Sasha HC 🏳️‍🌈

The bots are all for it

Everything Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded, black death’s wing’s overhead. Everything’s eaten by hunger, unsated, so why does a light shine ahead? By day, a mysterious wood, near the town, breathes out cherry, a cherry perfume. By night, on July’s sky, deep, and transparent, new constellations are thrown. And something miraculous will come close to the darkness and ruin, something no-one, no-one, has known, though we’ve longed for it since we were children.

I think of this Anna Akhmatova poem constantly

Dan Simmons, noted racist, has died. He wrote Hyperion, which contained a good short story and then a lot of other words, which many of us read anyway because it was the Nineties and Waldenbooks had a limited science fiction section.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Israel is doing great evil“ is not antisemitic. “Israel is pulling the levers on all the world’s evil” is both antisemitic and also passing the buck on how bad the US is, and our role now and historically.

“But how do we do it without all the things that make it special?”

Also known as @danielomalley.bsky.social .

If you would like a fun read about an occult secret service in the UK, try the Checquy books by Daniel O’Malley. “Royal Gambit” has a lady in waiting who can break bones with a touch, an investigative quokka, an operative who turns into a stegosaurus, and marble cubes in peoples’ heads. Like ya do.

“A Half-Built Garden” by @r-emrys.bsky.social is a first contact novel starring an underslept nursing mother and I hugely appreciated it.

I have. The first one is just my favorite.

I reread The Dark is Rising every winter.

They found him. He died.

Another murder by our immigration goon squads

100% my comfort reads

Thanks for the rec! I would add “A Half-Built Garden” by Ruthanna Emrys ( @r-emrys.bsky.social ) to comfort reads! How do you handle first contact when you are still nursing?

So good!

Announcing THE SWORN SOLDIER by T. Kingfisher We’re pleased to announce The Sworn Soldier, which gathers the three Alex Easton novellas by T. Kingfisher in one volume for the first time. Each novella is highlighted by a full-page illustrati...

We’re pleased to announce The Sworn Soldier, which gathers the three Alex Easton novellas by @tkingfisher.com in one volume for the first time with art by John Jude Palencar. Full details and preorder: subterraneanpress.com/newsannounci...

BURRITO FIGHT

Oh! “Rules for Ghosting” by Shelly Jay Shore ( @shellyjayshore.bsky.social ). Jewish trans man doula medium in Rhode Island. I read it twice in a row.

Whacks bedpost with hockey stick.

Oooh, I haven’t read this one in a while. It used to be a stalwart comfort read.

@authorkaraj.bsky.social Kara Jorgensen’s Reanimator Mysteries. There are four so far - an autistic necromancer and his investigator boyfriend in 20s NYC.

Good choice

I reread “Synners” by Pat Cadigan ( @patcadigan.bsky.social ) about once a year. It’s OG cyberpunk, kinda hope punk?, and gets more true every year.

Have you read the Astreiant Series by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett? Queer fantasy procedurals. ( @blueterraplane.bsky.social )

Also by Melissa Scott, “Dreaming Metal” and “Burning Bright” are comfort reads of mine. Complex Sci Fi with culture clashes and relationships.

HOLY COW

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Luckily, I live in San Francisco.

One of my favorites.

“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston.

Ally level 100

#Booksky Member of LA Con or Seattle Worldcon? You can nominate works for the Hugo Awards ballot! Know what we, a press in Minneapolis, published? A Hugo Award-eligible series! Please consider nominating the Astreiant Series by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett! queenofswordspress.com/product/comp...

I far prefer written narrative with screen shots.