Eggplant.place

158d

How to Build a Universe: Philip K. Dick on Reality, Its Enemies, and Its Heroes

169d

UPDATE 4-MAY-2026 18:23 UTC+7
348/560 — $212 left to cover May essentials.
Thank you to everyone who’s contributed so far 🙂‍↕️

I’m disabled with no healthcare or fixed income, and I need ongoing support to stay afloat.
If you can spare at least $5/month, it would make a real difference.
If you prefer one-off support, that helps just as much.

Please help amplify this so it reaches more people. Thank you, truly.

https://wrzky.com/links

@posts
@mutualaid @mutualaid@fedigroups.social @disability @autistics
@actuallyadhd

#MutualAid #MutualAidRequest #disabilitymutualaid #MutualAidBoost #disability #press #activism #politics #artist #audhd #cptsd #chronicillness #neurodivergence #ongoingsupport #anarchism #socialmedia #writer #disabledwriter #medicalassistance #disabilityjustice #womensrights #Muslim #islam #Muslimah #muslimwomen #poverty #healthcare #mentalhealth #books #fedi #MayThe4th #maythe4th2026

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1y

"We thought we believed in trial marriage. Nothing of the sort—trial separation! What marriage put asunder divorce has joined together."

#OTD in 1917.

Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?, the first drama to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre (New York).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Marry%3F

Why Marry? at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35389

#books #literature #theatre #drama

Nat Goodwin, an unidentified actress and Leonard Mudie in the 1917 play Why Marry. Date stamped Sept. 28, 1918.

The play was a comedic exploration of the institution of marriage, written by Jesse Lynch Williams. The actors are likely dressed in early 20th-century attire, fitting the time period of the play's production. The image was stamped with the date September 28, 1918, indicating either the date of publication or archival cataloging. The scene captures a moment of dramatic or comedic interaction between the characters.

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12d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TheNextHorizon

Amelia and The Book of Newts are in conflict. She wants to explore her feelings. It wants to explore space, taking back the gift for mathematics and piloting it gave her. She’s left unable to plot a direct course home. She’s desperate to see the man she loves, lest she lose him forever and The Book is in her way…

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of The Next Horizon, by Owen Tyme.

The black silhouette of a man and woman embracing. They stand atop the dark side of a planet or moon in space, which has a slim crescent along the right side. The background is the stars of space, but some have been highlighted with a heart shape that surrounds the couple. Everything is in shades of blue.

(Right) Deep space, displaying the edge of an orange and blue gaseous cloud from a nebula, while most of the stars appear golden in color. Floating in space is a square, red leather book with the image of a newt stamped on the cover. Over the top of everything is the following text:

“You can back down and cooperate, right now, or Marta will hit you so hard, you should reach a tenth the speed of light…”

“No one will ever find you again, but even if someone does, there’s no way they’ll have the capacity to safely slow you down, before you’re gone to them!”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheNextHorizon

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1y

#OTD in 1893.

Kate Chopin's short stories "Désirée's Baby" and "A Visit to Avoyelles" appear in Vogue magazine in the United States. It first appeared under the title "The Father of Désirée's Baby" in a section called "Character Studies".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9e%27s_Baby

Désirée's Baby at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/160

#books #literature

"Désirée's Baby" by Kate Chopin as it appeared in Bayou Folk, 1894.

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1y

See Charles Dickens' Rare Manuscripts, Teenage Love Letters and a Copy of 'David Copperfield' That Traveled to Antarctica

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Charles Dickens Museum in London is staging an exhibition of historic objects that shed light on the writer’s life and legacy

By Julia Binswanger

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-charles-dickens-rare-manuscripts-teenage-love-letters-and-a-copy-of-david-copperfield-that-traveled-to-antarctica-180985811/

Books by Charles Dickens at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/37

#books #literature #manuscripts

Dickens at his desk, 1858

By George Herbert Watkins, born 1828.

Dickens is seated at a polished wooden desk, which is adorned with neatly arranged papers, a quill pen, and an inkwell, symbolizing his literary craft.

Dickens is dressed in mid-19th-century attire, including a dark frock coat and waistcoat, reflecting the fashion of his time.
His face bears a contemplative expression, with his gaze slightly diverted from the camera, suggesting introspection or creative thought.

His distinctive facial features, such as the sharp nose, expressive eyes, and thick beard, are rendered with remarkable clarity.

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169d

Rasputin: Fraud, Mystic, Womanizer, Prophet... Or All of the Above?

Antony Beevor on the Enigmatic Spiritualist Who Enchanted Russian High Society and Changed the Course of History

https://lithub.com/rasputin-fraud-mystic-womanizer-prophet-or-all-of-the-above/

#history #books #RussianHistory

Photo of Grigori Rasputin. He is sitting in a chair with his hands clasped in front of him. He has on a white shirt. He has a long beard and long greasy hair.

