#Rebecca Rees

[90smovies]

[sarahreesbrennan]

pick a cover, any cover! (These covers.)

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Would you like to pick my German cover? I’m so thrilled LONG LIVE EVIL will be published in Germany after a pre-empt by DTV, who called my fantasy about for-real loving favourite characters and becoming villains ‘unique and exceptional.’ My wonderful editor Julia Kniep made me cry saying I’m one of her favourite writers. It’s a dream as DTV publishes such superstar fantasy writers as Tracy Wolff, Tolkien(!! No big deal though), Sarah J. Maas & maybe the MOST beautiful special editions of the fabulous Rebecca Yarros ever. So should the German cover of LONG LIVE EVIL be in classic purple like the US & UK (vote with a 💜) glamorous gold like the Irish special edition (vote with a 💛) or a whole new exciting graffiti style font like the wicked rock stars we are (vote with a 🖤). Please vote your favourite over at DTV’s Instagram as part of the #leipzigbookfair anytime between now and the 24th.

[pcttrailsidereader]

Top Ten PCT Books

There is an overwhelming abundance of books in the pantheon of PCT literature. I have read many over the past 40+ years (often in the process of developing the three anthologies . . . see #2). I have given some thought recently to my Top Ten PCT books. It is a rather arbitrary list certainly influenced by my own preferences and the reality that many of the early voices were male. I am confident that I have missed some worthy choices and would invite readers to submit their favorites.

RH

The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America's Wilderness Trail by Mark Larabee and Barney Mann

My rationale for putting this beautiful coffeetable book at the top of my list is that it captures the spectacle of the PCT in photos, includes essays about the history and culture of the trail, and rounds things out with profiles of the people of the trail. I never tire of flipping through and relishing the photos. There are other excellent books of photos from the PCT, but this is a comprehensive resource under one cover.

2. The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader: California; The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader: Oregon and Washington (Edited by Rees Hughes and Corey Lewis) and Crossing Paths: A Pacific Crest Trailside Reader (Edited by Rees Hughes and Howard Shapiro)

While I admit to a certain bias, the 150 short stories captured in this trilogy reflects the full range of PCT people and experiences in, for the most part, their own words. It really is a 'must read' for those interested in a full appreciation of the PCT. It also draws from many of the individual accounts of walking the trail that would otherwise dominate your bookshelves.

3. The Great Alone by Tim Voors

Of all of the many accounts of walking the PCT, why did I elevate this particular account? I have read countless memoirs written by PCT hikers. They are all deeply personal accounts of hiking the same 2,650 miles, generally with a few variations here and there.  Most are enjoyable, a few are tedious or self-important, but virtually all suffer from following a similar formula.  Any of you who have read even a handful know the formula – preparing for the trail, physically and mentally adjusting to trail life through the desert and the High Sierra, marveling at trail culture, persevering through the monotonous Northern California and Oregon stretch, and the race to the end through the wet and often white spectacular North Cascades.  It is delightful to find a memoir that carves its own unique path.  Tim Voors in The Great Alone has done just that.

Throughout his time on the trail, Voors spends some serious time devoted to reflection that he gracefully weaves into the story of his walk north.  He manages to share his introspection in a way that never seems tedious and rarely seems forced.  What if I die tomorrow?  Quitting.  Restructuring your life around your dreams.  Do I believe in God?  Much of what he learns comes from the wisdom of hikers a generation younger than him. I believe his honesty and candor makes his reflections engaging as does his self-deprecating humor.  It may help that Voors shares my own belief that walking the PCT is richest when it includes a spiritual experience where hikers think about themselves and the world around them and their role in the world.

Voors, who is Dutch, demonstrates his command of English throughout the book.  In addition, his simple watercolor paintings (he is aptly known as ‘Van Go’ on the trail) and the photos he has included enrich the total experience of reading the book.  I would rarely comment on the choice of paper used in printing the book, but I really liked the thick, textured paper (which seems to be a trademark of the publisher, Gestalten).  The graphics throughout the book are exceptional and add measurably to the quality of the reading experience.

4. Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit or On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor

Pick one of these two books. Although Moor talks about the PCT in On Trails, both Solnit and Moor offer the best homage to 'walking' among the many philosophical treatments available. They are the books I wish I had written about pedestrianism.

5. The High Adventure of Eric Ryback by Eric Ryback

Ryback's account of his 1970 hike from Canada to Mexico on a trail that was often just a concept elevated the profile of the PCT. Read by dreamers like me (and thousands of others), Ryback's book was my first exposure to the PCT and the impetus for me to walk the PCT. It captured the spirit of adventure that has drawn hikers to the trail in the decades since.

6. A T'hru-Hikers Heart: Tales on the Pacific Crest Trail by Ray "No Way" Echols

Ray Echols collection of essays, compiled following Ray's tragic death along Deep Creek by his widow, Alice Tulloch, is also not your typical PCT account. I have kept this book in my collection because I find the depth of Ray's experiences, the strength of his feeling, the wisdom of his writing so exceptional. In it all, he manages to capture why I return to the trail year after year.

7. Seven Summers (and a few bummers) by Bob Welch

As I mentioned before, I am disinclined to include accounts of walking the Pacific Crest Trail that begin in the desert south and proceed linearly and predictably. However, I found Bob Welch’s account of completing the PCT with his brother-in-law, Glenn, refreshingly bumpy (and very real).  Written with self-deprecating humor, Seven Summers seems part Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, part Barney Mann’s Journeys North, but all uniquely the Oregon Boys (Bob and Glenn’s trail name).  The Oregon Boys dealt with hypothermia, fire, quitting (and starting again), the realities of work and family, snow, injury, and more, but in the course of 11 years they finished the PCT.

