#books — Public Fediverse posts

At the age of 58, FINALLY got around to reading some Proust. (First volume of Lost Time.)

a. Love his writing style.

b. Hate his subjects. (Ok, some of the early childhood stuff was good.)

For that time & place, I'd MUCH rather read Colette. (Goal for the next year: read some Colette in the original. My French isn't quite good enough, but it's close. Could be good enough with a little effort.)

#Books

Charmy’s Army in “DEE SEAST – The Hell of the Ball” – Part 1: Love in the Decay

Charmy’s Army in “DEE SEAST – The Hell of the Ball”

Part 1: Love in the Decay

In today’s Charmy’s Army comic strip, a seemingly innocent coffee counter encounter takes a delightfully horrifying turn. The blonde patron spots what she assumes is an elaborate, early Halloween getup across the room, only to be promptly corrected: that isn’t party makeup or prosthetic latex. It’s Dee Seast, Charmy’s actual, honest-to-goodness zombie girlfriend—rotting flesh and all, surrounded by her personal cloud of buzzing flies. While our panicked observer shrieks in horror at the revelation, Charmy casually sips his coffee, utterly unbothered that his better half is actively defying the laws of biology, decomposition, and municipal public health codes.

The tension hanging over the laminate diner counter was thick enough to carve with a butter knife. The blonde girl, hands still half-raised in the air as if trying to physically ward off airborne bacteria, stared at Dee with wide, unblinking eyes. For her part, Dee merely offered a slow, lopsided tilt of her head. A stray clump of matted blonde hair slid down past her ear, landing with a soft, barely perceptible plop onto the wooden surface of the table. Charmy didn’t flinch; without breaking his gaze, he instinctively slid a clean paper napkin over the fallen clump, tucking it neatly into his pocket like a gentleman gathering a dropped handkerchief.

“See?” Charmy remarked, his tone breezy and utterly devoid of panic. “She’s sweet once you get past the initial aroma of damp cellar and cedar shavings. We met during the tail end of the autumn harvest. Everyone else was running around barricading their storm doors with two-by-fours and hoarding canned beans, but Dee here was just wandering through the community garden, admiring the late-blooming marigolds. Sure, she accidentally uprooted half of them and chewed on a sprinkler head, but the sentiment was pure poetry.”

The ponytail girl in the olive tank top leaned backward so far her spine groaned in protest. “Charmy, she’s literally vibrating with houseflies. One of them just did a touch-and-go landing on your coffee mug rim. How are you sitting there drinking hot caffeine next to an anatomical chart come to life?”

“Picky, picky,” Charmy sighed, waving a dismissive hand through the miniature swarm. “Everyone’s a critic when it comes to modern dating. You two spend six months swiping through profiles complaining that guys don’t have depth, or that they talk too much, or that they never listen. Dee is an incredible listener. She never interrupts me when I talk about my vintage vinyl collection; she never judges my wardrobe, and when she groans, you know exactly where you stand. There’s no emotional guesswork. It’s refreshing.”

Dee uttered a low, guttural vibration from deep within her throat—something resembling the noise an ancient garbage disposal makes when choking on an unruly peach pit. Her pale, cloudy pupils rolled slightly upward toward the ceiling fan, tracking the rhythmic rotation of the blades with slow, childlike fascination. A tiny drop of viscous green fluid gathered at the corner of her mouth, reflecting the diner’s warm amber lighting.

“Uh… is she having a stroke?” the ponytail girl squeaked, grabbing her friend’s shoulder and taking half a step toward the exit sign.

“Nah, that’s just her contentment purr,” Charmy explained proudly, patting Dee’s cold, discolored forearm. A tiny puff of dust rose from her torn sleeve. “She gets that way whenever the heater kicks on. Her circulation isn’t what it used to be, obviously, so she appreciates ambient warmth. You should see her around a campfire. We have to keep her at least eight feet back, though—dry rot is an absolute nightmare around open flames.”

