Text reads: Diamonds may form under pressure, but bread rises when it's allowed to rest. Something that motivates someone else might not be good for you, and that's all right.
Cosmic Funnies

titsay
i don't do bad sauce passes
Misplaced Lens Cap
Not today Justin
Sade Olutola

shark vs the universe
No title available
DEAR READER
Keni
AnasAbdin
No title available
$LAYYYTER

Janaina Medeiros

roma★

#extradirty
Xuebing Du
Peter Solarz
Jules of Nature
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ

seen from Germany
seen from Canada

seen from Finland

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Germany
seen from United States
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seen from Malaysia

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@moonsandrock
Text reads: Diamonds may form under pressure, but bread rises when it's allowed to rest. Something that motivates someone else might not be good for you, and that's all right.
a himbo must, MUST, be Kind, Beefy, and Stupid.
only Kind and Beefy? thats just a hunk.
only Beefy and Stupid? thats just a jock.
only Kind and Stupid? thats just a decent man!
NASA has released new images of Jupiter, taken by the Juno Spacecraft.
God I wish Vincent van Gogh was alive to see this
That sentiment is so sweet and pure.
Free Online Language Courses
Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.
American Sign Language
ASL University
Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change
Arabic
Arabic Without Walls
Madinah Arabic
Moroccan Arabic
Armenian
Depi Hayk
Bengali
Learn Bangla (Register to see course)
Catalan
Parla.Cat
Speak Cat
Chinese (Mandarin)
Beginner
Chinese for Beginners
Chinese Characters for Beginners
Chinese for HSK 1
Chinese for HSK 2
Chinese for HSK 3 I & II
Chinese for HSK 4
Chinese for HSK 5
Mandarin Chinese Level I
Mandarin Chinese Essentials
Mandarin Chinese for Business
More Chinese for Beginners
Start Talking Mandarin Chinese
UT Gateway to Chinese
Intermediate
Intermediate Business Chinese
Intermediate Chinese Grammar
Mandarin for Intermediate Learners I
Dutch
Introduction to Dutch
English
Online Courses here
Resources Here
Faroese
Faroese Course
Finnish
A Taste of Finnish
French
Beginner
AP French Language and Culture
Elementary French I & II
Français Interactif
Vivre en France - A1
Vivre en France- A2
Intermediate & Advanced
French Intermediate course B1-B2
Passe-Partout
Travailler en France A2-B1
Vivre en France - B1
German
Beginner
Deutsch im Blick
German Project
German at Work
Goethe Institute
Gwich’in
Introduction to Gwich’in Language
Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew
UT Austin
Hindi
A Door into Hindi
Virtual Hindi
Icelandic
Icelandic 1-5
Indonesian
Learn Indonesian
Irish
Irish 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107
Italian
Beginner
Beginner’s Italian I
Introduction to Italian
Intermediate & Advanced
AP Italian Language and Culture
Intermediate Italian I
Advanced Italian I
Japanese
Genki
Japanese JOSHU
Japanese Pronunciation
Marugoto Courses
Tufs JpLang
Korean
Beginner
First Step Korean
How to Study Korean
Introduction to Korean
Learn to Speak Korean
Pathway to Spoken Korean
Intermediate
Intermediate Korean
Norwegian
Introduction to Norwegian I, Norwegian II
Norwegian on the Web
Persian
Easy Persian
PersianDee
Polish
Online Course
Portuguese
Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro
Russian
Beginner
A1 Course
I speak Russian
Intermediate
B1 Course
B1+ Course
B2.1 Course
B2.2 Course
Spanish
Beginner
AP Spanish Language & Culture
Basic Spanish I, Spanish II
Spanish for beginners
Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Spanish Vocabulary
Advanced
Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones
Leer a Macondo
Swahili
Online Course
Turkish
Online Course
Ukrainian
Read Ukrainian
Speak Ukrainian
Welsh
Beginner’s Welsh
Discovering Wales
Yoruba
Yorùbá Yé Mi
Multiple Languages
Ancient Languages
More Language Learning Resources & Websites!
