1. Coming Back For You Vidojean PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
2. Out Of Touch keinemusik ( unreleased)
3. A Keeper - Drake Keinemusik ( unreleased)
4. Abdel Kader (Mont Rouge Remix)
5. Abra - Feel (&ME Remix) ( unreleased)
6. Adele & Tayllor-Set fire to the rain X Talking drums
7. Alex Wann - My Love ( unreleased )
8. alex wann - peperuke ( unreleased )
9. by myself (unreleased)
10. Byron Messia - Talibans PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
11. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
12. Day N Night - Remix ( unreleased )
13. Drake - Flights Booked
14. Drake - Get it Together ft Black Coffee & Jorja Smith (Samson Remix)
15. Drake - Passionfruit (Kawz & Tolex Afro Tribute)
16. Drake - Rich Baby Daddy (Remix Southcent)
17. Drake - Slime You Out
18. Drake & Rampa - Virgil Forever ( unreleased )
19. Drake, Rihanna - Take Care
20. Eran Hersh & Anorre
21. Fragma - Tocas Miracle (Vidojean X Oliver Loenn Remix)
22. Freed From Desire unreleased remix ( choujaa )
23. WAIT FOR U Mont Rouge Remix ( unreleased )
24. Gypsy Woman (Rampa Edit) ( unreleased )
25. Jennifer Lopez - Waiting for Tonight (Jamey Williams Remix)
26. Keinemusik Cezaramina ( unreleased )
27. Kolinga -Kongo Samin (remix) ( unreleased )
28. Lana Del Rey - summertime
29. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (Addal Remix)
30. Moojo - Vamonos Mas que Nada (Jonni Gil)
31. Maz, Maxi Meraki, Apache - Nothing On Me X Baby Again
32. Mont Rouge, Meloko, Utli x Destiny's Child - Say My Name
33. Moojo, Caiiro - NGWINO ( unreleased )
34. Moon J - Collateral Damage ( unreleased )
35. Mwaki (feat Sofiya Nzau)
36. Natiruts - Sorri, Sou Rei (ft. Sonia Savinell)
37. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (Faros Remix)
38. Nobody
39. Paradise Played by Keinemusik
40. Peru
41. Rolling In The Deep - Francis Mercier Remix ( unreleased )
42. Say My Name ( unreleased)
43. Set Fire To The Rain - Adameyo
44. The Weeknd - Popular PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
45. The Weeknd, Moojo - Secret ID x Creepin ( unreleased )
46. Travis Scott - I Know
47. Tyla - Water (Marcel Serrano Edit)
48. Umbrella - Sonny Noto Remix
49. Wish i didnt miss you (Ft Jodie G)
50. &ME - Losing GARDEN
51. UNKLE - ONLY YOU (&ME Remix)
52. Sativa (Daveartt Remix)
53. Belief - Super Flu
54. Antony P X Julie - Welcome To The Diamond Aura (C.Sorrentino & Tom S )
55. Corpo-e-Canção
56. Bad For You
57. HUGEL, Alex Wann - Forever In My Mind
58. 7 seconds (Moojo remix)
59. Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted (Ikerfoxx (ES) Remix
60. Maz VXSION - Amana (Original Mix) (Unreleased)
61. Slow Down (VXSION Remix)
62. MoBlack, Benja, Franc Fala - Yamore
63. Nitefreak & emmanuel jal - Gorah
64. Overnight- keinemusik
65. Keinemusik (feat. Amr Diab) Noor Al Ain & The rapture part II
66. the rapture x passionfruit
67. Oyé Oyé [UNRELEASED]
68. afeto
69. Journey (Black Coffe) - UNRELEASED
70. Victor Alc - Sudamérica
71. Jovem Dionisio - Pontos de Exclamação (VXSION Remix)
72. CamelPhat - Home (Samm (BE) & Ajna (BE) Remix)
73. O Amor Te Dá (VXSION & Sone. Remix)
74. 8A - 120 - Maz, Antdot - Run
75. Collé - Kupata feat Nes Mburu
76. Drake - Finesse (Antdot Remix)
77. Classy 101 (Maz, VXSION Extended Edi
78. Arodes & Fahlberg - She Asked Me To Dance
79. Omah Lay - soso (JOSEPH Remix)
80. Reekado Banks, Adekunle Gold & Maleek Berry - Feel Different (Chris IDH Remix radio edit)
81. MONT ROUGE - BELSUNCE
82. Kimotion - Ya habibi yalla
83. A kepper drake - moojo
84. Drake - One Dance (Peace Control Remix)
85. Yamê Bécane - Kimotion
86. Confession (ALX YAV Remix)
87. Malive, Luiza Gogoia, Morgado - Quinta
88. ilanga &Me Edit 3
89. ! SHIK SHAK SHOK (master 2)
90. Drake & Jorja Smith - Get it Together (VXSION Remix)
91. Caiiro - No One
92. Black Coffee & David Guetta featuring Delilah Montagu - Drive (Da Capo Dub Touch)
93. Stromae - Papaoutai (Francis Mercier Remix)
94. Jaguar Jaguar - Born In Blue (Chambord Remix)
95. Carlita, Mojoo - Havana
96. Unforgettable-French-Montana
97. Keinemusik - Two Lost Kings
98. KOO KOO FUN - (Kimotion x RAY Remix)
99. Zulumke- Da Capo Afro Dub2
100. Moojo feat Awen - Giant Final Mix Master
101. ZASA ID- KEINEMUSIK
102. Mont Rouge(CH) - Tamale
103. Jorja Smith - Rose Rouge (Moojo Remix)
104. Badbwoy x Hoodia - Veneno
105. ! Moojo , Carlita ft Gabsy - Macaron vfinal
106. ! Vidojean X Oliver Loenn - Satisfaction Afro V.2
107. Chris IDH - Sunray
108. Moojo, Caiiro, Adassiya - Deep in Love
109. Black Coffee, Rampa - MAMAKUSA
110. Ankhoï - Another Hallelujah (Mont Rouge Private Edit)
111. Salif Keita - Madan (Badbwoy Remix)
112. Daughter Of The Sun (Ankhoi Remix)
113. Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Vidojean & Oliver Loenn Remix)
114. AFRICA (RAMPA EDIT)
115. Save Your Tears (Alex Wann Remix) MASTER
116. Moojo - Attitude
117. Moojo - Rain (Instrumental)
118. Moojo , Da Capo ft Tabia - What u desire ( vocal mix )
119. Moojo ft Gabsy - Ze Roberto
120. Coldplay x Notre Dame - Adventure of a Lifetime x Emowe (dela sur Mashup)
121. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Choujaa & Epsylon Remix)
122. More Life x Drake (CAIEL Over The Top Edit)
123. Black Coffee - Juju feat Zakes Bantwini (Chaleee & Sammi Ferrer Escalation Remix)
124. Masšh & Adam Port feat. Ninae - All I Got (Original Mix)
125. Moojo - Meditation
126. Moojo ft Starving yet Full - Limitless Vocal Version
127. Moojo - I Want Your Soul
128. Wannabe (Kimotion Remix)
129. Mojoo - Hate it Or Love It x Dua Lipa Training Season
130. Downstream - Makèz, Life On Planets (Lazare Remix)
131. Travis Scott - Modern Jam (Sammi Ferrer & Chaleee Remix)
132. VXISION - Love Preparation (Slow Down Edit) - 4A - 120
133. TRAVIS SCOTT - BUTTERFLY EFFECT (&ME EDIT)
134. ! Ankhoï - After All Night Shift
135. CUT OFF - &ME
136. KU LO SA - Oxlade (SIINA EDIT)
137. Ankhoï - Sandiya
138. Malive, Luiza Gogoia & Morgado - Quintal (Extended Mix)
139. KIMOTION - Sarà Perché Ti Amo
140. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Rivo Remix)
141. Tanzania (Rampa remix)
142. Ajna - Move.wav
143. ! Howling - RY X (Legare Remix).wav
144. ! Maxi Meraki - Remember (FINAL).wav
145. ! OMRI. , Yamagucci - Selector (final limiter)
146. ! SuperFlu - Lovesong.wav
147. 01 Dos Mojitos 1.mp3
148. 01 Fatoumata Diawara - Nterini (K.mp3
149. 4Rain, Kasango - Best Friend Ft Jimmy Nevis.wav
150. 11A - Ojos Asi - (Sinego & Laguna Remix) 1.mp3
151. 11B - Frankenstein 1.mp3
152. 11m Rebuke - Along Came Polly (Konstantin Sibold, Carmee & ZAC Remix) V NEW
153. 1995_Hallelujah (Sachaaa & Lazare Edit).wav
154. A Pale (Nick Morgan Remix) 1.mp3
155. Aaron Sevilla, Yas Cepeda - El Hantour.mp3
156. Aaron Smith, Krono - Dancin (Breakstorm Remix)
157. Adore U (Anton Khabbaz Edit) 1.mp3
158. Amonita, Makebo - Back to the roots (&friends private vocal edit)
159. Andor Gabriel, Jerome Sydor - Temperatura.wav
160. Andruss - Frikitona (Maesic Remix).wav
161. Anthony - Cabo Parano Edit.wav
162. Arodes, Andrea Oliva, Moeaike - Stronger Than Before
163. ARYMÉ - How Far Feat Luke Coulson (EXTENDE-1.wav
164. Asgeir - Until Daybreak ( Nandu early morning mix ).wav
165. Augusto Yepes & Tayllor - ID.wav
166. Aytiwan__Kaudron_feat_Nes_Mburu_Es_Vedra_Chaleee_Remix
167. Back To Life _ However (MOSY Remix).wav
168. Becherano-_Healing.mp3
169. Bill Withers - Who Is He (Victhor Remix).mp3
170. Billie Eilish - everything i wanted (Carlita Remix).wav
171. Black Coffee - Juju (Chaleee & Sammi Ferrer Escalation Remix)
172. BobMarley-_Sun_Is_Shining_Made_In_TLV_Remix.mp3
173. Bobby_Caldwell_What_You_Wont_Do_For_Love_VICTHOR_Remix.wav
174. Breakstorm - Mykonos (Original Mix).wav Final Master Label
175. CAMAGU - Augusto Yepes, Ft. Tabia.wav
176. Can't Remember to Forget You [Hoax (BE) 'Amana' Edit] 1.mp3
177. Carnaval Breve (David Mackay and Dela Sur).wav
178. Choujaa - Phanda Feat. Mavhungu (Extended Mix).wav
179. Collé - Something to Believe (Original Mix).wav
180. Collé - Thoughts (Original Mix).wav
181. Coolio_-_Gangsta_Paradise_Moojo_Edit
182. Cris Taylor - Say My Name [Unrelesed].wav
183. Dan Croll - From Nowhere (Âme Remix).mp3
184. Davido - FEEL (Raffa Guido Remix) Master.wav
185. Deni Hines - Its Alright (Jaquet Remix).wav
186. dernier danse (Mudboy Remix) part1.mp3
187. Dj 3000 - So Sheik X The Underground.mp3
188. DJ Yellow, Flowers And Sea Creatures - No One Gets Left Behind (BLOND.ISH Beirut Edit).mp3
189. DOT (BR), Rachel Reis - Eu Vou Pra Bahia (DSF Remix).wav
190. Downstream (Lazare Remix) 1.mp3
191. Egeme - So Fine (Demo).wav
192. Emanuel Satie - Happy.wav
193. Everyday (Original Mix) 1.mp3
194. Eye Of The Tiger - Darren Remix.wav
195. Father Stretch (CS Remix) 1.mp3
196. first track - Mita Gami - Master.wav
197. Forrest - Over and Over.wav
198. Fragma - Toca's Miracle (Vidojean X Oliver Loenn Remix).wav
199. Francis Mercier, Salif Keita, Nomis (FR) - Kabe (Extended Mix).wav
200. FrancisMercier_Frigid_Armadillo_Luedji_Luna-_Uiara.mp3
201. guapo & peaty - 6pm in casablanca.wav
202. Gunna - fukumean (Peace Control & Riordan Remix) extended.wav
203. Hallelujah (Auguste Ranska _ Ale Ale _ Edit) 1.mp3
204. HUGEL - Bambola.mp3
205. Humans feat. Lyrik Shoxen & KJM Cornetist (&ME Remix) 1.mp3
206. I Want You Back(Moojo Edit) 1.mp3
207. Ivan Masa & Super Flu - It_s a house day.mp3
208. Ivyson - Girassol (Tato Remix).wav
209. Jamek Ortega - Ride With Me_Final Master.wav
210. Jamek Ortega & MP3 - Paris Girl.mp3
211. Jamek Ortega_Burning Up_ft. Emily Denton - Final Master.wav
212. JEWELS & KENZA - Next To Me (Antdot Remix).wav
213. John Newman - Love Me Again (Legare & MALHO Remix) 1.aif
214. Juan Yarin - Sun WLimiter.wav
215. Kanye West - Everybody (Eszco Remix).wav
216. Kashovski - Pull out the fire V2.wav
217. Kashovski_&_Abel_Ray_Baby_Master_VF_Get_Physical_Music.wav
218. Keinemusik (Adam Port, &ME, Rampa), Alan Dixon, Arabic Piano - Thandaza.wav
219. Kendrick Lamar - Bitch Don_t Kill My Vibe (Talbot & Ber Grups Remix).wav
220. Kisin - Closure (Extended Mix).wav
221. Kutiman Mita Gami RMX.wav
222. Like Mike & Tayllor - Kasmir.wavLil
223. Louis - Club Lonely (Tom Nolan Edit).wav
224. Lil Yachty - Ive Officially Lost Vision (Tim Engelhardt Edit).wav
225. LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN [David Mackay & Hoax (BE) Remix] PROMO.wav
226. Loud Urban Choir - Bloody Samaritan (Bellone_s Brothers Remix) MASTER II.wav
227. Lous and the Yakuza - Dilemme (Stephan Jolk Remix).wav
228. Maesic & Samson - Rimiti (Extented Edit).wav
229. Make You Happy Parable RAMPA Remix V3-1 1.mp3
230. Malho - Nafe (Original Mix).wav
231. Malik Taj - Contigo (V6).wav
232. Malik Taj - Me Das Pena.wav
233. Malive - Garimpo (FINAL).wav
234. Malive, Billy Otto - Reduto v2.wav
235. Mamentia(Don't Stop)(Abel Ray Edit).wav
236. Marasi - Africa.wav
237. Michael Jackson - Beat it (Shimza Remix).wav
238. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (Makebo Remix)_Melodic House _2023 Not On Label 1.aif
239. Milky Chance - Feeling For You (Moser Extended Remix).wav
240. MIMAD GOD IS THE REASON EDIT.aif
241. Mind Against - Hydra.wav
242. Moeaike - Stronger (Original Mix).aiff
243. Moojo - Ms Jackson.wav
244. Moojo - Oui (FINAL MASTER).wav
245. Moojo ft Gabsy - Ze Roberto v final.wav
246. My Love (Quentro & Tuna X Yuksel Urer Remix) 1.mp3
247. Naika - 1 plus 1 (GUAPO Remix).wav
248. Nathan Katz - Porcelain in LA (Original Mix) 1.aiff
249. Nitakangaa 1.mp3
250. Notre Dame - Think About.wav
251. Ofenbach - Overdrive (Andrew Dum Remix).wav
252. One Dance - Drake (Indigo Retouch).wav
253. Ordinary love - Talbot Remix Demo Master.wav
254. Oxóssi - Augusto Yepes, Talon, Ft. Maitê Inaê v2.wav
255. PARADISE (CHAMBORD REMIX).wav
256. Paradise (Chris IDH Remix) 1.mp3
257. Patrice Baumel - Together (V4 Testmaster).wav
258. Peaty - KILOSA (Afro Melodic Mix)-1.wav
259. philkieran-_solar_storm_meera_version.mp3
260. Quentin Harris - Warning (Adam Ten & Mita Gami Re-Edit)Master.wav
261. Raffa Guido - Famax (Jerak Remix) MSTR2.wav
262. RAJE x SALAMEH - SIMPLY GROOVE. (MASTER FINAL EXTENDED).wav
263. Regard - Ride It (FromParis Remix) [Supported by Hugel, Regard, Kasango, Valeron, Mont Rouge].wav
264. Release Yourself (Toto Chiavetta Edit) 1.mp3
265. Right Here Right Now (Bootleg).wav
266. Rihanna - Stay (Moojo Remix) - Unreleased.wav
267. Robbie Akbal - Zero One (Alex Twin Remix).wav
268. Rockin Maroccin - All that she wants.mp3
269. ROCKIN MOROCCIN - ALWAYS ON TIME (EDIT) new stems MSTRD 1644(3).wav
270. Ruddek - Relax My Eyes (Savio Machado & Ruddek Remix).wav
271. rythm of conga sis.mp3
272. Santiago Garcia - Up In The CSkatman - louds (Original Mix).mp3
273. Sara Tavares - Balance (Ruuben K Remix).wav
274. Sentir Saudade (GUAPO & Antdot Remix) 1.m4a
275. Set Fire To The Rain (Choujaa Remix).wav
276. Showeto (Shami & Aly Sins Remix).wav
277. Sideral - Skyfall (V3).mp3
278. Sinfonia (Original Mix) 1.mp3
279. Skatman - Let's Skank [Master].wav
280. Skatman - Meraki (Ivory's Psychedelic Remix).wav
281. Sky and Sand (Gabben & Julius Ruth Extended Outro) 1.mp3
282. SOMMA - Jerimeh (ft. Felure) [ASCENSION].wav
283. Sued Nunes - Concha (Dre Guazelli & Talbot Remix).wav
284. Take Care - (Lazare Remix).wav
285. Tayllor - Baylame.wav
286. ayllor Feat Andile Mpili - Secret Places.wav
287. Terra Mount (Inámo Dub) 1.mp3
288. Tim Engelhardt - Set Me Free - Master.wav
289. Together (Vocal Mix) MASTER 1.mp3
290. Tommy Farrow - Let_s Just (Arodes Remix).wav
291. Touched The Sky (Da Capo Dub Afro) 1.mp3
292. Tough Love (Betical Remix) (1).wav
293. Tracy Chapman - Fast Car (Da Capos Touch).mp3
294. Tsoang Tsoang (Remix) 1.aiff
295. Umgido - Barr-Setta.mp3
296. UVITA & Sasson - Makalu.wav
297. Valeron - Fly Me 2 The Moon.wav
298. Victor Alc - Boreal.wav
299. Victor Alc - I Know You Know.wav
300. Victor Alc, Kimehra - Alma v2 mst02.wav
301. Victor Alc, Murilo Tronco - Forma de Querer V1.wav
302. We Like To Party (Rework) 1.aif
303. What A Day ft. Delilah Montagu (Marten Lou Remix) 1.mp3
304. WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (Jean Philippe's Tribute Edit) 1.mp3
305. Whitesquare - Arbul.wav
306. Whitney Houston - Dance With Somebody (Hoax (BE) Remix).aiff
307. XXXtentacion - Sad (Maesic & JM & Samson Remix).mp3
308. Yamil_Thimble-_Sun_Shine_Original_Mix.mp3
309. Yves Larock Rise Up Acapella.mp3
310. Zurdo (Original mix) 1.aiff

