books

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #thrillers #technologicalfiction #suspensefiction #sciencefiction

Are you happy with your life?

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves?

From the bestselling author Blake Crouch, Dark Matter is a mind-bending thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+

A “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew—from the author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy

#SocialMedia #SocialNetworks #Books #Reading #AI #Rebellion

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118d

The irony is not lost on me that I’m posting this to social media. 🤷🏻‍♂️

(Hat tip: @markchappelle)

Large sign in a book store window that reads “fuck social media. Marry books. Kill AI.”

#Books #WednesdayWeeklyBloggingChallenge #Halloween

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118d

Scary Books I’ve Recommended and Why: https://lydiaschoch.com/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge-scary-books-ive-recommended-and-why/

Black and white sketch of a ghost who is floating through the air with their arms outstretched. They look like a cartoon ghost covered in a white sheet with two eye holes cut into the sheet. Very cute.

https://nautil.us/meet-the-real-dr-frankenstein-1245010/

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117d

Meet the Real Dr. Frankenstein

The Italian scientist who sparked an electric revolution that led to the beloved horror story—and the battery

By Molly Glick

Galvani and Frankenstein at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/27281
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84

#books #literature #science

Luigi Galvani - De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius, Tav. 1

Luigi Galvani experiment on frogs legs.

In this 18th-century scientific engraving, Galvani demonstrates how electricity can cause muscular movement in a dissected frog’s legs. The scene typically shows frog limbs connected by metal wires to an electrical source or to a metal arc, producing visible contractions when the circuit is completed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani#/media/File:Luigi_Galvani_Experiment.jpeg

#books #reading #fantasy #gayromance #indieAuthor #historicals #ReadingCommunity #WritingCommunity #SelfPromo
@bookstodon

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115d

It's the Fedi Book Fair this weekend. Follow the hashtag for book posts from lots of fediverse indie authors (or filter it to avoid the posts).

My books are mostly low-key fantasy with queer romance. Find out more at https://wendypalmer.au

You’ll find them at all your favourite ebook retailers and online bookstores. And also at libraries, Hoopla, or your Kobo or Everand subscriptions.

This weekend, the ebooks are 25% off direct from me (via Payhip):
https://payhip.com/WendyPalmer

And at Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer

***

As as a special bonus just for the #FediBookFair, I've made my new release, officially released 16 November, available direct:
https://payhip.com/b/A3P2i

It comes with a free 2026 calendar featuring relevant public-domain nineteenth-century artworks :)

Cover of Grace & Favour. Blue and brass-yellow colours predominant. The title is in fancy font at the top, and there's what looks like a photo portrait in an ornate frame, of two men, one in a top hat, one holding a pocket watch, and a large white dog. In the background of the photo (actually a daguerreotype, but anachronistically in colour), there is the faint impression of a woman, transparent...you could say, almost ghostly...

Mood board for Grace & Favour. Has a painting by Turner (a watercolour of Hampton Court Palace from across the river), a daguerreotype in a case, a ghost postcard, a Scots phrasebook, and a big picture of Max, a Maremma livestock guard dog, big, white and fluffy.

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/lolly-willowes/

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117d

“That’s Why We Become Witches”: Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (1926)

"A novel about a woman who throws off the yoke of patriarchy to become a witch."

The book at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72223

#witches #supernatural #books #literature

Halloween: illustration shows a witch riding on a broom with a black cat.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/av/the-shit-show/

Edited 117d ago

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115d

#LARB Radio Hour | The Shit Show

"[H]ow #BigTech dreams – from iPhones to #socialMedia to #AI – have become nightmares.

"How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier?"

#books discussed
⦁ @pluralistic's #Enshittification
⦁ Paul Kingsnorth’s #AgainstTheMachine

#tech #technology #techFutures @bookstodon

text:

LISTEN NOW
The Shit Show

background image (photo): from Dennis Oppenheim's performance artwork, "Parallel Stress"

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-world-jones-made

Edited 115d ago

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117d

📚 The World Jones Made by: Philip K. Dick

Precognition; a world ruled by Relativism; giant alien jellyfish. The World Jones Made is a classic Philip K. Dick mash-up, taking deep philosophical musings and infusing them with wild action.

Floyd Jones has always been able to see exactly one year into his future...

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #fantasy #historicalfiction #humorousfiction #arthurianfiction

Precognition; a world ruled by Relativism; giant alien jellyfish. The World Jones Made is a classic Philip K. Dick mash-up, taking deep philosophical musings and infusing them with wild action.

