DThoris

DC area TTRPG gamer, geek, life-o-phile
Parent of an adult person.
I try to be nice and I can be taught.
Leaper before looker...
I love books that explore how people and societies react to/change with circumstances.
I have no patience for stories that celebrate prejudice.
I fall asleep listening to historical romances and never review them.

10th level office worker with the IT archetype and a specialization in Active Directory. Multi-classed into management.

Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/dejahentendu

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dejahentendu_at_dice.camp@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqsru45uv2gl9mdgw8rqa5hzsj322uzsq4e52yrc0clq997hq3wcutcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dscwekvf

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Last Notes

2026-10-25 18:05:56 UTC

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In high school, I did a literary analysis of Winnie the Pooh. In the course of my research, I ran across a Freudian analysis of it, and worked *really hard* to make it acceptable for a paper in high school.
My teacher took me aside after she graded the paper and said to me, "Maybe a Freudian analysis wasn't appropriate to a paper in high school."
I looked her dead in the face and said, "You should have seen the Jungian one."
She blanched. 😂

2026-10-09 15:32:44 UTC

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What if he doesn't hate God for banishing him but instead still craves His love? Wouldn't he then take it out on the humans to try to prove himself and return to the fold? By definition, emotional responses aren't logical.

2026-10-09 15:16:00 UTC

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My understanding of/take on Lucifer is that he loved being loved by God so much that when humans were created he got pissy about being replaced in God's love. So he started a revolt, killed some other angels, and got banished for having his own opinions and hating his "younger siblings." He has a reason to punish the dead aside from God finding them to be not good enough. He probably blames humans for his fall.

2026-08-13 22:25:25 UTC

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facts do matter

2026-08-13 22:24:05 UTC

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Other parts of what you're saying aside, the President is head of the Executive branch, not the Judicial branch. That's the Supreme Court.

2026-08-05 15:59:09 UTC

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"There is always something new to learn." And that's exciting!

2026-08-05 13:12:25 UTC

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All leadership is meaningless.
Which us a pretty dark view of my work. I honestly believe the most important thing I do is protect my people from the rest of the company.

2026-08-05 13:06:37 UTC

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It's not a bad trade off! I made the choice to get into leadership. Some days I regret it.

2026-08-05 11:35:20 UTC

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Today is a meeting day at work. I think i have 6 hours of them. That should be a war crime. Then I run Tribes in the Dark robot, which we're all still learning. It'll be the first downtime phase. Luckily, even though I had a brutally terrible end to the week last week, I was still able to review the rules. It may be a short night tonight though. 😞 Otherwise, loving the cats and the kid. 🥰

2026-08-01 11:25:46 UTC

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game planning/rules studying - my brain is old enough that one read no longer suffices, book club to talk about The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, rip back some knitting to redo on different needles because it got too tight and, if there's time, plan the next embroidery project.

2026-07-28 18:27:46 UTC

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Carol Danvers, meet Barbara Gordon. She is currently judging you.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/999/006/094/322/999/original/fe334a340779a608.jpg

2026-07-27 14:59:29 UTC

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I used to live in #ATX. For all that people say it's a progressive city, it's still in Texas, where they literally outlawed mandatory water breaks for people who work outside, and the cops can still be seen carrying military grade weaponry for no obvious reason. I hate that it happened, and am completely unsurprised. I wish the people who need to could all afford to flee to safer places.

2026-07-20 16:15:43 UTC

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I have a dear friend that fought Lyme for about 10 years and still has lingering issues from time to time. White woman. It's just ignored here.

2026-07-19 21:25:00 UTC

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Right.... "guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people." But it's a hell of a lot harder for some asshat hell-bent on suicide by cop to massacre a crowd with a fucking sword. Yes, they're all tools. Some tools are more destructive than others.

2026-07-14 14:46:44 UTC

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I feel like Matt Damon as an actor is a blank slate that never gets written on.
Honestly, there are very few *actors* (as opposed to character actors or People With Names) in Hollywood.

2026-07-14 11:44:54 UTC

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Correction, the assholes have already declared that they're moving.
"Several prominent business leaders have announced they are leaving California in response to the wealth tax proposal, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel."
https://kiley.house.gov/posts/rep-kevin-kiley-introduces-bill-to-fight-californias-wealth-tax

2026-07-14 11:42:03 UTC

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California recently floated a ONE TIME 5% wealth tax on billionaires. 5%. Such a miniscule amount. $50 million per billion. Easily made up for them if it's that critical. Also, are they really going to miss that? What are they not going to get because of that?
People argued, "They'll just move!"
Capitalists are assholes.

