anne

Over the last few years, we have sorted and decluttered enough that we no longer need the large storage unit that Cattitude and I rented when we had to move into a small apartment on short notice, in 2019.

Adrian did a lot of the work, both mental and physical. We gave away a lot of books, and also things like an air conditioner and an exercise bike.

We now have a much smaller and less expensive storage unit, which we hope to have cleared in a couple of months (the units are rented by the month).

After Cattitude and Adrian got home last night, having moved things down the corridor and officially given up the old unit, we had the traditional post-moving pizza for dinner.

It hasn’t been that long since the last media roundup and I haven't read that much but I had lots of thoughts that I wanted to share, so have a post:

Hirayasumi, vol 3+4 by Keigo Shinzō— This continues to be very charming. I’m loving all the little details.The cityscapes here feel so warm and lived in! I'm not sure if it's a slice of life manga thing, a manga thing or just an artifact of my limited selection but I've been really enjoying the land/cityscapes in the slice of life manga I've been reading recently
Content note: fatphobia/diet culture

Silver Spoon, vol 14-15 by Hiromu Arakawa— I’m working on a rec list of slice of life manga and I was reminded that I’ve never read the last two volumes of this series. I'd always meant to reread the rest of the series but that felt like too much of a project. So I ended up just reading these last two volumes – it wasn’t that hard to pick up, there’s helpful story summary in the front of each volume.

This is a charming story about a city kid who goes to an ag high school to get away from everything. I love all the details and about farming, food equipment and rural life. I thought it wrapped up nicely!

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 1 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al— I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time, and it was mentioned in the comments of my superhero comics rec list, so I finally got around to it. I ended up getting it on paper because the endless scroll webtoon format isn’t great for my hands.

It’s like a cute slice of life comic about the batfam. It’s got a very fic vibe, things are chill and everyone more or less gets along. Which sounds like exactly what I want in a batfam comic but for this first volume at least, felt a little flat actually. I wanted a bit more conflict or angst or something. I’m generally pretty happy with low conflict personal stakes stuff, but I guess these versions of the character feel a little shallow. Each story is so short, like five pages, its just hard to get much depth in that length.

(I’ll probably read some more of this because it is cute and free online. Maybe if I space out the episodes more it will not only not bother my hands as much but feel less bland.

X-men: The Animated Series season 1— Since I'm more open to Superhero media these days, R suggested we watch this animated series from the 90’s. It’s fun! I like that it's got a big team, though it does mean most characters don’t get much screentime. I also like that they are pretty much just fighting for mutant civil rights. There’s a lot less for me to suspend my moral disbelief about here than in most superhero stories I’ve encountered recently.

The contemporary romance Please Ship Me and My Boss (请嗑我和总监的cp, pinyin: qing ke wo he zongjian de cp) by Yi Zhi Hua Jia Zi (一只花夹子) is available for pre-order as a mainland print edition, under the title An Invitation to Gaze Upon the Moon (赏月邀请函, pinyin: shangyue yaoqing han). Here are some of the bookshops currently taking pre-orders:

• Meili (the publisher)
  
• Wangou
  
• Xiangxue
  
• Xinshijiao

The web version of the novel can be read here

Also available for pre-order is high school romance Dawn and Dusk, She Hides a Smile (朝暮里，她窃笑, pinyin: zhao mu li, ta qie xiao) by Li Ling (荔聆), published under the title With Her From Dawn to Dusk (朝暮与她, pinyin: zhao mu yu ta). The bookshops currently taking pre-orders include:

• Wangou
  
• Xiangxue
  
• Xinshijiao

The web version of the novel can be read here.

Down these mean streets a raccoon must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Paul William Davies et al, The Residence

A cosy whodunnit set at the White House during a state dinner. About six hours' worth of material, spread over eight hour-long episodes. Rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of Howard Hawks's screwball comedies, a fun birding-obsessed detective, and a great cast. Recommended.

Three thoughts after the last episode:

1) That last episode is emblematic of the Netflix Way. The detective gathers all the suspects to walk them through the crime, as is traditional for the genre (though she's doing it to see who will give themselves away, rather than because she knows). So she takes them all through a recap of everything that's come up in the series so far. Then, just in case you missed it, she spells out explicitly how the murder was committed, again, for the big reveal. Dumbed down, for people who've been half watching and half scrolling. Kudos to the writers for managing to keep the rest of the show interesting, but I was about ready to gnaw my arm off to escape yet more Here's What Happened.

I recognise that audiences can't be trusted anymore, what with the proliferation of videos explaining the ending of even fairly straightforward movies. I just wish it weren't so.

2) I did not so much call the culprit as really really want it to be that person.

3) The whole series demonstrates how mysteries are a fundamentally conservative genre. ( spoilers follow ) I have no beef with this in general; it's just really obvious, and not a little frustrating, in this instance.

Whether they owe money, their souls, or their futures, these characters are in desperate straits...

Five SFF Works About Trying to Escape Massive Debt

This is your weekly read-in-progress post!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*

Can two adorable Gen Z homicidal sociopaths learn to adult together?

Baby Assassins (Baby Assassins, volume 1) by Yugo Sakamoto

I made an icon! It is very simple, but it is mine. :)

Have a picture of Kleya at her comms board, telling Luthen off.

The current Skeleton Crew ruleboo plus a Legion of adventures.

Bundle of Holding: Vast Grimm

The reissue of INDA is today.

I can't express what a relief it is to have the tyops and other messes cleaned up. No doubt one or two escaped, but that can be fixed, now that my rights are back in my hands. Almost twenty years to the day since it first came out; at that time having gay characters as just part of life was pretty rare, especially in main characters, plus an autistic hero. Now I am glad to say there are plenty more out there, yay!


