#Mars Dietz

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: Queer science fiction, part 1

There is a lot of queer sf out there, and I read a lot of sf. When I started working on this list, I quickly realized it was impossible to include all that I've read and enjoyed in one single rec post. Thus, this is the first of so far three queer sci-fi book rec posts.

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean "guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending", but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don't always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of "gay best friend" or a blink and you'll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

Previous book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding, really cool sci-fi worldbuilding, dark sapphic romances, mermaid books, vampire books, many worlds: portal fantasies, many worlds: alternate timelines, robots and artificial intelligences, post- and transhumanism, alien intelligences

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley*

Dietz is a soldier in the war between Earth and Mars - to travel to the battle front, she and her fellow soldiers are broken down into light to be able to quickly travel across space. But something keeps going wrong with Dietz's travels; her memories don't match up with the mission briefs, as she experiences time itself turning in on itself. Is she going mad? Or are the things she's learning skipping through time the truth - and the war that's stealing her life the lie? A mindfuck of a book that's scathing in its critique of fascism and war. Features a sapphic lead but no romance.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot duology) by Becky Chambers

Novella. Long ago, robots, upon gaining sentience, simply laid down their work and walked into the wilderness. Long after, a tea monk looking for purpose follows after them into the wilds, where they come across one of the robots seeking its own sort of answers. While not plotless, this story focuses more on character and vibes over plot. Also has a nonbinary main character and features conversations on gender between human and robot.

Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey*

Thora and Santi are strangers, brought together by a coincidence and torn apart just as abruptly when tragedy strikes. But this is neither the first nor the last time they meet - again and again they encounter each other, as friends, lovers, enemies, family, every time recognizing in each other a familiarity no one else carries. But with every new life, a mysterious danger grows ever closer, forcing them to find out the truth of their connection. This is a puzzle-box of a story that goes some entirely unexpected places in a very wild ride, featuring a bisexual co-lead.

The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence) by Emma Mieko Candon

In a world where AI gods sometimes lose their minds and take entire populations down with them, Sunai was the only survivor when his god went down. In the 17 years since, he has wandered on his own, unable to either die or age, drowning his sorrows in drink and men. But his attempts to flee his past comes to a stop as he is forced back into the struggle between man and machine. Featuring some pretty wild world building and narrative techniques, this book will definitely confuse you, but it is worth the experience.

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

January Cole works security at the Paradox Hotel, last stop for tourists heading for the timeport, which allows them to travel to and witness any moment in time. But years of proximity to the timeport has left its damage on January, making her unstuck in time, letting her relive memories of her dead lover even as her sanity slips away bit by bit. As she starts witnessing proof of a horrible crime in the hotel that no one else can see, January must race against her own mind, a killer, and time itself to solve it before it's too late.

A Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares

Hayes Figueiredo is a struggling film-maker who wants to finish his documentary, whose life gets turned upside down when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan enters his life, claiming an alternate version of him is a great inventor who’s sent a mysterious device to their universe. As Hayes gets drawn deeper into the conspiracy - and his feelings for Yusuf intensify - he has to decide just how far he’s prepared to go to win the life and the love he wants. Featuring a very gay and very morally dubious lead, this is a creative and strange read.

Bridge by Lauren Beukes

When she was little, Bridge and her mother Jo used to play a game - one where they traveled to other worlds, inhabiting the bodies of their other selves. Now Jo is dead, and as Bridge is cleaning out her apartment she finds a strange device: a dreamworm, the very thing that supposedly makes inter-dimensional travel possible. Suddenly faced with the possibility that multiverse travel is real, Bridge is struck by a different question: could her mother still be alive? Scifi spiced with a healthy dose of body horror and some absolutely wild twists, Bridge also features a bisexual lead (however this is a blink and you’ll miss it moment) and a nonbinary co-narrator.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers

Rosemary Harper just got a job on the motley crew of the Wayfarer, a spaceship that works with tunneling new wormholes through space. With a past she wants to leave behind, Rosemary is happy to travel the far reaches of the universe with the chaotic crew, but when they land the job of a life time, things suddenly get a lot more dangerous. A bit of a tumblr classic in its day, this is a cozy space opera with an episodic feel and vividly realized characters and cultures. While pretty light on romance and focusing found family, there is a main f/f relationship.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Life on the lower decks of the generation ship HSS Matilda is hard for Aster, an outcast even among outcasts, trying to survive in a system not dissimilar to the old antebellum South. The ship's leaders have imposed harsh restrictions on their darker skinned people, using them as an oppressed work force as they travel toward their supposed Promised Land. But as Aster finds a link between the death of the ship's sovereign and the suicide of her own mother, she realizes there may be a way off the ship.

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire trilogy) by Yoon Ha Lee*

Military space opera where belief and culture shape the laws of reality, causing all kinds of atrocities as empires do everything in their power to force as many people as possible to conform to their way of life to strengthen their technology and weapons. It’s also very queer, with gay, lesbian and trans major characters, albeit little to no romance.

The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle) by Ursula K. Le Guin

1969 classic. Genly Ai is an emissary sent to the planet of Winter, meant to help facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But he's unprepared for Winter's citizens, who spend much of their time genderless or switching between genders, making for a culture wildly different from that Genly is used to.

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota series) by Ada Palmer*

Centuries in the future, humanity has deliberatly engineered society to be as utopian as possible, politically, socially, sexually, religiously. Written in an enlightenment style and featuring questions of human nature and whether it’s possible to change it, and what price we’re prepared to pay for peace, this book is simultaneously very heavy and very funny, and written in a very unique style. While still human, the society presented often feels starkly alien.

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

This book fucked me up when I read it. It’s weird, it’s gross, there’s So Much Viscera, there are literally no men, it has living spaceships and biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable. Had I to categorize it I would call it grimdark military sf. It’s an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling*

Possibly one of the most unsettling books I’ve ever read, and definitely the most claustrophobic. Gyre, a caver on an alien planet, ventures into the dark and dangerous underground, guided only by a woman who has no compunctions on using and manipulating Gyre as she sees fit to obtain her secretive goals down in the caves.

Escaping Exodus (Escaping Exodus series) by Nicky Drayden

While my feelings on Escaping Exodus were mixed, it cannot be denied that the dynamic between the two leads and the way they go from childhood best friends to enemies on different sides of a class and power struggle is very delicious. It also features some really cool worldbuilding of living, alien generation spaceships and the human culture that has developed inside them.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people and species into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist.

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Ascension follows Alana Quick, an expert Sky Surgeon who stows away on a spaceship in hopes of landing herself a job. But the ship and its crew are in deeper waters than she expected, facing threats emerging from a whole other universe, all of them searching for the same person: Alana’s spiritually enlightened sister. Undeniably a bit of an odd read, Ascension is also very creative and features polyamorous lesbian relationship.

Contagion (Contagion duology) by Erin Bowman*

Young adult. After receiving an SOS, a small crew is sent on a standard search-and-rescue mission. But what they find are not survivors awaiting help, but an abandoned site, full of dead bodies and crawling with something... monstrous. No romance, but features one sapphic co-lead and one who can easily be read as demisexual (however this doesn't show up until book two, which has more romance).

A Memory Called Empire (Texicalaan duology) by Arkady Martine

Mahit Dzmare is an ambassador sent to the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire, where she discovers that her predecessor has died. Trying to protect her home, an independent mining station, from being taken over by the empire, Mahit struggles to find out the truth of her predecessor's death while carrying the voice of his ghost in her head, guiding her as best he can. Light on the romance but does feature a sapphic relationship.

The Outside (The Outside trilogy) by Ada Hoffman*

AKA the book the put me in an existenial crisis. Souls are real, and they are used to feed AI gods in this lovecraftian inspired scifi where reality is warped and artifical gods stand against real, unfathomable ones. Autistic scientist Yasira is accused of heresy and, to save her eternal soul, is recruited by post-human cybernetic ‘angels’ to help hunt down her own former mentor, who is threatening to tear reality itself apart. Sapphic main character.

Dawn (Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia E. Butler*

After a devestating war leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, survivor Lilith finds herself waking up naked and alone in a strange room. She’s been rescued by the Oankali, who have arrived just in time to save the human race. But there’s a price to survival, and it might be humanity itself. Absolutely fucked up I love it I once had to drop the book mid read to stare at the ceiling and exclaim in horror at what was going on. Queer in the sense that the Oankali doesn't follow human ideas of gender and relationships, which is mirrored in their romantic relationships with humans. It is, however, pretty dark, with examinations of agency and consent, so enter with caution.

Remnant by Kate Genet

One day, Cass wakes up and finds everyone else is gone. Not dead, just gone, leaving her in a world which nature starts taking back with a dangerous, unnatural speed. But as she tries to survive this new normal, Cass realizes she may not be alone after all - but who else is out there, and are they a threat?

The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace duology) by Erin Bow*

Young Adult. Featuring a dystopian future in which an AI forcibly keeps world peace by holding the children of world leaders hostage. If anyone attempts to start a war, their child will be executed. Greta is one of these children, kept in a school with others like her. But things start to change one day when a new, less obedient hostage arrives. A unique, slowburn take on the YA dystopian craze, also featuring a bisexual love triangle.

