#volatile memory

[may12324]

Volatile Memory, by Seth Haddon

HAWK is a consciousness trapped inside a mask in the shape of a Hawk—or is she just code that thinks it was once alive?

Wylla is a scavenger in need of a payday. Selling HAWK might be her ticket to freedom, but can she justify the sale when the mask speaks back to her?

This is a sapphic tale of revenge and adventure out with Tordotcom July 22nd!

and an alternative version~

[vaguelygalaxy]

Noctura Festival

[lilareviewsbooks]

March Reading Wrap Up!

Hi guys! Long time no see on the monthly review side... But since I'm reading less (school, boooo), I think I have time to do some of these more often!

Also, as an aside: audiobooks rock. Thank you audiobooks. Without you, I wouldn't have finished a single one of these books!! God bless!!

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addision -- 5 stars!

So, this was a reread for me... And yes, it is the third time I read it... But listen... Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Honestly, I don't think any other story in the world does what The Goblin Emperor does to me! This hopeful, heartwarming book about the neglected half-goblin son of an elvish royal family who unexpectedly becomes emperor is a real treat. The writing is flowy and emotional, having a little bit of an old-timey feel, but without over-dramatizing anything. The characters are excellent and they flow off the page! I think everyone here is fleshed out enough for a whole 6-book spin off series (cough cough Csevet!!).

This is a beloved standalone for a reason, and I'm more excited than ever for the release of the third book in its sister series, The Cemeteries of Amalo. I think I could reread this a thousand times and I would still want to read it again. In fact, my school library recently got a copy (yes, because of me), and lowkey... Would it be so bad if...

You can check out my in-depth review of my first read through of this book here.

[ARC] Murder By Memory, by Olivia Waite -- 3.25 stars

OUT NOW!

Super thankful for Tor for this eArc! I had read Olivia Waite for my Queer Bridgerton post last Summer, and her work was my favorite part of that project, for sure! I was happy to return to her flowy, cozy writing style, this time with a new twist.

This is a sci-fi set in a far-future spaceship where humans have achieved a strange type of immortality, by backing up their memories and uploading them into new bodies. This novella follows Dorothy, the ship's equivalent of a detective, when she's unexpectedly brought back to life, in a body she doesn't recognize, and smack in the middle of a murder case!

This was fun! It is definitely what it's pitched as -- a cozy mystery with a Becky Chambers twist. The writing style and the characters are very enjoyable, and I love the worldbuilding. But, as I often feel with mystery novellas, I think I needed some more time with this case. It goes by quickly and the resolution comes in too abruptly. But the ending seems to point to a sequel, which I would not be opposed to!

Also props to Olivia Waite for inserting some fiber arts in here. I see you doing it in all your books and I respect the hustle.

[ARC] Volatile Memory, by Seth Haddon -- 4 stars

Out on July 22nd!

Thank you once more to Tor for this eArc! Volatile Memory is a debut novella with an incredible premise and worldbuilding that delivers on it. In a sci-fi, spaceship-ridden world of scavengers with animal-like masks, Wylla is a trans woman surviving in a transphobic world. But when she ends up finding an unprecedented sentient mask, her life is turned upside down.

This is a super tense, yet hearfelt weird novella -- which I think you all know is my favorite genre! For fans of odd speculative fiction, with a cool narrative framework and mind-stretching world building, this is perfect. And if you like slightly toxic but mostly sweet, they're-in-a-weird-situation, alla Locked Tomb, Baru Cormorant, sapphic couples... Man, are you in for a treat!

My only issue was again: the ending. I just thought it was a tad too rushed, but I do think I'm quite picky on beginnings and endings, especially in novellas. But the narration, worldbuilding and premise here are so good, that it more than makes up for it. Overall, a fantastic debut at Tor, and I can't wait to see what Haddon does next!

The Witchwood Knot, by Olivia Atwater -- 5 stars!

