herdivineshadow

January 2026

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Page Summary

cyberghostface in scans_daily - Jessica Jones is finally getting another mature title…
cosmolinguist - I survived this week!
petra - US Politics: Wrong-headed school administrations
skygiants - (no subject)
cimorene - Stores with rancid vibes
hafnia - Talking Meme Month - day 19
cosmolinguist - What are the odds? And some of us are very odd
cyberghostface in scans_daily - Luna Snow: World Tour #1
turlough in common_nature - tiny long-tailed tit
cimorene - Or as much dignity as you can with a walrus mustache
oracne - Reading Wednesday, Yes I Know It Is Thursday
tcampbell1000 in scans_daily - Bottomfeeder: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #43-44 (JLI 59)
heartsways in scans_daily - I Saw Santa #2
wildeabandon - Doors closing, windows opening.
hafnia - Talking Meme Month - day 18
vivien - Random Wednesday
petra - Erotica 4 Barbarians, or, Smut in Short Words for Spring Fools' Day
ysabetwordsmith in common_nature - Photos: Flowerbeds
icon_uk in scans_daily - World's Finest #48 - Dark Mirror - Well, that answers that question I guess....
cyberghostface in scans_daily - Knull #2

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cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

… but it’s under the Red Band label which means no digital release. Talk about a monkey’s paw situation. (For me at least; I just prefer digital at this point.)

Still, it’s nice to see Jessica Jones kicking around. Bendis and Gaydos’ original run remains one of my favorites and Jessica was his best original character by far. She had such an interesting personality there that she really hasn’t had under other writers. Hopefully the mature label will bring some of that back.

ALIAS: RED BAND #1 (OF 5)
Written by SAM HUMPHRIES
Art by GERALDO BORGES
Cover by DAVID MACK
Variant Cover by ELENA CASAGRANDE
Variant Cover by JEEHYUNG LEE
Virgin Variant Cover by JEEHYUNG LEE
On Sale 3/11
THE RETURN OF JESSICA JONES! A series of grisly murders in Hell's Kitchen pulls Jessica Jones into a mystery more sinister than she could've ever imagined. As the wife of Mayor Luke Cage, she'll have to tread carefully as she forms a dangerous alliance with Typhoid Mary to track down the killer. But as she delves deeper into Hell's Kitchen's dark underbelly, the evidence she finds presents more questions than answers…

( Covers under the cut… )

cosmolinguist

I am so tired I can hardly string a sentence together but I wanted to say that today went great from a "finding a new place on my own" perspective, from actually being incredibly useful from a work perspective. Getting back was actually the annoying part (road works made it difficult to escape the area I'd arrived to by bus, and I got lost trying to walk back to anywhere I could get a bus or Uber; getting back from Stockport took much longer thanks to Piccadilly still being closed).

But I made it just in time to get to a much-needed yoga session, and got home to eat delicious takeout, and a basically-empty weekend and most-of-a-week off now stretches before me.

petra

( Suicide and book banning )

Current Mood: argh
Current Music: You'll sledge the hammer if there's no one else to take the flak

skygiants

One of the simplest and purest pleasures in fiction is to ride along as an unhappy person becomes happier, and this at the heart is the charm of the self-pub coming-of-trans novel Our Simulated Selves.

On first glance the premise of this one could seem dire: depressed incel, told by dream girl that they would not date even if the incel was the "last man on Earth," uses advanced brain-scanning technology and giant quantum supercomputer to set up a simulation world where literally everybody else on Earth does disappear immediately after that argument, and see how long it takes sim self and dream girl to get together in this apocalypse scenario. (The reader, who has already seen our protagonist describe dysphoric brain fog and experience mysterious joy about playing a girl character in D&D, will at this point certainly have some ideas about the ways that this sad incel is working from some fundamentally incorrect principles.)

