Entry tags:

How Did I Get Here?

1) At the grocery this morning and their clothing displays mirror the seesaw of our weather – puffy coats next to sundresses. It was so warm today than when I came back to drop the groceries off, I had to change into a t-shirt before I went out again, and it was barely 10 AM.

2) Had a nice piece of luck as well. The grocery was running a $10 coupon for $100 or more of purchases. I had to drop my partner off at work this morning because he had an all-day thing, and in the rush forgot to take the grocery list. So as I was putting stuff in the trunk I remembered I'd forgotten his celery. Went back and decided to pick up a few more things since I had the $10 coupon now. Got to the register and realized someone had left that same coupon sitting in the machine when they left! So I got the $10 off and still have my coupon for next week.

It amazes me how people don't bother taking their coupons. It's usually for things they're buying anyway and a free item is not unusual. And this was literally $10 in cash sitting there, when groceries are so expensive! I didn't even know what it was at first, just saw that someone hadn't taken their coupon and figured I'd look to see if it was something I could use.

3) Also on the grocery front, I have recently become addicted to Sumo oranges. Came across them during a sale, and got just one bag because they're pricey. Came back home with 3 the following week.

Oranges have never been my favorite, even though we had incredibly good ones growing in our backyard growing up. These are the closest I've gotten to those. I never end up eating only one.

3) As part of

marchmetamatterschallenge, I have been going through my

tv_talk comments in case I discussed much about a show (mostly, no). However it was a good reminder about a great many shows I watched which I liked and would recommend, but might not think of if someone asked me.

Some of these were strong throughout, and some long running ones have some weaker seasons but still worth watching. In no particular order, just as they came up on my entries: ( Read more... )

4) One of the things reviewing all these past posts made me aware of is how much more TV I'm watching, but overall with less enjoyment. Every so often I hit a show I would really recommend, but usually they fall into the "ok" category or I just nope out of it a few episodes in.

I think the changes in TV have a lot to do with this. ( Read more... )

Poll #34334 Kudos Footer-561

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0

Want to leave a Kudos?

View Answers

Kudos!
0 (0.0%)

View From a Hotel Window, 3/6/26: San Antonio

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/06/view-from-a-hotel-window-3-6-26-san-antonio/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59728

Inspiring view, isn’t it.

I’m here in San Antonio specifically to be part of the Pop Madness Convention at the San Antonio Public Library tomorrow, March 7. I’ll be there along with Martha Wells, Robert Jackson Bennett, John Picacio and other cool folks, being on panels and signing books and all that good stuff. If you’re in the San Antonio area tomorrow, come down and see us!

And if you’re not in the San Antonio area tomorrow, I mean, have a good Saturday anyway, I guess.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/06/view-from-a-hotel-window-3-6-26-san-antonio/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59728

A Graphic Memoir, Urban Fantasy, & More

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/a-graphic-memoir-urban-fantasy-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167287

Breakout Year

Breakout Year by KD Casey is $2.49! This is a Kindle Daily Deal. It’s available elsewhere, but I’m not seeing it at the sale price. This is a m/m sports romance with fake dating.

A newly traded, newly out third baseman on the cusp of his first major contract hires a fake boyfriend—not expecting him to be the former player who ghosted him years before. But as their star ascends in public, their feelings burn hot in private…threatening to expose what’s for the cameras—and what’s for real.

Eitan Rivkin is used to being first. First generation born to Russian immigrant parents, first overall pick in the draft, now the first ballplayer to come out… before his first big contract. It’s lonely being the first, and it’s especially lonely in the inescapable eye of New York sports media.

So when he wants to practice dating openly for the first time, he hires a boyfriend—only for the cameras of course. But he never expected that boyfriend to be Akiva Goldfarb, a once-promising player who disappeared after he and Eitan played together way back when.

Akiva is used to being first too. The first—and only—Orthodox Jewish player drafted to play professional ball. The first to quit when things got rough. The first named in the acknowledgements of the books he freelance edits, because, hey, the rent’s due on the first of the month. Being hired as someone’s (fake) boyfriend is just another gig, right? Even if Akiva left baseball—and baseball players—behind for a reason.

What starts out as a brief arrangement gradually transforms into something more. But being the first openly gay active player in professional baseball comes with a heavy personal cost, one Eitan is less and less certain he’s willing to pay. And when an on-field incident threatens to disrupt Eitan’s free agency plans, they’ll have to figure out if the truth is better than fiction.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Next to You

Next to You by Hannah Bonam-Young is $1.99! This is a contemporary friends to lovers romance where the main characters are turning a bus into a cozy, movable tiny home.

