New Worlds: Greasing Palms

Oct. 3rd, 2025 05:02 pm
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[personal profile] swan_tower
For October, my loyal patrons in the New Worlds Patreon have voted for a turn toward the field of economics! Though what we're talking about this first week could potentially have gone into the "law and crime" category instead, as we're talking about bribery . . . comment over there!

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/UOvoSd)
gentlyepigrams: (books - only true magic)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
I was quite sick this week so I read a lot.

Books
The Last Soul Among Wolves, by Melissa Caruso. Second in this series, and it just came out with promises of a third. I continue to really enjoy the worldbuilding and the character development, which are both quite interesting. Also, I realized after reading this one that another commonality is these are both sort of locked-room mysteries as well, which makes them different from a lot of worldbuilding fantasies. I really need to go back and pick up the rest of the Caruso I've read.
Welcome to Murder Week, by Karen Dukess. Cath's flighty mom died but left her a ticket to a murder mystery week in an English village. While solving the murder mystery, Cath has to figure out why her mother wanted to bring her there and what her connection to the place is. Also there's a romance. A step above cozy mysteries but not litfic. I liked it and thought the buildup and outcome was good. I particularly liked that the romance was not a core focus to the exclusion of making friends.
The Winter Duke, by Claire Eliza Bartlett. This one came highly recommended by Dee, so I read it even though it's YA. Russian-inflected fantasy in which one daughter survives an assassination attempt on her royal family and inherits a magical dukedom. Everybody wants what she's got, so how does she survive? I liked both the characters and the worldbuilding, and the main character's chosen bride was a delight.
Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn. First of the Twelve Houses books, which is a series I never got into. It's got that 80s-90s series vibe and I plowed through 400 pages in about a day. Definitely in for more of it.
Sugar, Spice, and Can't Play Nice, by Annika Sharma. Second in a series of contemporary romances among a group of Indian (subcontinental) friends in New York. This time she's an Indo-British fashion designer and he's a marketing guy. Their parents' companies are merging and want to seal the deal with a marriage. I think I enjoy these romances because a lot of factors that simply wouldn't matter as much to white Americans play a significant role in how the characters act and that changes the course of the stories.
The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar. Not quite a fairy tale retelling, though there's some of that in it, and not quite a song retelling, for all that it references a favorite of mine, and not quite Wolfe-ian (Gene) in its wordplay. But all of those things are ingredients in this novella and they're all very well executed.

Interesting things - 2025 09 28

Sep. 28th, 2025 10:37 pm
gentlyepigrams: (flapper rose)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams

New Worlds: Quartering (No Drawing)

Sep. 26th, 2025 05:01 pm
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[personal profile] swan_tower
Every U.S. schoolchild learns about the Bill of Rights, but how many of us remember why the Third Amendment -- the one about the quartering of soldiers -- was so important to the Founding Fathers? The problems with housing soldiers, in war and in peacetime, is the topic of this week's New Worlds Patreon essay; comment over there!

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/EL6gTw)
gentlyepigrams: (gaming - amber wrongbadfun)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
Brief notes on the Carnivale session of Amber Rising (2025 09 01 - Labor Day hybrid session)

Very brief summary mostly to provide context for the follow-up conversation. )

Brief notes on the follow-up session with GM Mel for Rhiannon about the contests. (2025 09 24)

Mostly about her conversation with Angel. )

Follow up actions (may add more later):
  • Note to Ordille about the poisoning - sent by the GMs
  • Follow up with Abuchi - who is close to him and will be able to provide a Trump?
  • Follow up with older siblings who remember the Lorris affair
  • Research the Lorris affair with books/NPCs
mizkit: (Default)
[personal profile] mizkit
When last we saw our heroes, they were returning from a side trip to Memphis. In our absence, Teddy, Freddy, Evelyn and Calliope had a side adventure and then went out and got properly smashed at a drag king club, the name of which is escaping me, somewhere in Cairo. This all went as well as you could possibly imagine, and they returned incredibly hung over.

Teddy and Dr Willie Preston met for the first time. It was most excellent. Tragically, they then parted ways, Teddy to nurse a headache and Willie to lead us into very questionable choices at the Great Pyramids.

DM: Okay, you're at the pyramids! What do you want to do?

The party: ...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............

Alice: I'm going to go look at the dig where Willie's sarcophagus disappeared.

