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Wildlife

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:23 pm

Missing for 200 Years, the Galapagos Rail Reappears Following Floreana Island Restoration

Centuries after they were made famous by Charles Darwin, and a century after they had become plagued by invasive rats and cats, the Galapagos Islands are well on their way to recovery.

Few events could better capture that recovery than the recent reappearance of the beautiful blue Galapagos rail, a bird which hadn’t been seen on Floreana island for 200 years.

After almost a decade of preparatory work, invasive rats, avian vampire flies, and domesticated cats were eradicated from the island thanks to the close coordination of several conservation groups from around the world working alongside the Galapagos National Park Directorate.

Restoration projects often foster the revival of rare species, or those believed to be extirpated or extinct. It's not often this dramatic, so this is exciting news.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

Snowflake Challenge '26 #1 (Icebreaker)

brightknightie

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 11:49 am

snowflake_challenge: Icebreaker: "Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it."

I'm Brightknightie, a middle-aged fan who loves Dreamwidth and wishes we could all spend more time playing fandom with each other here. I've updated my Dreamwidth profile. I won't repeat here those profile points of who I am fannishly; most of you here know them already.

I will say that the fandoms that I'd most love to discuss these days are The Legend of Zelda (all incarnations) and Dungeons & Dragons (cartoon, 1983-85), and those are what I expect I'm most likely to write fic for this year, myself, give or take exchanges. I'm hoping for a solid year in the MCU; we shall see. I occasionally post about comics; I'm looking forward to the inaugural Thundarr the Barbarian run launching soon. I lost my Journey to the West touchstones when I left Twitter and still miss that; it's too bad they don't do Dreamwidth. I'm happy to reply about Trek, Who, HL, FK, B5, Buffyverse, Pokémon, Robotech, Sailor Moon, Ruroni Kenshin, Zorro; the works of Lois McMaster Bujold, Sherry Thomas, Rex Stout, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins; and many, many more; I'm not highly likely to post about them myself.

For most of its run, this journal was specifically about Forever Knight (FK); that's changed. I've been bringing more diverse subjects to it in recent years and it is now generically fannish. I rarely post about real life -- this is my fannish space -- but I think most here know that I have a full-time job, fence (foil and rapier-and-dagger), and am Catholic (please don't leap to conclusions; ask if you want to know).

Why am I doing the snowflake challenge? I'd like to help support the vitality of our Dreamwidth community! I hope to engage and be engaged with more here all year round. I'd love to find more folks who want to chat about The Legend of Zelda and Dungeons & Dragons (cartoon), of course! And I'd love to find more new and missed and discovered fannish things to delight in with you. ♥

Tags:

TV Talk: The Pitt (1.10 - 1.15)

spikedluv

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:42 pm

I have now seen eps 1.10 through 1.15. My comments include spoilers for all of these eps in no particular order. ( spoilers )

( The Pitt Season 2 Trailer )

Tags:

misc tv,
tv talk

Birdfeeding

ysabetwordsmith

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 01:28 pm

Today is partly cloudy and chilly.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/2/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/2/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen at least 4 male cardinals chasing each other around the trees, along with 2 squirrels.

EDIT 1/2/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

Backdating entries in communities

autumninpluto

getting_started

Saturday, January 3rd, 2026 03:15 am

I noticed some people make their own closed communities to post/archive their fanfiction, and decided to try it out myself here: ficsimmy

I am trying to backdate the fics to when I posted them, and it generally works, however, the home page still shows the posts in the order in which I posted them. E.g. the most recent post is dated November 12, then the next one November 13.

Is this intended behavior? If so, does anyone have a workaround for similar use-cases? 😟 I have some fanfiction from 2013 that I want to back up here, but I do not want it at the top of my page in fear of people thinking that's still representative of how I write today 😅

I did find this FAQ article related to backdating + the "don't show on reading pages" button which says "This option is not available for community accounts", but I thought this just referred to the hide from reading page button.

It's a bit weird that I can backdate it, but it will show up in the wrong order on the home page, and in tags. Checking from the archive looks fine, they're all in the correct date I set them as.

Current Mood: confused

Snowflake Challenge #1 - Icebreaker Challenge

lebateleur

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:23 pm

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I really enjoy seasonal observances. August through New Year's Day is full of them and then...nothing, which is one reason why I look forward to

snowflake_challenge each year. I also love being fannish about things. That's harder to do once the yearly grind picks up around March and offline obligations start to eat up much of my energy, so if nothing else, I can get a little dose of fannishness in at the start of the year, and hopefully keep that energy going through the next 11 months.

これで以上です。

Tags:

snowflake challenge: 2026

SquidgeWorld Maintenance Take 2

squidgestatus

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 06:57 pm

I think we've finally uncovered the last issue ::knock wood::

First off, a couple of months back, some of the internal components of SquidgeWorld failed, and we had to move the drives and RAM to a new piece of hardware. That hardware, while slower, was working fine until the internal disk drive became corrupted - so earlier this week we ran through a disk correction, which led to a database file corruption and then cleanup.

Then yesterday things started to go pear-shaped again, and subsystems like the search function started to crash. After a bit of diagnosing, it appears that not only had that hardware fan gone bad, but it corrupted the RAM chips as well. Those RAM chips seemed to work for the most part, but during some of the intense processing, would bomb the entire server.

So this morning we've replaced the RAM chips and brought the Archive back up. And so far ::knock wood:: things appear to be working just fine.

Because we should (at least theoretically) be good now, I've also re-enabled Downloads. Give the server a little try and let me know if you find anything hinky.

Tags:

squidgeworld archive

Podfic: Oh freddled gruntbuggly - Darth Vader reads his poetry to torture Leia

petra

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 01:40 pm

[Podfic] Oh freddled gruntbuggly (23 words) by peasina, MelancholyMorningstar
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Characters: Leia Organa, Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Additional Tags: Bad Poetry, Vogon Poetry (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Summary:

Darth Vader learned his torture tactics from the Vogons.

Current Mood: i don't need a vader icon
Current Music: Thy micturations are to me

Tags:

Thank you!

elayna

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:31 am

A little belated here, but packed up most of my Christmas decorations yesterday and realized I had not thanked people as cards arrived. I do love them so much! And appreciate everyone who takes the time to send them, they make my house so festive. My thanks to

chelletoo,

ride_4ever,

jenab,

obi_ki,

vamysteryfan,

piplover,

ruric,

amberleewriter, and

lauramcewan.

Tags:

real life

Library Update January 2, 2026

senmut

reference_library

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:39 pm

1 new link in Crafting and Art

2 new links in Life Tips

1 new link in Writing and Worldbuilding

1 new link in Health

Tags:

Recommendation: Luck, be a lady - due South fancomic by gjdraws

petra

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 01:30 pm

This due South comic is flippin' brilliant, and I don't just say that as someone who loves the way the artist draws RayV looking at Fraser.

