azdak

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/10/the-gales-of-november/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71630

If there is a common theme linking all of these links and stories, I haven't yet figured out what that is.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/10/the-gales-of-november/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71630

Anyone read any of these?

This is such a fun, unique book. The opening grabs you immediately: Uketsu shows an architect friend the floor plan of a house that his friends are considering buying. The architect spots a number of odd elements that aren't just bad planning, but suggest a very carefully planned and bizarre MURDER HOUSE!

The floor plan of that house and two more come into play repeatedly as Uketsu and his friend investigate, unraveling a truly weird and sometimes spooky mystery via a series of interviews. This book breaks all sorts of rules - it's entirely told rather than shown, a lot of it is exposition, the author appears as a character, and that's not even mentioning the very large role that floor plans play - and I could not put it down.

Is the solution to the mystery absolutely nuts? Sure. Is the book a whole lot of fun to read? Absolutely. Will I recommend it to my customers? You bet!

Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion, who has a nice afterword about translating it.

Apparently Uketsu is a Japanese YouTuber who only appears wearing a mask, like Chuck Tingle if his thing was drawings and creepy mysteries rather than horror and getting pounded in the butt. I can't wait to read Uketsu's other book, Strange Pictures.

I had to read 19 books to judge a translation prize and I'm not allowed to talk about those yet but I am finally released to read other things so these are them:

A Well Full of Leaves by Elizabeth Myers (Persephone). ( Read more )The author's letters to Eleanor Farjeon at the end are great. I'd have read a whole book of those.

Gulity by Definition by Susie Dent. She definitely likes words and the workplace aspect of how people work at a dictionary was really interesting in a way like Murder must Advertise though they don't seem to do very much apart from solve cryptic clues to a 10 year-old disappearance. ( Read more... )

Diplomatic Baggage by Brigid Keenan (charity shop). I thought she was one of the diplomatic wives interviewed in Daughters of Britannia so picked it up because one of my complaints about that is that I want to read longer chunks by each of the diplomatic wives through history, not what each of them thought across time about food or whatever. I also assumed from the cover (heels and miniskirt) that it was written in the 1970s but no it was 2007. I suppose that is still quite a while ago now (ouch) and it's a look back from Kazakhstan at how she ended up being a diplomatic wife and running through all the postings from the 1970s. It is funny but you can have too many funny stories about dinner parties and being a ditzy fashion journalist and not being able to communicate with local staff*. Daughters of Britannia turns out to be a better approach to the topic.

Crooked Cross by Sally Carson (Persephone). Written in 1934 about a happy German family living in Bavaria with a daughter engaged to a lovely doctor chap who happens to have a Jewish surname. Yeah. Compelling, all the more so as the author died in 1941. Like The Chalet School in Exile, a fictionalised account of what was happening on the ground written at the time. Except this one is for grown-ups.

I would like to read something more cheerful next.

Accidental cinema. Frankenstein

Youngest was going to a theatre thing which turned out to be inaccessible by public transport so I had to be transport and decided that instead of sitting in a pub or walking the rainy streets, I would see what was on at the cinema. I didn't want to watch Bruce Springsteen so Frankenstein it was. Normally I would not go near anything that could be supernatural or horror but I have read the book (a very long time ago) and had seen a review complaining it wasn't horrific enough, which made me feel I might be able to cope. Also I went to the Everyman so if it got too gory, I could concentrate on eating chips.

( Frankenstein  )

I should go to the cinema more often. The problem is that our nearest one, which I want to support, only has one screen so tends to only show the big films that will bring in lots of people (although everytime we go there's only been about 6 people in it) and otherwise it's a long drive to the Odeon in a retail park by the motorway.

*I did see a review saying "why didn't she just learn Russian before she went?" which is fair comment but I'm not sure of the date when she arrived in Kazakhstan and I remember my mother trying to learn Russian from a BBC course in the 1970s but then Russia invaded Afghanistan and the course got moved later and later in the evenings and then she gave up. It's not like there was Duolingo, or even possibly the internet.

It's been a fabulous season for pears. I assume that this is to do with the weather (drought-stressed trees giving their all for fruit?), but week after week even the most average bag from the supermarket has delivered fragrant, juicy pears that ripen and then do not immediately rot. I had some gorgeous Comice pears from the market last week that were enormous.

Anyway, I can't find the link that I had wanted to give and which the post title references* - all knowledge not contained on the internet shock! - so have the Eddie Izzard sketch.



*It was a music hall(?) song from the days in which there were "comediennes", sung by a woman who was probably not Joyce Grenfell, in which she declaims at length how she has such a wonderful pair of eyes. They don't make 'em like that any more...

Except I think that my pupil distance was 56 instead of 55, and also the bridge seems a bit flimsy. That, I don't like, but it may be my amorphous anxiety talking.

In other news, Moonpie has completely scratched and licked up her nipples and now they're bleeding and infected, and apparently the vet prefers to do a blood test at this age, but as the blood test is $400 we declined. (E asked if I thought they judged us for that, lol, sweetie, I always think everybody judges me for everything, but that's not a rational mindset, so no, upon reflection I don't think that. We're hardly the only family to make petcare decisions based on affordability, and even if they do judge us, great, they can pay for this bloodwork themselves.) Also, NYC now mandates a new vaccine for cats and dogs. They can mandate what they like, but they can't make people follow that law. However, after the vet explained that this disease spreads pretty easily and now is spreading to humans, in whom it can cause kidney and/or liver failure, I decided, reluctantly, to make vaxxing the cats a priority. Which means full vet appointments for each one and new rabies shots as well. It's not going to be a quick process, is what I'm saying. (And we still need to replace those water heaters before they break!)

