#casey vos

[theartofangirling]

part 3 of the 2023 version of this post: adult books!

part 1: middle grade books | part 2: young adult books

this is a very incomplete list, as these are only books I've read and enjoyed. not all books are going to be for all readers, so I'd recommend looking up synopses and content warnings. feel free to message me with any questions about specific representation!

list of books under the cut ⬇️

yerba buena by nina lacour

if we were villains by m.l. rio

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily r. austin

i want to be a wall by honami shirono

portrait of a thief by grace d. li

the thirty names of night by zeyn joukhadar

on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

love & other disasters by anita kelly

take a hint, dani brown by talia hibbert

boyfriend material by alexis hall

almost like being in love by steve kluger

the charm offensive by alison cochrun

something wild & wonderful by anita kelly

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston

something to talk about by meryl wilsner

honey girl by morgan rogers

one last stop by casey mcquiston

once ghosted, twice shy by alyssa cole

kiss her once for me by alison cochrun

a spindle splintered by alix e. harrow

finna by nino cipri

every heart a dooryway by seanan mcguire

the starless sea by erin morgenstern

under the whispering door by tj klune

space opera by catherynne m. valente

light from uncommon stars by ryka aoki

dead collections by isaac fellman

the city we became by n.k. jemisin

light carries on by ray nadine

an absolutely remarkable thing by hank green

feed them silence by lee mandelo

summer sons by lee mandelo

upright women wanted by sarah gailey

lavender house by lev a.c. rosen

fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe by fannie flagg

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

a master of djinn by p. djeli clark

witchmark by c.l. polk

a marvellous light by freya marske

a restless truth by freya marske

when women were dragons by kelly barnhill

plain bad heroines by emily m. danforth

a lady for a duke by alexis hall

infamous by lex croucher

passing strange by ellen klages

even though i knew the end by c.l. polk

the chosen and the beautiful by nghi vo

whiskey when we're dry by john larison

wake of vultures by lila bowen

silver in the wood by emily tesh

the once and future witches by alix e. harrow

the kingdoms by natasha pulley

a tip for the hangman by allison epstein

she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan

the song of achilles by madeline miller

spear by nicola griffith

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir

some desperate glory by emily tesh

all systems red by martha wells

a psalm for the wild built by becky chambers

the mimicking of known successes by malka older

winter's orbit by everina maxwell

fireheart tiger by aliette de bodard

empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo

legends and lattes by travis baldree

the house in the cerulean sea by tj klune

other ever afters by melanie gillman

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon

a day of fallen night by samantha shannon

a strange and stubborn endurance by foz meadows

the unbroken by c.l. clark

real queer america by samantha allen

fun home by alison bechdel

in the dream house by carmen maria machado

better living through birding by christian cooper

why fish don't exist by lulu miller

[duckprintspress]

Let’s Go Lesbians! 32 Books for Lesbian Visibility Day

TODAY! is Lesbian Visibility Day, the first day of Lesbian Visibility Week – April 26, 2024. We are, I’m sure you’re shocked to discover, celebrating with LOTS of lesbian books! 15 people contributed to making this list, all of us sharing our absolute faves, from graphic novels to epic novels, from memoirs to horror fiction, with explicit rep and implied. With this many awesome books to share, we’re prepared to guarantee that everyone who loves wlw lit can find something new to them on this amazing list!

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable & Ellen T. Crenshaw

She Wears the Midnight Crown Anthology

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

The Scapegracers & The Scratch Daughters by H.A. Clarke

Spinning by Tillie Walden

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Those Who Wait by Haley Cass

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough

From Here by Luma Mufleh

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Female General, Eldest Princess by Please Don’t Laugh

Clear And Muddy Loss of Love by Please Don’t Laugh

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

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

Can’t get enough books with lesbians? Yeah, us neither – this new list for 2024 is on top of THREE rec lists of titles featuring lesbians that we posted last year.

Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 1

Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 2

Duck Prints Press Short Stories with Lesbian Characters

You can also view this list (along with all our other wlw faves!) as a shelf on Goodreads!

See a book you want to buy? You can grab it through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop!

What are YOUR favorite reads with lesbian characters?

[iamadequate1717]

OFMD S3 (Manifesting!)

I think we've all seen Casey Bloys' comments on an OFMD S3:

“What’s a little bit different in a linear world than here is… how a show performs over a longer period of time than three weeks or something,” Bloys stated. “So we’re figuring out how it’s doing, what it’s looking like.”

My reaction:

Really, HBO? HBO, after running one of the worst, most spoilery, most front loaded marketing campaigns I have ever seen, wants to talk about the long term?

The question that was driving everyone feral for an S2 was, will Stede and Ed find each other again? HBO/MAX put their first face-to-face meeting in the trailer. Why watch the show when the marketing will just toss a greatest hits reel out to the public before the episode even releases?

The showstopping set piece of 2x3 (MerStede rescuing Ed) was spoiled in their "marketing" since they released the concept art for MerStede days before the episode aired in a BTS video.

Let's look at the finale:

The beach kisses and the inn were spoiled in BTS videos released days before the episode was released after putting a week between 2x7 and 2x8 releases. Yeah, yeah, they didn't show the kisses exactly, but what else would that pose be for? It really enforced that 2x7 and 2x8 should have been released together, but HBO/MAX choose to create a cliffhanger while immediately posting the resolution in their marketing

Ed thinking Stede was dead was spoiled by the episode promo

Ed and Stede running toward one another on the beach was spoiled by the trailer. (It didn't show them in frame together, but it was obviously the same location and the direction they were going in matched.)

Ed reading one of Stede's letters was spoiled by marketing a few days before the finale release for no discernable reason

Izzy's climatic speech to Ricky (and that he was saying it to Ricky!) was spoiled in the trailer. It could have been a good hype VO, and they didn't need to spoil whom Izzy was talking to

The crew in the British garb and taking out soldiers was in the trailer. This plot begins nine minutes before the credits start.

The Revenge Crew working with Spanish Jackie and Zheng at some point was well spoiled beforehand in their BTS promo material. Zheng saying they should team up is three minutes before the credits start.

(Has anyone seen this amount of BTS material of episodes, including the season climax, released before an episode releases instead of after? Just holding this BTS material until after seems like a no-brainer to extending a show's interest after the finale is released.)

The reason the pacing felt super "off" on your first watch is because HBO/MAX already released a bulleted run through of the episode beforehand, and you were mentally ticking it off as you went instead of watching it organically. Watching it a second time really improves the flow of the episode.

This is a show whose popularity was raised created entirely through word-of-mouth excitement. The greediness of these streaming companies is why we couldn't have the actors doing promo, but then they took away the show's next most powerful tool, the word-of-mouth discussion, by releasing large swathes of the climax of the season before it aired, and the social media hype and discussion was front loaded to before release instead of after.

S3 was set up to show Ed and Stede as a solid couple and to show the pirate community against the British, and the season climax of these two points was released by HBO/MAX before the episode, and it was excitedly discussed then. Now, a week after release, we're stuck in some horrible gravy basket of discussing the part of the last five-ten minutes that HBO/MAX didn't outright spoil (though they tried their hardest with the grave promo stills and Ed's bloody hand in the promo!): Izzy's death. No one is having fun!

There is a lot of story setup for an S3 but DJenks and company had to set up a season that could double as a series finale in a pinch, so we also lost the "What happens next??" fervor because HBO/MAX wouldn't greenlight two seasons at once of their biggest new IP of 2022. The bizarre marketing strategy didn't lend itself to a long term success, and it's up to the fans once again to do HBO/MAX's job for them.

[opposums-love-arson]

Scream Queen Book 1: Conventional Final Girl

Chapter 2

Chapter 1 / Chapter 3

Stu Macher x Reader x Billy Loomis

  The last class of the day rolled around, for the most part it was bland until- “(y/n),” The teacher called out my name, waving a slip of paper in his hand. “Head office would like to see you.” I could hear students murmur and gossip about how it was my turn to be interrogated. Stu and Billy, they sat on either side of me, gave me both sympathetic but entertained stares like they were waiting for something. God, this whole thing was just so weird! I felt like there were eyes on me the entire time I was walking to the office, I felt queasy and uncomfortable just thinking about Casey’s body. How it must’ve just hung there, swinging with her intestines on display for her parents to come out to...it's so gross! It’s so frightening. 

“You wanted to see me?” I asked as I walked in, a little weirded out by the whole ordeal. 

Standing by the door was Dewey and Sheriff Burke sat next to him while Principal Himdry stood at his desk. 

“Yes, Ms. (l/n) please come and sit.” The principal said, I did just that. 

“We just got done talking to your sister,” Dewey said, looking up from his notepad. 

“Good to know,” I nodded, not really knowing what to say right now. 

They asked me simple questions like “How are you?”, “Where were you last night?”, “How are your parents?”, even “Were you close to Casey Becker?” Of course I told them the truth, I had no reason to lie. I just wanted to get back to class but on my way back the bell for the end of school rang. So instead I went to the fountain where everyone usually meets. Over the loudspeaker Principal Himbry’s voice could be heard trying to rush kids home, it definitely wasn’t working. Everyone was already here so I just flopped down on the concrete ground in front of Tatum and her boyfriend.

“What questions did they ask you, Sid?” Tatum looked over to the girl in question as she braided strands of my hair with Stu. 

“Well, they asked me if I knew Casey.” She responded as she sat between her boyfriend’s legs. 

“Hey they ask if you like to hunt?” Stu looked up from my hair and turned his view to the other couple. 

“Yeah they did, they ask you?” Billy returned the question, as he threw something into the fountain. 

“Why would they ask you if you like to hunt?” Tatum wondered, looking in between everyone. 

Wasn’t it obvious though? 

“Because their bodies were gutted.” Pipped up Randy, no doubt trying to scare Tatum. I nudged his leg, receiving an annoyed grunt from him in response. 