( Other things I liked about it )

Ahem.

Give it a go. It's short! It's cracky! It's pretty!

And I have the right icon for it.

Current Mood: charmed
Current Music: If you've ever been a lady to begin with

Tags:

Beavis and Butthead #5

heartsways

scans_daily

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 01:30 pm

( Read more... )

Tags:

on a brighter note, a Yuletide wrapup

gelliaclodiana

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:10 am

I had a very successful Yuletide from my perspective! I received a really good story, Threads in the Weave, by tryphaine. It's based on a novella by an author from the 1920s named Eleanor Ingram; her stuff is very iddy if you like loyalty, as I do. There is also rather a lot of orientalizing and general othering, in a way reminiscent of Dorothy Dunnet but turned up a notch or three. In fact I would not be shocked to find that Dunnett had read Ingram's work at some point.

Anyway, you can read the novella here: Don Estevan's Honor, and more of the author's short stories are available on the same website here. it isn't all historical, except in the sense that some of it is about stuff contemporaneous with Ingram herself, like early automobile racing.

I also wrote a story I really liked, and the recipient enjoyed it too. (So, surprisingly, did a couple of other people.)

The Parthenos in All Her Glory (13335 words) by MagnithWrites
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Exiles Saga and Galactic Milieu - Julian May
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Felice Landry & Elizabeth Orme, Felice Landry/Katlinel the Dark-Eyed
Characters: Felice Landry, Elizabeth Orme, Creyn (Julian May), Epone (Julian May), Katlinel the Dark-Eyed (Julian May), Kuhal Earthshaker, Fian Skybreaker, Nodonn Battlemaster, Sebi-Gomnol (Julian May), Thagdal (Julian May)
Additional Tags: Felice as murderous horse girl, the horse is also murderous, Discussion of Forced Pregnancy, rejection of forced pregnancy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon-typical sexual abuse of background characters, Minor Character Death, more than one severed head
Summary: At Castle Gateway, Felice makes an impression on the Tanu. The evolution of the maiden goddess, from Mistress of Beasts to Lady of the City.

I had no idea how much I wanted this story myself until I started writing it! I don't think it would make any sense to someone who hadn't read the books, since basically it involved putting one of the series villains into the position of one of the heroes, and seeing what happens. But it had been years since I reread the start of the series, and I know the first book was published in the early 80s but wow, there was A LOT of casual misogyny and homophobia in the supposedly enlightened future universe. I began to think that maybe this violent and uncooperative character had a point, right from the start.

I also had rather a lot of fun working all the mythological references in, since that's an underlying theme in the books; but mine were more classical than celtic, in the end.

Tags:

writing,
yuletide

Media Round Up: Loose Ends

forestofglory

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:24 am

It’s been ages since I did one of these! But I haven’t been reading or watching much that I want to talk about the last couple of months. I read a couple of things that I just don’t have anything to say about, and a ton of fic which I never include in these round ups. And I’ve watched almost nothing – not even mini dramas

But there’s couple of things I did want to talk about and I thought it would be nice to post about the last little bit of 2025 media before I start a new running notes document for the new year.

Crush of Music—This Chinese reality show is the one thing I have been watching recently. Crush of music is a show where songwriters demo original songs and then through a mildly gameifed process are matched with a singer (or two) who then performs the song. It’s the second season of Melody Journey, but I have no idea why the English title is different (the Chinese title is the same) It's a really fun low stress show and features some of my favorite singers! (Liu Yuning and Zhou Shen) I can't really rec the show though because the subtitles are very very bad -- I'm just watching anyway even though I can only understand about half of what people are saying. But it turns out that not understanding the show makes for very slow watching

Off Menu: A Graphic Novel written by Oliver Gerlach drawn by Kelsi Jo Silva—Cute YA graphic novel in D&D-ish world. It’s about a cook called Soup – kind of a coming of age thing with lots of cooking and community. Very Charming!

The Fellowship of The Ring— R has been reading LotR to the kid, they haven’t quite finished but they are close enough to done that we watched the 1st movie. I’ve never been huge into LotR but it was fun to watch – so many classic lines! I did kinda find myself wishing that the characters' names would show up on screen the first time they appear the way they do in the cdrama I watch. NZ remains very beautiful!

Tags:

Friday open thread: picking things up, carrying things forward, setting things down

dolorosa_12

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 06:22 pm

It's the first Friday open thread of 2026. In customary fashion, I'm going to use the following prompt, which I feel is the right question with which to start a new year:

What are you planning to leave behind in 2025, and what are you planning to pick up and/or carry forward into 2026?

( My answer )

On that rather fraught note, what about all of you? Do you have anything you want to leave behind, or carry with you?

Tags:

Fannish 50 2026 #01: Live Journal

elayna

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:29 am

Starting out lazy this year, copying from TheWayne's DreamWidth:

"[PLEASE post on your LJ account(s) and communities, if you have such, so as many people as possible know about this!]

It looks like the Putin government is getting ready to lock their social media sites in to Russian posters only and to require social media credits. Dream Width is doing what they can to smooth transferring LJ users over, and there are other sites that are LJ clones, but I can't name them. I think Insane Journal was one, I have no idea if they're still around. I moved to DW nine years ago this January and have no particular problems with it, and I would expect that Europeans would have no issues with payment.

This Bluesky post explains what's going on, and comments dig deeper and discuss alternative archive methods.
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3mbebi2xfxc25

This LJ post explains things - in Russian. Google Translate should handle switching it into the language of your choice.
https://ru-news.livejournal.com/80899.html

Happy new year indeed."

I moved to DW many years ago, but I've always kept my LJ as I had one of those forever accounts. I haven't posted there in years but mainly keep it to read a few communities over there. I'll have to see if I can find any of those communities on DW. I don't think I deleted all my posts there, it's probably time.

Tags:

Kristen Callihan, a Cookbook, & More

smartbitches_feed

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:30 pm

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/kristen-callihan-a-cookbook-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=164682

The Deathless One

The Deathless One by Emma Hamm is $1.99! This came out in August and I mentioned it in Hide Your Wallet. I think I preordered this one. Did any of you pick this one up?

A princess murdered at the altar makes a deal with the god of death for vengeance and to save her people in this first in a unique romantasy trilogy from USA TODAY bestselling author Emma Hamm.

Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding altar and seizes the throne.

But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal—her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection. But the Deathless One is a known trickster, and a deal with him is one made in blood.

