November 4th, 2025
trobadora: (Luo Fumeng - defiant)
forgetting any other tie but this (5410 words)
Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)
Rating: Mature
Relationship: Liu Qianqiao/Luo Fumeng
Content Tags: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Getting Together, Ghost Valley, Ghost Valley Politics, Department of the Unfaithful, Worldbuilding, cameos by Wen Kexing and Gu Xiang, and several original Ghost characters

Summary: Something was wrong with Xi Sang Gui, and Liu Qianqiao couldn't simply sit and wait.
November 3rd, 2025
flareonfury: (Phoenix)
posted by [personal profile] flareonfury in [community profile] girlgay at 09:51pm on 03/11/2025 under ,
Title: Kiss on the Moon
Fandoms: MCU / What If...? / X-Men Movieverse
Pairings: Jean Grey/Wanda Maximoff
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: Phoenix!Jean. Post WandaVision.
Summary: What if post Westview, Wanda fell into another universe?
Notes: Written for [community profile] xmen100 prompt Scarlet Witch, [community profile] 100ships prompt red, [livejournal.com profile] 15pairings prompt stargazing and for [community profile] uc_xmen drabble-a-thon prompt Jean/Wanda - phoenix, kiss. Never expected to write this pairing but it was oddly calling to me so I went with it. I was mainly thinking of Sofia!Jean but there are some comics influences but feel free to picture whoever you want of course.
kiss on the moon...

Title: Stumble
Fandoms: MCU
Pairings: Kate/Yelena
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: Post Thunderbolts/The Marvels films.
Summary: Yelena visits Kate.
Notes: Written for [community profile] mcu100 prompt kiss.
Stumble...

Title: Kissed by Flames
Fandom: X-Men: Evolution
Pairings: Rating: PG-ish
Warnings/Spoilers: Post Series. Phoenix.
Summary: Amara and Jean reunite.
Notes: Written for [community profile] xmen100 prompt Magma, [community profile] 100ships prompt flame, [livejournal.com profile] fivebyfiction prompt Phoenix, [community profile] uc_xmen drabble-a-thon prompt "X-Men Evolution - Amara/Jean - Phoenix, kissed by fire". So I've been interested in this pairing since the last time I rewatched XME ages ago, and I've been wanting to write for them since I don't think pairing really exists? I did make fanart for them ages ago but I haven't seen anything else. Also not sure if they really interacted in the comics so I'm not sure how Amara's abilities would work with/against the Phoenix but meh this is fanon anyway. I kinda want to write more, not going to lie - not sure if I will.
kissed by flames...

Title: Night Out
Fandom: X-Men '97
Pairings: implied Madelyne/Emma
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: Canon Divergent of Season 1. Missing Scene.
Summary: Madelyne arrives on Genosha, and Emma takes her out.
Notes: Written for [community profile] xmen100 prompt dawn[community profile] xmen15 prompt night for [community profile] uc_xmen drabble-a-thon prompt "X-Men '97 - Madelyne/Emma - night out". Okay so this is the first time in a VERY long time writing X-Men, so I'm a little rusty. Also I might make more of this when I'm less tired because this pairing is really calling to me.
night out...
jesse_the_k: That text in red Futura Bold Condensed (be aware of invisibility)

Marissa Lingen ([personal profile] mrissa here) is a disabled SF writer. She’s been publishing short stories since 2001—over 200 so far. Most of her work is quite short, and I’m delighted at how her subtle implications generate detailed worlds and relationships.

Her disability experience informs her work. One of my faves is “A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places”, free to read in print or in audio at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Like the author, the viewpoint character has vertigo.

Her monthly newsletter alerted me that she’s

leading a writing workshop where people can process their vertigo experiences through the written word.

FREE
23 November 2025 1700 GMT
must register in advance or more info
ar220@st-andrews.ac.uk

FULL DETAILS:
https://dateful.com/eventlink/1965359842

She’s eager to spread the word to people directly or indirectly affected by vertigo—please share the Dateful link far and wide.


