It was 78 yesterday. Today my students freaked out and raced through lab because it was snowing its brains out. I wasn't going to go to water aerobics but my friend peer pressured me. We came out of that, wet headed, to 2 inches of snow on our cars. OMG

Water aerobics was good, weird but good. She doesn't use music. I've never done this without music. we were too busy laughing at each other anyhow. I'm the only one who had ever done water aerobics before. That pool was empty. It's also...awful. 20 years I've never been in there. it was closed the first five years I was here. I have always avoided it because I didn't want in the pool with students and it was always 'booked up' and another faculty member said no, it's always empty. it needs painted badly. It's a soulless structure but it is a pool.

Hope I won't be too sore tomorrow.

And it was a rough night. I woke up at 4 to an alarm. It was my dexcom. My sugar was at 51 and crashing out. Fun times.


Speaking of actual fun times, both of my panels, (my sabbatical research on the first lady doctors, and a panel on Victorian/Edwardian medicine) were accepted by the Gettysburg Steampunk festival. I'm very excited about this. I'm thinking of doing something for Tsubasacon as well

Another panel I'd like to offer up next year would be women of horror in the Victorian/Edwardian era (and maybe one of the same group for SF/F) and to that affect let me offer up for Women's History month not our dark queen Mary Shelley but rather Charlotte Riddell who wrote ghost stories that were also tied into social restrictions and social commentary. You can read more about her here.


It's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is 17 A song that got you into this artist Share your faves too.

( I'm sharing my first songs for several artists. Love to see yours )





here's the whole prompt list

( It's under here )

”Thinner" - the old gypsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.

Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor had ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But...

"Thinner" - the word, the old man's curse, had lodged in his mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence.

The book is far creepier than you might think, actually one of the creepier King books, imo. The reader is there every step of the way as the gypsy’s curse takes hold. The descriptions of not just Billy’s plight, but that of the judge who cleared him and the sheriff whose report was deliberately, well, thin, can’t help but bring a shiver or two. It’s strange how something that sounds so mundane, no vampire or ghoul to be found, could actually be more frightening.

The story is told from Billy Halleck’s pov, and while the reader might attempt some sympathy for the man, we also know that he hasn’t yet payed for his transgression. He’ll do just about anything to make sure that doesn’t happen, but some things are unavoidable. And it was the gypsies who I ended up feeling for sympathy for.

The story never lets up, as the curse relentlessly does its work. There are some great characters, just as important to the story as Billy, who help it along.




Mount TBR 2026 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
13. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
14. Thinner by Richard Bachman







Turned Into film/TV series







Book published in the 60's, 70's, or 80's

I made it to OH. Rocket is happy to see me. Shingles are all over the place. most of my porch is falling in. I need to text all this nonsense to my landlords.

I have no real writing thoughts but I DO have a question. How do you handle the scenes that won't leave you alone even if they are nowhere near where you are in the story? I have a habit of playing them in my head for weeks/months/years until I finally get to that place in the story/series but by then I'm tired of them and they don't feel new or exciting any more. I'd like to find a better way.

Open Calls

The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts Compressed Creative Arts, any genre, has to be under 600 words

Thema: Waiting In Line Waiting in line

Flash Fiction Online Special Call: “Tiny Gods” Flash Fiction Online Special Call: “Tiny Gods”

The Rotting Leaf April 2026 Window Darker ecology-themed stories


Shallow Waters Flash Fiction Contest March 2026 Archival Horror


They Are Still Here Fantasy tales of resistance and resilience

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in March 2026

Horror Publishers Accepting Submissions. for 2026, this includes major publishers

84 Specialized Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions


From Around the Web

The Gothic Moors: Why Isolation Still Works

5 Ways to Develop Character Voices

How Do You Know If You’re Ready to Query?

When the Comments Section Is Challenging

The Perfection of the Wrong Word

In Medias Res: It’s Not About the Explosions


From Betty

Five Ways to Add Conflict to Your Story

Five Steps to a Great Plot Twist

Accounting for Character Identification

The Three Ways to Keep Your Story Short here's one for me to absorb

Five Ways to Solve the First Officer Problem

Is Your Story Cohesive? What You Should Know

Using Contradictions to Create Microtension – Part 6.

