Eggplant.place

315d

Smashwords End of Year Sale, promo for spicy SF&F romance and erotica

Edited 315d ago

224d

Today is Jack Kerouac birthday.

Before he became the voice of the Beat Generation, Kerouac was a promising college football player. A broken leg ended his sports career — but the long recovery gave him time to read obsessively and begin writing the stories that would change American literature.

He later wrote On the Road in a burst of energy that became legendary: typing day and night on a single 120-foot scroll of paper.

@bookstodon
#books #bookstodon #writers

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248d

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

The undead witch that rules the space pirates, known as the Dead Queen, has finally been defeated. That only makes it worse for the witches that pulled it off. She’s livid and coming for them, at least once she gets her star ship back under control…

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

(Left) The cover of Legacy of Newts, by Owen Tyme.

In the background dawn, as seen from space, above a blue world.

In the foreground is a line drawing of a red spotted newt, in white. The lines of the newt are outlined in black, to help it stand out. The interior of the line drawing has been filled with the image of a spiral galaxy in red, orange and yellow, with a blue color that shades to white at the center, which lines up with the newt's head. The galaxy almost looks like fire.

(Right) The background is a blue and orange nebula, with the following text over it:

“You gotta be real strong, real bright, real quick, or real lucky to survive drawing *attention*. Which are you?”

“I’m quick, Amelia is bright, Marta is strong and all three of us have been lucky, after a fashion: if we didn’t have bad luck, then I suppose we wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

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

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1y

Are we reading Machiavelli wrong?

What we’re missing in Machiavelli’s The Prince, explained by an expert.

by Sean Illing

https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area/414753/machiavelli-prince-authoritarian-critique-political-philosophy

Machiavelli at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232

#books #literature

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito.

In this classic Renaissance portrait by Santi di Tito, Niccolò Machiavelli is depicted in a half-length pose, turned slightly to his left but with his gaze directed outward, engaging the viewer with a calm and penetrating expression. His face is oval-shaped, with high cheekbones, a prominent nose, and tightly drawn lips.

He wears a dark, simple tunic with a high collar and red sleeves underneath

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli_by_Santi_di_Tito.jpg

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1y

finished reading Every Secret Thing 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
by Marie Munkara.

Mission mob vs bush mob in the Top End. Crude & cutting humour, with occasional glimpses of the raw, traumatic truth of dispossession & cultural genocide.

#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #IndigenousLiterature

@WildWoila @wildwoila@wyrms.de

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224d

The Phoenix Program : America's Use of Terror in Vietnam - Anna’s Archive

42173c3effefa541066f09a139ee8b6f

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1y

Today at the NOAF blog,
@princejvstin.com
reviews BIRTH OF A DYNASTY: A Novel by Chinaza Bado

http://www.nerds-feather.com/2025/05/book-review-birth-of-dynasty-novel-by.html

#bookstodon #books #fantasy

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224d

The CIA As Organized Crime : How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World - Anna’s Archive

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1y

Emma Newman is angry. Justifiably so.

“I’m just a girl, standing in front of the British government, asking why they want to give away all my work as part of the UK's 126 billion pound creative arts industry, to serve another industry being run by greedy tech bros, just so they can destroy everything else just that little bit faster.”

#Books #Writing #AI https://enewman.co.uk/rage-rage-against-the-dying-of-the-mic/

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224d

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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224d

JFK and the unspeakable : why he died and why it matters - Anna’s Archive

6bc6ae39012f82d2d72bb1be2cda7d68

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1y

This book club has been reading the same book for 12 years. They’re not even close to done.

The Finnegans Wake Reading Group of Austin, TX reads one page every other week.

By Sean Saldana

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/finnegans-wake-reading-group-austin-tx-atx-texas-james-joyce-book-club/

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

James Joyce at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1039

#books #literature

The cover of the Faber and Faber edition of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.

Faber and Faber - http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/adopt-a-book/pics/joyce_wake.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_Wake#/media/File:Joyce_wake.jpg

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1y

‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden

The trees encountered on a country stroll
Reveal a lot about a country’s soul.
– from Bucolics (1952-53) by W H Auden

https://aeon.co/videos/a-culture-is-no-better-than-its-woods-what-our-trees-reveal-about-us-by-w-h-auden

#books #literature

Hunt Piero di Cosimo Oil and tempera on panel, 70.5 x 169.5 cm New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The painting portrays a dynamic and chaotic hunting scene set in a dense forest. Human figures, satyrs, and centaurs are depicted engaging in a fierce hunt, wielding clubs and other primitive weapons. They pursue various animals, including lions and bears, which are fleeing from a forest fire in the background.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piero_di_cosimo,_scena_di_caccia_primitiva,_1494-1500_ca._(met)_09_uomini_con_preda_di_caccia.jpg#/media/File:Piero_di_cosimo,_scena_di_caccia_2.jpg/2

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1y

Global Tourism Was Built on Headless Blemmyes

The Book of Marvels is the kind of show that’s hard to avoid at archival art institutions, wherein problematic historical content, aesthetic appeal, and fantasy all intersect.

By Natalie Haddad

https://hyperallergic.com/1012368/global-tourism-was-built-on-headless-blemmyes/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Remembering%20Koyo%20Kouoh&utm_campaign=D051325

The Travels of Marco Polo at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/10636
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/12410

#books #medieval_art

City of Ayas visited by Marco Polo in 1271, from Le Livre des Merveilles.

