jinian | Network

Should we attempt to bring older works into the modern age?

Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works

silveradept

snowflake_challenge dropped their eleventh challenge, and it's a call-back.

Challenge #11

Grant someone's wish from Challenge #5.

( Merrily a wassailing... )

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: ROZEN - Master vs Master

evewithanapple posting in

vidding

Title: House
Music: House - Charli XCX feat. John Cale
Fandom: The Black Phone (Movies - Derrickson)
Summary: ". . . other houses, the lights were dim, and with some houses they were almost out and I didn’t know the people who lived there. I’d get a feeling from these houses of stuff going on that wasn’t happy. I didn’t dwell on it, but I knew there were things going on behind those doors and windows." - David Lynch
Warnings: Canon-typical abuse and violence against children; suicide by hanging
Links: On AO3 | On Tumblr | On DW

aurumcalendula posting in

thisfinecrew

House Concurrent Resolution 70 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 26 were introduced on January 15th by Representative Khanna (D - CA) and Senator Gallego (D - AZ).

I think it might be a good idea to ask congresspeople to support them.

https://congress.gov/bill/119-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/70

https://congress.gov/bill/119-congress/senate-concurrent-resolution/26

( the main text of both under the cut )

duckprintspress

A graphic over a white background, featuring an ice cream sundae with a cherry and whipped cream on top and a couple brownie chunks and vanilla ice cream, as well as several hearts in striped like the wlw pride flag, and text. The text reads: An Excerpt from Missed Fortunes by Tris Lawrence. The spice of cinnamon explodes on Carolyn's tongue, enhanced by vanilla and cream. She licks the whipped cream from Serina's finger, savoring it as Serina withdraws, her cheek flushed. Carolyn's tongue tingles. "It's good." "It's the best," Serina corrects her softly, licking the last of the cream from her fingertip before she picks up her spoon and digs in.

Three books are included in our current Kickstarter, the three combined telling the full story of the Twinned trilogy by Tris Lawrence. The first book is Commit to the Kick; the second is Missed Fortunes, starring Carolyn, a young woman with predictive Talent that works through Tarot readings, and who is biromantic and asexual! She’s not entirely sure what Serina has in mind, or if she’ll be comfortable accepting it, but she’s definitely open to the possibility. And meanwhile, her Talent is changing in unexpected ways…

Blurb:

To solve the problem of now…
Remember what lies behind…
Pass through your hopes and fears…
…to the final outcome.

Carolyn knows the Emergence brought her a new community, but it also revealed the existence of people with magical Talent to the scrutiny of the world. Her high school life ended on a tumultuous note, but now that she’s a junior at Pine Hills University, her life has become stable. She has her twin Kit. She has her sorority sisters. She has her Talent and her Tarot cards.

But when the Tower appears in a reading, the world shatters and changes. Kit has left his predictive Talent behind, and Carolyn’s own predictive Talent is changing decidedly unpredictably. She’s seeing visions of fire and destruction, of Shadows moving in the darkness and intruding into the light. And her sorority sister Drea and Drea’s brother Alaric have returned from winter break, warning of looming dangers and the risk of Clan going to war.

Carolyn shouldn’t get involved—doesn’t want to get involved—but with the world crumbling around her and her predictions hinting at worse to come, she can’t imagine not doing what she can. To make matters worse, the only way forward is to reconcile with her past, but Carolyn isn’t sure how to do that nor why it seems so important to the world that she does.

Commit to the Kick and Missed Fortunes have both been released previously in print through Duck Prints Press; the third book of the trilogy, Into the Split, is coming out for the first time using funds from this crowdfunding campaign.

Learn more about all three books, and buy one, two, or all three of them, by supporting our Kickstarter campaign today!

(we hit our base funding goal yesterday, but we’ve got lots of great stretch goals for bonus content, and funding above our base helps raise the amount Tris Lawrence earns for her efforts in writing this awesome series of modern-with-magic books!)

oursin

What I read

Finished I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz, though will cop to only skimming the final section 'Fiorucci: the Book' (1980) about which I was a bit WTF? and 'what was she on?'