Floyd Jones has always been able to see exactly one year into his future, a gift and curse that began one year before he was even born. As a fortune-teller at a post-apocalyptic carnival, Jones is a powerful force, and may just be able to force society away from its paralyzing Relativism. If, that is, he can avoid the radioactively unstable government hitman on his tail.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928 1982) wrote 121 short stories and 45 novels and is considered one of the most visionary authors of the twentieth century. His work is included in the Library of America and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Eleven works have been adapted to film, including Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.

https://payhip.com/WendyPalmer

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115d

Here are the 25 best pieces of Horror Fiction of the 21st century so far... Takahe has limited support for this type: See Original Page

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115d

More #FediBookFair

Here's a pair of my fantasy books set in the Vaer world, where Vikings got themselves organised faster than the Romans did...

Both feature gay romance and murder, not necessarily in that order.

Read more about them at https://wendypalmer.au/#vaer

Available everywhere, including #Hoopla and #KoboPlus, and 25% off all weekend at Smashwords and direct:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer

Follow the #FediBookFair hashtags for books by lots of indie writers this weekend (mute if not interested).

#books #fantasy #GayRomance #ReadingCommunity
@bookstodon

Info graphic for Little Wolf and the Witch. It's Feilan (Little Wolf, the Vaer) vs the Witch (Remy, the love interest). First phrase is Feilan; second phrase is Remy.

Isn't a barbarian, won't hunt monsters. / Isn't a witch, just a redhead.

Has friend with benefits, not (very) interested in you, thanks / And yet, have you noticed how naked I am?

What do you mean, we're married now? / Sorry, I don't make the rules...darling.

I'm still not fighting a monster for you, jolterhead. / But a poor vulnerable naif needs your help.

Fine, I'll fight the human monster for you. / Why are you glaring at my uncle like that?

Domesticated Magic info graphic, Mateo vs Jonas. First phrase is Mateo, second is Jonas.

Is a Taurasi, they've lost their homeland. / Used to be pirate, he's lost his ship.

The grumpy one - or he is merely stern and controlling? / The sunshiney one - really a proto-Stoic with so much forebearance.

Doesn't know what hit him - Jonas has weaponised charm. / Doesn't know what hit him - Mateo doesn't even realise he's armed.

And now there's murder? Can his day get worse? / Yes.

#Halloween #BookReview #Horror #Books

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117d

A Review of I Found the Boogeyman Under My Brother’s Crib: https://lydiaschoch.com/a-review-of-i-found-the-boogeyman-under-my-brothers-crib/

Book cover for I Found the Boogeyman under My Brother’s Crib by Ben Farthing. Image on cover shows two glowing red eyes underneath a crib at night. It has a sinister vibe to it.

@audiofiction @bookstodon

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128d

Here comes another spicy audiobook for spooky season! 🎃

The Mirror by Amber Collins is a red-hot story of erotic revenge!

When Nick and Katy inherit a haunted mirror, they can make their biggest wishes come true. But will they go too far to humiliate the hot couple that torments them?

If you have ever wanted to put a bully in their place, this story is for you.

Content advisory follows in the next post!

Get yourself in the Halloween spirit with this spicy story. 💋

Available in audiobook format on Amazon, Audible an Apple Books. Also available in ebook format on Amazon.

https://geni.us/TMir

1/n

#NSFW #Audioook #Audioobooks #Books #Bookstodon #Halloween #Erotica #SizeFantasy #Shrinking #Magic #Witch #Halloween

On the left, an antique oval mirror with an ornate silver frame displays a spooky skull made of smoke, the drifts out of the frame.

On the right, text says: "The Mirror. By Amber Collins. Narrated by Adara Astin. A Size Erotica Revenge Story. Revenge is a dish best served... big."

A diagonal yellow banner across the bottom right corner says: "Now in audio."

@audiofiction @bookstodon

Edited 117d ago

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116d

I have three spooky audiobooks for you for a spicy Halloween trick-or-treat! 🎃

The Cauldron is about a witch who runs a rare book store (and eats people to achieve immortal youth). It's fun, light, campy, and sexy.
https://geni.us/TheCauldron

My Wife, The Witch is about a witch who turns the tables on her too-large husband by shrinking him and dominating him in the night of his wildest dreams and nightmares.
https://geni.us/MWTW

The Mirror is about a couple who inherit an enchanted antique that transforms their lives and lets them seek revenge on their bullies (in a spicy way).
https://geni.us/TMir

All three books are available as audiobooks (narrated by yours truly) on Amazon, Audible and Apple Books, and also available on Amazon as Kindle ebooks.