Oh, Olivia Atwater... My old friend... I also read her work for the Queer Bridgerton Project, but ended up just reading her straight stuff lmao I actually ended up on The Witchwood Knot because I was reading her sapphic book, Longshadow, but I put it on pause... It just wasn't doing it for me. But I wanted to continue listening to her writing, so I ended up with The Witchwood Knot.

This is the first of Atwater's new series of interconnected standalones. Although they take place in the same universe as the Regency Faerie Tales interconnected standalones, it's totally possible to read it by itself. This one is about Winnie, who comes to a gothic manor in order to become the governess for an annoying lordling. But soon, she begins to notice a malevolent fae presence in the household...

I loved this! The narration is great, and it tackles themes of bodily autonomy, sexual assault, childhood trauma and poverty fairly well. I can defintely see an evolution from Atwater's earlier works, but she has maintained her charm and her spirited characters! I think it all works so well in this new, Victorian period, and I love that she has almost stepped back from the romance a little bit. In a weird way, it leaves more space for that relationship to shine, as we see a lot more from our two main characters than just their love for each other. I can't wait for the next books in the series, and I definitely recommend this one!

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older -- 4 stars

I finally picked up this one -- this is the second book in Older's Holmesian sapphic sci-fi novellas! I enjoyed the first book a lot, especially the worldbuilding -- it takes place in a far-future human colony on Jupiter, where scholar Pleiti and detective Mossa are striking up their second-chance romance and solving crimes!

This went perfectly with Murder By Memory, as it's also a "cozy" mystery (though like, how cozy can murder/disappearances be?) set in space! But my favorite part by far was, as I mentioned, the worldbuilding and the development of Pleiti and Mossa's relationship! I think I wasn't as connected to them when I listened to the first audiobook, but I found myself giggling at their antics and rooting for them, this time! I love Pleiti in this installment, too -- she's getting so much more involved in the investigations, and I kinda love it for her.

I would recommend this if you want something episodic, but with a throughline of romance, and an unique setting! And if you like Murder By Memory then I would recommend trying this series out, as well (or vice-versa!).

The Legacy Of Yangchen, by F.C. Yee -- 3.5 stars

Also one I finally picked up -- the second book in the Avatar novels on Yangchen! I had to reread the first book, because I forget things sooo fast, and it was so worth it! I'm happy to have had the time to soak in all the information in the first installment, because this one is an emotional heavy-hitter and is the culminations of all the political tensions from book one.

I have to say, I love Yangchen and her co-POV, Kavik, though I've heard some complaints about them and their relationship. It worked really well for me, though! I think all the characters were pretty great, and I love the dialogue, -- this was the case in the Kyoshi books, as well!! -- it flows super well and works seamlessly on audio.

I love these books because of the way they expand the ATLA universe. This duology, specifically, was interesting, because it took us to a place of political intrigue that I don't think we'd ever been in before, in this universe. It was pretty cool in its own right! But as a die-hard ATLA fan, it's hard for me not to get super excited to see this world through new and interesting lights!! I'm pumped to get my hands on the new Roku book that came out recently!! Recommend, for sure :)

That's all for my month guys!! As always, thanks for your time, and see you!!

[gamingsugoi]

Volatile Memory - Blood Trail Gameplay Full Game PC

Volatile Memory - Blood Trail By VaguelyGalaxy walkthrough part 1 and until the ending will include the full gameplay on PC. This video is recorded in 1080p 60FPS on PC. You can complete this game easy. I will show you how to play, watch and learn. If you enjoyed the video, please visit my youtube channel and leave a like and subscribe. It really means a lot!