Free Story, Essay & Interview

links and excerpts )

November 1st, 2025
jesse_the_k: Pixar's Dory, the adventurous fish with a brain injury (dain bramage)

My cognitive impairments mean I always mess up time zones. I’ve participated in many events in the past five years. Only one managed to sense my current time zone and adjust all the info on their site to match. (And of course I can't remember which one it was.)

Which is why I love https://dateful.com. It’s an excellent tool when you’re communicating across time zones. It’s free. It features:

  • Time Zone Converter: convert between major world cities and timezones instantly as you type
  • World Clock: up to 20 clocks to see how the rest of the world can participate in your event
  • Time Calculator: adds and subtracts times, dates, and durations

And best of all:

  • Eventlink: create a link that converts an event’s time to the user’s current time zone and day. You can add an event title, description, and URL (meeting link or a web page), and you can offer an “add to my calendar” which works with Apple, Google, and Outlook.

All that info in a single link. You don’t need an account, but if you create one, you can go back and edit your Eventlinks.

I’m able to do these things with the keyboard; I welcome insights from readers using adaptive technology.

rachelmanija: (Staring at laptop)
posted by [personal profile] rachelmanija at 10:13am on 01/11/2025 under
Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A. Autumn Gold. Saiyuki/Saiyuki Gaiden. Fear is the end of the battle and you can't find your captain.

B. Burn. Original Work. The revolutionary hides her face to conceal her identity. The princess silences her voice to preserve her purity. They know each other. And they don't...

C. The Colors of Lorbanery. Earthsea. The woman who had once been Akaren stayed inside her house for several days, changing.

D. Dorset: Portal to the House. Piranesi/Grand Designs. Maggie and Olabisi plan to transform a ruin containing a portal to the House into a cozy home with an artist's studio. But the ruin's status as a scheduled monument and the unique challenges of its proximity to the House endanger their project.

E. Eilonwy Wanderer. The Prydain Chronicles.. Eilonwy travels Prydain in search of her place in life.

F. Five Times Balerion Saved Rhaenys and One Time She Saved Him. A Song of Ice and Fire. A butterfly flaps its wings, a kitten chases the butterfly, and a girl and her cat get a different destiny.

G. The Goddess of Suffering Scam. The Lies of Locke Lamora. In the early days of the Gentleman Bastards, Locke impersonates a self-flagellating acolyte of the Goddess of Suffering, and Jean stands by as the muscle in case the mark catches on. You know what they say about the best-laid plans.

H. A Hatching at Half-Circle Sea Hold. Dragonriders of Pern. “That’s a rather extraordinary proposal, Menolly,” said the Masterharper.

I. IP, YEVRAG NIVEK. The Leftovers. Kevin Garvey makes another visit to the hotel.

J. The Journey. Annihilation - movie. Lena explores the beach by the lighthouse.

K. Kilo India Tango Tango Echo November. Original Work. When the Marines are sent to protect Springfield, MT from an alien invasion, a grizzled staff sergeant finds a whole lot of kittens in need of tender loving care.

L. The Life of a Cell. Annihilation - movie. The being that leaves the Shimmer carries with it some of both Lena and Dr. Ventress.

M. Men Sell Not Such In Any Town. "The Goblin Market" - Christina Rossetti. I have fruit that shatters like glass and fruit that must be spooned up like pudding, fruit that tastes like caramel and fruit that tastes like roasted meat, fruit that glitters and fruit so translucent you can see your fingers through it and fruit that glows golden at twilight, fruit like silver coins and monstrous hands and autumn fog, fruit that loses all its flavor unless you eat it straight off the tree as it tries to coil around your tongue.

N. No Reservations: Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia/No Reservations. I’m crammed into a burrow so small that my knees are up around my ears and the boom mike keeps slamming into my head, inhaling the potent scent of toffee-apple brandy and trying to drink a talking mouse under the table.