Also, finally, after close on fifteen years, I have Wren Journeymage in print.

The Company will surely triumph over the Union upstarts, just as soon as R&D solves a few minor, pilot-killing, bugs in their cutting-edge systems.

Hellburner (Devil to the Belt, volume 2) by C J Cherryh

We're halfway through 2026! ( Read more... )

Random generators from Kent David Kelly for tabletop fantasy roleplaying games such as OSRIC (based on the 1979 First Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) and other fantasy retroclones.

Bundle of Holding: Oldskull Generators

Hi, welcome back to our Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is the first half of episode 18. On to the second half!

Episode 18 from 23:38:

Summary: Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei chase Ye Huo, but stop at a T junction. Lin Jing and Da Qing catch up, and the black energy detector shows both Ye Huo and another black energy signature. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei follow Ye Huo, and a fight ensues, but eventually Ye Huo concedes defeat. Zhao Yunlan asks about Zhu Jiu, but Ye Huo doesn't know the name. Meanwhile Lin Jing and Da Qing find Ye Huo's base. Bo Bi also turns up, and all three of them get jumped by Ye Huo's friends. And at the fight club, Zhu Jiu kills one of the manager's flunkies and then the manager himself, but not before being extra-dramatically threatening at him.



Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei and Ye Huo arrive at Ye Huo's house. Zhao Yunlan gets a phone call about what happened at the fight club. Ye Huo's friends demand Ye Huo's release, threatening their captives. Zhao Yunlan quips that they should be in school instead, and he and Shen Wei start discussing the Dixing education system, then segue into whether or not Zhao Yunlan will be allowed to go to Dixing again. Then Ye Huo tries to talk reason into his friends. In flashback we learn that Ye Huo discovered Zhu Jiu's life force-stealing scheme and has since been trying to protect people from it. Then Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng arrive to free the hostages. Ye Huo expects to be taken back to Dixing for judgment, but is granted mercy. Shen Wei tells him to leave the city, and Zhao Yunlan tells Chu Shuzhi to take the human boys somewhere else too. Lao-Chu gives the trophy belt back to Ye Huo. Meanwhile Ya Qing reminds Zhu Jiu of the three missions Ye Zun gave them, and Zhu Jiu struggles with his injury from the black energy gun, which is getting worse.

Quote:

Ye Huo to Chu Shuzhi: "Actually, I envy you, for being able to live freely and easily here."

Chu Shuzhi: "Yes, true, but my boss is a bastard who's full of himself."

Detail(s):

When Shen Wei summons his dao, ending the fight with Ye Huo, at first he holds it with the edge against Ye Huo's neck - but then he turns it, so it's the blunt side pointing at Ye Huo. He threatens Ye Huo, but only so far, signalling that he's not out for blood, and he's careful with the sharp edge of his weapon.

Questions: Which this your favourite part/scene/moment in this half-episode? Any favourite lines? Why do Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan stop at the T junction? How does tracking Ye Huo via the trophy belt work? Why does Ye Huo stop fighting back eventually? What do you think is the best way of getting schools in Dixing? (Is it removing the Regent? *g*) How confused were Ye Huo's friends by Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei not taking their hostage-taking very seriously? Is Ye Huo as a masked saviour a parallel for the Envoy? What exactly does the black energy gun do, that Zhu Jiu seems to be dying from his injury? What is the third mission Ye Zun gave them? And finally, any thoughts about whether (or how) any of this connects with the novel?

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

Here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

You’re all so beautiful, without holes in your brains. You can all be so, so much more, why do you waste life? Love! Stop the petty squabbles, and, don’t make a snippy announcement that you’re stopping the petty squabble, just… let it die. Touch. Feel. Kiss. Hug. Hold. Celebrate every moment that you feel alive, as if it were possible that all these good things could be taken from you, all in an instant, by some childhood temper tantrums, a sudden accident of fate, a sudden hateful attack….

Threads for chapters 31 though 35 are below!

(chapters 1 to 5 are here)

(chapters 6 to 10 are here)

(chapters 11 to 15 are here)

(chapters 16 to 20 are here)

(chapters 21 to 25 are here)

(chapters 26 to 30 are here)

A small British town falls victim to an insidious invasion.

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

I just saw that Seven Seas announced they licensed Miss Forensics!

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/2026/07/04/seven-seas-licenses-15-new-releases-at-anime-expo-2026/

Miss Forensics: Wo Qinai De Fayi Xiaojie (Novel) by Jiu Nuan Chun Shen

The highly requested baihe/Chinese Girls’ Love novel finally makes its official English debut! A suspenseful, romantic thriller about a forensic doctor and the cold detective she works with. Volume 1 will be released for the first time in the English language in 2027 in single large-trim editions as part of the Seven Seas Baihe label. Ebook editions will also be available on digital platforms.

My Wandering Spirit Lady (Novel) by Qing Jun Mo Xiao

A modern-day baihe/Chinese Girls’ Love romance about a young woman and the ghostly lady in her life. From the author of Clear and Muddy Loss of Love and Female General and Eldest Princess! Volume 1 will be released for the first time in the English language in 2027 in single large-trim editions as part of the Seven Seas Baihe label. Ebook editions will also be available on digital platforms.

Matrilocal Marriage: Ruzhui (Novel) by Qing Jun Mo Xiao

A slow burn baihe/Chinese Girls’ Love romance about a time-traveling woman who lost everything and the mysterious heiress she comes to marry out of convenience. From the author of Clear and Muddy Loss of Love, Female General and Eldest Princess, and My Wandering Spirit Lady! Volume 1 will be released for the first time in the English language in 2027 in single large-trim editions as part of the Seven Seas Baihe label. Ebook editions will also be available on digital platforms.