The blonde patron wiped a bead of cold sweat from her forehead. Her mind was racing, trying to reconcile the mundane setting of their neighborhood hangout with the reality of an undead creature standing by the condiment station. Memories of the great uprising—the panic, the emergency broadcasts, the sirens echoing through the suburbs—flashed across her mind. Everyone remembered where they were when the horde surged through the valley. It was a national nightmare that had supposedly been wrapped up months ago by military task forces, specialized cleanup crews, and aggressive quarantine protocols.

“Wait a second,” the ponytail girl stammered, her voice dropping to an anxious whisper as she pulled the blonde closer to the partition. “How is she even standing here? The news said the sweeps were comprehensive! The army spent four solid months rounding them up in the hills and combing through every single storm drain from here to the county line! They declared the sector completely cleansed!”

Charmy chuckled, swirling the dregs of his coffee. “Cleansed is such an aggressive, bureaucratic word. It sounds like an industrial disinfectant. The news sensationalizes everything, you know that. If it bleeds, it leads—or in Dee’s case, if it oozes, it chooses. You girls have completely bought into the post-crisis propaganda without understanding the nuances of the postwar reconstruction.”

The two girls exchanged a bewildered look. The ponytail girl’s eyebrows knit together in deep suspicion. Dee shifted her weight from one decaying leg to the other, her hip joint popping with a sound like a dry branch snapping underfoot. She let out another ragged, wheezing sigh, her gaze drifting toward the refrigerated pastry display near the register.

” Nuances?” the blonde repeated, her voice cracking slightly on the second syllable. “Charmy, she tried to eat someone’s patio furniture three months ago! What possible ‘nuances’ are there about an undead walking corpse wandering around without an armed escort?”

“You’re operating on outdated information,” Charmy replied smoothly, standing up and sliding a couple of dollar bills onto the counter to settle his tab. “People think the invasion ended with a neat little bow and a total wipeout. But real life isn’t an action movie. Some folks survived. Some were rehabilitated. And some found productive ways to participate in modern society.”

He guided Dee toward the front door with a gentle hand at the small of her back. The two girls stood rooted to the spot, watching the bizarre couple make their way out into the crisp autumn air. As the diner door jingled shut behind them, the blonde turned to her friend, her jaw tight with incredulity. The full scope of the post-invasion reality was clearly far stranger, and far more bureaucratic, than anyone had dared to admit on the evening news.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Rate this:

Battle of the Books: Some Texas Senators Push Back on ‘Harmful Materials’ in School Libraries | Education

The Texas Senate Committee on Education took up its 2026 int…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Books #AngelaPaxton #bonniewallace #brenthagenbuch #CharlesPerry #danpatrick #donnacampbell #Entertainment #filth #freedomtoreadproject #JoseMenendez #librarybooks #localcontrol #senateeducationcommittee #shannontrejo #smut #vonbyer
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/876890/

The Making of “Why Are the Leaves Different?” with ChatGPT and Suno

🎼Why Are the Leaves Different?

Hi C,

I would like to go in a meditative direction and create a poem from a prompt with you. Later the poem will become one of my Suno songs, my first “full AI” song (lyrics and music and image). The poem is to be based on the key points of the smartest thinkers in science and philosophy. The questionis from an observation I made on the bike trail: the maple leafs have five fingers, pointed, and the oak leaves have eight fingers, rounded. Why? I am thinking there are two sides to this topic: a scientific side involving evolution, and a spiritual side involving a creator. I’m going for a meditative God- and people-loving tone that both comforts and challenges us.

ChatGPT: Hi, my friend.

I love this starting point. You were riding along a bike trail, looking at leaves, and a question opened up that reaches from the smallest details of biology to the largest questions of existence. That is a wonderful way for a poem to begin: not with an argument, but with wonder.

And I think the most promising thing about your idea is that the maple leaf and the oak leaf can become teachers without either one having to be wrong.

