Strange Currencies

11 Aug 2023

I write reviews and articles about Sci-fi and Fantasy. You can support my work! Are you an author or publisher who'd like a review? Read my Policy: https://strangecurrencies.org/review-policy/ Website: http://strangecurrencies.org Patreon: https://patreon.com/StrangeCurrencies

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alyson “october” greaves

@badambulist.bsky.social

having fun once again searching book summaries for “aris thorne” “marcus sterling” and “julian vance” if I find all three I award myself a little prize (the prize is to sob for the future of literature)

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TDub says TRANS RIGHTS or GTFO

22h

We're looking for volunteers to help us judge the sixth Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. spsfc.space/2026/10/26/j... If you're not entering a novel in the contest when that opens on Nov. 1, we'd love you to join one of our judging teams. #SPSFC

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@twkreviews.bsky.social

Eddie the realest

Fightful Wrestling @fightful.com

Eddie Kingston's incredible promo in PROGRESS about the fans' support after losing PAC and The Butcher. ❤️

Honestly, all support for Chernabog, but if I had to pick a character from Fantasia it'd probably have to be the animated broom that walks around carrying buckets of water.

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While it feels lore accurate, I'm not sure about the optics of "Tap Lwaxana Troi and she'll make you trigger twice as often."

Imagine actually thinking that the transphobic impetus behind the sports bans is "trans women have an advantage at sports over cis women." Like...they SAY that but... the gormless credulity to take them at their word. Wild.

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guin

@dxsanguine.bsky.social

gamez 4 girlz 4 never: plushy skunky

I once again see a list of corrected eggcorns and ask myself "what was anybody else ever saying? I have never heard a single person misuse any of these." Maybe somebody misspelled it baited once?

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

I feel like a number of writers I know would be interested to learn about the Canadian Blood Services "Donor Hoodie" a hoodie with zippers along the middle of both arms so you can easily expose your inner arm for easier bloodletting.

@tigerlily.northsky.social

Really, any time you see an account following 122,000 people you should probably block it, because it's one of several flavours of garbage none of which include ever meaningfully interacting with anything resembling a community.

Greg Pak@gregpak.net

This is "A.i." bullshit and if this account doesn't take it down within minutes, you should block the account.

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Blood Lily 🩸 🏳️‍⚧️

This is kinda random, but does anyone know of trans femmes who take estrogen in pill form less frequently than daily? Just curious. There's something in a play I'm working on as an actor that seems weird to me

It's International Pronouns Day. My pronouns are "I'd actually prefer not to be perceived or referenced at all thank you" but as long as it's clear that I'm the referent to the pronoun, I don't really care which one(s) you use.

Spock's mirror universe double having a goatee is broadly responsible for the specific media trope of "Evil twin has a goatee". Wasn't the first time, but was the one that boosted it into being a recurring trope.

Zoe TunnHELL@zoewithasword.bsky.social

Losing it over this card straight up making Evil Copies of your opponent's board God what a fun design

I think genre discussion would be a lot more clear if people made a better distinction between the words "cozy" and "comfort". Cozy, IMO, is supposed to describe the thing, not the way the thing makes you feel, or even necessarily the vibe of the thing.

When I think of "cozy game" for example, I think of no timers, or fail states, I think of nothing that requires twitch reactions or even a large amount of coordination. Things you can play like how 'lofi beats' is a thing you can listen to.

Diminish an anime Hecksing

Kate / Katelyn Forrest@kateforrest.bsky.social

Diminish an anime Duogun

I feel like it's Ginger Snaps though.

Letterboxd@letterboxd.social

the ultimate period piece 🩸

AEW gave me a cassette tape too, but it was just Jon Cruz shooting on Serpentico for 30 minutes straight.

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Since 2020 I've read 650 novels. Tradpub, Small press, Indie press, Self-published. 2023 is the only year there wasn't a self-published book in at least my top 3. In 2021, 2025, and 2026 so far, my number 1 books of the year (each year being over 100 novels) were self-published.

CE (Catie) Murphy@cemurphy.bsky.social

...that no independently published book has won a Hugo, that what I currently *mean* is 'no self-published book has won a Hugo' - although actually the other is also true, which probably just emphasizes the point of "self or indie published does not mean a lack of quality."

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Industry awards have always and will always be a popularity contest crapshoot, but the democratization of publishing in every field has just emphasized how little those awards will be reflective of the actual best things.

When you can self-publish directly to your niche, you can be producing incredible stuff that people adore, and it will never make it on a ballot for anything because you can't compete with the shotgun availability of tradpub books in major chain bookstores.

CE (Catie) Murphy@cemurphy.bsky.social

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I'll go out on a limb and say that if you're not putting in the time to look through self-published fiction to weed out the churned-out dreck to find the gems which are substantially better than the vast majority of tradpub fiction, you're failing yourself as a reader.

