February 2026 Queer Romances

Feb. 6th, 2026 10:00 am
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Dahlia Adler

‘Tis the month when romance is on the brain, and these books are here to deliver! Give yourself the perfect valentine with a queer romance or five!

Get Over It, April Evans

Get Over It, April Evans by Ashley Herring Blake

Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Released: February 3, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: , ,
Series: Clover Lake #2

A summer job at a lake-town resort brings together two women with an unlikely connection in this new contemporary romance by USA Today bestselling author Ashley Herring Blake.

April Evans’ life is in shambles. She’s had to close her tattoo shop in Clover Lake and she’s subletting her house just to make rent. And her love life? Nonexistent ever since Elena, her ex-fiancée, left her for a younger woman three years ago. When she is asked to teach a summer art class at the town’s new resort called Cloverwild, April jumps at the opportunity, especially since the job comes with boarding. She’s sure that this is the silver lining she needs . . . until she meets her Daphne Love, the woman who stole her ex-fiancée. And even worse, it’s clear Daphne has no idea who April is.

Daphne Love is cursed in, well, love. She thought she’d found the unconditional love she craved in her girlfriend, Elena, but now she’s single again and utterly brokenhearted. When her friend hooks her up with a summer gig as an art instructor at a swanky resort in New Hampshire, Daphne feels optimistic for once. If only she had a roommate and coworker who didn’t seem to hate her on sight.

Their already-tense relationship gets even shakier when April and Daphne find themselves competing for a rare opportunity to showcase their art in a London museum. But slowly, barriers begin to fall, and an inexplicable allure keeps drawing them closer, leaving them to wonder if the perfect picture they’re looking for can only be painted with each other.

Ashley Herring Blake needs no introduction; you see a new Sapphic romance by her, you grab it. This is the second book in the Clover Lake series that kicked off with Dream On, Ramona Riley, and it brings with it pan rep, religious trauma, and lots of Feelings, perfect for those who love their romance with a side of angst.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Promise Me

Promise Me by Sara Cate

Author: Sara Cate
Released: February 10, 2026 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: , , ,
Series: Sinful Manor #2

He let him get away once… Now he has seven days to get him back.

Fifteen years ago, Declan Barclay left for uni with plans of becoming an artist and escaping his family’s heavy rule. What he didn’t expect was to meet a soft and enigmatic actor in desperate need of guidance…and a friend. Declan quickly took Colin Shelby under his wing and the two were inseparable ever since.

That is until the night before graduation, when lines were crossed and everything changed.

Now, after years apart, Colin is back in Declan’s life, but he’s not alone. He’s made a promise to marry someone else, and Declan only has seven days to win back the love of his life. There’s just one His family is counting on him to pull this wedding off at Barclay Manor.

With just one week until vows are exchanged, Declan must decide—stay silent and lose Colin for good, or risk everything and ask the one who got away to promise him forever.

Another “needs no introduction” author, Cate’s taking her talents to m/m with this second book in the Sinful Manor series that promises to be spicy, sweet, seductive, and Scottish-accented.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Motor City Love Song

Motor City Love Song by Lisa Peers

Author: Lisa Peers
Released: February 10, 2026 by The Dial Press
Genre: , ,

No one knows why the queen of indie rock vanished from the Detroit scene twenty years ago. Now, her ex-girlfriend is determined to track her down—and what she uncovers will change everything.

Detroit, 1997. At the Artemis Club, Paloma is chasing rock-and-roll stardom, with her girlfriend and manager Jace committed to making her a worldwide indie sensation. But when Paloma suddenly disappears from the public eye in 2001, Jace is left to pick up the pieces.

Two decades later, Jace thought she’d left music for good. Yet when the Artemis Club is threatened, she commits to saving the venue even though she’ll have to track down Paloma, whose early-career hit just went viral. Paloma has her reasons for not wanting to be found, and Jace isn’t eager to reopen old wounds. Still, each keeps measuring her life against the love she lost. With the Artemis’s fate at stake, Jace and Paloma are pulled back into the scene they once ruled…and back toward each other.

Told in two voices, this sapphic salute to Detroit’s garage band era shows that sometimes, the truth is the most powerful love song of all.

Peers’ Love at 350 was a delight, a Sapphic take on Great British Bake Off that was honestly way more show plot than romance, though it was so much fun that I wasn’t complaining. But maybe the only thing I love more than a cooking/baking theme is music, and specifically the kind of garage-band indie-ness that this book centers on, and I have no doubt Peers will knock it out of the park.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

A Vow Made Twice

A Vow Made Twice by Emma Denny

Author: Emma Denny
Released: February 12, 2026 by HQ
Genre: , ,
Series: The Barden #3

The heart-stopping new love story from Emma Denny, following beloved characters from One Night in Hartswood and All the Painted Stars.

‘I loved every moment’ Freya Marske, International bestselling author of A Marvellous Light, on One Night in Hartswood

……..

Haunted by love. Bound by duty.

After inheriting his father’s title, Earl Ash Barden has no choice but to find a wife to ensure the family line. But Ash has pledged himself to another, and making new vows – even with his lover long-since dead – feels like the ultimate betrayal to his memory.

Skilled bowman and unconventional widow Agnes Forrett wants two to be true to herself, and to avoid marrying the childhood friend her family is determined will take her hand. When Ash arrives in her keep, she realises he’s the perfect choice to grant her the freedom she needs to be the person she is – be that lady, lord, or something else entirely.

Agreeing to enter a marriage of convenience, their plan is set … until a roadside attack thrusts a familiar face back into Ash’s life, and with it a choice about his future. Whilst his feelings for the ghost from his past remain as strong as ever, he can’t deny his growing affection for Agnes too. Now Ash must ask can one heart truly be pledged to two people?

Bless Emma Denny for taking queer historical romance into the rarely seen Medieval Era with the Barden series, and for mixing it up each time. First was the m/m One Night in Hartswood, then the f/f All the Painted Stars, and now we’ve got the first polyam, complete with nonbinary rep that’s just the chef’s kiss on the whole sexy endeavor. Here’s hoping there’s more of this series to come!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

In Her Spotlight

In Her Spotlight by Amy Spalding

Author: Amy Spalding
Released: February 24, 2026 by Kensington Books
Genre: , ,
Series: Out in Hollywood #4

For fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, and Meryl Wilsner, an actually hilarious, sweetly sexy, gloriously relatable, second chance, sapphic rom-com from the acclaimed author of For Her Consideration, starring a franchise Hollywood actress aims to prove her chops in a theatrical production directed by her ex whose heart she broke a decade earlier.

Hollywood actor Tess Gardner is not the kind of famous she set out to be. She’s ready to show she’s more than Princess Platinum of the Vindicators series, a pretty face with CGI superpowers that literally sparkle. Tess wants to prove herself as an actor and that means theatre—the true calling of her thespian heart. But just when Tess lands a part working with an acclaimed stage director, a brewing scandal forces him out. His replacement? None other than hip, buzzy director Rebecca Frisch. The same Rebecca Frisch whose heart a firmly closeted Tess broke over a decade ago during summer stock . . .

