Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity planted a cat tree

July 2, 2021 Chris 3 Comments

New releases: The Mary Sue (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
There’s going to be a second season of Good Omens!
When you work at Evil-Mart and everyone else is out sick…
Another humans in space ficlet!
Some exceptional astronomy photos.
Cursed geography facts.
Cursed facts about the “juiciness” of the earth.
Pride loveseats by IKEA. I ADORE the ace one, but the cats would destroy those ruffles so fast…
This opera house is definitely of the “go big or go home” school.
Um, no thank you.
xkcd, saying what we’re all thinking now. Hover cursor/long-press for caption.
Cake Wrecks on a new cake from Publix.

Reading Update
Magical Midlife Madness, Magical Midlife Dating, Magical Midlife Infasion, Magical Midlife Love, and Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up 1-5) by KF Breene. Ok series about a newly divorced woman who becomes a caretaker of a creepy old house and falls into a world she had no idea existed.
Oath Sworn, Family & Honor, Broken Loyalty, Echoed Defiance, and Shades of Hate (Jacky Leon 1-5) by KN Banet. Ok series about a werecat who wants to be left alone to run her bar, but the rest of the world just won’t comply.

The harvest will be bountiful and furry.

Siblings.

Judging the “kittens” very hard here.

I was trying to nap after taking my migraine medication and Harry decided to “help” by vigorously grooming my head as Polly looked on.

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Linkity feels like a stranger (aka it’s been too long)

June 25, 2021 Chris 4 Comments

Hi all! HOW ARE YOU?! My feet are healing well and I can wear (very wide) normal shoes instead of surgical shoes. Wild times here!

New releases: AAR (romance), Smart Bitches (romance, 2nd part), Tor.com (fantasy, SF, genre benders, YA SFF)
Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more. And MORE. AND MORE.
Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
Some interesting thoughts about the power of the One Ring and Frodo.
Some interesting thoughts on why the Ringwraiths increased in power over the course of Lord of the Rings.
“Are Little Free Libraries better in wealthy neighborhoods?“
What about a superhero who just fixes the damage from other superheroes?
How to categorize fanfic authors.
Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
WHOA.
Deep thoughts.
Cute or cursed sea otter fact?
Some cursed facts about sturgeons.
About cicadas.
The Audobon Society differentiates between bird, birb, and borb.
“Rethinking the Western concept of linear time“.
About the placement of dragons’ eyes.
Strawberry cupcakes. (via The Kitchn)
Excellent cross stitch.
Cute sheep.
Embroidered hands.
LEGO typewriter set!
“People adapt to an extra thumb in fascinating experiment“.
Umbrella rain poncho or rain poncho umbrella?
Creepy.
Stiletto Crocs.
xkcd on being fully vaccinated. Hover cursor/long-press for caption.
Map of the US by a truck driver.
An unusual take on cats “chittering” at birds.

Reading Update

Three Mages and a Margarita, Dark Arts and a Daiquiri, Two Witches and a Whiskey, Four Shifters and a Stranger, A Damsel and a Demigod, Demon Magic and a Martini, The Alchemist and an Amaretto, Druid Vices and a Vodka, Lost Talismans and a Tequila, & Damned Souls and a Sangria (Guild Codex: Spellbound 1-8, 0.25, 0.5 [complete!]) by Annette Marie. Fun series about a human who accidentally ends up tending bar for a magic guild.
Taming Demons for Beginners, Slaying Monsters for the Feeble, Hunting Fiends for the Ill-Equipped, & Delivering Evil for Experts (Guild Codex: Demonized [complete!]) by Annette Marie. Fun series (that intertwines with the other Guild Codex series) about a young woman who accidentally ends up bound to a demon, more or less.
Warping Minds and Other Misdemeanors & Hellbound Guilds and Other Misdirections (Guild Codex: Warped 1-2) by Annette Marie. In-progress series (that intertwines with the other Guild codex series) about a slightly annoying criminal with a very unusual psychic ability.
From the Ashes, Heart of Malice, Just for One Night, Blood Money, Heart of Fire, Heart of Ice, Heart of Stone, Heart of Shadows, & Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth 1-6, +) by Lisa Edmonds. Very good series about a supernatural PI hiding from her mob boss father.
My Luck, Hired Luck, Educated Luck, & Inherited Luck (Twisted Luck 1-4) by Mel Todd. Good series about an unmagical young woman who keeps finding dead bodies.