Jessamine knows the Deathless One is a dangerous ally, but the longer they work together, the more she wants him and the less she can stay away. As their connection deepens, soon she wonders if she even wants this contract to end. Perhaps the more appealing throne is the one by his side, but she’d have to turn her back on her people to get it.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Every Heart a Doorway

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire is $2.99! I love this series. The writing is so beautiful and I would happily send 300+ pages in the world McGuire has created. However, I will warn that these books have a haunting sadness to them or can be downright horrific.

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Make It Sweet

Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan is $1.99! This was mentioned this in a previous Hide Your Wallet and said she was tempted by the blurb. I haven’t kept up with Callihan’s more current romances. What do you think of them?

From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Callihan comes a charming, emotional romance about redefining dreams and discovering unlikely love along the way.

Life for Emma isn’t good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe—literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.

Then she meets the owner’s equally gorgeous grandson, ex–hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain and yearning reflected in his eyes.

He’s charming when he wants to be but also secretive and gruff, with protective walls as thick as Emma’s own. Despite a growing attraction, they avoid each other.

But then there’s an impromptu nighttime skinny-dip, and Lucian’s luscious homemade tarts and cream cakes start arriving at Emma’s door, tempting her to taste life again…

In trying to stay apart, they only grow closer—and their broken pieces just might fit together and make them whole.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights

RECOMMENDED: Milk Street: Tuesday Nights by Christopher Kimball is $1.99! I own this one and definitely recommend it. I especially appreciate the “One Pot” section, as someone who hates dirtier a gazillion dishes while cooking.

At Milk Street, Chris Kimball and his test cooks use techniques from around the globe to deliver bolder flavors and healthier dishes in less time with simple techniques. On any given Tuesday, you can create interesting, delicious food in a flash.

With more than 200 recipes including quick yet flavorful soups and stews, simple salads, pastas that come together in minutes with ingredients you already have on hand, the home cook’s essential problem–What’s for dinner Tuesday night?–has never tasted so good. And say goodbye to the freezer-burned gallon of ice cream you’ve kept on hand for just this purpose: there are even weeknight-appropriate sweets you can whip up after dinner and still have time to eat before bed.

Best of all, every Tuesday Nights recipe is backed by the rigorous testing for which Chris Kimball is famous. With a photograph for every recipe, helpful tips and tricks for novice cooks and step-by-step visual instruction, each recipe is guaranteed to work when you need it most.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/kristen-callihan-a-cookbook-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=164682

December Language Roundup

lebateleur

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:12 pm

These have turned into more of a record of how duo keeps resetting my progress in these courses rather than my progress itself. On the other hand, it is interesting to have a record of how that enshittification plays out month over month, as 30+ minutes of daily practice each month results in less "progress" through each lesson that I'd recorded the month before.

Chinese — Finished 1/9 of Rookie Unit 8; legendary through Rookie Unit 3
Dutch — Finished 1/2 of Explorer Unit 3; legendary through Rookie Unit 6
Gaelic — Finished 1/3 of Explorer Unit 14; legendary through the Explorer Unit 10
Hindi — Finished 4/5 of Unit 1; backburnered to focus on the letters
Indonesian — Finished Explorer Unit 17; legendary through Explorer Unit 10
Japanese — Finished Trailblazer Unit 4; legendary through Traveler Unit 20
Korean — Finished 1/3 of Rookie Unit 6; legendary through Rookie Unit 5
Latin — Finished 1/3 of Rookie Unit 6
Manx — Finished lesson 9 of the Loayr Gaelg 2 textbook
Welsh — Finished 1/3 of Rookie Unit 6; legendary through Rookie Unit 3

これで以上です。

Tags:

languages

Origins of Japanese

languagelog_feed

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:34 pm

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72480&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=origins-of-japanese

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72480

Watch on YouTube

This makes a good match for Bob Ramsey's "The Japanese language and the Japanese people" (12/30/25).

Just how yuniku ユニク ("unique") is Japanese?

Selected readings

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72480&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=origins-of-japanese

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72480

Philobiblist

jazzy_dave

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:35 pm

Having read 72 books last year, you can definitely call me a philobiblist, which is a person who loves or has a deep affection for books and reading. This term is used to describe someone who treasures books not just for their informational value but also for their physical form, historical significance, and literary quality. That does sum me up neatly and succinctly.

So, as we are now in 2026, I have already started my next two books. The challenge is the same, the target of 80.

Tags:

books

Musical Hopping

jazzy_dave

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:27 pm

Listening to some goth rock music followed by some opera music is just one of my quirks. I suppose I am a perfervid music lover who can switch genres at a whim. Perhaps not a whim, but juxtaposed to that, a desire to appreciate styles of music, and a journey to learn and gain knowledge.

I first listened to that goth music collection - all five CDs of it - and now listening to Verdi's Nabucco.

The possible idea of losing LJ makes me shudder. I really do not want to be on just DW - which I have reserved for my book reviews. Only time will tell.

Tags:

books,
music

I hope it's not AN OMEN

oursin

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:16 pm

Partner's substituted veggie burgers had to be panfried rather than ovencooked (we actually usually spend a fair amount of time making sure that they can) and have RUINED the frying pan with some adherent substance which scrubbing and soaking has failed to shift.

Fortunately we live in the future and I was a) able to consult Which about the best frying pans (they have quite recently surveyed these, yay) and b) order one for same day click and collect at the local Argos.

Even if we entirely failed in entering the details to get our Nectar points on the transaction.

In other news, it appears that there was SNOW some time earlier today or last night which was still lying in shadowed spots when I went for my walk. Bitterly cold out but very bright.

Parakeet disporting around the back gardens and adjacent park.

We have not seen anything more of the fox which came right up the steps from the garden to the back door, after a leisurely descent left its marker on the garden fence, and then got into it with next door's cat, which was sitting on the back fence going 'come and 'ave a go if you think you're 'ard enough'.

Tags:

QOTD: On actually doing the thing

brithistorian

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 08:48 am

“By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback.” (Kent Beck, software engineer)

I find I do this a lot. I spend time "planning" or "gathering knowledge," often until I lose interest in the thing before ever actually trying to do the thing. While I recognize that this is often an attempt to try to avoid the awkward phase where I'm learning the thing and can't really help doing the thing badly, it's still hard to put that recognition into action. I don't really do new year's resolutions, but I'm trying right now to try to more actively recognize when I'm doing this and take action to stop myself from doing it. So, with that being said, I'm going to take the air-dry clay that I got for Christmas out of its package and go make some awkward looking sculpture!