Most of the book is from the POV of sim protagonist with occasional outside-world interjections and responses from the simulation runner, which means you also get sort of a fun inside/outside view of an apocalypse-ish survival situation -- within the simulation, protagonist and dream girl are running around gathering up non-perishable food and trying to figure out how long the power grid is going to last; meanwhile, outside the simulation, Protagonist Zero Version is like 'shit, I didn't really think through that they'd be treating this like an apocalypse and I forgot to write any code for food spoilage!' But the main satisfaction of the book is in watching our protagonist go through the work of transformation to become a better and happier person -- with a little added weight, because at the same time we're also seeing the worst and cruelest and most unhappy version. Overall I found the reading experience really charming and sweet!

cimorene

When we lived on the outskirts of Turku, going into downtown to run errands was already a bit of an Expedition, because it entailed a pleasant or idyllic walk to and from the bus stop of about 6-8 minutes, plus about 20-25 minutes on the bus, and then walking around the city center - possibly overcrowded, but full of beautiful buildings and trees.

Now that we live in the country, I'm still closer to the Turku city center than many people are who live in a North American metro area. I can walk to the bus stop (5 minutes, unpleasant scenery) and take a bus that puts me down near the center in about 50 minutes. But that trip feels excessive for a shopping expedition.

There's a big shopping center called Skanssi between us and Turku that is more convenient, about 35 minutes by bus, but the bus doesn't actually stop that close to it so you have to walk like ten minutes (it is very much designed to be visited by car, unlike the city center). And the mall itself just has RANCID VIBES. I hate being there! It's something about the interior architecture and the lighting maybe? The actual finishes are nice, the decor is fine, the lighting isn't UGLY. It is pretty dim inside, which has to be on purpose, but it's more like they were trying for a cozy or intimate or restful light instead of glaring? But instead it's oppressive in there. I always just want to get out. The K-Citymarket hypermarket attached to it is our closest Citymarket*, and it's much more brightly lit but still feels looming, oppressive, suffocating, sullen, and unwell. And I honestly do not know why! Maybe it's not actually the light, maybe it's sounds outside the regular hearing range or something?

So I've been thinking for a week whether it's preferable to go to this rancid-vibed mall, 35m by bus + 10-15m walk, or all the way to Turku, 50m by bus + 5-10m walk. The former SHOULD make me feel better because of the walking and fresh air, and I usually prefer less time on the bus because it's less chance to get trapped near someone's perfume; but would the rancid vibes counteract that?

*The other stores vary in vibes, but none of the ones near us are even close to this bad. Citymarkets Kupittaa and Länsikeskus are both reasonably Ok, and Prisma (Citymarket's competitor, the other Finnish grocery chain) Tampereentie is a little worse, while our closest Prisma at Itäharju is mostly nice, with some bad vibes in one end of the supermarket side. The nicest hypermarket near us is Citymarket Ravattula, Littoinen. I like this one so much more that I ALMOST would go to it instead (it's nearly 40 minutes by car, instead of 15 or so to Itäharju).

hafnia

Tabletop goals for the year?

In no particular order:

1). Finish the Bounty Hunter's Guild and give it a satisfying ending.
2). Run and wrap Goodbye My Darling.
3). Start the long-form Eberron campaign (name TBD).
4). Finish Space Heist and get it on itch.io, even if it's only as a public beta or something, because IT HAS BEEN LONG ENOUGH.

That's nice and concise, I think? :D

Will say that I do have a brief update re: sourdough — I made a successful starter and yesterday, I baked bread with it for the first time. Nothing fancy; I made two regular boules. The prove on it could probably have been a bit better, but dang, y'all, it tasted great. :D I ate sourdough toast this morning and it was everything I wanted. 10/10, would do again. ♥ So that's one thing crossed off my, "I want to try to do this" list, and now that I've done it the straight way, I can start playing with different flours and such (want to incorporate a bit of rye into it, for flavor), start thinking about inclusions, etc. I had this amazing fruit and nut bread at one point that I kinda want to try remaking...was like, walnut with dried cranberries? so, yeah.

We shall see!

cosmolinguist

I thought I'd just get dropped off at the train station after our session (and the all-important debrief in Costa) was finished. But I should've known: my lovely colleague has sight loss herself and assured me that they -- she, her husband/PA, her guide dog -- would wait until I was safely on a train.

