SBTB Bestsellers: February 7 – February 20
Feb. 22nd, 2026 10:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
smartbitches_feedThe latest bestseller list is brought to you by nostalgia, Girl Scout Cookies, and our affiliate sales data.
- Give Me a Reason by Jayci Lee Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- New Zealand Ever After by Rosalind James Amazon
- The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- How Not to Hex a Gentleman by Valia Lind Amazon
- How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite Amazon | B&N | Kobo
- Someone to Honor by Mary Balogh Amazon | B&N | Kobo | GooglePlay
- How to Sell a Romance by Alexa Martin Amazon | B&N | Kobo
I hope your weekend reading was fabulous!
Candy Hearts author reveals!
Feb. 22nd, 2026 06:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vriddycandyheartsex has revealed authors!! Another delightful round. Because the minimum requirements are so small (300 words for fic) and there are usually several hundreds participants, I decide to go mega self-indulgent and ask only for my rare polyships, in tiny (K-9) and larger (Wind Breaker) fandoms. And therefore I was SUPER DELIGHTED to get, guess what?? A gift for one of my beloved rare polyships :D :D :D :D 💖💖💖 *happy sigh* A delight, truly.pile of five by
Summary: Akihiko wakes up in the middle of their bed and tries his best to find a way out.
Read it on AO3
Meanwhile I wrote two things :D :D One for a beloved BNHA polyship, and the other for K-9... I was so glad to have an outlet for some of my feelings over the fact that OBORO CANONICALLY GETS A COLLAR lol. This is probably the FIRST EVER K-9 fanwork in an exchange, too? >:D Mwahahaha
hardly an abduction | Boku no Hero Academia | Miruko/Dabi/Hawks | ~800 words | rated T
Summary: Dabi is injured. Miruko and Hawks take a risk to help, hiding in an abandoned shelter in the mountains.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
tailor-made | K-9 | Ren/Oboro/Fujimaru/Kagari | ~400 words | rated M
Summary: Oboro pretends not to make a big deal out of it when Hidaka hands him a collar.
But it is.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
Projects and Bunnies
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:05 pmsenmut~ ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
10trueloves - 5/10 written
~ Fulcrum and Rex time travel to before Anakin runs to Mace. - NEEDS CANON REVIEW
~ Sequel to Retrieval - 93 WORDS
~ An Atin universe that is more like The Second Clone War or Mine, All of Them - 2 chapters written, each about 1k words
~ Rachel and Joe meet with BOTH finally aware in Closing Up Shop
~ Drizzt's fallout/Vierna's reactions in the Divining Destiny universe
nothing
10trueloves - 5/10 written Random Plot Bunnies in Progress
~ Fulcrum and Rex time travel to before Anakin runs to Mace. - NEEDS CANON REVIEW
~ Sequel to Retrieval - 93 WORDS
~ An Atin universe that is more like The Second Clone War or Mine, All of Them - 2 chapters written, each about 1k words
Potential Bunnies Pending Further Bouncing
~ Rachel and Joe meet with BOTH finally aware in Closing Up Shop
~ Drizzt's fallout/Vierna's reactions in the Divining Destiny universe
Finished
nothing
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 03:51 pmconuly posting in agonyauntMy daughter “Melody” is in the midst of the terrible twos. Five or more meltdowns per day over normal frustrations/limits are typical. Recently, my mother-in-law, “Darlene” took Melody and my 6-year-old son out to run errands, and true to form, Melody had a blow-up. It was how Darlene handled it that has me seeing red. She told Melody that she was leaving her in the store and that she could find her own way home, and left her screaming on the floor! She then moved off with my son, out of my daughter’s view, and waited for several minutes before coming back for her. I only learned of this later when my son told me what happened.
When I confronted my mother-in-law, she claimed her method was helpful because Melody behaved afterward. And she said Melody was “never in any danger” because she kept her in sight at all times. After this, I no longer feel safe with Darlene going places with the kids without my husband present or me. Sadly, my husband is no help. He agrees that this was a good “lesson” in behaving for our daughter and that his mother used to do it to him and his sister when they were kids! Please tell me I’m right in telling Darlene her days of taking the kids solo are over.
—Pissed
( Read more... )
When I confronted my mother-in-law, she claimed her method was helpful because Melody behaved afterward. And she said Melody was “never in any danger” because she kept her in sight at all times. After this, I no longer feel safe with Darlene going places with the kids without my husband present or me. Sadly, my husband is no help. He agrees that this was a good “lesson” in behaving for our daughter and that his mother used to do it to him and his sister when they were kids! Please tell me I’m right in telling Darlene her days of taking the kids solo are over.
—Pissed
( Read more... )
it would be so fine to see your face at my door
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:15 pmmusesfoolThis afternoon, I made this lemon cake because 1. I had an open container of ricotta I wanted to use up before it spoiled, and 2. I've been looking for a nut-free alternative to my favorite lemon cake since one of my nieces has a tree nut allergy. It turns out I did not have enough ricotta, but I made it up with sour cream, and the cake seems fine. It did stick to the pan in one small spot so I didn't take a picture of it since it had a gash in it, but it tastes great. The trick of adding turbinado sugar to the glaze to make it crunchy is a good one, too.
I also made dressing for coleslaw, which I've never done before - always just bought the pre-made deli version - and it's ok, not great. Not tangy enough, tbh. I wonder if replacing some of the mayo with buttermilk is the way to go. I ate some with a steak I pan-fried for dinner and that was nice. I don't have steak very often, but sometimes it goes on sale and I get it.
We're supposed to be getting between 12"-18" of snow tomorrow/Monday (wait, I just checked, and the current forecast is 39% likelihood of at least 18" if not more, wow), and I'm supposed to go into the office on Tuesday, so I guess we'll see what actually materializes, whether the streets are cleaned, and how I feel on Tuesday morning. Supposedly we're getting a free lunch, but I don't know when the consultant who is supposed to be buying it for our in person meeting is flying in, idk what is going to happen. There was some back and forth on Teams today about the storm and they are notifying everyone to be remote on Monday, which is the smart choice.
Anyway, my menu is not very cozy - I was planning on making that lemony macaroni salad for lunches, and some baked oatmeal with cherries and chocolate chips for breakfast. I do have bread, milk, and eggs, so there could always be French toast! Though I did make that on Wednesday when I realized it was Ash Wednesday (and that I'd completely forgotten Shrove Tuesday). I'll probably have pasta for dinner tomorrow regardless, since it's Sunday.
Today, I watched Batman Ninja, which features the Batfamily time traveling back to feudal Japan (but so much Joker and I am so tired of Joker), and then its sequel, Batman vs. the Yakuza League, which I enjoyed more because it has Wonder Woman in it and she's fantastic as always. It also features ( I guess this is a spoiler ) It was weird to me though that we got 4 Batboys (Jason's feudal Japan headgear is HILARIOUS), but no Cass or Babs at all, and I didn't love the art for Selina. Someday we'll get an animated version of Wayne Family Adventures and the girls and Duke will get their due!
