#inexhaustible sources of magic

[herawell]

hi!

made up fic title 1: 'like a moth to flame'

made up fic title 2: little slices of death

like a moth to flame

Summary: If the bridge was without power for three and a half minutes because Hera was distracted running diff algorithms on the image of Maxwell backlit by the blue light of the star and the image of Maxwell haloed by the blue light of the monitors, nobody needs to know.

little slices of death

Summary: The Hephaestus is rotting from the inside out, one crack at a time.

[jupiteriancore]

MEET THE CLUBHOUSE: CHARLIE.

the sun disappeared below the horizon, making way for a sky that was now a beautiful mix of yellow, red, and orange. the slight breeze—which was weird for early september in california, but welcomed—picked up, sending a chill down charlie's spine. her hands flew up to rub her arms in effort to warm up, but it did absolutely nothing to fight off the chilliness she was starting to feel. "damn me for not bringing a jacket," she thought, although much to charlie's own defense–it was 95 degrees earlier. charlie's fingers messed with the hem of her shirt as she continued walking along the rugged sidewalk, the steps of her sneakers sounding in a quiet, gentle beat.

another round of her mother's resentment induced rage had sent charlie out the door—narrowly dodging the glass vase that had been hurled at her as she reached for the doorknob. "you're the worst thing to happen to me!" was the last thing she heard before ceramic shards scattered near her, with some landing in her fluffy, honey colored hair. charlie spent a grueling five minutes picking them out after she left, the tiny pieces of glass occasionally pricking her fingers, leaving tiny dots of blood in their wake.

charlie's life had been marked with rejection since the day she was born. her father didn't want her, ending his affair with her mother the moment he found out she was pregnant. her mother doesn't want her—blaming her for her father's absence as if she asked to be here or to be created. but it was no use trying to explain that important fact; her mother would continue to see her as the one who drove the man she loved away, as the unnecessary burden. it would have been a harrowing realization if charlie hadn't numbed herself to the sting of being rejected by the person she unironically still loved unconditionally.

charlie broke out into a sprint the moment she made it onto the familiar street. justice's grandmother's house sat in the middle of the cul-de-sac, the porch light serving as a beacon of hope in her otherwise dim world. her feet didn't slow down until they touched the steps leading up to the front porch, and charlie leaned against the post as she tried to catch her breath. her eyes caught a glimpse of christian through the screen door as he sat on the couch with melli and joshua, their eyes glued to the laptop on the coffee table.

as if he could immediately sense her presence, christian looked up, a look of concern etching across his features. "charlie? what brings you here at this hour, mate?"

"no reason. just missed you guys," she lied, offering christian a small smile that didn't reach her eyes as she opened the screen door and walked inside. "mind if i spend the night? it's been a minute."

christian kept his eyes on her for a moment, an eyebrow raised at her obvious lie. he knew there was something wrong, but he'd witnessed charlie's conversations with the rest of the house enough to understand that trying to pry would simply lead to her changing the subject until the concern was dropped. "you know you don't have to ask, of course."

"thanks, i'll be quiet." charlie avoided christian's gaze as she kicked off her sneakers and left them by the front door. despite being 22 years old, it made her feel like a child. she knew what he was thinking–knew that he knew she was hiding something, but she didn't want to talk about it. the house was her safety zone; all she needed was the peace that she never experienced while under her mother's roof. besides, she might end up letting the carefully built dam break if she told anyone here about it.

and she refused to let that happen.

[hopepunk-humanity]

Hi! just wanted to say, that i come to your blog sometimes when life is life, and things go up and down as is wont to do. its a good place, for hope. and i just wanted to let you know. Also i have a rec, 'A psalm for wild built' by Becky Chambers, not exactly hopepunk, but something like it? at least it gave me hope so here i am reccing it.

have a nice day/night ahead!

Thank you! I wish you likewise.

