I’ve been sick for the last week or so which meant there was a lot of time to sit around reading but I didn’t have a lot of energy to write things up. But now I’m doing better so have a media roundup! (This isn’t everything I read while sick because some of it I didn’t have the energy to write up, and also I’ve been slowly reading Batman: No Man’s Land and if I write something about it, I’m going to do so after I finish the whole story. )

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi— For kiddo’s school book club. This is so not my kind of book and I wouldn’t have read it if the kiddo hadn’t insisted. I just find contemporary books with political themes really really stressful! So this book about a Syrian-American boy in 2016-2017 was really not my cup of tea. So I think it was doing ok at being the book it wanted to be, but that book is not for me. Also the whole book was in poetry, and I don't think that actually added much – but also I’m not really a poetry person.

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton by Ryan North and Mike Norton— Since I've been reading a lot of superhero stuff an algorithm showed me this, and it's got a cute dog and is written by Ryan North so I thought I'd check it out (What has Ryan North been up to since Squirrel Girl? Maybe I should find out. Maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl)* This was a bit darker than I was expecting! And did really feature the elements of North’s style that I remember enjoying alot (witty dialogue and certain wacky over the top-ness) Though still mostly a sweet story. (Content note: abusive training/animal harm, animal death, children in peril)

Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks and Lumberjanes: Campfire Songs— These are single issue Lumberjanes stories by a bunch of different writers and artists. I enjoyed the variety! I think my favorite story was the one that had Last Unicorn vibes (Look I watched that movie a lot as a kid)

Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Lumberjanes original graphic novel – this was honestly a little disappointing, I didn’t feel like it really captured the vibe of the original comic. It did not help that this was one of those graphic novels with a very limited color palette (black, white and green) and I really missed the colorfulness!

Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Another lumberjanes graphic novel – I liked this one a lot better. It probably helped that my expectations were lowered after the first one but I do think it was a better story overall as well.

The Ribbon Skirt: A Graphic Novell by Cameron Mukwa— A middle grade graphic novel about Anang, a two-spirit and nonbinary Anishinaabe kid, who wants to wear a ribbon skirt to an upcoming powwow. This is very sweet! There are talking turtle spirits! There’s also Anang’s friend who is uncomfortable with Anang’s identity and kinda transphobic about it as heads up

* after writing this I did look up what Ryan North has been up to, some library holds have been placed. Also I noticed that he has PDF’s of all of his academic papers available on his website and I think that’s very charming and helpful of him.

bluapapilio

Libro.fm

Goodreads

StoryGraph

Summary: In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.

My thoughts: Somehow this did not feel like just 4 hours, it takes you on a whole journey and they really didn't go that far I think. It follows Minli but you also get lots of other stories along the way told by others that are interconnected and I liked every single one. I was so impressed by this work and am excited to read more of this author's stuff. And to reread this someday!

The narration by Janet Song was fantastic too.

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Rereadable: 🇾

My rating: 5/5

midnight_heavenly_bodies posting in

addme_fandom

Name: C.K. or Chester
Age group: mid-to-late 30s -- 36 specifically.
Country: USA
Subscription/Access Policy: 18+ only. No Harry Potter fans. No antis. No Chappell Roan stans (I see how y'all are treating my man and I don't like it.) For a more in-depth 'about me', follow this link.

Main Fandoms: Culture Club (the greatest band of the '80s! I write fic for them and sometimes cross-post deep dives from my website on them.)
Other Fandoms: Linkin Park, WWE, Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Fannish Interests: Fanfiction mostly, and doing deep dives on my many OCs.
OTPs and Ships: Culture Club: Boy George/Jon Moss, Roy Hay/Mikey Craig; Linkin Park: Bennoda [Chester Bennington/Mike Shinoda]; Wrestling: Hartbreak (Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels), Shawnter (Shawn Michaels/Hunter Hearst-Helmsley), Candy (Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton); and then I have a lot of ships in my fandoms involving OCs.

