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What Am I Reading Wednesday - February 11
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lebateleurPosted on the following Thursday, for reasons.
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Dog Stars – Peter Heller
This book did not agree with me and I HAD THOUGHTS. ( Strap in. )
What I Am Currently Reading
Lake of Souls - Ann Leckie
I'll have this wrapped up by next Wednesday for sure.
The Goddess and the Tree - Ellen Cannon Reed
I read the prologue.
The Laws of Brainjo – Josh Turknett
A reread; first completed in 2023.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I acquired Danielle Jensen's A Fate Inked in Blood, 김미정의 한나랑 떠나는 신나는 성경여행, and 한재홍의 콩쥐 팥쥐.
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Dog Stars – Peter Heller
This book did not agree with me and I HAD THOUGHTS. ( Strap in. )
What I Am Currently Reading
Lake of Souls - Ann Leckie
I'll have this wrapped up by next Wednesday for sure.
The Goddess and the Tree - Ellen Cannon Reed
I read the prologue.
The Laws of Brainjo – Josh Turknett
A reread; first completed in 2023.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I acquired Danielle Jensen's A Fate Inked in Blood, 김미정의 한나랑 떠나는 신나는 성경여행, and 한재홍의 콩쥐 팥쥐.
これで以上です。
Star Wars Fic and Meta - From All The Spaces Between Times - Chapter 71
Feb. 12th, 2026 03:40 pmelrhiarhodanTitle: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 71 - Broken Jars Speak the Truth
Author:elrhiarhodan / ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
elrhiarhodan / ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 4600 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.
But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.
Or,
Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.
He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.
Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.
Chapter Summary: Obi-Wan finally has his first solo mission, a visit to Naboo to do some research in the State Archives. He had thought this would be a simple trip, Master Yoda has even lent him his personal transport, the Tython-One.
But nothing is ever simple, not when the Force’s beloved Champion is involved.
From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 71 — Broken Jars Speak the Truth (On AO3)
( Meta — Broken Jars Speak the Truth )
Chapter: Chapter 71 - Broken Jars Speak the Truth
Author:
elrhiarhodan / Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 4600 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.
But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.
Or,
Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.
He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.
Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.
Chapter Summary: Obi-Wan finally has his first solo mission, a visit to Naboo to do some research in the State Archives. He had thought this would be a simple trip, Master Yoda has even lent him his personal transport, the Tython-One.
But nothing is ever simple, not when the Force’s beloved Champion is involved.
From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 71 — Broken Jars Speak the Truth (On AO3)
( Meta — Broken Jars Speak the Truth )
Tags:
- character: aayla secura,
- character: adi gallia,
- character: agrippa aldrete,
- character: ahsoka tano,
- character: anakin skywalker,
- character: antilles prestor,
- character: bail prestor,
- character: bant eerin,
- character: breha organa,
- character: bruck chun,
- character: cin drallig,
- character: darth maul,
- character: darth plagueis,
- character: darth sidious,
- character: dooku,
- character: force kittens,
- character: hego damask ii,
- character: komari vosa,
- character: mace windu,
- character: nim pianna,
- character: obi-wan kenobi,
- character: original characters,
- character: padme amidala,
- character: plo koon,
- character: pong krell,
- character: professor huyang,
- character: quarsh panaka,
- character: qui-gon jinn,
- character: quinlan vos,
- character: rael averross,
- character: reva sevander,
- character: rori the force avatar,
- character: sabe,
- character: saja edea,
- character: savage opress,
- character: sheev palpatine,
- character: shmi skywalker,
- character: sifo-dyas,
- character: siri tachi,
- character: the force,
- character: the traitor,
- character: vokara che,
- character: watto,
- character: xanatos du crion,
- character: yaddle,
- character: yoda,
- genre: alternative universe,
- genre: angst,
- genre: hurt/comfort,
- genre: jedi culture,
- genre: padawan culture,
- genre: reunion,
- genre: slavefic,
- genre: temple culture,
- genre: time travel,
- meme: dvd commentary,
- movie: star wars,
- movie: star wars — tpm,
- type: fan fiction,
- type: longfic,
- type: meta,
- year: 2026
Does this qualify as banality of evil?
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:09 pmoursin"Hate brings views": Confessions of a London fake news TikToker:
London is being used as the backdrop for inaccurate viral videos that reach enormous audiences around the world by playing into the worst stereotypes about the capital.
