#hilary rosen

[soovermyself]

Sophia Bush attends the 31st Annual White House Correspondents' Garden Brunch at Beall-Washington House on April 27, 2024 in Washington, DC.

[balu8]

Boom Boom

New Mutants Annual #5: A Case of the Cutes

by Judith Kurzer Bogdanove (W.); Jon Bogdanove (P.); Hilary Barter (I:), Steve Buccellato (C.) and Joe Rosen (L.)

Marvel

[samsrosary]

wait. did becky keep writing gay incest fanfiction about her ex's books. that's so funny

[iruludavare]

{ ooc. Anyway a friendly reminder that Serena's Drifblim, Rosen, is a pain in the ass, a fiend a meance if you will, battle-wise

They are there to get as many stat boosts as they can (bonus points if weakness policy gets activated and they also get the +2 to attack and sp attack), then baton pass it out to buff the hell out of someone else on the team

May arceus have mercy on your soul if the switch out is into her lucario and he mega evolves-- Florian is already a nightmare not buffed if you can't outspeed him 😔 If it's into her Florges, Acacia, i'm sorry but you're getting stalled out i hope you like slow prolonged suffering and if you don't, pray that her boosted moonblast evaporates you Or actually any of her team becomes absolutely deadly if you slip up and let Rosen do their thing tbh }

[fischerfrey]

If they had a kid meme, harker & jesper and darby & ivan ❤️

Name: Maeve Ursula Greenaway

Gender: female (she/her)

General appearance: light brown hair, blue eyes, average height

Personality: book smart, honest, hard-working, focused, driven, reckless, reserved, practical

Special talents: flying, wizard chess and gobstones (games in general)

Who they like better: Harker

Who they take after more: Harker

Personal headcanon:

She's a Gryffindor and plays Quidditch as a chaser. Eldest of the siblings. Protective of her brothers, eldest sister syndrome. Maeve and her brothers are adopted. As the eldest, Maeve remembers their birth-parents the best.

Face Claim: Olivia Scott Welch

Name: Cole Rafael Greenaway

Gender: male (he/him)

General appearance: brown hair, green eyes, kind of short

Personality: flirty, charming, out-going, arrogant, protective, resourceful

Special talents: dancing, duelling

Who they like better: Harker

Who they take after more: Jesper

Personal headcanon:

Slytherin, middle child. Teases his younger brother constantly but will fight you if you tease him. Legilimens.

Face Claim: Tyler Lawrence Gray

Name: Hilary Jaren Greenaway

Gender: male (he/him)

General appearance: sandy blond hair, blue eyes, tall

Personality: awkward, sensitive, irritable, loyal to his loved ones, suspicious of others, introverted

Special talents: knows a lot about music, can play drums, athletic

Who they like better: Harker

Who they take after more: Harker

Personal headcanon:

Hufflepuff. Plays Quidditch as a beater. Doesn't do that well academically, has dyslexia.

Face Claim: Adrian Öjvindsson

Name: Riot Travis Rosen

Gender: male (he/him)

General appearance: dark, curly hair, brown eyes, very tall

Personality: rebellious, cocky, critical, witty, intelligent, skeptical, compassionate

Special talents: conversation, impressing people

Who they like better: Both

Who they take after more: Ivan

Personal headcanon:

Slytherin. Passionate about politics. Popular in school, is friendly but can be judgemental. Better at theoretical subjects than practical subjects. Younger twin.

Face Claim: Archie Madekwe

Name: Rhyme Maddox Rosen

Gender: female (she/her)

General appearance: dark, curly hair, brown eyes, average height

Personality: aloof, independent, adaptale, genuine, funny, creative

Special talents: singing

Who they like better: Darby

Who they take after more: Ivan

Personal headcanon:

Ravenclaw. Likes music a lot. She's not super popular in school but has her own circle of friends. Older twin.

Face Claim: Taylor Russell

[fahye]

book recs: feb 2024

(disclaimer: I have spent nearly three months languishing and sullen with post-COVID symptoms and have read, over dec-feb, eighty-one books. this is a ruthlessly streamlined list of recs that does not include, uh, all the rereading of sarah maclean and charlie adhara and georgette heyer books.)

AT FIRST SPITE by olivia dade - what if I moved in next to the man who ruined my engagement to his younger brother, and tried to ruin his life by playing monsterfucking audiobooks really loudly?? a heartfelt and lovely romance that also expertly sets up a great small-town setting for an ongoing series.