Evelyn: I'm going to go look at those very handsome young men digging things up.

Calliope: ...I feel like someone should keep an eye on Alice, so I guess I'll do that...

DM: Can any of you ride camels?

Alice: I have two in ride!

Evelyn: I've got 6 in ride.

DM, mumbling: of course Evelyn is a horse girl

Evelyn's player: -attempts protest- -falters into inevitable agreement-

Calliope: I grew up in central London, I can't ride at all.

DM: Okay, so Alice goes to the dig where Willie's sarcophagus disappeared, Evelyn goes to look at the men working, and Calliope...goes where the camel wants to go. Fey, what are you doing?

Fey: I want to see if there are any mysterious and cryptic messages at the Sphinx.

Alice finds the dig, which is covered over, and immediately starts looking for something to dig it up again with. "I wonder if I can convince the camel to dig..."

DM: ah yes, those notorious digging animals, camels

Calliope's camel: GRRROOOOOOONK

DM: is anybody trying to do anything formal? Get permission for anything?

Alice: Do you think I could steal a shovel from somebody?

Evelyn: Hellooooo, handsome young men! My, what fine muscles you have as you do your hard work! Isn't Egypt lovely! So full of mysterious mysteries! Perhaps you could tell me about what you're working on!

Young men: -are crude-

Calliope's camel: GRRROOOOOOONK

DM: Fey, you find a mysterious and cryptic message at the Sphinx! In the meantime, is anybody trying to do anything formal? Get permission for anything?

Fey: -returns to Evelyn, triumphant-

Young men: -are very crude-

Evelyn: I can tell you're being crude, you naughty young things, although I don't know what you're saying because I'm American and only speak English! Take that!

Calliope's camel: GRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOONK -and also carries Calliope over to an abandoned well/garbage chute that the DM wants us to notice- GRRROOOOOOONK

The poor beleaguered DM: is anybody trying to do anything formal? Get permission for anything?

Calliope & Evelyn: Oh look, we've found a deep empty hole in the ground! Everybody come look!

(Everybody comes to look.)

DM, desperate now: is anybody trying to do anything formal? Get permission for anything?

Me: We've never done anything like that before in this entire adventure, so I'd say we're constitutionally unlikely to start now.

DM, relieved that somebody has made a decision: Okay, great. It's getting very hot out now and other archaeology parties and tourists are going off to rest in the heat of the day.

Evelyn: is there anything nearby I can steal to help us get into that hole without killing ourselves?

DM: Like this truck full of supplies?

Evelyn: AMAZING. I get rope, pitons, lanterns (a long list of other things I can't remember) and...whiskey?

DM: there is no whiskey

Evelyn: DAMN.

After a brief discussion of our general athletic skills, Fey goes down the hole first, to try to put pitons in to make it easier for everybody else. Instead, he falls. Whoops. At least he manages a good roll on his health save and isn't horribly damaged.

Alice, who is equally athletic, follows and successfully puts pitons in to help the others. We leave Dr Willie Preston above-ground in case we need someone to notify the authorities of an emergency.

My father, later, horrified, as we relate the adventure to him: You left BILL in charge of EMERGENCIES?

Us: we are not the best at making good decisions

Back in the game, we all get fifty feet down into the ground, which is somewhat slimy and stinky because of the garbage archaeologists have been throwing down here.

GM: Okay, who's going first?

Alice: I'm going first. Fey fell down the hole. Also my driving trait is curiosity.

Evelyn & Calliope: be our guest

Fey: hnf

GM: By the way, Alice, you are extremely comfortable down here in these tunnels. Absolutely comfortable.

Alice: Of course I am.

Everybody else: WE'RE NOT!

GM: nor should you be

(ok he didn't actually say that but COME ON)

As it turns out, it's almost as bad an idea to let Alice lead the party through catacombs and tunnels of doom while driven by curiosity and no discomfort at all as it would be to let, say, Teddy take the lead. She barges ahead with an alarming single-mindedness while everybody else is like "Um. Um. Perhaps...well, shit, Alice has the light, better catch up!"

...up until the point when there's a Terrible Stench that only Alice can smell, and it belatedly occurs to her that maybe she should try to sense trouble.

DM: -rolls for my perception check- You in danger, girl

DM: You are suddenly very very afraid and feel strongly you should get out of there.

