wandering across realms of fantasy

Fantasy writer and reader. Finnish gal.

[emwrote]

Books/stories read in 2026:

I finished reading all these stories so they're a good read, however the ones I really enjoyed and recommend (in general) are in bold

January:

Ugly Sweaters and the Year End-Circus by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Still Life 1931 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Wickedly Charming by Kristine Grayson (pen name of Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

Charming Blue by Kristine Grayson (pen name of Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

Chronicles Volume One by Bob Dylan

Helmie by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story on Kriswrites blog, also in Uncollected Anthology and Hearts Collide Vol.1 )

Teach Yourself Creative Writing by Dianne Doubtfire (1987)

Suomalainen ihmissusi (Finnish werewolf) by Risto Karlsson (1990)

Research And The Research Librarian by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Avilion by Robert Holdstock

February:

Paper Towns by John Green

Hunches by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Kuun Pimeä Puoli (The Dark Side of the Moon) an anthology of Finnish werewolf stories. edited by Juri Nummelin

Thoroughly Kissed by Kristine Grayson (pen name of Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

Jackie-O by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Night of the Hogtied Alien by Stefon Mears (short story)

March:

Ghosts Where There Should Be None by Icy Sedwick (short story)

Skylight by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

The Disappearance of Wicked by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

The God Across the Hall by Stefon Mears (short story)

Utterly Charmed by Kristine Grayson (pen name of Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

The Perfect Man by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Models by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

The Flower Man by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Knowing Jack by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Her Mother's Secrets by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Scars by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

That Will Be Fine by William Faulkner (short story)

Pyhät Puut (Holy Trees) by Reetta Ranta (non fiction)

Going Native by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin (short story)

April:

Pact Breaker by Stefon Mears (short story)

Atypical Man by Robert Essig (short story)

Spinning by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Totality by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Star by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

If Sex is All a Dream, Then Who Will Clean up the Mess? by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Pathetic Fallacy by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Marriage in Six Floors by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Will You Still Love Me in Five Minutes? (A Marble Grant story) by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Romance Novel Challenge Dee W. Schofield pen name of Dean Wesley Smith (and possibly Kristine Kathryn Rusch, I need to check) (short story)

Cheerleader Revelation by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Clicking Sticks Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Stone Slept Here by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Let's Dance Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Hot Water by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Hidden Box Inn and Casino by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

She Arrived Without a Song by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Ghost of Poker Games Past by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Vanilla Three-Way With a Cherry by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Delightfully Dizzy by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Roses Around the Moment by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Through The For Sale Sign by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

No Firing Squad Yet by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Pinch of How Rosie Lived by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Man Who Tasted the Other Side by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Playing with Reality Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Fashion and the Snarkmeisters Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Cosmic Balances Inc. Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Say Hello to my Little Friend Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Death on D Street by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Earth Day by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Vau! Ihmettelyn tiede (The Awe Effect) by Katrin Sandberg, Sara Hammarkrantz

Game Testing by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

The Midbury Lake Incident by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

My Real Cousin Ruby by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Domestic Magic by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Dread Unlocks by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

One Early Evening in Mexico by Harvey Stanbrough

Phantom by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Old Memories by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Great First Day by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Subdivision Survival: The Game by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Blind Poet by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Man Who Used Shrill Whispers by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Unlocked Gate by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Not Easy to Kill the Light Next Door by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Pity About the Delusion by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

A Lady in Heat by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

For Your Consideration by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Write Attitude 2026 Revision (Writing Craft book) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

May

Cutting Down Fred by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

My Socks Rolled Down by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Cat in Waiting by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Not Salable For Sale by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Cat in the Air by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Long Dead New Love by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Cat in a Different Place by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

Cat in Love by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

The Empty Mummy Murders by Dean Wesley Smith (short story)

After the Fall by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Puckish Behavior by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

The Destroyer by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Human Business by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (short story)

Spring Cleaning by Siobhan Gallgher

June

The Awakening by Nora Roberts

Writing into the Dark 2026 by Dean Wesley Smith

Heinleins Rules 2026 by Dean Wesley Smith

Freelancers Guide to Success by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Glamour (Rae Wilder) by Penelope Fletcher

Breath of Life by Christine Pope

A Simple Gift by Christine Pope

The Mandala Maneuver by Christine Pope

The Zhore Deception Christine Pope

The Most Important Sound in Space by Stefon Mears (short story)

[sanguine-squid]

where is any higher quality version of this image

[satellites-halo]

can't find anything other than this which has maybe 5 extra pixels

[sergal]

[solitairie]

now dance fucker dance man he never had a chance

[boobrovsky]

Päätty tää peli miten vaan, jätkien on paras mennä polvilleen annusen eteen ja tehdä mitä ikinä se pyytää

[dduane]

And now for some cow-based science

Ben Seleb, then at the Georgia Institute of Technology, had seen clusters of these steps on a trip through the Swiss countryside. Now a postdoctoral engineer at Rockefeller University in New York, he suspected the humble cow deserved more credit. “There has been increasing research in animals creating neat patterns in nature, from honeycombs to spider webs. It makes sense to me that cows can do it too,” Seleb said. “So I took it upon myself to defend the cows’ agency.”