O. one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan. The Stand - Stephen King. Flagg rewards Lloyd for doing a good job.

P. Professor Xavier's Haunted Mansion. X-Men comics. The ghosts of dead (or temporarily dead, or dead in another timeline) X-Men and villains haunt the halls of Professor X's mansion.

Q. The Quiet Rebellion of Tardigrade Sela Writings. "The Author of the Acacia Seeds" - Ursula K. Le Guin. You are no doubt familiar with the major genres of tardigrade literature.

R. The Realm of Persephone. Greek mythology. Persephone takes Hades blackberry picking.

S. The Story of Marli-Hrair and the Black Rabbit of Inle. Watership Down. What lies on the dark side of the moon? Ask the Black Rabbit. He knows.

T. To See a World in a Grain of Sand. The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick. Jane was the first to notice that a ragtag band of refugee meryons had made a camp behind a sofa in the student lounge.

U. An Unexpected Catch. Dragonriders of Pern. Lessa and other Benden women visit Southern Weyr to help out with a fishing tradition; things don't go as planned.

V. Vintage Year. The Fall of the House of Usher - TV. Verna visits Arthur Pym in prison.

W. The Woman Who Watches the King. Piranesi. For some, the House is a prison. For some, it's a place of healing.

X.

Y. You're Wrong About Misericorde. The Dark Tower. You're Wrong About podcast. Sarah tells Mike about the lost horror movie that became an urban legend. Digressions include the chemical formula for mescaline, Sarah imitating Ethan Hawke imitating a Yorkshire prop witch, and where the fat goes after it gets vibrated out of your body by a $19.99 girdle sold on late-night TV.

Z.

We all seem to be getting stuck on X and Z. But I also almost got stuck on J, the only letter where I couldn't select from multiple possible stories.
October 30th, 2025
posted by [syndicated profile] asknicola_feed at 03:00pm on 30/10/2025

Posted by Nicola Griffith

Saturday, November 22, 2025Phinney Holiday Bookfest, Seattle.

  • Event: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM. Phinney Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103
  • Me and 27 other local authors—see the image below for the list—will gather for the annual neighbourhood Holiday Book Fest, with cookies, and conversation, and lots and lots of wildly different books to buy as holiday gifts and get signed and personalised for friends and family (and, of course, yourself!), all while chatting with favourite authors or meeting new ones
  • There will also be select author readings, too, so just drop by and listen to some lovely storytelling.
  • This is an absolutely free community event, no registration required.
  • Just come on down to the Phinney Center and bask in books and conversation.

Hope to see you there!

Green graphic announcing authors for Seattle's 2025 Hliday Bookfest: LAUREN APPELBAUM • JESSIXA BAGLEY BONNY BECKER • MARTHA BROCKENBROUGHKIRA JANE BUXTON • PETER AMES CARLIN HSIAO-CHING CHOU • JONATHAN EVISON ARAN GOYOAGA • NICOLA GRIFFITH THOR HANSON • MOLLY HASHIMOTO SANAE ISHIDA • SONORA JHATHOMAS KOHNSTAMM • MATT KRACHT ALAN CHONG LAU • CORINNA LUYKEN LYNDA V. MAPES • JOSHUA MOHRKEVIN OBRIEN • ASHLEY REAMCASKEY RUSSELL • GARTH STEINNATHAN VASS • DAVID B. WILLIAMSCHRISTINA WOOD • TONI YULY

October 29th, 2025
jesse_the_k: Metal disk nailed in sidewalk reads "survey marker do not remove" (Survey marker)

When I started working on WisCon access in 2007, some kind soul (name lost) gave me a black teeshirt printed in tactile gold--with both Latin letters and braille. It sang the praises of ELECTRICAL EGGS, who advocated for handicap accessibility in the 1970s and 1980s. I loved the shirt but didn't know their history.

