the noise the Martians made inside people’s heads, courtesy of the Radiophonic Workshop. And Hob’s Lane, where the Pit was dug, is in my icon.

Posted by Amanda

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton is $1.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal. Snap it up while you can! It’s the first book in Holton’s Love’s Academic series.

Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.

Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, capturing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that’s beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.

For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She’s so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they’re professional rivals.

When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can’t trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Swept Away

Swept Away by Beth O’Leary is $2.99! I believe this is O’Leary’s latest release and it came out in the spring. I feel like O’Leary’s romances are a bit hit or miss. Do you have a favorite?

Two strangers find themselves stranded at sea together in this epic new love story by bestselling author Beth O’Leary.

What if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?

Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend’s daughter.

Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.

With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Order of Swans

Order of Swans by Jude Deveraux is $1.99! This came out in January and is book one in a contemporary fantasy duology. I’ve heard mixed things about this one, so I’d love to know what you thought if you picked this one up.

In this spellbinding, fantasy-rich novel, a woman is swept into a world where she has the power to alter fairy tales, and change a kingdom’s destiny…

To Kaley Arens, a PhD student and expert in folklore, fairy stories have always had a power and an allure beyond mere entertainment.

It’s only when Kaley accompanies her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home that she realizes how much she still has to learn. Bellis isn’t the remote island that she believed it to be. It’s another world—a stunningly beautiful and seductive one, with its own royalty, its own rules, and inhabitants who breathe life into the tales she was taught were fiction.

Kaley’s presence is no simple holiday. She has a mysterious connection with Jobi and with Bellis, and abilities that may help determine this world’s fate. Tasked with locating a lost prince, Kaley and her companions—the enigmatic Tanek, a member of the Order of Swans, and Sojee, Kaley’s colossal bodyguard—journey through a land both thrilling and terrifying, where the uncanny and the familiar go hand in hand.

But in fairy tales, heroes and villains are easy to discern. Here, nothing is quite as it seems. And though Kaley is discovering that she can change the outcome of the fairy tales she knows so well, her own story is unfolding in ways impossible to predict, with a destiny she could never have foretold…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland by Rachael Herron is $2.99! I mentioned this in an August Hide Your Wallet because it sounded like something the Bitchery might be interested in for the fall season.

Most visitors to Skerry Island see only its lush greenery, picturesque cemetery, and quaint downtown. Yet generations of local women know that on Skerry, their benevolent witchcraft is at its most powerful.

Beatrice Barnard doesn’t believe in magic. She definitely doesn’t believe the predictions of the celebrity psychic who claims that she will experience seven miracles and soon after she will die. When she discovers her husband is cheating on her, Bea flees to Skerry Island, off the Pacific Northwest coast, in desperate need of solitude—taking her husband’s birthday vacation by herself. Immediately upon arrival, she finds her life on the line as a rogue woodchopper blade almost kills her. Her survival feels like a miracle.

And then things get more miraculous when she discovers her twin sister, Cordelia, whom she never knew about, and her mother Astrid, who supposedly died when Beatrice was two years old. Astrid and Cordelia reveal that Beatrice (given name Beatrix) is an immensely powerful witch who can commune with the dead, like all the local Holland family witches. When their twin magic is joined, it shines like a beacon to the Velamen family, whose malevolent spirits are locked in an age-old struggle for magical dominance over the Hollands.

Beatrice doesn’t know what to believe, but she begins to fear that the seven predicted miracles may occur, and that her imminent death will rip her away from her rediscovered family. Beatrice resolves to learn everything she can about her own power, in the hope of saving herself. But when her niece, Minna, goes missing, Bea’s own life suddenly seems much less important. Beatrice must join her mother and her sister to save Minna even if she dies in the process.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 



"Survive! Gwanggong! /
Survive! Obsessive Gong!"


[NovelUpdates Page]

[Chapter 11-15 Post]

Chapter 16: I hate the system so much, literally having your free will stripped away like that and going against your own morals...like daaamn.

