#deadly invitations 2024

[bittersweetremains]

[moviesandmania]

DEADLY INVITATIONS Tubi Original thriller online now

Deadly Invitations is a 2024 thriller about an online influencer who comes across a VIP party invite not meant for her and dives headfirst into the side of the industry where secrets are worth killing for. Directed and co-produced by Monika Mitchell from a screenplay by Miriam Lyapin and Helen Marsh. Co-produced by Tara Cowell-Plain. The Invite Productions movie stars Lola Flanery, Natalie Brown,…

[captainsophiestark]

Did I Forget to Mention?

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2024!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Day Twelve Prompt: "Did you hear that?"

Summary: Nik's SO *might* have forgotten to tell their Mystic Falls friends about their relationship with a certain hybrid. But it's not going to stay secret for much longer.

Word Count: 2,381

Category: Fluff, little bit of Angst

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Okay, I'm calling it! Semesters suck, I'd give anything to be on a quarter system if it meant not having homework on spring break."

My friends laughed, even as I groaned and collapsed back into the couch. I got one week to take a break from school, and a small window to reunite with my friends back in Mystic Falls who'd all gone to Whitmore. We were supposed to spend the whole week having fun starting tomorrow morning, but they'd surprised me by showing up at my house tonight to get the party started early. Unfortunately, a few of my classes had given me homework, and I couldn't give in to spring break until I took care of it.

"I have a feeling you're gonna be singing a different tune in May when you're out of class and we've all still got another month left," said Bonnie with a smile.

"You're just lucky we want to enjoy the break with you," Elena added. "Otherwise we'd be getting payback for you showing up to campus during finals week to 'relax and tan'."

"Hey! I also showed up as moral support, thank you very much!"

"How was that morally supportive?" asked Caroline.

"I brought you coffees! And I was exemplifying the light at the end of the tunnel for you guys, when you finished your tests and could join me in summer fun!"

"Oh! Okay, of course," said Caroline in a tone that I knew should make me concerned. "I forgot, you're right. We'll go make some drinks and leave you to finish this, maybe play some music, so we can model that spring break fun, light at the end of the tunnel for you."

"No," I whined, flopping back onto the couch again. "Point taken, and I'm sorry. Just please don't leave me to this homework alone."

"We won't," Elena reassured me, reaching out to rest her hand on my arm. "But... the three of us might make drinks anyway."

I groaned, grabbing a pillow and burying my face in it. Finally, I sighed, sitting upright again.

"Fine. You know where all the stuff is. Just... try not to get so buzzed you tell me to edit a bunch of ridiculous stuff into my paper, okay?"

"No promises!" chirped Caroline as my three friends all stood. I sighed, but before they could get any further out of the room, a loud thud came from the direction of the kitchen.

All three of us froze in our tracks. We'd spent way too much time dealing with supernatural headaches not to go on high alert after something like that.

"Did you hear that?" hissed Caroline. We all nodded, so I gestured for the four of us to head towards the kichen and check it out.

If it was a vampire, it had to be one who'd already been invited in. If it was a different kind of supernatural creature, between the four of us, we should probably be able to handle it. Still, it never hurt to be cautious. Surprises happened all the time, and they could be deadly.

We took up positions just outside the kitchen, then Caroline counted us down with her fingers. When she dropped the last one, all four of us whirled around the corner, ready for action.

I stopped dead at the sight of Klaus Mikaelson hovering by my kitchen island, my heart dropping in my chest. Caroline and Elena both looked ready for a fight, but Bonnie beat them both to it. She raised her hand, and Nik dropped to the ground, holding his head.

"Stop!" I cried, rushing forward and yanking Bonnie's hand down. She stared at me, shocked, outraged, and confused, but to my relief I saw Nik stand up out of the corner of my eye.

Silence settled over the kitchen. Every single person was looking at me, my friends all with incredulous looks and scowls, Nik with a faint smile. For my part, I actually found myself wishing I could go back to my classwork. Just as long as I could be anywhere but here.

Unfortunately, I didn't get my wish. Nik took a deep breath in, and I knew if I didn't speak quickly, he'd take over the explanations for me. As bad as this situation was, I knew that would only make it worse.

I'd been invovled in the Mikaelson drama with the rest of my friends while they'd been living in Mystic Falls, but once they left, I hadn't really given them much more thought.

That is, until I ended up going to college in New Orleans. Klaus and I had run into each other at an art exhibit, and it functioned as a kind of neutral territory. We were both pretty opinionated, and we'd ended up spending the most of the day together, first talking about the exhibit but quickly moving on to other topics, too. We'd had a strange kind of reconnection, although we hadn't really been connected in the first place, and within a few weeks he'd asked me on a date and I'd said yes. We'd been dating since that freshman fall, and recently, I'd caught myself thinking the word love more than once. But I'd been serioiusly, seriously putting off telling my friends back home.

I'd managed to dodge telling them for two whole school breaks now. But apparently, with spring break, my luck was finally running out.

"Alright," I started, holding up my hands before Nik could jump in. "So... Nik and I have been... together... for a while now. We ran into each other again in New Orleans and just kind of hit it off. I didn't want to tell you guys becuase, well... I didn't think you'd take it well."

No one said anything for a moment, like my words were on a slight time delay. Then, all three of my friends started shouting at once.

"Are you kidding me?"

"What were you thinking?"

"Out of every single person in New Orleans, in the world, why the hell did you pick him?"

Nik stepped up beside me as all three of my friends had their reactions. Honestly, I couldn't blame them. It was a justified reaction, especially after how seriously they'd been blindsided. Nik didn't seem the least bit phased as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"I'm sorry, love," he muttered into my ear. "I didn't realize your little friends were over."

I just sighed. "It's not your fault, Nik. I should've told them a long time ago. Don't worry, they'll be fine."

As one, our attention returned to my friends, who were now glaring at the two of us. I grimaced, but Nik seemed to enjoy the negative attention. He grinned and pulled me in closer to his side.

Bonnie looked on the verge of using magic again, and Caroline seemed about two seconds away from charging Nik to start a fist fight, so I gave his shoulder a squeeze and gently stepped away from him.

"Guys... I'm sorry. I should've told you a long time ago, and I shouldn't have put you in a situation to find out like this."

"Or, how about you shouldn't be dating the guy who tried to kill us all in the first place!" Caroline shouted, unable to contain herself anymore. I grimaced, but didn't step any further away from Nik.

"That's... a fair reaction. But seriously, I'm happy. Happier than I've ever been. And it's not like he's trying to kill any of us anymore-"

"At least not right now," chorused Nik and Bonnie in sync, with two very different tones to their words. Bonnie fixed him with a fierce glare, and I winced.

"Okay, maybe we should all sit down and talk," I said. "Or the four of us can talk, and I can ask Nik to come back later-"

"No way," said Caroline, raising her hands and taking a few steps back as she shook her head. "If he's staying, I'm not."

"Caroline-"

"I need a walk."

With that, she turned and vamp sped out of the house. With a look at me, Elena followed her. Bonnie started drifting in that direction, too, but she paused first, with a scowl at Nik before giving me a slightly less hostile look.

"I'm glad you're happy. Really, I am. But you might want to consider the cost that happiness is coming with."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. I sighed the minute she was out of sight, slouching against the corner and sighing. That could've gone much, much better.

"They took that better than expected," mused Nik from beside me. I groaned, and I heard him huff a laugh.