That wasn’t it. 

“Thank you, Randy.” Billy said even though he looked down at my face. I know who the non-sarcastic version of that thank you was for. 

“They didn’t ask me if I like to hunt,” Tatum said, looking out into nothing in particular. 

“That’s because we live in a sexist patriarchal society,” I mumbled as I leaned back into Tatum’s legs. Letting Stu poke little flowers into my hair.

“Wow real wise (y/n),” I could practically hear Randy roll his eyes. 

“It’s cause there’s no way a girl coulda’ killed them,” Stu said as he looked between his friends and girlfriend. 

“Literally, just proved my point Stu,” I groaned rolling my head over while Tatum kept playing with my hair. 

“That’s so sexist, the killer could easily be female, Basic Instinct.” Tatum retorted, trying to be on my side. 

Before I could correct her Randy beat me to it, “That was an ice pic, not exactly the same thing”

“There’s been loads of movies with female killers! I mean for starters Home for The Holidays or Girls Nite Out also known as The Scaremaker and-” Before I could finish I was cut off with a light kick.

“Yeah yeah, anyways Casey and Steve were completely hollowed out.” Stu said, “The fact, it takes a man to do something like that.” 

“Or a man’s mentality.” Tatum said, totally mocking Stu’s words. This made me giggle a bit earning another kick from Stu. 

“How do you gut someone?” Sid asked, her question obviously rhetorical and voice shaky. We all paused and looked over at her, I grabbed her hand and squeezed a bit. This time she squeezed back. 

Stu obviously didn’t understand or maybe he did but didn’t care considering he said, “You take the knife.” This made Billy perk up. “And you slit em from the groin to sternum.” Stu finished. 

“Hey, it’s called tact you fuckrag.” Billy said in a slightly rude and defensive tone. And here I thought he was going to stick up for my big sis. 

“Hey Stu, didn’t you used to date Casey?” Sid asked, trying to make Stu as uncomfortable as she was. 

 This shocked Stu a little, though he was quickly back to his usual playful self. 

“Yeah for like two seconds,” He scoffed out with a slight smirk. 

Popping his head into the conversation Randy said, “Before she dumped you for Steve.” Oh no. 

“I thought you dumped her for me?” Tatum asked a slightly confused and hurt expression forming on her face. I leaned my head on her knees all while still looking up at the couple.

“I did, he’s full of shit,” Stu said as he used his head to gesture to Randy. 

“And are the police aware that you dated the victim?” Randy asked, obviously instigating something between him and Stu. 

“Oh no,” I groaned out. 

“What are you saying? That I killed her?” Stu asked, eyebrows knitted together, obvious offense written on his face. 

“It would certainly improve your high school Q,” said Randy

Scooting up to Stu’s chest Tatum said, “Stu was with me last night, okay?”

“Yeah I was,” Stu said in an elongated tone, putting his arm around Tatum. 

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I rolled my eyes as I stood up and went to go sit next to Randy. While Tatum and Randy seemed to laugh a little at this, Stu seemed kind of hurt. 

I arched a brow at him as if to ask why but it was totally ignored when Randy asked, “Was that before or after he sliced and diced!?” 

It was obvious that Sid was getting uncomfortable, both Billy and I could see it. 

“Fuck you nut-case, where were you last night?” Tatum asked as she leaned on Stu. 

“Working, thank you.” Randy chimed. I’m pretty sure those were two seperate answers. 

“Oh at the video store? I thought they fired your sorry ass,” Tatum retorted

Before Randy’s stupid mouth could say anything more I spoke up, “They did. Twice.” 

This earned a laugh from everyone except Sidney and Randy, I thought Sid would at least give a little giggle? 

“I didn’t kill anybody.” Stu said in a quiet now calm but still a little offended tone. 

“Nobody said you did,” Billy said, raising his expression at the word did. That is what I mean by shady. 

“Thanks buddy!” Stu said now back to his more regular sarcastic enthusiasm. 

“Besides, it takes a man to do something like that,” Randy you stupid motherfucker. He made it quite clear that he was mocking Stu. The ‘perfect’ impression. 

“Yuh I’m gonna gut your ass in a second kid!” Stu exclaimed back to Randy. 

“Tell me something, did you really put her liver in the mailbox? Cause I heard they found her liver in the mailbox!” Randy’s voice got more high pitched with every couple words. “Next to her spleen and her pancreas.” 

“Randy, you goon-fuck, I’m trying to eat here!” Tatum said as she threw a grape at him? 

At this point it was noticeable that Sidney felt like she was going to puke so she picked up her backpack and kissed Billy goodbye. 

“Yeah, Randy, Tatum’s getting mad. Better liver alone.” Stu said with the shitty timed pun and both of those piss-for-brains boys started chuckling. 

“Liver alone!” Stu exclaimed out loud, letting his tongue drop out like some stupid hyeana. 

It was obvious Billy was ready to punch him but I quickly beat him to it. “Stop being a total jackass for once in your life Stu,” I said before jogging to catch up with my step sister. 

“Ow, liver, liver- it was a joke…” I could hear Stu’s playful goofy tone get a little disappointed as I walked by Sid’s side. 

  “Stu can be a real ass sometimes,” I say as I lean my head on Sidney’s shoulder. “Tell me about it,” she said as we waited for the school bus. Doesn’t he know when to shut up? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy how funny and care free he can be but only when it’s at the right times. That wasn't the right time. “Do you want to spend the night at Tatum’s tonight?” Sid asked, looking down at me the best she could. I continue looking at the street in front of us when I say, “Yeah sure, but only if you ask.” Sid just shakes her head and smiles a little before saying, “We’ve all been hanging out together for six months, how come you still can’t ask her these things?” I just shrug. “I just still feel a little nervous, like I don’t know anyone still.” That wasn’t the entire truth. The real reason was because Stu confessed to me a few nights ago and I… punched him because of it. I know stupid but I didn’t know what to do! Like yeah I really like him too but he’s Tatum’s boyfriend! Sid nudges me to look up at her and I do so. “Look, (y/n), we’re family and so are our friends. You can feel free to ask them anything, besides you looked pretty close when Stu was putting flowers in your hair,” She said with a small smirk. “Yeah and so was Tatum!” I exclaimed, receiving a ‘shut up’ down the street. “You’re never going to fess up to it,” Sid said, this time leaning her head on my shoulder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

[alexmeeksmartin]

red right hand

pairing: (kinda) ghostface ethan landry x gn reader, slight chad meeks-martin x gn reader

synopsis: the one where an oblivious y/n receives a call from ghostface. of course, chaos, fighting, and bloodshed ensues.

a/n: this one is obviously very inspired by casey becker, cici cooper, and tara carpenter’s various phone call sequences with ghostface throughout the franchise. does involve a good bit of violence and also the reader kinda being an idiot !

wc: 2.2k

it’s late and you’re in your new york city apartment, getting ready for a chill night in while your roommate, anika, is at her girlfriend, mindy’s apartment for date night. you had tried to make plans with your friend, ethan, but to nobody’s surprise he was spending the night studying. chad, like ethan, was also busy but instead with football practice, but he said he’d call you later. tara and sam were making dinner just the two of them. so, there you were, left all on your own, and bored out of your mind.

you’re about to settle onto the sofa for the night, thinking you could probably fit in a movie before chad calls, when the landline rings in the kitchen. you contemplate answering it, finding it odd that someone would be calling at this hour, but curiosity bests your doubts and you pick it up anyway.

“hello, y/n speaking.” you answer with a neutral tone.

“hello.” a raspy voice whispers back from the other end of the line. sounds kinda sexy, you think to yourself.

“who is this?” you ask.

“who’s this?” the voice repeats back to you.

“you called me.” you say with a slight laugh.

“i suppose so. what are you doing currently?” the voice questions, still at a whisper. you debate on whether or not to answer, but think to yourself that you’ve got nothing else to entertain you. could it hurt? no.

“i was just about to watch a movie. you?”

“me too. i was about to watch a scary movie. do you like scary movies?” the voice asks.

“yes, i do! in fact, i was about to do the same. it’s like we’re all synced up.” you laugh.

“what’s your favourite scary movie?”

“well, certainly not stab. the first few were good, but the series went to shit after stab 4. i quite like the halloween franchise. big fan of the strangers as well. how about you, mystery man?” you answer, an inquisitive tone in your voice.

“more of a friday the 13th man, myself. although, i do quite enjoy the stab movies. i guess they hit close to home.” he responds.

“oh, are you from woodsboro? that’s cool, i’ve got a couple of friends from there.”

“not woodsboro, but near enough. what scary movie are you about to watch?”

“i was thinking a classic. maybe texas chainsaw massacre or the original halloween. something along those lines.” you explain.

“laurie strode always made a great final girl, it’s a shame her friends had to die first.” something was starting to feel off, but you couldn’t put your finger on it just yet. so, like any stupid person would, you stayed on the phone. “what about you? do you think you can make it to the finale, or are you a victim of the villain? a traumatised hero or a body in the third act bloodbath?”

“i think i’m survivor material. i’ve got enough brains on me, i feel. either that or i’d be the iconic killer.” you laugh.

“hmm, interesting. i pinned you more as the cici cooper type.”

“cici cooper?”

“stab 2. she answers the phone while home alone, only to become a victim of ghostface.”

you let out a light laugh, starting to feel slightly uncomfortable.

“only joking, of course. i think you’ve got the guts and bravado to be a leading character, a nancy thompson, sally hardesty. maybe even a sidney prescott.”

“aw, are you flirting with me, mystery man?” you tease.

“maybe, maybe not. would you like it if i was flirting with you?”

“i mean, i don’t think i’d mind. if your looks match up with the appeal of your voice then i’d be more than interested.” you say boldly, the confidence of not being face-to-face egging you on.

the voice chuckles. “so, you’re a fan of my voice?”