[rxx2addn]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--memory--RAM--dram--component-dram/d2516ecmdxgjdi-u-kingston-9123747

High-Speed DRAM memory, Memory Organization, Dual Ports memory, PSD, FIFO's

DRAM Chip DDR3/3L SDRAM 4Gbit 256M X 16 96-Ball FBGA

[abr2tello]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--memory--RAM--static-ram--asynchronous/cy62167ev30ll-45bvxi-infineon-6042923

Non-Volatile SRAM memory, Non-Volatile SRAM, Non volatile memory

CY62167EV30 Series 16 Mb (1M x 16/2M x 8) 2.2 - 3.6 V 45 ns Static RAM -TSOP-48

[gry2hade]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--memory--RAM--static-ram--asynchronous/cy62167ev30ll-45zxi-infineon-9364399

Volatile memory, Computer memory, battery backed SRAM, ram memory

CY62167EV30 Series 16 Mb (1 M x 16/2 M x 8) 2.2 - 3.6 V 45 ns Static RAM-TSOP-48

[tmms2dov]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--memory--RAM--static-ram--asynchronous/as6c4008-55sintr-alliance-memory-6950125

What is SRAM, spi sram, SRAM chip, Memory ICs, low power sram

AS6C4008 Series 4-Mbit (512 K x 8) 3 V 55 ns CMOS Static RAM - SOIC-32

[mynonclicheblog]

Oh to be 16 with an emotionally controlling boyfriend, taking a late night drive with the hot new guy who just GETS you and has quickly become your best friend, to be building him up and telling him about your future, when the world slows down and he looks at you like THAT

And you look at him like THIS

And you know you shouldn't be here, that you're on the precipice of disaster, but it doesn't matter because you're young and you've never felt so alive and free and understood

[vaguelygalaxy]

[gophergal]

a meme specific to my interpretations

[faithandfairies]

I really love this moment, right after Lestat has just turned Claudia. Louis moves closer to Claudia and Lestat stops him with a gentle hand on his chest.

And you just know here Lestat is thinking something along the lines of "We do not know this girl. I've never made a child vampire before and don't know what to expect. If she chooses to attack, I need it to be me, Louis, not you."

And then Claudia politely asks for some of Louis' blood and you can see Lestat breathe a sigh of relief.

You can say a lot of shit about Lestat, but one thing, he will do his best to protect Louis from every perceived threat that isn't him if it's the last thing he does.

[good--merits-accumulated]

going through some old left-for-dead projects and just found this one where I was like. INTENT on dissecting jeff's brain on the operating table (i.e. google docs) but only from todd's weird skewed pov

[professor voice] it's about brothers as eternal combatants and it's about being so convinced of your own goodness you excuse your shitty actions. it's also about comparing yourself to a dog because you feel less fully formed than your brother. lol.

[the-woman-upstairs]

Armand using his powers to sway Daniel towards accepting death only for Louis to do the opposite so Daniel will not only survive, but LIVE…..curious to see if this ends up reversed at the end of the season.

[thewalrusespublicist]

John and Julian has been repeatedly discussed in terms of their estrangement and John’s neglect (and Yoko’s financial maneuvers against him) but how do you think their relationship might’ve played out had he not been killed? I’ve just read that looong post you reblogged on their history and it’s surprisingly one of the few detailed research of their dynamic. It seems as if their relationship was characterized by a mutual desire for closeness but due to traumas (John abandoning him for one, John’s own struggles, and the focus on Julian’s financial or lack of arrangement). Just wondering as to how you see a relationship playing out in this au where John lives. Very interesting that Julian was actually quite similar to John in terms of teen rebellion and manipulation of his father (no negative connotation he was an emotionally hurt child). I do think because J&Y measured relationships and were to an extent emotionally stunted in a childhood state of ‘ME’ that it makes sense why they were able to easily put their needs first even when at the cost of a child. Especially one that came before they met the other. Makes me wonder what kind of regression or growth might’ve taken place. Especially when considering Yoko’s own daughter is still lost to her. And though John’s sons are…eccentric to say the least, the criticism towards Julian harping on his late father’s transgressions is tiring but unfortunately a very real example of what generational trauma means. Especially to those who know the feeling of having a parent leave by choice.

Hi anon!

Ooohh I don't want to be a downer in the festive period but I agree with so much of what you've said and think there would always be a lot of challenges if John had lived when it came to his relationships with both his children.