*
I also made dressing for coleslaw, which I've never done before - always just bought the pre-made deli version - and it's ok, not great. Not tangy enough, tbh. I wonder if replacing some of the mayo with buttermilk is the way to go. I ate some with a steak I pan-fried for dinner and that was nice. I don't have steak very often, but sometimes it goes on sale and I get it.
We're supposed to be getting between 12"-18" of snow tomorrow/Monday (wait, I just checked, and the current forecast is 39% likelihood of at least 18" if not more, wow), and I'm supposed to go into the office on Tuesday, so I guess we'll see what actually materializes, whether the streets are cleaned, and how I feel on Tuesday morning. Supposedly we're getting a free lunch, but I don't know when the consultant who is supposed to be buying it for our in person meeting is flying in, idk what is going to happen. There was some back and forth on Teams today about the storm and they are notifying everyone to be remote on Monday, which is the smart choice.
Anyway, my menu is not very cozy - I was planning on making that lemony macaroni salad for lunches, and some baked oatmeal with cherries and chocolate chips for breakfast. I do have bread, milk, and eggs, so there could always be French toast! Though I did make that on Wednesday when I realized it was Ash Wednesday (and that I'd completely forgotten Shrove Tuesday). I'll probably have pasta for dinner tomorrow regardless, since it's Sunday.
Today, I watched Batman Ninja, which features the Batfamily time traveling back to feudal Japan (but so much Joker and I am so tired of Joker), and then its sequel, Batman vs. the Yakuza League, which I enjoyed more because it has Wonder Woman in it and she's fantastic as always. It also features ( I guess this is a spoiler ) It was weird to me though that we got 4 Batboys (Jason's feudal Japan headgear is HILARIOUS), but no Cass or Babs at all, and I didn't love the art for Selina. Someday we'll get an animated version of Wayne Family Adventures and the girls and Duke will get their due!
*
Recent Reading: Our Share of Night
Feb. 21st, 2026 06:16 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksIf Mexican Gothic left you craving more South American fantasy horror, Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez of Argentina (translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell) has you covered. This is a family epic intertwined with the dark machinations of a macabre cult and its impact. It's also a splendid allegory for the evils of colonialism and generational trauma. This book was #15 from the "Women in Translation" rec list.
The book begins with Juan, a powerful but ill man who acts as a "medium" for the cult to commune with its dark god. Juan, struggling with the health of his defective heart, the wear-and-tear of years as the medium, and the grief and rage of his wife's recent death (he suspects, at the orders of the cult he serves) is desperate to keep his son Gaspar from stepping into his shoes, as the cult wants. Juan's opening segment of the book is about his efforts to protect Gaspar.
From there, the book branches off into other perspectives which give background to both the cult and the family. This is a great way of giving us a holistic and generational view of the cult, but it does drag occasionally. Gaspar's sections--in his childhood and then later in his teens/young adulthood--together make up the majority of the book, and while enjoyable, do amble off into great detail about his and his friends' day-to-day lives, such that I did wonder sometimes when we were getting back to the plot. I don't like to cite pacing issues, because I think that gets thrown around a lot whenever someone didn't vibe with a book, but the drawn-out length of these quotidian sections doesn't fit well with how quickly the climax of the book passes and is wrapped up. I would have liked to have spent less time with Gaspar at soccer games and more on his plans for addressing the cult.
However, on the whole, the book is a fun, if very dark read. It also serves well as a critique of Argentina's moneyed class and of colonialism in general, and how money sticks with money even across borders. Here, Argentina's wealthy have more in common with English money than with the Argentine lower classes (and that's how they want it). The cult, populated at its upper echelons by the privileged, is an almost literal blight on the land, willing to sacrifice an endless amount of blood, local and otherwise, to beg power off a hungry and unknown supernatural entity.
It brutalizes its mediums, which it often plucks from poverty to wring for power and then discard. Juan was adopted away from his own poor family at six, under the insistence his parents would not be able to pay for the medical care he needed, and he is the least-abused of the cult's line of mediums. As soon as the cult sets their eye on his son, Juan must begin scheming how to keep Gaspar away from them.
Although he acts out of love of his son, Juan is also a deeply flawed person. He is secretive, moody, lies constantly (there is actual gaslighting here) and doesn't hesitate to knock Gaspar around to make him obey. The more he deteriorates--a common problem with all cult mediums--the less human he becomes. Part of this is his work, but much of it is also attributable to years of being used by the cult for its ends and the accumulated emotional trauma. This, of course, is then inflicted on Gaspar through his father's tempers and secrets.
Similarly flawed are the other members of the immediate family. Juan's wife Rosario, despite a better nature than her parents, still supports this cult and is eager for Gaspar to follow in his father's footsteps as a cult medium, in part for the prestige it will bring her as his mother. Gaspar, although far more empathetic and gentle than either of his parents, eventually grows up with his father's temper. Watching him grow from a sweet-natured little boy into the troubled young adult he becomes after years of his father's abuse and neglect is painful, but realistic.
The book is also unexpectedly queer. It's not often a book surprises me with its queerness, because that's usually what landed it on my radar in the first place, but this one did. Juan and Rosario are both bisexual and later in the book we spend some active time in Argentina's queer scene, including during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
An ambitious novel that for the most part, pulls off what it's trying to do. As mentioned, I wish the ending had gotten more room to breathe, and I would not have minded this coming at the cost of some of the middle bits of navel-gazing, but I still felt the story was satisfying.
The book begins with Juan, a powerful but ill man who acts as a "medium" for the cult to commune with its dark god. Juan, struggling with the health of his defective heart, the wear-and-tear of years as the medium, and the grief and rage of his wife's recent death (he suspects, at the orders of the cult he serves) is desperate to keep his son Gaspar from stepping into his shoes, as the cult wants. Juan's opening segment of the book is about his efforts to protect Gaspar.
From there, the book branches off into other perspectives which give background to both the cult and the family. This is a great way of giving us a holistic and generational view of the cult, but it does drag occasionally. Gaspar's sections--in his childhood and then later in his teens/young adulthood--together make up the majority of the book, and while enjoyable, do amble off into great detail about his and his friends' day-to-day lives, such that I did wonder sometimes when we were getting back to the plot. I don't like to cite pacing issues, because I think that gets thrown around a lot whenever someone didn't vibe with a book, but the drawn-out length of these quotidian sections doesn't fit well with how quickly the climax of the book passes and is wrapped up. I would have liked to have spent less time with Gaspar at soccer games and more on his plans for addressing the cult.
However, on the whole, the book is a fun, if very dark read. It also serves well as a critique of Argentina's moneyed class and of colonialism in general, and how money sticks with money even across borders. Here, Argentina's wealthy have more in common with English money than with the Argentine lower classes (and that's how they want it). The cult, populated at its upper echelons by the privileged, is an almost literal blight on the land, willing to sacrifice an endless amount of blood, local and otherwise, to beg power off a hungry and unknown supernatural entity.
It brutalizes its mediums, which it often plucks from poverty to wring for power and then discard. Juan was adopted away from his own poor family at six, under the insistence his parents would not be able to pay for the medical care he needed, and he is the least-abused of the cult's line of mediums. As soon as the cult sets their eye on his son, Juan must begin scheming how to keep Gaspar away from them.
