forthwritten | Network

Posted by thebloggess

https://thebloggess.com/2026/08/31/come-time-travel-with-me/

If you’ve been here long enough you probably know that I’ve been doing an art substack where I share my strange doodles each week for years now (and I’m going to do at least one more year because I’m still loving it) but I decided to start a second one to share my very weirdContinue reading

https://thebloggess.com/2026/08/31/come-time-travel-with-me/

https://thebloggess.com/?p=45113

juushika

Current Music: Lateniteaha - Fewjar

Title: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author: Muriel Spark
Published: Open Roads Media, 2012 (1961)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 578,310
Text Number: 2187
Read Because: I think I first discovered this via

starshipfox, also reading more of the author; ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review:
I love a book about an insular group, its disintegration and sublimated desires; I've never seen it done quite like this. An iconoclastic school teacher, in her 30s in 1930s Edinburgh, mentors her eponymous set from age 11 onward until, years later, one betrays her. The mobile, wry omniscient third person, stereotyping and then complicating its large cast; moving through time to smugly spoil its ending while holding back the more interesting question of motive—this had a slow start for me (I imagine that'll improve on reread), finding the flow and setting expectations, but thematically it's just my vibe and by the second half I was well won-over.

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7178 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1025.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

cosmolinguist

This afternoon, D and I watched Mean Girls. Last week when we watched Clueless, and he realized that he had seen that one before after all, I wondered if it was Mean Girls he'd been thinking of as the one he hadn't seen.

I'd only seen it once, I think just after I left high school; definitely a long time ago. (I mostly remembered the "Don't have sex. If you do, you will get chlamydia. And die" line because that's how I've described my own sex ed -- entirely fear/disgust based.)

And apart from all the racism and homophobia and fatphobia I have to expect from a 90s movie (just as I'd been about to go to bed last night, D put Stripes on so I unwisely stayed up to watch the "aaarmy training, sir!" scene because my dad loves it but my god is the rest of that movie sexist racist trash now in a way I didn't appreciate when I was a teeanger any more than I appreciated how odd the "We're America, we're 10-1 in wars!" line is! (Which is the one??? Which are the ten for that matter?!)

...Anyway. Except for all the stuff I expected, all I could think was See why I thought NO ONE could like being a girl??? It's exaggerated for dramatic effect and sometimes the Plastics have to say out loud things that are usually learned by years of osmosis like "You can't buy a skirt without consulting your peers first" but it's not that exaggerated.

When I was newly out as agender, I wrote about why it took me so long to discern my dislike of being understood to be a woman vs. being understood to be a woman under these conditions.

Sharing this on fedi today, my excellent friend Stel replied:

soooo much to respond to regarding that blog post and how I was nodding along the entire time, but all I have the energy to say right now is that I giggled because when I read "I hate all the ways my assigned gender had been poisoned and booby-trapped and used against me," my brain decided that "being booby-trapped" is a great description of someone who hasn't yet been able to have top surgery. Trapped by boobies!

I giggled too. That's me, I'm booby trapped!

(But only for like two more months, heh.)

juushika

Current Music: Born to Blues - Cosmic Delay

Title: Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life: Second Edition
Author: Evan Stark
Published: Oxford University Press, 2023 (2007)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 650
Total Page Count: 577,910
Text Number: 2185
Read Because: more research reading, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: A book this long (the revised edition is 700 pages) should better respect the reader's time. I can make any number of nitpicks: typos, repetition, the fundamental structure. And there are missteps along the right path, a trend Stark himself identifies in his predecessors but which remains as true here.

But the nitpicking is fundamentally irrelevant. The long arc of this argument is substantial and productive: domestic violence redefined as a pattern of behavior of control and disempowerment not limited to physical acts of violence, empowered and motivated by the modern characteristics of misogyny. This was meant to be research material and didn't turn out to be particularly useful, but I finished it anyway; to some degree that's just stubbornness, but a lot of it is respect for what Stark has to say.

schneefink

Last day of the month still counts. Both time travel and outsider PoV are tropes I love so combinations are a treat.