1. Coming Back For You Vidojean PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
2. Out Of Touch keinemusik ( unreleased)
3. A Keeper - Drake Keinemusik ( unreleased)
4. Abdel Kader (Mont Rouge Remix)
5. Abra - Feel (&ME Remix) ( unreleased)
6. Adele & Tayllor-Set fire to the rain X Talking drums
7. Alex Wann - My Love ( unreleased )
8. alex wann - peperuke ( unreleased )
9. by myself (unreleased)
10. Byron Messia - Talibans PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
11. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
12. Day N Night - Remix ( unreleased )
13. Drake - Flights Booked
14. Drake - Get it Together ft Black Coffee & Jorja Smith (Samson Remix)
15. Drake - Passionfruit (Kawz & Tolex Afro Tribute)
16. Drake - Rich Baby Daddy (Remix Southcent)
17. Drake - Slime You Out
18. Drake & Rampa - Virgil Forever ( unreleased )
19. Drake, Rihanna - Take Care
20. Eran Hersh & Anorre
21. Fragma - Tocas Miracle (Vidojean X Oliver Loenn Remix)
22. Freed From Desire unreleased remix ( choujaa )
23. WAIT FOR U Mont Rouge Remix ( unreleased )
24. Gypsy Woman (Rampa Edit) ( unreleased )
25. Jennifer Lopez - Waiting for Tonight (Jamey Williams Remix)
26. Keinemusik Cezaramina ( unreleased )
27. Kolinga -Kongo Samin (remix) ( unreleased )
28. Lana Del Rey - summertime
29. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (Addal Remix)
30. Moojo - Vamonos Mas que Nada (Jonni Gil)
31. Maz, Maxi Meraki, Apache - Nothing On Me X Baby Again
32. Mont Rouge, Meloko, Utli x Destiny's Child - Say My Name
33. Moojo, Caiiro - NGWINO ( unreleased )
34. Moon J - Collateral Damage ( unreleased )
35. Mwaki (feat Sofiya Nzau)
36. Natiruts - Sorri, Sou Rei (ft. Sonia Savinell)
37. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (Faros Remix)
38. Nobody
39. Paradise Played by Keinemusik
40. Peru
41. Rolling In The Deep - Francis Mercier Remix ( unreleased )
42. Say My Name ( unreleased)
43. Set Fire To The Rain - Adameyo
44. The Weeknd - Popular PLAYED BY KEINEMUSIK
45. The Weeknd, Moojo - Secret ID x Creepin ( unreleased )
46. Travis Scott - I Know
47. Tyla - Water (Marcel Serrano Edit)
48. Umbrella - Sonny Noto Remix
49. Wish i didnt miss you (Ft Jodie G)
50. &ME - Losing GARDEN
51. UNKLE - ONLY YOU (&ME Remix)
52. Sativa (Daveartt Remix)
53. Belief - Super Flu
54. Antony P X Julie - Welcome To The Diamond Aura (C.Sorrentino & Tom S )
55. Corpo-e-Canção
56. Bad For You
57. HUGEL, Alex Wann - Forever In My Mind
58. 7 seconds (Moojo remix)
59. Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted (Ikerfoxx (ES) Remix
60. Maz VXSION - Amana (Original Mix) (Unreleased)
61. Slow Down (VXSION Remix)
62. MoBlack, Benja, Franc Fala - Yamore
63. Nitefreak & emmanuel jal - Gorah
64. Overnight- keinemusik
65. Keinemusik (feat. Amr Diab) Noor Al Ain & The rapture part II
66. the rapture x passionfruit
67. Oyé Oyé [UNRELEASED]
68. afeto
69. Journey (Black Coffe) - UNRELEASED
70. Victor Alc - Sudamérica
71. Jovem Dionisio - Pontos de Exclamação (VXSION Remix)
72. CamelPhat - Home (Samm (BE) & Ajna (BE) Remix)
73. O Amor Te Dá (VXSION & Sone. Remix)
74. 8A - 120 - Maz, Antdot - Run
75. Collé - Kupata feat Nes Mburu
76. Drake - Finesse (Antdot Remix)
77. Classy 101 (Maz, VXSION Extended Edi
78. Arodes & Fahlberg - She Asked Me To Dance
79. Omah Lay - soso (JOSEPH Remix)
80. Reekado Banks, Adekunle Gold & Maleek Berry - Feel Different (Chris IDH Remix radio edit)
81. MONT ROUGE - BELSUNCE
82. Kimotion - Ya habibi yalla
83. A kepper drake - moojo
84. Drake - One Dance (Peace Control Remix)
85. Yamê Bécane - Kimotion
86. Confession (ALX YAV Remix)
87. Malive, Luiza Gogoia, Morgado - Quinta
88. ilanga &Me Edit 3
89. ! SHIK SHAK SHOK (master 2)
90. Drake & Jorja Smith - Get it Together (VXSION Remix)
91. Caiiro - No One
92. Black Coffee & David Guetta featuring Delilah Montagu - Drive (Da Capo Dub Touch)
93. Stromae - Papaoutai (Francis Mercier Remix)
94. Jaguar Jaguar - Born In Blue (Chambord Remix)
95. Carlita, Mojoo - Havana
96. Unforgettable-French-Montana
97. Keinemusik - Two Lost Kings
98. KOO KOO FUN - (Kimotion x RAY Remix)
99. Zulumke- Da Capo Afro Dub2
100. Moojo feat Awen - Giant Final Mix Master
101. ZASA ID- KEINEMUSIK
102. Mont Rouge(CH) - Tamale
103. Jorja Smith - Rose Rouge (Moojo Remix)
104. Badbwoy x Hoodia - Veneno
105. ! Moojo , Carlita ft Gabsy - Macaron vfinal
106. ! Vidojean X Oliver Loenn - Satisfaction Afro V.2
107. Chris IDH - Sunray
108. Moojo, Caiiro, Adassiya - Deep in Love
109. Black Coffee, Rampa - MAMAKUSA
110. Ankhoï - Another Hallelujah (Mont Rouge Private Edit)
111. Salif Keita - Madan (Badbwoy Remix)
112. Daughter Of The Sun (Ankhoi Remix)
113. Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Vidojean & Oliver Loenn Remix)
114. AFRICA (RAMPA EDIT)
115. Save Your Tears (Alex Wann Remix) MASTER
116. Moojo - Attitude
117. Moojo - Rain (Instrumental)
118. Moojo , Da Capo ft Tabia - What u desire ( vocal mix )
119. Moojo ft Gabsy - Ze Roberto
120. Coldplay x Notre Dame - Adventure of a Lifetime x Emowe (dela sur Mashup)
121. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Choujaa & Epsylon Remix)
122. More Life x Drake (CAIEL Over The Top Edit)
123. Black Coffee - Juju feat Zakes Bantwini (Chaleee & Sammi Ferrer Escalation Remix)
124. Masšh & Adam Port feat. Ninae - All I Got (Original Mix)
125. Moojo - Meditation
126. Moojo ft Starving yet Full - Limitless Vocal Version
127. Moojo - I Want Your Soul
128. Wannabe (Kimotion Remix)
129. Mojoo - Hate it Or Love It x Dua Lipa Training Season
130. Downstream - Makèz, Life On Planets (Lazare Remix)
131. Travis Scott - Modern Jam (Sammi Ferrer & Chaleee Remix)
132. VXISION - Love Preparation (Slow Down Edit) - 4A - 120
133. TRAVIS SCOTT - BUTTERFLY EFFECT (&ME EDIT)
134. ! Ankhoï - After All Night Shift
135. CUT OFF - &ME
136. KU LO SA - Oxlade (SIINA EDIT)
137. Ankhoï - Sandiya
138. Malive, Luiza Gogoia & Morgado - Quintal (Extended Mix)
139. KIMOTION - Sarà Perché Ti Amo
140. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Rivo Remix)
141. Tanzania (Rampa remix)
142. Ajna - Move.wav
143. ! Howling - RY X (Legare Remix).wav
144. ! Maxi Meraki - Remember (FINAL).wav
145. ! OMRI. , Yamagucci - Selector (final limiter)
146. ! SuperFlu - Lovesong.wav
147. 01 Dos Mojitos 1.mp3
148. 01 Fatoumata Diawara - Nterini (K.mp3
149. 4Rain, Kasango - Best Friend Ft Jimmy Nevis.wav
150. 11A - Ojos Asi - (Sinego & Laguna Remix) 1.mp3
151. 11B - Frankenstein 1.mp3
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154. A Pale (Nick Morgan Remix) 1.mp3
155. Aaron Sevilla, Yas Cepeda - El Hantour.mp3
156. Aaron Smith, Krono - Dancin (Breakstorm Remix)
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160. Andruss - Frikitona (Maesic Remix).wav
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179. Collé - Something to Believe (Original Mix).wav
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184. Davido - FEEL (Raffa Guido Remix) Master.wav
185. Deni Hines - Its Alright (Jaquet Remix).wav
186. dernier danse (Mudboy Remix) part1.mp3
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190. Downstream (Lazare Remix) 1.mp3
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198. Fragma - Toca's Miracle (Vidojean X Oliver Loenn Remix).wav
199. Francis Mercier, Salif Keita, Nomis (FR) - Kabe (Extended Mix).wav
200. FrancisMercier_Frigid_Armadillo_Luedji_Luna-_Uiara.mp3
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202. Gunna - fukumean (Peace Control & Riordan Remix) extended.wav
203. Hallelujah (Auguste Ranska _ Ale Ale _ Edit) 1.mp3
204. HUGEL - Bambola.mp3
205. Humans feat. Lyrik Shoxen & KJM Cornetist (&ME Remix) 1.mp3
206. I Want You Back(Moojo Edit) 1.mp3
207. Ivan Masa & Super Flu - It_s a house day.mp3
208. Ivyson - Girassol (Tato Remix).wav
209. Jamek Ortega - Ride With Me_Final Master.wav
210. Jamek Ortega & MP3 - Paris Girl.mp3
211. Jamek Ortega_Burning Up_ft. Emily Denton - Final Master.wav
212. JEWELS & KENZA - Next To Me (Antdot Remix).wav
213. John Newman - Love Me Again (Legare & MALHO Remix) 1.aif
214. Juan Yarin - Sun WLimiter.wav
215. Kanye West - Everybody (Eszco Remix).wav
216. Kashovski - Pull out the fire V2.wav
217. Kashovski_&_Abel_Ray_Baby_Master_VF_Get_Physical_Music.wav
218. Keinemusik (Adam Port, &ME, Rampa), Alan Dixon, Arabic Piano - Thandaza.wav
219. Kendrick Lamar - Bitch Don_t Kill My Vibe (Talbot & Ber Grups Remix).wav
220. Kisin - Closure (Extended Mix).wav
221. Kutiman Mita Gami RMX.wav
222. Like Mike & Tayllor - Kasmir.wavLil
223. Louis - Club Lonely (Tom Nolan Edit).wav
224. Lil Yachty - Ive Officially Lost Vision (Tim Engelhardt Edit).wav
225. LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN [David Mackay & Hoax (BE) Remix] PROMO.wav
226. Loud Urban Choir - Bloody Samaritan (Bellone_s Brothers Remix) MASTER II.wav
227. Lous and the Yakuza - Dilemme (Stephan Jolk Remix).wav
228. Maesic & Samson - Rimiti (Extented Edit).wav
229. Make You Happy Parable RAMPA Remix V3-1 1.mp3
230. Malho - Nafe (Original Mix).wav
231. Malik Taj - Contigo (V6).wav
232. Malik Taj - Me Das Pena.wav
233. Malive - Garimpo (FINAL).wav
234. Malive, Billy Otto - Reduto v2.wav
235. Mamentia(Don't Stop)(Abel Ray Edit).wav
236. Marasi - Africa.wav
237. Michael Jackson - Beat it (Shimza Remix).wav
238. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (Makebo Remix)_Melodic House _2023 Not On Label 1.aif
239. Milky Chance - Feeling For You (Moser Extended Remix).wav
240. MIMAD GOD IS THE REASON EDIT.aif
241. Mind Against - Hydra.wav
242. Moeaike - Stronger (Original Mix).aiff
243. Moojo - Ms Jackson.wav
244. Moojo - Oui (FINAL MASTER).wav
245. Moojo ft Gabsy - Ze Roberto v final.wav
246. My Love (Quentro & Tuna X Yuksel Urer Remix) 1.mp3
247. Naika - 1 plus 1 (GUAPO Remix).wav
248. Nathan Katz - Porcelain in LA (Original Mix) 1.aiff
249. Nitakangaa 1.mp3
250. Notre Dame - Think About.wav
251. Ofenbach - Overdrive (Andrew Dum Remix).wav
252. One Dance - Drake (Indigo Retouch).wav
253. Ordinary love - Talbot Remix Demo Master.wav
254. Oxóssi - Augusto Yepes, Talon, Ft. Maitê Inaê v2.wav
255. PARADISE (CHAMBORD REMIX).wav
256. Paradise (Chris IDH Remix) 1.mp3
257. Patrice Baumel - Together (V4 Testmaster).wav
258. Peaty - KILOSA (Afro Melodic Mix)-1.wav
259. philkieran-_solar_storm_meera_version.mp3
260. Quentin Harris - Warning (Adam Ten & Mita Gami Re-Edit)Master.wav
261. Raffa Guido - Famax (Jerak Remix) MSTR2.wav
262. RAJE x SALAMEH - SIMPLY GROOVE. (MASTER FINAL EXTENDED).wav
263. Regard - Ride It (FromParis Remix) [Supported by Hugel, Regard, Kasango, Valeron, Mont Rouge].wav
264. Release Yourself (Toto Chiavetta Edit) 1.mp3
265. Right Here Right Now (Bootleg).wav
266. Rihanna - Stay (Moojo Remix) - Unreleased.wav
267. Robbie Akbal - Zero One (Alex Twin Remix).wav
268. Rockin Maroccin - All that she wants.mp3
269. ROCKIN MOROCCIN - ALWAYS ON TIME (EDIT) new stems MSTRD 1644(3).wav
270. Ruddek - Relax My Eyes (Savio Machado & Ruddek Remix).wav
271. rythm of conga sis.mp3
272. Santiago Garcia - Up In The CSkatman - louds (Original Mix).mp3
273. Sara Tavares - Balance (Ruuben K Remix).wav
274. Sentir Saudade (GUAPO & Antdot Remix) 1.m4a
275. Set Fire To The Rain (Choujaa Remix).wav
276. Showeto (Shami & Aly Sins Remix).wav
277. Sideral - Skyfall (V3).mp3
278. Sinfonia (Original Mix) 1.mp3
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280. Skatman - Meraki (Ivory's Psychedelic Remix).wav
281. Sky and Sand (Gabben & Julius Ruth Extended Outro) 1.mp3
282. SOMMA - Jerimeh (ft. Felure) [ASCENSION].wav
283. Sued Nunes - Concha (Dre Guazelli & Talbot Remix).wav
284. Take Care - (Lazare Remix).wav
285. Tayllor - Baylame.wav
286. ayllor Feat Andile Mpili - Secret Places.wav
287. Terra Mount (Inámo Dub) 1.mp3
288. Tim Engelhardt - Set Me Free - Master.wav
289. Together (Vocal Mix) MASTER 1.mp3
290. Tommy Farrow - Let_s Just (Arodes Remix).wav
291. Touched The Sky (Da Capo Dub Afro) 1.mp3
292. Tough Love (Betical Remix) (1).wav
293. Tracy Chapman - Fast Car (Da Capos Touch).mp3
294. Tsoang Tsoang (Remix) 1.aiff
295. Umgido - Barr-Setta.mp3
296. UVITA & Sasson - Makalu.wav
297. Valeron - Fly Me 2 The Moon.wav
298. Victor Alc - Boreal.wav
299. Victor Alc - I Know You Know.wav
300. Victor Alc, Kimehra - Alma v2 mst02.wav
301. Victor Alc, Murilo Tronco - Forma de Querer V1.wav
302. We Like To Party (Rework) 1.aif
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304. WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (Jean Philippe's Tribute Edit) 1.mp3
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306. Whitney Houston - Dance With Somebody (Hoax (BE) Remix).aiff
307. XXXtentacion - Sad (Maesic & JM & Samson Remix).mp3
308. Yamil_Thimble-_Sun_Shine_Original_Mix.mp3
309. Yves Larock Rise Up Acapella.mp3
310. Zurdo (Original mix) 1.aiff