Although he acts out of love of his son, Juan is also a deeply flawed person. He is secretive, moody, lies constantly (there is actual gaslighting here) and doesn't hesitate to knock Gaspar around to make him obey. The more he deteriorates--a common problem with all cult mediums--the less human he becomes. Part of this is his work, but much of it is also attributable to years of being used by the cult for its ends and the accumulated emotional trauma. This, of course, is then inflicted on Gaspar through his father's tempers and secrets.
Similarly flawed are the other members of the immediate family. Juan's wife Rosario, despite a better nature than her parents, still supports this cult and is eager for Gaspar to follow in his father's footsteps as a cult medium, in part for the prestige it will bring her as his mother. Gaspar, although far more empathetic and gentle than either of his parents, eventually grows up with his father's temper. Watching him grow from a sweet-natured little boy into the troubled young adult he becomes after years of his father's abuse and neglect is painful, but realistic.
The book is also unexpectedly queer. It's not often a book surprises me with its queerness, because that's usually what landed it on my radar in the first place, but this one did. Juan and Rosario are both bisexual and later in the book we spend some active time in Argentina's queer scene, including during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
An ambitious novel that for the most part, pulls off what it's trying to do. As mentioned, I wish the ending had gotten more room to breathe, and I would not have minded this coming at the cost of some of the middle bits of navel-gazing, but I still felt the story was satisfying.
Just Create - Playset Edition
Feb. 21st, 2026 06:11 pmsilvercat17 posting in justcreate What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?
Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?
What do you just want to talk about?
What have you been watching or reading?
Chores and other not-fun things count!
Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.
Creators Revealed!
Feb. 21st, 2026 08:00 pmcandyheartsexCreators have now been revealed!
Thank you to everyone for participating this year, and a special thanks to our pinch hitters, who made it possible for the collection to open on time! I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day.
Thank you to everyone for participating this year, and a special thanks to our pinch hitters, who made it possible for the collection to open on time! I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day.
Daily Check In.
Feb. 21st, 2026 06:04 pmadafrog posting in fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Poll #34250 Daily poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 18
How are you doing?
I am okay
12 (66.7%)
I am not okay, but don't need help right now
6 (33.3%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans are you living with?
I am living single
6 (33.3%)
One other person
7 (38.9%)
More than one other person
5 (27.8%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, February 21
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:57 pmveronyxk84 posting in su_herald
XANDER: I just want to look respectable in this, considering I'm probably gonna die in it.
CORDELIA: Excuse me?
XANDER: I'm telling you. I woke up the other day with this feeling in my gut. I just know there's no way I'm getting out of this school alive.
CORDELIA: Wow, you've really mastered the power of positive giving-up.
XANDER: I've been lucky too many times. My number's coming up. And I was short! One more rotation and I'm shipping state-side, you know what I mean?
CORDELIA: Seldom if ever.
CORDELIA: Excuse me?
XANDER: I'm telling you. I woke up the other day with this feeling in my gut. I just know there's no way I'm getting out of this school alive.
CORDELIA: Wow, you've really mastered the power of positive giving-up.
XANDER: I've been lucky too many times. My number's coming up. And I was short! One more rotation and I'm shipping state-side, you know what I mean?
CORDELIA: Seldom if ever.
~~BtVS 3x21 “Graduation Day, Part 1”~~
[Drabbles & Short Fiction]
- [Collection] 4 BtVS works for Rare Femslash Exchange 2025 (misc ships, misc ratings) by unrevealed authors
- [Collection] 10 BtVS/AtS works for Candy Hearts Exchange 2026 (misc ships, misc ratings) by various authors
- Predicaments // Скрутні становища (Buffy/Spike, E) by Uraniya
- Sunrise (Angel/Cordelia, G) by klutzy_girl
- No Night City (Buffy/Faith, T) by waterintheshadows
- The Slayer’s New Coat (Buffy/Spike, Anya/Xander, Tara/Willow, M) by voidslayerworks98
- Travelin' Man (1998) (Xander/Spike, T) by scaryfangirl2001
- Stars to War Under (Buffy & Giles, T) by itsoverhere
- Weigh Down on Me (Spike/OFC, T) by hpg
- NSFW Alphabet (Giles/reader, M) by bluekidchaos
[Chaptered Fiction]
- Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 414 (jojo's bizarre adventure xove, T) by madimpossibledreamer
- Haunted, Chapter 4/? (Angelus/Giles, Jenny/Giles, M) by SortaMadDog
- Put Me Down, Chapter 3/? (Buffy/Faith, E) by Inspectorrr
- The Spark Inside Me, Chapter 11/? (Xander/Spike, M) by eyeless_soul
- Objectionable Behaviour, Chapter 4/10 (Warren/Andrew, E) by GarsCrucible
- Faiths Vampire Family, Chapter 6/? (Faith & Hope Mikaelson, The Originals xover, not rated) by mwimer
- Masked desire, Chapter 6/? (Buffy/Giles, M) by Rippertish
- Better Late Than Never, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, R) by slaymesoftly
- Drabbles, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, G) by Sarahvampgrl
- The center of gravity, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Sarahvampgrl
- What's Left of the Night, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Sirabella
- Re-heated, Chapters 6-7 (Buffy/Spike, R) by splendidchapette
- Band Candy Baby, Chapters 67-68 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Tikiriaaa
- Aww Hell..., Chapter 4 (Xander, Percy Jackson & the Olympians xover, FR13) by Tjin
- She, with all a monarch's pride, Chapters 12-13 Complete! (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by zinjadu
- On the Run, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by zinjadu
- If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..., Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by zinjadu
- A Stroke Of Bad Loop, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Tikiriaaa
- What's Left of the Night, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Sirabella
- Re-heated, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, R) by splendidchapette
- Band Candy Baby, Chapter 68 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Tikiriaaa
- Come as you are, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by runningwithdragons
- Once They Were Friends, Chapter 29 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Grief Counseling
- The Gift, Chapter 25 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Corvidae
- Quest for Glory, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Geliot99, Claire
[Images, Audio & Video]
- Artwork: been goofing around with my buffyverse warriors au [characters as cats] (worksafe) by xaeyrnofnbe
- Gifset: The sky’s gonna open. People gonna pray and sing. I can’t feel a thing. (AtS ensemble, worksafe) by mycatismyfriend
- Artwork: just finished season 2. you know buffy can be a comedy if we ignore all the other stuff (Buffy/Spike, worksafe) by spacerockband
- Gifset: femslash february - day twenty-one - enemies/rivals (Buffy/Faith, worksafe) by solemnsalem