2026-07-13 16:42:17 UTC

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Trauma reactions, amirite?
It's really hard to do in the moment. But you're right that it's also the way to handle repetitive behaviors. I find it helpful to plan what I'm going to say when it happens again. Them I'm not stuck on the moment trying to think of the right words and saying either nothing for being flummoxed or the wrong thing for being under pressure.

2026-05-30 11:51:46 UTC

Barbara says, "I love you. No more touchies."
#cat #caturday #catsofmastodon #cats
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/663/368/174/703/028/original/7f81265a68f492d5.jpg

2026-03-11 17:33:03 UTC

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I can't even delete my account because I set up MFA back when it worked. And then that fuck wit broke it and I can't get signed in at all. Good riddance, but I'd like to delete it.

2026-03-07 20:54:39 UTC

Planted blueberries today! The dragon will guard them. Yes, I need to clean up some pots. Whatever.
When I was a teen, my parents had blueberry bushes in the back yard. I have fond memories of throwing the bird netting over my head and having blueberries straight off the bush for breakfast!
Now I need a shower. Peat moss is itchy.
#gardening
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/116/189/867/267/220/807/original/b495ad690ff27f48.jpg

2026-03-05 21:03:26 UTC

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True. But unless he does more than I'm hoping (hahaha!) about elections, this is it. So *this time* he's not looking to be reelected. Except in his delusions.

2026-03-05 14:34:00 UTC

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I dint have to imagine. I'm in the US.

2026-02-09 17:21:11 UTC

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I feel like it comes down to wanting to align themselves with power because they feel they have none. In their minds, the path to power is to ride on someone's coattails, not band together to create their own. I feel this is very common in people who buy into hierarchies, like churches.

2026-02-09 14:17:29 UTC

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these stories with the same enthusiasm, humor, and affection, it’s awe inspiring really.
Forty years means we've gamed through not just different editions, but different systems, different genres.
Through life’s losses, its triumphs, and the chaos. So much chaos!
We’ve been together through the entire evolution of the hobby itself. Advanced Dungeons and Dragon 1E, 2E, 3E, 3.5E, (we kinda skipped 4E), 5E. Little black book Traveller, Mongoose Traveller. Cyberpunk 2013, 2020.
4/n

2026-02-09 14:16:40 UTC

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We have running jokes older than some RPG systems. We have characters who still haunt each other’s nightmares (not really but close enough). We have war stories that get retold like legends. We have games where chaos is expected, welcomed, and weaponized.
Most people never get this.
Most people never even get close.
We’ve grown up together.
We’ve survived life together.
We’ve built mythologies together.
The fact that we can still tell
3/n

2026-02-09 14:16:10 UTC

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I bet most don’t survive the first scheduling conflict.
But forty years?
That’s a tribe.
Today has been rough and I needed a lift so I’ve been reading through all our stories today. The cantina massacre, the Rope Trick implosion, the cleric beatdowns, the NPC trauma, the Delta Green spirals, It’s obvious why we’ve lasted this long.
Because we weren’t just playing games.
What we’ve got is rare, I think. We still remember each other’s critical failures from 1987.
2/n

2026-02-09 14:15:35 UTC

One of my GMs posted this on another platform. It's beautiful and true.
B & His Tribe (02-07-2026)
We’ve been gaming together for close to forty years now (and one or two not quite that long, but no less important).
Forty years with the same people isn’t just “gaming.” It’s shared lives. It’s a mythos we’ve all built together, one lucky critical die roll after ridiculous plan after catastrophic plan.
Most groups don’t last a year.
Plenty don’t last a campaign.
1/n
#ttrpg

2026-01-30 16:35:48 UTC

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There have been some studies that show (don't have links right now) that conservatives process new information with their amygdala activated, article while progressives don't. Their minds literally are reacting with fear and anger to new things.
I'll see if I can find info on that.

2026-01-27 23:41:44 UTC

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Hugs to you. And good luck to him.

2026-01-26 22:01:04 UTC

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I feel like this is you.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/963/630/372/361/236/original/dc94e0d6f7403a90.jpg

2026-01-26 14:04:25 UTC

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https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/115/961/765/705/988/157/original/bca66b99332bdbf7.jpg

2026-01-19 16:57:54 UTC

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It is a bullshit deal. As you say, we most often need protection from them. And especially the ones who want to offer us that deal of being their possession.

2026-01-16 15:45:03 UTC

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I love dice camp, both for the moderation and the content focus.

2026-01-15 13:36:02 UTC

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I'm sorry to hear how complicated your family is. That's never fun. Matrix-guy sounds like my brother, who is clinically paranoid.
I guess it's hard for me to realize there are people who don't think about what they're told. But of course I know it's real. I catch myself doing it, though I try to be aware of messaging.

