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@xelanul
This game, about listing as many animals as you can, is shockingly well-considered and polished for such an apparent shitpost of a game idea
hot new brain workout
if you list "house spider", when the game ends, it will give you a link to a passage from a 17th-century insect guide written by someone who was absolutely besotted with the common house spider and I need everyone to read this: https://rose.systems/animalist/extras/prai%C5%BFe_of_the_hou%C5%BFe_Spider
Catherine Opie’s Dyke Deck (1995). Couples are Hearts; Jocks are Clubs; Femmes are Diamonds; Butches are Spades.
studying ancient history will have you thinking stuff like The 18th century was basically yesterday
i'll never live down the time i was talking with a friend and i said "given recent events". my friend said "what recent events?" and i had to reply "the Protestant Reformation"
I need some good fantasy or scifi to read that doesn't involve romance. preferably urban fantasy or cyberpunk or just downright weird shit, but I could do with more traditional stuff. as long as people aren't driven by lust. I'm so so soso so sososososoooooooo very tired of reading that sort of thing in traditional print novels.
#this is such a mood. i kind of stopped reading YA and even a lot of adult fantasy bc of the fixation on romance#op i'm preeeetty sure i didn't follow you for murderbot so forgive me if you know it but if not may i recommend the murderbot diaries#the imperial radch series is also some great non-romance-centric scifi#i've been recc'd several different books by Victoria Goddard for platonic/queerplatonic centered fantasy#only one i've read so far is Hands of the Emperor but it was GREAT#others who follow me probably have more ideas#(i hope i have not misread the room here by offering recommendations)
you weren't misreading, I was unintentionally unclear. recs are Very Welcome XD thank you!!
I keep a goodreads list of No Romance Books for exactly this reason lol.
ABSOLUTE FAVORITES
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Sci-fi series, space opera-ish. You've got a lot of recs for this already.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Sci-fi space opera. I've only read the first one still but it's brilliant.
Piranesi by Sunanna Clarke. Fantasy. A man lives alone in an infinite House over an equally infinite ocean. Ethereal and luminous and melancholy and beautiful.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Sci-fi thriller. Cloning! Dinosaurs! Math! I still love it.
WEIRD AND INTERESTING
The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel Delaney. Weird 1960s science-fantasy. The main characters could be read as romantic if you want - the homoeroticism can't be unintentional - but there isn't Romance Proper in it.
Werecockroach by Polenth Blake. Alien invasion/animal shapeshifter story. Novella. Zany and fast-paced. Aroace agender protagonist like the author.
And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed. Sorta dystopian strange fantasy in an urban setting. Novella. The main characters are sex workers of the high-class courtesan prostitute type, and after one of them is murdered by a client, she comes back to life - and sets out on a whirlwind of freedom and revenge and justice she never got while alive.
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir. Novella. Fractured-fairy-tale fantasy. Told in a snarky, sardonic style, not nearly as upbeat as it initially seems.
The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. Steampunk-fantasy. Novella. YA-ish? Steampunk New Orleans and a Black girl who can talk to the Orisha falls into a plot to steal a scientist's superweapon.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. Urban fantasy, YA. Urban fantasy in an all-myths-are-real kind of sense from a Lipan Apache perspective, starring an Apache girl who can talk to ghosts trying to solve her cousin's murder. Asexual protagonist with no interest in romance or partnering; it's refreshing and the sort of YA I would have loved as a teen.
HAVEN'T READ THIS BUT I KEEP MEANING TO
Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace. Cyberpunk. No romance at all. VR and stuff. NKS is aroace and centering non-romantic experiences was her explicit goal here.
SOME ROMANCE BUT IT'S NOT A MAJOR FOCUS
Synners by Pat Cadigan. Cyberpunk. A kaleidoscopic whirlwind of a book with lots of characters with lots of varied relationships; romance is among them but not alone and certainly not the focus.