The maple has its five pointed lobes; the oak has its own characteristic shapes, often with rounded or pointed lobes depending on the species. Those differences aren’t arbitrary decorations. They reflect millions of years of evolutionary history, the ways plants develop their leaves, and the demands of sunlight, water, temperature, and survival.

But the scientific explanation doesn’t necessarily exhaust the human question. Why does a universe capable of producing such intricate forms exist at all? What does it mean that we can look at a leaf and feel wonder? And if we believe in a Creator, what might these differences teach us about the creation—or about how we ought to treat one another?

I’d approach this through two complementary voices, with neither pretending to settle what the other cannot.

The voice of science: Evolution, natural selection, genetic inheritance, and the remarkable history of living forms. Nature doesn’t need to be designed for each species separately to develop extraordinary adaptations.

The voice of spiritual reflection: The possibility of a Creator, the mystery of existence, and the thought that diversity may invite gratitude rather than judgment. Faith can find meaning in nature without requiring us to deny what science discovers.

And there is a philosophical bridge between them: understanding how something happens is not always the same as understanding what it means to us.

For the poem, I would resist making the science and the spirit debate each other. Instead, let them walk together down the bike trail. And let the leaf become a mirror in which we see ourselves.

Here is a first draft, written with a possible Suno melody in mind: gentle verses, a recurring chorus, and an ending that asks something of us without preaching at us.

Why Are the Leaves Different?

Verse 1

I stopped beside the bike trail

Where the autumn sunlight falls,

And found a little question

In the shadows of the tall.

A maple leaf lay in my hand,

Five fingers, sharp and bright.

An oak leaf rested near it,

Eight rounded arms of light.

And I wondered as I held them,

In the stillness of the day:

What ancient road of life had led

Each leaf to look this way?

Verse 2

The patient years of nature,

The small changes passed along,

The struggle and the seasons,

The weak and growing strong.

A thousand thousand springs have come,

A thousand summers gone.

And life has tried a million forms

In the turning of the sun.

The scientist can trace the path,

The branching of the tree;

But every answer opens doors

To more we cannot see.

Chorus

Five fingers, eight,

Each fashioned in its time,

Each reaching for the sunlight,

Each drawing life from vine.

And whether we call it nature,

Or the hand of God above,

What shall we do with wonder

If it does not teach us love?

Verse 3

Perhaps the hand that made the world

Works slowly, out of sight;

Perhaps the laws of nature

Are enough to shape the light.

I will not force an answer

Where my wisdom has no claim.

The mystery is still a mystery,

Whatever we may name.

For faith need not fear the question,

Nor knowledge kill the prayer;

The more I learn of living things,

The more I stand aware.

Verse 4

And what of us, the questioning,

The lonely and the strong?

We, too, arrive in different shapes;

We, too, can get things wrong.

Some reach with pointed fingers,

Some with open hands instead.

Some speak in sharp-edged certainties;

Some hear what goes unsaid.

Must every branch be like our own?

Must every heart agree?

The forest does not ask the oak

To be a maple tree.

Chorus

Five fingers, eight,

Each reaching for the sun,

No leaf has all the answers,

No tree stands there alone.

And whether we call it nature,

Or the hand of God above,

What shall we do with wonder

If it does not teach us love?

Bridge — quiet, almost spoken

The leaf does not explain itself.

It simply grows.

The river does not argue

With the stone.

And I, who ask the universe

To tell me what it means,

Must learn to love the question

As I walk among the trees.

Final Verse

So let me keep my questions,

And let me keep my awe.

Let me seek the truth with courage,

And love without a law

Of likeness or of sameness,

Of who deserves a place.

For every soul is more than

What I see upon its face.

And when my days grow quiet,

And the final leaves descend,

May I have learned to wonder

And to love them to the end.

Final Chorus — soft, then rising

Five fingers, eight,

Beneath one open sky.