Over the weekend saw a review somewhere of the latest work by Madeleine Gray speaking well of her first novel Green Dot (2024) so thought I might see what it was like, especially as it was at a very reasonable price on Kobo - gave up about a third or so in. Did not care about the narrator or her situation.

A bit of sortes e-reader (inadvertently opening a book) started a supernatural thriller but I couldn't work out whether it was part of a series and I was supposed to know who these characters and their predicament were, or whether I was supposed to work it out over chapters jumping back and forward over time and didn't feel grabbed. May return because that might be me?

Dick Francis, Risk (1977), where I realised I have recently identified a Francis pattern such that I could finger a certain character very early on as likely to be implicated in bad stuff going down.

On the go

Have been dipping into Timothy d'Arch Smith, The Stammering Librarian (2025), some further collected essays, including one on a person of research interest, and a rather fun Anthony Powell parody.

Dick Francis, The Edge (1988), which is the one involving a lush train journey, with additional Staged Murder Mystery, across Canada (reverse direction to the way I did it).

Up next

Well, the local history society publications in which I was interested have been ordered and have arrived.

seleneheart posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

reeby10 posting in

snowflake_challenge

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #111 )

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

rydra_wong

Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. They live there. It is their country.

They are legally Danish citzens. Greenland is largely self-governing, with the possibility of becoming independent if they choose to.

Denmark can't "sell" them or their country because Denmark does not own them.

And after a number of centuries and some debate, a general consensus was arrived at that selling people is not ethically acceptable, you know?

Even if they wanted to, Denmark can't "sell" Trump Greenland any more than the UK could sell him Scotland.

Also N.B. 85-90% of the Greenlanders are Inuit.

I am very certain that this is absolutely about thinking that Native people don't really count as citizens and they don't really own their land; it is Terra Nullius, and they can be sold off in a deal between the "real" nations of Denmark and the US.

(Or their land can be sold out from under them and they can just be forced elsewhere, which I'm sure Trump would be just fine with.)

If the US wanted to try to ethically acquire Greenland, it could talk to the government of Greenland and offer them a great deal with significant benefits if they wanted to become independent and then have a free association deal with the US.

Or rather, it could have, maybe, because now the Greenlanders are fucking pissed off and scared over the threats and offers to buy them, and if they have to choose between the US and Denmark they are unambiguously choosing Denmark:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/us-invasion-threat-greenland-trump-denmark

pauraque

This is my second post about As the Earth Dreams, though these are the first stories in the book. I missed the book club meeting when they were discussed, so I'm afraid you'll only be getting my thoughts on them.

I also read the introduction and learned that it offers a one-sentence synopsis for each story, so I guess I can use those when I can't come up with a better one and/or don't understand a story's plot.

"Ravenous, Called Iffy" by Chimedum Ohaegbu

( A masseuse attends her mother's fourth funeral, a prelude to her latest resurrection, only to encounter family she's never met. )

"The Hole in the Middle of the World" by Chinelo Onwualu

( In a dystopian future, a refugee sells her memories. )

"A Fair Assessment" by Terese Mason Pierre

( An antiques appraiser summons spirits to learn more about the objects, and encounters her ancestor. )

fred_mouse posting in

unclutter

How did the decluttering of the work space(s) go? Did you spend time looking for things that could go, move a thing or two, or have a wildly successful week? Or did you work on a different space instead?

For week four we are moving from decluttering spaces in order to make them more welcoming to us, to making our space more welcoming to others. What this might look like

Is it difficult to get into the house? Option: work out what of the stuff in the front hall / entrance / verandah / front step is useful to have there, and deal with (some of) the rest. If that stuff is clutter to be rehomed, maybe make the getting it out of the house a priority
Is there nowhere for visitors to put things when they visit? Option: go through the shoe rack / coat rack / other storage and getting rid of what you don't use so that there is space for visitors to leave their shoes / coats / other when they visit
Is there nowhere for a visitor to sit? Option: Clear a second chair! Or a path to a second chair!
Are there too many choices of tea, and none of them good? Option: get rid of the stale tea so nobody accidentally gets served it. Do not suffer stale tea.
Have your serving plates / company coffee mugs / tea cups seen better days? Are there good ones that never get appreciated? Consider: ditch the dodgy, have the joy of using the nice ones (and if the nice ones aren't ever going to get used, is it time to send them out into the world to bring joy to someone else?)
if you have a car and are a person who provides transport, is there clutter in there making life awkward?