I think his dynamic with Julian in particular would be ... a mess. In one corner, you have an angry young man defensive about his mother and rightfully upset with the father he loves but who in many ways abandoned him. He wants to start something in music and feels entitled to something from said man. He also for very valid reasons and for some invalid reasons hates his stepmother and by nature has no real issue lashing out and being vocal. Add to this is a close relationship with his stepdad.

In the other corner you have an absent father who is capable of feeling immense guilt but his reaction to it is to double down and lash out. He is someone who loves and connects through music and wants to share that with the son he loves. He's also working under the illusion that any gulfs are due to his ex-wife's influence. At the same time however, he can't stand the idea of not being needed and withdraws support and becomes cruel if he feels a loved one is becoming too independent or if he feels anyone is taking his place. To defend his natural sweetness and vulnerability, he will overreact to any suspicions that he is being used. As you said, he is also sadly unable to put his child above his feelings and emotional volatility, no matter how much he perhaps wants to. To top this all off he loves his wife but more importantly he's built his entire identity about his love story with his wife being the centre of the universe and has worked incredibly hard PR-wise to cultivate this image.

That’s a lot of very volatile ingredients in this powder keg with a lot of different scenarios where it can go hideously wrong. Here's unfortunately what I think is a pretty plausible series of events if John lived and had stayed with Yoko:

John continues his 1980 attempts to get closer to Julian and works on music with him

Julian gets closer to his dad and wants his dad's support to launch his own music

John immediately gets religiously on board out of guilt/desire to connect/enthusiasm and shoots his nepo baby to the stars

John for either valid or invalid reasons gets paranoid and/or jealous about Julian being the younger, potentially more on the pulse version of himself and fears he may not need him or is using him. If he and Yoko are still together I can't imagine Yoko would help dispel this. As he's gotten closer to Julian he's also more aware of Julian's relationship with his stepdad. He lashes out as he always does.

Julian withdraws and/or retaliates. It escalates to the press where it goes to shit. John tears into Julian and Cynthia. Julian goes for the Ballad of John and Yoko and John's more abusive behaviour.

Stalemate/cool-off/soft jabs in the press period where John 'will never speak to him again for disprespecting Yoko' or some other front but actually goes through a far more hot-and-cold dependant on mood pattern with Julian.

Either both stick to tortured silence where John ‘doesn't care’ with that usual success rate or reconnects with Julian because both deep down really want this relationship, honeymoon period and pattern begins again.

Would this change for the better if he and Yoko split? Certainly yes but not entirely. John's issues with his children are his own and he would have needed intense counselling to deal with it. It makes me really sad to say it and who knows what curveballs would have come about in this AU which could have changed everything but with Julian's resentment and hurt and John's defensiveness and volitility, I can't see their dynamic do anything but consistently blow up in their faces.

[bichitosdecolores]

cassette beasts is a queer little game

hello so i played CB recently and i really loved the way it handles queer characters so i’m going to write about it you can read if you like :3

english is not my first language (great way to start an analysis in a monster catching video game, i know). My first language is, unfortunately, spanish. Spanish is a fun, annoying little language. It, unlike English, is a gendered language. That means that we not only have he and she pronouns, but also they (feminine), they (masculine), it (feminine) and it (masculine) and same applies for we, but i don’t feel like writing the same format again, plus the only we i care about is the one that allows you to play mario galaxy 2 and eats too many batteries. (the wii. because we, wii… do you get it)

Anywho. What does spanish and gender and mario galaxy 2 has to do with this? i’m getting to it (except for the mario part, that’s just a cool game i felt like mentioning for no reason)

One more paragraph on context, bear with me.

So i happened to be nonbinary. Which is cool. But if your memory allows you to recall what you read two paragraphs ago, you may notice a problem.