When I straightened up and met his eyes, however, I noticed the slightly guarded expression behind his eyes. It had taken a lot of work to get good at reading Nik, and I still couldn't do it with 100% accuracy. But even so, I knew he wasn't nearly as calm and unaffected as he looked right now.

I sighed. My friends weren't the only people I needed to have a serious conversation with.

"Nik..." I started, taking his hand and settling into one of the stools at the kitchen counter. I pulled him onto the one next to mine, scooting closer until our knees were pressed together and I could keep him close for this conversation. "I'm sorry. I should've told them a long, long time ago. And I want you to know... I didn't tell them because I didn't want to deal with the reaction I knew they'd have. Not because of anything to do with you."

Nik's eyes flickered, scanning my face. I gave his hand a squeeze, but I could tell we weren't out of the woods yet.

"Isn't their reaction everything to do with me?" he asked, his voice low and serious. I recognized the edged glint in his eye as something that usually spelled trouble. I sighed.

"Their reaction is because they don't like you, yes. But my decision not to tell them had nothing to do with you. I would've been just as hesitant to tell them I was dating a guy they didn't like in our class at Mystic Falls. But with you... I should've told them earlier."

"And why's that? You wish they hadn't found me in your kitchen? Wish you could've told them while I was a few states away, so no one would have to face the reality of the two of us being together?"

"No, Nik. I mean, yes, I wish they'd found out differently than this. But I should've told them earlier because... because I have serious feelings for you. And they're serious enough that I don't want to hide them or you. Ever."

Nik raised his eyebrows, the corner of his mouth lifting up in the faintest hint of a smile. I smiled too, recognizing the shift in his mood.

"And what, exactly, might these 'serious feelings' be?"

His tone was mostly teasing, but I decided to take it seriously. I took his other hand, then pulled both into my lap, holding them tight. I met his eyes, making sure he understood just how much I meant my words.

"I love you, Nik. I've been feeling that way for a while now. I'm honestly happier than I've ever been, and you're a big part of that. I love my friends, and I know they'll come around eventually, but until they do? That's their problem. You mean the world to me, and... I mean, yeah, like I said. I love you."

A smile had been growing on Nik's face, and by the time I finished, it was a full-on grin that I only got to see from him every once in a while. He pulled me closer, off of my stool until I stood between his legs, chest to chest with him.

"You love me, do you?"

"Yeah." I nodded, my heart beating out of my chest in my rib cage. I felt pretty confident that Nik returned my feelings, but that didn't take away any of the nerves. "Can't you tell? You're supposed to be able to hear heart rates, aren't you?"

Nik chuckled, pulling me even closer to him for a kiss. I melted against him, happy to feel him smiling against my mouth as his arms wound around my waist. After a few breathless moments, Nik pulled back just enough to speak.

"I love you too," he said, his voice low and his breath fanning against my lips. "Don't worry for a moment that I don't. I would do anything for you. And it's a bit ridiculous how much I mean that."

I smiled, closing the distance between us again as I kissed him.

"I'm glad you came to visit me," I whispered when we paused just long enough to take a breath. "I'm glad my friends know. I'm glad you're here with me. I'm glad you know I love you."

"I agree with all of the above," Nik said with a smirk. "And I'm glad your friends are gone, and that we have the house to ourselves."

Nik leaned forward to deepen the kiss, but I leaned back. I put one hand on his chest and grimaced. He raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a problem, love?"

"...I may or may not have a paper to finish. Tonight."

"Are you sure it has to be done tonight?" asked Nik, his voice low and silky smooth as he ran a hand over my hip. I just sighed.

"Yeah, babe, I'm sure. But... if you can help me get it done, then I'm all yours for the rest of the night."

Nik pulled back quickly, looking at me with one eyebrow raised and an eager expression on his face. I put a hand to my mouth to stifle a smile at his 180 degree mood shift.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get that paper finished, love. I've got quite a few ideas for tonight."

I just laughed as I followed Nik into the living room. I had a feeling we were in for a rough ride the rest of this spring break dealing with my friends. But I really did love Nik. I was happy with him, and if we could find a way to stay together in our own little bubble of bliss despite the crazy supernatural shenanigans in New Orleans, I knew we'd be able to figure it out in Mystic Falls, too.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen

TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21

[vague-humanoid]

Welcome to Abolition Week 2024. 

This year, our focus is Empire, its endless expansion, and the carceral technologies that make it possible. We have invited incarcerated and other systems-impacted writers to explore how the combined forces of Western imperialism and plantation legacies produce carceral logics globally, creating the conditions that fuel genocidal arrangements in the US South, Palestine, and other parts of the world. 

Our intimate connection to the South allows us to hold sharpened perspectives on the many ways that carcerality and antiblackness are integral to the white supremacist capitalist imperialism at the very heart of Empire. Therefore, we are always interested in the things that connect us, the ties that bind us together in solidarity in the shadow of that dark heart. 

We read about how the corpses left decomposing in the streets of Sudan have changed the migration patterns of eagles, and we can't help but remember that sharks altered their migration routes during the Transatlantic slave trade, trailing the ships and feasting on the flesh of the stolen Africans thrown overboard. We condemn the welcoming of Israeli police by the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program to train US police in the same tactics used against Palestinians on the other side of the world, and we recall that Georgia also houses the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)—once known as the School of the Americas—where Latin American dictators, soldiers, and police are trained to quell resistance against US imperialism in their countries through human rights abuses. We witness the organized effort to roll back child labor laws across the US—particularly in the South—with children discovered working long hours around dangerous machinery in Alabama and Mississippi, and we cannot forget the many thousands of children mining Cobalt for the lithium-ion batteries in our gadgets under "modern-day slavery" in the Congo. 

The afterlives of chattel slavery and Indigenous genocide can be glimpsed in deadly exchange programs and torturous conditions, not only in the shared counterinsurgency tactics of global policing forces and military institutions but also in the shared cultures of repression necessary to accumulate capital and, by extension, imperial expansion. Book bans, repeals of LGBTQIA+ rights, police violence, anti-protest policies on university campuses and in their surrounding communities, abortion bans, the erosion of public health infrastructure, and exacerbating environmental degradation are all rooted in past epochs that, when revealed, remind us that the sun never sets on imperial violence. 

Because of these connections and many others, the pieces in this series intentionally defy the logic of borders—and, by extension, containment—as writers consider the endless nature of Empire and its sinister violence. 

[bangtanwritershq]

BANGTANWRITERSHQ PRESENTS: “Seven Deadly Sins” MASTERLIST

In a quiet corner of the city, you’ve found yourself at the crossroads of your destiny. One evening, while strolling through the desolate streets, you’re approached by an enigmatic group of beings. With piercing gazes, they introduce themselves as Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth – aptly named for the sins they represent. Startled yet intrigued, you realize your life will take an extraordinary turn. Each sin promises you power, pleasure, and fulfillment, but there’s a catch— you may only choose one to follow. Listening to their seductive whispers, you grapple with your inner desires and moral compass; the choice you’re about to make will shape your fate and alter the course of your soul. Amid this ethereal encounter, unraveling the hidden truths behind the seven deadly sins and embarking on a journey of self-discovery, will you succumb to temptation and embrace the darkness within? Or will you find the strength to resist and preserve your virtue?

As spring gracefully blossoms or April unfolds its vibrant tapestry, it's a time to reflect and make choices that will shape the course of our year. With the middle of the year quickly approaching, we stand at a crossroads where our decisions will determine our trajectory toward 2024. This period from April to June, our second quarter, invites us to confront our inner desires and moral compass, all while navigating the temptations of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’.