Iron Widow (Iron Widow series) by Xiran Jay Zhao

Young adult. Zetian is a citizen of Huaxia, where mecha aliens are constantly trying to breach the Great Wall. To keep them at bay, couples of men and women pilot so called Chrysalises, giant transforming robots. But the pilots are not equal - the women almost always die, sucked dry by their co-pilots. When Zetian sets herself up to become a concubine-pilot, she does so with the plan to assassinate the male pilot who caused her sister's death. Features a polyamorous main relationship.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool:

Survival Instincts by May Dawney

Lynn Tanner has been surviving the post-apocalypse alone with only her dog for a long time, trusting no one. But when she's forced to travel the dangerous remains of New York City alongside another woman, her priorities are challenged. Is staying alone really the best way to stay alive?

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

When con-artist Jun Ironway gets her hands on possible proof of the powerful Nightfoot family, controllers of interplanetary travel, committing genocide, she has in her hands a chance of taking them and their monopoly down. But the family and their allies won't go down easily, and sends two brutal clerics to stop her.

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

A neo-victorian alternate history, in which a part of Congo was kept safe from colonisation, becoming Everfair, a safe haven for both the people of Congo and former slaves returning from America. Here they must struggle to keep this home safe for them all.

[hrefna-the-raven]

The hunt

Fallout masterlist - main masterlist

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x reader

Chapter 1 - The plan - Chapter 2 - The bounty

Summary: you take a break before moving on with the plan to kill Dom Pedro 😉

(this happens before Cooper ends up in that grave)

Words: 1858

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, smut (18+)

Notes: this is less gender-neutral due to some delicious smut 😇 I had a female reader in mind while writing this

Chapter 3 - The spoils

The sun was already disappearing behind the horizon when you finally reached the shabby motel in the nearby settlement. The building was run down, plaster crumbling from the walls and the broken windows poorly fixed with a few wooden planks lazily nailed across. It wasn't the place to spend your honeymoon in but it surely was enough to get a full night's sleep and where a ghoul wouldn't draw too much attention. The owner was a sleazy man in his fifties named Dietz. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he reluctantly rose from his small stool, grumbling under his breath as he got the keys to your room and tossed them carelessly on the counter before his greedy hands snatched the caps. Out of a misplaced politeness, you still uttered a quick thank you before making your way up the staircase, with Cooper close behind, his eyes darting from one corner to another. He didn't like this place one bit but given the circumstances, neither of you had much of a choice. Both of you let out a sigh as soon the weathered wooden door closed behind you and you had locked it tightly. The room was worn down in all aspects with the scarce and stained wallpaper peeling down from the walls, revealing countless cracks that marred its surface like veins on flesh. Cooper's gaze wandered over the sorry state of the room, from the dirty armchairs in the corner over the only bed before landing on your face, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, unsure whether he should let you comment on it first but before his body took the decision for him as he heard his own voice laced with sarcasm and a hint of playful banter.

"Looks like we'll have to share, sweetheart."

"Oh no", you tilted your head back dramatically, "sharing a grimy mattress with my favourite movie star and bounty hunter. How could I ever live through this?"

You giggled, poking your tongue out at him while reaching into the backpack and tossing a bottle in his direction. Cooper smiled to himself, his fingers brushing over the label on the bottle, reminiscing about the delightful moments he had shared while savouring this particular brand. He wondered if it would still have the same taste now that he had changed. Placing his hat on the table, he opened the bottle and took a whiff, letting out a contented sigh. As he turned around, his heart skipped a few beats at the sight of you undressing slowly. Standing there dressed only in tight pants and a tank top, the torn fabric teasingly revealing glimpses of your soft skin underneath, you wore a mischievous grin on your lips. With a playful tiptoe, you approached him, your hands gliding over his shoulders before sliding off his dusty coat. Cooper swallowed hard, his breaths growing heavier and his hands trembled. In an attempt to steady himself, he brought the bottle to his lips and took a long swig of whiskey, downing half of it in one go, earning a chuckle from you.

"What?", he smirked, thankful that his ghoulish face wouldn't blush, "didn't you say something about having some fun?"

You snatched the bottle from his hands, took a few sips as you settled down into the armchair. He undid the first buttons of his shirt and sank into the chair beside you.

Both of you lost track of time, discussing about whatever topic your minds came up with. Patiently, he answered all your questions about his life before the bombs fell and while it filled him with a certain melancholy, his heart still boomed with a blissful gratefulness of spending his time with you. The bond the two of you shared filled him with a joy he didn't think possible after those centuries. He clumsily set his second bottle down on the table, enjoying the delightful buzz of the liquor coursing through his veins. His hazy eyes found yours, a chuckle erupting from his chest at the sight of your playful expression.

"What?", he hummed.

"Well we still need to settle one problem before we can call it a day - one bed, two of us."

"Mhm. Tell me, what's on that mind of yours then?"

"First one at the bed gets it all to themselves."

There was a spark in his eyes, his muscles tense while he tried to keep his poker face, but you had this already planned out from the very beginning. Just as he leapt up, you hurled one of the empty bottles at him and while he scrambled to catch it, you made your jump to the bed, landing on the mattress with a soft thud, sprawling out, to claim every inch of space. He stood there, observing you, his thoughts racing through all the possibilities. Feeling somewhat cocky and shameless, his drunken mind couldn't resist the urge to tease as he etched closer allowing his body to fall towards you. You shrieked as you watched him hurtling towards you, but just before his body touched yours, he stopped the fall with his forearms, his face now hovering mere inches above yours. The heat rose to your cheeks at the sudden closeness and your breath hitched, unable to keep your eyes from darting between his and his lips. A strange smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, one that last graced his face while still living the simple life as a normal human in a long forgotten world. The playful remark he planned had vanished from his mind, leaving an empty feeling that was gradually consumed by the uncomfortable tightness in his pants. His gaze drifted from your lips downwards, pausing at your cleavage, observing your excited breaths. Your entire body burned under his gaze and your thighs were pressed together in a desperate attempt to ignore the heat pooling between them. Eyes fixed on his lips, you lifted your head slightly but just as you were about to finally touch them, he moved his head, looking away.

"You don't want to do this...I'm not, I'm....just look at me and what I am", he stuttered, feeling all too naked and vulnerable.

He yearned for your touch, every fibre in his mutated body screamed for the love you seemed to offer, but he was scared, afraid a monster like him would never deserve the intimacy shared by two hearts. Your legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him down on you. A dark groan escaped his lips as his growing bulge was pressed tightly against you. All his determination to resist you vanished completely when your lips clashed on his, drowning him in the softness of their touch. The chuckle that came from you as you broke away tore straight through his heart.

"There is nothing and no one I'd desire more, Coop."

He drank in your words, their meaning slowly unravelling in his mind, the corners of his mouth twitching. He wanted to whisper a thousand things yet none left his lips as he simply stared at you, eyes filled with a glow you couldn't quite identify. This time he leaned in, his kiss first tender and then it deepened, desire and desperation evident as his tongue eagerly passed your lips, teasing and coaxing with an insatiable hunger. Shamelessly, you moaned, your fingers deftly unbuttoning his shirt and sliding it off his shoulders, your hands then caressing his bare chest. Despite the scars and mutations his skin felt surprisingly soft and warm beneath the touch of your fingertips. Your hand caressed further down, sneaking around to dig your fingers into his butt, earning more of those primal groans. It ignited a wildfire in him, he grabbed your tanktop and ripped it apart. A wicked smile danced on your lips, forcing both of you to roll over and you straddled him, pinning his arms down. When you began to grind your hips against his, a low, guttural moan escaped from the back of his throat. His head tilted back and a smirk formed on his lips.

"Mmh I love those sounds, although they sound a bit...feral", you quipped, your breath coming out in uneven gasps as you felt the wetness between your folds.

"Oh Sweetie, if you keep teasing me, I will eat you", he warned with a dangerous grin.

"Hm...is that a threat or a promise?", you purred.

"Does it matter?", Cooper's gravelly voice rumbled from deep within his chest, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of desire and determination as he shifted beneath you.

His hands grasped your thighs, his fingers digging into your skin with a possessive grip as he flipped you around, almost tearing your pants while pulling them off you.

"Coop", you gasped at the sudden nakedness.

He grinned, his lustful gaze capturing yours as he unzipped his own pants, finally freeing his throbbing cock and he positioned himself between your legs. His hips bucked and his length rubbed through your slick folds.

"All this just for me", he murmured ,more to himself, as he finally entered you.

Sinful moans escaped both of you at the feeling and Cooper started to thrust, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of your hips, urging you to take more of him. He picked up the pace, pounding into you faster and faster, hitting that perfect spot over and over again. One hand let go of your hip and moved between you, rubbing your clit while he continued thrusting into you. He grunted as his climax approached, momentarily distracted by the realisation that he hadn't felt this good in a long while. The desire and want in your eyes as you looked at him, he hadn't experienced this since before the bombs fell and even back then, it had been a while since Barb had looked at him the same way. And then, against all odds, right here and now, his rotted ghoulish face glanced into the depths of a kind of affection he had yearned for all this time, even back then when his marriage was already falling apart. Whispers of your name spilled from his lips as he fell apart and you reached your own release almost at the same moment, your eyes open as you came undone, locked on his while a pleased and loving smile graced your lips. It was in this moment that Cooper knew you'd be the death of him and that he'd gladly take it because he had finally found himself exactly where he wanted to be. He pulled out and settled beside you, panting but with a wide grin etched across his face.

