#Children of Lovecraft Country

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: The Most Divorced Time of year

[mysterious circle of robed figures] JK Rowling: hello children Rowling: today we continue our quessst to rehabilitate glinner Rowling: i will not ressst until he isss reintegrated into ssociety Rowling: and not ssleeping on my couch anymore

Rowling: cuz you know Rowling: that man isss Rowling: i mean ssure i hate transs people too Rowling: but i have other interesstsss assss well Rowling: Rowling: i'll let you know asss sssoon asss i think of sssome

Rowling: i do have other interesstsss outsside of transsphobia Rowling: like Rowling: for example Rowling: i like hating on autissstic people too Rowling: i mean, let's be frank Rowling: they've had it too good for too long

Rowling: and, you know, dissabled people Rowling: and the goblinsss Rowling: in fact actually i'm pretty versssatile Rowling: i'm almossst as well-rounded as hp lovecraft if you think about it

Graham Lineham: jk did you know that trans people have smaller skull shapes Rowling: it's 1 pm graham, why are you sstill in pajamas Lineham: i've been researching how the trans control the media Rowling: did you even try to look for a job today

Rowling: graham here's the newssspaper Rowling: hey maybe you could look at the want adsss Rowling: bet there'sss plenty of openingsss for a transsphobic comedy writer Lineham: i don't read newspapers, i heard that the wood pulp industry is captured by trans activists Lineham: they put estrogen in the news ink Lineham: you know Lineham: to get you Rowling: Rowling: wait really? Rowling: shit maybe i should sstart possting that

Rowling: graham ssseriousssly Rowling: you could at leassst apply Lineham: no everyone's against me Lineham: there's no jobs for a fearless truth teller like me Rowling: i Rowling: how Rowling: we live in england! there'sss nothing BUT jobsss for transsphobesss! Rowling: how are you still unemployed!?!

Rowling: look jussst march into the BBC and asssk if they're hiring any transsphobesss Rowling: maybe they'll be impressssed with your moxie and hire you Lineham: it doesn't work like that these days Rowling: jusst wear a sssuit and ssit in the lobby til they hire you!

Lineham: i've got a great idea to get back in people's good graces! Rowling: whatss that Lineham: well you know how david tennant is the most beloved man in the country? Rowling: right Lineham: well if i can bring him down, then i will assume his place Lineham: as the most beloved man in the country Rowling: Rowling: right ok that makess ssensse to me

Rowling: look i clipped out a bunch of adss for transphobic jobss Rowling: i'll jussst ssend them to graham'ss agent Helen Joyce: terrible news, dark lord! Joyce: his agent dropped him for attacking david tennant Rowling: Rowling: oh

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Hi, Thanks for answering my previous question about jobs :>

Anyway, I have more questions.

1)What do the guild do?

2)what does Og!Oda do as a job?

3)What does Bram do?

4) what do the Government! Members do? (I have no idea what to call them)

You are welcome.

Jobs. Part 2

_______

1.

Fitzgerald started a business (I lean towards trading company). Alcott is his mix of vice director, secretary and advisor.

Poe became a writer again, sometimes, he helps both ADAs with solving cases. He does both mostly for fun. All Guild members managed to get their 'implied' money and savings when they were preparing to go to the real world, and, they can not to worry too much about bankruptcy or having job.

Melville would become a museum worker or a consultant in university. He will choose something, that is either about sea and sea travels or about whales. He became quite famous tour guide. On the weekends, he read to kids in the library, telling them stories about sea travels.

Lovecraft is an interesting case. Sometimes, he will act as Steinbeck's assistant/colleague/bodyguard. However, Lovecraft's looks can make people uncomfortable (small side effect of being an Elder God), they need a lot of time to get used to him. So, most of the time Lovecraft stays home, looking after it. If hunting and fishing is legal in the country, he will go hunting/fishing for food.

Also, Lovecraft, during Halloween season, became an actor in hunted houses/scary attractions/festivals. He is more than popular, everyone wants to hire him.

They think, that his tentacles are very good animatronic parts.

Steinbeck became a vineyard owner. Grapes, juice and wine from his vineyard are fresh and taste good. Steinbeck always brings some of his products home.

Lucy is working with ADA/PM and HD. Her ability is good for transferring captured criminals.

Mitchell decided to study to be a seamstress or designer. She has some ideas, good ideas, but, she wanted to take a look at what fashion in this world can offer. Right now, she already created a line of scarfs and ties.

Twain trains paintball and biathlon teams. He wanted to publish his book, but decided to wait for right moment to do it.

Hawthorne, after some studying, became a theology professor in the university.

__________

2.

OG! Oda has multiple jobs. He is a handyman, he looks after kids and teens from BSD Cast, read to children together with Melville. He also a part-timer in ADA/ Private Investigation Bureau.

As for his dream to be a writer... Natsume, Oda and you are working on it. Oda tries to go to therapy, but, he has to be careful with what he said, so police won't be called. Also, back in BSD World, he helped Natsume with writing about Season 3-5 to add to "Story" in app. So, perhaps, there is a chance.

_________

3.

Bram is another "seasonal" actor. Another popular one during Halloween.

Outside that, he is looking after the mansion. Bram still has much to learn about modern times, right now he will attract too much attention.

_________

4.

Ango became a programmer in Fitzgerald's company.

Ayatsuji and Tsujimura, on papers, are part of ADA, but act separately, with Ayatsuji being a detective, and Tsujimura being his helper/bodyguard.