KEY:

🔞 - nsfw (mature themes) ✅ - sfw (no warnings) 💖 - smut ⚠️ - other warnings

SET UP - emojis: Title (if link is to another platform) | Author [parts] pairings, genre/aus, rating, word count

🔞💖⚠️ Through The Arch of The Crossroads (Ao3) | @lunarelle1013 [1/1] Pairing: Namjoon x Reader AU/Genre: Supernatural/Horror, Crossroads Demon | smut, angst Rating: MA WC: 4,949

🔞💖⚠️ Immortal Lust | @hisunshiine [1/1] Pairing: Vampire!Yoongi x VampireHunter!Reader AU/Genre: Vampires, Enemies to Lovers | angst, smut Rating: MA WC: 8,783

🔞💖⚠️ Too Sweet | @lo1k-diamonds [5/5] Pairing: Demon!Yoongi x (f)Reader AU/Genre: Crossroads Demon | angst, smut Rating: MA WC: 40,532

🔞💖⚠️ The Demon Is In The Details | @colormepurplex2 [3/3] Pairing: Demon!Jimin x f.Reader AU/Genre: Crossroads Demon, Enthrallment | angst, smut Rating: MA WC: 17,121

🔞💖⚠️ Limerence (Ao3) | @/heathfritillary [7/7] Pairing: Namjoon x OFC AU/Genre: Dark Magic, Love vs Obsession | angst, smut Rating: MA WC: 30,788

All stories copywritten of the specified author. The authors provided consent for their stories to the network to be shared by submitting their stories. Stories posted in the order of submission to the event.

[quillandqueer]

Cover Reveals Spotted This Week

Oathbound - Book 3 of 4? of the Legendborn cycle, publishing March 2025

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales - UK Cover, the third book in the series, publishing in February 2025

The Order of Masks - the first novel in a new fantasy duology publishing December 2024: Join two ambitious young women as they navigate deadly court politics, in a bid to improve their lives - no matter the sacrifice

The Witch Who Trades In Death -  new romantic fantasy where a young witch seeks her freedom by forging a deal with Death, publishing March 2025

The Rainfall Market - A magical market you can only enter with an invitation, and there's a cat. Publishing October 2024

[anim-ttrpgs]

The Old Character Sheet, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

This isn’t really any new information about Eureka, in fact it’s something very old, but take a look at how far the game has come in the 3-ish years it’s been in development!

This is the old character sheet, from some time around late 2021, and I’m just going to copy-paste some designer commentary from a discussion about it in the A.N.I.M. Patreon Discord server.

“Haunt: What would eventually become the Composure system. I genuinely don't remember how it worked at the beginning but I remember it being rather clumsy. We eventually wanted to include the concept of different phenomena having different modifiers for each investigator, which would eventually become Tiers of Fear.

Obsession: An extremely early mechanic that would quickly vanish when, in the first campaign, it was clear it was too situational to track or use. The idea was that, the farther along to their goal an investigator got, the higher the bonus they could get from their Obsession, which could be applied when the investigator takes a very risky action to forward their goal. As you can tell, this was all very vague. This would eventually be replaced the much clearer Truth system.

Legal changed to Paperwork, just fit more situations better.

History skill: Too broad, so it was taken out. A good example of a write-in skill though, if given a specific area of history.

Rumors: Some sort of "word on the street" skill, but [sirobvious] raised a great point that that should just come from investigators using Personal Skills on NPCs to get that word themselves.

Weird -> ||Blacked Out Skill||

Improv: Honestly very difficult to describe, I think it was a Jackie Chan like thing of using various items around, but it was obviously too vague to use.

A lot of these changes came from [sirobvious joining the team], so big kudos to him!”

Another big change that came more recently was splitting the HP into Superficial and Penetrative, making the way that characters take damage in the kind of grounded, modern noir stories that Eureka is meant to tell a bit more realistic. Just having one type of HP works in most other TTRPGs, particularly ones where deadly weapons are going to be in play more often than not, but Eureka sees a lot of fistfighting.

You can take a look at the latest version of the character sheet in this post.

Check out our Kickstarter page for the best accumulation of info on what Eureka: investigative Urban Fantasy even is! The Kickstarter campaign launches April 10th 2024!

Check out our Patreon to get the whole prerelease rulebook + multiple adventure modules and pieces of short fiction for a subscription of only $5!

If you wanna try before you buy, check out our website for more information on Eureka as well as a download link to the free demo version!

Interested in actually playing this game, and many others, with the developers? Check out A.N.I.M.'s TTRPG Book Club, a club of nearly 100 members at the time of writing this where we regularly nominate, vote on, and then play indie TTRPGs! At the time of writing this, we are playing Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and sign-ups are closed for actually playing it, but you can still join in to pick up a PDF club copy of the rulebook to read and follow along with discussion, and sit in on and observe sessions! There is no schedule obligation for joining this club, as we keep things very flexible by assigning multiple GMs with different timeslots each round, to try and accomodate everyone! This round, we had over thirty people sign up, and were able to fit in all but one! Here is the invite link! See you there!

[missiletoe]

and sugar, we're going down swinging

“You could, right, Ty Lee? Because you’re the prettiest girl who gets invited to every party while I’m just the top-ranked charity case you had to drag here. You could take any shot anyone gives you.”

Ty Lee gets war flashbacks to a misspent Fall semester packed with the deadly combo of six-pack beers and no classes the next morning. A semester spent with her sorority sisters before Azula made her pull out.

“You’re right,” she snaps, cheeks flushed as she leans in close. “I could.”

tyzula?? in the year of our lord 2024?? it's more likely than you think! haha i do love my toxic yuri

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 10, Number 12

Olivia Tremor Control

Another year of Dust goes into the books with this final edition. We’ve relished the chance to work in short form, covering small label releases and chart-toppers, new music and worthy reissues, across a lot of genres but leaning heavily on jazz, folk, punk and experimental music. We hope you’ve enjoyed it, too, Here’s to continuing that, at least, in 2025.

This month’s contributors include: Bill Meyer, Patrick Masterson, Tim Clarke, Ian Mathers, Alex Johnson, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Christian Carey and Bryon Hayes. 

Abdou / Gouband / Warelis — Hammer, Roll and Leaf (Relative Pitch)

When applied to improvising musicians, residency usually refers to a sequence of gigs at the same club. This session, a first-time encounter for the trio but not for its component parts, takes another tack. The hour of music on Hammer, Roll and Leaf was tracked in alto and tenor saxophonist Sakina Abdou’s home over the course of four days, two of which were taken up with gigs elsewhere. So, we should we call it a residential residency? At any rate, one supposes that the shared time in close quarters contributed to the music’s charge. It has a feeling of excitement in becoming. They’re not just improvising; they’re figuring out who they are as a trio. Each musician brings both flexibility and a strong individual presence. Martha Warelis is as comfortable inside the piano as she is at the keys, and she uses that combination of hardware rumble and high-wire line-tracing to give the music shape, motion and space. Toma Gouband’s penchant for playing with stones and branches filters the conventional spectrum-filling function of his drum kit, and his astute placement of small sounds invites one to listen for the details. Abdou thrives in their company, find a complementary stance for whatever her fellows throw at her. Great stuff.

