LINKDING

<blockquote>After Ted, and before the Next Thing, Alexis joins a curling team. She's great at it, because, what, like it's hard?</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Every day,” Elle continued, “we boldly go out to face strange new corners of the galaxy, and you look your best, and what do I look like? A blonde satsuma.” “It’s not that bad.” “In civilian clothes, I am a force to be reckoned with. I can even make the dress uniforms work. But this—” Elle moved her hand up and down incredulously, indicating the soft, command gold fabric of her standard Starfleet gear. “I look pasty. And orange. At the same time. Something has got to be done about this.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>Diana feared for a moment that it would not work—that the light of her power wasn't enough, and the ice would never melt. But then the first splintering crack reached her ears, and a moment later the wall of it before her had cracked, shattered; pieces broke off and slid away, the ice splitting deeper and deeper, still reflecting with red-gold shimmers of light. And then, all at once, a series of gasps, ragged startled half-drawn breaths—and Lois coughed.</blockquote>

<blockquote>She stood before the judges in the dim light, Justine just to her left. Lyra pulled a sheaf of paper from her pockets. Their marriage certificate. Proof of cohabitation. Sheet music for the nocturne. “I’ve come to ask safe passage for myself and my wife to the realm of the living,” Lyra said. Her voice was loud in the chamber and she did not let it shake.</blockquote>

<blockquote>What happens when a disembodied AI and her amorphous slime best friend get a synthesized body to experiment with? To start with....mammal bodies are weird. But also: they're kind of fun. </blockquote>

<blockquote>The Hiran capital of Ars Tagig has been sieged, its walls breached and people brought low, but for the assassin Arden, there is a more pressing concern: that she has been chosen to be the goddess Rovena's consort for the planting festival. Typically a revered position to ensure the prosperity of Hira in the next year, Arden can think of no worse fate. </blockquote>

<blockquote>Leah Beecham is cast as Marguerite, and that's only the first surprise that the university Operatic Society production of Faust brings with it. And Ellie Everett should probably have kept out of OpSoc altogether if she wanted to avoid Music Department drama, but it's a bit late now, because she's got the part of Siebel...</blockquote> ➤ I really liked this! I loved how the themes of the personal lives of the characters ended up fitting into the themes of their final performance, and although the characters were relatively lightly sketched I still believed in their relationships

<blockquote>When I publish a new book, traditionally I post a free short story about the characters from my last book, based on reader requests. “One of those ‘bid on a dinner/kiss’ auctions used for a charity/political fundraiser! In a modern AU.” The story is about 7500 words, and it’s Sukey/Phoebe. (With background Sukey/John and Phoebe/Nick, of course! With polyamory all things are possible. 😘)</blockquote> ➤ now at https://www.roselerner.com/bookshelf/lively-st-lemeston/listen-to-moon/if-we-be-friends-a-listen-to-the-moon-short-story/

<blockquote>When a neighboring queen challenges Thandiwe for her border mines, she must find a champion to fight for her.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The palace was captured by the Chen-Pa sometime in the afternoon. Jiayi couldn't have said when with any certainty. It felt as though she should have known, as if someone should have sounded the temple bell to announce it; it was strange, kneeling in the dimness of her chamber in the women's palace with maidservants huddled close around her, listening to their quiet sobbing and realizing all at once that she couldn't tell. If battle continued, it was not close enough to hear. Perhaps it was all already over.</blockquote> ➤ Relationship: Conquering Kingslayer General/Newly Widowed Queen she marries to legitimize her rule

<blockquote>Bethany and Martha, after Jumanji.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Amita comes back to New York after her Tinder date goes badly, not sure what to do next. Constance helps her figure it out.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Josie Brooke plays Horatio in a student production of Hamlet, and learns about patience, friendship, and love.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The night she left to follow the King, it wasn't raining or anything like that.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Post-BvS, pre-JL: Five conversations Diana and Lois could have had, and one time there wasn't all that much talking left to do.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Shuri's paper is refuted in a subclause of a footnote. This means war. (And somehow eventually takeout and fully-funded projects and kissing.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>“So you’re a chef,” the huntress said, after she’d saved the day, “and you’re out here to hunt and cook a dragon?” “Yes?” Kee picked leaves off her muddied pants, a futile gesture.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In late summer of the fourteenth year of the reign of Fei-hu the Road-Builder, on a day when the portents suggested peace and prosperity throughout the city and all its territories, the warrior Aun-ki woke up and found that her skin caught fire at the slightest touch. Pale flickers of flame sprouted on her brown arms, almost invisible in the sunlight, then guttered out. Even the light drape of her dressing gown across her shoulders was like the grind of a blade on a whetstone, striking sparks. The fabric browned, and when her apprentice Jin-ho came in to help her bathe, Jin-ho’s fingers left streams of blisters in their wake.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Marla and Zufi, the reigning queens of Hell, were eight years into a meaningless spat, living more as roommates than lovers, and as a consequence, Marla was irritable and Zufi was bored.</blockquote> ➤ a light read