Remember, this is a gentle challenge, and if you get one thing progressed, that is a big win even when you can't give yourself the credit.

james_davis_nicoll

I read the press release and have no idea what this imprint will publish.

rydra_wong

A post by Naomi Kritzer:

https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/

This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.

(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )

rydra_wong posting in

thisfinecrew

just_ann_now

^Same userpic as last week, because it's still cold! Clear and sunny, so not bad for walking, but, still. They are talking about a SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT for us this weekend. We shall see!

What I Just Finished Reading

Sing Like A Fish:How Sound Rules Life Underwater, by Amorina Kingdon.

cairistiona, it was extremely readable and enjoyable! I learned so much. There is a fish, along the Pacific Coast, with mating calls! I can't even imagine. Less enjoyable, but still very worthwhile, was Birds at Rest: The Behavior and Ecology of Avian Sleep, by Roger F. Pasquier. (Academics should not be allowed to publish approachable, engaging prefaces to their books, if the books themselves are going to be pretty dry. That's deceptive!) *grin* But again, I learned a lot about avian behavior that had never occurred to me before. @

cairistiona, an even more enjoyable book about fish is What A Fish Knows, by Jonathan Balcomb, which I remember I really liked.

On the fiction side, Malinalli, by Veronica Chapa, had inconsistent characterization and confusing plotting. For Dreamwidth Book Bingo: Author's Debut, as well as Goodreads Tale Spinners challenge (Fairy tale or mythology retelling).

An absolute impulse purchase (boy, have I been doing a lot of that lately) was What If...Loki Was Worthy?. An odd impulse because I haven't been into Marvel in ages and am several movies behind. (Sorry, Captain America Sam. Sorry, Bucky.) If this book had been fic, it would be Crack!fic, an absolutely wacky and enjoyable ride. My absolutely favorite Loki Redemption fic, though, is

coneycat's "Housemates", which I will post a link to as soon as AO3 is done with its maintenance.

What I Am Currently Reading

Today I ~~expect~~ hope to finish A Splendid Savage:The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham, by Steve Kemper. Burnham was a high adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer who I first heard about in reading about another high-adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer, Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer.

What I Am Reading Next

I have a list of library holds as long as my arm, which I plan to pick up tomorrow. Which is crazy, because it isn't like I don't have another virtual stack of ebooks on my iPad. I just like walking to the library, I guess.

Question of the Day:

Snow:Yay! or Snow

(That would be me. It's not that I mind snow, per se - it's pretty on the garden, so peaceful looking, and we certainly need the moisture. It's the danger and difficulty of walking the days after.)

lydamorehouse

Image: no laser eyes this time, but this is a loon in the shape of the Rebel Alliance symbol from Star Wars.

So, let's see. Yesterday started out a little rough for me in part because I was feeling EXTRA anxious because helicopters were buzzing our neighborhood. So much information getting shared is people guessing at what's going on and people who seem to maybe be reporting on what's happening? But, it's often unclear where they are getting their information? So, it's very paranoid here.

What I heard was that ICE was back at the MidwayTarget just up the block from me, specifically targeting the protestors there. Target has been a target for resistance efforts because of the video that was widely circulated of Jonathan Ross, the ICE commandant/literal SS officer cosplayer, stopping to take a piss flanked by his goons. Rumors have also circulated that Target is not what we are calling a "Fourth Amendment business." (For our international friends, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the US states that there must be probable/reasonable cause for search and seizure--including of our persons, our bodies--basically no one has the right to just snatch people out of homes or businesses.) So, here in the Twin Cities, if a business appears to cooperate with ICE, even to the point of not protecting their employees, people have been mad. And supposedly Target was compliant with ICE. So,the day before yesterday there was a big sit-in in Target. Yesterday, there was a group of people doing retail resistance? They would buy salt (or other metaphorically appropriate things) and then immediately return it, so that Target would have the hassle of all this merchandise to deal with and refunds to issue.