"Hm, no witty remark, Mr Howard?", you teased, snuggling up to him.

"You know, no one has looked at me like that in a very, very long time", he said, his eyes finding yours, "I could almost gettin' used to that."

"Well, my schedule's free after taking care of Dom Pedro", you murmured, face nestled against his skin as you crossed the edge of blissful dreams.

"What a coincidence", he chuckled, "mine too."

His eyes fell shut and Cooper drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 4 - The betrayal

Feel free to reblog if you liked the story 😊

Tags: @dreamtofus

[eowynstwin]

what are your fave books?

Right now—

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, not just a western but THE western. Retired Texas rangers decide to go on a cattle drive all the way to Montana. The Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno, but make it cowboys. (Heavy content warning: McMurtry was unable to conceive of characters other than white men with any depth or complexity. Perils of older installments to the genre, unfortunately. Still a great example of the style, though.)

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and all its follow ups. Character driven novels set in space, narrative plot optional. Chambers imagines a galactic community fostered on peace and coexistence without avoiding the pitfalls of a multicultural interaction. Every Chambers book is a warm hug.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, “lesbian necromancers in space” as it’s known. Beyond that it’s about grief, trauma, life and death, companionship, and vintage internet memes repurposed to stab you between the ribs with pathos.

The Light Brigade by Katherine Hurley. How to describe this book. A completely corporatized Earth goes to war with Mars and develops teleportation technology for this purpose. One soldier, Dietz, after their first teleportation, begins to experience the war very differently from everyone else. Can’t explain further without spoiling it, but god, this novel is so tightly plotted and executed.

Tomorrow the Sex Will Be Good Again by Katherine Angel. An examination of consent, what it means, and why sometimes relying on consent for sex is simply not enough to avoid harm. This book describes a long held frustration I have had with the notion that communication will solve all of your sexual problems, because the state of communication between men and women as a whole in western culture is nowhere near prepared to handle the conversations that must happen.

[usafphantom2]

MiG Killers

DATE CALLSIGN UNIT PILOT AIRCRAFT SERIAL/BUNO TARGET(S) ORDNANCE

17 Jan 91 PENNZOIL 63 58 TFS/33 TFW Kelk F-15C 85-125 MiG-29 AIM-7

17 Jan 91 CITGO 65 58 TFS/33 TFW Graeter F-15C 85-105 Mirage F-1

Mirage F-1 AIM-7

AIM-7

17 Jan 91 QUAKER 11 71 TFS/1 TFW Tate F-15C 83-017 Mirage F-1 AIM-7

17 Jan 91 ZEREX 71 58 TFS/33 TFW Magill F-15C 85-107 MiG-29 AIM-7

17 Jan 91 58 TFS/33 TFW Draeger F-15C 85-119

19 Jan 91 CITGO 21 58 TFS/33 TFW Tollini F-15C 85-099 MiG-25 AIM-7

19 Jan 91 CITGO 22 58 TFS/33 TFW Pitts F-15C 85-101 MiG-25 AIM-7

19 Jan 91 CHEVRON 26 58 TFS/33 TFW Underhill F-15C 85-122 MiG-29 AIM-7

19 Jan 91 CHEVRON 25 58 TFS/33 TFW Rodriguez F-15C 85-114 MiG-29 Ground

19 Jan 91 RAMBO 03 525 TFS/36 TFW Prather F-15C 79-069 Mirage F-1 AIM-7

19 Jan 91 RAMBO 04 525 TFS/36 TFW Sveden F-15C 79-021 Mirage F-1 AIM-7

26 Jan 91 CITGO 25 58 TFS/33 TFW Draeger F-15C 85-108 MiG-23 AIM-7

26 Jan 91 CITGO 26 58 TFS/33 TFW Schiavi F-15C 85-104 MiG-23 AIM-7

26 Jan 91 CITGO 27 58 TFS/33 TFW Rodriguez F-15C 85-114 MiG-23 AIM-7

27 Jan 91 OPEC 01 53 TFS/36 TFW Denney F-15C 84-025 MiG-23

MiG-23 AIM-9

AIM-9

27 Jan 91 OPEC 02 53 TFS/36 TFW Powell F-15C 84-027 MiG-23

Mirage F-1 AIM-7

AIM-7

29 Jan 91 CHEVRON 17 58 TFS/33 TFW Rose F-15C 85-102 MiG-23 AIM-7

29 Jan 91 BITE 04 32 TFG Watrous F-15C 79-022 MiG-23 AIM-7

2 Feb 91 RIFLE 01 525 TFS/36 TFW Masters F-15C 79-064 Il-76 AIM-7

6 Feb 91 ZEREX 53 53 TFS/36 TFW Dietz F-15C 79-078 MiG-21

MiG-21 AIM-9

AIM-9

6 Feb 91 ZEREX 54 53 TFS/36 TFW Hehemann F-15C 84-019 Su-25

Su-25 AIM-9

AIM-9

7 Feb 91 CHEVRON 21 58 TFS/33 TFW Parsons F-15C 85-124 Su-7/17 AIM-7

7 Feb 91 CHEVRON 22 58 TFS/33 TFW Murphy F-15C 85-102 Su-22

Su-22 AIM-7

AIM-7

7 Feb 91 KILLER 03 22 TFS/36 TFW May F-15C 80-003 Mi-24 AIM-7

11 Feb 91 PISTOL 01 525 TFS/36 TFW Dingee F-15C 80-012 0.5 x Helo AIM-7

11 Feb 91 PISTOL 02 525 TFS/36 TFW McKenzie F-15C 79-048 0.5 x Helo AIM-7

14 Feb 91 PACKARD 41 335 TFS/4 TFW Bennett/Bakke F-15E 89-487 Hughes 500 GBU-10

20 Mar 91 AMOCO 34 22 TFS/36 TFW Doneski F-15C 84-014 Su-22 AIM-9

22 Mar 91 ZEREX 21 53 TFS/36 TFW Dietz F-15C 84-010 Su-22 AIM-9

22 Mar 91 ZEREX 22 53 TFS/36 TFW Hehemann F-15C 84-015 PC-9 Ground

NOTES17 Jan: Magill. CPT Chuck “Sly” Magill was a Marine exchange pilot serving with the 58th TFS.

19 Jan: Rodriguez. After Underhill shot the first MiG-29, both Rodriguez and Underhill had the remaining MiG-29 bracketed. In an attempt to dive into an escape window that had already closed, the Iraqi MiG-29 pilot attempted to execute a split-S from a starting altitude of about 2,000 feet. Rodriguez, who was the engaged low man, recognized the problem and took it upstairs; the MiG-29 attempted to follow through with the split-S and hit the desert floor.

The Underhill-Rodriguez engagement occurred as CHEVRON was clearing the six of CITGO flight, which had just killed its pair of MiG-25s and was retreating south to the tanker track. It is said to have been the only turning fight of the war. In post-war interviews, Rodriguez expressed his opinion that they had been extremely lucky in the intercept, since AWACS did not call the pair of MiG-29s approaching from the left beam until they were roughly 13 miles away. Prior to that call, CHEVRON had been unaware of the MiGs’ presence.

26 Jan: Draeger-Shiavi-Rodriguez. This triplet of kills was a “textbook” BVR offensive sweep, with the four CITGO F-15Cs (the fourth was flown by Bruce Till) picking up four MiG-23s and bouncing three (one of them returned to H-2 early in the intercept, presumably because of mechanical problems). The targets were sorted and shot at by all four F-15s at over 13 miles (Till’s AIM-7 arrived slightly after the others and thus he did not receive a kill credit).

29 Jan: Watrous. CPT Watrous was a 32nd TFG pilot detached to the 525th TFS/36th TFW during the war.

7 Feb: Parsons. COL Rick Parsons was the commander of the 33rd TFW, flying a 58th TFS aircraft on this date.

11 Feb: Dingee-McKenzie. This was a shared kill.

14 Feb: Bennett-Bakke. This was the famous laser-guided-bomb kill. The helicopter was on the ground at the time that PACKARD 41 released the GBU-10, but took off while the bomb was in flight. The WSO kept lasing the helicopter anyway, and the bomb guided straight through the rotor disc, destroying the Hughes 500 instantly. The kill was witnessed by a Special Forces team on the ground.

22 Mar: Hehemann. The PC-9 pilot ejected immediately after observing the immediately preceding Su-22 kill by ZEREX 21 During Operation Allied Force the USAF F-15’s encountered Serbian Air Force MiG-29, and the response was as always, Sure, Swift and Accurate, The following aerial victories were credited during operation Allied Force

DATE CALLSIGN UNIT PILOT AIRCRAFT SERIAL/BUNO TARGET(S) ORDNANCE

24 Mar 99 KNIFE 13 493 FS/48 FW Rodriguez F-15C 86-0169 MiG-29 AIM-120

24 Mar 99 EDGE 61 493 FS/48 FW Shower F-15C 86-0159 MiG-29 AIM-120

26 Mar 99 DIRK 21 493 FS/48 FW Hwang F-15C 86-0156 MiG-29 AIM-120

26 Mar 99 DIRK 21 493 FS/48 FW Hwang F-15C 86-0156 MiG-29 AIM-120

24 Mar: Rodriguez. This was Lt.Col. Rodriguez 3rd aerial victory having previously shot down a MiG 23 and MiG 29 during the Gulf War.

