Notices by Jessamyn (jessamyn@glammr.us), page 3

After getting more email from Google Cloud, in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, I decided to report them to the FTC which has a very nice website just for reporting this sort of nonsense. Clicked 10 all over this survey.

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

@objectrecyler @cyberpunklibrarian ZLibrary definitely has it.

@beep @lzg So sorry, am just pandering now... 🦨➕❄️

@evan I see OK as two similar things. OK as in "OK, but not great" or OK as in "OK fine!" I see the answer here, for me, as the former but not the latter so I said somewhat agree. I don't disagree that there's probably eventual ruination there, but we exist, for now, under capitalism so I see that part as inevitable. Good for thinking about! (and good to keep in mind)

@beep @lzg Very sorry I did not take photos of the squirrel tracks in the snow at my place earlier, would have blown your mind!

@beep @lzg Different Little Guy but I took this for you both.

Book 107: Devil in a Blue Dress. I've had this book suggested to me for a long time now and finally read it. It's the first in a series. This one is about a guy who gets laid off from his job and had to scramble to find money, gets wrapped up with some unsavory white men (he's a black man, WWII vet) and a woman who is nothing but trouble. They're in LA, but a lot of his friends are from the South and many people move back and forth between locales. A good story, I'll pick up the next one.

Book 108: We Saw Scenery. Markoe tries to get back into her own head as a teen by going through her diaries and sketching out her first graphic novel combining what she remembers with what she thought then. She was a horribly awkward pre-teen and teen with a lousy (maybe?) family and the usual "I am out of place, feel weird about boys" feels as well as some actual "I dealt with antisemitism at my school from the school administration" experiences. Illustrations very individualistic and quirky.

Book 109: I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. Pargin is someone known to many people online but I didn't know him. This book is a romp of a weird road trip with a mystery box with a cast of characters many of whom are or were part of the army of the Extremely Online. The story itself is told somewhat through Reddit forum posts which I found charming and real-feeling but might not be to others' tastes. A lot of discussion about online factionalism, with a few good jokes in there.

Book 110: All This And More. Not sure I finished this. It's a "choose your own adventure" (ambitious). A note at the beginning says you can also just read it straight through. I made a "choice" near the beginning that propelled me close to the end and there seemed to be plot points I had missed. Was this b/c I was on an old Kindle? I hit a few "error" pages saying go back. One chapter was there twice. Was this part of the story? Ultimately confusing, too bad b/c I really like Shepherd's stuff

Book 111: One Hundred Shadows. A short novel which was written in a response to an event that had happened in Korea. I did not know that aspect of the book and so it just felt like an odd mood piece of a novel that I wasn't sure I was understanding. The loose idea is that people's shadows can rise, and it's very important not to follow them. Also there is a young couple who are just starting dating. Once I read the author's statement at the end, a lot of it clicked into place for me.

Book 112: Agony Hill. This book sounds like it's going to be rough from the title, but is not that rough. It's a 1960's-era Vermont small town mystery that had a very "this feels real" vibe to it. Of course, I got to the end and realized I know the author's husband and they live kind of near here, so that might explain some of it. Clearly setting the stage for more stories to come and I'll be happy to read them.

Book 113: You Sexy Thing. This is a space romp. A fancy restaurant made up of (mostly) former soldiers with a hive mind-like entity wind up with a new mystery guest, a bioship and a few things they need to take care of in the wilds of space I liked this book a lot though sometimes I had trouble keeping track of the characters (many of whom were non-human or only humanoid) but ultimately it's a story about relationships and redemption and worth a read.

Book 114: Hum. In a future where we all have access to sentient robots but we have less access to jobs and prosperity, a woman undergoes a procedure to bring in some extra cash for her family and takes them on an extravagant "vacation" (a wild area inside the city, in a ruined world) and things go a little wrong and then go VERY wrong. A commentary on our use and abuse of technology and consumerism and how we care for one another (children in particular). Surprisingly non-didactic, well written.

Book 115: The Invisible History of the Human Race. This was a nice ten-year old book that segued nicely with the plague book, about what we can tell about human history from "DNA stuff." It's a pop science book so not too in the weeds and combines the things we know from science with anecdotes about why individual people might care, or stories about using DNA to find long-lost family, that sort of thing. The author is Australian so more about their history than US stuff which is just fine by me!

Book 116: The Grey Wolf. The newest from Penny, I have to say if you are stressed out by recent events and are looking for some escapist reading it is NOT THIS BOOK, another good story about our friends in Three Pines but this time they have a mysterious vague and possibly deeply worrisome and catastrophic terrorist plot to contend with. And they're not sure where to start looking, so they look a lot of places. Clearly meant to be a partner with a second book so it's got one of *those* endings.

Book 117: Young Hag and the Witches’ Quest. This is a graphic novel by the author of The Encyclopedia of Early Earth which is one of my faves. It's basically "What if we told the King Arthur story but mostly focused on female characters?" I mean, it's more than that, but that's the central theme and a lot grows out of it. There's a problem with the flow of magic in the world, and the goblins are up to no good. What to do?

DNF: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. This book started out with a few content warnings (talk of suicide, talk of sexual assault) which I figured I could handle but got two pages into it and the story opens with sort of what I can only describe as a jokey sadistic torture scene? I don't know what this book is about and don't care, it was clearly not for me.

Book 118: Brownstone. A graphic novel about a 14 year old girl who doesn't know much about her background (a white mom and a mystery dad she hasn't met) who winds up spending the summer with her Guatemalan father helping him renovate a brownstone in a "bad" neighborhood. There are a lot of complex relationships, a few positive queer characters and some really satisfying home renovations. Ultimately a positive story which also has messages about the evils of gentrification.

Book 119: Liquid, Fragile, Perishable. This is a novel that takes place in Vermont which has an affected style (each paragraph is one or two sentences) but I pushed through it and really liked the story. It's about a bunch of quirky individuals whose lives are intertwined sort of whether they like it or not (folks from New York, Christian beekeepers, "townies" lady who runs the post office. There is a tragedy and people react to stressors and the town changes but also stays the same.