THE REFORMATORY by tananarive due - historical horror based on the existence of a real school for boys, clear-eyed and brutal in showing the the effect of racist systems in the 1950s american south. compelling as hell. even if you're not usually into horror, I'd recommend this: the ghost aspect is light-handed and really not as important as the horror of what humans do to other humans.

SOMETHING WILD & WONDERFUL by anita kelly - this is a m/m romance about walking the pacific crest trail which made me see the appeal of very long walks. a miracle! it's gentle and emotional and well put together; the characters really grabbed me.

THE BELL IN THE FOG by lev a.c. rosen - the followup to 'lavender house', and somehow even better?? a historical mystery series featuring a queer private eye in 1950s san francisco who looks into crimes against other queer people. amazing queer history! ACAB! I hope there are fifty more books in this series.

FEAST WHILE YOU CAN* by mikaella clements & onjuli datta - beautiful, greedy, terrifying small-town horror that is also a fucking fantastic, gorgeously written sapphic love story. this one IS for the horror fans. it gave me the absolute creeps but I couldn't put it down.

LADY EVE'S LAST CON* by rebecca fraimow - I described this on bsky as 'if you like Leverage, space opera, old screwball comedies, and dashing sapphics who are at all times spiritually wearing a leather jacket: this one is for you' and I stand by that. huge amounts of fun.

LONG LIVE EVIL* by sarah rees brennan - I will be screaming from here until forever about SRB's first adult fantasy book. if you like the isekai'd-into-a-villain-character setup and want it to be hilarious, genre-savvy and wildly angry and clever, you will roll around in this like a blood-stained mud puddle and then beg for more.

THE LAST HOUR BETWEEN WORLDS* by melissa caruso - really clever and original fantasy about a woman on maternity leave who gets dragged into saving a cocktail party which is falling through increasingly murderous and bizarre dimensions. LISTEN, JUST GO WITH IT. it's a seriously cool adventure.

YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY* by cat sebastian - yes, it's another m/m romance about queer history in the mid 20th century, this one between a baseball player and the journalist assigned to write a story about his slump. made me care about baseball. cat is a genius.

*I read these as ARCs, they're not available yet but consider preordering or keep your eye out for them!

[rottenpumpkin13]

Hi! I have this idea after rewatching FF7 Advent Children - in the finale, when Cloud washed up out of Lifestream, he returns with three extras. Miniroth, Minigeal and MiniGen are shocked and confused, so Cloud and Tifa just adopt them. Hilarious shenanigans afterwards will definitely give Cloud headache.

Genesis: Mother and father don't pay much attention to me :(

Cloud: That ends now. We're going to give you lots of attention.

Genesis: ✧˖°

Angeal: Sometimes there wasn't enough to eat :(

Cloud: That also ends now. We're going to keep you well fed, don't worry.

Angeal: ✧˖°

Miniroth: Professor Hojo used to trap me in a mako tank to test my resistance. The tepid, green liquid burned my skin as it entered my lungs, suffocating yet familiar, as he observed from behind the glass with calculating fascination. Hours passed as I floated in that luminescent, verdant void, faces of people I had yet to meet flashing before my eyes: a man named Glenn who would die at the hands of Shinra, a child named Rosen who I would have no choice but to kill, a woman named Aerith whom I would also kill, and a man named Cloud Strife who would come to regret adopting me one day, as the cold semblance of his past tormentor on a child's face would drive him to insanity.

Cloud: That also ends—WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY??

-

*Cloud is watching the kids play with toy swords*

Miniroth: Aww, is that the best you guys can do? No fair!

Genesis: Stay back, Angeal, I'll fight Sephiroth alone!

Cloud: :)

Cloud: :)

Cloud: :(

Cloud: .....

Cloud: *gasp* NO.

-

*The kids walk back into the house after playing outside*

Tifa: Hey, did you guys have fun?

Genesis: Yes!

Angeal: We found a friend!

Tifa, thinking it's something innocent like a rabbit, a mouse or perhaps a bird: Make sure to be gentle with it!! Let me see your friend!

*Miniroth pulls out a tonberry*

Tifa:

Miniroth: His name is Ebenezer.

[dianawinchester03]

Hot take time. I’m probably gonna get hated for this but so be it. Before you continue reading, just know that I absolutely despise Becky Rosen and I didn’t feel too bad when Chuck snapped her out of existence in the final season.

