#Go forth and read!

[fridgerat]

May I also recommend Libby, Borrowbox, and PressReader. The first two give you access to many e-books and audio-books, and PressReader gives access to newspapers and magazines. Also pop down to your local library, as you need a library card to access these services (but they are free). So I hope this helps!

Sincerely - a library worker

"Absolutely no one comes to save us but us."

Ismatu Gwendolyn, "you've been traumatized into hating reading (and it makes you easier to oppress)", from Threadings, on Substack [ID'd]

[muffinlance]

I've been arguing with myself for some time whether to ask you this.... This year's (2023) Book Riot Read Harder challenge includes a challenge to "Read one of your favorite author's favorite books." Since you are one of my favorite authors, would you be willing to share with the internet some of your favorite books, please? (I also plan to ask haicrescendo, so don't be alarmed if you see this on their feed, please.)

Have a selection!

Childhood Favorites:

Raptor Red: Utah raptors living their best lives <3

Christopher Pike's The Last Vampire: baby's first introduction to Indian mythology AND baby's first introduction to "how to launch things into orbit, a don't-try-this-at-home primer". Which is a lot for a short YA vampire novel to accomplish, and that's just in the first book. (Remember Me and Witch are my other favs from that author).

The Last Whales: human-made apocalypse from the perspective of whales. You know, some light childhood reading.

Dune: who doesn't like giant sand worms? With bonus Litany Against Fear.

Collegehood:

Watership Down: bunnies and mythology and bunny wars with and without mythology

Sandman: Goth!Death is best Death. The Fiddler's Green's last moments live in my head forever. Boring people with their rich internal lives go brrr. Did they do the Cuckoo storyline in the show? Did they do it good?

The Black Cauldron: classic childhood trauma read

Recenthood:

Middlegame: oh boy oh BOY do I like novel takes on time travel magic via math and wordplay

The Ballad of Black Tom: sure you can summon a world-devouring eldritch horror <3 as a treat <3 (Lone Women by the same author is also deLIGHTful)

A Deadly Education (and its associated trilogy): angry death mage tries angry-hard not to be an angry death mage. Simultaneously succeeds and fails, in equally fantastic ways. (Spinning Silver by the same author is also Very Yes.)

Murderbot: Murderbot Murderbot Murderbot

[featherxquill]

Yuletide gifts wot I received

So it's been *checks notes* ten years since I participated in Yuletide (um, what?). I defaulted after deadline in 2016 because I couldn't make my idea work as a complete fic, and it took me until last year to find a prompt in a fandom that made me want to write something for it specifically. Anyway, after this really long drought I have received not one but THREE gifts - two in the main collection and one Madness drabble. I'm over the moon! I guess doing a req for one of the most famous bits of literature in the Western canon sort of helped? Not that my request was in any way literary.

Anyway, let me show you my gifts. They're anonymous until New Year's and I encourage you to go read of the collection and leave some comments - there are a lot of writers out there still waiting on a comment from their recipient, or just generally hungry for a bit of validation in a sea of awesome offerings. Go to take a look at the fandoms on offer in the Main Collection and Yuletide Madness to see if anything takes your fancy.

Here's my haul:

A Case of Mistaken Identity | Slow Horses | T | ~9,700 words | Gen, featuring Jackson Lamb, Catherine Standish, River Cartwright, Diana Taverner, and the rest of the slow horses | casefic, canon-typical shenanigans

It's just another morning at Slough House, right up until it isn't. There's a dead body where it shouldn't be, while Jackson Lamb isn't where he should be, when secrets from the past come calling.

This one is my main gift, and it's such a delight! Funny and bang-on characterisation, and I couldn't be more delighted :)

Btw, there are 8 Slow Horses fics on offer this year (!), and reccing them all would bore everyone to tears, but go check them out!