Tags:

psychology,
qotd

Shane Hollander's hair plus spoilers

princessofgeeks

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:55 am

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: enthralled

Tags:

heated rivalry

MCU AU rec

princessofgeeks

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:45 am

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: happy

Tags:

Crack the Wip 2026

maevedarcy

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:28 pm

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Tags:

fandom event

Hyperhomophonous hanzi

languagelog_feed

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:52 pm

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72477&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hyperhomophonous-hanzi

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72477

Many people who don't have the slightest clue about how Chinese characters work have been snookered by the (in)famous Chinese "poem" that has 92 or 94 characters all pronounced "shi" (though in different tones). It's supposed to be a test of one's accuracy in mastering tones and is said to be intelligible when spoken aloud with the correct tones. Some people think it proves how profound Chinese characters are. In actuality, it proves absolutely nothing of value. Nobody talks like this.

Here it is, with explication and annotation: "Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den".

Unless you have endless amounts of time to waste, I would advise you to do no more than glance at it.

Since many hanziphiles are already familiar with the story about the lion-eating poet in the stone den, let's take a look at another "poem" of this sort to see just how easy it is to produce such drivel.

It's not an exaggeration — Chinese is just amazing!!! Listen to this poem where almost every word is pronounced "yu" (of course with different tones and meanings), yet it still tells a detailed and vivid story:

Yu Yu wanted to go fishing. He came to my house and found… pic.twitter.com/ZoIL9sDSGf
— AL-fira (@UlyssesFinn) December 31, 2025

And here's yet another, all in syllables pronounced "ji" in one of the four tones.

BTW, "poems" like this would work better if pronounced in Cantonese, Southern Min, or some other topolect with a richer phonetic inventory than Mandarin, or Japanese or Korean, or Middle Sinitic or Old Sinitic, which likewise have greater phonetic differentiation among syllables.

Selected readings

"Homophonophobia" (2/7/15)
"Homophonic puns in Standard Chinese" (WP)

[Thanks to Hiroshi Kumamoto]

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72477&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hyperhomophonous-hanzi

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72477

Nutcracker

dancefloorlandmine

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 03:09 pm

Meanwhile, I am currently enculturing myself (I'm sure that's a participle) by watching Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker from 2022. I accidentally caught a few minutes of it when it was broadcast on BBC4 in November, and set the box to record it on next showing. The physical portrayal of characterisation is excellent.

Snowflake Challenge #1

pensnest

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 03:08 pm

I did just squeak in before the reveal with yesterday's recs, happily. Not that it matters, because there are so many authors around for Yuletide, and I maybe recognise a handful of names—I doubt I'd go looking for Writer X's Stuff. Anyway, I hope you all had a chance to read through whatever may have caught your eye.

My story was With What Intense Desire, a Mansfield Park fic which changes the end of the story so that Fanny goes home earlier from Portsmouth, and gets to listen to Edmund whingeing about Mary in person instead of reading his letters.

My recipient wanted Fanny to be happy, and my conclusion from re-reading was that Fanny's truest source of happiness is being at Mansfield, at Home, in fact, so that is what I gave her. I may not have been quite heavy-handed enough, as nobody in the comments said they were glad to see her becoming the mistress of Mansfield Park, but there it is. It was fun to do, mostly because I was able to adjust Fanny a wee bit so that she gets more impatient with Edmund, which I do myself.

The title is from a quote in Chapter 45, "With what intense desire she wants her home," from Cowper.

So, that's Yuletide done for another year!

*

Snowflake Challenge 2026, challenge no. 1: The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I seem to have introduced myself many, many times, as I've been doing an online journal since I joined LiveJournal in 2005, and have (I think) done at least some of the Snowflake Challenge every year since it began.

So rather than reiterate how I came to be a fanfic-fandom person, I'm going to send anyone who's interested to the Snowflake 2022 post I made, in which I introduce myself via some posts. A selection of my posts, rather than a(nother) post About Me. The first is a love letter to fandom; the second mourns the death of a creative idol of mine (Stephen Sondheim) and also mourns the country I wish I lived in. The third is about death, though possibly a bit less miserable than that sounds. And there's a bonus fourth, to cheer you up a bit—a really unhelpful phonetic alphabet. As a collection, I think they give quite a good idea of Me, though I'm not usually quite so death-focused.

What do I want from Snowflake this year? I'm not sure. Some entertainment, maybe the discovery of a couple of new people to interact with? As much as anything, I have the feeling that this is a little burgeoning of posts, and I would like to be part of that.

What do I want from DreamWidth this year? Hmm. I'd like to put in a bit of the energy that I've been frivolling away on Reddit lately—although on Reddit I am somewhat more astringent and wit-focused, I think, than I am in this my own space. I hope there will be more discussion of Stuff I'm Interested In, whether that may be barbershop or fandom in general and the changes it has undergone of late, or the pleasure-pain of writing, or what to wear to dance at my daughter's wedding, and more. We shall see.

Tags:

podcast friday

sabotabby

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:40 am

Mostly everyone is dormant in the podcast world during Void Week, but Tech Won't Save Us got out a cool one: "How Effective Is Australia's Social Media Age Limit?" with Cam Wilson. Cam has been on the show before, before the ban was implemented. It's now only a week or two into the ban, so early to say if it has done anything good for kids, but he talks a lot about the technical challenges, privacy concerns, and the political and economic interests shaping the ban.

I am flat-out against bans like this (though I will listen to opposing POVs) for a bunch of reasons:

1) The disastrous effect it has on queer and trans kids outside of major urban centres.
2) The fact that there is no equivalent ban for chatbots (meaning that lonely, isolated kids will increasingly turn to chatbots rather than other kids for company).
3) The privacy violations and additional surveillance for adult users (i.e., having to upload their face or donate more information for data-mining to prove their age).
4) My general shitlib opinions about free speech, which includes kids.
5) The methodology of the research that suggests social media is bad for kids. To be clear, I think social media is bad for kids, but I don't think the research is very good at proving it.
6) The lack of anything that addresses the real problems that lead to harmful social media practices, which include inaccessibility of public spaces for youth (and older people!), helicopter parenting/overscheduling, policing of parenting (i.e., parents being disciplined for allowing their kids to roam free), algorithmic instead of chronological timelines and post promotion, the infestation of ads/chatbots/surveillance tech in all social media spaces.

Cam doesn't talk enough about the first two issues imo, but he does have very interesting things about the privacy concerns and especially about how other, non-banning solutions, would have produced better results. For example, forcing these companies to build versions of their platforms that were safe for kids would provide an off-ramp from the block and, by extension, make us aware that a safer, better experience is possible for all of us. He also walks us through the process of the ban, its initial aims, what the final legislation looks like, and the way in which campaigns can gain steam very quickly, become watered down by corporate interests, and ultimately declare total victory based on one or two points.

At any rate, it's interesting to listen to, and I hope he does a followup later on so we can see how it worked out on the ground and if it had any positive effects at all.

