@beecycling@romancelandia.club cover
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beecycling

@beecycling@romancelandia.club

Writer, Geordie, crone, Friend of DeSoto, Anarcho-curious

Interests: Writing , Sci-Fi, Stoicism, Atheism, Humanism, Science, Star Trek, Crochet, Anarchism, Red Pandas, Cats, PokemonGo, Fountain Pens, Journaling, Active Travel, Solarpunk, Minimalism, Tea, Revolution

Born at 322ppm

Avatar is a red panda. Header shows hot tea being poured into a cup, as steam rises, with golden light behind it.

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dickrubin716 , to bookstodon group
@dickrubin716@bookstodon.com avatar

I would love to get your thoughts and feedback on my from my latest book, The Challenges of Being Me. Do you like it? Does it capture your attention? Without knowing anything about the book, what genre would you say this cover best fits? @bookstodon

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@dickrubin716
It's not really eye-catching. I'd assume it's a memoir, but then there's a disconnect between the woman in the picture and the author name, so that would confuse me on that score.

Have you tried using Canva for making covers? They've got plenty of free pre-made ones, that you can tweak and customise in many ways.
@bookstodon

Jennifer , to bookstodon group
@Jennifer@bookstodon.com avatar

I need some new science fiction to read, who has some suggestions? I don't like military sci-fi. For reference, my favorite series is the Expanse, I also enjoyed Scalzi's Collapsing Empire, I love Robert Charles Wilson's books. I mostly enjoy space operas and unique stories about technology, for example I really liked the recent book Mountain in the Sea about AI and intelligent octopus. Suggestions from the awesome Bookstodon community? @bookstodon

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@LordWoolamaloo @Jennifer @bookstodon Seconding that. Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazing - and you won't run out of books very quickly, because darn that man is prolific!

Have you read the Bobiverse series, by Denis E Taylor? Starts with We Are Legion.

And Nathan Lowell's Ishmael Wang books, which is a kind of space competency porn. Nobody can make you glued to small details like Nathan Lowell. Starts with Quarter Share.

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@LordWoolamaloo @Jennifer @bookstodon I've been following the Ishmael Wang books since they were coming out serialised on the Podiobooks website many moons ago, narrated by the author. They're still going. The newest one just came out in audio, though they have a new narrator these days. I get the audiobooks, since that's how I started the series, but they're on ebook and paper too. They tend to come out in trilogies, apart from three more stand alone ones after the first triliogy.

MostlyHarmless , to Random
@MostlyHarmless@thecanadian.social avatar

Do not seize the day. This will startle the day and may cause it to become aggressive and give you a nasty bite.
Instead approach the day calmly without making eye contact, pet it gently, and slowly enfold it in a careful embrace
If the day shows any signs of resistance to being engaged with, it is likely to turn on you. Back off and return to bed.

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@jnfingerle
No other source. It was my original nonsense.
@MostlyHarmless

herhandsmyhands , to Romancelandia group
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia.club avatar

@romancelandia

I watched series 1 of Vera, and wasn't impressed.

https://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2024/02/26/vera/

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@herhandsmyhands
@romancelandia
I've watched a few episodes, usually when staying at someone else's house. I'm not really into police procedurals, so I'm not that keen. I do like spotting bits of Newcastle and the North East that I know.

kimlockhartga , to bookstodon group
@kimlockhartga@beige.party avatar

@bookstodon Do you own any autographed books? If so, did you personally meet the author at a signing?

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon I have five signed Terry Pratchett books, all from in person signings. And a few other more obscure authors. Oh and I recently picked up a second hand book with a signed book plate in it by Aliette de Bodard.

ajsadauskas , to Fuck Cars
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

What can you get to within a 15-minute walk of your house?

A recent YouGov survey asked Americans what they think they should be able to get to within a 15-minute walk of their house.

Of these choices, I can currently walk to all of them from my apartment, aside from a university (no biggie, I'm not currently studying, although there is a Tafe within walking distance), a hospital, and a sports arena.

How many can you get to with a 15 minute walk from your house?

@fuck_cars

beecycling , (edited )
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars There's a couple of weird things missing there I would definitely include, like a doctor's office, a library and a gym.