Bill Meyer

Barker / Parker / Irabagon — Bakunawa (Out of Our Heads)

Andrew Barker is a drummer, improviser and composer based in New York whose cv includes Gold Sparkle Band, Acid Birds and a host of endeavors that blur the line between solo and collaborative. Take this one, for example. Barker put the date together, but when you call on William Parker (heard here on bass, B flat pocket tuba, and a Catalan double reed instrument called a gralla) and Jon Irabagon (tenor and sopranino saxophone), you don’t do so in order to shove music stands under their noses. Each musician adds such personality and imagination to their parts that the shared compositional credits make perfect sense. Each of the LP’s four (five on the download) tracks explores a different tributary off the free jazz stream, pushing back the mapped zone of exploration just a bit.“Fly Anew,” for example, swings with burly muscularity, while “Morgan Avenue Second Line” fractures and scrambles said line into an expression of confrontationally dancing sound, like martial arts sparring match between three choreographers.

Bill Meyer

Batu & Nick León — Yiu EP (A Long Strange Dream)

Bristol’s Batu and Miami’s Nick León are both club vets at this point — the former via numerous late UK bass singles and ownership of both the Timedance and A Long Strange Dream imprints, the latter an adventurous remix workhorse whose 2024 highlight ended up being an Erika de Casier collaboration. Closing out the year with their first EP together, Yiu thrives on the tension between Bristolian bass weight and the lighter, faster beats of Miami’s Latin scene. The eponymous track, originally heard in León’s Dekmantel mix, is the highlight, snagging a reggaeton rhythm and marrying it to swirling, dissonant (but not unpleasant) synths. Don’t miss the bubbly “Tuvan” (yes, there is throat singing incorporated) or the dashing “Palo,” either, though. For just four tracks, a great deal of ground is covered; let’s hope this just scratches the surface of their potential together.

Patrick Masterson

“Deadly” Headley Bennett—35 Years from Alpha (On-U Sound)

If you listen to Studio One reggae, you know Headley Bennett’s playing, even if you don’t know that you know. As part of the core session crew, his spreadably rich alto saxophone is all over the label’s discography, but as a consummate sideman he managed to make it to the age of 50 without making a solo record. When he stuck around London after a tour with Prince Far I, Adrian Sherwood recognized an opportunity to right a cosmic wrong and put him in the studio with drummer Style Scott, singer Bim Sherman and a posse of creatively named On-U Sound regulars. The combination of Bennett’s fluid melodies and Sherwood’s muscularly dubby, percussion-forward production is inspired. Every boingy syndrum, ardently crooned lyric and echoing beat has a reflective surface that points attention to the saxophonist.

Bill Meyer

Blawan — BouQ EP (Temesc)

The longer South Yorkshire producer Jamie Roberts is left to his own devices, the weirder his songs get. Using his literal voice more than ever and letting in a lot more light than his typically aggro, industrial-leaning productions account for, BouQ covers considerable post-dubstep ground for him on the big room highlight “Fires” alone. Lest it be misunderstood, Blawan isn’t going James Blake singer-songwriter mode or getting confessional instead of confrontational, but the more discernibly human touches and melodies of this four-tracker are a distinctive step to the left. It suits him; more than another Persher album or even an extended hardware-only Karenn set, BouQ is the sound of an opportunity, of fresh potential from a guy who’s lived through club trends of the last decade and a half and still has something left to give.

Patrick Masterson

Bursting — Bursting EP (No Sabes)

Bursting cites Jawbox, No Knife, Drive like Jehu and Shiner as musical reference points for its debut six-song EP, but even with that and pedigrees of bands including Coliseum, Stress Positions and Thou, the thing “Trade in Time” reminded me of most immediately was early Foo Fighters. There’s a subtle multitracked quality to Kortland Chase’s higher register that recalls Dave Grohl in his first years after Nirvana and the music never feels too heavy — but far from a negative thing, this just paints Bursting as distinct from its creators’ biggest projects. There’s no question you can hear Jehu’s most driving Yank crimes on “Play It Nice,” but taken as a whole, this is a solid slab of 1990s-indebted indie-rock skirting the perimeter of knotty post-hardcore as it was then delivered. Put another way: It’s easy to imagine a 1995 where “Dark Phase Manager” is an alt-rock radio staple (complementary).

Patrick Masterson

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ — Sorcery (Spells on the Telly)

It’s unnerving how prolific DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ is. The still-anonymous London producer properly broke through with the three-hour odyssey Destiny, a mind-bending 41-track melange of sunny, psychedelic, sample-heavy house the likes of which most people hadn’t heard since the Avalanches’ Since I Left You heyday. That was August 2023. Normally, you’d take a moment after that to make a victory lap, catch your breath and see where you’re at artistically, assess what you want to do next. But that’s you, a mortal; what Sabrina did instead was release two singles and three albums, one of which (Hex) has two companion albums unto itself. The latest (though only a fool would bet on it being the last) 2024 release is the 14-track Sorcery from early December, which fails to dip in the quality we’ve come to expect. Despite oft-straightforward 4/4 rhythms, the sheer density of these productions — which have to look like a nightmare in ProTools, incidentally — boggles the mind. What does her process look like? When does she sleep? How the fuck is this possible? The answer has to be right there in the title; nothing else seems plausible.

Patrick Masterson

The Green Child — Look Familiar (Hobbies Galore / Upset the Rhythm)

The self-titled 2018 debut by the duo of Mikey Young (Eddie Current Suppression Ring, Total Control) and Raven Mahon (Grass Widow) was an uncanny gem. Its deadpan space-pop felt like the soundtrack to an odd, dated nature documentary. On album three, Look Familiar, the duo are joined by Alex Macfarlane (The Stevens, Twerps) on guitars and synths, and Shaun Gionis (Boomgates) on drums. The resulting sound is much fuller and more propulsive, with a motorik bent and a twist of glam swagger. The title feels like a nod to the fact that several of the songs have elements that are reminders of a diverse range of other songs, such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk” (“Easy Window”), Boards of Canada’s “A Beautiful Place Out In the Country” (“A Long Beautiful Flowing Cape”), and even Wang Chung’s “Dance Hall Days” (opener “Wow Factor”). The eclecticism in these reference points is a good indicator of this album’s tunefulness and likeability.

Tim Clarke

Haptic — Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions (Line)

One could accurately characterize the entire timeline of the Chicago-identified trio Haptic as a shift between the poles of outreach and interiority. Originally formed expressly to perform live, with guests, extended episodes of geographic separation brought out their latent tendencies towards audience-free interaction. The title tips the hand of this recording, which can be considered an experiential confrontation with destiny. For while the musicians added to, subtracted from, processed and otherwise manipulated sourced from a one-day session at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, they kept coming back to the original sounds. Which is not to say that it sounds like what they played; rather, what you hear was fileted from the original sound capture, dredged through field recordings and room sounds, and then shaken until only a light dusting of influence remained. There are long stretches where it sounds like a rank of long electronic tones tucked behind a cloud bank of room sound, and this immateriality makes the choice to release it only as a digital download feel like an artistic choice to make format congruent with content.

Bill Meyer

Hirsch Swell Clouse Parker — Out on a Limb (Soul City Sounds)

To spell it out, that’s Steve Hirsch on drums, Steve Swell on trombone, William Parker on bass and Jim Clouse on soprano and tenor saxophones. All of them save Minneapolitan Hirsch are New Yorkers who spend a lot of time in Clouse’s Park West Studio, and there’s a rapport between them that contributes to this music’s apparent effortlessness. The horns glide and tangle, then stop and smear textures as one; the bass and drums have a leap-frogging dynamic that keeps the music moving even when one of them temporarily plunges into space and then pops back up, gleefully gravity-defiant. Soulful and free-flying, his is free jazz that inhabits the moment and makes you want to live in it too.