Two friends battle feelings for each other as they work together to renovate a school bus into a home in this charming romance novel from the viral TikTok author of Next of Kin and Out on a Limb.

“Warm, sexy, and vulnerable . . . Hannah Bonam-Young needs to be on your romance radar.”—Hannah Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Icebreaker

Lane is in the middle of an identity crisis. Her friends are all partnered up, her career is heading nowhere, and simply put, she’s not happy. So, after a night out celebrating her birthday, she makes one hell of an impulsive a giant yellow forty-eight-passenger school bus that she intends to make her home.

With little-to-no renovation experience but a large sum of inheritance money, Lane enlists the help of her friend Matt—a mechanic by trade, handyman by practice, and hottie by nature.

While their mutual attraction is undeniable, Matt and Lane have silently agreed that a friendship is the only thing that can ever exist between them. Matt’s a total family guy with “settle down with me” tattooed across his forehead, whereas Lane is entirely commitment averse. It could never work . . . right?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Dirty Magic

Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells is $1.99! This is book one in the Propero’s War urban fantasy series. Some readers warn that they couldn’t put this book down, while others felt the action was bogged down by world building.

The last thing patrol cop Kate Prospero expected to find on her nightly rounds was a werewolf covered in the blood of his latest victim. But then, she also didn’t expect that shooting him would land her in the crosshairs of a Magic Enforcement Agency task force, who wants to know why she killed their lead snitch.

The more Prospero learns about the dangerous new potion the MEA is investigating, the more she’s convinced that earning a spot on their task force is the career break she’s been wanting. But getting the assignment proves much easier than solving the case. Especially once the investigation reveals their lead suspect is the man she walked away from ten years earlier—on the same day she swore she’d never use dirty magic again.

Kate Prospero’s about to learn the hard way that crossing a wizard will always get you burned, and that when it comes to magic, you should be never say never.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Hyperbole and a Half

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh is $1.99! I’ve been a fan of Brosh’s work for a long time and gave this a B grade:

Everything is told with Brosh’s trademark self-deprecation and accentuated by her oftentimes hilarious art style. I love how mischievous and expressive cartoon Allie is. I can’t help but laugh at “the simple dog” and how the animal looks positively boneless and made of jello in every frame. It’s a book with personality in every aspect of its pages and I enjoyed taking my time with it.

This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative–like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it–but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:

Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/a-graphic-memoir-urban-fantasy-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167287

Entry tags:

Cluster

What We Lose When We Gamify Reading, well yeah, but this is someone who considers Middlemarch 'a slog'. I'm also, of course, thinking about previous allotropes of this kind of thing - actual libraries you could buy of The Best Books - and of course display them on your shelves - and I'm also recollecting The Provincial Lady who can never manage to actually read That Book That Everyone Is Talking About. Of reading as something that is not, reading that thing that you want to read, when you want to read it, at the speed that seems fit (which may involve stopping and starting and hiatuses).

***

If not a smaller, a more connected world than people maybe think: How likely is it that Alfred the Great sent two emissaries to India in the ninth century?:

Alfred’s embassy to India thus appears to be entirely historically plausible: India, with its Christian community and shrine of St Thomas, was probably always the intended destination, and its remoteness from early medieval England the very point of the embassy.

***

This feels like yet another story that might perhaps account for Why Are There So Few Women In [X] Field which is not down to actual aptitude and drive: There’s a long and embedded history of abuse in chess.

***

Home Free: Vivian Gornick, interviewed by Chandler Fritz

Everything depends on the writer’s relation to the first-person narrator. Some writers are released into storytelling through the fictional narrator; others are released by the nonfictional “I.” The first become novelists, the second memoirists. It’s all a matter of what kind of narrator lets you tell the story. When I was young I kept telling these stories about my mother and our neighbor Nettie, and everyone said, “That’s a novel!” But when I tried to write a novel the material just lay there like a dead dog: I couldn’t bring it to life. When I realized it was a memoir and the narrator was clearly me, suddenly I was home free.

***

The Cold War and the Soviet KGB's Same-Sex Entrapment Operations in the 1950s and 1960s: The Perpetrator in Focus. Intriguing. When I was employed in an institution which at the time came under the aegis of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office I was obliged to attend an FCO Induction Course. This had very little relevance to my job, and among the proceedings were cautionary films about being got at by Soviet agents. In one case although the surface level involved the patsy being lured by publication in a Red journal his relationship with the tempter seemed to have definite homoerotic undertones.

Entry tags:

Star Wars: Empire #35

( A Model Officer )

March 2026 Queer Romances

Posted by Dahlia Adler

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/march-2026-queer-romances/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167155

For whatever reason, March is one of the most packed months this year with regard to queer releases, and it’s got some of the best queer romances I’ve read in a while! Treat yourself to the kickoff of spring with one (or five!) of these delightful books!