Favourite Movies: The Room (lol), Pretty in Pink, Borat, Major League, man there's so many and I can't think of all of them.
TV Shows: I actually don't watch TV.
Books: Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart by Martha Hart
Music: I listen to a lot of '80s. My faves are Culture Club (and yes, that means I like Boy George's solo work too), a-ha, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Information Society, New Order, The Cure, A Flock of Seagulls, Real Life, Johnny Hates Jazz, Mr. Mister, Oingo Boingo. Then outside of '80s music I like Massive Ego, $uicideboy$, Linkin Park, and Fort Minor.
Games: Sonic the Hedgehog (1, 2, 3), Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Pokemon, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, GTA series, Hitman series, WWE series, Tomb Raider (original games series), Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2, Legacy of Kain series
Comics/Anime/Misc: Not really into much comics or anime, but my fave anime is Death Note.

Current Mood: sleepy

rynling

Moonlit Waters
https://nocmar.bandcamp.com/album/moonlit-waters

This is very chill and ambient dungeon synth that's largely unremarkable save for how relaxing it is. Still, I will always prefer human-made lofi dungeon beats over the madness-inducing AI slop that has infested YouTube.

My favorite track is "7. Ancient Birchwood."

smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/gothic-fantasy-new-adult-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167800

Heir

RECOMMEDED: Heir by Sabaa Tahir is $1.99! We ran a guest review by Crystal Anne and she gave it an A:

This book is excellent, which is not a surprise, given that Tahir is an excellent writer. It would have been more surprising if it wasn’t.

But the more important thing to me is that this book was the right book at the right time, and it was there when I needed it to be. I dearly hope it could be that for others, because I know that right now, a lot of us need that, and we’re going to need it for a long time to come.

Prepare for a ruthless and romantic new fantasy from #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award winning author Sabaa Tahir that introduces a new generation of characters set in the same world as the unforgettable An Ember in the Ashes series.

An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she’s willing to give up.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives—and their hearts. Literally.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

House of the Beast

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong is $1.99! I mentioned this on Hide Your Wallet and even purchased a physical copy. It’s currently resting atop TBR mountain.

Step into the House of the Beast in this dark fantasy debut from The Legend of Korra graphic novel illustrator Michelle Wong, about a young woman who strikes a deal with a mysterious and alluring god to seek revenge on her aristocratic family—featuring illustrations throughout by the author.

Born out of wedlock and shunned by society, Alma learned to make her peace with solitude, so long as she had her mother by her side. When her mother becomes gravely ill, Alma discovers a clue about her estranged father and writes a message begging for help. Little does she know that she is a bastard of House Avera, one of the four noble families that serve the gods and are imbued with their powers—and her father is a vessel of the Dread Beast, the most frightening god of all, a harbinger of death.

In a desperate exchange for her mother’s medicine, Alma agrees to sacrifice her left arm to the Beast in a ceremony that will bind her forever to the House and its deity. Regardless, her mother soon passes, leaving Alma trapped inside the Avera’s grand estate, despised by her relatives and nothing but a pawn in her father’s schemes.

Now vengeance is the only thing that keeps Alma going. That, and the strange connection she has with her god—a monster who is constantly by her side, an eldritch being taking the form of a beautiful prince with starlit hair that only she can see. He tells Alma that she has been chosen to bring change upon their world, and with his help, Alma plots a perilous journey to destroy the House that stole everything from her.

A gripping fantasy novel marked by divine rituals, intense combat, and twisted romance, House of the Beast is a tale of revenge, resilience, and the power of love to see us through the darkness.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Good Girl Complex

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy is $2.99! I mentioned in a previous Hide Your Wallet, as I was a fan of Kennedy’s early new adult romances. Did any one you read this one?

She does everything right. So what could go wrong?

Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents’ insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.

Mac’s had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.

Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn’t just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he’s been keeping from her threatens the only place she’s ever felt at home.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozarkis is $1.99! Rozarkis’s debut Dreadful comes highly recommended. This sophomore novel released last spring.

From the NYT-bestselling author of Dreadful, Big Little Lies goes to magic school, cozy fantasy perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Olivia Atwater and Heather Fawcett. Featuring orange sprayed and stencilled edges, with magic symbols, unicorns and baked goods from the book.

Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.

When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys, and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.

As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors to demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society—shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.

And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/gothic-fantasy-new-adult-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167800

smartbitches_feed

Posted by Lara

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/how-to-lose-a-lord-in-ten-days-by-sophie-irwin/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=167300

C-

How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days

by Sophie Irwin
July 31, 2025 · HarperCollins
Historical: European

I got my hopes up too high for this novel. Strategic fail. You see, I had been trying to find a copy for review purposes for months, but it was never available in South Africa. When the book finally was available, I grabbed it with both hands. It’s a rare book that can live up to months and months of anticipation and sadly this one did not.

Lydia is rich thanks to the wool processing factories her family owns. Her social climbing aunt and uncle force her into an engagement with Ashford, who will become a duke when his father dies. They’re keeping the engagement a secret until the ball that will be held at his cousin’s house party. Then the duke will make the big announcement. Lydia decides that the only way out of this engagement is for him to jilt her so she decides to be terrible for the duration of the house party.

Disclaimer: I last watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when it was first released in 2003. I remember precisely none of the plot. This story is inspired by the movie’s plot, but for the purposes of this review, I’m pretending I’ve never even heard of the movie (because I remember none of it)

The first 30% of the book was torture for me. One of the primary reasons I don’t watch reality TV is because I am extraordinarily sensitive to secondhand embarrassment. Lydia makes a scene, makes a fool of herself, insults people around her with her rude behaviour. It’s awful. The only thing that made it bearable was that she had a moment or two of feeling bad about how her behaviour made others feel. Not enough to curb her actions mind you.

Í will say that a lot of her actions are centred around playing up the ‘new money’ caricatures that people assume she’ll fulfill. So she’s not, like, telling people they’re assholes. But you do see the strain that it puts on the hostess to always be smoothing over waters that have been troubled by Lydia’s behaviour.

Eventually, Ashford cottons on to Lydia’s scheme and the two then engage in bickering and childish schemes to make the other look bad. Some of this is enjoyable, but mostly it’s just tiresome. This might be a me problem. I have no appetite for pranks.

Finally, they start to really talk to each other like human beings and those parts are delightful! I wish they took up more real estate in the book.

The lack of historical detail bothered me. As with many historicals there is blithe disregard for any of the less salubrious parts of that time period. These people are rich because they exploit poor people across the globe. Sometimes in books I can stomach that erasure, but I couldn’t in this one, maybe because they already included unpleasant things (see CW).

Mention is made of the Dutch East India Company and of one of the characters becoming a colonial governor of Mauritius and one of the characters ‘getting’ jewels from India. The mention without context or awareness decreased my enjoyment because each example is steeped in hideous context, but all of that context is ignored. The easy excuse would be that ‘the characters wouldn’t be thinking about all that,’ and because one cannot prove or disprove awareness, I disregard that argument. By mentioning specificities like the above, the book is forcing me to confront the source of this wealth, one that I know is appalling. The characters may be blithe about it, but I am not. Context, and the lack thereof, matters. And so the cruel machinery of commerce and the colonialist state are mentioned but not explored in any meaningful way, and I am left thinking about it while the characters dance and sparkle. Anyway, I digress.

My chief complaint is around the ending. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that it’s a HFN, but for more detail on why that bothered me, click below.

Show Spoiler

At the end of the ten days, just before the engagement is to be announced, Ashford jilts Lydia. I got the impression that Lydia had been hoping for the engagement to be announced. It wasn’t explicitly stated that Lydia had changed her mind and did, in fact, want to be engaged to Ashford for real, but based on her heartbreak when he jilts her, it was what she wanted after all.