Tags:

podcasts

Yuletide Reveals 2025

thisbluespirit

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 03:03 pm

yuletide is now over for another year! I did, in fact, have the misfortune to turn up at the exact wrong moment to catch the reveals bug on the 24th, so I saw the identity of my gift-writer, although as they were someone that I only had the vaguest idea of having seen the name around AO3 somewhere before, it didn't really spoil anything, thankfully.

I had hoped to do some little treats, as I got on and got my fic done as soon as I could, but I moved instead. However, as I cut out one section from my assignment and posted it separately in Madness, I did technically still post a treat as well!

I wrote The Winslow Boy for

edwardianspinsteraunt, so I was not super anonymous really, for anyone who actually looked that far, but I had a lovely time spending a month or so rewatching the film and coming up with different scenarios from their prompts and my head for a 5 + 1 Times fic. By the end, I decided, though, that the "+1" just increasingly didn't sit right with the rest, so I split it off, hence the Madness treat.

Passing Acquaintances (8985 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Post-Canon, 1910s, World War I, Trains, London, Smoking, Politics, Cars, Suffragettes, Yuletide, Edwardian Period
Summary: Five ways Catherine and Sir Robert might have met again, after the trial.

( Some writerly blathering )

I wanted to include the Winslows lose the case AU if I could, as I knew

edwardianspinsteraunt was keen on that idea - and as I thought would it might rather put paid to any Catherine/Robert, at least for quite some time, it fitted well into the format as the "one time they didn't" (meet again) (although never at any point was that categorical). It did work out well and was maybe the most Rattigan section in the end, I thought, so I had to post it even after I cut it. (Although had I realised sooner I was going to set it loose alone, I'd have found a way to make the start a little less in media res, although tbf, it's an unlikely one to appeal to anyone who doesn't know canon).

Anyway, here it is:

and watch the things you gave your life to broken (2799 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Catherine Winslow, Desmond Curry, Arthur Winslow, Violet (Winslow Boy), Dickie Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, 1910s, Edwardian Period, The Winslows lose the case, Yuletide Treat
Summary: The Winslows lose the case.

With the usual thanks to

persiflage for the beta!! <3<3<3

Tags:

Tabletop roleplaying games that I have played at least once

james_davis_nicoll

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:05 am

Not complete, I am sure.

( Read more... )

What I Have Available for Award Consideration, 2026 Edition

scalziwhatever_feed

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:42 pm

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/02/what-i-have-available-for-award-consideration-2026-edition/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58966

If you’re the sort of person who nominates stuff for awards, this year I have a number of works available for your consideration. For the sake of convenience I’m using the Hugo Award categories to lump them together but these classifications should work generally for the various awards my work is eligible for. All of these works were made publicly available between Jan 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025.

BEST NOVEL:

When the Moon Hits Your Eye. March 2025. Published by Tor Books, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Editor.

The Shattering Peace. September 2025. Published by Tor Books, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Editor.

BEST SERIES:

The Old Man’s War series, published by Tor Books, of which The Shattering Peace is the latest installment.

BEST NOVELETTE:

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years. November 2025. Published by Amazon Original Stories, John Joseph Adams, Editor.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM:

The Other Large Thing. May 2025. Episode 4, Season 4, Love Death + Robots. Written by me, directed by Patrick Osborne. Produced by Netflix and Blur Studios.

Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners. May 2025. Episode 9, Season 4, Love Death + Robots. Written by me, directed by Patrick Osborne. Produced by Netflix and Blur Studios.

In addition to me, the following people are also eligible for award consideration based on their engagement with my work: John Harris, Best Professional Artist (for The Shattering Peace); Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Best Editor, Long Form (for When the Moon Hits Your Eye and The Shattering Peace); John Joseph Adams, Best Editor, Short Form (for “3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years”). Also, the anthology that “3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years” is part of, The Time Traveler’s Passport, is eligible for Best Anthology consideration. Finally, all of Volume 4 of Love Death + Robots is eligible for consideration for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

(Please note that my novella Constituent Service, published in print/ebook in November 2025, is not eligible for award consideration, as it was originally published in audio in 2024. However, cover artist Tristan Elwell is eligible for Best Professional Artist, because the cover art to the print/ebook edition of the novella is original to 2025.)

I think that covers all the things I did for 2025! I mean, it’s a fair amount. If you read or watched any of it, I hope it gave you joy. And if you haven’t read or watched these things, well, that just means they’re ready for you when you’re ready to enjoy them.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/02/what-i-have-available-for-award-consideration-2026-edition/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58966

Annual Eligibility Post, Or Look On My Works Ye Mighty

james_davis_nicoll

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:29 am

Not just the usual cut and paste! This year I am eligible in a brand new category.

Annual Eligibility Post, Or Look On My Works Ye Mighty

Tags:

me me me me me

The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

james_davis_nicoll

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:19 am

Fen is the worst sort of hostage: one who has outlived her usefulness to the state.

The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Tags:

review

December TV shows

dolorosa_12

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:01 pm

Staying at home over Christmas certainly meant Matthias and I were able to finish up a lot of TV shows this past month: six in total (plus a three-part BBC documentary about 1990s/2000s girl bands which was very good, but didn't say anything you wouldn't have expected from a documentary on that topic, so I don't have a lot to say about it myself).

The other shows were:

House of Guinness, a glossy, soapy historical drama about the quartet of 19th-century siblings who were heirs to the real-world brewing empire. This is another Steven Knight vehicle, with all his hallmarks: stylised comic book sensibility, anachronistic music, very broad-brush engagement with the politics of the era (in this case 19th-century Ireland), and larger-than-life characters whose various attempts to deal with their considerable problems just keep escalating the situation and spawning new problems. I enjoyed this, although I felt the tension was slightly dampened by the fact that most of the characters were insulated from any serious consequences due to their wealth and social position.

The third season of The Diplomat, a blackly comedic geopolitical thriller starring Keri Russell as a career American diplomat who, after postings in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, ends up posted as the ambassador to the UK. She's expected to be ceremonial and decorative in a cushy job, but suddenly lands at the centre of an international political conspiracy and scandal reaching into the highest levels of power, and struggles to deal with her embassy's, her country's, and her own personal responses to the fallout. The balance between comedy and political thriller is much more on the political thriller side of things this season, although there are still some hilariously awkward moments, but ultimately what I felt it was really about, at its heart, is the appalling tension between the undeniable benefits and utter indignity of being an ally of the United States from the 'democratic West' (quote marks because geographically some of the countries I'm including here are located in the Asia-Pacific part of the world), even when its government is led by people who at least aspire to the ideals of the post-WWII international order.

