drcpunk

Roll Call, the Longer Version

I was

* Working on our Saturday game so that we could send links to character sheets out as early as... oh, maybe it was just before midnight on Tuesday? Maybe?

* Timing things correctly to get us packed and into the city (NYC, aka Manhattan) to have dinner at Bites of Xian, with plenty of time to catch the 7:50 pm train to get us into Providence around 11:30 pm and to the hotel in time that, late as it was, no one batted an eye at our checking in for Wednesday night.

* Getting up and ready for the day in time to have lunch (part of a bowl of New England clam chowder and at least half of the amazing Ahi Tuna Martini, which has fish, noodles both crisp and not, some green vegetable matter, and no alcohol. And also to realize that I needn't have ordered the sandwich thingy with pork and pineapple in a pita, but it made a fine dinner later.

* Getting to the Welcome Party and Leap Day!!! party, winning a small teddy bear key chain (and figuring out how best to game the game for that), and getting a green stuffie frog and some chocolate ones. Oh, and putting up a balloon about the fools who thought me mad on the wall.

* Ezra Griffiths, asshole food critic, in the Thursday evening run of Out of the Frying Pan, or, Murder at the Chefs' Retreat. Thank you so much, Isaiah, for giving me the role I jumped up and down in the questionnaire, begging for. It was a total blast!

* About 20-30 minutes of Dirty Dancing. I wasn't very well coordinated. I like the watermelon strips for symbolizing "Do grab me onto the dance floor" and think something similar should be used in more dances.

* Sleeping in on Friday, as I did not have a morning game.

* Isthar Daybearer in The Ashlight Labyrinth, the game for which I checked the box on the casting questionnaire that said, literally, "Please break me if you can." I'm not sure whether or not the game broke me, but it certainly broke Isthar, and that was satisfying. Very well timed punches in the feels from both the GM and the players, all of whom were amazing. And I finally, finally got to roleplay in more than passing with Nick Knapp and Nunzio Thron. We really need to do this more often.

* Buying utterly unnecessary but utterly beautiful pins from the dealers. (See, one was of a dragon, just in case the GMs in Josh's game needed one (they didn't); one was of a fox that looks amazing; and one was a wolf's head pin, because I needed a third to get the price break, and it looks really good.)

* Finding Josh and having another meal with him in Crossings, which meant another Ahi Tuna Martini and parts of two bowls of New England clam chowder.

* Being hordes of mals in Scholomance: Gifted Children, and getting to watch the lead up to the graduation run, and the run itself. Also learning how my flaws as a player in the alpha run (basically, MEGOing and checking out rather than, you know, learning the rules, which were, you know, kind of important) helped the GMs learn what they needed to emphasize. (Note: I still had a blast in the alpha run, and fortunately, my mistakes made complete sense for my character.)

* Meeting Josh as he was finishing game debriefing after playing in And Your Bird Can Sing.

* Sleeping in, but not as long (as we did want Housekeeping to come in), on Saturday. I think this was the day I did lunch in the Atrium? Things are already starting to blur.

* Eating lunch in Crossings, which meant another Ahi Tuna Martini, this time consumed completely by me. (That's 3 Ahi Tuna Martinis, for those keeping count.)

* Running Breakthru! Villainous Voices (Chills After Dark) with Joshua Kronengold and the amazing Stephen Tihor, whose brainchild the Breakthru! series of games is. Our players were likewise amazing. You know how, when you run a game, you look around the room, to see who's being left out of things? There was almost never anyone left on their own, as far as I could tell. And our wonderful players, both new and returning, surprised us so much. There will be some changes in the Breakthru world for next time...

* King Mark of Cornwall/Sean Pritchard in Once and Future Court, where we decided in brief pre-game workshop that Tristan wrote "The Minstrel Boy". Lots of tears and emotions and also belting out The Minstrel Boy despite mask and occasional word flubs.

* Playing in Crossroads, where I had a weird combination of a good emotional game and things just clicking into place -- not an inevitable place, but a very, very satisfying one. And the very end of that game -- *chef's kiss* and thank you so much to the GMs and the players who remained right up to the end for that one!

* Spending about 20 minutes at the Intercon dance, which I really, really needed. As with last year, it helped ground me after the games in a way nothing else could have.

* Spending an hour or two after that socializing.

* Running Time Crash Resurrection at Hawai'i University with Joshua Kronengold. The two of us and Gaylord Tang wrote this for MOLW and polished it for Bubble, and Gaylord made sure we had everything we needed to run it, including one of the best organized and clearest GM Manuals I've worked with. Our players were amazing, grasping the heart of their characters at once, and exploring what that meant over the course of the game. And kudos to Josh who jumped in when a player had to leave early, walking a fine line between gming from that role and playing it, and above all, embodying the character in ways I could not have on that day.

* Grabbing lunch and supplementing the three hours of sleep we'd gotten the night before with a three hour nap.

* Going to the ice cream social at 7 and staying more or less consistently until about 2 am, getting to talk to so many people as ourselves.

* Deciding that, despite the two amazing games I played on Saturday, which will both be with me for a long time, the game I needed to stay up in bed starting a testament/quick vignette for was The Ashlight Labyrinth, which ended exactly where it needed to, but clearly left my brain with Questions and Feelings. I did put that down unfinished, in favor of getting sleep.

* Working on the vignette while eating one final time in Crossings. Total number of bowls of New England clam chowder ordered over the course of Intercon V: 5. Total number of Ahi Tuna Martinis ordered: 4. Also, the music in Crossings on Monday was great.

* Finishing the "quick vignette" on the train. The draft is currently over 4,000 words, which puts it into "I've written college papers shorter than this" territory.

* Eating at Tracks in NYC (near Penn Station -- used to be inside Penn Station) and catching a bus home.

* Finally, finally actually writing all of the above.

So, we've just seen the end of Yuri on Ice, and it's... it's A Chorus Line if it were on ice.

Okay, yes, figure skating is not like a lower-c chorus line.
A Chorus Line is set in the 1970s, where, at base, I live. Yes, happy to be in the 21st century, but that's where my roots are, NYC, 1970s. Yuri on Ice is and must be set in the mid- to late- 20-teens.
The objective stakes are different.

But the heart of both the stage musical and the anime is the same.
In A Chorus Line, it's "What I Did For Love" and what led into that song. (Again, stage musical version. Haven't seen the movie and shouldn't, as I don't think I'll be able to get over it not being the stage musical enough to appreciate what it is.)
In Yuri on Ice, it's a combination of two things. That I would cry in the 11th episode was no surprise. The surprise was when I cried and why. That's half of it. The other half is the amazing tour de force that is the 12th episode, particularly one thing that Josh had to point out to me (as it was happening). (Addendum: He may have been incorrect about the particular thing, but that doesn't really matter.)

I dub anything that looks to be at least novella-length A Book.
I group smaller items I've read around the same time as One Book-Equivalent Item.

1. Dorothy Dunnett: The Spring of the Ram. I'm not sure whether should push on through the series or reread the Lymond books or read some of her other books. I do know that once I pick up a Dunnett book, reading it is my week's activity. And when I hit 50 pages from the end, I knew there'd be at least two more twists. Dunnett is intense.

2. Arvind Ethan David, Eugenia Koumaki, Diana Greenhalgh, and Joana Lafuente: Gray, Volume 1. An odd riff on Dorian Gray, gender swapping, modern setting, not following the plot. Interesting enough I'll look for the next volume.

3. NISIOISIN, Suzuka Oda, and Kinako: Pretty Boy Detective Club Volume 1 (manga) Starts off light and gets deeper. I've picked up the second, but haven't yet read it, and am pondering whether to try the light novels as well.

4. Seanan McGuire: A Killing Frost
4a. Seanan McGuire: Shine in Pearl
The book before The Wedding Book and the novella included in it. One beautifully complicated character reminds me of a fellow gamer in terms of logical contortions. It's something for me to keep in mind in certain larping situations. Oh yes, I also like the motivations pushing much of the plot.

5. Seanan McGuire: Where the Drowned Girls Go
The latest in the Wayward Children series, answering a couple of questions and raising, oh, so many more...