Departing on their first operational mission “Allied Force” from Cervia AB, Italy on the 24th March 1999. From left to right Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez (element Leader), Anthony “K Bob” Sweeney (Wingman), “Wild” Bill Denham (wingman), Robert “Criket”Renner (Flight Leader) 493rd Fighter Squadron Grim Reapers

Col. Jeffrey Hwang, 123rd Fighter Squadron commander and F-15 fighter pilot prepares for an afternoon training flight, Nov. 7, 2012 at the Portland Air National Guard Base, Portland, Ore. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. John Hughel, 142nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs/Released)

Col. Jeff Hwang, 142nd Fighter Wing Vice Commander, pauses on the ladder of his F-15C Eagle following his ‘Fini Flight’ with the Oregon Air National Guard, Sept. 19, 2014, Portland Air National Guard Base, Ore. Painted on the Eagle are two green stars, which were added to Hwang’s aircraft for his final flight in the Air Force, and reference the two Mikoyan MiG-29’s that he shot down over Kosovo on March 26, 1999.

Capt. Anthony Murphy, an F-15 Eagle aircraft pilot, returns to base after downing two Iraqi SU-22 aircraft during an Operation Desert Storm mission.

CAPT. Chuck “Sly”Magill was a USMC exchange pilot serving with the 58th TFS. On January 17th 1991 he shot down a MiG-29 during the opening round of Operation Desert storm (ZEREX 71)

@Skytrailerdotnl via X

[honoringthor]

Sweet basil

🌿 Ocimum basilicum

🌿 Great basil, Genovese basil, l'herbe royale, little-love, kiss-me-Nicholas, albahaca, St Joseph's wort, witches herb, njilika, balanoi, feslien, arjaka, American dittany, holy basil, the devil's plant, Tulsi, our herb, luole, garden basil, herb of kings, busuioc, feslien

🌿 General info. In the mint family, basil is native to tropical regions from central Africa to SE Asia. Most basil are cultivars of sweet basil, some of which are purple. 💜. Basil is sensitive to cold and enjoys full sun☀️ and well drained soil. Pinch off flowers so the stem doesn't get woody and it keeps growing leaves.

Basil leaves and flowers are used in food like pesto. Seeds of some varieties get gelatinous and are used in drinks and deserts in parts of Asia. It's used as folk medicine in the Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. Basil can also be an insect repellent and insecticide.

Ancient Egyptians and Greeks believed basil would open the gates to the underworld for a person passing on. Jewish lore suggests it helps with fasting. In Portugal dwarf bush basil is given in a pot with a poem and paper carnation to a sweetheart 💋 on religious holidays of John the Baptist, and St Anthony of Padua. The Greek Orthodox Church uses it to sprinkle holy water.

Basil is associated with basilisks and 🦂 scorpions. Basil was seen as an antidote to basilisk venom. In Crete putting basil on someone's window sill curses them. In Italy unmarried women would wear basil in their girdle married women wear it on their head. A man would leave a sprig of basil on the window sill of he loves because giving it directly to her would be disrespectful. Italians may give a pot of basil to a loved one. In Romania and Moldavia if a man accepts a sprig of basil from a woman he'll fall in love. ♥️

🌿 symbolism. Love💕, friendship, masculine, Mars/Jupiter fire, exorcism, wealth 🤑, flying, protection, self-love, abundance, best wishes, hatred, romance, sacred, accidents, aggression, anger, carnal desires,

🌿 Deities. Aphrodite, Venus, Ishtar, Astarte, Set, Freyja, . Do you associate basil with anyone?

🌿 How do you work with basil?

🌿💋💚

Sources.

Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs

Dietz, S. Theresa, the Complete Language of Flowers

Diaz, Juliet. Plant Witchery

Harrington, Christina Oakley. The Treadwell's Book of Plant Magic

Wikipedia Basil

[brookston]

Holidays 6.13

Holidays

Aethra Asteroid Day

Beyond the Solar System Day

City Day (Lisbon, Portugal)

Dia de Exu (Brazil)

Flag Day (Palau)

International Albinism Awareness Day (UN)

International Axe Throwing Day

International Community Association Managers Day

Inventors’ Day (Hungary)

Jason Voorhees Day

Kitchen Klutzes of America Day

LGBTQIA Equal Pay Awareness Day

Loeys-Dietz Day of Giving

Michael Jackson Vindication Day

Military Gendarmerie Day (Poland)

Miranda Day

National Albinism Awareness Day

National Chamoy Day

National Dance/Movement Therapy Advocacy Day

National Day of Abortion Storytelling Day

National Day of Productive Business Civility

National Doe B Day

National Elderflower Day

National Frances Day

National Golf Cart Day

National Jane Day

National Pigeon Day

National Productive Business Civility Day

National Random Acts of Light Day

National Weed Your Garden Day

Outdoor Marketing Day

Random Acts of Light Day

Roller Coaster Day

San Antonio Day (Ceuta, Spain)

Sewing Machine Day

613 Day (Ottawa)

613 Mitzvot Day

Suleimaniah City Fallen and Martyrs Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Swiftie Day

Tench Day (French Republic)

Weed Your Garden Day

The Wicket World of Croquet Day

World Softball Day

Yawn-a-thon

Yeats Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cupcake Day (UK)

Cupcake Lover’s Day

National Cucumber Day

Rosé Day [also 2nd Saturday]

Independence & Related Days

Princian Commonwealth (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Reform Movement Anniversary Day (Yemen)

2nd Thursday in June

National Career Nursing Assistants Day [2nd Thursday]

National Farm Workers Day [2nd Thursday]

Superman Celebration begins (Metropolis, Illinois) [2nd Thursday thru Sunday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

World Judicial Officer Day [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning June 13 (2nd Full Week)

National Hermit Week (thru 6.20)

National Nursing Assistants Week (thru 6.19)

Festivals Beginning June 13, 2024

BBQ RibFest (Fort Wayne, Indiana) [thru 6.16]

Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival (Manchester, Tennessee) [thru 6.16]

Chisholm Trail Roundup BBQ & Chili Cook-Offs (Lockhart, Texas) [thru 6.15

Chorus Inside International (Lloret de Mar, Spain) [thru 6.18]

Claw Down (Boothbay Harbor, Maine)

Gladbrook Corn Carnival (Gladbrook, Iowa) [thru 6.16]

Greenfield Festival (Interlaken, Switzerland) [thru 6.15]

Hollywood Fringe Festival (Los Angeles, California) [thru 6.30]

Indy Strawberry Festival (Indianapolis, Indiana) [thru 6.15]

Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival (Kirtland, Ohio) thru 6.15]

Lavender Bloom and Wine Event (Concho, Arizona) [thru 7.13]

Louisiana Corn Festival (Bunkie, Louisiana) [thru 6.15]

Newport Italianfest (Newport, Kentucky) [thru 6.16]

New York State Blues Festival (Syracuse, New York) [thru 6.15]

Ottawa Fringe Festival (Ottawa, Canada) [thru 6.23]

Owego Strawberry Festival (Owego, New York) [thru 6.15]

Sónar (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 6.15]

Springfield Fair (Springfield, Maine) [thru 6.16]

Taste of the Vineyard (Edgartown, Massachusetts) [thru 6.15]

Telluride Food + Vine (Telluride, Colorado) [thru 6.16]

Tour of America's Dairyland (Muliple locations, Wisconsin) [thru 6.23]

US Open Golf Championship (thru 6.16)

Feast Days

Annie Sprinkle Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church (Christian; Saint) [Portugal]

Aquilina (Christian; Saint)

Audrey Niffenegger (Writerism)

Balor (Celtic Book of Days)

Bricket Wood Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Buddha's Parinirvana (Bhutan)

Cetteus (Peregrinus; Christian; Saint)

Damhnade of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Day of the Living Children of Nut (Ancient Egypt)

Dorothy L. Sayers(Writerism)

Feast of Epona (Celtic; Pagan)

Felicula (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Jupiter Invictus (Jupiter the Unconquered)

First-in-Line and Queue-Jumping Tournament (Shamanism)

G. K. Chesterton (Episcopal Church (USA))

Gerard of Clairvaux (Christian; Saint)

Gin Day (Pastafarian)

Gotthard Graubner (Artology)

Green Day (Pastafarian)

Ides of June (Ancient Rome)

Leon Chwistek (Artology)

Psalmodius (Christian; Saint)

Quinquatrus Minusculae (Old Roman Festival to Minerva)

Ragnebert (a.k.a. Rambert; Christian; Saint)

Ralph McQuarrie (Artology)

The Spaniel (Muppetism)

St. Theresa (Positivist; Saint)

Thomas Woodhouse (Christian; Blessed)

Triphyllius (Christian; Saint)

William Butler Yeats (Writerism)