The book captures the special challenge of being a section hiker. As Welch observes near the end of the book, section hiking necessitated thirty-two travel days,“ just getting to and from that trail, that encompassed more than 17,000 miles, just so I could hike 2,650 miles.” He continued, “Some 180 miles of extraneous hiking miles [were] needed to get to and from trail heads; to follow “workarounds” because of fire closures; to get off-trail water and food; and to return to points that we overshot”.

Welch, a lifelong journalist and author of a number of other books, makes the book an enjoyable read. By the end of the book you feel a special connection with Bob and Glenn and their spouses. Seven Summers touches on the changing nature of the PCT, profiles a number of hikers on the trail, captures the essence of trail culture, and the PCT experience. In addition, it is a pleasure to read a well-crafted book. And only a few times did I tire of Welch’s humor.

I appreciated the inclusion of photos, maps, special charts (“Breakdown of the 17 Section Hikes”, how he put everything in his pack, his equipment list, a best and worst list, the PCT experience by the numbers, etc.), and some delightful illustrations by Don White.

8. The Pacific Crest Trail: A Visual Compendium by Joshua M. Powell

This is another unique and very entertaining treatment of the PCT. I loved his collection of lists and notes of every possible (and some I never would have thought of) aspect of a thru-hike on the PCT. Powell shows us the various flora and fauna he discovered along the trail. Everything from pileated woodpecker to lupine. Paintbrush to rattlesnake and many, many more. He goes on to create illustrations of notable buildings found in trail towns and illustrates an alphabet from scripts seen along the trail. He describes his mental struggles, landmarks, weather, and specific trail notes. There are numerous easy to read charts and graphs and stunning graphics.  Everything from elevations of various sections to traits shared by thru-hikers and characters in Steinbeck novels.

9.Journeys North by Barney 'Scout' Mann

Scout's treatment of his PCT thru-hike experience is the most traditional of those included in my top 10 list. He has the advantage of a long and rich association with the trail . . . as a hiker (along with his wife Sandy . . . aka 'Frodo'), as a long-time devoted trail angel, as a PCT board member, as an advocate for the PCT and for the national trail system. That history gives his account additional 'heft' often missing in other accounts.

10. Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart by Carrot Quinn

Carrot Quinn authored one of my favorite PCT blogs/journals; one I followed religiously on her trek north. Cleverly written and insightful, I think I appreciated it even more because Carrot's take on the experience was so different from my own. Written with humor and, at times, a biting insight, I think that Carrot's writing helped me take my own PCT experience a little less nobly and self-importantly.

Other Contenders: I really like Suzanne Roberts's Almost Somewhere: 28 Days on the John Muir Trail, but did not include it because it is limited to the JMT. Roberts is a wonderful writer. I also enjoyed Gail D. Storey's I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail. It is clever and fun but did not make the cut because, like Cheryl Strayed, Gail walked less than half of the PCT. I also tend to discount books written about fast-walking the trail because, while I admire the tenacity and strength for such an achievement, I am biased against those that don't savor the PCT experience.

[tinkywinkyschauffeur2]

✯PINNED POST✯

So Charlie, what's going on?

Instagram is a plague on my existence and I hate it there. Mark Zuckerberg can suck my dick.

I feel like no one cares much about my shit so this can double as a better filing system than whatever the fuck instagram stories/archives/highlights is.

other tags

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Strawberry

Yellow

media/ themes

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WEBCORE + OLD WEB

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IMPORTANT THINGS

[fahye]

book recs: feb 2024

(disclaimer: I have spent nearly three months languishing and sullen with post-COVID symptoms and have read, over dec-feb, eighty-one books. this is a ruthlessly streamlined list of recs that does not include, uh, all the rereading of sarah maclean and charlie adhara and georgette heyer books.)

AT FIRST SPITE by olivia dade - what if I moved in next to the man who ruined my engagement to his younger brother, and tried to ruin his life by playing monsterfucking audiobooks really loudly?? a heartfelt and lovely romance that also expertly sets up a great small-town setting for an ongoing series.

THE REFORMATORY by tananarive due - historical horror based on the existence of a real school for boys, clear-eyed and brutal in showing the the effect of racist systems in the 1950s american south. compelling as hell. even if you're not usually into horror, I'd recommend this: the ghost aspect is light-handed and really not as important as the horror of what humans do to other humans.

SOMETHING WILD & WONDERFUL by anita kelly - this is a m/m romance about walking the pacific crest trail which made me see the appeal of very long walks. a miracle! it's gentle and emotional and well put together; the characters really grabbed me.

THE BELL IN THE FOG by lev a.c. rosen - the followup to 'lavender house', and somehow even better?? a historical mystery series featuring a queer private eye in 1950s san francisco who looks into crimes against other queer people. amazing queer history! ACAB! I hope there are fifty more books in this series.

FEAST WHILE YOU CAN* by mikaella clements & onjuli datta - beautiful, greedy, terrifying small-town horror that is also a fucking fantastic, gorgeously written sapphic love story. this one IS for the horror fans. it gave me the absolute creeps but I couldn't put it down.

LADY EVE'S LAST CON* by rebecca fraimow - I described this on bsky as 'if you like Leverage, space opera, old screwball comedies, and dashing sapphics who are at all times spiritually wearing a leather jacket: this one is for you' and I stand by that. huge amounts of fun.

LONG LIVE EVIL* by sarah rees brennan - I will be screaming from here until forever about SRB's first adult fantasy book. if you like the isekai'd-into-a-villain-character setup and want it to be hilarious, genre-savvy and wildly angry and clever, you will roll around in this like a blood-stained mud puddle and then beg for more.

THE LAST HOUR BETWEEN WORLDS* by melissa caruso - really clever and original fantasy about a woman on maternity leave who gets dragged into saving a cocktail party which is falling through increasingly murderous and bizarre dimensions. LISTEN, JUST GO WITH IT. it's a seriously cool adventure.

YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY* by cat sebastian - yes, it's another m/m romance about queer history in the mid 20th century, this one between a baseball player and the journalist assigned to write a story about his slump. made me care about baseball. cat is a genius.

