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I’m reading Inkpot Gods and I just absolutely love seeing all the Talis Kimberley lyrics! Some I know, some I don’t, which makes me want to find her works that I’m not as familiar with. I’ve loved her music since hearing your cover of Still Catch the Tide. It’s such a fun thing to see her lyrics in the Alchemical Journeys books!

I am very fortunate that she continues to put up with me.

I just wanted to say thank you for blessing us with the Aurelia x Massacre Girl crack ship, so you're aware at least one of us lesbians (me) has built a pride rules deck with and got fanart drawn of the two of them 💕💕💕

Shout-out to my coworker Brandon for making lesbians real lol

Every single thing about this delights me completely.

Forgive me if you’ve answered this before, but reading the new Wayward Children book got me wondering:

Where on the compass would the Summerlands from the Toby Daye series fall?

High logic/high wicked.

I just finished Omens of Chaos, it was very good! I'm really liking how the omenpaths are letting us see much more interaction between planes, it has the potential for lots of interesting stories.

Also, after reading your Duskmourn stories I'm Very Suspicious of the mention of new moths showing up.

I like how I can give Magic players anxiety by just mentioning moths.

Thank you so much for writing Into The Drowning Deep! It was a ton of fun and worth every day of the six full months I was waiting for it from my library (you're very popular!). I recommended it to several friends as "imagine all the fun of a SyFy original movie but in well-written book form." Cheers!

Thank you so much! "It's a SyFy movie you can read" was the intention.

I realize that through the magic of 'ordering from the bookstore warehouse', I am capable of getting your books a few days early before release day. Due to this, I am capable of being one of the first true readers (as opposed to betas), and I get to be one of the first to tell you my thoughts on Inkpot Gods.

Firstly, you must know that you are the only author who I will forgive for the cliffhanger ending like you're really gonna make me wait multiple years for the final book?!?! Like oh man I could not have called that ending!!!! Augh!!!!! (<- This is said with full acknowledgement and delight.)

Secondly, I deeply appreciate you naming the Lunars' plurality as exactly that, in the text. I don't think I know of any other series whatsoever that has named plurality as plurality. For this alone I would bake you a cake.

Thirdly, I am extremely emotionally compromised over all the ladies being extremely awesome, with the exception of Asphodel, who is awesome insofar as she's the worst and we love to see it but she's extremely the worst. Tumblr complains much about not getting a perfect female character ever, and very occasionally I have seen you reference tumblr posts in your works, but man oh man, Asphodel is just. Literally the most character. Literally the MOST. She's so iconic in every way!!!! And also I need you to know how awesome Lilianne is. She's so amazing and also someone should call her parents.

And fourthly, because of course I have to ask, is there anything we can know about Asphodel (the book) right now around NDAs and stuff? I am chewing at the bit so hard, it's the final book, I am so extremely excited for it to release, I dunno if you've even finished writing it yet, but oh my gods Seanan that was the book of all time!!!! I gotta have one more bite!!!! Seanan!!!!!

So anyway thank you so so so much for the series, it's been a delight so far, extremely amped up for the final book. I will bother my local bookstore to see if we can do a full event for the release of Asphodel because oh my (inkpot) gods. If I have to hop the border for the party I will. Me and my stupid yellow hat and all of my signed albums.

Asphodel, the book, will be roughly the length of the others, and will include excerpts from an unreleased Up-and-Under book. A lot of the focus will be on Asphodel herself, of course. Everything is coming together, and will be resolved or left unanswered; this is where we end the improbable road.

We're almost there.

I love the wayward children books, they mean so much to me, every one of them, feels like a puzzle piece sliding into place. I try to get everyone I know to Read them. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the missing pieces of me!

Thank you so much for reading!

sztupy

A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previou

ayeforscotland

Let’s fucking go

made-in-manetheren

This is HUGE.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

TL;DR Google reeeeeally stepped in it this time.

captain-narava-felidae-riggs

Seanan, exactly how many times are you gonna make me say “Oh Shit!” in this book?

seananmcguire

Gonna say, mmmmmm, eighteen.

junglejim4322

Unironically I think the early to mid 20s age group in America has unbelievably bad consent boundaries on all levels and so much language to defend it but this makes me sound like elon musk if I say it however the commonality of someone who will be like “I had 47 panic attacks and it’s your fault” if you tell them no is insane

junglejim4322

I rejected someone and got called “the scariest person I’ve ever met” with so much therapy speak interspersed like alright okay alright okay alright okay

junglejim4322

“You just say whatever you’re thinking and I don’t know how to handle it” was verbatim part of this conversation. Also everyone hates to see an autistic bitch

transhumanisticpanspermia

When I was in this age bracket, there was a huge emphasis on improving consent culture via graceful rejection, and it's gone by the wayside. Which sucks.