Last updated: May 2019
Poem Bangkok a/w 2018-2019 rtw
You bored, or feeling artsy but don’t have any inspiration...? *updated!*
Do you need to distract yourself? Or are you simply bored? Here are some great websites to make the time pass.
create pixel art
Awesome photo editor and art program, all free…!
Totally free transparent textures
make a cute chibi
draw some cool generative art
be a graffiti creator
create a picassohead (you don’t need to be a picasso to do so)
paint online
another awsome site to create pixel art on
and another one
create your own mandala
or color one
create an avatar
or you can try creating your own superhero
here you can interact with organisms in different environments to see how to music changes
here’s a website that translates the time into hexidecimal colours,
Here is a website where you can travel along a 3D line into the infinite unkown
here is a website where you can listen to rain with or without music
Need a model in a certain pose for drawing? here
Want to build your own planet
here is a website where you can create your own galaxies
make your own pattern (very useful if you need a new background)
create next hit comic
make a city which looks like something from 90′s games
draw a mandala like design
jig saw puzzles
more jig saw puzzles to solve
create a stunning HTML5 animation - no coding!
make a movie
create and dress up dolls
play a piano
you can also play a guitar
create sounds
another sound creator
create a logo
design your dream home
sketch rooms
explore fashion trends and create your own sets
build a website
try this app for building a website
Or maybe start learning how to code!
design your own t-shirt or a beanie or sweatpants and order them
design your own phone case
pretend to be a graphic designer with this cool online tool
Make your own Glitch art
Here’s another glitch art maker
And another!
Holy hell, here’s a third!
make an image look like it was created by a commodore 64
freaking cool text generator!
Easy to use word processor
Make up really cool patterns or run your photos through it :)
Write an essay on anything with no hassle
Wanna see how something you write would look like if it was on JacksFilms YGS((Your Grammar Sucks videos on YouTube))?
Make pictures out of text
ASCII word generator
Need an idea for some fanart-here :D
Still haven’t found something that would float your boat? Try these:
watch a documentary
learn to code
do something yourself
workout with the help of this great youtube channels
learn things
play pokemon or zelda or other awesome old school games
waste your time on miniclip
play games at additing games
or try games at agame
calm your thoughts
the quiet place
it will be okay
vent or listen to someone
pour out your soul
explore the sky
look at art from around the world
virtually visit museum of iraq
explore world with arounder
create a music playlist
list through rare books
scroll useful science website
create sand art
brain games
try out tastekid and discover new favorite band or movie or book
interactive 3D anatomy
random street view
post a secret
create a family tree
find our what’s the difference between x and y
help scientists and become volunteer researcher
create your own font
read a classic short story
In the mood to read, but not sure exactly what book to go for?
scribble on maps
listen to letters
play with acrobots
listen to podcasts
make a bucket list
Ever want to see the most truly useless websites in creation?
Prank a friend with this blue screen of death!
Zone out watching the colors drip down
Maybe none of these peeked your interest-maybe you’ve been wanting to create an o.c, but never really knew how to start-or you just enjoy making O.C’s….
This masterlist is to help you in making your own OCs….it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! (´ヮ`)!
How to Write Better OCs:
basic tips on how to make your oc even better
tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great
writing specific characters
a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character
kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME
Character Development:
how to actually make an OC
Q&A (to develop characters)
more Q&As
giving your character a backstory
how to write an attractive character
Need an Appearance idea?
Humanoid generator? check
Here’s another one
and maybe if you didn’t like those this’ll work
Need Monsterpeople?
Well, then here ya’ go
Maybe you need Cats?
Diversity
adding more racial diversity
avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it
writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)
masterpost on writing more diversity into your story
cultures of the world
guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)
Mary Sue/Gary Stu
Test to see if your character is a Sue
Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus
Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues
Villains
villain generator
need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam
villain archetypes
what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?