6. A&E 554, the monthly gaming apa that I actually still read on paper.

7. Denis Diderot, trans. Robert J. Loy: Jacques the Fatalist & his Master
I read this because Ada Palmer said it was one of the many inspirations for elements of Terra Ignota, specifically the narrative conceits. It reminded me of Tristram Shandy, hardly surprising. I wasn't sure I liked it, and it isn't my usual thing, but it was what I needed while recovering from a minor procedure.

8. Ada Palmer: Too Like the Lightening (reread)
9. Ada Palmer: Seven Surrenders (reread)
The first two Terra Ignota books, rereading on my way to the fourth. I've now read the first 3 times, and enjoyed it each time. The second, as I expected, improved on a reread, partly because I knew what would happen and partly because some of the stuff I was skeptical about dimly mirrored some of what happened in the world since it was published.

10. Steve Dempsey et alia: Fearful Symmetries
The actual, published, book, not the ashcan, not the beta, and more coherent than either. I'm running a campaign of this, and we're enjoying it, though finding something in the book takes a bit of flipping.

11. A&E #555

12. Ada Palmer: The Will to Battle (reread)
I think I was slightly impatient with this book on the reread, likely because I wanted to get to the fourth. It's also an indrawn breath, a pause before the rush of events that's the fourth book, something I very much liked on the first read when I didn't have the next book to hand.

13. Ada Palmer: Perhaps the Stars
This blew me away, and this series was my first pick for the Best Series Hugo, to, I am sure, the suprise of no one who knows me. I'm going to have to read it again to see how some of the pieces fit now that I know the overall pattern, which means rereading all the books.

14. Various: Octobernomicon Manuscript, a Golden Goblin collection of Call of Cthulhu scenarios, each centered around a Shoggoth.net creation. I did a proofreading pass on this one, and am now, predictably, eager to these, particularly "Accounts of Violence".

15. A&E #556

16. Ryka Aoiki: Light from Uncommon Stars
A lot of fun, similar to Valente's Space Opera in the recognition that there's constantly a battle over who gets to be People.

17. S. L. Huang: Burning Roses
18. Kathleen Jennings: Flyaway

Two novellas merging elements of fairy tales and folklore into strong, newer tales.

19. Tristan Zimmerman: Shanty Hunters
A ttrpg about hunting down sea shanties before they're lost and then having to figure out how to survive as the events of the shanty come to life. I'm a filker and a gamer -- this is me-bait.

20. Alix E. Harrow: A Spindle Splintered
20a. C. M. Ruebsaat: This Night on the Rooftops
An entertaining fractured fairy tale and a No Dice, No Masters / Belonging Outside Belonging game in an urban setting of magic and factory workers, which I'd like to try out. I bundled that in with the novella because both were fairly short, not because they have particular similarities.

21. Mark Diaz Truman: Cartel, + special edition pdf
A Mexican narcofiction ttrpg Powered by the Eclipse. Exquisitely crafted -- I got to play a one shot online, and I got to playtest a reskinning of this for Lovecraftian horror, which worked really well. Haven't yet played anything longer than a one shot of it.

22. P. Djeli Clark: A Master of Djinn
I loved this, and I enjoyed the stories that came before it. I'm hoping there will be more!

23. A&E #557

24. Hayley Gordon, Vee Hendro, et alia: Alas for the Awful Sea
24a. Hayley Gordon, Vee Hendro, and Alex Robinson: The Wind and the Waves

A Powered by the Apocalypse ttrpg about crime, mystery, seafaring, and the supernatural in the 19th centure British Isles, and a collection of scenarios for it. I need to play this to get a good feel for it. Definitely has all the right elements for me.

25. Nghi Vo: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
The cleric Chih uses their skill as a collector of tales to try to keep from being devoured by tigers. It's amazing, as was the previous novella in this series.

26. Matt Wilson: Primetime Adventures, 3rd edition
I think this was a reread? If so, I'd forgotten how 3rd edition worked. I've still not played this edition.

27. Epidah Ravachol: Swords Without Master. Also read: Kevin Thien Vu Long Nguyen: Bro, Is It Gay to Dock? and Darla Burrow: Dear Great Cthulhu, PLEASE Stop Giving Me Superpowers

This is a bunch of shorter games, all intriguing. I especially want to try Great Cthulhu, PLEASE Stop Giving Me Superpowers!

28. Jo Walton: Or What You Will
A book about a writer returning to a world she wrote about years earlier, about that world, about her muse, about a lot of things. Won the Mythopoeic Award, deservedly so.

29. Joyce Ch*ng and Lowell Francis: Hearts of Wulin
30. A&E #558
31: Hearts of Wulin: Worlds
Another issue of A&E, and a PbtA game and its expansion. It is no coincidence that I read the latter two the same year I watched several Chinese dramas. I want someone to run this so I can play it.

32. Saladin Ahmed and Dave Acosta: Dragon
A graphic novel about a nun and a Muslim working to destroy Dracula. Why wouldn't I pick that up?

33. A Whole Lot of Blogs on The Untamed
Seriously, I am sure I read at least a novella's worth of material, likely more, on this show. I regret none of it!

34. Priest: Faraway Wanderers (combo of translations)
This is the novel Word of Honor is based on, a lot more cynical and not as layered. Still fun, and I had a blast considering the differences between the two stories and why they existed. (I understand why the show didn't include the stick figure pornography, but I do regret the omission.)

35. Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #11
36. Black Butler #31
Two manga I follow, one of which is all about love and the other is... well... not *not* about love...

37. Priest: Lord Seventh (trans Huang "Chichi" Zhifeng)
The book that came before Faraway Wanderers. I liked it better, though was very glad to have read Faraway Wanderers first for context. Alas, this one's not likely to be dramatized, since, if I understand correctly, you can't have reincarnation in a Chinese drama, and it's inextricable from the story.

38. A&E #559

39. Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette): Witness for the Dead
I loved this one. The author's very good at giving the feel of a city, and the protagonist is a cinnamon roll. I've not yet read The Goblin Emperor, but I see now that I must.

40. Seanan McGuire: Spelunking Through Hell
40a. Seanan McGuire: And Sweep Up the Wood
The latest InCryptid novel and the novella included in it. This is the Alice book. I did not expect a lot of the twists, which is really cool because there were certain (obvious) things I correctly figured she'd be doing.

41. Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver: Uncommon Charm. Also Richard Ruane: Sherwood
Again, me combining a short book and a short ttrpg. Both excellent in different ways. Full disclosure: I edited Sherwood.

42. Garth Nix: Terciel and Elinor
This is the prequel to the Abhorsen books.

43. Akissa Saike: Ghost Reaper Girl #1
Manga about a B-movie actress working with the inimical forces of the Cthulhu Mythos to protect humanity against inimical forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. And most of them are disturbingly pretty. I love Shoggy, the shoggoth who wants to be a magical girl and does a fine job of it, and Herbert West, and Nyarlathotep, and...

44. Mo Xiang Tong Xiu: Heaven Official's Blessing #1
The first season anime is so faithful to the first book of this series that reading it felt like rereading it. (I had this experience once before when I read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice because I saw a version that was extremely faithful to the book.)

45. Catherynne Valente: The Past Is Red
This is indeed surprisingly cheerful climate change sf. Strong protagonist/narrator voice, and as with much of Valente's writing, cries to be read aloud.

46. Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle: The Squad
Graphic novel, girl invited to join the popular girls in high school, who just happen to be werewolves.

47. Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi: Moriarty the Patriot #1
This manga was recommended to me, and I love it. Also, hey, guess what's in the public domain now?

48. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Andres Guinaldo: Blade Runner 2019, Vol. 1: Los Angeles
I fell hard for this. Also, hey, women characters, lots of them! Disabled rep! Didn't hurt that the Blade Runner ttrpg came out this year.

49. A&E #560
50. Warren Tusk: Original The Dance and the Dawn larp. Also Gene Astadan's Blues From a Gun and James Mendez Hodes's Fate of Cthulhu: The Zombie Apocalypse

Another issue of A&E, and a bunch of short gaming pieces. The Dance and the Dawn is basically a speed dating larp, one with angst and dancing, and hence, right up my alley. Blues From a Gun is a Penned to Good Society game inspired by sources like Grosse Point Blank, which means there's another movie on my to watch list. Mendez's Zombie Apocalypse is amazing. Also, I need to run some Fate of Cthulhu.