- Artwork: Those last [S2] minutes still wake up the teenager I used to be. Pure heartbreak. (Buffy, worksafe) by alexielnight
- Artwork: [Icon Set] Angel and Spike in S5E2 Just Rewards (Angel/Spike, G) by MadeInGold
[Reviews & Recaps]
- THE EPIC SHOWDOWN! Buffy vs Faith! Graduation Day Pt.1 by All Bronze, No Brains
- 73: BTVS S4E21 “Primeval” by Still Slaying: A Buffyverse Podcast
[In Search Of]
[Community Announcements]
[Fandom Discussions]
- in my heart cangel are the kind of friends that are down to make out if they get bored enough by xaeyrnofnbe
- Right off the bat I’ll admit I like Connor, as in to say I like what they could have done with him by zealouskittenfox
- My vision for post chosen Robin is he gets the fuck away from Buffy and co as soon as possible by killerqueen1984
- the idea that drusilla would be “unable to handle” or is “too broken” to have a soul given to her/to be cursed with a soul is straight-up ableism by tenderjock
- dru is my. fucking headache of a character because on one hand she’s So Much to me personally, and landau brought such a strength and vulnerability to her by tenderjock
- One thing I find really interesting about sprusilla is the way they both fight by evilvampire
- Quotes to live by from the show ? by don_quixote_2
- Holtz revenge by Fit-Difficulty8902
- How does everyone walk/run everywhere? by Tuxedo_Mark
- Brand new interview with Emma Caulfield all about Buffy! by xmenstormfan1
- Apocalypse Season by BigTittyTransboi
- Real life grief and The Body by MissionFramework
- First time watcher, currently on mid s3 by geochim_eobsi
- What's the most bittersweet moment with a character who will be gone shortly thereafter? by InfiniteMehdiLove
- Buffy Summers cosplay by sapphiremidnightmoon
- Why didn’t Glory ever go back to the Summers’ house by CleanUpOnAisle10
- Could season 7 Willow beat season 7 Buffy in a fight by FaveStore_Citadel
- My true unpopular opinion is that I don't like Joyce... by TwentyTwoWishes
- What do you think was said to Joyce's date in S5? by Xandertheokay
- I can't be the only one who loves season 6 right? by SamTheMarioMaster2
[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]
- Emma Caulfield - Interview | The Road to Buffy Ep. 1 by Steve Varley Show
- Interview with the Anointed One – Andrew Ferchland Part 1 by Re-Vamped with Juliet Landau
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 03:51 pmmarginalianaHave been thinking about this both due to visiting a friend's place and due to looking at my own sofa.
Presuming that you are a household of at least two people who share a sofa and sit on different ends regularly enough to establish butt patterns...
I definitely squash the cushions (butt and back) more than my wife and I have no idea why. Periodically we flip the cushions to the other side so that mine aren't flat all the time.
Also, I put in 'we don't have consistent ends of the sofa' as a poll option because I'm always surprised that some people don't live in patterns the way I live in patterns but not having sofa sitting patterns is an insane idea to me, for the record.
Presuming that you are a household of at least two people who share a sofa and sit on different ends regularly enough to establish butt patterns...
Poll #34248 butts, lol
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3
Are your butt dent patterns different?
View Answers
yes, easily attributable to sitting pattern or weight, etc
3 (100.0%)
yes but not sure why
0 (0.0%)
not particularly
0 (0.0%)
we don't have consistent ends of the sofa
0 (0.0%)
I definitely squash the cushions (butt and back) more than my wife and I have no idea why. Periodically we flip the cushions to the other side so that mine aren't flat all the time.
Also, I put in 'we don't have consistent ends of the sofa' as a poll option because I'm always surprised that some people don't live in patterns the way I live in patterns but not having sofa sitting patterns is an insane idea to me, for the record.
The Friday Five on a Saturday
Feb. 21st, 2026 08:42 pmnanilaWhen did you last…
- Scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc.) to make a purchase?
I honestly can't remember. So many places are cashless now that I often don't carry any. It must have been pre-Covid. - Visit a dentist?
Five months ago. My next clean is in March. - Make a needed change to your life?
The most significant recent change was changing to a gym I actually want to use, at the start of the year. I really needed that. I feel so much healthier. - Decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal?
Most nights, tonight included. We have to plan because of the kids. Most days we eat breakfast and supper at home as a family because we have the luxury of schedules that allow us to do so. - Spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked?
No idea. I hardly ever do this. It's flippin’ cold here most of the time. For those who say the UK temperatures are mild, okay, maybe to you, but I spent most of my life in the tropics before I moved here and I wasn't wandering around naked there either.
Reading roundup: Hexwood + Stuff I Love: songs in fanvids
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:09 pmhamsterwoman3. Diana Wynne Jones, Hexwood – I was intrigued about Hexwood since hearing that several flisters are big fans, and when I was in the UK, cafemassolit presented me with a beautiful UK cover copy – very forestry and mysterious – because the non-Chrestomanci DWJs are hard to find in the US. With the 8dodwj podcast getting to Hexwood in late January, and having figured out some kind of reading schedule with the sync read – what seems to work well is, I read during the BART portions of my commute, which is a solid hour+ chunk, and requires the least attention from me, because the station announcements are hard to miss, and listen to podcasts for the bus and waiting portions, which is allowing me to keep up with new podcasts and make some adequate progress on the E&J retro dive – I now actually read it. And it’s definitely unlike anything by DWJ I’ve read! Early on, when I had finished part 1 or 2 of 9, Best Chat asked which one that was, and I said, all I can say about it is that it’s a non-Chrestomanci DWJ, because I have no clue what’s going on – but neither does anyone else in this book, so that’s cool. Once I’d finished, I said, “At basically no point could I predict what was going to happen next, and this is like five or six books in one, matryoshka style except less linear. But I definitely liked it!” Which I think is a pretty good summary both of the book and my reading experience. And the rest goes under ( the SPOILER CUT )
And hereby I have finally read Hexwood, after talking vaguely about doing so for several years. Having done the same with Fire and Hemlock about two years ago, I should probably now pick a next target to read – I’m thinking Black Maria/Aunt Maria or Homeward Bounders probably… Although I do actually have a copy of Archer’s Goon, unlike these other two, so, sensibly, I should read THAT.
*
Week 3 of Stuff I Love: Top 10 Edition (hosted bydreamersdare here) is Music Picks.
I’m not fannish about music, and my favorite songs would be heavily weighed towards Russian and they are my favorite because of the lyrics, so that’s not going to be interesting to most of my flist. So instead, I’m doing top 10 songs that I’ve seen used in fanvids that I’ve loved. These have to be songs I actually like, and fanvids I actually like/love, which restricted this to a manageable and relatively easy to track down set.