Reading and Hearing

Ooo La La: 5 Steps to Write Uncomfortable Scenes

Healthy Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Celebrating Small Wins

When to get feedback on a novel

Celebrate Your Writing Progress Even When Life Isn’t Perfect

How to Keep Writing When Life Gets Busy: 3 Practical Tips for Writers

When Writing Advice Conflicts: How Writers Can Discern What to Change

My Brain is Not My Friend Right Now: the Challenges of Working with a Quirky Brain

Reality…But Better: Never Let Facts Get in the Way of Fiction

Five Worldbuilding Mistakes Even Enthusiasts Make

Six Ways to Keep Characters in the Danger Zone

Establishing and Satisfying Plot Threads

When Dark and Sensitive Content Is Worth It

Using Contradictions to Create Masterful Microtension – Part 4

Using Contradictions to Create Microtension – Part 5

Play Isn't the Opposite of Discipline

The Two Things Every Novel Needs


Research Words of Wisdom

Five Tips For Increasing Tension

Why We Procrastinate and How To Stop

How to Write Powerful Story Beats

How to Write Authentic Character Behavior

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Overindulging

The View from Inside: On Adding Interiority to Your Fiction

your query letter isn't the problem

How to Write Epic Fantasy Without Overcomplicating Your Story

How to Overcome Writer’s Block with a Simple Writer’s Affirmation Video

Why Writing by Hand Boosts Memory, Creativity, and Brain Health for Writers

Kishōtenketsu Story Structure: What It Is, How It Works, and How It Compares to Western Plotting

Embodied Writing: How to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Story.

When a Writer Does More Than One Thing

Reading as an Agent

Not only did three dozen shingles go flying, the top vent of the garage went bye bye too leaving a hole in the garage's roof. Luckily the roofer's been here already got half of it finished. Will finish tomorrow. I also head back home tomorrow. I wonder if any of my apartment is even there after all this weather (tornados were in my area)

I picked up the branches blown down into the yard plus 2 birch trees. Well kinda. There were WAY too many to get on my own but I got a lot. Gonna have a bonfire eventually with all that stuff (it's all too small to do much else with)


Went to see my aunt and collected another of my grandparents' things from the house (while I can). I didn't know this old Bavarian cuckoo clock was one of my grandfather's prized possessions until today. The cuckoo no longer works (thankfully) but it's a pretty clock with some damage besides that. Those weights for it are so heavy you could brain someone with them.

Went to my brother's and his wife, played with the cats, drank some rye. It was nice.

Wow finally watching an Inspector George Gently mystery where I don't want Bacchus dead. It's S4E1, its taken him four seasons to not say something misogynistic, racist or homophobic. eye rolls.

I also sent in two stories to different places, the latter of which evil_little_dog and justphoenix were huge helps with. Thank you very much. It's very appreciated.

So I was looking around for today's mention for Women's History and I remembered picking up my non-major biology book and seeing Rosalind Franklin in regards to DNA and thinking WTH is this? The answer is another woman written out of her discoveries for years and along with her there's Marthe Gautier someone I had not heard of until today but did most of the work to illuminate the genetic component to Down's syndrome, and another woman with stolen research. And while I'm mentioning Rosalind, want to know when I found out there was an university named for her, yeah today.


Dr Rosalind Franklin

Dr Marthe Gautier


And have some links for Science Saturday

ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial on knowledge retention

1,900-year-old double Scythian burial in Ukraine contains toxic red mineral

'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere

'Interstellar messenger' 3I/ATLAS could be nearly as old as the universe itself, James Webb telescope observations reveal

2,000-year-old Phoenician coin was used as bus fare in England, but 'how it got there will always be a mystery'

'More advanced' farming women married hunter-gatherer men in Europe thousands of years ago, ancient DNA reveals

Scientists tracked faint signals from the stars — and may have turned up hundreds of undiscovered planets

Could gut microbes hold the secret to aging well? A researcher unpacks the emerging science If you haven't looked at all the gut microbe articles coming out, you should. It's fascinating

My name's Griz. My childhood wasn't like yours. I've never had friends, and in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football.

My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.

Then the thief came.

There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.

Because if we aren't loyal to the things we love, what's the point?

The book is a book inside a book. Griz, locked in some sort of prison, writes in a journal how it all came to be, how he ended up where he is. It starts with the theft of his dog, Jess. Griz rushes after the thief, taking only his other dog, Jip; the story builds from there. Would I have rushed off, not waiting for any sort of help, to get my dog back? Probably. So it was easy to empathise with Griz.

It’s a book that really should be read nice and slow, so that you can pick up all the little nuances of Griz’s journey. Because what starts out as a very basic journey soon turns into an odyssey through a shattered landscape. There are very few people left, but there is still danger. And while much has been destroyed, much is still untouched.