Chief Taneda becomes a librarian. His ability and title aren't needed in this world (for now), so he can have a rest and do something else.

[rhcenyra]

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY (2020)

Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Happy Science Fiction Day: Black Women in Sci Fi

January 2 is Science Fiction Day... Here is the blackfemmecharacterdependency masterlist for the sci fi content that can be found featured on this blog

Starting with the Basics:

Afrofuturism | Black Women in Sci Fi | Black Women in Star Trek | Black Women in Star Wars (Shows & Movies Masterlist) | Black Women in Doctor Who | Black Women in Sci Fi | Sci Fi | Science Fiction Day (Many of these might just be the same stuff. Idk right now.) Black Women in Sci Fi Playing Women I will be expanding on this person's work someday. Black Women in Sci Fi Playing an Alien (Alien Characters Masterlist)

Franchises

The Alien Series | Doctor Who | Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Lower Decks, Picard, Strange New Worlds, | Star Wars |

Shows I've Reblogged

3% | 4400 | The 4400 | Altered Carbon | Battlestar Galactica | Black Mirror | Blake's 7 | Brave New World | Dark Angel | Dark Matter | Dark/Web | Defiance | Electric Dreams | Eureka | The Expanse | The Fantastic Journey | Final Space | Firefly | For All Mankind | Foundation | Fringe | Gen V | The Gifted | Heroes | Humans | Intergalactic | Invincible | Jason of Star Command | Jupiter's Legacy | Killjoys | Kissing Game | Krypton | Lost in Space | Lovecraft Country | Minority Report | Misfits | Quantum Leap | Raised by Wolves | Sliders | Space: Above and Beyond | Stargate SG 1 | Supernatural | The Tomorrow People | Torchwood | The Twilight Zone | The Umbrella Academy | Utopia | Vagrant Queen | Warehouse 13 | Westworld | Y: The Last Man

Movies I've Reblogged

Alien VS Predator | Alita Battle Angel | Avatar | Children of Men | The Chronicles of Riddick | Class of 1999 | Cloverfield | Dune | Fast Color | Ghosts of Mars | Guns Akimbo | Jupiter Ascending | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | Men in Black International | The Old Guard | Repo Man | Robot Jox | Strange Days | Supernova | Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets

Short Film

I Am

Definitely likely changing the way that this is set to have it be a character list like the other BFCD Masterlists, but for today, this all I got for the girlies. To be fair, it might need to be like the Monsters ones. Or, I might do a separate one that's characters later. Idk.

[cabeswaterdrowned]

my October media recs (based on a combination of genre/aesthetic/vibes based on my own brain’s association. so while most of these are horror adjacent or paranormal I have favs in these categories I don’t think of as October-y and some things in other genres that I do think of that way, only based on vibes according to my brain or I may have just read/watched the thing originally that time of year and now the association sticks)

books

• The Diviners series by Libba Bray

• Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

•Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

•Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno Garcia

• The Fever by Megan Abbott

•The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan

•The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

•Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

•The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

•The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

•Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (book 2 of the Wayward Children novellas)

•Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie Mclemore

•We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

•Monsters of Verity duology by Victoria Schwab

TV shows

•Buffy the Vampire Slayer

•MTV’s Scream

•Lovecraft Country

•Interview with the Vampire

•The Vampire Diaries

•Jessica Jones s1

Halloween episodes of TV

•Pretty Little Liars 2x13 and 3x13

•Buffy 2x06 and 4x04

•all Community halloween eps but especially 2x06 and 3x05

•The Vampire Diaries 1x07

•Crazy Ex Girlfriend 4x02

films (boring list because I watch movies as recommended to me by tumblr)

• Lisa Frankenstein

•Jennifer’s Body

•Ginger Snaps

•Black Swan

•Us

•Ready or Not

•His House

[mostlysignssomeportents]

All the books I reviewed in 2023 (Novels)

Next Tuesday (December 5), I'm at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, with my new solarpunk novel The Lost Cause, which 350.org's Bill McKibben called "The first great YIMBY novel: perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful."

It's that time of year again, when I round up all the books I reviewed for my newsletter in the previous year. I posted 21 reviews last year, covering 31 books (there are two series in there!). I also published three books of my own last year (two novels and one nonfiction). A busy year in books!

Every year, these roundups remind me that I did actually manager to get a lot of reading done, even if the list of extremely good books that I didn't read is much longer than the list of books I did read. I read many of these books while doing physiotherapy for my chronic pain, specifically as audiobooks I listened to on my underwater MP3 player while doing my daily laps at the public pool across the street from my house.

After many years of using generic Chinese waterproof MP3s players – whose quality steadily declined over a decade – I gave up and bought a brand-name player, a Shokz Openswim. So far, I have no complaints. Thanks to reader Abbas Halai for recommending this!

https://shokz.com/products/openswim

I load up this gadget with audiobook MP3s bought from Libro.fm, a fantastic, DRM-free alternative to Audible, which is both a monopolist and a prolific wage-thief with a documented history of stealing from writers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

All right, enough with the process notes, on to the reviews!

NOVELS

I. Temeraire by Naomi Novik

One of the finest pleasures in life is to discover a complete series of novels as an adult, to devour them right through to the end, and to arrive at that ending to discover that, while you'd have happily inhabited the author's world for many more volumes, you are eminently satisfied with the series' conclusion.