[pentanguine]

Worst Books of 2023

5. In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh

Whose fault is it: School book club

One thing I will say about this book is that it exceeded my expectations. The writing was decent! The author did actually research West African culture and history! Unfortunately, the book simply cannot escape the fact that a) it’s a plot point for plot point retelling of the Princess Diaries; and b) it’s a Christian romance. The villain is a sexually promiscuous woman born out of wedlock (whose motivations also make no sense), and every romantic scene leaves so much room for Jesus it forgets to leave room for romance. At one point the villain says: “Love is for children and pets. Just like Santa.” Spoilers, the last line of the book is “they would say I loved God, loved my country, and loved my husband,” and when I read that I think I retched.

4. Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch

Whose fault is it: School book club and EBF

Honestly, the first part of this book was good. The characters were well-drawn and sympathetic, they had good chemistry and clear reasons to be interested in each other, and who wouldn’t love the worple horse. And then, somewhere in the second half, it all went to shit. The romance was underwhelming when they actually got together, and the sex was thin on the page and way less intense than what the book (and the baffling Goodreads reviews) had been implying. The political situation quickly went off the rails, before being wrapped up in an ending so neat and tidy Marie Kondo could have written it. Everything that can’t be logically resolved gets conveniently handwaved, and compelling character development goes out the window so the author can abruptly focus on high stakes international conflict. The villain is ultimately defeated by the vague threat of an army of enchanted fabric. In a lifetime first, I’m going to say this book needed less politics and more romance.

3. Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black

Whose fault is it: Mine :(

I should never have picked it up knowing it was by a straight white man. “Great worldbuilding, truly epic,” said the reviews. “Dark, creepy horror vibes,” said the reviews. “It’s so original,” said the reviews. The great worldbuilding is periodic info-dumping on unimportant historical details by someone who thinks they’re writing LOTR and is actually writing a textbook. The dark, creepy horror vibes would be there if only the author could focus on his alleged main character, a demon hunting monk, for longer than one chapter out of ten. The originality is a religion in which Jesus The Redeemer dies on the cross wheel for our sins, and characters wander around saying “the power of the redeemer compels you.” Throw in a few misogynistic knights who casually murder each other while fetishizing chivalry, one (1) female character who of course has a very nice figure, and a lot of irrelevant POV characters who simply weren’t interesting, and I gave up at page 291.

2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Whose fault is it: Mine and everyone who’s ever raved about it

I finished this book out of sheer bloody spite, and I wish I hadn’t. Tedious, overly full of itself, impenetrable, opaque, misogynistic, and enmeshed in ideas of machismo and the nuclear family that made it impossible for me to connect with. The truly frustrating thing is that there were many genuinely good moments of skin-tingling horror, but they’re so buried under all the bloated academic hogwash that they failed to make an impact. This book is the guy in your philosophy class who thinks he’s smart but has just never been told to shut up. This book is a male author who thinks he can write women well because he gives them compelling thoughts on sex, motherhood, romance, sex, stripping, modeling, their own bodies, and sex. I would rather live on Ash Tree Lane than read this book again.

All Four Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer

Whose fault is it: EBF

These books are genuinely, appallingly, hilariously, pathetically, bad. As an adult, I try to be charitable to things that I disliked (or in this case, refused to interact with at all) when I was younger, because teenage girls get a lot of shit and the things that they like tend to automatically be labeled cringe, but…these books are actually shit. Not just mediocre, or a little juvenile, or with some notable flaws, but BAD. And they’re not even shockingly sexy! I thought Twilight was the series that parents wanted to protect their innocent children from, in which maidens were ravished by whole covens of vampires, bodices torn, innocence lost, werewolves howling in pleasure, etc. Stephanie Meyer is way too fucking Mormon for that. I’ve never read a less sexy vampire in my life, and yet these were the teen heartthrobs of my youth?? The first book was honestly fun to hate-read, but by the time I got to the fourth one I was just depressed. It opens with Bella feeling genuine dread at her upcoming marriage to “the love of her life” that she’s been manipulated into at the age of 18 against her will, and the idea of this being the thing anyone is obsessing over just makes me sad. It’s just Mormonism with bad writing and worse characterization. Allow me to present my reviews for each:

Twilight: “Such a fucking dumb book.”