This was an investigation into one man who was doing this thing:
Last summer, the man says, he found himself sitting in his car, analysing trends on TikTok. His day job was conducting viewings for an estate agency but he was trying to come up with an idea for a viral video account that could be run as a money-making side-hustle.
“I was thinking of unique videos I can do for people,” he says on the tape.
That’s when he had a brainwave: “Hate brings views.”
At that time protests outside asylum hotels were spreading across the country. The man says he noticed “far-right people” were among the most engaged on TikTok. They were easy to rile up: “They hate such videos of illegal migrants. I was like, why not?”
....
The TikToker appears to have no concept of the potential real-world impact of his uploads, instead considering everything in terms of view counts and pieces of content.
So he made fake videos about immigrants being housed in prime properties, to which he had access through his job.
He had originally found he could make money through posting videos on TikTok but 'TikTok immediately deleted his account because he was just stealing other people’s videos and reposting them'.
There seems to be just a total disconnect going on in the guy's mind (or he's just ethically vacuous) and generally he does not appear the sharpest blade in the drawer:
Despite fostering online hatred, the man recorded.... insists he doesn’t personally share the views expressed on his TikTok account. Instead, he suggests his fake anti-migrant house tour videos were just a way to game the algorithm, build an audience, and hopefully make money.
He's also
baffled. He can’t understand how London Centric traced his anonymous hate-filled London TikTok account back to his employer by geolocating the wheelie bins in his videos.
“I thought no one’s gonna notice that,” he says. “Why would someone?”
As if people aren't doing this sort of thing all the time.
Tags:
landline, Reporting for Duty, Diamond and Misty
Feb. 12th, 2026 01:15 pmasakiyumeLandline
From the age of three until I went to college, I lived in the same town. We moved house once, but our telephone number stayed the same. When technology moved from rotary dial to push-button, I came to know the sound of that phone number by heart. I could "sing" it.
Even after I and my siblings left home, my parents stayed in that house and kept that number. My mother died, but my dad stayed in the house--with that number. He got a cell phone, but kept the landline too.
Now he lives elsewhere, closer to me and one of my siblings. That house has been sold, and the landline disconnected. But I still call it from my own landline from time to time just to hear the push-button tune. So far, the number hasn't been reassigned.
Reporting for Duty
Reporting for Duty is the English-language title of a Brazilian comedy cop show on Netflix, in which a gentle, laid-back guy from a sleepy district gets reassigned to be police chief in a mafia-plagued central Rio precinct. It's pretty hilarious so far. The second episode, "Good Cop, Better Cop," sees the new police chief, Suzano, and the precinct's second-in-command, Mantovani, interrogating a suspect. "Let's do good cop, bad cop," Mantovani suggests. Suzano agrees, and they go in. Mantovani offers the suspect water. Suzano follows with "Some lemonade? A soda? A cold beer?"
Mantovani is getting more and more flabbergasted. When Suzano offers a charcuterie board, Mantovani asks if she can have a word with him. Turns out he didn't recognize her good cop as good cop. "If you're more comfortable being the good cop," she begins, but he says no no no, he can do bad cop. He storms back in. "You think you're getting coffee? Well no! No coffee because the coffee machine is broken!" [established earlier in the episode]. "And no massages, either, except for maybe shiatsu for your health." --And he proceeds to massage out the guy's tensed muscles.
It's a very cute show, and the guy who plays Suzano's sidekick who's come with him from his old precinct has a style of Brazilian accent I really like and have only heard from a guy who teaches ancient Tupi on Instagram.
Diamond and Misty
One of Wakanomori's former students is married and keeps chickens now. He gave W a quartet of eggs, and the carton comes with this cute label that lets you write in what chickens laid the eggs. Ours were laid by Diamond and Misty.
From the age of three until I went to college, I lived in the same town. We moved house once, but our telephone number stayed the same. When technology moved from rotary dial to push-button, I came to know the sound of that phone number by heart. I could "sing" it.
Even after I and my siblings left home, my parents stayed in that house and kept that number. My mother died, but my dad stayed in the house--with that number. He got a cell phone, but kept the landline too.
Now he lives elsewhere, closer to me and one of my siblings. That house has been sold, and the landline disconnected. But I still call it from my own landline from time to time just to hear the push-button tune. So far, the number hasn't been reassigned.