Amazon RoyalRoad Audible Cover by Chin Fong
A Blade Through Time (Desolada Book 1) by Louis Kalman
Blurb:

For millennia the demon lords known as the Goetia enslaved the human race, until a group of mortals known as the Archons received divine blessings of power and overthrew them. Under their dominion mankind flourished, though the war in the shadows never ended. A thousand years later, sixteen-year-old Leones' family is executed for the crime of heresy. Burned to death for questioning whether the Archon of Flames is a divine being, and whether any of the Archons truly are.
After manifesting the power to control time, Leones survives and embarks on an uncertain journey for power and revenge. But if he is to overcome a god, he may need some help. Along the way he will discover the truth behind the demon lords, time, and reality itself, as he walks along the razor path.

It's always difficult, whether recommending or being recommended a book, to judge the alignment of your tastes with those of the other person. I'm including excerpts in the hope that they will help bridge the gap between my words and your expectations. They're chosen based on what they reveal about the book's content, writing style, dialogue, and tone while being as minimally spoilery as possible.
A Blade Through Time (ABTT) is a dense, quickly paced first entry in first-person with an accessible 300-page length. Despite starting on RR, it doesn't read like it was serialized and it doesn't end abruptly or on a cliffhanger. It seems to begin as a time loop story, but implements unique weaknesses for the main character Leones that set it apart, such as the ability to die, hard limits on time reversal, etc (truthfully it's not exactly a time loop story, given that Leones' power encompasses control over time in general).
The setting leads to discussion of philosophy, demonology, religious control, and the relationship of humanity with the wider realm of existence. As with other stories in the genre, understanding can lead to greater power, though in this first book it's only really hinted at. Even though Leones is sixteen or so, he's self-aware enough that his internal monologue never feels too sophomoric. In general Kalman does a good job exploring the characters he chooses to focus on, namely Leones and one other. The world doesn't revolve around them, but they exist within it and influence and are influenced by it.
As mentioned, the magic progression aspects of the story haven't begun in earnest by the end of ABTT. Leones makes improvements to himself in various ways, but they are mostly horizontal rather than vertical, and in skill rather than power (he gets physically stronger, as do most characters in the genre). That said, there is enough steady progression across the book that it worked for me.
There is not much humor, and the overall tone leans dark, which I think is appropriate given the setting. However, it's not excessively dark or gory or graphic. There are only brief descriptions of gore, both monster and human, though they increase in frequency later on. The burning scene in the first chapter is partially graphic.
I'll let the writing speak for itself. Some words are removed for spoiler reasons, even though you won't have context if you've never read it.
Dialogue ex. 1

The colors around us seemed to brighten when [removed] laughed. “You act as if I am obliged to shackle myself with your human ethics. The tribunes of your world decree that I must be charged with foul misdeeds. I whisper lies, but against what truth? Others serve me and are rewarded so. For these sins you may imprison me, but I warn you: not even the Increate has devised a dungeon so worthy, lest the cosmos itself is my prison."

Dialogue ex. 2

"Far be it from me to dissuade a generous tipper," said [removed], "but are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Did your parents think it was a good idea for their daughter to become a half-dressed den girl?"
Her smile was like a wolf baring its teeth. "Another bottle of the Moravy for the young sir."
I sighed after she departed. "Do you feel like a big man now?”
He pointed the empty bottle at me. "Don't fuck with me, Leones."

Dialogue ex. 3

"Thank you."
"You heard none of my warning, only my agreement," he said. "The power of mankind comes from our delusions. To survive in this harsh world, we developed a sense of self. To thrive in it, we created the lie of civilization. The [removed] teaches us that society is only a dream we share. Even deeper, the self is a fabrication."
During my time with the [removed], I had been drowned in various grand claims about the nature of reality. Feeling I should say something, I grunted in agreement. It must not have been very convincing.

Narration ex. 1

At winter solstice the rest of mankind would paint runes of health and fortune on their walls. All would gather in the streets to dance for the souls of the departed. The rich would leave carafes of wine at their doorstep; the poor would leave bowls of water; and those with nothing would leave a thimble of blood. They would feast late into the night, on suckling pig, or boiled pheasant, or on warm memories.
In Arostara they went to sleep early.
The city was near the Frontier, ever besieged by the minions of the Goetia and mankind's countless other enemies. To light a candle for the dead would draw their attention. To wish for joy and peace would open your heart to their influence. There was no worship in Arostara, no one to be more revered than [removed] the Iconoclast.
Then, on the winter solstice of the three hundredth year of his reign, when the moon reached its zenith and cast its foul light all throughout the world, every citizen woke in unison.

Narration ex. 2

What is it that separates a man from a beast? A man from a god? How had the Archons convinced the world they were not simply powerful mortals blessed with longevity? They had the spark of the divine, ineffable, displayed with such pride that just doubting them invited retribution. They were not good in the way society tells us that we should be good: kind, lawful, humble. Yet our society deified them in a way no good man would ever experience. No one questioned them because they allowed no questions. Most of all, they never questioned themselves.

Narration ex. 3

To my surprise he dropped his spear and tried grappling. I struck his chin with the pommel of my sword once, twice, but we had never agreed to any rules for ending the match. The blows did nothing but enrage him. Between his bulk and the look on his face, it felt like wrestling with a bear. He tore the weapon from my hands and pawed at me. No technique, but damn, he was strong.

Hopefully you have a good idea now of the way the book is written and whether you'd want to read it. I tried to cover as much "ground" as possible without using passages where things actually happen.
The only drawback I see to reading ABTT is that you'll be like me and want to know but not know when book 2 is coming, but I believe it's already gone through multiple drafts; some of the chapters are on RR (I haven't read them because I want to wait for the whole thing, but yeah).
Mods please let me know if I should change anything.