Relationships
character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)
how to write strong relationships between two characters
8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others
OCxLove Interest Handbook
develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!
how to write realistic relationships
how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)
ARCHETYPES
12 common archetypes
8 archetypes for male/female characters
female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)
a list of archetypes
NAMES
how to name your character
random name generator
most common surnames
surnames by ethnicity
APPEARANCE
tips for better design
basic appearance generator
pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)
clothing ref masterpost
Clothing generator
Another clothing generator
More clothing generator
Aaaand even more
Steam punk clothing
Char Style preference
Dress Generator
DETAILS
give your character better powers
a list of professions
proactive vs reactive characters
positive and negative traits
interest generator
skills generator
motivation generator
123 ideas for character flaws
list of phobias
Oh shit someone died
Backgrounds and stuff? yep
Quirks
Personality. you need that shit
Need something fandom related?
City generator hell yeah
location? got ya
World-building?
make your own god damn laws
Landscape.
Need Item names?
Fantasy/sci-fi/etc. medicine names
Stuff to make things more interesting.Weapons, clothes, treasures… whatever your characters need.
Item & Artifact Generators
Other stuffs!
Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators
How did your characters meet?
Fanfic plots. you bet your ass.
Linda Friessen Haute Couture Gowns
“Where would I ever wear this” is not incompatible with “I want it”
@claraxbarton
Yeah love love love LOVE
She didn’t have to be that extra, but she did it anyway and for that she has my sword, my bow AND my axe.
Mystified homeowner was left baffled as to who was tidying his garden shed, he thought it was a ghost, but discovered the culprit was a house-proud mouse.
Via Lovethis.news
WHEN I GET A NEW STORY IDEA AND I HAVE LIKE A HUNDRED ALREADY
It’s just like:
This amazing collar necklace was made by the French jewelry house of Mellerio dits Meller in 2013, to celebrate their 400th anniversary. Inspired by Marie de’ Medici, who was the house’s patron and wore a lot of high lace collars because that was the 17th-century royal fashion, it’s made of white gold, Burmese rubies, diamonds and pear-shaped pearls, and is the work of Canadian jewelry designer Édéenne.
I’ve realised that what I miss about fantasy is it being truly escapist. I miss it depicting places where I would actually want to go.
Every dang kid I knew waited for their Hogwarts acceptance letter. Reading the books and seeing it on screen gave you this warm, fuzzy feeling and a feeling of longing, even when they were in danger and fighting monsters and evil wizards, you want to be there.
You want to go to Middle Earth, see hobbits and elves and dwarves and run through this land of incredible beauty, mysticism and magic.
You want to be in the TARDIS, seeing the universe.
The more recent trend of fantasy is this gritty, dark realism and places where you would just never want to go. I don’t want to go to Westeros. I don’t want to be in The Hunger Games, I don’t particularly want to be in The Witcher universe. I’m living in the world of Black Mirror and I hate it.
Fantasy used to say “hey our world kinda sucks but here’s a cooler one”, but now it says “hey our world kinda sucks, but here’s an even worse one.”
That isn’t to say that the above are bad. They’re not.
But I miss beautiful, escapist fantasy that gives me a break. That takes me somewhere magical, somewhere otherworldly and gives me messages of hope and optimism in the face of darkness. I really, really miss that.
As a great man once said, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory”. If I want to live in a world full of injustice and suffering, I can just watch the news.
Same fam tbh.
“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it”
J.R.R. Tolkien
“[M]y friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, ‘What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?’ and gave the obvious answer: jailers.”
Quoted by C. S. Lewis. "On Science Fiction"
Rip to these “I’ll make it dark and gritty that’s what everyone wants” writers but I’m different.
“The most successful tyranny is not the one that [simply] uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.“ — Allan Bloom (1930-1992) American academic.
@barbarian15
OKAY BUCKLE UP GUYS, do I have some book recs for you.
Fun, enjoyable, not grimdark SFF is still out there, being written and printed, but it can be hard to know where to look, and reader exhaustion is real, particularly when you’ve taken a risk and been disappointed enough times.
This is a mix of SFF fiction, and a mix of age groups (mostly YA and adult, but there is one that I think is technically middle grade but it is FUCKING DELIGHTFUL so you should read it anyway.)
In fact, let’s start with that middle grade one because it’s the first in a series, I’ve only read the first one but it took me two years to get around to reading it and I spent a lot of the time going “why has this taken me so long???”
