pagerd | Reading

Back to work this morning after 4 days (+ the weekend) off and it felt like I was away longer based on the 310 emails in my inbox sigh. Thankfully, Assistant J handled a bunch of stuff while I was out, so I didn't have to worry about that, but the CEO and Chair keep asking me for very labor-intensive things and then when I produce them they're like, nah, that's not what we meant. Like, you asked for a list of ALL ACTION ITEMS from ALL COMMITTEES plus the board for the last 6 years. That is a pretty specific ask! And then after I produce it, to turn around and say, no, no, we just want a list of stuff that came up. WTF? My boss thinks it's the CEO badly misinterpreting what the Chair wants, because this keeps happening, but I also wonder if my boss is not getting it either and so I'm hearing it third-hand and it's just...garbled at that point. Idk.

Anyway! A couple of years ago we created a follow-ups list but it was annoying to me because I like to spend my work time getting my work done, not documenting the work I've done in a spreadsheet when the documents should stand as the...documentation. But I guess that's what we're doing now. 🙄

So I was off for 6 whole days in a row and did not watch any of the things I planned to watch. It's just so hard for me right now to invest in something new, I guess. I have watched the first episode of a couple of different things, but none of them has made me want to watch further with any urgency. I also have the second season of many shows to watch and haven't done that either. I think right now books are easier? Which they weren't for the last few years, so maybe I will just ride that for a while. *hands*

*

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Mets vs Brewers on tv

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/20/back-home-7-20-26/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61665

Left North Carolina early in the morning, made it back home to Ohio a little after 2pm, and along the way drove through just about every summer weather pattern short of an actual hurricane or tornado. One does forget how immensely large this country is, and also how lovely it is to boot.

But now I’m home, and Krissy and the pets were happy to have me back. Best of all, no travel planned for a month. I can live with that.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/20/back-home-7-20-26/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61665

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/anything-you-can-wreck-i-can-wreck-better-2026

Brittany G. writes,

"A friend got a promotion a while back, so his team ordered a cake and asked the baker to draw a ladder with a stick figure climbing it, which said 'Moving On Up.'"

Instead, they got this:

"One Wreck El Grande for... Brick Bee? Is there a 'brick bee' here?"*

Part of me reeeeally wishes there were little lattes drawn on the side. Also, gotta love that "one two punch" of a color combo, am I right? SO APPETIZING.

*That joke was for you, Alice.

And please tell Phteven we said hello.

But wait, there's more!

The team was so inspired that they decided to make their own homage - and it. is. perfect.

[stick figure applauding]

Thanks to Brittany G. & Kate S. for the Java errors.

*****

P.S. It's time again for me to sing the praises of my amazing sleep headphones:

Bluetooth Sleep Headphones

I listen to boring audio books on these every night to keep my brain from spinning out of control, which works wonders for my insomnia. Lately I've been wearing them like a sleep mask - like the model here - and WOW, that's helped even more than when I wore them like a headband! These things have been a life saver: comfy enough for side sleeping, not too loud like some of my old speakers, and they only cost $16 Prime.

Note that they do run on the big side, but that works out great if you have a big head like me. :D

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/anything-you-can-wreck-i-can-wreck-better-2026

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/19/perhaps-the-loneliest-volleyball-court-in-north-carolina/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61656

It’s the one at my hotel, and it doesn’t look like it’s been used the entire summer long. Which kinda makes sense, this is an airport hotel, after all, and thus, I expect, not a hotbed of competitive traveling beach sports. I still give the hotel points for trying.

ConGregate 12 (the convention I was at this weekend) is now in the books and I had an entirely lovely time. Tomorrow is a long drive home. Hopefully a boring drive. When you’re driving for seven and half hours, you don’t want drama. See you all when I get home.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/19/perhaps-the-loneliest-volleyball-court-in-north-carolina/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61656

stevenpiziks

Okay, this aspect of commentary about THE ODYSSEY is bugging me because no one seems to be talking about it.

Some critics complain that the costumes are so dull. Circe, a middle-aged matron, wears a dishwater-gray dress. All the armor is gray or dark brown or even  black. The statues are white marble. But the Greeks favored bright colors. They painted their shields with bright, distinctive designs or images. They routinely dyed their clothes and painted their statues in varied, vivid colors. Homer describes Circe as a young-looking woman wearing a beautiful gown. What the hell, right?