Season 10 of Shetland, which I'm continuing to enjoy with the new leads. The mystery this season had an almost Icelandic saga feel to it (cycles of grief, buried secrets, and revenge in a small, isolated community), the landscape and settings remained as starkly gorgeous as ever — and more fun to me this time because literally every Lerwick location was now familiar, and Matthias and I had a great time spotting various landmarks.

The Beast in Me, a psychological thriller in which Claire Danes plays a critically acclaimed author suffering from writer's block and struggling under the weight of grief at the death of her young son, which ended her marriage. She's living in upstate New York alone with her dog in the family home, which is quite literally falling apart around her, when she becomes tangled up in the saga and scandal involving her new neighbour — a wealthy New York property developer accused of murdering his wife. This has an excellent cast (the neighbour is played by Matthew Rhys with brittle intensity), and the story is tightly told, if a bit too conveniently wrapped up at the end.

Season 3 of Dark Winds, the historical mystery series set in the 1970s and starring Zahn McClarnon as a Navajo Tribal Police officer investigating various murders that take place in his community. This was, as always, excellent, with a stellar cast, a tremendous sense of place, and a really subtly written undercurrent of the ongoing effects of intergenerational, colonial trauma, what justice really means in such a context, and the limits of such justice. It always takes ages for new seasons of this show to make their way to the UK, and I'm already impatient for the fourth season.

The final season of Stranger Things, which I'm counting as a December show, even though I only watched the final episode last night. I have to admit that I was losing patience with the show by the last season (I had no idea the fourth season wasn't going to be the last, found watching it something of a slog that I was doing for completion's sake, and then realised with a great deal of irritation that there was no time in the final episode of Season 4 to wrap up all the various plot threads, at which point Matthias informed me that there was to be an entire additional season), and when I discovered that most episodes of the fifth season were going to be the length of short films, it felt like a self-indulgent last milking of the cash cow. So my expectations were low: it was bloated with characters, overloaded with the weight of its mythology, and the idea that it would be able to find satisfying ways to wrap things up, conclude convincing character arcs, and tie up all the various dangling interpersonal character relationship threads seemed to me far-fetched — but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed several of the middle episodes, the more clichéd emotional beats seemed perfectly calculated to appeal to me (the conclusion of Will's story this season in particular really hit me in the heart), and for the most part I felt the whole thing was handled in a satisfying way. I've never felt the slightest bit fannish about this show, so my investment is quite superficial, but on that level, although I was losing patience last season, the destination was, overall, worth the journey.

Tags:

tv shows

Snowflake challenge 2026 - 1

shadowhive

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:49 am

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

So it’s that time of year again, time for

snowflake_challenge (and also it’s 2026 what the hell?).

I’m never terribly good with intros. I never know what to say and always feel sure I miss something but here goes.

I’m Stuie, I’m from the uk and I have two cats (Leia and Midna) and a dog (Naryu). I’m a student with the open university, doing science and hopefully I’ll finish it sometime (but health has delayed things). I’ve got depression and anxiety and probably autism too, but I’ve not been assessed yet (I have asked my doctor to refer me who knows what happened there). But anyway.

I’m a nerd as a seen below, I love Star Wars, Zelda and Pokémon and Doctor Who. Basically I love any sci fi stuff, but also I like horror stuff too.

I also write many smut fic occasionally other stuff, though I’ve stalled a lot over the past months due to various things.

I post about random general things, thoughts on films/shows and occasionally pic posts. I’ve got a cinema pass so I’ve started to use that to see films more often and post thoughts about them too. I also post about Doctor Who eps as I watch them (I’m currently going through the new season 15 boxset, but I had to stall cause of the holidays)

Current fixations are Stranger Things (we’ll see if that holds when I watch the finale), IT, The Long Walk, Joshua Odjick in general, 5 Seconds Of Summer.

Here’s a bunch of things that I like/am interested in (I’m sure I’ve missed things and may add them in later)

Films: Clown In A Cornfield, Noroi: The Curse, Sonic The Hedgehog, Star Wars, The Long Walk, Wildhood

Games: Dead By Daylight, Fall Guys, Fortnite, Pokémon, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Legend Of Zelda

Music: 5 Seconds Of Summer, Coheed And Cambria, James Marriott, Sleep Token, Waterparks

Shows: Doctor Who, IT: Welcome To Derry, Stranger Things

(I’m gonna come back and add things to the lists later as my mind feels hazy)

What I hope to gain from snowflake? I dunno really, new followers would be nice but I like how snowflake makes things so active in general.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Tv

Tags:

snowflake challenge 2026

(no subject)

dine

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 04:22 am

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On the work of human rights work [pols, hist]

siderea

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 07:03 am

Interesting:

2025 Dec 31: DwarkeshPatel YT fea. Sarah Paine: Human Rights Killed Communism - Sarah Paine:

Watch on YouTube

BTW, that's Sarah C. M. Paine, until very recently the William S. Sims University Professor of History and Grand Strategy and the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History, both, at the US Naval War College. She's an incredibly interesting speaker. Recommended.

(Dwarkesh Patel is this random dude who mistakenly thinks he's a podcaster and keeps trying to have other guests, but in actuality was put on Earth to bring Paine to the masses. He's got something like 14 hours of her up on his channel.)

Tags:

pols,
russia

3 Heated Rivalry random observations

princessofgeeks

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 05:09 am

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: awake

Tags:

heated rivalry

The Day in Spikedluv (Thursday, Jan 1)

spikedluv

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 06:09 am

How is it 2026 already?!! Happy New Year to you all. I hope it’s a safe, healthy and joyous one for all of us.

I did not go downtown today, just spent a very lazy day at home doing minimal chores. I hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. Pip's supper was leftovers, so I didn't even have to cook!

Disappointment of the day (really, yesterday, but it carried over), was discovering that there is garlic in the dip mix I use to make the spinach dip. I never noticed before, so must be years ago it didn't bother me like it does now. It's not enough to burn my mouth like that yummy hamburger did a while back, but it is enough to make me pause when I'm going back for seconds *coff* thirds.

I tried the Green tea today. At first I was like, this is my kind of tea (very weak), but by the time I finished my first cup I thought it might be even too weak for me! o_O After the first cup (this was not a tea bag I could reuse; in fact, I left it in the cup the whole time and the tea still tasted weak to me) I went back to my favorite tea that I keep in the house, Tazo’s Zen (which is green tea, bright lemongrass & crisp peppermint).

I read more in my book and watched-watched more Secrets of the Zoo.

Temps started out at 12.2(F) and reached 19.1. It was windy again; Pip actually had to go out and blow out the trails again because they'd been blown in with snow. There was a little bit of sun, though!

Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I talked to her. She has nothing much to report. *g* Sister A was with her when I called and my brother had called earlier, so she is receiving visitors and calls, which is nice.

Tags:

Kaijuu No. 8 fic update: Warm as life (Kafka/Reno/Narumi, Reno/Iharu, Kafka/Hoshina) - WIP 2/7

vriddy

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:05 am

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Tags:

my writing: fics: kn8

[Challenge #475] BtVS / Spike — Misunderstood

veronyxk84

100words

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:30 am

Title: Misunderstood
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Author:

veronyxk84
Characters/Pairing: Spike
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some coarse language
Word count: 100 (Google Docs)
Spoilers/Setting: Set in S5, during ep. 5x17 “Forever”.
Summary: Spike honours Joyce in his own way.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.

Challenge: #475 - Resolve

Crossposted:

fan_flashworks, My journal

—
( READ: Misunderstood )

Tags:

prompt: #475 - resolve

25 recs in 18 fandoms

choirwoman

yuletide

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:23 am

Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Floris (TV), The Court Jester, Piranesi, Miss Marple, Dragonriders of Pern, Lord Peter Wimsey, Columbo, The Princess Bride, The Secret Garden, Chalet School, The Goblin Emperor, Irn Bru Snowman Ads, Dark Is Rising Sequence, Murdle, Tiny Bookshop & Untitled Goose Game, Flower Fairies, Baby Shoes Never Worn. Here, at my blog.

Current Mood: bouncy

Tags:

recs

Follow Friday 1-2-26

ysabetwordsmith

followfriday

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 03:27 am

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

followfriday

Follow Friday 1-2-26: Most Useful Communities

ysabetwordsmith

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 12:19 am

Today's theme is Most Useful Communities. These are communities with popular topics and plenty of activity, that often come up in searches, and thus make it easy to find fun things to do or new friends to meet. There are other highly useful communities that may not have come up in my searches, so if you'd like to suggest more, leave a comment. For more ideas see

followfriday and the Follow Friday Master Post of thematic community lists.

Note that this post is sorted by topics, so a few communities appear more than once.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

January 2026 Queer Romances

smartbitches_feed

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 08:00 am

Posted by Dahlia Adler

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/january-2026-queer-romances/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=164668

With the world considerably more tuned in to queer romance than it was just a couple of months ago, thanks to the smash success of the Canadian adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry, I’d like to thank publishing for keeping us well-fed with a glorious flood this month. While I could only feature five here, make sure you also check out the new Alexandria Bellefleur f/f, Playing for Keeps; Pumped, the trans m/m newest installment in K.M. Neuhold’s Gymbos series; and Taleen Voskuni’s new bi m/f Our Ex’s Wedding.

Two Left Feet

Author: Kallie Emblidge
Released: January 13, 2026 by Dell
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

A Premier League football star must defend his roster spot—and his heart—when a threateningly talented and handsome midfielder joins his team in this utterly charming debut romance, a profound love letter to the world’s most popular sport.

Oliver Harris is football royalty in London. Ordinarily the star of the Camden Roses is calm, cool, and collected, keeping his club relevant with his prowess in the midfield and his mighty left foot. But this season, the threats There’s Camden’s management to contend with—complete with a prickly new Dutch coach, eager for better results—and a midseason injury, which sidelines him when his team needs him most. When a recruit is called up to fill in, Oliver fears he’ll be replaced. If he can mentor this younger talent, then they might just have a chance at winning, together.

After a string of lackluster performances in his native Spain, Leonardo Davies-Villanueva is looking for one last shot with the club he always dreamed of, where he once played in the youth academy. Oliver immediately finds confident, eager Leo irritating. He can barely go through the motions, let alone coach him, without outright hostility. When he comes to admire Leo’s skill and warms to his humor and energy, though, he begins to see Leo as a friend—and then, to his mounting horror, as something more.

Leo craves Oliver’s attention and partnership; Oliver can’t afford to fall in love with his teammate. He’s always kept a tight lid on his sexuality in a league that’s never had a player come out. As the season heats up, a lot more than football hangs in the balance. Can Oliver—and Leo—win when it counts most?

“An exuberant heart-squeeze of a book . . . Two Left Feet is the kind of joyful, hopeful story the romance genre was made for.”—Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of What Happens in Amsterdam

For those of you who’ve been lusting after more m/m sports romance, debut Kallie Emblidge is here to help with your yearning by providing so much delicious yearning of its own. Set in the world of football (the non-American kind), it’s got everything from sexy accents to competitive natures and passion to spare. The perfect pick for that post-HR slump.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Want to order this one? We’ve got the links you need!.

For Our Next Song

Author: Jessica James
Released: January 13, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Glitter Bats #2

The decade-long friendship between two rock goddesses is thrust into the spotlight after their mutual desire strikes a perfect—and very public—chord.

For Glitter Bats keys player Jane Mercer, writing music helps tune out her self-doubt from a strict upbringing. Composing also distracts from her longtime feelings for her bandmate and best friend, Keeley, who Jane can’t pursue if she wants to keep her bisexuality out of the media. But when an incompetent percussionist quits mid–recording session on one of her major solo projects, there’s only one drummer to call to make the deadline.

Keeley Cunningham is determined to do what’s best for the newly-reunited Glitter Bats—including conceal her incurable attraction to Jane by keeping her distance. Still, when Jane asks for her help in the studio, Keeley drops everything to fill in. They collaborate harmoniously… until their repressed feelings crescendo into a massive argument about the band’s future that leaves them barely speaking.

As music forces Jane and Keeley into increasingly close proximity, the lingering tension finally ignites into the romance they’ve both been craving—and it’s hot, emotional, and fundamentally secret. But after an intimate moment is caught on camera, they’ll have to decide if their duet can survive its debut—both on and off stage.

I absolutely adored Jessica James’s last Glitter Bats book, a bi m/f rock star romance, so I’m thrilled to see her returning to that world with an f/f between bandmates that promises to smolder at least as hard. Between forced proximity and the secretive nature of their romance, Jane and Keeley’s attraction has all the ingredients necessary for extreme hotness, while bringing us back to a whole cast of characters we’ve already come to know and love.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Want to order this one? We’ve got the links you need!.

Last First Kiss

Author: Julian Winters
Released: January 27, 2026 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

Sparks fly in this second chance m/m rom com when an unlucky-in-love event manager realizes the man-of-honor at the high profile wedding he’s planning is the same man who broke his heart.

They say you never forget your first kiss. But Jordan Carter wishes he could forget the one he shared with Jamie Peters as teens. And the one they almost shared again last year before Jamie made it clear he wasn’t the “right” man for Jordan to be with while he’s figuring himself out.