I just had this experience and I am still basking in the warm glow of having had such a thoroughly fulfilling imaginary demi-life for half a year. I'm speaking of the nine volumes in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, which reimagines the Napoleonic Wars in a world that humans share with enormous, powerful, intelligent dragons.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/08/temeraire/#but-i-am-napoleon

II. Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff

The Destroyer of Worlds is a spectacular followup to Lovecraft Country that revisits the characters, setting, and supernatural dread of the original. Country was structured as a series of linked novellas, each one picking up where the previous left off, with a different focal characters. Destroyer is a much more traditional braided novel, moving swiftly amongst the characters and periodically jumping back in time to the era of American slavery, retelling the story of the settlement of the Great Dismal swamp by escaped slaves.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/21/the-horror-of-white-magic/#anti-lovecraftian

III. Scholomance by Naomi Novik

The wizards of the world live in constant peril from maleficaria – the magic monsters that prey on those born with magic, especially the children. In a state of nature, only one in ten wizard kids reaches adulthood. So the wizarding world built the Scholomance, a fully automated magical secondary school that exists in the void – a dimension beyond our world. The Scholomance is also an extremely dangerous place – three quarters of the wizard children who attend will die before graduation – but it is much safer than life on the outside.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/29/hobbeswarts/#the-chosen-one

IV. Tsalmoth by Steven Brust

Longrunning Brust hero Vlad Taltos has been convinced to recount the story of how he and Cawti came to fall in love, and how they planned their marriage. This is quite an adventure – it plays out against the backdrop of a gang-war within the Jhereg organization, with Vlad in severe mortal peril that he can only avoid by uncovering an intricate criminal caper of crosses, double-crosses, smuggling and sorcery. But while Vlad is dodging throwing knives and lethal spells (or not!), what's really going on is that he and Cawti are falling deeply, profoundly, irrevocably in love. The romance that plays out among the blades and magic is more magical still, a grand passion that expresses itself through Nick-and-Nora wordplay and Three Musketeers swordplay.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/27/mannerpunk/#ask-anyone

V. Hopeland by Ian McDonald

Seriously what the fuck is this amazing, uncategorizable, unsummarizable, weird, sprawling, hairball of a novel? How the hell do you research – much less write – a novel this ambitious and wide-ranging? Why did I find myself weeping uncontrollably on a train yesterday as I finished it, literally squeezing my chest over my heart as it broke and sang at the same moment? The stars of Hopeland are members of two ancient, secret societies. There's Raisa Hopeland, who belongs to a globe-spanning, mystical "family," that's one part mutual aid, one part dance music subculture, and one part sorcerer (some Hopelanders are electromancers, making strange, powerful magic with Tesla coils). Amon is a composer and DJ who specializes in making music for very small groups of people – preferably just one person – that is so perfect for them that they are transformed by hearing it.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/30/electromancy/#the-grace

VI. The World Wasn't Ready For You by Justin Key

These are horror stories, though some of them are science fiction too, and more to the point, they're Black horror stories. In his afterword, Key writes about his early fascination with horror, the catharsis he felt in watching nightmares unspool on screen or off the page. And then, he writes, came the dawning recognition that the Black characters in these stories were always there as cannon-fodder, often nameless, usually picked off early. "Black horror" isn't merely parables about racism. In the deft hands of these writers – and now, Key – the stories are horror in which Blackness is a fact, sometimes a central one, and that fact is ever a complication, limiting how the characters move through space, interact with authority, and relate to one another.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/19/justin-c-key/#clarion-west-2015

VII. The Future by Naomi Alderman

A cracking, multi-point-of-view adventure novel about billionaires prepping for the end of the world. Three billionaires, the lords of thinly veiled analogs to Facebook, Google and Amazon, each getting ready in their own way. Stumbling into their midst comes Lai Zhen, a prepper influencer vlogger with millions of followers.

When Zhen becomes romantically entangled with Martha Einkorn, the top aide and chief-of-prepping for one of these billionaires, she finds herself in possession of an AI chatbot that is devoted to protecting a very small number of people from incipient danger. This chatbot determines that Zhen is being stalked by an assassin at a mall in Singapore, and guides her to safety.

The chatbot is a closely held secret among the tech billionaire cabal. It is designed to monitor world events and predict when The Event is imminent, be it disease, war, or other cataclysmic disaster. With the chatbot's predictive powers and its superhuman guidance, the billionaires, their families, and their closest confidantes will be able to slip away before the shit hits the fan, fly by different private jets to one or another luxury bunker, and wait out the apocalypse. Once the fires raging without have died down to embers, the chatbot's billionaire charges will emerge to assume their places as wise and all-powerful leaders of the next human civilization.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/07/preppers-of-the-red-death/#the-event

VIII. Liberty's Daughter by Naomi Kritzer

There's so much sf about "competent men" running their families with entrepreneurial zeal, clarity of vision and a firm confident hand. But there's precious little fiction about how much being raised by a Heinlein dad would *suuuck*. But it would, and in *Liberty's Daughter*, we get a peek inside the nightmare.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/21/podkaynes-dad-was-a-dick/#age-of-consent

Like I said, this has been a good year in books for me, and it included three books of my own:

I. Red Team Blues (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough. Martin is a—contain your excitement—self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before—and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

II. The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (nonfiction, Verso)

We can – we must – dismantle the tech platforms. We must to seize the means of computation by forcing Silicon Valley to do the thing it fears most: interoperate. Interoperability will tear down the walls between technologies, allowing users to leave platforms, remix their media, and reconfigure their devices without corporate permission. Interoperability is the only route to the rapid and enduring annihilation of the platforms. The Internet Con is the disassembly manual we need to take back our internet.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

III. The Lost Cause (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks.

But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth. The Lost Cause asks: What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy? When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love?