Gwak Seon-woo wasn’t particularly passionate about food, but as a Korean, he still believed that a solid meal was the foundation of everything. This was a country where people greeted each other with “Have you eaten?” instead of a simple hello, and parted ways with “Let’s grab a meal sometime.” And yet, here he was, treating someone offering him food like absolute trash. No, it was worse than just poor treatment—this was outright rejecting kindness in the most insulting way possible.

Lmao Seung-hyeon is learning how to deal with Seon-woo!!

I hope Seon-woo's half-asleep apology doesn't get him into trouble with the System. Ahh I wanted to see Seung-hyeon's reaction.

Chapter 17: Whew, his points are okay. Was Eun-jae maybe messaging Seung-hyeon?

Chapter 18: The first option sounded too intimate, I would've chosen “Maybe you just feel unfamiliar to me. But that doesn’t mean… it’s necessarily a bad thing.”

Eun-jae is showing a different side today, it's kind of interesting. 🤔

Chapter 19: Interesting exchange between Seung-hyeon and Eun-jae. It didn't feel like Seung-hyeon was being possessive over Eun-jae, and Eun-jae was irritated. Then Seung-hyeon said Seon-woo should just come with them.

Chapter 20: A moment ago, Eun-jae had been locked in a silent battle with Seung-hyeon. Now, it seemed the two had reached an agreement.

Hahah Seon-woo is being double-teamed now, I like it. Now it's almost like they're in a tug of war lmao.

Aw, the workers loosened up around Seon-woo.

Ooo what does Seung-hyeon wants to say to Seon-woo??

Chapter 21: Seung-hyeon's clearly not going to give up on finding out what's wrong, why can't the System just let him lie and say it's the embezzlement case he's working on?

Chapter 22: Eun-jae and Seung-hyeon looking at Seon-woo while singing that Nagging song. =P

Chapter 23: If the system had a physical form, he would’ve already socked it in the face at least once.

Seriously, WTF!!

I want to see stuff happen with the embezzlement case soon.

Chapter 24: Hmm so Su-won is slimy despite what he seems?

Chapter 25: I love Seung-hyeon cutting Seon-woo off on a line he didn't want to say anyway lol. The OG Gwanggong was straight up brutal, no wonder Seung-hyeon noticed a different geeze. I'm surprised the system didn't detract a bunch of points throughout this convo. So what is Seung-hyeon's hypothesis on what's wrong with Seon-woo? Does he think he's sick, or that something personal happened to change him? And what does the passcode meaaan?
Not time’s fool (11224 words) by lotesse
Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Caspian/Lucy Pevensie
Characters: Lucy Pevensie, Caspian (Narnia), Ramandu's Daughter | Liliandil, Edmund Pevensie, Peter Pevensie, Polly Plummer, Digory Kirke, Eustace Scrubb, Lord Rhoop (Narnia)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Romance, Sailing, Prophecy
Series: Part 3 of An ever-fixèd mark
Summary:

“You see,” Edmund began, and all leaned in, visibly listening, “it wasn’t just romance that kept Lucy in Narnia. She is with Caspian, now, but she also had a – a vision isn’t quite right. She was shown a prophetic image in a magical book, and Aslan vouched, later, personally, for its truth. She acted as she did to attempt to divert what she saw, and I think we’d better do likewise, on our end. Here’s what you all need to know.”

runpunkrun: Dana Scully reading Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' in the style of a poster you'd find in your school library, text: Read. (reading)
([personal profile] runpunkrun Nov. 12th, 2025 08:29 am)
A quiet mystery with an emphasis on character, plus a little carpentry and a lot of Irish countryside. A perfect read for late fall as it turns into winter.