So I was thrilled when the September 2025 Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, volume 14 number 2, starts off with Eric Vero's article:

Oral History of The Electrical Eggs: Science Fiction, Disability Activism, and Fan Conventions

https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/1262

The journal offers PDF, HTML, and "simplified HTML" versions of each article; all are open access, peer-reviewed, and Creative Commons licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

ABSTRACT

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990, American science fiction fans in southern states organized, collaborated, and practiced accessibility at conventions. This grassroots movement began with the work of Samanda B. Jeude and a coalition of other science fiction fans who fought for visibility and access to convention spaces. In this oral history of their organization, “The Electrical Eggs,” I interview two key members decades after their participation in making conventions accessible. I complement these oral sources with brief histories of the role of eugenics and ableism in science fiction and the rise of disability activism in America. Although, the science fiction fandom still faces historical forces like ableism that have been present since its beginnings, the work of the Eggs is a testament to the power of collective action to provide accessibility in fan communities.

posted by [syndicated profile] asknicola_feed at 05:00pm on 29/10/2025

Posted by Nicola Griffith

So that giant, 5,000 word writing-and-personal update I was talking about the other day? It’s up. You can read it on Patreon. (Which you can join for free.)

Enjoy.

October 28th, 2025
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
Between a friend contacting me a couple of weeks ago for help setting up Accessibility at the new con he joined, and just tonight hearing about the absolute bullshit that's been going on at TwitchCon (no ramp for their Guest of Honor wheelchair user to get up to the raised stage to receive an award, third year in a row with no ramps for him as a GoH), I figure I may as well share this here.

It's far from perfect, since I'm still almost entirely self-taught, and I built it on the convention I used to run Accessibility for, so there's some stuff that's not exactly universal, but hopefully it'll help someone out there!

Convention Accessibility Timeline and Jobs )

This is far from perfect and from comprehensive both, but if you work on Accessibility for a convention, or are looking to get started doing so, hopefully you can use this as a sort of template to build around or tweak to your needs. Suggestions in the comments are very welcome, though I don't know if I'll be up to incorporating them into the post. Questions are also very welcome; I'll do my best to answer how I dealt with things, but anyone who wants to is free to chime in!

I've got more info to share as well, but I'm going to hold off on that for another post or two, as this one wore me out a bit already 😂

Edit: For clarity, since I was just overthinking it: This isn't a comprehensive list of services that were provided at the convention I worked; it's just a behind-the-scenes look at how I was involved in setting up some of the services we provided. (Plus some that I never got around to, like the ASL interpreters and Braille documents 🤦‍♀️) If you want inspiration for that, I suggest looking around for convention Accessibility Policies. Those should list out the various accessibility measures that a given convention has in place.
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
posted by [personal profile] rachelmanija at 04:40pm on 28/10/2025 under
If by any chance you read my book Traitor, the final book in The Change series, a review anywhere would be fantastic. It doesn't have to be positive or appear literally on my birthday.

Sherwood and I managed to release it on possibly the second-worst date we could have, which was October 2024. (The worst would have been November 2024). So a little belated publicity would be nice. I'd be happy to provide a review copy if you'd like.

October 27th, 2025
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
An excellent used bookshop in Tucson, The Book Stop, may be closing down unless the current owner, who is retiring, can find someone to take it over. Her contact info is on the "contact" page.

Anyone want to run a used bookshop in Tucson? It's really great and has an excellent location. I can vouch that being a bookshop owner is the best job ever unless you want to make lots of money.

Feel free to link or copy this.
posted by [syndicated profile] asknicola_feed at 05:00pm on 27/10/2025

Posted by Nicola Griffith

Weather and flowers

Bright blue autumn sky above pots of bright marigold, salvia, more salvia, and gerberas.
The back deck, early afternoon October 5, 2025.

The weather here has finally become a proper Seattle autumn. We were having an unusually fine, bright, and dry October—flowers still blooming, hummingbirds flitting about—but then we had three or four days of simply deafening bird congregations, all kinds of birds, all talking at once, and I knew that they knew it was time to head south.