As Tess wrestles with her lingering guilt and attraction to Rebecca, she also finds herself struggling to rein in her superstar status backstage. When things unexpectedly reignite with Rebecca, Tess bristles even more against the walls of her A-list life. Since the industry’s made it clear that girl-next-door superheroes can’t also be gay, coming out isn’t realistic for Tess. And ultimately, Rebecca will head back to New York and likely seek out a less complicated relationship anyway.

Will the curtain close on her chance for happiness or will Tess finally take a leading role in her own life?

Spalding’s f/f Out in Hollywood series, which kicked off with For Her Consideration, has been a staple of Sapphic Romance for four years running, so it’s definitely sad to say goodbye! But Spalding has a long history in publishing (beginning with YA, including several queer entries), and I have no doubt she’ll be bringing something else fun to the table next.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

[syndicated profile] ianvisits_feed

Posted by ianVisits

Staff at the London Museum could go on strike in a pay dispute, according to the Prospect Union.

The union says a pay claim was submitted in March 2025, but an employer offer was not made until September 2025. This and two other subsequent offers were rejected by members, with the final offer, £420 consolidated +1%, then another £150 consolidated being imposed.

The union said this led to the industrial action ballot.

In the ballot, 88% of votes were in favour of taking strike action, with 12% against, while 94% voted in favour of taking action short of a strik,e with 6% against. Turnout among eligible employees was nearly 90%.

Steve Thomas, Deputy General Secretary of Prospect, said: “Our members have worked tirelessly for the Museum as it seeks to open its new flagship site later this year. The offer which has been imposed is poor reward for such dedication and demonstrates how undervalued by their employer London Museum staff truly are.”

“We do not want to take strike action. Prospect members love what they do but they feel like they are being taken advantage of.”

“If the employer won’t improve the offer, the GLA and City of London Corporation need to step in.  The next few months are going to be vital for the preparation and set up of the new site and nobody wants a pay dispute getting in the way of hitting deadlines.”

Prospect members will now meet to decide on the timings for any industrial action and engage further with the London Museum to seek an acceptable offer.

Responding to the union’s statement, a spokesperson from London Museum said: “We’ve carefully managed our finances this year so we could pay as large an award as possible to our staff. As a proud London Living Wage employer, this prioritised lower paid staff who received on average an overall increase of 5.5%, whilst senior staff received on average 2.6%.”

“We have given these negotiations careful consideration, prioritising the long-term care of our staff, alongside a sustainable financial position for the museum.”

“We always aim to be honest and transparent in our communications and will continue to engage openly with staff and unions in these negotiations.”

If a strike goes ahead, it will affect the London Museum Docklands. However, if it’s not resolved, it could affect the opening of the new site in Farringdon later this year if staff working on redisplaying the new museum are also affected by strike action.

[syndicated profile] ianvisits_feed

Posted by ianVisits

Rail passengers travelling in and out of Euston station face disruption today after a fault on the West Coast Main Line caused delays and cancellations between London Euston and Watford Junction.

Euston station

Network Rail has reported a failure of the overhead line equipment on the busy stretch of railway, meaning fewer trains than normal are able to run between the two stations.

As a result, Network Rail expects to run a reduced service for the rest of the day.

The disruption is affecting long-distance services run by Avanti West Coast, as well as regional and commuter services operated by London Northwestern Railway.

London Northwestern Railway has suspended its stopping services between Euston and Tring for the remainder of the day, leaving fewer options for passengers making shorter journeys along the route.

Both operators have introduced ticket acceptance to help passengers complete their journeys.

Avanti West Coast customer advice:

Your ticket can be used at no extra cost on London Northwestern Railway services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street / Crewe in both directions until further notice.

If your train is cancelled, your ticket is valid on one of the two Avanti West Coast services immediately before your booked train, or one of the two immediately after.

If you no longer wish to travel because your train is delayed or cancelled, you can request a full refund from where you bought your ticket.

Live updates here.

London Northwestern Railway’s customer advice:

London Euston to Tring stopping services have been suspended for the rest of the day.

Your ticket can be used at no extra cost on the following service in both directions until further notice:

  • Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Watford Junction, and between London Euston and Birmingham New Street / Crewe
  • London Overground (Lioness line) between London Euston and Watford Junction

Live updates here.

Rail companies are urging passengers to check before travelling and, if possible, delay their journeys until normal services resume, warning that disruption could continue into the evening peak.

February Declutter Challenge

Feb. 6th, 2026 09:10 am
mekare: Firefly: Inara drinking tea, listening (Inara)
[personal profile] mekare posting in [community profile] unclutter
I really need to do this, so why not make it an event where people can join in?

February here is all about carneval, Valentine's Day and unending winter weather. So, let's look at a couple of new areas (pick and choose):


  • STUFF TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK DIFFERENT: old make-up, hair accessories, brushes, combs, hairclips, dried out nail polish etc.

  • BATH PRODUCTS: out of date creams, lotions, oils, bathing salts, old tooth brushes etc.

  • CLOTH: that towel with the holes (repair or put it to some other use), washcloths, reusable make-up pads, cleaning cloths (the ones that almost fall apart),...

  • PERFUMES: that gift someone got you, but really you never wear it, or maybe it's so old the scent changed



Let's free up some space in the space where we get clean! Or alternatively, let's clean those brushes and combs, replace that mangy toothbrush with a new one and throw away make-up we never use anyway.

Optional: if you have plants in your bathroom (I do), let's give them some love.

I'm open to more suggestions! Let me know what immediately came to your mind when you read the challenge.

FINALE

Feb. 6th, 2026 08:59 am
mekare: B'elanna is not amused (ST B'Elanna Excuse me)
[personal profile] mekare posting in [community profile] spacefungusparty
Okay, lovely, wonderful and everything BUT:Read more... )

London’s weekly railway news

Feb. 6th, 2026 07:00 am
[syndicated profile] ianvisits_feed

Posted by ianVisits

This is a weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…

The image is from a February 2022 article: Unbuilt London: The Edgware Road and Victoria railway

London Underground

Brands have been playing with the signage on London’s tube network for many years but recent examples have proved intrusive and annoying. Ben Kay examines what’s gone wrong Creative Review

A Century Ago: What To Call The Northern Line? Londonist

Mainline / Overground

Rail journeys on Southern, Thameslink and the Gatwick Express remain severely disrupted following an early morning derailment and a signal failure in south-east London. BBC News

Last Saturday, a former London Underground train that’s been converted to run on the national rail network began carrying paying passengers for the very first time. ianVisits

A huge fire in Primrose Hill, Camden, earlier caused train services cancelled or seriously delayed at peak time for commuters this afternoon. Standard

Old 1980s rolling stock that was taken out of service with considerable fanfare, including a ticket-only retirement celebration, is still being used to cover shortages across South Western Railway services. Borden Herald