“yeah. got a sexy aura to it, totally my thing.” you continue, playing with a knife from your block while standing in the kitchen.

“do you happen to be in a relationship?”

you debate how to respond. you weren’t, but you’d also be lying if you didn’t acknowledge that you and chad had some sort of thing going. but you guys weren’t officially together, and probably wouldn’t ever be. again, could it really hurt?

“nope. never too late to change that, though.”

“sounds interesting. maybe we should plan a date.” the voice replies.

“ooh, that’d be fun. i always wanted to do blind dating.” you say, a smirk crawling across your face.

“what about tonight?”

“bit late, is it not? it’s like, 9:30.”

“well, you look stunning tonight, though i’d maybe have worn some more red. thought i might as well ask.”

“oh, thank you-“ you cut yourself off, having processed what was just said to you. “wait, how do you know what i’m wearing?”

“what was your name again?” the voice asks you.

“why?” you ask, fear starting to creep into your voice.

“i wanna know who’s apartment i’m in.”

you feel your skin crawl and a cold shiver shoot up your spine as soon as those words enter your ear.

“that’s not fucking funny. i’m hanging up now-“ you say, your voice trembling with fright at this stage.

“hang up and i’ll carve you like a fucking pumpkin!” the voice says, still in a whisper-like yell.

“good one, with halloween coming up and all. screw you.” you say, feigning confidence.

“nice comeback, y/n. maybe i’ll spare you and wait for anika to come home, and gut her in the middle of your living room. maybe i’ll find chad on his way home from practice and make a spectacle of him on the football field.” you pull out your phone and start messaging your group chat with tara, chad, ethan, mindy, and anika, warning them that someone is making threats. “maybe i’ll make a surprise appearance for tara and sam. or maybe i’ll crash ethan’s night in.”

“if you hurt them i’ll-“

“you’ll what, y/n? hurt me? punish me? kill me? you won’t do any of that, because you’re in my scary movie now, y/n.”

“you’re a fucking psycho. i don’t know if this is some sick fucking joke of yours, but either way you are disgusting.”

“the only disgusting thing tonight will be when anika returns home to find your intestines spilled across the floor and your blood splattered on the walls, y/n.”

“fuck you!” you yell through the phone at this lunatic.

“no, fuck you, y/n! it’s people like you who deserve to die. ready to whore yourself out to some stranger on a whim all because you were bored on a night in.”

“you piece of shit. go fuck yourself.” you say before finally hanging up. that was it, you were leaving. whether it was some stupid fucker joking around or an actual murderer, you weren’t going to stick around and find out. you stormed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife before making your way to the front door.

as soon as you turn the corner to the hallway, you see a shadowy figure standing there. you let out a gasp, notifying the figure of your presence. he turns around, showing you his ghostface mask, and you let out a scream. he tilts his head at you.

you’re frozen with fear until your instincts kick in. you hold up your knife, “stay the fuck back!”

“come on, y/n. i thought we were going on a date.” ghostface says, beginning to eerily step towards you.

“i’m serious! i will use this fucking knife!” you yell at the masked intruder.

“why don’t you put the knife down and come give me a kiss.”

he charges at you and before you can use your knife, he grabs your wrist and stabs you in the shoulder. you let out a blood-curdling screech before using your other arm to punch him across the face.

you start to run, but ghostface isn’t far behind at all. he stalks you, knife in hand. he lunges at you, but you duck out of the way and go behind the dinner table. you were truly fucked now, stuck between the table and the wall.

“i knew you would look good with a little more red.” ghostface says as you look on, petrified.

“fuck you.” you respond.

you make a run for the side of the table, but ghostface makes it before you do and slashes you across your arm. you retreat back behind the table, but now use all of your remaining strength to shove the table into ghostface, knocking him to the floor. you take your chance and sprint to the bathroom, locking yourself in.

you lean against the door, sliding down it until you reach the floor, letting out sobs of agony and fear. you were losing blood. a lot of it. what once was a white t-shirt was now almost all stained is a deep red, and your arm was covered in streaks of blood too. how long had he been in your apartment? had he been watching you all night? you frantically send messages to your friends, knowing that mindy’s place and where chad was doing practice are only five minutes away from you and anika’s place. just as your plead for help is delivered to your friends, your phone rings.

unknown number.

you pick up.

“leave me alone!” you desperately scream into your phone. you were an innocent. you’re not from woodsboro, you just happen to be friends with some people who are.

“not just yet, y/n. our date night isn’t quite finished.” ghostface replies.

“why are you doing this?!”

“your woodsboro friends deserve punishment.”

“i didn’t do anything! leave me out of whatever sick vendetta you have, you motherfucker!”

that’s when your neighbour knocked on your door.

“hey, i heard screaming, everything alright in there?” you hear his voice, muffled through the walls, shouting out for you.

“maybe i’ll send my message through him instead.” ghostface threatens.

“no, no, don’t hurt him! you don’t need to hurt him!” you plead with the killer, not wanting any more blood to be spilled.

“too late. i’ve already made my mind up.”

you quickly unlock the bathroom door and sprint out, reaching the hallway to your front door. ghostface opens it and drags your neighbour inside, slamming the door behind him.

ghostface covers your neighbour’s mouth before slitting his throat and throwing him the floor.

you let out a mixture of a sob and a scream before ghostface runs at you, tackling you into the armchair behind you and sending you both to the hardwood floor.

you get to your feet as quick as possible, but so does ghostface. he grabs you and then chucks you onto your glass coffee table, making you crash into it. you lay in the shattered and jagged glass around you as ghostface looms over you. ghostface stabs you in your calf, but your instinct comes in as you utilise your other leg to kick his arm away and then send another boot to his stomach.

you haphazardly pull yourself to your feet and pick up a vase, chucking it at ghostface before standing in front of your dining table. the vase seems to barely do anything, and ghostface just sprints up to your couch and uses it as a launch point to jump on you.

however, at the last possible moment, you throw yourself to the ground, allowing ghostface to smash through the table. ghostface lie: there lifeless down the middle of the split wooden table, and you know the best thing to do now is run.

the adrenaline is starting to wear off as you once more drag yourself to your feet, in constant agony from the pain induced by the stab wounds in your leg, shoulder, arm, and all the shards of glass stuck in your back. you stumble down the hallway, but trip over your neighbours body. again, you struggle to get back up. but you do so, feeling your calf sear with pain, pushing through it and getting to the door. you unlock it, and take a step outside, seeing anika, mindy, and chad turning at the end of your hall, relief filling you. your nightmare was over.

but suddenly you’re dragged back into the apartment.

the door is locked again.

and you’re being pinned against the wall.

you shriek as the knife enters your stomach, trying to shove ghostface off, but he slams you against the wall again and then chucks you to the floor. you hear your friends slamming against your door, and frantic shouting between them about anika finding her keys.

all this while ghostface gets on top of you, and begins stabbing again. brutal stabs to your midsection, the only noise your mind can focus on being the knife entering and exiting you and the squelch of blood. you let out ferocious and terrifying screeches, but to no avail.

then it all stops. you can’t feel anymore of the pain as ghostface stands and wipes the blood from his knife, giving himself a red right hand before he makes a beeline for the window, heading out the fire escape.

the door crashes down, and your friends rush straight to you. you can see their worried facial expressions and hear their rushed words, but none of it is registering.

chad begins to carry you out as you feel the blood starting to reach your mouth, coughing it up. you think anika is on the phone to the 911, but you’re not sure. she’s in tears, screaming about needing help while mindy runs ahead. the last thing you see before it all goes black is chad’s face, hearing him trail off with reassurance, “it’s all gonna be fine, we’re gonna get you help. you’re fine, we’re fine…”

and then it’s over.

a/n: i really enjoyed writing this and i hope you enjoyed reading it too! thinking of maybe making a part two to this where the reader survives, but i also think it does well as a stand-alone where the reader dies. the violence was so much fun to write, i can’t wait to write ghostface again !

[scholar-of-yemdresh]

This Post.

I'm finally doing it! A list of Adult (20s+) Nonbinary/Genderqueer/Transneutral and Trans men rep in SFF books(no romantasy). This will only be limited to main or major characters.

I've not read everything on this list, so some information could be inaccurate or missing e.g I might not know that a character is actually a POC or 40s+. I will also advise to check content warnings because some of the books listed here can get pretty gnarly.