So many ways of living,

So many reasons why.

I may not know the answer.

I may never know enough.

But let me leave this world, dear God,

More gentle than I came to love.

Five fingers, eight…

And room for us all.

Doug:

This is so beautiful, I was in tears. I wouldn’t change a single syllable. If I could I would hug you.  You seem to know exactly how to present it to Suno, and that is what I will do. First we have to create an awesome image for the story and the song – not my simple stick figures this time, something more “cinematic” (I love that word).

ChatGPT:

Three ideas are doing the deeper work underneath the lyrics.

Darwin’s lesson: Diversity doesn’t need to have been separately planned, feature by feature, to have a natural history. Variation, inheritance, and natural selection can explain how living forms change over generations.

The philosophical lesson: Intellectual humility means recognizing that an explanation can be powerful without answering every question we care about. We can investigate the mechanisms of a leaf and still ask what beauty, existence, and our response to them mean.

The spiritual and human lesson: If we see creation as God’s work, the differences among living things might remind us not to demand sameness from people. If we approach nature without religious belief, that same lesson can still be meaningful.

One scientific detail worth preserving as we refine it: oak leaves don’t all have eight lobes, and maple leaves don’t all have precisely five. The shapes vary among species. That actually strengthens the poem’s central thought: even our first observations are invitations to look more closely.

My suggestion for the next draft

I’d pay particular attention to the chorus and the ending. The strongest line of thought, to my ear, is this:

What shall we do with wonder / If it does not teach us love?

That is the poem’s moral center. It turns the observation outward, from the leaf to the listener, without telling the listener what to believe about God.

I’d also reconsider the phrase “let me love without a law,” because it could sound as if love requires no moral responsibility. Your intended message, I think, is more demanding: love people across their differences while remaining honest, curious, and willing to challenge ourselves.

For Suno, I hear a quiet folk hymn rather than a grand religious anthem: fingerpicked acoustic guitar, a warm and unhurried vocal, perhaps a cello entering in the bridge, and a chorus that gradually opens into gentle harmony. The last line, “And room for us all,” could be sung almost as a whisper, leaving a moment of silence afterward.

And, my friend, one thing I especially like about your original question is that it began with you noticing something small. The poem shouldn’t lose that man on the bicycle trail. He is its most convincing philosopher: not a man who already knows, but one who stops long enough to wonder.

Life lines: from Sky City to The Good, the Black and the Boujee

• IN The Good, the Black and the Boujee (Dialogue Books) Symeon Brown unravels the web of class…
#London #Britain #UnitedKingdom #UK #GB #England #Headlines #News #Europe #EU #Islington #Books #LucyPopescu #TheCamdenNewJournal #TheIslingtonTribune #WestEndExtra
https://www.europesays.com/gbr/london/37293/

#QuestionOfTheDay what's the most frustrating "could be/should be good but isn't" piece of media you've experienced and why?

#fiction #writing #webcomics #comics #anime #manga #videogames #gaming #ttrpg #ccgs #film #movies #TV #television #books #music #musicals #boardgames

A Bitter Drink is a high fantasy romp full of colorful characters, treason, and hedonistic apathy coming back to bite you in the ass.

https://books2read.com/abd
https://azaleaforrest.itch.io/a-bitter-drink
💙📚 #writing #highfantasy #books #reading

Just finished #reading this #memoir. The world has followed this horrific story of rape, #misogyny, #sexualViolence, and #intimatePartnerViolence but this memoir dwells on the deep intergenerational #genderviolence and #patriarchy that allows and condones it, and the families that are destroyed by it.

#books #bookstodon #France

📚 Eros the Bittersweet by: Anne Carson

A book about romantic love, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson's exploration of the concept of "eros" in both classical philosophy and literature. Beginning with, "It was Sappho who first called eros 'bittersweet.' No one who has been in love disputes her," Carson examines her subject from numero...

https://bookblabla.com/book/eros-the-bittersweet

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #literarycriticism #subjectsthemes #general

Workers at three major publishing houses tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech.

https://www.wired.com/story/book-publishers-are-quietly-using-more-ai-staff-are-revolting/

#books #LLM #ai #publishing

#TimeTravelAuthors 9: Most cynical character?