"Children learn to correlate consequences with their own actions. This is true of all of us, no matter what species we are. Adulthood is universally defined by maturity, and maturity is defined by nature as appropriate behavior to ensure your species' survival. If we apply this wisdom to the stage of evolution of a species, the culture and conservative capacity of intelligent creatures, then we can see it on that scale also. A species is like a child while they liberally explore their surroundings, learning the best behavior by trying everything, through the Trial of Errors. Then they mature and adopt appropriate behavior, avoiding doing things that work against their species, as individuals and as a whole. We can apply this pattern to the history of all alien races among us here today. This also includes the humans. I testify to this, as one who remains traveling alongside them and seeing each era of their ascended history. As the representative of the will of the Frendsikeel, as attorney to the cause of human endeavors and as their one follower in this galaxy, I say the humans are very cool." The alien sea otter with the boney shells covering her body spoke somehow in a human voice, having perfected the use of her translator so that it was indistinguishable from human speech.
There was applause among the limited audience of aliens at the application hearing for membership, each in their own way of signaling immediate approval. If the Cave Gods agreed, the Combine would be added to the councils of the Cave Gods And Friends Association. It was the dawn of a new and wonderful age for the humans.
The alien attorney visibly shuddered as an equally smoothly articulated translation started, and in a voice all-too-familiar. Osowl Fitten, Attorney-to-the-Humans, heard her nemesis from across the vast distances of both space and time. She was the Sunder representative, Supreme Prosecutor (of the humans) Eshka Layenna. The reptilian alien slithered out with a stylized collar to hide her frill and colorful paint on her face to look more appealing to the human eye. Indeed, the humans felt their eyes drawn to the masterful and ancient alien, who specialized in charm and glamor.
"Beautiful denizens of Rhema, world of art and music, esteemed guru, priests and patrons of the arts, lend to me your native attention. I will speak for you, and worry not what decision is made behind my back, by our wise leaders, the benevolent Cave Gods. They have heard the song of human laughter, recognized the absolution of human mistakes, graced the humans with thousands of years of benefits and gifts simply because they admire the beauty of the human soul. Is beauty not important? I would not stand in the way of beauty. We all know it is the first component of harmony, and we all know harmony is the first component of peace and we also know that peacefulness is necessary for love. And what meaning is there, that is greater than love?" Eshka Layenna spoke with passion in her human sounding voice, translated from a skillful use of her own vowels in order to inflect such sincere emotion. The attorney for the humans worried, for she had sparred with this particular individual alien half a dozen times throughout the centuries, and clearly they were both on the same course through the stars, sleeping for decades at a time in order to extend the usefulness of their respective careers.
The prosecutor skillfully explained that humans were beautiful in the ears of the blind leadership who had overlooked the capacity that humans had for, in their own word: violence.
Osowl Fitten sat quiet during her turn to speak in rebuttal. She could not quickly speak without thinking, it was not the way of her species and she was especially slow to decide what she wanted to say. In the silence one of the humans coughed expectantly, it was meant to prompt her, and she knew so. It was in all things, their little violences, and she had started to find it beautiful.
"Violence is the appropriate behavior when humans utilize it. They are equally capable of restraint and sometimes their violence is directed purely against the storm. Humans respond to all violence, they endure it and survive, they fight back, they commit violence for gain, even sometimes because they want to commit violence, with no further motivation. The Sunder administration has long sought to prosecute the humans because of this, and they are here today, to do this. I approve of this because it is the appropriate behavior. I would like to point out that the Sunder have invented many consequences to inflict on humans, and I must point out that to the human, those are called weapons and the Sunder have become hypocrites. On this day the Sunder are here to prevent the humans from becoming their equal, which is the appropriate behavior for the Sunder, because they anticipate that humans are dangerous, a known threat. They would list off all the times they have tried to blame humans for tragic events, or simply point out that humans were involved in a disproportionate amount of such tragic events, at the very least. And yes, humans are dangerous. Does not each new member bring a gift to the association? The Blue Light Watchers brought the gift of honest music, such as nobody had ever heard. Who among us was not moved by their music? The humans have brought a gift, and I foresee, the Dream Time, that this gift shall prove to be the greatest gift of all."
"What gift would that be?" Eshka Layenna spoke out of turn, amid gasps and gestures of outrageous surprise. Osowl refused to engage her opponent informally and ceased speaking until the Cave Gods had politely reminded the respected and venerable serpent of the absolute procedure of the courtroom, and begged her to behave appropriately. Then Osowl spoke, carefully avoiding addressing the question, while answering it anyway:
"When the Dream Time goes into darkness, and the galaxy can be crossed in an instant by the mere thought of terror, and there is no trade besides violence with this spreading nightmare from outside, that is when the greatest gift of all shall shine upon the threshold." Osowl Fitten turned off her translator and captions and spoke only in her own language. For a moment the court felt confused by this deliberate action, before the significance of it began to sink in. Even the scarred and brutal human Admiral Jinar they had allowed into the proceedings looked deeply moved, her eyes watering, as though she personally understood both the words and the power behind them.
"I have no further arguments, Wise Ones. The prosecution rests." Eshka Layenna said with strange reverence, abandoning her entire cause suddenly.
"This then, is the final enactment of all our discussions, and there are no further actors. Let the humans say then, what is decided here today." The Cave Gods spoke in rehearsed unison.
The humans cheered. They had just become members of the Cave Gods And Friends Association, and the humans were now officially equal to all the coolest aliens throughout the galaxy.
When the courtroom had emptied there were still two creatures sitting there. Osowl Fitten stared for a moment at the human, gradually recognizing her.
"You are Jinar. How so? Humans do not use Star Sleep or live such profoundly long life spans. But I am sure, somehow you are she." Osowl Fitten said at last.
"I am now Admiral Jinar, of the Combine Unified Forces. We are currently disbanded, but I still think they are coming, and we should be preparing for them. Now that we have a say in things, I'd like to get started on that." Admiral Jinar told Osowl Fitten, coldly speaking business.
"Are you not pleased that humans are now recognized as equals to the Cave Gods themselves? In the association, all species have an equal vote." Osowl Fitten twitched her whiskers in a personal greeting, hoping to see Jinar's mood change.
Jinar relaxed and smiled just a little bit. Somehow sitting there trying to interpret the whisker twitches of the Frendsikeel made her feel like a little girl again. It was just a moment, but it reminded her of her own resolve of character. She had felt a kind of personal hell for most of her life, regretting something she had done while she was very young, but worried it somehow defined her. When she had defeated the scout, something had changed, she had realized she was merely playing a role, and the universe was calling the shots.
"Maybe it was better to have gods. The thought that we are responsible for the course is somehow terrifying." Jinar said in plain, soldier-like way of speaking.
"This is humor." Osowl gestured that she found it mildly amusing.
"Do you think they are out there? You're my attorney, I kinda care what you think." Jinar grinned a little, realizing she could communicate very easily with the alien. It was like Osowl just understood everything. It was reassuring to be fully understood and also approved of at the same time.
"It is not a coincidence that I chose this world for Summoning. Allow me to show you what inspires so much art, why this world is a melting pot of artists from seven alien species who all come here for inspiration." Osowl Fitten paused and found a small box held for her by a servo.
"What is it?" Jinar wondered.
"It is a gift." Osowl seemed perplexed. She was trying to assess the correct way to receive such a gift. It was meant as a statement of many different meanings, what was known as a cruciform. Osowl realized it was in the form of clothing, a colorful sash. She wrapped it over one shoulder, wearing it as a kind of toga.
"What for?" Jinar asked.
"It is complicated. I will wear this, to show my admiration and to accept the insult. It is a sign of deep friendship, but one forged through a necessary rivalry, for we are not without the other. My opponent, perhaps she says farewell."
"No, she says she wishes to be your companion still - to continue to argue with you. We shall Star Sleep beside each other and visit the same places. I do not want to be alone and I do not want this to end. It is what is best for each. Ave." The Sunder spoke from the shaded curtains, slithering out dramatically.
"I accept this. I would not wish to be without you. I understand the duality of our arguments the same way you do. Come with me, and we shall visit distant stars and foreign worlds." Osowl Fitten said without hesitation.
From there, the three women went to the attraction of Rhema that Osowl had chosen as a backdrop for the human inclusion in the association.
"Of this moment, we suspend ourselves, for the brace, my dears." Osowl hissed in Sunder and made her new friend laugh with an emote.
Eshka Layenna stopped and suddenly slithered around Jinar with serpentine swiftness. "Is she with us, equal one?" In plain English, another idiom but this as a joke of some kind by Eshka Layenna. She donned a purple garland and wrapped part of it gently around Jinar, the exact movement dancelike and affectionate. She flicked out her snake tongue absently in her self-satisfaction and then turned and wrapped part of the boa around Osowl, who groaned in mock reluctance to the amicable game.
"So we walk together?" Jinar asked.
"Precisely. Unless there is a place we must do something else?" Eshka gestured to the colonial canteen.
"They serve alcohol here?" Jinar felt no resistance as she walked towards the bar with her old lady alien friends in tow, the fragile feathered tether wrapped loosely around all of them.
"Drinks. You may take your toxic beverage." Osowl complained.
"I insist. I know you got something you'll imbibe." Jinar grinned.
At the bar the servo identified them and guessed they wanted alcohol. Osowl was served a thimble of it and a proper shotglass with the colonial guard stamp half scratched off of it was put down for the lady in uniform.
"That's pretty strong. Can I have more?"
"No." The servo said, and took the shotglass and wiped it out with a wash towel.
"Actually, I'm good. That's a pretty nice buzz." Jinar grinned.
"It is precise, madam." The servo said with a little bit of an attitude.
"I'll have mine - not." Osowl said.
"Is that right, are you afraid you'll seem ridiculous? I assure you your friends won't notice your inability to change your eye color while intoxicated. If it helps, you can wear a mood medallion. Would her Gentleness wish her mood medallion?" The servo had split personalities, and was suddenly all cool while talking to Osowl.
"Very much so, Jehosephet." Osowl accepted the medallion with a quickness that conveyed a gleeful shift in her feelings about the bar. Once her medallion was worn and shining, looking exactly like flax colored eyes, she gladly accepted the drink with no further inhibitions. She took the thimble and insufflated it and exhaled what sounded like a drunken wheezing.
"You party hard." Jinar complimented Osowl.
"Yes, this is the celebration I am in for." Osowl seemed to be gagging in her translator and took it off to fumble with the delicate settings.
Jinar laughed, noting that her eyes were flaxen with tints of green and yellow while her medallion showed bright red frustration and embarrassment.
"I cannot drink alcohol, so I shall wear the hat." Eshka Layenna leaned on the bar and the servo placed a massive crown of supreme derpiness on her, some kind of cartoon creature vaguely resembling a Sunder. It looked insane. Jinar laughed so hard she fell over and landed on her butt.
"Okay, so now that none of us may have her pride before the others, now what?" Osowl sounded normal, but her medallion was a glimmering pink, showing she was aware she was being deceptive in some way, as her voice betrayed none of her sloppiness in communicating. It somehow made her seem more hilarious to Jinar, as she could tell Osowl was drunk.
"I am worried that if we stay we'll be seen this way by those who admire and respect us and it will somehow diminish our reputations." Eshka Layenna stated.
"That's part of the fun. But anyhow, we're on a mission. Let's go to this place." Jinar agreed.
"I am afraid our jovial antics won't last beyond the threshold." Osowl cringed as she realized she had spoke a word that meant the same as Threshold, the prophecy of her people.
"What's the matter?" Jinar's voice drained of laughter and she adopted gradual concern, as Osowl hesitated to answer.
"Let us go first, and bid this moment to memory." Osowl insisted.
They departed, leaving their festive garments behind.
There was no landscape to explore, but rather spires of habitats above radiated pools of slag. They flew in a saucer, hovering at different speeds and angles against the natural gravity of Rhema. After a while the saucer had found a break in the low gray-orange clouds that obscured the world below the observational habitats.
"What is the significance of this wasteland?" Jinar asked slowly, not really wanting to hear the answer - already knowing what such an answer would be. The rhetorical nature of her voice was greeted by merciful silence.
The three sisters, each from a distant corner of the galaxy, born in different ages, and different species, stared out at the desolation and they each recognized the same measure of it, for it was the limit of suffering.
Osowl knew her friends understood. She herself had adjusted to her existence, the last of her people. It still hurt to come home.