( 13 fanvids to 11 songs – because I had to add some bonus ones and prime numbers are cool )
And this is not part of the above list, because I just discovered it while searching for something else and stumbling on the playlist of someone with very compatible tastes to me, but there’s a The Goes Wrong Show fanvid to “Odds Are” by the Barenaked Ladies (who have several songs I really enjoy, but I think this is the first time I’ve found one paired with a vid for something I also really like), and it was a lot of fun to revisit a bunch of my favorite disasters to such a jaunty and optimistic song.
cafemassolit presented me with a beautiful UK cover copy – very forestry and mysterious – because the non-Chrestomanci DWJs are hard to find in the US. With the 8dodwj podcast getting to Hexwood in late January, and having figured out some kind of reading schedule with the sync read – what seems to work well is, I read during the BART portions of my commute, which is a solid hour+ chunk, and requires the least attention from me, because the station announcements are hard to miss, and listen to podcasts for the bus and waiting portions, which is allowing me to keep up with new podcasts and make some adequate progress on the E&J retro dive – I now actually read it. And it’s definitely unlike anything by DWJ I’ve read! Early on, when I had finished part 1 or 2 of 9, Best Chat asked which one that was, and I said, all I can say about it is that it’s a non-Chrestomanci DWJ, because I have no clue what’s going on – but neither does anyone else in this book, so that’s cool. Once I’d finished, I said, “At basically no point could I predict what was going to happen next, and this is like five or six books in one, matryoshka style except less linear. But I definitely liked it!” Which I think is a pretty good summary both of the book and my reading experience. And the rest goes under ( the SPOILER CUT )And hereby I have finally read Hexwood, after talking vaguely about doing so for several years. Having done the same with Fire and Hemlock about two years ago, I should probably now pick a next target to read – I’m thinking Black Maria/Aunt Maria or Homeward Bounders probably… Although I do actually have a copy of Archer’s Goon, unlike these other two, so, sensibly, I should read THAT.
*
Week 3 of Stuff I Love: Top 10 Edition (hosted by
dreamersdare here) is Music Picks. I’m not fannish about music, and my favorite songs would be heavily weighed towards Russian and they are my favorite because of the lyrics, so that’s not going to be interesting to most of my flist. So instead, I’m doing top 10 songs that I’ve seen used in fanvids that I’ve loved. These have to be songs I actually like, and fanvids I actually like/love, which restricted this to a manageable and relatively easy to track down set.
( 13 fanvids to 11 songs – because I had to add some bonus ones and prime numbers are cool )
And this is not part of the above list, because I just discovered it while searching for something else and stumbling on the playlist of someone with very compatible tastes to me, but there’s a The Goes Wrong Show fanvid to “Odds Are” by the Barenaked Ladies (who have several songs I really enjoy, but I think this is the first time I’ve found one paired with a vid for something I also really like), and it was a lot of fun to revisit a bunch of my favorite disasters to such a jaunty and optimistic song.
Saturday
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:07 amsusandennisMy friend, Martha, has always been a staunch supporter of my dolls and creatures. She has a bunch and has given away 5 times a bunch or more. When she saw this year's bunnies, she said they needed cotton tails and bows. I said fine, if she wanted to add them, that would be great. I made 40 and she picked them up yesterday. Turns out adding the butts and bows was far easier than she expected. She texted me the results. She has about 25 butts left so I'll make more this week and then put them out til they are gone.
The butts:
The bows:
The pool blinds are well and truly fixed. They go up and down 'like butta', it's such a relief.
I got brave this morning and tried that extra creamy oat milk with cherrios. FAIL. It does not taste like milk and it does not look like milk. Guess it's an oatmeal only situation which is fine. Better than nothing.
I have now fallen into another very odd for me book that is really turning into a great read. In this case, it may be the reader who 'sells' it but the story is compelling. Dark Ride by Lou Berney. Read by Johnathan McClain. His spot on portrayal of all of the characters is amazing. I don't understand how one person can read in such a way that you actually believe he's a 20 something male stoner, a 40 something black female temptress and a 20 something goth girl plus dozens of other bit players. He is now my new favorite reader ever but also, this book is fun.
About a decade ago the Mariners helped create and then took over Root Sports NW which was a regional sports network. It was available on cable, and then later, on various streaming services. It pretty much sucked but was the only game in town. They killed it dead at the end of last season. The Mariners this year have a full season deal with MLB.TV which I don't love BUT after one game, I can absolutely say is about 20 times better than Root ever tried to be. Whew. Even for a spring training game, it all worked. Closed captions - easy to snap on and off - nothing out of sync - no lags. No mess. Just baseball. Of course the announcers still suck, but, hey...
There's another game on today (they only televise a little less than half the spring training games, which is fine... viewers need to ease into the season like players.
Yesterday, I cleaned out some cupboards in the kitchen. I moved the dishes I use rarely or never into storage so now I can get to the shit I want more easily and emptying the dishwasher is way easier. So I think I'll go do that before I get dressed for elbow coffee.
The butts:
The bows:
The pool blinds are well and truly fixed. They go up and down 'like butta', it's such a relief.
I got brave this morning and tried that extra creamy oat milk with cherrios. FAIL. It does not taste like milk and it does not look like milk. Guess it's an oatmeal only situation which is fine. Better than nothing.
I have now fallen into another very odd for me book that is really turning into a great read. In this case, it may be the reader who 'sells' it but the story is compelling. Dark Ride by Lou Berney. Read by Johnathan McClain. His spot on portrayal of all of the characters is amazing. I don't understand how one person can read in such a way that you actually believe he's a 20 something male stoner, a 40 something black female temptress and a 20 something goth girl plus dozens of other bit players. He is now my new favorite reader ever but also, this book is fun.
About a decade ago the Mariners helped create and then took over Root Sports NW which was a regional sports network. It was available on cable, and then later, on various streaming services. It pretty much sucked but was the only game in town. They killed it dead at the end of last season. The Mariners this year have a full season deal with MLB.TV which I don't love BUT after one game, I can absolutely say is about 20 times better than Root ever tried to be. Whew. Even for a spring training game, it all worked. Closed captions - easy to snap on and off - nothing out of sync - no lags. No mess. Just baseball. Of course the announcers still suck, but, hey...
There's another game on today (they only televise a little less than half the spring training games, which is fine... viewers need to ease into the season like players.
Yesterday, I cleaned out some cupboards in the kitchen. I moved the dishes I use rarely or never into storage so now I can get to the shit I want more easily and emptying the dishwasher is way easier. So I think I'll go do that before I get dressed for elbow coffee.
saturday later
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:10 pmsummersgate
Falling. If I don't know what else to draw I can always do a random face without putting much thought into it. But then after it's done I'm saying, who is this? Is it me? Perhaps it's Hazel? Maybe it's just an "earnest thought" being expressed. I only called it "Falling" because I drew those shapes on the left and they seemed to be falling.
Addendum to Erotica 4 Barbarians
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:05 pmpetraThis post is about Erotica 4 Barbarians, a challenge to write smut in words of one syllable.
I neglected to include all the Marvel characters I could write, in part because I did not think it through, so -- Wade, I already mentioned, but also Steve, Nat, Bruce, Thor, Clint. (I just heardminoanmiss cheer and punch the air.)
Anybody who wants a flashback to 2012 Avengers fandom, The Avengers Kink List Team Bonding Sessions: the files is a collaborative project that happened in my comments back in the day, in which we played with all kinds of Avengers pairings.
If anyone wants more in that vein, I will see what I can do to scrape off the rest of the MCU and chill in that headspace. In words of one syllable.