I do have one tiny complaint; the author kept dropping hints as to what is going to happen (as Griz is writing this from the future.) I really wish he hadn’t done that. It made me want to skim through pages until I found out what happened, which sometimes wasn’t as bad as the reader is led to believe.

But this is a solid, well written novel. And though civilization has come to an end, there is still much to love, still reason for hope.




Mount TBR 2026 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
13. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher







Recommended by severina2001

So the winds are over 60 mph and my parents' shingles are in the yard. Needless to say Dad is pissed. This is a 50 year roof (about 20 years in) but the tar proved to be dried out and this wind took the whole of the roof from what we can tell.

Naturally my 83 y.o. father decides he must go on the roof to try to stop this. He doesn't want help. I'm like fine. And when you blow off....

He didn't. Blow off the roof nor stop the zipper effect. You can still hear the nails pulling free even after 5 hours every time the wind picks back up. At first it was just 5 shingles. By dark it was 3 dozen. Better hope it doesn't begin to rain before an insurance adjuster gets out here. Two hours on hold with the insurance company waiting for someone pick up ended with the call disconnecting at their end.


Before that we had spent the afternoon with my favorite cousin my dad's age in her senior living center. That was very nice. We barely made it home before the wind.

I tried to figure out if my insurance pays for jardiance and dexcom but now it's decided my password isn't my password and any attempt to get it to email me a password reset has failed.

And I called my endocrinologist this morning to see if I could come 30 minutes late (because she's always an h our late anyhow) they were going to call me back. Never did. the problem? They put the appoint on the only day I can't be there without canceling work. And I could have sworn it was monday. It was SUPPOSED to be monday.


I was researching something for a Hazbin Hotel story (not the one below) and I needed to see who was the first woman newscaster in America. The answer was Dorothy Fuldheim in 1947 which is way before I imagined. (Mostly I was double checking to see if Vox could have had a female co anchor in the time period S2 depicted)

I thought she was interesting so have DOrothy's history for Women's History month. You can read about her
here.


So for the fannish 50 part of this, here's my story and my recs

Title: Not Licensed For This


Summary: Angel finds himself caught between a feuding Vox and Val and tries to help them be better partners. What else could he do? An annoyed Val was a dangerous Val and Angel wasn’t putting up with it today.

Rating: teen

Notes:Written for Sarajaye in the three sentence ficathon for the prompt Hazbin Hotel, Angel+Vox/Valentino, he unwittingly ends up playing couples therapist for them.

This was also written for the allbingo prompt of tension and for spikesgirl58’s 6 word prompt challenge. The six words were Spirit, Jump, Bracket, Detector, Baby, & Pudding

For some reason I set this pre-season. Just seemed like an interesting time to explore a little.

( Story at the above link or under here )


Box Of Treasures Torchwood

Into The Light Stargate SG-1

House Call Teen Wolf

for tradition, of course 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

While He Sleeps Torchwood

dust cleared (on a hell changed forever) Hazbin Hotel

Carving Out Space The Owl House

but turn it does The Murderbot Diaries

Sexy Sunday The Professionals

flowers and gems Star Trek: Voyager/Star Trek: Prodigy

Sharing Secrets Stargate SG-1

Sterling Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses

resting my eyes Star Trek: Voyager

gifts and greetings 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī

Conspiracy Lasagna Hazbin Hotel

Finding Happiness Torchwood/Doctor Who

Dead Girl Walking The Sentinel

Tumbleweed Oz - L. Frank Baum

take me home, it's getting hard to breathe out there Hoppers (Pixar Movie 2026)

ladies in pastels and black 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Controlled by the Darach Teen Wolf

ladies, you know what i mean, and you know what you need, and so does he Hazbin Hotel

Maybe it's a good thing I don't have one near me (it's 90 miles away with my Trader Joe's). I would have even more of a food hoarding issue and much less money. That said, I made a nice haul and my poor car is going to be much more loaded going home than it came here.

Somehow this did manage to eat up huge chunks of my day.

I'm still batting around ideas for what to do this year. Then I feel selfish for thinking about vacation when the world is on fire. On the other hand it'll still be on fire if I sit at home in my apartment. Sigh.

I have some community recs worldbuildex looks interesting. Sign ups are right now

and then there is vampiremedia all about vampires.


And for Women's History month how about the wiki for Rita Levi-Montalcini She is a noble prize winner and one of the few women in my biomedical books. Now. I never heard of her until I began teaching and she wasn't even in my earliest books teaching. So I've only seen her in the last 15 years. How sad is that?