Tall Harry is tall (and a chunk)! Intent Polly is intent!

Polly trying to maim the kitty brush (and bite her tongue?!) as Harry looks on.

Peekaboo Harry!

Polly is pretty!

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Linkity feels like Frankenstein’s monster

May 28, 2021 Chris 2 Comments

Foot surgery successful! And now I’ll be clomping around in these surgical shoes for I don’t know how long… Probably no linkity for the next several weeks, as I’ve signed up for another class during my linkity making time.

New releases: AAR (romance) and Smart Bitches (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches. And another!
Smart Bitches talk Eurovision 2021.
Linkity from the Pen Addict.
Book nook shelf inserts.
“Aliens have captured you, and placed you in one of their nature preserves…“
“In a world where society has collapsed…“
Well, now I understand why there was so much confusion with the whole droplets vs aerosols re how COVID-19 spread… I’m still boggled.
Oh, SNAP, Mr President!
Learn a little more about koalas.
Cursed fact about ghost crabs.
Nichelle Nichols is in a new NASA documentary called Woman in Motion.
LEGO map of the world.
Some more recreations of artistic masterpieces during quarantine.
Cute needle-felted griffins.
A collection of carved turnips. CAN’T BE UNSEEN.
“You’re supposed to be comforted by this faceless robotic vibrating cat, not horrified“.
About that spinach that can send email…
Some Untitled Goose Game humor.

Reading Update
Layers of Meaning: Elements of Visual Journaling by Rakefet Hadar. Gorgeous but otherwise disappointing self-published guide to the author’s specific method of art journaling.
Ghost of Gotham and A Time for Witches (Ghosts of Gotham 1-2) by Craig Schaefer. Good series about a reporter who debunks the paranormal, then finds himself in a complicated situation he can’t explain away.
Sworn to the Night, Detonation Boulevard, and Bring the Fire (The Wisdom’s Grave Trilogy) by Craig Schaefer. Ok side series of the Daniel Faust series that you need to read or the later books of the main series won’t make any sense.
Glass Predator, Cold Spectrum, Right to the Kill, and Black Tie Required (Harmony Black 3-6) by Craig Schaefer. Good series about an FBI agent and witch who becomes part of a black ops team meant to protect the country from supernatural threats. Also must be read or the later books of the Daniel Faust series won’t make sense.

Mayhem and Harry sharing a moment.

Mayhem and Polly sharing a moment.

Harry and the purple unicorn catnip toy.

“Not looking at you, Mom! Put away that phone camera!!!” -Mayhem

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Linkity for stressed and/or judging kitties

May 14, 2021 Chris 5 Comments

Probably won’t be linkity next week – I’m having double foot surgery on Monday (bunion and tailor’s bunion) and I’m going to take things easy for the rest of the week.

Reading Update
The Long Way Down, The White Gold Score, Redemption Song, The Living End, A Plain-Dealing Villain, The Killing Floor, The Castle Doctrine, Double or Nothing, The Neon Boneyard (Daniel Faust 1, 1.5, 2-8) by Craig Schaefer. Good series about a small-time Las Vegas magician and thief who gets caught up in a much larger story. You definitely want to bookmark the author’s reading order page for this one, because it’s part of set of interrelated series and things will get confusing if you try to read any one series straight through.
Harmony Black, Red Knight Falling (Harmony Black 1-2) by Craig Schaefer. Good series about an FBI agent and witch who becomes part of a black ops team meant to protect the country from supernatural threats. You need to read it interspersed with the Daniel Faust series, or by Book 9 of the Daniel Faust series, you will be very confused.
Got Luck, Lucky Day, Got Hope, Got Lost (Behindbeyond 1, 1.5, 2-3) by Michael Darling. Good urban fantasy series about a PI who discovers there’s a heckuva lot going on just below the surface of the world than he realized.

Oh, poor stressed Polly!

And poor stressed Harry!

Mayhem is ABSOLUTELY judging you, me, the kittens…

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Linkity returns! Now with even weirder links than usual!

May 7, 2021 Chris 4 Comments

Oh, hello there! Hope everyone continues to be pandemic fine, at the very least?! I am now fully vaccinated and the two weeks have passed. I’ve been “celebrating” by having a few long-delayed routine medical appointments… And I got my hair cut! It was past my shoulder blades – now it skims my shoulders.