*I read these as ARCs, they're not available yet but consider preordering or keep your eye out for them!

[pupsmailbox]

1980's ID PACK

NAMES︰ aaron. adam. adding addison. adrian. alex. alexis. ali. alyssa. amanda. amber. andie. andrea. andrews. andy. anne. annie. anthony. april. ashley. aubrey. audrey. babysitters: belinda. bill. billie. billy. blair. bobbie. bobby. bonnie. brad. brandi. brandy. bret. brett. brian. brianna. brittany. caitlin. carey. carla. carly. carol. cary. casey. charlie. chris. christie. christina. christine. christopher. cindy. clare. clarissa. claudia. cody. corey. cory. courtney. crystal. dan. dana. daniel. darrell. david. dawn. devon. drew. dustin. elliott. emily. emmett. eric. erica. erik. erika. fran. francis. frankie. georgie. gloria. greer. greg. harriet. harry. heather. hollis. holly. jackie. jamie. jason. jayme. jeffery. jennifer. jeremy. jessica. jessie. jody. joe. john.zach. jory. joseph. josh. joy. jules. justin. kelly. kevin. kim. kimberly. kit. kristen. kristy. kyle. landry. larissa. laura. lauren. lee. linden. lisa. loren. lou. lucas. lynn. mallory. maria. marie. mark. marlowe. mary matt. matthew. meaghan. megan. melanie. melissa. melody. merit. michael. michelle. mickey. mike. mikey. mindy. misty. mo. morgan. natalie. neil. nick. nicky. nicole. ollie. other ozzie. parker. patrick. paul. paula. paulie. polly. quinn. rachel. randall. randell. randy. rebecca. rees. reese. richard. rob. robbie. robert. rory. royce. ryan. sabrina. sam. sarah. scott. sean. seth. shannon. shea. shelby. skyler. stacey. stacy. stephanie. stephen. stevie. taylor. the tiffany. tim. todd. tonya. tracy. tyler. valerie. victoria. will. wyatt. xavier. zack.

PRONOUNS︰ arc/arcade. arcade/arcade. arcade/arcem. beam/beam. beep/beep. bling/bling. bo/booth. boom/box. bop/bop. bou/boutique. bright/bright. buzz/buzz. ca/car. cartoon/cartoon. cass/cassette. cassette/cassette. class/classic. color/color. cor/vette. dated/dated. dazzle/dazzle. dine/diner. disc/disc. disco/disco. elec/electric. flash/flash. gae/game. gli/glitch. glitter/glitter. glow/glow. jazz/jazz. juke/box. light/light. loud/loud. neon/neon. nostal/nostal. pac/man. par/parlor. pattern/pattern. phone/phone. pin/ball. po/pop. polybi/polybius. pop/pop. rain/rainbow. ret/retro. retro/retro. rock/roll. salon/salon. ska/skate. star/star. synth/wave. text/text. vin/vintage. vintage/vintage. vivid/vivid. walk/walkman. 🌈 . 🍭 . 👾 . 💥 . 🕹 . 🧩 .

[oblivionsdream]

Do you have any book recommendations?

I read a book you talked about and it was really good so I might need more also I love your art ❤️

Oh I always have book recommendations and I will always happily gush about books! I dunno what kind of books you enjoy so I'm just going to list some I enjoy :)

-Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

-Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

-If We Were Villains by M.L Rio

-Vicious by V.E Schwab

-Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

-Circe by Madeline Miller

-Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

-A Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

-Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

-The Tarot Sequence by K.D Edward's

-Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

-A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

-The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

-Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

-The Green Creek series by TJ Klune

-The Reanimators Heart by Kara Jorgensen

-Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

-Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

-Winters Orbit/Oceans Echo by Everina Maxwell

-Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

-We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinsons

-The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

-Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

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

-Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhou

-Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

-A Dowry of Blood by S.T Gibson

-The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye

-Babel by R.F Huang

-Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

I'm sorry my list got so long. I hope you enjoy them! And thank you!!

[football-in-tuxedos]

You mention that James Somerton is transphobic but aside from misgendering Nate Stevenson and Rebecca Sugar that one time I'm not sure what you mean can you explain

I mean, that is what I'm talking about, but it goes deeper than that. Cause like, the point he was making isn't...ENTIRELY bad? There's a lot of complexity to it, and it ties into issues of tokenism and the male gaze and fetishization vs. representation, but there is an actual discussion to be had about how queer women are portrayed in media, and by who, as opposed to how queer men are portrayed. He is filtering it through his usual biases, so he's not really diving into the complexity, but there is a real point there.

But the thing is...why go to Nate Stevenson and Rebecca Sugar for that point? Like, if you wanna talk about queer women being allowed to depict themselves in their art, you don't need to misgender Nate and Rebecca to do that. Céline Sciamma, Jambie Babbit, Angela Robinson, Cheryl Dunye, Clea DuVall, Chantal Akerman, Dee Rees, Donna Deitch, do you see my point? Both Alice Wu and the Watchowskis had stuff about queer women on Netflix, the same platform She-Ra is on. He could have named other names.

Now, I do admit some of that might be playing to his audience, and also playing into my point about him being a discoursed poisoned online queer person; Both his audience and queer people who I feel are overdosing on discourse tend to lean towards kiddy shit more than other stuff and a lot of the names I named make artier stuff for adults. And finding those names would take an ounce of research (like, I dunno, browsing down the list of The L-Word directors on wikipedia and looking for women) and their gender identities had to take a back seat to his laziness.

And that's transphobia.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

Trading Site Reopening and Gifting Spree!

So. After weeks of work (*insert alpaca scream here*), my trading site is open for trading! To celebrate, I decided to gift a few audios and videos from Phantom of the Opera, a few audios from Les Misérables, two cast recordings from Elisabeth das Musical, and a cast recording for Sweeney Todd. Enjoy!