There's also the set. Nolan portrays the Greeks as living in ruins. Plaster is falling off interior walls. Exterior walls are bare stone. Lots of buildings seem to be on the verge of collapse. The only time we get a glimpse of Trojan buildings is when they're on fire. Circe lives in a hovel. Calypso keeps Odysseus in a crude driftwood shelter on the beach. The ancient Greeks didn't live this way. Stone walls were carefully plastered and painted. Ruins were built over, often using stones from the ruins themselves. Circe and Calypso lived in shining palaces. Again, what the hell?

But there's a reason for it. A major theme of the movie is that civilization and civilized behavior are ending. The Sea People are invading (though always off-camera). The Greeks are breaking the laws of hospitality (xenia): the suitors overstay their welcome in Ithaca; Odysseus and his men enter the Cyclops cave (as theoretical guests), steal food from the Cyclops and eventually kill it. The Cyclops in turn eats his "guests." Circe changes her guests into pigs and tries to persuade an unwitting Odysseus to slaughter them. Odysseus promises the father of a young soldier boy that he'll keep an eye on the kid and keep him safe, then deliberately sacrifices the boy to ensure the Trojan Horse trick will work. And, of course, the Trojan Horse is itself a xenia violation: a gift that turns out to be a deadly trick.

The dreary, gritty settings and dull, grimy clothes are meant to reflect a dying civilization. The people aren't following the laws of Zeus, and they're on the way out. Their world is falling apart around them, and they don't seem to notice.

Sound familiar ... ?

The sole exception to the dreariness is Penelope, who is always faultlessly dressed in bright colors, and she is the only one who works hard to observe xenia--she lets the suitors stay for years and even invites a smelly old beggar (Odysseus in disguise) to her table.

This isn't history--it's metaphor. So calm your bronze, everyone!

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/sunday-sweets-wedding-towers-2026

Don't you love how the wedding cake has evolved over the past 15years? So much color and texture and personality! I'm really liking the modern tower look lately, too, like this:

(By Iced N' Frosted in Houston, Texas)

I mean, WOWIE.

This one's a little more traditional, but still has that sleek column look going:

(By Shannon Bond Cake Design in Kansas)

Look at those textures! Tissue thin ruffles, a watercolor fade, and pops of metallic gold? YES.

Of course not all columns have to be round:

(By Have Some Cake in West Midlands, UK)

This one reaches new heights (heh) with more incredible textures: love those stamped tiles.

I've never seen a cake shaped quite like this one - it almost looks like a hammered gold vase on top:

(By Nana Rose Cake in Dubai)

And oh, those colors!

Or maybe you'd prefer a cool and classic white-on-white?

(By De La Creme Creative Studio in St. Louis)

The hexagon pattern and shapes are so perfect, so clean - and that floral swag has me swooning.

Does it get any more classic than black and white stripes?

(By The Mischief Maker in Kentucky)

Nope. What else can be so whimsical and stylish at the same time? Plus the flowers really make it.

Here comes my only "short stack" today - which still proves you can have the column cake look even for a smaller wedding:

(By Sophia Fox in Portugal)

I'm such a sucker for hand-painted cakes, you guys, and that oversized, offset flower on top? SO GOOD.

Speaking of hand-painted pretties, LOOK:

(By Nasa Mala Zavrzlama in Serbia)

It doesn't get any more dramatic - or romantic - than this! Doesn't the bottom tier look like suede?

More drama ahead, get those sunglasses out:

(By Cakelava in Las Vegas)

...cuz it's so SHINY!

I'm digging the gold leaf leaves; so deliciously over the top with all those delicate pink flowers.

Aha, speaking of delicate and pink:

(By Kek Couture in Istanbul)

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY.

I don't know where to begin, the draped "fabric," the gilded molding, or - ermergersh - the floating butterflies! Let's just say I caught myself humming "So This Is Love" from Cinderella.... to a cake.

I hope you guys enjoyed today's wedding lineup! Happy Sunday!

*****

P.S. Speaking of towers ::eyebrow waggle:: let me give a quick shout-out my favorite wire-free bra. I have three of these - just bought a fourth last week! - and they're all I've been wearing lately:

Warner's Easy Does It Seamless Wireless Bra

Up 'til last year I ONLY wore wired bras - usually Warners - and it took buying-and-returning over a dozen different brands and styles before I found a wireless one I liked. This one averages $25-30 Prime, but I watch the listing and buy any color that goes on sale for less than $20. "Lilac" is on sale for $18 right now, so I last snagged one of those.

