watervole | Network

Today I reread all 4 graphic novels of 7 Soldiers of Victory.
Ambitious project. Lots of different styles. Some of it worked better for me than other parts.
Mister Miracle's story is really wild. Good stuff.
Frankenstein I couldn't click with, the art or the messy violence.
I reread it for Zatanna. Good stuff but it reminded me how comics take months to cover what a single episode of TV would have time for. I feel like I've read the pilot of a spin off show I'd really like to watch. But also that I want to see her age and step outside the past's long shadow.

I do not know if I want that enough to try reading more comics. They're such a grab bag.

I mostly feel like I've been reading the wrong genres offering the wrong solutions. The violence is the problem and the stories keep offering it up as the solution. Magic battles where you realise your own power and interconnectedness and freedom and possibility are a definite improvement, but then what?

I feel like I might be able to actually write a story if I could come up with a decent answer to that.

So I'm glad I reread it but I feel a bunch of stuff, and like the pondering space between issues on a regular publishing schedule could really be filled by thinking on a lot of parts of these comics.

regshoe

Trying something a bit different for the annual Sutcliff this time.

We Lived in Drumfyvie (1975) is a series of short stories about the history of a fictional Scottish town (nothing to do with the real Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, setting of my favourite ballad), from its creation as a burgh by David I in the twelfth century to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at the end of the nineteenth.

( God, it's exhausting being Scottish, in't it? )

katiedid717 posting in

agonyaunt

My Grandchildren Don’t Thank Me for Christmas Gifts. Is This a Moral Failure?

My grandchildren are in or nearing their teenage years. Two are from my son and his wife, and two are from my daughter and her husband. Of course, all children love and, to some extent, expect birthday and Christmas gifts. My daughter-in-law and her children continue a tradition of giving me handmade greeting cards every Christmas. They also always send me handwritten thank-you cards for the gifts I send. However, I receive no gifts from my other grandchildren, both boys, and never thank-you cards.

I mentioned this to my daughter, their mother, but there was no response. I suggested that each might give me a card promising 30 minutes of picking up sticks in my yard. I know that gifts should come from the heart with no sense of reciprocity, but the current situation bothers me. There seems to be a lack of moral character being demonstrated, as well as poor ethics and manners.

What do you think?

From the Therapist: You’ve framed your grandsons’ behavior as a case of bad manners or moral failure, but I hear a yearning underneath. No matter how much we tell ourselves that gifts aren’t about reciprocity, the reality is that they often hold emotional significance in which both parties are essentially asking to be recognized. The giver wants acknowledgment of their thoughtfulness and investment, while the receiver wants confirmation that they’ve been truly seen. Both are essentially asking, “Do I matter?”

When we don’t feel seen or appreciated, hurt feelings can disguise themselves as something else, like concern about good character or proper etiquette, because it’s easier to push pain outward than to say, “I feel unimportant to you.” But remember that children take cues from their parents, and I have a feeling that this lack of acknowledgment has more to do with your daughter than with her sons.

For instance, you mentioned that you got no response from her when you brought this up. But instead of telling her what her children should do for you, I’d be curious about why she doesn’t facilitate gift-giving or thank-you-note-writing. I say “she” because most teens don’t do this without some parental prodding, and I imagine that your daughter has her own feelings about your relationship that are being played out in the gifting dynamic.

Maybe gifting between you and her family feels empty or performative, when what she really wants is a different or more meaningful relationship with you. It could be that she perceives you as critical of both her and her sons, demanding of something that she doesn’t feel she or they owe you. She might also find your suggestion that the boys pick up sticks for you as a bit thoughtless: Would it make you happy to ask her children to do something that would feel more like a burdensome chore than something they would actually enjoy giving you?

Meanwhile, you say that your “daughter-in-law and her children” give you cards and write thank-you notes, but I noticed you don’t mention your son. It’s nice that your daughter-in-law has created traditions for her kids around gifting, but this doesn’t mean that her children have stronger characters than your daughter’s children do. It just means that the person your son married facilitates gifting and thanking — and that your son and your daughter don’t.

So what might help? First, separate your hurt feelings from judgments about character. You can feel unappreciated without that meaning that these boys are being raised poorly — or that this is primarily about them. Second, consider what you actually want. Do you want thank-you notes, or do you want to feel more connected to and valued by this branch of the family? If it’s the former, you could issue an ultimatum (no thank-you notes equals no gifts), but I don’t think forced statements of gratitude are what you really want. If you want genuine connection and appreciation, you can start by approaching your daughter with curiosity instead of complaints.

