#sascha lamb

[literary-illuminati]

I honestly have zero idea how When the Angels Left the Old Country ended up on my TBR - it might literally just be because I kind of love the name? But 60 pages in it's really quite charming. Very tale/folkloric, and very clearly in deep conversation with a tradition I have only incredibly surface level knowledge of.

[goosemixtapes]

max's favorite short stories & articles!

to be updated as i read new things! "articles" could be anything from political points to philosophical musings to fascinating stories. obligatory statement that i don't necessarily agree with everything in every one of these stories/articles, but i think about them a lot and want to share :)

short stories

Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live by Sacha Lamb (@kuttithevangu) (novella) (so says the writing on the bathroom mirror. of gender & judaism & magic and t4t trans guys. cw for suicidal ideation and bullying)

Epistolary by Sascha Lamb ("The [stuffed] frog you are selling on your blog is MINE and he is NOT HAUNTED and his name is MOSHE not BILLY HOPPER.")

Chokechain by Andrew Joseph White (a trans man discovers his parents have replaced him with a robot version of his pretransition self. cw for transphobia and violence)

Sandrine by Alexandra Munck (the tagline for this one is "I dated a sun god in college" but that doesn't do justice to the sheer concept here please read this)

The Traveler Wife by yves. @yvesdot (an astronaut writes to the wife she left back home)

You Wouldn't Have Known About Me by Calvin Gimpelevich (set in a hospital ward where patients are recovering from gender-confirming surgery)

No Flight Without the Shatter by Brooke Bolander (novella) ("After the world’s end, the last young human learns a final lesson from Earth’s remaining animals." cw for climate change/extinction)

And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead by Brooke Bolander (what if you had to death-match-fight a virtual version of yourself at your meanest made by your boyfriend whose life you're trying to save would that be fucked up or what. cws for guns and violence)

Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (stories that clock you in the fucking teeth in the religious trauma.)

A Serpent for Each Year by Tamara Jerée (microfiction) ("Our relationship is almost a year old when I ask Nal why she is covered in snakes." cw for animal death)

The Front Line by W.C. Dunlap (microfiction) (cited as one of the world's finest attention-grabber openings. cws for police brutality, racism, and SA)

Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse (step into the simulation and gain an authentic experience! cws for anti-Native racism and alcohol)

articles & essays

Lockhart's Lament (on how math is taught in schools. that is, badly. one of the most cathartic essays i've ever read on education)

Against Cop Shit by Jeffrey Moro (on adversarial education)

I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out. by Jennifer Coates (do you have to be out to be a woman? cw for transphobia, homophobia, and eating disorders)

Debunking "Trans Women Are Not Women" Arguments by Julia Serano (comprehensive, well-written, good to have as a reference point)

On Liking Women by Andrea Long Chu (and on the politics of desire)

Turning a Unicorn Into a Bat by Josh and Lolly Weed (on Mormonism, love, and whether a gay man and a straight woman can marry happily. cw for homophobia)

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (musings on motivation from a social psychologist and professor)

How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterson (how come everything happens so much?)

White Women Drive Me Crazy by Aisha Mirza (on the harm caused by white women. cw for racism)

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong by Michael Hobbes (should be required reading for everyone at this point. cw for fatphobia and eating disorders)

Becoming Anne Frank by Dara Horn (on the cultural fascination with Anne Frank. cw for antisemitism)

The Ecstasy of Influence by Jonathan Lethem ([on/a] plagiarism)

On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People by Patricia Taxxon (video essay) (ostensibly what the title says, but actually a detailed musing on the essential properties of furry media and the freedom of dehumanization; changed my life a bit)

[contracat25]

I'm excited to be participating in the #transrightsreadathon which is being put on to promote and show support for trans authors and trans books, and to raise funds for trans support groups!

Thanks to @sim_bookstagrams_badly for creating this readathon! If you want to know more about it head on over to their page.

As for what books I might be reading see above. I'm excited to get at least a few of these read this week.

I'll be donating some of my money to The TGI Network of RI and Thundermist for every book I read.

Are you participating? And if so what are you reading and where will you be donating?!

I can't wait to see what everyone else is reading :)

Image 1: a stack of books on teal fabric. Books in the image include: - Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey - Dead Collections by Issac Fellman - Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo - When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sascha Lamb -Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White -The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang - The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

Image 2: 4 book covers on a colorful background. Books in the image include: -Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom - Once Stolen by D.N. Bryn -Depart Depart by Sim Kern Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

[goose-books]

attention: you are legally obligated to observe this godsong commission by @woodhousejay and you are also legally obligated to commission james

okay, but seriously, commission james! amazing art! incredibly reasonable prices! quick turnaround with lots of communication about the process! look at the fucking shading!!! look at the fabric folds!!! colors!!!

pictured, left to right: ichari (butch sharpshooter pirate; the one who drives the boat), anna (god’s saddest little sacrificial lamb; the one on the quest), and sascha (poncy little rich brat; the one funding the quest). they’re lesbians. more about godsong here but let’s be honest this is mostly a post about how you should commission james my friend james

[toopunkrockforshul]

Finally finished the last book for full blackout for 2023 bingo!

