📚 Queen Wallis by C.J. Carey

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55/2023 – ⭐⭐⭐

A sequel to Widowland, one of this year’s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated books, set in an alternate-history UK where Germany won WWII, and the UK is now an allied protectorate of Germany, under the nominal reign of Queen Wallace Simpson, entirely reduced to a figurehead. Following the events of Widowland, and in anticipation of the first diplomatic visit from the United States in years, England is under even tighter control. The importance of literature and poetry are important threads again, and the book does a good job of continuing the story after the climax of Widowland, picking up threads and quite believably ratcheting up the tension. I’ll definitely be interested to see if the series continues on.

Me holding Queen Wallis

Year 50 Day 155

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Me on our back porch, with lots of small orange lights strung across like a web.

Day 155: The other bit of lights we put up are these orange strings all across our back porch. Mostly only visible to us, but can just be glimpsed from the street if someone glances over at just the right time as they drive by.

Year 50 Day 153

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Me in front of our house with the halloween lights I put up yesterday glowing. There are purple and orange strings along one side, and glowing green, orange, and purple spiders along another.

Day 153: Since yesterday’s shot of me putting up our Halloween lights was taken during the day, I figured one taken after sundown tonight to show them lit up was in order. Much more impressive this way!

Spooky Season Redesign

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Just because I can, and I haven’t done anything like this in ages, I’ve given my blog a minor redesign for spooky season. Just color and font tweaks, nothing major, and this site is so low-traffic that I doubt many people other than me will notice, but hey — that’s okay too.

Screenshot of this blog, showing the design with pumpkin-y ornages and yellows, and headers using classic creepy fonts.

Enjoy spooky season, everyone! Less than a month until Goth Christmas! ;)

Why Don’t You Get A Job-La-Di, Cecilia? (Simon & Garfunkel vs. The Beatles vs. The Offspring)

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This is one I’ve had bouncing around in my head for years, knowing it was ridiculous, but all three songs are so similar that I had to give it a shot. Now you get to suffer too! ;)

Download: DJ Wüdi – Why Don’t You Get A Job-La-Di, Cecilia? (2.7 MB .mp3)

📚 The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

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54/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1991 Hugo Best Novel

Miles’s adventures continue, with all the twists, fun characters, double-crosses, and humor that make this series so enjoyable. The adventure is fun, but it really is the characters and how they relate to each other that impress the most. Four books in, and so far the only disappointment is that I didn’t find this series earlier.

Me holding The Vor Game