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

Well, two tales of skimpy clothing, to compare and contrast.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: curious

catherineldf

This was going to be a cheerful post, but then Minneapolis got invaded and a member of my community was murdered and a bunch of others were kidnapped, including local high school students. "Rage" is such a little word, it doesn't begin to cover it. And yes, as with 2020, I'm living blocks away from the epicenter.

But for those worried about me personally, I am living alone, unemployed and taking care of a sick cat who requires regular medical attention. Add into that a bum leg and ice-covered streets and I'm not out much at night except for planned activities where I am meeting with or being driven by friends. Am I going into areas where folks have been targeted? Yes. I was at the Mercado Central yesterday for lunch after a post office run. It was largely deserted because people are are justifiably terrified, but I got lunch from the lady making pupusas (one of the very few places that was open) and toiling away to feed the 10 or so people who were there. The front door was locked and building security was much in evidence. This is a reminder to support local immigrant-owned businesses.They need all the help they can get right now. I am also planning on going to the rally this Saturday, but will skip the march. Other than that, I am supporting my good electeds and local organizations, writing emails and will be doing some volunteering on related things (online, etc.) as time permits.

What else is going on? Well, today I'm "auditioning" for a part-time gig at a near by local bookstore. A long time staffer is leaving and they're hoping I'll be a good fill in option. Not the week I would pick to start a retail gig in Minneapolis, but that fault lies neither with the bookstore or me. It's close enough, I think I can work out the med and event schedule with the store's needs, but we'll see how it goes. Shu is still hanging on, albeit with a few more periodic bad days (no more seizures so far, at least) - he still wants loves and cuddles and food and brushing so I'll try and keep him going until he wants to go. A friend just sent me a Reedsy invite so I need to get my editing info together and post out there as the bookstore gig will not cover my expenses. I did get some good financial news recently so not desperate, just want to make sure I don't become so and I need to avoid going on Social Security for a while longer or life will get even more problematic.

Other news:

Queen of Swords Press is celebrating its 9th birthday this month! Also known as "Holy Shit! We Made it!" Huge thank you shoutout to everyone who's helped along the way! We are having a birthday sale this week - use code BIRTHDAY at check out to get a discount when buying direct from us through 1/11 and you'll get entered in our prize drawing!
Jennie Goloboy and I are co-teaching "To Market, To Market" at The Loft Literary Center on 2/28. Get help from a prominent literary agent and an award-winning small press publisher on getting your book submitted and potentially published and all that good stuff.
I just added some things to my Ko-fi store, including a couple of signed copies of an out of print award-winning collection.
I have a Patreon where I post fiction, nonfiction, Queen of Swords Press news and more. This supports me in the sense of paying me for my publishing work.
You can hire me to edit, teach, write and all that good stuff! Check out my Professional Editor's Network page here.
Blue Moon (the next werewolf book) has cleared 18k words, I'm working on a queer Arthurian story for an anthology invite, I'm starting on a nonfiction piece for a successful pitch and I have a novella and a short story in progress. Working on building my nonfiction portfolio and helping people remember that I used to be a pretty well known fiction author so definitely open to more projects!

More bulletins as we go along. Please stay as safe as possible out there and do good work!

aurumcalendula

(belated) January 6th - 'what are your three favorite F/F pairings from live-action media?' For

maggie33

( Read more... )

(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

prettygoodword

haka (HAH-kah) - n., a Maori group dance with rhythmic chanting, vigorous facial and arm movements, and foot stamping.

Traditionally a war dance, now performed as to show respect during ceremonial greetings and funerals, but better known internationally as a challenge to opposing teams at sports events -- the New Zealand rugby union team aka the All Blacks is associated with this, as they've been performing a haka before matches since an 1888 tour of the United Kingdom [Sidebar: of note, most of that team were in fact Maori], but other New Zealand national teams also do it. From Maori, of course, though there are dance-related cognates in other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian haʻa, dance, and Tongan haka, hand action made while singing.

---L.

mallorys_camera

Mostly, I keep depression at bay through counseling myself, Resilience!

Life has always been a slog for the majority of souls incarnated upon this planet, and happiness (or at least contentment) comes from figuring out ways to put a positive spin on that slog. When the sun rises over that garbage dump, see the luminescent peach-colored sky, not the rotting bags of trash!

Yesterday, though, I kinda lost the thread on that one, and ended up feeling quite miserable throughout the day.

Not entirely sure what was up with that.

