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Monday, April 20th, 2026 11:42 pm
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 02:29 am
It was cold enough in the intermittent late sun that I should have worn gloves, but I walked out and photographed the flowering things of my neighborhood.
( I'll salt circle your brain if I have to. )
It was a delight to run into Elana Lev Friedland on North Street. We talked cosmic horror and capitalism until my hands stiffened up. I dove for the bag of bagels as soon as I got home and made myself one with cream cheese and lox, the latter eagerly shared by Hestia. She has taken to leaping onto the top of the washing machine at the slightest rustle that might suggest deli meats. I fell asleep in the evening, but![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch cooked me scrambled eggs and afterward rushthatspeaks and I talked over our days. I am fascinated by the blue-based earthtongue.
( I'll salt circle your brain if I have to. )
It was a delight to run into Elana Lev Friedland on North Street. We talked cosmic horror and capitalism until my hands stiffened up. I dove for the bag of bagels as soon as I got home and made myself one with cream cheese and lox, the latter eagerly shared by Hestia. She has taken to leaping onto the top of the washing machine at the slightest rustle that might suggest deli meats. I fell asleep in the evening, but
spatch cooked me scrambled eggs and afterward rushthatspeaks and I talked over our days. I am fascinated by the blue-based earthtongue.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 05:28 am
The Astra Awards are an award given out by the Hollywood Creative Alliance, and in previous years have been primarily for film and television, but this year they have branched out into books as well, across seventeen categories including Best Science Fiction Novel. And what do you know, in this inaugural year for the book awards, When the Moon Hits Your Eye was the winner. I am, of course absolutely delighted.
The awards were livestreamed, which I have posted above, and you can see my acceptance speech starting at 28:56 (if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, the full list of finalists and winners is available here). In my speech I specifically thank my editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Mal Frazier, as well as my agent Ethan Ellenberg and my manager Joel Gotler, but also generally everyone who worked on the book up and down the production chain. There would be no book without their work.
In any event, how cool is this? It’s made my day. Winning awards is fun.
— JS
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 01:28 am
it's patriot's day in mass (or marathon monday if you're in greater boston) and i had the day off. slept in, did laundry, a couple guys from the garage came over, jumped my car, took it back with them. it's anyone's guess what they'll find.
paul revere came through here during his midnight ride (and i think met up with william dawes?) so the town had a little reenactment with, er, reenactors on horses. there was a crowd of people in front of the town hall - plus a table with frozen lemonade and a table with pizza - and when paul revere showed up warning us about the british and accompanied by someone from the massachusetts lancers (i think) the cops briefly blocked the street so the guys could get off their horses and talk to the crowd, and the crowd could swarm the horses to say hi. the horses were very well-behaved about this. then the guys got back on their horses and continued on, and the crowd thinned out a bit. i waited around for william dawes, who also rode out to warn people about the british but isn't famous for it. he didn't get off his horse but he did introduce us to her - her name was musket and she wanted to run. heh. he did a call and response with us, a poem about how he isn't famous, and then he too continued on his way. and i took the bus to harvard square to meet one of the admins m from work for movies 2 and 3 of a muppet triple feature - the dark crystal and labyrinth. (movie 1 was the muppet movie.) i haven't seen the dark crystal in decades and didn't remember a lot of it. i remembered a lot more of labyrinth and not just david bowie's crotch. (to be honest i was always more a fan of his hair.) at the very end of the movie when sarah tells the goblin king "you have no power over me" the whole audience applauded. that was fun. i fully understood why the twelve year old me really liked the dark crystal altho the adult me thought it was kind of cheesy - also dark and weird which was one reason my younger self was a fan - labyrinth however was just as enjoyable as it always was.
there was a guy in the audience for the dark crystal who i think stayed for labyrinth and who had a skeksis plushie. i didn't know such a thing even existed. it was actual dark crystal merch and the guy said his partner found it on ebay. i may or may not have cuddled it. skeksis are much too creepy to be cuddly and yet it really, really was.
after that me and admin m made a pass through the romance bookstore (she was looking for something in particular and i just think it's a really cute store) and then had dinner (i had spaghetti with very parmesan-y pesto) and took our separate buses home.
I wanted to write you a poem tonight,
but all I could think of
was our two nights in the city last week
and how perfect it was
to eat again at Trailer Park
with its flotilla of votive candles in the window
close enough to set our coats on fire
and cupcakes at Billy’s afterwards,
to sleep in the cramped little guest house
next to the toilet with its extended roaring flush,
and later gaze at Madame X and her delinquent strap
and Washington stuck in the Delaware forever.
