Energy-saving mode activated

May. 14th, 2026 07:28 am
vriddy: Dabi looking up (dabi looking up)
[personal profile] vriddy
Mentally returning to this tree and listening to the water flow by, while I juggle a suddenly busier than expected time.

A tree with exposed roots near a shallow river stream surrounded by vivid greenery

I woke up from such a cool dream this morning. Like, I considered for 3 seconds closing my eyes again, then remembered and sat up, like, WOW I DO NOT WANT TO FORGET THIS. There was a prophecy, which I failed to stop, and DRAGONS flying against a night sky, stunning and overwhelming and terrifying. Incredible sight.

Been turning prophecy thoughts in my head all morning since, like poking at a loose tooth. There were so many different reactions to the prophecy coming true in the dream. Absolute panic, of course, but also "guess the castle from the prophecy was this one *shrug*" and I'm just... poke, poke.

Community Thursday

May. 14th, 2026 06:05 am
vriddy: Hawks with Fukuoka skyline at night (fukuoka skyline)
[personal profile] vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.


Over the last week...

Commented on [community profile] common_nature.

Signal boosts:

althea_valara: Icon of Kyo from Fruits Basket, captioned "Grumpypants-chan".  (Grumpypants-chan)
[personal profile] althea_valara
My laundry has been put in the wash, and I have Swedish Fish to fortify me. Time for more FFT!

SPOILERS )
rachelmanija: (Default)
[personal profile] rachelmanija
I have been offline more than usual lately because the internet is off at my house and I've been unable to reach anyone who is not an AI, which went about as well and efficiently as you can imagine. The AI has decided that I need a new router and is mailing it to me with instructions for how to install it myself, because God forbid a human be involved. If that doesn't work, who knows what the next step is. I am beginning to suspect the only humans at the company are the CEOs and shareholders.

Meanwhile, I decided that I am spending way too much time doomscrolling, both intentionally and non-consensually. Not only is everything horrible right now, but the minute you get online you're personally informed of every horrible thing that happened anywhere, big or small or in between. Did some random dude murder his entire family anywhere in the world? You'll be informed of it, complete with heartbreaking photos of the dead kids. Did a child commit suicide anywhere in the world? You'll hear about that too, also complete with the awful story and heartbreaking photos! And that's not even getting into politics and the upcoming end of the world. I don't think humans are mentally equipped to live like that.

So I installed ScreenZen on my phone. It's one of many apps that will block both apps and entire websites. (Sadly it does not have the ability to block words.) I blocked everything I doomscroll on. I highly recommend this! I still get the news, as 1) I get a news digest emailed to me daily, 2) people will tell me the news in person whether I consent or not, but at least I'm not constantly marinating in global misery that I can't do anything about. Also, I now have more time to be useful in ways that are actually possible.

The result is that I have read so many more books than usual. I am completely behind on reviewing, also as usual, but with more books involved now. Perhaps I will post a poll.
ericcoleman: (Default)
[personal profile] ericcoleman posting in [community profile] filk
Our apologies, we both have been quite ill, we'll be back next week.
Tom Smith, Familiar, Mark Horning, Bill Roper, Mark Bernstein, Julia Ecklar, Chris Weber, Kathy Mar, Bill & Brenda Sutton, Benjamin Newman, Brobdingnagian Bards, Mike Whitaker' Random Fractions, Baldwin Of Ereborn

Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.

filkcast.blogspot.com

But Won't I Miss Me, by Tiffany Tsao

May. 12th, 2026 11:08 am
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija


This novel has one of the most off-the-wall premises I've come across. In a near-future world much like our own, women who get pregnant also conceive a "fetal mother." When they give birth to their baby, they also deliver the fetal mother, then fall into a coma-like sleep. The fetal mother rapidly grows into an identical clone of the original mother, then EATS HER. This process is called rebirth. The new mother has the original mother's memories and personality, but is also endowed with superpowers for the first five years of her child's life: she needs almost no sleep, has super strength and fast reflexes, is filled with energy, and finds all child care and domestic tasks endlessly fascinating and enjoyable. In short, the new mother is the woman that mothers are supposed to be.

The main character, Vivi, is terrified of rebirth, and sees it as death. This view is very stigmatized, but might be more widespread than society lets on. She's reluctant to get pregnant because of it. When she finally does, something goes wrong with her rebirth. She didn't get new mother powers. Instead she slogs along, depressed and alienated, trying to care for her infant while she's still physically impaired from the pregnancy and actually needs sleep. She and her husband end up breaking up over this, and Vivi moves to Australia to live with her uncle, who runs a hobbling business.