Blurb: Stranded on the hell-planet of Arachnea, the last remnants of the human Fleet fight to survive in a world overrun by insectoid monsters and a sentient ecosystem gone mad. It is a war they are destined to lose, as with every century that passes, more of the ancient science lies forgotten, replaced by myth and superstition. That is, until assistant navigator Rene stumbles the mightiest weapon of the ancestor-gods...
Link to 1st chapter here: 1st chapter on HFY
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
They encountered no further patrols and reached the outpost before evening fell. Outpost 13 was a smaller mound that had been subjugated not long ago. It was wedge-shaped, far taller than it was wide, with short stumps of feeder towers running down its spine. It was cement grey rather than the virulent black of Mound Euler, and stood like the ominous gravestone of some forgotten giant, crumbling away in a backwoods cemetery, cratered and pockmarked by scores of holes where shells and grapeshot had impacted.
Rene had been part of sieges before, as an ammo hopper in the artillery, and he could well imagine how costly this one had been. The unique shape of the mound would have meant that any advances would have been focused along a brutal, narrow front, where any advantage in numbers enjoyed by the attackers would have been negated. Usually a mound had several entrances through which one could spearhead an assault, pouring into the tunnels from a dozen different directions, but that hadn’t been the case here. Given the smaller population of the Amits, they had only ever needed to construct one gate. He shuddered to imagine the relentless carnage of such a battle, with men and Amits both pouring their numbers into a slaughter of single-minded purpose. He wondered how they had ever managed to take this place, until he saw the segment of the eastern wall that had collapsed entirely. It would have taken a great deal of ordinance to crack open. Even from a distance the walls appeared thick and imposing. He imagined entire weeks spent pounding the place into submission with mortars and heavy canon, engineers making combat runs to find lines of weakness, then directing their fire to hammer home relentlessly on these until finally the place had given way, collapsing all at once in a great thundering sheet of shattered stone. Even now he could see the cross-section of the mound exposed in all its beehive complexity. Amits in their thousands must have spilled out from such a wreckage, cringing at the sudden light of the suns piercing their dark abodes. Then infantry would have poured through, putting them to the bayonet before they could wriggle themselves free of the debris.
It would have been a bloody affair, and he wondered why he had never heard of such an action taking place.
Since then the current occupants had shored up their defenses. Wooden scaffolding spanned the areas of worst damage, brick and mortar replacing the crumbling dolomite. A feeder tower with cracks running down its length had been converted into a commanding keep from which the maws of several cannon peeked out, covering the approaches from either flank. Stout palisades now ringed the outer defenses, constructed in dog-toothed patterns to break the impact of a charge and provide overlapping fields of fire.
They came up to the main road. Along this at regular intervals stakes had been pounded into the ground, onto which the skins of dead Amits had been impaled, desiccated scales rustling in the wind. These grisly trophies dotted the area for several miles around. It served to inform Amits of other broods who might think to try and claim the mound that the place was now occupied by dangerous predators. Once a month a scent detail would make the rounds, splashing over the ground buckets of sharp, pungent death-warning-fear pheromones extracted from dead Amits.
At the palisades they were challenged by a man wearing a steel shod helmet. He saluted them and asked:
“Names and purpose, please.”
“Navigator Deschane, 4^th Command Echelon, Navigator. This is Ensign Rene, of the 3^rd Pathfinder Regiment. We’re here to report our mission results.”
The man peered down at them, saw a pair of disheveled, exhausted men, blood smearing the insides of their sealant suits, with barely enough strength left to stand. He saw the tattered stripes on Deschanes shoulder pad, immediately saluted once more with a clatter of body armor, shouting:
“Aye, sir! Open the gate! We need medical officers here!”
The relief was almost unbearable. The gate unlatched and men rushed to help them as they sank to their knees in the mud, finally safe.
“Don’t know about any mission, but you look to be in an awful state,’ the man said, “How’d the two of you made it this far on your own?”
“There were more of us yesterday,” Rene said heavily.
“Who is the ranking officer here?
“Admiral Prota, sir.”
“Take me to him. With dispatch!”
They were half guided, half carried to the pressure gate, a broad circle of steel that hissed as the airlock within equalized with the outside. The entrance was on the northern edge of the wedge, where it protruded forward at a height of several stories from a barbican. Broad bolts thick as a man’s arm slid back and allowed them in. As it closed behind them and the chamber depressurized once more, men in full cleaning gear came and emptied buckets of decontamination fluid onto their sealant suits, scrubbing them with long handled brushes. A second batch of cleaners peeled off their masks and sealant suits, and for the first time in four days they felt fresh air make contact with their skin. The second door opened, and they entered Outpost Euclid.
The mounds were one of the few places where one could breathe freely without the cloying restriction of a valve. In the natural pockets of stale air that permeated the cave systems, mankind clawed its way to a continued existence. Great turbine fans turning endlessly in the feeder towers served to regulate the air flow and internal pressure, powered by the underground rivers percolating through the layers of soft stone. Without a contained, self-regulating environment and machines to purify the dwelling place a man would die within days, convulsing as the neurons of his brain fired in vain in an atmosphere oversaturated with oxygen.
Mound 13 was a young settlement, only possessing the most basic necessities. Rows of braziers hung from every doorway, framing passing faces in flickering orange light. Stacks of crates and supplies lined the corridors, bales of wire, nails and planks of rough wood littered the floor.
A small crowd had gathered by the entrance, led by a middle-aged woman in medical fatigues. At her signal several attendants bustled forward with stretchers. Deschane sent them back with a scathing look. He looked the woman up and down, and his jaw muscles twitched. If the woman saw this, she gave no sign of offense.
“Well met, lord navigator,” she began, “This way to the hospital ward, if you please.”
“Later,” he snapped, “Where is Admiral Prota? I was told he was in command here.”
“Sir, your medical situation takes precedence. Your wounds are quite serious.”
“Pardon me, but to the void with my medical condition. Madame, I’ve come a very long way to deliver a missive of the utmost importance, and I will not be put aside until I’ve had my say.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed.
“Please don’t be difficult.”
“Difficult? If I don’t see him within a minute from now, I’ll show you precisely how difficult I can be. Respectfully of course, madame.” he said, in a tone that was anything but.
“It’s possible your eyesight might have been affected by recent trauma to the head. Not to mention whatever region of the brain that handles basic etiquette.”
She brought out from her field pouch a strip of gauze and a bottle of antiseptic solution, and came forward to clean his face. In the dim light of the flames Rene caught a glimpse of the pendant hanging around her neck, a thin blue rectangular wafer fashioned from some unearthly glass. Rene drew breath: she was an officer of the 2^nd Command Echelon, almost the highest station in existence. The pendant was her seal of command, a relic passed down generations beyond count. It swung on its leather thong, caught the torchlight and broke it into a thousand points of light.
“Away with that, woman, or by the ancestors I’ll-”
“Sir.” Rene said quickly, with concern.
“Its Rear-Admiral Prota, actually. And it certainly isn’t ‘woman’.”
Deschane blinked, realizing the magnitude of his error. Despite himself, Rene hid a smile behind his hand.
“I must apologize. I presumed-”
“Yes, of course. Now, before I cite you for an infraction, would you kindly come this way? You can debrief me while we stitch your head back together.”
Deschane nodded with reluctance. They allowed themselves to be led away. As they walked it became apparent that the scars of war still lay thick upon the place. The walls were dotted by bullet holes and oddly warped surfaces where streaks of acid had been sprayed to dissolve both stone and attackers alike. Once they even saw the outline of a man, the moment of his death forever etched into the ageless calcite. From the cave entrances sets of shattered columns jutted like broken teeth, reminding them of the storm of violence that had once ripped through the place.
Despite all this, Mound 13 was beautiful. Its spare halls possessed a natural symmetry and decidedly pleasing dimensions that were out of place in a newly conquered mound. All around them, workers bustled about, busy making renovations that would eventually make the place home.
“As you can see, we’ve been rather busy around here,” explained Admiral Prota, “There’s much to do, and not enough people to do it. Why, we haven’t even explored the entirety of the natural cave system yet, not to mention all the segments the Amit added. There’s talk of us being made into a full settlement someday, but of course that isn’t possible, given the nature of our work here.”
“Your work?”
“I’d explain, but you’re losing far too much blood.”
The massive cut across the top of his head had resumed its slow red trickle. Deschane wiped his face and winced as his scalp stretched.
They went into a wide, well-lit room and Rene’s eyes widened. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Above them yawned three massive domes of the purest blue marble, like those of a great basilica, held aloft by elegant pillars and jagged friezes that overflowed like molten candlewax.
Every surface was pockmarked by endless tessellations, countless branching forms and geometric shapes that merged one into the other in pleasing harmony. But what really stood out were the stars.
The tip of every stalactite shone as a thimbleful of water gathered. For a long moment, before gravity took precedence, they hung suspended in all their adamantine brilliance, before the illusion ended, and they flashed downward in lightning streaks of silver.
“Nice, isn’t it?” said Prota, noting his reaction.
“You’ve done magnificent work here madame.”
“Oh, but I can’t take credit for that. None of us can really.”
Rene frowned at this curious remark. He had never seen such a formation, not in all his lifetime spent beneath the ground. At first glance he had marveled at the hands and minds of those whose craft had shaped the place. But now he remembered that there was no way the working crews could have completed such a thing within a few weeks. He put it down as just another one of nature’s novelties.
At the end of the hallway men with picks carefully chipped away at a section of collapsed tunnel, supervised by an engineer.
“What’s behind that?” he asked eagerly.
“One of the sloping tunnels that run beneath the eastern segment where the collateral damage was greatest. We have yet to uncover most of them, but the engineers assure me that beyond this obstruction the tunnel ceilings remain intact. We’d try explosives but we’re afraid the whole place would come crashing down about our ears.”
They entered a small side chamber attached to the basilica, where cots had been arranged for them to sit upon. A medical orderly stood ready to receive them, needle and thread in hand. Deschane sat, wincing as they jabbed at his opened head wound, and delivered his report. Prota stood and occasionally nodded her head, her face devoid of emotion. Until, that is, they stated their estimation of the size of Mound Euler. Then she looked up sharply, asked:
“How large did you say?”
“Ensign, if you please.”
Rene produced the map.
“Madame, around here is where the primary towers are. The new cluster of secondary feeder towers were here. Assuming that the mound is of the usual ovoid shape, and that it’s major axis stretches between these two points, this would be its approximate size.”
He drew the outline with his finger.
“But that would make it-”
“Exactly. Greater than all our core settlements combined. And so,” concluded Deschane, “Given the magnitude of this threat, admiral, I must respectfully request that you evacuate Outpost 13 as soon as possible.”
“I understand. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. You are to be praised for having made it here in one piece. Both of you,” she added, nodding at Rene, who was surprised to be acknowledged.
“But you must understand,” she continued with a set look on her weathered face, “Retreat is not an option for us here at 13.”
Deschane sat up.
“It is not cowardice to withdraw in the face of certain annihilation.”
“Bravery has nothing to do with it. I suppose I had better tell you. I owe it to you for the men you’ve lost, if nothing else,” she sighed. “Navigator, why do you think Command sent you on your mission?”
Deschane shrugged.
“Overpopulation. Settlements Yohan and Gaus are at maximum capacity. The others will reach theirs soon enough.”
“No. Population factors alone do not warrant full-scale invasion of a large mound. It is too costly, and command does not waste lives when there is little of strategic value to be gained. And there is nothing around here worth the misery of claiming it.”
“Except for Mound 13.” said Rene.
“Correct.” She nodded with approval. “You catch on quick.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Navigator, your men died to keep 13 secure. This small mound is the sole reason that Command wants to push north.”
“But why?”
“As you may have guessed, your operation was the first step towards a wider offensive. To claim this mound permanently we must seize control of all surrounding areas, even if it risks aggravating the enemy into surface skirmishes.”
“Madame, what makes you think that they would confine themselves above the ground?”
She persisted, “Even so. 13 is too valuable to lose.”
“But why?” Rene broke in.
“Tell me ensign, how long have you fought the enemy?”
“All my life. Ever since they found a sealant suit that could fit me.”
“What is your opinion of their intelligence?”
They could adapt to situations and plan with meticulous attention to detail. They made tools, fashioning stone into lethal axes and spear heads. They were capable of highly effective communication, both tactile and pheromonal. They built labyrinthine structures that dwarfed any that man could make.
“They’re clever. Given time, they eventually learn. It makes them very hard to kill,” he said finally.
“But would you say they are sentient?”
He thought for a moment.
“No.”
“Really? Above all else, the Amit display an unwavering hatred of all things human. That they can commit themselves to the utter eradication of an entire species outside of their natural food chain is a clear indication of abstract thought, yes?”
“Forgive me, but what does this have to do with the deaths of my men?”
“That chamber of stars behind you?” she paused, a smile playing over her face, “For that’s what it is, I’m sure you had a similar impression. It isn’t natural. We certainly didn’t make it. They did, though why we are still struggling to guess.”
The orderly finished his work. They stood and returned to the star chamber, gazing about in wonder and confusion.
“All through the past year we have been rebuilding and cataloguing items of interest. Beginning to piece together the connotations of this place. What we have here is the first veritable proof of the Amit race possessing a culture.”
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

So I have this big friend circle, where I have felt a part of for a very long time. Well a week ago there was no big meet planned, and 2 of em were supposed to go to lunch with me. Suddenly one of em cancelled on me, and a bit later the other pulled out an excuse too. This has happened before, but I never put my mind to it cuz I've always felt very at home with these people. Well one of em forgot to hide me from Instagram stories, and I saw the entire group (14 people) hanging out at a quite close friend of mine's place. I used to have extremely severe social anxiety, and was completely unable to make friends, and was therefore bullied up until the 5th grade. After 6th grade, I slowly transitioned and forced myself to make more friends, and these guys have been with me since 9th grade, the past SEVEN years. I know it's not a personal thing cuz they all bitch about each other to me, and I'm quite close with more than half the people in the group. The sad thing is my best friend, the guy I consider my brother, also lied to me and bailed. I just don't get it. My anxiety has come back quite suddenly after this. After they saw me see the story, they quickly wrote in the group chat about how funny and strange it was they all ended up meeting up accidentally and shit. But I know the truth. Meanwhile I've been more awkward than ever at college after this. There was this girl I'd been talking to for a while now, and suddenly I just couldn't say anything to her. And people from this friend group have been calling me up, asking me to meet up (not my "best friend" though. I think he might have a thimble of shame) but I just can't. I just keep thinking, all those times they cancelled on me, all those times they went AWOL, what happened then?

So I have this big friend circle, where I have felt a part of for a very long time. Well a week ago there was no big meet planned, and 2 of em were supposed to go to lunch with me. Suddenly one of em cancelled on me, and a bit later the other pulled out an excuse too. This has happened before, but I never put my mind to it cuz I've always felt very at home with these people. Well one of em forgot to hide me from Instagram stories, and I saw the entire group (14 people) hanging out at a quite close friend of mine's place. I used to have extremely severe social anxiety, and was completely unable to make friends, and was therefore bullied up until the 5th grade. After 6th grade, I slowly transitioned and forced myself to make more friends, and these guys have been with me since 9th grade, the past SEVEN years. I know it's not a personal thing cuz they all bitch about each other to me, and I'm quite close with more than half the people in the group. The sad thing is my best friend, the guy I consider my brother, also lied to me and bailed. I just don't get it. My anxiety has come back quite suddenly after this. After they saw me see the story, they quickly wrote in the group chat about how funny and strange it was they all ended up meeting up accidentally and shit. But I know the truth. Meanwhile I've been more awkward than ever at college after this. There was this girl I'd been talking to for a while now, and suddenly I just couldn't say anything to her. And people from this friend group have been calling me up, asking me to meet up (not my "best friend" though. I think he might have a thimble of shame) but I just can't. I just keep thinking, all those times they cancelled on me, all those times they went AWOL, what happened then?

