I'm sorry, did you forget the last 200 years of technological progress advancing productivity yet leading us to work even longer hours? If we want to work less, we need unions, not tech.
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Jaelyn 🏳️🌈
@jaelisp@lgbtqia.space
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Joined February 13, 2023
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Johnny Appleseed (Joshua Whitehead) – An idigenous Two-Spirit 'glitterprincess', Johnny has a week to return home to the rez for a funeral. We follow as he recalls his youth on the reservation, the racism and queerphobia, his love for his grandmother, and his life as a cybersex worker.
It's a beautiful and pained portrait of a modern Two-Spirit love and desire; in many ways a familiar coming of age, in others a fresh insight on young indigiqueer culture.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ
New hobby: whenever someone says "I asked chat GPT and it said..." substitute that for "My mate Paul says..."
Though I feel that is an insult to Paul's wisdom.
When the Museum Is Closed (Emi Yagi) – Rika is hired for her conversational Latin by a museum for a strange task. To keep the statue Venus de Milo company after hours. As they chat each week, Venus and the shy Rika fall for each other and plot to free Venus from her captive display.
I really enjoyed the dynamic of the two and the soft fantastical elements around the statues and the externalisation of Rika's own timidity and fears. It's short but utterly charming in every paragraph while speaking to the prisons we build around ourselves and the control of others over us.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ
What if we kissed in the carabiner pantry aboard the International Space Station?
#LGBTQ #Lesbian #Carabiner #Queer #Sapphic
I do love saying hi to random shop cats lying on the street. Best part of the highstreet.
Herculine (Grace Byron) – A young trans woman recovering from religious trauma, conversion therapy and being stalked by literal demons ends up at an all-trans-girl rural commune run by her toxic ex. Alas, the little utopia hinges on some very dark supernatural secrets.
I was expecting to love this a lot more than I did. The pacing really let things down and didn't allow for any suspense to be built up. Major escalations happened in the space of a sentence or two with no real weight or pause appropriate to what happened. It felt very "then this happened, and then this happened" which I don't think works for the themes it attempts. It could do with being given more time to breathe, sit with its fear and let the characters develop more. Even the sex seemed rushed, which feels like a first for a trans authored story.
On the plus sides though, I enjoyed the demonology and commune aspects, and it felt like a very real and dirty T4T novel; the kind of internal trans cultural narrative you don't often see in print; and a critical one at that. Grace clearly has some gripes with how shitty we can all be with each other, yet the necessity of our community.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ #Fantasy #TransBooks #Trans
Happy First Contact Day! Only one option of film here tonight.
Btw, anyone else wish Artemis II launched just 3 days later?
Hell's Heart (Alexis Hall) – Billed as a "Sapphic Moby Dick in Space", Hell's Heart is also very much an irreverent retelling, steeped in anti-capitalism and trauma from mega churches. But it is also from someone who saw Melville's inherent homoeroticism and thought it would be suitably elevated with Ishmael being your average thirsty little trans girl sub and Ahab being an increasingly unhinged domme. And they ain't wrong.
Set in the storms of Jupiter's atmosphere where leviathans and wyrms fly through the turbulent storms. The corporate-indentured human civilisation in the outer solar system is reliant on the spermaceti from leviathans for fuel. And thus we join a crew of space whale hunters, flying through the storms of Jupiter to harpoon the beasts like the lonely whalers of Melville.
If you like to go in mostly blind, leave this here. I'm not going into (what I consider) spoilers but I am going to talk a bit more on the characters and world.
Alexis, mirroring the original, gives us detailed explanations of the creatures, the hunt and the broader world of corporations and competing money-hungry apocalypse-adoring churches (for those loving the odd meme reference, keep an eye out for a certain face-eating leopard god). Certainly when it comes to the religious/capitalist aspects I'm picking up hints of Pratchett or Adams in there which makes it very entertaining. We flip from this to our set piece action scenes of the hunt, and the regular subby narrator having a great time getting fucked, with a good balance to keep an entertaining pace.
The characters all seem to varying degrees tragic flies caught in the amber of their world, with our captain being the one person succeeding in breaking out of it through her self destructive quest against her mythical beast. While there are many I could mention, I feel that the captain is the most compelling. The extent to which she bubbles herself with everything that reinforces her own world view mirrors both the religious narrative but more-so speaks to our new obsession with sycophantic AI. Through her single minded pursuit and applying her force of personality on those around her, she alone escapes from the world that imprisons the rest of humanity. Instead, she has trapped herself in a prison of her own making. As a result, it is the hardest to escape from leading to... wait to I need to avoid spoilers for the 1851 original as well as this one? I mean, you know how that ends, right?