I put in four hours at the Schlock office in Montgomery, a creepy little village in Orange County, New York, filled with the type of people who eat at Latino food trucks but plaster their own Ford F-150s with "I Stand With ICE” and “Report and Deport” bumper stickers. Trump ran on mass deportations, and Orange County is a Trump stronghold. It's no good telling myself that most Americans don't vote, that only 22.7% of eligible American voters supported Trump. Trump won, so mass deportations are the will of the people.

While I was at the Montgomery office, an ICE thug shot a Minneapolis woman three times in the face. She was exercising her First Amendment right to bear witness. She died.

Here's the video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Jqr3UTSqn/

The most horrifying thing about this video actually is not the video but Trump's explanation of the incident: The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.

This is very obviously not the case, and so, we are left once more regretting that George Orwell evidently is the 21st century's Nostradamus: The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

Final Dickensian touch: The surname of the woman who got shot was "Good".

Maybe that's what depressed me yesterday. Straw + camel's back. I dunno.

Anyway, when I came back to the house from Montgomery, I was too depressed to do a goddamn thing.

I mean, I was too depressed to watch reality TV, even! And that is saying something.

###

Sleep knits the raveled sleeve of care, etc, etc, so this morning I am back in the saddle, riding that To Do list.

Miraculously, the mental logjam broke, and I have been generating that 1,000-words-a-day + on the Work in Progress with little or no effort. I have no idea whether it's any good or not. My present mood inclines me to think not. But I persevere.

Grazia is currently in the ICU being oriented to the care of COVID patients by cowgirl Debbie Reynolds. (Brian actually had a girlfriend named Debbie Reynolds, and I just couldn't resist.) We need a couple of scenes to establish banter and bonding, & then I will kill off Debbie Reynolds so that Grazia can have her breakdown. I also have to work in Grazia's growing familiarity with the New Millennium Kingdom folk, not sympathy exactly, more Sure, what the fuck as her sense of the permissible breaks down. Needs to have one more phone conversation with Neal, too: And how are your Evangenitals doing anyway?

I have another 1 million pages of tax code to memorize. Depreciation and capital loss carryover stuff, which was out of scope for me when I was a TaxBwana.

There's Remuneration, too!

And shortly, I will be toddling off to the gym.

Still. I'm lonely.

I keep in touch with the People Who Matter through phone, text, & email, but I crave real-time banter. And discounting Neighbor Ed—a champion banterer but unreliable for various reasons—I live 100 miles away from anyone who can provide good banter.

Life seems pointless & grim.

It's on me to change that.

But my recontextualizing superpower appears to be on hiatus.

###

Here's a happy-making photo, though:

james_davis_nicoll

Another foray into the lost worlds of Unknown.

Unknown Worlds: Tales from Beyond edited by Stanley Schmidt

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: hot

soemand

Pics from my trip in 1992–each wooden shingle is a wish for the future.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: curious

flo_nelja

Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

Recently I was referring to a friend the tabletop RPG "René, le jeu de rôle romantique"
It's a French RPG about playing Romantic poets (and others), you can play it parodic or serious, the rules had made me laugh a lot when I was young. Regularly I'm in fandom where the characters are Overdramatic, and I think: you should be made into a René character.
I thought it was long lost!
But no, it still exists on the Internet! dates from February 2000
René, le Jeu de Rôles Romantique

As it's in French, for people who want to have a laugh, I want to summarize the character creation:
* Your three Attribute are your Rage, your Despair and your Inimical Old Age (your age, basically)
The first two change all the time, if they go too high they decide if you comit an act of madness/commit suicide.

* In addition to attributes, you roll 1d10/2 (round up) to know the number of your Problems, and then you roll into a big Problem table.
Are you a poet? (if so you have a minimum time writing or telling poetry every day). Are you naive? Homosexual? Republican? In love with a family member? Short? Obsessed with the occult? Badly dressed? An ecclesiastic? The list is... not exactly ensless but it's fun.

* All skills or powers are optional and give additional problems

* Last character creation step: choose an element of your character that flutters in the wind (hait, scarf; coat...)

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: impressed

polyamships_mod posting in

fandomcalendar

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princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: cheerful

andrewducker

1. The sugar industry deliberately shifted the heart disease focus to saturated fat: (tags:sugar diet fat OhForFucksSake history )
2. We've run out of words, so every new service sounds like an alien: (tags:language funny )

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: sleepy

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/8/with-those-table-manners-maybe-put-her-back-in-quarantine

I only joke, U’na couldn’t be more adorable, see-food or no! Alaska SeaLife Center writes:

Un’a the sea otter pup admitted in May this summer, is officially out of quarantine (has been for a while, actually). What does that mean?