But first, I needed to pee, so I got directed to the gents' and I was only gone for a few minutes but when I walked back up the platform I saw those two (three, counting Flick the dog) standing with two other ladies chatting away. As I got closer I'd have guessed they were people R knew from work; one of them mentioned another charity that's known to us. I was happy to chill while they did that "Oh you know Nick?" kind of thing. But it turns out they didn't know each other; these women had just been at some sight-loss related event but one of them just spoke up when she saw the guide dog because she always does and is clearly the kind of person who'll talk to anyone. They had made friends at a local society for blind people, and had just come from, of all things, a funeral for someone they knew from that group. The chattier one told us about her eye condition, Homonymous Hemianopia -- and R and I said "that's the one we couldn't say before!" when we were going through a list of them at the session earlier; we both know about hemianopia but neither of us could get the word out at the time.

Then the other person said "And I have optic nerve hypoplasia."

And then I said "Shut up!" because I was so surprised. That's what I have! And even among other blind people, no one's heard of it. It's an odd, rare thing. I literally don't think I've ever met anyone else who's got it.

They and I ended up getting on the same train for the first 15 minutes or so, by which point the chatty one had made friends with the conductor and exchanged numbers with me.

My hypoplasia pal lives in Runcorn and says she comes to Manchester regularly; I said she should let me know if she wants to hang out.

Such a goofy coincidence, but an uplifting end to a day that could've gone better. (It was fine, it just...well, I'm too tired to explain it now. But it was fine. Just, could've been better.)

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

"Luna Snow's been a blast to write ever since she debuted in comics in the War of the Realms: Agents of Atlas book. But this new story is something special – we get to focus on her as the hero and dig deep into what it means to be a pop star and a super hero at a time when fascists and exploiters have very specific uses for pop stars and super heroes." -- Greg Pak

( Scans under the cut... )

turlough posting in

common_nature

We've had a very persistent winter here this year and this has happily meant that I've had lots of visitors at my bird feeders. Today I had the opportunity to photograph this adorable little Long-Tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus caudatus) while it was hunting for seeds on the bike-shed roof just outside my window.

Click to enlarge:

small black and white bird with very long tail feathers

( one more photo... )

Current Mood: okay

cimorene

‘Sir,’ intoned Dr. Fell, drawing the napkin from his collar and sitting up in dignity, ‘let me assure you I have been listening with far closer attention than my admittedly cross-eyed and half-witted appearance would seem to indicate.'

—John Dickson Carr, The Dead Man's Knock (1958)

(I rate this book 2/5, however.)

oracne

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones is gory historical horror set in 1912 Montana that's in conversation with Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. More importantly, it's both narrative and meta-narrative about settler colonialism and the genocide Americans perpetrated against the indigenous inhabitants of the American West, viewed through a lens of revenge, survival, and atonement. Finally, it shows a long, difficult attempt at justice, requiring sacrifice and suffering along the way.

This review contains spoilers.

( Read more... )

For those not well-versed in American history, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz would be good preparation for this novel, or as a readalong.

tcampbell1000 posting in

scans_daily

Giffen, DeMatteis, Hughes.

This story arc begins with a “heroic” Justice League associate using wealth and power to crush a reporter researching the truth about the team. You probably think I’m talking about Max Lord, right?

( I mean, when Batman or Iron Man want to suppress reporting about themselves, at least they have the decency to sleep with the reporter to create conflict of interest. )

heartsways posting in

scans_daily

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

wildeabandon

So the Church of England has drawn the "Living in Love and Faith" process to a close, in a way that puts any pursuit of my priestly vocation out of reach for the foreseeable future. A new working group is being set up to continue looking at the question of priests in same-sex marriages, which is supposed to report back to Synod in 2028. Based on past experience, that probably means 2029 or 2030, at which point there will no doubt be a new round of painful arguments, and then I guess we'll see. But for now, that door is closed.

I think I am currently feeling less upset about this than I thought I'd be, although it might just be alexithymia fogging things up. It didn't really come as a surprise, so to some extent letting go of the uncertainty is something of a relief.

