ACUS 2026 - Schedule

Feb. 18th, 2026 10:51 pm
gentlyepigrams: (gaming - amber wrongbadfun)
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1. When the Clock Strikes Twelve (Dave Collis GMing)
Next adventure in his Rivers of London verse. Last time I made my character in the regular game mad by what I did with the character in this game, so I'll have to see if I can do better this time.

2. No Roads Lead to the Mathemagical Lighthouse (Arref Mak GMing)
Next adventure in the Addamz Family game (Addams Family x Amber crossover). The delight in this game is watching the characters all be nuts and win anyway.

3. Free Republic of Ygg: An Eggcellent Adventure (Me GMing solo)
My next adventure with my motley crew of silly-billies, whom I adore. This group has included plant people, a guy with the Pattern carved in his chest, a chicken bard named Hen Solo, and a surprising variety of steampunk and fantasy normies. What I throw at them generally depends on who I get, and I've got a good crew to hunt the dragon's egg.

4. Brand Mismanagement (Dave Collis GMing)
The only game I have to come up with a new character for. I don't know what Brandy's schtick is but I am having a think about it.

5. Pendrad 2026: The Sweet Confusion of Chaos (Arref Mak GMing)
Next in the Fae game, which is always wild and fun and I need to get the notes to Ray.

6. Meanwhile, Calm Winds & Quiet Waves (Kris B/Avon GMing)
I'm only playing one Meanwhile game this con, which makes me sad, but I'm glad I'm playing this game. Naval shenanigans are a common theme in this game and while I'm sorry we didn't get to go back to the pirate well this time, I'm glad someone went there.

7. Meanwhile, We Delved Too Deep (Me & Michael GMing)
This one is sort of a follow-up to the game we ran at ACUS last year, this time featuring the plot around the underwater dwarven mountain that the players didn't chase down. We have one new player in our group and it's one of my favorite people.

8. Amber Rising (Adam Easterday GMing)
FTF session of this online/in-person hybrid campaign for the four of us at the con.
gentlyepigrams: (clockwork owl)
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Books
The Tower by Flora Carr. Litfic historical novel about Mary Queen of Scots and the near-year she spent imprisoned with some of her ladies in Lochleven after her marriage to Bothwell. A solid debut; while it was a little more literary in form than I generally like, I found it worthwhile.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg. Pop neuroscience only somewhat aimed at business, despite the title. There's a really useful guide to changing habits in the appendices that I'm going to need to pay some attention to, moving forward.

Short Stories
Bullet Time at the Kink Party, by Miriam. All the content warnings, but a powerful meditation on kink, violence, and our current moment.
Bootcut, by Allison Pottern. A pair of perfect vintage jeans with a price. Feminist horror.
The Definition of a Second, by Carrie Vaughn. Paywalled. Hard to explain but it starts with a gunshot and goes from there. It's a good one.
gentlyepigrams: (be optimistic)
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Not a lot of progress this fortnight on actual stuff and one case of falling back: I was too sick to go to the play we had tickets for. We're about to buy tickets for the summer round of concerts.

Under the cut to protect your flist. )

I think the biggest progress barrier is the liminal state around the kitchen, which is moving forward slowly but not yet ready for us to put all the stuff in our dining room in. So I think my anniversary gift is going to be putting away my dishes and pots and pans, at least the ones I use, and getting rid of the rest of them.

Interesting things - 2026 02 16

Feb. 16th, 2026 10:57 am
gentlyepigrams: (bacon)
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Gig list - February 2026 (belated)

Feb. 15th, 2026 07:54 pm
gentlyepigrams: (music - tickets)
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Late is better than never. Obviously we didn't get any music done last month and given than I'm not fighting off what I hope is a cold, I may not do any this month. I really want to go to the Earlybirds Dance Club so I need to get off my keister and get well.

Under the cut to protect your flist )

The only ticket we actually bought last month was to the Texas Monthly Taco Festival, but we have a bunch of things we're considering and since, assuming I'm well enough, we'll be seeing friends on Tuesday, we'll maybe figure out which of these shows we want to go to.
gentlyepigrams: (books - so many)
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Forgot to do this yesterday because I was distracted by colonoscopy prep.

Books
Who Deserves Your Love: How to Create Boundaries to Start, Strengthen, Or End Any Relationship, by KC Davis. I liked her book on ADHD housekeeping but this was also strong because of her clear writing, which I think has to do with her ADHD-friendly communicating style.
Personal Color: The Definitive Guide to Finding and Wearing Your Best Colors, by Anuschka Rees. Again, like her other book, this is strong and clear. It's the first time I've read something about the 12-season system where I've felt confident in which palette works for me.
How to Seal Your Own Fate, by Kristen Perrin. Second and most recent (the third is coming out in April) in this series in which the London-bred heroine dives into the secrets of the village her great-aunt left her a home in. Solid enough that I'm down for the third, though how there's going to be anybody left in the village after that is a question.
Body on Baker Street, by Vicki Delany. Second of the Holmes pastiches set in a Cape Cod bookstore. The protagonist still seems super autistic-coded but I liked the mystery (of the murder of an author) and the solution well enough to continue. Also a good break from the medical horror book I've been reading.

Short Stories
Realm of the Shorn, by David Bowles. Paywalled. Another story in a series about a universal midwife, informed by the writer's Mexican heritage. I liked it but I think I'm going to have to reread the rest of the series to really get it.

Interesting things - 2026 02 09

Feb. 9th, 2026 08:34 pm
gentlyepigrams: (comet - pink star)
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gentlyepigrams: (books - reading is sexy)
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I've DNFed three books this week. I think one of the things I'm accomplishing this year is not reading books I'm feeling meh about.

Books
The Librarians, by Sherry Thomas. Charming mystery thriller with romantic inclinations set in an Austin library. Well done in all respects but it particularly charmed me with its love of Austin.
Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian. First in a series of queer murder mysteries set in a small English town after WWII. He's a doctor, he's a spy, they solve murders. Solid B class murder mystery and I expect to read more.
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller. One-third memoir, one-third biography of David Starr Jordan (founding president of Stanford), and one-third philosophy. I was interested in the Jordan pieces, especially since it seems that he may have covered up the murder of Jane Stanford in a way that made me think of the murder of William Marsh Rice. Unfortunately Miller isn't as engaging of a memoirist or philosopher as she is a biographer. (She's an NPR reporter and now a host of Radiolab)

Short Stories
Deficiency Agent, by Andrew Liptak. What happens when the fog of war is nominally cleared by AI. Like isn't the right word for the sting of this story but I appreciated the point he was making.
Tony Roomba’s Last Day on Earth, by Maria Haskins. I don't think any of my cats would do that for a scout for invading bots.
Wounds, by Celia Marsh. A magical realism story about healing, unsurprisingly.
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