Reporting for Duty
Reporting for Duty is the English-language title of a Brazilian comedy cop show on Netflix, in which a gentle, laid-back guy from a sleepy district gets reassigned to be police chief in a mafia-plagued central Rio precinct. It's pretty hilarious so far. The second episode, "Good Cop, Better Cop," sees the new police chief, Suzano, and the precinct's second-in-command, Mantovani, interrogating a suspect. "Let's do good cop, bad cop," Mantovani suggests. Suzano agrees, and they go in. Mantovani offers the suspect water. Suzano follows with "Some lemonade? A soda? A cold beer?"
Mantovani is getting more and more flabbergasted. When Suzano offers a charcuterie board, Mantovani asks if she can have a word with him. Turns out he didn't recognize her good cop as good cop. "If you're more comfortable being the good cop," she begins, but he says no no no, he can do bad cop. He storms back in. "You think you're getting coffee? Well no! No coffee because the coffee machine is broken!" [established earlier in the episode]. "And no massages, either, except for maybe shiatsu for your health." --And he proceeds to massage out the guy's tensed muscles.
It's a very cute show, and the guy who plays Suzano's sidekick who's come with him from his old precinct has a style of Brazilian accent I really like and have only heard from a guy who teaches ancient Tupi on Instagram.
Diamond and Misty
One of Wakanomori's former students is married and keeps chickens now. He gave W a quartet of eggs, and the carton comes with this cute label that lets you write in what chickens laid the eggs. Ours were laid by Diamond and Misty.
Blanket tent limbo
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:26 pmcimoreneI really wish we could be trying one new recipe a week right now, but we have not yet recovered from winter sufficiently to prepare even familiar quick recipes all the days that we have planned.
It did get warmer, though. Not all the way up to freezing, but it's no longer quite so miserable indoors. A winter cold snap always makes it harder to obtain firewood. Hopefully that will end as well. But I got a splinter in my right thumb the other day when trying to feed the fire, so I am inclined to avoid that. It's too tiny and nearly invisible to get out and mostly not painful, but its presence infuriates me.
It did get warmer, though. Not all the way up to freezing, but it's no longer quite so miserable indoors. A winter cold snap always makes it harder to obtain firewood. Hopefully that will end as well. But I got a splinter in my right thumb the other day when trying to feed the fire, so I am inclined to avoid that. It's too tiny and nearly invisible to get out and mostly not painful, but its presence infuriates me.
Read-in-Progress Wednesday (except it's Thursday)
Feb. 12th, 2026 11:23 amduckprintspress posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cnovelsThis is your weekly read-in-progress post~
For spoilers:
<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>
<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*
(hope it's okay that I posted this...)
For spoilers:
<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>
<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*
(hope it's okay that I posted this...)
Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:10 ampauraqueIn the 32nd century, Captain Lorq Von Ray assembles a ragtag crew for a dangerous—some would say crazy—mission to harvest the superheavy element illyrion from a dying star. If they succeed, it would threaten tech megacorp Red-Shift's economic stranglehold on interstellar travel, inaugurating a new era of opportunity for struggling outer colonies. But Captain Von Ray's motives aren't just political, they're also personal, as flashbacks reveal his long history with the psychologically twisted brother-and-sister heirs to the Red-Shift fortune.
I really enjoyed this. The space opera plot is an effective backdrop for some nicely nuanced character work and social commentary. Money and class are still driving forces in this future, and people are shaped by that as much as they are by advancing technology and the cultural changes that have come with it. Besides the Captain and the Reds, the other focal characters are two crew members from Earth, one an emotionally guarded Romani kid who's gone against his people's prohibition on cybernetic implants to access job opportunities in space, and the other a socially awkward Harvard grad who has tens of thousands of notes for a novel (an ancient, dead art form) but hasn't yet written a single page. I love the development of their tentative friendship; it feels very honest about how hard it is to relate across cultural divides, and also very affectionate towards both characters. It's like the author is rooting for them even though he can't truthfully make it easy.
The worldbuilding really worked for me. There are enough surprising details and curious asides to make the galaxy feel lived-in and realistically messy, but not so many that it feels scattered. Delany has a very visual prose style and can convey exactly what he sees in his mind's eye, whether it's the unfurling sail of a glittering space yacht or the uneasy twitch of a character's cheek, and that adds to the vivid atmosphere.