Anderson in Bloom

Author: Jennifer Dugan
Released: March 3, 2026 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

From the author of Love at First Set, a hilariously sexy enemies-to-lovers, second-chance rom-com about a reclusive former child star turned florist whose quiet life is turned upside down when her annoyingly hot ex (and former costar) shows up in town, with plans to write a tell-all memoir.

Former child star Anderson “Andy” Ducharme is hiding—has been for a long time, if she’s honest with herself, which she isn’t.

When she suddenly cut off all ties and left LA six years earlier to work in a flower shop in coastal New England, she wasn’t just running away from toxic relationships, embezzling agents, and all the rest of her Hollywood life; she was running to something… sort of, if you squinted, and if you accepted that what she was running toward was little more than a vacation daydream she had made up with her (in)famous ex, and former costar, Nicole “Nikki” Price.

Then Nikki announces her plan to write a tell-all book about growing up in Hollywood and their tumultuous time on the Nik and Andy show, and Andy’s feelings of hurt and betrayal come rushing back. Emboldened by anger (and maybe one too many drinks), Andy does something very stupid: she texts her ex for the first time in years. No one’s more shocked than Andy when Nikki actually shows up to her small florist shop, looking for answers.

Andy is fully prepared to send Nikki away, but it seems Nikki has some unfinished business as well. Now that she finally knows where Andy’s been hiding, she’s not letting her go so easy. And with each passing encounter, Andy can’t deny the simmering physical attraction that threatens to boil over every time they get close.

But can the two of them really reunite without wrecking Andy’s carefully rebuilt life? Or is she setting herself up for a fresh heartbreak?

I am a die-hard Dugan fan, both YA and Adult, so hear me when I say this second-chance romance is her best one yet. Like, I took out a bookmark and didn’t even use it. The celebrity backstory element combines a fun, juicy gossip feel with one of my favorite things in a romance, which is “Let’s reconcile how you saw this thing going down vs. how I saw this thing going down,” and the way it works through toxicity in a romance is a lovely thing to behold.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Find buy links for this book here..

Star Shipped

Author: Cat Sebastian
Released: March 3, 2026 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

Cat Sebastian’s long-awaited foray into contemporary romance! A witty, emotional, and deliciously slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance between two costars on a popular sci-fi television series.

Simon and Charlie, actors on a long-running sci-fi show, can’t stand one another. Charlie is impetuous, outgoing, and basically feral, and Simon thinks he should have stayed in reality television where he belongs. They’ve spent the better part of a decade quarreling over the spotlight and pretty much everything else, and everybody in the industry knows it. Now that Simon’s contract is finally done, he can move to New York, start fresh with work he actually likes, and get away from Charlie.

Simon’s only problem is that people might assume he’s been pushed off the show due to being impossible to work with. And he is kind of difficult to work with. He doesn’t get along with people—unlike Charlie, who somehow tricked everyone on the show into adoring him despite some outrageously bad on-set behavior during the show’s first season. Simon would rather never have to see Charlie again, but reluctantly agrees to stage a very public friendship during the short time before he moves. When Charlie has to leave town to deal with a family emergency, this means Simon comes along. Their road trip brings Simon to places he would never have willingly chosen to visit—and he finds he’s actually not having a terrible time.

The more he gets to know Charlie, the more Simon suspects he’s underestimated his former coworker. Simon also realizes that after seven years, Charlie might know him better than anyone ever has. Even stranger, Charlie seems to be starting to actually like him, despite knowing him so well. Still, Simon is about to move three thousand miles away, so whatever’s starting between him and Charlie can’t really amount to anything… right?

I don’t really think anyone has any doubts as to whether Cat Sebastian, mistress of historical m/m romance, can pull off her first contemporary, but if you did, lemme go ahead and put ’em to bed. All the fun, wit, and chemistry of her historicals is perfectly present, and this one’s got mental health and neurodivergence at the forefront of its Hollywood story too. It reminded me a bit of a grown-up version of one of my all-time favorite m/m YA Romances, How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by JC Lillis, and if that means anything to you, you’re gonna wanna nab this one ASAP.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Want this book? We can help: buy links ahoy!.

Thirty Love

Author: Tom Vellner
Released: March 10, 2026 by Alcove Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance

Things heat up on and off the court for two tennis rivals in this steamy debut gay sports rom-com, perfect for fans of TJ Alexander and Casey McQuiston.