Remember I mentioned this is near-future? The world has actually decided to do something about climate change, and so drastically regulated energy consumption. Hobbling is altering old machines to make them low emitters. The low-emissions world is less lavish: planes are rarely used, long-distance calls are brief, and only the very rich have unlimited internet. It's an interesting take on a world whose future seems much brighter than ours, but whose present is more similar to our recent past.

Vivi and her family are Indonesian-Chinese, and their cultures (including Australian) play into the book much as the near-future setting does: it's pervasive and interesting and very specific, which makes a nice grounded base for the incredibly weird rebirth stuff.

But Won't I Miss Me is a weird, fascinating, ambitious book with a weird, fascinating, ambitious premise. Great social commentary and issues of identity. I didn't quite love the ending - it felt like it needed either more setup or more payoff - but the book is still excellent and very original.
ericcoleman: (Default)
[personal profile] ericcoleman posting in [community profile] filk
Located in the Crowe & Dove House deep in the wilds of Iowa!

The room block closes June 4th, get your reservations in before that. The code is good from Thursday to Sunday.

Pre-reg closes June 19th. Registration at the con will be card only. If at all possible please pre-reg so we have a better idea of how many are coming.

If you backed the Go Fund Me and have not let us know if you are attending, please send me an email, my address is on the website.

The food guide is available on the Hotel page on the website as well as in the files in the FCB Facebook group.

The website has been updated with this information.

The Ropers will be there selling CDs.

The numbers are looking very good. I am actually a little concerned about whether our mainstage area will be large enough to seat everyone. What a terrible problem to have!

See you soon!
rionaleonhart: goes wrong: unparalleled actor robert grove looks handsomely at the camera. (unappreciated in my own time)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
Some more Goes Wrong Show questions and answers from Tumblr!


Anonymous: If Robert could magically acquire one superpower, what would he choose? (Alternatively, if you could pick one for him, what would it be?)

Robert: I was offered one superpower of my choice.
Annie: Seriously? Lucky you! What did you choose?
Robert: I went for flight, in the end.
Annie: Oh, wow, flying would be amazing. Have you been flying around a lot, then?
Robert: What? No, of course not. I haven’t had a reason to use it yet.
Annie: Uh, what counts as a reason to use it?
Robert: (rubbing his hands together) Let’s see Chris cast Jonathan as Peter Pan now.

If I could pick one for him, maybe uncontrollable invisibility, because it would be funny. Suddenly turning invisible at random intervals is the last thing Robert wants; he’d promptly seek out ways to make himself impossible to ignore even when he’s invisible. The downside, of course, is that I’d have fewer opportunities to gaze upon his excellent face.


[tumblr.com profile] the-red-thread-that-strangles: Would Robert prefer to be a butler or a maid, and how would he do in the role?

Both the butler and the maid are support roles and are therefore unsuited to the lead actor. However, the butler is often the culprit in murder mysteries, and the villain is an acceptable role. Therefore, Robert would prefer to be a butler.

Robert would not be a good butler, with his failures in the role ranging from ‘general clumsiness and speaking inappropriately to guests’ to 'outright attempt to usurp the master of the household’ depending on his mood. He’s good at dramatically welcoming guests to your manor, though, if that’s a task you’d like him to fulfil.


Anonymous: What if Cornley did a play that had so many woman characters that Chris decides it’s time for the guys to dress up? I feel like Max would be twirling his skirt at every possibility. Chris would be very serious about it and look really good. Robert would be very flashy and surprisingly good at moving in high heels. Dennis is so confused that Chris recasts him as the pet dog. Jonathan constantly gets his costume caught in the set.

You’ve got a lot of great suggestions here already! So I’ll mainly focus on how willing the male members of the drama society are to crossdress.

Max: happy to crossdress, thinks it’s funny. Definitely twirls his skirt and has fun strutting around the stage; you’re absolutely correct on that front!

Robert: absolutely happy to crossdress if the role is sufficiently major. Will complain that it’s degrading if he’s crossdressing for a minor role, but he doesn’t have any real objection to dressing up; he’s just using whatever excuse he can find to get a better part. Plays his female role with confidence and commitment, but he has some weird ideas about what constitutes believably female body language, and he refuses to shave his beard.

Jonathan: a little nervous, but willing to give it a try. Of course, in the end, he’s unable to get onto the stage. He sighs deeply. Why was he even worried? He should have known that nobody would actually see him dressed like this.