There was another rumor that ICE was at HarMar Mall in Roseville, which is literally a shopping mall? But, as someone who has taken the bus out in that direction, a lot of folks who might be targets of the gestapo do work in those retail stores.

What I should have done when the helicopters were circling was just get in my car and drive up to Target and see what I could see or head out to HarMar, but I was waiting for Mason to be up to find out what he wanted to do for lunch and whether or not he was going to his uncle Keven's to do some odd job work. Mason was justifiably cranky with me when he came down to find me in a state. As he pointed out, I can just go. He is an adult. Not only can he make himself lunch, he can figure out how to get to Keven's if need be.

But, having talked that through, Mason and I decided to drop by the folks I lovingly call the Food Communists and see if there was work to be done. Sure enough! We arrived in time to help load up one car that was delivering diapers. We packed several bags of groceries, helped load more stuff to go, and then spent the "downtime" making individual packs of various bulk food items, while chatting with neighbors--and one guy who and I am not kidding, came from the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota order to help with the resistance. That is 288 miles from us, about a 5 hour drive (if you drive without stopping.) People in the UK? He basically came from another world. (And honestly? A few more miles and he would have been coming from Canada.)

Speaking of my non-Minnesotan and foreign friends, here's

naomikritzer 's write up of things to do for us if you are interested in helping the resistance: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/ Even if all you want is some links to reliable, detailed information about what is actually happening here, this is a good resource to start with!

My singing group was supposed to gather last night at 7:30 pm and I made an effort to join them, but I think I screwed up the where or the when because I wandered around in the place I thought they'd be and no one was around. To be fair to me (and them) it was supposed to be outside a church and there are a number of churches with similar names in the neighborhood and I suspect I just ended up at the wrong one. They sing every day, so I'll get other chances to join them.

I've been trying to also focus on feeding myself and my family, so yesterday I made a lovely mapo tofu for lunch and then we had bibbimap for dinner. Two rice meals, but both hearty, filling, and sustaining. I went this morning to get my blood drawn for all the various health checks, so I am remembering to take care of myself and my family. I've been joking that all of this stress has actually made me better about remembering to hydrate, so that's something.

And, with luck, I'll be running D&D this weekend. So, we can keep up our mental health!

Okay, everyone, stay strong!

watersword posting in

thisfinecrew

Democrats Successfully Strip All Anti-Trans Riders From Final Appropriations Bills.

Now would be a great time to tell your Democratic representatives that you saw the party protecting trans people, and that you approve and want them to keep doing that. If your reps are Republicans, I guess tell them to stop putting discriminatory clauses in the budget?

duckprintspress

I had a really busy weekend (vending 4 days, Friday to Monday, in a city 3+ hrs drive away) so my reading was relatively sparse, especially on graphic novels/manga.

1. What are you currently reading?

The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin: so far I'm a little iffier on this one than on the first, but I'm still enjoying it.
盗墓笔记 vol. 2 by 南派三叔: ugggh I hardly made any progress at all, sigh.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin: a lovely book that had, for me, a couple wrong notes that dimmed it a little. Specifically: 1. did not hate Robert Moses enough and 2. no Jewish or East Asian city avatars. It feels a bit of a slap in the face for the importance of those groups in the fabric of the city. I've decided that, lacking canon to the contrary, Brooklyn is Jewish because I Said So. (I am a native New Yorker and have lived in Manhattan - 18 years total - and the Bronx - 5 years total - so that influences my views a lot.)
Fragtime omnibus by Sato: modern GL with sort of super powers. I'd have liked it better if the characters hadn't been so... how they are.
Kase-san and Yamada vol. 3 by Hiromi Takashima: more jealousy stuff. what a drag.
That Times I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 6 by Fuse
How Do We Relationship? vol. 1 by Tamifull: modern GL. I appreciate the bit at the beginning making clear that whatever bumps they hit, that's where they end up, cause it made Teh Dramz feel lower stakes.