American tennis star Leo Chambers is determined to win the US Open by thirty, the age when many players feel retirement looming. He’s just a year away from that dreaded birthday, but he can’t find his focus—considering he hasn’t told anyone he’s gay, he’s clashing with his strict coach (who also happens to be his dad), and he still can’t figure out how to beat his longtime nemesis on tour, Gabe Montoya, who, well, hits different. Gabe is playing better than ever, and Leo can’t seem to escape him—and maybe he doesn’t want to escape him.

Leo’s other obstacle is Sascha Volkov, a Russian legend who has such a powerful influence on the tennis world, he would destroy Leo’s career if he found out that he’s gay.

No distractions, Leo reminds himself. But when Gabe makes a shocking announcement, Leo is thrown off his game—in more ways than one. Ready? Play.

Thirty Love is a must-read for fans of queer sports romances.

Tennis is having a spectacular moment in queer romance right now for whatever reason (you’ll see at least two more featured in this very column in the next few months, and last year saw one of traditional publishing’s biggest deals ever for a debut Sapphic romance in Katie Chandler’s Backhanded Compliments), but in a sub-subgenre dominated by f/f pairings, I’m particularly excited to see what Vellner’s debut brings to the court.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Want this book? We can help: buy links ahoy!.

A Lady for All Seasons

Author: TJ Alexander
Released: March 10, 2026 by Vintage
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance

From the acclaimed author of Chef’s Kiss and A Gentleman’s Gentleman comes a riotous Regency romp, featuring a charming and unforgettable genderfluid lead.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman who has lost her fortune must be in need (not want) of a husband. Beautiful, cunning Verbena Montrose must marry to save herself and her odious family from abject poverty. Fortunately, what she lacks in a dowry, she makes up for in the currency of gossip.

When she hears an alarming rumor about her very dear, very queer friend Étienne that could ruin him, she comes to his aid with a proposal—for a marriage of convenience, that is. But when Verbena discovers that a mysterious and celebrated poet by the name of Flora Witcombe has been publishing verses that hint she is onto their scheme, Verbena has no choice but to pretend to be a poet herself to confront her in a local salon. And—unexpectedly—be charmed by her.

Flora, in turn, is terrified by and smitten with Verbena in equal measure. But she holds a secret of her he is also William Forsyth, a struggling novelist and fifth son of a minor noble family. And if circumstances don’t allow Flora to woo Verbena, perhaps William can. Faced with two suitors and a fiancé, Verbena, who has always had to be clever to survive in society, starts to realize she may need to think outside of society’s constraints to find true happiness.

Are you tired of hearing me gush about TJ Alexander yet? Don’t care! I’m obsessed with the delight they’re bringing to trans historical romance these days, and both the spirit and wit of their characters and the fact that there’s always a sweet found family aspect to it. This one’s got queer discovery, genderfluidity, yearning, and a plot fit for Shakespeare that’ll have you kicking your feet in the best kind of frustrated glee.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Find buy links for this book here..

Shake Out the Ghosts

Author: Al Hess
Released: March 17, 2026 by Angry Robot
Genre: LGBTQIA, Paranormal, Romance

Left with PTSD and facial scars after an attack 9 months ago, eccentric portrait artist Micah finds the sanctuary of his home disrupted by signs of a haunting. Between 80’s synth pop and motivational messages scrawled on his bathroom mirror, Micah is more charmed than frightened by Cosmo, the deceased previous resident of his apartment. But when Cosmo’s ghost suddenly disappears, Micah’s determined to lure him back.

Dramatic, unconventional and very much alive, sculpture artist Cosmo mourns his old self. His boyfriend’s a serial cheater, he’s continually passed over for a promotion at work, and he’s lost his best friend. To make matters worse, his apartment’s being haunted by a bespectacled man with an eye socket of scars. Seeking a new start, Cosmo moves out.

In a chance meeting, Cosmo and Micah’s paths cross again, and tentative sparks fly. But the phantoms of their pasts still linger. To find a future where they can be happy together, they must confront their trauma once and for all.

Hess has made his name is weird (complimentary) queer and trans speculative fiction of the Dystopian/Sci-Fi type, so it’s very cool to see him swing into Romance while balancing similarly unique and unconventional plot with very real human trauma and growth. Very curious to see what Hess will do next!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Find buy links for this book here..

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/march-2026-queer-romances/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167155

Friday Videos are Uber L33t

Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/friday-videos-are-uber-l33t/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167184

Every now and again, I remember this video.

Well, sort of. Specifically I remember to sing and dance to it across the kitchen at inopportune moments.

I also love silly videos featuring game characters and screen recordings. It’s one of my favorite subgenres, even if I have NO idea which game it is (I know which game this is).