Nothing but storms, high winds and tornado warnings (nothing spinny here in PA but who knows about back home).

So I did nothing but taxes (smaller refund and less pay in general, shocker) and grading ALL the things. I worked from 11-7. My brain is tired now.

So you'll get my books and one thing I've been forgetting for forever.

What I Just Finished Reading:

At Death's Dough - a so-so mystery. It took forever to get started and the ending was dumb

The Final Problem - mystery set in the 60s talk about dumb endings

I Want to be a Wall - a lavender marriage with an aro-ace BL loving girl and a gay man in love with his childhood friend. It was decent but not even for me to read more.


What I am Currently Reading:

The Snow Child - so far depressing. It's for my ugly prompt of dealing with infertility. It's a retelling of the

Violet Thistlewaite is not a villain any more so far, I really like this one



What I Plan to Read Next: With Friends Like These, La Grand Familia, and Luna Park history


I keep forgetting to post about kingstoken's reading challenge which you can see here. It's a prompt bingo. I'm going for a black out.

This is what I have so far (too tired to link them up, sorry, also I need to get up soon. Been sitting too long)

I'm just sharing the ones I've done

Main character over 30 The Final Problem by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Graphic novel/comic book Heavy Vinyl Complete Collection by Carly Usdin

Set at a school/university - Murder Made Her Wicked by Elizabeth Hobbs

No sex/romance - Murder in the Ranks by Kristi Jones

Figures without facial features on the cover - Murder Made Her Wicked by Elizabeth Hobbs

Crime/mystery - Sugar and Vice by Eve Calder

Book Older than you are - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Female author - Tell-Tale Treats: A Magical Fortune Cookie Novel by Jennifer J. Chow

A favorite author blurbed it - This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Banned book - Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler & Damian Duffy

YA/Children’s - A Curious Kind of Magic by Mara Rutherford

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.

Though the book is advertised as a cautionary tale when pleasure and beauty are pursued without moral accountability, Dorian Gray is pretty much an asshole to begin with. The picture is more of an excuse, rather than something that drew Gray to his doom. It doesn’t take much from Lord Wotton, another total jerk, for Gray to start on his road to ruin. Actually, Gray starts down that road all on his own, before even knowing that the picture will show his cruelty.

The book tends to drag in places, especially when the reader is given an account of the different hobbies Gray takes up over the years. I’m not sure how that would be considered decadent, but there you go. I would have preferred that more time was given to how exactly he destroyed the people mentioned. Were they weak to begin with? Would they have fallen from grace even if they had never met Gray? Since none of the characters are filled out, it’s something the reader is never to know.

I was somewhat surprised that the book only covers twenty years of Gray’s life, as most of the movies based on the book show the picture with a wizened and corrupt visage. Far more damage than could have been done in only twenty years.




Mount TBR 2026 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker
12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde







Social justice horror





MARCH - Favorite, Orange, Picture, Broken, Sister, Look, Forget, Fortune

I sent in my two panel ideas to the Gettysburg Steampunk Festival. I wasn't going to go but when it didn't pan out with the Louisville panels. Trying for a little fun in a world on fire.

Today mom and I went out to meet my younger cousin for her birthday and went off to Trader Joe's. I wish I had one closer to me. Mine is 90 miles off in Columbus. Even here the closet one is about 35 minutes away. Picked up some cool things.

The writing zoom went well tonight too.


So for fannish 50 I have something from kitarella_imagines

i. Look at your last 10** fics.

ii. Make a list of their first lines of dialogue, with any necessary description. No cheating, I mean don't go through your fics looking for the best line of dialogue.

iii. Post them and we'll see if we can guess what the story will be about from the dialogue.

Kitarella also mentioned it's okay to go back further than the last 10 if the opening dialogue isn't that interesting.

Feel free to play along

( here's mine )

Just did laundry and finished my short story, steampunk 'day at the races' as a try for something in Louisville. Is it my best work? no. Will I have tons of competition? Some but who knows. Could use eyes on it.

I'm mostly here to do Music Monday and Women's history. Yes I missed saying something International Women's Day (I was beat) so today have the woman who started off my sabbatical research, someone I met in college and carried her story with me all these years Elizabeth Blackwell

As for music Monday, on the drive here the last radio station I go to (the one I listen to in this area) was having an International Women's Day fest by playing women artists (and mentioning iheartradio's women's history station) and in the next 1 1/2 hours they played 3 songs by women. 3...

