Leora

Two cats sitting on top of cages and looking at the ceiling

Two cars on the floor staring up at the ceiling

Two young kittens in a cage taking notice

A cat standing on her hind legs to reach for a moth

A moth got into the shelter tonight and it was the event of the season.

SAY MURDER YOU COWARD PRESS ROOMS

Reindeer eyes shift seasonally so their winter vision maximizes the amount of light they take in and their summer vision maximizes color and detail as an adaptation for polar sun.

having thought about this for three days, my current status is:

what the FUCK are we doing trying to ban social media for kids and not banning AI use? we are literally telling them not to use the computer to talk to their real friends but instead to the imaginary technology monetisable 'friends'.

Bottom line is that anti trans politics is part of fascist politics and you can’t fight fascism by taking on and surrendering to its ideas

congratulations!! my spouse gave me sheine lende for my birthday this year. it was so beautiful and the family dynamics were so strong.

Image is the cover of The Goblin Emperor. It features an enormous crown shaped like a castle. The wearer of the crown is only visible from the nose up and has nervous eyes, pointed ears, and curly hair. There is a blimp in the background.

34) The Goblin Emperor by @pennyvixen.bsky.social . Introducing the only acceptable monarch: He knows the whole system is fundamentally unjust & tries his absolute best to be kind despite everything. Excellent worldbuilding, character arcs, political intrigue, realistic bureaucracy, compelling cast.

Image shows the cover of Biting the Sun, featuring a blond woman in very tight fitting jeweled clothes standing in a lush garden with a dragon-like animal floating in a bit of desert in the background. She is plucking an apple from the tree, where it is echoed by the sun.

33) Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee. A post-Singularity deconstruction written before singularity was a term. A woman(ish) in a post-scarcity artificial paradise (ish) searches desperately for meaning or a SF tale of Eve leaving the garden. Warning: the pet dies for narratively necessary reasons.

Image shows a cover of The Lions of Al-Rassan featuring the profiles of three people: A man with an earring holding book and the hilt of a sword, a Jewish woman holding a bottle (known for use by physicians in the middle ages), and a man with helmet and gauntlets holding a sword.

32) The Lions of Al-Rassan by @guygavrielkay.bsky.social. Reconquista-era novel w/a Jewish-Christian-Muslim love triangle. Love at first sight except it's also nemeses "one day I will die at your hand" at first sight. Also: trying to hold onto life and beauty in a violent world, blood libel, poetry.

Image is the cover of The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, which at first glance looks like a fancy old-style picture frame but on closer look also includes a pair of parrots, a chemistry set, a cup of tea, a pistol, a skull, a spider, a pocketwatch, and a pair of women in silhouette.

31) The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner. An absolutely delightful romp featuring a disaster bi fire witch from the slums caught up in upper-class murderous intrigue. Includes a well-depicted bad mom, an undead mouse named Buttons, & a competent half-troll all-rich love interest.

Image shows the cover of Graceling, which features a sharp shiny dagger that reflects a bit of a person's face, including a bright blue eye.

30) Graceling by Kristin Cashore. A supernaturally badass woman raised to believe she's a monster learns to trust her own instinct for kindness with the help of a pretty prince and a traumatized child. The whole series depicts different types of terrible parents and their kind children.

Image is the cover of Asunder. It features a woman in profile with short hair and sparks dancing around her face. There are ghostly hands on her shirt which honestly I didn't notice until doing this image description but now that I have noticed I can't unsee and they are indeed quite creepy.

29) Asunder by @kerstinhall.bsky.social . Gorgeous writing & compelling worldbuilding in which neither new nor old world order is All Good or All Bad and survival has a high cost for our MC. Plus: mutant dog taxis, body-stealing cult, golden elephants, terrible dad(s), and luxury spider-yachts.

Image is the cover of The Breath of the Sun, showing a mountain so tall you cannot see its summit and a red hot air balloon.

28) The Breath of the Sun by @isaac-fellman.bsky.social. It's about mountain climbing. It's about charismatic cult leader manipulation. It's a tender love story told entirely through one woman's footnoted comments on her lover's memoir. It's about minority religion. I quoted it in my wedding vows.

Image is the cover of A Snake Falls to Earth. It shows a young woman wearing headphones and a long skirt. A snake forms the shadow where her skirt meets the ground.

27) A Snake Falls to Earth by @littlebadger.bsky.social. In a near-future with increased climate disasters and extinctions, hope is found in people caring about each other and the world. Also, it is a Lipan Apache Snake-Person who falls to Earth from the Reflecting World and I love him so much.

image shows a bowl of bibimbap with meat crumbles, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, and other greens arranged in wedges on top of rice with a glossy egg yolk on top

kosher stone bowl bibimbap my spouse made for my birthday this year. extremely delicious.