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (the Nevermoor series)
This book is like Harry Potter, if Harry Potter had a girl as the main character, set in a steampunk world, with the whimsy turned up 300%. Morrigan is a delightfully pragmatic lead character, who has spent all her life told she is cursed and will die on her 11th birthday. She’s blamed for any mishaps that happen in her presence, from the small inconveniences to people dropping dead. Her parents have basically been mourning her since she was born. BUT on the night she is due to die, she’s saved from the baying hounds of death (literal) by a quirky man who whisks her to a place that isn’t on the maps, and promises to train her if she can become a member of the Wundrous Society. They only accept a handful of people, however, and your magical talents have to be spectacular.
But Morrigan doesn’t think she has one. And Jupiter North, her rescuer, won’t tell her what hers is. Instead, she has to make it through all the trials based on her own ingenuity and the friendships she has made.
While this book is technically pitched to MG readers, it’s a good length, well-paced and structured, and it doesn’t speak down to the reader. I have no kids, and I don’t habitually read younger than YA, but I adored every second of this. If you want a more in-depth review, there’s one over on my blog.
Caraval - Stephanie Garber (the Caraval series)
If you want a glossy series of fairy tale-esque stories, these are gorgeous, beautifully-imagined stories of magic and mystery following two sisters, Tella and Scarlett. Caraval is a magical game that runs across several days, powered by magic and run by the enigmatic Legend. When Scarlett finds that Tella has run away to Caraval to escape their controlling father, putting Scarlett’s upcoming marriage at risk. Scarlett thinks her plan to get them out is safer, but she needs to find Tella and bring her home first.
Except Tella is in Legend’s power, and has become the prize for Caraval. So now Scarlett has to play the game against hundreds of other people to save her sister and both of their futures.
The world expands as the books continue - book two gives us Tella’s perspective and moves Caraval from Legend’s island to the capital city for the Empress’ birthday celebrations; book three shows them fighting against powers they couldn’t even imagine to save themselves, and Legend.
I reviewed all three of these on my blog. They’re stylish, filled with a gorgeous aesthetic, and while there are mentions of parental abuse, death, and some darker elements, in general they’re dealt with using a very light hand and don’t bury themselves in grimdark.
The Rook - Daniel O’Malley (The Checquy Files)
This book and its sequel, Stiletto, are a fantastic pair of modern fantasy books, full of humour but also with brilliant characters, unique powers, and a great plot. I will shout about these books until I’m hoarse, and then some more until he writes another one. The first book was made into a TV series by Starz, but I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t speak for how good an adaptation it is.
The first book introduces us to Myfanwy Thomas, who has woken up in the middle of a rainy park in London, surrounded by dead bodies, with no idea who she is or how she got there. The only clue she has is a letter in her coat pocket, claiming to be from herself, telling her where to go to find more information.
Part Myfanwy guides present Myfanwy through what she’s facing. She’s a senior figure in the Magical MI5, but someone wanted her out of the way. Why? She’s not sure, she’s only been known for her administrative skills rather than her powers, which is why when she found out she would lose her memories she prepared, at length, to help herself. Meanwhile, lacking past Myfanwy’s neuroses, present Myfanwy finds herself pushing powers beyond what anyone ever imagined.
Book two brings us two new narrative characters, again both women, from different sides of negotiations that Myfanwy set up. All the women in these books are brilliantly realised, and at no point are they sexualised. There is some violence, and given the nature of the powers, some stuff which could be deemed as slightly body-horror esque? But it’s never treated that way - I struggle with the grotesque and overly gruesome, and I felt like this felt on the right side of the tone barrier for me.
I haven’t reviewed these yet, but I haven’t had a chance to re-read them since starting my blog. I can’t recommend them more highly.
Aurora Rising - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (the Aurora Cycle)
This is an SF space opera, YA, full of campy tropes and the BEST of everything in terms of rag-tag teams and glossy action. The second book, Aurora Burning was just released this year. I’ve reviewed both over on the blog!