So we can do better. THis monday I 'm taking a break from the list and let's just share songs written by, performed by women (however you care to define it)

( Women of Song )

ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)

Free at my website.

Blood Vow (The Three Lands). He has taken a blood vow to the Jackal God to bring freedom to his land by killing Koretia's greatest enemy. But what will he do when the enemy becomes his friend?

New installment:

Side story | Heir. Secrets can destroy. Secrets can also heal.

New omnibus:

Blood Vow: Novel and Side Stories.

BLOG FICTION

Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket.

New installments:

• Stadium.
• Entrance to the Emorian palace.
• Behavior in the palace.
• Entrance protocol.

( News & upcoming fiction )

My fiction announcements are also available by e-mail and feeds.

Made it to PA. Forgot my damn onion sets for the parents. Guess I'll be growing onions... And I didn't even bid at fandomtrumpshate didn't realize it was that fast and I'm slightly salty about that. We didn't even get half a weekend to deal with this. Yes there were other days but jobs are a thing and so is time. Oh well. Oddly I don't really care that much. I can whip my money to charities on my own and there is always next year. Hope all my friends who DID manage to manage their time better than me got good requests and got the ones you were bidding on.

I have no thoughts for the writing side of things but I do have Ezio's character sheet done. Been noodling it (and letting it show me where the world building needs to happen) Ezio wasn't meant to be a central character but at this point I see 2 overarching story arcs and his is one. We meet him almost immediately after one of his dancers is murdered. I'd love opinions on this if you have time.

( Meet Ezio Zucca )


Open Calls

The Best Noir Sci-Fi-Horror of 2026 Mixing speculative fiction and police or military stories

The Gren-Wode Stories based in the world and legends of Robin Hood

Savagery on the Salty Seas, Volume 1. Maritime-themed horror has a high word count

Solar Punk Magazine April 2026 Window Works that stir readers with themes of defiance, change, and achievement

Otherside April 2026 Window Speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by self-identified members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community

Stone’s Throw April 2026 Window SCHOOLS OUT (FOREVER)

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions in March 2026

45 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for March 2026



From Around the web

The Official Manuscript Wish List Website a wishlist from agents

Putting in the Work (from the woman who runs that author zoom I go to)

The Opening Mystery: Creating Curiosity before the Inciting Incident

Keep the audience engaged as you keep secrets.

Five Quick Ways to Level Up Your Manuscript

How to Write a Gripping Psychological Thriller

Embodied Writing: How to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Story

How to Get and Keep Amazon Reviews Without Getting Banned

Goals, Conflicts, & Stakes: Why Plots Need All Three

Authors Guild Expands “Human Authored” Certification Program to All U.S. Authors

3 Common Mistakes Committed by Self-Published Novelists

nothing from Betty this week. I wasn't the only one with a con this weekend.

Started Feb 28, completed Mar 7 4 stars

The first book of the Regeneration Trilogy—a Booker Prize nominee and one of Entertainment Weekly’s 100 All-Time Greatest Novels.

In 1917 Siegfried Sassoon, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. There a brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. William Rivers, set about restoring Sassoon’s “sanity” and sending him back to the trenches. This novel tells what happened as only a novel can. It is a war saga in which not a shot is fired. It is a story of a battle for a man's mind in which only the reader can decide who is the victor, who the vanquished, and who the victim.

One of the most amazing feats of fiction of our time, Regeneration has been hailed by critics across the globe. More than one hundred years since World War I, this book is as timely and relevant as ever.

That the book is based on a true story only makes it that much more rewarding. The story of Siegfried Sassoon is an amazing one. His belief in the war’s pointlessness, and that it was being continued only for the profit of some, has him set to a mental institution. The thought is that he either has “shell shock,” or is a coward, even though he had shown his bravery many times over.

Luckily, Sassoon’s doctor, while attempting to restore Sassoon’s sanity, doesn’t really seem to think his patient is truly insane. That, just maybe, what Sassoon believes is actually true. But given the times, there is only one way for the story to have a “happy” ending.

I was shocked at some of the “remedies” used by some of the other doctors on these poor men who have broken down under their experiences. But the majority of the book follows Dr. Rivers and the men under his care. I don’t know how many of them were actual patients, but in any event their stories were just as compelling as Sassoon’s.

I’m looking forward to the second book in the series and the continuation of these two men’s story. There’s also a movie on the subject, Benediction, which I’m looking forward to viewing.