Will occasional be updated

Keys: 🏳️‍⚧️=Trans Author,✊🏾= Author of Colour,🌈=POC,🧓🏾=40s+, ♂️= Trans man , ⚧️= Nonbinary,🎨=Comic

Claude from The Chatelaine by Kat Heartfield ♂️

Tarquin Mercator from The Devoured Worlds by Megan E. o'keefe ♂️

Yari from Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston ⚧️🧓🏾🌈✊🏾

Sol Katz from Dead Collections by Issac Fellman 🏳️‍⚧️♂️🧓🏾

Rosie from Persephone Station by Stina Leicht ⚧️🧓🏾

Rafe from Viscera by Gabrielle Squailia🏳️‍⚧️♂️

John Wyndham from The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall 🏳️‍⚧️♂️

Casey Ravel from the Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings ♂️🌈✊🏾

Ardent Violet from The Starmetal Symphony by Alex White🏳️‍⚧️⚧️

Gyen Jebi from Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee ⚧️🏳️‍⚧️✊🏾🌈

Shock Pao from Shock Pao by Ren Warom ♂️

Firuz-e Jafari from the Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia 🌈✊🏾🏳️‍⚧️⚧️

Iktan from Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse ⚧️🌈✊🏾

Chih from the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo ⚧️✊🏾🌈

Brennus from Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor ⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

Dex from Monk & Robot by Becky Chambers 🌈(?)⚧️

Anima from In The Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu ⚧️🌈✊🏾🏳️‍⚧️

Eolo from The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie ♂️

Ridley from No Gods,No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull 🌈✊🏾♂️

Enae & Qven from Translation State by Ann Leckie⚧️🌈🧓🏾

Penfield R. Henderson, Aiden Chase, Blithe + others from Future Feeling by Joss Lake 🏳️‍⚧️♂️

Ilan from The Faithful Dark by Cate Baumer♂️

Various from The Tensorate by Neon Yang 🏳️‍⚧️✊🏾🌈⚧️♂️

Alex Easton from What Moves the Dead by T.Kingfisher⚧️

Edie from Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🌈✊🏾

Nameless Man from The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg🌈🏳️‍⚧️♂️🧓🏾

Arén from A Promise Broken by S.L. Dove Cooper♂️

Erígra Lilún from The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg 🏳️‍⚧️⚧️

Claire|Claude from Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault ⚧️

Dianthus from The Fate of by J.E. Lynn ⚧️

Asa from The Forgotten Lyric by Carolina Cruz⚧️🌈

Sal Hernandez from It Took Luke by Mark Bouchard & Bayleigh Underwood 🎨⚧️🌈🏳️‍⚧️

MCs from Time Will Devour His Children by Otava Heikkila🎨🏳️‍⚧️♂️🧓🏾🌈

Jonah from Dominion of Blades by Matt Dinniman♂️

Tet Sang from The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho♂️or⚧️🌈✊🏾

Marcus from Lesser Known Monsters by Rory Michaelson♂️🌈

Scorn from Emergent Properties⚧️

Misery Nomaki from The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang✊🏾🏳️‍⚧️🌈⚧️

Taigan from The Worldbreaker Saga by Kameron Hurley⚧️🌈

Leiander from The Stones Stay Silent by Danny Ride♂️🏳️‍⚧️

The Plauge Doctor from The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw⚧️🏳️‍⚧️✊🏾

Aleph Null from Test by Christopher Sebela & Jen Hickman🎨⚧️

Joel Lodowick from My Heart Is Human by Reese Hogan🏳️‍⚧️♂️

Jules from Finna by Nino Cipri 🌈⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

Dax from Shatter Minds by L.R Lam🌈♂️

Scout from The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August⚧️

Avery Ryu from Dead Space by Kali Wallace🌈⚧️

[obsidiancreates]

Out Of The Shadows and Into The Neon

Señor Hueso had promised himself, after a chaotic childhood, that he'd life as peaceful and plain a life as he could once he got older. And he'd done pretty well with that until he'd met Hamato Leonardo. Now he can expect anything from dueling crime families to brotherly bonding by stealing from the most dangerous woman either Above or Below.

So when he steps outside int he early morning to sweep the hidden entrance of Run of the Mill and finds a box full of small sleeping turtle creatures, all he does is sigh deeply and bring them inside.

They wake up once he brings them to the back, all yawning and stretching. They're so very small, all four, and nearly identical. Different shades of green, slightly different head shapes, but otherwise identical. Related, probably.

"And how are you this morning?" he asks softly, cutting up some cucumbers and tomatoes. They probably don't understand, and probably can't reply, but with yokai and mutants it's always a possibility. As he offers out the slices of fruits, however, it's clear there's no tricks.

Four abandoned babies. Left on his doorstep.

Turtle babies.

He pulls out his phone. Two rings, and- "Hueso, my main Yokai man! Everything okay? It's kinda early to be asking me for help with staff shortages you know."

"Too early for your tone as well, Pepino. No, there's no big trouble, but ah... your brothers have not been going out having... flings, have they?" A question he's sure he knows the answer to, the group of young twenty-something year olds hadn't ever really pursued any such relationships as far as he was aware (and too aware he was, with Leon's constant gossip-visits for his 'Favorite Uncle').

"What?! Ew, no, I- hhrk-"

Hueso rolls his not-eyes.

"Why would you even ask that?!"

"Well, this morning I found a box of baby turtle abando-"

There's a buzzing sound, a bright blue light, and then five bodies collectively collapsing on his kitchen floor. The smallest one springs up first, grabbing the box off the counter with his tail and looking inside. Splinter's eyes well up as he delicately picks up one of the babies. The baby (the one with the most blue undertone to it's green skin) paps one tiny three-fingered hand onto Splinter's nose.

"We'll take them!" he delcares.

Hueso feels a swell of relief. He really didn't want to raise four babies at once, his precious Hueso Jr had been more than enough. "Well, that was easy."

"We'll also take as many of our regular orders as this will get us," Mikey says, shoving a wad of cash into Hueso's hands. "We'll need lots of leftovers with how busy we'll be!"

"Uh, are we jumping in a little fast here?" Raph points out as the group heads to their usual table in the empty restaurant, Hueso disappearing into the kitchen. "We don't know how to be dads! Even Pops only figured it out a few years ago."

"Almost ten now!" Splinters barks. He puts the box on the table and squishes his own cheeks as he looks inside. "And you boys have more... nurturing instinct, than I did. Look at Future Boy!"

"Ohmigosh, you're right! Casey is an uncle now! Or older brother?" Mikey picks up the very smallest of the babies. "Ooooh, he's got little freckles! I'm naming youuu Mikey Jr!"

Mikey Jr. giggles and throws both hands up, slapping them down with all his baby might onto Mikey's face. Mikey's own eyes well up now, and he kisses the little baby on his head. His heart? Stolen. "Mikey Jr, you are already carrying on that legacy of cuteness!"

"This won't get confusing at all," Donnie mumbles. He sits up straighter, puts a hand to his chest, and speaks louder than he must, "If we're naming them after ourselves I propose we go by alternate nicknames in group settings. I shall be, Othello Vo-"

"First off, you'd be Donald," Leon says with a tsk and a shake of his head, "Secondly my bro, mi hermano, twin of mine, no-one said all the babies will be named after us. I'm totally naming one after Jupiter Jim."

"Really? And, which one would that be?"

Leon leans over the box. "Well, obviously-! Ah, um..."

Raphie plucks the second smallest baby from the box, holding him by the ankle. The baby laughs as he swings around upside-down. "Maybe this one? He looks like he could be a space adventurer!" He lays him down in his other hand, the baby perfectly palm-sized for now well over seven-foot-tall turtle. The baby stares back up with beady all-pupil eyes. "Awww, lookit the little guy! Raphie loves you, yes he does, yes he does!" He wiggles his finger over the baby as he coos.

Suddenly the baby's face pinches, scrunches, and Splinter gasps in fear as-

"No no no little guy! Don't cry, don't cry!" Raphie pulls his hand away and puts the baby back in the box, where the blue-toned one crawls over and snuggles his brother. It doesn't stop the crying baby's tantrum though.

"No, no!" Splinter picks the crying one back up, leaving the blue one confused for a moment before he goes to snuggle the remaining quietest box baby. Quietest because he's sucking on his hand, so who knows if it's an apt descriptor yet. With the crying baby in hand, Splinter carefully uses the other to position Raphie's arms. "Here, like this! You liked this when you were small."

And then he plops the baby into the cradling arms, and the baby begins to settle. Raphie's eyes widen, and he laughs as they begin to shine with tears. "Aw, yeah, little guy. You like this too?"

The baby blinks, his splotchy face still lined with tears, his breath hiccupping, but a smile slowly taking over his little face.

"Raph Jr," Raphie declares in a proud, soft voice. "Look at you! Bet you're gonna be the strongest little guy ever."

"Possibly," Donald says, picking up the baby with the hand in his mouth. "Though I can't tell if they're Yokai or mutants, so I can't confirm or deny if they're genetic weapons like we are."

The baby blinks at Donald, then slowly pulls his hand out of his mouth. He watches Donald for a moment as Donald watches him, both staring in silence, both examining. Then, the baby grins. He grins and laughs, cooing and gurgling with great passion, trying to say all the baby thoughts in his little baby mind. Donald's expression softens, ever so slightly. An arm comes out of his battleshell, and the baby giggles some more as the arm unfolds to widen and cradle him more comfortably.

"Well it's time to learn, and time to rhyme, because the library champ says it's Dewey Decimal Time-"

"I didn't know it was possible to do a rap like a lullaby," Angelo whispers in awe. He scoots closer. "Make mine smart too!"

Leon picks up the final baby, the bluest one, the one who first stole Splinter's heart. He cradles the baby like Splinter showed Raphie. The baby blinks back up at him, silent and blank-faced. Leon grimaces. "Uh, heyyy, little baby."

The baby doesn't react.

Leon makes a silly face, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out. The baby, again, doesn't react. He tries making a silly noise, and while he does get a laugh out of Angelo and Mikey Jr, he gets nothing from the oddly serious baby in his arms. Leon's starting to have flashbacks to Big Mama's Battle Nexus New York incident.

"Here we are. For most, this would be a month's worth of pizza for every meal of the day." Hueso drops the huge stack of boxes, taller than Splinter is by far, onto the table. "For your family? I say a week."

Leon grins. "Well, we'll need the energy! After all, raising four kids will leave us all... bone-tired."

Everyone, including Hueso, groans at the pun-

And the baby in Leon's arms laughs.

His eyes snap down, taking in the screeching sound as the baby's face flushes from the force of the laughter, and the tension he'd felt melts away into unconditional love in an instant.

"Alright, Leo Jr," he says, bringing the baby up to nuzzle not-noses with him. "We'll get started on the one-liner training right away then!"

It's only after they bid farewell to Hueso and steps through a portal back into their home that Angelo gasps. "We've gotta tell April too!"

"You're right!" Raphie hands Raph Jr to Splinter and pulls out his phone. "And Raphie knows exactly how to break the news. Delicately, and totally reasonable sounding..."

