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#bookstodon

1.1K posts531 participants109 posts today
Public
Walt

Born this Day:

Ivan Antonovich (Antipovich) Yefremov, sometimes Efremov; (23 April 1908 – 5 October 1972) was a Soviet paleontologist & science-fiction author. His novel Andromeda Nebula, (1957) Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale predicted some future inventions (borazon, space probe, powered exoskeleton and ion thrusters)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Yef

#Literature
#SciFi
#ScienceFiction
#books
#bookstodon
#coverart
#IvanYefremov
Groups:
@scifi
@Scifiart
@sciencefiction

The cover of Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by Ivan Yefremov is dominated by intense, surreal color contrasts and stylized imagery. Rendered in a high-saturation palette of reds, pinks, purples, yellows, and blues, the illustration conveys a futuristic and dreamlike atmosphere. In the foreground at the right edge, a nude human figure, viewed in partial-profile, reaches two arms skyward in a dramatic pose. The figure's body is bathed in red and orange, sharply outlined against a violet sky. The gesture suggests yearning, transcendence, or exultation. The background features an alien or exaggerated landscape with a wide, flowing river or body of water stretching horizontally across the scene, rendered in deep red with textured, wavelike strokes. On the opposite shore, abstracted tree shapes and hilly terrain are painted in cool greens and purples, contrasting with the fiery foreground. The sky behind them glows with a setting or rising sun, casting warm yellow, peach, and lavender light over stylized clouds. At the top right, the author’s name “IVAN YEFREMOV” appears in a thin, dark, sans-serif font. At the bottom right, the title “ANDROMEDA” is written in all caps, with stylized geometric letterforms. The “O” is represented as a crossed circle. Below it, in smaller text, the subtitle “A Space-Age Tale” is written in a clean, minimalist typeface. The design is abstract, psychedelic, and distinctly mid-20th-century futurist in aesthetic.
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Mother Suspiria :autism:

My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror #books far & wide.

A GRAVESIDE GALLERY is an outstanding and darkly delightful collection that runs the gamut of the spooky, the sinister, and the strange. Eric J. Guignard has crafted an impressive, imaginative assortment of stories that will equally captivate and creep you out- there's even some whimsy, too! (Cemetery Dance)

#book #review #bookstodon @bookstodon #mothersuspiriareview @horror @horrorbooks

Paperback of A GRAVESIDE GALLERY by Eric J. Guignard
Public
Lokiho :verified:

✨ Sinopsis de Él siempre fue el chico malo ✨

Florencia cree tenerlo todo en la vida, desde un marido que la quiere y la apoya hasta un trabajo con el que se siente realizada a diario. No obstante, su vida aparentemente idílica peligra con la reaparición de Ariel, un antiguo amor que le rompió el corazón. A pesar de los años que han pasado, ninguno de los dos ha olvidado, y los sentimientos que ella creía enterrados, amenazan con resurgir con más fuerza que nunca. Él está dispuesto a todo por reconquistarla; ella, por no dejarse embaucar de nuevo.

¡Este viernes mostraré la portada! Y quizá alguna sorpresa más... 🤭 ¿Quién tiene ganas de verla? 👀

#LanzamientoChicoMalo#libros#bookstodon
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Kat Kimbriel

It's THE PRISONER OF ZENDA meets BRIGADOON. . .with guardian ghosts. :)

REVENANT EVE by Sherwood Smith is out in the world again! This is my favorite contemporary cross-time series of Sherwood's works. Can a modern woman protect an ancestor & future queen during Napoleonic times?