Bill Meyer

Hypnodrone Ensemble — The Problem Is in the Sender—Do Not Tamper With the Receiver (WV Sorcerer Productions)

About all you can count on with a release from this group led by Aidan Baker (Nadja) and Eric Quach (thisquietarmy) is that those two will play guitar, there will be at least three drummers (here Fiona McKenzie, Angela Martinez Muñoz, and Sara Neidorf), and that things are indeed going to drone hypnotically. On this outing, in addition to past contributor Gareth Sweeney returning on bass, there’s a first: vocals, by Lane Shi Otayonii (Dent, Elizabeth Colour Wheel). Otayonii’s wailing vocals are equally entranced and entrancing and fit surprisingly well with the roiling boil the rest of the Ensemble can whip up seemingly on command. The result is just as easy to get lost in as their other LPs, but in a whole new head spinning way.

Ian Mathers

Licklash — Big Smile (Roolette)

Here’s hoping you have at least 12 minutes for punk rock today. Listen just one time through Big Smile, the debut EP from Melbourne duo Licklash, and you’ll have gotten a satisfying pummel from these four furious, bouncy polemics. The pleasures of the blurted but flowing last verse of “Party Line” or the pounding, angular rhythm guitar on “Battleship,” for example, are immediate. But leave Big Smile on for another round and you’ll find a carefully constructed, complex record that, despite its four-year formation, never sounds over-thought or precious.

Big Smile was entirely and admirably produced by the band    — guitarist and vocalist Kahlia Parker and bassist Carsten Bruhn. The mix is clean and balanced and spotlights the subtleties: the crinkled buzz of Parker’s lead riff on “Battleship” or the high, bent notes that orchestrate the music into intervals of calm, of form meeting content, however briefly, on “Control.” Achievements in production noted and appreciated, you’ll keep coming back to Big Smile for the polemics and the pummeling; for Parker’s sharp, indignant delivery of the group’s frantic, funny-until-dead-serious lyrics and headlong, hard struck instrumentation that manages both hardcore intensity and a bumping groove.

Alex Johnson

Low Animal — Bedlam Hiss EP (Decapitator)

I’m not saying it’s Low Animal’s fault my tinnitus is beyond repair — you’re talking to a guy who saw My Bloody Valentine without earplugs in his younger, dumber years — but I’m also not saying they helped at a recent gig in support of Flint grunge staples Greet Death. The flamboyant Chicago quintet knows where their bread is buttered, and on recent three-tracker Bedlam Hiss, they put that noise-rock know-how to tape with a screeching, smashing, soaringly irrepressible pummel. There are a not-unnoticeable number of bands, led by Chat Pile, currently out there demonstrating what they’ve learned from The Jesus Lizard … but I can assure you that few of them match the sonic intensity of Low Animal. The EP doesn’t quite do the live experience justice, so take it from one who learned that too late: Do not leave those earplugs at home.

Patrick Masterson

Lunar Noon — A Circle’s Round (self-released)

Michelle Zheng was reading works by the Vietnamese Buddhist and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh when she started composing A Circle’s Round, and his thinkings on action, inter-being and connection to all living things permeates the expansive contours of this art-song cycle. The sounds of nature weave through sophisticated, large ensemble arrangements. Indeed, the very first sound you hear is running water. Yet this is no meditation-inducing drone. Zheng constructs shimmering, multi-layered compositions out of choral vocals, strings, piano and other instruments, and enlivens them with constant interlocking motion. Her core band includes half a chamber quartet in violinist Brian Lach and Christopher Healy, plus drummer Théo Auclair, and she herself sings and plays piano and synths.  Some cuts like “Forgettable Consequences” swagger with jazzy urbanity. Others, such as the closer, “The Other Shore,” billow with lively voices at play. “A Circle’s Round” percolates and shivers, approaching Jon Hopkins electronic ambiences. Lovely and complicated.

Jennifer Kelly

Mahall / Stoffner / Griener — Die Exorzistin (Wide Ear)

Give this record’s sleeve a good look. The artists have gone to the trouble of packaging the CD in a 7” single sleeve, thereby guaranteeing two things; it won’t get lost in the same stack as the other slimline CD sleeves, and fading jazz-head eyesight stands a better chance of registering the details of the dense, irreverent collage on its sleeve. Neither the image nor the music it encases seeks to provide comfort. Drummer Michael Griener and clarinetist Rudi Mahall have a partnership that has endured since they were both teens, and they are as jointly fluent in mid-20th century swing as they are in elbows-out free improvisation. They zero in on the latter end of the spectrum through this album’s 17 spiky and generally pithy tracks. Mercurial and agile, they make music like a pair of swordsmen who are just itching for a chance to evade the rules and poke holes in each other’s favorite smoking jackets. Electric guitarist Florian Stoffner is equally nimble, but he brings a clanking sonic ballast to the proceedings.

Bill Meyer

Anne Malin — Strange Power! (Dear Life)

North Carolina poet and songwriter Anne Malin brings an extended ensemble to her fifth full-length, moving away from the ghostly tremors of 2020’s Waiting Song (“These songs have a fey, otherworldly quality,” said Dusted.) towards a surer, more communal sound. There’s nothing spectral about “North Carolina,” for instance. The tune pays tribute to the white sand beaches of Malin’s home state, trace-like percussion, pedal steel and piano flourishing around her warm, twining melodies, while “River” undulates with the warmth of Lily Honigberg’s violin. Still, “Lilac Bloom” is as delicate as the blossoms it celebrates, and wavery washes of surf guitar arise around its slow lament. And edging back into goth, “The Visionary” quotes a poem by Emily Brontë, Malin’s voice echoing the novelist’s 19th century, death-haunted romanticism. Strange Power! builds a narrow bridge between this world and the next.

Jennifer Kelly

Nate Mercereau — Sundays (How So)

Nate Mercereau is a guitarist, sampler and composer who has worked with a long list of high profile musicians, from pop icons like Lizzo, Shawn Mendez and Andre3000, to jazz innovators like Idris Ackamoore and Kamasi Washington. For Sundays, Mercereau pairs with avant percussionist/synthesizer whiz Carlos Niño for a set of radiant, synth-heavy dreamscapes that however somewhere between prog and fusion jazz. Mercereau infuses his music with light and air and nature. When birds twitter in the interstices of “Every Moment Is the First and Last,” and you can almost feel the sunshine pouring in. “Absolute Sensitivity” sits cross-legged in a meditation garden, letting the long tones vibrate, mutate and fade without forcing them into melody. On the downside, these cuts can feel disembodied and imaginary, an unreal landscape too pretty to buy into. However, bits of organic music—alto flights from saxophonist Josh Johnson, kit drums from Jamire Williams—provide some grounding.

Jennifer Kelly

Non Bruises — II (Just Because)

Ohioan Mike Uva returns to his electrified Non Bruises project for a second round, cutting back on the lyrics-focused song structure and zooming in on guitar tone. Thus, “Silent Partner” cuts back to the words to a recorded (and uncredited) inspirational speech, building a slow bloom of post-rock guitar and drums around it. “Moto Rick” is a sharper vamp, all driving guitar/bass/drums for a long time before picking up some thready vocals. Standout “Evelyn Martin,” credited to guitarist Andy Stibora, has a bit more of the first record’s lo-fi GBV-into-Pavement grace, but most of these cuts groove rather than hook. “Taster,” a Grandaddy cover near the end, looms and hazes and resolves, a reminder that the fuzz has to have a center somewhere. We liked the first Non Bruises a lot here at Dusted (“an album that could take its place in your small rack of favorites”) and this one a bit less.