New Moon: “A whole lot of nothing happens to the world’s most depressed teenager”

Eclipse: “No plot, just endless rehashes of the same vampires vs. werewolves argument with pedophilia for flavor.”

Breaking Dawn: “The bar was in hell, and she still managed to let me down.”

[blackknight-100]

Squeeeeeeeeeze!!! You've been given a hug! Send this to all the people who you think deserve a hug. Let the hugging begin! 💕

YESSSS HUGS HUGS HUGS <3<3

[journclist]

for @starlcved​ cont from here.

the curse falling from her friend's lips is enough to catch her off guard, bringing that half laugh to the surface again. if possible, she leans further into annie's embrace, wishing that this piercing pain in her chest would fade. " i hate that i kept hoping for so long, " she mutters, the words tasting sour in her mouth. " i hate that i even cared enough for it to hurt this much. " her eyes close tightly, straining against the burning sensation prickling there. " what was i thinking? " the question is a bitter demand from herself, ashamed to have been so willing to look past what had been right in front of her for years, even in the wake of her own brother's death. the moments seem to gather from her memory to the forefront of her mind, a display of every instance she's dissected time and time again. " i've just always thought... there was something, some purpose, some reason... " banishing the memories from her own mind with effort, she forces a shaky breath into her lungs and opens her eyes to return her vigil of the inky surface of the lake. " but maybe i just saw what i wanted to see. maybe i was reading too far into it all. "

[discommunicator]

Smelter Witch Helkett

She runs her own foundry like Troy and while Troy's workshop features custom-made heavy tools by hot forging, Helkett's specializes in mass producing smaller sundries and machine parts by casting

The source material for the process is her body of course, since she is a magically inexhaustible living molten iron itself

Helkett's molten iron body is as hot as it's supposed to, but no worries, she can conjure the heat insulating 'witch skin' at will like her peers and has supernatural perception that catches her surroundings, so she doesn't burn everything that she bumps into

[ramayantika]

The dance of the devi

Flowers for the goddess 

in my alta-dyed hands,

I offer them at the lotus feet

of the Mother of the Universe.

***

Gentle blues of the skies move out 

And Surya slowly rises from slumber

in its captivating regal glory,

its golden rays adorning

the Devi’s forehead.

***

I behold the golden complexioned goddess

set in stone with a benevolent smile.

My anklets lay at her feet

with turmeric and vermillion coating

some of those melodious bells.

***

A sweet summer breeze blows by.

A bell jingles and a lotus from her garland

falls to the brown earth at my dust laden feet.

A jingle of bangles and anklets,

A low hum of a mysterious yet beautiful tune,

And a voice sings,

A voice that I can recognize anywhere –

The Devi has risen!

***

Draped in silks and gold,

fragrant garlands around her limbs,

She steps outside to my courtyard,

A very humble stage for the one

who is the abode of this entire Universe.

The sun makes her ornaments gleam, 

yet her moon-like face is the brightest.

My anklets are around her feet

But what truly do I own 

in this illusionary world?

What I receive –

Beauty, intelligence, riches and power,

All comes from her.

***

And by the bright yellows of dawn

I see her dance in my courtyard.

Wherever her feet travel, little blooms arise

and where her hands softly touch,

Golden dust flies.

She twirls round and round

And I see the might cosmic Gods

Swirling around her magnificence.

Her veil, the illusionary veil,

which she playfully casts 

around this world

escapes the clutches 

of her beautiful braided hair.

And now I see. Clearly.

***

She leaps into the air,

Resembling a warrior

and a warrior she is,

for she is the Devi,

The ferocious Bhairavi,

The invincible Durga,

the slayer of Mahishasura.

She is the dark one, Kali,

The slayer of Raktabija.