Hebrew Calendar Holidays [Begins at Sundown Day Before]

Shavuot ends (Judaism) [7 Sivan] (a.k.a. …

Feast of the Harvest

Feast of Weeks

Festival of Weeks

First-Fruit festival

Wheat Harvest

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Water Husband Name Day (Young Women fill their mouth with water and didn’t let it out until they heard a man’s name. That name would be the name of their future husband; Portugal)

Premieres

The Apocalypse Watch, by Robert Ludlum (Novel; 1995)

Back to School (Film; 1986)

Backwoods Bunny (WB LT Cartoon; 1959)

BrainDead (TV Series; 2016)

Cherche Le Phantom (The Inspector Cartoon; 1968)

Day of Infamy, by Walter Lord (History Book; 1957)

The Disillusioned Bluebird (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1944)

Faith and Courage, by Sinead O’Connor (Album; 2000)

Forever Your Girl, by Paula Abdul (Album; 1988)

The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett (Novel; 1961)

Hercules (Animated Disney Film; 1997)

Horsefly Opera (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Animated Film; 2014)

I’ll Be Skiing Ya (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1947)

The Incredible Hulk (Film; 2008)

Jagged Little Pill, by Alan’s Morrisette (Album; 1995)

Jet Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (Film; 1949)

Les Noces, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet; 1923)

Lolita (Film; 1962)

Make It With You, by Bread (Song; 1970)

Mona Lisa (Film; 1986)

Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny (Novel; 1970)

Olive’s Boithday Presink (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)

The Omen, by David Seltzer (Novel; 1976)

Pat and Mike (Film; 1952)

Petrushka, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet; 1911)

Post, by Björk (Album; 1995)

The Price of Salt, by Claire Morgan (Novel; 1952)

The Prince and the Showgirl (Film; 1957)

Prozac Nation (Film; 2003)

Roadie (Film; 1980)

Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin (Serialized Novel; 1978)

Texas Flood, by Stevie Ray Vaughan (Album; 1983)

22 Jump Street (Film; 2014)

…Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble, by Uriah Heel (Album; 1970)

Vida La Vida, by Coldplay (Song; 2008)

The Washout Chronicle, by John Cheever (Novel; 1957)

Wholly Moses (Film; 1980)

The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman (Economics Book; 2005)

Yodeling Yokels (WB LT Cartoon; 1931)

You Only Live Twice (US Film; 1967) [James Bond #5]

Today’s Name Days

Antonius, Bernhard (Austria)

Antonija, Antun, Toni (Croatia)

Antonín (Czech Republic)

Cyrillus (Denmark)

Monika, Mooni, Moonika (Estonia)

Raila, Raili (Finland)

Antoine (France)

Anton, Antonius, Bernhard (Germany)

Trifilios (Greece)

Anett, Antal (Hungary)

Alice, Antonio (Italy)

Ainārs, Tautvaldis, Tobijs, Uva, Zigfrīds, Zigrids (Latvia)

Akvilina, Antanas, Kunotas, Skalvė (Lithuania)

Tanja, Tone, Tonje (Norway)

Antoni, Chociemir, Herman, Lucjan, Maria Magdalena, Tobiasz (Poland)

Achilina (România)

Anton (Slovakia)

Antonio (Spain)

Aina, Aino (Sweden)

Kalyna (Ukraine)

Ivey, Ivy, Lara, Larissa (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 165 of 2024; 201 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 24 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 5 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 8 (Wu-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 7 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 6 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 15 Blue; Oneday [15 of 30]

Julian: 31 May 2024

Moon: 50%: 1st Quarter

Positivist: 24 St. Paul (6th Month) [St. Theresa]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 87 of 92)

Week: 2nd Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 24 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.13

Holidays

Aethra Asteroid Day

Beyond the Solar System Day

City Day (Lisbon, Portugal)

Dia de Exu (Brazil)

Flag Day (Palau)

International Albinism Awareness Day (UN)

International Axe Throwing Day

International Community Association Managers Day

Inventors’ Day (Hungary)

Jason Voorhees Day

Kitchen Klutzes of America Day

LGBTQIA Equal Pay Awareness Day

Loeys-Dietz Day of Giving

Michael Jackson Vindication Day

Military Gendarmerie Day (Poland)

Miranda Day

National Albinism Awareness Day

National Chamoy Day

National Dance/Movement Therapy Advocacy Day

National Day of Abortion Storytelling Day

National Day of Productive Business Civility

National Doe B Day

National Elderflower Day

National Frances Day

National Golf Cart Day

National Jane Day

National Pigeon Day

National Productive Business Civility Day

National Random Acts of Light Day

National Weed Your Garden Day

Outdoor Marketing Day

Random Acts of Light Day

Roller Coaster Day

San Antonio Day (Ceuta, Spain)

Sewing Machine Day

613 Day (Ottawa)

613 Mitzvot Day

Suleimaniah City Fallen and Martyrs Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Swiftie Day

Tench Day (French Republic)

Weed Your Garden Day

The Wicket World of Croquet Day

World Softball Day

Yawn-a-thon

Yeats Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cupcake Day (UK)

Cupcake Lover’s Day

National Cucumber Day

Rosé Day [also 2nd Saturday]

Independence & Related Days

Princian Commonwealth (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Reform Movement Anniversary Day (Yemen)

2nd Thursday in June

National Career Nursing Assistants Day [2nd Thursday]

National Farm Workers Day [2nd Thursday]

Superman Celebration begins (Metropolis, Illinois) [2nd Thursday thru Sunday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

World Judicial Officer Day [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning June 13 (2nd Full Week)

National Hermit Week (thru 6.20)

National Nursing Assistants Week (thru 6.19)

Festivals Beginning June 13, 2024

BBQ RibFest (Fort Wayne, Indiana) [thru 6.16]

Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival (Manchester, Tennessee) [thru 6.16]

Chisholm Trail Roundup BBQ & Chili Cook-Offs (Lockhart, Texas) [thru 6.15

Chorus Inside International (Lloret de Mar, Spain) [thru 6.18]

Claw Down (Boothbay Harbor, Maine)

Gladbrook Corn Carnival (Gladbrook, Iowa) [thru 6.16]

Greenfield Festival (Interlaken, Switzerland) [thru 6.15]

Hollywood Fringe Festival (Los Angeles, California) [thru 6.30]

Indy Strawberry Festival (Indianapolis, Indiana) [thru 6.15]

Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival (Kirtland, Ohio) thru 6.15]

Lavender Bloom and Wine Event (Concho, Arizona) [thru 7.13]

Louisiana Corn Festival (Bunkie, Louisiana) [thru 6.15]

Newport Italianfest (Newport, Kentucky) [thru 6.16]

New York State Blues Festival (Syracuse, New York) [thru 6.15]

Ottawa Fringe Festival (Ottawa, Canada) [thru 6.23]

Owego Strawberry Festival (Owego, New York) [thru 6.15]

Sónar (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 6.15]

Springfield Fair (Springfield, Maine) [thru 6.16]

Taste of the Vineyard (Edgartown, Massachusetts) [thru 6.15]

Telluride Food + Vine (Telluride, Colorado) [thru 6.16]

Tour of America's Dairyland (Muliple locations, Wisconsin) [thru 6.23]

US Open Golf Championship (thru 6.16)

Feast Days

Annie Sprinkle Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church (Christian; Saint) [Portugal]

Aquilina (Christian; Saint)

Audrey Niffenegger (Writerism)

Balor (Celtic Book of Days)

Bricket Wood Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Buddha's Parinirvana (Bhutan)

Cetteus (Peregrinus; Christian; Saint)

Damhnade of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Day of the Living Children of Nut (Ancient Egypt)

Dorothy L. Sayers(Writerism)

Feast of Epona (Celtic; Pagan)

Felicula (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Jupiter Invictus (Jupiter the Unconquered)

First-in-Line and Queue-Jumping Tournament (Shamanism)

G. K. Chesterton (Episcopal Church (USA))

Gerard of Clairvaux (Christian; Saint)

Gin Day (Pastafarian)

Gotthard Graubner (Artology)

Green Day (Pastafarian)

Ides of June (Ancient Rome)

Leon Chwistek (Artology)

Psalmodius (Christian; Saint)

Quinquatrus Minusculae (Old Roman Festival to Minerva)

Ragnebert (a.k.a. Rambert; Christian; Saint)

Ralph McQuarrie (Artology)

The Spaniel (Muppetism)

St. Theresa (Positivist; Saint)

Thomas Woodhouse (Christian; Blessed)

Triphyllius (Christian; Saint)

William Butler Yeats (Writerism)

Hebrew Calendar Holidays [Begins at Sundown Day Before]

Shavuot ends (Judaism) [7 Sivan] (a.k.a. …

Feast of the Harvest

Feast of Weeks

Festival of Weeks

First-Fruit festival

Wheat Harvest

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Water Husband Name Day (Young Women fill their mouth with water and didn’t let it out until they heard a man’s name. That name would be the name of their future husband; Portugal)

Premieres

The Apocalypse Watch, by Robert Ludlum (Novel; 1995)

Back to School (Film; 1986)

Backwoods Bunny (WB LT Cartoon; 1959)

BrainDead (TV Series; 2016)