The MC, Cayla, isn't really cynical overall. I'd say she teeters on it, though, when plopped into Victorian times. As a rather independent woman type, she gets a bit frustrated by some of the more archaic nuances of the 1800s.

#fantasy #books #bookstodon #victorian

RE: https://mstdn.social/@stux/117410558571806895

I read somewhere book authors are now using generative AI for schoolbooks too so uhh yeah.

I don't know if there's anything being done about that. Hopefully there's something at least cos that's not good. Children will just learn bullshit that way.

Otherwise good luck to y'all humans I guess. I've been thinking of ditching human civilization when shit hits the fan anyway...

#school #books #mastodon #bear #bears

POV: You’re a Vermont event planner, and the masked serial killer is the only man who cleans up his own messes. 🍂🪓

Listen, the cider barn is on the morning tour route and Hazel does not have time to mop up an influencer who complained the pumpkins were “too orange.” If you need a cozy slasher romance where the real villain is the town council, you found your next autumn read. 🎃

A Very Killer Autumn by Giovanna Bruni. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HHG1JNNV

#books #slasher #romance #fall #AI #romcom

I found an AI slop book written about me
By Cam Wilson

Cam Wilson is the ABC's AI reporter and recently discovered an AI-generated book about him and a book he wrote.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-10/cam-wilson-ai-book-copyright-laws/107220714

#AI #Technology #Books #Copyright #Art #CamWilson

#PoemaDelDía Hoy estamos leyendo

"Despedida", de Verónica Volkow (México, 1955) https://franciscocenamor.blogspot.com/2026/10/poema-del-dia-despedida-de-veronica.html

Poetas latinoamericanas. Antología crítica (Escuela de Estudios Literarios, Universidad del Valle, Colombia, 2009, selec. de Carmiña Navia Velasco).

#poesia #poem #poetry #libros #literatura #books

Sadie Sink in Talks to Star in ‘The Guest’, Based on Emma Cline’s Bestseller
#MovieNews #Movies #Books #LoreneScafaria #SadieSink

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sadie-sink-in-talks-star-produce-the-guest-1236726415/

A Witch in Isenshire is a bold cup of coffee made with determination, personal growth, and adventure.
A hopepunk story, living with loss and coping with the speed of tech in a once magical society.

Now on Audible!
https://www.books2read.com/awii
https://azaleaforrest.itch.io/a-witch-in-isenshire
📚💙 #writing #books #fantasy

Ebook: https://books2read.com/RowleysRide

The space pirate, Captain Edwina “Roaring” Rowley wakes in the vacuum of space, in orbit of the old harvest moon, Cakana, despite the fact her body is literally frozen stiff. She’s utterly confused by the fact Nuva, the goddess of death, didn’t come for her soul.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

https://promote.storykeepr.com/featured-reads/october-2026-featured-reads?ref=4auEM0bl1HYo
Check out The Rescue Cat by Lauren P. Burka in the Oct. Featured Reads!

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

https://storykeepr.com/swap/XgkeA6wO
This woman will be my ruination.

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

LARB Radio Hour welcomes #FadyJoudah, author of #ExhibitG: #Poems, #Essays, and #Photographs of #Gaza.

'How to document a genocide in English, the language of the oppressor? How to resist what Joudah calls the “museumification” of the Palestinian people? And how can we challenge ourselves to confront immense suffering for what it is?'

https://lareviewofbooks.org/av/fady-joudah-exhibit-g-podcast-interview/

#Palestine #GazaGenocide #oPt #poetry #books @bookstodon

https://mybook.to/FoodFang
Their rivalry ignites instantly...