2026-01-15 13:20:53 UTC

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If they have empathy, they should be able to understand, even if they haven't experienced it. Do they not love where they live? Do they not care about their neighbors? It sounds to me like they're choosing not to understand.

2026-01-14 00:09:31 UTC

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Do you think it's AuDHD or hyper-vigilance and being afraid of doing the "wrong" thing?

2026-01-09 17:28:41 UTC

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So, I see some nuance here.
People don't change, *unless they decide to.*
What can you change? Extrinsic things, like ideas, ways of thinking, even core beliefs.
What can't you change? Intrinsic things, like sexuality, gender, genetics.
This dichotomy between intrinsic and extrinsic is where I mostly see the lines for protections. All intrinsic things should be protected from discrimination. I also see use cases for some extrinsic things, like religion (or lack thereof).

2026-01-05 19:13:13 UTC

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I honestly believe that the Prosperity Gospel is the basis of US Christianity at this point. I HATE it with a passion bordering on fiery obsession. My kid has pointed out that I actually make disgusted faces when it is mentioned. And while my poker face is such that people would like to play against me, it's not usually THAT obvious.

2025-12-22 15:26:42 UTC

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I am sorry to hear that your experience of your sister was that negative. I wish you the joy of moving past it and of all your creative endeavors.
as an aside, I was put in mind of the perfectionist nature of my family reading this. Perfectionism really is where joy goes to die.

2025-12-15 22:48:38 UTC

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The other half of the saying is, "Objects at rest tend to stay in bed."

2025-12-11 19:09:13 UTC

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FIrst, I like the world better with you in it.
Second, I think many people confuse the fact that we are desperate for leisure time in our profit-driven environment with an unwillingness to work. If our ability to survive wasn't tied to someone's profit, then perhaps we'd actually be able to do other things that are useful to society and ourselves AT THE SAME TIME.
Look at what people do in their leisure time that doesn't pay the bills but does create value. We'd see more of that.

2025-12-03 17:36:19 UTC

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Technically, it falls under body modification. But that would probably piss them off because the phrase is largely associated with an intentional change to something outside the norm of human appearance.

2025-12-01 17:54:36 UTC

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I did the same thing this year!

2025-08-15 23:08:52 UTC

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rebellion and struggle against injustice.
The magic, being based in linguistic drift and nuances of meaning, was just fascinating, as a language nerd. I appreciated the footnotes. I felt it added to the scholarly feel of the book. You could ignore them if you'd rather; but if you like history and language, do read them.
Yes, there is racism in this book, as told from the eyes of those suffering it. That's part of the point of the book.
@npub1ny7…uv57 #fantasy #books #bookstodon #SFF

2025-08-15 23:07:00 UTC

#JustFinished Babel by R.F. Kuang
An intense and difficult read (for a white person). But well worth the time. A diverse group of 4 translators in the same year at Oxford bond over their classes. But life isn't simple and as they each grow, at varying rates, there is friction. Set in a fantastical, but eminently realistic, Colonial Era Britain, there is a lot for Kuang to build on, and I feel she did an excellent job of bringing us a tale of
1/
#fantasy #books #bookstodon #SFF @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-08-08 01:59:56 UTC

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so we never get the larger picture of how this happened. Or what infrastructure still exists. But some clearly does, though from our eye-level of the poorest, it hardly seems possible. In the end, there's an escape to something better for those who can live with it.
I'm not sure that I actually liked the book, but it was an interesting read.
3/3
@npub1ny7…uv57 #SciFi #books #bookstodon #SFF

2025-08-08 01:59:09 UTC

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to the outlawing of books and eradication of education, this paints a deeply disturbing world of nearly feral people turning on one another for the smallest of reasons. And yet there's still love and support of neighbors to a certain extent. Small acts of social support in defiance of the hierarchical, capitalistic society they're living in. The story is super focused in on a handful of people in this small town in Texas,
2/
@npub1ny7…uv57 #SciFi #books #bookstodon #SFF

2025-08-08 01:58:01 UTC

#JustFinished Brother Bronte by Fernando A. Flores
Sort of three stories that are tied together.
This is set in, what, a post-governmental-collapse Texas, part of the former United States, in a small corporate town that outlived its usefulness? There's a lot to unpack in this world.
From the deep misogyny of making mothers rights-free, and women in general to a lesser extent, forcing them into corporate slavery simply because they're mothers
1/
#SciFi #books #bookstodon #SFF @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-07-27 00:55:51 UTC