I'm in a city in the UK and a lot of those are in 15 minutes walk from me. Some, like a hospital, university, cinema, shopping mall and sports arena and I think a bank I'd have to go into the city centre for, but that's only about 30 minutes walk, 10 minutes on the bike, or a short bus or metro ride. I'm generally pretty lucky in my location.

beecycling ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@blindsight In the UK a lot of bank branches have closed over the last couple of decades. The post office can do some basic banking services for some of the banks, but hardly a comprehensive service. It's especially a problem for more isolated rural communities some of which don't even have a post office either.

beecycling , to bookstodon group
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

I finished R.F. Kuang's Babel yesterday. Bloody great book. I feel like something lighter now, so starting Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

Oh and the current audiobook I have going is Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. I believe all these books are ones I got tipped off too by Reading Glasses podcast, which seems to be influencing me a lot lately. 📚 #Books @bookstodon

beecycling OP ,
@beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

@bookstodon Going from Dark Academia to Cozy Academia. I'll get whiplash. 😁

georgetakei , to Random
@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar

Ask and you shall receive.

Text that reads: Adam Daniel » Christians Against Science "The earth is 4000 years old. Change my mind." Nathan Parr "The half-life of uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years. It decays into radium-226, which in turn decays into radon-222. Radon-222 becomes polonium-210, which finally decays into a stable nuclide, lead. The existence of lead as an element disproves the 4000 year old myth"
ALT
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    • beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @georgetakei Can't change a mind that's atrophied from lack of use.

    courts , to bookstodon group
    @courts@infosec.exchange avatar

    Ok, so this is really annoying. My copy of Anne Leckie's Translation State wasn't properly cut, so every couple of pages I need to carefully slice them open...

    @bookstodon

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @courts @bookstodon Just a little glimpse of what it must have been like reading in the 19th century.

    beecycling , to bookstodon group
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    I'm still reading Babel by R.F. Kuang, but found the hardback I had from the library was just too honking big and unwieldy and put me off picking it up, or reading in bed, or taking it out in my bag with me. So I've bought the paperback and dropped the hardback back off at the library for someone with stronger wrists than me. @bookstodon

    beecycling OP ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    Also bought today for the TBR pile: Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, The Cloisters by Katy Hays and Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. (Audible for that last one.) A lot of these definitely influenced by the Reading Glasses podcast. :blobcatread: @bookstodon

    dvmheather , to bookstodon group
    @dvmheather@toot.cat avatar

    New to me authors in 2023 who I liked enough to read more than once.

    https://www.spiritblog.net/new-to-me-authors-in-2023/

    @bookstodon

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @dvmheather
    Well that's fattened up my TBR list.
    @bookstodon

    pzmyers , to Random
    @pzmyers@octodon.social avatar

    Ken Ham embraces the Ray Comfort theory of the evolution of sex. How wrong can they both be?

    https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/01/29/ken-ham-is-sad-that-other-denominations-have-gotten-smarter/

    Darwin theorized that mankind (both male and female) evolved alongside each other over millions of years, both reproducing after their own kind before the ability to physically have sex evolved. They did this through "asexuality" ("without sexual desire or activity or lacking any apparent sex or sex organs"). Each of them split in half ("Asexual organisms reproduce by fission (splitting in half).")
    ALT
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    • beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @pzmyers In my nightmares I'm pursued by a giant banana wearing Ray Comfort's moustache.

    beecycling , to bookstodon group
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    After enjoying R.F. Kuang's Yellowface so much, I'm now reading Babel - which I got from the library. It's a 500+ page honker, and the library copy is a hardback so I can't exactly slip it in my pocket to carry around. It's definitely an at home read. Enjoying it so far. She has a very readable style. @bookstodon

    beecycling OP ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @olliethewobbly @bookstodon Yeah, I saw about that. Gross.

    beecycling OP ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @Jennifer @olliethewobbly @bookstodon There are times she made me gasp at her audacity. It's a great character piece.

    beecycling OP ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @olliethewobbly @Jennifer @bookstodon She's so oblivious, and as self-centred as a black hole. I listened to the audiobook and it works very well as audio.

    LincolnRamirez , to bookstodon group
    @LincolnRamirez@mstdn.social avatar

    Setting myself a completely different challenge for this year and onwards. Any recommendations, would be very welcome!

    @bookstodon

    https://conversationsaboutbooks5.wordpress.com/2024/01/21/mapping-the-world-in-books/

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @LincolnRamirez @bookstodon You could try Elif Shafak. She's Turkish, though lives in the UK now. I've read The Island of Missing Trees, 10 minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect's Apprentice, and they're all great.

    herhandsmyhands , to Romancelandia group
    @herhandsmyhands@romancelandia.club avatar

    @romancelandia
    Brit friends, help? Would someone from a good family--not aristocracy, but perhaps landed gentry--refer to themselves as "a posh" when talking to someone else. As in, "I may be a posh from (place), but..."