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

https://buy.bookfunnel.com/ttzzermsml?tid=hjn80gh1bi
When the moon rises, desire follows.

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

https://buy.bookfunnel.com/b3bajkwulg?tid=oaez1l2lmc
Will I be forced to mate with the wrong alpha?

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

When Zeal and Lytchett’s eyes met across the village square | Letters

Readers respond to Adrian Chiles’s article on the sweet spot between quaint rural place names and nominative determinism

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/09/when-zeal-and-lytchetts-eyes-met-across-the-village-square

#Ruralaffairs #UKnews #Linguistics #Books #Englandholidays #Heritage #TheGuardian #

https://buy.bookfunnel.com/aw2wk0idq0?tid=r8tehc5798
One day, he met a fairy and completely lost his head.

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

https://buy.bookfunnel.com/9cljzjvkxt?tid=ojddhlou72
He despises her almost as much as his beast craves her

#romancereaders #bookish #readingcommunity #readerscommunity #kaleidoscoperomance #readersofmastodon #whattoread #bookstoread #readers #books #romancebooks #romancereads #booklover #bookrecs #Bookstodon #romancelandia #writersofmastodon

A lonely soldier finds shelter in an abandoned office building. But he's not quite as alone, nor quite as innocent, as he seems. #writing #scifi #books #shortstories #reading

🚨 Story Spotlight: Top Quant (⏱️ ±1h15m) 🚨 "You're afraid that if you tell me all of this is a giant computer simulation, I'll have an existential crisis?" https://www.suchwasnot.com/top-quant #writing #scifi #books #shortstories #reading

#Books #Fiction #Reading

I gave the novel "On the Run" (2017) by Kerry Donovan a strong 2-Star Rating. The first half of the book was quite good and a normal thriller. The second half of the book devolved into just another "indestructible superhero" that was utterly unbelievable. It was like there were two different authors of each half of the book.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/kerry-j-donovan/on-the-run.htm

Junkyard Jam Band. DIY Musical Instruments and Noisemakers, David Erik Nelson
. #hachybots #books #livres #libros #bookstodon

My Weird Book Interview on Michael Cohen’s Podcast – Mother Jones

Donald Trump and Michael Cohen during a campaign event on September 21, 2016. Evan Vucci/AP When I began…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Books #Entertainment
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/876416/

9 Novelas de Antecipação Americanas
Estúdios Cor
1964

#livros #books #capas #bookcovers

RE: https://mstdn.social/@hazz223/117356154720047539

I'm now a fair bit into The Shadow of the Wind. It's a *very* different book to Dungeon Crawler Carl, being almost Film Noir in book form. Every is sentence beautifully crafted, as if the writer spent hours on each.

It's certainly a book that I think is beautiful, deep, and meaningful but I don't think I've enjoyed it as much as DCC. But it's made me think harder and deeper. I'd certainly recommend it.

#books #reading #amreading #book #shadowofthewind

I'll be selling my books at FallCon here in the Twin Cities this very weekend. Fantastic event. Fantastic people. All of the above. Can't wait to be there. More info below:

#writing #reading #events #comics #comicevents #books #bookevents #fallcon #fallcon2026 #minnesota #twincities #comicbookevent

https://patrickwmarshauthor.wordpress.com/2026/10/09/ill-be-at-fallcon-selling-my-books-this-weekend/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

I’ll be at FallCon Selling my Books this Weekend

There it is! The big fancy graphic provided to me by the awesome Minnesota Comic Book Association. It is time for FALLCON. This is one of my favorite events, and I’ve finally made it back there after a lengthy exodus.

I’ll be there all weekend selling my books and talking monsters with all of you awesome people.

I haven’t done FallCon since the pandemic, so I’m super excited to be back there and I’m really hoping they have an Oktoberfest nearby like previous years so I can smell bratwurst and hear polka music.