I didn’t hate Becky AT FIRST (keep that in mind, I hate the bitch) . I actually really liked her AT FIRST. HEAR ME OUT. Becky was a clear exaggeration of us fangirls. It was hilarious to me that Supernatural broke the fourth wall and added a character like her. She was funny asf and relatable (in her first couple appearances)

Then season 7 rolled around and she did yk what to Sammy. It just steered me clear off, as it should anyone else. Her mere presence pisses me off, I can’t stand her.

I am a Becky Rose hater for LIFE! I personally believe they ruined her character in the episode they had her marry Sam

[altocat]

the concept of seph feeling jealousy or possessiveness for the first time it's always both interesting and hilarious LOL doesn't matter who it is. might as well just be a desk lady he doesn't find as annoying as others

Since most everyone Sephiroth loves or cares about either dies or leaves, he is very possessive of the rare social resources he has. It's a great honor to be hand-picked by Sephiroth if you're serving in his team. He does has his favorites. And, naturally, when he hears about something happening to them or threats that could potentially take them away, he very quietly and discreetly gets a little murderous. Not in any obvious way you can decipher. But always present, always a silent angry seething in the background that is completely at odds with his seemingly apathetic expression.

Sidenote but it would be funny if Miniroth gets jealous of Rosen in the next chapter. Probably won't happen but the idea of Sephiroth being possessive of a walking dumbfuck like Glenn would make for a good meme or two.

[profiterole-reads]

2023 Favourites

In no particular order. This is content I've read and watched in 2023, not necessarily content released in 2023.

Books

1. Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans: fantasy with some m/m. The protagonist travels to other planes for alchemical ingredients and ends up having to learn greater workings. I love the Byzantine vibe of the worldbuilding.

2. The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai: fantasy with some f/f. Two women, a waterweaver and an earthweaver, join a women's rights movement. I love the Egyptian-inspired worldbuilding.

3. Reforged by Seth Haddon: m/m fantasy. This King/Paladin novel has a surprising plot. The magic system is very original as well, I especially like the music part of it.

4. The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan: urban fantasy with some m/m (YA). The hedgewitch protecting the town teams up with a boy cursed to forget his true love and another one trapped as a bondservant.

5. [Spanish] Lazos de Sangre by LR Jeffers: m/m urban fantasy (erotica). This is a series about werewolves and big cat shifters, usually angsty and hot.

6. [French] Meute by Karine Rennberg: urban fantasy with some m/m + another protagonist is aroace and uses sign language. This is a novel about building your own werewolf pack. I think this is my first time encountering 2nd-person narration in French and it works surprisingly well.

7. Cascade by Rachel A. Rosen: science fantasy with mlm and wlw protagonists + no romance. An ecological disaster has freed magic. In Canada, the Party works with a wizard in order to try and save humanity. I love the intricacies of the plot, which skilfully mixes politics, science and magic.

8. Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell: m/m science fiction. Telepathy, my favourite trope, done by one of my fave authors! It was even better than I expected.

9. The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei: science fiction/murder mystery with several non-binary major characters. 80 people from all around the world embark on a one-way interstellar voyage. As they're all required to get pregnant, they're obviously afab, but several are non-binary, with mentions of a trans man.

10. Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick: f/f romance (YA). This is a very romantic novel about two girls dating in secret until one gets amnesia. I enjoy this trope a lot.

TV shows

1. Good Omens: fantasy with queer protagonists + some f/f. I love the book and I love the adaptation. Season 2 is original content, but it's faithful to the spirit of the novel.

2. Shadow and Bone: fantasy with some m/m (YA). This successfully mixes the Shadow and Bone trilogy (that I haven't read) and the Six of Crows duology (that I have read and enjoyed).

3. Warrior Nun: fantasy with some f/f. Nuns literally fight against demons.

4. The Power: superpower fiction with some f/f + a trans woman and an intersex man. Teenage girls start developing an electrical superpower, which makes them safer from men.

5. Nü Er Hong: GL wuxia. This c-drama is a quick watch, with 27 episodes of 2 minutes. I love that these short webdramas always have more or less the same actresses.

6. The Devil Judge: dystopia/thriller with BL vibes. This k-drama has a tight plot and fascinating characters. There's a girl in a wheelchair and the rep is well done.

7. Naughty Babe: BL romance/murder (attempt) mystery. This Thai drama is the sequel to Cutie Pie, except that they switched up the main pairing and the secondary pairing. I think it's possible to watch it on its own.