@bookstodon @books #bookstodon #fantasy #Magic #BookViewCafe

@patricia_rice @swan_tower @ChazBrenchley @gregoryfrost, new Sherwood #ebook!

bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces

[ALT TEXT: REVENANT EVE by Sherwood Smith.] [ALT IMAGE: A brilliant sunset illuminates a dark blue sky brushed with vivid orange and apricot light. It is seen above a walled Medieval European city and castle at the top of the book cover. In the center are mists of orange, palest yellow and turquoise, part thick fog, part mysterious forests, the sloping hill before the woods brushed with frost on dry grass. At the bottom of the painting is flat ground, even a rocky plateau. There's a crumpled scarlet satin garment of some kind in the foreground. On top of the material is seen the bronze hilt, pommel and guard of a burnished steel sword, as well as a collar of pearls and teardrop-shaped semi-precious stones.]
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QueeRomance Ink

Linda reviews "Cake & Cocktails" by A.D. Ellis, Men of Haven Grove book 2:

"Henry runs the family bar and restaurant. Jack is twenty-five, and has recently left his home, taking a bus and stopping in Haven Grove... Another wonderful story by A.D. Ellis, proving that age is just a number. Five stars."

queeromanceink.com/2025/04/22/

#BookReview #GayRomance #Gay #Bisexual #Demi #MMBookstodon @MMbookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon @diversebooks #bookstodon @bookstodon #books

Continued thread
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MDMRN

The second panel is so bright.

It's a moment with Kaori and Kosei where they are in a field of fireflies.

She's asking what's driving him. He says it's her. She's what's motivating him to keep on going, keep on playing the piano.

It's a sweet and sad moment. His motivation when he was little was his Mom. Now it's Kaori.

This moment, though. I remember it from the anime and in the manga, it's just as well done. If not better.

The vertical layout makes the firefly skyline look so cool and vast.

Love this moment.

Photograph of a manga panel from Your Lie in April, Volume 5. Image shows a teenage boy and girl in school uniforms in a field of tall grass. The sky is dark, but white circles (fireflies) are seen all over. A single speech box at the top of the screen reads "You were."
#Manga#MangaCollector#MangaReview
Public
MDMRN

Re-Read - Your Lie in April, Volume 5

Volume 5 had some moments. I narrowed it down to two I wanted to discuss.

This is the first.

Kosei is on the piano and he's hearing his mother's voice in his head saying that "Solitude is [his] punishment."

It's chilling and the shading in this scene making it appear as though the shadows are enclosing him. You can really understand his feelings in this very moment.

Photograph of a black and white panel of the interior of Your Lie in April, Volume 5. The panel is focused on a teenage boy in a suit at a large, black grand piano with a faceless crowd behind him. There is darkness encroaching on the scene from either side. All capital letter text reads, "Solitude is your punishment."
#Manga#MangaCollector#MangaReview
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Stelliform Press

We had a blast last night at the Earth Day Eve launch of Through the Portal and The Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens. Lynn Hutchinson Lee even brought spring peepers with her to set the swampy vibe.

Orchid is now available everywhere books are sold! Congrats Lynn!

Purchase links in the thread!

#bookbirthday #publicationday #canadianbooks #canadianliterature #canlit #canadianauthor #romanyauthor #fantasy #horror #speculativefiction #folklore #literaryfiction #books #bookstodon
1/2

Text banner reads: Happy Birthday, Orchid! a 3x2 grid of photos from the Free Times Cafe launch on April 21, with pictures of Lynn Hutchinson Lee, Lynn Sargent, Ursula Pflug, and Nina Munteanu. The text below reads: The joint orchid and portal launch was a packed-house, sold-out blast! Thanks to all who spent their evening with us!
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geraldew

#BookOnMyShelf
One-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3
Compiled by
Colin Thiele & Greg Branson
(c) 1964 (p) 1969

For a generation of Australian school children, this book series will be familiar.

I don't remember which of these plays we "did" (i.e. read out or acted) but for me the standout was "The Fall of the City" by Archibald MacLeish, which I merely read by myself.