***

Her dance of grace and elegance

transforms to a dance of death and destruction.

She is Shivatrinayani and Maheshwari.

She leaps and twirls with her trident

and her anklets and the temple bells ring 

harmoniously,

Just like the eternal forces of nature.

Devi is Nitya, the eternal one.

***

I, a mere mortal woman, a devotee

akin to the turmeric and vermillion on her feet

watch the goddess dance in all her glory.

I see all the worlds and this vast universe 

dance with her,

And maybe it is really true:

That everything in the world dances.

Laasya performs in every object,

in the largest to the very smallest.

***

And then I see the radiant one

stretch her palm to me.

I see my world in her hand

And clasp her hand tightly.

Which daughter lets go of her mother’s hand?

So we dance.

***

Stars and galaxies, planets and cosmic bodies,

Fire and snow, gods, demons and mortals,

I see her in everything

And this is the Dance of Realisation.

The music, the drums and the bells slowly fade 

But the dancing soul now awakened

dances in ecstasy.

I see, I hear, I dance, I understand everything now.

***

The Devi twirls, spins, sings, smiles and laughs

And finally heads to her abode, to Shiva, her life.

My life, a thread in her hands,

I now submit to her eternal play 

of this Life’s Dance.

***

I haven't written poetry in a while now. Somehow I couldn't capture this in a story format, it felt bland and very large and long. I didn't like it. The poem format perhaps gives me a little peace to form the vision I once had a few years ago while meditating on the goddess. I will obviously edit this later for the book, but for now here's the first draft poem for the book

Tagging: @swayamev @indiansapphic @jukti-torko-golpo (big thank you to you for the devi content!) @navaratna @rhysaka @krishna-priyatama @krsnaradhika @inexhaustible-sources-of-magic @alhad-si-simran @ramcharantitties @kaal-naagin

[maryflorlovyblog]

"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of hurting and healing."

-Harry Potter

[as-spring-came-in-october]

Guys, you all remember Call Me By Your Name?

The movie based on the book by the same name, written by Andre Aciman.

I saw the movie a few years back and I don't think I've moved on from it. I think that's the closest I ever got to feeling "love". So, here's a little something...

Call me by your name

somewhere in northern italy in the mid 80s i chose the best person i'd known the light of my eyes and the light of my world "who is not written for one instrument alone" you spoke, you told me i knew more than anyone else you'd met in the town words were our most powerful weapon i could listen to you speak all day long an inexhaustible source of power and magic something so beautiful and something so tragic for was "it better to speak or to die?" i still dont know but i couldn't stand that silence anymore now you've left me alone when i needed you the most... the weapons have turned into rust my words, so futile as if they're lost in the dust now i don't wanna feel something i obviously did, i wanna feel nothing so i don't feel anything but i know i had never felt more freer or safer with anyone before a part of me is now yours forevermore but there's nothing i can do to patch my heart or to make you stay to make you come back from the train that left for Rome, the train that left me stranded alone nothing had changed, nothing was the same it is just you left after you came you stepped out of the car into my life all i wanted was your gaze for a while but as you sat in the train and waved the last good bye i realised it was the last time you were mine the last night with us together the last night with you as my Elio and I as your Oliver still wondering why we wasted so many days because we happened to have everything but time so just once more, please... call me by your name and i'll call you by mine.

By @its-ener and @theloudestwomanyoulleversee

[herawell]

@inexhaustible-sources-of-magic replied to your post “”:

@herawell me with druadal (though i have never shown it) *hides face*

​<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 I would absolutely love to answer any and all of your questions about Druadal!!!

[thestral-queen-rules]

That 90's desi lesbian love story

//let's not talk, because words aren't enough, and sometimes aren't real.let's just look at each other's eyes, look into each other's soul,and let them do the talking.//

-juanlucio

.