It also removes the potential complication that comes with having reinvigorated my academic vocation, coming back to the field with my mental health intact, my ADHD treated, and the general increased wisdom that comes with age. Of course academia and the priesthood is hardly a combination that hasn't been tried before, but I had been worrying slightly about what happens if I have to make a choice about which to pursue first, and now that that choice has been taken off the table I can just concentrate on my studies, and should at least be well into a PhD before the question of formal priestly discernment becomes pertinent again.

hafnia

Fiber arts project I've finished that I'm most proud of?

There's two that I'm really proud of, honestly — the rainbow afghan (pictures of which have been lost to time, alas), which was a queen-sized afghan I made from these blocks. It was, literally, red/orange/yellow/green/blue/indigo/violet flowers, yellow-centered with black edging about them to set it off (instead of white as in that pattern).

My ex pressed on me to give it to his mom, since she was going through a hard time, and so I parted with it and we shipped it to her. I have mixed feelings about that — on the one hand, it was so much work and it was really pretty (I made it all from thrifted yarn; it was jewel-toned and beautiful), but on the other hand, I don't tend to keep stuff I make, so who knows where it would have ended up otherwise? She was grateful to get it, so.

The other one that I'm very proud of is a cross-stitch project I did earlier this summer. It was the first time I'd actually cross-stitched anything in about five years, and I did it without a proper pattern (I did get instructions on how to do the worms and the dragon, but, you know). Pictures of it are up on Mastodon, so here. Perfect? Definitely not, but the person it was made for appreciated it, and I am still proud of it, so. ♥

vivien

Sometimes I look at the Craigslist free stuff page. Today there are five free pianos on offer. One is paying $50 to have one taken away. It's so sad. Pianos went from being prized possessions to free giveaways. If I had the space, I'd give one a home. I don't play, and with my hand and wrist issues probably shouldn't learn, but it would be neat to have one.

I finished The 'Burbs series on Peacock while I have it for the month of the Olympics. It was lots of fun. Good suspense, interesting characters, good performances, and a cliffhanger that had me wanting more. I may pony up for another month of Peacock if it has a season 2. Maybe. I'm tired of streaming services and having to pay and pay and then still having commercials. Peacock is $10.99 per month with plenty of commercials. No thanks. I've been seriously working on my DVD collection for several months now because if I want to watch a favorite show or movie, I'm not paying for it if it's not on services I already have. I'm also concerned about content with queer story lines and characters being pulled. I prioritized those. I, uh, have a lot of DVDs now.

The future is so freaking stupid. Commercials you pay for, devices listening to you, AI, fascism, billionaires run amok.

And still no flying cars.

petra

The main post is here.

What I said:

Let's write smut in short words for the spring Fools' Day! This will be a lot of fun. For me. And for you, too?

A list of folks I could write from my works is next. If you see a pair, group of three, or big group that you want me to write, drop me a line!

( Cut for length (that's what he said) )

Current Mood: sneezed on by cat
Current Music: Shall we recombine with the familial gathering in the vestibule?

ysabetwordsmith posting in

common_nature

The first crocuses are blooming! I just had to take pictures when I spotted them this morning. Yesterday they were just buds.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

icon_uk posting in

scans_daily

We're at the start of a new arc in World's Finest, and this one is going to feature Earth-3

( So it's topsy-turvy time... but a GRIM sort of topsy-turvy )

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

( Scans under the cut... )

Page generated Feb. 20th, 2026 10:50 pm

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January 2026

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Jessica Jones is finally getting another mature title…

I survived this week!

US Politics: Wrong-headed school administrations

(no subject)

Stores with rancid vibes

Talking Meme Month - day 19

What are the odds? And some of us are very odd

Luna Snow: World Tour #1

tiny long-tailed tit

Or as much dignity as you can with a walrus mustache

Reading Wednesday, Yes I Know It Is Thursday

Bottomfeeder: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #43-44 (JLI 59)

I Saw Santa #2

Doors closing, windows opening.

Talking Meme Month - day 18

Random Wednesday

Erotica 4 Barbarians, or, Smut in Short Words for Spring Fools' Day

Photos: Flowerbeds

World's Finest #48 - Dark Mirror - Well, that answers that question I guess....

Knull #2