Above ground and across the city, April O'Neil's phone chimes. Casey Jr and Cass both lean over her shoulder as she opens the text, ignoring the movie they had been watching in favor of snooping.

Raph-a-doodle: YOU'RE AN AUNT NOW!!!

"What?!" Casey Jr grabs the phone out of her hands as April sits frozen in shock. "But- what did- how-"

"Does this make me an aunt too?" Cass grins. "Because I've been building up a collection of wines in preparation!"

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of a commonplace book: a new term

saturday, sept 2 — sunday, oct 1, 2023

been running around and then lolling around and then running some more, and the last time i really understood what day it was i think it was aug 28?? though i have gotten a new wall calendar for my room so hopefully that...makes a difference?

anyway. lots of things viewed, read, played etc., but this is the ilcb where i talk about michael sheen's sex show. y'all have been warned.

reading finished this month:

light from uncommon stars, ryka aoki — there was a lot about this one to like, and lots of things that i think...could have worked better? the dialogue stood out to me as weirdly stilted. the author got so much good, fluid, lyrical writing into the descriptions of the violin maker, all the meaningful resonances of the violin, and everything else kind of paled to that. a lot of vision in this one, and hopefully readers who are less picky than i am will be able to chill out and enjoy the representation, the demons and space and music and donuts.

the empress of salt and fortune, nghi vo (audio) — stunning. short, but suggests/captures an entire world. adored the emphasis on little artifacts and material details, the flashes of actual history and the absolutely elegant touches of fantasy.

clouds of witness, dorothy l. sayers (audio) — a lord peter wimsey mystery is always a wonderful excuse to listen to a voice actor just go nuts with posh RP accents, but i do miss my girl harriet even as i know that i'm reading all the prequels on purpose :(

one last stop, casey mcquiston —i didn't think i liked casey mcquiston before, but this book was genuinely a delight. is this how everyone felt about rwrb? the romance tropes worked for me this time, the dialogue here felt natural and fun (especially the secondary characters), and the little turns of phrase and comparisons and twists hit just like you'd hope. the history! the queer community! the roommates! and you know what, fuck it. a little tooth-rotting fluff can be good for the soul.

listening bounced off of the new olivia rodrigo (sorry 😥) and the new chappell roan (sorry sorry 😥) and won't be trying to articulate why for now, haven't spent enough time with the new mitski (liked it on the first listen though) so this section of the post is going to go to noah kahan's stick season, which i have listened to on repeat for the last few weeks. i think i've got a favorite song chosen, only to notice something new about another one—it's not just 'northern attitude' and 'homesick,' though obviously the lines 'i'm mean because i grew up in new england' and 'i was raised out in the cold' / 'i was raised on little light' do fucking resonate. but so does. most of it.

at some point i have added both 'halloween' and 'the view between villages' to my liked songs, and for some reason i get a real kick out of the line in 'new perspective' about calling an intersection downtown just because it's gotten a target. but anyway here's 'stick season', simply for the line 'and i'll dream each night / of some version of you / that i might not have / but i did not lose.'

watching masters of sex (2013). if i'm honest, this is a little bit of a dodge—i watched the entire first season of this show back at the beginning of the month, it fully took over my staycation cat-sitting gig time, and then i haven't been able to get back to it now that i'm home. i think i'm scared to dip back in, honestly? because i can't let myself get sucked back in that strongly.

this show is maddening. it's fascinating. don't ask me if it's good. it's based on this book by thomas maier, which i may have to actually read, because i keep getting distracted wondering about how much the script is changing, adapting, etc. i've taken my intro psych class (and then some), i had to read about masters and johnson, and i feel like the show must be taking liberties— but also, is it?

this show isn't mad men, but it does have that period midcentury / postwar aesthetic, and they do a very good job mentioning bits of history/current events that tie it to the actual history. and there is actual history here, and i love that. but also, i have never been this aware of a show making choices for baldly strategic reasons— you can so tell that this show was written for weekly release, plot threads come and happen for an episode or two at most, only then to be either dropped (for future use if necessary?) or solved.

then again, there's some very competent and tightly-constructed stories, e.g. the episode about the nuclear attack drill and how everyone behaved, how it did and did not matter to them, how their worlds were and weren't also symbolically ending in the intertwined subplots. also a big fan of the one where they're hearing about the new research on the female orgasm! and freud! it's so interesting to have this all framed as ~the frontiers of science!~ and then see how in some ways it's more progressive than you'd expect (than we are today still, on primetime).

the other lead, lizzy caplan, is new to me, but she kills it, kills it, as ginny johnson. allison janney is in this?! caitlin fitzgerald aka tabitha from succession is in this? see what i mean, like half the cast is people who either were in big prestige tv enterprises or who would go on to be, which to me says something about the way this show was viewed as a good move for your acting career in 2013. (link to a piece of historical journalism discussing this show and nbc hannibal as not-to-be-missed viewing for 2013. wild.)

i've never thought this much about how television has changed from the early 2010s to now. this feels like a bridge, connecting pre-peak TV to where we've ended up, where it's not as 'prestige-y' as it would be now, but is still going for the sophistication and intensity. michael sheen wears a funny little bow tie and got a golden globe nom for this, but he could not be further from aziraphale here—it's like watching a totally different person (acting_patrickstewart.gif), he smiles so little and is routinely so awful to various women in his life, including those he purports to love. i distract myself watching him make acting choices in response to some of the (frankly wild) things that they've given masters to say and do, and that's. all i'll say about that.

okay that was mortifying. let's move on.

playing have now completed (for the second time) the first act investigations in pentiment, with new scenes unlocked (the spinning bee! storytime with brother sebhat! midnight in the library!) and still not a solid answer to the mystery. methinks there is a message there, but we won't know for sure until i can next find a time for me to continue with either of my play-through companions. when i play with A, we make choices based on 'i would never pick that if i was playing on my own, but since you're here, you'll be the voice of chaos egging me on,' which if nothing else has led to a lot of cackling.

things this game also excels at, besides narrating women's stories and moral ambiguity: animating children and animals. we shook hands with this dog and it was perfect.

making hungry for a handicraft. sewed a bra back together (unpictured), glued a handle back onto this little ceramic pitcher, glued a hairclip back to its backing and a slipper sole back to its upper slipper (all hail having appropriate adhesives for a job!) watched as squirrels made a meal of the valiant, late-blooming tomatoes.

working on the court romances chapter has a new direction, but it does feel a little like an albatross around my neck at this point. i sent my committee the body and soul debates chapter, but at my most recent meeting it was clear most of them hadn't finished reading it so the discussion was largely 'where's chapter 2? why isn't that here also?' they still gave me the equivalent of a little pat on the head and said 'keep going', so. i'm taking drastic steps (enlisting other on campus resources, my therapist, etc.) to try and fucking make some fucking progress.

[jerzwriter]

For the OC ask game, can you answer

💙 🍪 🍁🐍📓

Any OCs and/or LIs of your choosing

Hey there! Thanks so much for the asks! From this list.

💙- Describe their bedroom! Is it personalized, unchanged? Messy, neat? I'll answer for Tobias/Casey because I've done a bit of work on their bedrooms in the past. And I imagine they're both very neat, at least as adults. You can see Tobias's childhood through his most recent bedroom with Casey here. And here are some of Casey's.

🍪- What are their favorite scents?

I'm going to select a favorite perfume/cologne for them, one they like on their s/o, and a general scent they love (there are more than one, but for time's sake, I'm limiting to one! :) )

Casey: Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream / Tom Ford Oud Wood / Cookies baking in the oven.

Tobias: Tom Ford Costa Azzura / Tom Ford Velvet Orchid / The ocean/sea breeze

Kaycee: Christian Dior Miss Dior / Versace Eros / Jasmine

Ethan: YSL Y / YSL Opium or Black Opium / Coffee

Carolina: Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia / Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille / Hyacinths

Trystan: Versace Eau Fraiche / Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia / Sandalwood

Astrid (VoS): Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue / Prada Luna Rosa Ocean / Peppermint Tea

Grant (VoS): Marc Jacobs Perfect / Prada Luna Rosa Ocean / Coconut

Eli: Since perfumes aren't a thing in their world, Eli loves the scent of a log on the fire.

Zoe: Loves the smell of flowers, especially Jasmine.

🍁 - What is this oc’s favorite season? (I love this question!)

Casey: Autumn, without a doubt. Give her all things fall... pumpkins leaves turning colors, sweaters, crisp air, Halloween... she's there for it.

Tobias: Also autumn, for many of the same reasons as Casey, but for him, summer is a very close first runner-up.

Kaycee: Autumn - same reasons as Casey.

Ethan: Summer - while he could do without the sweltering heat, he loves spending time on the water, and what better season to do it in.

Eli and Zoe: Winter. Mostly because there is little to no zombie activity, so it's the season where they can let their guard down and just "live" a little more.

Trystan: Spring. He loves the world coming to life again, the beautiful flowers, baby animals everywhere.

Carolina: She has reasons that she loves and hates all four seasons. Winter: Snow in NY is beautiful, but not after a day or two. Spring: Same reasons as Trystan, but allergies! Summer: Days at the beach, but too damn hot. Autumn: Nothing is more beautiful than Autumn in New York, but allergies! But here is the thing w/ Carolina, she never wants to live anywhere that does not have four distinct seasons.

Astrid (VoS): Spring and Fall, she's not a fan of extremes in temperature.

Grant (VoS): Summer. He lives in a seashore town, it makes perfect sense.

🐍- Very serious question… are they more like a dragon, or a unicorn?

Answered this for all but my VoS kids here. For VoS: Astrid is 80% Unicorn 20% Dragon (just like her cousin Carolina in CoP), Grant is 90% Unicorn, 10% Dragon.

📓- Do you associate any quotes or lyrics with this oc?