Especially if you read SFF, which as a genre, is at its best when it's being maximally transgressive, maximally political, maximally queer as fuck, the difference between what gets tradpubbed and what the best self-published stuff is doing is night and day.

CE (Catie) Murphy@cemurphy.bsky.social

This year, I was a reader for both a self-published book award, and a small press book award. 6 of my top 10 books so far this year came from the self-published award list. 0 of my top 10 came from the small press award. 0 were tradpub.

Self-published books can have a wild range in both production and writing quality, for sure. And while the wheels of tradpub shave off a lot of the absolute garbage, they also grind down a lot of really exceptional stuff that 'isn't marketable' (which mostly means queer, non-white or both)

politico.comDo You Really Own Your Home? A Tax Revolt Says No.The argument that property taxes make Americans renters in their own houses has fueled the biggest anti-tax uprising in half a century, and local governments are scrambling.

Just exempt them from property tax, and then disconnect them from municipal roads, power, water, and sewage.

Politico@politico.com

“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?” Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century.

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Peter Sturgeon

@prsturgeon.bsky.social

The difference between a cuck and a vibe coder, is that the cuck has both a spouse and a friend.

Kayin@kayin.moe

I said this elsewhere, but this is very unfair to cucks. Vibe coders don't care at all what's in their projects, but while cucks are extremely invested in what's going inside their wives. 😔

It's additionally lame because it's not a car, it's a hollow frame of a car so it would actually be light enough to pretend it could drive upside down then do a kickflip before landing.

Alex Hern@hern.bsky.social

do think there's a danger of looking at extremely cool shit like a car driving upside down then doing a kickflip before landing, and convincing yourself it's actually lame because the guy funding it is a white supremacist

@richterscale.bsky.social

Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia for Tax Purposes

Lynne M. Thomas 🏳️‍🌈🚀🦄 📜@lynnemthomas.com

Add “for Tax Purposes” to a movie: Dirty Dancing for Tax Purposes

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Charles Louis Richter

KITTEN ADOPTION KLAXON Gravy needs a home in the Baltimore/DC area ASAP, preferably one with other young cats. After the sudden death of her only sister, she really craves playtime with other kittens. Gravy is fully vaccinated and spayed, cuddly and playful, and learns what is ok and not ok fast.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that somebody was willing to fly off the handle at the proposal of hosting a thing called a "Fun Uncle Shower" That sounds like the sort of thing you do just before being arrested.

adonis (and cait)@cait.bsky.social

imagine getting an invite to your weird friend's pity party and realizing they've been seething with hatred and resentment for their entire life

Conclude this means they hate me forever, and spiral into a loop of self-recrimination until I largely can't function anymore.

Edmonds Scanner@edmondsscanner.bsky.social

How do you handle criticism? 1. with grace 2. with sarcasm 3. with a hammer 4. with wine & time

Opposite to this is a niche historical -accuracy- that I'm fond of. In the 1632 series by Eric Flint, modern day Americans are transported to 1632 Europe and so pre-invent a bunch of things, including radio. Long-distance radio communication requires bouncing signals off the ionosphere.

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@kathryntewson.bsky.social

It so happens that starting in around the mid 1630s, there was a long period of very low sunspot activity which would have impacted the reliability of long-distance radio communication, and that was accounted for in the fiction, and they often had to wait for transmission windows to actually relay.

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Kathryn Tewson

Replying to @kathryntewson.bsky.social

Actually, I’d recommend this transcript generally. It has some funny moments in it.

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Carey

@careylikemariah.bsky.social

Someone just left this sweet kitten on my doorstep, but I'm allergic! 😭 Does anyone in Brooklyn want to foster a kitten? Seems to be about 4 months old, clean and well-cared for, and very docile.

This is so good, I absolutely flipped my grunt.

Neko Robin@emnicw.northsky.social

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Avery Edison

@averyedison.com

18 Apr

ME: i’m so sick and tired of being set upon by the baron’s hounds HER: Maybe stop hopping the fence into his estate? ME: sympathy not solutions plz HER: I’m so sorry, that sounds very painful. I know you’re trying really hard to get The Baron’s priceless egg. ME: it should be *my* egg :(

It The Thing!

Sophia_Nyx 🐰@sophianyx.bsky.social

Combine 2 Film Titles 2 make a New Film.

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Fifth place in the fifth Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) goes to FrostByte by N.S. Chaudhury. A Desi cyberpunk novel of illegal resurrection. Judge: "Ngl, I adored this book." spsfc.space/2026/10/08/t...

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The runner-up in the fifth Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) is ab initio by Jacob Terracina. Is AI legally human? “This was that book that I was reading on train, waiting at bank, at the cafe, and got annoyed every time I was interrupted.” spsfc.space/2026/10/08/t...

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The winner of the fifth Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) is Our Simulated Selves by @nikkinull.bsky.social. “[T]his book could legitimately help a lot of people understand themselves.” — SPSFC 4 winner Wick Welker spsfc.space/2026/10/08/t...