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275d

Joined this #IndieAuthor #Fantasy Promo to start 2026 right. 🥰

We got #Books with
More Heart ❤️‍🩹,
More Helpers 🤝
More answering the Call 📢

FANTASY WITH HEALERS
Browse over 40 titles!

https://books.bookfunnel.com/fantasyhealersjan26/yl0gg573fe

#BookSale #FantasyReads #Romantasy #DarkFantasy #Epicfantasy #SwordAndSorcery @bookstodon @fantasy

A red-haired woman in a velvet blue hooded robe looks over her shoulder at the viewer, her hand lifted as if to touch gently. Background of fuzzy blue sky with white and pink clouds. Fantasy with Healers in white, January 1-31st, 2026.

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1y

"If there's any illness for which people offer many remedies, you may be sure that particular illness is incurable, I think."

#OTD in 1904.

Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, opens at the Moscow Art Theatre directed by Constantin Stanislavski.

Written in 1903, it was first published by Znaniye, and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Publishers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cherry_Orchard

Cherry Orchard at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986

#books #theatre

Scene from The Cherry Orchard, Moscow Art Theater, 1904. The MAT setting demonstrates a conscious attempt to avoid the stiffness and artificiality of the perfectly symmetrical box set. Variation of planes and glimpses into other rooms in the house continue the environment beyond the stage room and help to combat unintentional rigidity.

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1y

Perpetual Movement: Francis Picabia’s 391 Review (1917–1924).

Francis Picabia, like his close friend and collaborator Marcel Duchamp, was a man of many names. While Duchamp famously went by his feminine alter ego Rrose Sélavy and signed his 1917 Fountain with the pseudonym R. Mutt, Picabia adopted numerous aliases across his literary and artistic practice.

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/francis-picabia-391-review/?utm_source=newsletter

https://archive.org/details/391-vol-1-19

Picabia at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=picabia&submit_search=Search

#art #books #literature #dada

“La Sainte-Vierge” from the 12th volume of 391 (1920).

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38d

Librarians Suing Over Wrongful Termination for Defending Books Are Winning cross-posted from: literature.cafe/post/35428814 Page · literature.cafe

cross-posted from: literature.cafe/post/35428814

Librarians Suing Over Wrongful Termination for Defending Books Are Winning

https://literature.cafe/post/35428815

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274d

📚 Death of the Author by: Nnedi Okorafor

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s...

https://bookblabla.com/book/death-of-the-author

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #womenfiction #sciencefiction #literaryfiction #sagasfiction

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.

When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on t

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1y

What Is Infinity? A Philosophical Approach

Infinity shapes philosophy, science, and ethics, challenging our understanding of reality, existence, and the limits of human thought.

By Viktoriya Sus

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-infinity-philosophical-approach/

#books #philosophy

The Celestial Map-Northern Hemisphere, Albrecht Dürer, 1515.

The constellations are illustrated as mythological figures and animals, following classical traditions.

The map is based on Ptolemaic astronomy, using data from ancient Greek and Islamic scholars. Heinfogel, an astronomer, provided the positional accuracy of the stars.

The chart is centered on the North Pole and displays major star formations visible from the northern hemisphere.

Dürer’s celestial map was published as a pair—one for the northern hemisphere and another for the southern hemisphere—creating a comprehensive sky chart.

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274d

What *is* literary fiction?

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274d

Have you ever read a book set at a magical boarding school in England and wondered why the adult staff aren't doing anything about the supernatural problems the site faces? Well, then I recommend The Incandescent by Emily Tesh to you. Turns out competent adults can make a difference!

@bookstodon #fantasy #books

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1y

Norwegian folklorist, writer, and zoologist Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was born #OTD in 1812.

He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore. The most famous collection, "Norske Folkeeventyr" ("Norwegian Folktales"), was co-published with Moe starting in 1841. He worked as a zoologist and forestry expert, publishing writings on nature and the environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Christen_Asbj%C3%B8rnsen

Books by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/34177

#books #literature

Portrait of norwegian author Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885). Belongs to Kunstnerforeningen.

Asbjørnsen is portrayed in a formal, seated pose, exuding a sense of dignity and intellectual depth.

He is dressed in formal 19th-century attire, depicted in a dark suit or coat with a waistcoat, befitting his status as a respected author and intellectual.

The portrait captures Asbjørnsen’s distinctive features, such as his broad forehead, thick, wavy hair, and full beard, emphasizing his mature and wise demeanor.

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Norwegian Folktales, a collection of Norwegian folktales and legends by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, published in Copenhagen 1896.

This second illustrated edition is known as the "Huldrebindet", after the picture of the Huldra on the front page.

The first illustrated edition (from 1879) is known as the "nissebindet", after the Nisse pictured on it.

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262d

The Explorer Who Faked His Way Through the Hajj

Englishman Richard Burton wore several disguises, ranging from merchant to doctor to pilgrim in the holy city of Mecca.