I love the under-arm smoothing panel - no dig or pinch! - and like most Warners, these are incredibly comfortable. Be sure to check the image gallery for a better idea of how they look on larger tracts of land.

******

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/sunday-sweets-wedding-towers-2026

stevenpiziks

We haven't seen the duck or ducklings since their adventure in our storm drain, but Darwin and I did buy some heavy screening material, and when my sons came over last week, the four of us measured out some screen and cut it to fit the drain. The heavy drain cover holds it in place. Water can get through, but animals can't. We'll have to watch it to see that leaves don't clog it, but other than that, it's all set for the next waddle-by.

musesfool

Just a quick update for those who were wondering, yes, Jiffy corn muffin mix is still A++ 💯 in terms of what I want in a corn muffin (and how I remember them tasting). And 6 muffins for 99¢ plus 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk is so worth it. The instructions say let the mixture sit 3-4 minutes before scooping into the muffin cups, but I let it sit 10 (per the blueberry corn muffins recipe from a few weeks ago) while the oven was heating, and they domed so nicely. Definitely recommended! I will be enjoying them for breakfast the next few days.

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Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: the Mets losing again

musesfool

Reading this made me tear up this morning (in a good way): Trans Girl Baseball Makes Me A Better Woman (Defector gift link).

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Current Mood: hopeful

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26771766-searchable-bujold-q-a-column-created

A savvy fan has kindly put together a searchable copy of my very long Goodreads "Ask the Author" column, to be found here:

https://allison-strandberg.github.io/...

Because Backups Are Good.

To actually ask new questions go to my GR site for same:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/1609...

And while we're at it, it seems this internet fallacy needs addressed yet again:

https://www.goodreads.com/questions/7...

The short answer is NO. Please do repost the above link wherever you may run across people or AIs repeating this misinformation. Not that that will stop them, evidently.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 17

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26771766-searchable-bujold-q-a-column-created

cassiope25 posting in

stargateficrec

Show: SGA

Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Jennifer Keller
Pairings: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard; Rodney McKay/Jennifer Keller
Categories: slash, het, hurt/comfort
Warnings: No Archives Warnings Apply
Words: 5,540
Author's Journal:

lavvyan
Author's Website: lavvyan on AO3
Link Fic: Heart Arrhythmia

Author's summary: Rodney suddenly had two good friends he was simultaneously in love with. And he desperately wanted to believe that love wasn't an either-or, except if the two people one was in love with didn't also love each other, one ended up with the unfortunate prospect of having to choose one of them or none at all.

Why This Must Be Read: This is an absolutely adorable story written by the amazing lavvyan shortly after the show's finale aired. It's a wonderful character piece that brings both Rodney's faith in logic and his confusion about matters of the heart to life in a truly heartwarming way, yet still makes your heart ache a little, too—not just for Rodney, but also for Jennifer and John, doing real justice to all three of them.
It's a story about weighing options and making decisions, sticking to them, and finding a sense of safety and belonging—only for life to have other plans and throw you a curveball.
Beautifully written and deeply sensitive, it makes you feel for everyone and leaves you with a smile on your face.

( snippet of fic )

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/17/the-big-idea-john-wiswell-3/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61648

We all hear voices in our brain, but what if they were coming from your other heads?!? Author John Wiswell’s main character is a multi-headed dragon with a lot of contradicting opinions. Though a dragon, you may find his inner turmoil more relatable than you’d expect. Take flight in his Big Idea for The Dragon Has Some Complaints.

JOHN WISWELL:

A dragon is a lot like ADHD.

I’ve always loved dragons. How can you not like dragons? They’re like if someone glued all the cool parts of dinosaurs together and then let them barf fire. Anyone who’s ever been stuck in traffic admires the incendiary nature of dragons.

Most interesting to me are many-headed dragons. They’re referenced in ancient Greek classics, suggesting we’ve always had such things on our minds. Yet in most stories, the many-headed dragon is just a single-minded critter with more mouths that they can use to bite the protagonist. You’re lucky if one head on a dragon’s shoulders gets a personality. Much less all of them.