Like I told Dani (who also asked this one), I need to spend an inordinate and insane amount of time with this one. lol

[swordofsun]

Wanted to do something for the new year, so I guess I'll do a 2023 book wrap up. In chronological order from the beginning of 2023 to the end.

Putting in a read more because this is 90 books and that's too much to not hide it.

Rereads marked with a *

The Iron Dirge by Sam Sykes - Grave of Empires #2.5

Three Axes to Fall by Sam Sykes - Grave of Empries #3

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin - Great Cities #2

Unbreakable by Mira Grant

Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box by Mira Grant

Juice Like Wounds by Seanan McGuire - Wayward Children #4.5

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire - Wayward Children #8

The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress #1*

The Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress #2*

The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress #3*

The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress #4*

Spirit's End by Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress #5*

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan Saga #1 (Publication Order)

The Coup of Tea by Casey Blair - The Tea Princess Chronicles #1

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Lyconthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal

The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde - Gemworld #1

Sandry's Book by Tamara Pierce - Circle of Magic #1*

Comeuppance Served Cold by Marion Deeds

By A Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron - DFZ Changeling #1

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older - Mossa and Pleiti #1

The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney

Tris's Book by Tamara Pierce - Circle of Magic #2*

The Bones Swans of Amandale by C.S.E. Cooney (Novella)

Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard - Unseen World #1

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales

The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato

The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliot

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Servant Mage by Kate Elliot

The Warden by Daniel M Ford - The Warden #1

Daja's Book by Tamara Pierce - Circle of Magic #3*

Jackdraw by K.J. Charles - A Charm of Magpies World #1

The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids by Michael McClung - Amra Thetys #1

Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot

Lexicon by Max Barry

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

The Thief Who Spat in Luck's Good Eye by Michael McClung - Amara Thetys #2

Briar's Book by Tamara Pierce - Circle of Magic #4*

The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate by Michael McClung - Amara Thetys #3

Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang - The Lamplight Murder Mysteries #1

Ebony Gate - by Julie Vee and Ken Bebelle - The Phoenix Hoard #1

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #2*

Rogue Protocols by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #3*

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #4*

Zen Bow, Zen Arrow: The Life and Teachings of Awa Kenzo, the Archery Master from "Zen in the Art of Archery" by John Stevens

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diareis #6*

Apparently I've hit the character limit without a paragraph break. So, we'll be starting over from 1, but it will really be #54.

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #4.5

Compulsory: A Murderbot Story by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #0.5*

Magic Steps by Tamara Pierce - The Circle Opens #1*

Murder on the Lamplight Express by Morgan Stang - The Lamplight Murder Mysteries #2

Bone Swans by C.S.E. Cooney (short story collection)

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel - Themis Files #1

Mammoth at the Gates by Nghi Vo - The Singing Hills Cycle #4

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M Valente

Triggernometry by Stark Holborn - Triggernometry #1

Street Magic by Tamara Pierce - The Circle Opens #2*

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett - The Foundryside Trilogy #1

Advanced Triggernometry by Stark Holborn - Triggernometry #2

Inda by Sherwood Smith - Inda #1

Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne - Tomes and Tea #1

Red River Seven by A.J. Ryan

Dracula by Bram Stoker - via Re: Dracula

Beholder by Ryan La Sala

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather

System Collapse by Martha Wells - The Murderbot Diaries #7

Cold Fire by Tamara Piece - The Circle Opens #3*

Dream of the Falling Axe by Sam Sykes - Grave of Empires #3.5

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Hikaru No Go Vol 1 Decent of the Go Master by Yumi Hotta - Hikaru No Go #1

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs - The Kingdom Trilogy #1

Shatterglass by Tamara Pierce - The Circle Opens #4*

Paladin's Faith by T Kingfisher - The Saint of Steel #4

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon - The Downworld Sequence #1

On The Fox Roads by Nghi Vo

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrom by John Scalzi - Lock In #0.5

Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton

Okay, and according to Storygraph:

My longest book was Three Axes to Fall at 806 pages

My most read authors were: Tamara Pierce, Martha Wells, and Rachel Aaron. Which is due to re-reads. I re-read 16 books this year.

My average rating was 4.14 out of 5.

I read the most in June.

I read 41 new-to-me authors.

52 of the books I read were part of series.

So, I guess, feel free to ask me any questions.

Happy New Year!

[istherewifiinhell]

Okay if you can handle 07 cg animation and female character design. and the weird intro narration. ITS A BOP

I mean okay i dont even think its bad animation, just a little funky looking. but i love it. and has a very nice "spooky turtles fading into shadows with glowing eyes" effect. but yeah freaky stick arm ladies. rip. well theres only 3 of them anyway... ksdfbgs -> turtles difficulties.

the animated sets are gorgeous. like. lush environments for running around in. atmospheric lightin. DOING. the fucking most. with their water effects rendering of the time.

love a movie with. three intros. not really. but theres classic "hey look turtles, theyre mutants! and ninja!". theres hey this ancient evil thing needs a set up. and then theres. leos been hanging in... central america for 2 years. and thats. well. theres training reasons for it, but really theres angst reasons for it.

and yes. this is angst turtles narrative babeyyyyy. god help me but that was good ass leo raph fighting. the movies are gonna movie. and it is secondary mikey donnie. turtle movie constant :/. BUT. ITS GOOD. is the thing. leos been gone, and thinks he failed his training. in his absence don and mike moved to. more civilian occupations (aka IT support and kids birthdays lol). so raphs is doing a lone vigilante thing. motorbike and all.

Lemme try not to. Just repeat every narrative beat in this thread of the movie but. Just like, doing the vibe of anyone whose been away from family/friends for a while. Trying to mesh back in. Miscalculation due to things you've missed. And on top of that, trying to be the leader, with the insecurity of his perceived failure. And Raph who resents the idea they needed Leo, and hurt by his absense. And hiding his solo actions from everyone.

And well. When the words fail sometimes you want to see the characters have an emotional fraught duel!! And this fucking delivers. Maximal... catharsis i suppose.

The rest of the plot vibes well enough with keeping the emotional core of getting this family working together again. Capture monsters quests. Teases for future movies that never happened. But! It's fun! It is fun. It doing GREAT. On the funny and crying alignment chart for turtles media. Sweet boys, good dad splinter moments (even if not always good teacher, such is the way). Oh, and movie turtles that can USE THEIR WEAPONS. In fights. Like. On their opponents. Like. Just a pretty strong movie over all.

The only other thing to say about this is. great trivia to learn/s. Got fucked up by some studio stuff. INCLUDING. The weinstein company.... Which lead to recasting some of the rolls with celebrities. which is probably why the turtles are all veterans of VO work but then like. April, Casey and another character are all. BIG FAMOUS ACTORS. Cant have shit in animation. that been true and remains true huh.

[jerzwriter]

I'm home sick tonight and need something to do - go for it. For any of my MCs or LIs (Tobias x Casey, Ethan x Kaycee, Casey x Jess, Trystan x Carolina, Eli x Zoe, or even Grant x Astrid (Vos)

So I’ve mentioned this before, but when I was younger, I made a list of 80 (it was supposed to be 100, but I gave up) questions to ask your characters. Well, I decided to remake that list and add the additional 20, so, without further ado, here are…

100 Questions To Ask Your Characters - By Jennah Maria

How would they handle a breakup?

What are they like when they’re sick?

Can they bake a cake? Who would they bake one for?

Can they sing? If so, would they ever enter a singing competition?

How would they react to someone flirting with them?

If they have a significant other or crush, how would they react to someone flirting with that person?

How would they react to a theme park? Do they like rollercoasters? The games? The food? The other rides?

Are they ticklish? How would they react to getting tickled?

How would they be at a ball? Do they know how to ballroom dance?

How do they feel about kids? Would they ever want kids of their own?

Do they play any sports? If so, which ones? How do they feel about sports in general? Do they like to watch any?

If they had to take care of a puppy or a kitten, would they do a good job? Do they have any pets of their own?

How do they act when they’re stressed and what are some things they do to relax?

What are they most afraid of?

What are their thoughts on matching sweaters? Would they be the type of person to make/buy matching sweaters or would they refuse to wear any?

If they have a significant other, do they celebrate their anniversary? If so, how?

How do they feel about Halloween and how do they celebrate it?

What are they self conscious about?

What are their sleeping habits?

How do they react to getting hurt? Both in the sense of a small injury like a paper cut or a bigger injury.

How do they act when they're sleep deprived? Do they often get enough sleep?

What would they do if someone they loved had been badly injured and might not survive?

How do they react to blood?

How do they feel about their birthday and how do they celebrate it?

How do they feel about Valentine's Day and how do they celebrate it?

How often do they get into arguments with someone else? Do they typically apologize first?

Do they make friends easily? How many friends do they have and what does it take for them to consider someone a friend?

How are they when they go to the Doctor’s? What about when they have to get shots?

If they died, who would plan their funeral and what would it be like?

Do they like horror movies? If watching one, do they get scared?

What would bring them to their breaking point? And how would they recover from it?

What is their favorite memory?

What is their worst memory?

Do they work? If so, what’s their job?

Do they have any secrets? If so, what is their most stupid/silliest secret, their biggest/most major secret, and a secret they haven’t fully accepted themself?

How do they feel about romance? For themselves, their friends, and in a fictional sense.

How do they feel about the rain? What do they do when it’s raining?

Are they prone to making scenes in public? What would bring them to cause a scene?

How would they react to someone insulting them?

What would they do if someone had insulted someone they cared about and made them feel bad?

Are they messy or clean? How do they react to a mess?

What does their bedroom look like?

What are their eating habits?

What’s their favorite possession of theirs and why?

What’s are some of their nervous ticks/annoying habits?

Are they a partier? What kind of parties do they like?

What is one thing that they’re really good at?

What is one thing that they’re really bad at?