FirstGroup’s proposed direct train service between Paignton and London has received fresh support from local MP Steve Darling. Torbay Today

LNER has unveiled the name and interior design of a new fleet of long-distance trains, which will be the first to carry the new Great British Railways branding when it launches in a few years time. ianVisits

A railway station manager who claims he ended up losing a leg after being infected with Covid by his boss at work is suing his employers for £1m.  Independent

Miscellaneous

The British Transport Police (BTP) will now investigate bike thefts outside railway stations after campaigners claimed not doing so sends a message that stealing bikes is effectively “decriminalised”. Independent

Fare dodger left victim with a bleed on brain after being told off for ‘bumping’ London Tube barrier Standard

Choo choo! Inside the world’s oldest club of collectors Islington Tribune

Treasures found on HS2 route stored in secret warehouse BBC News

A sex predator given more than four years in prison after assaulting a Jubilee Line passenger will still be allowed to use Tube trains when freed. Daily Mail

The Michelin praised London bakery in a railway arch London Now

Revealed: Sadiq Khan’s 6% London fares hike will cost passengers a staggering £168million a year Standard

For many people with vision impairments, Britain’s railways remain a place of stress, uncertainty and missed journeys, says a report from the Royal National Institute of Blind People. (RNIB) ianVisits

Women-only Tube carriages are a terrible, unworkable idea City AM

And finally: The Italian Embassy’s new logo looks surprisingly familiar Creative Bloq

The image is from a February 2022 article: Unbuilt London: The Edgware Road and Victoria railway

704. JQ Editions with Julia Quinn

Feb. 6th, 2026 07:00 am
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

JQ Editions logo a deep pink curly J and Q next to the word editions in grey serif, against a light pink backgroundMy guest this week is Julia Quinn and we are talking about, of course, JQ Editions, a new subscription service creating special limited editions of historical romances. I’ve been writing about this since it was announced, and so I got to ask all my questions – and some of yours.

Along the way we talk about the historical romance genre, administrative mayhem, and the practicalities of creating special editions of beloved books. Plus you get to hear my reaction when Julia shares some of the 2027 titles.

Thank you to Verity, Sue, and Alanna for the questions!

Listen to the podcast →
Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find Julia Quinn on her website, JuliaQuinn.com, and on Instagram @JuliaQuinnAuthor, and on Facebook at AuthorJuliaQuinn.

You can find out more about JQ Editions at JQEditions.com.

We also mentioned:

Do you like to listen to your favorite podcasts on YouTube? 

Find our latest episodes at on YouTube @SmartPodcastTrashyBooks and please subscribe. I had to start the channel over.

Music: purple-planet.com

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

More ways to sponsor:

Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!

Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.

Reading Wrap-up 1/26

Feb. 6th, 2026 07:02 am
vamp_ress: (Default)
[personal profile] vamp_ress posting in [community profile] booknook

Duras, Marguerite: Abahn Sabana David. Open Letter Books. 2016.
I've bought this years ago in a bundle with several Duras-books and I must say, I've no idea what I read here. I think the word one uses for something like this nowadays is: word salad. At least it was short.

Riddle, John: Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance. Harvard University Press. 1992.
This was delightful. I actually bought this for fic research, but I thoroughly enjoyed it even apart from the excellent info it provided. The author's thesis is that - contrary to popular belief - people in antiquity and well beyond had very detailed knowledge about contraception (and abortion). Later, this knowledge was lost. The assumption is that this loss was caused by Christian religion and its rigid moral standard. Fascinating!

Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin. 2006.
I read "Of Mice and Men" as a teenager and was absolutely blown away. I always meant to give Steinbeck another go and find a few more favourites. I went with "The Grapes of Wrath" because this is argueably his magnus opus. And boy, did I hate it. Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but this book didn't age well. The most interesting thing about it is the fact that it's widely popular and acclaimed in the U.S. despite its openly communist agenda. (Mind you, not that there's anything wrong with a communist agenda, per se - but my understanding is that the U.S. and communist ideas don't mix well.)

Donaldson, David Santos: Greenland. Amistad. 2022.
This was such a missed chance. The blurb says this is a novel within a novel about E.M. Forster's love affair with an Egyptian tram conductor, but I learnt basically zero about that. Everything about Forster and his affair read like an author self-insert (or maybe a protagonist self-insert, since the protagonist is also the author of the book within a book). I took basically nothing away from the read expect maybe the info that black gay men in New York are obnoxious and annoying. (Sorry to all N.Y. gay men ...)

Moore, Kate: The Radium Girls. Simon & Schuster. 2016.
God, this was painful (pun intended). This is such an important book with such a strong sujet, but the execution wasn't even mid it was infuriatingly bad. The writing had the level of a romance book you buy at a whim at a train station. It was that bad. Moore clearly wanted to write a kitschy novel - every character here (and there are way too many) was introduced by bodily features. Women have dazzling smiles and men have strong arm muscles. Paired with the subject matter of the book this approach made me gag. The book needed to be written, but Kate Moore was the wrong woman for the job, sorry.

Johnson, Denis: Train Dreams. Picador. 2012.
I had never read anything by Denis Johnson but right after finishing this I bought another of his works. This was so good! It deals with the life of a man in the Idaho Panhandle throughout the 20th century. It starts in 1917 and ends in the 1960s with his death. In the nostalgia this evokes it reminded me a little of Harrison's "Legends of the Fall" which is equally panoramic in its approach and shows a time not too long ago but ultimately lost and absolutely alien to us now. Fantastic read!
 

Talking Meme Month - day 5

Feb. 5th, 2026 10:00 pm
hafnia: Animated drawing of a flickering fire with a pair of eyes peeping out of it, from the film Howl's Moving Castle. (Default)
[personal profile] hafnia
The master list of questions is here — the 16th, 22nd and 24th are all free, if you want to ask anything! :D

Talk about SPACE HEIST (how you came up with the idea, where you currently are in designing it, whatever else you wanna say...?)

Oh, glob, this is a deep pull. Ha. Okay.

For those that aren't in the know, Space Heist is a 2d6 ttrpg I designed and wrote myself. It takes place at a point where humanity has gone to the stars, interstellar travel is common, and people are scattered across the galaxy. Think space stations, alien planets, incredibly advanced tech...

Right, um, anyway. I started writing it about 5 years ago, in 2021. As far as "how did I come up with the idea", uh. People who have been around here a Long Time probably recall different short stories I wrote at various points in time about something I called the "Explorer Corps" — basically, a human-centered operation that was dedicated to "charting the uncharted" and hired the "best of the best" to do it. When I came up with it originally, it was very much, "I need something that works to put scientists into space but isn't NASA".

The very first long-form campaign I wrote/ran was wrapping up in 2021, and my players all wanted to play something science fiction. I'd thought about running TechNoir or Scum and Villainy, and neither one of them really appealed to me. So, instead of running something like Mothership or a Lasers and Feelings hack, I went, "I've been thinking about designing a game", and wrote Space Heist, using all that old Explorer Corps vibes/worldbuilding.