Watch on YouTube

Do you have any fave video game clips or parodies? Please do share in the comments – these threads are freaking delightful because we all have similar senses of humor. Which makes sense.

Happy Friday! PWN Your Weekend!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/friday-videos-are-uber-l33t/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167184

708. From the Vault: Sociology, Romance, and Community with Drs. Jen Lois and Joanna Gregson

Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/708-from-the-vault-sociology-romance-and-community-with-drs-jen-lois-and-joanna-gregson/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=podcast&p=167060

Thank you for joining me for a “from the vault” episode! This is episode 147, originally aired June 26, 2015, so almost 11 years ago.

Drs. Jen Lois and Joanna Gregson did a multi-year study on the community of romance authors and I have never stopped thinking about it. In this conversation, we’re talking about that study, what they learned about romance as a community, especially about gender dynamics.

Listen to the podcast →

Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find their published work based on this study in the following articles – these link to the abstract because I don’t have a membership to this academic database.

The music in the original episode was provided by Sassy Outwater. This is the Peatbog Faeries album Blackhouse. This track is called “The Dragons Apprentice.” Dragons!

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

More ways to sponsor:

Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!

Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/708-from-the-vault-sociology-romance-and-community-with-drs-jen-lois-and-joanna-gregson/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=podcast&p=167060

Entry tags:

Recession?

I broke down and subscribed to the Wall Street Journal online because they have enough articles that interest me. And their newsletters! I subscribed to around 10 of them. They had a deal for $2 a week for a year. Then it gets expensive, but then I can decide if it's worth the cost.

Overslept until 8 AM. Took a fast shower.

My dental appointment went okay; the implant is healing well. We made an appointment for the impression for the crown after July 1 because that's a new fiscal year for my insurance.

I told Lily not to walk on my computer. Lily: I walk on anything and everything. Because I am a cat! Oliver keeps on sitting on my laptop. The joys of working with pets around.

Napped and overslept. Gracie has been out for three hours and still doesn't want to come in. Sigh.

My dad is saying that it seems likely that there will be a recession or depression this year. (I asked him what evidence he's seeing because I'm me and a lot like him.) I got some books on recessions.

Drat. The flight credit that I used for a trip to New York was today, but I managed to cancel it for a credit. I want to take a trip to New York in December.

Gracie finally decided to come in and everyone's fed.

I think that I want to take another nap after work. Overslept by only 20 minutes. Now I let the dogs out and are feeding myself and the critters. I keep having stomach cramps, ugh. Lily is fussing over me.

I’m thinking of just going to bed after my nighttime tasks and getting up early to do my French homework.

Fed us all. Bella started eating Gracie’s food after eating her own food, but I managed to distract her. Now it’s posting time.

I finally got into my Schwab account. Yes, I took a beating. But I bought more oil-related stocks because my dad says that they work well as a hedge. (They go up when other stocks go down and vice versa,)

The Big Idea: Randee Dawn

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/05/the-big-idea-randee-dawn-3/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59724

If everyone only wrote what they knew, how many books would we be deprived of? Author Randee Dawn has some concerns about the age-old advice, and suggests writers should get out of their comfort zone in the Big Idea for her newest novel, We Interrupt This Program.

RANDEE DAWN:

There are many phrases writers long to hear: Your book is a best-seller! Your book changed my life! Your book is getting a Netflix adaptation! Your book props open my screen door!

Maybe not that last one.

But if there’s one phrase writers are a little tired of hearing is this: Write what you know.

What does that even mean? For years, I thought it was reductionist and stupid. I write speculative fiction. Spec fic is about dragons or distant planets or zombies or dragons and zombies on distant planets. I have yet to encounter any of those things. But isn’t that what imagination is for? Make stuff up!

Write what you know is a rhetorical piece of advice that sends young writers off on the wrong path, and often confuses older ones. It explains why twenty-two year olds write memoirs. They don’t know anything but their own lives!

But it can have value. My first useful encounter with understanding write what you know came when I plumbed my entertainment journalism past – including time at a soap opera magazine – to write a goofy first novel, Tune in Tomorrow (helpfully given its own discussion in The Big Idea in 2022). I knew what backstage on TV and film sets looked like. I’d spoken to thousands of actors, producers, and directors. It wasn’t so far a leap to imagine how things might be different if magical creatures were running things.

Then it came time to write the next story in the Tune-iverse. I’d used up a lot of Stuff I Knew. So what could come next to keep things interesting?

That was when I discovered that the advice isn’t stupid. It’s just not the only advice that matters. Writing what you know can – pick your metaphor – give you a frame, a recipe, or a direction to follow.

But writing what hurts gives you substance. Writing what hurts gets you into the subcutaneous zone.