By Kayla Johnson

https://daily.jstor.org/the-explorer-who-faked-his-way-through-the-hajj/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily_01302026

Richard Burton at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/898

#books #literature #history

Portrait of Captain Richard Burton, British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer and scholar, c. 1863, by Ernest Edwards, from vintage albumen print in the publication Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science, and Art, with Biographical Memoirs, Edwards, Ernest, and Lovell Reeve, State Library of New South Wales, DSM/920.042/P

Burton is dressed in Middle Eastern/Ottoman attire:
Fez or tarbush (traditional cap)
Flowing robes and kaftan
Sash around the waist
Dagger visible at his waist
Oriental setting: Seated on cushions with draped fabric and tent-like backdrop
His characteristic intense gaze and prominent mustache
A pose suggesting his famous ability to "pass" as a native in various cultures

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Edwards_Richard_Burton_1864_slnsw.jpg/960px-Edwards_Richard_Burton_1864_slnsw.jpg

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226d

Massacre in the Clouds : An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History - Anna’s Archive

69bd1d894fae99fa73a4efea5ee8f59a

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274d

Judge orders Anna’s Archive to delete scraped data; no one thinks it will comply

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39d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/JigsawCity

Nicole’s brain is slowly being taken over by an ancient, magical artifact, a small fragment of a magic city. She seeks a cure, before the city can destroy her sanity and then eventually, take her life by replacing her mind. Racing against time, she gathers pieces of the city, hoping to find an answer among them.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Jigsaw City, by Owen Tyme.

The background is a futuristic city of sky scrapers covered in greenery, with water ways in place of some streets. The background has been divided by dark lines that cut it up, into a jigsaw puzzle.

The foreground is a hexagonal coin with an indentation in the center that follows the same shape, with raised lines forming a hexagram in the center, which has a smaller one turned at a ninety-degree angle inside the hexagon at the center of it. The smaller hexagram has another inside it, a pattern that repeats until the lines become so fine and indistinct, they blend together.

(Right) There's a pool of lava at the base of a rocky slope, with some sharp rocks sticking upward out of it and the following text over the top:

“I’m immune to heat and fire. I can easily carry and protect one of you…”

“Ye’d need to deliver an army to make a difference, not one person!”

“I *am* an army.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/JigsawCity

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1y

#OTD in 1853.

Charles Dickens gives the first of his public readings of his own works, in Birmingham Town Hall (England) to the Industrial and Literary Institute, repeated three days later to an audience of working people and including an adaptation of A Christmas Carol; these are very successful and Dickens continues public readings until the year of his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_A_Christmas_Carol

Christmas Carol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46

#books #literature

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. Title page.

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278d

Oh, there's something like #portfolioDay ! Okay, so, I'm an #author, #podcast host and data privacy expert with a strong focus on #ITsecurity awareness. I write #nonfiction, crime and #scifi in German and English. The last two years I mainly spent with making #books and podcasts for others, like the lovely Eltville #WeinSchreibereien anthology and podcast.

https://www.zotzmann-koch.com/

Photo of a shelf of books that were either entirely written by me or have short stories or articles by me inside, sorted chronologically from left to right.

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1y

Hello Fediverse! (as we've learned :) )

Thank you for your warm welcome.

In our shop there is a display-window for which we pick a topic that is important to us. There we place all kinds of books beside each other. Poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, childrens' books and essays. There only has to be an association which connects them. We call this our "Wabe", our honey-comb.

We'll start posting on it next week. Are there and important hashtags we should use? #books #bookstodon

A photograph of the bookshop "Buchhandlung am Brühl" from the outside. You can see three large display-windows with books and handmade craft-art from the ore mountains.

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1y

"Nothing can come of nothing: speak again."

#OTD in 1838.

William Macready opens a performance of King Lear at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, restoring most of Shakespeare's original text, including the character of the Fool.

The restored character of the Fool was played by Priscilla Horton. And Helen Faucit's final appearance as Cordelia, dead in her father's arms, became one of the most iconic of Victorian images.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lear

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1532

#books #theatre

Lear and Cordelia in Prison c1779 N 05189 B 53 Pen and watercolour 123×175 by William Blake.

It depicts a poignant scene from William Shakespeare’s King Lear, where the aging King Lear and his devoted daughter, Cordelia, are imprisoned together.

In this work, Blake captures the deep sorrow and tenderness between Lear and Cordelia. Lear, frail and distressed, appears to lean toward his daughter, who remains calm and resolute.

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30d

Blood meridian game I was wondering. What if we have a blood meridian game. What would you expect from it? And how was you going to adapt this masterpiece to a video game? Page · lemmy.world

I was wondering. What if we have a blood meridian game. What would you expect from it? And how was you going to adapt this masterpiece to a video game?

Blood meridian game

https://lemmy.world/post/52134560

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