Last point: Sadly despite the cover and ample opportunity from the setting, there did not seem to be any tentacle fucking (unless I was distracted by the the technical details at that point). I'd actually say the cover doesn't capture the vibe or the creature very well (it's not a bad cover, but not the best choice for this story - the publisher should think again on that for the next edition).
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ #SciFi #TransBooks #Trans @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @lgbtqbookstodon@a.gup.pe
You: I'm making a chicken casserole tonight.
That one friend who won't stop talking about that one time they were assimilated: Chicken? Ah, species 736. They make excellent drumsticks. But have you considered regeneration?
#StarTrek #SevenOfNine
I never realised that the Enterprise communicator was vibing so close to a 2000s cell phone.
I mean, it makes sense as inspiration, but the idea that Archer was going round with a 2G Nokia 6510 will make me see those episodes in a whole new light. A hazy light blue light.
Ponyboy (Eliot Duncan) – I'm a sucker for atmospheric prose, and Ponyboy seemed to give prose that echoed the protagonist's own chaotic, drug scrambled perception of his world in Paris and Berlin. It can make it a confusing read at times, but I felt that very much kept you inside Ponyboy's head as he gets trapped in his cycle of drugs, booze and godawful relationship choices.
For as much as I enjoyed that, I felt it was lacking enough threads in the final act to tie the themes together. On it's own, it's strong. But set against a large number of tragic and self destructive queer stories, it was hard to see this standing out and offering something beyond a final movement past hopelessness and into recovery. In many ways, that mirrors stories that stem from the personal. But for a story that can be so evocative, I felt it had more to give in this current climate than what was said on the page.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ #TransBooks #Trans
It seems being able to hold a conversation on a dating app now makes people assume I'm using Chat GPT to write my replies.
Fuck this shit.
Lean Cat, Savage Cat (Lauren J. Joseph) feels like when you're at a house party past 2am and you're starting to wonder if your hosts' raucous and hilarious excess is less charismatic and more disturbing.
Carli has stumbling through her arts degree project Romy Haag in London when she bumps into the mysterious and charming Alexander Geist in a Soho bar. Entranced by his confidence and potential as the next David Bowie, she drops everything and follows him to Berlin overnight. What begins as a whirlwind affair develops into her managing his burgeoning signing career; and her love for his dominance over her in and out of the bedroom slowly unravels into ever more abusive behaviour.
I had only read-and-forgotten the blurb a few months back so I went into this quite blind; and I am glad for it. It's hard to discuss what I love about this book without giving any spoilers. For the first half I was reading this as another book about a spiral into excess and self destruction. But as I clocked where we were actually going with it I really began to enjoy Carli as character that embodies so much tragic humour.
While I am not a fan of the prose and the pacing, and most of the individual elements have been done plenty of times before, the way it comes together bounces you between the hilarious, the horny, the shocking and the depressing within the space of a sentence and a half.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ #TransBooks #Trans
Well this sounds like an interesting sequel to She-Ra.
Parents these days really don't like their kids going off alone much. But if you keep them on a tight leesh, how are they meant to uncover mysteries and crimes with their band of misfit friends and sidekick dog? Mysteries like how the local grocer has been scaring off tourists by pretending to be a ghost at the harbour but all along it was Mr Cobb's the old sailor who was trying to frame the grocer to draw attention from him selling secrets to the Russians? Kids just aren't allowed to have a childhood anymore.
Pile of tribbles
In my mind
Soft and fuzzy
Such a lovely time
Pile of tribbles in my mind
Playing with a sehlat...
In my mind.
On a ship
Flying over the station
Deep Space Nine has the best hasperat
Pile of tribbles
Rolling in my mind...
Playing with a sehlat...
In my mind.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers) – Becky Chambers makes me cry again, this time in a hope punk novella about existence and purpose. Long ago, humanity's Factory Age ended when robots suddenly gained consciousness and decided to leave. Humanity respected their agency and choice, allowing them to leave into the wilderness and legend while restructuring human civilization into a sustainable, solarpunk society.