New releases: Tor.com (YA SFF, horror/genre benders, SF, fantasy), Smart Bitches (romance), Gizmodo (SFF), AAR (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more. And more. And more.
Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
“Dragon journals and bookmarks for book wyrms to add to their hoards“.
“Consider: A fantasy series where the court wizard is treated and portrayed just like an IT guy“.
“Marriage Proposals 102, featuring Mr Darcy“.
“If going anywhere with small children was a magical fantasy novel“.
“Why do I have to wait SO LONG for library ebooks?”
If there were daemons in Discworld.
“Being vaccinated does NOT mean (bookish edition)“.
Shopping in an actual bookstore now.
“The bookshop cat and the pandemic“.
“There is no after“.
“I’m feeling symptoms of ‘cave syndrome.’ Aren’t you?“
A brief history of the school backpack.
Some fancy bees.
On house cats and meowing.
The ugliest orchid.
Some ugly birds.
What football stadiums look like from above.
Neil deGrasse Tyson vs the Steam-umm twitter account.
Parkway Theater drone video.
LEGO Space Shuttle Discovery.
Giant LEGO R2-D2.
Fandom embroidery projects.
Knit yourself a crown.
THIS. And THIS.
Blueberry cookies.
“How to cope with the garden gnome shortage“…
Saturn Devouring His Son… made from balloons… CANNOT BE UNSEEN.
Tiny novelty hands.
Platypus dragon.
March 2020. After the Pandemic. Hover cursor/long-press for captions.
“Vaccine side effect, or have you just been alive for 40 years?“
When 10% of California’s condor population decides to live on your deck.
Menard’s, strangely surreal at times.
The strange intersection of knitting and earbuds.

Reading Update
Not everything, but some of what I’ve been reading…
Across the Green Fields (Wayward Children #6) by Seanan McGuire. Not related to the school at all, but still good. I just wish these had a bit more closure.
The Secret Chapter and The Dark Archive (The Invisible Library 6-7) by Genevieve Cogman. Pretty solid in 6 and then WTF at the ending of 7.
The Last Smile in Sunder City and Dead Man in a Ditch (The Fetch Phillips Archives 1-2) by Luke Elliot Arnold. Good but tragic – these are mysteries set in a world which has lost its magic, which really messed up creatures that relied on magic to live, such as vampires, unicorns, etc.

Harry has very short, sleek fur. Polly’s fur is a bit longer. They both love the windows!

The look of resignation on Mayhem’s face (plus the side-eye she’s giving Harry), compared to the FOCUS on Harry’s face…

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Linkity is very tired tonight

April 9, 2021 Chris 5 Comments

Not sure there will be any linkity for the rest of this month, because I have a class during my linkity-making time for the next three weeks. Winging it! 🙂

New releases: Tor.com (YA SFF, SF, fantasy)
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from Bookwyrm Knits.
Linkity from the Pen Addict.
Some thoughts on “YA”.
LOLOLOLOL.
A tale of three witches and a child.
A tale of a chicken hatching a dragon.
When a cat stares into a dark corner…
This was unexpected.
“Every back is a bad back.”
WHOA. The confirmation from wikipedia.
Unexpected caniformes.
I know I had the comparison of European and North American semi trucks, but skim that for the addition about Australia…
“Morgan Freeman encourages you to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Sticky rice cake.
Vintage advertising flashback.
Some nifty supercells.
An unusual dragon hoard…
HARD SAME.
A particularly cursed house.
“Robotic eye webcam“.
“Chainsaw-equipped robot arm“.
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife“.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Suez Canal! 😉
Ok, I will try, thank you.

No reading update – too tired to pull that bit together.

“Is that photo going to make my tail look big?!” -Mayhem

Polly firmly bathing Harry and Harry reacting with DRAMA.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Polly

Harry creeping on the neighbors.

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Meme-filled linkity, plus multiple kitten photos

April 2, 2021 Chris 5 Comments

New releases: Gizmodo (sff) and Smart Bitches (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches. And the Smart Bitches Smart Device (for April Fool’s Day).
Linkity from the Pen Addict.
Remembering Beverly Cleary.
A look inside the Tolkien Historical Society Conference…
On understanding things.
Cursed facts about alligators.
He’s not wrong.
The Shitpost Calligrapher takes on the Ever Given.
More about how and why the Ever Given got stuck.
“I like that the boat is stuck“. (Was stuck. Whatever!)
Great video from the Suez Canal Authority.
Comparing the Ever Given to the starship Enterprise.
Another one of the boats that was waiting.
On the end of a meme (specifically the Ever Given).
Video about working with chocolate.
Cursed advertisement from the 70s.
Very creepy sculpture project.
Mask Opinions and Immune Response from xkcd. Hover cursor/long-press for captions.