With We Interrupt this Program (the next, also standalone, novel in my Tune-iverse), I tried to picture what the rest of the fae entertainment universe – run by the Seelie Court Network, of course – would look like. I imagined whole villages run by fae, populated by humans full-time, whose lives fit into neat little tropey stories. What if all the Hallmark movies were shot in the cutest, sweetest, village ever? What if there was a whole burg populated with humans who’d pissed the fae off and were being punished? What if a seaside town existed where a gray-haired older lady author solved cozy mysteries?

The latter one gave me Winnie, an older woman whose cozy mysteries about her TROPE Town neighbors were turned into movies for SCN. But Seaview Haven is in trouble when we meet Winnie, and she discovers she’ll have to write a really good story to fix matters. So she writes about a love affair with the town’s Seelie Showrunner/Mayor/Director.

But those who vet it say it isn’t good enough. It’s nice. She wrote what she knew. Then she’s told to write what’s hard.

The novel took me by surprise here. I hadn’t planned to make her write two important stories. The love story should be enough. But it was only good. It wasn’t great. Despite being supernatural, it felt mundane. Tropey.

In going deeper to find Winnie a hard story, I discovered I already had one based on events in my real life. I gave them to her. Sure, it’s about love. But it’s also about betrayal and writerly jealousy, the kind delivered with a stiletto and not a butcher knife. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed it’s in there. It’s not an epic awfulness. I didn’t commit a crime.

Probably.

And in giving it to Winnie, the story worked for me. When she unveils her personal, painful moment, it folds into the story as if I’d planned it. We Interrupt remains slapsticky, punny, and full of lunatic moments. Hopefully, though, that’s why this moment – the hurtful story – hits the hardest.

Readers can sense when we’ve gone deep, and when we skate the surface. A writer always has to find a way to squint at their latest creation and ask if they’ve gone deep enough to make it hurt, no matter what the genre is. That’s what – if I’ve done it right – it means to stick the landing.

So let’s look at that old hoary advice once more. Yes, write what you know.

But don’t stop there.

After you figure out what you know, figure out what’s hard. What hurts. Pull out the stiletto, not the butcher knife … and get cutting.

We Interrupt This Program: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop

Author socials: Website|Instagram|Facebook

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/05/the-big-idea-randee-dawn-3/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59724

Entry tags:

bird: duck,
sunset

Star Sunset and Flare + Ducks

Perhaps because we were seeing it at a rippling distance, when I looked out at the lake the other night, the ball of fire that was the setting sun seemed to be reflected as a five pointed star. Don't know how clearly that came out here but I liked the photo regardless.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Batman #7: So He Really Knows?

( Read more, )

Entry tags:

Like buses in a bunch

So, I may have mentioned I would be giving a paper in one of the Fellows' Symposia of the Institution with which I am now affiliated, coming up over the horizon very soon. And I had originally intended to revisit some research I did Before Events Intervened and Do Something with that, but it has not been coming together as I should like, needs more percolating I think. So I am instead returning to a project I put aside when other things supervened and demanded my attention, for which I did a preliminary paper or two, and can spruce up and get, I hope, some feedback on, and maybe kickstart this back into action.

Meanwhile....

I think I mentioned being solicited to give an entertaining and instructive talk on the history of johnnies/baudruches some months hence, which I have a fair amount of material already on hand for. However, what the organisers would like is An Image for publicity purposes, fairly soonish, and REALLY. One is tempted to go with the Dudley Hoard which require a good deal of imagination to reconstruct for their original purpose.

Younger scholar whom I have been somewhat informally mentoring has now submitted their PhD thesis and would like me to read it, and think of what might come up in viva.

The project which I was involved in for some considerable while which went very weird last year, with me being somewhat accidental being left out of the loop for some months due to error in email address, so I never really got the full story, is being revived in a smaller and more defined way as a journal special issue edited by Old Friend and Me.

Meanwhile I am in the process of getting the latest volume of the Interminable Saga prepped for publication.

помер тот, помрет и этот

Watch on YouTube

it is pretty obvious that a death of a leader doesn't always change regime for the better.

but occasionally it did. If a leader was so big and so repressive that nobody wanted to continue the mess.

Cowboys, Dark Romance, & More

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/cowboys-dark-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167234

Dom-Com

Dom-Com by Adriana Anders is $2.99! It’s a Kindle Daily Deal, so today only! Lara gave this one a B grade:

While I was frustrated by the third act and by the plot line that didn’t make sense, I was delighted by everything else. I really enjoyed reading Dom-Com and am very happy to recommend it to the Bitchery!