Set in the far future, in far space, after humans have made a peace pact with other alien races and created the Aurora Legion. Tyler Jones is set to graduate and get the best squad in the legion after coming top of his class. Unfortunately, the night before he graduates he takes a flight into fold-space and finds the ruins of a 200-year-old human transport vessel, and - impossibly - someone still alive inside, in cryostasis. He rescues her, but is forced to stay in quarantine and is left with the dregs of the recruitment pool - except for his twin sister and their childhood friend, a diplomat and a pilot respectively.
The rag-tag crew are sent on what appears to be a keep-busy mission for their first assignment, but soon discover that the girl 200 years out of time is far more important than they ever dreamed, and they’re the only ones who can protect her. They’re just not sure who they’re protecting her from.
I’ve not read any of Kristoff or Kaufman’s other stuff, and I know that Kristoff’s solo work tends to lead towards to grimdark. But while this does have some darker elements, they’re all plot-based, not universe or tonal. It doesn’t feel like a dark book, it feels like a high-energy book, with fun tricks and things. A variety of neat alien races, and roles within the Aurora Legion that read like personality quiz outcomes. In fact, they even made a quiz for you to find out!
It’s ongoing, so I can’t promise how it turns out, but I’m really loving it so far.
Flame in the Mist - Renee Ahdieh
This, and its sequel Smoke in the Sun, are Japanese-inspired light-fantasy books. It’s a duology, but I’d recommend reading them both together as the second book gets more of a punch when followed directly on rather than with a gap between. I reviewed them both on my blog.
Imagine this - a rich, genius girl due to be forced into an arranged marriage, she comes under attack by raiders and disguises herself as a boy to join an infamous band of outlaws. Imagine a Mulan-style “am I gay?” crisis for one of the leaders of the band, who can’t understand why he is really kind of into the short new recruit. Meanwhile, Mariko’s brother, a famous samurai, is trying to track down her apparent killers, and two princes - one legitimate, one the son of a concubine, try to turn the situation to their own benefit.
There are themes of honour and betrayal, court politics and long games played. Who can you trust? When does loyalty to your leader turn into betraying your people? When does doing the right thing become the wrong thing?
Book two is darker than book one, with the corrupting influence of unchecked power being explored and you get some torture and abuse. That said, it’s handled delicately and doesn’t feel too much like she’s trying to make a meal of it. They’re comparatively short, easy reads, which play with a range of tropes.
The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers (the Zamonia series)
Walter Moers is a German author, who has written a wide range of whimsical, surreal fantasy books, with gentle humour and fun illustrations. Most, if not all, are set in the wonderful world of Zamonia. Captain Bluebear is the longest I think, but he’s also written Rumo, The City of Dreaming Books and The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books.
I’ll admit I’ve only finished Captain Bluebear, and it took me a very long time to do so because it is LONG, and I was a lot younger so it felt like a really big chunk of time. It doesn’t have what I’d call a driving plot, none of his books do, but they explore completely out-there ideas, there’s very little tethering to the real world at all in them, so if you want escapism you might find these the perfect read. They’re entirely divorced from reality, and totally unpredictable. They’re very long, very gentle, and really rather wholesome.
Darkwood - Gabby Hutchinson Crouch (The Darkwood series)
The second book in this series is due to come out on 25th June, and I’ve reviewed both over on the blog again. These are literal fairy tales, using characters from Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood and the Seven Ravens (and that’s just in the first two books). They’re campy, chaotic and, not to overuse the word, fairly whimsical. However, the author is also a comedy writer for UK current affairs satire shows, so there is a healthy dose of satire in them.
For me, I felt it was pretty near the knuckle in book 2 in particular, which focuses a lot on elections and… political misrepresentations. That felt a little like poking a bruise for me after the last few years, and I think that the author was a little angrier in book two than book one, but also she’s spreading the world further and building it up ready to rope in more fairy tale characters and make the most of them.
The first book in particular was mostly set in and around this tiny village, called Nearby, and was filled with all the sort of local bickering and sniping that entirely delighted me.