Dennis: confused and alarmed, assumes he’s made a mistake and picked up the wrong costume somehow. He’ll put on the costume if you manage to convince him it’s the correct one, but he’ll be on edge at all times, expecting Chris to scold him for being in the wrong outfit.

Chris: feels extremely uncomfortable when dressing as a woman, but he’ll do his best to push through it and put on a sincere performance. The look suits him, but his discomfort leads him to move and deliver lines a little awkwardly.


[tumblr.com profile] the-red-thread-that-strangles: It's Robert's birthday! No one (aside from Dennis, perhaps) has been able to forget about it, because Robert has been dropping increasingly clear "hints" about when it is and what he wants for the last several rehearsals. What do the other members of the Drama Society get him?

What Robert really wants is an audience for his four-hour one-man show, so that's how everyone is going to be spending the evening of his birthday. Most of the drama society will do other things for him in addition, though!

Dennis asks Robert what he'd like as a present. "I'd like you to learn your lines for our next play, ideally," Robert replies. Dennis tries really, really hard. He doesn't entirely succeed. But he tries really, really, really hard.

Robert insists on scheduling a life coaching session with Vanessa on the day. She tries to turn it down, saying that he shouldn't be working on his birthday; she's surprised, and a little touched, when his response is "Nonsense; I enjoy our sessions." She makes an effort to agree enthusiastically with everything he says during the session, and she gives him a generous tip.

Max gets Robert something that Max finds funny, maybe a novelty mug. Okay, I just went looking for theatre-themed novelty mugs, and I can now say with one hundred percent certainty that Max gets Robert a mug that says 'I AM NOT YELLING; I AM PROJECTING'. Robert interprets the mug as a sincere statement in support of his acting style and is deeply touched.

Jonathan gets Robert some sort of high-quality, practical accessory, like a nice tie or cufflinks.

Sandra initially assumed that just attending Robert's show would be enough of a present. When she sees Jonathan handing over his high-quality gift, though, she starts to feel she should probably have got Robert something else. She throws out the first thing she can think of that doesn't require her to buy anything: "I'll trim your beard for you." Robert seems pleased by the offer, oddly enough, although he backseat drives constantly during the beard trimming.

Trevor is going to be stage managing Robert's show, which he definitely feels is enough of a present, and he refuses to be guilted into doing anything else.

Annie gets tickets for Robert to see a comedic musical with her. They have a good time, although they'll both say afterwards that they felt there was 'something missing' from the production. This is a feeling that all members of the Cornley Drama Society experience when they watch theatre that doesn't go hideously wrong.

Chris gives Robert the lead role in their next play. Robert is ecstatic.
rionaleonhart: goes wrong: unparalleled actor robert grove looks handsomely at the camera. (unappreciated in my own time)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
I've been struggling with writer's block for the past couple of weeks, but I'm delighted to report that I am back on my bullshit.


Title: Twice Shy
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show
Rating: 14
Pairing: Robert/Chris
Wordcount: 3,900
Summary: “Ah,” Robert says. “I may have left out a crucial detail. You do know I’m a vampire, don’t you?”

Twice Shy )
vriddy: Washing Machine Hero Wash (Wash)
[personal profile] vriddy

A lot of editing thoughts as I find my feet with the new method.

General status/Learnt last week:

I suspect this more extensive way of doing structural editing might be merging two rounds of editing compared with what I did with the cursed witch. Last time, the "structural" round focused on general cohesion for plot and characterisation as well as pace. Then in the following "prose" round, I added a lot more descriptions and enhanced the worldbuilding, with the occasional new background character. This time, it feels more natural to include a fair bit of worldbuilding where it fits as well (and that's great, because there's the occasional plot impact, and getting that in early is helpful!). Even if this round takes me a fair chunk of time (especially when including the month of prep), this could still be significant time-wise because I usually need at least a 6-week break between rounds. But tbc since I still have to see how long this will all take anyway!

In general, I'm very happy because I'm adding loadsa new words, haha. I've already written more than March and April COMBINED! This is not actually very impressive!! Because I only wrote 520 words in March (was doing revision preps, which I don't count yet) and 1.5k in April (was mostly proofreading) XD

I feel like the pacing for this novel is going to be a lot better. With every scene, I'm being more deliberate about having questions and putting down puzzle pieces and also setting up smaller reveals on the way. I'm realising just how effective revealing something can be for raising curiosity. One of my big faults is trying to keep things secret for the sake of "the mystery", but that can also make the stakes way too vague at times. The reader doesn't know why they should care.