Ten days later, Ashford finds Lydia and asks if he can court her. Lydia is furious. She had just been starting to feel better and he reentered the picture.

I don’t know about you but if it takes me only 10 days to get over a relationship that I had potentially wanted to continue for my entire life, I can’t have been that interested in the first place. Lydia then pipes up during this conversation saying that she doesn’t know if she wants to be a duchess. First time that’s been mentioned and it’s on the second last page of the book. So they agree to court for today and perhaps tomorrow and then they’ll just play it by ear.

HUH? I can’t with these shifting goalposts.

I can’t give this book too poor a grade because I did, in fact, want to finish it. It left me disappointed and it irritated me but I wanted to see how it ended. I can’t say I recommend this book to the Bitchery. Maybe if I hadn’t anticipated this book so hotly, I would appreciate it more. But no, it’s not for me.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/how-to-lose-a-lord-in-ten-days-by-sophie-irwin/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=167300

marysue_thesparkle

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: silly
Current Location: parents' home
Current Music: "My Darling, My Companion" by Jamie Paige

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

melchar

Meanwhile = '1 billion identity records exposed in ID verification data leak'
More than 203 million US records were left exposed in the breach = March 2026.
THESE ARE THE GUYS DEMANDING we give them 100% of our personal info so we can vote & get online.

url for story [on Fox News] https://www.foxnews.com/tech/1-billion-identity-records-exposed-id-verification-data-leak

Current Mood: distressed

smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/the-rec-league-academic-romances-for-grown-ups/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167846

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old book This Rec League is from PamG, who is looking for some competence porn in academic settings:

I don’t know if this is appropriate for a Rec League, but I have a rather persnickety request. I really like books set in academia, but I have problems with student/professor match-ups. The issue isn’t necessarily the relationship if it’s consensual and the author addresses the power (or age) imbalance between student and teacher in a serious way. However, I really have an issue with the following things:

1) Grown assed adults who cannot keep their pants on for a lousy semester when the wellbeing of their career and/or lover is at stake,

2) Draconian HR or fraternization policies used to threaten “true love” and imply that protecting students is somehow unfair or unnecessary,

3) Protagonists who lie primarily to protect their own interests,

4) Academic environments that seem unrelated to reality.

To sum up, I like protagonists with some self-control, common sense, and a modicum of integrity. I like fictional higher education that feels authentic and has reasonable and realistic policies and procedures regarding student/teacher relationships.

Maybe there are no books with this trope that will ever satisfy me, but also, maybe there are readers who have found some decent books with this trope. I would really love to find something where the professor in this situation is a woman.

Sarah: Celia Lake, 10000% I can hear Catherine hollering from the great library in the sky. She LOVED Celia Lake’s books and they’re full of grown ass adults who are thoughtful and mature, and Eclipse is set at Schola, one of the institutions of magic in that world. There are several series, too.

The Academy of the Dead by Vermilion H. Baine ( A ) might also fit – they’re necromancers trying to decipher a page from a dangerous book.

Amanda: Regardless of the request, The Academy of the Dead sounds fun, so I bought it. Whoops!

What books would you recommend? Drop them in the comments!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/the-rec-league-academic-romances-for-grown-ups/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167846

marysue_thesparkle

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: parents' home
Current Music: "INFINITE DEATH" by tiramira

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!

isabrella posting in

addme_fandom

Name: izzy
Age group: 20s
Country: NZ
Subscription/Access Policy: whatever! don't like, don't read.