Some people who might like this one:@suvarnarekha @seekerbrave @psycho-mocha @kajukatliontop @wowyoufeelorphic @jugn00-fangirl @smr-the-tired-crackhead @metalvenomludens7 @cipher-dorito @bookishmuggleborn @tonicaballos @curious-fruitcake @shirodumbclownwolf @justalonelywriter @chaoticaindica @sr1nika @mrdyketator @adoginthemanger @shilabalika @ya-boiiiii @paadhee @silky-moon @augustrinian @one-happy-silent-geek-girl @hanisishus @inexhaustible-sources-of-magic @king-of-knives @aayatunnisa @navaratna @mutton-biriyani @vaanvaruvaan @flickering-moments @allegoriesinmediasres @selenophiliaa @nerdreader @plutomyluv @i-wanna-b-yours @jaanusbooktalk

[jukti-torko-golpo]

শুভ বিজয়া!!!

A kinda rushed piece

@callonpeevesie @kermithermit @shaonharryandpannisim @jasmineiros  @allegoriesinmediasres @cynicalities  @paneerlajwanti  @ramayantika @hoziestgf @adoginthemanger  @burningqueentimemachine @kingweaslee  @seekerbrave  @peace-punch-captain-crunch17  @laad-governess  @raat-jaaga-paakhi  @a-confusedmess  @vaijayantheee  @the-slythering-raven  @travalerray  @strawberryphrogg @cipher-dorito  @salt-n-caramel  @your-favourite-skittles  @azureblupdf @lovechildofamyrosagina  @dhyanshiva  @inexhaustible-sources-of-magic  @balladofableedinggod2112 @medusasprotegedaughter  @cosmicdreams1111  @chaoticaindica @prachi1729 @caffeinated-pingu  @fineliine  @lookintomyfuckineyes @jalebi-weds-bluetooth  @deckedcards @cat-alkali-hates-themself @brutalrebelkid  @jugn00  @himasikta @roshanee

[pentanguine]

Favorite Books of 2023

So I didn’t quite get to it in January, but I did finally finish this list!! (And as always, I'm longwinded)

My reading taste was all over the place last year. I intended for it to be the year I read neglected fantasy trilogies gathering dust on my bookshelf, but instead I joined a book club for grad school and got shoved out of my comfort zone; ended up with a boyfriend (now ex, aka EBF) and read anything and everything he recommended; suddenly got into nonfiction and horror for no explicable reason; joined another book club for work and ended up reading even more books outside my wheelhouse; and discovered that I enjoyed hate-reading books during slow periods at work and on my lunch break. It was a mess. But somehow, a few favorites came out of it!

1. The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel– What the fuck even is this book. It’s a book about a book about teenage werewolves on a quest to outwit some pirates and recover a lost treasure. It’s the story of a young woman in a post-climate crisis earth living in a Gothic mansion in Japan and questing for her favorite author inside a high-tech diorama. It’s about the aftermath of environmental destruction, invasive technology and autonomy, the power of fandom and transforming stories through your love for them, fathers (love for, betrayal by, forgiveness of), and worlds within worlds. It asks meaty questions about the role of technology in generating change for the better and creating hope when that same tech is eroding what it even means to be human and experience reality. It’s the kind of cli-fi that offers hope, that’s warm, that makes you think of alternatives. It’s dense with speculative worldbuilding and plays dizzyingly with metafiction, and the whole damn thing is written in couplets!!

I feel like I can’t adequately express how much I love the things this book does. It experiments with form and language, which would be cool enough, except it goes on to explore complex themes in a thought-provoking way while throwing in a bizarre and delightful clusterfuck of elements like robot werewolves and tree furries. Most importantly, it was just so much fun to read. I want a sequel with these characters. I want to go to a con dressed as one of the garden wolves. I want to study this book for English class and write an essay on it in rhyming couplets. I did not at all expect this to be my favorite book of the year, but it absolutely is. (It also only has 19 ratings and 4 reviews on Goodreads, so if it sounds at all up your alley, please read it!!)