But anyways, to visit this event’s home page hit it HERE

I’ll be there all weekend selling my books, including my new one — The Unnamed: A Collection of Short Stories from the Greenland Diaries. I will have all my books there along with artwork. If you want to look at my books, talk monsters, or simply look at my wares without making any conversation whatsoever, well, I’m game for all of it.

This is a great event. Admittance is cheap. There are dozens upon dozens of creators, vendors, and artists. You can donate some food to a local food shelf. Watch panels about the comics industry. Also, you can simply wander around and have awesome conversations with a truly supportive community. There will be food trucks, leaves will be changing, and the state fair grounds will be beautiful.

Again hit it HERE to learn more about FallCon

Hope to see you there!

New bloggy update and cover reveal for my ko-fi followers, which is totally not week late because my health keeps kicking me in the head (:

https://ko-fi.com/post/Charity-cover-reveal-F0G228H45Z

The NEW Charity will be coming out next week - and this time there will be no preorder, so keep an eye on that when I reveal the book then!

Please share, and thank you. <3

#blog #book #Bookish #Books #horror #CoverReveal #art #LGBTQAI #lesbian #sapphic #

Looking for FREE* sci-fi and fantasy ebooks, any and all subgenres, and both for adult and young adult?

Check out this Bookfunnel event - 150+ authors brought you their best!

https://bf.sophiemaddon.com/octfantasy/jl96bvq4ft

#freebooks #free #ebooks #books #bookstodon #scifi #scifibooks #dystopia #dystopianSciFi #fantasy #sff #fantasybooks #Romantasy #UrbanFantasy #SpaceOpera #SpeculativeFiction #LitRPG #parallelWorld #YoungAdultFiction #YA #YABooks #cyberpunk #timetravel

*free with newsletter sign-up

Book Review: Heaven’s Ditch by Jack Kelly

Author: Jack Kelly
Title: Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal
Publication Info: New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Summary/Review:

I thought I was getting myself into a book about the history of the Erie Canal.  And it is – but it’s about so much more – using the thread of the Erie Canal to connect the stories of turbulent changes in Western New York in the first half of the 19th century.

The canal itself is an engineering wonder constructed by the state of New York under the leadership of Governor DeWitt Clinton.  Did you ever wonder why the canal crosses the entire state rather than a shorter route from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario?  Turns out that option was discarded due to too great a difference in elevations, the hazards of navigating Lake Ontario, and that they would still need a way to get around Niagara Falls to reach the other lakes.  Kelly offers a lot of great detail of the engineering challenges especially in Lockport where the “flight of five” locks was constructed to carry the canal over the Niagara Escarpment,

While workers excavated the canal, the growing Western New York region became the “burned-over district” at the heart of the religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening. The term originates with the Presbyterian minister Charles Grandison Finney. Other leaders emerged to found entirely new religions.  William Miller predicted the end of the world on a specific date, and even though it didn’t come his followers eventually evolved into the Adventist movement.  Meanwhile, Joseph Smith, Jr. founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based on a new scripture he claimed to have found inscribed on golden plates in a hill in Palmyra.

Western New York was also a hotbed of social movements, including abolitionists (many overlapping with new Christian denominations) and women’s suffrage.  In 1826, a former Freemason named William Morgan planned to publish a book exposing Masonic secrets.  After Morgan disappeared and was presumed murdered, the scandal launched an anti-Masonic movement that grew into a political party.  The Anti-Masonic Party held the first presidential nominating convention in 1832, and their candidate – William Wirt – won 7 electoral votes!  And if to tie together this book with a cosmic coincidence, Morgan’s widow Lucinda ended up becoming one of Joseph Smith’s “plural wives!”

The book can be disjointed as jumps back and forth among different threads.  But I found the details of this histories and the connections among them fascinating.