The Stranger Inside My Son, by

Mademoiselle_A, Modao Zushi/MDZS
80k, gen with background canon pairings
Summary: Jiang Cheng goes back in time and decides there are a lot of people he won't give a damn about in this new life.
But Jiang Fengmian doesn't know that.
Why I like it: Jiang Fengmian is the last person to realize that Jiang Cheng changed. He has no clue what is happening, and seeing the changes through his eyes is a lot of fun, with all the things he has no chance to understand but the reader of course does. I really enjoyed the fix-it, too.

panoramic by

remrose, Project Hail Mary
10.8k, gen
Summary: "I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, go back to sleep. When you need to worry, I'll tell you."
"Heh." Ryland ran his hand down his face. "It's terrible you know that it actually makes me feel better. What would I do without you?"
"Explode at a colleague at a conference and get expelled from academia and become a middle school teacher." Eva said, promptly.
"Wow, you've thought about that way too hard." Ryland laughed. "Middle schoolers might not vape in class, though. Maybe I should switch."
"Let's not joke."
or: fourteen conversations where ryland grace doesn’t realize eva stratt is a time traveller
Why I like it: Ryland & Eva friendship <3 this was lovely. Do I think it is plausible, eeeh, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Guard by

CheshireSense, Bleach
18k, Ichigo/Kisuke
Summary: Later, Kisuke will remember and tease, "Were you really obsessing over me, Ichigo? Oh my, I have my own personal stalker!", and get an elbow to the face for his troubles.
At the moment though, all he can think is I've impressed someone, and I'm safe, and - looking at his new lord - Who are you?
Why I like it: Another wonderful thing about time travel + outsider PoV is that it often comes hand in hand with competence porn, and this one, where Ichigo is part of the Shihouin clan and takes Kisuke as his ward, has that in wonderful spades.

rmc28 posting in

c25k

I didn't run Friday in the end, and the weekend has been very busy. But this evening was my next opportunity to run, so I took it. Next runs this week should be Wed, Fri, Sun. I am planning week by week, and trying to keep one complete rest day each week, which is usually Thursday.

This time I tracked from the beginning so unsurprisingly my pace is a little slower than day 2, but I have another lovely heart rate trace with all 8 running intervals clearly visible. A friend who saw it pointed out the nice recovery this shows.

Overall, week 1 was fine, not especially challenging. I breathed hard, I got sweaty, I definitely needed to stretch afterward, but at no point was I worried about not being able to complete a running interval or the overall workout. I don't love it, I don't hate it, it feels pleasant to have finished.

Next week is 6x 90s running, with 120s in between. So the total run time goes up to 9 minutes from 8 and the overall time to 29 minutes from 28.5.

diffrentcolours

As I mentioned while talking about Levy Pride, I was happy to take part in some of the events outside the "main area" of the Klondyke Club. Going to the Lesbian Cheese Party was great fun, watching the arm wrestling and taking part in the cheese throwing, while still being back at the Klondyke for the dog show, which is the best part of this and any other pride.

This weekend is Manchester Village Pride, with lots of activities in the Village itself. There are also two official fringe events for the Pride - one is the family fun activities at the Great Northern this weekend, and the other is the Scene Film Festival which runs in the week before Pride.

Last Saturday after gym I went to Cultplex in Cheetham Hill to watch a couple of films as part of the Trans Image, Trans Experience (TITE) takeover of Cultplex. First up was "October Crow", written and directed by Jack Haven who I recently saw starring as Maddy in "I Saw The TV Glow". This clearly a labour of love, featuring a lot of Haven's real live friends, and written as a tribute to actor Peter Nolan Smith (Haven's upstairs neighbour). But it didn't really click for me - it was the kind of arty where every shot lingered about 25-50% longer than it needed to, the motivations of the characters weren't particularly clear or interesting, and shooting on iPhone meant that tracking shots going through light and dark areas suffered from the camera over-correcting the brightness in sometimes painful ways.

