turps | Reading

This was my Yuletide story for 2024, a Peter Wimsey story that focuses on Harriet, and her relationships with the women in Peter's family (and one or two others).

If you have come from my website and would like to leave a comment, this is the place!

shadowhive

May

Fics wrote: Black Is The New Black, Distraction/Discovery part 1
Books read: The Secret Of Chimneys
Games done: Planet Of Lana,
Podcast: Magnus Protocol - Public Image, Welcome To Night Vale - Liminal Spaces, Renegotiations, Creditors, A Word With Dr Jones, Diplomacy, The Accused, Carlos Explained, patreon bonus: Holiday, Haunting Of Night Vale Excerpt, The Terminal, A Car Crash On Buellton Avenue, Citizen Spotlight: The Vampire Of Lombardi Street, The Boy, Patreon Preview: Behind the scenes (September 2023), Book Club, Truck Touchers, Frown Night, The Big Dig, Sister Cities: Vermillion Falls, He Is Holding A Knife, bonus episode preview - Riddle Guy, He Is Still Holding A Knife, The New Branch, Lost And Found, A Multiplicity Of Kevin, Fridge-worthy
Who audios: Empire Of The Racnoss, The Carrionite Curse, Day Of The Vashta Nerada, The Chimes Of Midnight
Other big finish stuff: -
Comics read: FCBD 2025 - Star Wars,
Graphic novels read: -

Things watched
Amazon Prime: The Quatermass Experiment (1956)
Blu Ray: -
DVD: -
Disney+: Andor - Ever Been To Ghorman?, I Have Friends Everywhere, What A Festive Evening, Tales Of The Underworld - A Way Forward, Friends, One Warrior To Another, Andor - Messenger, Who Are You?, Welcome To The Rebellion, Death And Other Details - Rare, Tales Of The Underworld - The Good Life, A Good Turn, One Good Deed, NCIS Hawaii - Pilot, Boom, Recruiter, Paniolo, Andor - Make It Stop, Who Else Knows?, Jedha Kyber Erso, Rogue One, NCIS Hawaii - Gaijin,
Netflix: Residence - The Third Man, The Adventure Of The Engineer’s Thumb, The Mystery Of The Yellow Room, Star Trek Prodigy - Time Amok, Stranger Things - Papa
Shudder: Horror’s Greatest - Stephen King Adaptions
YouTube: Hasbro - Star Wars day fanstream, Mystery Files - The Vampiric Attacks of the beast of bladenboro, Ghost Files - We Make Contact With A Child Ghost At The Basin Park Hotel, Brymir - Voices In The Sky, Micheal Clifford - Give Me A Break, Dark Divine - Make Me Disappear, I Prevail - Violent Nature, 5 seconds of summer - Easier, Rock Sound - Funeral For A Friend Download 2024, Dark Divine - Drown, Cold, Paper Crown, Burn The Witch, Digital Numb (visualiser), Your Ghost, Halloweentown, Run Away, Circles, The Fear, Dancing Dead, No Escape, Paul Bartolome - Evil, Pintglass, 13 Reasons Why 2 - Zack and Alex battle
Cinema: Thunderbolts*, Sinners

It’s that time again, time for another monthly round up.

May felt like a weird month cause in some ways it was busy and some ways it wasn’t.

I got back into Night Valr in a big way, listening to a lot of it and it’s really funny how the end bits with Meg have gone, like you can hear the moment twitter started to get worse when it’s mentioned. The next eps I fear may end up being stalled though cause ugh Lauren is back. Bu the Vermillion Falls ep was really good I hope we hear from that place again.

Also there was the last eps of Andor and, again, it was honestly some of the best stuff I’ve seen. I definitely recommend it, even if you don’t know much Star Wars because it was just… so good.

As was The Residence albeit the tone of that is the other end of the scale. I feel those will be the best two series I’ll see this year. i also finally got back to Stranger Things so now there’s just the finale which I keep putting back cause my energy and eyes get so achy it’s annoying.

That lack of energy/eyes aching also meant I didn’t finish the last of the Who ray special features so I could disc switch to other things. There’s like 3 things left but they’re all over an hour.