I also appreciated the subtle exploration of disability in the context of a society where many things can be medically "fixed" that can't be in our own world. The author knows that this in itself would not "fix" people's attitudes about their own embodiment and others', and that elimination of bodily differences is not a utopian impulse. Characters are allowed to have complex feelings about their physical abilities—the ones they're born with, the ones they've lost, and the ones they've gained through technology—and aren't required to fully explain themselves just because other people want to know.
Criticisms? I think the book has too many characters; some of the less foregrounded crew members don't get much attention and it might have been better to drop a couple so we could spend more time with the rest. The role of female characters is particularly limited, and when they do appear, sometimes their boobs are mentioned for no reason. (I am of course aware that Delany is gay. Perhaps he was subconsciously influenced by what he was reading from other writers at the time.) Other than that, this was a good read.
Content note: A character's pet is harmed, but recovers.
I really enjoyed this. The space opera plot is an effective backdrop for some nicely nuanced character work and social commentary. Money and class are still driving forces in this future, and people are shaped by that as much as they are by advancing technology and the cultural changes that have come with it. Besides the Captain and the Reds, the other focal characters are two crew members from Earth, one an emotionally guarded Romani kid who's gone against his people's prohibition on cybernetic implants to access job opportunities in space, and the other a socially awkward Harvard grad who has tens of thousands of notes for a novel (an ancient, dead art form) but hasn't yet written a single page. I love the development of their tentative friendship; it feels very honest about how hard it is to relate across cultural divides, and also very affectionate towards both characters. It's like the author is rooting for them even though he can't truthfully make it easy.
The worldbuilding really worked for me. There are enough surprising details and curious asides to make the galaxy feel lived-in and realistically messy, but not so many that it feels scattered. Delany has a very visual prose style and can convey exactly what he sees in his mind's eye, whether it's the unfurling sail of a glittering space yacht or the uneasy twitch of a character's cheek, and that adds to the vivid atmosphere.
I also appreciated the subtle exploration of disability in the context of a society where many things can be medically "fixed" that can't be in our own world. The author knows that this in itself would not "fix" people's attitudes about their own embodiment and others', and that elimination of bodily differences is not a utopian impulse. Characters are allowed to have complex feelings about their physical abilities—the ones they're born with, the ones they've lost, and the ones they've gained through technology—and aren't required to fully explain themselves just because other people want to know.
Criticisms? I think the book has too many characters; some of the less foregrounded crew members don't get much attention and it might have been better to drop a couple so we could spend more time with the rest. The role of female characters is particularly limited, and when they do appear, sometimes their boobs are mentioned for no reason. (I am of course aware that Delany is gay. Perhaps he was subconsciously influenced by what he was reading from other writers at the time.) Other than that, this was a good read.
Content note: A character's pet is harmed, but recovers.
Summer and Smoke and synchronicity
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:27 amchickenfeet Tennessee Williams at Crow's Theatre
https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/12/summer-and-smoke-and-synchronicity/
https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/12/summer-and-smoke-and-synchronicity/
retroject
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:27 amprettygoodwordretroject (reh-troh-DJEKT) - v., to throw backwards; to project into the past, to insert anachronistically into a historical reconstruction.
Coined around 1850 on the model of project, with retro-, back/behind/opposite, substituting for pro-, forward/front/before. I am interested in the divergent meanings, and wonder whether it was independently coined more than once.
---L.
Coined around 1850 on the model of project, with retro-, back/behind/opposite, substituting for pro-, forward/front/before. I am interested in the divergent meanings, and wonder whether it was independently coined more than once.
---L.
(no subject)
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:44 amskygiantsI went into Lessons in Magic and Disaster somewhat trepidatiously due to the degree to which her YA novel Victories Greater Than Death did not work for me. The good news: I do think Lessons in Magic and Disaster is MUCH better than Victories Greater Than Death and actually does some things remarkably well. The bad news: other elements did continue to drive me up a wall ....
Lessons in Magic and Disaster centers on the relationship between Jamie, a trans PhD student struggling to finish her dissertation on 18th-century women writers at a [fictional] small Boston college, and her mother Serena, an abrasive lesbian lawyer who has been sunk deep in depression since her partner died a few years back and her career simultaneously blew up completely.
