Kill the Villainess, Vol. 2
Jun. 21st, 2025 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelli posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
booksmarycatelli posting in booksIcons That Need Homes
Jun. 20th, 2025 09:16 pmjayregee posting in iconsI am getting rid of these icons. They need a good home. Want any of them? Some were made when I was just beginning to make icons so their appearance may not be up to code.
( More Icons of DIfferent Fandoms... )
( More Icons of DIfferent Fandoms... )
Every Kind of Craft now open!
Jun. 17th, 2025 07:02 pmyourlibrarian posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo
Do you make crafts? Do you like to look at crafts? Would you like to get (or give) advice about crafts? All crafts are welcome. Share photos, stories about projects in progress, and connect with other crafty folks.
You are welcome to make your own posts, and this community will also do a monthly call for people to share what they are working on, or what they've seen which may be inspiring them. Images of projects old or new, completed or in progress are welcome, as are questions, tutorials and advice.
If you have any questions, ask them here!
"Even though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk
Jun. 16th, 2025 05:47 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksOn Monday's outbound commute I finished the audiobook for Even Though I Knew the End. This is a supernatural/fantasy noir romance and it does pack a lot of all three of those things into its brief 4-hour runtime.
This book relies heavily on stock film noir tropes—the veteran down-and-out private (paranormal) investigator (here a lesbian, Helen, our protagonist) who drinks too much and is haunted by past mistakes, a mysterious and sexy female client with a unique case, and "just one last" job before the PI plans to quit and retire with a beloved romantic partner. I didn't find them overused—and seeing them reworked to queer and female characters was fun—but other readers may find them too worn out even here.
Because the book is so short, it moves along at a very rapid pace. The whole thing takes place over the course of two days—the final two days before Helen's soul debt is called due and she finally has to pay the price of her warlock bargain. In this way, any rush felt appropriate, since it fit both the size of the novel and the context of Helen's urgency to get this last job done before she has to pay up.
The characters weren't super developed, but again—4-hour runtime. They're a little stock character-y, but not total cardboard cut-outs. It was disappointing for me to see Helen make the same mistake at the end of the book that she did prior to the start, as if she hadn't really learned anything, but since the novel ends promptly after that, the story never has to reckon much with it.
I was relieved that Edith, Helen's girlfriend, wasn't just the damsel in distress/goal object for Helen, which I was a bit worried about in the beginning. Edith has secrets and goals of her own.
Overall, the book was fine, and it entertained me well enough for a few days. Nothing extraordinary here, but nothing objectionable either. I will say I think keeping it short worked best for this book—I think drawing it out might have only weakened it. A fun little twist on a typical noir novel.
Crossposted tofffriday
Crossposted to
fffriday "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson
Jun. 16th, 2025 05:36 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksOn Saturday afternoon, on the bus ride home, I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant, because I couldn't wait until I got home to reach the end, despite a long history of reading-induced car sickness. It was totally worth it.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant is all fantasy politics. There's no magic or fairies or prophecies, just Seth Dickinson's invented world and the titanic machinations of Empire. And it is electric. Tentatively, I'd make a comparison to The Goblin Emperor, except that where TGE is about how Maia, completely unprepared for his role, is thrust into a viper's nest of politics, Baru Cormorant is about how Baru has painstakingly taught herself the ways of the empire and enters into the game fully prepared to rewrite the rules to her liking.
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I was hanging on every page by the end, and first thing Sunday morning I was off to the library to pick up the sequel, which I started the same day. I cannot wait to see how Baru's story progresses! Hats off for Baru Cormorant!
Crossposted from my main andfffriday
( Read more... )
I was hanging on every page by the end, and first thing Sunday morning I was off to the library to pick up the sequel, which I started the same day. I cannot wait to see how Baru's story progresses! Hats off for Baru Cormorant!
Crossposted from my main and
fffriday Backyard Foraging
Jun. 16th, 2025 01:46 pmmarycatelli posting in booksBackyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn't Know You Could Eat by Ellen Zachos
A discussion of wild and garden plants in North America. Roots, flowers, leaves, fruit. . . how to harvest, what to check, what can be done to prepare them.
A discussion of wild and garden plants in North America. Roots, flowers, leaves, fruit. . . how to harvest, what to check, what can be done to prepare them.
Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Islandβ’.
Jun. 13th, 2025 06:45 pmarcanetrivia posting in dw_community_promoAhoy there, adventure gamers! monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your jam rum rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.
monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your Comment Bingo Round 7
Jun. 13th, 2025 03:22 pmsvgurl posting in dw_community_promocomment_bingo is a bingo challenge that is focused on using the provided prompts to comment on other people's works rather than creating your own. Click on the banner below to go to sign-ups or you can also go HERE.
Sign-ups will remain open until the round closes.
This round will end up on October 31st, 2025.
Valley So Low
Jun. 13th, 2025 04:52 pmmarycatelli posting in booksValley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories by Manly Wade Wellman
A collection of uncanny tales. Some are Silver John. Some feature other men who wander about and know some of the matters -- each one with his tales grouped -- and it's clear that it's one continuity, with their loosely knowing each other, with Judge Pursuivant the sage old man of their knowledge. Others are people who get mixed up in such matters and may or may not escape.
One can see how he was listed in the Appendix N as a D&D source.
A collection of uncanny tales. Some are Silver John. Some feature other men who wander about and know some of the matters -- each one with his tales grouped -- and it's clear that it's one continuity, with their loosely knowing each other, with Judge Pursuivant the sage old man of their knowledge. Others are people who get mixed up in such matters and may or may not escape.
One can see how he was listed in the Appendix N as a D&D source.
The Hanging Stones
Jun. 10th, 2025 08:53 pmmarycatelli posting in booksThe Hanging Stones by Manly Wade Wellman
A Silver John story, Works as a stand-alone.
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A Silver John story, Works as a stand-alone.
( Read more... )