I also received these two awesome, atmospheric treats:

We are All Vipers Here | Hamlet | G | 1,888 words | Gertrude/Claudius, Gertrude/Hamlet Snr | She smiles for the man behind the mirror and keeps her own council. While her son reminds her so much of her brother, who had to be sent away, and her father, who let slip the throne.

Hers | Hamlet | M | Drabble | Gertrude/Claudius, Gertrude/Hamlet | Manipulation, mother/son incest | Gertrude can be grasping.

Thank you again to my Mystery Authors! Go give them some love!

[stargatelov3r]

a while ago i compiled all stargate novels into one big spreadsheet including publication info and tried to put it into one coherent timeline

also on a completely unrelated note

this is definitely not a google drive folder with all stargate novels as ebooks and pdf

[yeye23]

Alright, here is an animatic for the @tapakah0's Comic series Life of Violence Era (aka: L.O.V.E.)

It is a wonderful comic with humor, hope, all most importantly LOVE. There are BEAUTIFUL ANIMATICS to go with the story! Thanks so much Tapakah! For not only having such a fun and touching comic, but also being such a positive force in this crazy turtle community! GO GO! READ THE COMIC!! GO GO!! Life of Violence Era (aka: L.O.V.E.)

Master Post

[inkprilled]

Screw it , I'm going to write this book.

[eggwishing]

Mupper

[all-that-jazz-93]

The Scottish Play, but all the murders are carried out via Stabby the Roomba

[luck-of-the-drawings]

THIS THING IS SCUUUFFED AS HELL & ITS ALSO THE BEST THING I HAVE ANIMATED THUS FAR. IM SO IN LOVE WITH EMIZEL. JUST WISH I GAVE HIM MORE STUPID TATTOOS. NEXT TIME THO. NEXT TIME. I ALSO LOVE VEX&VIV SOOOO MUCH. charlies flavor of Deranged is my FAVORITE!!

[piosplayhouse]

[Qi Qingqi x Yu Ziyuan] What could have been

(alt text)

[supermanshield]

I think superbat is the best ship simply because it has a canon arc that starts with:

"It is a night of quiet splendor... when it is good to let daily cares slip away, and reflect on the deepest matters of the heart... when it is good to have a friend to share those matters with." while Superman carries Batman leisurely through the clouds and Batman says: "Times like this make me see a glimmer of what I may have missed."

And ends with:

"Here it is warm. Outside it is bitterly cold. Perhaps no one else, on any world, would understand."

[aroaessidhe]

2025 reads / storygraph

Something Extraordinary

historical platonic-romcom

an aromantic woman tired of feeling unworthy when the people closest to her leave her behind for romance, and a gay man in unrequited love who is planning on giving up and marrying a woman in misery and drunkenness

she kidnaps him the day before the marriage to stop him ruining his life, suggesting that they get platonically married instead - and on the ridiculous journey to scotland to elope, they have to convince each other if it’s what is best for them, and what they want out of life/love/and friendship

[smallpapers]

Some more everlark!! Idc what anyone says, igsygrace’s Peeta’s Games series is canon to me

Btw this is from Catching Sparks Ch6 aughhhhh

[maelancoli]

i feel like 'who talks like that' mentality has harmed unique dialogue in books ngl?? like we need to let our characters have their own way of talking, let them be a little melodramatic. the written word often requires flowery speech and sharing sentiments in a way real people don't because we cannot convey the micro expressions, the atmosphere, the little visual cues—all that modern media allows. you have to be willing to be a little cringe if you want your characters to stand out and feel earnest and real

[birdsnores]

scars

[chiropteracupola]

Make me a boat of elm and I’ll row myself to sea / Soon I’d miss the anchor that never let me leave / Thinking on my darling, lonesome at the helm / Oh, make me a boat of elm, a boat of elm...

my half of an art trade with the amazing @emilybeemartin — here's Colm, from her trilogy Creatures of Light! ...from longstanding tradition, we know full well that I will always be found drawing the most melancholic boatsguy you have on hand.