Digression: The Dance and the Dawn is one of several larps available from http://www.paracelsus-games.com/theatrical-experiences which also has the excellent 2-person larp, Debrief, for free. This is a larp designed to be played online. It lasts an hour (but add extra time for set up and, er, debrief), and is like a John le Carre novel, only with a ghost and a medium, both spies. Highly recommended.

51. Fonda Lee: Jade City
52. C. L. Polk: Witchmark
What do these two have in common? They're both excellent and were both up for the Best Series Hugo. And I realized that I could actually ensure that I had sufficient familiarity with ALL the entries in that category to feel comfortable voting.

53. Aliette de Bodard: Fireheart Tiger
One of the nominees for Best Novella in 2022, and reading it made it quite obvious why.

54. Hugo Finalist Short Stories and Novelettes
I always count these altogether as "one book".

55. Graham Walmsley, Kathryn Jenkins, and Helen Gould: Cthulhu Dark + Mo Holkar: As Good As A Feast + Chris Spivey: The Whole Is Greater + Scott Dorward: Fairyland
TTRPG and several scenarios using the game's mechanics. Bleak, brutal, and beautiful.

56.-62. Tatsuya Endo: Spy x Family vols 1-7
We're following the anime and the manga. Utterly delightful story about a spy, an assassin, and the young telepath they're raising, each concealing their secrets from the others, but aware that the Happy Family is a ruse -- except that this family is no more and likely less dysfunctional than many. Also, kudos to the creators for being aware that telepathy is of limited use when one is four -- er, six, yes, definitely six. Also totally a parent trap.

63. Fonda Lee: Jade War
Second in the Green Bones trilogy.

64. Elsa Sjunneson: Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism
I read this in one, maybe two sittings.

65. Adrian Tchaikovsky: Elder Race
Another of the novellas up for the Hugo, also obvious why.

66. A&E #561
67. Fonda Lee: Jade Legacy
Another A&E and the third in the Green Bones trilogy, the longest. Also, covers the most time, ends satisfactorily, for reasons the author explains: https://stone-soup.ghost.io/sticking-the-landing/

68. Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau: Another Castle
Graphic novel about a princess determined to save her kingdom from the evil ruler of another kingdom. And then things get complicated as she tries to make a plan that will involve the least fallout for the many, many non-evil people in that kingdom.

69. Svapna Krishna and Jenn Northington: Stone Sword Table: Old Legends, New Voices
I need to turn my draft of a review of this into an actual review.

70. Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi: Moriarty the Patriot #2
71.-74. Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios): Once and Future vols 1-4 (reread on v1): The King Is Undead, Old English, The Parliament of Magpies, Monarchies in the U. K.
More Moriarty. Also Arthurian graphic novel series set in some version of the present or near future with lots of supernatural stuff, aka my jam.

75. Catherynne Valente: Mass Effect: Andromeda: Annihilation
A mystery in space. Fun, and I assure you, you need not know anything about Mass Effect to enjoy this.

76. Marion Deeds: Comeuppance Served Cold
Fantasy heist set in the 1920s. I gobbled this down.

77. Seanan McGuire: When Sorrows Come
77a. Seanan McGuire: And With Reveling
The Wedding Book and the novella it contains. Also, the perfect wedding dress.

78. Tamsyn Muir: Nona the Ninth
Third in the Locked Tomb series, predictably nothing like the first two, lots of good dogs, and now I'm ready for the next in the series.

79. Melissa Scott: Point of Sighs
The last of the Astreiant novels, so I shall have to content myself with the fiction from the author's patron and hope another novel will follow.

80. Naomi Novik: The Golden Enclaves + Scholomance Freshman Student Handbook
Third in the Scholomance trilogy, I was right about some things and wrong about some. Ended well. I love Liesel. The student handbook was an extra I got from pre-ordering via the Astoria Bookshop. The annotations by El are the best.

81-82. Tsujimura Mika, Akatsuki Nanako, and Yukihiro Utako: The Case Files of Jeweler Richard vols 1-2
I picked up a couple volumes of the light novels as well, but thus far have only read the manga. I'm a jewel fan, so stories that revolve around gemstones are great fun.

83. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Monstress 7: Devourer
Latest of the Monstress graphic novels, plot moving at a reasonable clip, though slow enough I always want the next one after I finish the current ones.

84. April Kit Walsh (et alia): Thirsty Sword Lesbians
PbtA game with fighting and flirting and delightful art.

85. Anna-Marie McLemore: Self-Made Boys
Great Gatsby retelling. No fantasy elements.

86. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Andres Guinaldo: Blade Runner 2019, Vol. 2: Off-World
More Blade Runner!

87. Rae Nedjadi: Our Haunt
No Dice, No Masters / Belonging Outside Belonging ttrpg about ghosts hauting a house. It's up to the group just how wistful or scary it is.

88. Arkady Martine: A Desolation Called Peace
Sequel to A Memory Called Empire, and like it, took the Hugo for Best Novel. I kept want to yell at people who were giving one of the protagonists a hard time, which is probably a good sign.

89. Maggie Stiefvater: Greywarren
Third in the Dreamer Trilogy which follows the Raven Quartet. A lot of stuff about art and forgery and where the line between the two might or might not be.

90. A. Deborah Baker (Seanan McGuire): Into the Windwracked Wilds
The third of "A. Deborah Baker"'s books, this one dealing with the domain of Swords. I'm pretty sure some of my guesses are correct. Awaiting the next now.

91. Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker and Matthew Sanderson, with additional writing and development by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan: Beta draft of A Poison Tree, a campaign for Trail of Cthulhu
8 scenarios, each set in a different generation. We managed to playtest 4 of them. Amazing concept, doing some interesting things with the "canon".

92. CLAMP: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #12
For some reason, I thought things would wrap up in this volume. But I shall have to await the next one.

93. Catherynne Valente: Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods
This is amazing.

94. A&E #562
95. A&E #563
96. A&E #564
97. Tatsuya Endo: Spy x Family vol 8
98. Tsujimura Mika, Akatsuki Nanako, and Yukihiro Utako: The Case Files of Jeweler Richard vol 3
99.-104.: Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi: Moriarty the Patriot #3-8

3 more A&Es, 1 more Spy x Family, 1 more Jeweler Richard, 6 more Moriartys, all fun reads.

105. Britannia and Beyond manuscript for Cthulhu Invictus
I look forward to seeing this in print.

106. Dorothy L. Sayers: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
We have seen all of the 1970s and 1980s televised episodes of the Peter Wimsey mysteries, and listened to much of one batch of the radio plays. Nevertheless, this is the first time I've actually read one of the Peter Wimsey novels. I'm finding these (plus other reading and viewing) are starting to give me an idea of 1930s Britain, enough to feel less worried about running Call/Trail of Cthulhu set there and then.

107. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Andres Guinaldo: Blade Runner 2019, Vol. 3: Home Again, Home Again
The finale of Blade Runner 2019. On to 2029!

108. K. J. Charles: Masters In This Hall
M/M romance (Lilywhite Boys) with snark, competence, and violence.

109. April Kit Walsh (et alia): Advanced Lovers and Lesbians
Playbooks and scenarios for Thirsty Sword Lesbians. The art continues to be solid, especially the cover art.

110. Robin D. Laws: Cassilda's Song: Paris (draft)
Playtesting now. How much wine can the PCs drink? (Okay, that's not a question we need to answer for the playtest.)

111. A&E #565
112. Brandon Leon Gambetta: Pasion de las Pasiones
Another A&E and a Powered by the Apocalypse game for playing a season of a telenovela. I've been waiting for this one for a long time, and am very, very happy with it.

113. Blade Runner 2029: Reunion
Sequel to Blade Runner 2019 (well, part one, at least).

114. Everina Maxwell: Ocean's Echo
M/M sf romance in the same universe as Winter's Orbit. Comfort reading, exactly what I was in the mood for.

115. Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi: Moriarty the Patriot #9
116. Zin E. Rocklyn: Flowers for the Sea
More Moriarty and a novella I finally managed to track down in print. The novella is definitely in the discomfort reading category, which I expected. Also, I want to know what happens next.

117. Blade Runner 2029: Echoes
118. Akissa Saike: Ghost Reaper Girl #3
119. Daniel Barnes and D. J. Kirkland: Black Mage

And I finished the year with more Blade Runner, more Ghost Reaper Girl, and a graphic novel about magic schools and racism. Black Mage is neither subtle nor deep, but is a good read, and I'd like to see more of that world.

