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Via boxofdelights, the University of Chicago Press is offering a free ebook of The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence by Laurence Ralph until June 6th. They're a little finicky about how they'll let you access it, but it's a worthwhile if inevitably painful read.

And via courtneymilan, Verso Books is offering free downloads of The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale. I haven't read it yet myself, but from the publisher summary:

This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.

READ

( MCU, Person of Interest, Harry Potter, DA:I... )

I also read and luxuriated in the novel Docile by K M Szpara, but I think maybe I'll save my thoughts on that for another post. In the meantime, the first six chapters are available for free, if SFnal decadence and m/m dubcon are your kind of thing!

PLAYED

Terraria, for about an hour, the entirety of which was hilarious. I was graphically murdered by slimes! I built a house with no door and immediately trapped myself inside it! Then I dug a trench so I could escape, which was pretty nice, although once I installed a door, it took me another small eternity to figure out how to open it.

( Fictional... fish harm? )

WATCHED

( Stumptown episode 1x7, "All Quiet on the Dextern Front". )

Brooklyn Nine-Nine through episode 7x7, "Ding Dong". Thoroughly enjoyable, even if I don't seem to have much to say. ( Minor spoilers. )

Sym-Bionic Titan through episode 1x08, "Shadows of Youth". That and "Showdown at Sherman High" were both pretty fun! I love Octus, and anything involving characters interacting with words and/or feelings is going to engage me more than the action sequences. Entirely cromulent insomnia viewing.

READ

I still seem to be taking a break from The Fifth Season, but I did read a book this week: Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer, which is a YA novel, adorable and suspenseful by turns, about an AI and their teenage friends. I was surprised by the ( content note ), but I really appreciated the story's deliberate and thoughtful inclusion of nonbinary characters in particular. Plus, the AI and their friends! Are all so adorable! ( I felt a particular affinity for... )

I also read Masked Ball by Waid, which is another excellent Holmes/Watson fic for the original stories, this one with a fun case to play the pair against.

Retrieved from Impossibility by phnelt is a delightful Eliot/Parker/Hardison first time AU in which Eliot is a cyborg. It is delicious.

Finally, and for me most atypically, I read something like 60k of a WIP on ( an anon meme. )

WATCHED

( Doctor Who through episode 12x05, "Fugitive of the Judoon". )

( Stumptown 1x13, "The Dex Factor". )

I've also rewatched the first two episodes of Leverage with an eye towards participating in the conversation over at the_rewatch_job, although so far I haven't actually managed the participation part, whoops. I really feel like I'm appreciating the show more the second time around, though -- I think having some familiarity with characters already helps a lot with my investment in the shenanigans.

( Cut for US politics. )

But more cheerfully, have Garden of your Mind by sandalwoodbox, a lovely Critical Role vid set to a musical remix of Mr. Rogers!

It turns out that going a week without adequate sleep really makes it hard for me to keep up with this challenge, go figure! But I think I'm finally starting to catch up again, so here goes.

I had to think a lot about what canon or canons I wanted to rec for this challenge. There are so many shows I love! amovingtarget even suggested that I could use this post to rec a canon I haven't seen yet to myself, and for that I know exactly what I'd pick: The Great British Bake Off, which from everything I hear is really sweet and soothing and something I definitely need to try.

But finally I realized what I need to rec here, and it's the romance novels of Courtney Milan!

She's someone whose books I'd seen recced for ages, and I even wanted to give them a try once I saw someone talking about the one with a shy black mathematician being wooed by an Irish pro-suffragette satire columnist, but although there have been romance novels that I've admired and enjoyed, it's never been my genre as much as science fiction and fantasy and fanfic all are, so I guess it was easy to leave her work on my to be read list.

Then one day I learned that Courtney Milan is the pen name of Heidi Bond, whose witty and insightful blog I'd followed wayyy back in the day when she was a law student. And once I knew that, I absolutely had to try her work -- more than ten years after her blog's deletion, I still remembered it fondly, so obviously I had to read her published writing! And luckily enough for me, the prequel novella to her Brothers Sinister series was (and is) available as a free sample, so I was quickly able to discover that her published fiction is really, really good.

Mind you, she isn't an entirely traditional romance author. As she says about her decision to self-publish in her FAQ:

In case you’re wondering, the push I was getting from my traditional publishers was that the books I was writing for them were already too quirky.

So do I think I would have been able to write the Brothers Sinister as I did? No, hell no. What would have changed?

Everything. I mean, completely everything. The notes on everything would have come back as “NEEDS MOAR JERK.”

So if she doesn't write alpha assholes, what does she write?

So many fantastic things! She writes about men who are virgins and unmarried women of breeding who aren't; about peers and the sons of coal miners; about scientists and journalists and activists in spades -- and this is just in her Victorian era Brothers Sinister series, which is about not a family of sinister reputation, but just about a handful of nerds who think it's funny that they're all left-handed. She writes about bad sex and great sex; about contraception and past sexual assault; about blood family, and found family, and the times when the two overlap. She also writes fantastic secondary romances I sometimes love even more than the primary ones -- and one of them is sapphic!

I think my personal avorite of the Brothers Sinister series is number three, The Countess Conspiracy, but all of them have characters and moments I love. And so far I've only read one of the four series her website lists -- I think next I need to try the Cyclone Series, which is contemporary and looks super intriguing.

So yeah -- if you're into het romance that's refreshingly low on toxic masculinity, consider giving Courtney Milan's writing a look!

In the brief window left by a Snowflake challenge that doesn't involve posting anything, have some belated Wednesday things!