The illustration of the City of Ayas from Le Livre des Merveilles (The Book of Marvels), which recounts the travels of Marco Polo, is a richly detailed medieval miniature that reflects the style and imagination of 14th-century manuscript art rather than precise topographical accuracy.

In the scene, the port city of Ayas (modern Yumurtalık, Turkey) is depicted as a walled urban center nestled beside the sea. The illustration shows fortified towers, crenellated walls, and clustered buildings with red and blue tiled roofs, suggesting a bustling, important trade hub. Ships with billowing sails float in the adjacent waters, indicating Ayas’s role as a key Mediterranean port in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the 13th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Travels_of_Marco_Polo#/media/File:AyasMarcoPolo.JPG

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208d

The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus

In the late 19th century, Karl Weierstrass invented a fractal-like function that was decried as nothing less than a “deplorable evil.” In time, it would transform the foundations of mathematics.

by Solomon Adams

https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-jagged-monstrous-function-that-broke-calculus-20250123/

Theorie der Abel'schen Functionen at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29780

#books #mathematics

$Plot of Weierstrass function over the interval [−2, 2]. Like some other fractals, the function exhibits self-similarity: every zoom (red circle) is similar to the global plot. The blue curve jagged and irregular at every scale, oscillating between roughly −2 and 2, with no smooth stretches anywhere. A red circle magnifies a small section of the curve, revealing that the zoomed portion looks statistically identical to the whole — jagged, spiky, self-similar — the hallmark of a fractal. A red dot marks a local minimum near x = 0.5, f(x) ≈ −2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weierstrass_function#/media/File:WeierstrassFunction.svg$

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1y

Tagore in Saigon: Culture, Contradictions, Champagne

Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Vietnam in 1929 fanned the debate about the region’s potential future without the French.

By: H.M.A. Leow

https://daily.jstor.org/tagore-in-saigon-culture-contradictions-champagne/

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/942

#books #literature

Rabindranath with Einstein in 1930

UNESCO - UNESCO Gallery

In the image, Tagore, the Indian poet-philosopher and Nobel laureate in literature, stands beside Einstein, the renowned physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Both are seen in thoughtful poses—Einstein with his characteristically wild hair and simple attire, and Tagore draped in traditional Indian robes with a composed, serene expression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore#/media/File:Rabindranath_with_Einstein.jpg

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1y

Only Surviving Roman Cookbook Reveals Origins of Europe’s Most Iconic Recipes

By Filio Kontrafouri

https://greekreporter.com/2025/05/16/roman-cookbook-europe-iconic-recipes/

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

#books #literature

Roman Feast by Roberto Bompiani, Getty Museum. Apicius’ cookbook still intrigues scholars and cooks with its glimpses of Roman life. Credit: Roberto Bompiani/Public Domain

The artwork portrays elegantly robed Roman men and women reclining on couches around a lavish table, engaging in conversation and indulgence. Servants and musicians attend to the guests, enhancing the sense of luxury and leisure.

Set within a richly adorned interior—with marble columns, classical décor, and detailed frescoes—the painting evokes the grandeur and sensuality of elite Roman dining.

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1y

#LettersAndPolitics welcomes #MaryAnnettePember, national correspondent for ICT News, and author of #MedicineRiver: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of #IndianBoardingSchools

https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-3-2025/

#Indigenous #NativeAmericans #NativeBoardingSchools #NativeAmericanBoardingSchools #NativeResidentialSchools #NativeAmericanHistory #UShistory #AmericanHistory #colonialViolence #memoirs #books @histodons @bookstodon

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1y

"Cutter's Deep" is my personal favorite but if you like creepy and unsettling horror, you really can't go wrong with any book or story from Ronald McGillvray. As far as I'm concerned, this is an empirical fact. 📚🙂👍

https://amazon.com/author/ronaldmcgillvray

@bookstodon @specfic @horrorbooks

#horror #book #books #booksofmastodon #bookrec #bookrecs #readersofmastodon #reading #readingcommunity #whattoread #bookstodon #booktodon

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1y

Comparing Austen & Ibsen: Women & Finance in 19th-Century Literature

"While Jane Austen’s romance often distracts us from her heroines’ realities, Henrik Ibsen stares financial oppression dead in the face and offers his heroines hope."

by Rachel Benham

https://www.thecollector.com/austen-ibsen-women-finance-19th-literature/

Books by Jane Austen at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68

Books by Henrik Ibsen at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/861

#books #literatures #drama

Cover of Pride and Prejudice. Illustration by Hugh Thomsom. Cover shows peacock standing on a vase in the left hand bottom corner and his feathers strewn through the top and right side of the cover.

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1y

I've finished: Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

First of all, this is a wonderful mystery, lead by an amateur detective. Her flaws and awkward pursuit of the truth are what kept me glued to this novel.

While this is a novel about an alien embassy to earth, it is more a study of human culture than alien culture.

A climate change destabilized humanity deals badly with the soft power of an alien embassy's cultural attache.

Robson contrasts the aliens that are disinterested in digital media and humanity that is consumed by it. The telepathic aliens that find it hard to lie and obfuscate and the humans that can't stop.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/62f8f66e-e912-4afc-bd8e-efc4b38eecaa

@bookstodon @audiobooks
#ScienceFiction #mystery #AudioBooks #books

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1y

OMG! Kevin R Free is finishing recording the Pass the Salt Audiobook! The publisher said I can send people over for reviews! I'm gonna do that tomorrow so join my mailing list in the meantime. So excited! https://buttondown.com/weirdwriter #Audible #Free #Audiobook #Audiobooks #Books @bookstodon @bookstadon