#Review of Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff 2/5 What an entertaining mess this turned into. The first 2/3rds do a good job at portraying an unreliable narrator. The last 3rd jumps the shark, piling on too many reversals in short order that undermine the rest of the novel. An ambitious failure. #booksky 📚🪐

i think everyone needs to get a lot less religious

#Review of Bury Your Gays, edited by Sofia Ajram 4/5 One of the strongest anthologies I've read in a while, there's only one story that I'd call "bad", and the rest are enjoyable to amazing. No frills on this, just several well-chosen bangers all trying to be "tragic queer horror". #booksky 🩸📚🪐

#Review of Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield 3/5 A strange, tragic relationship drama, a meditation on grief and loss. When it focuses on that, it's at its strongest, but too often it gets distracted. I do appreciate the intent, but am left thinking that something has gone awry. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of The Book of Queer Saints Volume 2, edited by Mae Murray 3.5/5 An improvement on the first volume, more daring and visceral in terms of subject matter. A tad larger as well, and there are a few what I'd call "filler" stories, but these don't overstay their welcome. #booksky 🪐📚🩸

#Review of Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt 4.5/5 An extremely ambitious novel. The tone is bleak, loaded with very real horror, look up triggers. The narrative voice challenges the reader, is blunt but sophisticated, panic inducing. Looks into a festering wound in the UK's heart. #boosky 🩸📚

#Review of The Book of Queer Saints, edited by Mae Murray 3.5/5 A horror anthology featuring queer villains, or at least antiheroes. Fairly good. A lot of experimentation with prose styles and narrative voices that don't always land. "Morta" and "The Last Disgrace" are the highlights. #booksky 🩸📚🪐

#Review of Red X by David Demchuk 5/5 A novel of queer horror, a community dealing with predators both real and ethereal. When the horror shows itself it is folkloric and grotesque, the perfect blend of alluring and creeping dread. Recommended if a looser structure isn't a problem. #booksky 🩸📚🪐

#Review of SS-GB by Len Deighton 9/10. SS-GB executes a ruthlessly clever plot, half espionage thriller and murder mystery. The men are varied, the women are doting ladies or tragic victims. A thoroughly fulfilling read, it's a shame the author never really tapped into this vein again. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of Children of Dune by Frank Herbert 4/5 Herbert's writing continues to be at his height. The first 70% feels gradual, a bit self-indulgent, mind-game focused. Then the pace picks up a lot, brings in a Deus Ex Machina. Still an enthralling read, ruminations remain ever-relevant. #booksky 📚🪐

[norman rockwell guy] i think GFM should be reinstated for this comment so that she may be permabanned for one of the many other better examples to permaban a person she has provided

#Review of Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert 4/5 Compared to the original, this entry is smaller, which keeps things moving along at a steady pace. Herbert's prose is stellar, the antagonists are well-developed, but the plot verges close to convolution. Brings a welcome perspective on Dune. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities 3/5 This is noticeably weaker than the disease guide, although the stories are stronger and are given more space. Each section of the book has its own artist, which brings variety at the expense of stylistic cohesion. #booksky 📚🪐

I am going to be a massive humorless asshole about woo-woo shit, no matter how seemingly harmless, for the rest of my life due to this. astrology, homeopathic medicine, etc etc it's all bullshit and it's not fucking harmless. there are people who will die due to this who would have otherwise lived.

#Review of The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases 4/5 Theming and Coulthart's art sew up an ambitious anthology. Entries aim for a wide variety, mostly succeed outside of comedy. Leaves on a sour note, putting AIDS deaths down to a cooky fake disease. #booksky 📚🪐

art and stories should be personal to the creator's experiences. sexuality should not be subdued. interests should not be tailored to people other than yourself. make what you want to make. the furry panopticon aren't paying your bills. twitter teens aren't paying your bills.

the puritanical attitude from younger people in the fandom/in general is extremely disheartening. it's not just whiplash from how hypersexual teen culture was in the 2000s, it's a profound gap in understanding and experiences. i implore everyone who has an issue with what i'm saying to go outside.

#Review of Rediscovery: Volume 2 4/5 The second anthology in the Rediscovery series, with stories from 1953-1957. An increase in quality, Griffith's being the standout. "Science fiction by women" is coming under a bit of strain, as almost a third of the stories are unequivocally fantasy. #booksky 📚🪐

* Complain en masse to PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, etc * Loudly and openly blame specific payment processors on social media * Flood the replies of Visa, MasterCard’s posts

Note: The people responsible for this, Collective Shout, list the names and faces of their leadership and board of directors on their own website. www.collectiveshout.org/our_team

Also to note… VISA is an accredited Better Business Bureau company. From firsthand experience, companies do take those complaints relatively seriously. May as well add another Avenue of complaints, even if BBB is just Boomer Yelp

And to be clear, this isn't (just) about access to smut - the literal stated targets here are marginalized queer folk. That's the play. And everyone in positions of power - from itch and Valve to Zombie Waypoint - are folding because bigots are fucking with the money.

The fact that right now I can take my Visa card and buy something from Barely Legal Boobies Dot Com or whatever, but I can't take that same Visa card and buy an erotic visual novel on itch because Visa themselves told the platform to censor adult content is just outrageous, and they need to be told.

The (ridiculously) long term answer is decentralizing as much of the internet as possible, including payment processors. But in the short term I think we need to figure out how to apply very strong pressure on payment processors to reverse course on this flagrant bullshit.