#JustFinished A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen
Chen is excellent with emotions and interpersonal dynamics.
The book was written during the 2019 pandemic. And it shows. It's a very grim prediction of what would happen after a truly devastating outbreak, worse even than the Black Death in Europe. I enjoyed most of the story, though it wasn't anything overly special. Chen gave it an upbeat ending. One brighter than I expected. That kinda disappointed me.
#SciFi #books #bookstodon @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-04-12 15:07:34 UTC

One totally zonked out Barbara for #Caturday.
#cats #catsofmastodon
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/114/325/603/363/862/527/original/55d4ad0ffedb2147.jpg

2025-03-31 23:04:27 UTC

#JustFinished The Future of Another Timelibe by Annalee Newitz
I loved the writing mechanic used to share changes to the timeline! It made the changes clear without hitting you over the head with them.
This was a very intersectional feminist book with a lot of pondering about how we can all affect our lives and the lives of those around us in a positive manner by pushing back and sharing our views. It was a well-rounded out world with
1/2
#SciFi #SFF #books #bookstodon @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-03-23 01:09:03 UTC

#JustFinished The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
This was an interesting, scholarly book about blackness in fantasy. It almost sounded like she took her thesis, made it a little more accessible, and got if published. Her conversation about Rue in The Hunger Games probably struck me the most. I was one of those people who had missed her being coded as black in the book. Thinking about it,
🧵
#NonFiction #books #bookstodon

2025-03-15 00:38:56 UTC

#JustFinished River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
What happens when you need to choose between love and duty? in a world where grammar is magic, maybe the answer lies in riddles. This gorgeous, lyric fairy-tale gives us the answer in song. The audiobook is just under 3 hours long and so worth listening to.
#books #bookstodon #SFF #fantasy #fairytale @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-03-02 23:50:48 UTC

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What a gentle way to talk about how society would change under the circumstances of the world Ishiguro built. The central change was a slow reveal, so I don't want to mention it. But having a kind, forgiving person be the narrator for a story with such a horrific central idea was a gorgeous juxtaposition. I loved this one!
2/2
@npub1ny7…uv57 #SFF #books #bookstodon #SciFi

2025-03-02 23:49:58 UTC

#JustFinished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I loved the writing. The story was engaging, and the style was extremely easy to connect with. I had zero sympathy for Ruth. OK, that's not entirely true. Her being a self-important, controlling, mean-girl of a friend wasn't exactly completely on her. I found Kath's interactions with her to be kinder than I wished her to be.
But the SciFi part?
1/2
#SFF #books #bookstodon #SciFi @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-02-22 02:13:00 UTC

#JustFinished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
Fascinating world building. Cool characters. Timely, in-your-face, antifascist, anti-corporate, eco-scifi. Yes, just a little preachy, but not awful about it.
Interestingly, I've read a couple of eco-scifi books recently. They both also had very strong themes of individual consent and collective direct decision-making.
#SFF #books #bookstodon @npub1ny7…uv57 #SciFi

2025-02-16 02:25:39 UTC

#JustFinished The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton
Lighthearted palate cleanser. Just what I needed.
Take ornithology, cut-throat competition, a PR push, and mix liberally. Add in a romance where the characters actually like each other for something beyond the chemistry, et voilà! Madcap fun!
#RomCom #books #bookstodon @npub1ny7…uv57 #Romance #HistoricalFiction #fantasy

2025-02-12 22:49:58 UTC

#JustFinished Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada
The writing was lovely. The threads pulling everyone together were kinda cool. I clearly lost track of the point. I listened to the end twice, thinking of spaced out and missed something. Either I didn't, or I missed it a lot further back! It felt kind of like a highly coincidental slice of life story. Kinda weird. Kinda fun.
#SFF #books #bookstodon #SciFi @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-02-09 03:11:43 UTC

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Bring back? You say that as if they're not doing it now.

2025-02-09 02:20:24 UTC

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pillage level again. Rinse, repeat. Stakeholder Capitalism would be lovely, but someone would come along and kick down our sandcastles again.
Anyway, a good read, even though we diverged at the end.
3/3
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #bookstodon #NonFiction

2025-02-09 02:19:37 UTC

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take on it. It's a lovely thought, but naive, in my opinion.
We go through cycles where the "leaders of industry" pillage the companies they run, the environments in which they exist, and the very people they rely on to survive. That's the employees and consumers, if you're wondering. And the the governments step in to rein the worst of it in and we're ok for a little while. Then there's another Welch (hmmm, maybe Uber?) to takeit up to the
2/
@npub1ny7…uv57 #bookstodon #NonFiction #books

