Balderdash

Bal.der.dash (noun) 1.senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense. 2. a muddled mixture of liquors.

[halogencat]

“It turns out executing a deliberate, convincing distraction is a lot harder than being a distraction accidentally.”

― Martha Wells, Platform Decay

[smoothwhisper]

[addictedtowords16]

"Oh, no, thanks, though. I'm agnostopagan." The Keeper cocks his head questioningly. "Spiritual but not religious," Zachary clarifies. He doesn't say what he is thinking, which is that his church is held-breath story listening and late-night-concert ear-ringing rapture and perfect-boss fight- button pressing. That his religion is buried in the silence of freshly fallen snow, in a carefully crafted cocktail, in between the pages of a book somewhere after the beginning but before the ending.

The Starless Sea

[westernlarch]

"She wore orange and she deserved it."

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 3 by Beth Brower 😂😂😂

[livedinfantasy8]

“A perusal of the Dalliance confirmed that there are still books being printed in this world, despite the limited buying power of our heroine.”

Just finished Emma M. Lion vol. 4 and I don’t know what to do with myself. This series is so deeply personal to me.

[randombookquotes]

the unselected journals of emma m. lion: vol. 2- beth brower

[pangur-and-grim]

Queer Books and Authors are at a Breaking Point

Authors, agents, publishers: every part of the industry is seeing the strain of five years of escalating anti-LGBTQ censorship.

[pangur-and-grim]

if you'd like to show support, here are some upcoming queer books:

When Life Gives You Corpses is a brilliant YA about a cursed praying mantis who falls for a young witch. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a raunchy, but surprisingly sweet story of two men repairing their relationship. Fabulous Bodies is a horror story about a queer rockstar rising from the dead.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is a fantasy set in a vividly imagined land, where two women (who happen to kiss) are the key to healing the broken sky. You're No Better is a story about a teen struggling in the shadow of his murderous parent. Oil on Canvas is about a woman who finds disturbing paintings in the home of her dead mother.

and then here's a list of 26 queer books by Black authors set to publish this year, and a 10 upcoming books by trans authors. if you want to fight back against queer censorship, use your wallet! or (if that's not an option) you can contact your local library and ask them to stock a copy.

[pangur-and-grim]

[fcirfolk]

— Christina Rossetti, Echo

[shisasan]

Christina Rossetti, Bird Raptures (1876)

[halogencat]

“The second decade of the twenty-first century seems replete with examples as to why autocracies are, to put it mildly, very stupid. Our headlines are dominated by regimes with one nigh-all-powerful man at the top making any number of terrible choices, and then – to the bafflement of the entire globe – doubling down on them, thus inflicting massive suffering on his people. It seems the talents that make a man capable of navigating palace intrigue until he wins the throne generally don’t coexist with the talents required for – or even a passing interest in – good governance…”

Yet if the 2010’s awed us with the power of autocrats, the 2020’s seem hell-bent to refute it. More and more, it becomes impossible to deny that autocrats – like any ruler – are but men, yet men with no obligation to listen their people, and thus acknowledge reality. This, in turn, makes them fools: fools that are very difficult to dislodge from their thrones, true, but fools nonetheless…”

“Because all the characters in this story—like all of humanity, apparently—have a little blank spot in their heads that says, “Kings. What a good idea.” The idea is powerful, and seductive, and should not be underestimated. To be a civilization of any worth, however, means acknowledging the idea—and then condemning it as laughably, madly stupid. May we come to live in such a worthier world, and soon.”

― Robert Jackson Bennett, Author’s Note from A Drop of Corruption

[halogencat]

“For if we are not instruments in service to one another, then we are nothing at all.”

- Robert Jackson Bennett, Author’s Note from A Drop of Corruption

[halogencat]

“It is good to place oneself before the vast expanse of this world," said Ana. "The ocean cannot tell the difference between a rich man and a poor one, nor one full of happiness, nor despair. To those waves, all are so terribly small.”

― Robert Jackson Bennett, A Drop of Corruption

[halogencat]

“Burn the clothes and reform the character. Promptly.”

To which I couldn’t help but respond, “Ah, but here is some of the progress you so desire, Aunt. In the past, they would have burned the witches and reformed the clothes.”

- Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 2

[halogencat]

“I want to give you everything. I want to give you something that never ends," he said, tucking my hair gently behind my ear. "A book series you're obsessed with that has a hundred volumes. A song you never get tired of hearing on loop, a favorite meal you never get sick of eating. A love that never fades. Someone you can't wait to get home to, every day for the rest of your life. Something eternal.”

― Abby Jimenez, The Night We Met

[halogencat]

“Life buries us. We get heavier and heavier as time goes on and we labor under the layers we’ve collected. Sometimes the layers make us who we are and sometimes they make us someone else entirely.”

― Abby Jimenez, The Night We Met

[halogencat]

“Maybe this isn’t the kind of love that deserves to exist. Maybe it’s the kind that wars start over. The kind that topples empires and never leaves the world better than it found it.”

― Abby Jimenez, The Night We Met