In one fundamental way, dragons being treated as though they have no intelligence is similar to the experience of those of us with ADHD. We are spoken about like we aren’t human beings, but rather are a cognitive condition with legs, which needs medication in order to be talked about as a person. As though we have no creativity or insight until we sit still. I’ve done this dance since I was a little kid with too many books open at once on my floor. It only got worse once I got a browser and started opening tabs.

Writing a many-headed dragon gave me a great outlet for reflecting on how my brain works. Garrodigh, my dragon, would have several heads with distinctly different opinions about what to do with his wings. He’d at once be a singular “he” and a plural “they,” both true, just circumstantial.

The head growing out of his bottom-most neck, named Bottomhead, is basically a feral animal, focusing on sunbathing and lunch. He’s the sort of creature who would chase a cannonball across the island to bite it.

In the middle, Centerhead is a curmudgeon, focused on all the ways the world has hurt him and puts him in jeopardy, begrudging humanity for injuring him and costing him the power of flight. If he could, he’d blast dragonfire over the entire human world. Fire is a great way to express your feelings.

Upperhead (guess where he grows!) is outright delusional, believing he is actually a human being suffering from some traumatic hallucination. Any day now, he’ll snap out of it and the other heads will be gone, and he’ll return to mowing his lawn and eating too much bread.

They spend the opening chapter fighting in a way that will be familiar to some readers. See, I don’t just talk to myself. I argue with myself. My brain isn’t big enough to house all the contradictory opinions banging around in there. They spill out of me. The habit of talking to myself was great practice for being a writer, since writing is just talking to yourself quietly.

A funny thing happens when you literalize this by having multiple contradictory consciousnesses striving for control of a single body. It helps you see how parts of the same person can clash. You also see how they reconcile, and how you only grow when those parts work together. You don’t grow by silencing yourself. You grow in tandem with yourself, both singular and plural.

Garrodigh has been through a lot. He was once a four-headed dragon, but poor Lefty was blown off by a human’s cannon in the same incident that injured their wings. That trauma still echoes through all three of the surviving heads. Losing a part of himself is part of what’s put the rest of him in such strife. What’s made some parts of him seek vengeance, while other parts just want to understand why the humans keep going to war with each other.

There are enormous questions ahead for him. Can he pull himself together enough to face his injuries and possibly fly again someday? Can he trust anyone again? What place does he have in this world?

They’re the sort of questions you could have conflicting opinions about. By asking them, maybe you’ll see some of yourself in a dragon.

The Dragon Has Some Complaints: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books A Million|Bookshop.org

Author socials: Instagram|Threads|BlueSky|Substack|Patreon

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/17/the-big-idea-john-wiswell-3/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61648

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/ouch-2026

Thanks to Rana Z., Stacy H., Brooke P., Cheyenne W., Shaelyn, Vanessa N., Heather H., & A.H., who can't believe that anyone would ever misspell professional. I mean, that's just crazy, right? [sheepish grin]

*****

P.S. A friend recently got me this gel cap for my migraines, and sweet icy Stay Puft, y'all, it's amazing:

Migraine Hot/Cold Gel Cap

I have a huge head and a lot of hair, so it's pretty snug on me, but the extra pressure with the cold is heavenly during a migraine. I used to hold a cold pack and keep shifting it around from side to side, but this wraps my entire skull in a cooling hug. Ahhhh so good.

I keep the gel cap sealed in the fridge all the time now, so I can grab it as soon as a headache starts up. The cold does only last 15-20 minutes, but it's 1000% worth it in my book, highly recommend.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/ouch-2026

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/16/view-from-a-hotel-window-7-16-26-greensboro-nc/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61638

It’s very warm here today, but at least there is shade.

I spent the day traveling here in order to be part of the ConGregate science fiction convention this weekend. I will have panels and do other stuff! If you’re in the neighborhood, come on down.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/16/view-from-a-hotel-window-7-16-26-greensboro-nc/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61638

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/my-uncle-thought-he-was-saint-jerome-2026

We watched one of my all-time favorite movies, Ghostbusters, today and I think that calls for a song... about calling people.

[tuning up 80s synthesizer]

♪ If there's something strange
in your neighborhood

::aggressive jazz hands::

Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

♬If there's something weird

And it don't look good
(There's a hole in this cake.)

Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Pretty sure that's a penguin...

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Okay, who brought the dog?