At this point, the player documents are a hot mess, but they're technically done. I have yet to start working on the GM documents beyond some basic notes on setting and how to run the game that are more philosophy than "here's how this works, mechanically". I have run it — I've run a couple of one-shots in it — and i'ts one of the things I get asked to run most frequently, because the people who like it, really like it.

The last couple of playtests, as well as getting more familiar with playing 2d6 systems like PbtA, means that I've got a bunch of thoughts about players and how skills etc work. I need to review and revise the documents, something I'm planning to do in the next month or so. After I revise the player documents (which will be pretty involved), I may run some further playtests (FUN) to see how stuff hangs together, if it does. I also need to actually write the GM guide for this — most of it is just "vibes", but there are some setting things and one-shot ideas that people who run it should be aware of.

It's my goal for this year to go ahead and get it up on itch.io, whether that's being like, "this is in alpha, please give me feedback, you can download it for free", or if I actually do get what I would call a 1.0 release ready and release it as a pay-as-you-want PDF. Right now I'm leaning toward the latter, just because I can't envision myself wanting to do a lot more iterations of it, and the only thing that's really stopping me is the knowledge I have zero artwork for it (but that I would want to either make or commission art — the former is intimidating, but the latter requires money I don't have to dedicate to a project like this right now).

So!

Kind of weird, but it came up in therapy the other day — my therapist asking, like, "so how are you doing at putting more of your stuff out there" (since it's something I have talked about with him pretty extensively — not monetizing projects, specifically, but putting stuff in a place where other people can see it and take joy in it). I said that I was planning to release Space Heist this year, and he was all for it. Guess I'll have at least one person holding me accountable? Heh.

The Friday Five for 6 February 2026

Feb. 6th, 2026 12:41 am
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] that_one_girl.

1. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

2. What is your proudest accomplishment so far?

3. What is your dream job?

4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

5. What does it take to make you happy?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**
[syndicated profile] askamanager_feed

Posted by Ask a Manager

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go…

1. My coworker comes to work high

I work in an animal care setting and overheard a coworker casually mention that they had taken an edible about an hour before the end of their shift. They said it didn’t fully hit them until the last few minutes of work, but during that time they were asked to help restrain a patient. They weren’t administering medication in this instance, but they were still performing tasks while impaired. They also mentioned that there have been a few times when they’ve come to work slightly under the influence.

I know some coworkers use substances on their own time, and our workplace doesn’t test or screen for this. I don’t have an issue with what people do off the clock, but using anything before or during a shift — especially in a role involving patient care — feels unsafe to me. At the same time, I don’t want to create problems for others or inadvertently push the workplace toward testing policies that impact everyone.

I’m not sure what the right step is. Should I say something, leave it alone, or approach the situation in another way?

This wouldn’t be the case with all jobs, but because of the nature of this one, it’s a serious safety issue — for the animals and for your coworkers. You need to say something. That would be true even if it had just happened once, but it’s even more urgent because they’re apparently doing it repeatedly.

Talk to your boss about what you heard. It sucks that you have to, but that’s on your coworker, not on you.

2. Interviewer was upset I wouldn’t tell him whether I was married

I’m a female physician. I had a call with a recruiter, and the second question he asked me was, “Are you married?” And then, “What kind of work do they do?” When I asked neutrally, “Oh, why do you ask?” he got very upset that I didn’t want to answer the question and said, “No one has ever done this (refused to answer) in my 25 years of recruiting.” I tried to smooth things over, but then he hung up on me.

Unfortunately I don’t know which organization he is representing and I think he may be the head of his recruiting group so I had no one to report his behavior to. This is unfortunately a question I get asked a lot, and just to avoid this kind of scenario I’ll answer, but I hate having to do that! Is there anything else I can say?

“Oh, why do you ask?” is the exact right response to this kind of question. It’s not illegal for them to ask (a common misconception), but it’s illegal for them to factor in your answer in any way so there’s no reason they need to ask, and it’s a good way to instantly make candidates uncomfortable.

One alternative is to answer what you think they’re really getting at, which in this case was probably something about whether you would be able to devote enough time and focus to the job. So for example, you could say, “Oh, I have great family support for my career, that’s never been an issue.” And if he responded to that by again asking if you were married, at that point I might say, “I’ve never been asked that in an interview before (even though you have) — why do you ask?”

But also, this particular recruiter sounds like a massive tool.

3. My boss says she wants to accommodate immunocompromised people, but won’t hold hybrid staff meetings

I work at a public institution of higher education. I’m immunocompromised, which my managers knows (although she does not know the exact condition). On the days I’m in-person at work (we all work a hybrid schedule), I consistently mask and am very careful about protecting my health. Our quarterly all-staff meetings have been hybrid for several years now, after being totally online during Covid. These have never been particularly fruitful meetings, neither informationally nor for team-building, though my manager wants to make them more useful.

At a meeting last year, she brought up the idea of making our next meeting in-person only. I mentioned that we have immunocompromised and medically vulnerable people on staff (I’m not the only one, but I have tenure and can more easily speak out) and suggested considering ways to make the meetings less risky — like at least making the winter meetings fully online. She asked to meet with me one-on-one to discuss ideas for making the meetings safer and I shared other ideas too, like holding our September and June meetings in a space with windows that open. We have two campus spaces like that where we’ve held all-staff meetings in the past so this doesn’t seem a huge ask.

My manager seems to have taken none of what I said to heart. Our September meeting was in-person only and was in a space where no windows or doors could be opened, though she did have a couple of HEPA filters in the space. But now she is proposing making our February meeting every year all-day and in-person only and making our fall and spring meetings half-day and hybrid. I’m at a loss as to why she would make the meeting during the height of flu and norovirus season in-person and why she asked for my suggestions in the first place if she was going to ignore them.

I know being immunocompromised is a real disability, but I feel like it’s treated like it isn’t because, unlike being a wheelchair user faced with a space only accessible by stairs, I physically can go to these meetings. It’s just at tremendous risk to my health. And I have some colleagues who go to work sick all the time, which makes it even more risky. I’ve already brought this up in meetings with others present and in that one-on-one meeting and it clearly had no effect. Should I just tell her I can’t attend? Talk to HR, which is notoriously unhelpful and their ADA coordinator left last spring? Keep pushing back? I’m already dealing with an illness that gets worse when I’m stressed and I wonder if it’s easier to just take a sick day and skip the meeting to avoid the whole thing. I feel so demoralized at this point.

At a minimum, tell her you can’t attend. Sample language: “I can’t safely attend an all-day in-person meeting, so would it be better for me to call in or skip this one?”

But you could also say, “I know you’d asked for ideas to make these safer for immunocompromised employees, and one thing would be — if one of these has to be full-day and in-person — to make it the fall or spring one, not the February one, since that’s the height of flu season.”