Sibling Dex is a tea monk, going from town to town offering people their ear, their counsel and the perfect cup of tea to soothe their worries. But Dex themself feels an emptiness and pain; they feel guilty for not being happy in a life which - on the face of it - gives them everything it should. This inner conflict they keep from those they help really resonated with me from the very start.
Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they bump into the first robot to meet a human in centuries, Mosscap. Through its wide-eyed excitement at learning about humanity again, seeks an answer to a query the robots have about humans: what do people need? In such a short space, Chambers beautifully cuts through to our inner conflict and need for purpose and how to simply find joy in simply existing.
The only question I have now is: why didn't the bookshop have the 2nd of the duology in stock today? It's a crime, I say!
Peter Darling (Austin Chant) – Transmasc Peter Pan (Assigned Wendy At Birth) returns to Neverland much older, preferring the lost boys to an asylum for his failure to conform to feminine norms. Now he resumes a very bloody war with Captain Hook with all the bravado and arrogance of his youth. Yet as he realises how artificial the world is, how it bends to his whim, he starts to fall for the one other real thing in Neverland; James Hook.
I adore this book. It’s sweet, powerful and wonderfully in tone with the original while challenging its core tenets. Neverland is Peter’s escape from the reality of his unaccepting family, a life he wants to forget. Now he throws himself into his own fantasy, his own powerful storytelling which Neverland relents to. And then to see things from Hook’s side, his past and his feelings for Peter are an absolute treasure.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ #Fantasy #TransBooks #Transgender #Trans #Transmasc #Gay
Nettleblack (Nat Reeve) – 1893 in the rural English town of Dallyangle, the youngest of the Nettleblack sisters (heirs to the Nettleblack fortune) Henry Nettleblack decides to flee her eldest sister’s plans to marry her off to elevate the family to aristocracy. However, Henry is cornered by thieves and loses everything. Thankfully saved by the Dallyangle Division (detective agency come neighbourhood watch composed nearly entirely of women), Henry decides to enlist before promptly fainting.
Hiding as a new recruit in Division, she deals with a the spate of robberies, a missing head and her eldest sister’s instructions to track her down. And then there are strange and distracting feelings Henry seems to be developing for her superior Septimus. Thankfully, there are plenty of other locals who, through experience, find it easier at putting such queer things into words. Perhaps in the Division, Henry can find her true self in a way she never could under her sister’s tutelage.
I absolutely adored this charming farcical comedy of scandal and sapphic love. I love the characters and their chafing against the little Victorian world the book creates. Pretty much everyone has a secret and is finding their own path to freedom or respect in a society that doesn’t wish to take them seriously; particularly split-skirt ladies fighting crime on bicycles. The style of the book is through journals and extracts with a very Dickensian vibe in parts (notably the old-style chapter headings) which I find quite charming.
Henry is an adorable cinnamon roll, stammering and swearing in fruits - pomegranates! - as she desperately tries to prove her worth to the world. Septimus (noted by someone else as "prone to poor judgement with short-haired androgynous types") is the hot-head tomboy fighting guilt over her past failures. Cassandra, the daughter of the Director of the division, feels underpressure from her mother’s perfectionism (and not helped by being women in charge of a “police” and the only black family in the area). Pip, the dandy genderless cravat designer, is intimidating in both style and speech (such goals!). Rosamond, the scandalous middle sister who refuses to give up her Welsh tongue, is the rebellious sibling who is easy to look up to. I could go on but I do love this cast of characters.
#Bookstodon #Books #QueerBooks #Queer #LGBTQ
Replying to
@daisy I say this a lot. As a company, I don't care if you put pronouns in your signatures or you add a rainbow to your logo. What I do care about is you've tested how well your databases will update a name change and trained your staff to do it properly and not create needless hurdles.
I'm still pushing on some companies to do this properly 2 years later because they don't realise how important it is for my GRC paper trail and they've never looked at how their databases connect. One place has told me 8 times over as many months they've updated my details yet I still get recipets and marketing under my deadname. I've spent way too much of my transition stressing over this.
The advice I give to others now is always create new accounts and change suppliers because companies don't have proper procedures to change your records reliably. And that's excluding bigots refusing to even process it for you.
#Trans
Replying to
@elmyra@wandering.shop I'm glad you enjoyed it! Maybe I should try the audio version next.