♬If you're seeing things
running through your head

Ouch.

Who you gonna call?

Ghostbusters!

♪ An invisible man
Sleeping in your bed

(He said he wanted to snuggle, but I saw right through him.)

Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

Thanks to Mackie, Jeanne, Mandy D., Andrea E., Laureen, Sarah A., Kit, and Kirk K. who is apparently also not a fan of ducks:

I suspect fowl play.

*****

P.S. Have you seen this adorable Mini Stay Puft in a cappuccino cup? SO CUTE:

Funko Mini Puft in Cappuccino

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/my-uncle-thought-he-was-saint-jerome-2026

musesfool

Yesterday, I made a key lime pie, and this morning, I had it for breakfast, because that is what I do on my birthday! (And Thanksgiving - pie for breakfast is a Thanksgiving tradition in my family.) Here's the recipe I used:

( key lime pie recipe )

I just bought a premade graham cracker crust though, so it was even easier than it sounds.

I also started clearing out some clothes I no longer wear or that no longer fit etc., one drawer a day to keep it manageable.

For dinner, I made the King Arthur small batch focaccia, but for some reason it stuck to the pan. It was still delicious, just annoying. I still recommend the recipe, just maybe not on a 95°F day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mostly, I've been reading fic and scrolling on tumblr - it's been a good, relaxing day.

*

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Black Water - Doobie Brothers

isis

Last night I participated in an interesting local event called Common Ground, which invites people from across the political spectrum to discuss issues with the intent to illuminate and find commonalities, rather than persuade. The organizers (who themselves are two liberals and two conservatives) very carefully balance the attendance list to ensure an equal number on both sides. The meeting started with brief introductions, and then we split up into tables of 4, 2 liberals and 2 conservatives (our nametags were coded by color) to discuss a question. After a set time, we mixed up and sat at tables with different people, and discussed a second question, and then all got together to share insights.

The first question was about identifying the core beliefs of liberals and of conservatives (and spoiler alert, we all agreed on pretty similar beliefs), and the second was about the relevance of the Constitution today, and if it should be followed strictly, modified, or scrapped. To my surprise both of the conservatives at my second table said they don't trust the current president to lead any revision of the constitution, and when we discussed things as a group it was clear that nobody is a fan of the current administration. Which, I guess should not have been a surprise, because part of the ground rules were, as alluded to, respect for other points of view and no attempting to argue your point, and as a result those who attended were pretty much normie Republicans, unaffiliated leaners, and mainstream Democrats, with no Trumpers (we have those here) or leftie anarchists (we have those, too).

Anyway, it was interesting and enjoyable, and it definitely made the point that "the other side are people too." I'll probably try to attend again - they put these on every few months.

What I've recently finished reading:

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, the second Checquy Files book. This one goes a little harder on the body horror than the first (for plot reasons) but it's still leavened with enough humor that it didn't hit my ick button. The humor mostly comes from the extremely silly powers some people have, as well as from the dry observations by Myfanwy and others. As in the first book, there is a very shippable f/f pair (as well as Shantay from book 1 showing up at the end, yay, and not doing anything to shatter my Myfanwy/Shantay inclinations!) though again it's all just subtext.

Also, I'm reading the collection Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie, and so far I have read:

"Lake of Souls" - this is the title story, and I liked it a lot, mostly because I am a sucker for stories with multiple POVs in which each character is a different alien with a different culture and thus each has a very very different perspective. But I also liked the aww-factor of the outcome.

"Footprints" - horror, I guess? I think I missed the point.

"Hesperia and Glory" - this is fun and harks back to Golden Age Sci-Fi. Is Mr. Atkins mad, or a Martian?

"The Endangered Camp" - this made me think of Tom Toner's The Promise of the Child in which, also, the dinosaurs escaped the extinction event in a spaceship. Not bad, not my favorite.

Speaking of short story collections, I DNF'ed The Age of Calamities by Senaa Ahmad, which I learned about from a review of The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann (which I reviewed here) as the reviewer felt that the story "Let's Play Dead" was a better take on a mysteriously alive post-beheading Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, stylistically it very much did not work for me (literary, dense, weird); I started and abandoned two other stories in the collection and then decided to give up on the collection entirely.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/15/krissy-has-a-new-toy/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61629

Out here in the boonies, many of our neighbors have golf carts that they use for very short trips not on the official roads, like going to visit friends, or hauling their trash cans from their houses at the end of a long driveway to the curb, and then back again. Krissy has always wanted a golf cart, and, now that we have the second garage and thus covered space for such a vehicle, she has one. Here you see her modeling it with her friend Karen.

