so I’m reading Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones for the first time, and of course it’s great—it turns out that I highly recommend leaving a couple books by your favorite YA author, especially adult-targeted books, unread in your initial feral middle school rush to read everything they’ve ever written, as a little treat for later in life. I mean, I’m actively struggling to keep reading because she’s displaying a knowledge of sff cons so acute that I feel like I’m being stabbed with a blade of pure fuckor every third paragraph. But it’s great.
What stands out most, in this and in A Sudden Wild Magic, her other adult novel which I also hadn’t read until this week, is how uniquely skilled DWJ is at writing characters who are simultaneously thoroughly endearing and the most annoying, parodical & parodiable person you could ever conceive of meeting. She manages to portray people this way both when the POV is from their own heads AND in exterior view.
I think I’m really noticing this for the first time because these characters are fully new to me, so I’m learning them from the ground up. It may also shine more as she gets into multi-pov books in the 90’s, where it’s emphasized by having the internal and external view. But it IS a hallmark of her writing, and truly, it’s every character, in every book. Nobody escapes being ridiculous, and only the worst of villains aren’t a little bit…not “sympathetic” or “fun”, though they are that. But I really think “endearing” is the right word. DWJ was always down to mercilessly mock someone, but it was usually done with some amount of affection, and recognition of their wholeness as a person.
I thought of Uncle Ted's wobbly windows, and I began to think he must really, truly never look through them or anything else. Can't anyone l
I thought of Uncle Ted's wobbly windows, and I began to think he must really, truly never look through them or anything else. Can't anyone look out there and see that you need not to think of everything in terms of what works or what they ought to do?
Game dev and narrative expert Ariella Bouskila joins us for a discussion of bad colleagues, sick empires, beautiful boys, katabasis ducks, and the magic that can be found all around us if you have the eyes to see but can perhaps especially be found at a 1990s science fiction convention.
NB: As much as we would like not to, this one inevitably contains some conversation about Neil Gaiman.
Transcript available here, and we'll be wrapping up our season in two weeks with Dark Lord of Derkholm!
In 2011 I drastically reduced my DWJ book intake to dripfeed levels, so it was only in the 2024 new year that I finally decided to read Deep Secret. My god - out of all her books this seems targeted at me personally? Stressed late-20-somethings, making fools of oneself in vicinity of fav authors, artist alleys?? Also, blatant unmistakable LGBT-rep??? I can't believe I slept on this one for so long!!! Definitely putting it on the upper tiers of my DWJ bookshelf.
Anyway, here's some designs I've whipped up for the characters! As always, might tweak 'em if ever I draw more in the future, but that's what's fun about figuring out character designs. Rob in particular is a joy to me.
ALERT! Antarctica’s Hidden Labs EXPOSED: Elite Trafficking Humans for Brutal Mind Control Experiments and Total Mass Control!
Antarctica is the epicenter of a dark global agenda, more sinister than anyone imagined. Beneath the ice lies a network of underground facilities where the world’s elites conduct mass manipulation, human trafficking, and experiments beyond comprehension. The public is misled to believe Antarctica is an untouched wilderness. But it’s a smokescreen. Access is restricted to protect secret projects, guarded not by scientists, but military forces from multiple nations working together.
These hidden labs are testing technologies meant to control human behavior on a global scale. Psychological warfare tools perfected over years are ready for use, designed to influence thoughts and emotions invisibly. But the most chilling aspect? Thousands of trafficked people, especially children, are taken to Antarctica as subjects for the elites’ disturbing experiments, with many never seen again. It’s a modern black site, where human minds and bodies are exploited to create a system of absolute control.
These brutal tests push psychological limits, using sensory deprivation, chemicals, and electromagnetic tools to break human will, creating obedient, mindless subjects. The agenda is global—methods designed to manipulate mass populations, keeping them unaware of their loss of freedom. Advanced psychotronic weapons are capable of influencing emotions, planting thoughts, and even erasing memories.
Proof of this manipulation is all around us, as the world becomes distracted, manipulated, and divided. Media, entertainment, and politics are weaponized to keep us blind to the real agenda in Antarctica.
In addition to psychological control, these facilities conduct horrific medical trials. Human subjects are used in deadly experiments with unknown pathogens, while others endure chemical exposure to test mass control or sterilization methods. Certain populations are targeted, deemed expendable, as the elites perfect techniques to reduce the global population without uprising.
Antarctica’s dark role goes deeper. It’s a hub in a global trafficking network, fueling black markets worldwide. Vulnerable people vanish, trafficked into a frozen wasteland, used as fuel for brutal experimentation and energy extraction. The elites have discovered how to harness psychic energy from extreme fear, using it to power their technology in ways unimaginable.