Also read in 2022:
Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat and Shreyas Sampat: They Became Flesh
Women Are Werewolves
American Gods: The Official Coloring Book
Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor: Spire Quickstart
Small Stories: Carmilla, Forget Me Not (Penned to Good Society)
Gene Astadan: The Uncanny Adventures of Holmes & Watson (Penned to Good Society)
Dracula, the Great Old One (Call of Cthulhu)
Girl Underground + Be Sure: A Traveler's History of the Great Compass

These combined are at least a novella's length, and some may well be individually at least that long. I didn't calculate. I need more Spire and Good Society games in my life, and I found that Dracula, the GOO has parts I might be able to incorporate into my NBA game.

Some spoilers. Also, I will sometimes group shorter works together and decide they add up to roughly one book. I count most novellas as books, but not novelettes.

2021

1. Melusine, Sarah Monette
2. The Virtu, Sarah Monette
3. The Mirador, Sarah Monette
4. Corambis, Sarah Monette

These four make up the series The Doctrine of Labyrinths, and I pretty much started the first and didn't stop till I finished the last. (I mean, okay, I read some of the smaller stuff below between 3 and 4, but the point stands.) LOTS of content warnings, lots of character trauma (let me know if you want details). I'd read more set in this world, but suspect the author's moved on from it more or less for good.

5. A&E #542: The gaming apa I write for.

6. Quinn Murphy, Five Fires + three Fate of Cthulhu timelines (Necronomicon, Pandemic, Yig)

7. Barrow Keep: Den of Spies et alia. Also latest version of quickstart for Urban Shadows 2nd edition and Beak, Feather + Bone: A Map-Labeling RPG

6 and 7 are a bunch of smaller pieces for RPGs that I decided counted as roughly two novellas. Five Fires is a game about hip-hop culture and making art, and for any explanation beyond that, read the game, as the author explains things better than I could.

Fate of Cthulhu's kickstarter funded several future timelines, and three of these dropped. All are fascinating, and each takes the game in a completely different direction, which is as it should be.

Barrow Keep was described as season two of a show, and it also feels to me like coming in at volume 2 of a manga. Note that this is the opposite of a problem; there are at least two manga series I started with volume 2 on (and then went back and found volume 1) and suspect I enjoyed them more than if I'd started with volume 1.

8. YKRPG: Paris
9. YKRPG: The Wars
10. YKRPG: Aftermath
11. YKRPG: This Is Normal Now

(Technically, 12 and 11 are reversed.) The Yellow King Roleplaying Game is made up of four different arcs: Paris in the Belle Epoch, a war during 1947 that is a world war but not one that happened in our world, the USA after the fall of the Castaigne dynasty so set in the present but not our present, and the same time in something that's our world more or less -- or is it?

I have a better understanding of what Robin Laws is aiming for here, and it doesn't hurt that I've read his novel The Missing and the Lost, set in the world of Aftermath. I'm a little shakier on the system than I'd like, having discovered I completely misunderstood a key rule. On the other hand, the actual rule makes far more sense then the rule I thought existed. On the third tentacle, calibration is always tricky. But I'd not mind trying to run this.

It doesn't hurt that I got to play 3 out of 4 linked YK adventures at 2021 Online Gen Con, one in each setting except Paris, and I've played in 2 Paris adventures and run 2 at conventions.

12. A&E #543

13. Monstress #5, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. The plot continues to thicken and the comic to enthrall. Awaiting #6 with baited breath.

14. Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire. The latest Wayward Children book, stands alone quite well.

15. Rebecca Roanhorse, Storm of Locusts. The second half of the story that begun in Trail of Lightning. Solidly good, and if she wants to make an RPG based on these books, I am so there for that.

16. Seanan McGuire, Calculated Risks
16a. Seanan McGuire, Singing the Comic-Con Blues

The latest InCryptid book and novella. The novel is the second half of the story told in the previous book, and mostly wraps it, though leaves me with Questions.

17. K.J. Charles, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting. m/m, comfort reading, historical, very much a K.J. Charles book, very much needed. Also has a really good example of a Social Conflict for folks wondering how those should work in RPGs with similar enough settings.

18. Cassandra Khaw, Hammers on Bone
18a. Cassandra Khaw, A Song for Quiet

These are short enough I'm considering them one item. Interesting take on Lovecraft's Mythos, and I'd definitely read more by her.

19. S. T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood. Dracula as seen through the eyes of one of his brides. This is very much a story of people in an abusvie relationship, and Dracula is very much not a good person. Interesting take, well done, I'm glad I've read it, but didn't feel the need to keep hard copy.

20. A&E #544

21. T. Kingfisher, Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War Book One)
22. T. Kingfisher, The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, Book Two)

Duology with intersting similarities to Digger (unsurprising, as T. Kingfisher = Ursula Vernon), as well as a lot of differences. The protagonists are human. Good snark and relationships.

23. Jay Dragon et alia, Sleepaway. RPG about sleepaway camp staff trying to protect the children from the monster they had to deal with at that same camp when they were children. I think I need to play this to get a feel for it.

24. Jamila R. Nedjadi (and one mystery by Darold Ross), Apocalypse Keys. Powered by the Apocalypse and inspired by Hellboy, among other sources. I bought an earlier version of this, and it's at least doubled, possibly quadrupled, in length. Got to playtest this and looking forward to its full release.

25. Maggie Stiefvater (author) and Morgan Beem (illustrator), Swamp Thing: Twin Branches. Fun read, though I'm not sure where or if this fits in to the larger chronology.

26. E. C. Myers (author) and Violet Tobacco (illustrator): RWBY: Tales of Remnant. Tales from the world of the show RWBY as collected by one of the characters (with others supplying some of the tales). There is one tale I wish had been in there, but understand why it wasn't -- the story of the Girl Who Fell Through the World.

27. Eden Royce, Root Magic. Solidly excellent. Looking forward to more by the same author.

28. Dorothy Dunnett, Niccolo Rising. If you bounced off Dunnett's Lymond books, the Niccolo books are definitely not for you. If you loved the Lymond books, they might or might not be for you. I wasn't sure which camp I'd fall into until I read this one. Apparently, I find the intricacies of fifteenth century dyeing and mercenary companies to be utterly fascinating when she's the one describing them. Lots of intrigue and melodrama, and I'm not entirely sure I understood all of what happened at the end, specifically the ostrich bit.

29. A&E #545

30. M. A. Carrick, The Mask of Mirrors. This is precisely the sort of book one should not read after reading a Dorothy Dunnett book (or at least, one of the Niccolo or Lymond books -- I don't know about the others as I've not read them). It's a very good book and the author is not trying to be Dunnett, but Carrick. Interesting world building, engaging plot and characters, and I definitely wanted the next in the series Right Now after finishing it.

31. Cerebos (2 drafts) + Dream Anew

More RPGs. Cerebos is wonderfully surreal, set aboard a train and at various stops along the way to the city of Cerebos and at the city itself. Each PC has a secret past which the PC may or may not know, but the player does not. Instead, one of the other players decide what it is, and everyone else gets to know as well. mneme says that this game could be used for something like the anime _Baccano!_

32. Naomi Novik: A Deadly Education. Magical school genre, except the school is the Scholomance and the death rate very high. Also, there are no teachers. I fell hard for this book.

33. Nnedi Okorofor: Binti: Sacred Fire + Rose Bailey: Bite Me

Put together as neither alone counts in my mind as a full book. The Okorofor story is the extra story added to the print copy of the full Binti trilogy, the only part I hadn't yet read. The Bailey looks at the RPG Vampire (I forget whether it's Masquerade or Requiem, but I think the latter) and has a lot of good advice.

34. Bethany C. Morrow: A Song Below Water. Good world building and good characters and the next book in that world is out and currently sitting on my shelves.

35. Cassandra Khaw: Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef. Good enough I made sure I had the others in the series.

36: Susanna Clarke: Piranesi. I can understand why one might bounce off this, but I found it delightful.

37. Maggie Stiefvater: Mister Impossible. The second in the Dreamer trilogy which follows the Raven quartet. Complicated and engaging. Completely unfair that one has to wait for the next book, but so it goes.

38. A&E #546

39. Andrea Hairston: Master of Poisons. I preferred the author's Will Do Magic for Small Change, which is purely a matter of taste. This book is doing something different.