Once again with Free Comic Book Day I intend to read all of them and only magnate one which sucks. Hopefully I can take a day and just do a read through. (I did find past comic book day issues too which I’ve also not read oop). Same with graphic novels, I intend to read the one I picked up but nope.

I feel that’s the main things I wanna mention though, but obvious there’s a lot of other stuff I’ve done and not mentioned (like binge watching the Dark Divine videos one morning when I woke early from the weather).

Plans for stuff this month
*Finish at least one fic
*Finish Stranger Things
*Start Wednesday
*Finally get back to American Horror Story
*Finish Who ray special features
*Watch one of the Arrow blu rays, possibly Lifeforce

***

Other things! Coheed And Cambria have announced a tour, a few days before my birthday so I’m considering trying to go and then I checked the tickets on the presale and… damn. Why’re they £45? I hate how tickets are so much now. Hopefully they won’t sell out before I can get one.

I had an email saying there’s a follow-up to I Want That Twink Obliterated titled Wrath month so I might back that kickstarter, despite not reading that cause I’m a fail. I know someone had got Obliterated that’s here but I’m hopeless and can’t recall who.

Odeon has Clown In A Cornfield from Friday but damn. It’s release week just has onemlate night showing so I doubt it’ll be there when I’m in Birmingham like I hoped. Damnit.

The router lead has been a real pain today, cutting out for most of the morning which has been so irritating, the replacement should hopefully arrive tomorrow and I’ll be glad for that.

Now though gonna sort noms, then hopefully fic and watch stuff. Maybe I’ll watch something tonight but again, it depends on energy and my eyes (the sooner I get an eye test notification the better). And then tomorrow it’s waiting on mail.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Tv

spikedluv

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) by Julia Spencer-Fleming and Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells.

What I am Currently Reading: In a Dark House (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie.

What I Plan to Read Next: I have three more library books out, and four more on request, so definitely one of those!!

Book 37 of 2025: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! ( spoilers )

So good! I'm trying not to read these all at once, but I'm already getting the final two books from the library, so it's going to be hard to hold back. I'm giving this book five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

Book 38 of 2025: Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Julia Spencer-Fleming)

I really enjoyed this book!!! ( spoilers )

Really good book. I've requested the next and am giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

Book 39 of 2025: Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! ( spoilers )

This book was really good. I'm giving it five hearts, natch.

♥♥♥♥♥

spikedluv

I did zero shopping while I was downtown \o/, but still got in a short walk around the park. I did run to a local shop on my way home to get the meat sticks that Pip likes, and of course they were out of them. I got a yogurt parfait to try and was impressed to see that they used fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries). It was good, and filling.

I did a load of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, scooped kitty litter, and paid a bill online.

I finished Network Effect and started the next Duncan Kincaid book, and talked with mom. For my walk with the dogs, I went on a different trail, one that’s .50 mi instead of .25. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to add on a 1/4 mile each week. If so, by next week I’ll be doing a mile a day, which is good, considering. I also did some more writing, ~900 words on a brand new fic for

smallfandomfest. (If you guessed that it’s a Murder, She Wrote crossover, you’d be right. *g*)

We had leftover pulled pork (from Sunday’s b-day party) for supper, so another night I didn’t have to cook!

Temps started out at 39.9(F) (I know! I was o_O about it too!) and reached 84. It was very nice out, but still cool inside the house, so I wore a sweatshirt most of the day while iside.

ysabetwordsmith

Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.

What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This is the freebie for the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

mama_kestrel, in honor and memory of Lord Matthew the Confused. It also fills the "validation" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest bingo. This poem belongs to the Draft Dawgs thread of the Arts and Crafts America series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Hippie Chicks: A Different Feminism

Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo’s Daughters of Aquarius: Women of the Sixties Counterculture (2009) is the only monograph to date that has given these women a place in the history of feminism. Instead of portraying them as stereotypical earth mothers, nymphs in peasant dresses, or strung-out domestic drudges—the antithesis of feminism—the author demonstrates how these women broke with both the middle-class housewife and the rising career woman to recover the value of women’s productive labor in rural America. They rejected both liberal feminism’s insistence on state-guaranteed rights and radical feminism’s rejection of gender binaries to forge their own version of female empowerment.