I thought I also had Book 1 but must have disposed of them both as this copy is a 1990s re-purchase.
#Bookstodon

Cover of book. Behind the title is a motif perhaps representing a simple stage and some arches that someone might stand beneath.
Public
James Davis Nicoll

Foxfire, Esq. by Noa (October)

Retired superhero turned lawyer Naomi "Foxfire" Ziegler pursues a wrongful death case involving a fire, a young superhero and a host of shifty housing corporations.

jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/wa
#bookstodon

James Nicoll ReviewsWant To Do Right2025’s Foxfire, Esq. is an on-going legal drama web-novel by Noa (October). Naomi Ziegler used to be an unwilling superhero, Foxfire. Naomi Ziegler is now a lawyer. Therefore, Naomi is the logical choice when her employer, Bierman Viskie & Schotz, is retained for a case involving a superhero. A wrongful death case. Widow Destiny Banks was at work when fire broke out in her apartment building. Her two sons, Jerome and Elijah, were at home. Both fire and emergency services and a superhero named Barricade responded to the fire. Despite this, both boys died. Superheroes being commonly regarded as paragons of morality and efficacy, the temptation is to blame Barricade for overlooking the two boys. However, there are at least two reasons why that approach is suboptimal. The most obvious is that that Barricade didn’t start the fire, nor is there really any reason to think Barricade was negligent. If some action or lack thereof by a laundry list of people (ranging from the building super to the tenement owners) led to the fire, then those people are the ones legally responsible. The other reason to go easy on Barricade is because the American government reserves the right to abuse superheroes (or as they are now called, “Moonshots”). Americans who manifest powers have the choice of never using them, going to jail, or being drafted by the National Moonshot Regiment. Barricade chose the third option. The NMR will bring its considerable resources to bear if Barricade is blamed, whereas they might well have been allies if the case had focused on someone else. Step one in Ziegler’s legal strategy is gathering all of the documents relevant to the case. Perhaps a smoking gun (or entire armory of smoking guns) will turn up. Zeigler touches base with the NMR. Bad luck there, as the NMR senior functionary with whom Zeigler must deal, Megan Annie Barnes, already has a grudge against Zeigler. But there’s some compensation for this minor setback. The corporate defendants (William C. Smith & Co., Property Management Solutions, Inc., Columbia Construction & Contracting LLC, Mr. Miguel Arroyo, a D.C. Housing Authority property inspector) have made a poor choice of lawyers, selecting a team whose skillset is suited for intimidating poor people into settling and not for dealing a determined foe like Banks and her legal team. Thus, plaintiff Banks, lead counsel Zeigler, and the rest of her Bierman Viskie & Schotz can expect concerted resistance, but with the prospect of eventual victory over the defendants. Unless, of course, something happens to make the entire case moot. ~oOo~ Why did I read this work just now? Because Charles Stross mentioned it on Bluesky. I couldn’t work out how to cram a description of Zeigler into the above. Sorry. She is a Moonshot. Her talents include pyrokinesis1 and teleportation. She also has fox ears and a long tail. Everyone who looks at her knows she is a Moonshot. Having played many superhero roleplaying games in my time, I was intrigued to see an issue I’d wondered about, which is what happens to the expectation of privacy when there are people who can eavesdrop on conversations a football field away? We get an answer for that, as it applies to lawyers in a courtroom. By their nature, superhero stories require suspension of disbelief. For example, one has to accept for the sake of this story that the US has a functioning legal system, not judicial Calvinball2. Otherwise, none of the courtroom drama would matter, because the outcome would depend on who can best bribe the supreme leader and his pals. That said, the story makes clear the difference between “functioning” and “pleasant,” particularly where persons unloved by those in power are concerned. Legal outcomes still depend on the race of the people involved, not to mention logical pathways that require axioms peculiar to lawyers to follow. Still, this is probably better than resolving things by throwing cars while setting people on fire. So, the obvious catch here is the phrase “on-going.” Author Noa (October) has shown an impressive writing speed, especially since various details in the story make me suspect they may well be a lawyer, with the workload that implies. The author has written and posted 79,223 words since their January 6th debut. The story is as yet unfinished. Nevertheless, I don’t regret the time invested. The author has a nice hand with characterization—many of the characters, especially the unpleasant ones, are drawn from real life—as well as the skills needed to make a laborious paper chase interesting. My intention was to try a chapter or two, but I ended up bingeing the whole story to date. Foxfire, Esq. is available here. 1: But not any degree of fireproofing or fire resistance. 2: America delenda est. The legal system in this story allows the US government to assume guilt on the basis of someone having superpowers at all. Presumably, this is to facilitate convincing people to join the NMR, but surely the people who came up with the idea have heard of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?
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