I don’t actually give a shit about polling if the polling says “your friends should die”

"Man and wife, they say, there [in bed] open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts’ honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg—a cosy, loving pair."

Image shoes the cover of A Memory Called Empire, featuring a large spiky throne reminiscent of a sun with someone dressed in white sitting on it and a small figure at the top of the stairs approaching the throne.

26) A Memory Called Empire by @byzantienne.bsky.social . A diplomat travels to the capital of the empire threatening to annex her space station and immediately becomes involved with assassinations, a succession crisis, competing coups, poetry contests, brain surgery, and her competent lesbian aide.

Image is the cover of The Unspoken Name, featuring a broken tusk with gold caps and sparks all around.

25) The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. What if Tombs of Atuan but the wizard has ulterior motives? What if orc-Tenar then became a badass swordwoman with a big gay haircut? Add a powerful sorceress love interest, a MILF librarian with an alarming death count, and the best frenemy a girl could want.

Image is the cover of Dark Lord of Derkwholm, featuring a rearing griffin with wings outstretched and a shadowy horned figure on its back. A mass of archers at the bottom of the image are aiming at the griffin.

24) Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones. A hilarious satire/deconstruction of classic fantasy tropes in a world that is being used as a magic theme park by a businessman from Earth. It blends humor and whimsy with thoughtful explorations of trauma, grief, solidarity, family, and exploitation.

Image is the cover of Carpe Jugulum, showing a horse-drawn carriage flying past a full moon on a silver cloud.

23) Carpe Juguluum by Terry Pratchett. Hard as it is to pick just one Discworld book, this won wins out because of the clarity of its moral message (evil is when you treat people as things), plus Mightily Oats' character arc and the vampire family drama. It is deeply satisfying and also hilarious.

Image shows the cover of The Great Stewardess Rebellion, featuring a line of white women in matching navy uniforms with short skirts and white gloves walking away from an airplane.

22) The Great Stewardess Rebellion by Nell McShane Wulfhart. A deep dive into the history of airline stewardesses, the gross misogyny and institutionalized sexism in their employment, and their trailblazing campaign for fair treatment that genuinely moved the arc of the universe towards justice.

Image is the cover of Spear. It shows an ornate metal bowl filled with flames. The flames form the silhouette of a spear-wielding figure on a rearing horse with the suggestion of a castle wall in the background.

21) Spear by @nicolaz.bsky.social. Gorgeously written retelling of Perceval and the Grail fused with Welsh mythology with a lesbian Perceval and a deep moral core of kindness and caring. Did I mention the writing is gorgeous?

Image is the cover of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The top half of the cover has an envelope with multiple stamps. The bottom half has a figure standing at a railing looking out onto the ocean, with a tiny island barely visible in the distance.

20) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This tender epistolary novel set just after WWII is about collective trauma and communal recovery, the healing power of a good book, choosing kindness, grief, community, and love.

Image is the cover of Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. It shows a spatula-wielding woman in an apron in front of a sketched oven, with other baking-related items like a cupcake, rolling pin, slice of cake, and fancy cake stand floating around the title.

19) Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by @quicunquevult.bsky.social. Romance novel with a bi single mom on the Great British Bakeoff. Delectable food descriptions and hilarious hijinks provide icing on a cake of self-actualization and prioritizing relationships of mutual respect.

the way people were like “the barbie movie is preschool feminism”? the niemöller poem is preschool solidarity.

if “oh, this might hurt me??” is your only way to see other people’s humanity, then congrats, you’re in remedial solidarity 098 at irl greendale community college & no one’s hot or funny.

Image is the cover of When the Angels Left the Old Country. It has a silhouette of a winged figure wearing a hat and long coat. Inside that silhouette are the silhouettes of two faces and a cityscape.

18) When the Angels Left the Old Country by @sachalamb.bsky.social. An angel & a demon have been chevrusahs (intimate study partners) in a shtetl for 100s of years, and are now going to America. I loved this tender exploration of identity, immigration, grief, Judaism, friendship, evil, and anger.

Image shows a cover of The Last Unicorn. It has a long-horned unicorn in mid-leap against a foresty background.

17) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. A classic tale of a unicorn on quest and the nature of heroism, true love, wizardry, Robin Hood, and evil. The writing is gorgeous and it is full of brilliant and hilarious gems, like the tree that falls in love with the wizard, and Madam Fortuna's carnival.

Image is the cover of The Pushcart War, in which a large bearded truck driver looms over an elderly pushcart peddler. Behind them is a a pushcart, and behind that is a large truck.

16) The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. A David-and-Goliath narrative of pushcart peddlers defending themself against the oppression of the trucking industry. Also, absolutely hilarious political satire about New York, war, leadership, power, the menace of plastic bags, and a flowered hat.

Thank you!