Or even: “I know you’d asked for ideas to make these safer for immunocompromised employees, and I’m curious if you ran into obstacles doing that. I might be able to better tailor ideas if I know more about the constraints we need to work within.”

4. I was laid off and still have my laptop — is there a point where it becomes mine?

I got laid off mid-November, and HR said we’d receive instructions for returning our equipment. While my company access was cut off, and my laptop was remotely wiped, it’s now mid-January and I haven’t heard anything about returning it. I emailed last week asking, and haven’t gotten a response. I live near an office, but the implication during layoffs was that they don’t want laid off employees coming back to the building, understandably.

Is there a point at which the equipment is mine? I’ve seen some advice that at some point you’re within your rights to notify the company that you’ll be disposing of the equipment if you don’t hear from them in X amount of time, but what if you wanted to use it instead of dispose of it?

First, try calling them instead of emailing — just on the principle that if one method of communication doesn’t work, you should try a second method before giving up.

But if you still don’t get a response, contact them and say, “I have not heard back from you about how to return my equipment, despite asking on (date) and (date), so this is notice that I plan to dispose of the equipment unless you arrange otherwise by (date).” If you really want to be safe, you can send that by certified mail. In most jurisdictions, 30-60 days will be considered a reasonable window to offer, and after that you are free to dispose of the equipment as you wish (which you don’t need to volunteer will mean “now it’s for personal use”).

The post interviewer was upset I wouldn’t tell him whether I was married, my coworker comes to work high, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
okay, I was not expecting to have quite SO MANY feelings about Operation Mincemeat, the musical, but indeed I do. (I have listened to the cast recording about seventy times and have not been able to see it live, though I, uh. Have now seen it, see end of post.) I don't think I have had so many strong feelings about a musical since Hamilton, only in many ways they are wildly different feelings?? Hamilton is a fancy big-chorus-dancing musical that is concerned predominantly with valorizing a particular hero (Alexander Hamilton) in a eh-mostly-historical way while offering up somewhat revisionist-considerations of some of the other US's famous Founding Fathers, with a major thematic concern of race, but which adheres to pretty standard gender considerations. OM is a budget-vibe musical starring five people who are both the big parts and the chorus, that is concerned predominantly with both rather revisionist-considerations, in a mostly-historical-fiction way, of a particular type of hero (a heavily fictionalized Ewen Montagu) who is known for his part in the WWII shenanigans of Operation Mincemeat, while at the same time offering up larger parts to people who were not at all famous, with a major thematic concern of gender.

Starting with: There are FIVE people in the cast! )

watch Bridgerton with me?

Feb. 6th, 2026 11:55 am
tielan: anthony bridgerton and kate sharma dancing at the featherington ball (bridgerton 1)
[personal profile] tielan
Is there anyone who'd be interested in co-watching Bridgerton S4 with me?

I want to watch it, I just need to schedule time to watch it, and have someone else metaphorically "on hand" to keep me from rushing off and doing something else.

Yes, we would have to do some tricksy scheduling to manage it if you're in the (usual) locations of Europe/the US. I'm happy to try to work something out.

Wednesday What I'm...

Feb. 5th, 2026 11:35 pm
reeby10: the lower half of a person laying on grass and reading with the words 'time to escape' and a ripped looking border (reading)
[personal profile] reeby10
On uhhh almost Friday :D

Reading
  • I read Gakuen Heaven by You Higuri. I've really enjoying some other You Higuri stuff and I feel like this is kind of a yaoi manga classic, but I only found it ok. I'm sure I would have liked it more if I'd read it as a teen lol
  • I started reading Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks by Juliet Eilperin. I haven't gotten far yet, but I'm intrigued so far. I do love sharks!
  • I started listening to Jump the Shark: When Good Things Go Bad by Jon Hein. And DNF'd it at 40%. I thought this would be much more interesting than it was. Part of what made it meh was that I just have not seen much if any of most of the shows he was talking about, but also I just found his opinions questionable. Like sorry not sorry, anyone who talks about TOS Kirk being just a huge playboy is sus in my book.
  • Ficwise, I've been alternating between JunDylan and VegasPete. Currently I'm reading a long BDSM club VegasPete fic called Don’t You Care About the Casualties by AnaliseGrey, which is pretty good but they're both a little well adjusted for my tastes.
Watching
  • The roommate and I finished Dangerous Romance. I liked it a lot! PerthChimon were very cute, but I'm glad that mostly just made me excited to see Chimon with his new partner and not too sad about them no longer being together. Also so intrigued by how PepperPapang could have been...
  • The roommate and I started watching Boys in Love. Very cute and sweet! A little too much on the good communication front, which feels a bit weird to say, but I'm loving all the new pairs we're getting to see on this.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the last episode of Goddess Bless You From Death. Great ending! I love that they wrapped up the spooky stuff and spent the back half of the episode letting PoohPavel be cute together lol
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Cat for Cash. Still very cute. I'm enjoying the shenanigans.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Melody of Secrets. I didn't think it could get wilder and weirder, but it really did! That is both positive and negative because wow, this show sure is something.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the last episode of Burnout Syndrome. Things really did go to shit, and I wasn't sure they'd resolve happily, but they did! Overall good, could have used more of Thor though.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Dare You to Death. I think it's starting to hit its stride more, so I'm enjoying that. Also, some AouBoom, yay!
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the first episode of My Romance Scammer. What a great first episode, like wow! I love that they are speedrunning the get togethers to presumably bring lots of drama very soon lol Looking forward to more.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the first episode of Duang with You. Also very good first episode! TeeteePor are so cute. I do feel like this episode covered most of what was in the trailer, so I'm intrigued to see what's going to happen.
Listening
  • Been doing a lot of listening to my Thai music playlist while I work. I think it really does help me work faster listening to music rather than watching youtube...
Writing
  • Nothing.
Learning
  • The roommate and I (who met in college Japanese class!) have decided that we want to brush up our Japanese (which makes it sound like I had much skill back then... I did not lmao), so we are studying back through our textbook. I went through the first chapter, and hey, I am remembering some things!
  • I did the third lesson of Pimsleur's Thai. I think I am mostly liking this style! But there are some words that are very hard for me to tell if I'm hearing/saying them correctly. Especially because I'm coming to realize that I kind of literally spell out words in my head when I hear them, so without ever seeing the words spelled, it's a bit frustrating.

Curti strikes a pose!

Feb. 5th, 2026 07:33 pm
glacier_kitty: (Default)
[personal profile] glacier_kitty
Curti is way too cute!
627126996_34657176717214051_5795277732313564909_n
An interesting pose haha. I love his super fluffy tail! He probably needs a bigger cat tree :P

People donate the coolest things at work, like this super cool maritime compass!
625511164_34673284078936648_2948526883744140829_n
The top..
629254433_34673284882269901_9219890490118650871_n
Inside! SO cool!! I definitely had to buy that haha. It's like Christmas every day at the bookstore :P

Tomorrow at work is another First Friday 50% off sale..hopefully it'll be busy, since people have been discovering us again!

feb 2-5 )
brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

Hi everyone! Still here, still super busy, but I saw an item in the news today that I had to jump on and share with you: The most humorous (potential) Olympic doping scandal ever!