#Review of Rediscovery Volume 1 4/5 A collection of old sci-fi stories from the late fifties to early sixties. Quality is good for an anthology, with the expected couple of duds here and there, but there's still something of interest even then. Scyoc's entry is grim, but mature, holds up #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of A Death at the Dionysus Club by Melissa Scott & Amy Griswold 4.5/5 Fulfills every missed opportunity from the first. The mystery is more intricate, has more personal stakes, allows for more magical lore. Only one big bit of convenience mars this. A shame that this was the last #booksky 🪐📚

#Review of Death by Silver, by Melissa Scot & Amy Griswold 3.5/5 This is a gay historical fantasy Victorian mystery. There's not much wrong with this, the mystery compels, the characters are interesting. Problems include dangling thematic elements and magic feeling underutilized. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of Furnace by Livia Llewellyn 4/5 A collection of Dark Fantasy and horror, high-quality, only a couple lesser stories. Themes of civilization meeting an otherworldly nature, or in modernity itself seeming to deform. I also really like the cover, it lends a folk aesthetic. #booksky 🪐📚🩸

#Review of Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh Reseune attempts to recreate a brilliant monster after her death; her last victim is still haunted, politics can never be escaped. Compelling ideas, frequent infodumps. Has one of the best gay protags ever. Chewy, sophisticated, like a perfect steak. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of The Dark Descent, edited by David G. Hartwell The Dark Descent edited by David G. Hartwell An 80s anthology that's a retrospective look at horror. Plenty of hits, focusing on the eerie and atmospheric. Definition of horror is a bit too broad. Shame about the dearth of women. 🪐📚🩸 #booksky

If you live in the US, now is the time to act: KOSA is back in congress for the third time. Another bill is being put forth that would effectively criminalize all adult material creators overnight. Call your reps; email them; fax them; send them snail mail letters and let them know what you think

#Review of From Day One: A Year 47 Omnibus by Bo Chappell et al. 3/10 This was a heartbreaker. The short stories range from awful to decent. Year 47 is a disappointment; mostly well-worn apocalypse tropes attached to a familiar arc. Then in the final chapters the plot careens off a cliff #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan 7/10 While this is a satisfying read, this is where the author leans on convenience to tie up some threads while leaving others loose. The characters remain compelling to the end, even if the overall package is more ragged than the others #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan 8/10 This expands the scope and ups the stakes while not falling into typical middle-book pitfalls. No sense of filler, and it doesn't go off the rails. The only hiccups are a romance that falls flat and some less conclusive arc endings. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan 3.5/5 The perfect example of a 7/10 book. The plot is engaging and while some of the characters draw on familiar archetypes none feel cookie-cutter. While the lore around it is hazy, Powder Magic's combat effects were thought through well. #booksky 📚🪐

#Review of Hunting Monsters by Darren Naish 2.5/5 This was fine, but leans more on the pop-science level of detail rather than the more scholarly and thorough tone of the other cryptid book I read. It does have a wider scope and is well-researched, but overall feels a bit insubstantial. #booksky

Everything in All the Wrong Order by Chaz Brenchley Short story collection; a fare few are tinged with horror, but there's also a sense of weary comradery throughout some. "Every Day a Little Death", "Going the Jerusalem Mile", and "Where It Roots, How It Fruits" are my favourites. 4/5 #booksky 🪐📚

im just so deeply deeply done with the whole "life is fucked up enough" thing. i know people are different but the art that got me through being domestically abused was Berserk and the most unpleasant and upsetting Xiu Xiu songs. come on now!

#Review of When the Lights Go Out by Tanith Lee 4.75/5 Very dreamlike, not just weird, there's the sense that there's a logic behind everything, even if you're not sure what it is. The prose is enchanting, it's full of metaphor and symbolism while not losing any of the emotional impact. #booksky 🪐📚

Joking about the US annexing Canada is an autoblock.

American investors: the S&P down 10% means you better panic sell now to beat the crash. Also, good idea to head to your bank and withdraw all your money before they run out of cash.

#Review of Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales by Michael Shea 4/5 Cosmic horror stories, the quality varies but they're all readable. "The Battery" & "Tsathoggua" are fantastic. The last four stories contain some baffling oversights that mar an otherwise splendid collection. #booksky 🪐📚🩸

#Review of Withered Hill, David Barnett This was a disappointment. It's meant to be a folk horror novel told in two halves, but the out-of-order jumps rob scenes of tension and confuse. Scares are tepid and it manages to hit the folk horror clichés without doing much new with them. #booksky 🩸📚

#Review of Her Husband's Hands and Other Stories, by Adam-Troy Castro Fantastic collection, not a bad story in the lot. Standouts are: "Arvies", "Cherub", and "Pieces of Ethan". They mix disturbing bits of horror and potent pathos to stunning result. "Her Husband's Hands" is also great. #booksky 🪐📚

Doesn't Ian Hanomansing look tired? The CBC should let him retire.

#Review of The Dragon Never Sleeps, by Glen Cook 6/10 An attempt to fit a grand space-opera in 1/2 Dune's page count. 4-5 plot threads going on, the pacing's rapid, disorienting. Women's sex lives are weirdly important. The setting and the lack of handholding are major positives though. #booksky 📚🪐

my problem as a reader is i want hot gay stuff in my books but i also demand they be written well and compelling!! if you recommend me some disney ass fairytale retelling one more time i will EAT YOU

listen, i do not like total war. but they have declared total war *on us* because they think there will not be consequences. all of these people are listed and have public names. you can shame them and their friends and their families and their children.

PBS would like every Canadian on Bluesky to try to drive PBS off Bluesky. Let's do for their Inbox what got done to the White House during the War of 1812.