Mount TBR 2026 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3. The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
4. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon/a>
5. Moon Flower by James P. Hogan
6. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
7. Fires of Eden by Dan Simmons
8. Clytemnestra's Bind (House of Atreus 1) by Susan C Wilson
9. Glory and the Lightning. by Taylor Caldwell
10. Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery by Mark Synnott
11. Regeneration (Regeneration 1) by Pat Barker







Main Character Male







MARCH- Books on the Brain - Read a fiction or non-fiction book with a brain-function related theme. This could be memory, processing, mental health, dementia, dreaming, subconsciousness, thinking patterns, intelligence, brain injuries, etc.

My day started off perfectly with a massive charlie horse in my bad leg about 20 minutes before the alarm. The sartorius and the rectus femoris from the feel of it and it lasted about 15 minutes. I get them sometimes like that in the bad leg. It has ached like a toothache all day, which is exactly what you want when you'll be standing a chunk of the day and otherwise driving around.

Stuffed down the same boring free breakfast every hotel serves and head out. It started at 930. I got there 950 and got one of the last parking spots. Let me say this geeky stuff is so hot now. In the last five years, at least in my area, either you get there when the door opens or you might as well stay home. The line was insane and they said if you don't have a ticket come over to this door...one with no line. None of us moved. Surely that couldn't be right. They called us over again and this time I ran. We, the unprepared, got in WAY faster than those with tickets. ha.

You could barely move inside the place it was THAT crowded. There were five rows of vendors and then some all around this conference center. It was impressive as hell. I attended all the talks well most of them. It was bizarre, the whole day.

So James Willis (google Weird Willis) did two talks. I've mentioned him before. He comes to my library often. The first one was delayed a half hour because of the line to get in. It was all about the Loveland Frogman and chasing down the legend and where parts of it came from. His second talk was disrupted by the fire alarm. So out we all go. Turns out the dancers' dance routine had a fog machine. The detection system did not like this. So now I'm outside in the rain. Fun. When we got back in he continued the talk about various weird things.

I learned something from that talk the New Straitsville Mine Fire It predates the Centralia fire and is still burning and moonshiners used it to hide the evidence of the stills working because of the smoke. I'm like yep there's a story in this for me. They have a moonshine festival but it's memorial day weekend and I'm never around then.

Other talks included repitalian cryptids and all the weird crap in Wisconsin. I didn't know the stories about Lake Superior. I never could afford to go there when I lived in WI.

And the last one on Filipino aswang creatures but the tech kept failing which was a shame because he was a comic book artist who had illustrated his whole talk.

There were too many vendors to keep track of. I got some over priced coffee/tea and jewelry I don't need but wanted. Overpaid (by far) on a Squonk tote but a) like an idiot I forgot mine b) it was too damn cute.

I was super excited to find out that the Cinicinnati Shakespeare company is doing pericles as a space opera next month. I want to go. I could have gotten 50% o ff but forgot to scan the code. eh probably would have to have bought them immediately and I can't do that. I have other things going on so I need to check the calendar but I need to see this.

I came home right past the hotel I was at so I pulled off to find food and didn't want to drive down to that same strip mall. I opted to Taziki right across the hotel so I could jump right back on 71. Wrong choice. It was like the greek version of Chipolte. Passable but disappointing. Instead of the shaved gyro meat it was strips of lamb chunks, woefully underseasoned and tough.

Had to stop at the truck stop I usually do coming back from the renn fest. (there is only ONE rest stop in the entire 100 mile trip and that's 10 miles outside of Jackson. super helpful. The diner that looked like it was out of a 70's montegomery wards is now an IHOP (had I known I could have eaten there) and I fuel up on coffee at the truck stop which was...free? Really? I scampered off. I got lucky, the rain was only there for the last 10 miles of the trip.

Over all a nice day.

( here are some pictures )

The day started with a nightmare. I dreamed I was in my dad's workshop in his basement screaming at him that no one liked him and he was crying. Mom was yelling at me why did you do this and I said he was hitting my SiL and I lost it (to be clear he would never do that).

I go to work shocked everyone actually showed up except a few trapped by flooding (ah spring). It was going well...and then I got two emails (I wasn't even going to look at them but I needed to get any late submissions of work due today) about more cheating. And it IS more, in a different class. One has only heard about the girls bragging about it and doesn't want in trouble and the other came to speak to me since she was on campus and she said the same thing they're bragging about it. She doesn't know the student's name but from her description I know exactly who it is (another athlete)

Since I didn't catch them and there's no proof, I can't kick it up the chain. I DID tell the dean and I plan on talking to the heads of their departments to get some help. Not saying a word to them, just making them all put their phones in a box. They get them back at the end of the exam. No warning. Let's see what happens then. And other one hasn't been to lab...ever. Just has excuses and asks to make them up. Guess that's going away.