2025-02-09 02:18:09 UTC

#JustFinished The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Geddes
I feel like we could be living in a better world had someone told Jack Welch that no amount of power or money would fill the hole in his heart and sent him to therapy.
This was an incisive history of Jack Welch at GE and the downstream effect he and his proteges had on the U.S. economy. Gelles doesn't trash capitalism bat believes we can have ethical capitalism instead of the Welchian
1/
#NonFiction #books @npub1ny7…uv57 #bookstodon

2025-02-08 00:28:16 UTC

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his standard, non-inflected voice used for the MC and narration was right in the pitch I can ignore easily. Also, it was the flattest of his voices. I do feel it detracted from the story for me.
2/2
@npub1ny7…uv57 #fantasy #SFF #books #bookstodon

2025-02-08 00:27:46 UTC

#JustFinished Witch King by Martha Wells
The world building was quite good and the magic system was interesting. And who'd'a thunk the demons would be the good guys?
On the other hand? The story was too much about the war and the politics for my taste, and not enough about the psyche and the sociology. I'm sure other people would enjoy it more.
But read the book rather than listen to the audiobook. The narrator was competent, but...
1/2
#fantasy #SFF #books #bookstodon @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-01-24 13:37:23 UTC

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You can fuck right off.

2025-01-24 13:04:39 UTC

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I guess that upon further reflection, the author did present the treatment of the character as a bad thing. So, the message around that part is that persecution is bad.
I just feel like the central points of the story would have been equally as effective without Luzia having been a Crypto-Jew. This says to me there was no need to include the racist trope.
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #bookstodon #HistoricalFiction #fantasy

2025-01-24 12:55:38 UTC

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Clearly, you are sometime who hasn't been on the receiving end of systemic oppression.

2025-01-24 05:02:32 UTC

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Should good fiction leave one with unease? Yes, but I would argue it should do it for reasons other than pulling racist tropes into the 21st century.
3/3
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #bookstodon #HistoricalFiction #fantasy

2025-01-24 05:02:00 UTC

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Here's the however. I was disturbed by the main character being a being of magic and a Crypto-Jew. This was a common belief about Jews in this time period, and a reason for their persecution. Of course, as they do now, Christians then believed all sorcery came from their Devil. So, how can I read this historical fiction as something other than anti-Semetic? I can't really rate this well because of the unease it leaves me with.
2/
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #bookstodon #HistoricalFiction #fantasy

2025-01-24 05:01:20 UTC

#JustFinished The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
another book with religious themes. Why do I do this to myself? Well, this one was for a book club.
What did we have here? A young woman, living a life of neglect, trauma, drudgery, and fear. And we're supposed to wonder why She craved more, as her aunt wondered? The book was well enough done, with an interesting story line.
1/
#books #bookstodon #HistoricalFiction #fantasy @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-01-22 00:52:26 UTC

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She made the point that's there's a lot more at play than just the "restrictive rights' driven policies" most people point to. For instance, failing at a business venture and having to declare bankruptcy in the U.S. is much less punative than it is in the E.U. I also really appreciated her phrase "techo libertarian" as I felt it was spot on as a description of the corporate driven "free market ideal" in the. U.S.
@npub1ny7…uv57 #books #bookstodon #NonFiction #tech

2025-01-22 00:51:12 UTC

#JustFinished Digital Empires by Anu Bradford
I finally finished this slog of a book. Don't get me wrong, it was well done, but it was DENSE! Which is mostly what l expected. For a scholarly book, it was pretty accessible.
I'm glad I read it, as it was quite informative and interesting and answered quite a few questions I had. I particularly liked Bradford's discussion of the reasons behind the increased innovation in the U.S. vs the E.U.
#books #bookstodon #NonFiction #tech @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-01-18 22:40:12 UTC

?
#JustFinished Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Wry, witty, and fun!
#book #bookstodon #SciFi #SFF @npub1ny7…uv57

2025-01-02 00:27:53 UTC

OK, so we didn't have quorum for game tonight. Instead, we debated the ethics of necromancy.
So, in a culture where raising the dead is a thing that happens, would there be a system to know who would be willing to be raised and as what? If so, how would you know who you could raise? Would having consent before death make raising the dead non-evil? Would it be opt-in or opt-out? These are the important questions.
#necromancy #ttrpg #ethics

2024-09-19 11:42:08 UTC

Babs jamming herself between me and the pillow this morning. This is where I often find her when I wake in the middle of the night. She's become a real cuddle-bug. 🥰🥰🥰
#catsofmastodon #cats
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/113/164/021/062/370/199/original/7d13996c063ab3fd.jpg