8. Wedding Plan: BL + GL romcom. This Thai drama has mlm-wlw solidarity, which I hope to see more of in the future. There are also cameos from the BL couples from Love in the Air.

9. Oh! My Assistant: BL romcom. This hilarious k-drama is about a het porn webtoon creator and his assistant. Despite this topic, the drama is not explicit.

10. Welcome to the Lesbian Bar: GL contemporary fiction. This k-drama is a quick watch, with 5 episodes of 6 minutes. In each episode, 2 customers come have a drink and chat with the owner.

Movies

1. Barbie: fantasy that is so gender! This was such a big surprise coming from Hollywood.

2. Nimona: fantasy with a protagonist who is a trans/enby allegory + some m/m (YA). I haven't read the graphic novel, so this was more depressing than I expected (it deals a lot with discrimination), but still an excellent movie.

3. Wingwomen (Voleuses in the original French): action movie with a sapphic protagonist + f/f vibes between the other two. I love heist movies all about women.

4. Kill Bok-soon: action movie with some f/f. This Korean movie has interesting cinematography. Note that it's very violent, though.

5. Red, White & Royal Blue: m/m romcom. I love the book and I love the adaptation.

6. Anything's Possible: m/f romance with a trans female protagonist (YA). This is a very positive movie, about love, art and nature.

7. Fanfic: m/m romance with a trans male protagonist (YA). This Polish movie is sometimes dark, sometimes fun.

[ladyespera]

memes to alleviate my sadness: rosen in the afterlife after credits scene (I think it’d be hilarious that even if all timelines are welcome still only a handful of dedicated people are here)

[ladyaislinn]

Video

‘Scoop’ star Rufus Sewell on finding the humanity in Prince Andrew: ‘I don’t like it when people create straw men.’ The film concludes with a lengthy recreation of the infamous conversation with Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as the interviewer. Gold Derby editor Christopher Rosen hosts this webchat. “I was flattered that the filmmakers thought that I could do it. And I also thought that I could do it,” Sewell says of the role. “In terms of the difference between the character and how people view me being quite wide, it reminded me of the kind of roles that I always used to do when I was at drama school. The kind of actor I always thought I wanted to be.” Sewell’s performance, however, doesn’t make Prince Andrew an outright villain and the film avoids making moral judgments about his character. “I don’t like it when people create straw men with writing or with performance. The truth is a bit more complex,” he says about Prince Andrew. “I got a review that accused me of humanizing him. And I thought that was hilarious. What do we think that means? To make someone seem better? I believe in humanizing, but that does not mean making someone seem nicer than they are, it is to show them as a human who is the product of their environment — as all humans are. I try to think in terms of a grayscale.” source

[shallowseeker]

I've thought long and hard about all the things I wanted in season 15, and I have to agree with @couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name about more Becky Rosen.

I wanted to see her meet the boys again AND Cas AND Jack. And it'd be hilarious if without hero worship clouding her gaze, she got seriously, seriously annoyed with Sam in particular.

[fearsmagazine]

Director and co-writer GORDON GREENBERG, and co-writer STEVE ROSEN, discuss DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS

Currently at the New World Stages, Stage 5, in New York City is DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS, a pansexual GenZ Count Dracula is in the midst of an existential crisis. When he sets his sights on the brilliant young earth scientist Lucy Westfeldt, he meets his match for the first time – as well as a slew of other colorful characters including vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing, insect connoisseur Percy Renfield and behavioral psychiatrist Wallace Westfeldt, whose British country estate doubles as a free-range mental asylum.

(LtoR) Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Jordan Boatman, James Daly, Ellen harvey and Arnie Burton in DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS. Photo by Matthew Murphy

DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS, is directed and co-written by Gordon Greenberg, and co-written by Steve Rosen. GREENBERG laid the foundation of for his craft at Stanford, NYU Film, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. ROSEN attended NYU/Tisch. The duo has worked together on several projects including on the musical adaptation of “The Secret of My Success,” “Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show,” and “Crime and Punishment - a Comedy.” Between the two of them, their awards are so numerous it would compromise the mantel they rest upon. I recently had the pleasure to chat with them about their collaboration on the hilarious off-Broadway production of DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS.

(LtoR) Playwrights STEVE ROSEN and GORDON GREENBERG. Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors. Photo by Maria Baranova.

DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS is now playing a limited Off-Broadway engagement through January 7 at New World Stages, Stage 5, in New York City, thru January 7th, 2024. Vist www.DraculaComedy.com for more information and tickets.

The music heard in the background during this segment is an original composition by Victoria “Toy” Deiorio who composed some of the original music and did the sound design for DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS .

PART 2 with GORDON GREENBERG & STEVE ROSEN - Listen Here.

Read Our Review of DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS - HERE

[kestrellady]

Book Riot's 2023 Read Harder Challenge

Challenge Link

COMPLETE 24/24

My 5th year working on this "get out of your comfort zone" reading challenge.

Full list below the cut.

1. Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author. Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee I loved the world building in this book and the realities of living in a horrible situation such that you can't always think about how horrible the situation is. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I can't tell if that was on purpose or a set up for a second book.

2. Read one of your favorite author’s favorite books. Frederica by Georgette Heyer I saw someone say that Naomi Novik mentioned this as a favorite and I can see why! It's clever and hilarious in the best Georgette Heyer way. The last chunk had me in stitches!

3. Read a book about activism. Between the World an Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates This is a very personal book, told as a series of letters from the author to his son, about growing up Black and the generational differences he sees between his and his son's generation, about what he's learned about the world, and what he's had to un-learn to love his son better.

4. Read a book that’s been challenged recently in your school district/library OR read one of the most-challenged/banned books of the year by a queer and/or BIPOC author. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi This book definitely deserves all the hype. It's very readable and the way it's organized, paralleling the author's own life and journey, makes it very accessible and relatively nonthreatening. I think a lot of people who've bought into the panic would be very surprised by the actual content.

5. Read a completed webcomic. Crumbs by Danie Stirling This was a super cute graphic novel about figuring out what you want from life and learning to tell the difference between what you want for yourself and what the people around you want for you.

6. Finish a book you’ve DNFed (did not finish). Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce I dnf'd this book at about 25% a couple years ago, mainly because I just couldn't get into it. This still isn't quite my thing, but I did feel like it got more interesting as it went along and there was a neat twist at the end.

7. Listen to an audiobook performed by a person of color of a book written by an author of color. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, narrated by Lisa Reneé Pitts This includes the statement from the Combahee River Collective, as well as some interviews with the founders and others reflecting on the Collective and it's impact today. The narrator did a great job reflecting each interviewee's voice.

8. Read a graphic novel/comic/manga if you haven’t before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read. The Sandman Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman I read lots of manga and I've been getting into comics, but this was my first foray into DC. The volume I read had the first three Sandman arcs and I definitely want to keep reading, though I might not watch the Netflix series.

9. Read an independently published book by a BIPOC author. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer This is an incredibly beautiful book of essays looking at nature through both the scientific and indigenous lenses and finding the places they overlap and complement and how listening to nature can help us move to a better future.

10. Read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover. The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected on Water by Zen Cho This was a short read about a group of bandits contractors trying to deliver some religious relics to a prospective buyer... and dealing with the nun they accidentally picked up on the way. The world building is lush and evocative and I really enjoyed it!

11. Read a cookbook cover to cover. The Sad Bastard Cookbook by Rachel A. Rosen, Zilla Novikov with Marten Norr (Illustrator) This is a fantastic (and funny!) little cookbook of meals you can make from stuff in your cabinets when you have no energy to cook. I'm already looking forward to adding some of these to my cooking rotation. And it's available online for free!

12. Read a nonfiction book about BIPOC and/or queer history. The 1619 Project created and edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones This is the book form of the New York Times Sunday edition from 2019 that commemorated the first arrival of enslaved people in the British American colonies, expanded and updated/revised. It was a good balance between longer essays that take you step by step through American history with shorter essays that focus in tighter on particular moments and topics. A must read to really understand why the US is the way it is.

13. Read an author local to you. The Eye of the Mammoth: Selected Essays, by Stephen Harrigan I actually got to meet Harrigan when he came to one of my undergrad classes and he talked about one of the essays included in this collection. This collection spans 30+ years of his writings, with many of the essays focusing on Texas and nature. I think I would have like to see a year for each essay, since it was sometimes difficult to pin down when he was writing.

14. Read a book with under 500 Goodreads ratings. The Holver Alley Crew by Marshall Ryan Maresca This is the first book in the third of the set of interconnected Maradaine series. It took a little longer for me to get into than the other books, probably because the cast is a lot bigger, but was still a fun read.