\o/
I neglected to include all the Marvel characters I could write, in part because I did not think it through, so -- Wade, I already mentioned, but also Steve, Nat, Bruce, Thor, Clint. (I just heard
minoanmiss cheer and punch the air.) Anybody who wants a flashback to 2012 Avengers fandom, The Avengers Kink List Team Bonding Sessions: the files is a collaborative project that happened in my comments back in the day, in which we played with all kinds of Avengers pairings.
If anyone wants more in that vein, I will see what I can do to scrape off the rest of the MCU and chill in that headspace. In words of one syllable.
\o/
New Vid: The Long Walk "One Foot In Front Of The Other"
Feb. 21st, 2026 05:50 pmlilly_the_kid posting in viddingTitle: One Foot In Front Of The Other
Fandom: The Long Walk
Music: One Foot In Front Of The Other by Walk The Moon
Characters/Pairing: Ray/Peter; ensemble
Summary: Taking this one step at a time.
Warnings: graphic violence
Here on AO3
Fandom: The Long Walk
Music: One Foot In Front Of The Other by Walk The Moon
Characters/Pairing: Ray/Peter; ensemble
Summary: Taking this one step at a time.
Warnings: graphic violence
Here on AO3
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 04:28 pmoursinBooks and screens: Everyone is panicking about the death of reading usefully points out that panic and woezery over reading/not-reading/what they're reading etc etc is far from a new phenomenon:
We have been here before. Not just once, but repeatedly, in a pattern so consistent it reveals something essential about how cultural elites respond to changes in how knowledge moves through society.
In the late 19th century, more than a million boys’ periodicals were sold per week in Britain. These ‘penny dreadfuls’ offered sensational stories of crime, horror and adventure that critics condemned as morally corrupting and intellectually shallow. By the 1850s, there were up to 100 publishers of this penny fiction. Victorian commentators wrung their hands over the degradation of youth, the death of serious thought, the impossibility of competing with such lurid entertainment.
But walk backwards through history, and the pattern repeats with eerie precision. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, novel-reading itself was the existential threat. The terms used were identical to today’s moral panic: ‘reading epidemic’, ‘reading mania’, ‘reading rage’, ‘reading fever’, ‘reading lust’, ‘insidious contagion’. The journal Sylph worried in 1796 that women ‘of every age, of every condition, contract and retain a taste for novels … the depravity is universal.’
....
In 1941, the American paediatrician Mary Preston claimed that more than half of the children she studied were ‘severely addicted’ to radio and movie crime dramas, consumed ‘much as a chronic alcoholic does drink’. The psychiatrist Fredric Wertham testified before US Congress that, as he put it in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), comics cause ‘chronic stimulation, temptation and seduction’, calling them more dangerous than Hitler. Thirteen American states passed restrictive laws. The comics historian Carol Tilley later exposed the flaws in Wertham’s research, but by then the damage was done.
I'm a bit 'huh' about the perception of a model of reading in quiet libraries as one that is changing, speaking as someone who has read in an awful lot of places with stuff going on around me while I had my nose in a book! (see also, beach-reading....) But that there are shifts and changes, and different forms of access, yes.
Moving on: on another prickly paw, I am not sure I am entirely on board with this model of reading as equivalent to going to the gym or other self-improving activity, and committing to reading X number of books per year (even if I look at the numbers given and sneer slightly): ‘Last year I read 137 books’: could setting targets help you put down your phone and pick up a book?:
As reading is increasingly tracked and performed online, there is a growing sense that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by the logic of metrics and visibility. In a culture that counts steps, optimises sleep and gamifies meditation, the pressure to quantify reading may say less about books than about a wider urge to turn even our leisure into something measurable and, ultimately, competitive.
Groaning rather there.
Also at the sense that the books are being picked for Reasons - maybe I'm being unfair.
Also, perhaps, this is a where you are in the life-cycle thing: because in my 20s or so I was reading things I thought I ought to read/have read even if I was also reading things for enjoyment, and I am now in my sere and withered about, is this going to be pleasurable? (I suspect chomping through 1000 romances as research is not all that much fun?)
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 11:20 amconuly posting in agonyauntDear Carolyn: I know you love dogs, but in a reasonable way, so I figure you’re a good person to ask. Is there a “normal” amount of pets for someone to have? I never had dogs or cats growing up and didn’t want them in our home when our children were young.
All my children at times asked for a pet but grew to accept my aversion, except for my youngest daughter. When she used to insist she couldn’t wait to move out and get a pet, I took it with a grain of salt. She did get a dog in the house she shared with friends in college, and her obsession has only grown since then. The last time I saw her, she excitedly told me she’s a foster parent to a litter of puppies now. I’m not sure how that works, but it brings the number of dogs in her house from two to six, and she also has two cats.
I asked if she was going to get kicked out of her house, since her township can’t possibly allow that number of animals in a small home and yard, and she just laughed at me. She apparently doesn’t understand the law or care how this all must affect her neighbors.
Could this possibly be the start of some sort of mental illness? Should I try to intervene further?
( Read more... )
All my children at times asked for a pet but grew to accept my aversion, except for my youngest daughter. When she used to insist she couldn’t wait to move out and get a pet, I took it with a grain of salt. She did get a dog in the house she shared with friends in college, and her obsession has only grown since then. The last time I saw her, she excitedly told me she’s a foster parent to a litter of puppies now. I’m not sure how that works, but it brings the number of dogs in her house from two to six, and she also has two cats.
I asked if she was going to get kicked out of her house, since her township can’t possibly allow that number of animals in a small home and yard, and she just laughed at me. She apparently doesn’t understand the law or care how this all must affect her neighbors.
Could this possibly be the start of some sort of mental illness? Should I try to intervene further?
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:18 amconuly posting in agonyauntDear Care and Feeding,
My wife, “Lourdes” and I have a 2-year-old daughter, “Mackenzie.” Mackenzie was a difficult baby (long crying spells, difficult to soothe, hypersensitive to sound, fussy about solid food, etc.), and my wife has a low threshold for frustration. So most of Mackenzie’s care fell to me since Lourdes said she “couldn’t deal with it.” The result has been that our daughter is closer to me than she is to her mother. Well, Lourdes said something disturbing regarding our daughter recently.
Mackenzie had a meltdown when my wife tried to get her dressed for daycare, so Lourdes told me I needed to do it because of her theory that our daughter “hates her” and “the feeling is mutual.” Mackenzie has a routine of putting her clothes on in a specific order. Lourdes is aware of it, but wanted to do it her way, which set her off. Mackenzie has her quirks, and if you work with her (her daycare providers follow them and have reported no issues), everything is fine. The trouble is that my wife is accustomed to people doing things her way, and she does not react well when her expectations are not met. I’m seriously concerned about her relationship with Mackenzie, especially because right after her mother tasked me with dressing her that day, she said, “Mommy is mean.” Lourdes balked when I suggested counseling. How am I supposed to resolve this?
—Daughter Division
( Read more... )
My wife, “Lourdes” and I have a 2-year-old daughter, “Mackenzie.” Mackenzie was a difficult baby (long crying spells, difficult to soothe, hypersensitive to sound, fussy about solid food, etc.), and my wife has a low threshold for frustration. So most of Mackenzie’s care fell to me since Lourdes said she “couldn’t deal with it.” The result has been that our daughter is closer to me than she is to her mother. Well, Lourdes said something disturbing regarding our daughter recently.
