[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 5 points 4 days ago

I've never had roasted barley outside of barley tea, so not sure if I'll get the flavors right, but I'm thinking hearty salad. Roast a pan of bell pepper and kabocha (or similar squash) with a clove of garlic. Cook/drain a little toasted barley (not a ton, just a pleasant amount for texture/flavor) while that's in the oven. Greens, roasted veg, cooked barley, conveniently leftover chicken, thin-sliced green onion, sprinkle of dried cranberries. Roast garlic goes in the vinaigrette.

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Not OP, but I would have thought a basic pantry included staples like rice, cheap dried beans, and pasta (probably elbows or shells, since they're pretty versatile).

I'd also do mac & cheese, the same as theirs, but with different seasonings: a little sauteed, minced onion or a dash of onion powder; a tiny bit of mustard for creamier cheese sauce; and a dash of black pepper.

PS: This is great! I hope you do these regularly.

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 4 points 6 days ago

I did two cards this year: one was fully hard mode, and the other was fully regular mode (meaning the books couldn't count for hard mode). It was fun (and valuable playtesting), but also a lot. Prolly not gonna do that again.

Hard Mode Card

  • 1A: Number in the Title HM - Thirteenth by C.M. Rosens
  • 1B: Author from a Different Continent HM - Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono
  • 1C: Featured Creature HM - A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
  • 1D: Minority Author HM - Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo
  • 1E: Now a Major Motion Picture HM - The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
  • 2A: Independent Author HM - A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
  • 2B: Set in War HM - Old Man's War by John Scalzi
  • 2C: Orange Crush HM - Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
  • 2D: Short and Sweet HM - The Ways of Khrem by D. Nathan Hilliard
  • 2E: Banned Book HM - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  • 3A: Based on Folklore HM - Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
  • 3B: Title: [X] of [Y] HM - The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
  • 3C: FREE SPACE HM - Off Your TBR Pile - The Fisherman by John Langan
  • 3D: LGBTQIA+ Lead HM - Golden Terrace, vol. 1 by Cang Wu Bin Bai
  • 3E: Saddle Up HM - River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
  • 4A: New Release HM - DuMort by Michelle Tang
  • 4B: Alliterative Title HM - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
  • 4C: Judge a Book by Its Cover HM - Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm
  • 4D: Award Winner HM - Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko
  • 4E: Gamble, Game, or Contest HM - Liar Game (Volume 1 by Shinobu Kaitani
  • 5A: Steppin' Up! HM - The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • 5B: Political HM - The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison
  • 5C: Late to the Party HM - All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • 5D: Cozy Read - A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
  • 5E: Jerk with a Heart of Gold HM - Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

Regular Mode Card

  • 1A: Number in the Title - Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir
  • 1B: Author from a Different Continent - The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey
  • 1C: Featured Creature - Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • 1D: Minority Author - Days by Moonlight by André Alexis
  • 1E: Now a Major Motion Picture - The Dry by Jane Harper
  • 2A: Independent Author - Teacup Magic: The First Collection by Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • 2B: Set in War - Call for the Dead by John le Carre
  • 2C: Orange Crush - Shutter by Ramona Emerson
  • 2D: Short and Sweet - The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper
  • 2E: Banned Book - 1984 by George Orwell
  • 3A: Based on Folklore - Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
  • 3B: Title: [X] of [Y] - Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Balingrud
  • 3C: FREE SPACE - Off Your TBR Pile - Obscura by Joe Hart
  • 3D: LGBTQIA+ Lead - Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
  • 3E: Saddle Up - Dead Cert by Dick Francis
  • 4A: New Release - The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
  • 4B: Alliterative Title - No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed
  • 4C: Judge a Book by Its Cover - The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy
  • 4D: Award Winner - The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
  • 4E: Gamble, Game, or Contest - The Thief by Claire North
  • 5A: Steppin' Up! - Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
  • 5B: Political - The Secret Servant by Gavin Lyall
  • 5C: (substituted 2024 square 'There Is Another...') A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith
  • 5D: Cozy Read - A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
  • 5E: Jerk with a Heart of Gold - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

If you did bingo this year, thank you! We enjoy putting it together, and we hope you enjoy playing it.

33
2024 Bingo stats (literature.cafe)

We said we'd post the stats from last year's bingo, so here's the breakdown!

Submissions are included in the stats as they were reported. In other words, while we do verify that works exist (as a side effect of compiling reading stats), we don't check if they "count".

