dhampyresa

I recently read a book that was, in part, a retelling of the fairytale "Donkeyskin". There was a list of trigger warnings at the start of said book, but "incest" wasn't among them. Nothing physical actually happens, but much like in the fairytale, the protagonist spends a not insignificant portion of the book (I want to say at least a quarter, but don't quote me on that) threatened by the prospect of being forced to marry/have sex with her father the king. I feel like that should still warrant a warning? Or maybe "being a Donkeyskin retelling" (obvious from summary/etc) is the warning? Idk, I feel like that's not enough, especially since Donkeyskin isn't particularly well known. Or maybe I'm overthinking things.

I recently bought (the French version of) this Tarot deck because it is extremely pretty and shiny. I know how to play Tarot -- been ages, though -- but never done any divination. Does anyone have spreads that they like?

I have been dragging this stupid coughing sickness for forever. Feel even more useless than usual.

Spent today watching a bunch of Archaeology with Flint Dibble videos. Which lead me to encountering, in Debunking the Fake Historian Taking Over the Internet: Professor Jiang's Predictive History, the conspiracy theory that Hannibal Barca never existed (from the guy being debunked -- who also is fractally wrong aboutso many things omg "Why didn't [Hannibal] go back to Carthage and claim the kingship" because Carthage didn't have kings??????? they had suffetes and Hannibal did in fact become suffete, during which tenure he led several massive reforms, including ones that made Carthage less oligarchic).

I need to reclassify my entire ao3 account as "Fake Person Fiction", I guess.

Was recently attempting to reading a book and found myself dreading picking it up again (just... so slooooooow). DNF (Did Not Finish) it is! (I actually gave the book more of a chance than I usually would, on account of: (a) i got it at an event where I got it signed/met the author and (b) it is a beautiful physical object.) Now I'm curious what "rules", if any, people have with DNFs? Are there things that make you read more/less of a book before you decide to drop it?

I've finished a play through of Slay the Princess. I really enjoyed it! I will now try to go after all the achievements héhéhé

I had to turn off the parallax and the ambient sound so I wouldn't get nauseous. Something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to motion sickness and/or vertigo.

Over course of the first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms the main character's name goes from "Dunk" to "Ser Duncan the Tall".

At this rate, the last episode will just be him introducing himself.

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, by Julian Walker, Matthew Remski & Derek Beres

The central idea of this book is that the underlying principles of New Age philosophy and consipracy theories are very similar: Karma = "nothing happens by accident"; Illusion = "nothing is at it seems" and Interdependance = "everything is connected". An interesting and well-argued read.


I read this book early in 2025, at roughly the same time as The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care, by Rina Raphael (it was fine) so I'm not sure which of the two -- or even the Decoding the Gurus podcast I was bingeing at the time -- had this additional tidbit: part of the appeal of alternative medicine is the personalised aspect of it. You're not special, getting the same vaccine as everyone else, but this homeopathy is tailored to you specifically/this diet aligns with your astrological chart/etc.

I was so disappointed by this book.

Part of this is on me: I had somehow gotten it in my head this was modern day and was looking forward to seeing how "hivemind took over the entire medical profession undetected" aspect of the premise would play out. The setting is not modern day, it's set some indeterminate amount of time (over 500 years) after some sort of apocalypse (fair, and an interesting setting itself) and people are aware to varying degrees aware that there is Something Wrong TM with the Institute.

The main part of the disappointment is that the book keeps bringing up concepts and then... Not Doing Anything with them. Spoilers from here on out. Our PoV character loses access to the hivemind fairly early on. Helen's miscarriages and/or the twins having supernatural powers never goes anywhere. The baron seems aware that he is hosting pseudomycota and even might be working with it? Let's never speak of this again! The idea that "If you’re born in Verdira, you die in Verdira" is brought up and we get told what happens is someone born there tries to leave, but that goes nowhere. /End spoilers

It is so disappointing and frustrating. It all just goes fucking nowhere!

Also I found the written accent annoying.

I did enjoy the hivemind parts, I guess.

I really enjoyed watching Andor, overall. I did think there were a few places where the pacing dragged a bit and it wasn't as mindblowingly great as the hype made it sound like it would be, but it was still very good! The bits on Ghorman were kind of annoying because the Ghor language sounds so much like French but isn't French, I felt like I was taking crazy pills hahaha. Favourite episode was either the prison break or the Kleya flashbacks episode. I agressively Did Not Care about Syril or his mother, but every other character was at least interesting. I love Cassian, Vel and Cinta, but I think Kleya might be my favourite. I want to rewatch Rogue One, now.

Meme taken from fiachairecht

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A — Apotheosis (Secret Wars (Hickman/Ribić 2015 mini-series); Doom & Strange; gen; 1k)
B — Between the Devil and the Dust (Star Wars, sequel, prequel and original trilogies; Rey, Luke & Anakin; gen; 7k)
C — Coming Forth by Day (MCU Black Panther & Ancient Egyptian Religion; Shuri, Killmonger & various assorted gods; gen; 25k)
D — The Devil Went Down to New Jersey (Hamilton musical; Burr; gen; >1k)
E — Every Heart That Beats For Liberty (Rogue One; Jyn & Ensemble; gen; 4k)
F — Five people on StarKiller Base who didn't listen to Anakin Skywalker (and one who did) (Star Wars, prequel and sequel trilogies; Anakin & Force Awakens ensemble; gen; 3k)
G — God Games (Ambition (ESA Short film); Apprentice & Master; gen; >1k)
H — The Hawk and the Bat (Marvel 616 & DC comics; Steph Brown & Kate Bishop; gen; 7k)
I — If at first you don't succeed... (Try. Try again.) (Ancient Rome RPF; Original female time traveller; gen; 4k)
J
K (I do have one piece of art, but the meme specifies fics)
L — Lies told by firelight (Loki Agent of Asgard; Verity & Loki; gen; 2k)
M — Mirage (Star Wars sequel trilogy; Rey; gen; 3k)
N — Nameless (Ancient History RPF; Hannibal Barca/Scipio Africanus; >1k)
O — Out of the Cold (Captain America and the Winter Soldier; Original female penguin scientist; gen; 6k)
P — The Public Thing (Star Wars Clone Wars; Rex/Riyo Chuchi; 30k)
Q — Qabârum (MCU & Ancient Mesopotamian Religion; Gamora & Natasha Romanov; gen; 3k)
R — Retrograde (Marvel comics; Valeria Richards; gen; 3k)
S — Strange Aeons (Marvel comics; Victor von Doom; gen; 7k)
T — The Tale of Lightsabre the Blue (Star Wars sequel trilogy; Rey & Ensemble; gen; 3k)
U — The Uncertainty Principle (Marvel comics, Young Justice cartoon & thought experiments; Cassie Lang & Wally West; gen; 3k)
V
W — We built this city on rock 'n' roll (Sucker Punch movie; Rocket; gen; 1k)
X
Y
Z — Zero Sum Game (Secret Wars (Hickman/Ribić 2015 mini-series); Victor von Doom; gen; 1k)

21/26 (116 fics on ao3 -- I have 122 works on there but 6 are art)

I THINK I MIGHT LIKE GEN