READ

( Many fanfics, mostly short. )

In the world of origfic, I (28M) created a deepfake girlfriend and now my parents think we're getting married by Fonda Lee is exactly what it says on the tin, and basically amazing.

I'm also reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (previewable here), and it certainly makes a bold impression! Necromancy, spaceships, impassioned teenage rivalry, a heroine fond of the longsword and of disreputable comics. In addition to the general atmosphere of biting sarcasm and abusive hazing, there is ( a grisly detail worth warning for ). But I've been enjoying myself so far!

PLAYED

Seedship, a lovely poignant little game where you're an AI trying to find humanity a new home among the stars. I don't seem to be very good at that job yet, but maybe someday?

WATCHED

The last two installments of Parallax by Adam Westbrook (mentioned previously). I'm glad I watched this; it's entertaining, thought-provoking, and not a minute longer than it needs to be.

This Is My Story, which is introduced here by LeVar Burton. Six short personal accounts of racism in America, five from black men and one from a black woman. I think Burton's own story hit me the hardest.

The Witcher 1x01, "The End's Beginning". ( I don't think this is my kind of show. )

Sym-Bionic Titan 1x06, "Shaman of Fear". The enemy monster in this episode had a really cute design. Apart from that, still a low-investment watch, which is sometimes exactly what I want.

( The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel through the end of season three! )

( Fleabag 1x01. )

( Stumptown 1x10, "Reality Checks Don't Bounce". )

( The Good Place 4x10, "You've Changed, Man". )

READ

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I wasn't sure I'd have better luck with this than I did with the last few non-fannish novels I've tried to read, but I was underestimating the sheer power and charm of Austen's snark.

( Spoilers for a novel published in 1817. )

I'm a little glad that I have now read all of Austen's finished novels -- I was saving this one until I had at least a glancing familiarity with the Gothic novels she plays with, until finally I realized I enjoy reading Austen much better -- but also, I'm sorry that I don't have more to read. Maybe I need to reread Pride & Prejudice sometime soon...

Familiar Thing by the_ragnarok is 33k of kinky, magical, polyamorous origfic, chock full of lovely bespoke relationship negotiation. I'm especially fond of Henry, whose favorite geometric shape is a scalene triangle, and who thoughtfully integrates his Jewish faith with his magic practice. Abusive exes, painful miscommunications, and agonizing chronic pain flare ups each make their appearance in this story, but the care the main characters all bring to their relationships still gave it a restful feeling for me.

A fascinating article about Hmong language radio shows implemented as never-ending conference calls. Sometimes I really love human ingenuity and dedication.

I have also read and enjoyed some fanfic this week -- e.g. scaramouche's Steve/Tony Binary System and (via oracne) thedoubteriswise's Steve & Natasha friendship fic the way a traveler knows a traveler -- but I feel like with the onset of obligatory familial togetherness season, I haven't really been able to give it more than half my attention, unfortunately.

WATCHED

The Good Place 1x09, "The Answer". January 9th is so far away!

And this two hour video about the genius of Pathologic, which is a more than a decade old Russian video game that is apparently as grueling as it is beloved by the rare souls who manage to finish it. I found myself seriously wondering whether watching this would give me nightmares -- which I do not often have! -- but it never failed to hold my interest. Um, content notes on request?

I took longer to read Zen Cho's The True Queen than I should have, because a glance at its prologue made me expect something a little more solemn than the usual lively charm of Cho's work, but I should just have kept reading! As soon as the main body of the story starts, it is an absolute delight.

I think there's an extent to which The True Queen and its predecessor Sorcerer to the Crown would benefit from being read in publication order, though they have different protagonists, but I also think I might love this one even more than the first book -- of which I was already very fond! But The True Queen not only expands on the series' LGBQ content, but also foregrounds kindness and loyalty where Sorcerer was a bit more openly ruthless, so it's basically all the things I love wrapped together in one big delicious package. Including appearances from Prunella and all my other faves!

While I'm flailing fannishly, I might as well mention that the author has some amazing stories available for free online, including If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again and its shorter coda, Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon. (Content warnings for human mortality, identity issues, and the pressures of everyone expecting you to become a dragon when that's actually really, really hard.) They're a bit different in tone and setting from her novels, not being Regencies, but everything Zen Cho writes is just so good!

A couple of you have posted which of these 100 works of SF/F you've read or otherwise consumed, and it seems like a fun game, so I'm playing too. Overall, I think I can fairly claim to have read 1/3 of the list -- full breakdown behind the cut!

( lists and lists )

To anyone who clicks through, are there any authors or books on my unread lists that you'd particularly recommend? Or any on my read list you'd like to ask about? I only barely restrained myself from commenting on all the titles I even recognized, so don't be afraid to jump in!

With thanks to boxofdelights, who gave me five wonderful questions to answer!

( 1. What do you like best about living with your parents? )

( 2. What do you like least about living with your parents? )

( 3. Flight or invisibility? )

( 4. Who is your favorite AI? )

( 5. Which is your favorite book by C.J. Cherryh? )

Let me know in the comments if you'd like five questions of your own!

In many parts of the Radch, very young children can go bare-handed without offending propriety, but there are a few places where hand coverings may be required for even the youngest citizens at certain times.

And while you can, of course, purchase adaptive gloves that will mold themselves neatly around the fingers of even the squirmiest infant -- although they're more often sold in larger sizes to adult citizens who for one reason or another prefer them to the static kind -- most parents and caretakers opt to dress their young ones in mittens, instead.

( further nonsense )