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. Urban fantasy, sort of - it's like a fantasy-kitchen-sink world with gods whose contracts power the magic in the world, so magicians are lawyers and lawyers are magicians and one lawyer-magician has to solve the murder of, and resurrect, a murdered god before his magic grinds to a halt and the city powered by his magic collapses. I'm not doing this description justice - it was vivid and compelling. The main characters do not have any romance, but a supporting character has a toxic ex she can't fully get over that features as a sideplot in the story.
Finna by Nino Cipri. Weird, universe-hopping science-fantasy. IKEA has a tendency to rip open portals to other universes and the minimum wage employees gotta deal with it. The two main characters were dating but have recently broken up, and they don't get back together but rather figure out how to be friends again after the breakup.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. Military sci-fi space opera with a vast and interesting world and a very violent war. A military captain breaks rank and defies orders, so as punishment she has the digital ghost of a long dead war criminal downloaded into her head and she is pointed at a rebellion and told to crush it. I love Kel Cheris. No romance but some flashbacks to sex and sexual coercion.
I hope you don't mind if I jump in with recs because this is my favorite type of book!
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett- many discworld books have little or no romance, imo. It's a fantasy series set on a flat or "disc" world. The books are only loosely connected so you can pick up whatever book catches your eye. Many readers recommend starting with Guards, Guards! (Fair warning, that one does have a romance, but it has my aroace approval)
The Earthsea cycle by Ursula LeGuin- this is one of my favorites because there is no romance in sight until book 4! And even so book 4 is quite good. It's a fantasy series set on a magical archipelago, and follows the epic highs and lows of life as a wizard struggling with hubris and mortality and destiny. You could read up to book 3 and it would have a satisfying conclusion, or you could read book 4 if you have the patience for romance. Either way its a fun read!
Fly By Night and Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge- this is a middle-grade/YA duology set in a sort of steampunk, vaguely European world where writing has been heavily censored and reading is considered a dangerous skill. The protagonist is a feral little 12 year old who is obsessed with reading. I love her dearly. There is some background romance happening with adult characters but the protagonist is so thoroughly uninterested it's hilarious to read from her perspective. I love this duology so much.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison- Recommendations for The Hands of the Emperor seem to go hand in hand (lol) with The Goblin Emperor. If you enjoy one, odds are good you'll enjoy the other! The Goblin Emperor is a stand-alone fantasy about an unlikely heir who has to navigate court intrigue now that he is on the throne. There's also a series set in the same world (The Cemetaries of Amalo series) which follows a different protagonist, and is also very good but arguably does have romance in it. The final installment isn't out yet so the outcome remains to be seen, and again, it has my aroace approval.
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison- while I'm at it I might as well recommend another one by miss Addison. This one is a Sherlock Holmes retelling set in a supernatural version of London. Its got a for reals, canon aroace + agender Sherlock and I love it for that reason!
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson- fantasy YA set in a world plagued by ghosts and the undead, this one features an aroace protagonist as confirmed by the author. It's a stand-alone novel and a quick read, and I desperately wish there was more. Don't be put off by the blurb on the cover: "venom meets Joan of arc" sounds like trope-y booktok garbage but this book is actually extremely good. 10/10.
this picked up a lot more traction than I had expected. it's great to have so many titles to go check out. ^^ gonna reblog this version since it seems to have the most recs so far.
I'm regretting not listing a few of my faves in the actual post when I went on my rant, bc while I've seen Discworld and the Matthew Swift books recc'd (Matthew Swift is my GOLD STANDARD for urban fantasy), I hadn't seen two other really good ones that I'd mentioned in my tags.
The House of Discarded Dreams by Ekaterina Sedia is a wonderfully surreal story about being adrift in life, and finding strength by coming to know yourself. It features a poc lgbt protag (and a bit of a crush, but that's not at all the focus), and the action itself is a magical and bizarre blend of myth, folk tales, history, and dream-logic.