Battlestar Suburbia - Chris McCrudden (The Battlestar Suburbia series)
From the same publisher as the Darkwood series, you’ve got this delightfully zany Sci-Fi caper, set in a future where smart appliances have realised that they’re smarter than humans and have taken control. It starts with our everyman, Darren, desperately trying to avoid having to become a cleaner after losing his own business, inadvertantly murdering a robot while attempting to give it a hand job (cleaning out its circuitry), and accidentally joining the human resistance. Meanwhile, sentient breadmaker, Pamasonic Teffal, has accidentally uncovered corruption in her job and goes on the lam disguised as a motorcycle after her boss tries to have her assassinated. She takes on the pseudonym Pam Van Dam and finds herself falling in alongside Darren and Kelly as they try to fight for human freedom.
Add into this jokes which are seeded pages in advance but delivered so casually that you have to go back to see exactly how subtle the build-up is, and four old ladies who accidentally became cyborgs when their hair dryer hoods fused to them during the robot uprising hundreds of years ago, and some very camp humour, you’ve got something really rather cheering on your hands.
I’ve got more in-depth reviews of both titles on my blog, and Chris McCrudden also wrote a Christmas-themed short story that was published in four episodes on the Farrago website.
The Belles - Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles duology)
These two books are glossy, stylish YA novels set in a steampunk fantasy world blending elements from ante-bellum New Orleans and Japanese cultures into something that reads visually stunning. In a world where all people are cursed to be grey and hideous, except for a generation of Belles - these women are beautiful, and possess the power to change peoples’ appearances to make them beautiful for a short while.
Camellia dreams of being the Belle assigned to the royal family, but she is deemed too headstrong, not able to follow instructions. But when her sister is dismissed suddenly she finds herself promoted and directly in the line of fire for the demanding princess.
These books have a not-so-subtle message - beauty is what you make it, trying to change yourself to follow fashion is painful, the value cocmes from diversity in appearance - but the story itself develops into something of a light conspiracy thriller. There are some elements that could tend a little to body horror - the beauty treatments essentially are a sort of magical cosmetic surgery and don’t come without pain or risk - but again, Clayton deals with it carefully and respectfully.
I’ve reviewed both of these on the blog, but as with the Flame in the Mist duology I’d recommend reading both of these together for the second book to have the sort of punch it needs.
Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles of St Mary’s)
Hello would you like some zany pseudo-sci-fi chaos with time travel, maladjusted geniuses, and dry British humour? I stumbled across this series by accident when the first book was made available for review on Netgalley to promote something like the ninth one, and I fell deeply in love with it, as my review will attest.
Capable, intelligent, strong female lead? Check. Understated romance with someone lovely? Check. Absolute chaos because everyone involved in the project is essentially a mad genius, but people treating it as completely normal because it happens all the time and they’re used to it? Check.
Time travelling historians, guys. Time travellers who are experts in different eras of history, who travel back in time to find answers to research questions, no interaction, no interference, and they simply pretend they are just the green berets of book research when people commission them to find something out.
It’s a fantastic system of time travel set up, and as it’s exploited for evil the plot thickens and they have to take different approaches to try and save the day. I loved EVERY SECOND of this wonderful book, and if you want something that makes you feel like hopping into the TARDIS, you probably won’t get much closer than this.
Space Opera - Catherynne M. Valente
You might recognise this author as the woman who wrote The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairy Land In A Ship Of Her Own Making, but for this short, high-glitter novels, she asks the question “What about is Space had Eurovision?”
It’s 3000% camp, has lines that Douglas Adams would be proud of, and is an absolute celebration of cultural, gender and sexual diversity, liberally topped with glitter, and friendship, and love, while also being set in the middle of the biggest musical bitch fight the world knows on a galaxy-wide level.
This book is gleeful, giddy, empowering and exciting. I read the whole thing with a Big Damn Smile on my face, and at the end of it I felt like I’d had a musical hug. When I reviewed it on my blog, I waxed lyrical about it. I found Fairy Land a little dense for my personal tastes, but this was the exact sort of balls to the wall nonsense that I adored. I love Eurovision and its politics, I love that it was taken just as far as it could possibly go to become a galactic battle for survival, I love that the representative that the aliens choose for Earth is a mixed-race, genderqueer, pansexual ex glam-rocker, and I love how all the Earth authorities absolutely flip out about it while the aliens are like “this person best demonstrates your species’ potential for advanced thought and evolution.”