Now, Jordan’s fully focused on his career at 24 Carter Gold, his family’s event planning company, and ready to move on – until his boss assigns him to plan a new client’s high-profile wedding. The bride’s man-of-honor? None other than Jamie.

As things ramp up the closer they get to the wedding, so does Jordan’s relationship with Jamie, with sarcastic asides turning into steamy hook-ups. But can Jordan afford to pursue Jamie if he’s still unsure who he is? Or is knowing who he loves enough? Venue shopping, cake-tastings, and dress fittings with the man he can’t forget just might change the man Jordan Carter is meant to become.

Last First Kiss by Julian Winters is a second chance romance about finding yourself–and the love of your life.

Look, I am thrilled that Julian Winters is still writing YA, but I am an entire other level of ecstatic that he’s bringing us another adult romance, because now that we’ve finished 2025 I can tell you that his I Think They Love You was my favorite m/m of the entire year. If you read it, you knew these were going to be the next characters to get their own book, because the chemistry between them was completely unignorable, and the added bonus of Jordan being demisexual so that when he wants Jamie, you know he is so all in is just *chef’s kiss*. There’s patience and comfort checks and the balance of sweet and heat is just, well, trademark Julian Winters, really.

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Hold Your Horses

Author: Ali Mulford
Released: January 27, 2026 by Rogue Fables Pty Ltd
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Prickle Island Zoo #5

When socially anxious, secretly asexual, and thoroughly horse-illiterate Hollis lands a job at Prickle Island Zoo (by pretending to be a cowgirl from Wyoming), she’s just hoping for a fresh start . . . and maybe to hide away from the world with a Jane Austen novel and meerkat in tow.

What Hollis doesn’t expect is to fall head over heels—literally—for the charming non-binary zookeeper, Heron.

Heron Lachlan knows that living at their family zoo on a tiny island and being ace means the dating pool is zero. Heron accepts that their longest running relationship will probably be with a literal goose . . . until Hollis trots in wearing a thrifted cowboy hat and lying through her teeth.

As zoo hijinks, escaped ostriches, and a meddlesome family of zookeepers bring them closer, Hollis and Heron must face their fears, their secret hopes, and their wildly incompatible knowledge of equine fun facts.

A light-hearted, queer rom-com about finding your person, embracing your truths, and rewriting the rules of love—Hold Your Horses is the joyful, asexual slow-burn you didn’t know you needed.

Each book in the Prickle Island Zoo series can be read as a standalone. Feel free to jump into this series wherever you like!

Mulford’s been busy, between their Golden Court fantasy series, coauthored Maple Hollow paranormals, and this, the Prickle Island Zoo series, of which Hold Your Horses is the fifth book. The series features both cishet and queer romances (including the Sapphic Party Animal), but this one’s got the rarest pairing, with two ace MCs, one of whom is nonbinary. It promises horse puns (which is an elite class of puns), a slow burn, and general zoo hijinks, and sounds like an utterly delightful way to bring in the new year.

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See You at the Summit

Author: Jordyn Taylor
Released: January 27, 2026 by Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

For fans of Alison Cochrun and Abby Jimenez, a heartfelt and sexy romantic comedy following one bi woman’s messy journey through coming out—and reluctantly falling for a straight man. From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Wicked Darlings .

Girl comes out as bi. Girl falls for a straight guy.

Simone Whittaker has spent the first three decades of her life pretending to be straight. But when the girl she never dared call her girlfriend walks away, she decides she’s done living in fear. Her uptight parents don’t take the news well, but a viral coming-out post and a new job at Toronto’s Rainbow Museum offer a fresh start—and a crash course in queer adulthood.

That is, until her first day of work, when Simone ruins a project designed by Ryan Foley—the museum’s gruff and annoyingly hot carpenter—earning her the top spot on his enemies list. When they’re forced to take a work trip to the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival together, Simone vows not to let a grumpy straight guy ruin her first Pride. But Ryan keeps surprising her—thoughtful, vulnerable, and impossible to ignore. As sparks fly on chairlifts and by crackling fires, one snowstorm—and one bed—changes everything.

Back in Toronto, however, reality sets in. Dating a guy—and being mistaken for straight—weren’t exactly part of Simone’s coming-out plan. As the pressure builds between the identity she’s just beginning to explore and the relationship that wasn’t supposed to happen, she starts to What if claiming one part of herself means erasing the other?

Taylor’s best known for her Sapphic Jewish historical YA, including last year’s The Rebel Girls of Rome, but her debut adult romance is thoroughly modern, and will definitely be relatable to lots of bi readers. All the angst and stress and bravery of coming out, only to have people think you never needed to in the first place? But Meet You at the Summit emphatically conveys how identity doesn’t hinge on a single relationship or attraction, and neither does wanting to be an active and inspirational member of the queer community, and yeah, it’s got some solid steam, too.

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https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/01/january-2026-queer-romances/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=164668

Friday 02/01/2026

dark_kana

3_good_things_a_day

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 09:13 am

1) a day off from work, a day for myself ^^ Hubby does have to work and our daughter is with her granddad

2) going for a drink with my mum and perhaps my sister

3) library visit and when I'm back home, working on my photobalbums

White-Eyes by Mary Oliver

conuly

Sunday, January 4th, 2026 02:51 am

In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind-bird

with its white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us

he wants to go to sleep,
but he's restless—
he has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds

from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake.
But his big, round music, after all,
is too breathy to last.

So, it's over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest,
he's done all he can.

I don't know the name of this bird,
I only imagine his glittering beak
tucked in a white wing
while the clouds—

which he has summoned
from the north—
which he has taught
to be mild, and silent—

thicken, and begin to fall
into the world below
like stars, or the feathers
of some unimaginable bird

that loves us,
that is asleep now, and silent—
that has turned itself
into snow.

****

Link

Miami Vice ficlet - Fishing Without Bait

mxcatmoon

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 02:27 am

Written for the prompts, 127 Jocular, 136 Enervate, 169 Discombobulate, at

vocab_drabbles
Title: Fishing Without Bait
Fandom: Miami Vice
Author: Cat Moon
Rating: PG
Words: 728
Characters: Sonny, Rico
Summary: Some weeks are worse than others, but fishing has always been Sonny's sanity maintenance. During a weekend of decompressing, the partners draw comfort from each other and tiptoe around some truths.
Notes: I was thinking about how they imply Rico has gone fishing with Sonny on the show. This is the result.

( Fishing Without Bait )

Current Mood: happy

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The Deathless One

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Every Heart a Doorway

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Make It Sweet

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Milk Street: Tuesday Nights

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Two Left Feet

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For Our Next Song

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Last First Kiss

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Hold Your Horses

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See You at the Summit

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