What got completed?Image of visualized stats, part 1; transcription below

Cards

  • 6 cards submitted (1 card per person) Not bad for a niche first-time event on the fediverse!
  • 2 challenge modes completed (review mode, by 2 people)

Bingo Lines

  • 31 bingo lines completed
    • 2 cards with 12 bingos done ("blackout"/all squares)
    • 1 with 3 bingos
    • 1 with 2 bingos
    • 2 with 1 bingo
  • most popular bingo (on 66.7% of cards): row 1

Squares

  • 96 squares completed
    • most completed squares (on 83.3% of cards): 1A (Older Than You Are), 1C (What’s Yours Is Mine), 1D (Family Drama), 3A (Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie), 3C (One Less), 4A (Now a Major Motion Picture), 4C (Award Winner)
    • least completed squares (on 33.3% of cards): 4B (It’s About Time), 5B (It's a Holiday)
    • least favorite square, according to survey: 2B (Plays with Words)
  • 41 hard mode squares (42.71% of completed squares)
    • most completed hard modes (on 66.7% of cards): 3B (Stranger in a Strange Land), 3C (One Less)
    • hard modes nobody did: 1E (It Takes Two, three authors), 3A (Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie, read on vacation), 4B (It’s About Time, backward in time), 5D (Minority Author, ethnic minority and LGBTQIA+)
    • squares submitted only in hard mode: 3B (Stranger in a Strange Land), 3E (LGBTQIA+ Lead), 5B (It's a Holiday)
  • 2 substituted squares (2.1% of completed squares)
    • 33.3% of cards included a substitution
    • substitutions made: 1B > She Blinded Me with Science, 5A > A Change in Perspective

What did people read?Image of visualized stats, part 2; transcription below

Types of Works

  • 93 unique works read
    • 68 fiction novels (73.1% of unique works)
    • 14 fiction novellas (15.1%)
    • 3 fiction or nonfiction short stories or short story collections (3.2%)
    • 3 fiction or nonfiction comics, graphic novels, or manga (3.2%)
    • 3 verse works (epic poems, novels in verse, or dramatic verse) (3.2%)
    • 2 nonfiction biographies or memoirs (2.2%)

Publication Years

  • before 1900: 3 (3.2% of unique works)
  • 1900–1909: 2 (2.2%)
  • 1910–1919: 0
  • 1920–1929: 4 (4.3%)
  • 1930–1939: 0
  • 1940–1949: 0
  • 1950–1959: 5 (5.4%)
  • 1960–1969: 5 (5.4%)
  • 1970–1979: 3 (3.2%)
  • 1980–1989: 2 (2.2%)
  • 1990–1999: 4 (4.3%)
  • 2000–2009: 5 (5.4%)
  • 2010–2019: 30 (32.3%)
  • 2020–2024: 30 (32.3%)

Notable Content Tags

Works may be in multiple categories/subcategories. A space detective thriller would be counted once for each of the following tags: space, scifi, fantastical, mystery/detective, thriller, and suspenseful.

  • fantastical: 62 (66.7% of unique works)
    • scifi: 22 (23.7%)
      • space: 8 (8.6%)
    • supernatural: 11 (11.8%) Surprisingly, not all supernatural titles were also horror.
    • dystopian: 6 (6.5%)
    • epic fantasy: 5 (5.4%)
    • magical realism: 4 (4.3%)
  • suspenseful: 45 (48.4%)
    • mystery/detective: 20 (21.5%)
    • horror/gothic: 18 (19.4%)
    • thriller: 16 (17.2%)
  • historical: 21 (22.6%)
  • romantic: 16 (17.2%) Includes a significant romantic element; does not need to be in a romance genre.
  • literary/contemporary: 16 (17.2%)
  • YA/middle grade: 8 (8.6%)
  • nonfiction: 4 (4.3%)

Most Read Titles (2 each)

  • The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
  • Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Most Read Authors (2 each)

  • Ray Bradbury
  • Becky Chambers
  • Mareike Fallwickl
  • Nnedi Okorafor
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
32
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by misericordiae@literature.cafe to c/books@lemmy.world

Hey everyone, we're juuuuust over halfway through our second books@lemmy.world community book bingo challenge! If you haven't joined in yet, there's still plenty of time. You might've even already made progress by accident: anything you've read since May has the potential to count! The challenge only requires completing five squares in a line.

If you're already working on bingo, how's it going so far? Doing any fun themes? Having trouble?

The last day of bingo is April 30th; there'll be a turn-in post near the beginning of April. Even if you don't end up finishing the challenge, we'd love to hear from you!

On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thanks for stopping in, and happy reading!

29

Free to keep this weekend!

One gloomy night, Bulb Boy wakes suddenly from a frightening nightmare to discover that evil has overshadowed the Bulbhouse. His family has disappeared and there are horrid monsters lurking in the shadows. Gather the courage and use his glass head to save everything he loves. Find light in yourself!

Gameplay

Bulb Boy is an intuitive 2D point & click horror adventure about a boy with a glowing head (alright, it's a bulb...) inspired by Machinarium and Gobliiins. Solve puzzles, defeat wicked monsters and reveal bulby's abilities to unfold a twisted tale. Ohhh... And don't forget to save your Grandpa-raffin and Mothdog from the frightening darkness..