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

I wrote nine books during lockdown, and there's plenty more to come. The next one is The Bezzle, a followup to Red Team Blues, which comes out in February:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

While you're waiting for that one, I hope the reviews above will help you connect with some excellent books. If you want more of my reviews, here's my annual roundup from 2022:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/01/bookishness/#2022-in-review

Here's my book reviews from 2021:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/08/required-ish-reading/#bibliography

And here's my book reviews from 2020:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/08/required-reading/#recommended-reading

It's EFF's Power Up Your Donation Week: this week, donations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation are matched 1:1, meaning your money goes twice as far. I've worked with EFF for 22 years now and I have always been - and remain - a major donor, because I've seen firsthand how effective, responsible and brilliant this organization is. Please join me in helping EFF continue its work!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/01/bookmaker/#2023-in-review

[sleepynegress]

!!!!!!

So, I am excited!!! I love Gina Prince-Bythewood's eye and I have a deep and abiding yearning for a good big-screen Black fantasy epic directed by a Black woman that isn't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (seriously though, thanks Black Panther for breaking the gate open) or in danger of being canceled because either the Black showrunner didn't understand the vision (Kindred) or the network didn't (Lovecraft Country)...

Anyway... A Children of Blood and Bone movie??? I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

[revasserium]

the unofficial ultimate bungo stray dogs reading list

this is mainly for myself bc i rly do want to read most if not all of these and i'm sure it's already been done by someone somewhere. but, i thought why not post it lmao; most if not all of these can be found on anna's archive, z-library, or project gutenberg! (also, consider buying from your local bookstore!) for those that are a bit harder to find, i've included links, though some are from j-stor and would require login to access.

detective agency:

osamu dazai:

no longer human (novel)

the setting sun (novel)

nakajima atsushi:

the moon over the mountain: stories (short story collection)

light, wind and dreams (short story)

fukuzawa yukichi:

an encouragement of learning (17 volume collections of writings)

all the countries of the world, for children written in verse (textbook)

yosano akiko:

kimi shinitamou koto nakare (poem)

midaregami (poetry collection)

edogawa ranpo:

the boy detectives club (book series)

japanese tales of mystery and imagination (short story collection)

the early cases of akechi kogoro (novel)

kunikida doppo:

river mist and other stories (short story collection)

izumi kyouka:

demon lake (play)

spirits of another sort: the plays of izumi kyoka (play collection)

tanizaki junichirou:

the makioka sisters (novel)

the red roof and other stories (short story collection)

miyazawa kenji:

ame ni mo makezu; be not defeated by the rain (poem)

night on the galactic railroad (novel)

strong in the rain (poetry collection)

port mafia:

mori ougai:

vita sexualis (novel)

the dancing girl (novel)

nakahara chuuya:

poems of nakahara chuya (poetry collection)

akutagawa ryuunosuke:

rashoumon (short story)

the spider's thread (short story)

rashoumon and other stories (short story collection)

ozaki kyouyou:

the gold demon (novel)

higuchi ichiyou:

in the shade of spring leaves (biography and short stories)

hirotsu ryuurou:

falling camellia (novel)

tachihara michizou:

in mourning for the summer (poem)

midwinter momento (poem)

from the country of eight islands: an anthology of japanese poetry (poetry collection)

kajii motojirou:

lemon (short story)

yumeno kyuusaku:

dogra magra (novel)

oda sakunosuke:

flawless/immaculate (short story)

sakaguchi ango:

darakuron (essay)

the guild:

f. scott fitzgerald:

the great gatsby (novel)

the beautiful and the damned (novel)

edgar allen poe:

the raven (poem)

the black cat (short story)

the murders in the rue morgue (short story)

herman melville:

moby dick (novel)

h.p. lovecraft:

the call of cthulhu (short story)

the shadow out of time (novella)

john steinbeck:

the grapes of wrath (novel)

of mice and men (novel)

lucy maud montgomery:

anne of green gables (novel)

the blue castle (novel)

chronicles of avonlea (short story collection)

louisa may alcott:

little women (novel)

the brownie and the princess (short story collection)

margaret mitchell:

gone with the wind (novel)

mark twain:

the adventures of tom sawyer (novel)

adventures of huckleberry finn (novel)

nathaniel hawthorn:

the scarlet letter (novel)

rats in the house of the dead:

fyodor dostoevsky:

crime and punishment (novel)

the brothers karamozov (novel)

notes from the underground (short story collection)

alexander pushkin:

eugene onegin (novel)

a feast in time of plague (play)

ivan goncharov:

the precipice (novel)

oguri mushitarou:

the perfect crime (novel)

decay of the angel:

fukuchi ouchi:

the mirror lion, a spring diversion (kabuki play)

bram stoker:

dracula (novel)

dracula's guest and other weird stories (short story collection)

nikolai gogol:

the overcoat (short story)

dead souls (novel)

hunting dogs: (i must caveat here that the hunting dogs are named after much more comparatively obscure jpn writers/playwrights so i was unable to find a lot of the specific pieces actually mentioned; but i still wanted to include them on the list because well -- it wouldn't be a bsd list without them)