Shielded by the world’s most powerful governments, these Antarctic facilities operate with impunity. Whistleblowers, journalists, and researchers who get too close are silenced or worse. In 2024, the elites are moving fast. The tech is nearly perfected, the experiments refined, and the next phase of global control is about to go live. 🤔
2025 was a good reading year for me! I feel like I've hit my stride somewhat with reading while using tumblr - I'm less concerned than I was in past years about trying to read all the things that are going around on tumblr, while still getting some ideas when mutuals post about stuff that sounds relevant to my interests. I have always been reading what I want to read, but I got on an even better streak with that in 2025. And I think I've figured out a format for posting about my reads that works well for me and that I'll be sticking with for a while!
Related to my own posting habits, and as I mentioned in the post that is the counterpart to this one (Not Good Books of 2025), I don't actually have a rating system for my reads; even when my experience varies widely between two books, it doesn't necessarily mean I think one is better. (Although, sometimes...). So for 2025, I highlighted my #books of the month based mainly on what took up most of my thoughts and attention that month. These are often the books that I enjoyed and might recommend, but it could also be things that made me think a lot, or that I liked but wouldn't recommend without major caveats. In the same way: these might not be the best books of 2025, but to me, they are The Books of 2025:
(OK I ended up with 15 books and series here, so I cut for length.)
Deep Secret (Diana Wynne Jones): Was just thinking of this book shortly before starting this post, so it must have stuck with me! What I was thinking about is the way DWJ writes such real characters; their quirks and flaws are life-sized, but so are all the good things about them, so you like them anyway.
The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players (Phoebe Atwood): I found this in a used bookstore on a little vacation in January and liked it enough that I went to ILL to find more mysteries featuring the same detective. For this book, I thought the mystery plot was well-done; for the series as a whole, I enjoy the vivid and specific setting.
Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne mystery series (Julia Spencer-Fleming): I fell head first into this series for a large chunk of the beginning of 2025 and read books 1-6. Clare is an Episcopal priest and Russ the chief of police in a small town in upstate New York. This is not a cozy series; it's angsty off the bat because they have an immediate connection, which is definitely partly romantic, but he's already married. In fact it's almost self-indulgently angsty (why I eventually burned out on the series), but I also found them very well-written.
Kelling and Bittersohn mystery series (Charlotte MacLeod): I read these as a sort of palate cleanser in between books in the above series! Not cozy exactly, but fun and less angsty. I enjoyed the recurring cast of kooky characters.
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë): Y'all I admit this was my first time reading this. I knew about the wife in the attic and all going in, but it was still very good. Jane and Rochester are obviously perfect for each other. Weirdo-for-weirdo.
Calvin and Hobbes comics (Bill Watterson): I reread all my Calvin and Hobbes collections starting in late May throughout the summer (generally a very busy time of year for me). It was very nice. I like Calvin and Hobbes.
Dragonhaven (Robin McKinley): This is a really well-done first person "written as a memoir" kind of novel and also a really good story. I've read it multiple times and still was surprised to get a little teary at the end.
Murder in the Trembling Lands (Barbara Hambly): This was the latest release in the Benjamin January series, which I preordered and which arrived in July. A fav series and therefore a guaranteed good read.
A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness): I got a free copy at the library. I'd read this short book before and knew it made me cry, so I took the chance to get my own copy so that I can occasionally study the craft of how it makes me cry. Anyway, I reread it and it made me cry again.
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series (Marie Brennan): I really enjoyed these, and aside from the fun of the plot, they made me think a lot about fantasy worldbuilding.
Maidens' Trip (Emma Smith): A reread. Always interesting to read this fictionalized nonfiction account of young women working the canals of England during WWII and considering all I have in common with them - and all I don't.
Inspector Macdonald mystery series (E. C. R. Lorac): I have been really enjoying these Golden Age era mysteries, with a detective who never has a background romance (à la Alleyn or Wimsey) but who, in later books, does start to make friends and have a background desire to retire to a farm. (I am still working through this one.)
Crown Colony mystery series (Ovidia Yu): Set in Singapore before, during, and after WWII - a really interesting look at a time period I've read about a lot, in a place that I definitely haven't.
Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer): Probably just check this tag to see all the quotes I've posted.
The Goblin Emperor & The Cemeteries of Amalo (Katherine Addison): After rereading TGE, I bought a copy for a friend for Christmas. And as I just posted in my December wrap-up: imagine me reading the Cemeteries of Amalo books kicking my feet and giggling. I liked them a lot.
I've posted about most of these elsewhere as well, so if you want to know more, follow the tags through my blog, or feel free to interact directly! I'm on here so I can talk about books!
I'm reading deep secret by Diana Jones right now and I've been looking for fanarts of Andrew "the fabulous Nordic type" but I found none! WHAT A SHAME! NOTHING AT ALL!