(If you're the master of a listed audio/video, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you want me to remove your stuff from the list.)

POTO audios

Michael Crawford, Rebecca Caine (alt.), Steve Barton October 10, 1987; London Michael Crawford and Steve Barton's last in London. Soundboard, very good quality, and this one is complete. And Rebecca Caine sounds amazing in it (as she always does). https://www.mediafire.com/file/pttrjfqzb84gatm/POTO_West_End_10-10-1987_-_Crawford%252C_Caine%252C_Barton.rar/file Steve Barton, Rebecca Luker, Gary Lindemenn (u/s),  Marilyn Caskey, Jeff Keller, George Lee Andrews, Leila Martin September 26, 1990; Broadway Soundboard audio. Because Steve Barton was almost as good of a Phantom as he was as Raoul, and Rebecca Luker is a legend (RIP). https://www.mediafire.com/file/xc9ywojtdesptje/POTO_Broadway_26-09-1990_-_Barton%252C_Luker%252C_Lindemenn.rar/file Davis Gaines, Tracy Shayne, Matthew R. Jones, George Lee Andrews, Jeff Keller, Lelia Martin October 5, 1996; Broadway Davis Gaines's last performance. Because Davis Gaines has one of the best voices I've heard in the role. https://www.mediafire.com/file/w1ybvl8v6e4ex6r/POTO_Broadway_05-01-1996_-_Gaines%252C_Shayne%252C_Little.rar/file Brad Little, Lisa Vroman, Tim Martin Gleason, Kim Stengel, DC Anderson, David Cryer, Patti  Davidson-Gorbea, Kate Wray, Jimmy Smagula December 5, 2003; Los Angeles Lisa Vroman’s second-to-last performance as Christine. Both she and Brad Little are glorious vocal-wise. https://www.mediafire.com/file/muavx4ocvs62eav/POTO_US_Tour_05-12-2003_-_Little%252C_Vroman%252C_Gleason.rar/file Anthony Warlow, Julie Goodwin, John Bowles, Andrea Creighton, John O'May, Derek Taylor, Jackie Rees, Nadia Komazec, David Rogers-Smith August 15, 2007; Melbourne Not the biggest fan of Anthony Warlow acting-wise, but he does not disappoint on the vocals - and neither does Julie Goodwin. https://www.mediafire.com/file/3pm0ksips30n3it/POTO_Melbourne_15-08-2007_-_Warlow%252C_Goodwin%252C_Bowles.rar/file John Owen-Jones, Katie Hall, Simon Bailey, Angela M. Caesar, Andy Hockley, Simon Green, Elizabeth Mars, Hannah Cadec, Vincent Pirillo September 29, 2012; Edinburgh Not the biggest fan of the restaged tour, but... Katie Hall's "Tears of HAAAAAATE" is pretty great. And John Owen-Jones! https://www.mediafire.com/file/00vtvziy172lpkv/POTO_UK_Tour_29-09-2012_-_Owen-Jones%252C_Hall%252C_Bailey.rar/file Hugh Panaro, Elizabeth Welch (u/s), Jeremy Hays March 3, 2014; Broadway Great trio overall, but Elizabeth Welch is a standout (to me at least). https://www.mediafire.com/file/1hc1ozi96vok5pd/POTO_Broadway_03-03-2014_-_Panaro%252C_Welch%252C_Hays.rar/file Dmitry Ermak, Tamara Kotova, Eugeny Zaytsev, Irina Samoylova, Alexei Bobrov, Yuri Mazihin, Elena Charkviani, Valeria Migalina, Rustim Bahtiyarov (u/s) July 16, 2015; Moscow A lovely production that I miss - Tamara Kotova in particular is great. https://www.mediafire.com/file/w56tx5d7fkh4kse/POTO_Moscow_16-07-2015_-_Ermak%252C_Kotova%252C_Zaytsev.rar/file John Owen-Jones, Celinde Schoenmaker, Nadim Naaman, Megan Llewellyn, Michael Matus, Christopher Dickens, Jacinta Mulcahy, Alicia Beck, John Ellis September 7, 2015; London First performance of the 2015-2016 cast. https://www.mediafire.com/file/5hswf44ldku6ngm/POTO_West_End_07-09-2015_-_Owen-Jones%252C_Schoenmaker%252C_Naaman.rar/file Peter Jöback, Emmi Christensson, Anton Zetterholm, Karolina Andresson, Glenn Kjellberg, Rolf Lydhal, Sanna Martin, Tehilla Blad, Sindre Postholm March 19, 2017; Stockholm Given Christine is from Sweden, it's only fair to include the recent Stockholm production. https://www.mediafire.com/file/zkl38t9388gcvh7/POTO_Sweden_2017-03-19_PJ_EC_AZ.wav/file Tim Howar, Amy Manford, Jeremy Taylor, Kimberly Blake, Ross Dawes, Alan Vicary, Jacinta Mulcahy, Georgia Ware, Paul Ettore Tabone September 7, 2019; London This one is different from the one listed as NFT (so don't get mad at me, haha). Last performance for Amy Manford in the West End production. https://www.mediafire.com/file/vf60ie1er18rkon/POTO_West_End_07-09-2019_-_Howar%252C_Manford%252C_Taylor.rar/file Ben Crawford, Meghan Picerno, John Riddle October 26, 2019 Because we all love a Christine with opera chops. https://www.mediafire.com/file/9gji0khgfoazjqd/POTO_Broadway_26-10-2019_-_Crawford%252C_Picerno%252C_Riddle.rar/file 