Mummies, jackals, Buddhas,
and the long stalled ride back
with a Sikh cab driver as guide.
I love going back.
I think, in a way, going back
is the subway to love.
Easy, noisy, and very close.
--"Going Back", Roger Mitchell
paul revere came through here during his midnight ride (and i think met up with william dawes?) so the town had a little reenactment with, er, reenactors on horses. there was a crowd of people in front of the town hall - plus a table with frozen lemonade and a table with pizza - and when paul revere showed up warning us about the british and accompanied by someone from the massachusetts lancers (i think) the cops briefly blocked the street so the guys could get off their horses and talk to the crowd, and the crowd could swarm the horses to say hi. the horses were very well-behaved about this. then the guys got back on their horses and continued on, and the crowd thinned out a bit. i waited around for william dawes, who also rode out to warn people about the british but isn't famous for it. he didn't get off his horse but he did introduce us to her - her name was musket and she wanted to run. heh. he did a call and response with us, a poem about how he isn't famous, and then he too continued on his way. and i took the bus to harvard square to meet one of the admins m from work for movies 2 and 3 of a muppet triple feature - the dark crystal and labyrinth. (movie 1 was the muppet movie.) i haven't seen the dark crystal in decades and didn't remember a lot of it. i remembered a lot more of labyrinth and not just david bowie's crotch. (to be honest i was always more a fan of his hair.) at the very end of the movie when sarah tells the goblin king "you have no power over me" the whole audience applauded. that was fun. i fully understood why the twelve year old me really liked the dark crystal altho the adult me thought it was kind of cheesy - also dark and weird which was one reason my younger self was a fan - labyrinth however was just as enjoyable as it always was.
there was a guy in the audience for the dark crystal who i think stayed for labyrinth and who had a skeksis plushie. i didn't know such a thing even existed. it was actual dark crystal merch and the guy said his partner found it on ebay. i may or may not have cuddled it. skeksis are much too creepy to be cuddly and yet it really, really was.
after that me and admin m made a pass through the romance bookstore (she was looking for something in particular and i just think it's a really cute store) and then had dinner (i had spaghetti with very parmesan-y pesto) and took our separate buses home.
I wanted to write you a poem tonight,
but all I could think of
was our two nights in the city last week
and how perfect it was
to eat again at Trailer Park
with its flotilla of votive candles in the window
close enough to set our coats on fire
and cupcakes at Billy’s afterwards,
to sleep in the cramped little guest house
next to the toilet with its extended roaring flush,
and later gaze at Madame X and her delinquent strap
and Washington stuck in the Delaware forever.
Mummies, jackals, Buddhas,
and the long stalled ride back
with a Sikh cab driver as guide.
I love going back.
I think, in a way, going back
is the subway to love.
Easy, noisy, and very close.
--"Going Back", Roger Mitchell
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 12:07 am
dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Recovering from Setbacks." Leave prompts, get ficlets!
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 12:00 am
CANON: House of the Dragon.
CHARACTERS: Alicent Hightower, Aemond Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Jacaerys Velaryon, Baela Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen
ADDITIONAL INFO: Season 2, Episode 5
CREDIT TO:gelateria
CHARACTERS: Alicent Hightower, Aemond Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Jacaerys Velaryon, Baela Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen
ADDITIONAL INFO: Season 2, Episode 5
CREDIT TO:
gelateria 
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 12:01 am
noun: A swoon; a fainting fit. verb intr.: To swoon; to faint.
Monday, April 20th, 2026 04:00 am
Monday, April 20th, 2026 11:31 pm
Here are the entries for this week's challenge:
( List of entries )
In order to vote, please reply to this post using the form provided. All comments are screened, and entries are listed in the order they were submitted. For your vote to qualify, you must fill out your entire voting card (all three spots) in order to be counted. First place votes are worth 3 points, second place votes are worth 2 points, and third place votes are worth 1 point. Meeting the bonus goal on an entry gets an extra point for that submission.
When voting, please copy/paste the ENTRY NUMBER and the FIC TITLE from the list above into the spot you're voting for (this prevents accidentally mis-numbering a vote and casting it for the wrong entry). It should look like this:
First Place: 61. Fic Title Here
Second Place: 88. Another Fic Title
Third Place: 47. Finally a third fic title goes here
Please note that you cannot vote for your own entry, and that votes cannot be made anonymously. You do not have to be a member of the community in order to vote, nor have submitted an entry for this week; everyone is welcome to participate in the voting. IP addresses are logged to prevent duplicate voting.