40. A&E #547

41-55. Madoka Takadono, art by Utako Yukihiro: Devils and Realist 1-15. Manga series that blends history and theology in some interesting ways as the protagonist, a descendant of King Solomon, is importuned by various devils to throw his support behind one of the representatives of one of Hell's factions. Works better than it has any right to.

56. Aiden Thomas: Cemetery Boys: When I say that this was, in my biased opinion, the weakest of the entries in the Lodestar-Which-Is-Not-A-Hugo category, I am saying it was an incredibly amazing year for the field. I gobbled this down and loved it.

57. K. J. Charles: Subtle Blood: The final book in the author's latest m/m trilogy. Snark and murder, an excellent combination in books.

58. Shevta Thakrar: Star Daughter: Starts a little weak, as in specific phrases that made me wince, but keeps getting better as it goes. Dazzling fantasy.

59. T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I'm boggled the author had so much trouble finding a publisher for this one. It's very much in the tradition of Diana Wynne Jones, and calls out one of the traditional YA tropes that we tend to accept without thinking.

60. Nghi Vo: The Empress of Salt and Fortune. A very subtle work, very good.

61. Caroline Stevermer: The Glass Magician. Lots of fun, not trying to be deep. Would definitely read more set in this world.

62. Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Mexican Gothic. Exactly what it says on the tin. Solidly good.

63. Anna-Marie McLemore: Dark and Deepest Red. I loved every word of this and am not entirely sure how the heck this book does what it does.

64. A&E #548

65. Shane Ivey: Jack Frost: Delta Green scenario, very well done. Full Disclosure: I did editing on this.

66. Jordan Ifueko: Raybearer: One of the most original books I read this year. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, either I was wrong or it got there ten times faster than I thought and said, "You thought the story would end there? Oh no -- there's more!"

67. CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #9: I devour these as fast as they come out.

68. Steven Brust: The Baron of Magister Valley: One of the Paarfi books, which means there's a lot of style to wallow in, and it is glorious. Also, two lines of dialogue had me suddenly sit up and realize just what story I was reading (and I do not mean The Count of Monte Cristo, which I'd known coming in).

69. A&E #549

70. Garth Nix: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Delightful, very much me-bait.

71. Alice Hoffman: Magic Lessons. This is very much Not-me-bait. Note that this says nothing about the quality of the book, just something about my tastes.

72: City of Mist: Player's Guide: I finally got to play a short campaign of City of Mist, so I read this. The GM said it's the bastard child of the Fate system and Powered by the Apocalypse games. This is correct, and I need to read the game master book next.

73. Lee Gold: Valhalla: Absent Without Leave: The author referred to this as a possibly heretical take on the Norse myths. It's fun and weird and unpredictable. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

74: Martha Wells: Rogue Protocol: The third murderbot novella.

75. N. K. Jemisin: The City We Became. Me-bait. A love letter to NYC.

76. Aviatrix's The Unanswered Question material. This is one Keeper's notes on running a very changed version of the Call of Cthulhu campaign Tatters of the King. There's almost two hundred pages of material here. (Okay, technically, I wrote one or two of the letters she used as handouts, as my PC from a different campaign showed up in one session of the campaign. But I think I'm well within my rights to call this the equivalent of a novel.)

77. Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin: The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor. Utterly delightful graphic novel having fun with gothic novel tropes.

78. Martha Wells: Exit Strategy: Fourth murderbot novella. I continue to enjoy these.

79. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Monstress vol 6: The Vow: A couple of shoes drop and I'm ready for the next graphic novel in this series, please.

80. Cory Burns: Over Arms and also:
The Creeping Kudzu: A Monster -- Ruth Tillman
Heart of the Kudzu -- Ruth Tillman
Snake People: A Game of Anticipatory Grief -- Ruth Tillman
Heaven Has No Taste & Other True Statements -- Luke Jordan and Atlas Sellman
A Touch of Glamour -- Mahar Abrera Mangahas
Duet Society -- Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro
Avalon Society -- Gene Astadan

Again, a bunch of small RPGs, including two hacks of Good Society.

81. Ash Kreider: Our Traveling Home: A structured RPG that reads like a queer Miyazaki film. I want to play this. I'm dubious I could do a one-shot, but a two-shot should be possible.

82. Melissa de la Cruz and Thomas Pitilli: Gotham High. Bruce Wayne winds up in a new high school and meets fellow students Selina Kyle and Jack Napier.

83. Everina Maxwell: Winter Orbit. M/M sf romance. Did what I figured it would do, and I enjoyed it. I'm hoping for a sequel.

84. Tracy Deonn: Legendborn. Me-bait. Did I mention I did my Ph. D. on modern Arthuriana? Definitely me-bait.

85. Darcy Little Badger: Elatsoe. Very good. Seems like a fairly cozy fantasy at first, and gradually gets stranger. Also, I'm a sucker for protagonists who go to their parents with the weird stuff and get strong support for it.

86. Punk Mambo (1-5, 0). Included as an extra with a kickstarter I backed. I enjoyed it.

87. A&E #550
88. A&E #551

89. Tochi Onyebuch: Riot Baby. Definitely outside my comfort zone, which is in itself a good reason to read it.

90. Nino Cipri: Finna. Hadn't expected to enjoy this one so much. Looking forward to the sequel.

91. Sarah Gailey: Upright Women Wanted. Another one that exceeded expectations.

92. Aviatrix's Post-Modern Masks of Nyarlathotep Material. Keeper write ups of a remixed Call of Cthulhu campaign. Okay, technically a reread. Following how she changed things taught me a lot.

93. Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios) Definitely me-bait. I'm going to want to read the rest of this.

94. CLAMP: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #10. Ends in a way that implies certain story gears are moving. I want the next one.

95. Yana Toboso: Black Butler #30. Has back story of one of the supporting characters which didn't go where I would have expected. (I should probably have expected that -- this manga has been full of surprises.)

96. Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics) Fascinating sf comic. I need to read volume 1.

97. Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel) This was a lot of fun.

98. A&E #552

99. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics) I fell hard for this.

100. Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams) Powerful, which isn't surprising. I'd read the original novel which was powerful on its own. I'm not sure what I expected the art to be, but that's not important. What's important is that the art does work well with the words.

101: Catherynne Valente: Comfort Me With Apples: Do not expect a comfort read here. It's very good, but never comfortable nor comforting.

101a: What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke and Anne Passchier. Short enough I'm not calling it book for my purposes. Very sweet.

102. Steve Dempsey: Fearful Symmetries Ashcan. I got to playtest an earlier version of this, and I've got the itch to run a full campaign of it.

103. Naomi Novik: The Last Graduate. Sequel to A Deadly Education, amazing, ends on a cliffhanger. I have a theory or two and want to know if I'm right.

104. DIE, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
105. A&E #553
106. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (reread)

I read Volume 2 originally for the Hugos and didn't read Volume 1 till after I voted. This is when I read Volume 1 and reread volume 2 to get it in context.

107. Book of the Smoke / Liber Fumo de Frater Vigilo by "Augustus Darcy" (probably Steve Dempsey or Paula Dempsey). This was the companion volume to Bookhounds of London for Trail of Cthulhu. I'm not sure whether I'd read it before now.

108. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Over the Woodward Wall (reread)
109. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Along the Saltwise Sea

These are works that were written in the universe in which Middlegame takes place. I have a Theory or two and am waiting impatiently for the third book. I am guessing there will be 4 or 5. I have a vague notion that Middlegame said there were 5.

107. DIE, Volume 3: The Great Game, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
108. DIE, Volume 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles

The rest of DIE. I love it and hope that the RPG will be expanded soon, especially as I trust Rowan, Rook and Decard.

109. Ryan North and Derek Charm: The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher. Adorable Johnny "Kid" Constantine graphic novel.

2022

1. Dorothy Dunnett: The Spring of the Ram. It's a Lot. It's a Dunnett novel. I hit a climax 50 pages from the end and, this not being my first Dunnett book, calculated that there'd be a few more plot twists to come. I was right. I am now catching my breath.

2. Arvind Ethan David, Eugenia Koumaki, Diana Greenhalgh, and Joana Lafuente: Gray, Volume 1. Inspired by Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Short version: Does anyone know how I can have my comments numbered in my Word docs while I'm working on them? Currently, I can only see the numbers when I go into Print Preview.

