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Escape the endless dream of space, black seas that I can't navigate
Locate the great Starlight Brigade!

My wife got me a copy of Queering The Green, a collection of poetry by 21st century queer Irish poets. I'm really excited to read it and hopefully find some new favourites to share here.

I just realised I've never posted in this thread and in case there are new folks about who haven't been subjected to my unceasing yammering yet, especially since I did try to get everyone to come hang out here, perhaps I shall.

I'm Cat (or Catherine, either will do) and I go by whatever pronouns come to your mind first. I'm from (Northern) Ireland originally but have defected to England these days. On NationStates I'm known as Tiralta and I've been part of CalRef for almost a year and a half now.

I like the Sims, being really bad at lots of hobbies, and literally never stopping talking.

I dislike temperatures that aren't 12-22°C, the fact that I am short, and compliments.

If you ever want someone to chat to, say hi! It will literally make my day cause I'm one of those weird extroverts.

HumanSanity: 81
Emily: 67
Luca: 57
Argo: 30
Kal: 16
Aav: 14
Wasc: 10
FLP: 7
Ziz: 5
Dyll: 5
Fox: 4
Zuk: 2
Catherine: 3
Sueloc: 1
Istillian: 1

Once upon a star supernova, twenty six legendary cards descended from our tall card tower. Hooray!
Our newfound love Testlandia, wore splendid magenta fursuit, specifically commissioned to contain BEES! It buzzed through rainbow, over walls yonder, and into the sky. At midnight, Gerald Ford erupted from his volcanic lair, overflowing with meritorious service. Both chambers reloaded their legislative shotguns while removing glistering shirts, heated by lava undershirts. Ford devoured the 535 imperial guards, while copper prices skyrocketed, and legislation stalled.

Meanwhile, the legendary crocodile, Crocodile Irwin, initiated CPR for the legislature of New Hartoria. Mercifully, HS wrote textwalls of nonsense which follows:
"Spinning crickets mercifully inundate Equestria"

Obviously, this sucked. Mercifully, Andraste (Jesus Ronaldo) smote tobacco from a Tevinter corpse. Aromatic! It smelled. Unclear directions confounded the manufacturing executives, who decided there was no better fate than death. Opportunistically, they provided Andraste more timeshares filled 37% of the time by Tevinter, but why? For this, the ultimate price of three dollars and forty seven cents must be paid.

Dissenting Justice reminds us of prison. Thanks Justice! Very cool! Not until Alexander Wallexander jumped out and landed beside

121

[which of the characters would you want by your side in battle, and why?]

I hope those of you who finished The Spear Cuts Through Water enjoyed it!

There's no rush to post your review, but if you're not confident with reviews I want to know this:which of the characters would you want by your side in battle, and why?

For March, we're going to read Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. In contrast to February's book, this one is quite short and available for free on Project Gutenberg! Happy reading, folks, and remember to let us know what you think here. <3

I've finished! I really liked this one. Heed the spoiler warnings!

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It's different from a lot of what I usually read, with some fun twists and good worldbuilding. If it wasn't for all the masses of violence I'd quite like to live in the world of The Spear Cuts Through Water lol.

It's also the first book I've ever felt compelled to highlight quotes to look back at later. Perhaps it's because I've had trouble reading in the last year and I read this one a lot more slowly, maybe it's the writing, I genuinely can't tell. But I think my favourite quote was this:

"I do not know if this is a reward, or if it is a punishment. But maybe it is neither. Maybe you are just here."

If you read this month's book, what are your thoughts?

I like this wording, it's nice and clear.

I think I prefer your other suggestion of Herald to SmashMaster just because "Envoys, Wards, Seconds and SmashMasters" doesn't flow as well as "Envoys, Wards, Seconds and Heralds" but that may just be me.

I read chapter one on the train home yesterday! Thoughts so far below, but the spoiler tag really is there for a reason if you haven't read that far yet.

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

If anyone else is reading it I'd love to know what you're thinking so far!

This month's Book Club book will be The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez.

Are there any themes or tropes anyone is particularly hoping to come across in this one before we start reading?

Based on the blurb, I'd like to see some family/found family, and I'm also really curious about the world and whether there's magic.

Packed Lunch, by Tanvi Roberts

Still I remember the care he took each morning: rising early, like steam
from the green at the bottom of our street, not with the breaking
of light or out of any need, but with his sleep cut short
by the alarm. In his pyjamas he'd walk, slowly, blinking his eyes
into waking. And I – can you believe it – would be angry, as only
a well-loved child can be, even to hear his alarm, for it disturbed
me. I slept well and longer, woke up, panicked, gunned down the stairs
to find him there, in the kitchen, walled in by stacks of Hovis crusts,
tomatoes bled into a steel katori – for otherwise, the sandwiches would go
soggy. Whirlwind of adolescent importance, I picked them up and slung
them into my bag, barely thinking, I never looked
back. I savoured the luxury of walking away, of ignoring the man
behind bread, which was lunch, which was love, which was cut
into triangles, which was neatly packed.