POTO videos

Earl Carpenter, Rachel Barrell, David Shannon, Wendy Ferguson, David Lawrence (u/s), Sam Hiller, Emily Harvey (u/s), Heidi Ann O'Brien, Rohan Tickell January 2006 VOB format.  If you want to see Earl in London right now but can't... this video is the best quality overall that features him, and Rachel Barrell is a fantastic Christine - one of my favorites in the role. https://mega.nz/folder/u09GQKyR#gjNHj4Letd9YInTsuLowjA Gary Mauer, Elizabeth Southard, Jim Weitzer, Kim Stengel, John Jellison, DC Anderson, Patti Davidson-Gorbea, Kate Wray, John Whitney April 6, 2006; Dallas VOB format.  For my Eristine moots (I see you!): Gary Mauer and Elizabeth Southard were (and as far as I know, still are) married while performing as the Phantom and Christine, and you thought Ramin and Sierra's chemistry was off the charts, think again. https://mega.nz/folder/PtExxS5A#D4yyf2g_lXoN-cIDPkMU2Q Anthony Crivello, Kristi Holden, Andrew Ragone, Geena Jeffries Mattox, John Leslie Wolfe, Lawson Skala, Tina Walsh, Brianne Kelly Morgan, Larry Wayne Morbitt August 8, 2008; Las Vegas VOB format. This is the Las Vegas Spectacular production, which is abriged compared to the original but totally worth seeing. If you want to understand why I love Meg Giry so much, Brianne Kelly Morgan is one of the best I've ever seen in the role. Also, if you��re meh about Raoul... with Andrew Ragone, think again. He’s one of the most Superman/Clark Kent Raouls I’ve seen. And I really like Kristi Holden’s Leroux-esque Christine too.  https://mega.nz/folder/Sh1zxSAB#twtXau8Y8pd_L9tMQLa4Mg Jeremy Stolle (u/s), Samantha Hill, Greg Mills (u/s), Michele McConnell, Tim Jerome, Richard Poole (u/s), Ellen Harvey, Kara Klein, Christian Sebek March 9, 2013 VOB format. Missing part of Act 1 (‘Stranger Than You Dreamt It’ to Il Muto), but otherwise complete. This is one of the best trios I've seen on Broadway, and Samantha Hill is just a fantastic Christine overall. https://mega.nz/folder/y1slyJRD#OP1Tp5Cj_fMk9LbAWJMqAA Tomas Ambt Kofod, Sibylle Glosted, Christian Lund, Louise Fribo, Carl Christian Rasmussen, Sebastian Harris, Elisabeth Halling, Imogen-Lilly Ash, Rasmus Jupin March 2019; Copenhagen VOB format. This one is more recent, but given it's been uploaded on YouTube, I guess it's fine to gift it (again, if you’re the master and you want me to remove this, please let me know).This one has one of the best casts ever caught on tape. Seriously. Everyone in this is a star. https://mega.nz/folder/q40hTagI#Zui14MWo-F2YSQ0gNdaL6Q



Les Mis Audios

Colm Wilkinson, Roger Allam, Patti LuPone, Alun Armstrong, Sue Jane Tanner, Michael Ball, Frances Ruffele, Rebecca Caine, David Burt 1985; London Preview at the Barbican Centre. This is interesting since it includes Cosette's song "I Saw Him Once", which has been cut later.  https://www.mediafire.com/file/jbedqiemuk9qnd1/Les_Mis_West_End_1985_-_Wilkinson%252C_Allam.rar/file Symphonic recording (1989)  Gary Morris, Philip Quast, Debra Byrne, Michael Ball, Tracy Shayne, Kaho Shimada, Anthony Warlow, Barry James, Gay Soper https://www.mediafire.com/file/n7gp30jcpnjfkf7/Les_Miserables_Symphonic_Recording.rar/file Kyle Jean-Baptiste (u/s), Earl Carpenter, Erika Henningsen, Chris McCarrell, Samantha Hill, Brennyn Lark, Max Quinlan (u/s), Gavin Lee, Rachel Izen August 13, 2015; Broadway For Kyle Jean-Baptiste, who was an amazing performer gone way too soon. RIP. https://www.mediafire.com/file/fzj2qubunkrrfhc/Les_Mis_Broadway_13-08-2015_-_Jean-Baptiste%252C_Carpenter.rar/file John Owen-Jones, Michael Ball, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Craig Mather (u/s), Lily Kerhoas, Shan Ako, Bradley Jaden, Matt Lucas, Katy Secombe, Earl Carpenter October 16, 2019; London All-star concert! https://www.mediafire.com/file/nh28zdry93vhry2/Les_Mis_London_Concert_16-10-2019_-_Owen-Jones%252C_Ball.rar/file

Elisabeth das Musical

Original Cast Recording (1992) Pia Douwes, Uwe Kroeger, Ethan Freeman, Andreas Bieber, Viktor Gernot, Else Ludwig https://www.mediafire.com/file/fagi9ctooeq2y11/Elisabeth-Original_German_Cast.rar/file Vienna revival cast recording (2006)  Maya Hakvoort, Mate Kamaras, Serkan Kaya, André Bauer, Fritz Schmid, Else Ludwig https://www.mediafire.com/file/7wpqbotp8oszzz3/Elisabeth_-_2006_Vienna_Cast.rar/file



Sweeney Todd

2000 Concert Cast Recording George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Davis Gaines, Heidi Grant Murphy, Paul Plishka, Audra McDonald, Standford Olsen, Neil Patrick Harris, John Aler Pretty sure this isn't on Spotify, which is a real shame given its cast. So enjoy! EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that the recording is incomplete - probably a result of the Great Hardware Crash of 2016, so until I get the full version, this will probably stay incomplete. Sorry about that! https://www.mediafire.com/file/ywoiqe5bnlzr7bs/Sweeney_Todd_2000_New_York_Concert_Cast.rar/file

[sub-at-omicsteminist]