Jamie does small-scale lower-m magic -- little rituals to make things go a little better in her life, that usually seem to work, as long as she doesn't think about them too hard -- and the book starts when she takes the unprecedented-for-her step of telling her mother about the magic as a sort of mother-daughter bonding ritual to see if her mother can use it to help herself get less depressed! Unfortunately Serena is not looking for a little gentle self-help woo-woo; she would like to UNFUCK her life AND the world in SIGNIFICANT ways that go way beyond what Jamie has ever done with magic and also start blowing back on Jamie in ways that eventually threaten not only Jamie and Serena's relationship but also Jamie's marriage, Jamie's career, and Serena's life.
Serena is an extremely specific, well-observed character, and Serena and Jamie's relationship feels real and messy and complicated in ways that even the book's tendency towards therapy-speak couldn't actually ruin for me, because yeah, okay, I do think Jamie would sometimes talk like an annoying tumblr post, that's just part of the characterization and it doesn't actually fix everything and sometimes even hurts. But the book's strengths -- that it's grounded very much in a world and a community and a type of people that Charlie Jane Anders clearly knows really well and can paint extremely vividly -- are also its weaknesses, in that it's also constantly slipping into ... I guess I'd call it a kind of lazy-progressive writing? The book is full of these sharp, vivid, messy moments whenever it's focused on this particular relationship and Serena in specific, and without that flashpoint, the messiness vanishes. Jamie goes into her grad school classroom and thinks about how the white men are always so annoying but the queer and bipoc students Always pick up what she's putting down. Jamie's partner Ro sets down boundaries in their marriage after a magic incident goes wrong and they are Always right and Jamie is Always humble and respectful about it, because respecting boundaries is Always the Correct thing to do. (Ro is the sort of person who says things like "this is bringing back a lot of trauma for me" while Jamie's mother is actively, in that moment, on the verge of death. I'm all for honesty in relationships but maybe you could give it a minute?)
I don't know. I think there is quite a good book in here, but I also think that good book is kind of fighting its way a little bit to get out from under the conviction that We Progressive Right-Thinking People In The Year 2025 Know What Righteous Behavior Looks Like. You know. But sometimes it does indeed succeed!
I did really enjoy the book's hyper-local Cambridge setting. Yeah, I see you name-checking those favorite restaurants, and yes, I have been to them and they are pretty good. Also, as a b-plot, Jamie is uncovering some lesbian literary drama in her dissertation that gives Charlie Jane Anders a chance to play around with 18thc pastiche and write RPF about Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier, and Charlotte Clarke and sure, fine, I didn't know very much about any of those people and she has very successfully made me want to know more! There were a bunch of times she'd drop something int he book and I'd be like "that's SO unsubtle as pastiche" and then I'd look it up and it was just a real thing that had happened or been published, so point again to Charlie Jane Anders.
Lessons in Magic and Disaster centers on the relationship between Jamie, a trans PhD student struggling to finish her dissertation on 18th-century women writers at a [fictional] small Boston college, and her mother Serena, an abrasive lesbian lawyer who has been sunk deep in depression since her partner died a few years back and her career simultaneously blew up completely.
Jamie does small-scale lower-m magic -- little rituals to make things go a little better in her life, that usually seem to work, as long as she doesn't think about them too hard -- and the book starts when she takes the unprecedented-for-her step of telling her mother about the magic as a sort of mother-daughter bonding ritual to see if her mother can use it to help herself get less depressed! Unfortunately Serena is not looking for a little gentle self-help woo-woo; she would like to UNFUCK her life AND the world in SIGNIFICANT ways that go way beyond what Jamie has ever done with magic and also start blowing back on Jamie in ways that eventually threaten not only Jamie and Serena's relationship but also Jamie's marriage, Jamie's career, and Serena's life.
Serena is an extremely specific, well-observed character, and Serena and Jamie's relationship feels real and messy and complicated in ways that even the book's tendency towards therapy-speak couldn't actually ruin for me, because yeah, okay, I do think Jamie would sometimes talk like an annoying tumblr post, that's just part of the characterization and it doesn't actually fix everything and sometimes even hurts. But the book's strengths -- that it's grounded very much in a world and a community and a type of people that Charlie Jane Anders clearly knows really well and can paint extremely vividly -- are also its weaknesses, in that it's also constantly slipping into ... I guess I'd call it a kind of lazy-progressive writing? The book is full of these sharp, vivid, messy moments whenever it's focused on this particular relationship and Serena in specific, and without that flashpoint, the messiness vanishes. Jamie goes into her grad school classroom and thinks about how the white men are always so annoying but the queer and bipoc students Always pick up what she's putting down. Jamie's partner Ro sets down boundaries in their marriage after a magic incident goes wrong and they are Always right and Jamie is Always humble and respectful about it, because respecting boundaries is Always the Correct thing to do. (Ro is the sort of person who says things like "this is bringing back a lot of trauma for me" while Jamie's mother is actively, in that moment, on the verge of death. I'm all for honesty in relationships but maybe you could give it a minute?)