She is very happy to have a golf cart of her own, and I am very happy she is very happy, because I know how much she paid for it and therefore will not feel too bad the next time I buy a guitar.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/15/krissy-has-a-new-toy/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61629

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/15/a-writing-exercise-i-did-today-i-figured-id-share/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61622

I like to play pickleball with my mom in the mornings. It’s not an everyday thing, but when we do, I enjoy it. Every time we play, I always notice the ants on the court. It’s really only when I bend down to pick the ball up, but I always see them scurrying away from the bright yellow sphere and the bottom of my sneakers.

I try not to think about how many of them I accidentally step on as I play a match or two. How many do I crush as I return my mother’s serve? Though I try not to linger on the thoughts of killing ants, I pick up the ball so often I’m given no break from the train of thought.

I don’t want to cause harm, I just want to play the game. But by playing, I’m inherently causing suffering. I want to enjoy my activity, but I’m ending the lives of innocent creatures. Well, as innocent as an ant can be, I suppose. The morality of killing ants, or bugs in general, is surely debatable, but I just know that it’s not something I particularly want to be an active part of. And yet I am consistently.

It’s not lost on me that pickleball isn’t the only time this kind of thing happens. When I run through the grass at home with my dog, what am I stepping on without even realizing? She bounds throughout the yard, happy as can be, no thoughts given to what crawls beneath her paws. Why can’t I be as ignorant, and as happy?

I’ve hit fireflies while driving, their smeared glow fading on my windshield. Once something beautiful, twinkling in the tree lines, ended by my hand. Not directly, necessarily, but certainly not indirectly. More directly than not, really, but lacking intention, of course. But does intention matter in these situations? Maybe it does, but the pulverized bug would never know it if it did.

The raccoon’s eyes shine in my headlights as the inevitable bump makes me sick to my stomach. Why did it have to be in the road just then? Why didn’t it move? Why did it have to be so dark out? It’s not fair, but the raccoon does not dwell on the concept of fairness. It suffers and dies. I can only hope the latter comes sooner rather than later.

A sea turtle 2,000 miles away chokes on my plastic straw. It was from my iced latte, the kind I get every day. It’s from a local shop! I’m doing my part to support businesses in my community! They get their beans from a brand that does not believe in such community. The beans have been touched by enslaved hands I will never see. I got coconut flavor!

Today I tried a new recipe. It had blueberries in it. Earlier this week I saw a video on Instagram of immigrant farm workers being detained by ICE. It was a blueberry farm. My cookies turned out amazing. I’ll share the recipe online and tune out the cries of those being persecuted the best I can.

I say all this like it’s revolutionary to realize that your existence inherently causes suffering. That our society is based on suffering. It’s not new, it’s not revolutionary, and I’ve known it for as long as I can remember. We all know it.

Despite the monotony of both the world’s suffering and of my life that benefits from such egregiousness, it still eats at me. Some days more than others. Today is one of those days.

From the ants on the court to the literal slaves and the wage slaves that made my coffee, my day is made all the better by partaking in the suffering of others. It’s a heavy burden to be alive. To live a normal life. A normal life of pickleball and cartons of blueberries. I hate it so but I don’t want to die. I don’t want to give up coffee or berries or pickleball with my mom.

I am just lucky to be the one who benefits and not the one who suffers.

-AMS

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Posted by Athena Scalzi

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Though the author of The Curve of the World has passed, her story lives on. Her editor, Nisi Shawl, is here to take us through what she believes Vonda N. McIntyre’s Big Idea was. Let’s have a look, and pay our respects in the process.

