vignettes
Nov. 2nd, 2025 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliThis week's prompt is:
look 🏞️
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
look 🏞️
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Nov. 1st, 2025 11:41 ammarycatelliFor all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
( Read more... )
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
( Read more... )
Book Review Mirage City
Oct. 30th, 2025 03:57 pmcornerofmadness posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
booknookI absolutely missed my day to post but I doubted anyone would mind now that I actually remembered I said I'd do something...
Mirage City by Lev A.C. Rosen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Somehow I missed there were two books between this and Lavender House because what is time even and that it's been 3 years since I read LH (no wonder I was slightly confused. I just thought I had forgotten stuff). Andy is back with a new case and one of the things I like about Rosen's work is that it's steeped in the real LGBT history and not some pretty fantasy land of it. (Which takes us to the Content Warnings, era typical homophobia and an early version of conversion camps inside mental hospitals which amount to torture).
A woman from the Mattachine Society, an actual early gay rights group, has approached Andy to find three members who have disappeared, one woman and a gay couple Hank and Edward. It's obvious she wants to find the woman more but honestly she's nearly forgotten for much of the narrative as Andy heads south to Hollywood after the two guys who might have been taken by a motorcycle gang.
Worse, this is where Andy grew up and his mother, a nurse, still lives. Their entire interactions any more are a few phone calls per year, basically birthdays and Christmas. This is post-war America so no one is exactly out, even to family (Most of Andy's friends, including his lover, Gene, back at The Ruby have lost their family due to their sexual orientation).
I figured out much faster than Andy some of the clues but I have the advantage of being seventy years down the line and I know the unfortunate, ugly history of how gay people were treated. That said, it did nothing to take away from my enjoyment of this. Andy is in a bad spot of course because naturally he runs into his mother and can't say no to her when she insists he comes home with her.
But will the case come between them forever? Read and find out. This was very good. Andy is a great character and now I need to go back and find the other two books I missed.
View all my reviews
Mirage City by Lev A.C. RosenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Somehow I missed there were two books between this and Lavender House because what is time even and that it's been 3 years since I read LH (no wonder I was slightly confused. I just thought I had forgotten stuff). Andy is back with a new case and one of the things I like about Rosen's work is that it's steeped in the real LGBT history and not some pretty fantasy land of it. (Which takes us to the Content Warnings, era typical homophobia and an early version of conversion camps inside mental hospitals which amount to torture).
A woman from the Mattachine Society, an actual early gay rights group, has approached Andy to find three members who have disappeared, one woman and a gay couple Hank and Edward. It's obvious she wants to find the woman more but honestly she's nearly forgotten for much of the narrative as Andy heads south to Hollywood after the two guys who might have been taken by a motorcycle gang.
Worse, this is where Andy grew up and his mother, a nurse, still lives. Their entire interactions any more are a few phone calls per year, basically birthdays and Christmas. This is post-war America so no one is exactly out, even to family (Most of Andy's friends, including his lover, Gene, back at The Ruby have lost their family due to their sexual orientation).
I figured out much faster than Andy some of the clues but I have the advantage of being seventy years down the line and I know the unfortunate, ugly history of how gay people were treated. That said, it did nothing to take away from my enjoyment of this. Andy is in a bad spot of course because naturally he runs into his mother and can't say no to her when she insists he comes home with her.
But will the case come between them forever? Read and find out. This was very good. Andy is a great character and now I need to go back and find the other two books I missed.
View all my reviews
[book review] A Village Lost and Found
Oct. 30th, 2025 01:41 pmvaloise posting in booknookEarlier this month I read Flashes of Brilliance, a history of the earliest development of photography and that reminded me that I had another photography book near the bottom of my TBR pile. A big slipcased book by Brian May and Elena Vidal: A Village Lost and Found on a series of sterographic slides from the 185os by T. R. Williams.
May begins by looking back on his childhood fascination on how each eye sees the world slightly differently. This lead to an interest in stereoscopic cards. When a student at Imperial College London he would visit Christies's auction viewing room. "As a poor undergraduate, I had no chance of actually buying any of these treasures . . . But. . . I accumulated a wealth of experience looking at stereoscopic photographs, which was to influence my life for ever."