Main Fandoms: Willow (the 2022 TV show), currently rewatching Buffy and loving it (especially Faith my beloved), Deadloch (can't wait for tomorrow!!!), We Are Lady Parts, North of North... basically anything with a strong woman-heavy cast and a bit of humour. I love Dan and Phil, they're my dudes, but I'm not especially a shipper. Deeply obsessed with Little Mix, Renee Rapp and Towa Bird at the moment too...
Fannish Interests: I write fic - a lot of RPF, a lot of femslash!, I like reading meta (and being right... of course), I vid a little, I'm really interested in fandom archiving work and getting involved in fandom-first sites like Dreamwidth, Fanlore, and smaller archives. I call myself a fan of fandom itself!

I like to post about: Things I'm reading/writing/watching. I'd love book/tv recs for sapphic/woman-heavy sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mystery, etc. Maybe my in-progress romance novel & the writing process! Pop music/culture ~~(don't forget I liked Chappell Roan before she was cool).~~
About Me/Other Info: To quote an incredibly dated yet formative show for me, Faking It (2014): the best way to get to know me is to understand the things I hate. These include:

Genre fiction that gives lip service to queer politics but is ultimately politically conservative or regressive,
Everything that's going on with the proliferation of pull-to-publish fanfiction. Respect your roots!
Being anti-RPF but still caring about celebrities/not knowing the meaning of the word parasocial but still throwing it around,
The general hellscape of late stage capitalism and the panopticon,
Taylor Swift.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Lip Service - JADE

angrybubbles posting in

addme_fandom

Name: I go by angrybubbles, or Mr. Bubbles online :)
Pronouns: I use any and all
Age group: Late 20s
Country: USA
Subscription/Access Policy: 18+ only please! My journal is primarily public, but I will hide Meta or Analysis I'm shy about in access-only entries.
Other Info: I'm a college student, and media analysis is my hobby. Since I'm a Vampire Chronicles person, you'll probably see discussions of dubcon, grooming, incest, and abuse on my page, so please approach carefully. I do have a Harry Potter ship in my OTP's, but I'm not touching the series again until that woman is safely dead.

Main Fandom: AMC's Interview with the Vampire
Other Fandoms: Mob Psycho 100, Mushishi, Fullmetal Alchemist (any media), Dandadan, Kuroshitsuji,
Fannish Interests: I write fanfic, draw fanart (occasionally), but I primarily post analysis or short stories. Lots of Gothic Horror around these parts.
OTPs and Ships: Daniel Molloy/Armand, Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Marius de Romanus/Armand, Claudia de Pointe du Lac/Madeleine Eparvier, Elizabeth Midford/Ciel Phantomhive, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle|Voldemort, Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku,

Favourite Movies: Basically every Ghibli Film ever, Speed Racer, and Talk Radio.
TV Shows: AMC's Interview with the Vampire, AMC's The Talamasca, Fellow Travelers, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Books: The Daevabad Trilogy, Sha Po Lang (Stars of Chaos), Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Little Thieves, The Nevernight Trilogy, The Illuminae Files, Dark Rise, The First Sister series (Linden A Lewis), The Dandelion Dynasty, and Viscious (V.E.Schwab).
Music: I listen to a lot of OST's: currently obsessed with Mushishi's OST, and Iron Lung's OST. Otherwise, I listen to Pop Punk and Rock.
Games: I don't really play video games, much. I grew up playing Diablo, and have put 200+ hours into Diablo 3.
Comics/Anime/Misc: Not a comic-book person, but I'm definitely an anime freak. The ones listed above, but also Hunter x Hunter, Psycho Pass, The Ranking of Kings, Soul Eater, Yuri on Ice, Sailor Moon, Dungeon Meshi, Boku no Hero Academia, Card Captor Sakura, Princess TuTu, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Fairy Tail, Hyouka, Detective Conan, Fate/Stay Night and Madoka Magica. I'm sure there's plenty of others, too, but I haven't had time to sit down and watch a new anime in a while (Dandadan is the exception to this).

Current Mood: happy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

girlgamers

I thought it would be fun to look for games designed by women.