Having said that, I've only revised 4 scenes out of 47 48 (had a bit of scene mitosis this week!), so that might not sustain itself well, but I'm super excited to find out. I'm moving slowly but this all feels super cool.

Another discovery/experiment: I thought that because I did so much preparatory work, it would maybe be easier to edit in the evening when my brain is not as fresh, but that hasn't really happened. For example, I had to consider which PoV to use for the new scene the evening I tried, and I just couldn't answer the question. Like, what are the stakes for each character? What's the impact for the order in which the information is revealed in the story? Where else or in how much time can I bring up the information that PoV X won't know?

However, if/when I try again an evening session, I'd like to remember to look at the smaller questions I skipped. For example, there's a plot-relevant flower I must describe, and what it looks like exactly isn't super important but it needs to be specific. I need to sit down with that and return to the description I skipped soon. (Because it's so important to the world, I think inworld people would use it as a comparison point for colours or shapes or other things.) I've also got some slang to make up!! Like I've got a few swear words, but I want a worldbuilding-relevant equivalent to "thank god" too, considering what this population has gone through. And there's a missing nickname for a childhood friend. It should be charming and evoke closeness, but also be embarrassing to an adult. Lol.

I know I mentioned before I wanted to improve my sentence craft but that will have to wait. My head is too full already with all the new stuff I'm learning to apply in this round of revisions. Maybe during the 6+ weeks break, whenever I'm done with this round? Who knows!

Projects:

  • Only Soul Thief, and happy with that! :D I'm in the phase where it feels nice to be working on a chunky project and knowing exactly what I'll be working on next.

Next week?

Just keep it up with the revisions in general.

Additionally, I did send the Cursed Witch to a couple of beta-readers, but everyone is busy so I don't expect to hear anything until next month. Still working out technical kinks for 2 more beta-readers, so hopefully resolve that by the end of next week! I should try Ellipsus again at some point and investigate if my beta-reading issues from last time were resolved...

And that's me! Lots of learning so I'm very happy. Any creative plans for the upcoming week??

the_siobhan: (shock and awe)
[personal profile] the_siobhan
My sister went to my dad's house the day after I did and managed to get a couple of book cases emptied. Then she called me and said, this is never going to work. They just have too much stuff and MIL has to decide what to do with every single object. It will take months.

So Plan B )

the downside of being made out of meat )

Meanwhile my house is now piled full of crap because I haven't had a chance to deal with it. The neighbourhood yard sale happens at the end of the month so a lot of it is going on a table with a sign that says "Free". The Bell techs that were supposed to show up and look at the downed wires never showed up so I need to follow up with them and I have a couple of other things around the house that I have to get fixed that will just have to wait until I have a week where I know for sure what my schedule is going to be.

***

Lord Brock got put on a new medication, a painkiller this time. He was so stoned on the first day, or maybe just dizzy. I legit thought he had had a stroke for a second when I saw him first thing in the morning, it looked like he was dragging his hind legs but it turned out his legs were fine, he was just really floppy. I had to carry him up and down the stairs all day. I also think he fell over in his litter box, I keep finding little splashes of litter and turds all over the place.

He's on a half dose as of yesterday and we'll see how it goes. He seems much more normal this morning.

He's also very excited that he now gets two daily doses of medication because that means two rounds of treats. Bliss! I should be as easy to please as a cat.

althea_valara: A Catboy from FFXIV, named Eirian Ari. (Catboy)
[personal profile] althea_valara
I'll be honest, folks: I don't have much oomph to play tonight. I'm going to give it a whirl, though, because I do not want to spend the next two years on one game. So on we go!

BUT WAIT, WHAT'S THIS! A tool tip on the screen has piqued my interest! Now I need to play more to find out what it's about!

SPOILERS )

Building 903, by Lois Lowry (DNF)

May. 7th, 2026 12:17 pm
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija
An advance copy of a new book by Lois Lowry, author of The Giver and other classics. It is unfortunately basically the bad version of The Giver. In fact what it mostly reminded me of was [personal profile] telophase's YA dystopia generator, which produces gems like Tweak: Sickness has been banned and the government controls shopping and Whimper: Cats have been banned and the government controls dancing the hustle. In the case of Building 903, books have been banned and the government controls popsicles. Yes, really.

In a future America ruled by a 200 year old dictator, books (ALL books), fiction, art, music, storytelling, playgrounds, live pets (robot pets are OK), free elections, religion, tattoos, matches and other fire-making tools, congregating in groups, iconoclastic clothing, travel, and eating meat or fish are banned. Old people, marriage, and popsicles are controlled by the government. Yes, really.