Fuelled by an excellent kebab, I watched the next film, "Puppygirl". The description of "a semi-delusional trans woman" in a "gonzo documentary" gave me the ick, but I decided to give the TITE and SCENE organisers the benefit of the doubt and I'm glad I did. Basically it's the story of Milo, a trans woman in Chicago, and part of a queer community there. Puppygirl play is really big among transfemmes, and people she's dating assume she's into it, when she's not. Then she gets invited to appear in a porn film as a puppygirl and decides to try and see what the fuss is about. The documentary follows the theme of a voyage of discovery, but is really a slice of life about Milo and her friends (including the film's director).

After that I headed over towards HOME for the free outdoor screening of "Clueless" with cosmolinguist. I thought I'd not seen it before, but within about 30 seconds of it starting I realised I had. So we just sat in the sunshine in deckchairs, drinking beer and enjoying the movie.

We missed the last few minutes of "Clueless" because it clashed with Greg Araki's "I Want Your Sex". This was a generation clash movie, with a famous Millennial artist who seduces her Gen Z intern into kinky sex. And like other Greg Araki films, it descends into nihilistic farce. If you like seeing horrible people doing horrible things and other people get sucked into their orbit and it all ending terribly, this is a fun film. In the video intro beforehand, Araki said it was an attempt to get the sexless Gen Z to fuck, and I don't think it works on that level - the main Gen Z character is clearly horny, and his life is ruined as a result. Still, it has a lot of Olivia Wilde in latex, so I could appreciate it on that aesthetic level. Also I was amused by my Gen Z friends' reaction to the film; they hated the fact that a powerful woman did terrible things and didn't really get any come-uppance. Perhaps that's the reaction Araki was trying to provoke?

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

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dorchadas

Current Mood: stressed
Current Music: Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

So, the down first.

Ever since we came back from Hawai'i, the ground floor unit has had a problem where water was leaking through their ceiling. After a lot of back and forth, checking the plumbing, checking the aircon, cutting into the drywall at various places in various units, on Saturday the bottom floor neighbor came and checked out our unit and they didn't see anything. But! After a few minutes they came back, citing condensation they had seen on the ceiling of the unit below, and when they moved our washer/dryer they found water underneath. So, after they left I pulled out the washer and dryer, cleaned up all the water, put down some paper towels, and waited. When after a few hours the paper towels were still bone-dry, I put in a load of laundry, flipped on the flashlight on my phone, and sat there for the entire hour the laundry ran, checking all the connections and all around the floor every time water went in or out of the washing machine.

Nothing. Emoji Cute shrug

Well, the washer is still under warranty, so I set up a technician appointment set up for Wednesday. We'll see what they find.

The good part is that

gracielizabeth's 40th birthday party was on Saturday, and to that end Papa came to get Laila and we had a free day to go to the party, and that's good because it took up the whole day. We went to a pizza place where they had free pizza for us, and then we went down to the street to a beer garden (well, literally a beer temple called "The Beer Temple"), and then to

gracielizabeth's house. We were out from around 1:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. came back, slept in the next day, and relaxed until Laila got home around dinner time. It's something we don't get to do all that often any more so it was really nice.

The party was 70s/80s themed as well, so there was plenty of color (except for me--I got my goth clothes back out for the occasion).

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3292/

The rise of AI review bombing tools threatens to take away a crucial source of experience for geology undergraduates.

https://xkcd.com/3292/

thisbluespirit posting in

dw_community_promo

Link/Community:

xoverbingo

Event Description: a Bingo Challenge community for Crossovers and Fusions. All fandoms & all types of fanworks welcome. All works must contain at least two distinct (unrelated) fandoms, but can be either crossovers or fusions (Fandom AUs).