Once he'd made financial success with his day job (guitarist in Queen) he began collecting. This led him to the 59-card set, Scenes in Our Village, (SIOV) by T. R. Williams. The cards were first published in 1856 and showed life in a rural English village.
May set out to acquire all the cards, then all the variant sets that were published. He researched the possible location of the village, eventually finding it to be Hinton Waldrist. He hired a curator, co-author Elena Vidal, to help him catalog his collection. They visited the village, took contemporary images of some of the buildings in the SIOV slides.
A Village Lost and found reproduces the complete set of slides and includes a folding stereoscopic viewer. The three-dimensional detail of these 175-year old images is stunning. When possible individuals in the photos are identified using census and other local records. Williams was a successful portrait photographer of upper classes, but through his SIOV set you get a glimpse into the lives of the ordinary working class people in rural villages.
May begins by looking back on his childhood fascination on how each eye sees the world slightly differently. This lead to an interest in stereoscopic cards. When a student at Imperial College London he would visit Christies's auction viewing room. "As a poor undergraduate, I had no chance of actually buying any of these treasures . . . But. . . I accumulated a wealth of experience looking at stereoscopic photographs, which was to influence my life for ever."
Once he'd made financial success with his day job (guitarist in Queen) he began collecting. This led him to the 59-card set, Scenes in Our Village, (SIOV) by T. R. Williams. The cards were first published in 1856 and showed life in a rural English village.
May set out to acquire all the cards, then all the variant sets that were published. He researched the possible location of the village, eventually finding it to be Hinton Waldrist. He hired a curator, co-author Elena Vidal, to help him catalog his collection. They visited the village, took contemporary images of some of the buildings in the SIOV slides.
A Village Lost and found reproduces the complete set of slides and includes a folding stereoscopic viewer. The three-dimensional detail of these 175-year old images is stunning. When possible individuals in the photos are identified using census and other local records. Williams was a successful portrait photographer of upper classes, but through his SIOV set you get a glimpse into the lives of the ordinary working class people in rural villages.
You Are My Omega by Mariko Nekono
Oct. 30th, 2025 05:58 pmreviews_and_ramblings
”Primal instincts easily overtake rationality”
Handsome， well-built， and brilliant: Himuro is the picture-perfect Alpha. After suffering at the hands of an obsessed Omega， he vowed to never let his secondary-gender instincts control him again and to stay away from Omegas forever. But it seems that destiny has other plans when a chance meeting one day turns his whole world upside down...
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/43rIA6b)
While You Are My Omega certainly plays within the bounds of the Alpha/Omega dynamic, it manages to feel surprisingly fresh and original. It's a sweet story that subverts expectations in a number of delightful ways. Our Alpha, Himuro, is a final-year high school student with a serious bias against the Alpha/Omega pairing concept, thanks to being stalked by a fellow Omega student. This sets a fantastic stage for conflict when he discovers his destined Omega is none other than his soft-spoken homeroom teacher, Mr. Itsuki! It’s genuinely hilarious to watch this scenario unfold. The only person who seems truly stressed about Himuro being Mr. Itsuki's student is Itsuki himself! Everyone else—Himuro's parents, Itsuki's colleagues—seems more or less resigned to the idea that these two are destined for a relationship. This collective, knowing acceptance is a running gag that adds a fun, lighthearted element to the whole affair. Despite the potentially sexy nature of an Omegaverse story, You Are My Omega takes a refreshing step back from the explicit. Their intimate time together is often quickly summarized, giving you the high-level details without lingering. This avoidance of drawn-out smut actually makes the story feel more cute than sexy, prioritizing the emotional connection and relationship development. The graphic style is also quite nice. It becomes especially endearing when Mr. Itsuki is forced to adopt the role of the responsible adult, given that Himuro is an underage teenager when they meet. Crucially, the story maintains a respectful boundary—there is no inappropriate behavior from Mr. Itsuki, which is a wonderfully refreshing and responsible choice for a high school-set yaoi manga. If you’re looking for a heartwarming, surprisingly wholesome Omegaverse story that challenges a few tropes and focuses on genuine emotional growth, this is a fantastic read!
Yotsuya Ghost Knight by Choco Shiroi
Oct. 30th, 2025 04:21 pmreviews_and_ramblings
Exorcism is a messy business...