Looking on the interwebs I couldn’t find a really good comprehensive list of curses that suited my game, so I made a list of 200. I’ve pulled some of these from other sources (such as reddit posts, youtube shorts, and so on), but the vast majority were from me going “wouldn’t it be funny if…”
Some of the curses have optional mechanical rules attached because I was asked to rule on them. Your mileage may vary (you’re obviously welcome to leave mechanical effects off altogether at your table). That said, I have a hard time believing the rogue can spot a pressure plate when the floor appears made of molten nacho cheese…
Enjoy! Hope you feel inspired and use some in your campaign or your curse tables.
Dreamfey Curses D100:
1 - All of your teeth fall out, and a tiny hand springs from your gums in each one's place. - If you cast a spell with verbal components, roll a d20. On a 5 or lower, the spell fails and is wasted.
2 - Your hair falls out and begins to rapidly regrow from your ears. - You suffer disadvantage on checks requiring hearing.
3 - You can no longer blink your eyes. - Disadvantage to vision checks.
4 - Your fingers become toes, and your toes become fingers. - Disadvantage on dexterity checks requiring fine motor control.
5 - You lay an egg, and are overwhelmed by the instinct to brood it. - If the egg hatches after 30 days, you gain a familiar. If it dies, you suffer disadvantage on charisma checks due to depression until the curse is removed.
6 - You can only speak in the scat style of song. - You are incomprehensible and cannot cast spells with verbal components.
7 - You laugh uproariously at anything sad or distressing. - Disadvantage on charisma checks in upsetting situations.
8 - You may only ingest things that are yellow. Any other color makes you violently ill. - Food and potions must be carefully considered. Water must be made yellow.
9 - Each time you laugh in real life, your character takes 1d4 damage.
10 - You believe yourself to be a spy working for the enemy, and are very bad at it.
11 - All livestock that see you want to be near you, and do their best to get as close to you as possible.
12 - You crave humanoid bones, and can only be satisfied by eating them.
13 - You cannot turn right. - Disadvantage on dexterity saving throws.
14 - You must loudly shout, "SURPRISE!" when walking through doorways.
15 - You become a pacifist. You can no longer intentionally attempt to deal lethal damage.
16 - Every time you have an even remotely romantic feeling, you become intensely nauseous. - DC 15 CON save or vomit, still look sick on success.
17 - You become intensely magnetic.
18 - You become incredibly beautiful, and must look in any mirror you encounter for at least one minute. - Advantage on seduction-based charisma checks.
19 - Every time you harm someone, even intentionally, you must apologize profusely.
20 - You cannot tell the difference between copper and gold.
21 - You may only speak in questions.
22 - You learn one random useless fact every morning, and can't stop thinking about it until you've told someone. - Automatic failure on concentration checks before disclosing fact.
23 - Your joints pop loudly whenever you move.
24 - Moths are fascinated by you.
25 - Your dreams are visible for others as small illusions above your head.
26 - Whenever anyone doubts you for any reason, you must answer with, "But I know magic!" - Disadvantage on deception checks.
27 - Whenever you hear someone utter a number under 100, you must count up to 100 from that number.
28 - When you walk through a door you forget what you were doing.
29 - Anything you drink takes on the consistency of yogurt. - DC 10 CON save each day to consume drink.
30 - All of your intentional movements are reversed--for example, attempting to move your right hand instead moves your left hand. - You automatically fail all dexterity checks and saves.
31 - You fall hopelessly in love with the next person you see, and actively pursue a long term relationship with them.
32 - You are now unfailingly polite and servile.
33 - You smell strongly of barbeque. - Disadvantage on stealth checks.
34 - You forget how to properly put on your armor, and it has a chance to simply fall off. - When hit by an attack, roll a d20. On a 1, your armor falls off.
35 - Whenever you see someone new who is not hostile, you must introduce yourself and kiss them on both cheeks.
36 - You become terrified of the sun. - Disadvantage on all checks, saves, and attack rolls when in direct sunlight.
37 - You can feel your parasitic twin attempting to assert control over your body at the worst times. - Enemies have advantage on attacks against you.
38 - You have the hiccups. Forever. - Disadvantage on concentration checks.
39 - You must shed your skin like a snake every day. - The time required for your long rest is extended by 2 hours.
40 - If you have a suggestion, you must whisper it conspiratorially to only one person and pretend you said nothing when anyone else asks.
41 - You believe you’re invisible. You're not.
42 - Every day you get bitten by a mosquito in a difficult-to-scratch place. - Disadvantage to charisma checks due to constant itching.
43 - All undead look like beautiful, pleading men and women to you.
44 - Random belongings from nearby people will occasionally fall out of your clothing in front of them.
45 - You think you can talk to animals. None of them seem to like you.
46 - You can only speak in lies, and you love telling lies. - You cannot cast a spell with verbal components.
47 - Whenever you score a critical hit, you must spend your bonus action and movement (if available) doing a victory dance.
48 - You are easily addicted to things. You deny that this is the case. - Automatically fail addiction checks.
49 - Your shadow mocks you.
50 - You feel the constant need to speak in a gravelly voice (like Batman). - Disadvantage on charisma checks.
51 - You cannot abide the sight of the opposite sex, and must avert your eyes in disgust. - You are blind with respect to humanoids of the opposite sex, and suffer disadvantage on attacks against them.
52 - All speech in Common sounds like terrified screaming to you.
53 - You are committed to forming a committed relationship with a troll, and must try to guide the group toward that objective.
54 - Your hair becomes a tangled mass of non-venomous, mostly-harmless snakes. They are not friendly to you.
55 - You believe yourself to be a were-halfling. You are not.
56 - You believe yourself to be an actor, and this campaign is an elaborate play. The audience is invisible and all around you.
57 - Nobody can remember your name, but that doesn't stop them from trying and getting it wrong.
58 - All beasts of CR 1/4 and lower are frightened of you, even your pets and livestock.
59 - You are immune to the effects of potions and poisons.
60 - You compulsively narrate your every action in a whisper.
61 - You compulsively sing, whistle, or hum a theme song that changes from situation to situation.
62 - You must now speak in the style of Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
63 - Every time you hear the word "magic," you react as if struck by the Vicious Mockery cantrip at lowest level.
64 - You become breathtakingly ugly (doesn't impact CHA). Every mirror you pass shatters loudly.
65 - You glow in the dark (dim light, 10 ft radius). You make up a different reason why whenever you’re asked.
66 - If viewed by someone using True Sight, you appear to be a mindflayer to them.
67 - You cannot eat food. Instead, each day, you must make someone cry in order to remain sated.
68 - Lightning is attracted to you, but it's shy.
69 - When crafting something, roll a d20. On a 10 or lower, you accidentally drop the item over and over when attempting to craft it.
70 - The slightest amount of intoxicant of any kind has its full effect on you (such as a thimble of beer causing drunkenness).
71 - You believe yourself to be visibly pregnant. Anyone that you complain about this to must say "Congratulations!"
72 - Your blood turns into coins as it leaves your body. Each hitpoint lost results in one silver coin falling from the wound.
73 - You must spend your first turn of combat in earnest attempting to have a dance-off against your enemy.
74 - You grow a set of vestigial gills. They are not functional. You believe they ARE functional.
75 - Your main weapon, whatever it is, begins to speak with you. It criticizes your form each time you miss an attack.
76 - You must speak like a black-hat cowboy. - Advantage to intimidation checks.
77 - All birdsong stops within 1 mile of you. Birds watch you constantly.
78 - Your sense of touch is extremely sensitive. - Advantage to sleight of hand, disadvantage to concentration checks when taking damage.
79 - You must attempt to make innuendos, or insinuate them where they do not exist. - Disadvantage to persuasion checks against decent people.
80 - A talkative flea lives in your nose. Only you can hear it.
81 - You become blurred, even to your own perception. You don't know which of the blurred images is you. - Enemies have disadvantage to attack you, you have disadvantage on dexterity saving throws and checks.
82 - You fart at inappropriate times. Whenever you are sneaking, you must roll an occasional d20 to hold the fart in. - The DC to hold this fart in is a CON save, and begins at 10, increasing by 1 each round until released.
83 - You are overwhelmed by kleptomania. You must attempt to steal something from your companions regularly.
84 - One of your companions slowly begins to find you irresistibly attractive.
85 - You grow a long, wizardly beard. Even if you shave it, it grows back within an hour.
86 - Your eyes and mouth change positions (mouths where your eyes were, an eye where your mouth was).
87 - You think if you just think a happy enough thought, you can fly. On a natural 20, you can (for one turn)!
88 - You have a crippling phobia of magic. This includes the Remove Curse spell that would cure you of this phobia.
89 - Male spiders everywhere begin trying to attract you as a mate. It's cute sometimes.
90 - You have to take ever-increasing risks to satisfy your escalating need for a thrill.
91 - You grow an extremely talkative mole on your nose. You should get that looked at. Hey, who you lookin' at?!
92 - You are compelled to challenge the occasional passerby to duels. This happens at random.
93 - You believe yourself to be actual royalty. Kneel, peasants!
94 - You cannot tell the difference between individual humanoids except temporarily, by taste.
95 - A tiny stormcloud floats two feet above you and drizzles on you constantly. Oddly, it's kind of soothing at night as long as you can block the rain.
96 - You have t-rex vision. You can only detect your enemies if they’ve moved that round or the round before. You also have advantage on attacks against lawyers.
97 - You believe you have the ability to see the future. It all seems so clear… (you don't, and it isn't).
98 - You develop the annoying habit of discussing a specific bit of cuisine any time there is a lull in conversation.
99 - You see your death in the future. All of your deaths. You are frightened of all enemies in combat until making a successful DC20 wisdom saving throw at the end of your turn, at which point you are immune to this effect for one hour.
100 - A contract falls into your lap. It promises one Wish in exchange for a child to be delivered to The Pale, courtesy of the Conclave of the Moon. There are numerous stipulations written in every conceivable language, but it seems pretty straightforward. You may immediately benefit from another Fey Curse and the advantage it conveys.
101 - Your nipples detach and begin to crawl all over your body like caterpillars. They can't be plucked off.
102 - You are terrified of the color blue.
103 - Your head turns into a donkey's head. You're capable of speech.
104 - A colony of gregarious spiders takes up residence on your face, imitating a beard. You can shake them loose whenever you like, but the colony always reappears on your face within half an hour, regardless of how many you kill or displace.
105 - Every time someone makes a joke, pun, or innuendo that you can hear, you suffer the effects of Tasha's Hideous Laughter. (DC15 to save afterward)
106 - Dandelions sprout wherever you walk as long as it's on dirt or grass.
107 - Your skin turns a violent shade of luminescent pink.
108 - You hear the song "Banana Phone" playing over and over in your mind.
109 - You always feel a bit too cold.
110 - Whenever you tell a lie, you fart loudly. - Automatically fail deception checks that involve a lie.
111 - You have drawn the attention of a miniature Genie who grants you whatever you wish for. While he generally means well, he plays a bit too loose with the creative license. Also, he gets angry if you try to stifle his creative freedom and make specific wishes (such as attempting to replicate a spell effect or a guaranteed standard outcome). He loves to try and grant wishes whenever you say, "I wish…" as well.
112 - Drinking alcohol makes you feel like you're invincible.
113 - You must now eat and digest food "in reverse." You know what I mean.
114 - You moan loudly whenever you make physical contact with another creature.
115 - Your eyes glow in the dark, and their color reflects your mood (red for anger, blue for calm, green for fear, pink for love, etc.).
116 - Large, onomatopoeic words appear and float in the air whenever you do something that makes a noise, and last a few seconds.
117 - You must end everything you say with, "Myah, see? Myah!"
118 - You must speak in pig latin.
119 - If you spend a turn yelling loudly and flexing without moving or taking any actions, bonus actions, or reactions, you may make an extra attack on the next turn with advantage. You glow brightly the entire time you're yelling in this situation.
120 - You become exceptionally greedy.
121 - If you take damage, you must use your item interaction to make sure your hair is okay on the following turn.
122 - You prefer the romantic company of bears instead of other humanoids.
123 - You have tinnitus.
124 - You absolutely REFUSE to step on cracks of any kind (mechanically, you must move only using the arrow keys).
125 - Whenever you look at someone for more than three seconds, their face appears to start melting (this is a hallucination).
126 - Any time you say a word without pronouncing the "silent" letters in it, you bite your tongue. It hurts a lot, and draws blood, which most people have no problem seeing.
127 - You speak in haiku.
128 - You can't see clothing or armor anymore. This includes your own. - Double the amount of time required to don armor.
129 - Whenever you accidentally harm an ally with an errant shot or area of effect ability or spell, you feel the power of Ryfe flow through you--you gain temporary HP equal to the damage you inflicted on your friends. This temporary HP stacks.
130 - Your thoughts are literally written on your face. In Dwarvish.
131 - Failing an ability check makes you pee, just a little.
132 - You can't see race (or gender) when looking at humanoids. Everyone looks like a white cismale human.
133 - You tip at least 50% whenever you spend money on something. If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to buy!
134 - You think anyone shorter than you is a literal child.
135 - You develop male pattern baldness--full on horseshoe style.
136 - A brownie starts following you and cleaning up after you. If you fail to thank it each day by leaving it a present, it will sabotage you somehow.
137 - Any reptile or amphibian you see you think MUST be a cursed prince. One little kiss could break that curse…
138 - You develop a severe stutter. - Disadvantage on spellcasting ability checks.
139 - You must now regularly whisper, "I like you," in the ears of your companions, especially when they're sleeping and you're not.
140 - Whenever you're talking to someone, you must try to touch them at the same time, preferably their face.
141 - Whenever you see a beggar, you give them at least 5% of the money you have.
142 - Your sense of spice is reversed. Plain white bread is the spiciest thing in the world, and only exotic peppers taste bland to you. Water tastes like hot sauce.
143 - Any time you hear the word, "loot," you have an earthshaking orgasm.
144 - You are terrified of healing. Much like a child afraid of getting shots, you flee from people trying to heal you.
145 - If you swear, a silver coin falls out of your pocket (if you have any).
146 - You have a slow nosebleed. It never stops, except when you're looking straight upward or sleeping.
147 - You see dolls following you. They always seem to disappear around corners or behind objects and vanish right after you notice them.
148 - Reading gives you a vicious headache.
149 - Whenever nobody else is around to see, doors close and lock you in whatever room you're in (if it has doors that lock).
150 - Your bellybutton turns into a little mouth that screams out cheerleading slogans and hype for you at random moments.
151 - Your hands ooze delicious butter substitute. On attacks of natural 1, you fumble your weapon.
152 - Your mouth is permanently dry. Make with the lip-smacking sounds!
153 - Your character must loudly sing a "poop song" whenever you go to the bathroom in real life.
154 - Whenever someone says your name, you have a sneezing fit.
155 - You remain oblivious to clues obtained through sight or sound, and must roll investigation checks using your sense of taste instead. You don't suffer any particular disadvantage for this--enjoy synesthesia!
156 - When you're in crowds or moving through city streets or the like, random and hurtful insults are hurled at you from people you can't see.
157 - There's always a piece of broccoli stuck in your teeth. You can feel it, though you can never quite liberate it from your teeth. Everyone can see it, but you can never spot it in the mirror.
158 - Everything you put in your backpack or bag of holding gets covered in glitter. This doesn't make shopkeeps happy.
159 - If you are feminine, you grow a third breast. If you are masculine, you grow a third butt cheek.
160 - You always suggest peace as the first option to resolve any conflict. Even conflicts you start. This means if you start a fight, you must spend at least 1 action suggesting you all stop and think about just talking it out.
161 - Your finger and toenails grow at a rate of one inch per hour, and your teeth are the only thing that can cut them (or so you believe).
162 - Your feelings are delicate--you're easily offended and prone to loud bouts of crying.
163 - You are colorblind.
164 - Your clothes flutter heroically in a breeze that nobody else can feel or detect. The breeze smells strongly of hot garbage.
165 - You think about 50% of pockets are mimics.
166 - Your ears are now inside your mouth. You are deafened unless your mouth is open.
167 - Your eyebrows are always meaningfully arched.
168 - Your cheeks hang low and flap like a bloodhound's jowls.
169 - You continually emit a loud, high-pitched noise that only children under age 18 can hear.
170 - Any time you are immersed in darkness, you hear childlike laughter around you.
171 - You never wake up where you went to sleep.
172 - You think you're one of the other members of your party, selected by the GM.
173 - Every piece of food you touch turns into peppermint candy.
174 - You don't believe in the fey so hard that you literally cannot perceive them. Any effect caused by a Fey creature you rationalize to protect your disbelief.
175 - You believe you can speak with plants. They flatter you and tell you secrets (which may or may not be true).
176 - Any time you handle paper or books you get a papercut.
177 - The floor looks like molten cheese to you.
178 - You believe your imaginary friend has become real. He is not happy that you've been neglecting him all these years.
179 - You become painfully skinny.
180 - You become morbidly obese.
181 - Your nosehairs grow to be 6 inches long and constantly wiggle. Even trimmed, they regrow at the end of each long rest.
182 - Honestly, you're not sure how you're doing, but you'd love to talk about it.
183 - Whenever you critically miss an attack roll, the attack rebounds and hits you (for the lowest possible damage on the dice if applicable).
184 - A tiny purple worm dwells within your body. It harmlessly erupts from your skin to do things like eat your food, chew holes in your clothing, and scare children.
185 - You have head lice so long as you have the curse. The lice are real, and contagious.
186 - Ants begin to worship you. Each morning you see tiny cults of insects that have brought you gifts, such as crumbs of bread and bits of metal. Behold your almighty power!
187 - Every time someone says your name, you're convinced that they're propositioning you.
188 - A snail begins to chase you from somewhere in Illostere. If it ever manages to touch you, you'll die. You are fully aware of this fact.
189 - The Metacurse. If you ever make a comment that implies that you're metagaming, your gender changes. This effect is permanent. The DM makes the call on if you're metagaming or not.
190 - You are under the permanent effect of Disguise Self, appearing to look like one of your comrades, as determined by the DM.
191 - Whenever you see a rainbow, you are compelled to find the gold at the end of it. This happens every time that it rains.
192 - You believe (loudly, and to anyone who will listen) that you are the incarnation of the god that best suits your alignment and personality.
193 - You have performance anxiety.
194 - You have imposter syndrome.
195 - Every stranger you see looks like they're wearing a Nemo mask.
196 - Every stranger you see looks like Nemo wearing a stranger mask.
197 - Every time you touch a coin, it springs to life (sprouting little arms and legs, as well as eyes and a mouth) and starts singing loudly about having "Money for Nothin" while fleeing from you.
198 - Your bed--whether it be a mattress, bedroll, hammock, or otherwise--has an appetite… FOR YOU! You think your bedding is a mimic trying to eat you. (It's not, but you have trouble being convinced of that or resting).
199 - Pixies, which are normally shy creatures, suddenly find you irresistibly attractive.
200 - A dark metal coin containing one humanoid soul falls into your lap. It whispers in terror and pain at all times. Fiends cherish these coins, and may be willing to trade for them. You are able to immediately benefit from another Fey Curse and the advantage it conveys.