Cherche Le Phantom (The Inspector Cartoon; 1968)

Day of Infamy, by Walter Lord (History Book; 1957)

The Disillusioned Bluebird (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1944)

Faith and Courage, by Sinead O’Connor (Album; 2000)

Forever Your Girl, by Paula Abdul (Album; 1988)

The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett (Novel; 1961)

Hercules (Animated Disney Film; 1997)

Horsefly Opera (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Animated Film; 2014)

I’ll Be Skiing Ya (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1947)

The Incredible Hulk (Film; 2008)

Jagged Little Pill, by Alan’s Morrisette (Album; 1995)

Jet Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (Film; 1949)

Les Noces, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet; 1923)

Lolita (Film; 1962)

Make It With You, by Bread (Song; 1970)

Mona Lisa (Film; 1986)

Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny (Novel; 1970)

Olive’s Boithday Presink (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)

The Omen, by David Seltzer (Novel; 1976)

Pat and Mike (Film; 1952)

Petrushka, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet; 1911)

Post, by Björk (Album; 1995)

The Price of Salt, by Claire Morgan (Novel; 1952)

The Prince and the Showgirl (Film; 1957)

Prozac Nation (Film; 2003)

Roadie (Film; 1980)

Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin (Serialized Novel; 1978)

Texas Flood, by Stevie Ray Vaughan (Album; 1983)

22 Jump Street (Film; 2014)

…Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble, by Uriah Heel (Album; 1970)

Vida La Vida, by Coldplay (Song; 2008)

The Washout Chronicle, by John Cheever (Novel; 1957)

Wholly Moses (Film; 1980)

The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman (Economics Book; 2005)

Yodeling Yokels (WB LT Cartoon; 1931)

You Only Live Twice (US Film; 1967) [James Bond #5]

Today’s Name Days

Antonius, Bernhard (Austria)

Antonija, Antun, Toni (Croatia)

Antonín (Czech Republic)

Cyrillus (Denmark)

Monika, Mooni, Moonika (Estonia)

Raila, Raili (Finland)

Antoine (France)

Anton, Antonius, Bernhard (Germany)

Trifilios (Greece)

Anett, Antal (Hungary)

Alice, Antonio (Italy)

Ainārs, Tautvaldis, Tobijs, Uva, Zigfrīds, Zigrids (Latvia)

Akvilina, Antanas, Kunotas, Skalvė (Lithuania)

Tanja, Tone, Tonje (Norway)

Antoni, Chociemir, Herman, Lucjan, Maria Magdalena, Tobiasz (Poland)

Achilina (România)

Anton (Slovakia)

Antonio (Spain)

Aina, Aino (Sweden)

Kalyna (Ukraine)

Ivey, Ivy, Lara, Larissa (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 165 of 2024; 201 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 24 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 5 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 8 (Wu-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 7 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 6 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 15 Blue; Oneday [15 of 30]

Julian: 31 May 2024

Moon: 50%: 1st Quarter

Positivist: 24 St. Paul (6th Month) [St. Theresa]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 87 of 92)

Week: 2nd Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 24 of 31)

[nerds-in-wonderland]

👾🌈LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi Books🌈👾

THE LIGHT BRIGADE

By: Kameron Hurley

"The Light Brigade: it’s what soldiers fighting the war against Mars call the ones who come back…different. Grunts in the corporate corps get busted down into light to travel to and from interplanetary battlefronts. Everyone is changed by what the corps must do in order to break them down into light. Those who survive learn to stick to the mission brief—no matter what actually happens during combat.

Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don’t sync up with the platoon’s. And Dietz’s bad drops tell a story of the war that’s not at all what the corporate brass want the soldiers to think is going on.

Is Dietz really experiencing the war differently, or is it combat madness? Trying to untangle memory from mission brief and survive with sanity intact, Dietz is ready to become a hero—or maybe a villain; in war it’s hard to tell the difference."

~☕Alice🌈🌌

[sapphicbookoftheday]

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Today's sapphic book of the day is The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley!

Summary: "The Light Brigade: it’s what soldiers fighting the war against Mars call the ones who come back…different. Grunts in the corporate corps get busted down into light to travel to and from interplanetary battlefronts. Everyone is changed by what the corps must do in order to break them down into light. Those who survive learn to stick to the mission brief—no matter what actually happens during combat.

Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don’t sync up with the platoon’s. And Dietz’s bad drops tell a story of the war that’s not at all what the corporate brass want the soldiers to think is going on.

Is Dietz really experiencing the war differently, or is it combat madness? Trying to untangle memory from mission brief and survive with sanity intact, Dietz is ready to become a hero—or maybe a villain; in war it’s hard to tell the difference."

[maki-matsurra]

Well guys, I did a thing.

I have contrasted a whole Baffy playlist for you guys.

I have to admit, I a d o r e Baffy. I really do, like… how could anyone not?

So it is with that adoration, that I made this playlist down below, now go create a Spotify/Apple Music playlist with these songs!

I DO NOT OWN THE ART! THIS LOVELY PIECE WAS DONE BY @dead-outside! GO GIVE THEM ALL THE LOVE PLEASE!

Baffy Playlist

1. My Guy - Leon Bridges

2. True Love - P!nk feat. Lily Allen

3. My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

4. Marvin Gaye - Charlie Puth feat. Meghan Trainor

5. Animal (Glee Cast Version) - Glee Cast

6. American Boy (Glee Cast Version) - Glee Cast

7. Clarity - Zedd feat. Foxes

8. Cut to the Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

9. A Friend Like You - Andy Grammer

10. Just a Dream - Kurt Hugo Schneider, Christina Grimmie & Sam Tsui

11. Rock N Roll - Avril Lavigne

12. You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile - Sia

13. Hot Air Balloon - Owl City

14. The Masochism Tango - Tom Lehrer

15. Taking Chances (Glee Cast Version) - Glee Cast

16. A Thousand Years (Glee Cast Version) - Glee Cast

17. Zurui yo Magnetic today - Maki Nishikino (CV. Pile), Nico Yazawa (CV. Tokui Sora)

18. No Matter What (feat. Zach Callison & Michaela Dietz) - Steven Universe

19. Can’t Help Falling in Love - Annapantsu

20. Shut Up and Dance - WALK THE MOON

21. Sincerely, Me - Mike Faist, Ben Platt & Will Roland

22. Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars

23. All About Us (feat. Owl City) - He Is We

24. Kiss and Make Up - Dua Lipa & BLACKPINK

25. Love Story - Taylor Swift

26. Good Girl - Carrie Underwood

[hexflowers]

unlovable !! 💢

🌹 a mm!kaede ( @dissonantdespair​ ) playlist 🌹

“ i'm not a cult leader, i'm more of an 𝖎𝖉𝖔𝖑. ”

Boss Bitch - Doja Cat

COPYCAT - Billie Eilish

World Is Mine - Hatsune Miku

Étude in E Major - Frédéric Chopin

Hopelessly Devoted To You - From "Grease" - Olivia Newton-John

Gorgeous - Taylor Swift

Deal with the devil - Tia

Moonlight Sonata (3rd Movement) - Ludwig van Beethoven

Daisy - Ashnikko

all the good girls go to hell - Billie Eilish

When I Rule the World - LIZ

Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy

SugarCrash! - ElyOtto

Line Without a Hook - Ricky Montgomery

Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift

Rät - Penelope Scott

Hayloft - Mother Mother

Using You - Mars Argo

Heart Attack (츄) - LOONA

Producer Man - Lyn Lapid

Burning Pile - Mother Mother

Lemons - DEMO - Brye

My Ordinary Life - The Living Tombstone

Animal - Sir Chloe

Coffee - Jack Stauber

Not Your Seed - The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals

~ May Edit ~

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (From "Ponyo") [Piano Version] - Streaming Music Studios

Don’t Lose Ur Head - Six, Christina Modestou

Villain - Stella Jang

All Eyes on Me - Or3o

Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother

despair - leo.

Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

Replay - Lady Gaga

VILLAIN - K/DA, Madison Beer, Kim Petras, League of Legends

Goes Like (Do Do Do) - Eva Grace

Bloody Mary - Lady Gaga

Rebels - Call Me Karizma

Dead Girl Walking (Reprise) - Heathers the Musical

Build a Bitch - Bella Poarch

Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise) - Mean Girls the Musical

Trust Me Not (Hero and Villain Duet) - Backseat Vagabond

I Can’t Decide - Scissor Sisters

Disobedient - Kate Micucci, Michaela Dietz

🧨 this post may be updated in the future 🧨

[st-just]

Semi-coherent Thoughts on The Light Brigade

So, last Hugo nominee of 2020 finally done, and less than a month behind schedule. Well, since the end of the year. Maybe at some point I’ll actually read all of them early enough that I’d be able to give an informed vote, but that’s still a distant dream. But anyway – really quite excellent book, if occasionally somewhat didactic. I’d say that it wears its influences on its sleeve, but truthfully I might just be seeing Starship Troopers because that’s the only exposure I’ve had to the entire genre in, like, a decade. I’d say the heavy emphasis on the fog of war and the literal break in reality between life at the barracks and on mission seemed vaguely reminiscent of Catch 22, but if I’ve never actually read Catch 22, so decent chance I’m just talking out of my ass on that.