Important Dates: Sign-Up/Posting Date Open now until July 17th 2027

Notes/Other Key Info: See the Intro & Guidelines post at the comm for all further info.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What is the most unique material you have used while crafting? (From

fuzzyred)

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

james_davis_nicoll

This all-new Shadowrun Anarchy 1E Bundle presents the 2016 First Edition of Shadowrun: Anarchy, the rules-light, narrative-focused alternate version of Shadowrun.

Bundle of Holding: Shadowrun Anarchy 1E

atamascolily

Smoking Outside the Supermarket With You v7: The plot thickens as Sasaki is in on the ruse and spends the first half struggling to work up the courage to discuss it before a crisis makes it clear that he needs to wait for Tamaya to be ready to be open about her feelings, which I thought was a nice touch - it allows the story to keep the same dynamics even with these new revelations. I keep asking myself how many volumes this series can manage, and so far it's kept on trucking.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End v13-14: I really enjoyed the arc that concludes in v13, and what's after that are a few one-shots (one of which turns out to be set-up) before we segue into the next big arc, which is a complicated assassination plot involving multiple factions and dozens of characters. Keeping track of them all is kind of a pain, but as v14 unfolded, I found myself starting to get into it in spite of my misgivings, especially as tidbits from previous arcs come into play. Also Sein is finally back, so now Frieren's party has a priest, and I'm so happy to see him again. So I will keep reading but WOW this arc reminds me of the First Class Mage Exam arc, and that was not my favorite.

The Amberglow Candy Store by Hiyoko Kurisu: Yet another translated Japanese novel about a quirky magical store, this time a candy store owned by a fox spirit - so less magical realism and more folklore, since the supernatural is very clearly at play. I wish I liked this more than I did - maybe I should just read xxxHolic again.

I'm slowly working my way through One Man's Meat, a collection of essays by E.B. White written from 1939-1941, and wow does his remarks about children's lit of the period put Charlotte's Web in a new light; ditto his commentary on the county fair. There are certain bits that haven't aged well, but overall, I've been shocked at how timely and insightful his observations are - a lot of things have changed, but people haven't.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

fandomcalendar

Current Mood: busy

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lydamorehouse

I had some hope early last year of attending LA Con (aka this year's WorldCon) virtually, but things happened and I did not get my act together. Simiarly, I tend to still like to watch the Hugo Awards, but in my defense I was working Saturday. With the time difference I don't know if I could have caught them live or not, but, either way, I did not manage that either.

Congratulations to the winners.

I also this year failed to do my reading, and that is something I can rectify. Although now that these pieces have won, some of them will have very long wait lists at the library. Still, there's no statute of limitations on reading award winners.

I don't have a lot of other earth-shattering news to share. Despite working this weekend, I ran a D&D session on Saturday morning. It went pretty well. My players are not always fond of fighting, but I was prepared for that and so I made sure that they could communicate with the creatures that would have otherwise been "bad guys." A new NPC showed up who very clearly has "Side Quest" and/or "New Campaign" on a sign around her very fluffy shoulders (she is a smol tabaxi.) She has also introduced a few more plot strings in need of tying up, but my players seem to have taken the (incredibly adorable) bait so all is well.

On my way to work on Sunday, there were no egrets, but I did spot a trumpeter swan (possibly two, but I go by at speeds and do need to watch the road as well.)

Do I have other news? My computer has basically stopped functioning so it's going to be time to look for another one. If you all have ideas of a place to get cheap, reliable laptops, please let me know. The only thing I am fussy about is keyboards--though now that I have a full-size keyboard that I can plug in, less so. The only thing I use my laptop for is surfing the internet and writing novels. I do most of my file storage on the Cloud, but I'd still rather not have a something quite as flimsy as a Chrome book, unless there is nothing else reasonably priced.

Yeah, so that's me. You?

ysabetwordsmith posting in

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Current Mood: busy

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kandai_suika posting in

ladiesbingo

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ysabetwordsmith posting in

dw_community_promo

Current Mood: busy

birdfeeding is a community started on January 1, 2023. It's all about birdfeeding, birdwatching, and other topics relating to birds. It also touches on nature in general, and observations that may effect bird activity such as local weather. Both text and image posts are welcome. Now is a great time to join as hungry birds are easy to attract with a feeder.