I don't know. I think there is quite a good book in here, but I also think that good book is kind of fighting its way a little bit to get out from under the conviction that We Progressive Right-Thinking People In The Year 2025 Know What Righteous Behavior Looks Like. You know. But sometimes it does indeed succeed!
I did really enjoy the book's hyper-local Cambridge setting. Yeah, I see you name-checking those favorite restaurants, and yes, I have been to them and they are pretty good. Also, as a b-plot, Jamie is uncovering some lesbian literary drama in her dissertation that gives Charlie Jane Anders a chance to play around with 18thc pastiche and write RPF about Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier, and Charlotte Clarke and sure, fine, I didn't know very much about any of those people and she has very successfully made me want to know more! There were a bunch of times she'd drop something int he book and I'd be like "that's SO unsubtle as pastiche" and then I'd look it up and it was just a real thing that had happened or been published, so point again to Charlie Jane Anders.
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:37 amjames_davis_nicoll
A sample issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery, whose 2026 funding drive goes live today.
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury
You Are Just One More Annoyance
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:04 ammallorys_cameraI'm lucky to have a sense of humor and an obsessive creative project that functions as a background process. Otherwise, life would seem pret-ty grim and absolutely meaningless just about now.
At least, it's warmer! Temps have been above freezing for the past few days and are forecast to be in the 40°s all next week.
On Monday, when it was -4° overnight, I woke up to a freezing cold house because Icky, once again, had neglected to order heating oil, and the furnace had run out of fuel.
Yes, again.
Icky, in NYC, was not answering his phone, so I called the Ulster County Sheriff's Dept to come and do a welfare check—hey! A 73-year-old woman, alone in a 36° house during sub‑zero weather??? Not safe!!!
I mean, I had a space heater, struggling to keep the ambient temps in ny bedroom in the 50°s, so with a coat and a hat, I wasn't gonna expire imminently of hypothermia, but c'mon.
The Ulster County Sheriff's Dept dispatched two officers who were very nice but could do nothing.
"You could try seeing if an oil company will do an emergency one-time delivery," one of the officers suggested.
"And call social services," suggested the other.
I sighed and said, "I didn't think you would be able to do anything. I just wanted this on record in case I die of hypothermia and you need to find the perp to accuse of negligent homicide."
"I will personally pull the electric chair switch on that one," said the first officer. "What a prick your landlord is. The rent market around here is horrifying."
I was due to go into Schlock, but of course, going into Schlock would have meant turning off the space heater because you cannot leave a space heater untended; the risk of house fires is just too great. And turning off the space heater would have meant returning to a bedroom that was 37°.
So, instead, I spent the morning calling around to 10 different heating oil companies and every Ulster County social services department that seemed vaguely relevant to my needs. Interspersed with calls & texts to Icky.
The heating oil companies were downright hostile. Heating oil deliveries? Get on line, be-yatch! And put down a $1,000 deposit! The Ulster County social services departments were bored, dismissive, & condescending. They too wanted me to get on line.
Finally, Icky called back. Wonder of wonders! He was even vaguely apologetic. And arranged a delivery with his regular provider. By mid-afternoon, the house was back up to a chilly but habitable 60°—which is where I keep the thermostat because heating oil is expensive but sweaters and sweatshirts are cheap.
###
The experience took its toll emotionally.
'Cause this is the third time it's happened, and fool me twice... So, I felt like a moron: I should have moved, right? Except if I had moved, I would not have had access to the Schlock revenue stream, which is coming in useful.
But more, I felt brutalized because I was old, scared, and met with a tone that said, You’re just one more annoyance. I grokked the bureaucratic flatness was more about their overload than my worth or legitimacy. Still. I felt very marginalized & hopeless & as if I was of no importance to anyone.