When animals arrive through our wildlife response program, they can carry parasites or diseases from the Gulf of Alaska that could spread to our resident animals. To protect everyone in our care, staff who work with response patients must shower and change before entering the main building.

Being cleared from quarantine is a big milestone for Un’a. Her tests are all clear, her weight is solid, and our veterinary team is confident she can safely join the resident side of the facility. She will still have regular veterinary check-ups and is closely monitored for any changes, but now she can focus on being an otter rather than the lifesaving rehabilitation she first needed.

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/1/8/with-those-table-manners-maybe-put-her-back-in-quarantine

jazzy_dave

As we get older do you think we get weirder or at least more unconventional?

Is it in our DNA?

Or is it that uncertainty about the future and the undiscovered country that informs our conclusion that we don't give an eff anymore?

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: awake

oursin

Have this rather silly fun playlist:

Let's do

The Martian Hop

The Monster Mash

The Time Warp

With A Robot Man

And then maybe go and chill with Apeman

Watch on YouTube

justonecookbook_feed

Posted by Namiko Hirasawa Chen

https://www.justonecookbook.com/yakimochi-how-to-grill-kiri-mochi/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/?p=233214

Toasting kiri mochi (Japanese rice cakes) in a frying pan.

Learn to make toasted Japanese rice cakes using the stovetop or oven with my Yakimochi recipe: How to Grill Kiri Mochi.

READ: Yakimochi (How To Grill Kiri Mochi)

https://www.justonecookbook.com/yakimochi-how-to-grill-kiri-mochi/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/?p=233214

tamaranth

2026/004: The Wood at Midwinter — Susanna Clarke

All woods join up with all other woods.
   All are one wood.
       And in that wood all times join up with all other times.
           All is one moment. [loc. 140]

A short story, more beautifully calligraphed and illustrated in print (to judge by photos online) but still lovely on a Kindle. It's apparently set in the same world as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell^*, but I didn't spot any overlap, and it certainly doesn't require familiarity with the earlier, much longer work.

Ysolde Scott has devised a cunning stratagem: she'll arrange visits, and let her sister Merowdis -- possibly a saint, possibly neurodivergent, possibly just antisocial -- alight en route and spend time in the woods, where she is happiest. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: cold

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

dine

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redbird

I gave Capsule my new insurance information, and then had them deliver a prescription.

I will need/use the inhaler, but this is also confirmation that yes, I (still) have prescription drug coverage.

Other than that, not a great day. Fingertips are improving, but I had a sudden nosebleed while sitting quietly on the couch an hour ago. *sigh*

archersangel

it's been ages sicne i've changed it.

it was Mediterranean Peach by branchandroot for Modular because i wanted to keep using my headers, but i guess you can do that with most styles(?).

i tried New Ocean by dancing_serpent for Tranquility III, but my current header had part of the begining of the image added at the end.

i'm using Night Sea by branchandroot for Tranquility III. i might change it, it's kind of dark for my liking.

Current Mood: indescribable

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260107.html

Its popular nickname is the Spaghetti Nebula.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260107.html

settiai

To add to a previous posts on the subject, my cleric, Siân, has had a really, really, really bad couple of weeks in-game. Over the course of the last three weeks or so, she has:

( A list of bad things under the cut. )

Poor Siân really is well on her way towards a complete and total mental breakdown at the rate she's going.

Current Mood: tired

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Tales From the Riverbank

Network

(no subject)

We Lived in Drumfyvie by Margaret Lyford-Pike and Rosemary Sutcliff

Ask The Therapist: My Grandchildren Don’t Thank Me for Christmas Gifts. Is This a Moral Failure?

Ask a Manager: Two Tales of Nudity

Current state of the Catherine, etc.

(belated) January Talking Meme - what are your three favorite F/F pairings from live-action media?

haka

Who Wears It Better? Nostradamus or George Orwell?

Unknown Worlds: Tales from Beyond edited by Stanley Schmidt

Heated Rivalry rec

Japan

turning the tables

Snowflake challenge, day 4

Heated Rivalry rec

[MULTIFANDOM] PolyamShippingDay - January 2026

Heated Rivalry rec

Interesting Links for 08-01-2026

Heated Rivalry rec

With Those Table Manners, Maybe Put Her Back in Quarantine

A Passing Thought

To anyone planning to watch Heated Rivalry at a future date

Apparently today is More Joy Day 2026

Yakimochi (How To Grill Kiri Mochi)

2026/004: The Wood at Midwinter — Susanna Clarke

Just One Thing (08 January 2026)

sleep well, middle finger. you have a busy day ahead tomorrow

new year, new insurance

changed my DW layout/color

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Aurendor D&D

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