Go on, get yourself a Halloween treat! 💋

#Halloween #HappyHalloween #NSFW #Audiobook #Audiobooks #Audiofiction #Books #Bookstodon #Erotica #Macrophilia #Witches #Magic #SizeFantasy #GiantWoman #Giantess #TinyMan #GroupSex

Riding High (1958) by Gil Elvgren. It shows a pin-up style illustration of a "witch" flying across a paper moon on a wooden broom held up by wires. She wears an orange traffic cone on her head, a black lace-up merry widow, sheer black thigh high stockings held up by a garter belt, and a see-through negligee blown open by the wind. She straddles the broomstick with her body twisted toward the viewer, one hand raised in a salute. It's saucy, campy, cheeky cheesecake fun.

https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/11/01/nevermore/

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115d

The Distributed Proofreaders' blog this month is about another Edgar Allan Poe book at PG: "The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe."

#books #literature #poetry

https://mymodernmet.com/sakya-monastery-library/

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1y

Ancient Library in Tibet Creating Digital Archive of Its 84,000 Scriptures.

Tibet's Sakya Monastery is home to many wonders. Founded in 1073, its collection includes some of the oldest Tibetan artwork, as well as 84,000 ancient manuscripts and books.

By Regina Sienra via @mymodernmet

Photo taken at Sakya Monastery Library.
(Richard Mortel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

#books #library #manuscripts

Photo taken at Sakya Monastery Library.
(Photo: Richard Mortel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

The bookcase shown in the picture is made of solid, hand-painted wood and consists of at least four shelves full of books stacked on top of each other and probably old manuscripts, but it is not possible to visually identify each item individually. Other unidentifiable objects also appear at the top of some of these shelves.

https://mymodernmet.com/marie-curie/

Edited 1y ago

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115d

Who Was Marie Curie? Learn More About This Pioneering Nobel Prize Winner

By Madeleine Muzdakis

Mme Curie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39174

#books #womeninstem

At the first Solvay Conference (1911), Curie (seated second from right) confers with Henri Poincaré. Standing nearby are Rutherford (fourth from right), Einstein (second from right), and Paul Langevin (far right).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1911_Solvay_conference.jpg

https://bookblabla.com/book/shadow-ticket

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77d

Is there a translation of the bible that is accurate?

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115d

📚 Shadow Ticket by: Thomas Pynchon

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks h...

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #mysterydetective #noir

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.

The new novel from Thomas

https://daily.jstor.org/editors-picks-halloween/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily_10302025

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116d

Halloween Stories

Why are Victorians the default haunted house, what do ghosts have to do with the imagination, and why do we like to be scared?

By The Editors

Halloween at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=halloween

A Thrilling Hallowe'en." (Three black cats flying through the air with Jack-o-lanterns.

It depicts three black cats are shown flying through the air, their fur bristling and tails arched as if caught mid-leap or magically soaring. Each cat is accompanied by or carrying a glowing Jack-o’-lantern, the carved pumpkins casting a warm, orange light that contrasts with the dark background.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22A_Thrilling_Hallowe%27en.%22_(Three_black_cats_flying_through_the_air_with_Jack-o-lanterns).jpg

https://reactormag.com/bite-or-flight-ranking-classic-vampire-strengths-and-weaknesses/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99fqCNMVtcqKqAkA1ONHzCKSXZ5VFE-zyuzhkXiiLOrSszvIwpWINCTJ8BBH22k4EUayigArmR-mY2uet0UDTIvpoLYw&_hsmi=387512835&utm_content=387512835&utm_source=hs_email

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116d

Bite or Flight: Ranking Classic Vampire Strengths and Weaknesses

Different vampires have different rules — how do your favorites measure up?

By Rachel Ayers

The Vampyre by Polidori at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087

The Vampyre by John William Polidori - Il vampiro sorte dal nulla.

The engraving depicts a dramatic nocturnal scene set in a graveyard:

On the left, a vampire figure rises from a tomb, holding a torch. His expression is intense and predatory, suggesting he has emerged from the grave to prey upon the living.