All hard mode except the robots one because I wasn't sure going in what role the robot would play. I don't think I can in good conscious claim that he was a protagonist though.

5 star reads (in order of prompt number):

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink

Full details below the cut:

Title with a Title (Hard Mode: Not a title of royalty) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - 4 stars

Superheroes (Hard Mode: Not related to DC or Marvel) Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro - 4 stars

Bottom of the TBR (Hard Mode: None, its already hard enough) Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater - 4.75

tars

Magical Realism or Literary Fantasy (Hard Mode: Not one of the books in the Magic Realism recs thread) Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver - 4 stars

Young Adult (Hard Mode: Published in the last 5 years) The Way Back by Gavriel Savit - 4.75 stars

Mundane Jobs (Hard Mode: Does not take place on Earth) Mindtouch by M.C.A Hogarth - 4.75 stars

Published in the 00s (Hard Mode: Not in the top 30 of r/Fantasy best of 2023 list) Sunshine by Robin McKinley - 5 stars

Angels and Demons (Hard Mode: Protagonist is an angel or a demon) When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb - 5 stars

5 SFF Short Stories (Hard Mode: Read an entire SFF anthology or collection) Love After the End:An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead - 4 stars

Horror (Hard Mode: Not Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft): The Voice of the Blood by Jemiah Jefferson - 4.75 stars

Self-published or Indie Publisher (Hard Mode: self pub and has fewer than 100 ratings) The Dying of the Golden Day by Carrie Gessner - 3.75 stars

Set in the Middle East/Middle Eastern SFF (Hard Mode: Author is of Middle Eastern heritage) The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia - 4.5 stars

Published in 2023 (Hard Mode: Debut novel) Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh - 5 stars

Multiverse and Alternative Realities (Hard Mode: Characters do not walk through a literal door in order to get to another world) The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan - 5 stars

POC Author (Hard Mode: Takes place in a futuristic, sci-fi world) Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee - 4.25 stars

Bookclub or Readalong Book (Hard Mode: read as part of a bookclub and participate in the discussion) Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 2 stars

Novella (Hard Mode: Novella is not published by Tordotcom Publishing) The Seep by Chana Porter - 4.75 stars

Mythical Beasts (Hard Mode: No dragons or dragon-like creatures) Drink Slay Love by Sarah Beth Durst - 3.5 stars

Elemental Magic (Hard Mode: Not V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series or Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series) The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards - 4.75 stars

Myths and Retellings (Hard Mode: Not Greek or Roman mythology) The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie - 4.25 stars

Queernorm Setting (Hard Mode: Not a futuristic setting) The Door into Shadow by Diane Duane - 4.25 stars

Coastal or Island Setting (Hard Mode: The book also features sea-faring) The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty - 4 stars

Druids (Hard Mode: Not The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne) The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach - 4.5 stars

Featuring Robots (Hard Mode: Robot is the protagonist) He, She and It by Marge Piercy - 3.5 stars

Sequel (Hard Mode: Book 3 or on in the series) The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink - 5 stars

[logicgunn]

For the fanfiction asks. B, D for the long dark series, K.

Hi Anon!

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

No. And yes.

In the bigger picture, the plots of my fics aren’t carbon copies of events in my life. I mean, obviously I’ve never killed anyone or been stranded on an island in the Arctic or what have you. But every fic I write has something in it that’s from real life. Like:

What To Expect When You’re Expecting comes from helping birth lambs when I was a kid.

Something In The Air comes from personal experiences with alcohol and mind altering substances.

Objet Trouve came from my wife wanting to carry around peanuts to make friends with crows.

Proposals Squared comes from a time when my wife and I were only just dating and we both bought each other the same wooden roses for the same gift giving occasion (was it Valentine’s Day @bunny-bopper?)

Blanket On The Ground comes from having a nurse for a wife who periodically works long stretches of nightshift, and the frustration and loneliness that comes with having her asleep when I’m (supposed to be) awake.

A lot of the medical knowledge in The Tock Is A Lie (and other fics) comes from working on a surgical ward, and some of the events come from the experiences and difficulties of patients I’ve cared for.

This is maybe a bit TMI, but In A Manner Of Speaking comes from personal experience of medication induced anorgasmia and the (totally unnecessary) relationship fears that come with that. (Thank fuck I have a consultant who recognises that as a valid reason to try new medications!)

Even when the overreaching events of a fic don’t come from something I’ve experienced, a lot of the smaller moments do, be it an interaction or a moment or a snippet of dialogue or whatever. I mean, people tend to write what they know, and when they don’t it’s obvious and can be pretty jarring and pull you right out of the story, so if I don’t know something I try to learn more about it. (Like in the Long Dark I learned how to hunt and field dress a deer, how to clear a building with a rifle, survival techniques and dangers in a cold environment etc.)

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with The Long Dark Series?

Actually you might not know this, but The Long Dark is a video game and that game has an absolutely wonderful soundtrack by Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan. It’s haunting and lonely and cold. When I’m writing in that ‘verse I always have the soundtrack on in the background to pull me into the scene.