2. The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick– What many of my favorite books have in common this year is that they were incredibly fun to read. Mask of Mirrors is entertaining from start to finish, as schemes that would fill a lesser book are introduced and then resolved in mere chapters, and the climax is nothing but action-packed chaos. The world-building is dense and rewarding, the plot is twisty, and Ren is conning everyone, all the time, in at least 6 different ways, which of course makes it more satisfying when she ends up conning herself into actually caring about her marks. You'll like this if you enjoy a TTRPG flavor of storytelling (it started as an RPG, which makes sense once you know it), or if you enjoyed the basics of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint but wished it had more action and large-scale worldbuilding. There is a lot going on in these books, in the best possible way.

3. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow – There’s so much I loved about this book: the slow Gothic creep, the stories within a story, the eerie illustrations, the immersive sense of place. Surprisingly, it was the grounded, realistic parts of the book that were the most compelling to me. This is a fantasy, but it’s also a small-town family drama and coming of age story that could have been literary fiction with a few changes. The prose is just gorgeous, beautiful without ever getting purple. This is ultimately the story of the most bloody-minded woman in Kentucky slowly finding a home in the place she’s lived her whole life, while she falls in love with an equally bloody-minded man. Like The Raven Cycle as haunted house story, with overtones of Hades and Persephone and Beauty and the Beast.

4. The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler – This is an 80 page novella that I usually wouldn’t count as a book, but it’s simply too good to leave off this list. It’s a strange and beautiful story about aging, climate change, sexism and exploitation, memory and language and how they shape our identities, and how we move through time. In such a short page count, there are so many powerful images that have stuck with me over six months later, including a sea of deep purple irises and a woman and an alien making love under…amidst…as? the stars. There’s something very Le Guin-like about this story with its setting of stars, shadows, and trees, and its sense of humanity. Mind-blowingly good; I highly recommend anything from Neon Hemlock Press.

5. Heir’s Game by suspu– This is a webtoon and not a novel, but I included a 100k Sherlock fanfic in my best books of 2017, so I’m also counting this. It’s a fluffy, bloodthirsty, melodramatic, swashbuckling high adventure found family story with an entertainment value off the charts. It balances a lot of different story elements and tones, each character and arc is developed so well, and there’s a truly satisfying number of pretty men covered in blood. If you’re devouring it over the course of a few days like I did, you also get to watch the author’s art style improve over the course of the four years it took them to write this. I’m morbidly impressed by the amount of effort that goes into panels I read in 2 seconds. Disclaimer that I read this alongside EBF, which may have biased my feelings towards it.

6. Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson – A lovely blend of sweet(?), sexy romance and lush description with visceral horror, creeping menace, and strong dramatic irony.* The last chapter I found a little dumb and overly conclusive, but I’m willing to forgive that due to the immersive atmosphere and tension for most of the book. Ro, the protagonist, is heartbreakingly vulnerable in her twisted justifications for why her first sapphic relationship is actually so Beautiful and Good, and Ash feels like a good depiction of a non-traditional abuser. It’s indulgent and suspenseful, and it’s also got Things to Say.

*(In response to people complaining on Goodreads that the “twist” is obvious, I would like to say: Ash is a baker/cook, the jacket contains the word “consumes” and “devouring,” and there’s a flayed body on the cover. I think a blurb may have comped it to Hannibal. If you read all that and think the publishers are spoiling the “twist” of the book instead of just advertising what the book is about, that’s a you problem. This is not a thriller trying to set up a shocking twist and leave you guessing; it’s horror, and the horror comes from knowing what’s coming and watching Ro stumble right into it with nothing we can do to stop it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.)