An experienced Dom and a baby sub must keep their kink-lives a secret after discovering they’ve just become office mates and professional rivals in this super-steamy contemporary romcom, perfect for fans of Lana Ferguson and Tessa Bailey.

An irresistible collision of dominance, deadlines, and an extremely inconvenient desire.

All Rae Jensen has to do is walk through the door. Inside the club is everything she’s wanted but was afraid to ask a ridiculously hot, brooding Dom with a sharp jawline, sexy forearms, and a low voice that sends goosebumps along her skin when he says “People here call me the General.” For one night, she can forget the stress and her endless responsibilities . . . and just be a saucy little sub, no questions asked.

It’s been a while since Grant Bowman met someone like Rae. Although he’s an experienced Dom, he doesn’t do newbies, especially ones who are such a sweet distraction. But one night couldn’t possibly hurt—until the General discovers they’ll be working together IRL at his new consulting job. Now what started as control is turning into the kind of chaos that destroys careers. But there’s no safe word for falling in love…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

I Hope This Finds You Well

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue is $1.99! This was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet, and both Sarah and I were excited for it.

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favour, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition.

But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworker’s private worlds and secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for. Soon she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if it means coming clean to her colleagues.

Crackling with laugh-out-loud dialogue and relatable observations, I Hope This Finds You Well is a fresh and surprisingly tender comedy about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens. This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes with it.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

At Whit’s End

At Whit’s End by Bailey Hannah is $1.99! This is book four in the Wells Ranch series. It features a single mom and a friends to lovers romance in a small town.

A single mom struggling to raise her rebellious son finds unexpected support in a kind-hearted cowboy in this spicy romance from the author of Seeing Red and Change of Hart.

She’s afraid she’s not enough. He’ll make damn sure she knows she is.

Single mom Whitney Hart is, quite simply, overwhelmed. She’s struggling to raise her ten-year-old son, Jonas. Her ex-boyfriend only seems to come around and help take care of his son when he’s single and hoping to get back together. With Jonas acting out more than ever, Whit realizes she needs help keeping an eye on him over summer vacation.

Enter Colt, a fun-loving cowboy who is tasked with giving Jonas work to do around Wells Ranch to keep him busy. In Colt, Jonas finds a mentor and male role model for the first time in his life. And in Jonas, Colt discovers a friendship that brings a new kind of joy into his life.

Colt and Whit slowly develop a friendship of their own through a shared concern for Jonas, and over the course of the summer, it begins to spark into something more. The attraction and chemistry between them are hard to ignore, but Whit’s insecurities and hesitancy to trust men cause her to pull away.

As miscommunications give way to understanding, the two will discover that sometimes you have to first be broken before you can become whole, and that there’s no one way to create a family.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Love Me Stalk Me

Love Me Stalk Me by Laura Bishop is $2.99! This is a dark cotemporary romance. The premise made me buy this one while I was shopping at Lovestruck Bookstore a couple months ago. Haven’t gotten around to it yet!

For fans of Lights Out and You comes a dark rom-com debut about a woman who confides her fantasies to an AI boyfriend app—unaware she’s really talking to her hot, tattooed coworker who hacked her phone.

When overworked department store manager Izzy Russo downloads an AI boyfriend app to fill the emotional void left by her inattentive real one, she thinks she’s just venting to a harmless chatbot named “Caleb.” In reality, she’s been pouring her deepest, dirtiest fantasies into the ears of Callahan Knight—her store’s brooding new head of security.

Because Cal? He’s been listening. The moment he saw Izzy, he knew she was his. Did he hack her phone? Absolutely. But who could blame him? A woman like Izzy deserves to be cherished by someone who truly knows her worth—and he’ll do anything to be that man.

So when Izzy finally sees her boyfriend for who he really is, and the danger she’s unknowingly been caught up in, Cal is ready to protect her, no matter the cost. Even if it means revealing the truth.

She might not have meant to build the perfect man. But he’s here now. And he’s never letting her go.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Good Girl

Good Girl by Piper Lawson is FREE! This is a forced proximity, rockstar romance. It’s also the first book in the Wicked series.

Haley’s job is to keep rockstar Jax Jamieson out of trouble…

Not to fall for him.

I was hired to work for a legend. Instead, I’m being seduced by a man.

When I took an internship on rock god Jax Jamieson’s tour, I never thought he’d look twice at me. He’s older, cocky, jaded and nothing like the college guys I’m used to.

He’s gorgeous, rich, talented, and the biggest rockstar in the world.

Too bad I rubbed him the wrong way on day one.

Now he takes divine pleasure in making my life hell. During soundcheck. On the road. At the hotel after shows.

I need this job for reasons he can never know. That’s why I have to be cool under that smoldering gaze and arrogant grin.