okura teruko:

gasp of the soul (short story; i wasn't able to find an english translation)

devil woman (short story)

jouno saigiku:

priceless tears (kabuki play; no translation but at least we have a summary)

suehiro tetchou:

setchuubai/a political novel: plum blossoms in snow (novel)

division for unusual powers:

taneda santouka:

the santoka: versions by scott watson (poetry collection)

tsujimura mizuki:

lonely castle in the mirror (novel)

yesterday's shadow tag (short story collection; i was unable to find a translation)

order of the clock tower:

agatha christie:

and then there were none (novel)

murder on the orient express (novel)

she is the best selling fiction writer of all time there's too much to list here

mimic:

andre gide:

strait is the gate (novel)

trascendents:

arthur rimbaud:

illuminations (poetry collection)

the drunken boat (poem)

a season in hell (prose poem)

johann von goethe:

faust

the sorrows of young werther

paul verlaine:

clair de lune (poem, yes it did inspire the debussy piece, yes)

poems under saturn (poetry collection)

victor hugo:

the hunchback of notre-dame (novel)

les miserables (novel)

william shakespeare:

romeo and juliet (play)

a midsummer nights' dream (play)

sonnets (poetry collection)

the seven traitors:

jules verne:

around the world in 80 days (novel)

journey to the center of the earth (novel)

twenty thousand leagues under the seas (novel)

other:

natsume souseki:

i am a cat (novel)

kokoro (novel)

botchan (novel)

h.g. wells:

the time machine (novella)

the invisible man (novel)

the war of the worlds (novel)

shibusawa tatsuhiko:

the travels of prince takaoka (novel; unable to find translation)

dr. mary wollstonecraft godwin shelley

frankenstein (novel)

[lionofchaeronea]

The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett - I quite like it, it kinda goes into the (poor) english aristocracy marrying wealthy american girls and the differences in expectation of treatment and such.

A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori - a manga series, don't know if your into that, but carefully researched, beautiful art (especially the textiles) of the time period and place, in areas around the silk road/russian steppes - Kazakhstan is one place I know the author visited.

The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo

Black Water Sister - Cho Zen

The Midwife's Apprentice - Karen Cushman

The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer

Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George

Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman

Geisha of Gion - Mineko Iwasaki - one of the main people Arthur Golden interviewed for his book. She wrote this to counteract his "white guyification" of what she told him.

Literary Studies for Rhetoric Classes - Bernard L. Jefferson - found this one at a thrift store I just really enjoyed a lot of the pieces in it.

The Story of My Life - Helen Keller

Sirena - Donna Jo Napoli

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

What Happened to Lani Garver - Carol Plum-Ucci

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett

The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900 - Diana Preston

Trudy's Promise - Marcia Preston - a very close look at one mother separated from her son when the Berlin Wall goes up.

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice - a very sad novel as it was written in response to when Anne Rice lost her child. A good close look at grief and loss and apathy.

Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff - the show missed the point... the author wrote this inspired by when he and a black friend had been talking and he realized that because of skin color that while they occupied the same space, they lived in "different countries"

The Marvels - Brian Selznick

Salt to the Sea - Ruta Sepeteys

Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet - Kashmira Sheth

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky (or anything by him really)

The Ramsay Scallop - Frances Temple

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis - time-traveler finds herself back during the start of one of the sweeps of the black plague - it's pretty sad

Fifth Chinese Daughter - Jade Snow Wong

*some of these are middlegrade but I feel middlegrade is sometimes not appreciated enough as literature. ^_^'

*also sorry for the very long list....

No apologies needed. I really appreciate the recommendations.

[lboogie1906]

Jurnee Diana Smollett (October 1, 1986) is an actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, including On Our Own (1994–95) and Full House (1992–94). She gained recognition for her role in Eve’s Bayou (1997).

She starred in The Great Debaters (2007), Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013), and Birds of Prey (2020). Her television roles include Friday Night Lights (2009–11), Underground (2016–17), True Blood (2013–14), and Lovecraft Country (2020), receiving a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the latter. In 2020, she portrayed superhero Dinah Lance / Black Canary in Birds of Prey, a role which she will reprise in Black Canary.

She was born in New York City to Janet Harris and Joel Smollett. She is the fourth of six siblings, all performers: one sister, Jazz Smollett, and four brothers, Jussie, JoJo, Jake, and Jocqui. She married musician Josiah Bell (2010-20), and they have one son.

She has been active in HIV/AIDS causes since she was 11. Her first encounter with the disease came at age seven when a crew member of On Our Own died of AIDS. She was inspired by the HIV/AIDS survivor Hydeia Broadbent, who worked for HIV/AIDS awareness, including for the Black AIDS Institute and Red Cross. She spoke at the Ryan White Youth Conference and is on the Board of Directors of Artists for a New South Africa, an organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS in Africa. She is on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Defense Fund. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Hot Takes

Lovecraft: S-submitted for the approval of the midnight society, I call this Lovecraft: the tale of the rats in the walls King: oo King: jeez howard King: that story’s a little dicey ya know? Lovecraft: what? King: you know King: with the King: you know

Lovecraft: a-are you upset by the cannibalism King: no that’s fine Lovecraft: the degenerate human monster cattle? King: not that Lovecraft: Lovecraft: i-is it the narrator going mad King: King: clive help me out here Barker: naw you’re doing fine steve