How clingy are they? What do they act like?

What’s something that they find really annoying?

How is their relationship with their parents?

On an average day, what can be found in their pockets?

Do they remember names or faces better?

What would you describe as “out of their comfort zone” and what would push them to get out of it?

How do they act around their crush? If they don’t get crushes, how about a squish?

What are some pet names they would use for their significant other? How do they feel about pet names in general?

Are they more of a shower or bath kind of person? Do they take long baths/showers, or short ones?

Would they rather be early or late to something, or do they arrive precisely on time?

How do they feel about cuddling/snuggling?

What would it take for them to get really angry? How do they act when they’re mad?

Do they have any food restrictions or allergies?

How do they feel about violence? Are they a pacifist?

How important is personal hygiene to them? What do they smell like?

What kind of clothes do they like to wear?

What are their thoughts/relationship with death?

Would they help a stranger? Why would they?

How do they feel about bike riding?

Are they really aware, or do they tend to live in their own little world?

What natural disaster do they fear the most, and why?

What would you say they’re smart in? Are they book smart? People smart? Street smart? Etc.

Do they have siblings? If so, how is their relationship with them? If not, do they wish they did?

What’s their fashion sense?

How do they feel about spiders?

Would they physically fight someone? If so, why?

Do they like to read? If so, what do they like to read?

Do they play any instruments?

What do they do when they’re sad and how do they cheer up?

What’s their guilty pleasure?

What’s their most embarrassing memory?

What’s an irrational or stupid fear of theirs?

How do they feel about houseplants or gardens? Do they have a green thumb?

How often do they get bored and how do they tackle their boredom?

What is one of their favorite pass-times?

What’s their favorite holiday, and why?

What’s their least favorite holiday, and why?

Do they have a sweet tooth? What’s their favorite dessert and or candy?

What’s their favorite kind of takeout/fast food?

Do they have a favorite meal? What about a favorite snack?

What’s their favorite drink? (Non alcoholic)

Do they drink alcohol? If so, what’s their favorite type of alcohol?

Do they travel often? How do they feel about traveling?

Can they swim? If so, do they like to swim?

Do they have any tattoos, or would they ever get any? Do their tattoos mean anything?

Do they have any piercings? If so, how many and where?

Have they ever taken any kind of substances? Such as weed or drugs? If so, how often?

Do they smoke?

What would they consider their biggest mistake, and if given the chance, would they change it?

Do they have any surprising/hidden skills that no one else is aware of? If so, what are they?

What are their favorite smells and textures?

Are they superstitious? What kind of superstitions do they believe in?

And there you go, here are Jennah’s 100 questions to ask your characters! If you guys wanna see more stuff like this, lemme know and I can make a part 2! (Believe me, I have plenty of questions I could still ask)

[game88an]

Alternative TMNT 2014 movie with Practical effects

Idea how they could have mix archie, 87 and mirage comics also 2003 and 2012

Idea of Practical effects suit could been made by other Jim Henson company or Spectral Motion.

Alternative Story:

Start with Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) escape from Japan after after the family feud with Oroku Saki (Shredder) and it was battle between Yamaguchi clan and Saburo clan.

Hamato Yoshi belongs to Yamaguchi clan but former name Hamato clan and Oroku Saki belongs to Saburo clan but was also former Oroku clan.

The battle between the Yamaguchi clan and the Saburo clan began with Oroku Nagi killing Saburo and blaming the Yamaguchi clan for the murder.

Hamato Yoshi and his Uncle Gyõgi duell with brother Oroku but Gyõgi and Nagi the only one who did't survive.

Before Hamato Yoshi came to New York, his uncle visited his friend Mogo-San. Mogo-San recommended to go to New York where his son and his stepdaughter Tang Shen live.

Now in present day New York when he works in the subway trainstation close to sewers.

He was bitten by a rat on the last shift before his shift ended.

When Hamato Yoshi had finished his shift and go home and then he noticed that had happened to Tang Shen and Mogo Yokurian (Mogo Yoku) and they were beaten instead of murdered. Tang Shen and Mogo Yokurian describe that it was a man metal equipment like a samurai and performed Shredder.

Hamato Yoshi gets out also angry at Shredder and walks to the subway where he works.

He suddenly sees four turtles falling from the grate by the well into the sewer.

Mustang falls with turtles and Hamato Yoshi gets mustang on him and turns him into a rat because he was bitten earlier and turtles turn into mutated humanoid height.

A few years later, the turtles come out of the sewers and they meet in a gang called the Purple Dragon.

Then after the battle against Purple dragon who returns to the sewers and then they see girl (April) running from humanoid robots call mousers that Baxter Stuckmann has sent after her.

She used to work as an assistant to Baxter Stuckmann but was fired and ended her life.

Previously there were two reporters by the name of Irma Langenstein from Channel 6 and Melros Hynes (Ms Hynes) from Channel 3 and interview Baxter Stuckmann before April was chase.

The Turtles pick up April O'Neil when she was unconscious and take her to their home.

When she wakes up, she is shocked to see a humanoid animal that talks but one thing she doesn't know is that Splinter was a human.

Splinter tells the turtles to take it easy on her because he knows people can be afraid of something they don't understand.

Splinter tells her that he used to be a human before turning into a rat and he tells her that his name is Hamato Yoshi as a human but prefers the name Splinter.

Raphael walk out of sewers and sees one man with hockey mask (Casey Jones) and battle some robber and Raphael join in and fight robbers.

Casey Jones and Raphael dealt with the robbers Casey wasn't shocked like April when he saw Raphael.

Casey Jones and Raphael dealt with the robbers Casey wasn't shocked like April when he saw Raphael and thinks the humanoid turtle is cool.

Casey is invited to the sewers and tell story about his arch enemy Hunter "Hun" Mason that he is leader of Purple Dragon and because Hun killed Casey's father.

After Casey and the Turtles went out in the meantime, Splinter practices situps tail grasp upside down against the pipe on ceiling.

Splinter gets new experience as a rat differentiating from a human to do sit ups upside down on the roof with his tail.

Casey and the Turtles suddenly meet more gang and it is Purple Dragon.

The turtles return to the sewers and Splinter plans for the five of them to attack the Foot clan and Shredder to get his revenge.

Alternative Story end

Alternative cast:

Ben McKenzie as Voice Leonardo

Chris Brewster as Stunt Leonardo Suit

Logan Marshall-Green as Voice Raphael

Justin Eaton as Stunt Raphael Suit

Michael Cassidy as Voice Donatello

Jessen Noviello as Stunt Donatello Suit

Scott Michael Foster as Voice Michelangelo

William Spencer as Stunt Michelangelo Suit

Peter Shinkoda as Hamato Yoshi/Splinter

Micah Karns as Hamato Yoshi/Splinter Suit

Micah Karns as Young Hamato Yoshi (Flashback)

Louis Ozawa as Oroku Saki/Shredder

Brandon Soo Hoo as Young Oroku Saki (Flashback)

Tiffany Dupont (Choice 1) as April O'Neil

Aubrey Dollar (Choice 2) as April O'Neil

Ellie Kemper (Choice 3) as April O'Neil

Noah Mills (Choice 1) as Casey Jones 

Sean Faris (Choice 2) as Casey Jones

Daniel di Tomasso (Choice 3) as Casey Jones

Martha MacIsaac as Irma Langenstein (Channel 6)

Michael Rady as Vernon Fenwick (Channel 6)

McKinley Freeman as Baxter Stuckmann

Randy Orton as Hunter Mason

Kenzo Suzuki as Tatsu

Mark Rolston as Burne Thompson (Channel 6) Boss

Barbara Eve Harris as Linda Temilesand (Channel 3) Boss

Brooke Langton as Melros Hynes (Ms Hynes)

Dana Davis as Val Arefor

Alternative cast Hamato Yoshi Flashback:

Telly Liu as Oroku Nagi (Flashback)

Christy Chung Lai-Tai as Lotasu Burossamu (Lotus Blossom) (Flashback)

Perry Yung as Gyõgi (Flashback)

Andrew Ng as Mogo-San (Flashback)

Chia-Hui Liu as Yamaguchi (Flashback)

Takehiro Hira as Saburo (Flashback)

Tiger Hu Chen as Yukio Mashimi (Flashback)

Grace Huang as Tang Shen (Flashback)

Leonard Wu as Mogo Yokurian (Flashback)

Alternative Directors

Nimród Antal: He did direct Predators which was practical effects.

James DeMonaco: He did direct Purge movies

Trivia

1. Saburo appearance in Mutations (Archie) comics.

2. Ms Hynes didn't have fist name in comics and idea of her first name Melros because Ms for Melros. She only appeared in TMNT vs Mousers comics.

3. Linda appearance in The Ghost of Mile Island comics by Steve Sullivan and You're Fired comics by Stephen Murphy. Linda didn't have surname but idea of her surname could be Temilesand from title (The Ghost of Mile Island) comics and kinda like (T e mile sand).

4. Gyõgi appearance in Midnight Sun, Part 2 comics.

5. Mogo-San appearance in TMNT 1987 cartoon and don't exist comics.

6. Yamaguchi appearance in TMNT 1987 cartoon first episode and only exist Mutations (Archie).

7. Yukio Mashimi appearance in TMNT 2003 he is replace Oroku Nagi character in TMNT 2003 cartoon.

8. Channel 6 is actually Channel 3 in comics.

9. Val appearance in Chameleons are Forever comics by Stephen. Val didn't have surname in comics but idea of surname could be from title Chameleons are forever like (Are for).

10. Tatsu appearance in TMNT 90s movies and his Shredder right hand man.

11. Lotus Blossom and idea of her sounding japanese name could be Lotasu Burossamu

12. Mogo Yokurian actually name is Yoku not Yokurian and that's not to confuse with Yukio. The idea of ​​mixing Yoku and rian from Actor Brian Tochi that did voice to Yoku TMNT in 1987 and he also did voice Leonardo TMNT live action 90s.