[shisasan]

I hoard books.

July 16th, 1962 Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters First published: 1977

[moniquill]

[quick-ship-delivery]

THE ROTISSERIE CHICKENS ARE $5 FOR 3 POUND FULLY COOKED AND SEASONED BIRD! THAT'S $1.66 PER POUND! THATS'S CHEAPER THAN A RAW UNCOOKED WHOLE CHICKEN! WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?!

[emwrote]

I probably should write 5-6 short stories about Airi. She makes protective amulets to keep people safe and first unwillingly ends up taking care of a kid who becomes a main antagonist in the high fantasy series.

She's also old, grey, her bones ache most of the time, and she probably slapped a guy for saying her foster son was created by the chaotic god to bring ruin upon all.

Her ghost still haunts the narrative.

[emwrote]

Pulla for dessert

[nacht---hexe]

liking pineapple on pizza is actually really useful bc if someone gets weird about it i know for sure i can't openly engage w them on like 90% of things and i gotta go coworker mode

[prokopetz]

I imagine you as being no older than 25, but your personal chronology doesn’t really make this possible or realistic. Can you do something about this?

The curse of having been a kid who was seen as "mature for his age" because he was just really good at copying the register of the adults around him is that you're basically stuck sounding ambiguously twentysomething forever.

[iamthelowercase]

Prokopetz here has previously made reference to having personal memories of the mid-90s. If we assume he was five years old in 1995, that would probably make him 36 now (in 2026).

Frankly I'm treating that as a lower bound, but that's also as far as I'm going to push it.

[prokopetz]

I'm turning 43 on Sunday.

[depsidase]

[snototter]

A pair of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) off the coast of the Falkland Islands

by Laura Jourdan

[athanza]

From Veronica Tucker via Pinterest

[rappiokausi]

mummo: — TUUS NY

[parkchanwoohoo]

[playwrongs]

Look at this crazy vanity table designed by Gaudí (picture from Wikimedia Commons, by user amadalvarez)

I tried to come up with text to put here, but I can’t. Just look at it! Someone had that in her house

[roach-works]

good god, that fucks

[elodieunderglass]

Hat tip @kittensforbrowncoats !

[deathbyoctopi]

ok, SOMEONE might correct me on this fact (plz feel free to!) but I've always heard that in cases like the Milà and the Batlló families, who commissioned Gaudí for their fanciful domiciles in the new fashionable avenue of Barcelona, some of the members of that upper class might resent a little living in a building that was a bit of a laughing stock.

Look for example, what the satirical magazine l'Esquella de la Torratxa made to mock the bizarre design of Milà's house!

Like many architects of the time, Gaudí designed everything that was supposed to be in the house. Outside, inside, furniture.

but perhaps tired of the curves of art nouveau (and of people whispering behind their back that their buildings looked like something a pastry chef could create), as soon as the fashion sensibilities changed and Art Nouveu was no longer in fashion, they renovated with great ardour and absolute indifference towards the works of art so unique and suitable for THEIR houses.

Just look at what they did to Casa Batlló... Gaudí would be spinning so hard in his grave if he saw, he would screw right through his crypt of Sagrada Familia and straight into the metro.

So... lots of ladies had killer vanity tables like that one.

And sadly, LOTS of them threw them away like worthless trash when they were not considered fashionable any longer...

[mymodernmet]

Sultan the Pit Pony is a 200-meter-long, raised-earth sculpture made of 60,000 tonnes of coal shale in Caerphilly, South Wales. Designed by Welsh artist Mick Petts, the colossal work of art is known as the largest figurative earth sculpture in the United Kingdom.

[veggiezombiex]

@becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys

Amazing.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

More accurately, the real life Sultan the pit pony was the last pit pony to be brought up out of the Penallta Colliery when it closed. The earthwork uses spoil specifically from Penallta, and it was designed and named in Sultan’s honour as a tribute to all the equine workers of the South Wales coal belt

The real Sultan was a bit of a local celebrity, by all accounts, and in his retirement was taken around local horse shows as part of parades or opening ceremonies or what have you. So, when the art was designed, the locals and the artist both named it after him.

It’s very cool being there; it’s actually so big you can’t tell what it is from the ground. There are picnic benches in his nostril