I speak spanish -> spanish is a (bi) gendered language -> i’m nb

yeah

well. There’s actually something about spanish pronouns i didn’t mention before. There actually is a secret third option: the singular gender-neutral equivalent of they: elle.

cool!

or it would be, if anyone knew about it/ was willing to use it.

the thing is for some reason people in here are really obsessed about grammar and language. And, well there are other reason, but the point is, it’s very hard for 'elle' to be used in any space outside the internet (and even there…)

ok ok. i’m done now, sorry about that. let’s talk about silly catching monsters video game.

i don’t remember why i bought cassette beasts but i clearly remember the first time i opened it. First thing that caught my attention was the amount of available languages to play, considering CB was an indie game less than a year old. So i picked spanish (from spain, obviously, because there is no other place in earth that speaks spanish right?), thought ‘nice thanks’ and continued. After setting the language, you’re redirected to a character creation screen. Among the settings offered to customize your character, the very first one is ‘pronouns’. And for a second i stood there, remembering this part of the process in all my pokemon playthrough, and trying to figure out whether i’ll feel less uncomfortable playing as a boy or as a girl this time around. And then i moved the setting and noticed… a third option!!??

yeah! a third, gender-neutral spanish option. like. i have played like a gender-neutral character before, mostly nonhuman characters with tragic destinies and a white color palette, you know the ones. and i loved the knight and ori and survivor. i’ve always adored nonhuman characters, and i love to be represented by them!

but…

did you know that none of these characters are nb in their spanish versions? as i said, spanish is hard and stupid, and what even is ‘elle’?. so as much as i love the knight, i only came to identify with them after beating the game because all the time i played hollow knight they were referred to as ‘the knight (masculine)’. same with all the others

so i love nonhuman they/it characters! but, as much as i would like it to be, i’m not a nonhuman they/it. i’m a person (tragic, i know) and i speak spanish and i go by elle.

And for the first time in my life, the characters i was moving around in my little blue switch’s screen, actually felt like me. it was me!

(that was dramatic, sorry)

ok so that’s it! CB it’s a great game with spanish settings and gender neutral pronouns! queer of the year! or whatever.

...

but that’s not all, there is moreee

part *where-i-actually-talk-about-the-video-game-instead-of-spending-way-too-many-words-explaining-spanish-rules* <- imagine that’s a number and the number is 2 (because it’s part two, does any of what i write makes any sense to anybody?)

so uhmm

part 2

after you create your very cool new character (whose aspect and pronouns you can change at any time btw) you are put into the CB world. Short summary: you land on an island in the middle of space and time, where a lot of people from other places, dimensions and times have also landed before. oh! and nobody can leave. Also. there are monsters, and you scan them with an old walkman and turn into them to fight other monsters and get moth wings to fly for a little time. (so pronouns, spanish an moth wings?! I'm sold <- you rn when i just convinced you of playing CB)

so that’s the game.

The first person to talk to you after you arrive here is a young girl called Kayleigh (you have no idea how many times i’ve rewritten this name in the hopes of getting it right-> i had to use the wiki). she will also be your first partner. in this game, all combats are double, which means you’ll always be traveling with another character. the first one you unlock is her. There are several others including autism girl from the 80s, a dog and a.. Shakespeare character?

(that’s autism girl btw) (and no i did not redraw it sowrry)

and as with many rpg games, the more you spend time with these characters, the more your relationships level increases, which allows you to fuse your souls as monsters and create a limitless amount of beast with various lever of weird and cool designs! (because of course it does, have i mentioned this game is cool?). but besides that, after you have spent enough time with a character they’ll give you a little cutscene, taking about themselves, their story, and when you reach the maximum level of hearts (representing your relationship), you get the opportunity to romance them.

and so i did, mostly out of curiosity. i won’t tell you what happened every time because a) i don’t want to romance eugene i refuse to; b) i don’t want to spoil it; and c) if this was a video, doing so would be filler time that you could spend watching an actual unnecessary long video

ok since Kayleigh is your first partner (and has the coolest monster out of them all), she was the first i had the opportunity to romance. and it was very cute. her dialogue is very in character and she almost immediately accepted your insinuation ¿? (idk love terminology sorry)