I really like this one!

[Question 1: What genres do you like? Choose as many as you like.]

It started, as many things do, with a book club. And a dream that perhaps it could return.

15 people responded to the calling to share their thoughts, which are below. And then my thoughts on those thoughts! And you can reply with your thoughts on my thoughts on your thoughts. INTERDEPENDENCE. SYNERGY. THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Question 1: What genres do you like? Choose as many as you like.
13 votes: fantasy, and sci-fi
8 votes: classics
7 votes: historical fiction
6 votes: action and adventure
5 votes: crime/mystery, and young adult
4 votes: romance, graphic novels, and dystopian
2 votes: horror, and nonfiction
1 vote: autobioghraphy/memoir, and thriller

We lean very heavily to fantasy and sci-fi, shared interests are nice! 

Question 2: Which three of the following would be most important to you in a CalRef Book Club?
7 votes: a dedicated space to talk about the book and share reviews/fanart, prompts, and thoughts or questions from others while we read
5 votes: free options (e.g. available through online libraries), voting on book suggestions, reading genres I like, and reading books I've never read before
3 votes: accessible options (e.g. audiobooks)
2 votes: diverse authors, reading at the same pace as others, and somewhere to share my reading goals
1 vote: books that are also a film/tv show

The top two are fairly simple! This thread can be our dedicated space to share our thoughts, and I can do my best to come up with some prompts if things are quieter, although I would love it a lot if we all shared questions and ideas.

The ones with 5 votes are a bit more varied. Voting is easy and can take place via emoji in Discord, and reading genres we like is hopefully doable with the handy-dandy answers to Question 1 above. For reading books we've never read before, that should hopefully be covered in the voting. For free options, there are online libraries which will be fine for classics and older books, but if we're reading anything relatively more recent the best option is honestly probably to support your local libraries and ask if they use apps like Borrow Box or Libby!

Question 3: How often should Book Club run?
9 votes: every month
3 votes: every 2 months
2 votes: reading a chapter per week
1 vote: every 2 weeks

This is a pretty substantial majority preference for once a month, that's easy! Although of course, you still don't have to join in every month to renew your book club membership.

TLDR: why aren't you reading, this is Book Club >:)
One book a month, will probably lean heavily to sci-fi and fantasy, we love democracy and encouraging the support of local libraries!

Well, now what?
It would be nice to start the book club on 1st February, as it will be easier to remember when the month starts and ends if we follow the calendar. I'll post some book club voting options tomorrow (31st January), and after 24 hours to vote, I will post February's book in this thread! Don't forget to add the Book Club role on Discord to get voting pings.

[Just Talk About the Weather]

One of my favourite poets right now is Jay Hulme, a queer religious poet. I think my favourite of his less religious poems is Just Talk About the Weather

They told me not to swear at the bishop,
I said not to worry,
said I knew small talk when I saw it,
said what a shitty day for a party;
it's pissing it down out there.
Did it fuck up your fancy hat?

106

Floral

Once upon a star supernova, twenty six legendary cards descended from our tall card tower. Hooray!
Our newfound love Testlandia, wore splendid magenta fursuit, specifically commissioned to contain BEES! It buzzed through rainbow, over walls yonder, and into the sky. At midnight, Gerald Ford erupted from his volcanic lair, overflowing with meritorious service. Both chambers reloaded their legislative shotguns while removing glistering shirts, heated by lava undershirts. Ford devoured the 535 imperial guards, while copper prices skyrocketed, and legislation stalled.

Meanwhile, the legendary crocodile, Crocodile Irwin, initiated CPR for the legislature of New Hartoria. Mercifully, HS wrote textwalls of nonsense which follows:
"Spinning crickets mercifully inundate Equestria"

Obviously, this sucked. Mercifully, Andraste (Jesus Ronaldo) smote tobacco from a Tevinter corpse. Aromatic! It smelled. Unclear directions confounded the manufacturing executives, who decided there was no better fate than death. Opportunistically, they provided Andraste more timeshares filled 37% of the time by Tevinter, but why? For this, the ultimate price of three dollars and forty seven cents must be paid.

Dissenting Justice reminds us of prison. Thanks Justice! Very cool! Not until Alexander Wallexander jumped out and

HumanSanity: 81
Emily: 67
Luca: 57
Argo: 30
Kal: 15
Aav: 14
Wasc: 10
FLP: 7
Ziz: 5
Dyll: 5
Fox: 4
Zuk: 2
Catherine: 2
Sueloc: 1
Istillian: 1

A form of calamity is when silence is not enough input and music is too much input.

I found I had a complete mental block for Aster so I've thrown in a new character, hopefully this one will stick better.