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( Read more... )

Title: Gut Instinct
Author: Tarlan (tarlanx)
Fandom: Word of Honor (TV 2021)
Pairing/Characters: Gu Xiang & Wen Kexing, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
Rating/Category: PG13 GEN
Word Count: 993
Summary: He relied upon his gut instinct to keep him and the ones he loved alive.

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/71230266
 

Title: Resting here With You
Author: Tarlan (tarlanx)
Fandom: Yin Yáng Shi | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming)
Pairing/Characters: Boya/Qingming
Rating/Category: PG SLASH
Word Count: 730
Summary: Resting with Qingming was far more pleasant than resting alone.

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73395976
 

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
<b>Highlight for spoilers!</b> *<span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Write your spoilery text here.</span>* or <details> <summary>Write a non-spoilery summary of what's hidden under the arrow here.</summary> Write your spoilery text here. </details>

Used my fic TBR boardgame.

This is probably the challenge I'm most worried about, because fic reading is always based on whimsy and mood for me and I don't know if I'll have wrap-up posts or not, I may just rec them in my 'links of interest' posts. As well, AO3 doesn't have a way to filter by 'on my marked for later' so it's gonna be touch and go, because the whole point is to read stuff already on MFL, not add more.

Avatar:
Fix-It
Skill: Can go forward or back a tile depending on roll

Roll #1:

Whoa, starting off with a 12! Prompt: less than 1k hits. Ruby Insides, I just added this recently.

Roll #2:

I spoke too soon, got a 5 which is the trap tile. Went back, rolled a 6 which is the TBR tile, ooo. The way I'm going is generating from page # first then by # of the fic on that page. Man seeing the 'this work was deleted' message is painful. 235x9. That's a Homestuck fic titled Red, oh boy. It actually seems a little familiar. Sometimes I keep things I've read on my MFL to read them again more thoroughly.

Roll #3:

A 9, prompt: F/F! You & Me & Holiday Wine .

Roll #4:

A 3 and another TBR tile. 106x14 which is Darkness Peering!

Roll #5:

A 9, prompt: pretend lovers! I just ended up with more on my TBR looking in the tag. 😭Okay I went back to MFL and actually found something pretty fast: behind the mirage.

Roll #6:

Another 9 and the end! Hmm how about New Game Plus.

All different fandoms! So far so good.

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/07/lbcf-csi-atlanta/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71816

Wherein we discuss why a dogged insurance investigator would have made a better protagonist for these books than the callous, self-absorbed, apathetic author stand-ins of Left Behind.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/07/lbcf-csi-atlanta/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71816

It was a penny more than the old ones, so there's that. (But I paid for super expedited shipping, so actually it's like $40 more.)

They're green. I'm not so sure about this, but there will be NO MORE TAKE-BACKS. I triple checked that they weren't safety glasses with the things on the side, which would've been great if I was in a field where I needed those but, as it is, was unwearable, and they're the exact same measurement as my old glasses, I checked that as well.

I liked it, but that was because I liked laughing at how stupidly oblivious the protagonist was to his not-rival's extraordinarily obvious crush on him. And also because I like most things I read.

But then, here I was, 20 minutes from the finish line, our two dudes are about to finally resolve all their deep-seated personal issues that have kept them apart - and my coworkers start a loud conversation right next to me and they will not shut up. I did, eventually, have to ask them to please stop for half an hour so I could finish my book.

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( Read more... )

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/06/tales-from-the-religion-press-release-slush-pile/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71807

The ginormous Mobius-strip monument to answered prayer won't be built until you people fork over another $7 million. Plus: the best little prayer-house in Texas, and what is "Gloo" up to?

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/06/tales-from-the-religion-press-release-slush-pile/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71807

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/05/trying-not-to-make-this-blog-all-nazis-all-the-time/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71798

But as much as I'm trying to talk about other things, the steady flow of Nazis in the news continues.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/05/trying-not-to-make-this-blog-all-nazis-all-the-time/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71798

I have a mandatory staff meeting in an hour and I may call out on the grounds that I am so tired.

(I also have a headache, but if I call out on the grounds that omg my head is killing me my manager will tell me to go to the doctor. It's not an illness, it's a generational curse, plus I worked 16 hours on approximate 0 hours of sleep yesterday.)

On the other hand, I want to seem responsible. But... I am really groggy and tired and I have a headache.

I haven't had a chance to look at any other election results yet, but that's cheering. I do think he's vastly overpromised and will regret it - among other things, free buses requires first wresting the MTA back from Albany, and that's not the job of a single term - but it's not like I liked any of the other candidates.

Especially Cuomo, for many reasons, but most especially because you just can't trust somebody who thinks the best career move after governor is mayor.

This book is very hard to describe without spoilers, so I'll just cover the setup. Aspiring actress/current waitress Jess is having a bad night that gets much worse when she finds a scared little boy who's run away from his father. Things get extremely strange from there. This book is a wild ride.

I read it in a single sitting, so it's very propulsive. It's also very dark/bleak, despite some absurdist humor arising from the premise. I enjoyed it a lot while I read it, but it's now months later and it hasn't quite stuck with me the way some other books have. Nestlings is still my favorite of his.

Content notes: Child abuse/harm is central to the story. So is an accidental needle-stick with a possibly contaminated needle.

Spoilers! Also contains some light spoilers for Stephen King's Firestarter.

( Read more... )