Rough draft chapter 1 hope you all enjoy
​
Rough rubble cuts into Dusk’s nearly sole-less shoes. He’s accustomed to the feeling of the stone reaching for his thin, pale skin. Yet, he’s never going to get used to the suffering he and millions of others are forced to endure. Luckily enough though all laborers are allowed a “lenient” break of 45 minutes each day. But truthfully, it’s just the cheapest way the Directorate can make sure their workers don’t die of exhaustion. He drags his feet laden with their usual exhaustion to where he always goes for his break. Most other laborers use their break time to beg for more food rations or search for material they can ingest, only because they don’t see the futility in doing so. Dusk, on the other hand, walks up to the top of the quarry and looks at the sky.
When he was just a boy he had done the same thing, looking up to the unrelenting carpet of smog and ash, when a ray of sunlight thwarted the darkness and gazed at him from above with the self-criticalness of an artist disappointed with their own creation. The radiance only lasted mere seconds before the eye was shut. Naturally, he was beaten senselessly by the sentinels for being the focal point of such a spectacle. But even with the overcasting of pain he’s never forgotten the feeling of the sun on his skin.
Ever since that day a vine of hope sprouted in his soul. Hope that there may be a way to be freed of this oppressive life he was raised in familiarity. Never has it happened again though and the others say he’s insane for dreaming of a better life. Dusk says they’re insane for never giving it thought. Those arguments never go anywhere.
Dusk’s lavender eyes trace the sky, being sure not to miss a square inch as he does every day, as if a machine destined to do so until it rusts. So, the nefarious factories continue pumping grim parades of ash impeding his success. A sentinel approaches. “Get back to work.” The voice sounds organically feminine but as though it has been through a voice changer multiple times before reaching Dusk’s ears, and nothing else about the figure looks feminine in the slightest. He stands up immediately, not allowing her an excuse to hit him. She kicks him to the ground anyways, he isn’t nearly strong enough to contest her decision. “I said get back to work!” Her voice gives a rolling glitch as she heightens her tone. He scampers up and brushes himself off, being sure to keep his necklace hidden from her.
He turns down the path down to the quarry and gives a warry look over his shoulder at the sentinel making sure she didn’t decide to continue his punishment. She didn’t and was instead walking back to her post by a clearance only door. Sentinels were said to be humans too, which is the objective truth, but nothing that would willingly give their soul to a being like the Directorate has an ounce of humanity left within them. Their triangular armor is laced with material to fortify it against Mortalynth specifically. A belt fits all of them and holds their extra material for their own expenditure. And all of them are fitted with a rifle that uses material to offensify their abilities. A metallic helmet covers their heads with darkened one-way glass for the face.
Dusk turns from the sentinel and continues down the shoddy path. His stride varies as he tries to avoid sharper rocks purely for the sanctitude of his feet. Dusk trudges around 200 feet into the quarry and steps out onto the shelf his outfit was assigned to today. The Directorate doesn’t discriminate against those who are made to work. Except those that have proven to have significant physical capabilities. Those people are forcefully taken by The Directorate and used to make more who share their genes. I see the outfit I belong to digging at a mound with pickaxes. One of the two sentinels watching over them notices Dusk and motions him to stand by him at attention, he does.
“IL-YM4K you’re four minutes over procedural break time, what is your reasoning?” The sentinel asks with the glitchy gravelly voice a cigarette addicted robot would have. “I fell down and injured my leg on the way down, sir.” Dusk internally grimaced, as he does every time he has to refer to the sentinels as anything other than monsters. “You’re a horrible liar.” The sentinel says, and promptly punches Dusk in the liver. “Pick up a tool and begin working. Reduced portions for your incompetence.” If the sentinel could spit at Dusk while he keeled over in pain, he would.
Dusk coughs and sputters as he regains his balance after being struck, his hand clasping where he was hit. He stands as straight as he can lest he gets hit again and he gives the sentinel a weak salute with his free hand. “Pathetic.” The sentinel says as he shakes his head and turns away. Dusk walks to the pile of tools and picks up a pickaxe of surprisingly good quality considering they were used by servants of The Directorate. He takes it with both hands, his liver now in a semi livable state, and walks over to Rigby.
Rigby is the closest thing he has ever had to a family. Dusk’s parents had been taken and used to create a stronger gene pool. They were both killed after they attempted to join a rebellion movement. At least that’s what Dusk had been told, he never got to meet them himself. Dusk makes his steps audible as if to announce his presence to Rigby. Rigby looks up for a moment and gives him a look.
“Off dreaming again?” Rigby says moving his eyes back to the stone he was mining.
“You act like there’s anything else to do.” Dusk replied, beginning to mine his own stone.
“There is actually, it’s known as not being late.”
“How’d he even know I was lying? There's no way I’m that see through.”
“The sentinel footprint on your shirt might’ve helped him a little.” Rigby said with a slight smirk.
Dusk looked down at his shirt and gave a prolonged sigh. Just then snapping them out of their conversation Dusk’s stone burst open and a glowing purple gemstone was revealed. A thimble of it falls out of the split stone. Dusk quickly attempts to bend over to pick it up, but a sentinel intervenes “Back away from the material!” they yell. Rigby quickly shuffles and shoves Dusk out of the way, and Dusk loses the thimble in the dust kicked up. “It was mine! I found the deposit!” Rigby said with enthusiasm. “Get away from the material!” The sentinel draws his rifle and aims it at him, he quickly raises his hands and backs away from the material “Woah hey sorry, it’s all yours.” Rigby says. Dusk gives him a stabbing glare, but Rigby continues looking at the sentinel, which holsters his rifle again and steps by the material, its luminescence being reflected in his visor. *kshhhk* “Calling recall crew to L-3SE, medium-large material deposit.” *kshhhk*
The rest of the outfit gathers at a distance in awe, material is rare, extremely so. There's a set amount of material in the cosmos, more cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed, only released. The times the Directorate allows people to see the power of material is far and few and only when it is being used for destruction. The sentinel’s attention turns to Rigby “IH-8LEF you’re eligible for compensation. You will receive your options in a week’s time.” He says, “Both of you leave with the others back to your providence.” His head is still positioned towards the purple gems.
Dusk and Rigby move into the small crowd, and Rigby is given many looks a few that should have the ability to kill, multiple of which from Dusk. After a moment a shuttle pulls up and the outfit is ordered to enter. Dusk sits down and Rigby sits as immediately across from him as he can. The shuttle starts and they make their way out of the quarry with quite a few rough bumps and dips.
Rigby is staring directly into Dusk’s eyes; Dusk can feel it. But he isn’t going to give Rigby the gratification of looking back, he looks up instead. “Dusk!” a harsh whisper rasps, which is ignored “Dusk!” The voice attempts again. “Be quiet.” A sentinel says, they’re sitting at the front of the shuttle. Dusk lets his eyes fall to where Rigby was peering into his soul, is that… excitement? In his eyes? Rigby’s eyes quickly look down and back up to meet Dusk’s. His crotch? Dusk gives him a weird look, and Rigby rolls his eyes, and looks down while widening his eyes, then looking back expectantly at Dusk. Dusk follows his eyes to his extremely worn shoes and Rigby moves them ever so slightly and there, through torn leather shoes, in between two toes caked with dirt, sits a thimble of glowing purple gemstone.
(additional info)
My hope is to add a magic element, material is going to be the way which people use other divines, Mortalynth is one of them, uranium is another.
(divines)
divines are essentially gods, they created champions to represent them in the cosmos a war broke out blah blah blah, essentially each inhabitable world was once a champion of a divine imbued with their powers. What happened to earth was that aliens found it and wanted to inhabit it, but the divines of moralynth and uranium were enemies so the aliens woulda gotten evaporated if they tried to raw dog the atmosphere, so before humans existed they planted moralynth on the surface of earth in order to weaken the divine of uranium's power. and the aliens genetically modified people, promising to give them what they desire the most, which led to sentinels.
Ill prolly change the name of uranium and material to something else so it wont be confusing for readers. feel free to ask questions

So, I don't know if I just don't have a particular knack for this stuff, but.. Some of these puzzles don't make any sense. By that I mean the words and the prompt have little to no correlation with each other, and I encounter this problem every time I have played. To be fair, I haven't been playing Strands as consistently as others. Like today's (1/5/24, May 1st 2024) puzzle:The prompt of the day was 'A Token of Our Appreciation.' Some of the answers were 'wheelbarrow,' 'racecar,' and 'thimble.' Like... huh??? How do any of those correlate with each other or the prompt?!
Maybe I'm just being dumb or something, I don't know. I've read some other posts about people saying it's too easy which surprises me a little. Are there any of you that share the same sentiment?
edit: thanks you guys for some of the feedback. Gonna try not to take the main prompt at face value too hard. Happy Solving! <3

I wasn't sure whether to post my race report in this sub but I do think I fit into the attempting to improve myself part of it and I have certainly upped my training and been more focussed since my first marathon. Also I always enjoy reading race reports from other female runners and know there aren't as many in here so I'm adding mine as a 39F determined to improve as a runner and trying to structure productive training around full time work and parenting two young children with their own hobbies that fill our evenings and weekends.

Race Information

• Name: Manchester Marathon
• Date: 14th April 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Manchester, UK
• Website: https://www.manchestermarathon.co.uk/home/
• Time: 3:29:54

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3:40	Yes
B	Sub 3:45	Yes
C	PB (Sub 3:52:51)	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time
10	51:28
21	1:47:48
30	2:32:04
42.2	3:29:54

Training

I ran Manchester as my first marathon last year using a training plan I'd put together on a spreadsheet by combining the intermediate marathon plan on Garmin Connect (mostly as a guide for long runs and speed sessions) and an online plan I found. I had panicked at the time that my training wasn't enough both when comparing to running friends and when reading every post on reddit that says "you need more volume" but pleasantly surprised myself by finishing well under my A goal with a strong negative split. I decided I probably could have run a faster time and immediately signed up again. This time I started working on my base earlier as well as following a strength training programme put together by a sports physio, I'd also dropped some weight. I did buy Daniels' Running Formula intending to use that for my plan but found it quite confusing (I'm going to go back to it now) so decided that as my previous training worked I'd do the same again but add some volume by doing longer mid-week runs as well as my weekend long run. As I got to the peak of training my long runs included a "fast finish" with my peak week long run being 120 minutes easy followed by 60 minutes at marathon pace. This was taken from the garmin plan and as I'd managed to speed up through the race the previous year I figured I could go for the same approach. My overall volume was still definitely on the lower end averaging at 50km a week across the full block with my highest week being 71.76km (clear sign I do most of my runs based on time and not distance!) I am working on building my base volume over time, in 2023 I averaged 35km per week but in 2022 it was 25km per week so I'm definitely progressing, I'm just trying to do it steadily and avoid injury.
I didn't miss any training sessions, some had to be shuffled around thanks to family life but I got it done. In terms of paces I was training with my A goal of sub 3:40 in mind so the marathon paced efforts were supposed to be 5:12/k however I often found myself struggling to slow to that pace. For easy efforts I was running at around 5:50-6/k sometimes slower, I wasn't really aiming for a pace more a feel and always had my watch face set to only show elapsed time on these runs. I started with 4 runs and 2 strength sessions in the gym per week then in the last 6 weeks dropped the gym (this was the advice from my strength coach) and added in another easy run.