•⭐️Women in Math(s)⭐️•

🌿Classical age🌿

Pandrosion

Hypatia

🍄18th Century🍄

Maria Agnesi

Émilie du Châtelet's

Wang Zhenyi

🌻19th Century🌻

Sophie Germain

Sarah Woodhead

Sofia Kovalevskaya

Charlotte Angas Scott

Winifred Edgerton Merrill

Sofia Kovalevskaya

Philippa Fawcett

Cornelia Fabri

🪐20th Century🪐

Louise Petrén-Overton

Mildred Sanderson

Emmy Noether

Anna Pell-Wheeler

Cecilia Kreiger

Mary Cartwright

Euphemia Haynes

Helen Walker

Gertrude Mary Cox

Gladys West

Lucy Joan Slater

Mina Rees

Grace Alele-Williams

Elizabeth McHarg

Mary L. Boas

Mary Ellen Rudin

Jean Taylor

Joan Birman

Julia Robinson

Stella Cunliffe

Marjorie Rice

Dorothy Lewis Bernstein

Joséphine Guidy Wandja

Cathleen Morawetz

Doris Schattschneider

Louise Doris Adams

Rebecca Walo Omana

Eileen Poiani

Cheryl Praeger

Gloria Gilmer

MargaretWright

Leah Edelstein-Keshet

Ina Kersten

Joan Birman

Katherine Heinrich

Tatyana afanasyeva

loana Dumitriu

Beatrice Aichson

💫21st Century💫

Melanie Wood

Susan Howson

Melanie Wood

Alison Miller

Nicole Tomczak-Jaegermann

Stefanie Petermichl

Olga Gil Medrano

Ingrid Daubechies

Daina Taimina

Maryam Mirzakhani

Claire Voisin

Nouzha El Yacoubi

Karen Uhlenbeck

Marissa Kawehi Loving

Maryna Viazovska

Ingrid Daubechies

Karen Aardal

Hanan Mohamed Abdelrahman

Amandine Aftalion

Ilka Agricola

Nkechi Agwu

Dorit Aharonov

Noreen sher Akbar

[howlsmovinglibrary]

24 in 2024

Thank you @logarithmicpanda

Book TBR for the year time, I suppose

Physical backlog

New releases

Library books

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (I've just finished and it was the 1st 5 star book of the year)

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Funny Story by Emily Henry

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr

The Bridges of High Hill by Nghi Vo

A Sorceress Comes To Call by T Kingfisher

To Cage a God by Elizabeth May

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (I can't believe my favourite author is essentially publishing an isekai I'm lowkey feral bc I *know* it'll be hilarious)

Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana

...Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros :')))) (I've had it on hold since Sept and I'm still like 15th in the queue, scared tbh... I don't think itll be good)

The Hacienda by Isabel Canas

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (I've heard it's Reylo coded, so I might not last long)

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Tagging: @eldritchcow, @vagabondly, @books-are-portals, and anyone else xx

[annabawritersdreamsideblog]

Characters from my untitled original (Ties That Bind...?=> TEMPORARY BOOK TITLE=> IT MAY CHANGE)

(to be updated, revised and more)

[Historical fiction novel set sometime in the Middle-ages/Renaissance. In order to have more creative freedom, I've decided to create fictional kingdoms but, since I have thought of no names yet, I'll use the names of the places they're inspired by when describing the characters. For now, at least. It will be updated when I've come up with decent names]

Families => Main characters

Rúadhán & Cecilia. They live on Celtic-like island (think of a remote Greek Island but settled by Celts) with their four children Órla, Mairéad, Elena and Giuliano. Cecilia was an "Italian" noblewoman of the House of Venier—that's probably a placeholder name, but I really like it and the Venier family were an actual Venetian noble family—who gave up everything she had (or was disowned, I still have to decide on that) to marry Rúadhán (he is a merchant and traveled a lot, that's how they met).

Fancasts:

Rúadhán=> Engin Öztürk

Cecilia=> Selma Ergeç

Órla=> Şeyma Burcu Gül

Elena "Enna"=> Synnøve Karlsen (maybe I'll keep the name Elenna and it will be a misspelled version of the name)

Mairéad=> Isolda Dychauk (most likely especially if younger than Enna)/Miriam Leone/Charlotte Hope/ Natalie Dormer (as Margeary)/Junia Rees/Amelia Gething/ Marta Gastini (if dark-haired like her sister)/young Hatice?/Burcu Özberk

Giuliano=> Ruairi O'Connor

Royal Family (the country is supposed to be akin to the Ottoman Empire with hints of Tudor England. Predominantly Ottoman but major changes are made on a few things—I'll try to research as much as I can)

I don't have a name for the king and queen (might as well end up being emperor/empress) yet, I only know he married three times and two of his wives executed.

Children from his first marriage (from left to right): Princess Elizabeth, Princess Alexandra, Princess Mary and Princess Catherine.

Fancasts:

Emperor=> Anthony Head

Empress Sophia Alexandra (Safiye)=> Hülya Avşar

1 miscarried son

1 stillborn son

Princess Margaret=> Jodie Comer/Rebecca Ferguson?

Princess Elizabeth=> Gaia Weiss

Princess Alexandra=> Gözde Türker

Princess Mary=> Holliday Grainger

Princess Catherine=> Suki Waterhouse

King's second wife

Queen #2=> Aslıhan Gürbüz

Aneurin Barnard? ( He looks like Aslihan so it might fit)

-

Lady Catherine, the King's illegitimate daughter, her mother is unknown.

Fancast=> Astrid Berges-Frisbey

House of Contarini (family crest=> eagle)

I don't know about titles. Italian nobility (they're Italian) used 'Messer' and 'Madonna' so I guess I might keep them. They're nobles, so why not.

Messer Piero and Madonna Maddalena and their children Lorenzo Elio, Laura and Lucrezia.

Lorenzo (nicknames Enzo or Elio) serves as Ambassador and ends up marrying Elena (Enna)

They'll have eleven children

Fancasts:

Piero=> James D'Arcy

Maddalena=> Tülin Özen

Lorenzo=> Daniel Sharman

Laura=> Gonca Sariyildiz

Lucrezia=> Merve Boluğur

Matilda Lutz as Lisa=> Leonardo/Lorenzo's sister.