Community resources include posts about birding events, nurseries that sell seeds or plants attractive to birds, bird identification apps, the benefits of birdwatching, and other useful materials. Check out the anchor posts from Three Weeks for Dreamwidth.

Recent posts:

Birds

Conservation

Conservation

naye

So after buying tickets on Wednesday for a Thursday departure to Seoul, we made our entire itinerary up on the spot. The only things we had booked when we left was:

- a hotel for the first night (good, since it turns out the immigration paperwork asks where you're staying!)
- train tickets to Busan (but not back)
- spots on a guided tour of the shamanic sites on Mt Inwang

The rest of our itinerary we made up on the fly, and it was awesome. We did book a few more things ahead of time (going to Korean BBQ with a local in Busan, train tickets back to Seoul), but mostly we just woke up, looked at the weather, and decided where to head out to from the hotel (we stayed in four different ones over our eight nights).

We were so lucky with the weather! The original forecast was for days of torrential downpours - not unusual in typhoon season - but we ended up exploring Seoul in the rain our first day, and then it stopped right on time for that guided tour? So we got a beautiful sunset, complete with rainbow! And then no rain at all except for a brief afternoon sprinkle.

My health held up despite the humid heat (weather I know my body doesn't like, so I was smart about hydration and breaks in spaces with air-conditioning), and despite walking so much we averaged over 21k steps a day!

And it was so much fun. New country! New language! (Between us Skuld had the three tourist announcement languages of English, Chinese and Japanese all covered, but Korean... well. No. We can barely decipher Hangul!) Busy cities, beautiful nature, absolutely delicious food, and fantastic experiences everywhere. I have so many photos, and there's so much I want to write about, but I am also wildly jetlagged and somehow have to go back to being a normal person with a job and not a tourist by tomorrow morning...?? (The worst part about traveling is always having to come down from that high of constant new experiences and no obligations. Bit at least the kitties make coming home a delight!)

Anyway, in trying not to lose the habit I have tentatively restarted, I decided a short post to say "Hi, we made it, the trip was great and we have no regrets!" is probably better than waiting until I can make The Perfect Travel Post (whatever that may be).

For pics, people with Bluesky can sort the #NayePhoto tag by Latest, and my favorite pics will hopefully slowly appear on my photo blog on Tumblr.

Catching up with all I missed is still on my to do - thank you all who commented on my hasty pre-departure post! It was fun to see everyone's reactions.

princessofgeeks

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rekishi

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rebeccmeister

I suspect I'm not going to manage to go back and post photo series from Germany, but at least here are some photos from the rowing camp I attended over the weekend, at Craftsbury, in Vermont.

Because of where it's situated on the lake, the launching site reminds me of rowing on Salt Spring Island, in British Columbia, a thousand years ago.

Salt Spring was a wet launch, but that never mattered much when we visited.

Morning view from our cabin:

Some of the resident loons:

They were very unafraid of us. They are also very large when up close, and have very sharp-looking beaks, just saying. At one point, one of them seemed to be floating along with one of its legs tucked up and back underneath one of its wings, and I have no idea if that is usual or unusual.

Hanging out with my group members in the morning mist:

The packed boathouse:

I love how the oar racks use the trees for uprights:

Lining up for drills on the second morning. Feet-out square-blade rowing is a real trick, let me tell you. We also did an interesting "bottom 1/4-slide legs-only" drill that was useful for feeling mid-drive connection.

To judge by this oar painting, I'm far from the only person appreciating the tranquility of the space.