Alice: LET'S GO THE OTHER DIRECTION, GUYS

Unfortunately, while Alice was barging off That Way down a path of horrible black roses, Calliope got another light working and she and Evelyn took a quick look The Other Way, where they saw terrifying Anubis-headed things standing motionless in the darkness. They scurry back with Evelyn hissing, "Whatever you do, don't tell Alice what we just saw" at Calliope.

Calliope: No shit, Sherlock.

Evelyn & Calliope: NOPE WE WERE WRONG LET'S GO THE WAY YOU CHOSE IN THE FIRST PLACE ALICE

Alice: NOPE I'M WRONG LET'S GO THE WAY YOU JUST CAME FROM ALSO CAN'T YOU HEAR THAT CRYING CHILD WE HAVE TO GET TO THE CRYING CHILD NOW THERE ARE MEN CALLING FOR HELP WE MUST HELP THEM!

Fey: you people are all idiots, aren't you

Calliope, who really does think fast: these tunnels all twist around down here, Alice. The sound is probably coming from somewhere else entirely and if we go down the path of black roses we'll find them.

Alice, somewhat dubious: ...okay...

We do not find any crying children or men calling for help. We DO find tunnels dripping blood (LET'S NOT GO THAT WAY), more Anubis-headed monsters, and finally...

...finally a deep glowing red light begins to draw us toward it, and for the first time we begin to go up instead of down, up, up, up...into a chamber filled with the red light, and a hard (yellow?) light that's difficult to even look at, and a general sacrificial vibe, and...

...what quite frankly appears to be a Hellmouth at the far end of the chamber.

DM, cheerfully: Well! You have two or three sessions left in Egypt, I reckon. (pause) Or one, if you mess up!

And on that note, we close tonight's adventure. O_O
gentlyepigrams: (music - neon guitars)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
Apparently what I really needed to do this week was listen to a bunch of music.

Books
The Last Hour Between Worlds, by Melissa Caruso. First in a fantasy duology set in a really fascinating world where god-level beings are contesting to set the theme of reality for the next period of time through their mortal pawns at a new year's party. Loved the POV character because in addition to being a badass, she's a new mom and it plays into everything. Really looking forward to the next in this series.

Music
Isabelle Faust, Kristin von der Goltz & Kristian Bezuidenhout, J. S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Continuo. Very nice recent release of Bach's chamber music.
Isabelle Faust, Solo: Matteis - Pisendel - Biber - Guillemain - Vilsmayr. More baroque music, but solo violin this time.
Isabelle Faust, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck & Xenia Loeffler, J.S. Bach: Violin Concertos. More Bach but with a larger ensemble.
I'm With Her, Wild and Clear and Blue. Folk trio made up of Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins, which I hadn't listened to although I knew all the members and have seen Watkins live repeatedly. I love their harmonies on this, their second LP, and am really looking forward to seeing them live on Friday.
Hiromi, Sonicwonderland (feat. Sonicwonder). She's a jazz pianist who fronts an ensemble and this is their debut album. I was listening to it while writing House of Cards and it was fine for that purpose but I think I'd have to give it another more serious listen to decide whether I really liked it.

Interesting things - 2025 09 22

Sep. 22nd, 2025 11:23 pm
gentlyepigrams: (giraffes)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
Apparently I'm cleaning out my tabs.

We ate from: Dozo Sushi to Go

Sep. 22nd, 2025 10:04 pm
gentlyepigrams: (food)
[personal profile] gentlyepigrams
Dozo Sushi to Go is the best to-go sushi in our part of town. They have a bunch of boxes with good samplers of several different types of fish (salmon, which we had this time, yellowtail, tuna), some nigiri, and some rolls. Most of it is nice, but basic. They don't deliver so you have to pick it up and speed home.

The presentation of the boxes is very nice; not as fancy as eat-in, obviously, but they do put a little thought into how it looks. The rolls and nigiri come in the standard black & clear plastic boxes that your gro sto sushi comes in. The portions are generous--no skimping--and the fish is decent quality. It's not what you'd get from a really nice sushi place but it's definitely on the far upper end of gro sto sushi, like Eatzi's or HEB, but with a nicer set of options.

This is, I think, our third time ordering from them and each time we've enjoyed it. There are hard limits on what you can do with sushi to be eaten outside an actual sushi restaurant and Dozo approaches them.

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