Didn't help that I had to trudge out 100 yards through the snow twice to bring the chickens water. Icky still hasn't dealt with that. No, the chickens are not my responsibility, but I'm not gonna have innocent animals suffering on my watch.
At least, it's warmer! Temps have been above freezing for the past few days and are forecast to be in the 40°s all next week.
On Monday, when it was -4° overnight, I woke up to a freezing cold house because Icky, once again, had neglected to order heating oil, and the furnace had run out of fuel.
Yes, again.
Icky, in NYC, was not answering his phone, so I called the Ulster County Sheriff's Dept to come and do a welfare check—hey! A 73-year-old woman, alone in a 36° house during sub‑zero weather??? Not safe!!!
I mean, I had a space heater, struggling to keep the ambient temps in ny bedroom in the 50°s, so with a coat and a hat, I wasn't gonna expire imminently of hypothermia, but c'mon.
The Ulster County Sheriff's Dept dispatched two officers who were very nice but could do nothing.
"You could try seeing if an oil company will do an emergency one-time delivery," one of the officers suggested.
"And call social services," suggested the other.
I sighed and said, "I didn't think you would be able to do anything. I just wanted this on record in case I die of hypothermia and you need to find the perp to accuse of negligent homicide."
"I will personally pull the electric chair switch on that one," said the first officer. "What a prick your landlord is. The rent market around here is horrifying."
I was due to go into Schlock, but of course, going into Schlock would have meant turning off the space heater because you cannot leave a space heater untended; the risk of house fires is just too great. And turning off the space heater would have meant returning to a bedroom that was 37°.
So, instead, I spent the morning calling around to 10 different heating oil companies and every Ulster County social services department that seemed vaguely relevant to my needs. Interspersed with calls & texts to Icky.
The heating oil companies were downright hostile. Heating oil deliveries? Get on line, be-yatch! And put down a $1,000 deposit! The Ulster County social services departments were bored, dismissive, & condescending. They too wanted me to get on line.
Finally, Icky called back. Wonder of wonders! He was even vaguely apologetic. And arranged a delivery with his regular provider. By mid-afternoon, the house was back up to a chilly but habitable 60°—which is where I keep the thermostat because heating oil is expensive but sweaters and sweatshirts are cheap.
###
The experience took its toll emotionally.
'Cause this is the third time it's happened, and fool me twice... So, I felt like a moron: I should have moved, right? Except if I had moved, I would not have had access to the Schlock revenue stream, which is coming in useful.
But more, I felt brutalized because I was old, scared, and met with a tone that said, You’re just one more annoyance. I grokked the bureaucratic flatness was more about their overload than my worth or legitimacy. Still. I felt very marginalized & hopeless & as if I was of no importance to anyone.
Didn't help that I had to trudge out 100 yards through the snow twice to bring the chickens water. Icky still hasn't dealt with that. No, the chickens are not my responsibility, but I'm not gonna have innocent animals suffering on my watch.
Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:06 amosprey_archerI was excited about Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw, because it stars Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens (pre-Downton Abbey!), and the screenplay was written by Sandy Welch, also responsible for the screenplays of such winners as the Romola Garai Emma and the 2006 Jane Eyre.
However, this adaptation leaned very hard on the Edmund Wilson interpretation of The Turn of the Screw, which is that the “ghosts” are in fact products of the repressed governess’s overheated imagination. And whoever had charge of the filming clearly felt that one should never imply when one could show, so we are treated to multiple scenes of evil Peter Quinn having sex with the former governess, sexually assaulting the maids, etc, which I feel is a counterproductive choice in a ghost story.
They also introduced a frame story where the governess is in an asylum, with Dan Stevens as her psychiatrist. I always enjoy seeing Dan Stevens but I must admit that here his entire plotline seems superfluous. Why keep cutting away from the central story? It constantly undermines the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror that the ghost story is trying to build up.
So I was all set to complain about the film, but in fact I’ve been thinking about the story on and off since I saw it. Is the governess truly seeing ghosts? What did happen to the children before our governess arrived? And what truly happened in the end? So I suppose I must crankily admit that the film is effective even if it’s not artful.
Will this finally inspire me to read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw? Probably not, as I’ve never fully recovered from how much I hated Daisy Miller. But maybe someday.