In a world overrun by spirits, an exorcist must know how to handle himself. ♡
Loner exorcist Okuru Yotsuya has plenty of practice in that department. And while "tears" are essential to his profession, Okuru can only produce so many on his own...
When faced with an especially powerful spirit, Okuru is rescued by Naito Fukase, a pornstar known as "The Squirting Squire." Having witnessed this handsome stranger's splashy supernatural abilities up close, Okuru recruits Naito to teach him the secret to squirting...
And if Naito has anything to say about it, the exorcism business is about to get a whole lot messier...
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/4oFSMjl)
Yankee & Carameliser by Chiuko Umeshibu
Oct. 30th, 2025 06:35 pmreviews_and_ramblings
Take one influencer and one bad boy extraordinaire, whisk in a sprinkling of sweets, add a scoop of social media, and you get…? Maki and Akito’s love story, hot out of the oven! After all, even though Maki has a bit of a bad rap, the guy must be just as gooey on the inside as the glorious goodies he posts on social media. So when Akito gets a taste of how dangerously delicious his desserts are, he can’t help wanting a taste of the man himself…
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/3WvGA96)
If you're looking for a plot with high stakes and deep complexity, look elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for a story that is simply adorable and sweet, Yankee & Carameliser is a delightful treat! The plot is admittedly thin, but it serves perfectly as a backdrop for the truly engaging main characters. This manga shines brightest thanks to its central duo: The Yankee with a Secret: Our first protagonist is a "yankee" (the Japanese term for a high school student with a bad-boy aesthetic: bleached hair, piercings, and a rebellious attitude). Yet, underneath the tough exterior is a boy who has always loved "pretty things"—and he's a talented, self-taught pastry chef. The Sweet Vlogger: Our second lead is a perfectly average high school student who happens to be a video blogging enthusiast with a serious sweet tooth. The story truly clicks when the vlogger discovers the yankee's incredible culinary secret. He basically "forces" the yankee into the spotlight, turning him into an internet sensation by filming his at-home baking videos. Beyond the initial setup, there isn't much more to the story than the slow, charming transition from schoolmates to boyfriends. Their relationship develops with moments that are smooth, sweet, and tender—truly living up to the sugary promise of its title. This is a quiet, comfortable read that unfolds gently, just like a perfect piece of caramel cake. It's the ideal recommendation for fans who love lighthearted, pure-fluff boy-meets-boy romance.
The Love We Share by Hina Ten
Oct. 30th, 2025 04:12 pmreviews_and_ramblings
In the aftermath of a tragedy, Takumi Machi is left to raise two-year-old Kokoa by himself. While struggling to make ends meet and staggering through the unfamiliar landscape of parenting, Machi collapses in the street... Only to be rescued by an old schoolmate, Ikuto Mihiro.
The good-natured Mihiro offers to house Machi and Kokoa until they get back on their feet, but Machi is skeptical of his motives. What sort of person would go to such lengths without expecting something in return...?
In spite of his doubts, with Mihiro by his side, Machi works to build a life for himself and Kokoa, untangling past trauma and learning what it really means to be family...
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/48UDqTG)
The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé by Fumito
Oct. 30th, 2025 04:06 pmreviews_and_ramblings
An outrageous BL manga about work, unlikely friends, and problems down there! At age 40, Takanashi is in the prime of his life, heading up a high-performing sales team and driving all the ladies crazy. Yet he turns them all down, because he has trouble performing in the bedroom! What will he do when a rising star on his team finds out his secret?!
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/43I33n2)
SMELL by Nagabe
Oct. 30th, 2025 03:58 pmreviews_and_ramblings
From bestselling manga creator Nagabe comes a new furry Boys’ Love story about two pups picking up the scent of love!
It started with a sniff—and turned into something neither of them saw coming.
At a school for beastmen, two students have an awkward encounter that sparks an unexpected connection. Joseph, a cheerful border collie, catches the quiet, skittish bloodhound Noy secretly sniffing his shirt between classes. But instead of being weirded out, Joseph responds with warmth and kindness, slowly earning Noy’s trust. As it turns out, Noy is completely captivated by Joseph’s scent.
Their strange little moment lingers, and something begins to shift between them. Is it just curiosity? A fleeting crush? Or could this be the start of something more?
My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/4oLVrYZ)