Twice in my youth (once in high school and once in college) I was in situations where I was asking someone out and I could tell they were calculating in their heads the risks of rejecting me, and both times I said, out loud, "you can say no, I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't prepared for either answer." And then they said no. This wasn't some spark of special wisdom I had - I knew to do it because feminist conversations among my age group brought it up regularly. This isn't happening nearly enough anymore.

More recently, I was really glad when we got to "rejection sensitive dysphoria" in my IOP program and it was one of those symptoms where the therapists really emphasized how it affects others. Because it does.

Being someone who cannot handle rejection makes you much more likely to violate boundaries, and yes, that includes sexual ones. Yes, you, reader who has never hurt a fly. If you don't want to stumble backwards into sexually assaulting someone, fix your RSD meltdowns. If you keep them up it's only a matter of time. Because if you're nice enough to interact with, but are known to have RSD meltdowns, guess what happens when your friends and acquaintances need to reject you?

jennydreadful

Sous La Glace, Georges Leonnec for La Vie Parisienne, 1926

The caption is a little fuzzy, but I think the meaning is “Has the Parisienne become economic? You see a lot less panties this year!” :D

loth-caatgirl

youre becoming part of this post @18-1-9

thefaeriemerchant

Your Green Palm in Mine [COMPLETED]

A story about an Era 1 Peridot, and her unlikely friendship with a Rose Quartz Gem.

Table of Contents: Chapter 1 <- START HERE IF READING FOR THE FIRST TIME Chapter 2 Finale Epilogue

Side Content/Ask Link Chain Table of Contents First/Chapter 1 Chapter 2 [it has things other than asks/what's relevant to the plot, but it's a good way to organize it]

YGPIM INDEX [for when you're looking for individual parts!] YGPIM SIDE CONTENT INDEX

seananmcguire

This Steven Universe fan comic is one of the sweetest, most sincere things I've read in ages. The format can be a little rough at times, but as it evolves and expands, it becomes something totally unique. Highly recommend.

cugzarui

as a chemist i would like to say BWAHAHAHAHAHA

alexseanchai

image description at explainXKCD:

explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure.

flareonfloof

its a bit easier for astronomers

nerdynonnativenarnian

NO! Where’s the non-metals and metaloids?!

flareonfloof

are they hydrogen or helium

nerdynonnativenarnian

oxygen, carbon, sulfur, xenon, iodine, neon, etc etc.

flareonfloof

ooo okay i see the confusion. you're listing off a bunch of metals there

nerdynonnativenarnian

…. You’re breaking my chemistry nerd brain. Hhhuuuhhhh???

flareonfloof

im an astrophysicist

nerdynonnativenarnian

but but, science is science?!

flareonfloof

and different fields of science have different conventions and definitions for their unique contexts

katzeregi

So i finished Silver and Lead and mm there sure is a pattern of "allied women-to-whom-being-a-mother-defines-their-life" turning against Toby.

It's almost like the author has a complicated relationship with her own mother and has always been openly processing this fact through her work!

mossworth

Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.

I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.

I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.

My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.

Three years.

No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.

I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.

This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.

alanfromrochester

I work in a different library and can confirm, it's a decision based on popularity not censorship

we're big enough to have lots of shelf space but still have the problem on a different scale. We do have a back storage room rather than completely getting rid of some things, but having to ask for that might be a barrier for sensitive subject matter and prevent people from casually stumbling across something of interest

paintedpigeon1

Yep. Different library worker here, we weeded adult non-fiction recently bc it's most rarely used and we needed to clear a bookshelf of space, and there were a decent number of queer books on the list. Thankfully not all of them, but some (we had a lot lol). Our criteria is also no borrows in 3yrs. I can't borrow the whole list by myself. I do try to get these books in, and the local authority are happy to buy them, but we need space for new books every so often and we can't keep everything forever! If you want them, you have to use them!