And they did. And now the rain—the atmospheric river, and the wind. And our cherry tree—always the last in Seattle (or so it seems) to bloom—is finally showing tinges of orange at the tips of its branches. In the rest of the city (the bit that is not the ravine-and-Nickel-Crick1 microclimate that is our house) trees are already brilliant red, and gold, and russet.

The top picture is the back deck on the afternoon of October 5. This one is the kitchen deck on a misty morning of October 8.

Softened by mist, a big blue pot of jasmine, and smaller pots of geranium, fuchsia, begonia, million bells, and more
Front deck on a misty morning, October 8, 2025.

I’m guessing that by this time next month both images will show mostly sticks.

Beasties

The cats are going through their usual seasonal adjustments. Charlie is refusing to accept that the sun isn’t up at 6 am and consequently is getting grumpy that we won’t let him out in the crepuscular light to get munched up like a pop tart by a passing coyote. George is coming home half an hour after dark as usual only to be confused by our lack of preparation for bed and therefore our non-readiness to provide horizontal royal cushions for his sleeping comfort.

Here they are yesterday morning with us in the kitchen—you can see that Charlie’s fur is finally beginning to grow back in…

Foreground, a tabby cat sitting on a table—a huge patch of his shoulder shows fur just growing back—turned to look at another tabby cat asleep on a cat tree.
Trying to decide whether to roust his sleeping brother just for the hell of it…

Writing

This one is going to be a long (very long—the just-finished draft is about 5,000 words) post about what I am and am not working on right now, and, (mostly, and more to the point), why. I’ll post it first on Patreon, for both free and paying members. Yes, this is a deliberate attempt to get more people to sign up to Patreon. Patreon is designed to offer tangible support to creators whose work you enjoy. (If you’re curious about what I’m using that money for, specifically, you can read all about it here.) If you sign up you join a small, relatively private group of about 250 Patrons. Obviously, the money is important, but not far behind that is the attraction of a small, private audience: I find I’m willing to test things out there that I’m not ready to do before a wider public. Sometimes those are creative things but sometimes they’re personal. So, for example, the writing update post that will go up tomorrow will talk about some personal things that so far only close friends and family know. Yes, at some point I’ll be ready to tell the whole world, but it feels less vulnerable to start small.

Basically, then, if you want to know more, and know it earlier than most, become a Patron. You can join for free (you can stay a free member for years; there’s no nagging to up your support) and have access to the upcoming writing/personal update and many other posts. Many posts, of course, are reserved for those who agree to pay $3 or more per month because, after all, raising money is why I started the Patreon in the first place. (The smaller-audience benefits have only become apparent with time.)

I hope to see you over there…


  1. Long ago, Kelley and talked about setting up a small publishing company that we would call Nickel Ink. (Kelnic Inc. just doesn’t have the same…pizzaz.) And if we ever won the Mega Millions or Powerball we’d create a holding company called Team Nickel to run the various charitable foundations and initiatives we’d set up. So when, occasionally, during one of our periodic atmospheric rivers that dumps inches of rain in the space of 24 hours, a temporary creek forms across our back yard, we—naturally—call it Nickel Crick. ↩
October 25th, 2025
rachelmanija: (Books: old)


A YA novel about five friends who once played a spooky game that only four of them survived. Four years later, their friendship now broken, the ghost of their dead friend returns to drag them into a gameworld based on Japanese folklore. They must play again, for higher stakes, or else.

I like Japanese folklore, "years ago our group of friends did something bad that's now come back to haunt us," and deathworlds/gameworlds. This book sometimes hit the spot for me but more often didn't; it feels like the bones of a good book that needed a couple more drafts. The main issue, I think, is pacing. It's very fast-paced once it hits the gameworld, to the point where it feels like it's rushing from one scenario to the next, without having time to breathe. This also affects character. The characters are there, but they're a bit shallow because of the go-go-go pacing.