I’d say this is the first bit of milSF I’ve read in a long while, but I’m honest not sure it counts as part of the genre – for all that it’s entirely about a soldier living through a war, the actual action scenes feel more or less incidental. Or, well, that’s not quite right – they matter, but more insofar as they traumatize and disillusion our protagonist and kill their friends and squadmates, less so for being cool or fun or thrilling or cathartic.

Maybe it’s just because the last fiction I’ve read is a multi-volume, thousand page fantasy series, but I was really quite impressed with how tight and disciplined the pacing was, for all that significant chunks of the plot were spent mired in hopeless ignorance and routine. Honestly I think the whole thing would actually translate really well as a movie? Well, I suppose the necessity of actually visualizing all the badass scifi supersoldier stuff might undermine the message a bit in a Truffat-was-Right sort of way (I have no idea if Truffat ever actually said it was impossible to make an anti-war film, but you know what I mean.) And I suppose there’s no way the politics survive the transition – all the explicit uses of ‘fascism’ and ‘socialism’ would be scrubbed at the very least. And Dietz would probably end up either being straight or a guy. And – you know what, forget I said anything.

But in terms of plot, I really did enjoy it. Hurley did a great job of getting into Dietz’s head and making it compelling and believable without really making it a pleasant place to be or ever really letting you forget that she’s a faceless war-crime-committing, protester-slaughtering stormtrooper working for a fascist corporate state. The gradual reveals about just how monstrous and self-destructive the corps are are all quite well done, but it was still pretty obvious from chapter 1 that this is a war with a clear good and evil side, and our protagonist is working for the baddies. Like, simultaneously the oppressive megacorps in your standard cyberpunk setting and the ‘powers of Old Earth that eventually obliterated each other in their greed and hubris’ in the backstory of some utopian space opera.

Though for all that, I did quite like that the Corps weren’t just evil. It’s a problem with some other SF&F I really quite like, where the governing empire is so self-evidently evil that the author’s unable to really convincingly portray the sort of people who buy into it. Hurley manages that quite well, I think.

Actually, Dietz’s gender is probably worth mentioning. Like, there’s something of a storied tradition of genre fic leaving the protagonist’s gender ambiguous and then making it some big reveal in the third act, and I think that might be what Hurley was going for, here. But on the other hand, her first name being Gina is just kind of dropped there at the very end, and it doesn’t really seem to be played for any sort of reaction. Honestly it’s totally possible I was just reading too fast and missed it being mentioned offhand in the first chapter, to be totally fair.

I’ve mentioned the book being didactic a few times, and I suppose that’s not really entirely fair. I actually really did enjoy the interludes between the future-self-defector-to-Mars Dietz and Norbert. It’s genuinely kind of novel to hear a character in a book use words like ‘fascist’ and ‘communist’ and ‘socialist’ seriously and intelligently and get portrayed as basically right. Feels weird. Though okay, that said, the last few pages where the narration basically turns into a monologue directed at the reader objectively are pretty didactic. I mean, I basically agree with Hurley and they’re well written, so won’t complain too hard, but still.

But anyway, yeah, good book, would recommend.

[honoringthor]

☘️ plant allies- American Pokeweed ☠️

Phytolacca americana

Aka. Dragonberry, poke, poke sallet, inkberry, Virginia poke, pokeberry, redweed, red ink plant, chuixù shãnglù, shang lu, florist lu, wild rouge, white chicken leg, poke salad, puccoon, pocan, poughkone, coakum, cocan, crowberry, target, ombú, pigeon berry, pircunia, pocan, pokebush, scoke...

General info. This perennial is native to the eastern United States. Introduced elsewhere. They are also considered a pest by farmers. They get 4-10 ft tall(1-3 meters) and grow in disturbed areas and forest clearings. Birds enjoy them, mammals do not (usually). The taproot is the most toxic part of the plant. They're grown as ornamental plants, traditional medicine, food, and dye. YOUNG, Properly cooked Pokeweed is edible. They were once canned and sold. They were also used to treat skin diseases and rheumatism.

The "poke" in their name is a corruption of "puccoon, pocan, poughkone" Algonquin words for the plant.

Symbolism. Courage, break hexes. Masculine, mars, fire. 🔥

What does it mean to you?

Sources.

Wikipedia Phytolacca americana

Complete language of Flowers by S. Theresa Dietz

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham

[my-lady-knight]

Favorite Reads of 2020

I take back everything I said last year about how 2019 was a comparatively bad reading year for me. 2020 was even worse. I only read 48 books, I could barely focus on reading even when I did find a book I liked, and, just like last year, I ended up with fewer favorites than usual. Starting in August I’ve been having trouble reading any written media that isn’t TOG fic. And some of my eagerly awaited releases by favorite authors ended up being disappointments (Deeplight by Frances Hardinge and Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee).

2020—the year that keeps on giving.

I sincerely hope 2021 will be a better year in all respects, including my reading habits, but, as with everything else, who knows.

Regardless, here’s my list of favorite reads of 2020, in chronological order of when I read them:

Network Effect by Martha Wells

I’d read the first four Murderbot Diaries novellas when they first came out and enjoyed them, but I didn’t fall head-over-heels in love with them. Maybe because they were novellas, and too short to get fully invested? Possibly. As it turns out, Network Effect is the novel-length fifth entry in the Murderbot Diaries that turned me into full-on squeeing fan—SecUnit, aka Murderbot, continues to be its delightfully acerbic, antisocial self, SPOILER makes another appearance and oh how I’d missed this character, the supporting cast is fun and endearing, and the novel-length story means there’s time and space for the brand-new corporate espionage/colonization/alien civilization murder mystery to unfold and spread its wings. (Sounds like a Sanctuary Moon plot tbh). SecUnit is possibly my favorite non-human fictional character atm, and I am now fully on-board for every and any new story in the series.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

When I first heard about this book and read the words “time travel romance”, I immediately went, “Nope, not gonna read.” I don’t like reading time travel stories, and honestly, I was imagining it to be something like The Time Traveler’s Wife, which granted I haven’t read but also sounds like it’d be the opposite of my cup of tea. 

And then I went to a reading where Amal and Max took turns reading chapters – letters written by Red and Blue, enemy agents who repeatedly taunt and thwart the other’s plans to ensure their side is the one to win the time war and who can’t resist smugly outlining just how they’re staying one step ahead of the other – and the prose was witty and gorgeous and clever and intricate, and Red and Blue were snarky and arrogant and talented and fun. I had to read it. And I ended up loving it, this enemies-to-lovers story that is a meld of fantasy and science fiction such that they’re indistinguishable from the other, where the past is as equally fantastical and alien and imaginary as the future, where Red and Blue’s power play transforms into something different and scarier and more intimate than either of them imagined. 

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers has done it again, writing a gentle, hopeful story about humans working together out of a share a love and fascination for scientific exploration and wonder for all the possibilities the entirety of space can hold. With the advent of both space travel and technology that alters human physiology to allow them to survive otherwise inhospitable environments, a team of four astronauts and scientists have embarked on a mission to ecologically survey four distant planets and the life forms that inhabit them, from the microscopic to the multicellular—not to conquer, but to record and to learn and to share the gathered knowledge with the rest of Earth. In the meantime, lightyears away, Earth is going through decades without them, and the four of them must also contend with a planet that may have forgotten their existence—or that’s abandoned the entire space and scientific exploration program.

Reading Becky Chambers is the literary equivalent of sitting down with a warm mug of my favorite tea on a bad day – I always feel better at the end and like I can imagine a future where humanity does all the wonderful things we’re capable of doing.

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

I started reading this book right as NYC was gearing up to go into lockdown, which should have made this a terrible choice to continue reading since part of the premise is that a combo of multiple stochastic terror attacks and a brand-new, deadly plague upend the world as everyone knows it by causing the U.S. to pass laws that keep people physically apart in public for their own safety and make concerts, theatre, and any other kind of artistic gathering obsolete.

But that’s largely just the set-up, and the real story is that of Luce Cannon, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter who played the last major concert in the before times who twenty years later performs in illegal underground concerts, and Rosemary, a younger music-lover who’s only lived in the after-times, and who’s taken a new job scouting out talent to add to the premier virtual entertainment company’s roster of simulated concerts.

It’s a love letter to live music and what it feels like to connect and build community via music in unusual and strange and scary times, the energy involved in making music for yourself, for an audience, exploring the world around you, imagining and advocating for a better tomorrow, and embracing the fear, the possibility, and the power of change, both good and bad. This was the book I needed to read at the beginning of the pandemic, and I’m thankful I ended up doing so.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 edited by John Joseph Adams and Carmen Maria Machado

When I end up loving half of the stories in an anthology and greatly enjoying all but two of the rest, that’s the equivalent of a literary blue moon for me. My favorites included the following;

"Pitcher Plant" by Adam-Troy Castro

"Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women" by Theodore McCombs

"Variations on a Theme from Turandot" by Ada Hoffmann

"Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" by LaShawn M. Wanak

"The Kite Maker" by Brenda Peynado

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark

"Dead Air" by Nino Cipri

"Skinned" by Lesley Nneka Arimah

"Godmeat" by Martin Cahill

"On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog" by Adam R. Shannon

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

No one is more surprised than me that Harrow is on this list, given that I am one of approximately three people in the universe who did not unequivocally love Gideon the Ninth. 