Voting closes Wednesday, April 22, at 9:00PM EST.
( List of entries )
In order to vote, please reply to this post using the form provided. All comments are screened, and entries are listed in the order they were submitted. For your vote to qualify, you must fill out your entire voting card (all three spots) in order to be counted. First place votes are worth 3 points, second place votes are worth 2 points, and third place votes are worth 1 point. Meeting the bonus goal on an entry gets an extra point for that submission.
When voting, please copy/paste the ENTRY NUMBER and the FIC TITLE from the list above into the spot you're voting for (this prevents accidentally mis-numbering a vote and casting it for the wrong entry). It should look like this:
First Place: 61. Fic Title Here
Second Place: 88. Another Fic Title
Third Place: 47. Finally a third fic title goes here
Please note that you cannot vote for your own entry, and that votes cannot be made anonymously. You do not have to be a member of the community in order to vote, nor have submitted an entry for this week; everyone is welcome to participate in the voting. IP addresses are logged to prevent duplicate voting.
Voting closes Wednesday, April 22, at 9:00PM EST.
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 10:21 pm
CANON: .hack//g.u.
CHARACTERS: Haseo
ADDITIONAL INFO: Sourced from both Volume 1 Rebirth of the games, and the .hack//g.u.+ manga!
CREDIT TO:solardaybreak
here @solardaybreak
CHARACTERS: Haseo
ADDITIONAL INFO: Sourced from both Volume 1 Rebirth of the games, and the .hack//g.u.+ manga!
CREDIT TO:
solardaybreak here @
solardaybreak
Monday, April 20th, 2026 07:30 pm
So we have Lawn Dragons. A while ago, an inflatable dragon so new that I didn't even have a lawn picture of it got caught in a wind storm and partially broken. It still lit up, but the blower didn't go, and I thought it was probably some broken wires. And maybe we could fix it.
So Belovedest draped it over the lounge chair on the porch, to dry out.
And there it sat.
I admit that I am short-tempered sometimes.
It's lounging season, I think a little early this year. So the dragon and I have been sharing the chair. And much to my annoyance, we have been sharing it with tiny black ants. Which have been using the deflated dragon as a pathway to climb up onto the chair's side tables (it's a retired infusion chair, so it reclines, has tables, and a place to attach an IV pole) and even on to my very person. I discovered this yesterday.
What losing my temper looked like this time was an enticing Craigslist ad for the salvage-condition dragon (free to the first to arrive), along with reviving my ad to get rid of the aftermarket KitchenAid beater that just barely didn't fit my mixer bowl. Which had been hanging around for months and was starting to develop lichen.
They were both gone by the time I got outside this afternoon.
So Belovedest draped it over the lounge chair on the porch, to dry out.
And there it sat.
I admit that I am short-tempered sometimes.
It's lounging season, I think a little early this year. So the dragon and I have been sharing the chair. And much to my annoyance, we have been sharing it with tiny black ants. Which have been using the deflated dragon as a pathway to climb up onto the chair's side tables (it's a retired infusion chair, so it reclines, has tables, and a place to attach an IV pole) and even on to my very person. I discovered this yesterday.
What losing my temper looked like this time was an enticing Craigslist ad for the salvage-condition dragon (free to the first to arrive), along with reviving my ad to get rid of the aftermarket KitchenAid beater that just barely didn't fit my mixer bowl. Which had been hanging around for months and was starting to develop lichen.
They were both gone by the time I got outside this afternoon.
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 10:14 pm
This is the first part of my book club notes on This All Come Back Now, an anthology of speculative fiction by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors. I was glad to see that the introduction included the editor's thoughts about each piece (something that has been lacking in some of the anthologies we've read). The editor says that Aboriginal authors of SF have have historically had more success publishing their work as literary fiction than in SF outlets, suggesting a disconnect between white and Indigenous understandings of what "speculative" looks like. They point out, for example, that a time travel story may look very different through a cultural lens that doesn't see time as entirely linear in the first place.
The editor also says that they solicited several stories for the collection from writers who had never written SF before. Perhaps it is unfair that my reaction was to brace myself; I'll strive to be open minded. (It was also pointed out in the discussion that the Indigenous population of Australia is pretty small, so the pool of potential authors may not have been as deep as the editor might have wished.)
Some group members were not thrilled to learn that the book includes some excerpts from novels. We've run into this before and it tends to frustrate our purpose as a discussion group because we end up having the same conversation over and over, which is just "this didn't feel complete... because it isn't complete." The first three pieces we read are actual short stories, though!