20 Awesome Video Games Made by Women -- Punished Backlog

Games Designed by Women -- American Library Association

Good Games Designed by Women -- Board Game Geek

Tabletop Tuesday: RPGs Designed by Women -- Pop Culture Uncovered

Current Mood: busy

siderea

Just hit play.

(All about the sound, but visuals also nice.)

2026 Mar 18: Benn Jordan [BennJordan YT]: "I'm here to disrupt the finance synthesizer scene."

Watch on YouTube

siderea

Screenshot of two comments on X. One says, "Reading Dune. Frank Herbert was cooking." and shows a section of a photo of a book page reading, "'Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.' '"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind,"' Paul quoted." Below that someone replied, paging Grok, X's resident AI, "please explain this post and the quote in in, what should I understand about it?"

Debate is raging on BSky if this is deliberate wit or accidental idiocy.

(h/t user mlyp.bsky.social)

cahn

This last weekend was a lot, church-and-music-wise. All good!

( Organ workshop, youth orchestra, stake conference music, stake leadership change )

kradeelav

in terms of dA-era sexymen, i feel like sephiroth walked so emet-selch could run, in a lot of ways.

i'm not going to pit two bad bitches against each other even when i have a personal favorite of the two, but it's curious and a bit endearing to see emet's longevity and particular devotion he inspires especially in an era where i feel like fandoms cycle in and cycle out in a blink of an eye.

(caveat i'm unlikely to play future FF's especially that one because of MMO mechanics, but i do enjoy the pretty boy to elder queen fanart pipeline as one does.)

skygiants

Because Becky Mahoney and I know each other, I boosted a Bluesky giveaway for her upcoming vampire novel Thrall (coming out next month!) in the spirit of friendship and then was somewhat surprised to discover that I had in fact won the giveaway -- surprised but delighted, obviously, since I've loved all of her previous books even when they weren't LUCY CENTRIC DRACULA RIFFS!! focused around a COLLEGE PIRATE RADIO STATION!!!

The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.

Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.

Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!

It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.

Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )

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sarasa_cat

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forestofglory - Media Roundup: On the Mend (I hope)
bluapapilio - 🎧 Audiobook Check-in: "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon"
midnight_heavenly_bodies in addme_fandom - Reposting since it's been a bit and I have a couple updates.
rynling - Even More Chill Writing Music
smartbitches_feed - Gothic Fantasy, New Adult Romance, & More
smartbitches_feed - How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin
marysue_thesparkle - Attract {fanfic}
princessofgeeks - Heated Rivalry rec
melchar - Another day wishing for the Butlerian Jyhad
smartbitches_feed - The Rec League: Academic Romances for Grown Ups
marysue_thesparkle - This Is The Debt I Pay {fanfic}
nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (19 March 2026)
isabrella in addme_fandom - femslash/fandom/book recs
angrybubbles in addme_fandom - angrybubbles introduction
ysabetwordsmith in girlgamers - Gaming
siderea - Benn Jordan plays the stock market [econ, tech, dataviz, music]
siderea - Grok, explain Butlerian Jihad [ai]
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sarasa_cat

Network

Media Roundup: On the Mend (I hope)

🎧 Audiobook Check-in: "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon"

Reposting since it's been a bit and I have a couple updates.

Even More Chill Writing Music

Gothic Fantasy, New Adult Romance, & More

Heir

You can find ordering info for this book here.

House of the Beast

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Good Girl Complex

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

You can find ordering info for this book here.

How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin

C-

How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days

Attract {fanfic}

Heated Rivalry rec

Another day wishing for the Butlerian Jyhad

The Rec League: Academic Romances for Grown Ups

This Is The Debt I Pay {fanfic}

Just One Thing (19 March 2026)

femslash/fandom/book recs

angrybubbles introduction

Gaming

Benn Jordan plays the stock market [econ, tech, dataviz, music]

Grok, explain Butlerian Jihad [ai]

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

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December 2025

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