➤ the one where a reincarnated dinosaur searches for the bones of her long-dead love

<blockquote>Magnon wants a better life. It does not come about the way she expects.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It is never lucky for a child to kill her mother in the course of her own birth. Perhaps for this reason, the soothsayer who attended the naming ceremony for Princess Essylt was not a celebrated one. Haidis had barely finished his own apprenticeship when the summons came. He knew that delivering the prophecy for this princess was a thankless job, because no soothsayer in his right mind would attempt to foretell the life of a girl-child born out of death. His mentor and former teacher told him to sugarcoat the prophecy as much as possible. “She’s unimportant, in the grand scheme of things,” said Gerlach. “King Radek needs a son; he’ll find a new bride soon enough and the princess will simply be married off when she’s older.” He gave Haidis a sharp glance. “Make sure your prophecy sounds true enough, but remember that the king doesn’t need the truth; he only needs a benediction.”</blockquote> ➤ fairy tale ish

<blockquote>Constable Kershaw has not uttered any overrides, nor issued a warrant to access her memory logs, but Celia understands nonetheless that she is expected to stay, to sit and answer his questions like a suspect. It surprises her, this treatment. Like she’s human.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The date is June 18th, 1815. The place is Waterlô. And Sa Segokgo is racing against time. The treads of her boots scoop up huge tracts of bloody, Belgian soil and thresh it into aerosol. Archaic bullets dart about her like swarming mosquitoes, pinging noisily off her poly-diadmant suit, its staalglas facepiece. An experienced strandrunner, she is not daunted by such minor impacts. Over ridges and craters she leaps, devouring meters with each stride, explosively imprinting the IOvac corporate icon wherever she lands. Her armor does its work, yes, but it is her conditioned body that knows how to exert itself most efficiently. Every movement must barter energy for distance, and profit. There are no pit stops in this sport; to spend recklessly will purchase only a quicker death.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Queerness as the vanguard of transformation,” the woman with the pink hair was saying, “that’s what it’s about. Whereas Deepika’s latest is more about conformity with the establishment. She’s this odd little government flunky. I’d think it were performance art if it weren’t so sad. Meg, or Megan or something.” It was the fault of her shoes, Meg thought. Sensible ballet flats with soles that made no sound on the floor tiles. Or else the fault of the damn Victorian architect who’d built this house back in the year whatever and attached the bathroom to the kitchen, of all things, so you went off to hide from your girlfriend’s tiresomely political (if not until this moment actively loathsome) friends and found yourself listening behind the door to their unvarnished opinion of you.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jill took a deep breath, and set her shoulders. In three more hours, this would all be over. She could get through it. She’d be fine. The Jill in the mirror looked less confident about the prospect – but then, you kind of couldn’t blame her, once you took a good look at the whole picture.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The world as they know it is ending; a new one is taking its place. Among the doctors and nurses of a clinic-turned-fortress, Kath is coming of age in this new world, and helping define it. But that doesn’t make letting go of the old any easier.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Racquel held her breath for a moment, hoping madly that it was something else — a new project, maybe, or an unrelated item, or maybe not even about Leigh at all. Then her eyes focused on the headline: At Speculative Smorgasboard panel, Leigh March reveals she’s had romantic relationships with both men and women.</blockquote> ➤ I really loved a lot of things about this story and had a lot of feelings, but I'm feeling left hanging by the ending because it never actually addresses Racquel's concerns about being out despite the changes at the end clearly making their relationship at the very least an open secret!!!

<blockquote>“Trish,” Jess says, against her better judgement, because Jessica Jones makes bad decisions. “If you ever need a fake date for a wedding to piss off these losers? Just make sure there’s an open bar and I’m there.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>Paseia takes care to observe her supplicants before every consultation; a successful interpreter must read and accommodate any mood. Fortunately, Lady Ouridia Diphan and Lady Biota Leanax descend from their shuttle in high spirits, which gain altitude as Paseia leads their ladyships to the appointed room. They are a pair in their early thirties, fiancées, both of them pretty as puddings straight from the mold. Though tall Lady Biota wears spectacles, and though Lady Ouridia has neglected to powder her freckles, their styles of dress and speech are otherwise nigh identical not only to each other, but to every other wealthy woman whom Paseia has served. Their gowns bell from this or that season’s new waist-line; their hats perch upon the inevitable curls; their lips shape each syllable with gushing precision. The oracles, oh, just look at them! Paseia, too, could rhapsodize about the parrots, but she will not subject their ladyships to the interpreters’ orisons, most of which are fond insults and complaints.</blockquote>