Longer version: I have a computer that, prior to this weekend, had a large D drive and a 256 GB SSD for the C drive. The C drive was getting full fast.

mneme and I discussed options, and decided to go with a risky but interesting one: replace the C drive with a larger one.

We bought the larger one, cloned the original onto it, and did magic so that the clone would be able to use all its space.

mneme opened the computer up and swapped in new for old.

We then hit a snag in having the computer boot from its hard drive, though all indications showed everything was there and in working order. So mneme suggested updating from Windows 10 to Windows 11, cautioning that this would blow the stuff on the C drive now in the computer away. I okayed this, having already done all the backing things up I could.

It worked. We started getting programs back up and running, but hit a snag with Microsoft Office. We had several options, and mneme suggested we try the obvious one first: check with the Microsoft Store to see if it remembered that I legit owned a copy of Microsoft Office for personal use. One more current than the version I have CDs for, also legitimately, which was one of our backup plans.

It worked. Of course, all of my settings needed to be restored, and I suspect I've still got a few more that'll pop up. But there's one setting that continues to elude.

I'm an editor. I use comments. I use them the way that works for me. And this involves numbering them consecutively, something that Office 2003 had no trouble whatsoever with.

But companies seem to think that changing things is something they have to do, even if it's not broken, and they also think that letting a customer have an easy way to just go back to the previous way -- the one they are used to using and that works for them -- is a Silly Thing to Do. And this was true of the version of Microsoft Office I upgraded to last year.

But, last year, we found a way to number the comments. Yay!

But, I've now downloaded Word again from the Microsoft Store, so it has "helpfully" upgraded how comments are done. And precisely how to find certain commands. This is the opposite of "yay".

mneme did some online searching and walked me through steps that quickly came to resemble what I did last year. But... these steps still won't let me see that I'm working on, say, comment number 37.

I can see the numbers of the comments if I'm in Print Preview -- a state in which I am not actually working on the file.

mneme has been unable to find anything online about how to get my numbers back in my comments when I'm actually working on the file -- or at least, a way that does not involve writing code. For a program I bought so that I wouldn't need to write code. (For those wondering, I don't consider myself a programmer. I can do html markup and at one point, I knew reg exps. This was very useful in understanding why mneme answered certain questions the way he did, but does not make me a programmer.)

Tomorrow, I want to do my work, my editing work. So, I've declared that the point mneme got me to has to be good enough. But if anyone knows how to get the numbers back on the comments when I'm working on the file, let me know?

74. A&E #540 (the gaming apa Alarums & Excursions)

75. Summer in Orcus, T. Kingfisher: Quirky, comfortable read for me, though definitely doesn't pull punches

76. Ring Shout + "Night Doctors" by P. Djeli Clark: The book was on my Read It Now list of months before it came out and was worth the wait. It pointed me to the story, which is very creepy and very good.

77. The Second Mango: Shira Glassman: This has been recommended to me for months, and I'm happy to say it wasn't overhyped. I'm looking forward to the rest in the series.

78. Oscar Rios, Eldritch New England Holiday Collection, 2nd proofreading run: This is now in print and looks amazing. Four Call of Cthulhu scenarios set during different holidays with six pre-generated children PCs. I had the good luck to be able to play in two of them.

79. Theodore Stugeon, Some of Your Blood. I have no idea what I would have thought of this if I'd read it 20 or 30 years ago. Now... I find the secret at the heart of the book (which I hope was never intended to be a shock reveal) not as disturbing as the protagonist's and narrator's attitudes. I could write the protagonist's attitude off as due to his unusual nature, but the narrator writing the report seems to share his opinions about most things. I don't regret reading this, but I don't think I liked it.

80. Sherlock Holmes (Play 1889), Arthur Conan Doyle (dubious) and William Gillette: Chosen by our online play reading group, Doyle probably didn't pen a work of it, but he did give it his approval. It reads like fun fan fiction, and has Moriarty and Not-At-All-Irene-Adler-See-She's-Called-Something-Else-And-Is-More-Innocent. Also, Holmes clearly has emotions and is clearly in love with Not-Irene, so I don't want to hear any crap about how pre-late-period Holmes with emotions is not something Doyle would have endorsed.

81. CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Vol. 8: Comfort reading.

82. A&E #541

83. N. K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky: Discomfort reading, fine end to the trilogy (which is one story that just happens to have book breaks in it). Reminds me in some ways of Dune. I am very, very curious about the forthcoming RPG set in Jemisin's world.

84. Cassilda's Song: ed Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

Not counted as a book, but I still read it: The Sunken Mall, by K. D. Edwards, set between The Last Sun and The Hanged Man. It'll have to keep me till the next book in the series.

So we've now seen through episode 7 of Maiden Holmes via youtube. It's lots of fun.

It was going to be through episode 6, but when we were ready to sleep, Josh plugged in his tablet next to the bed, then a minute later, smelled something burning. Turns out the wire of the cord shorted, and there was a brief electrical fire until he pulled the cord out of the tablet.

No one hurt. Nothing set on fire except the cord which stopped being on fire when he pulled it out of the tablet. Nothing except cord damaged. But between the burn smell and the sudden shot of adrenaline into my system, I needed time to calm, and we watched another Maiden Holmes while ceiling fan dealt with smell.

Well, the Wayback Machine saved the page of Century 21's return policy for 11 September 2020, and it is as I remember it, and does not say all sales are final.

Also, the sales rep had clearly been instructed to say there is a "banner" on the site saying all sales are final. Looking at the site today:

* I could find nothing on the front page saying anything about sales being final, just about sales going on at retail stores and not online.
* On the returns page, it does (now -- not as of when we shopped) say all sales are final, and in large letters (though I don't think it constitutes a "banner", but okay). I don't recall how I got to that page, as there's no obvious link to it from the front page.

I'll screenshot the Wayback Machine's info, as I expect I'll have to dispute the charge.

I never did give the full list. Here it is:

1. The Root: Na'amen Gobert Tilahun: One of the most original sff books I've read recently. First in series, and I have the second. 2020: Still true, both parts. Need to read the second and see if the third's out.

2. The Last Sun: K. D. Edwards:I've described this as like Brust's Vlad books, but way gayer, which does both an injustice, of course. I immediately wanted the next one after finishing this, but had to wait a while. Content warning: sexual abuse in some characters' backstories.

3. A&E #218: Alarums & Excursions, an rpg gaming apa I follow and contribute to.

4. Any Old Diamonds: K. J. Charles: m/m with snark, heists, and twists, as well as a nod to her Sins of the Cities trilogy.

5-8. Return to Labyrinth volumes 1-4: Manga sequel to the film. I special ordered and read it for a larp I was in and was happily astonished at how good it is. I can't guarantee any given Labyrinth fan will be as happy with it, but I loved these dense, magical books. (I also took the opportunity to rewatch the film and was surprised at how fast it moves.)

9. A&E #519

10. Legacy of Arrius Lurca (reread): Oscar Rios: Oscar Rios: Call of Cthulhu campaign set in the Roman Empire. 2020: Currently doing the first editorial pass for the revised and expanded 7th edition version.

11. Fangirl: Rainbow Rowell
12. Carry On: Rainbow Rowell

These are all in dialogue with the Harry Potter books, though in different ways. The first is set in close enough to our world and is about a woman who writes fan fiction and her first year or so at college. The second is an alternate universe -- by which I mean this universe -- version of the work which inspired the fan fiction from the first book. I enjoyed them and will probably read Wayward Son, which is the sequel to Carry On, at some point.

13. In Other Lands: Sarah Rees Brennan: My description was: Imagine if Harry Potter had joined Slytherin instead of Gryddindor and then proceded to explain what everyone was doing wrong, but that's not quite accurate, and the folks I pushed this book on pointed out. There are some things I kinda wish went in different directions, but on the whole, I liked this.

14. School for Scandal: Sheldon: We've been doing some group play reading, and I'm counting these, as I am literally reading along as other folks read and doing cold readings when it's my turn.

15. A Blade So Black: L. L. McKinney: YA urban fantasy with a Black protagonist and a curtsy to Lewis Carroll. First in a series. What I liked best was the grounding in our world. It's not essential to urban fantasy -- it's often good enough for me if the author doesn't get it wrong -- but it's very satisfying, even if often painful, when it's done right. There's a good review of it on Tor.com (https://www.tor.com/2018/09/26/book-reviews-a-blade-so-black-by-l-l-mckinney/).