Mackenzie had a meltdown when my wife tried to get her dressed for daycare, so Lourdes told me I needed to do it because of her theory that our daughter “hates her” and “the feeling is mutual.” Mackenzie has a routine of putting her clothes on in a specific order. Lourdes is aware of it, but wanted to do it her way, which set her off. Mackenzie has her quirks, and if you work with her (her daycare providers follow them and have reported no issues), everything is fine. The trouble is that my wife is accustomed to people doing things her way, and she does not react well when her expectations are not met. I’m seriously concerned about her relationship with Mackenzie, especially because right after her mother tasked me with dressing her that day, she said, “Mommy is mean.” Lourdes balked when I suggested counseling. How am I supposed to resolve this?
—Daughter Division
( Read more... )
saturday
Feb. 21st, 2026 08:11 amsummersgate
I finished a gnome yesterday. I think I'll give this one to Leon. I can imagine some changes to this: flowers (instead of just white spots) on the hat, white beard instead of gray, blue clothes, green hat. I think Candy would like one like that to remember Bill by.
Jules and I are heading to Pittsburgh to pick up Hazel this afternoon. A few weeks ago I didn't imagine that Skye would last till now. I'm glad she did and she's doing fairly well. She was Hazel's cat in the start and they'll get to see each other one more time.
showing up late, without Starbucks.
Feb. 21st, 2026 07:14 amjenna_thornSometime around 1992 or 1993*, I visited my grandmother, who greeted me at the door with joy and a shimmy dance because she had just discovered a brand new band, such fun, I had to come in and hear her new CD right then. She was sure that these boys were going to go big, as their music was so delightful.
So I came in, dropped my bags, and we spent some time bopping around her townhouse to Fat Bottomed Girls, singing along about making the world go around.
I had to give you that for context for this. I bought my first Taylor Swift CD yesterday. Fun music to sing in the car. And I'm tickled to hear the lines that were used as fanfic titles for a while there.
*yes, that's the timeline. I was the one to break the news of Freddie Mercury's death but we did go to the local used CD store and build her collection that weekend.
So I came in, dropped my bags, and we spent some time bopping around her townhouse to Fat Bottomed Girls, singing along about making the world go around.
I had to give you that for context for this. I bought my first Taylor Swift CD yesterday. Fun music to sing in the car. And I'm tickled to hear the lines that were used as fanfic titles for a while there.
*yes, that's the timeline. I was the one to break the news of Freddie Mercury's death but we did go to the local used CD store and build her collection that weekend.
Book Beat: Alien Cowboys, Marriage of Convenience, & More
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:00 amsmartbitches_feed
Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.
House of Monstrous Women
Author: Daphne Fama
Released: August 12, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Mystery/Thriller
A young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.
In this game, there’s one rule: survive.
Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape….
Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?
If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.
Except Ranoco house is strange—labyrinthine and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.
To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.
A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.
Gothic horror with Filipino folklore!
Married to the Alien Cowboy
Author: Ursa Dax
Released: July 9, 2024 by Peace Weaver Press Inc.
Genre: Western, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #1
A quiet alien cowboy, a human woman on the run, and one very messy marriage of convenience. What could possibly go wrong?
In debt and on the run from a crime lord whose nose I may or may not have broken, I take the first ticket off-world that comes my way. It’s an all-expenses-paid, one-way trip to an isolated ranching outpost.
The only catch?
I have to marry an alien cowboy.
My plan is simple enough. Shack up with my groom Silar and convince him to keep me during the first month of our marriage. As long as he doesn’t decide to send me packing after the thirty-day trial period, I’ll be safe.
But maybe my plan isn’t so great after all. Silar talks more to his animals than he does to me, seems perplexed by every wifely duty I try to perform for him, and goes to offensively great lengths to avoid touching me.
Other than his eyes glowing bright white every time he looks at me, I have no idea what’s going on in my new husband’s head. Meanwhile, he shows me in subtle, wordless ways just how good a man he can be when he thinks that no one’s watching.
Yup. My plan officially sucks. Because now, it’s not just my life at risk if Silar sends me away after thirty days…
It’s my stupid human heart.
Welcome to the cowboy colony planet, where men outnumber women ten to one and cattle outnumber them all…
I’m getting Ice Planet Barbarians but make it Western.
The Mars House
Author: Natasha Pulley
Released: March 19, 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
A compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.
Named a Best Book of 2024 by The Washington Post * Amazon * Book Riot * LitHub * Paste Magazine * HuffPost
In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London’s Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January’s life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger-a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January’s job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.
When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January’s life is thrown into chaos, but Gale’s political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January’s future without naturalization and ensure Gale’s political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They’re kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay-and January may be the only person standing in the way.
Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley’s new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.
Elyse posted about this one in our slack with just the words “Queer fake marriage ballet sci fi.” What a lovely combo of words.
Silvercloak
Author: L.K. Steven
Released: July 29, 2025 by Del Rey
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Silvercloak Saga #1
In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed. . . .
“A dazzling (and frequently sizzling) new fantasy.” —Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying
Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron Killoran’s parents, destroying her idyllic childhood. Hell-bent on revenge, she lies her way into Silvercloak Academy—the training ground for her city’s elite order of detectives—with a single goal: to bring the Bloodmoons to justice.
But when Saff’s deception is exposed, rather than being cast out, she’s given a rare opportunity: to go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.
Descending into a world where pleasure and pain are the most powerful currencies, Saff must commit some truly heinous deeds to keep her cover—and her life. Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, but there’s also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, with his vicious pet fallowwolf, his dark past, and the curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saffron’s hand.
With each day testing her loyalties further, Saff finds her web of lies becoming harder to spin. And when one false step could destroy everything and everyone she’s ever loved . . . the detective who’s dedicated her life to vengeance just might die for it.
Book One of the Silvercloak Saga
“Magic is fueled by pleasure and pain” gives me slight Kushiel’s Dart vibes, and I see that as a good thing.
My motor cortex learning to play Dark Souls
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:07 amrydra_wongcan, to some small degree, be simulated by a blindfolded person trying to push buttons while someone else shouts confused and panicked instructions at them:
(Except that these guys mastered jumping WAY faster than I did.)
It's hilarious and delightful to me to watch people having an experience of Dark Souls which is not wholly unlike mine. In a weird way I feel kind of #represented.
In later vids, they have (like me) discovered the joys of the halberd as adaptive technology for people who are bad at spacing and aiming.
(Except that these guys mastered jumping WAY faster than I did.)
It's hilarious and delightful to me to watch people having an experience of Dark Souls which is not wholly unlike mine. In a weird way I feel kind of #represented.
In later vids, they have (like me) discovered the joys of the halberd as adaptive technology for people who are bad at spacing and aiming.
Supernatural vid: Life is a Highway (the 20th anniversary vidding project)
Feb. 20th, 2026 11:45 pmsholioCannot BELIEVE I still have an SPN icon!