King: it’s the cat, howard Lovecraft: King: it’s just not King: it’s just not kosher anymore Lovecraft: Lovecraft: [sweats] King: I’m sorry that was a bad choice of words King: look howard maybe just tell another story Oates: just change the cat’s name King: well I mean I don’t necessarily think it’s right to meddle with the ori- Oates: just change the cat’s name Oates: who gives a shit Poe: well joyce steve’s right, there’s a lot to consider here Oates: just change the name Oates: who cares Oates: who cares about anything Oates: joyce “wild card” oates strikes again!!! Poe: is it right to change a piece of art to make it more palatable for modern sensibilities? Do we not then run the risk of whitewashing the past Barker: wow edgar interesting take Barker: hey I got a question for you about the gold bug Poe: we’re Poe: really not talking about me right now

Oates: just change the cat’s name King: look carol, we’ve got other hot takes to record today JK Rowling: [rushing in] Alright you poindextersss letsss get this right

Rowling: One. Hello children, I'm JK Rowling. Two. New Zealand is the worst country in the world. Three. Delete the transss, indigenousss and AIDsss memorial chevronsss from the pride f*g, I mean flag. Four. Transsss blood issss poissson. JK Rowling: Bada bing, bada boom. I'm done. Learn from the professionalsss, kid. [leaves] 

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Beings best kept at a distance!!

From the cute to the insanely alien, children shouldn't ever play with these particular things...

HPL 1915 Output.

Intro: This is an example of Lovecraft's work in the United Amateur.

I won't be making a detailed study of these - as S.T. Joshi has already done that...

Rather, I want to give readers a look at Howard's developing writing skills.

We might even see how HPL's time & ours have subjects in common!

His Work: From the United Amateur, Volume 14, #3.

(At this time Lovecraft was still the Chairman of the Department of Public Criticism.)

1. The Badger's... January (issue) is... a strikingly meritorious & serious (magazine)...

We... behold none of the frivolity (that) spoils the writings of those who view amateur journalism merely as a passing amusement.

The leading article, an essay on the minimum wage, is from... the editor & shows both literary ability & a sound knowledge of economics.

(Unfortunately, no other details on the economy are forthcoming...)

2. The (November) Inspiration... contain(s) the work of none but titled authors.

...The truly notable prose feature... is W.J. Held's delightful sketch of Joaquin Miller's home & haunts.

This artistic picture of Californian scenery exhibits a real comprehension of the beauties of Nature & stirs to an unusual degree the imagination of the reader.

3. Invictus for January... Foremost in merit & aptly suited to (this) type of genius are 3 inspiring essays, "Impost of the Future," "Sublime Ideal" & "Whom God Ha(s) Put Asunder."

"The Sublime Ideal" is especially absorbing, tracing as it does the... human mind from... the narrowest & most violent bigotry to its present moderate breadth.

(It's a wonder that Howard couldn't surpass his worst racial instincts. At this time, he was totally surrounded by learned teachers & writers from whom HPL could have learned better from... But, he did relish playing the part of an already 'mature' professor.)

4. Outward Bound for January is (from) Newcastle-on-Tyne, England(!)

It is... 1 of the links between America & (its) parent country, which the United is helping to forge.

"The Haunted Forest" (is) a poem (that) is almost Poe-like in its grim... quality.

...We consider the admirable... atmo- sphere, the weird harmony of the lines, the judicious... alliteration & the apt... word (selection)."

5. The Piper for December comes as a (real) surprise...

This... journal provides us with a pleasing variety of literary matter:

2 serious poems, 2 (light) rhymes, an essay on... Consolidation (of the UAPA & the NAPA literary societies) & a collection of... editorials & criticisms.

The article on Consolidation is cynical in tone, but... sensible...

Our greatest intellectual stimulus is found in controversy & antagonism, we are... quite bellicose in our instincts, despite the (sayings) of the peace advocates.

6. The Recruiting Feminine for 1914 - 1915 is... of unusual worth.

"Dirge of the Great Atlantic"... is a grim, moving bit of verse, cast in the same... stirring meter which (she) used in "Chant of Iron."

"2 Octobers - A Contrast"... end(s) with the usual appeal for (stopping) the European War.

We fear... the author cannot quite realize the ambitious passions... which render necessary a final decision (in WW1).

"The Audience"... is a masterly defense of... inactive amateurs whom we... consider... delinquent...

Authors would be useless were it not for some sort of a reading public.

(This, even though Lovecraft usually put down the reading public...)

7. The Toledo Amateur for December is a wholesome juvenile product.

(Its) typography still leaves something to be desired, but the evidence of care are everywhere visible.

(An article) gives (readers) information concerning the "Campfire Girls."

8. The United Official Quarterly for November marks the beginning of a laudable enterprise.

Th(is) magazine is of artistic appearance in cover, paper & typo- graphy alike, while the contents show considerable care in preparation.

The essay "God's of Our Fathers"... is... noteworthy as a sincere expression of Pantheism (All Beliefs)!

(It points out) our (strange) devotion to Semitic... ideals, when... 'we' are descended from Aryan polytheists (believers in many gods).

(The) personification of... Greek gods in the men of today is a(n) ingenious conception.

We (Rheinhart Kleiner & HPL) revel in heroic couplets of (the) full Queen Anne style with carefully balanced lines & strictly measured quantities.

We have succeeded in producing 18 lines without a single original senti- ment or truly poetic image!!