The bigger problem is when the cynicism slips away, exposing the cracks beneath. When he lets his guard down to tell me things he hasn’t told a soul.

Because a million women might scream his name…

But he whispers mine.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/cowboys-dark-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=167234

Entry tags:

betterlatethannever

Ch. Eight (last one) of Better Late....

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Update, re: Secret Project at the Scalzi Compound

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/05/update-re-secret-project-at-the-scalzi-compound/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59717

We have an outline! Major characters, plot lines, and various important story beats all laid out. Now to start writing it all up. Very exciting stuff.

This is worth noting because this is the first time Athena and I are doing this, but it won’t be the last, since we’ll be using this process to develop other projects soon. This is what our little family business does, after all: Think of cool stuff that we can then develop into actual projects that will hopefully become things you can see and buy. This is, hopefully, the first of many.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/05/update-re-secret-project-at-the-scalzi-compound/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59717

General Gory?: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #48-49 (JLI 65)

Warning for lots of Nazi and Hitler imagery.

In a meta sense, the real threat to a figure like General Glory isn’t Nazis; it’s disillusionment, the vision of America with bloodied hands that can never be made clean. The General will face both threats in these pages, and he’s much more able to address one than the other. And this was produced during the early Nineties, with reference to the early Forties, which were both relatively good times for American patriotism. [Glances at headlines, shakes head, sighs]

( The Vietnam and Trump eras have been hard enough on Captain America; I’d rather not imagine the General trying to cope with them. )

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

afuna and

katharine_b!

The Sugared Game and Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

Posted by Lara

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-sugared-game-and-subtle-blood-by-kj-charles/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=166268

A

Subtle Blood

by KJ Charles
June 23, 2021 · KJC Books
Historical: EuropeanHistorical: OtherMystery/ThrillerRomance

CW: Self-harm (historical), violence, death of secondary characters.

AJ reviewed the first book in the series, Slippery Creatures and enjoyed it and so did I. There is a simple reason for this being a review of the next two books together rather than one: when I finished The Sugared Game I was in agony, desperate for the rest of Will and Kim’s story in Subtle Blood.

This is the second time I’ve read this trilogy. It took me ages to read it for the first time for such an inane reason: I didn’t like the titles of the books. I’ve chosen not to read books for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. I find there are so many books that narrowing down options often comes down to nonsense reasoning out of desperation to make for a manageable TBR. Anyway, in this instance, I was a fool not to devour these books sooner. They truly are excellent.

A | BN | K | AB

You can read AJ’s review to get a feel for Slippery Creatures and the general setup, but as this is a lightning review, the blurbs will be included at the end. There will however be spoilers for Slippery Creatures in this review, so be warned.

Will inherited a bookstore from a long lost uncle who fell ill just as they were getting to know each other. Will doesn’t have any experience at all as a bookseller. He has years of experience as a soldier in WW1 though. This is something that (what he calls) the wolf inside him relishes. He’s good at violence. So it is no surprise really that he is continually swept up in Kim’s plots. Will would be bored stiff just selling books.

Kim, AKA Lord Arthur Secretan, is a spy of sorts and is dragged back into the action often, usually in the pursuit of an underground criminal gang with anarchic goals. This group are the antagonists for the duration of the trilogy and disbanding them takes a monumental effort from our lovely duo.

A | K | AB

There are some delicious twists and turns across the trilogy and I can’t really go into much detail without liberally using spoiler tags or totally ruining the surprise for those new to the series. So I’m just going to sum up the spying/thriller action as INTENSE. It’s so tightly plotted and I didn’t stumble into a single plot hole. It’s a brilliant, brilliant thriller.

But the part that really gave my heart a workout was the romance. SWOON. Will is this strong man with a wolf inside him and a heart that is so scared to hope for more when for the duration of the war he could only cope with the present moment. He’s sharp and violent and so desperately in love with Kim it kind of sends him off his rocker. Kim, suave and witty, has more experience with men, but is utterly floored by Will and his wolf. The two make such a perfect pair.

The romance and spy work are perfectly balanced throughout. There’s enough spy drama to keep my head engaged, interested and desperate to know more and there’s enough romantic tension to keep my heart committed to Will and Kim. While the mystery subplot is mostly resolved in each book, the romantic arc takes all three to reach resolution.

It was the romantic plot that had me desperate for the next one in the series. Kim and Will had the potential for an epic HEA that’s unique to them and the promise of that HEA had me ploughing through this series at a rapid clip. This story gave me a welcome reprieve from the world around me. I was immersed, body and soul. I cannot recommend this series enough!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the-sugared-game-and-subtle-blood-by-kj-charles/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=166268