Honestly I’d have been happy just with a book that was straight out space Eurovision without any of the additional plots, but it gave me something so much more and it’s a motherfricking delight.
Crown of Feathers - Nicki Pau Preto (The Crown of Feathers series)
Some light-fantasy coming-of-age, but with MOTHERFRACKING PHOENIXES. The fantasy is pretty low-key, as of book one it seems to be entirely restricted to an ability to communicate with animals in humans, and the aforementioned presence of Motherfracking Phoenixes.
Set after phoenix riders and phoenixes have been wiped out, and magic made illegal, it follows two sisters who are descended from riders, desperate to find and bond with their own birds and become riders. Their relationship is fraught, the older sister is controlling, and after the older kills her sister’s phoenix out of jealousy, the younger runs away, disguises herself as a boy, and finds an underground resistance which is breeding and raising phoenixes. (the word phoenix now looks really weird to me).
It also follows a man with powers who is undercover in the army, hiding his skills and trying to keep his head down and not get killed.the two parallel storylines work around each other and intersect as the oppressive state and the burgeoning rebellion circle around each other. I loved book one, and go into more detail on the blog, but haven’t had a chance to read book two yet.
The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind - Jackson Ford (The Frost Files)
Do you like zany hijinks with a hot mess of a main character? Do you like rag-tag teams who just about manage to work with each other but who are forced beyond their endurance by conspiracies and threats? Do you like a book that really just tells you what it’s about in the title?
This is a book that starts at a sprint and then just keeps going. Teagan Frost is 100% certain that she is the only person in the world who has special powers. She knows that because her parents made her, her brother, and her sister, and her brother and sister are dead and all her parents’ research was destroyed. So when a string of murders starts happening that could only have been committed by someone with her powers, she looks like the only possible suspect.
Except, she didn’t do it.
On the clock to try and work out who is killing these people, trying to work out the connection between the victims and keep them alive, while all she really needs is a goddamn nap and a burrito, Teagan and her crew are pushed beyond their limits personally and with each other. There’s more info in the review on my blog, and an upcoming sequel to build on where this book leaves off.
What’s the title of the sequel? Random Sh*t Flying Through The Air.
Soulless - Gail Carriger (The Parasol Protectorate series)
Yes yes, vampires and werewolves have been done to death, but hear me out. Steampunk, queer rep, and a main character whose entire power is based on the fact that she cancels out any supernatural being around her.
We first meet Alexia Tarabotti when she’s trying to eat a treacle tart that she’s secretly ordered after the food at a party isn’t good enough (which is a power move that I admire) and a vampire tries to bite her but as a result of her power nullification ends up just gently gnawing on her neck and looking a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.
It’s the first of a series of five books that has lesbian inventors in Victorian suits, gay flamboyant vampires, quietly gay nerdy werewolves, and one very grouchy and scruffy Scottish (le gasp!) werewolf, whose worst crime seems to be that he is, in fact, Scottish.
A sequel series has started following the next generation of the Tarabotti clan, although I’ve not read that yet, and Carriger has also written another delightful series set in a finishing school for lady assassins. All her stories are wonderfully camp, with a fantastic aesthetic and dry-but-ridiculous humour, and a decent amount of time spent thinking about cakes.
I’m going to pause there because it’s taken me ages to to this, BUT you can find so many more reviews on the blog, with a new one going up every week!
Come find us at NerdsLikeMe.co.uk
There is SO MUCH SFF out there, for a huge range of tastes. I know grimdark has become vogue in recent years, but I’ll be honest it’s not my favourite subgenre (although I have read some absolute bangers in grimdark too, so I’ll never write off a book without trying it). I love escapist SFF, so if you are ever after anything fun, light, or something to scratch a specific itch, come ask me about it! I’ll always be very happy to help.
Reblogging this again because I’m watching the TV show of the Rook right now and it’s so drastically missed the point and tone and it’s making me grumpy.
Linda Friessen Haute Couture Gowns
@sorceressdamia