One of the best things about rowing summer camp for grownups is it's a chance to revise my mental template for an effective rowing stroke. The peaceful, unhurried environment is good for establishing the sense of relaxation needed to experiment with the minutae of rowing. It's not really worth it to try and articulate what that all consists of here, in words, but I can tell you that the revised template will make rowing more enjoyable for me in the near future, as I return to the helter-skelter of everyday life.

justonecookbook_feed

Posted by Namiko Hirasawa Chen

https://www.justonecookbook.com/tonpeiyaki/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/?p=293428

A Japanese tonpeiyaki omelette topped with savory sauces and creamy mayonnaise, garnished with green seaweed flakes, served on a decorative oval plate on a wooden table with chopsticks and side dishes nearby.

A spoonful of potato starch in the egg is my trick for a fold that never tears, and it's ready in 30 minutes when I'm craving okonomiyaki.

READ: Tonpeiyaki (Pork and Cabbage Omelette) とん平焼き

https://www.justonecookbook.com/tonpeiyaki/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/?p=293428

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/who-you-callin-pro-2026

You all know I only feature professionally made Wrecks here on CW. The irony, of course, is that I mistake pro for amateur way more often than the other way around! Heh. So anyway, while I've been told that today's Wrecks are indeed made by real, honest-to-goodness, got-paid-for-their-efforts cake decorators, part of me still refuses to believe it.

I'm still posting them, though, because they're all wedding cakes. Served at people's actual weddings. And even if one was actually made by Aunt Mildred who calls herself a pro but really isn't, I think the world deserves to see this cautionary tale.

Plus, you know, it's funny.

Whoa, thank goodness for fresh flowers, am I right? Too bad they didn't have enough to hide the fact that the cake is being served on a giant dry-erase board, though.

I also like the gentle placement of the topper. It really screams "finesse."

This was taken during The Great Icing Shortage of '73 - back when grooms were stayin' alive with their groovy butterfly collars and the bridesmaids wore Frigidaire green. Looks like they ran out of flowers here too, though, and raided the fruit bowl instead.

Hey, "Love to Highway", right? And getting married doesn't mean the groom has to give up his matchbox cars.

And now, a haiku for you, wedding cake:

red bleeding ribbon
did the cake get in a fight?
lumpy icing tiers

And finally, before I show you this last Wreck, I feel I should reiterate that the bride herself *assured* me she paid actual money to an actual professional to make it. Honest. Really.

Now, in the baker's defense, I'm told the insides of all the cake tiers were raw.

How is that a defense, you ask?

Well, er...

Oh! I know! Imagine how hard it must've been to stack all those raw cake tiers! Eh? Yeah, I like to look on the sunny side of things. Which is good, because this cake is so sunny I can hear my retinas sizzling.

Hey, Grace C., Tony M., Anony M., Anony #2., & Anita R., "sizzling retinas" would be a terrible band name. Really. Just awful.

*****

P.S. Speaking of things that make your head hurt, a friend recently got me this gel cap for my migraines, and sweet icy Stay Puft, y'all, it's amazing:

Migraine Hot/Cold Gel Cap

I have a huge head and a lot of hair, so it's pretty snug on me, but the extra pressure with the cold is heavenly during a migraine. I used to hold a cold pack and keep shifting it around from side to side, but this wraps my entire skull in a cooling hug. Ahhhh so good.

I keep the gel cap sealed in the fridge all the time now, so I can grab it as soon as a headache starts up. The cold only lasts 15-20 minutes, but it's 1000% worth it in my book, highly recommend.

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/who-you-callin-pro-2026

seleneheart posting in

bookclub_dw

Thank you to everyone who voted!

The community has chosen This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone as our book for September.

I'll post the discussion post for the book on September 30. If anyone has any specific questions for the discussion, please comment here.

I look forward to talking about this one!!

james_davis_nicoll

I won neither an Aurora nor a Hugo. I did get some reading in.

21 works reviewed. 10 by women (47%), 10 by men (47%), 1 by non-binary authors (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (38%).

More details here

fred_mouse

james_davis_nicoll has put up the list of 2026 Hugo Winners.

