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Signalboosting Search for NC and SouCon Players

This is for all my peeps out there who used to play MUSHes with me back in the day, and in particular if you used to play on either NC (PernMUSH) or SouCon.

I’ve been approached on Dreamwidth by a user with the handle chanter1944. They’re anxious to re-establish contact with friends from NC and SouCon—prompted pretty much by this stupid ongoing pandemic, and just wanting to check in and find out if these folks are okay.

Chanter1944 says they’re the player of the following characters:

  • Alina, green Kirienth’s rider on SouCon
  • Lor, blue Larileth’s rider on SouCon
  • Lorany, blue Larileth’s rider at Ista on NC (later transferred to SouCon)
  • Mellayne, blue Duresketh’s rider at Fort on NC

Here are the folks they’d really like to get in touch with if possible:

  • Tasayli at Telgar, a.k.a Shasta and Khysta at SC
  • Birgitte, gold Sililith’s at High Reaches on NC
  • Brees, greenrider at Ista, a.k.a K’rien at SC
  • Jascela at Ista on NC (was possibly Lorany’s mentor?)
  • Dellany, Ellery, Lyss, Danica, Eilidh, Kylia, and Reye, all at Ista on NC
  • Jantyr at Ista on NC
  • Rosmyn at Igen and then SC, who was also Laynard, Jasmyn (sp?) and multiple SC characters
  • I’sai, bronze Taralyth’s at Telgar on NC
  • Alaner at Ista, who was also at SC
  • Juliri at Telgar, a.k.a K’sem at SC
  • Ajatha at High Reaches, a.k.a. Rajazad at SC
  • Jantha at Fort, a.k.a. Juniper at SC

If any of my readers of this blog (annathepiper.org or my Dreamwidth) have a history on either NC or SouCon, and you know how to get in touch with any of these players, please let me know and I’ll relay over to chanter1944.

Alternately if you know how to get in touch with any of these folks, please relay the word that chanter1944 on Dreamwidth is looking for them, and identify the above mentioned alts. (Or, if you’re reading this on Dreamwidth, talk to .)

Thanks all! Hoping I can help this person out. :)

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Mid-story rampant WandaVision speculation

So we just watched the latest episode of WandaVision here at the Murkworks, and I have GOT to sound off about this. Since I can’t do this safely on social media for fear of dropping spoilers, I’m going to do it here!

(Seriously, this post will be CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS so if you haven’t seen WandaVision yet, for the love of all that’s holy, come back to this post later. If you clicked over to this post from one of my social media accounts, please leave comments on this post, and not on Facebook or Twitter. If you’re reading this post on either annathepiper.org or Dreamwidth, please be mindful that there will, repeat, will be spoilers in the comments.)

SPOILERS BEHIND THE HEX WALL!

Continue reading “Mid-story rampant WandaVision speculation”

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Whoops I missed a 2020 purchase ebook roundup post

Acquired from Amazon during 2020

  • The Lord of Stariel, by A.J. Lancaster. Fantasy with strong romantic subplot. Got this on the strength of this review over on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Amended total for 2020: 162

Acquired from Kobo:

  • The Mask of Mirrors, by M.A. Carrick. Fantasy. Got this in no small part because M.A. Carrick is a pen name for a pair of authors doing a collaboration, and one of those authors is Marie Brennan, whose Lady Trent series I adore. Plus, they have an individual going by the name of ‘Rook’ in their plot, and as anyone who’s read my Rebels books or who ever played with me on AetherMUSH knows, I am rather partial to that particular sobriquet.

Total for the year: 12.

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Rest of 2020 and into 2021 ebook roundup post

Geez, this post was sitting in my drafts section of my WordPress for ages. Oops. Let’s see if I can get this finally posted, okay?

Acquired from Kobo during the end of 2020:

  • Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots. SF/Superheroes. Grabbed this once I saw buzz going around about it from the Bitchery, because it sounds awesome: a story about a young woman in a superhero world driven to serious injury as collateral damage in a fight between heroes and supervillains–and nobody cares because she was temping for the villain at the time. So she starts using her own strong talent for data gathering to show how ordinary people are being harmed by the superheroes, until she winds up being a top supervillain’s second in command. I’m here for this!
  • Secrets and Lies, Reckless, Never Tell, Hidden Sins, and Deception, by Selena Montgomery. All romance/romantic suspense, by Stacey Abrams under her pen name of Selena Montgomery. Bought on general “because damn, Stacey Abrams has been awesome the last several years” grounds.
  • All Together Now, by Alan Doyle. This is Alan’s most recent book talking about his history with Great Big Sea and his life in general. Bought for general “duh, because ALAN” reasons that any Great Big Sea fan will certainly understand.
  • Goldilocks, by Laura Lam. SF. Grabbed this because I liked the last SF novel I read by this author, because this is a plot featuring women, and because the plot in general sounded intriguing.
  • The Last Emperox, by John Scalzi. SF. Nabbed because it was on sale at the time, and because it’s book 3 of his Interdependency series. I liked Book 1 and will look forward to reading this one.