15. Read a historical fiction book set in an Eastern country. The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki A family trying to marry off the two youngest sisters in 1930s Japan. Largely slice of life, but with a fairly abrupt, slightly odd ending. (Also, I don't really like this prompt. What's "Eastern country" supposed to be? If you mean Asian, say Asian.)

16. Read a romance with bisexual representation. A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (The Last Binding #2) This was such a fun murder mystery on a cruise ship with magic. I loved the first book and was looking forward to this one and it did not disappoint!

17. Read a YA book by an Indigenous author. Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith A spooky mystery with a great twist at the end. I really liked all the references and homages to other works, mostly horror, but also Rain is Not My Indian Name, which I loved as a kid and didn't realize was by the same author.

18. Read a comic or graphic novel that features disability representation. Monstress, Vol. 7: Devourer by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda This is a fantastic dark epic fantasy series. It's got gods and monsters and politics and a disabled main character doing her best to save the world rather than destroy it.

19. Read a nonfiction book about intersectional feminism. Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks A short, easy to read primer on the history, goals, and struggles of the feminist movement. bell hooks is one of the must read authors for anyone interested in the subject.

20. Read a book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author. An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo I really enjoyed this collection by an American Poet Laureate. These poems were interspersed with memories and histories of Harjo's Mvskoke people and often in conversation with other works.

21. Read a book of short stories. The Moon Over the Mountain and Other Stories by Atsushi Nakajima, Translated by Paul McCarthy and Nobuko Ochner A book of historical Chinese stories written by a Japanese author. Some of these I really enjoyed and some kind of meandered. I was glad I'd read an abridged Journey to the West and had that context.

22. Read any book from the Ignyte awards shortlist/longlist/winner list. Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard Short fantasy novelette about a spare princess trying to figure out her place at court after being returned from being a child hostage. The setting was really neat and I would have loved getting more of the politics of the world.

23. Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff This is a novel made up of short stories with an overarching plot. It was so good! I think I'm missing a lot of the references, since I've never done a lot of classic sci-fi or horror, but it was still really good. Each short story focuses on a different character, so it was interesting to see all the different backstories and outlooks.

24. Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa I read this one for my reading around the world challenge, but I'm repurposing it here for the 2015 Read Harder prompt #19, a book originally written in another language.

[thienvaldram]

The Book of the Snowstorm – Readthrough/Review Part 2

Framing Story (Scene 4-5)

Grouping these cause I feel like it’s a bit easier. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to get this involved, what with Coloth and Rich actually showing up at the MFS in The Nine-Two-Five Universe. I’m interested to see where it goes.

Neither Warrior Nor Thinker

Nice little piece about the main characters that connects to the framing narration. And gave me a bit more of a rundown on Coloth’s background for someone who’s never read any of his stuff before. Also it was just really sweet.

Jenny Over-There’s Wonderful Life

This was just funny. Not too much else to say, just It’s a Wonderful Life but if the person didn’t even want to die, the angel was incompetent and then they both say screw it and go get coffee. Do like the whole premise of an openly anti-copyright multiverse traveller too (And yeah ik Jenny Over-There isn’t the original one).

The Claus-Rosen Bridge

Ok this one’s chock full of lore, but let’s start with the story. Lotto and Mae are a fun duo from the get go, and I enjoyed their motivation to head to the library. Tying it to the library also directly ties it to the overall setting (And honestly I am growing to like the Library more and more). Gabriel was cool and I really enjoyed their convo with Mae at the end and them learning to trust. Story itself felt like a few short stories in one, the Jesus one, the Father Christmas one and then the Odin one. Auteur was a fun antagonist.

As for the lore, Universe 2 = Spiral Yssgaroth, a mention of Tecteun and the Division as the Mathematical Bureau. Lotto having only one heart to begin with only to have pulled it out and is just… living with no heart.

I do have a few questions lore wise there, like are the non-human animalian forms meant to be previous incarnations, or just Lotto VI (The current one from the story) altered in form externally by the Archons. But to me that kinda speculation adds to the fun of this kind of story. (Also I’m not the only one to allude to non-human Archon incarnations, nice)

Credit to the guts of directly having Jesus Christ appear too. Doctor Who proper’s been too afraid to ever do that.

The Santa stuff’s hilarious and I was not expecting the Church on Ruby Road to get inexplicably cancelled because of Auteur’s meddling.

Fun story, really enjoyed.