16. Dinosaur Princesses: Child-friendly RPG where all the characters are dinosaurs and princesses too.

17. Black Butler #27: One of the manga I follow.

18. Prism: RPG that covers a lot of ground in a small space while leaving plenty of space for creativity. I want to play this.

19. A&E #520

20. The Complex draft (ArcDream)
21. Control Group draft (ArcDream)
22. Riding the Northbound draft: Oscar Rios

Editing lovely, lovely material. The Complex is a detailed sourcebook for what Kenneth Hite calls the best setting of all time, the real world, for Delta Green, while Control Group has lovely, lethal scenarios. My favorite is probably "Sick Again", followed closely by "BLACKSAT". Riding the Northbound started as an essay on playing hoboes, tramps, and bums in Call of Cthulhu. Then there was an unpublished proof of concept scenario, almost a joke, and I was lucky enough to get to play in it. (My character didn't survive.) This is the expanded version of the essay and scenario.

23. Good Society RPG: Haley Gordon and Vee Hendro, art by Raven Warren: Essentially the Jane Austen RPG, with a solid structure, including epistolary phases, no random elements, and high consent mechanics. As of when I am typing this in 2020 May, I have played this game twice online and once at a convention, full campaigns, and am about to be in a different online campaign. I've yet to play the base version of the game. (I've been in 2 1/2 Tolstoy hacks, which are 95% of the same mechanics (just 2 new character types) and a change in country, and one test of the Fae Court supplement). It is very well written and ups the bar for online support of RPGs. (2020 September: I've played online once or twice more, and still haven't played the base version of the game.)

24. North Step Station Season 1: Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, and Curtis C. Chen: Really good. I need to catch up on Season 2.

25. Good Society add ons: Pride, Prejudice, & Practical Magics; Sense, Sensibility, & Swordsmanship; The Gentry's Guide to Mixing Swordsmanship and Magics: These are great. S, S, & S adds a Rooftop Phase for masked vigilantes (and others) to brood or battle on the heights. Rooftop Phase!

26. The Stars Change: Mary Anne Mohanraj: It took me a while to read this because my tablet had some issue with kindle books. I'm still not sure why. I love this book, and not just because of an unexpected Tuckerization of a woman I knew. (I wouldn't be surprised to learn I missed other Tuckerizations.)

27. Abbott: Saladin Ahmed, art Sami Kiveli, colors Jason Wardie, letters Jim Campbell: I bought this when it was up for a Hugo for Best Graphic Story. I knew I'd like it, and I was right. If there is a sequel to this, I want to know.

28. Labyrinth: Coronation: Book One: The first of three parts of a prequel to Labyrinth. Well done and in color, though I confess I liked the sequel manga series more.

29. Good Society Larp Rules: These seem solid. I've not yet seen them in play.

30. A&E #521

31. Spinning Silver: Naomi Novik: I did not care for Uprooted, and I'm hard pressed to say why. It had many things I liked, including a solid friendship between two women. This one, though, I loved.

32. Miss Subways: David Duchovny: Plays with the myths of NYC and of Emer and Cuchulain.

33. Occam's Razor draft: Brian M. Sammons: Call of Cthulhu is a game where, occasionally, the PCs should find out that there's nothing supernatural going on. I can think of about two scenarios written that way, but there will soon be a book of seven such scenarios. And, while a mythos explanation is provided in case GMs want to use it, I tell you, most of these are scarier without a supernatural element.

34. Companion's Tale: Laura Simpson
35. Star-Crossed: Alex Roberts

Two solid games I want to play, both, like Prism, covering a lot of ground with relatively few words.

36. A&E #522

37. Blanca & Roja: Anne-Marie McLemore: A very odd, very beautiful reworking of the story of Snow White and Rose Red.

38. Circe: Madeleine Miller: A retelling of Greek myths, well done, though not to my taste.

39. Study in Emerald (graphic novel): I loved the original story, and I loved this. Perhaps some day, I'll figure out how to run an RPG set in this world.

40. Imposter Syndrome: Mishell Baker: The third in her Arcadia Project series. I liked the first two; unsurprisingly, I liked this one as well.

41. The Black God's Drum: P. Djeli Clark
42. The Tea Master and the Detective: Aliette de Boddard

Two novellas I knew I'd like, and I did.

43. All Systems Red: Martha Wells
44. Artificial Condition: Martha Wells

Okay, the first sentence of the first Murderbot novella won me over, and it got better from there. I now have two more novellas and the novel to read.

45. A&E #523

46. Temper: Nicky Draves: This blew me away. It's amazingly good. Read it.

47. Middlegame: Seanan McGuire: I am not convinced it is the best thing she'll ever write, but it's her best to date. I wondered if the imaginary book she quotes from would be written, and discovered that I had asked the wrong question. I should have asked if it would be published. Fortunately, the answer is yes.

48. Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach: Kelly Robson: There are books you understand why people like; they're just not to your taste. There are books that you don't get why others like, which is the category this fell into for me, and in this case, I'm fairly sure I'm missing something. Maybe if I reread it in a couple of years, I'll figure it out.

49. Trail of Lightning: Rebecca Roanhorse: Another case where I knew I'd like the book. I need to read the second one. 2020: Yep, still need to read second book.

50: Labyrinth: Coronation: Book 2

51. Binti: Nnedi Okorafor
52. Binti: Home: Nnedi Okorafor
53. Binti: The Night Masquerade

I liked the first one the best. I expect the others will grow on me on the reread, when I'm not expecting them to be -- I don't know, probably more like the first one? This has happened before -- I've read standalones and sequels that I enjoyed far more on the second read when I wasn't trying to make them into my idea of what the book should be instead of what the book was. Fr'ex, when I first tried to read Tim Powers's Drawing of the Dark, I bounced off it for the exact reasons I liked it when I tried it again years later -- it wasn't your typical fantasy. I liked Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's The Fall of the Kings much better the second time when I wasn't trying to make it into a reprise of Swordspoint. I picked up the Binti omnibus, which has an extra short story in it that I've not yet read.

54. A&E #524

55. 2019 Hugo Short Stories and Novelettes: I consider these together the equivalent of a novel. 12 items. Only 2 that I disliked, and that had to do with my taste, not the writing. "The Thing About Ghost Stories" (not one of the two) got thoroughly under my skin for reasons which won't surprise anyone who knows me and has read the story. "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" was delightful.

56. A&E #525

57. Fate of Cthulhu Backers' Preview: I participated in the alpha and beta playtests of this game. I think this version (basically, the published version, sans art) is even better, and I want to run it to find out. 2020: I got to play in a 4 part game of it at Online Gen Con, and I loved it. I think I understand the parts that I was shaky on before -- what the GM does and doesn't share of the timeline and how the whole timeline ripple business works.

58. Hither, Page: Cat Sebastian
59. A Little Light Mischief: Cat Sebastian

M/M and F/F historical romances respectively, both enjoyable.

60. Fair's Point: Melissa Scott: The fourth of the Astreiant books, urban fantasy mystery in a world with Renaissance-ish tech (i.e., my knowledge of what tech existed when in our world is weak) and magic (astrology works and everyone knows it). Has a different pace that I like, leisurely, but not dragging.

61. A&E #526

62. Desdemona and the Deep: C. S. E. Cooney: I've described this as "kinda like a Patricia McKillip book if McKillip were drunk on champagne" because both authors are writing amazingly good fantasy works and both have language I happily lose myself in. Come to think of it, both authors celebrate the ordinary in the fantastic. I clearly need to read more Cooney.

63. Night and Silence: Seanan McGuire
63a. Suffer a Sea Change: Seanan McGuire

I tend to count novellas as their own thing, but apparently, in 2019, I counted the ones in Seanan's books as "part a". I recall I said, "Oh. Oh!" a lot as one shoe after another dropped. Part of the Toby Daye series.

64. A Gathering Storm: Joanna Chambers: Light m/m.

65. Gideon the Ninth: Tamsyn Muir: Lesbian necromancers exploring a gothic palace in space. A warped Westing Game-like tale. Snark. Skulls. Sunglasses. Is it second book o'clock yet? No? Now? 2020: I've now read the 2nd book. Is it third book o'clock yet?