The Secret History of Moscow is also by Ekaterina Sedia. It's a melancholy and poetic story that follows a girl trying to save her sister from a curse, and meeting figures out of Russian folk tales along the way.
Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer gets an honorable mention on this list, bc a pair of side characters have a...kind of romance. But it's not the focus, and the rest of the novel is a beautiful and heart-wrenching look at a father dealing with grief after the death of his child. I have never in my life read a novel that would have been more suited to be a Satoshi Kon film than this book.
The Neo-G series by K.B. Wagers. There is some romance, but not as in erotica, but as in human relationships. One of the romancees is an ace woman.
Honestly, their Indranan War series is excellent, too. Again, romance as in human relationships, not as in sex. I can't think of a single erotic scene in either series.
I miss the world before AI image generation
Secondly, I also miss the world where AI image generation was just incoherent blobs and obvious fakes
Thirdly, I miss when I had a spark in my eye
Fourthly, I miss when I throw so watch out
Five, nothing wrong with me
Six geese-a-laying
Seven brides for seven brothers
Eight Crazy Nights
9 planets in the solar system pluto counts screw it
10 Things I Hate About You
Are you proud of yourself? Are you happy you made this?
Oh you have no idea.
Outlines of two alligators that slept through the rain.
> sees complaints that a female character looks "too masculine" or "like an ugly lesbian"
> ask if we got an actual butch character or if shes just a normal looking woman that isnt wearing make up and a dress
> person is visibly confused, i start explaining the difference between actual butch presentation and dress and a woman simply dressing comfortably to avoid indecent exposure
> person laughs and says "she straight up looks like a guy, i can barely tell her apart from the actual men"
> google the character
> shes just a normal looking woman that isnt wearing make up and a dress
> sees complaints that a female character looks "too masculine" or "like an ugly lesbian"
> ask if we got an actual butch character or if shes just a black woman
> person is visibly confused, i start explaining the difference between actual butch presentation and dress and how black women are held to white standards of femininity and are often accused of looking like/being men because of white people applying these standards to them
> person laughs and says "she straight up looks like a guy, i can barely tell her apart from the actual men. why are you bringing race into this?"
> google the character
> shes just a black woman
Don't give me that "looking respectfully" crap I make my tits that prominent for a reason
Finally someone who gets me
official boob post
BABES WAKE UP TODAY’S A NATIONAL HOLIDAY 🌈🐀
🎶NEIL IS BANGING OUT THE TUNES🎶
My (old) contribution to the beautiful day that is april 13th
Keep at it with the tunes.
i love this because it's like. why did paleolithic peoples paint the hunt. perhaps to celebrate and honour brave deeds that kept the community alive. perhaps to bring luck for future hunts. perhaps to instruct those who came after how to slay the beast. perhaps to remind us we can: that the mammoth is not unkillable.
this graffiti, too, serves those purposes!
Cast iron rat kiss... cast iron rat bliss...
ITS APRIL 13 YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS
FETCH ME NEIL
Types of brain fog:
Brain is primordial sludge & you are drowning in it
U are a ghost and nothing is real
Mental equivalent of attempting to stream some high-res video game when all you have is dial-up
The thing you want to articulate is *right there* but you're just scrabbling at it like a cat continually failing to catch the bird on the other side of the window
The Void
me as a kid reading Dune: I appreciate the detailed world-building that justifies why everyone fights with swords and has mental powers, but the idea of a Butlerian Jihad against computers is pretty silly
me in 2025, trying desperately to find the three (3) places you need to go to to disable the latest helpful AI assistant that's inserted itself into my work chat and is advising me to do things that would be a breach of federal law: Oh Now I Get It
See also when I was younger and tried to elaborately justify why a futuristic society would still use old fashioned paper and physical media if they've got advanced neuralink computer networks and stuff. Lol. Can you imagine the horrifying new ways for data to corrupt with that shit???
