chomiji: An image of a classic spiral galaxy (galaxy)
[personal profile] chomiji

The Earth is ruled by the authoritarian Mandate, which like all such governments is constantly alert for threats to its stability. This extends to its scientific research: although the Mandate has explored space and discovered a number of exoplanets (a few of which have some form of life), it still insists that scientific discoveries must support the philosophy of the Mandate, which holds that human beings are the pinnacle of creation and that other life forms must all be in the process of striving to achieve that same state of being.

Ecologist and xeno-ecologist Arton Daghdev chafes against both these mental manacles and the Mandate in general. Some time before the story opens, he becomes part of a cell of would-be revolutionaries. After discovery of his improper views and rebellious actions, he is sentenced to what is meant to be a short life assisting research on the planet Imno 27g, casually known as Kiln for the strange clusters of pottery buildings scattered over its surface.

Life as a prisoner on Kiln within the research enclave is brutal in all the ways any such prison can be, when the prisoners are nothing but human-shaped machinery to accomplish the goals of their jailers. The Mandate's leadership has absolute control over who among their prisoners lives or dies, and if anyone should harbor the intent to escape, the environment outside the base is all too lively. The death rate among the workers is appalling, but new shipments of convicted crooks and malcontents arrive all the time, so it hardly matters.

None of the weird aliens seem to be builders of the sort needed to create the clusters of mysterious structures or indeed intelligent in any way beyond, perhaps, the level of social insects on Earth. Yet somehow the small, dysfunctional cadre of scientists on Kiln must serve up the desired tidbits of discovery to keep their commandant happy with them: evidence that there once were intelligent humanoids on Kiln.

Cut for more, including some spoilers )

I am an emotional person, and I want to like at least some of the characters about whom I'm reading. Daghdev is prickly, snarky, and fatalistic — but then, he has cause. He's also an unreliable narrator who only reveals to the reader what he wants, when he wants. The situation is really excruciating: people with a deep dislike of body horror might want to avoid this book. And there is not, in fact, a happy ending (at least not IMO).

On the other hand, this is very well written. For me, it moved along at a fantastic clip, and when I went back to check some particulars for this write-up, I found myself reading far more than I had intended because the story caught me up again. Some of the scientific ideas reminded me of other works (Sue Burke's Semiosis surfaced in my thoughts a couple of time), and sometimes I was reminded of something more elusive, a source that I can't recall. Does anyone else who has already read this have thoughts on the book's likely ancestors?

From my viewpoint, this was one of the most "science fictional" of this year's finalists. I think it might be my first choice in the vote.

Rebuilding journal search again

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pm
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Pinch hit #11

Jun. 30th, 2025 08:23 pm
morbane: woman sprawled on bed next to vinyl record, text "jukebox" (Jukebox)
[personal profile] morbane in [community profile] jukebox_fest
The deadline has passed! Congrats to everyone who has posted! Good luck to the handful of creators still working!

The following pinch hit is due at 11:59pm EDT, Friday 4 July. Please reply with your AO3 name if you can claim and fulfil this!

Minimum requirements: A work about one requested song or music video (or crossovers if specifically encouraged by your recipient), complete and polished, no generation of content via "AI" assistive tools. 1,000+ words for fic; a complete piece for art; 1,000+ words of podfic of an existing fic OR 500+ words of podfic of a work both written and recorded for this exchange.

Song/video/lyrics links for all requested canons can be found here.

Please reply with your AO3 name if you can fulfil either of these pinch hits this week!