She leaned over, pushed the button that dispensed a frozen snack, and made a face when she saw it was green; she liked the orange ones better. But she peeled the covering from the green one and licked at it. I bet anything, Tessa thought, I could get Dad to invent a selector button so they wouldn't come out at random; I could choose orange. Or red: the red ones aren't bad. Then, though, the green ones would pile up, and it would be wasteful, I suppose, because no one would ever eat them.

To be fair, I'm just assuming the frozen snacks are popsicles. For all I know she's licking a piece of frozen broccoli.

Tessa's father and twin brother are supergeniuses. Tessa and her mother are just average. I did not care for this. Anyway, Tessa's brother vanishes and the book goes on and on and ON with nothing much happening. I skipped to the end.

Read more... )

Community Thursday

May. 7th, 2026 04:56 am
vriddy: (hawks looking back)
[personal profile] vriddy
Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted and commented on [community profile] bnha_fans.

Commented on [community profile] booknook.

Commented on [community profile] worderlands.

Commented on [community profile] getyourwordsout.

book meme!

May. 6th, 2026 11:36 am
althea_valara: Photo of my cat sniffing a vase of roses  (Default)
[personal profile] althea_valara
borrowed from [personal profile] falkner

This week I'm reading: I'm currently not reading anything, but am seriously thinking of borrowing the audiobook for the Murderbot novel I'm currently on. I own the ebooks and tried reading them, and normally do not have an issue with ebooks, but Kevin R. Free (Murderbot's narrator) is SO GOOD that I felt something was missing when I was reading the ebook. So yes. I think I'm on the third book? Not sure.

My favorite book of all time is: I don't have just one, but I can point to some from my childhood that made an impact on me: "Scruffy", the "Wrinkle in Time" series, "Where the Red Fern Grows"

My current favorite book (read or re-read in the last 3 months) is: I recently reread To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, which was a delight. It's got some mystery to it and even knowing the solution to the "mystery", it was fun to reread to see how they got to the conclusion.

The last book I bought was: Physical? The Final Fantasy XVI tie-in book Logos. Digital? A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander. I haven't read the first yet, but I quite enjoyed the romance novel! Hadn't read the author before, but the book was on a list of Best Romances of the Century So Far, and it sounded like a fun romp. Glad I gave it a try!

The first book I bought with my own money was: I have no idea. I do have memories of buying the "Mr." books, like "Mr. Happy", when I was young (I had a large collection of them) but was that the first? Who knows! We had book fairs at school from an early age and I would have ordered some through there, but that might not have been with my own money.

The first book I received as a gift was: Oh, probably long before this, but I got "A Wrinkle in Time" trilogy for my First Communion and it was very formative for me. I doubt this was the first book I got, but it's the first I REMEMBER getting.

The last book I received as a gift was: Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future. I need to read it...

The last book I borrowed from the library was: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. I didn't get very far into it, but that was NOT the fault of the book but rather me. The last four books I had read were all historical-based fiction, and it was a shock to the system to be reading a contemporary.

This or that:
Physical book, e-book, or audio: Yes? Preference for ebook these days, but I'll do any format
Used, new, or fell off the back of the internet: Prefer new
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction
Read at a coffee shop or at the park:Coffee Shop
Paperback or hardcover: It's been a while since I read a physical book, so I dunno.
Romance or Crime: ROMANCE!

Yes or no:
Literary fiction? NO
Sci-fi/fantasy? YES!!!
Poetry? Eh, not really
Memoirs? Sure
Philosophy? No
Thrillers? Yes
Chronicles? ???
Travel logs? Yup
Dialogue heavy? Yes
vriddy: Dreamwidth sheep with a red wing (dreamsheep)
[personal profile] vriddy
[personal profile] yourlibrarian is hosting a point gift event this year again as part of Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, and enough donors have pledged to gift up to 68 people! See this post on [community profile] 3weeks4dreamwidth for all the details.

Quoting from [personal profile] yourlibrarian directly:

"Paid features are the only way to support Dreamwidth financially, but people who want these services can't always get them for financial or logistical reasons. Thanks to donor pledges, we can now provide points to as many as 68 people, but in order for this to work, people need to step forward! Follow the link above to find out more. Donors and giftees both participate anonymously through screened comments."
and
"Remember, paid features is the only way to support Dreamwidth financially. Having giftees means we give Dreamwidth financial resources for all they do."
:)

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