NISI SHAWL (EDITOR):
We may never truly know what the Big Idea behind Vonda N. McIntyre’s last novel was. Two weeks after she completed a final draft of that novel, The Curve of the World, Vonda died. We can ask ourselves what she was trying to do as many times as we want, but the file drawers full of notes she left behind are empty of the answer to that question.
Vonda wrote change-the-world science fiction. Like her friend, Clarion classmate, and Pacific Northwest neighbor Octavia Butler, she faced life’s challenges head on and with a high-functioning imagination as her tool and weapon, and rigorous research as her resource. Which maybe comes across as a little grim?
But apply all that discipline to speculating about the bull-leaping, bare-breasted matriarchs of long-vanished Minoan civilization and (if you’re Vonda) you get fascinating results: a mind-stretching, 408-page epic. Starting their ocean voyage from the homey Mediterranean waters surrounding the Cretan archipelago, the trade-and-diplomacy-focused crew of the Flying Fish sail halfway around the globe, encountering a sea monster, volcanoes, a mummy king, and slave-driving pirates as the ship makes her way to the North Pacific’s Neah Bay.
Which sounds like your standard adventure tale, right? But what’s so intensely cool about The Curve of the World is how it’s not that. Not standard. Not at all. It’s not a Hero’s Journey-type deal in which our protagonists conquer foreign lands by virtue of their physical might or intellectual superiority or due to some inherent divine right.
Because unlike, for instance, the ostensibly Christian conquistadores claiming ownership of Florida and Mexico and basically half the Western Hemisphere, the Minoans aboard Flying Fish represent a culture based on cooperation, trust, and mutualism. It practiced DEI from the get-go.

My best guess is that this was Vonda’s Big Idea: How would a deeply egalitarian society interact with other sorts of societies? Vonda’s alt-Minoans parlay with bloody-handed Mesoamericans. They trade peacefully with sword-wielding tribes of Amazon warriors. They maintain their fairness, their inclusiveness, their love of interdependence, their core feminist principles, all this in the face of murderous aggression. So that’s what I think it was.
And why should it matter what I think Vonda thought? Well, the way the editorial process for this book went, it matters quite a lot. As author and Aqueduct Press founder L. Timmel Duchamp puts it, I stood “in loco Vondae.”
You see, the manuscript file that gets turned in to a book’s publisher may include the word “final” in its name, but it’s not genuinely final at that point. If you’ve ever had a book you wrote published you know how these things go. The copyeditor has questions about spelling names consistently throughout the text; the managing editor has questions about a character’s locations and travel times. So on and so forth. Aqueduct asked those questions of me.
To me that meant I needed to immerse myself in as much Vonda-ness as I could conjure up. I read and re-read her old and new work. I fondled my eight examples of the beaded sea-creatures she crocheted ceaselessly, gorgeous and glittering creations she generously bestowed upon her family, friends, and fen. And I dallied in memories of meeting her and witnessing firsthand her no-nonsense approach to life, her restaurant recommendations and pronouncements on crows and prowess with video cameras.

Then, faced with page after page of queries about Curve, I did my best to answer as she would have answered and choose as she would have chosen. I did my best to first absorb and then project her voice, and along with everyone else involved, to preserve it.
Maybe if you read The Curve of the World you can tell me whether we got that part right. Is that Vonda talking to you from beyond death? And what about my guess? Is it at all accurate to say that the Big Idea behind this book is how an extremely woke civilization can triumph over violent authoritarians? And is that hope I see really there?

The Curve of the World: Amazon

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/15/the-big-idea-vonda-n-mcintyre/

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musesfool - trying to beat the Miz
scalziwhatever_feed - Back Home, 7/20/26
cakewrecks_feed - Anything You Can Wreck, I Can Wreck Better
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scalziwhatever_feed - The Big Idea: John Wiswell
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scalziwhatever_feed - View From a Hotel Window, 7/16/26: Greensboro, NC
cakewrecks_feed - My Uncle Thought He Was Saint Jerome
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Reading

trying to beat the Miz

Back Home, 7/20/26

Anything You Can Wreck, I Can Wreck Better

Perhaps the Loneliest Volleyball Court in North Carolina

The Odyssey: An Overlooked Aspect

Sunday Sweets: Wedding Towers

Small Duckling Update

it presents itself as a ball right out of the hand

buy me some peanuts and cracker jack

searchable Bujold Q&A column created

Heart Arrhythmia by lavvyan (T)

The Big Idea: John Wiswell

Ouch

View From a Hotel Window, 7/16/26: Greensboro, NC

My Uncle Thought He Was Saint Jerome

and i ain't got no worries 'cause i ain't in no hurry at all

wednesday reads and things

Krissy Has a New Toy

A Writing Exercise I Did Today I Figured I’d Share

The Big Idea: Vonda N. McIntyre

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