Jennifer Kelly

The Olivia Tremor Control — “Garden of Light” / “The Same Place” (Elephant 6 Recording Co.)

Two new songs by legendary psych-pop band The Olivia Tremor Control were recently released as part of the soundtrack to the Elephant 6 Recording Co. documentary. Then, a matter of hours later, news circulated that Will Cullen Hart had died of a heart attack following a decades-long struggle with multiple sclerosis. The experience of listening to these two songs is not only colored by the news of Hart’s passing, and that of Bill Doss before him, but also the sinking realization that the long-gestating third OTC LP may never see the light of day without Hart or Doss at the helm. Having said that, the strength of the E6 musical community, so beautifully depicted in the documentary, may work miracles once the sting of Hart’s passing has begun to fade. For now, these two songs are premium, essential OTC. “Garden of Light” is classic Doss, full of bright, major-key jangle, harmonized vocals, and Beatles-esque guitar breaks, while Hart’s “The Same Place” could have come straight off the first Circulatory System LP with its mournful cellos and dreamy sway.

Tim Clarke

Ploughshare — Second Wound (I, Voidhanger)

Angular and dissonant, Canberra-based black metal band Ploughshare makes music that seems like it would be more at home in Norway or Northern France. But black metal is global, and always has been; the Scandi bands get the most buzz for breaking the form open, but Brazil and England were likely more important sites of early articulations of the genre’s visual style and unslakable need for infernal speed. Ploughshare plays a much headier, avant-garde rendition of black metal (as the band’s current label suggests), and it’s demanding stuff. This reviewer really digs “Thorns Pressed into His Head,” which achieves a propulsion that is both dementedly downhill in its abandon and deeply dizzying; there’s a churn in your gut if you really dig in and engage. On some of the longer compositions, the desire for atmospherics and rhythmic complexity can drain the music of some of its bloody-minded heat; see “The Mockery of the Demons.” Wish this talented band would devote a little more of their intensity to keeping the music grounded, where its capacity to gouge and pummel has maximum material force. But Second Wound is a mostly satisfying record. If it cuts into you once, you’ll go back.

Jonathan Shaw

Primitive Art Group — 1981-1986 (Amish)

1981-1986 by Primitive Art Group

These New Zealand improvisers used jazz instruments in their work, with some unorthodox inclusions like bass banjo, bass drum, and guitar preparations. Their two albums are collected here. Multiple reeds in tandem create howling dissonance on “Swingin’ in the Rain.” On the live track “Cecil Likes to Dance,” the group channels raucous free jazz from the United States circa 1970, with a central section that thins out to harmonics, drum rolls, and altissimo call and response, and a return to the opening demeanor. “Lannie’s Revenge” has more organized horn charts that are periodically interrupted by spacy organ and angular drumming. Solos from saxophone and organ provide an Arkestra ambience. “Macho Groove” is rife with syncopation and juxtaposes multiple saxophones playing sustained lines and emphatic short motives. 1981-1986 is an eclectic pastiche of free play that embodies the energy of New Zealand’s fertile creative music scene in the 1980s.

Christian Carey

Maeve Schallert — The Etching (cow: music/Astral Spirits)

The Etching by Maeve Schallert

Scratched into a solid but capable of suggesting all manner of active perceptions, etchings have a lot in common with LPs. The Etching may be cut into plastic (or, if you fail to find one of its 100-small micro-pressing, coded into your favorite file format), but it certainly evokes movement. It is performed by Maeve Schallert, a violinist based in Kingston NY who is too young to have known a world without delays and canny enough to spin elusive gold from the collision of architecturally and electronically generated echoes. They created each of the album’s two pieces by feeding phrases into a ten-second delay MaxMSP whilst playing in a stairwell, which generates the impression of violin strokes circling the space like a vortex of bats, then flying up and out towards every possible horizon.

Bill Meyer

Pat Thomas / Dominic Lash /Tony Orell — Bleyschool: Where? (577 Records)

BleySchool: Where by Pat Thomas and Bleyschool

Bleyschool is another in Pat Thomas’ bulging bag of musical tricks. Like Ahmed, which had a banner year in 2024, it deals with history on the English keyboardist’s terms. Accompanied by bassist Dominic Lash and drummer Tony Orell, Thomas sticks to piano and deals mainly with material associated with (but not written by) Paul Bley. The centerpiece is a 16:40 version of Carla Bley’s “Ida Lupino” that melts the original’s melody into a churning textural mass, and then slowly reassembles it. On another Carla Bley composition, “King Korn,” an iridescent bowed bass clears space for a Thomas’ leaping clusters, and “Monk’s Mood” magnifies the tune’s chasmic gaps and springy, wandering rhythms. Mid-20th century jazz often got compared to Cubism; the way that Bleyschool magnifies and distorts their material’s angles and shapes feels very true to that model without sounding like it’s of that time.

Bill Meyer

Vernal Scuzz — Vernal Scuzz (Sweet Wreath)

Vernal Scuzz by Vernal Scuzz

Jasper Lee birthed Vernal Scuzz after Silica Gel dissolved, and this new group’s debut shows off a darker and murkier side of the Sweet Wreath ecosystem. They’re collecting mutant spores from the sooty catacombs of 1980s Manchester rather than grass clippings from medieval pastures. Tight, punchy post-punk rhythms bathe in a fizzy stew of broken circuitry and rangy structures that the band intersperse with arcane rites and translucent melodies. Album opener “La Durée” fools us into thinking we’re in for turn of the millennium post-punk revivalism, but the rest of the songs are steeped in a simmering chaos akin to Liars’ They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. The odd swatch of spoken word finds Lee looking back at the folky leanings of his previous outfit, but Vernal Scuzz would rather rock out than revisit the songs of our ancestors. Their dank, punky energy certainly tingles the eardrums.

Bryon Hayes

[heckcareoxytwit]

The final four flashbacks show why Apocalypse chose the mutants on who could become his successor.

The first flashback shows that Cable was chosen because Apocalypse admired his tenacity and his hardened approach to stopping his bad future. Cable grudgingly accepts Apocalypse's invitation so he can have every weapon in his arsenal to stop his future from coming to pass. Even if that means he fight fire with fire by becoming the new Apocalypse, so be it.

The second flashback shows Apocalypse approaching Forge telling what his "city of tomorrow" could have been, the planned project Forge created to solve world hunger and housing crises. Apocalypse points out that the greedy and ungrateful humans rejected it in their haste to hate mutants. But he says maybe Forge didn't deserve to see his cities built because he was the one who made the neutralizer gun. Maybe Forge can do better and work to be deserving once again.

The third flashback has Apocalypse approaching Dani Moonstar saying she has never risen to her full potential, that she was always in the shadow of greatness. Dani was walking the grounds of the mansion watching some of the X-Men hanging out. She walks the halls looking into rooms where the New Mutants, Generation X, and Academy X generations. Dani makes her way to the headmaster's office saying she accepted his invite to make sure no other power hungry immortal exceeds their reach. She sits in the headmaster's chair saying all she sees is possibility.

And the final flashback shows Apocalypse approaching Doug Ramsey and takes him back to Krakoa. He says Doug was the only one that actually spoke to Krakoa, that he lost so much when Krakoa fell. Doug Ramsey mentioned that he was one of the first mutants to walk on Krakoa, lived alone for almost a year developing their way of life on the island. Doug was left shaken when he experiences an illusion of the Sentinels destroying Krakoa. Apocalypse says maybe he needs an heir whose weapon is his words. Diplomacy and delicate lies.