For other fics I’ll either head to Ambient Mixer or a noise video on Youtube like Shaw’s Paradise/Space Ambient. Another soundtrack I like is a Youtube video of Lana Del Rey Instrumentals, but that can be a bit distracting depending on my mood.

And it might interest you to know that I’m writing a dark!fic whose inspiration is Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

I’ve written quite a few angsty fics, but the angstiest one I’ve posted would have to be Noncompliance. It’s a short but brutal fic about breaking someone down.

But the dark!fic I’m currently writing? It will out angst everything I’ve done so far. ;)

[fanfic-she-wrote]

April Fools at Rick's

A list of April Fools tricks the characters in Casablanca would do to eachother:

• Renault swapping out Rick's cigarettes with sugar cigarettes.

• Rick's confused face when he lights it up.

• Rick telling Renault that there's a beautiful woman waiting for him at the bar, instead its Ugarte in a dress.

• Renault feeling stupid that he fell for that.

• Sascha giving Ferrari vinegar instead of vodka.

• Yvonne showing up to Rick's wearing a wig saying she got a new haircut.

• Rick doesnt like it.

• The dealer telling Carl he won 50,000 francs when he didnt.

• Carl hiding the roulette ball on the dealer as revenge.

• Sam randomly playing kid's songs on the piano.

• He especially likes playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" because it annoys Rick.

That's all I have. Feel free to add on. Also, I might write one of these. Let me know which one you're interested in. 🙂

[blissmysolitude]

Song cover // Thomas Lamb, Saatchi Art. 

Mathew Bourne // bandcamp

[reapers-game-blog]

NAT 1 || Trial 5 || Rule Break

Your hosts had stayed rather silent as they always do until the time for voting came to a close and they tallied the votes in favor of Sascha being the guilty one…and you had all been right despite the eruption of different topics from amongst the ever growing empty court room. Even Ji-Hye had found herself attempting to be the lamb to the slaughter, but alas that did not work and Sascha was to be executed shortly.

Something Raiden seemed to not want to occur…as he found himself dashing towards Sascha in which he had bolted from his podium once before many weeks ago…shouldn’t he have known better by now?

Anatol raises from his seat next to Chuuya before he spoke.

“Tsk…Tsk…Tsk… Dearest Raiden…has the wound that I graciously took care of for you not reminded you enough…us hosts have been very kind to you rule breakers…tsk…it’s such a shame that you think we do not stay to our word....”

He shook his head before anyone could speak up to ask what was about to happen before Anatol disappeared and then reappeared placing the cold barrel of the gun against Raidens back and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly before putting his weapon back in its holster and dragging Raiden out of the way and placed him against the wall away from Saschas grasp as the remaining life within his eyes slipped away.

“Now then, I believe we have made ourselves clear…the Boss is very unhappy with the result of this trial…as much as we have been kind we run a tight game here…rule breakers will be dealt with…the Boss had been kind enough to save Shinya last time…but they have had enough this time….”

He stops speaking in time to pick up the stray bullet and toss it into his pocket before he goes to sit back down…

“Now please make your final remarks dearest Sascha…as you will be joining your beloved soon enough it seems…how nauseating…”

Raiden Krauss, SHSL Choral Conductor has been punished for breaking a rule.

[spiffinessabounds]

Tagged by @stressedoutsithlord​ awhile back, finally getting around to it. :)

Rules - Put your music on shuffle and write down the first ten songs that play:

Will Dailey - Tomorrow Still Comes (NCIS Soundtrack)

Trevor Morris - Dragon Age Inquisition Theme (Dragon Age: Inquisition Soundtrack)

Shiver My Timbers (Muppet Treasure Island Soundtrack)

Crash & The Boys - I’m So Sad, So Very, Very Sad (Scott Pilgrim vs The World Soundtrack)

John Williams - Banning Back Home (Hook Soundtrack)

Chris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan - Reaper Chase (Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack)

Jack Wall - Samara (Mass Effect 2 Soundtrack)

Jack Wall - The Collector Base (Mass Effect 2 Soundtrack)

Thomas Newman - Cold Lamb Sandwich (Meet Joe Black Soundtrack)

Sencit Music - Something To Fight For

Tagging: If they’re interested, @mercy-angel-09, @swtorizz, @kigichi, @sideshow-ericka, and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it.

[darkestwings]

Some quotes from Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Sometimes while I’m reading I come across quotes I love so much I want to post them on their own, or maybe add them to my weekly book posts. Others, I like them enough to want to mention them, but don’t feel they are powerful enough to command their own post. These are some of that second type:

Since I was dead -- or worse than dead, buried alive in a body that might as well be a coffin except it denied me the pleasure of suffocation -- I figured I should be allowed to grieve.

- page 5 (The First Day)

Sascha looked torn. Should she cram my head full of newfound terror that the world would reject me, or let me wander into the big, scary out-there, like a naive lamb prancing to the slaughter?

- page 47 (Mouth Closed)

I did it all mechanically. Mechanically, as in without thought, as in through force of habit, as in instinctively, automatically, involuntarily. Mechanically, as in like-a-machine.

- page 101 (Faith)

Version: Hardcover, 368 pages Published September 9th 2008 by Simon Pulse

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