This is the feminism that I grew up with. I found it more impressive than the feminism I studied in college. it was a lot more diverse, too. There were the earth mothers, the free lovers, the farmers, the crafters, the musicians, the ball-busting bitches, the blythe spirits, the radical activists, the wanderers -- so many girls and women who didn't fit the mainstream mold and weren't interested in academic feminism.

Current Mood: busy

dine

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nuh_s posting in

fancake

Fandom: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Pairings/Characters: Lily Wright & Pippa James, Jack Wright & Lily Wright
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 8,492
Content Notes: Alcoholism, Missing Persons, Grief/Mourning
Creator Links: ryyves' Ao3
Theme: Female Relationships, Character Study, Angst

Summary:

Spoilers for King Falls AM episode 68, set before the first King Falls Chronicles (ep 56-57).

It’s far from the last email Lily gets about King Falls. Sometimes the name is hidden in postscripts, sometimes bright as highways at midnight, and every time it catches in Lily’s heart like a frightened canary, yellow and waning.

Lily doesn’t delete them, not one. She files them away in a quiet folder of her work email, so she doesn’t have to see them in her inbox. There are things that can be said with distance, and this is one of them: that if she deleted every mention of King Falls, she would delete every rope thrown to Jack. Every hope, or something that runs even deeper.

Some fear, perhaps, that she is not where she is supposed to be.

Or: Pippa puts up with way more of Lily's shit than she should have to.

Reccer's Notes: This is such a wonderful character study that explores Lily's character and gives her and Pippa's friendship a spotlight. The writing style is beautiful as well.

Fanwork Links: the gallery of our bones

chase_acow

I never know if anything or anyone is actually popular, but I saw this Anthony Hurd's art because his book it coming out, and I just love everything. He does some really interesting surrealism in his i was born in a gay bar show and his dark optimism series. Also, he does some really good cacti.

But mostly my attention turned to his most recent work and the content of his book. He arts queer cowboys that include men in dresses, bipoc, and older men. It's really colorful, I love the blocking, and everything feels so tender. You can decide if it's tender like a bruise or not.

Gay Dreaming. There are several galleries if you back out to his main site.

I'd like to buy a print for my birthday.

Current Mood: artistic

ysabetwordsmith

A Rainbow of Queer Books for Pride 2025: Pink

HAPPY PRIDE 2025! For Pride this year, we’re changing up our usual rec lists. Instead of doing books with specific identities or themes, we’re focused this time on cover color! Throughout the month of June, we’ll be doing 8 rec lists, each with covers inspired by one of the colors of the original Gilbert Baker Pride Flag. We drew a little additional inspiration from the meaning behind the color and why it was included in the original LGBTQIA+ flag (in this case, hot pink = sex), but we prioritized color over meaning. That said, there are definitely a few steamy stories in this load of pink tales! In a few days, we’ll be back with our second post – red – but until then, check out this whole bunch of awesome pink-covered queer books.

Poke a bigot in the eye! Read and recommend queer books this month.

Current Mood: busy

kingstoken posting in

fancake

Fandom: Ghosts (US)
Pairings/Characters: Hetty & Flower
Rating: G
Length: 708 words
Creator Links: OpalEssence
Theme: female relationships

Summary: Following Season 2, Episode 5, when Hetty meets Molly the maid, she must attempt to come to terms with the fact that Elias' betrayal was entirely of his own will and desire. Luckily, Flower is there to help her move forward.

Reccer's Notes: The author of this fic does a great job capturing how these characters speak, especially Flower. It is a reflective, but wholesome scene, one that I could have very much seen playing out in the show.

Fanwork Links: AO3

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6724 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #961..
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

iconis

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ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny, windy, and hot. :P A beautiful day to stay indoors and write! :D Today is the Poetry Fishbowl on "Gentleness Is Strength" if you want to drop by and join the fun.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and houses finches plus a grackle.

I put out water for the birds. Honeybees are mobbing the small metal birdbath again.

EDIT 6/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/3/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, patio plants, new picnic table, and septic garden.