The best parts are a really excellent twist I did not at all see coming, and the scene where they all have to play truth or dare with younger versions of themselves at the ages they were when they first played the game. That part digs into character and relationships, not to mention the feeling of that game itself, in a really satisfying way. If the whole book worked on that level, it would have been much better.

There's a sequel that doesn't sound like it goes anywhere interesting.
October 24th, 2025
rachelmanija: (Books: old)


A middle grade fantasy novel about A, a Jewish trans kid who has not yet chosen a name, and whose parents are forcing him to attend a teen conversion therapy group. He secretly texts with the other trans kids in the group and they support each other. When one of his friends disappears, he meets a strange being that constitutes itself from any discarded objects it can sweep up in a wind - a trash golem - that sets him on a mission.

A hooks up with a bunch of LGBTQ people living in a kind of homemade squat, discovers that the conversion therapy leaders are either demons or possessed by demons, and meet a very supportive rabbi and her husband, who know a lot about Jewish folklore, though - and what could be more Jewish? - they don't always agree about what any of it means.

Read more... )

This is a sweet, affirming book for all the trans, nonbinary, genderfluid, and suchlike kids out there, and God knows they can use the affirmation. There's some quite beautiful and affecting moments - the first encounter with the trash golem has a blend of the numinous and comedic that reminded me of Terry Pratchett - and I loved the treatment of A's Jewishness and how that connects to both the fantasy elements and his community. I also liked how A being in a liminal space - he's given up his old name but not yet chosen a new one, he's parted from his family and joining a new one, etc - ties in with the book's time period, the Days of Awe, when all is written but not yet sealed.

The elements I did not enjoy so much were the pace, which gets very rushed toward the end, the sometimes Tumblr-esque quality which did make sense as it's about Tumblr kids but which I still find grating, and, unexpectedly, A himself. He's so self-centered and judgy, and though he does eventually learn better I did not like him. I did not enjoy reading all the scenes where he scolds his friends or they scold him, or when they end up telling him exactly why he's a bad friend and refuse to help him with his mission. I've read this exact form of conflict in multiple books recently, and while it's a real thing that happens, reading about it feels like nails on a chalkboard.

I didn't ultimately end up loving this book, but it has a lot of heart and I'm glad it exists. The somewhat similar book that I did love, which doesn't have those unpleasant "bad friends" dynamics, was Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus.

Content notes: Transphobia is central to the story.
October 23rd, 2025
coffeeandink: (Default)

Chess is a show I know entirely through the cast recordings; if I recall correctly, it was such a thoroughly Cold War project that the liner notes referred to the two chess players as only "the American" and "the Russian". The new book by Danny Strong turns it into a (even more) melodramatic period piece, with the chess matches not simply a allegory for political tensions or a way of obtaining minor diplomatic concessions but tools for averting World War III. The Arbiter is dragooned as a narrator, who exposits both the global situation and the personal interactions with the characters, partly through a series of very bad and very obvious jokes.

Freddie Trumper, American grandmaster and obnoxious wunderkind, is challenged by Anatoly Sergievesky, mordant, depressed, and engaged in a clandestine flirtation with Freddie's chess second and lover, Florence Vassy. Freddie is notoriously a weak point in the original book, so prone to anti-Communist slurs, misogyny, and temper tantrums it is impossible to extend him much sympathy. The new version mitigates this by giving him bipolar disorder and medical noncompliance, and also by casting Aaron Tveit. Tveit is indeed so good and so charismatic that I was on Freddie's side way more than I expected, although not enough to take self-pity anthem "Pity the Child" seriously. (The rest of the audience seemed less skeptical.) Lea Michele as Florence is just as strong vocally, and almost as strong in terms of acting, though unfortunately without much romantic chemistry with either partner. (The closest any scene comes to a sexual charge is Freddie's sleazy half-assed attempt at persuading Anatoly to throw the game in Act II.) Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly is the weak point in Act I, where I had the same opinion as I had of his Sweeney Todd: he's got the potential to be great, but he isn't quite there yet. He really needs to work on his emoting, which is too flat even for the murderous Sweeney or the dour Anatoly. He is greatly handicapped in Chess by having to affect a Russian accent, which I really hope the production drops. But! He pulled out all stops in Act II, both for the songs and the acting, and won me over with his intensity and vocal power.