Pre-ordered from Kobo during 2020:

  • While Justice Sleeps, by Stacey Abrams. Forthcoming thriller, this time written under her actual name. Bought on same general grounds of “because Abrams is awesome”.

Acquired from Amazon during 2020:

  • The Psychology of Time Travel, by Kate Mascarenhas.

Acquired from Kobo during 2021:

  • The Key to All Things and The Chocolatier’s Ghost, by Cindy Lynn Speer. Gotten because Cindy is a fellow former Drollerie author, and because I quite loved The Chocolatier’s Wife.
  • The Year of the Witching, by Alexis Henderson. I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this one over the last several months, both on Smart Bitches and Tor.com.
  • The Once and Future Witches, by Alix E. Harrow.
  • Spoiler Alert, by Olivia Dade. Romance by an author I’ve heard about via Smart Bitches, Olivia Dade, and one of whose books I’ve already read as a library checkout. She seems to have a nice trend going in her books of larger heroines, and plus this particular book is heavily fannish as well.
  • Girl, Serpent, Thorn, by Melissa Bashardoust.

Acquired from Amazon during 2021:

  • Subversive, Radical, and Revolutionary, by Colleen Cowley. Fantasy trilogy. Nabbed this entire trilogy because of this review over on Smart Bitches!

Acquired as birthday gifts this very weekend as I write this post:

  • Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend, by Donato Giancola. Wanted this because I’ve seen this man’s art come up again and again in discussions of the Tolkien legendarium, particularly on Tor.com. They have a lovely profile and interview of him over here. And the artist’s own page is here.
  • 1000 airs du Québec et de l’Amérique francophone, by Olivier Demers. if you’ve hung around my site long enough to know how big a Le Vent du Nord fan I am, and also that I’m a fiddle padawan, you’ll know why I had to nab this songbook of tunes from the Quebecois repertoire by one of my top favorite fiddle players from the province. I will very, very much look forward to delving into this in depth. :D

161 total for 2020. 11 so far for 2021.

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End of September ebook roundup post

Acquired from Kobo:

  • The entire Themis Files trilogy (Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods, and Only Human) by Sylvain Neuvel. SF. Grabbed this because I got book 1 as a freebie a while back in paperback, and I liked it, and the ebook went on sale. So I went ahead and got all three of them.
  • Beach Read, by Emily Henry. Contemporary romance. Grabbed this because Smart Bitches reviewed it quite positively, and while I don’t normally read contemporaries, this sounded kind of delightful. In no small part because of the schtick of both the heroine and hero being writers and challenging each other to write each other’s genres.
  • The Duke Who Didn’t, by Courtney Milan. Historical romance. Acquired for general “because Courtney Milan” reasons, but also, I’m quite interested to see how she sets up a historical set in Britain but with protagonists of color.
  • The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer. Book 1 of her Enola Holmes series, which I nabbed since we just watched the new movie adaptation on Netflix. I found it quite charming, and the ebook was on sale for $2.99, so I snapped it up.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • Chaos Reigning, by Jessie Mihalik. Book 3 of her Consortium Rebellion series, sci-fi romance. Nabbed it because it went on sale price and I did like book 1, so.

And last but not least, acquired from John Scalzi:

  • Clash of the Geeks, by John Scalzi and other authors. Chapbook parody fantasy, with stories explaining exactly what’s going on in a painting depicting Scalzi as an orc, fighting Wil Wheaton who’s riding a unicorn pegasus kitten. As you do! Scalzi posted about it on his Whatever blog, and offered freebie copies of the chapbook to readers, so I took him up on that. Because this year? This year definitely calls for some supremely silly reading.

Pre-orders that showed up:

  • When No One is Watching, by Alyssa Cole

150 for the year.

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Whoops I missed a post ebook roundup

Found a draft of an ebook roundup post marooned in my Drafts folder, oops. So I’m merging a couple of earlier acquired titles with more recently acquired titles in this post now!

Acquired from Kobo:

  • Devolution, by Max Brooks. Horror. I nabbed this on the strength of the name Max Brooks, since I totally adored World War Z. I can also report that I’ve actually gone ahead and read this since I originally bought it. I did not like this one as much as I liked World War Z, but I’m not sorry I read it. I still found it an enjoyable read, even though I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as his first book.
  • Prince of Shadows, by Rachel Caine. Fantasy, alternate telling of Romeo and Juliet. Nabbed this in no small part because Caine is dealing with serious cancer treatments right now and I wanted to try to buy more of her titles in support.
  • Honor Among Thieves, Honor Bound, and Honor Lost, by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre. SF YA. Nabbed this entire trilogy partly because see previous commentary re: Caine, but also because I also like Ann Aguirre’s work and the two of them together promise to be entertaining.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • Soulstar and The Midnight Bargain, by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. Grabbed both of these because I quite liked Witchmark, and Soulstar is the closing book of that trilogy.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • Bitter Falls, by Rachel Caine. Book 4 of her Stillhouse Lake series of thrillers. Acquired from Amazon because the series is available in ebook only for Kindle.