7. The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach– The thing I loved most about this book is that it’s truly, delightfully original. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything remotely like it. There’s living technology that’s based on plants and syncs with human biology, a fresh system of gods and resurrection, a found family pirate ship, and some viscerally disturbing body horror. I often found myself sitting still for a minute with my mouth open, head tilted slightly to the side, thinking “…how the fuck did she come up with that.” This is also such a satisfyingly queer book. It very much centers found family, and unapologetic abundance saves the day. I wish I could remember more specifics of this book, but mostly what stuck with me is that it’s weird as shit and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

8. This is Ear Hustle by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods –This is the book form of an award-winning podcast discussing the realities of life in the American prison system, from those on both the inside and outside. It’s an often intense read, which I took in pieces over two months, but the storytelling is so engrossing, and introduces its audience to people and circumstances they most likely wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. I would never have guessed that San Quentin has skill-building and education programs, including the media lab where the Ear Hustle podcast is produced, or that at least one woman began a relationship with someone already in prison, moved her entire life to a desert prison town, and raised a family there. Each story in this book humanizes people who are often given little sympathy or understanding by society (even if they have been or are cruel and violent; redemption is not the point). The system they live in is definitely cruel and violent, but they are, like everyone, multifaceted people with loved ones and hobbies. Everyone has a story. This is the best kind of nonfiction to me, the kind that alters your view of the world and is still cropping up in your thoughts over six months later.

9. They Were Here Before Us by Eric LaRocca – I went through a big Eric LaRocca phase last fall, and I think this is overall the strongest of his works. The stories range from existentially shocking tales of nature at its darkest and most unnatural(?), to grotesque body horror, to unsettling tension that creeps across the pages like a serial killer stalking outside your window. A lot of the stories deal with the desperation, grotesqueness, and violation that comes with loving another person, and there’s a recurring contrast between bodies as vessels for love and as simply meat. Bearing in mind that I once said, in bemused shock, “Is Gideon the Ninth horror??”: it pushed against the boundaries of what I was comfortable reading and thinking about, without being shock for shock value. His writing is just viscerally fucked up.

10. The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer – This is a fucking dark and bleak book that officially hooked me at the end of Part One, when what I thought would be the reveal of the entire book…happened. And so I said “well, now what??” And plunged into a brutally depressing, borderline nihilistic, violently hopeful story about the nature of humanity and finding purpose in life. There are heartwarming moments in this book too, and also some funny or trivial moments that remind you this book is, for some random reason, YA.* If you enjoy sci-fi that grapples with the dizzying feeling of our microscopic place in the unending void of the cosmos, I highly recommend this one. And if you read Emma Newman’s Before Mars and want more in that vein, you’ll find a lot to love here.

*Unlike some people on Goodreads, I do see a reason for the protagonists to be teenagers, but you can very much write an adult book about teenagers

11. So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane – I regret not discovering this book as a child, because I would have loved it. It’s the story of two children who teach themselves wizardry and become embroiled in an ongoing struggle for the fate of the world. The poetic writing, the way trees are held in reverence, and the way language is magic in and of itself are all things that appeal to me as an adult, but would have been even more meaningful when I was younger. I especially loved how matter of fact the children are about discovering magic: of course there’s magic in the world. They’re children, and they can believe in anything.

Honorable Mentions:

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Smiler’s Fair by Rebecca Levene

[blackknight-100]

Hiii

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers :D

Oh hi hello! Thanks for dropping this :D

5 things that make me happy, in no specific order, are:

Reading (anything)

Coffee

The night, especially if it is starry

Animals, especially if they let me pet them

Comfortable silences

[journclist]

@starlcved​ requested this for marigold x.

after finishing a round of shelving,   she’s made her way back to the desk with her fellow volunteer.   she knows of the other’s preference for the quiet   (   hence the volunteer hours in the library   )   but she can’t help the impulse to fill the silence when she’s not occupied with something from the archives.   “   are you feeling alright today?   ”   it always seems to be a headache that’s troubling her.   perhaps she’s reading too far into things,   but she’d never noticed the other make a trip to pomfrey for a remedy.   she’s considered suggesting it a few times,   but hasn’t wanted to overstep.   she’s come to the conclusion that there’s likely more to the situation than the other girl cares to discuss,   so she’s done her best to keep out of it,   but surely inquiring after how she’s feeling isn’t pressing it too far.