So basically: the book is still flawed and they need to cut the runtime, particularly in Act I. This was the second night of previews, so there's still time for changes before the show technically "opens". If we're lucky, they'll start by cutting the topical jokes.

But the point of Chess has never been the book; it is the score full of bangers and power ballads. The music is by ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and the lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice. And the musical performances are GREAT. I am still guiltily fond of the kinda-no-really-very-racist "One Night in Bangkok" (which can plausibly be explained as Freddie's typical white guy take on the city BUT) and which in this production is a camp masterpiece. I am seriously tempted to see the show again just for that.

October 22nd, 2025
rachelmanija: (Books: old)


From the blurb:

One fellow camper will do whatever it takes to make it out of the Boundary Waters alive. Even if he's the only one.

A psychological thriller mixed with intense action.


Nah, just kidding! It's not a psychological thriller, it's a survival story. One of the teenage campers is a racist, a sexual harasser, and an attempted rapist, but he never tries to kill any of the others or abandons them to die or anything like that.

Yep! It's another disappointing survival book with a misleading blurb and gratuitous grossness towards teenage girls!

Teenage Emma is traumatized after failing to save her younger sister from drowning, so she gets her parents to book her into a teen wilderness survival course to take her mind off things. In a portentous scene, her father gives her a Swiss army knife. She's confused and concerned that he's giving her a weapon to take on a camping trip - does he expect her to be attacked? I was confused why she would think of a Swiss army knife as a weapon rather than a tool. If you don't even know what a Swiss army knife is, then you can't tell that it's a knife at all when it's folded. If you recognize it when folded, then you know that it is a multitool.

The early part of the book jumps around confusingly in time, to the point where I flipped back pages repeatedly to see if I'd missed something. No, it was just the author's pointless decision to start with them pitching their tents after the first day's walk, then jump back to them packing their supplies.

We get very little characterization, but that's okay: three of the seven are about to die! Two days in, a strange storm hits their camp. It's described in such a portentous way that I thought it was supernatural or man-made, but nothing ever comes of this so I guess not. Two of the campers and the guide are squashed by falling trees, then a wildfire starts. Instead of jumping in the lake, they run for their lives and get very lost.

At this point, we get some characterization. Chloe is the girl who isn't Emma. Her race is coyly not mentioned until Isaac, the creepy boy, gets racist at her about being black. Oscar is the boy who isn't creepy, so Emma naturally falls in love with him. Isaac constantly sexually harasses Emma, once tries to rape her, and is sadistic to animals. This goes on for the entire book.

Late in the book, Oscar and Isaac both fall over a cliff. Isaac dangles from a rock stub by one hand, and holds Oscar, who is suspended in mid-air, by one backpack strap. Emma and Chloe make a rope of clothing, with a key part being her bra. Isaac somehow grabs the clothes rope without falling. He's clinging to a rock stub with one hand and a backpack strap supporting another person. How does he get one hand free to grab the bra rope without falling? This is not described as it's not thought through. He grabs the rope - again, anchored by A BRA tied to a tree - and, it's not clearly described, but it seems like Emma single-handed pulls him and Oscar up. Is the bra made of bungee cord?

Emma ponders that Isaac was very brave and unselfish. People are complicated, she realizes. This is as close as the book comes to any resolution on Isaac sexually harassing and threatening her for the entire book, oh and also TRYING TO RAPE HER.

This book sucked.

April

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
      1
 
2
 
3 4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 
9
 
10
 
11
 
12
 
13
 
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
 
18
 
19
 
20
 
21
 
22
 
23
 
24
 
25
 
26
 
27
 
28
 
29
 
30