So now I'm an hour late getting home. Then the GI track says yeah you ain't leaving the bathroom. Once that fit was pitched I started getting ready and my sugar crashes out. Eye roll. Rocket tried to get in the bedroom and hide. FINALLY I'm out of the house. It's now after 230 and I haven't had lunch.

I have to go to Jackson to get a book from the library before it's sent back so I'll go to Sonic's. Get there. It's 240 and there are NINE cars in line. I nope out, stop for KFC and then go to Tim Horton's, the new one and this is the third time the guys on the window can't figure out a drink order (caramel machiatto, it's your standard fing menu) so I might be done with this place.

In the mean time the gas station's are changing their prices by 50 cents so I get my library book, race back across town to where they haven't got that message yet. Off I go. It's now 3 pm. I was supposed to BE here by now.

Luckily it was an easy drive and this Best Western has been recently redone. It's nice, clean...and the bathroom is an afterthought. You come in the door and immediately is a curtain pretending an alcove is the closet (at least there's a half dozen hangers not that I need them for 1 day) and the bathroom is SO small the toilet and tub nearly touch and the sink is in another part of the room outside the bathroom door.... BUT it has a fridge and microwave which the last two expensive hotels I've stayed at did not manage to have.

Everyone and their grandma is in the pool. Glad I didn't plan on that but this place is...well let's just say I love living in the country but I DO miss having options. I had researched, as I always do, best places to eat and planned to go to Dolsot Bistro as there is NO Korean food within 60 miles of me. I get to the strip mall and in it side by side is Korean, Chinese, Boba place, Indian place, juice joint and Phoenican/middle east food and a huge stand alone Mexican place. WOW. AND in the 2 miles from my hotel to hear it was nothing but food and strip malls including three other Korean places and a Greek place right across the street.

I got some goonmandu (fried dumplings that were amazing) and tofu doenjang dolsot (fine cut tofu, basically a sweetish red miso, veggies and a lightly fried egg on the rice. man crispy rice is a different, tastier experience (yes I'm not meant to have rice but...this is once in like 2 years for me as far as Korean food goes). Also they had a sliver of their pancakes on the kimchi tray and man I wish that app wasn't the price of dinner or I'd gotten that. It was amazing.

In theory I get breakfast free here and they have the daily specials written out. Every day is the same thing....ha. If it sucks we share a parking lot with the Waffle House.

And if something goes sideways with the festival I'll just drop down to Cincinnati and do fun stuff.


I did write something.

Title: She’s on the Ball
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Summary: Angel has lost track of his belongings. At least Niffty knows what’s going on.

Rating: teen

Notes:Written for the allbingo prompt of scrapbooking and for spikesgirl58’s six words challenge. The words were Song, Finger, Unhealthy, Righteous, School, & Optimize and was inspired by Sarajayechan’s three sentence ficathon’s prompt of Hazbin Hotel, Niffty /& anyone, sometimes they forget that for all her chaotic murders she's the most organized housekeeper this side of the Pride Ring but I didn’t share it there because it was less Niffty than I think was wanted, gifting it here anyhow.

( Story above or under here )

Fannish 50 recs


Starsky's Flowers Starsky & Hutch

but turn it does The Murderbot Diaries

The Art of Selling Yourself Profitably Hazbin Hotel

Persistence Torchwood

Strikethrough Hazbin Hotel

Escape to the Beta Site Stargate Atlantis

Downward Spiral The Owl House

Letting Hope In Hazbin Hotel

Topless Hazbin Hotel

Episode 4: Right Here, Where I Don’t Belong UglyDolls

Born To Be Wild. 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney

Endings And Beginnings Torchwood

Watching The Professionals

listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness Helluva Boss

Gently Growing Together Inspector George Gently

The Truth Exposed. Stargate Atlantis

you were beautiful back then, but so lonely Hazbin Hotel

God Sends Meat And The Devils Send Cooks Hazbin Hotel

There's No Aftercare in Hell Hazbin Hotel

in heaven an angel is nobody in particular Hazbin Hotel

have an EKG and then have someone from the clinic calls you to talk about it. Since they almost never call you for a normal, I'm like OMG I'm dying. No, my doctor was just exercising caution. the EKG is 'mostly normal' but there was no more details. They posted the strip in a blurry pic to my portal. I'm assuming they mean the tachycardia. I'll see the new cardiologist in a couple weeks so we shall see.