    (please share for reach)

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @herhandsmyhands @romancelandia It wouldn't be standard usage to say "a posh" as the word is primarily used as an adjective. As in "She's really posh", rather than "She's a posh." There is a more informal term "posho", that is a noun, so they could say "I may be a posho..." But beware, that's apparently also a type of food, so could cause confusion if readers try to look it up!

    beecycling , to Random
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    Has the goat burned?

    No, the Gävle goat stands, but is in an increasingly bird-ravaged state. But it's Christmas tomorrow! :julbock:

    #GävleGoat
    #GävleBocken
    #Goatwatch2023

    https://www.visitgavle.se/en/gavlebocken
    Live stream
    https://www.youtube.com/live/CC_NDwdzwwc?si=XkcQZcr1QnGZQaEu

    The Gävle Goat on the morning of 24th of December 2023. Picture shows a large straw effigy of a goat with red trimmings surrounded by a fence. Behind the goat a tree lined esplanade and the Gävle theatre are visible. Parts of the image are pixelated to obscure people passing by. The goat shows a lot of damage from foraging birds, and parts of its underlying frame are clearly visible where straw has been torn away. Picture from YouTube Live Feed.
    ALT
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    • beecycling OP ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @gabboman Let it get to Christmas at least. 😁

    georgetakei , to Random
    @georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar

    What a world.

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @georgetakei It does mildly amuse me that the headline is written in such a way that it implies he blames Biden for his not winning The Masked Singer.

    pivic , to Random
    @pivic@kolektiva.social avatar

    ‘It’s totally unhinged’: is the book world turning against Goodreads? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/18/goodreads-review-bombing

    I hate Goodreads. The site is just a continuation of Amazon as a surveillance capitalist nightmare, one that's never updated. Bugs are rife.

    I prefer Bookwyrm:

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @eddeeMN @pivic @bookstodon That's been how I've used it for ages. I'm not even going to do that next year. Just going to use a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are much more fun than Goodreads.

    Really now my only reason to still be a member on there is to make sure the details of my books (that is, the ones wot I wrote) are on there and correct.

    sunflower , to bookstodon group
    @sunflower@plush.city avatar

    recommend me a book! i like fantasy, paranormal romance, sci-fi, queer fiction. i need 12 recommendations from other people for a 2024 reading challenge :blobcatblep:

    @bookstodon

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @sunflower @bookstodon
    Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather - space nuns (some queer) on a living ship. And there's a book 2: Sisters of the Forsaken Stars.

    The audiobook is in the Plus catalogue if you're an Audible member.

    franciscawrites , to bookstodon group
    @franciscawrites@mastodon.scot avatar

    As if children's books aren't already losing visibility due to censorship now this...

    This year Goodreads has removed all children's books categories from their Goodreads Choice Awards, meaning no more or categories. Worse, Graphic Novel & Poetry, have also been eliminated.

    Here you can vote to ask them to bring those categories back:

    https://help.goodreads.com/s/suggestions/a0G8V00001thIKIUA2/choice-awards-middle-grade-picture-book-novelinverse-each-a-category

    @bookstodon

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @raymccarthy @franciscawrites @bookstodon They're also killing the Comixology app, so people have to use the Kindle App instead to read the comics they bought on Comixology.

    SusannaShore , to bookstodon group
    @SusannaShore@wandering.shop avatar

    System Collapse by Martha Wells, the latest MurderBot book, is out today and it's great. Read my review: https://susannashore.blogspot.com/2023/11/system-collapse-by-martha-wells-review.html

    @bookstodon

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @ianturton @SusannaShore @bookstodon Are you sure? I just got an email from Audible saying it's available now. And it's available on Kindle.

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @Rhube @ianturton @SusannaShore @bookstodon Weird. Must be a mess up somewhere. But is that by Tor, by Amazon, or by the printer maybe, not getting the stock to Amazon in time. Hope your order arrives swiftly from Blackwell's!

    georgetakei , to Random
    @georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar

    Thoughts and prayers for the billionaires... 🚀

    beecycling ,
    @beecycling@romancelandia.club avatar

    @georgetakei Something tells me the rate of sign ups will be slow.

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