3. What will you read next?

Novels: my reading club is starting Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, and my Libby hold on Apothecary Diaries vol. 2 by Natsu Hyuuga came through, so. those.

Physical Graphic Novels: I don't expect to read any this week.

Libby Graphic Novels: My Libby isn't loading right now, somethings wrong with it, but I know my loan of Just Like Mona Lisa vol. 1 by Tsumuji Yoshimura is due within the next couple days, so definitely that. I can't remember what else off hand. I've got around 10 loans rn tho... wait, there it goes, finally! Okay, that's the only one due imminently. I got a copy of Cherry Magic vol. 15 through yesterday so I expect to be on that basically immediately, too. The only reason I didn't read it yesterday was I ran out of time.

james_davis_nicoll

Nanao must chose between staying with her abusive family or accepting the offer of marriage from handsome, wealthy, sincerely considerate Yako. A dilemma for the ages!

The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru

osprey_archer

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, John Marzluff and Tony Angell. Full of fun anecdotes about crows bringing people gifts, playing with dogs and cats, gathering silently around the corpse of a fellow crow, etc. I found the neurology stuff very boring but I know some people are into that. In general I think we should move away from describing animals who do smart things as acting “like humans.”

Also Ngaio Marsh’s Singing in the Shrouds, because of course I couldn’t resist diving in once I’d bought it. This one features a serial killer, which to be honest is not my favorite kind of murder mystery, but it takes place on shipboard (Year of Sail strikes again!) among a cast of eccentric characters, which is my favorite kind of Marsh so I still had a great time despite the serial killer of it all. Stayed up late to find out the identity of the murderer and was quite satisfied with the identity of the killer if not the neat Freudian-ness of the explanation for the crimes, but listen, if you WILL read murder mysteries written in the 1930s-1960s or so, you’re asking for overly neat Freudian explanations of crimes and you know it.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve slogged about a third of the way through National Velvet, to the part where Velvet wins a horse in a raffle and also gets five horses from an old guy who writes her into his will and then immediately shoots himself. (!!!) Does it pick up from here, or is it more of the same?

I was briefly STYMIED in In the First Circle, because my copy is missing thirty pages!!! It looks like there was a production error, as the book looks perfectly fine (no pages torn out etc) but nonetheless jumps directly from page 476 to page 509.

However, I had the fortunate thought to check a different library, which helpfully had an ebook (of the same translation, even!). So I read through the missing pages and am now back on track, provided of course that there are no more nasty shocks of this sort.

What I Plan to Read Next

Hampton Sides’ The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook. Yes, indeed, Year of Sail continues.

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April 2020

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Page Summary

james_davis_nicoll - Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works
silveradept - Snowflake Challenge 02026 #11: Wish-Granting Engine
evewithanapple in vidding - Vid: "House" [The Black Phone]
aurumcalendula in thisfinecrew - H.Con.Res. 70 and S.Con.Res. 26 regarding Greenland
duckprintspress - Twinned Trilogy Excerpt: A Whipped Cream Date
oursin - Wednesday attended the Fellows' monthly symposia
seleneheart in fandomcalendar - Dreamwidth Book Club
reeby10 in snowflake_challenge - Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11
rydra_wong - This is about selling people
pauraque - As the Earth Dreams, ed. Terese Mason Pierre (2025) [part 2]
fred_mouse in unclutter - January Challenge (4 of 5)
james_davis_nicoll - Admission of ignorance
rydra_wong - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
rydra_wong in thisfinecrew - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
just_ann_now - What Am I Reading Wednesday, January 21, 2026
lydamorehouse - The Rebel Alliance
watersword in thisfinecrew - (no subject)
duckprintspress - WWW Wednesday
james_davis_nicoll - The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru
osprey_archer - Wednesday Reading Meme

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