... On the other hand, in a heroic meter of th(e) softened type, which... evolved at the close of the (1700s)..., the stiff, classic expressions are discarded &... sense... flows from couplet to couplet, giving... greater latitude of expression.

(The) article on criticism... contends (that) some amateur critics deal... too roughly with the... products of young authors...

Unofficial & inexperienced reviewers fairly run mad with... condemnation!

The... brilliance of (a) critic is... grea- test when 'he' censures the most.

We are... but literary parasites & need, now & then, a restraining word...

End.

[lionsdenbooks]

on algernon blackwood and his influence on cosmic horror

Algernon Blackwood was an English writer who became known for his works of "weird fiction" around the turn of the 20th century. Although he can't hold a candle to the likes of Poe etc. in posthumous fame, he was extremely influential in the development of the horror genre and especially cosmic horror, and in fact, Lovecraft and his literary circle have explicitly cited him as an inspiration.

Actually, Blackwood serves as a sort of who's who of deviant religion (deviant, a word which here means "it's Northern Europe, dumbass; anything that isn't explicitly and devoutly Christian") in the early 20th century. He was raised in a household of what S.T. Joshi has described as "oppressive religiosity," and the rest of his life was colored by a reaction against that. He was greatly influenced by Buddhist texts; he ran with the Society for Psychical Research; he formally joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1900 (and, judging by the name, sacrificed some children there too); and of course he joined the Theosophical Society—though I don't believe he had the opportunity to meet Miss Blavatsky herself before her passing in 1891. He always seemed to be searching for some deeper, more significant spiritual understanding. This reflects in his work, which constantly plays with spiritual ideas like reincarnation, other planes, and spiritual truths (sometimes even that Man Was Not Meant to Know).

J.R.R. Tolkien once mentioned that he got the name "Crack of Doom" from one of Blackwood's unnamed stories. If so (it may also be that it comes from Macbeth), it would be fitting, because both share the same deep contrition over industrialization and reverence of Nature. It is impossible to read a Blackwood story without noticing his awe of the power and mystery of the natural world, and in his two most prominent tales, The Willows and The Wendigo—which both feature protagonists supernaturally besieged in the wilderness—it sits front and center. Listen to this excerpt from Wendigo:

Deep silence fell about the little camp, planted there so audaciously in the jaws of the wilderness. The lake gleamed like a sheet of black glass beneath the stars. The cold air pricked. In the draughts of night that poured their silent tide from the depths of the forest, with messages from distant ridges and from lakes just beginning to freeze, there lay already the faint, bleak odours of coming winter.

Not only is Blackwood investing Nature with fearsome power ("the jaws of the wilderness"), he gives it a certain sentience with "messages." Consider the way the Danube is described in Willows:

From its tiny bubbling entry into the world among the pinewood gardens of Donaueschingen [a German town in the Black Forest], until this moment when it began to play the great river-game of losing itself among the deserted swamps, unobserved, unrestrained, it had seemed to us like following the growth of some living creature. Sleepy at first, but later developing violent desires as it became conscious of its deep soul, it rolled, like some huge fluid being, through all the countries we had passed, holding our little craft on its mighty shoulders, playing roughly with us sometimes, yet always friendly and well-meaning, till at length we had come inevitably to regard it as a Great Personage.

Blackwood uses this technique constantly. In that except, his characters explicitly personify the river; it is said to have "violent desires," "conscious[ness]," and a "deep soul." Nature is ancient, it is powerful, it has a sort of intelligence, and it is what lurks behind the oh-so-thin veil of civilization in which we cloak ourselves.* The man consistently hits it out of the park with his Nature-settings, making his stories set there feel more weighty and immersive, and luckily, he seems to play to his strengths.

Another common theme of Blackwood's is disturbed mental states, especially brought on by the powers of Nature or of one of his spiritual bugaboos. In the fantastic Insanity of Mr. Jones, the eponymous Jones believes himself to be exacting vengeance on behalf of his previous reincarnation; The Man Who Found Out features someone briefly driven mad by Ancient Truths Man Was Not Meant to Know; and if you had told me Hozier's lyrics "Oh but she loves / like sleep to the freezing" were part of an adaptation of the tale The Glamour of the Snow, I would probably believe you. Listen to how everyman Hibbert is described in this latter one:

Now this battle for his soul must have issue. And he knew that the spell of Nature was greater for him than all other spells in the world combined—greater than love, revelry, or pleasure, greater even than study. He had always been afraid to let himself go. His pagan soul dreaded her terrific powers of witchery even while he worshipped.

In this quote, not just a part of Nature is personified; as a concept, it is characterized as a sort of powerful temptress, tugging at the primal heartstrings of Man. Though both he and the witless Arthur Vezin of Ancient Sorceries end up escaping from their respective Nature-witches, it is clear that for Blackwood, the concept of Nature is bound up in paganism, esoteric spiritual truth, and vast, intelligent danger that can drive a man mad. In this way, I consider him one of the stronger weird fiction writers of the twentieth century; grounding his horrors in Nature plays on all of our preconceived feelings about it to deliver more impact than spinning them out of whole cloth. What's scarier than a strange man in the willows? The willows that have eaten him, of course.