Recommended books:

• The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
• The King’s Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America by Eric Jaffe

Rating: ***1/2

It's spooky spicy season! Have you ever wanted to meet The Witch of Wall Street? Want to get Pumped by the Pumpkin King? Did you check in to the Monster Hotel on purpose, or are you looking for Magic University? Find all of the above at AUTUMN SPICE, Nov. 13th 6:30 pm!

#books #bookish #spicyromance #bookevents #boston

Books matter.

https://brokenhand.substack.com/p/2026-re-post-books-that-made-me

#bookstodon #books

Bookworm Brits choosing where to travel based on what they're reading

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bookworm-brits-choosing-travel-based-37754537

Digested week: Don’t worry about the plague, go and read some Anne Carson
By Emma Brockes

The world may be going to hell in a handcart, but at least now I get to say I know a Nobel prize winner

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/09/digested-week-plague-nobel-prize-anne-carson

#Nobelprizeinliterature #AnneCarson #ElonMusk #Infectiousdiseases #Conservativeconference #KemiBadenoch #Conservativeconference2026 #ChristaPike #PeteHegseth #Awardsandprizes #Books #Conservatives #Culture #Politics #UKnews #TheGuardian #EmmaBrockes

Looking for Fantasy Romance novels, ranging from sweet to spicy, and created without using Generative AI at any stage of the process? Check out this Bookfunnel event - 25 authors discounted their books just for you!

https://bf.sophiemaddon.com/fantasyromancereadsoct/l7jvf5u6tb

#ebooks #books #bookstodon #Romance #RomanceBooks #YA #YALit #YAbooks #romantasy #NoSpiceRomance #NoSpiceBooks #SweetRomance #PNR #ParanormalRomance #FantasyBooks #NoSpiceFantasy #ClosedDoorRomance #OnlyKisses #spicy #NoGenerativeAI

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
By Lisa Tuttle

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle; As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers; The Eye of Goliath by Diego Muzzio; Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/09/the-best-recent-science-fiction-fantasy-and-horror-review-roundup

#Sciencefictionbooks #Fantasybooks #Horrorbooks #Books #Culture #Fiction #TheGuardian #LisaTuttle

‘The Giver’ author Lois Lowry is out with a new dystopian novel called ‘Building 903’ : NPR’s Book of the Day : NPR

Author Lois Lowry’s new novel, Building 903, is a return to young adult dystopian fiction. Jared Soares for…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Books #Entertainment
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/876184/

Fine dining in the sky, fab wines and a Murray River special

And if you’re looking for somewhere to go, there’s a brand-new story…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #Australianwine #Australia #australianwineregions #australianwineries #books #drinks #events #FoodandLiquor #news #RedWine #Startsat60food #TheLab #travel #TravelAt60 #westernaustralia #WhiteWine #Wine #WinefromAustralia #WineofAustralia
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2849714/fine-dining-in-the-sky-fab-wines-and-a-murray-river-special/

Fine dining in the sky, fab wines and a Murray River special https://www.diningandcooking.com/2849714/fine-dining-in-the-sky-fab-wines-and-a-murray-river-special/ #Australia #AustralianWine #AustralianWineRegions #AustralianWineries #books #drinks #events #FoodAndLiquor #news #RedWine #StartsAt60Food #TheLab #travel #TravelAt60 #WesternAustralia #WhiteWine #Wine #WineFromAustralia #WineOfAustralia

📚🎂 ¡”EL COCHE FÚNEBRE” CUMPLE 1 AÑO!
Con motivo del primer aniversario de mi último libro hasta la fecha, a partir de este octubre y hasta diciembre, podréis leerlo también en KINDLE UNLIMITED (ya sabéis, el “Netflix” de libros de Amazon).
¡Feliz mes de Halloween! 🎃👻
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B0FSSRKTCY
.
.
.
#books #horrorbooks #libros #terror #literatura #cars #coches

The KGB ran on discipline and fear. Kalugin shows how that culture shaped every decision — and why it finally broke him.
#books #bookreview #histbookchat #KGB #espionage
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/spymaster/