(incidentally, the whole list was 35 pages long, which... please borrow the books you want people)

qbdatabase

I didn't have time to comment the first time I reblogged, but I can add now:

I'm also a librarian and queer books are almost always cut first when we have to weed for space or prioritize new releases over old items because no one reads them

I will say, when I worked at a large downtown location, we had a "browsing card" that we would check out items we found taken off the shelf and left on a table, as an example of a book that had clearly been read, just not checked out by anyone

it's possible queer books do actually get a bit of unfair treatment in this regard because people may be nervous or outright scared to check them out onto an account with their name on it. so they get browsed at a much higher rate, but if a library doesn't have a specific system in place (or need for it) to count browsed items, then it looks like they aren't being used and they get weeded

for other librarians, a browsing card is a great idea if you have enough staff for the extra work / enough items left out to justify it

for patrons, check out queer books even if you don't read them! you're not lying or committing any type of fraud. you're keeping books on the shelf long enough for pride season when people are interested in checking them out again and for people scared to use their own accounts or who don't have library cards

for anyone nervous about using their library card, libraries do not keep search histories of what you check out!! this means even if the government does come back with a warrant, *wet farting noise* too bad! it doesn't exist!

so please check out queer books!

vtothefun

I have to wonder how often they aren't checked out because those in an exploratory period may not feel safe enough for them to go home with them, too. Kids, for example, or folks who have ended up in a het marriage that... Doesn't feel like it's quite right (or may be physically abusive).

mossworth

This is most definitely one of the causes of this. That's why it's so important for folks who *can* to *do*.

It feels like such a small thing, but all movements are made up of small things! We have this mindset that in order to get everything done, everyone must be doing their (or *the*) absolute best at all times. But not everyone can do the same things, to the same degree, with the same amount of productivity or success. Not everyone can; sometimes, they're the ones that need help. Sometimes people just need help.

This post is very much so intended for the people who can. I've seen a lot of replies from folks who say they don't have to (or don't think about) checking out or requesting queer books from the library specifically because they *can* buy them, can pirate them, or already have them in their house or on their computers or phones. But in instances like that, keeping these books in circulation is less for you and more for the people who can't. The folks who come to the library, who don't have access to internet--or even electricity--at home and would never--have never--been able to interact with this "ubiquitous queer community" we have here online who has made so many of these. materials so avaliable to the rest of us.

And... if I can be a little frank. Sometimes the hyperaccessibility of these materials online (through pirating, cheap e-book copies, etc) gives people a false sense of security. It implies that these things are an infinate resource, good for "When I get around to it".

And often, you won't. There's so much to read and so much to do. So much to download and so much to sit down and stare at for hours. That kind of mental scope puts books in people's hands (or phones), but never in their heads.

But the moment your favorite document archival site gets knocked offline for breaching copyright or your go-to mega corporate audiobook distributor decides it doesn't want "those" materials anymore, what's left? What did you download? What information did you internalize? Did you ever get around to it? If you did, great, but what good does that do for the person who didn't? Are you going to be the one to redistribute that information? Are you going to communicate it in the place of the author whose words are no longer publically accesible or, mostly avaliable, but only behind hefty paywalls and financial gatekeeping? How would someone else get a hold of it? How could they, if they wanted?

vtothefun

This is excellent info.

What are some good books to check out for those who can?

mossworth

Gosh... there's so many options. I wouldn't know where to start without knowing who I'm talking to and what they're looking for. What I can recommend is for folks to check out creators like @makingqueerhistory who have spent just a ridiculously beautiful amount of time collecting queer history and book lists! You'll find something in seconds reading their page.

Personal pitch: I liked the books Tar Hollow Trans and Gay Poems for Red States. Both great.

makingqueerhistory

I'm glad I was tagged in this because it means I can cosign (and also add a little nugget of info).

I live in a province that is currently trying to ban queer books from libraries, and as a library patron, this is terrifying. 95% of the books I read are from the library and a lot of them are way out of my budget to buy personally.

Making Queer History would not exist without the school library I skipped class in to write articles. It would not exist without my friends with library cards for their universities sharing them and getting me access to rare texts. I would not be able to read as much as I do without Libby and Hoopla. If I have ever given you a book recommendation, know that I likely got it from the library first.

I cannot overstate the importance of protecting libraries and checking out queer books. And I want to say thank you to everyone above for being as passionate as I am about queer books in libraries.

Love y'all <3

allthefoolmine

@official-library-posts

official-library-posts

official library post

vamptits

it's just really apparent that people think it's okay to want pain but morally abhorrent to want to give it. sorry but the sadist gets to have fun too. it's actually pretty crucial to the process.

vamptits

if I said I was going to a taekwondo class would you feel the need to tell me kicking people on the street is bad or.

whoopsie-collective

Image ID: A screenshot of a tumblr comment that says "yeah, its only abhorrent imo, when the recipient is non consenting, i've" the screenshot cuts off.