Pre-ordered from Amazon:

  • Heartbreak Bay, by Rachel Caine. Book 5 of her Stillhouse Lake series of thrillers.

Previous pre-orders that showed up but which I’ve counted on the yearly tally already:

  • Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko.

142 for the year.

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Oh hey look another ebook roundup post

Because I may have been doing a lot of Kobo lately!

Pre-orders for The Relentless Moon, Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Shadow of Kyoshi, The Immortal City, and Harrow the Ninth all showed up. It’s PREORDERPALOOZA up in here. But I’ve already counted all these titles on totals, so I won’t count them again here.

Newly pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • When No One is Watching, by Alyssa Cole. Nabbed this because I already know I love Cole’s work, and I love her in particular because she’s excellent at handling various sub-genres of romance. It’ll be interesting to see how she handles writing a thriller!

Bought straight up from Kobo:

  • Haunted, by Cathy Pegau. Not sure if this is mystery, paranormal romance, or maybe a little bit of both, but it sounds charming and I told Cathy straight up on Twitter that I loved the cover.
  • Interference, by Sue Burke. SF. Nabbed this because it’s the second half of the duology that started with Semiosis. While I wasn’t a hundred percent in love with that book, it did still stand out in my mind as one of the more original SF novels I’ve read lately, and I want to see where this storyline goes next.
  • Seven Devils, by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May. SF, and in particular, self-described as “feminist space opera”, which I am HERE FOR. Also was totally sold by the authors pitching it on Twitter thusly: “If you wished Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars had more murder, women, and sapphic moments, we wrote this for you. IF YOU WANT TO SEE ASSHOLE FASCISTS GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE, we wrote this for you”. SOLD.
  • The Consuming Fire, by John Scalzi. SF, book 2 of his Interdependency series. Nabbed this because I also know I already like Scalzi’s work, and I enjoyed book 1 of this series in particular, The Last Emperox. I know this one’s been out for a while, but I finally got it when it went briefly on sale for $2.99.

And oh yes, can’t forget this either:

  • Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh. Fantasy. Grabbed this one from Tor.com’s freebie ebook of the month club. I’d had half an eye on this one, so was pleased to see it available as a freebie!

133 for the year.

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Acts of bike maintenance

It is very gratifying, after I went to the trouble of getting a fancy e-bike, to be able to do something to take proper care of it.

Last several rides I’ve been out, the pedaling in some gears was being weird. Not quite grinding, but going in that direction. Enough for me to notice, certainly. So I stopped at Seattle Electric Bike in Bothell to ask them what to do about this, since I was there anyway to pop super-fast into the BECU and do a deposit in the ATM.

Noted with interest that Seattle Electric Bike was open, but they had put up a little table to block the entrance, with a small terminal there and a sign that asked customers to wait at the door and they’d come outside to us. So I did that, and one of the guys inside the store came quickly out to chat with me. (We were both wearing masks, so A++ handling of customer and staff store safety there, Seattle Electric Bike!)

I explained my problem, and the staffer told me I should go to Bothell Ski & Bike to buy some lubricant for the chain. Seattle Electric Bike doesn’t carry parts or maintenance items, for the most part; they’re focused on selling the e-bikes, as well as doing regular maintenance for the people who’ve bought bikes from them. But if you want parts or other essentials to do maintenance yourself, Bothell Ski & Bike is better for that.

So I thanked him and went on my way. Since Bothell Ski & Bike was on my way back from Bothell anyway, I popped off the trail long enough to divert over to them once I reached that part of Kenmore.

Bothell Ski & Bike also gets high marks for handling their store and customer safety. They’re a bigger store than Seattle Electric Bike, with a larger entrance, and they’ve got signs up asking customers to wait outside until a staffer can come out to talk to them and let them into the store. Once I explained what I needed, their staffer was immediately able to help me and sold me a bottle of their most recommended chain lubricant.

Today, I tried that out and it worked like a charm. I had to hoist the bike up onto the support pole we have in our garage, just so that I’d be able to spin the back wheel freely and get to all parts of the chain. Laid down a towel underneath the bike, streamed the lubricant all along the chain, and then wandered off for ten minutes as per instructions. When I came back, I then wiped the chain down three times.

Took the chance to wash the bike a bit as well. It had a lot of cruft on it in various places, which both of the bike staffers suspected was contributing to the hinky behavior of the chain.

Finally took the bike on a little round of the block and the ride was much smoother. Mission accomplished, go me!

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Mail outage on murkworks.net

Heads up folks who are on mailing lists hosted on murkworks.net or who get their personal mail there: we are having an unexpected outage of newmoon, the server that runs our mail. We’re working on it.
The outage is going to necessitate a clean install of the operating system, and once that’s done we’ll have to reinstate functionality like mailing lists. We apologize for the inconvenience!
 
Primarily impacted by this:
 
1) the lexfa.org and filk mailing lists;
2) anybody who gets personal mail on newmoon.
 
I’ll post here, on Twitter, and on my Facebook page when newmoon is back up. Thanks in advance for your patience! Drop a comment if you have any questions.