X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #4, 2024

In case you wonder who is the successor, click on Keep Reading for the Spoiler....

SPOILER WARNING

Everyone are alive and well as they woke up from the Stasis Tubes. Some of them (Mister Sinister, Nature Girl, Exodus and Gorgon) had left the lab off-panel while the others had remained and were left wondering who is the successor.

It turns out that the "Winner" of Apocalypse's deadly tests is...Doug Ramsey? Now he is renamed as Revelation.

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (8/26/2024) Episode: A Little Harvestfest Fun

Jade had made her farewells after Skye’s party, and shortly after Valentina was saying her own goodbyes to the young Lawbournes at the homestead.

“G-ma go bye-bye?” Skye asked, clearly confused by this shake-up to his well-ordered world. Valentina picked him up and hugged him tight “Don’t worry, I’ll be back to visit, and you tell mommy and daddy to call me if you get lonely, OK?”

Skye smiled and nodded, snuggling in close. After one last kiss she gently put him down and turned to embrace her stepson. Well, I’m off to help Scott and Bria prepare my signature Huckleberry Tofurkey for our Tomorang Harvestfest. You take good care of my little man, you hear?”

“Absolutely” her stepson replied, “After all, I learned from the best, and he’ll be having a grand time at Don’s with his cousin Adelaide tonight.”

Adelaide was Great Grandpa Don’s firstborn with the latest Mrs. Lothario. He had indeed married Rhea, the sim he’d told Luigi all about during their last Geekcon adventure. In an effort to bond with her husband’s extended family the young heiress had invited Luigi and Denton over to the couple’s stately Glimmerbrook estate for Harvestfest.

Rhea had assumed she’d have the most in common with the other mother of a toddler, but Noemi’s social awkwardness made small talk an uphill battle, and their young ones didn’t start off instant buds either.

Over in Don’s downstairs office things were going much better. Denton and Luigi were taking advantage of the time before dinner to host a special dual player modded Sims Forever Charity event: “Harvestfest Turducken – A Sims Forever Holiday meal streaming live from the Lothario mansion”

“I’ll go wrangle our guests” Luigi told his cousin once they were online. “Can you get our “very special” (and possibly deadly) dinner prepped and ready? The poll is open to decide which sims will be the “lucky” ones to join us this evening!”

While the boys were happily putting together a virtual dinner party, Bridget had followed Don into the actual kitchen. With the aide of Luigi’s drone Yoshi, she was “supervising” (and streaming) the immortal chef’s preparation of the feast they’d all be enjoying that night.

Luigi cut back and forth between game footage and the live documentary, until Don finished up and called everyone to the grand meal.

The in-game Pufferfish wound up being as well prepared as Don’s impeccable Lamb dish, so after the pair of streamers completed their virtual event (without culinary tragedy) and uploaded a last few high-quality shots of Don’s savory masterpiece, everyone sat down to eat.

Noemi was much more relaxed during the meal than she’d been before it, settling across from gaming savvy Denton in the kitchen and happily striking up a conversation about Project Daisy. He was excited to get his hands on an early access copy of the game as soon as it was ready.

“With you two at the helm this thing is sure to be a hit” he told her as he served himself and Markus a second slice of lamb.

“Luigi appreciates my outsider perspective on the game as much as my technical work,” she said, “but making sure he actually rests his hand is my most important job.” At Denton’s grimace, she nodded. “Exactly. Dealing with his Carpel Tunnel has been hard on him. He wants to do more, but I keep reminding him that overdoing it will just make it harder to work, play, or code that alpha version of the game you’re dying to try out.”

Meanwhile in the dining room, Luigi thanked his grandfather for the delicious meal that met his anemia and diabetes related dietary requirements.

“Making healthy food tasty and tasty food healthy is the highest calling of a chef.” Don said. “I hear you’re becoming a pretty good cook yourself.”

“I’m headed that way.” Luigi replied “Cooking was dad’s favorite activity, not mine, but Noemi has my “mouse time” tightly regulated to protect my wrist, so I’m in the kitchen more often. Now that the stream is over, I promised her I’d be offline for the rest of the day. I know she’s trying to help, but I tell you, there’s only so much “resting” a sim can take!”

After dinner the adults were preparing to leave when they discovered Skye and Adelaide happily playing “queens of the castle”.

Not wanting to disturb them Don turned to his grandson. “If you need to be offline anyway, and Yoshi is all warmed up, why don’t we leave these two alone and record that cosmetic promo we had planned for next week right now?”

“Sounds good to me!” Luigi nodded, and the men left Noemi and Rhea to once again attempt small talk while they headed upstairs to get started.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[bittersweetremains]

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb:

The bestselling author of Good Girls Die First is back with an entertaining, high-octane and read-in-a-single-sitting new thriller.

Walking disaster Saffron and her perfectionist twin sister Georgia have only one thing in common-they are both obsessed with battle royale video game Sole Survivor.

While working at a brand new, high tech escape room complex, Saffron poses a question to the resident AI: which high school stereotype would survive the longest in a real life version of Sole Survivor? She is convinced a rebel like her would beat a know-it-all like Georgia. Unbeknown to her, the AI decides to determine the answer to her question by testing it out for real. It invites Saffron and Georgia's gamer friends to a preview of the escape rooms, but then it locks the doors and turns the rooms into a life-or-death battle to be the last player standing.

The rebel, the know-it-all, the princess, the jock, the geek, the weirdo, the star, the artist and the criminal. Just like in Sole Survivor, only one can survive the night...

It's Cabin in the Woods meets Squid Game

Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus.

Knife-edge tension and twists you won't see coming.

Review:

Twin sisters, a deadly battle royale game turned real life....and last player standing wins, or rather gets to escape with their life. Twin sisters, disaster Saffron and perfectionist Georgia are both in love with a video game....and when Saffron begins working at a new high tech escape room and uses the resident AI....things get out of hand as the AI decides to test out the survivor game in real life with Saffron and Georgia and their friends... but there are real life life and death consequences as well.This book just kind of fell flat for me unfortunately. I wasn't that invested in the story and it never really hooked me as much as I had hoped. I loved the author's previous books but I guess this one just wasn't for me.

Release Date: November 5, 2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire | Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[darkmaga-returns]

11/01/2024•Mises Wire•Carus Michaelangelo

It’s finally here: Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky’s “Victory Plan,” furtively touted for weeks as Zelensky sought, unsuccessfully, to peddle it to world leaders. Until now, all that Zelensky would say in public was that this clandestine plan paradoxically would not require negotiation with Putin, but also provides a way to strengthen Ukraine in order to “push Putin” to diplomatically end the war. Tone deaf in the extreme, several weeks ago Zelensky brazenly flew on a US Air Force C-17 transport plane into the key battleground state of Pennsylvania to visit a munitions plant before hectoring the United Nations General Assembly on this special plan. Election interference be damned!

Blessed with Zelensky’s grand reveal of his vaunted five-point plan to the Ukrainian parliament on October 16, the tragic farce of the “Victory Plan” sharpens into focus. Still shielding “three secret” addenda from the general public, Zelensky’s top goal is as unsurprising as it is meretricious: an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO. Zelensky hopes that NATO nations will grant Ukraine’s application for admission, which it submitted over two years ago. Ukraine’s Victory plan is little more than a Hail Mary. Why would NATO nations suddenly wish to jump headlong into the fray now, as Ukraine’s already-dim prospects admittedly vanish, which cannot be papered over even by friendly commentators?