(HE HAS THREE YOUNGER SISTERS AND LISA IS THE ONE HE'S CLOSEST WITH- SHE MIGHT BE HIS TWIN OR THEY MIGHT TEN/ELEVEN MONTHS APART)

*they also are of "Greek" origin and they're devoted to "Greek" gods. The family is devoted to Aeolus, god of the wind=> insert backstory*

That's also where "Nanourisma" comes into play.

Cecilia (the girls' mother) was also of Greek origin. Enna knows "Nanourisma" as well

Main couple (to add more)

Also, these two up above are basically a more historical version of Elenwë from my LOTR/Silmarillion fic "The Lady of Ithilien". Their chapters will be a RETELLING of said fic in a different context.

These are the main characters, this post will be updated periodically as I come up with new ones!

[broadwaydivastournament]

Bebe Neuwirth in Caricature

I didn't plan it like this, but Bebe's caricature showcase just so happens to coincide on my schedule with Cabaret's opening night. So while she's glamming it up on the red carpet and readying for her soon-to-be-Tony-nominated performance, allow me to present beloved Diva Bebe Neuwirth in Caricature.

"Bebe Neuwirth," Sweet Charity, Published June 20, 1986 - Al Hirschfeld

"Cheers," Published December 11, 1990 - Al Hirschfeld

CHEERS: TED DANSON, KIRSTIE ALLEY, NICK COLASANTO, RHEA PERLMAN, GEORGE WENDT, JOHN RATZENBERGER, WOODY HARRELSON, BEBE NEUWIRTH, KELSEY GRAMMER, SHELLY LONG, AND ROGER REES, 1990

"Damn Yankees", Published February 27, 1994 - Al Hirschfeld

Pictured: Bebe Neuwirth with Victor Garber, Jerrod Emick, and George Abbott.

"Chicago," Published November 24, 1996 - Al Hirschfeld

Pictured: Joel Grey, Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, James Naughton

"Toasts Of The Town," Published June 1, 1997 - Al Hirschfeld

Pictured: Frank Langella, Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer, Brian Bradford, Michael Hayden, Bebe Neuwirth, Rebecca Luker, Fiona Shaw, Lillias White, David Morse, Angie Phillips, Donal McCann, Michael Gambon, David Rasche, Lia Williams, Janet McTeer, Anthony Sher, etc.

By 1986, Bebe had a Tony Award and a solo Hirschfeld drawing to her name, and by 1997, she had another Tony and three more Hirschfelds from both stage and screen work. Hirschfeld had a sprawling collection of art not limited just to Broadway. And of course, the feature Hirschfeld most prominently exaggerated (though not by much) were her award-winning gams.

Bebe Neuwirth for Sardis, 1997 | Unrelated: Bebe Neuwirth and Donna Murphy for the 2010 Drama League Nominations

Bebe's Sardis portrait is, of course, her in character as Velma Kelly in Chicago. The style of her caricature seemed to bridge the change between the old-school exaggeration and comic features that made the drawings so distinctive, and the blander, homogenous styles of today. Bebe's portrait came a few years before the true shift began, and frankly, she's better off for it.

"Bebe Neuwirth," The Lights of Broadway, Autumn 2017 - Squigs

I've neglected to mention it so far, but each Squigs trading card comes equipped with a little "fun fact" section on the back. Most cards include a few biographical points, show credits, and a special "did you know?" With Bebe's return to Broadway this season, we can only hope we'll get another Squigs illustration to add to the list.

[nellasbookplanet]

8 for the ask game

8: favorite queer fiction

Oh that's a good question, lets split it up by genre!

Fantasy: The Serpent Gates duology by AK Larkwood (disaster gays, wlw/mlm frenemies, really cool worldbuilding and plot), The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin (post apocalyptic fantasy world with slight scifi vibes, crimes against humanity, polyamory) & The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (funky narrative experimentation, more disaster gays, gods, so much murder)

Urban fantasy: The Arcadia Project trilogy by Mishell Baker (scary faeries, disabled and bisexual protagonist, soulmates done in a unique and interesting way)

Science fiction: The Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee (so many war crimes, so many queer characters, math magic in space, possession), The Gates of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky (alternate timelines, cryptid hunting girlfriends, dinosaurs, the impending end of the multiverse)

Romance: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (timetravel, found family, pancakes) & This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (more timetravel, enemies to lovers, epistolary, most beautiful prose you’ve ever read)

Horror: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (demons with fascinating lore, homophobic cults, autistic and lesbian lead) & The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (caves in space, antagonistic romance, so much claustrophobia)

Young Adult: Contagion duology by Erin Bowman (space zombies, mind bonds, one sapphic lead, one with demiace vibes), In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (portal fantasy, most bisexual and chaotic love triangle in history, elves with reversed gender norms, bastard boy protagonist) & Market of Monsters trilogy by Rebecca Schaeffer (aroace protagonists who commit murders together, monsters, Everyone Is Getting Worse)

Honorary mentions: when the angels left the old country, imperial radch, the murderbot diaries, the scorpion rules, sing the four quarters, to shape a dragons breath, xenogenesis

Bookworm ask

[isfjmel-phleg]

TSG season is upon us, so I've been rereading a few things. Today I finished The Making of May by Gwyneth Rees. Maybe not Great Literature, but a lot more readable than its cover (which is more suitable for a younger reading level) would suggest.

It's not straightforwardly a retelling of The Secret Garden, but it is in conversation with that story and the heroine references it multiple times. I was trying to figure out why this worked for me, while Ann of Sunflower Lane's constant references to Anne of Green Gables came to grate on my nerves. And I think it's because instead of piggybacking on a classic and trying to fully parallel it, The Making of May *interacts* with The Secret Garden but isn't trying to replicate it on every level.

