penguin-ponders.bsky.social
I just want a place to talk about books again.
Neurodivergent, Disabled, Queer. Canadian
Any pronouns
Trans rights are human rights. Support BIPOC folk.
Everyone deserves rep, rights and access
Post GenAI, get blocked
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Not really, I mean some characters have a cadence, but my internal monologue even when reading is pretty unvaried.
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making choices (and poly or no one are valid choices), weighing up what life would be like, how it would affect your future, if you're ready for a commitment.. That's all interesting stuff to explore.
It just rarely gets the spotlight when Drama! Angst! However Shall I Choose! is written instead.
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Lack of respect towards each other, no chemistry, someone is obviously evil, relationship forced by magic or politics, never actually resolved, love interest as a prize, ect. It's all meh.
But being attracted to multiple people is a real thing. Figuring out what that means..
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But if you're concerned about the lack of answers from Kobo on those points, you've got less than 10 days to decide if you're gonna pull your books.
An effective date of 28 June 2025 means you need to give Kobo your notice to [email protected] by 18 June 2025 at the very latest.
🧵84/?
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Now let's talk Section 2.3(d) on using AI tech for the purpose of "(d) enhancing the experience of a purchased book by providing recaps, reading assistance, and accessibility features."
Excuse me?????
How you gonna provide a recap of my book w/o running it through an LLM to summarize it?
🧵74/?
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My concerns with respect to the creation of marketing and promotional materials have been entirely ignored and I'm NOT OK with that.
I need more answers to figure out what Kobo means by "generating compelling and personalized promotional materials and advertisements"
🧵68/?
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The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer
*spoilers*
This has duelling siblings - the sister Joshua thought hated him, but who's fiercely protective now. And Seth, who's finally reunited with the brother kidnapped as a baby. The family dynamics are great, sometimes bittersweet.
13/fin
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And two on the "wait I have a sibling?" trope *spoilers*
October and August Daye take a several books - and some heavy duty magical enchantments - to get to a better place, but the ending of the last book - I think they're there. Especially with Seanan McGuire's patreon content.
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Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher
Holly only has a few scenes, but she cuts through the flailing. It's a loving conversation, that also includes the phrase "That said…God, you’re dumb."
One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Maud does get rescued here, but instantly falls back into their teamwork.
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The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K. J. Charles
Not spec fic, but Robin and Marianne are such a great team, had to include them.
Resonance Surge by Nalini Singh
In Theodora & Yakov's romance, their closeness to their siblings helps grow their bond.
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The rarest one for me is siblings as equals, with a solid relationship, involved in each others lives. And I do enjoy these whenever they come up, so here's the recs.
Also, please tell me about siblings in fiction you've enjoyed! Why are they special?
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The other variations of protective sibling I can think of are when they're a literal bodyguard. Again, common in monarchy stories - with a high percentage of suddenly being the heir. This can be a good source of angst, if they feel slighted, but can also have a lot of devotion.
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The reckless sibling one is hard to pull off for me, because often they come across as selfish, irresponsible and spoiled. There's rarely a good moral reason for whatever trouble they've gotten themselves into.
I think a story from the POV of a hero's sibling would be awesome tho.
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It's more often a sibling who's impulsiveness or self-destructiveness land them in danger, while the protector is forced to deal with - and often be hurt by - the consequences.
Often in this case there's a vow to the parents to take care of them no matter what.
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generation may get tucked away in a safe spot until the death threat level has dropped. Unless, of course, they get kidnapped, or run away.
Which switches us to the protector role. Obviously part of parenthood, but when everyone's an adult, things change.
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Next up is the Sibling as Parent / Protector.
Often this is very literal - parents died, oldest child is now trying to hold everything together, while dealing with their own grief. Usually there's a threat of separation. It's hard to mix with high stakes plots though - so the younger
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Often one of the siblings will be unambiguously evil so there's no question of who to root for. And then there's the last minute reveal that oops, we got the evil one wrong.
I'm not saying we need the dividing force to be as mundane as tax policy or city planning, but more nuance, please.
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If there's a monarchy or leadership race of any kind, siblings as rivals or enemies are pretty common. Someone thinks they deserve it more, or is jealous or feeling unappreciated, and so family against family. It's a very old story.
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Not sure why it hit me like that - I had zero worry that the various supernatural and emotional points wouldn't be resolved, though not without consequence. But I was constantly worried that they'd lose their home.
3/fin
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But there's that sense of 'just getting by', that it could collapse if things went wrong, that was stressing me out. And the of course, things start going wrong, and I was weirdly feeling like the aftermath was gonna be worse than the very bad things happening.
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Not a pet photo, but instead one of my comfort foods. It tastes like the cheese souffle I grew up with, but no beating egg whites, so we can have it with a lot less work. Plus I love that it's a big chef, but his mom's recipie
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I swear I taught myself to read quickly because I loathe putting down a book before it's done.
At least I'm better with re-reads and interruptions.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do though..
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I don't have a good name for it. Acceptance? Small acts that show they're paying attention?
But yeah, those are good.
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Yep, love a long term healthy relationship.
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The end of Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold - Cordelia's epic reveal & Aral is just dryly approving. And after they talk it out.
Gilbert coining the term 'tiny murderwife' in No Land for Heroes by Cal Black
Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher, when Galen finally clearly sees Piper's strength
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Celia Lake is a fav for cozy, plus great disability / neurospicy rep. Wen Spencer has great worldbuilding and a chaos goblin in the Elfhome series. Hafsah Faizal wrote a great vampire book and I'm waiting for the next one. Rachel Neumeier has a great range of stories.
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Is it weird that I don't have one? Maybe I was just reading weird stuff at a young enough age that it's all blended in now. And fiction is .. fictional. There's always a level of abstraction from reality.
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no worries! As long the current day's prompt is posted in text when you start promoting it, it all works out. And you've been doing that
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Just remembered an actual board game - in Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold there's a monopoly style game included.
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Not spec fic, it's contemporary
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I hadn't noticed some of these before, but they are very there aren't they.
Izzy and the Right Answer by R. Cooper is 2019 and feels like it's dodging these. Izzy's very clear on the ace side of thing, but very confused by the aro side, I like the distinction it it.
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Middles are the worst, I get stuck there every time.
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🧵
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Thanku!