The event: Ski jumping.

The rule: In order to prevent ski jumpers from going full flying squirrel with their suits, they undergo a 3D body scan, which determines the dimensions (and hence the surface area) of their suit.

The allegation: It has been alleged that some ski jumpers are having their penises injected with hyaluronic acid to make them bigger and thus net them extra cloth in the crotch of their suits. It's not a lot, but given the tight margins of victory in some Olympic competitions, it could make a difference.

The ruling: WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) has said they have no definitive evidence that this has ever been done, and in fact they aren't even sure that this would fall under the definition of doping, but they do say they'll be looking into it.

Meanwhile, I'll be over here laughing.

alchemicink: B'Elanna and Seven looking down (B7 working)
[personal profile] alchemicink posting in [community profile] halfamoon
B'Elanna might be my favorite character ever, and I'm always very interested in her pre-canon days as a fighter in the Maquis. A good way to cope with all her anger? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it fit perfectly for "The Outlaw" prompt.

Title: Hitting back
Fandom: Star Trek Voyager
Character: B'Elanna Torres
Rating: G
Length: 150 words
Summary: B'Elanna loves having a reason to fight now
Link: here on ao3 or you can read it under the cut below

Read more... )
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
1. So scanning the kindle library, and comixcology, resulted in an impulse purchase - Bloody Fool for Love - A Spike Prequel by William Ritter - I got the kindle e-book, not the audiobook - mainly because I can't listen to anyone but James Marsters read it.

Also found an absurd AU "published" Buffy fanfic - where Buffy is the villain that all the bad guys have to get rid of to save themselves. Big Bad by Lily Anderson

synopsis )
LOL. No, I didn't get it. But the writing from the audiobook is actually not bad.

I blame my Buffy Rewatch for this. Sometimes fictional characters jump off the screen or page, and refuse to leave my head. Not always. Sometimes.
I never quite know why?

Also, I don't have a type. Because, another character that jumped off the page for me was Cyclops from the X-men, who is the exact opposite of Spike.
You'd think I would love Wolverine? But nooo. I loved Cyclops.

2. Angel rewatch S4 - the Lilah/Wesley romance, Wes's entire arc, and Faith's return are the best things in the season and worth watching just for that alone. Actually it's why I love Angel S4 - I love Wes's arc (helps that Denisof is insanely attractive). Wes and his women. Faith, Lilah, and Fred. Also his interactions with Angel and Angelus are a lot of fun.
Angel S4 Rewatch Soulless through Salvage )

**

Off to bed again. It's that time. Time gets away from me as I ramble.

Fire in the Sky Sunset

Feb. 5th, 2026 07:52 pm
yourlibrarian: TIE fighter Sunset (NAT-TIEfighterSunset-fuesch)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] common_nature


Some weeks back I saw one of the most fiery color sunsets I've yet seen. It's usually the case that sunsets look even more colorful to the camera, but in this case it was already a strong red, and was widespread.

Read more... )

Fan Art: Day 5, Zoey Washburne

Feb. 5th, 2026 06:49 pm
pattrose: (Firefly)
[personal profile] pattrose posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Tough as Nails
Fandom: Firefly
Character: Zoe Washburne
Prompt: Day 5-Outlaw
Rating: Teen (Just because she’s tough as nails.)
Summary: After reading CMK418’s little story, I couldn’t help but make a moodboard for Zoe Washburne.


Click here.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/78979996
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
[personal profile] petra
I was despairing of the 73% of American Republicans who are on team GO ICE in a poll NPR just published asking whether ICE has gone too far -- and the 7% of Democrats and 29% percent of Independents who are with them.

[personal profile] hannah talked me down by pointing out that, as discussed in the linked conversation, 27% of Illinois voted for Alan Keyes over Barack Obama, which was patently bananas.

I remember a certain male role model in my life talking up Alan Keyes. This does not increase my faith in his understanding of politics, or indeed his inhabiting of the same planet I do.
shadaras: A phoenix with wings fully outspread, holidng a rose and an arrow in its talons. (Default)
[personal profile] shadaras
On Sunday I was like "I am dragging myself to aikido out of obligation and habit" and my friend C was like "yeah you look beat". Aikido was good, though, two of K-sensei's students who mostly only show up to her Tues/Thurs morning classes were at weapons class, and showed up early to learn some more basic weapon stuff, which meant that when I showed up my typical ~15min early I got pulled into immediately demonstrating an exercise and then practicing in with the others.

Also went "yeah, the absolute hardest thing to do when practicing ma'ai with weapons is for uke to not flinch" to one of those students, prompting sensei to pause class so that she could more formally talk about how difficult yet important a practice this is. Because, well, the natural instinct when someone is stabbing at you with a weapon is to move out of the way. This is an excellent survival instinct! However! That is not the practice when nage is supposed to be learning how to enter in such that they can properly stab through uke.

On Monday I woke up and was like "I feel like shit!" and have proceeded to spend the entire week thus far dragging myself to work because Capitalism while keeping myself vaguely person-shaped via cold medicine. This has worked out alright mostly because for the majority of this week I haven't had to do anything particularly cognitively difficult at work. (Tasks included: "Put up linears on this floor", which was interrupted by "Be firewatch for the person doing welding", before I was allowed to return to that first task, and then told to do various other things that meant putting up one set of linears that should've taken a few hours took like three days.)

I also went to bed at like 8:30pm last night (due to being at work from 6:30am-2:30pm and class from 5pm-7:45pm... not counting commute time for either, of course...) and woke up this morning like "wow I feel like a person!" until I got up and was like "oh we have CHANGED kinds of feeling ugh, not removed it, rip".

Things I have spent time doing:

- Catching up on the Great Gundam Project (podcast), by which I mean I have now caught up to like last autumn/the end of the Dragonball Z season (which is about the Gundam adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is apparently surprisingly good, but they spent more time talking about DBZ, their backup/non-Gundam show) (considering that this is a podcast I listen to in large part for going "please let me gain knowledge of anime people talk about but which I am only occasionally interested in watching", learning more about DBZ is genuinely a delight.) There is still so much more GGP to catch up on. xD This is a great podcast for listening to during work so long as I'm working alone, because I think it's generally entertaining and also I don't care if I miss a bit due to NOISE or BRIEF CONVERSATION, since I'm not invested in the details of the anime. (I am invested in The Episode Number Pokemon Name Game, though. I do not care about Pokemon. I do not know Pokemon. I think making the host who did not grow up playing Pokemon guess what Pokemon the episode number belongs to is a very funny game because I also do not know Pokemon and so listening to someone go "uh it looks like this, maybe it's called [something related to what it looks like]?" is very fun.)