Reading Update

The Dresden Files (1-17, including many of the stories in between the full numbers) by Jim Butcher. I hadn’t read anything in the series since 2009, so I started again from the first book. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this series!
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking and A Minor Mage by T Kingfisher. Enjoyable YA fantasies about being more than you think you are and definitely more than you seem.
Brimstone Bound, Infernal Enchantment, Midnight Smoke (Firebrand 1-3) by Helen Harper. Fluffy paranormal series about a newly minted London Detective Constable who ends up on the infamous “Supe Squad”.
The Noose of a New Moon (Wolfbrand #1) by Helen Harper. This follows up on Devereau Webb, a character from Firebrand #3.

*blank* -Harry

“What do you want now, lady?!” -Polly

Harry tummy! Type = Not Forbidden!

“I know she secretly likes me!!!!!” -Harry

“Are those kittens STILL HERE?!” -Mayhem

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Linkity is now 1/2 vaccinated!

March 26, 2021 Chris 3 Comments

New releases: AAR (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from the Pen Addict.
Not your typical backyard infestation. (actually a ficlet, no matter how cursed it sounds)
“I am no man“.
A visualization of Earth’s rotation.
Livestream Iceland’s erupting volcano, which Gizmodo describes as “oddly soothing”.
“The legacy of tipping is racist“.
Not actually cursed facts about mountain lions.
“Off-brand cats“.
If I still had plants, this would absolutely be Harry – complete with bell!
LEGO’s latest is the Discovery space shuttle plus Hubble Telescope.
:snortlaugh:
xkcd on vaccination. Hover/long-press for caption.
So much great memery about the container ship in the Suez Canal! (There are six links in that sentence – did you get them all??)

Reading Update
Working my way through the Dresden Files and completely not keeping Goodreads updated. I hadn’t read anything in the series since 2009, when I was traumatized by the ending to Turn Coat. I did better with it this time!

Harry is going to be a Large Cat. He’s on a standard-sized pillow – nose on one end, hind end dangling off the other. He’s 7.5 months old! 😮

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Harry and Polly

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Linkity and more pictures of Harry and Polly

March 19, 2021 Chris 4 Comments

New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from the Pen Addict.
BookWyrm Knits peruses the Nebula Award finalists.
“Bookish dragon goods“.
“20 must-read free online stories“.
Short fic about the host of a late-night call-in radio show.
“Free zines on Black resistance, policing, and activism“.
Some Pride and Prejudice humor.
“How Discworld characters would cope with lockdown“.
“Kickass women in history: Philomena Franz“.
Cursed human fact.
Cursed snake facts.
Cursed “good animal dads” facts.
“Oh you’re asexual? I bet you just want attention.“
“North America if all the glaciers and ice caps melted.“
A moment of Calvin & Hobbes dancing.
Listen to more sounds from the Perseverance rover.
Jean-Luc Picard latchhook.
Ken cakes.
“Miniature lobster shell motorcycles“.
Well then!
“Whomst shall hear the petitions of the townfolk?“

Reading Update
I am rereading the Dresden Files via an omnibus edition…

“What are you doing, lady?!” -Polly

“Is that a sparkle ball I see in the distance?!!” -Harry

“Lady, WHAT???!!” -Polly

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Harry

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An odd mixture of linkity indeed

March 12, 2021 Chris 4 Comments

Reading Update
The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion (Haunted Bookshop Mystery #5) by Alice Kimberly/Cleo Coyle. Think I’m all caught up with these now – I didn’t read them exactly in order.
Calculated Risks (InCryptid 10) by Seanan McGuire. Well, I guess the cliffie wasn’t QUITE as bad as the one in book 9…
On the Wings of War, Echo in the Sorrow Down a Twisted Path (Soulbound 5-6, 0.5) by Hailey Turner. Now to wait for the series conclusion to come out later this year, if I don’t forget all about it…
Wormwood Summer, A Haunting at Midwinter (San Amaro Investigations 1, 0.5) by Kai Butler. Good paranormal romance series about a fae magic using PI and an alchemist cop who get thrown together in the course of a case.