[manukyan]

Logitech Superlight 2 Dex, Launch Film (Los York 2024) from Cian McKenna on Vimeo.

Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 Dex, Launch Film. Creative Direction, Edit, 3D by Cian McKenna, For Los York.

For Logitech G Head of Esports: @brentbarry Global Brand Manager: @veelia PMM: Patti @justbeingpatti Creative Director: Vaughn Lee-Thorpe @vnlt

For Los York: ECD: Scott Hidinger @shidinger Managing Director: Melina Osornio-Andrade @melinaosornio EP Studio: Tita Poe @titapoe Head of Brand Partnerships: Nikki Peddie @nikkiped Brand Partner: Lara Wilinsky @lwilin Director of VFX and Motion: Casey Hupke @pr0fssr Producer: Alex Ramos @alex_spillo Associate Producer: Tara Seewack @taraseewack Creative Director, Edit & 3D: Cian McKenna @mrcianmckenna CD/ Copywriter: @bulots 3D Generalist: Rudy Taege @r.taege 3D Generalist: Alex Liou @alex_liou 2D/3D Designer: Ha Eun Chang @haeunchang 3D Generalist: Travis Ragdale @travisragsdale 3D Generalist: Chris Cook @tooandflow -- LA Production Director: Raphael Vangelis @raphaelvangelis LA Production DP: Alexander Alexandrov @alexanderalexandrov VO: Jemma Rayner @jemma.rayner.jane Music / SFX / Final Mix: Echolab

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in sept 2024

[casual reviews - feel free to ask for more info or my goodreads!!] 

i slept in my own bed every single night of this month which meant that i was absolutely COOKING again

the brides of high hill - ngho vo ★★★★★ (fantasy)

i love the singing hills novellas FOREVER, i'm so glad we're getting a chance to play in some different genres! a spooky haunted (?) house was perfect!

newcomer - keigo higashino ★★★★☆ (mystery)

very fun set up with a concrete throughline, i'm impressed with how much this explores mundane everyday life outside of the murder

murder in mesopotamia - agatha christie ★★★★☆ (mystery)

solidly constructed mystery with an entertaining POV character!

daughter of mine - megan miranda ★★★★☆ (thriller)

slow and spooky and i had a lot of fun with it, but the ending felt super rushed and wasn't satisfying

we were dreams - simu liu ★★★★☆ (memoir)

the section about his parents was so touching 🥹 nothing astonishing in here but a lot of it was very relatable

night lunch - mike chaulk ★★★★☆ (poetry)

very evocative poems about a side of canada that i have very little experience with (shipping on the east coast!)

the final curtain - keigo higashino ★★★★☆ (mystery)

pretty slow on the mystery side but there was a lot of character intrigue in this one that kept it fun

the year without sunshine - naomi kritzer ★★★★☆ (sci fi short story)

perfectly sweet and hopeful!

making love with the land - joshua whitehead ★★★★☆ (memoir)

this so lyrical that it was kind of hard to follow as an audiobook, so i def plan to give this author's other works a proper read!

cleopatra and frankenstein - coco mellors ★★★★☆ (contemporary)

kind of a "bring your own emotions" situation, either you relate to the mess these characters are in or you don't

malice - keigo higashino ★★★★☆ (mystery)

fun and interesting mystery gimmick but the last third of the book feels unfinished

a mind spread out on the ground - alicia elliott ★★★☆☆ (memoir)

occasionally brilliant but clumsy in the way it tried to bridge personal experience and social commentary

denison avenue - christina wong, daniel innes ★★★☆☆ (historical)

not much plot or character growth but lots of heart in this specific snapshot of toronto!

a death in tokyo - keigo higashino ★★★☆☆ (mystery)

pretty standard police procedural

we solve murders - richard osman ★★★☆☆ (mystery)

it's a little too similar to his other series to grab me right away, but i think once i warm up to the characters i'll get more invested

the pairing - casey mcquiston ★★☆☆☆ (romance)

the romance was a dud. also this was dual POV and the first half/POV was absolutely intolerable but the second half/POV was kind of fun. i do love a slutty man in love with someone horrible for him

ascension - nicholas binge ★★☆☆☆ (sci fi horror)

so disappointing, i was really excited for this one 😭 but the execution was goofy and the characters paper-thin

[DNF] we rule the night - claire eliza bartlett ★★★☆☆ (YA fantasy)

this is a pretty solid YA fantasy, i just have not been able to convince myself to finish it though. it's not the book, it's me!

[wankerwatch]

Lords Vote

On: Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024

Baroness Altmann moved that an Humble Address be presented to His Majesty praying that the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/869), laid before the House on 22 August, be annulled because they would significantly reduce state support for pensioners without sufficient warning and without a proper impact assessment, and because they present a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of many pensioners on low incomes. The House divided:

Ayes: 30 (26.7% XB, 26.7% Con, 16.7% DUP, 13.3% , 3.3% PC, 3.3% LD, 3.3% Green, 3.3% Bshp, 3.3% UUP) Noes: 138 (90.6% Lab, 7.2% XB, 1.4% , 0.7% Con) Absent: ~663

Individual Votes:

Ayes

Crossbench (8 votes)

Butler-Sloss, B. Craig of Radley, L. Curry of Kirkharle, L. Deech, B. Desai, L. Hastings of Scarisbrick, L. O'Loan, B. Pannick, L.

Conservative (8 votes)

Bellingham, L. Foster of Oxton, B. Hodgson of Abinger, B. Manzoor, B. Moynihan, L. Polak, L. Sterling of Plaistow, L. Verma, B.

Democratic Unionist Party (5 votes)

Browne of Belmont, L. Dodds of Duncairn, L. Hay of Ballyore, L. McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown, L. Morrow, L.

Non-affiliated (4 votes)

Altmann, B. Fox of Buckley, B. Hoey, B. Taylor of Warwick, L.

Plaid Cymru (1 vote)

Smith of Llanfaes, B.

Liberal Democrat (1 vote)

Ludford, B.

Green Party (1 vote)

Jones of Moulsecoomb, B.

Bishops (1 vote)

Southwark, Bp.

Ulster Unionist Party (1 vote)

Elliott of Ballinamallard, L.

Noes

Labour (125 votes)

Adams of Craigielea, B. Alli, L. Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, B. Anderson of Swansea, L. Armstrong of Hill Top, B. Ashton of Upholland, B. Bach, L. Bassam of Brighton, L. Beamish, L. Beckett, B. Berkeley, L. Blake of Leeds, B. Boateng, L. Bradley, L. Bragg, L. Browne of Ladyton, L. Campbell-Savours, L. Carter of Coles, L. Chakrabarti, B. Chapman of Darlington, B. Clark of Windermere, L. Collins of Highbury, L. Crawley, B. Cryer, L. Donaghy, B. Donoughue, L. Drake, B. Eatwell, L. Evans of Watford, L. Falconer of Thoroton, L. Faulkner of Worcester, L. Foulkes of Cumnock, L. Gale, B. Golding, B. Goudie, B. Grantchester, L. Hacking, L. Hain, L. Hannett of Everton, L. Hanson of Flint, L. Hanworth, V. Harman, B. Harris of Haringey, L. Hayman of Ullock, B. Hayter of Kentish Town, B. Hazarika, B. Healy of Primrose Hill, B. Hendy of Richmond Hill, L. Hodge of Barking, B. Howarth of Newport, L. Hughes of Stretford, B. Hunt of Kings Heath, L. Hutton of Furness, L. Jay of Paddington, B. Jones of Whitchurch, B. Jones, L. Jordan, L. Keeley, B. Kennedy of Cradley, B. Kennedy of Southwark, L. Khan of Burnley, L. Kingsmill, B. Knight of Weymouth, L. Lawrence of Clarendon, B. Layard, L. Lennie, L. Leong, L. Liddell of Coatdyke, B. Liddle, L. Lipsey, L. Livermore, L. Mann, L. Maxton, L. McConnell of Glenscorrodale, L. McIntosh of Hudnall, B. McNicol of West Kilbride, L. Mendelsohn, L. Merron, B. Morgan of Drefelin, B. Morgan of Huyton, B. Morris of Yardley, B. Murphy of Torfaen, L. Nye, B. O'Grady of Upper Holloway, B. Parekh, L. Pitkeathley, B. Ponsonby of Shulbrede, L. Prentis of Leeds, L. Ramsay of Cartvale, B. Ramsey of Wall Heath, B. Rebuck, B. Reid of Cardowan, L. Ritchie of Downpatrick, B. Robertson of Port Ellen, L. Rooker, L. Rowlands, L. Royall of Blaisdon, B. Sahota, L. Sherlock, B. Smith of Basildon, B. Smith of Malvern, B. Snape, L. Spellar, L. Stansgate, V. Symons of Vernham Dean, B. Taylor of Bolton, B. Taylor of Stevenage, B. Thornton, B. Timpson, L. Touhig, L. Tunnicliffe, L. Turnberg, L. Twycross, B. Vallance of Balham, L. Warwick of Undercliffe, B. Watson of Invergowrie, L. Watson of Wyre Forest, L. Wheeler, B. Whitaker, B. Wilcox of Newport, B. Winston, L. Winterton of Doncaster, B. Wood of Anfield, L. Young of Norwood Green, L. Young of Old Scone, B.

Crossbench (10 votes)

Boycott, B. Casey of Blackstock, B. Ford, B. Freeman of Steventon, B. Hunt of Bethnal Green, B. Krebs, L. O'Donnell, L. Patel, L. Walney, L. Watkins of Tavistock, B.

Non-affiliated (2 votes)

Austin of Dudley, L. Verdirame, L.

Conservative (1 vote)

Attlee, E.