The temperature has cooled off considerably.

EDIT 6/3/25 -- I watered the septic garden and the notch in the prairie garden.

EDIT 6/3/25 -- I watered the savanna seedlings.

EDIT 6/3/25 -- I watered the new picnic table and the patio plants, which seemed most in need of water.

I've seen at least one fairly large bat flying around. :D

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Gentleness Is Strength." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for caregivers, first responders, clergy, outreach workers, philanthropists, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, teachers, parents, comares, strongmen, tough guys, superheroes, supervillains, other gentle and strong people, caregiving, feeding each other, babysitting, brushing or braiding hair, catching someone who's falling, lifting heavy things, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, offering crash space, helping someone move, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, Triton Teen Centers, the Peace Store, charities, homeless shelters, clothing banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, sobering centers, mentor circles, support groups, gyms, churches, sharehouses, intentional communities, other polyhomes, social justice departments in schools, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, community gardens, other helper hangouts, self-control, intentional neighboring, altruism, harm reduction, diversity, inclusivity, activist symbols, interfaith work, family dynamics, alternative family structures, partnerships not based on sex/romance, emotional closeness, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.

Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Pride Fest Bingo Card 6-2-25

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

The Blueshift Troupers travel the galaxy helping colonies solve problems.

Clay of Life depends on the friendship between a blacksmith and a golem.

Daughters of the Apocalypse relies a lot on kindness for survival.

Frankenstein's Family has diverse subgroups interacting, of which the vampires in particular are gentle with others.

The Moon Door features a women's chronic pain support group, which is all about being gentle with each other.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis is about Shaeth learnng how to take care of his new followers.

Path of the Paladins balances gentleness and strength.

Peculiar Obligations is about Quakers and pirates learning to help each other.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about people helping people. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is fantasy with a gentle angle.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they take care of each other.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: creative

glitteryv

One of BTS' most popular variety shows is called Run BTS. After airing 156 episodes, the show (which anyone can watch for free ninety-nine via this playlist on BTS' official YouTube channel) went on hiatus due to the start of Enlistment Era, i.e. Chapter 2.

Given how well he knows ARMYs, Jin decided to launch a spin-off version titled Run Jin. Across 36 episodes, Jin gets in all types of shenanigans. I'm not going to go thru every eps, just some of my faves.

Gonna start with "Squid Jin-Game"--a take on Squid Game. This time with no gore or death, but plenty of HELLA LULZY moments. The standout in these two episodes is Dongpyo, a 22-y.o. idol who was in X1 and Mirae. He's since gone solo. I love his dynamic with Jin.

Watch on YouTube

omens

It's funny, because I feel like I'm spamming about Ghost ALL THE TIME, but I looked thru my dw to figure out the last photos I posted of her so that I wouldn't repeat pics again and it turns out the last Ghost Post was in February. 🫠

SO! Ghost backlog! With bonus green yard transformation, lol.

March: ( the dead time )

April: ( last snow, first green )

May: ( fully and abruptly GREEN )

spikedluv

I hit Walmart and the Feed Bag while I was downtown and got in a short walk around the park. I stopped by the vet (to pick up Ti's special dog food) and the library (to return a book) on the way home. I got in another short walk with Pip and the puppers in the afternoon.

I did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher and ran another load, then emptied ~that load (I hate emptying the dishwasher, but I was on a roll!), did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, scooped kitty litter, and mowed the lawn.

I read more in Network Effect, watched an HGTV program, and talked to mom on the phone. Also, while I haven’t seen any fawns yet, Pip saw some deer running around frantically when he got close to the orchard to mow (so he left), which means there are probably more than one fawn hidden up there in the tall grass!

Pip had leftovers for supper (thanks to the BBQ chicken quarters, we had plenty, lol) so I didn’t have to cook. I made myself a ham sandwich. I’m not generally a fan of ham sandwiches, but they’re tasting really good to me lately.

Temps started out at 48.7(F) and reached 72.2. We had sun all day, with a slight breeze. I didn’t need a sweatshirt when I mowed, but I did retain my long-sleeved t-shirt. It was really a beautiful day.