However, this adaptation leaned very hard on the Edmund Wilson interpretation of The Turn of the Screw, which is that the “ghosts” are in fact products of the repressed governess’s overheated imagination. And whoever had charge of the filming clearly felt that one should never imply when one could show, so we are treated to multiple scenes of evil Peter Quinn having sex with the former governess, sexually assaulting the maids, etc, which I feel is a counterproductive choice in a ghost story.
They also introduced a frame story where the governess is in an asylum, with Dan Stevens as her psychiatrist. I always enjoy seeing Dan Stevens but I must admit that here his entire plotline seems superfluous. Why keep cutting away from the central story? It constantly undermines the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror that the ghost story is trying to build up.
So I was all set to complain about the film, but in fact I’ve been thinking about the story on and off since I saw it. Is the governess truly seeing ghosts? What did happen to the children before our governess arrived? And what truly happened in the end? So I suppose I must crankily admit that the film is effective even if it’s not artful.
Will this finally inspire me to read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw? Probably not, as I’ve never fully recovered from how much I hated Daisy Miller. But maybe someday.
(no subject)
Feb. 12th, 2026 06:03 amspryngI should be at Crossfit, but the fatigue has risen up and consumed me this week. I could feel it approaching on Monday, and Tuesday it hit me like a truck. I'm trying to just ride it out and allow myself to rest, although some anxiety seems to be wound up in it. I just keep reminding myself I've been here before and it was better for so long, and I know what to do to make it better again. That I'd noticed my food choices slipping since November and even remarked to Dr Lady last week that I wasn't eating much meat again.
It feels silly that apparently I need meat to avoid this fatigue, but I haven't been able to get enough iron/B12 on a vegetarian-adjacent diet, even with supplements. Blrgh. But I also need my energy back; I truly felt like my old self for a while there. I was PRing lifts and being a boss all summer, but I feel like I've been barely keeping up since fall.
Definitely 90% of the blame can be placed on the stress in December. I thought I'd got out of that relatively unscathed, but I guess I'm finally paying for it. I did try to take January easy, and I've been alcohol-free for five weeks (hoorah), as well as consistently exercising. I need to prioritize getting outside again and there are a few other things I could dial in.
Unfortunately, it looks like there might be another crunch coming up at work in March. I've already warned them I'm not working outside of hours and this crunch is entirely because other people don't value our work ("we want training on this process, but we haven't finalized this process, and we're launching in May no matter what" r-e-a-l-l-y). It doesn't help that boss-boss keeps telling us to just "use AI." Ma'am, I don't think that's going to help when folks still don't know what they want their users to do.
All the more reason I got to get hold of this fatigue wave while I can. I wish there was a simpler solution; I feel like the older I get, the less forgiving my body is. I also feel like I'm not old enough to feel this way, lol. My body should not hurt like this, I should not be this damn tired.
But it does and I am, so here we go.
It feels silly that apparently I need meat to avoid this fatigue, but I haven't been able to get enough iron/B12 on a vegetarian-adjacent diet, even with supplements. Blrgh. But I also need my energy back; I truly felt like my old self for a while there. I was PRing lifts and being a boss all summer, but I feel like I've been barely keeping up since fall.
Definitely 90% of the blame can be placed on the stress in December. I thought I'd got out of that relatively unscathed, but I guess I'm finally paying for it. I did try to take January easy, and I've been alcohol-free for five weeks (hoorah), as well as consistently exercising. I need to prioritize getting outside again and there are a few other things I could dial in.
Unfortunately, it looks like there might be another crunch coming up at work in March. I've already warned them I'm not working outside of hours and this crunch is entirely because other people don't value our work ("we want training on this process, but we haven't finalized this process, and we're launching in May no matter what" r-e-a-l-l-y). It doesn't help that boss-boss keeps telling us to just "use AI." Ma'am, I don't think that's going to help when folks still don't know what they want their users to do.
All the more reason I got to get hold of this fatigue wave while I can. I wish there was a simpler solution; I feel like the older I get, the less forgiving my body is. I also feel like I'm not old enough to feel this way, lol. My body should not hurt like this, I should not be this damn tired.
But it does and I am, so here we go.
Seven Seas announces they're launching a Baihe label
Feb. 11th, 2026 06:31 pmaurumcalendula posting in cnovelsSeven Seas announced today on bluesky and twitter that they're launching a label for baihe and new baihe licenses will come soon! (I'm assuming label = imprint)