Key Features

  • DEFEAT THE MONSTERS -Explore the Bulb house, that is full of frightening creatures. Defeat the evil in all its forms and bring the light back.
  • BULB'S TALENTS - Being a boy that is a bulb comes with many talents. Not only does your head light up and allows you to survive electrical shocks, but it can also be unscrewed for use in strange places.
  • PLAYABLE FLASHBACKS - Play as other family characters. Relive Bulb Boy's childhood memories to uncover the mystery of the story.
  • BUBBLE SPEECH - No dialogue, just bubble speech. Watch the story unfold in animated clouds.
  • SECRETS - There are things in the house waiting to be revealed.
  • POOP - In many sizes and proportions.
2
[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 15 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Would add The Void for movies and Dredge (which is on sale) for games.

ETA: In other media, The Lovecraft Investigations is a full cast audio drama re-imagining of several Lovecraft stories. Recommended!

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 56 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Link to the game is kinda hidden in the article: https://dreadxp.com/vile-is-banned/.

27

Figured I'd post this since I know some of you really like Murderbot, although to be clear, this seems to be just a side character story (idk, I haven't read the series). According to the announcement, it's set after book 2.

There's also a short story set after book 4 available.

7

The Locus Awards are put on by Locus Magazine, a monthly indie publication (since 1968!) focusing on SFF book news and reviews. They're pretty good about including small press stuff in their weekly new releases posts, which is nice.

Winner highlights:

  • Science fiction novel: The Man Who Saw Seconds, Alexander Boldizar
  • Fantasy novel: A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher
  • Horror novel: Bury Your Gays, Chuck Tingle
  • YA novel: Moonstorm, Yoon Ha Lee
  • First novel: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell
  • Novella: What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher
  • Novelette: “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars“, Premee Mohamed
  • Short story: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“, Isabel J. Kim
  • Anthology: The Black Girl Survives in This One, Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell, eds.
  • Collection: Lake of Souls, Ann Leckie
[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 21 points 10 months ago

You might have a look at Darebee workouts/programs. Can search by 'upper', 'abs', etc to cut out a lot of stuff your foot might have trouble with.

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 26 points 11 months ago

And then Loki got preggers, and gave birth to Sleipnir, an 8-legged horse that Odin rides around.

1
The Northern Lights - e l e v a t e (midnight mix) (northernlightsmusic.bandcamp.com)
4
Monolism - Hyperspace [chillwave] (monolism.bandcamp.com)
5
Volkor X - Hypersleep (volkorx.bandcamp.com)
1

Released February 7, 2025.

18

Hey everyone!

We're about six months into our first books@lemmy.world Book Bingo challenge. If you didn't know about it, or if you've been debating joining, there's still plenty of time to participate! You do not need to fill a whole card to complete the challenge: 'bingo' is only five squares in a line.

If you're already working on bingo, how's it going so far? Doing any fun challenges? Having trouble with any squares or rules? Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

We'll be doing another post in a few months for 2025 bingo suggestions, and a turn-in post at the beginning of April.

On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thank you for being here, and happy reading!

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 18 points 2 years ago

I would add The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) to your Funny and Spooky list. I'll also second the The Fog (1981) suggestion.

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 22 points 2 years ago

I wanted to see this thing in motion, so I tried to search up the youtube video, but no dice. Every article on it is just copy-pasted from the original on the Express site, and I can't get the embedded video attached to it to work. I did find an article on NIWA's site about a species of sea pig, which looks similar.

9

In a small Dutch village in the Dark Ages, Frieda carries the blame for her struggle to conceive a child with her husband. She believes God is her only hope and seeks help from the village priest. But when the local butcher attempts to take advantage of Frieda, chasing her into the forest, he mysteriously disappears. Frieda comes back unscathed, the first to ever return from the unknown dangers outside of the village. The community becomes suspicious that it was not God who brought her back safely but a dark force cloaked in fog beyond the edge of the woods. Frieda becomes suspicious as well, but her doubts begin to form a new faith within her; a faith in the ones that linger in the darkness.

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1219739-witte-wieven

Technically this premiered in the Netherlands already, but it's debuting in the US this week at Fantastic Fest as per here. Hopefully that counts as "upcoming"!

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 66 points 2 years ago

Fanart of artist rendition:

Lemongrab from Adventure Time, yelling. The caption reads, "UNCONSTITUTIONAL!"

I have the sound of this stuck in my head now, thanks.

[-] misericordiae@literature.cafe 43 points 2 years ago

Did a quick search, looks like ExeKiller, which isn't out yet. Hope you find something good to play in the meantime!

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