And yet the sequel worked for me. 

Maybe because this time I already knew and was used to the way the world and the Houses worked, and I knew to not take anything I read for granted because I could be guaranteed to have the rug pulled out from under me without even realizing. Maybe Harrow’s countdown/amnesia mystery worked better for me than Gideon’s locked room mystery. Maybe the cast of characters was more manageable and fewer of them were getting murdered left and right before I got a chance to get used to them (and some of them even came back!) Maybe it’s that Harrow blew open the potential and possibilities Gideon hinted at and capitalized on just how fucking weird and mind-blowing the whole premise is in a way that felt incredibly and viscerally satisfying.

Also SPOILER happens three-quarters of the way through. That was pretty fucking awesome.

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djélí Clark is a master of melding history and fantasy in ways that are in turn imaginative and clever (his fantastical alternate-history, early 20th-century Egyptian novel A Master of Djinn is one of the books I’m most looking forward to in 2021), while also using fantasy to be frank and incisive about the history of American antiblack racism (as in the above linked story in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019). Ring Shout combines the late-nineteenth and early 20th-century history of the rise and normalization of the KKK with Lovecraftian supernatural horror, in which the release of The Birth of a Nation summoned literal monsters (called Ku Kluxes) that became part of the KKK’s ranks. Maryse Boudreaux is a Black woman who’s part of a grassroots organization hunting both the monsters and the human members in order to keep the Klan at bay. However, there’s soon to be another summoning ritual atop Stone Mountain that will unleash even more Ku Kluxes into the world, and Maryse and her friends are running out of time to prevent it from happening.

Maryse is a fantastic character, as are her two friends—brash, unapologetic Sadie and WWI veteran, weapons expert Chef—her mentor and leader of the Ring Shout group Nana Jean, and all the other members of the group who work and fight together as a team and a family. Maryse’s past and the journey she goes on in the book to uncover the truth and stop the summoning is harrowing and heart-stopping, the supernatural elements are both horrific in and of themselves while also undergirding the real-life horror of the KKK and the hatred they engender. It’s smart, it’s fun, it’s eye-opening, and it’s also being turned into a TV show starring KiKi Layne. It’s really, really good.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

“Stick to the brief.” This is the maxim given to Dietz and all the other soldiers who join the war against Mars, where soldiers are broken down into light to travel to and from their assigned battlefields instantaneously. Only Dietz isn’t experiencing the jumps like everyone else – Dietz, like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five, has become unstuck in time and is experiencing all the battles in the mission briefs out of chronological order, to the point that Dietz starts to build a picture of a war and a reality that’s been sold to Dietz and everyone else on Earth as pure fiction. 

I’ve always appreciated Kameron Hurley’s stories, but this is the first book where she fully succeeded at writing the book she set out to write—it’s fast-paced science fiction thriller in the form of a loaded gun that takes brutal aim at late-stage capitalism, modern military warfare and the dehumanization of everyone involved on all sides, the greed of ungovernable governing corporations, nationalistic and military propaganda, the mythology of citizenship and inalienable rights, and it’s viscerally bloody and violent without being grotesque in the way all of Kameron Hurley’s books are. Especially important for me, I loved that Dietz went through the entire book not being gendered in any way, shape, or form (those last five pages didn’t exist, what are you talking about), and I love in general that Kameron Hurley is committed to writing non-male characters who aren’t less violent or fucked-up or morally superior to men just because they’re not men.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Middle grade is a hard sell for me these days, as are books in verse, and I wouldn’t have known this book existed if it weren’t for the Ignyte Award nomination list earlier this year. As it turns out, this book, the story of Jude, a pre-teen girl who wants to be an actress who leaves Syria and the encroaching civil war with her mom to go live in the U.S. with her uncle and his white wife and their daughter while her dad and older brother stay behind, is full of beauty, curiosity, humor, confusion, grief, pain, and joy, and the poetic prose is both lyrical, nuanced, and perfectly fitted to Jude’s voice. I devoured this book in one day, which is the quickest amount of time it took me to read any book this year, including novellas.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

The first book Darius the Great Is Not Okay was one of my favorite books in 2018, and I’m ecstatic that the sequel is equally as amazing.

It’s been approximately half a year since Darius went to Iran, met his maternal grandparents in person for the first time, and found his best friend in Sohrab, and in that time he’s come out as gay, joined the soccer team, got an internship at his favorite tea shop, and started dating for the first time. Darius is also working through some things though—when and if he wants to have sex with his boyfriend, his grandfather’s worsening illness, his dad’s recent depressive episode, his emotionally distant paternal grandmothers on his coming for an extended stay, the fact that he’s getting to know and growing closer with one of his teammates who’s best friends with Darius’s years-long bully, and a bunch else. 

Darius the Great Deserves Better has the same tender and vulnerable emotional intimacy as the first book, more conversations over tea, new instances involving the mortifying ordeal of being a cis guy with a penis, even more Star Trek metaphors, and so much growth for Darius as he works through a lot of hard situations and feelings, and strengthens his relationships with all of the people in his life he loves and cares about. I can’t think of any other book that’s like these two books, and I love and treasure them dearly.

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

I had zero awareness of this book until a bunch of SFF authors started praising it on Twitter a couple months before the release date, and I was intrigued enough to get a copy from the library. I loved this book. I happened to be reading it right at the time of the presidential election, and it phenomenally served the purpose of desperately-needed distraction from the agony of waiting out the ballot counts.

It’s book about the power behind borders, citizenship, exploitation, and imperialism, set in a late-late-stage capitalist future, in which a prodigy invented the means to access and travel to slightly divergent parallel universes to grab resources and data – but only if the other universe’s version of “you” isn’t there. It’s the story of a woman named Cara – poor, brown, born in the wastelands outside the shelter, security, and citizenship privileges of Wiley City – who’s comfortably employed to travel to all the parallel worlds no one else can visit, because all her counterparts in those worlds are dead from one of the myriad ways Cara herself could have died growing up. It’s the story of Cara traversing the muddied boundaries between her old life and her new one, the similarities and differences between her own life and that of her counterparts, as well as the figures of power who defined and shaped her and her counterparts’ existences, and solving a mystery involving the unexplained deaths of several of her counterparts and the man who invented multiverse technology.

It’s a story of the permeability of selfhood and self-determination, and complexity of power dynamics of all kinds – interpersonal, familial, collegial, intimate – and the interplay between violence and stability and identity, and how one can be both powerful and powerless in the same dynamic. It’s a story with literary sensibilities that is unequivocally science fiction, written with laser-precise prose that flays Cara open and puts her back together again.

I worry this description makes this book sound dry and removed when reading this book made me feel like I was coming alive every time I delved back into it. This is a book I cannot wait to reread again to experience the brilliance and skill and thoughtfulness and emotion of Micaiah Johnson’s writing. I have no clue what, if anything, she’s writing next, but I have a new favorite author.

Honorable Mentions

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Stormsong by C. L. Polk

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I feel bad putting it here and not in the first list – it is undeniably a modern classic and a brilliantly crafted book! But I had zero interest in any of the Italy chapters, and I found the way he finally figured out how to access fairy magic by essentially making himself mad to be both disappointing and narratively unsatisfying.)

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

For my yearly stats on books written by POC authors, in 2020 I read a total of 24 books (one of which was co-authored by a white author), which is fewer than last year (30). However, because I also read fewer books this year overall, this is the first year ever that I achieved exactly 50-50 parity between books written by POC and white authors. I honestly wasn’t expecting this to happen, as I stopped paying deliberate attention somewhere around April or May. Looking over my Goodreads, the month of September ended up doing a lot of heavy lifting, since that’s when I read several books by POC authors in a row for the Ignyte Award nomination period. But also, it does look like the five or so years of purposefully aiming for 50-50 parity have materially affected my reading habits, by which I mean even when I’m not keeping my year’s count in mind, I’m still more likely to pick up a book by a POC author than I was five years ago when I had never kept track at all. My goal for next year is to once again achieve 50-50 parity and to not backslide.

[projektraumimkunstwerk]

Escapadism

Isabel Lewis with Kevin Bonono, Mars Dietz, and Justin Kennedy Digital event via zoom May 7, 2 - 4 pm CET

On the occasion of the project Вокзал для двоих. Bahnhof für zwei Isabel Lewis creates a digital jam session as a reflection on the temporalities of escape and fugitivity as well as the relationality of freedom with long term collaborators Mars Dietz and Justin Kennedy with whom she created Bodysnatch, the Tuesday night party with a 2€ cover that happened at Kottbusser Tor’s Monarch nightclub as well as Kevin Bonono who has created and performed roles in multiple works of Lewis‘s such as Expanded Viewing (Garden of Earthly Delights), 2019 and Scalable Skeletal Escalator, 2020. Performing live via zoom from NYC, Dietz will generate sounds while Kennedy will perform outdoors from the Virgin Islands, and Bonono and Lewis will dance and perform sounds from Lewis‘s Berlin studio.

With the support of Callie’s, Berlin

Image: Dirk Bell