The patent absurdity of the Victory Plan does not stop there. Zelensky’s other four points involve: (1) unrestricted Western support for unrestricted warfare; (2) “non-nuclear deterrence” to “safeguard the country against future” Russian “aggression”; (3) “economic growth and cooperation,” which includes further Russian sanctions plus joint investment opportunities; and (4) a “post-war security architecture,” in which Ukraine’s “large and experienced military force” can help secure Europe.

Zelensky seeks to unleash the Ukrainian military, hitherto shackled by arbitrary US restraints on long-range strikes into Russia. This invitation to nuclear war is bad enough, but he also seeks funds, arms, and intelligence from the West beyond the already-prodigious aid and comfort shuttled off these past two years. Additionally, this plank demands for Ukraine “additional supplies of long-range capabilities,” asks for the West to take out Russian missiles and drones, and suggests further ground invasions of Russia to create “buffer zones.” As Russia expands and lowers the bar for using nuclear weapons, Zelensky means to thrash about Russia like an elephant in a Matryoshka shop. Zelensky may feel as though Ukraine has nothing to lose—wrongly, since Russia’s prospect of wiping Ukraine off the map only increases as the war prolongs—but the West has everything to lose. If it stands, President Biden’s justified reticence to authorize long-range strikes into Russia could be the most consequential decision of his presidency. But the media has foamed at the mouth at this cold shoulder—notwithstanding new aid to Ukraine, repeatedly—so do not hold your breath.

[chitsuu]

OC Kiss Week 2024: Sunrise

Still doing this little challenge this week, since I didn't manage to do it all last week, with my FFXIV character and his husband (@kitshunette’s son)!

Also, I’m not much of a writer, but I decided to write a little something for each drawing, little windows in their story (which is also why I’m using the @ockissweek prompt list but not in order)

“Look, the sun’s rising.”

Jisul looked up from his book. Eli and him had spent the whole night peering over complex diagrams and dusty volumes to prepare for their upcoming evaluation, and it seemed as if they would never be done with it.

“Should we head outside for a bit?”, the Au Ra proposed, stretching his stiff back, “it might do us some good.”

“Hm mh.”

An appreciative sound came from Eli, and Jisul could have sworn this was not only in response to his invitation as he caught the slightly flushed ear tips of his boyfriend. He smiled to himself, quite pleased with the reaction. He made a mental note of wearing that cleaved top more often.

They stood up and headed towards the balcony, basking in the first rays of light that illuminated the snowy landscape spreading at their feet. Eli yawned, and rubbed his eyes.

“I swear to Halone, we should just be able to throw the cards themselves as weapons. I’m convinced big sister could design some deadly ones.”

The tan man shook his head slightly before smiling at Jisul.

“But it was nice spending that night studying with you.”

It was Jisul’s turn to emit an appreciative sound that was not only answering to the expressed feeling. His breath had caught somewhere along his heart as the Elezen had turned to face him, the sunrise’s glow landing right on his face. And with it, Eli’s eyes had taken a warmer color than usual.

It was a strange trick of the light, sometimes even the weather. The usually clear eyes would suddenly shift colors, as if reflecting the Elezen’s mood. In some instances, the change was subtle, they were bluer, colder, and Eli was standing fierce on the battlefield, the determination to protect his people evident in his attitude. At other times, they were warmer, like the subdued orange they were currently displaying, and a soft tenderness emanated from Eli.

---

The first time Jisul noticed the change, it was after a long day of class. Elidivien and him had stolen a few moments in the gardens, before the Elezen would head back to his home and the Au Ra to his dorms.

It had been some months since Jisul had started attending the college, and he was already looking forward to those fleeting moments when it felt as if they were the only people to exist. Elidivien was letting the last light of the day warm his face, and he was saying something. However Jisul had absolutely no idea what he was saying, because at that exact moment, he had impulsively reached out to tuck a strand of hair that obscuring the Elezen’s face, including his eye and scarred cheek.

“Your eyes… They changed color.”

Jisul had said that with a small feeling of wonder. The man standing in front of him was somehow frozen in place, his eyes going wider and wider as Jisul’s hand rested on his cheek. The Au Ra’s brain had a sudden call back to reality and he took his hand off quickly, feeling mortified.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, I’ve never seen your eyes change like that and-”

He stopped before the embarrassing truth could come out. Elidivien, however, seemed to have recovered from his previous frozen state, and jokingly pursued the end of the sentence.

“And what? You can not leave me hanging like that, it’s rude.”

“…. it’s pretty.”, whispered Jisul.

If he could instantly disappear from the surface of Eorzea, he would in a heartbeat. For a second, Elidivien looked as if he was wishing the exact same thing, before regaining his composure.

“Well, thank you”, the Elezen smiled softly.

When Elidivien left the garden with a much more quicker pace than usual, Jisul thought he felt shy. But Jisul knew better, and decided he was overthinking things.

---

Once again, Eli’s eyes had taken on the warm hue of a shy sun, and once again Jisul had reached out to tuck away the hair obscuring his face. The only difference was that this time Eli did not freeze at the touch, instead nuzzling slightly into the palm resting on his cheek. Jisul’s thumb softly caressed the scar, admiring the planes and angles of the Elezen’s face, finally resting upon his almost liquid golden eyes. He approached closer to his boyfriend, and softly kissed his cheek. He could feel Eli smiling happily while he enveloped him in a hug.

Jisul wished he could be the only one to see Eli this close during sunrises and sunsets. So that the beautiful warm eyes could only look at him, and so that he could be the only one to gaze into them. His secret.

[mediamixs]

The Inheritance: what we're willing to do for money

The Inheritance is an upcoming horror thriller film directed by Alejandro Brugués, known for his work on Juan of the Dead. The movie follows a billionaire named Charles Abernathy who, on the eve of his 75th birthday, invites his estranged children back home out of fear that someone or something is going to kill him that night. He puts each of their inheritances on the line to ensure they'll help keep him alive. The Inheritance stars Bob Gunton as Charles Abernathy, along with Peyton List, Rachel Nichols, Austin Stowell, Briana Middleton and others. The film is written by Joe Russo and Chris LaMont and distributed by Vertical. Abernathy reveals to his children that he believes he will die by midnight and that there is something dangerous in the house that killed one of their siblings. He makes them stay and work together to survive the night in order to inherit his $2 billion fortune. The Inheritance is set to have a limited theatrical release on July 12, 2024, the same day it will be available for streaming. The horror thriller has an estimated budget of $14 million.

Alejandro Brugués was inspired to create The Inheritance based on his previous horror work, particularly his 2011 film Juan of the Dead. Brugués is known for blending horror and dark comedy, and The Inheritance appears to continue this style with its premise of a wealthy family forced to defend their patriarch from a deadly threat. The film's central concept of a billionaire forcing his estranged children to work together to survive the night and inherit his fortune also seems to draw inspiration from classic horror tropes about dysfunctional families and the corrupting influence of wealth.Brugués has stated he wanted to explore these themes in a new high-stakes, suspenseful setting. Additionally, the director has cited his interest in exploring the idea of "what we're willing to do for money" as a key inspiration behind The Inheritance's plot. By pitting the characters' greed and self-interest against a supernatural threat, the film appears to offer a fresh take on the "dark inheritance" horror subgenre.