No one came to micro today. I'll point out spring break doesn't start until Monday. out of 40 students I had 10. And being the bitch I am I had a test in anatomy today (found out there's one tomorrow for my ultrasound students) most of the sports teams were gone and someone cheated on the exam. I didn't catch them (it's hard I'm in a hole in an auditorium and even if I walk up and down the steps, I take steps SO slowly they have warning so what's the point. Another pissed off student turned them in. I'm saying nothing but I know how they're cheating and next test, without warning, I'm taking all that away. (i.e. every phone must be placed on MY table)

I wish I could stay over near Cinci for more than 24 hours tomorrow. there is SO MUCH food Restaurants of every kind. I'm thinking Korean. Oooo the choices.

So the police and fire dept show up IN my office today. Where's the gas leak?

Me....it was someone with gasoline on their shoes.

Cop/FD - you are KIDDING?

Me - don't I wish.

What happened someone showed up to class reeking so the prof moved them to my lab because it was empty and had windows (class rooms do not) some student apparently texted a parent who heard gas leak and phoned it in to the fire department...

Cop leaves muttering and now I have to write this up...


meanwhile a coworker's wife's h.s. was put on lockdown and then evacutated. he's not sure why. And yesterday they played bomb threats on the radio hoping someone knows the voice as someone keeps calling them in to a local high school.

I did go to get my EKG done. I wasn't sure. They said you could just walk in no schedulling required and damned if i didn't. nothing in the portal yet

Went to yoga but I really hurt now. I can half ass the seated/standing stuff but the stuff on my knees beyond cat or cow is killing me. My knee made such a lough cracking sound everyone looked. I'm like nope not doing that one. I may give it up entirely if water aerobic goes off. we went from 14 to 5 sign ups and we're not even started. sigh


FINALLY got my hotel (again) for the Loveland Frogman Festival on Saturday. I'm so busy I feel guilty for going but I plan to have fun, buy shit I don't need and see friends



What I Just Finished Reading:

Check Please sticks and scones - It wasn't as good as book one, tried to cover too much with no depth (like Jack goes from joining the team to winning the cup without much in between) and the fact that Jack is drawn like he's 40 (he's 22-24 I think) and Bittle is drawn looking 14 instead of 21 made it...uncomfortable

gave back the Y man without reading

Between the Shades of Grey - way too dark to be enjoyable for me


What I am Currently Reading:

Got these on interlibrary loan - With Friends Like These, The Snow Child, At Death's Dough and Violet Thistlewaite is not a villain any more so I'm trying to bull thru all four at once (because that makes sense)

The Final Problem - mystery set in the 60s welcome to the name dropping hour


What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia, and Luna Park history

The protocol for entering the palace changes from time to time, so I can only offer a general outline. If your business is with the court or council, you should present yourself and your credentials to the guards at the southern gate of the outer wall of the palace. It is best to arrange beforehand for your visit. If this not possible, or if you cannot provide an exact time for your arrival, expect to wait as your credentials are sent into the palace to be checked.

Normally, you will be provided with an escort into the palace. If you arrive at a time before the palace begins its day, you will be expected to make your own way to the eastern gate of the inner wall. There your credentials will be inspected again, along with any document that the palace has sent out, permitting your entrance. You will then be allowed to enter the inner wall and make your approach to the palace itself.

The palace being located atop a high hill, you will find yourself faced with the steepest and longest set of stairs in the world. Pace yourself. You may wish to bring refreshments to partake of at the halfway mark.

At the top of the stairs, once you have recovered your breath, you should show your credentials and palace document to the guards at the gate, holding them up for inspection. The guards may not appear to look at you or even notice you. Do not be deceived. Those are real spears they are holding across the doorway.

If the guards grant you entrance, they will lift the spears. If they do not, you must retreat to the palace's inner wall and determine there what the problem is.

Assuming you manage to pass all these barriers, you will find yourself in the entryway to the palace. You will be guided at this point through the remaining stages of reception, which vary according to your rank and status. At some point, however, you will be let loose from Emor's protocol and permitted to take your own path. Let us start with a general introduction to the Chara's palace.

[Translator's note: This breathtakingly long procedure can be cut short if you possess the right credentials, as can be seen in Breached Boundaries.]