- Watching FatT's Outward letsplay (which is technically a patreon bonus for their side podcast about videogams xD), by which I mean putting it on as background noise and looking over at the video every time Jack and Austin start going "oh no" or "what's THAT". The idle noise of people playing a videogame I don't have specific investment in but do enjoy seeing progression for is such a particular form of entertainment that usually I only like as background for doing chores, but hey if I'm feeling meh it works well more broadly.

- Thinking about, but not writing, story xD Like. How does one make it impossible to know what happened to someone who got kidnapped when "you can magically communicate short messages to known people over distance and get a response" is a given? The answer is magic warding, which is Deeply Concerning when other states that get No Connection (rather than No Response) would be, like. Unconsciousness/death. (Sleep probably feels different.) (This isn't even going to come up until I get through another few things!)

- I have also been keeping up with FatT: Perpetua, FatT: Realis, and CR: Araman and am enjoying them all. xD No deep thoughts, they're all fun but in very different ways/genres.

Exceptionally rare cuteness afoot!

Feb. 5th, 2026 06:39 pm
chanter1944: a slightly faded picture of a three-legged torbie kitty cat (supermodel kitty)
[personal profile] chanter1944
That's not hyperbole. This one's truly gasp-worthy.

Over at Love And Hisses, they have a male tortoiseshell foster kitten! Yes really, a male tortie! They're also fostering his equally tortie sister, plus two sweet tabby boys, all of whom are being treated for or monitored in their recovery from a medical issue. Things are looking better every day over there, and oh my goodness, a male tortie...!

I've never met a rare male tricolor cat. The closest I've ever come is one fictional representation purring in Adrien Agreste's ear, and one childhood misunderstanding of a sweet brown tabby's coloration. Someone in the old livejournal tortielove community had one, which was amazing enough, and there were a couple stories of others around - one calico, one dilute calico with extra toes. Maybe some day I'll actually meet one, and then someone will have to pick me up off the floor! XD In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the adventures of Ollie the male tortie and his friends in north Alabama.
suzume: Young Mags with her wavy brown hair unrolled over her shoulders sitting with her black-haired friend Faline (Best friends)
[personal profile] suzume posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: High Kick of his Life
Fandom: Suikoden III
Character(s): Queen & Aila
Rating: PG
Summary: Queen is bragging about one of her past accomplishments.

Melon soda vs. Queen's braggery )

Daily Check-In

Feb. 5th, 2026 07:42 pm
mecurtin: Icon of a globe with a check-mark (fandom_checkin)
[personal profile] mecurtin posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 5, to midnight on Friday, February 6 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34187 Daily check-in poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 18

How are you doing?

I am OK
10 (58.8%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
7 (41.2%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
7 (38.9%)

One other person
6 (33.3%)

More than one other person
5 (27.8%)



Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Two Purrcies; This week in books

Feb. 5th, 2026 07:14 pm
mecurtin: drawing of black and white cat on bookshelf (cat on books)
[personal profile] mecurtin
Sometimes as I head to the bathroom for my bedtime rituals Purrcy comes racing to the windowsill outside the door for Wild! Shenanigans! Who can spot such a creature?!?

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is crouched on a wide windowsill, peering around the edge with a single wide eye showing, tail waving wildly. He is truly a ferocious predator!

Comfort and self-care are SO important In These Trying Times, says Purrcy. Don't you agree? You, too, can combine sprawling with personal hygiene, if you're a cat!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies splat on his back on the bed, furry tummy up, stretching out one arm and cleaning it with his large pink tongue in a way that is both efficient and very relaxed


This week in books (up through yesterday, because I completely blanked on that's what Wednesday is for).

#21 There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm
It's very mind-bendingly creepy, but it fundamentally doesn't work for me because there's an underlying premise that the only minds on Earth are human. I spend too much time reading science where we deduce the existence of things we can't see to be convinced that there could be things that would be that good at messing with human minds without leaving 2nd or 3rd-order effects on the physical world.

#22 Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
An extremely cheerful post-this-apoc story about robots & humans clawing their way out of war and societal collapse to make good-tasting food, dammit. A love note to San Francisco. I described the vibe as "you're wet now, but you're going to get dried off and have some delicious noodles to warm up while you hang with your friends".

#23 The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao
Such a relief to read a book based on Chinese imperial harem/court politics that reflects the power-driven, unromantic historical reality. Also a relief to read a book about *any* royal-level struggle where the protagonist understands how much and how little royalty are truly important.

#24 Asunder, by Kerstin Hall
The cover represents this book *extremely* poorly: it implies the subject is a contemporary young woman (judging by haircut & clothing), which is 100% not the case, and the grasping/entangling hands are very hard to see.

The actual setting is extremely interesting & deserved to be conveyed by the cover: it's a fantasy landscape inspired by South Africa, which took me a while to pick up. Just like our South Africa, the world has a complex, layered history -- in this case of magic, invasion, gods and their deaths, and of how most people are just trying to make their lives among the machinations of the powerful. The *feel* of the history as well as the landscape isn't the usual pseudo-Euroasian, but I don't get the feeling that it maps to the history of southern Africa in any direct way. But it's definitely *different*, which is good.

Karys Eska is bound twice, once to the terrifying eldritch entity Sabaster who gives her the power of a deathspeaker by which she earns her living, and now to the spirit of Ferrian, a wealthy young man who promises he can pay her all the money she needs if she can carry him to safety--inside her head. Her journey to try to release herself from these two bindings is vivid and increasingly complex. The ending is not completely satisfying, and I see that's because she's writing a direct sequel.

linkdump

Feb. 5th, 2026 04:05 pm
snickfic: [A+X] Fantomex shooting across the snow (Fantomex snow)
[personal profile] snickfic
Cleaning ALL my non-fandom links out of my to-rec list. Enjoy?

How Nicki Broke the Blueprint (YouTube) by FD Signifier. She's been going ever farther off the deep end the past few years, but damn when she was good, she was good. I really loved this older look at the hip hop landscape at the time she got big, and what she meant to a lot of female hip hop fans at the time. EDIT: LOOOOL apparently FD retitled this and put a new thumbnail on it a month ago. The video is still good, though!

The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer. Short story about mutual aid and community building during an apocalypse. Hopeful.

Older LGBT science fiction database. I've not really explored this yet, but seems cool.

Why the Democratic Tea Party Failed (and How It Could Succeed) (New Republic). What this article says about the giant hole in mainstream normie liberal media has shifted my whole perspective of the political landscape and the barriers we're facing.

Twins’ peaks: The Gilbertson brothers want to rewrite your country’s map (originally NYT). About two mountain climbing brothers who are measuring a bunch of tall peaks with more accurate instruments. A fun coda to all my mountain climbing reading last fall.

What Horrible Things Did We Do To Our Penises Last Year? (Defector). You cannot read these all at once; it'd be like looking into the sun. You have to savor.