Not to say old Algae doesn't have his share of issues. The spiritualist movements with which he was involved, especially the Theosophical society, were famously racist; the Theosophists in particular put Aryans at the top of their esoteric racial classification scheme. As far as his work is concerned, the fact that he, a white man, is best-known for a story called Wendigo in which the only Native character has zero lines and is offhandedly described as "a member of a dying race" is a critique that makes itself, but it is also a critique of the culture around him for granting him this appropriative success. And even as far as his actual technique is concerned, there is a certain predictability to it that can be exhausting to read. In the middle of Ancient Sorceries, when the fiftieth member of the French village was coyly described as "catlike," I finally lost it and scrawled in the margins, "MAYBE THEY'RE SECRETLY CATS ALGAE IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?? WILL YOU STOP HINTING IF I SAY IT??"

Still, though. After reading a modest selection of his short fiction, and grappling with his shortcomings, I remain disappointed that it is Lovecraft whom history has decided to remember as the king of the Weird Tale. (Need I remind you what he named his cat? The bar is in hell.) Blackwood has at least as much claim to the throne, if not more, and in my opinion, he is simply a better writer. I find his word choice to be more evocative and his settings more vivid—and if I'm being honest, I'm just plain tired of Lovecraft at this point. If you like how he writes, but you want to branch out, I salute you, and Blackwood is a great place to start.

* Sometimes I wonder to what extent this tense, adversarial relationship with Nature is the product of empire. We make monsters of what our society marginalizes and exploits, so in a way, it is only natural that for a beneficiary of the largest colonial project the world has ever known, the Earth itself is out for revenge.

[beardedmrbean]

Two more women have accused Jonathan Majors of physical and emotional abuse.

Two former girlfriends, Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper accused the "Creed III" actor of abuse in a new report from The New York Times published Thursday, following the actor's conviction for assaulting and harassing ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in December.

The Times investigation also revealed a history of "volatility" on the set of HBO's "Lovecraft Country," in which Majors starred as Atticus Freeman, including contention with female co-workers that led to complaints to the network.

Majors' attorney Priya Chaudhry described his past relationships with Duncan and Hooper as a "love triangle" and "toxic" but denied allegations of abuse and knowledge of complaints from co-workers on the set of "Lovecraft Country," in an emailed statement to USA TODAY Friday.

USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Duncan, Hooper and HBO for comment.

The four-month Times investigation includes accounts from 20 people who knew or worked with Majors, including some identified anonymously out of fear of career repercussions, as well as statements submitted to the prosecution in Majors' assault trial.

Rolling Stone in June published a similar report, detailing allegations of abuse toward former classmates, crew members and former romantic partners over the course of a decade.

In the Times report, Duncan accused Majors of throwing her around, choking her and bruising her. Hooper alleges she endured emotional abuse from Majors. Both dated Majors before his rise to fame and described him as a controlling and threatening figure in their lives, isolating them from friends and career pursuits.

In one of several instances of violence early on in their relationship, Duncan alleged, during a July 2016 trip to Chautauqua, New York, the former couple had an argument where Majors threatened to strangle and kill her.

She alleged in that same month, when she visited Majors in Sante Fe, New Mexico, a violent altercation occurred in a hotel room when she began packing to leave. Duncan accused Majors of pushing her into a couch, choking her and telling her he was "going to kill" her. She said he then threw her across the room and said, "I'm going to make sure you can't have children."

Duncan accuses the actor of picking her up and slamming her body into a mailbox at their Harlem, New York, apartment in October 2016, causing bruising, she said. After the incident, as well as others, Majors threatened to kill himself, she claimed.

Hooper claimed that, while she was dating Majors, he was controlling about where she could go, who she spoke with and how she behaved. She alleges the actor did not allow her to speak to anyone about their relationship and threatened suicide at one point when she learned of an affair.

Hooper alleged when she got pregnant a few months into their relationship, she scheduled an abortion. When Majors took her to the medical clinic, which had a policy that required an escort home after the procedure, he did not come to pick her up, she alleged. When Hooper called him, she said, he told her he was going to a rehearsal.

Hooper also claimed a year after the couple broke up when Majors found out she was dating someone he knew, he called her and, in an argument, told her he hoped she would kill herself and said he was "going rip you out of my heart the way they ripped our baby out of you."

Majors denied the physical abuse accusations in a statement shared by his attorney to USA TODAY. He also denied some of the emotional abuse accusations and did not recall the exact details of others. He described the relationships as "mutually emotionally volatile," adding that he is "choosing to take responsibility for his role" in the "toxic" relationships.

"Looking back, he is embarrassed by some of his jealous behavior and has been addressing these personal, lifelong depression issues with counseling," wrote Chaudhry in an email shared with USA TODAY Friday.

Additionally, three female crew members from the set of "Lovecraft Country" are said to have submitted a complaint to HBO about Majors' behavior on set, including that the actor was argumentative, treated them differently than male colleagues and that he, in one instance, made a derogative, racially charged comment about her appearance, and in another case, told a crew member she did not belong on the set.

Chaudhry also provided photos to the Times and USA TODAY, in an effort to prove his relationships with Duncan and one of the "Lovecraft Country" crew members after the alleged incidents were "friendly."

[alfaversionlunar]

Monstrofication: bunny and cat / Lovecraft / unity with the sea

I tested a new watercolor, it has a couple of glitter shades

I am very satisfied, despite the fact that many are shouting"this is for children for beginners, this weak paint"

Probably, but even with these colors you can do all your own for

Probably its main advantage- it has an affordable price. Also, it is produced in my country,Should I be proud? All in all, Has something changed? Same monsters, just different shades But, it does its job. Do not listen to those who shout that you need to buy expensive things)