And then i kept playing and i decided to try and romance Meredith aka the best character in the video game. and i was kind of expecting the game to get mad at me for romancing more than one character. but here is what happened

first, her reaction was again, very in character. while Kayleigh almost immediately agrees, she first takes a moment to think, then saying she has never dated someone other than man but she still likes you and would like to give this a try! but slowly as she is figuring things out. (like is it me or is that just very cool) (a little note: i may have confused Meredith and Kayleigh reactions, and the wiki is almost empty so it didnt help. but these stuff happened at some point i promise)

also the game did not get mad at me

one time while talking to Meredith she mentioned something about exclusivity, just kind of saying she doesn’t mind (the game acknowledged it?)

other time Kayleigh was just casually kind of flirting with another character (the shakespeare one btw, she’s also very cool)

like isn’t that very cool and interesting. it’s also all very lighthearted and made me feel very nice despite the fact i’m very aro and usually wouldn’t care in the slightest.

conclusion: you can use any pronouns you choose to, you can romance characters in a genuine queer way they’ll actually acknowledge and you can romance more than one and it doesn’t start yelling at you. that’s very cool!

but……

i’m sorry i’m not done yet, one more part.

part last one i promise (aka 4 (part tree moved to live a better life in a forest (really, does this makes any sense??))

part 🌳 4

i once watched a (probably unnecessarily long) video about videogames and queerness and how in a lot of games the queer part is only there if you choose to look for it. yeah you can romance both boys and girls despite your gender, but you can also not. a non-queer person choosing to romance only the opposite gender would never realize there was something queer going on. and that is great for your game because now people will buy it despite their """opinions”””

but if you do that is your game really queer? is CB really queer?

i could argue, and i will, that the mere inclusion of the pronouns setting, the gender-neutral option, the fact you can wear a dress and beard at the same time, and your ability to change both appearance and pronouns as many times as you wish, already make CB a very queer inclusive game. but

let’s say you somehow didn’t notice all that, or choose to ignore it, after all it’s only the character creation screen, who cares.

is cassette beasts still a queer (inclusive) game?

yes!

they translated the game 3 (oh, there you were) times only for spanish (surprise, spanish gender affects a lot of things other than pronouns so yeah you’ll have to go over the entire game 3 times to translate it), so of course there’s other unavoidable queer stuff in the silly monster game. let’s talk about them

the two women in charge of the camp, who act as kind of the final gym leader equivalent, are together and married. and you have to fight them! and they will tell you they’re gay and married and they will fuse to fight you (they are of the very few characters to be able to do this) because you know, that’s just something gay people can do.

and then there’s Bas (apparently their name in English is Skip). you’ll never guess the color of their hair or their pronouns. they literally are blue hair and pronouns guy (gender neutral). and i love their design btw. i’m not sure how obvious they identify is, i notice it because the fact i was playing in spanish made apparent the pronouns indirectly in every sentence. but i figure if it’s not clearly stated in english, you still have the very much blue hair and androgynous look to work with.

also also i almost forget

literally a tumblr girl. trans flag included and all

so yeah. i don’t play much rpg games or many games that are not hk and rw… so maybe CB representation is just average but it really felt special to me and i just wanted to write about the feeling i got while playing as my queer self in silly world fighting cosmic horrors with nice music and stuff.

also that last paragraph i wrote two weeks after the rest of this and i no longer have inspiration or whatever so i’m not rereading this, forgive whatever my two weeks ago me wrote over there.

ok bye

(also i did reread it. just not me that wrote that last paragraph, its me of like 2 months later, im so sorry it took me like forever to write this post, it will happen again)

now go play cassette beasts

(or not idk)

also its me, me from 2 months after that last-last paragraph. thanks for reading if you did. i didnt know i enjoyed writing this much. seems like i do, and more surprising than that, i dont hate how this post turn out, so yeah. hmm. hope you enjoyed? like and subscribe? ok bye 4 real