Anyway ... I first started making fanvids for fun in 2002, but I began posting them on LJ in 2006, and since 2026 is therefore my 20th anniversary of posting the first one (#what) and I've been wanting to get more of them on AO3, I decided to make that a project for this year!
So here's my 2006 one and only Supernatural vid, Life is a Highway.
This isn't the first one I put online, but of the 2006 vids I think it's probably one of my favorites and a good one to start with. Contains clips up to late season one because that's all I'd watched at that point and most of what was available. Here's the original LJ-imported-to-DW post. Please enjoy this dive intoan alternate reality a moment in time when season one of Supernatural was literally All There Was.
IIRC, I was making these earliest vids on a really old copy of Adobe Premiere that I had absconded with from my college computer lab in the 1990s.
Also posted on AO3.
If you want a 12 Mb download in 2006 quality, you can download it here!
Also, an interesting bit of context on the 20th anniversary vidding project - I discovered recently that I uploaded a bunch (most? all?) of my older vids to Vimeo in 2016 on the private setting, so apparently I was planning a *10th* anniversary vidding project, but got derailed somehow. What is time.
Anyway ... I first started making fanvids for fun in 2002, but I began posting them on LJ in 2006, and since 2026 is therefore my 20th anniversary of posting the first one (#what) and I've been wanting to get more of them on AO3, I decided to make that a project for this year!
So here's my 2006 one and only Supernatural vid, Life is a Highway.
This isn't the first one I put online, but of the 2006 vids I think it's probably one of my favorites and a good one to start with. Contains clips up to late season one because that's all I'd watched at that point and most of what was available. Here's the original LJ-imported-to-DW post. Please enjoy this dive into
Some notes if you'd rather read them afterwards
Obviously at this point all I have is the exported file rather than the original vidding files (as this was at least 5 computers ago) so 2006 quality is what you're getting, including some slight wonkiness with jerky video and slightly odd cropping (I was screencapturing the video, which explains both the slight borders that occasionally appear - I got a lot better at cropping later - and a few instances of jerkiness as my 2006 computer struggled to render the video). The credits also include my original 2000s-era LJ name, which some of you may remember.IIRC, I was making these earliest vids on a really old copy of Adobe Premiere that I had absconded with from my college computer lab in the 1990s.
Also posted on AO3.
If you want a 12 Mb download in 2006 quality, you can download it here!
Also, an interesting bit of context on the 20th anniversary vidding project - I discovered recently that I uploaded a bunch (most? all?) of my older vids to Vimeo in 2016 on the private setting, so apparently I was planning a *10th* anniversary vidding project, but got derailed somehow. What is time.
RFE is live and this is MINE
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:32 amsenmutA Piece of Advice (1597 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Guinan/Ro Laren
Characters: Ro Laren, Guinan (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Getting Together, Ten Forward (Star Trek), Jealousy, mentions of guinan flirting with an original female character
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Guinan/Ro Laren
Characters: Ro Laren, Guinan (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Getting Together, Ten Forward (Star Trek), Jealousy, mentions of guinan flirting with an original female character
Summary:
Guinan is usually the one offering Ro advice, but when Ro decides to give Guinan some advice for a change, things don’t exactly go as planned.
Links: Software Engineering in the face of AI
Feb. 20th, 2026 08:33 pmsoniaYour phone edits all your photos with AI - is it changing your view of reality? by Thomas Germain. "From simple enhancements to hallucinated facial features, modern phones choose how our memories will look."
No. You can't tell it was written by AI by Segun Famisa.
Curious about how LLM's actually work? So What's The Next Word Then? by Matthias Kainer does a good job of explaining it, with diagrams. Via Martin Fowler's blog.
Acting ethically in an imperfect world by Jürgen Geuter describes and addresses Cory Doctorow's defensiveness about using LLMs.
GenAI has an Alignment Problem by Richard George.
Relatedly, why AI isn't actually helping software companies. Dax Raad just dropped the most honest take on AI productivity written up by JP Caparas.
The only developer productivity metrics that matter by John SJ Anderson.
Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots by Lionel Dricot.
A programmer's loss of identity by Dave Gauer.
AI Data Centers: Power-Hungry, Water-Thirsty, and Rare-Earth Reliant by Daniel.
No. You can't tell it was written by AI by Segun Famisa.
In this essay, I will argue that, your favourite “tells” that a document was produced by AI, at best, is wrong, and depending on your position, in life, at worst, is dangerous and harmful.[...]
So who trained [AI]? A lot of the early training, data annotations and other manual processes, happened with cheap labour in African countries. There are multiple sources that have revealed the hidden economy of workers that big-tech outsources these kinds of tasks to African countries with unstable political situations, weaker workers rights, and cheap labour.
Curious about how LLM's actually work? So What's The Next Word Then? by Matthias Kainer does a good job of explaining it, with diagrams. Via Martin Fowler's blog.
Acting ethically in an imperfect world by Jürgen Geuter describes and addresses Cory Doctorow's defensiveness about using LLMs.
I appreciate a lot of work Cory Doctorow has done in the last decades. But the arguments he presents here to defend his usage of LLMs for this rather trivial task (which TBH could probably be done reasonably well with traditional means) are part of why the Internet – and therefore the world – looks like it does right now. It’s a set of arguments that wants to delegitimize political and moral actions based on libertarian and utilitarian thinking.
GenAI has an Alignment Problem by Richard George.
But the mundane reality is much simpler: LLMs fail to effectively solve the problems we have, while creating a vast new class of problems to be solved. They are, ultimately, completely mis-aligned with our needs, and incompatible with the society we live in.
Relatedly, why AI isn't actually helping software companies. Dax Raad just dropped the most honest take on AI productivity written up by JP Caparas.
everyone's talking about their teams like they were at the peak of efficiency and bottlenecked by ability to produce code
here's what things actually look like:
- your org rarely has good ideas. ideas being expensive to implement was actually helping
- majority of workers have no reason to be super motivated, they want to do their 9-5 and get back to their life
- they're not using AI to be 10x more effective they're using it to churn out their tasks with less energy spend
- the 2 people on your team that actually tried are now flattened by the slop code everyone is producing, they will quit soon
- even when you produce work faster you're still bottlenecked by bureaucracy and the dozen other realities of shipping something real
- your CFO is like what do you mean each engineer now costs $2000 extra per month in LLM bills"
The only developer productivity metrics that matter by John SJ Anderson.
1. How often does the team routinely ship new versions of the software they build?
2. How often do things break when the team ships a new version?
Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots by Lionel Dricot.
A programmer's loss of identity by Dave Gauer.
The social group I still identify with shares my values. We value learning. We value the merits of language design, type systems, software maintenance, levels of abstraction, and yeah, if I’m honest, minute syntactical differences, the color of the bike shed, and the best way to get that perfectly smooth shave on a yak. I’m not sure what we’re called now, "heirloom programmers"?"Acoustic" programmers (like guitars)? "Thought-powered" programmers (like gas-powered cars)? I'm not ready to be an heirloom yet!
AI Data Centers: Power-Hungry, Water-Thirsty, and Rare-Earth Reliant by Daniel.