To the right, a bearded man in flowing robes gestures toward him, possibly representing a holy or moral authority attempting to repel or banish the creature.

In the foreground, a young woman lies unconscious or asleep, her pale face and limp posture indicating vulnerability—she is likely the vampire’s intended victim.

Surrounding them are tombs and weeping willows, contributing to the eerie, gothic atmosphere.

The Italian caption below translates roughly to:
“The vampire, driven by the fever of the grave, rises above the sleeping Miss Aubrey... but he does not reach her; a celestial power drives away the shadow of this infernal being, compelling him to abandon his prey.”

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Vampyre_(Polidori)#/media/File:The_Vampyre_by_John_William_Polidori_-_Il_vampiro_sorte_dal_nulla.jpg

#Book #Books #BookMemes #Memes #Humor #Humour
#Novel #Novels #Bookshelf
#Mastobooks #BooksofMastodon #Bookstodon #Bookworm #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #BookLove

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116d

It's less of a collection and more a state of mind, and that state is cluttred and disorganised... 😂

@bookstodon @books
@humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop @reading

Post by Henry Sotheran

ART COLLECTORS: my vault is hermetically sealed

COMIC COLLECTORS: everything is ordered by issue and in plastic

TOY COLLECTORS: I've never even opened this box

BOOK COLLECTORS: (erupts from a pile of books) I have no idea what I was looking for when I started

#Interpretation #Author
#ReadingMemes #Memes #ReadAllTheBooks #Humor #Humour #Comedy
#Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Book #Books #Novel #Novels #Fiction
#Bookwyrm #Bookworm #Bookstodon #BookLove

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76d

Joking is serious business... 😁

@reading @bookstodon @books @humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop

Post by prokopetz

Death of the author: Treating the author's stated
interpretation of their own work as merely one opinion
among many, rather than the authoritative Word of God.
Disappearance of the author: Treating the context and
circumstances of the work's authorship as entirely
irrelevant with respect to its interpretation, as though
the work had popped into existence fully formed just
moments ago.

Taxidermy of the author: Working backwards from a
particular interpretation of the work to draw
conclusions about what the context and circumstances
of its authorship must have been.

Undeath of the author: Holding the author personally
responsible for every possible reading of their work,
even ones they could not reasonably have anticipated
at the time of its authorship.

Frankenstein's Monster of the author: Drawing
conclusions about authorial intent based on elements
that are present only in subsequent adaptations by
other authors.

Weekend at Bernie's of the author: Insisting that the
author would personally endorse your interpretation of
the work if they happened to be present.

Reply by bugbastard

| thought this was going to be a joke, but these are all
very real things you see people do.

Reply by prokopetz

I'm never more serious than when I'm joking.

https://www.annefrank.ch/en/diary

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1y

#OTD in 1947. The Diary of a Young Girl is published.

The book was written while Anne Frank was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, & Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Anne's diaries were retrieved by Miep Gies & Bep Voskuijl. Miep gave them to Anne's father, Otto, the family's only survivor, just after the World War II was over.

Frank in May 1942, two months before she and her family went into hiding.

Unknown photographer - Anne Frank, 1942

The last known photograph of Anne taken in May 1942, taken at a passport photo shoot. (Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. Public Domain Work)]

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1y

American author and journalist Rebecca Harding Davis was born #OTD in 1831.

"Life in the Iron Mills" (1861): Davis´s most famous work, originally published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly, is considered one of the earliest examples of American realism. It depicts the harsh realities of life for industrial workers and is noted for its empathetic portrayal of the working class.

Books by Rebecca Harding Davis at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/186

American novelist Rebecca Harding Davis.

A monochrome photograph featuring a woman with long hair, from the past.

Cover page of Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis.

"Life in the Iron Mills; or, The Korl Woman" is a novella by Rebecca Harding Davis, first published in 1861 in the Atlantic Monthly. It is considered a pioneering work of American realism and is notable for its social critique and empathetic portrayal of the working class during the Industrial Revolution.

The novella is set in a dreary industrial town and revolves around the lives of Hugh Wolfe, a furnace tender in an iron mill, and his cousin Deborah, who works in a cotton mill. The story is narrated by an unnamed observer who provides a grim depiction of the industrial environment and the dehumanizing conditions faced by the workers.

"Life in the Iron Mills" remains a seminal work in American literature, celebrated for its empathetic portrayal of the working class and its pioneering role in the development of literary realism.