I never did get around to posting any of my reading; rather than do a comprehensive post, I'm going to do a brief commentary on the winners vs my feelings (either about the winner or the category); this is mostly for my records

Best novel: I started two, finished zero, did not vote. The winner, The Everlasting is not one of the two I started.
Best novella: I started all six, finished four. The winner, The River has Roots is one of the two I did not finish, and I liked it less than the other I did not finish. My preferred was the Kingfisher, What Stalks the Deep.
Best Novelette: I started all six, finished five*. The winner, "Never Eaten Vegetables" was my stand out fave, the first thing I read for the Hugos, and oh, it was soooooo good.
Best Short Story: Somehow, I missed reading/voting in this category. I don't remember why, at this point, given that my last votes went in 7 hours before deadline. I have no thoughts on the winner, "In My Country".
I did not attempt voting in the Best Series, Best Graphic Story or Comic, the Best Related Work (of which I'm aware of the spreadsheet of doom), either of the Dramatic Presentation, or the Games categories. If I had had the time, I would have attempted at least the Graphic Story/Comic and/or the Related work. I was entirely uninspired by any of the best series. As is usual, I have seen none of the best dramatic nominees and played none of the games.
I never vote in the editor categories, I do not understand them.
Best professional artist: I spent a reasonable amount of time enjoying the artworks selected. I ranked the winner, John Picacio, second; I liked the work of Kelly Chong more.
I had no energy for the semiprozine and fanzine categories. I've certainly looked at some of the nominees in each category this year, and maybe I should have taken an hour to think about them rather than reading something that was annoying me, but I didn't. I quite like Uncanny, winner of the semiprozine; I have previously bounced hard off Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, winner of the fanzine category.
Best Fancast: I listen to three of these regularly so I ranked them, I have bounced off two previously and didn't rank them, and I made an attempt to listen to the sixth one and failed, so didn't rank it. But I do care enough about this category to vote even though I hadn't listened to the last one. The winner, Hugo, Girl! is one of the ones I have tried and abandoned. My preference is for Worldbuilding for Masochists, although the production quality on the most recent I tried to listen to was so bad I couldn't play it in the car, because one of the presenters was inaudible.
Best Fan writer: I follow two of these, who got my first and second place votes. I had previously read some by at least one of the others--that plus a bit of reading here didn't change that ranking. The winner, Jason Sanford, only ranks four for me. I think Örjan Westin misses out because their fanbase is younger / on platforms that trend younger.
Best Fan Artist: As with the professional artist, I spent a pleasant bit of time appreciating the art. The winner, Yuumei, is my second ranked. I liked the work of Geneva Bowers better.
Best Poem: look, poetry and I are not great mates, but it was six poems and not that much time. Even still, I found one unreadable. Of the five I finished / ranked, I thought the winner "Hex Supply Customer Support Log" was doggerl; I liked "The Mourning Robot" significantly more than any of the others because it did lovely things with language, which is my personal standard for poems. (my notes on one of the others was 'sentences with line breaks')
Lodestar: Like the novels, I didn't have time. I have no notes, and no memory of them, so I suspect I didn't start any. Which is a shame, I really want to read They Bloom At Night. I have no feelings about the winner, Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe
Astounding: I got a bit of reading done here, but only voted for one, HH Pak, because I loved the novelette so much. From what I've read of the Antonia Hodgson's (the winner) novel, they can also write, but I wasn't grabbed by it in the same way.

* here, the unfinished was one I loathed.

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander & Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: traditional art - watercolours.
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: sweetsaltybitter on Instagram
Why this piece is awesome: It's a gorgeous watercolour of the boys as small children lying in the grass, holding hands. They're extremely cute - the gap-tooth grin, the knobbly knees!
Link: Childhood friends, backup link here
Here's the original on Instagram, but as it won't be accessible to everyone, see the tumblr repost. There's also a WIP of the painting process on Instagram here.

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forthwritten

September 2019

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Childhood friends by sweetsaltybitter (SFW)

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September 2019

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