‘I can understand being brought to your knees’: Amanda Seyfried on obsession, devotion and the joy of socks (Gaurdian). Really interesting interview Amanda Seyfried and director Mona Fastvold on The Testament of Ann Lee. I read a number of pieces on the movie, but this was my favorite.

unravelling

Feb. 6th, 2026 10:47 am
tielan: (Merlin - gwen)
[personal profile] tielan
So this is at the edge of an "I am not coping with life right now" kind of week.

Unfortunately, the weekend also looks a bit busy.
cmk418: (zoe)
[personal profile] cmk418 posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Big Damn Hero
Fandom: Firefly
Character: Zoe Alleyne Washburne
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 155
Summary: They're no longer on the battlefield, but they still fight for something

Big Damn Hero )
theurbanspaceboi: "rei arthur pendragon i," a 1903 painting by charles ernest butler. king arthur holds a crown above his head. (king arthur)
[personal profile] theurbanspaceboi posting in [community profile] beagoldfish
title: master & apprentice 
fandom: star wars
details: four gifs of rey skywalker and leia organa from star wars: the force awakens (2015)

a prompt fill for week six: girls, girls, girls. also on my tumblr. 

gifs )
[syndicated profile] scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

One of my favorite sakes of all time is Ozeki’s Hana Awaka Sparkling Flower Sake. At a low 7% ABV and a beautifully light slightly sweet bubbly flavor, it is truly a treat to sip on alongside some sushi. Plus, it comes in a super cute 250ml pink labeled bottle. A perfect serving for one person!

A small, pink labeled bottle of sake, with a small shot glass next to it full of the clear, lightly bubbly liquid.

So, this past week, while perusing my local Japanese goods store in the next town over, I looked at their small sake collection and saw Ozeki’s Hana Awaka Sparkling Yuzu sake in the classic 250ml bottle, except this time it was in a yellow label to match the yuzu flavor.

I was honestly really excited to try this flavor since I adore their flower flavor so much, and the yuzu flavor was an even lower alcohol content than the flower so I imagined the flavor being even nicer.

I didn’t really care for this sake! It just tasted too much like lemon Pledge. I was hoping for a light, refreshing, bubbly citrus flavor that wasn’t overwhelming or too artificial, but sadly it was just kind of disappointing and definitely artificial tasting.

It tasted more like a 20% ABV lemon liquor than a 5% sparkling sake. It just was kind of hard to drink, unlike the flower flavor which is very easy, nice sipping. They also have a mixed berry flavor and a peach flavor that I would love to try, but haven’t seen anywhere before. Interestingly enough, the place that I first tried the flower flavor was at Sky Asian at their 9-year anniversary lunch.

Sadly, the yuzu flavor was just not up to par, and I will probably not re-buy it. If I see either of the other two flavors, I will be sure to check them out and let y’all know my thoughts!

Have you tried Ozeki sake before? According to their website, they have plenty of other types of sake besides their sparkling ones. I’d love to try some of their Junmai Daiginjo. How do you feel about sparkling sake? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
[personal profile] yhlee
Wanted y’all to hear it from me: CROWNWORLD (book 3 of the Moonstorm trilogy) is canceled. I will not be completing the book (the trilogy). I’m very sorry to readers who were hoping for the conclusion.

This was a mutually agreed, amicable decision between the primary/US publisher (Delacorte), the UK publisher (Rebellion Publishing - Solaris Books), and myself.

Between sales and publishing realities (MOONSTORM sold poorly and its prospects are unlikely to improve for political reasons you can guess), this was a rare situation where this benefits both publishers and myself. I could not announce the cancellation earlier for legal/contract reasons, and can't "simply" release the partial draft of CROWNWORLD for same.

I didn’t plan on MOONSTORM being a market failure. But novel-writing is a career with baked-in instability and career risk. I knew that going in.

Abbreviated version of what happened on my end:
I have 66,000 words of a near-finished draft that I don’t plan on resuming. The breaking point was when I had a concussion in March 2025.

You might ask why I don’t “just” yeet the last 10,000 words to have a book for release to readers even if the print publishers are no longer interested in publishing it. After illness and family crises, I’m exhausted. More than one person close to me nearly died; I set writing aside for months to do caretaking. I have peripheral neuropathy (among other things); my hands and feet might recover, or they might get worse and curtail my ability to do the things that bring me joy.

Both my publishers extended incredible grace and kindness to me during this period. This is not on them. The trilogy existence failure is on me.

I’m moving on. I’ve spent the past several years writing ~three books every two years (or 1.5 books per year - releases won't line up because of production/publishing variables). This probably sounds slow/leisurely but was not sustainable with my health as unstable as it is. There would have been a breaking point down the line even if it hadn’t happened with this specific book. I'm going to spend some time on endeavors just for the joy of it.

I hope y’all have many books you’re looking forward to reading, by other writers.

Note: I’m not in financial distress at present. Please don’t worry on that account.

Best,
YHL

Day 5 - Fic - Warrior Nun - Yasmine

Feb. 6th, 2026 12:08 am
jacquelee: (WN: Lilith arc)
[personal profile] jacquelee posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Finding Yourself in a New World – Chapter 5: The Outlaw
Day/Prompt: Day 5 / The Outlaw
Fandom: Warrior Nun (TV)
Character/Pairing: Yasmine, Camila, Ava
Rating/Warning(s): T / None
Word Count: 2484
Summary: The team is about to go on a mission that goes against the law and Yasmine can't stop herself from reading too many things about it, spiraling into anxiety. But thankfully, the others are there to reassure her that they would never let anything happen to her.

Here on AO3
ecosophia: (Default)
[personal profile] ecosophia
SaturnAs promised, I've completed my tentative delineation of the upcoming Saturn-Neptune conjunction and posted it as a public post on my SubscribeStar and Patreon venues.  You can read them here: 

https://www.subscribestar.com/john-michael-greer

https://www.patreon.com/posts/hinge-of-ages-20-150048624

(It's the same text on both venues, btw.) All in all, I found the delineation rather surprising, because it has noticeably positive features. Most of my mundane predictions have been less than sunny; to be fair, that's what the heavens have had to pass on, but it's become a source of amusement to me to watch myself becoming a purveyor of bad news from the stars. This time -- well, there will certainly be disruptions and troubles, but the whole chart points forward to Jupiter in his exaltation, which is kind of a difficult hint to miss! 

NeptumeAt any rate, since Saturn-Neptune conjunctions in the beginning of Aries happen only once every several millennia and the sample size is therefore rather low, this is a tentative prediction at best. Make of it what you will. 

Oh, and yes, I know that there's also an eclipse coming up. I plan on posting that for my subscribers as soon as I get it delineated. 

Slay the Princess?

Feb. 5th, 2026 11:30 pm
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Has anyone played Slay the Princess? There appear to be two versions on Steam, which one should I get? Do you need any sort of reflexes or coordination at any point?

Soundbite

Miscellaneous. Eclectic. Random. Perhaps markedly literate, or at least suffering from the compulsion to read any text that presents itself, including cereal boxes.

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