"Muyum, a Transgression" by Evelyn Araluen (2017)
( A ghost travels the ruins of the world, finding that what seemed dead can come back. )
"Clatter Tongue" by K.A. Ren Wyld (2020)
[Note: The book lists this story under the author's former name Karen Wyld.]
( A grieving girl literally vomits the detritus of colonization when she is threatened. )
"Closing Time" by Samuel Wagan Watson (2020)
( In the early days of covid, a man wanders aimlessly. )
The editor also says that they solicited several stories for the collection from writers who had never written SF before. Perhaps it is unfair that my reaction was to brace myself; I'll strive to be open minded. (It was also pointed out in the discussion that the Indigenous population of Australia is pretty small, so the pool of potential authors may not have been as deep as the editor might have wished.)
Some group members were not thrilled to learn that the book includes some excerpts from novels. We've run into this before and it tends to frustrate our purpose as a discussion group because we end up having the same conversation over and over, which is just "this didn't feel complete... because it isn't complete." The first three pieces we read are actual short stories, though!
"Muyum, a Transgression" by Evelyn Araluen (2017)
( A ghost travels the ruins of the world, finding that what seemed dead can come back. )
"Clatter Tongue" by K.A. Ren Wyld (2020)
[Note: The book lists this story under the author's former name Karen Wyld.]
( A grieving girl literally vomits the detritus of colonization when she is threatened. )
"Closing Time" by Samuel Wagan Watson (2020)
( In the early days of covid, a man wanders aimlessly. )
Tags:
- book club,
- books,
- books: author: evelyn araluen,
- books: author: k.a. ren wyld,
- books: author: samuel wagan watson,
- books: editor: mykaela saunders,
- books: genre: speculative fiction,
- books: theme: death,
- books: theme: ghosts,
- books: theme: pandemic,
- books: type: short stories,
- books: year: 2017,
- books: year: 2020,
- books: year: 2022
Monday, April 20th, 2026 08:52 pm
- A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon (2023): Did not finish, through no active fault of the book's own. The author does her absolute best to present a whole lot of misogyny with humor and clarity, but it does not hide the fact that this is all a lot of misogyny being presented. I skipped around, read a few chapters, and just couldn't stomach it. But what I read of it was good!
- The Lady With the Gun Asks the Questions: The Ultimate Miss Phryne Fisher Story Collection by Kerry Greenwood (2022): Did not finish. These are short stories, some very short. It poses an interesting question to the reader of what, precisely, makes a mystery/detective book. Should we see the process of the mystery being solved? Should we be able to solve the mystery? Do we need interiority in the solving process? This book has none of that! The stories are stories, very short, as we watch Phryne Fisher encounter a crime/confusing event (I hesitate to even call them mysteries) and then relay the solution, with a minimal amount of detectiving. Some stories have more than others. Some are just essentially lists of events. The short stories are not bad, in of themselves. And not all of them are murder mysteries! They are, however, not at all what I want in my quest for "can I please have a mystery book that isn't a murder mystery".
- The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong (2025): I have gotten this out from the library twice and had to return it before getting more than a chapter or two into it. I may have to accept the fact that I don't find it very interesting or gripping. But maybe... maybe the third time out from the library... I'll actually read it.
- The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson (2023): DNF. Speaking of acceptance of my literary tastes, I likely must also accept the fact that I don't find Brandon Sanderson books entertaining to read. I read some of it. I flipped to the end, and the ending part did not clearly follow at all from the beginning, so I am certain many many things happened in the meanwhile to get from point A to point B. However, I don't really care. I guess I was hoping for something more like the Tough Guide To Fantasyland or Discworld or something, you know... funny, based on the title. It's a shame because this is, iirc, the third Sanderson I was "meh, this is boring" on, and if I could like his stuff, there would be so many books for me to read.
- Strange Houses by Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion (2025): I finished a book! I liked it! This is a "murder mystery" book told via The Author getting interested in a floor plan, talking to someone who is convinced it means the house was being used to murder people, then a bunch of interviews/discussions with people about floor plans of multiple houses and if the floor plans mean that the house must have been used to murder people. This started off as a really convoluted, very "why would they go to all that effort of hiding a child's existence" and then swerved into fantastic "wait so what actually happened" territory, including how much do you trust various sources and various documentary evidence, and ends with a great highlight on "yeah we don't actually know how much of what was presented here is true and what was fabricated and if so by whom and when". There's this hanging plot hole that the epilogue sort of jumps on top of as well, to wit: ( Read more... )
This book is pretty short, which is contributed to by when it refers back to a floor plan, it shows that part of the floor plan, which makes it really easy to follow along but also, frankly, pads the page count. Quick, zippy read, more of a puzzle-that-never-gets-solved book than a murder mystery.