CLAIMED - Pinch hit #11 - Aaron Burr Sir - Lin-Manuel Miranda & Leslie Odom Jr. & Anthony Ramos & Daveed Diggs & Okieriete Onaodowan (Song), Guns and Ships - Leslie Odom Jr. & Daveed Diggs & Christopher Jackson & Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton (Song), Non-Stop - Leslie Odom Jr. & Lin-Manuel Miranda & Renée Elise Goldsberry & Phillipa Soo & Christopher Jackson & Original Broadway Cast (Song) - art, fic [varies by request] )


LINKS
Aaron Burr Sir - Lin-Manuel Miranda & Leslie Odom Jr. & Anthony Ramos & Daveed Diggs & Okieriete Onaodowan (Song)- FIC
YouTube, Lyrics
Guns and Ships - Leslie Odom Jr. & Daveed Diggs & Christopher Jackson & Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton (Song) - ART, FIC
YouTube, Lyrics
Non-Stop - Leslie Odom Jr. & Lin-Manuel Miranda & Renée Elise Goldsberry & Phillipa Soo & Christopher Jackson & Original Broadway Cast (Song) - FIC
YouTube, Lyrics

(no subject)

Jun. 25th, 2025 10:55 am
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)
[personal profile] seekingferret
Bad Shabbos

Jews do not dance in this movie.

But it was nonetheless an incredible movie and I loved it so much and I laughed all the way through.

The film is a farce in the vein of a Neil Simon play- a modern Orthodox Upper West Side family prepares for a Shabbos dinner made fraught by the fact that the Catholic parents of the son's fiancee (who is in the process of converting) are visiting from Wisconsin. This process becomes a lot more complicated when a dead body, that the family has to conceal, turns up.

I love a precise farce and this is an incredibly well composed one that manages to squeeze multiple jokes out of every setpiece through callbacks and reaction shots and brilliant use of the limited set. The whole audience was constantly laughing for the entire movie.

I especially loved the incredible Talmud jokes, which testified to a writing team that not only is familiar with the text of the Talmud but also its vibes. I still laugh every time I think of the challah.

And I loved that it is a movie about a family sticking together through thick and thin. I remember complaining about This Is Where I Leave You that for all the funny moments the inescapable truth at the end is that this family doesn't like each other very much, and I found that deflated my enjoyment a lot. In this movie, for all the family dysfunction and disagreement, when things go down they team up to be dysfunctional together.

Pinch Hit #10

Jun. 25th, 2025 08:54 pm
morbane: woman sprawled on bed next to vinyl record, text "jukebox" (Jukebox)
[personal profile] morbane in [community profile] jukebox_fest
Works are due in very roughly 5 days - see link showing the time in your time zone for 11:59pm EDT Sunday 29 June.

We have one new pinch hit. Deadline is as above, or negotiable. Please reply with your AO3 name if you can help with this!

CLAIMED - Pinch hit #10 - Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Song), Gladiator - Jann (Song), Daisy - Ashnikko (Song), Hail to the King - Avenged Sevenfold (Song), Strange Premonition - Kiki Rockwell (Song), Take on Me - A-ha (Music Video) - fic )
escapade_team: (Default)
[personal profile] escapade_team in [community profile] escapade_con
 If finances are preventing you from attending Escapade this weekend, have I got great news for you! We have a scholarship fund. If you would like to nominate yourself or a friend, please go to: https://escapadecon.net/scholarship/
 
As always if you have any questions drop us an email info@escapadecon.net or reach out on the Forever Discord in the #help-desk channel. 
 
-Con Com
 
 
https://escapadecon.net/scholarships-we-got-em/
 

Hugo Novels Write-Up Poll

Jun. 24th, 2025 10:33 pm
chomiji: Doa from Blade of the Immortal can read! Who knew? (Doa - books)
[personal profile] chomiji

I've now read all the finalist novels for the 2025 Hugo Awards. The trouble is, I read some of these books when they first came out last year. Still. I'm happy to share my impressions if people are interested.

Poll #33287 cho's Hugo Novels 2025 Write-Up
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15


Which of the 2025 finalists are you most interested in having me write up?

View Answers

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
9 (60.0%)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
4 (26.7%)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 (26.7%)

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
6 (40.0%)

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
5 (33.3%)

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
5 (33.3%)

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