May hasn't even read TSG; her fascination with the story comes from a VHS she owns (this book was published in 2006, when VCRs were not as uncommon as they are now) of what is very obviously the 1975 BBC miniseries. She identifies a lot with Mary, although she acknowledges significant differences in their backgrounds. They are both orphans, but May points out that Mary has grown up unloved while she herself has been raised by her much-older half-brother and -sister, who are a bit in over their heads as parental substitutes but genuinely care about May and are trying their best. Note that May highlights Mary's emotional neglect rather than traditional grief; her understanding of the story comes from an adaptation that closely follows the original text, and she's even actively opposed to watching a "more modern" version (implied to be the 1993 film) that she doesn't feel is an authentic rendering of her comfort character.

Because that's how May sees Mary of the 1975 miniseries--a friend who understands her life circumstances in a way that others around her don't seem to. She rewatches the tape as often as she can, usually when she's in a low mood, and the story informs how she sees the world. It's a kind of escapism for her. She does this to a lesser extent with other films she finds interesting too, but TSG 1975 is her favorite.

Like Mary, she is given the opportunity to restore a walled garden, which she insists on calling a secret garden. But this isn't accurate; everyone on the estate knows about the garden and knows she's working in it. She is joined in this by the son of the estate's owner, and her first thought is that this is just like Mary's working with male friends. But that's where the overt comparisons stop. Alex is very different from Dickon or Colin, and his arc, while broadly similar to Colin's in that he must heal a broken relationship with his father and realize his extent of his own abilities, is significantly different. He and May investigate mysterious goings-on in the house--a locked room and a housekeeper disappearing there with a tray--which initially has a very TSG feel, but the mystery's solution is no gothic secret but a perfectly normal, mundane thing. May even expects the forbidding housekeeper to resemble Mrs. Danvers after having seen Rebecca; this isn't very grounded in reality either. Even the actual central secret of the novel has nothing to do with locked gardens or hidden rooms; it's the fact that May's brother fudged his resumé to get a gardening job on the estate.

Like Mary, May restores a garden, makes friends, plays an instrumental role in repairing a father-son relationship, and experiences physical and emotional growth. But unlike Mary, her arc involves having to learn to distinguish fiction from reality and grow past projecting onto a fictional character to cope. It's not that her engagement with TSG is an inherently bad thing, but the extent to which her relationship with it has gone is maladaptive. She has come to take the story so seriously that she can't see it as a story anymore; when she tries to show the miniseries to Alex and he finds it laughably low-budget and dated (harsh! but not inaccurate), she is as offended by his criticism as if he had spoken against her. Because the story is such a personal thing to her--and I really can't blame her, I feel the same way whenever someone is dismissive of something I care about--that her identity is bound up in it to an unhealthy extent. She needs the balance that comes with engaging with the real world and real people and getting out of her own head, and her adventures at the estate help her do just that. In some ways, the themes veer more into Northanger Abbey than The Secret Garden!

May by the end hasn't abandoned her love of the miniseries, but now instead of fixating on Mary as she is at the beginning of the story, she can see Mary's completed arc and understand the story as finished, not as perpetually ongoing in her own world. May is finally given a copy of The Secret Garden to read, but she isn't sure if she's ready to read it yet, or even if she needs to--she's about to embark on new adventures of her own, adventures that will be completely separate from Mary's.

So ultimately the book is less about recreating The Secret Garden in another setting and more about how the heroine relates to an adaptation of the story--not even the actual book, an adaptation, a constructed interpretation of the book. Which is a surprisingly fresh take and, honestly, more interesting in some ways than a straightforward adaptation because of its meta perspective. It's a story about someone's response to someone's response of a story. And in that regard, it has a lot in common with Noel Streatfeild's The Painted Garden, which concerns the filming of an adaptation of The Secret Garden in late 1940s Hollywood and features broad parallels to the original story while commenting on how the change of medium and the vision of the adapters alters the narrative and characters.

There's probably an essay to be had on the concept of how these two books interact not only with each other but with The Secret Garden and film/TV adaptations of it, both real and fictional, but for now this is long enough and I'm not writing it.

[tardis-stowaway]

Books I read in 2023

I completely fell down on keeping track of books I read this year as I went, but I decided to try listing my 2023 reading as best as I can remember so I have some record of it. This list includes middle grade, YA, and graphic novels, but not picture books (I have to read a lot of those for professional purposes) or fanfic. Text categories include both print and eBooks. They're alphabetical by author within each section.

New Reads: text

Adult -Borderline by Mishell Baker -Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold -Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold -Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher -The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher -The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune -The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal -Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices. Edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington -My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine -A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske -Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston -Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse -Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims -Witch King by Martha Wells

YA -Twelfth Grade Night by Molly Booth (graphic novel) -In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan -Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton -Nimona by ND Stevenson (graphic novel)

Middle Grade -The Impossible Destiny of Cutie Grackle by Shawn K. Stout -The Last Hope in Hopetown by Maria Tureaud -Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith (graphic novel)

New reads: audio -Bad Cree by Jessica Johns -Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle -Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

Rereads: text -Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire -A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire -An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire -I reread several Murderbot Diaries books at some point within the past year and a half, but I really can’t recall if it was 2022 or 2023.

Rereads: audio -Dracula by Bram Stoker (as performed in Re: Dracula. It may be a podcast but it had the full-length novel text so I'm counting it)

My favorites of the new reads were probably Nettle and Bone, The Hollow Places, Nimona, and In Other Lands. Yes, that's two T. Kingfisher books in my top four. This was my first time reading her books, but I will definitely be seeking out more; she's fantastic. Weirdly, I don't think I read a single nonfiction book this year, which is something I'd like to change next year.

Any of these you're interested in and want to know more about? Or any here you've read and want to chat about? Any books you loved this year that you want to shout about?