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 09:27 pm
I am currently not allowed to purchase any further emotional support notebooks until I use up a substantial amount of the emotional support notebooks that I have. This is actually fine, because for the first time in ages I can get to most of my notebooks. At the very furthest reaches of my bedroom shelves are a bunch of old and battered spiral notebooks, quite a few of which suggest they're leftover from my first stabs at college and university. Any remaining pages in these can be used for things like Accidental Advent, rough logging possessions before sorting properly, and general notes. Use once and destroy. (well, recycle)
I have, multiple times over the years, found absolute notebooks upon notebooks filled with my old fantasy novel. The last plan was to stuff it all into the back of my file cabinet, which I apparently then never did because I just found it all again. This time, it'll get filed for reals. (hopefully)
But I have also found some blank or blank-enough notebooks for projects, which is good. Also found the beginnings of a Serpent Tail timeline, probably from the big timeline that came with the serialized version of Frame Astrays, pre-smartphone... I remember working painstakingly with my kanji dictionary on my lap and now I can just point, poke, and probably have the whole thing translated and corrected in an hour. ;_; (this is mildly untrue because the amount of cross-referencing I'd start doing would turn it into a weekend project and then I'd start adding in information and whoops)
((I wonder if a newer whole-series timeline exists in any form.))
I have, multiple times over the years, found absolute notebooks upon notebooks filled with my old fantasy novel. The last plan was to stuff it all into the back of my file cabinet, which I apparently then never did because I just found it all again. This time, it'll get filed for reals. (hopefully)
But I have also found some blank or blank-enough notebooks for projects, which is good. Also found the beginnings of a Serpent Tail timeline, probably from the big timeline that came with the serialized version of Frame Astrays, pre-smartphone... I remember working painstakingly with my kanji dictionary on my lap and now I can just point, poke, and probably have the whole thing translated and corrected in an hour. ;_; (this is mildly untrue because the amount of cross-referencing I'd start doing would turn it into a weekend project and then I'd start adding in information and whoops)
((I wonder if a newer whole-series timeline exists in any form.))
Monday, April 20th, 2026 09:42 pm
Title: Frogs
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Length: 100
Prompt: arrow
Summary: Sherlock & John discuss murder by poison arrow frog.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Length: 100
Prompt: arrow
Summary: Sherlock & John discuss murder by poison arrow frog.
( Read more... )
Monday, April 20th, 2026 09:12 pm
Astronomy Picture of the Day (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
apod_feed) is delightful for many reasons, one being their lovely astronomy pictures and another being their brief explanations of those pictures.
The explanations include a bunch of links for people who want to learn more, and often a random funny link to make people like me click all of them in order to find it. (A little practice can make you very good at guessing which one is the funny link.)
For example, yesterday's picture was Eye on the Milky Way by Miguel Claro. The explanation acknowledged the "unusual vertical horizon," and unusual vertical was a clickable link. I clicked it and laughed out loud.
Another great one from last year was Little Red Dots in the Early Universe, which concluded: "...searches are underway in our nearby universe to try to find whatever previous LRDs might have become today." The phrase searches are underway linked to a paper in The Astrophysical Journal, but the phrase become today was the one I was looking for.
apod_feed) is delightful for many reasons, one being their lovely astronomy pictures and another being their brief explanations of those pictures. The explanations include a bunch of links for people who want to learn more, and often a random funny link to make people like me click all of them in order to find it. (A little practice can make you very good at guessing which one is the funny link.)
For example, yesterday's picture was Eye on the Milky Way by Miguel Claro. The explanation acknowledged the "unusual vertical horizon," and unusual vertical was a clickable link. I clicked it and laughed out loud.
Another great one from last year was Little Red Dots in the Early Universe, which concluded: "...searches are underway in our nearby universe to try to find whatever previous LRDs might have become today." The phrase searches are underway linked to a paper in The Astrophysical Journal, but the phrase become today was the one I was looking for.
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 05:54 pm
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 06:06 pm
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Monday, April 20, to midnight on Tuesday, April 21. (8pm Eastern Time).
Poll #34505 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 17
How are you doing?
I am OK.
10 (58.8%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
7 (41.2%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single.
7 (41.2%)
One other person.
5 (29.4%)
More than one other person.
5 (29.4%)
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.
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Monday, April 20th, 2026 07:07 pm
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