Though when I say it's perfect for fall, I mean that the season in the book closely matched what was going on outside my own window. The story, on the other hand, is an discomforting mix of cozy and violent, and I found the resolution to the mystery something of a letdown, so I mostly enjoyed this for the scenery, the small town atmosphere, and the relationships between the characters. Cal wasn't my favorite, a Chicago cop who retired because he couldn't tell if he was doing the right thing anymore, has the flavor of someone who might use "woke" as an insult (let him tell you his stance on pronouns), and still has the voice of his ex-wife in his head critiquing his every thought (which, let's be honest, he needs), but he's well drawn and his contradictions reflect his circumstances and the era, and when I say era, I mean 2020, that decade of a year.

Contains: graphic violence; child harm; graphic descriptions of mutilated livestock and hunting rabbits for food; published in 2020, but pre-covid.
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([personal profile] geraineon posting in [community profile] cnovels Nov. 12th, 2025 09:33 pm)
This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*
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([personal profile] osprey_archer Nov. 12th, 2025 07:57 am)
What I’ve Just Finished Reading

It took me some time, but I’ve finished Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! I read the translation by Mendor T. Brunetti, which comes with an afterword which talks a bit about the history of Verne translations. Apparently the first guy who translated Verne into English didn’t understand a lot of the science, and either mistranslated or straight up cut it out, which gave Verne a very poor reputation among American science fiction fans for years until someone finally went back to the original French and said “Now wait a minute.” So the Brunetti translation is a corrective.

We also do NOT find out the specifics of Captain Nemo’s tragic backstory, although the afterword kindly explains that there were two different versions, one that Verne’s publisher axed for political reasons and one that was eventually published in The Mysterious Island. spoilers )

Tons of undersea details all the way through to the end, and a very interesting glimpse of 19th century science. Nemo and co. visit the South Pole by sailing the Nautilus under the ice shelf and then popping up in the polar sea, which reflects the popular scientific theory of the day.

What I’m Reading Now

Daphne Du Maurier’s The Winding Stair: Francis Bacon, His Rise and Fall. This is the sequel to Du Maurier’s Golden Lads, a biography of the Bacon brothers which mostly focuses on Francis’s older brother Anthony the sickly spymaster. I found Golden Lads a bit of a slog (Anthony just spends so much time ill in bed), but The Winding Stair is zipping right along! Bacon has just befriended the king’s new favorite George Villiers, who seems a great improvement on the last favorite who awkwardly has just been found guilty of poisoning someone with an arsenic enema.

What I Plan to Read Next

My Unread Bookshelf book for this month is Gene Stratton Porter’s The Harvester. Every GSP book I’ve read has been absolutely deranged, so I’m excited to see where this book will take me.
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([personal profile] cmcmck posting in [community profile] common_nature Nov. 12th, 2025 12:30 pm)
We live in the north of the county of Shropshire, while Ludlow is in the south about forty miles from home.

One of the river's several weirs:



See more pics: )
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([personal profile] spikedluv Nov. 12th, 2025 07:31 am)
I hit Walmart and Agway while I was downtown. At home I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, emptied the dishwasher and ran another load, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered.

I pulled spaghetti sauce out of the freezer for supper and also browned ground beef to make the base of ~something for the coming cold days (I'm thinking our family version of goulash, which is nothing like actual goulash, which I found out when I ordered it out once and was like, wtf is this?!! o_O).

I finished the Hallmark Christmas movie I started last night and watched another. I think the light snow was making me feel seasonal-ish.

Temps started out at 26.6(F) (forecasted to be 23) and reached 34.5 (forecasted to be 30). Both the low and high temps were slightly higher than forecasted. Today is supposed to be the coldest day of the week, and I hope that holds. There was a coating of snow on the ground when I left the house this morning, but the main roads were pretty good. It snowed all day, but so light you could barely see it, and it melted as soon as it hit the ground, thankfully. It was very windy for most of the afternoon and I had to dress very warmly (aka, so many layers) on our walks.

Tumblr-speak has made it into my everyday language. When I let Ti out this afternoon I asked him if he was sure he wanted to go outside because it was awfully ‘wimdy’ out.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good today when I called her. more back here )
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([personal profile] cmcmck Nov. 12th, 2025 12:22 pm)
Another view of Dinham bridge from the river bank:



See more! )
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