Everything is either dark or cozy now. There’s no room for “cheerful but the middle is deeply weird” or “eerie but the MCs are basically good people who treat each other well “ in the modern marketing landscape.
“They’re the same picture” meme and it’s “AI psychosis” and “being a billionaire”
They’re not Kirk and Spock but they’re not NOT Kirk and Spock. Libro.fm page showing cover of “star shipped” audiobook featuring two hot cartoon guys (but not in the usual romance novel cartoon style, these guys are old-timey-newspaper-comics looking) almost kissing.
It’s #worldbookday and i just finished “Paladin of Souls” (god-tier comfort read if middle-aged female rage finding an appropriate target is your jam 🙋♀️) and now i get to read “Star Shipped” which is a new Cat Sebastian book (don’t mind me, just quietly screeching over here) so it’s a good one!
Trying to buy a printer and all the options are AI enabled. and just … what the FUCK. I don’t need AI in any of my devices, actually, but i double extra don’t need it in a printer.
The ONLY thing i need to know is, does puking disqualify me? (Let’s say not on purpose). If not i can do this tomorrow. If yes, i‘m gonna have to clear my calendar for 24 hours.
They suspect but can’t prove that every Reviewer 2 is the other person.
Seriously! Give me something more mid here, like “loudly yelling at each other in elevator at conferences” and “actively trying to subvert each others’ students” and “i don’t have a question, it’s more of a comment” at all of each others’ talks.
Haha, i misremembered the Greek islands as well as the genre 🤦♀️ it was “a death on corfu” by Emily Sullivan!
Into the wrong vials — wrong shape or size, wrong prep, etc.
Feels like it’s cozy but not twee, right? It could definitely be a new niche 😆
Lois McMaster build has written some of the funniest romances I’ve ever read, but also npr wasn’t wrong when they described her first book as having not an ounce of humor in it. I would love to know more about the journey from “shards of honor” to “captain vorpatril’s alliance” — how does it work?
Mmm i love this and the conflict between “having creative hobbies means being messy” versus “my hobby is keeping up with the joneses.” Lots of juicy stuff here.
I get why an author might choose to write a romance MC as lonely, but they should never be lonely because they’re alone. Plonk that poor sod down in the middle of a messy family, dysfunctional friend group, or toxic neighborhood HOA. Alone is boring (in fiction), show character through interaction.
Shit like this really makes you understand how Elizabeth Holmes fooled everyone for so long. Like come on, medical establishment, surely nine vials of blood is a little excessive. (My personal record is five, but the nurse drew the wrong five first so then she had to draw a different five 🤦♀️)
Wait, I’m misremembering. This was not a historical romance but a historical murder mystery written by someone who also writes historical romances.
Yes! I read one recently that was set on Crete with British characters and even that felt like a breath of fresh air.
(Trying and failing to think of a romance novel with toxic HOA B-plot. If it hasn’t been done yet, someone should write it!)
I get why an author might choose to write a romance MC as lonely, but they should never be lonely because they’re alone. Plonk that poor sod down in the middle of a messy family, dysfunctional friend group, or toxic neighborhood HOA. Alone is boring (in fiction), show character through interaction.
sigh. Yes. I wish it was better in a dozen ways but i also love it anyways.
~gestures at all this~ has been the context for my entire professional life. That’s not exaggerating. In 1998 i was 15 and confronting the reality that persisting in math(/STEM) was going to mean men talking about me like this for the rest of my life.
Nick Fuentes and Epstein have essentially the same working theory of women/AFAB, a working theory that animates the US right currently.
They believe us to be dull-brained farm animals useful only for breeding and fucking.
Intellectual children always, so who cares if we're grown when fucked/bred.
… and also makes you wonder “is this horror?” at least once per chapter?
This is not hard math.
Ooh this is a good list.
Wait, so the company whose entire goal is to make all the most addictive video games 1000% more addictive, hired someone completely incompetent to think about child safety? ShockedPikachu.jpg
Clarification: “Timn”. Or “Tirm”? How do we render the three-bump m that ai art loves so much?
If you try to think of AI as a person, the inevitable conclusion is that it’s a psychopath. Tells you what you want to hear. Doesn’t care at all about the consequences. Has actually killed people and will do so again. and will continue to do so, because — there’s no there there.
Niceness is motivated by how your actions make you look. Kindness is motivated by the effect your actions have on others.
(It was always going to be Dick Durbin 😡 )
Fascism is here and yet we insist on continuing to make things. Keep creating. It's so important. Do not let the fascists colonize your imagination or curtail your creativity.