66. Magic for Liars: Sarah Gailey: Very well done, but not to my taste, I think because of where the focus is at the end. This is NOT a criticism of the mystery or its solution, which were very satisfactory, nor about the world itself. Note, though, I'd read a sequel.

67. Red Carnations on a Black Grave: Catherine Ramen et alia (draft): Inspired by games like Montsegur 1244 (which is free online in etext) and Ten Candles (which I've not played yet), this is about people in the Paris Commune. History will not be changed, and it is understood going in that everyone has two characters, one of whom will die. Very well done, but be aware that this is often a high bleed game.

68. The Rat-Catcher's Daughter and The Price of Meat: K. J. Charles: More light reading, for, ah, certain definitions of light.

69. Tails of Valor (near final): Three Call of Cthulhu scenarios where the player characters are all cats, along with information about the cat council of Kingsport.

70. The Unkindest Tide: Seanan McGuire
70a. Hope Is Swift: Seanan McGuire

Currently the latest Toby Daye book, though not for much longer, resolves a number of things and raises a question in my mind. 2020: Okay, there's now one more book in the series, and it's in a stack to my left.

71. Labyrinth: Coronation: Book Three

72. Loki: Where Mischief Lies: Mackenzi Lee: mneme didn't finish this one, bouncing off, among other reasons, because the attitude the Asgardians displayed toward magic didn't seem to him to fit what he'd seen from Marvel. I managed to finish it, but was disappointed because it didn't fit with what I've seen of how Odin operates, and this could have been fixed very easily. I should probably rewatch the Thor movies to make sure what I remember is what I think I remember.

73. Monstress #4: Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Beautiful and monstrous, as always.

74. Gods of Jade and Shadow: Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: This one is solidly wonderful. I lapped it up.

75. A&E #527

76. The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl: Theodora Goss: Concludes the Athena Club trilogy. A fun romp, and a fine premise for an RPG.

77. Amberlough, reread: Lara Elena Donnelly: The third in the trilogy came out, so I reread the first before going on to the other two. It's astonishing how much Amberlough comes to life. Don't read if you're not up for a tale about a country's slide into facism.

78. Call for the Dead: John Le Carre
79. A Murder of Quality: John Le Carre

There was an article on a good order in which to read the Smiley novels, so I started reading them. (https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/best-john-le-carre-george-smiley-books.html) I'd read the first two by now, so went on to the next two.

80. Gilded Cage: K. J. Charles: Romance with jewel theft and murder, in the same series as Any Old Diamonds.

81. The Big Time, reread: Fritz Leiber: A reread of a book where, as womzilla noted, the dramatic unities of time and space are preserved in a mystery set in a messy time war.

82. The Looking Glass War: John Le Carre: The next of the Smiley books.

83. Calla Cthulhu, volume 1: Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Erin Humiston, Mario A. Gonzalez, and Bill Mudron: Fighting Mythos While Black and a Woman, with oddly adorable moments interspersed among the tense ones. I really hope there's going to be more!

84. Every Heart a Doorway: Seanan McGuire (reread)
85: Black Butler, volume 28
86. Down Among the Sticks and Bones: Seanan McGuire (reread)
87. Beneath a Sugar Sky: Seanan McGuire (reread)
88. In an Absent Dream: Seanan McGuire (reread)
89. Come Tumbling Down: Seanan McGuire

I reread the first four Wayward Children books so I could read the fifth, Come Tumbling Down. I am, of course, now eagerly awaiting the sixth.

90. Armistice: Lara Elena Donnelly
91. A&E #528
92. Amnesty: Lara Elena Donnelly

I think I like Amberlough the best of the three books, but that might change on a reread.

93: The Ruin of Kings: Jenn Lyons: A fun read, if somewhat exhausting for me. I have the next one, which I am told is somehow even more epic.

94. Call the Hawk Down: Maggie Steifvater: First of the trilogy about Ronan from the Raven Quartet. Absolutely wonderful, and ends in medias res, so I'm now waiting for the next.

95. Fate Accessibility Toolkit: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry + many others: The most important RPG book of 2019.

96. PET: Akwaeke Emeze: About as gentle a way to talk about abuse and what a community does not want to think about as I've seen. Also about the tension between a belief in the goodness of a changed world that some might call utopian and the same human problems that some might call inevitable. (My mind goes to the Terra Ignota series -- the books are doing very different things, but that tension is present in both.)

97. Gatways to Terror (CoC): A nearly perfect collection of 3 adventures that are very friendly to new GMs as well as new players. Each has pregenerated characters and can be run in an evening -- or in an hour.

98. Assorted gaming: Lost City, The Camping Trip (Samantha Hancox-Li) The Game at the End of This PDF (John Tynes) Cthulhu Dark Green (Dissonance), Future Echoes, Shepherd of Moths, The Vernissage (Zgrozy) Hourglass, Jack Frost (Delta Green): An assortment of jewels, er, scenarios, along with a very meta game from John Tynes. I'm counting these as a singel item.

99. Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #6: CLAMP: Another manga I follow, having got hooked on this when mneme decided a few years back that we'd watch Cardcaptor Sakura (subtitled, all the episodes and the two movies). If you'd told me even five years before we watched it that we'd be bawling our eyes out over this story about a ten-year-old girl collecting magical cards, I would not have believed you. Now -- I have #7, I want #8, and when is there going to be another season of the Clear Card anime? (Okay, probably when there's enough manga for it.)

100. A&E #529

101. That Ain't Witchcraft: Seanan McGuire
101a. Measure of a Monster: Seanan McGuire

This is the InCryptid novel where a very large check is finally cashed, one which has been built up over the series and hits perfectly.

102. The Bone Key: Sarah Monette: I tracked this one down because this series of occult detective stories sounded very much to my taste, similar to and different from K. J. Charles's Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. I'd gladly read more of these. 2020: Apparently, there are some more, and I'm wondering about tracking them down, whether this will need to be done story by story or whether there might be another volume. I'm guessing the former, but hoping for the latter.

103. The Apple-Tree Throne: Premee Mohamed: A ghost story set in alternate history Britain, not easy to describe, but very good. I wanted to read more by this author. Fortunately, there's a novel that came out this year (2020).

Not hideous either, but Oh Microsoft, Why?

I mean, we did need to do a lot of figuring stuff out because we did a hard drive transplant. Fine. That's on us, and it worked.

I'm still setting up various programs and stuff, and figuring out which I can leave in the D hard drive and which I had really ought move to the C hard drive. (C is about 220 GM with about 40 of it free, while D is 2 TB, and I have impressed mneme, who now realized that, no, I am not fooling, a 1 TB drive really is too small for me. People do not believe me when I talk about my space requirements. 2 TB is the minimum. I'd feel more comfortable with 3. I'd like 4+ sure, but I will concede that 3 would do for a Very Long Time, and 2 will do for A While.)

I am trying to make the jump from Word 2003 to whatever version is on the new machine -- I think we're talking Office 2019? It's the I'm-a-person-not-a-business-and-I-want-to-buy-not-rent version. Unsurprisingly, I loathe a lot about the new version. So much unnecessary cheese moving and renaming, and just why does the file menu live in a sliding sidebar while the other items live on the ribbon?

There was much fighting with the software, but between mneme and I, we got Track Changes and Comments back well enough, and mneme assured me that one thing that took a long time to figure out a) was a thing that given the briefest of prompts from him, I did figure out mostly, and b) it was confusing as ^%&*(^ because the sub-menu listed three options in grammatically different ways, making it harder than it needed to be to figure out which one I actually wanted.

That left one thing I learned a workaround to. Previously -- in Word 2003 until some time later -- Word automatically numbered comments and showed those numbers. Why, oh why, oh Microsoft, have you decided we don't want to see these numbers? I WANT TO SEE THEM.

I am an editor. I when I go back and forth with co-workers and bosses on documents, referring to a comment by number is useful. Why is there no simple option to just show the numbers?

I found a workaround which involves a) formatting comment text so there are numbers AND b) using soft carriage returns within numbers, because if you don't, each paragraph, including empty carriage returns, gets numbered. This means, incidentally, that when I took a file, opened it in new Word, added the numbers, saved it, closed it, and opened it on my older machine with the older Word, each comment was numbered twice -- once by old Word's numbering system (which worked Just Fine), and once with my number. (Unsurprisingly, old Word's numbering is easier on the eyes.)

I see from my various searches that many other people want automatic numbering back.