Pre-race

I travelled to Manchester on Saturday afternoon after a big pasta lunch at home, I was staying in my hotel alone so took instant noodles, crisps and a sports drink as my delicious evening meal pre race, sounds grim but it was fine. I'd been eating really well in the days beforehand and knew from experience that this wouldn't irritate my stomach. I checked and checked again all my kit, the tram timetable and that my alarms were set and went to bed. I think I slept fairly well, garmin disagreed as usual but I ignored it. I hadn't booked the hotel breakfast and instead ate two packets of instant oats and banana in my room, by the bottom of the second pot I was struggling so didn't push it and set off on my walk to the tram stop. The tram was fine, I chatted to a couple of other runners and tried to stay relaxed. I got to the cricket ground in plenty of time and went to one of the many portaloos before heading to bag drop and then getting in a different portaloo queue. My wave got called whilst I was in the toilet queue but then when I tried to walk through they hadn't actually let everyone to the start yet so it was all OK. I had a gel, another toilet pit stop (I either have a thimble for a bladder or this was nerves...probably the latter) and then found a spot in my wave and tried to talk myself down from my nerves.

Race

I do all my training in km so was trying to remember what it converted to in miles so I'd be able to work out if I was OK on the splits, I'd planned to write them on my arm but forgot. I figured out it was something under 8:20 per mile then wondered whether I could combine my 8 times tables and remembering how many seconds added up to another minute once I got past 3 miles...I suppose my terrible race maths was a good distraction! I had my watch set to show elapsed time, average pace and lap pace but completely forgot to hit the lap button at the first mile marker and the km laps were coming up as being ahead of the 5km markers on course so I mostly ignored the lap pace section. What I did know was that my legs wanted to go and it was a desperate battle from my brain to convince myself to slow down. I remember that my watch beeped that 5km ahead of the marker and showed 25:32 (OK I have gone back to garmin to check what it showed me but I remember seeing 25-something) then I got to the actual marker and I think it was just a smidge under 26, this was good, I knew that goal pace meant under 26 minutes fo the first 5km, all was going well. I took water at the water station, I reminded myself again to calm down and just keep ticking along at my current pace at least until half way. Then we hit 5 miles and Deansgate and the absolute wall of supporters cheering and that was it, I couldn't slow down. I knew I wasn't wildly over my goal pace but was fairly concerned I wouldn't be able to hold that pace for the full marathon. 10k on my watch flashed up at 50:43, I hit the timing mat at 51:28 so this was where I knew I definitely could ignore the lap pace on my watch as it was fairly far off the course (thanks to me failing to hit the lap button) and just half check the average pace and desperately attempt maths using my timer and the markers.
Once out of the city centre it is a long drag out of town and towards Timperley but I still thought this area was really well supported. It was on this section where I saw the speedy guys coming back into town, this wasn't as horrifying as it was the previous year when I was in a later wave and there were loads of runners heading back whilst my race was only just starting but still always humbling to think how far ahead they are from a 40 minute head start vs my wave. I allowed myself to check my watch at the halfway point, this was also where I'd told myself I could pick up the pace. According to my chip timing I went through the half at 1:47:48, I did realise that I'd definitely already sped up from the 10k point. I once again had a minor panic about keeping up this pace but I'd been sticking to my fuelling plan (every 20 minutes alternating chews and gels then taking water at every station and trying to drink half the bottle) and I did a little body assessment and decided I felt fine. I knew the bit everyone dreads at Manchester was still ahead of me with the hill in Altrincham so thought just try to stick to this pace, maybe speed up when you see the 20 mile marker if you have anything left in the tank.
Looking at my garmin data the km including that hill in Altrincham was unsurprisingly my slowest since the first km with another 5:11 but considering that had been my planned pace for the full distance nothing really to complain about. I guess compared to the rest of the course it's a bit spicy but I'm hardened by the hills of West Yorkshire so I didn't think it was too bad. I could see that my average pace was dropping to the low 5:0something and just kept thinking hold on to 20 miles and see how you feel. I hit the 30k timing mat at just over 2:32 and at this point for friends who were tracking me it said my estimated finish time was 3:33:52 I remember seeing that and thinking OK I have 1hr 7 minutes to run 12km can I even do that at this point...what if I can't. I still felt good but around me people were pulling up with cramps and to walk. I tried to ignore it, picked people to either hang on the shoulder of or overtake and pushed on.
When I saw the 20 mile marker I thought this is it, about 10km to go, I can't even remember what the time said on my watch, all I remember is that the number in average pace had dropped again and now started with a 4. I think this is where I stopped looking at my watch, all I could think was you have to keep going, don't slow down. I definitely took my gel at 3 hours but was feeling a bit sick by this point, I didn't take my last chew or a drink at the last water station as all I could think was get to the finish, you're nearly done. I told myself to keep smiling, enjoy the support (which was just incredible) and keep going. Every time someone in the crowd shouted my name I nearly burst into tears as I was so overwhelmed. I had no clue where I was with my time at that point, just that I needed to keep moving and not let my pace drop.
I felt like I was starting to fade a little in that final mile but then I recognised the final corner before the finish and my spirits lifted again, it was nearly over. I'd had some music on up to this point but switched it off as I turned that corner, I had been able to hear over it anyway as I use bone conducting headphones and the volume wasn't up that loud anyway but I wanted to hear everything as I attempted a sprint finish. I pushed myself as hard as I could down that final stretch and over the timing mat. I stopped my watch and it read 3:30:02 then the message came through, my chip time was 3:29:54 I'd somehow managed a sub 3:30 finish, a GFA for London and a BQ (OK maybe not actually enough of a buffer but as I can't go to Boston anyway I'll take being able to say it's a BQ time for my age category) and had run a negative split.

Post-race

As I shuffled my way through the finish area to get back to the bag drop my phone was going mad with messages from my running friends who had been tracking me. I called my husband and had a chat with my children, not sure how impressed the children were but my husband was very supportive. I retrieved my bag and made my way back onto a tram, this was probably the worst part of it all. I was really hungry and all that was being handed out was water and alcohol free erdinger, I understand avoiding waste but I'd have appreciated something as it was a long way back to the bag drop and I was there alone so had no one waiting with a snack. I ended up getting some overpriced chips from a fast food van as I was worried it would be ages before I could get to my hotel, this was the right idea as it did indeed take a long time. They had definitely changed the event village from last year and finding my way to the tram stop took forever then one came and everyone rushed to get on leaving me standing feeling stupid on the platform and waiting another 12 minutes for the next one. I eventually made it back to my hotel as I'd booked for two nights, I didn't fancy a sweaty train journey on the Sunday afternoon! I was honestly mostly in shock as I never expected to run a time like that. My legs felt sore but I was still mobile so all OK. I got showered, ate in the hotel's restaurant and then just watched trash TV because my brain was mush.
I still can't quite believe the time I ran, next for me is to work on my self-belief and then look at booking races to target PBs in my half marathon and 10k as my strava best efforts for those distances are now as part of this race. I will be editing that on strava at some point as I don't really think it counts but I've left it for now.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

I am a Humanologist, why a single species needs an entire doctorate to understand is beyond me, but I picked it up since instead of studying every single galactic species in the Federation, I only have to study 1.
IT WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE. Humans are complicated as shit.
Look, Every Species, regardless, will have sub-variants depending on what planet they live on.
The Kriegans on their home world are used to the radioactive desert and long stretches of sand and patchy grasslands.
Meanwhile Kriegans who live on more lax planets can have unique features such as natural markings on their arms and legs to camouflage in the forest.
Or Velenites evolved their bodies to effortlessly scale the nearly-flat faces of the cliffs they build their homes on on their homeworld.
While Velenites who live in more flat terrain instead gain very strong running stamina rather than climbing ability.
Humans on the other hand evolve different CULTURES.
Humans on Earth do not have 1 Culture, but instead multiple, and these cultures affect where they live.
Humans on Desert planets adapt their clothing to their home, special suits that recycle water from sweat and piss into drinkable water so that they barely lose a thimble of water in a day.
Humans on Jungle Planets paint their skin in stripes and prefer lighter clothing as they run and ambush prey with bows and rifles.
Humans on Ice planets can make snow houses that insulate heat DESPITE BEING MADE OF FUCKING ICE.
AND THEN THE CULTURE COMES IN.
On Desert planets, They will kill you without hesitation for wasting even a drop of water.
On Jungle planets they will leave the guts and organs of their hunts outside their villages or outposts to find animals to domesticate.
On Ice Planets no part of animal is wasted, from fat being turned into lard or used in cooking, from knives being made from tusk or bone, even the blood is used in cooking as a stew thickener.
On Mountainous planets, The first ore mined from a new section is turned in a pickaxe and preserved in a museum for records.
HUMANS HAVE MORE CULTURES AND SUB-CULTURES THAN EVERY SPECIES HAS SUB-VARIANTS COMBINED.
Apparently shaking with your right hand in one culture is rude in another.
Another Human culture, Saying "I could eat your food everyday" is apparently a marriage Proposal to humans.
In another Human Culture, Saying "You wanna sleep together" Means you are going to treat that Human and her current group that is with her to a movie and bed cafe where you can watch Lord of the Rings Director's Cut 12 Hour Trilogy and Refillable Pizza and Drinks instead of BOW CHIKA BOW WOW in the babymaking.
IN ANOTHER FUCKING HUMAN CULTURE, IF YOU ARE A POLICE OFFICER, PASTOR, TAXI DRIVER, JEEPNEY DRIVER, SECURITY GUARD, MILITARY SOLDIER OR OFFICER, PRIEST, MANAGER, A FUCKING CASHIER MAN, OR A WALKING VENDOR THAT SELLS UBE ICE CREAM.....EVERY FUCKING HUMAN ON THE PLANET JUST CALLS YOU "Boss" as a sign of respect.
THERE IS EVEN CULTURE AMONGST HUMANS THAT HAS SPARKED CIVIL WARS...ABOUT HOW TO PUT TOILET PAPER ON THE TOILET PAPER HOLDER.
THERE IS A CULTURE WAR ON WHETHER CHEESEBURGERS SHOULD HAVE CHEESE ON TOP OF THE PATTY, OR CHEESE INSIDE THE PATTY.
THE 4TH GALACTIC WAR, WHICH WAS A CORPORATE WAR, WAS WHEN 1 HUMAN CORPORATION WANTED TO INCREASE THE PRICE, OF THE FUCKING COSTCO HOTDOG, BY LESS THAN .01 CREDIT.
IT WAS ALREADY 1.50 CREDITS, THAT'S A 16 OUNCE HOTDOG WITH A 12oZ REFILLABLE DRINK, THAT HAS FED COUNTLESS STUDENTS THROUGH MONTHS OF PAYING RENT, BEFORE THE 1ST RENT PRICE WAR THAT LASTED NEARLY 4 YEARS THAT LOWERED RENT PRICES BY 60%
AND DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON HOW MANY CULTURES HAVE POPPED UP WITH HUMANS.
THAT INVOLVED WHETHER OR NOT WHO SHOULD PAY ON THE FIRST DATE, THE PERSON WHO INVITED YOU TO THE DATE, OR THE FEMALE.
AND THAT IS JUST THE "PURE HUMAN" SECTION.
THERE IS AN ENTIRE SUB-COURSE ABOUT HUMAN AND ALIEN CULTURE INTERACTIONS.
LIKE HOW PARAVAXIAN OGRES, LITERAL OGRE AMAZONIAN WARRIOR WOMEN WHO ARE AT THEIR SHORTEST HEIGH AROUND 2 METERS TALL, WOULD CHALLENGE THE HUMAN MALES, TO A WEIGHT LIFTING TRIAL ON THEIR FUCKING HIPS COMPETITION TO SEE IF THE HUMAN CAN TAKE AND GIVE AS MUCH AS THE PARAVAXIAN NEEDS TO SIRE A CHILD.
I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE XENOBIOLOGIST COURSE. THE HUMAN FEMALES THERE ARE CUTER.

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Wiki RoyalRoad
Cover Art & Travis Portrait by Pedro Puglisi
Fan Art of Seleyna! - By KyrionDraws
Journal Entry #27
Lesson Number 2 -- You are a mortal with mortal limits. Divine retribution awaits those that try to remake reality.
That one needed some context, but rather than explain, the witch had me learn the lesson intimately by having me cast off wave after wave of synchronized mana. Each time I felt a stronger connection to the world around me, and each time my ease of bending the heat or water vapor in the air became easier, but then the pain came.
It started off small, just stiffness in my shoulders, but then it traveled down, and my muscles began to cramp. I got told to stop, but the power I felt was so addictive, and my mind somehow kept arguing that I could hang on just a little longer.
Then I suddenly came to. I was bound and gagged, violently ill to my stomach, covered in dried blood and feathers, and had no clue as to what put me there. The orc was nearby watching me, and after asking me a few simple yes and no questions that a two-year-old could've answered, removed my gag and bindings, then explained that I went feral, tried to attack the witch, and ate a wandering chicken.
Raw.
I immediately threw up.
Travis
Rainsday, the 6^th of Ninethmonth
Union Fortress -- Jarl's Palace
My feet were unable to fully hide my irritation and exhaustion as they trudged alongside Seleyna's graceful steps when we exited our private breakfast with the jarl. Yesterday was a long day, even before I exited the musical to discover what was happening outside, and the subsequent ruckus at the palace while separated from Arc only turned up the heat on the pressure cooker that was my stress level.
Seleyna checked to make sure we were actually alone in the hallway and away from her bodyguards for a change, then broke the silence with a sarcastic tone, "It'll be pleasant meeting Myrtice when we get back. I'm sure she'll have some wonderful things to say to me."
My head turned in surprise, "Why would she be angry with you? It's not like you're the one to blame for this mess."
She laughed, "You clearly don't have any older siblings. If you did, you'd know that the youngest always gets accused of being the favorite child. Trust me... She'll find a way in her mind to justify blaming me." Seleyna sighed before muttering to herself, "They always do." The princess then shook away the unpleasant thought and nudged me in the arm with a more cheerful tone, "Did you get any sleep?"
Taking the hint to change the subject, I waggled my hand, "A little once I got done getting questioned, but it sure didn't feel like it when my alarm rang. How about you?"
She shrugged, "No true beauty rest on a bed for me, but I managed to at least sneak in a few naps on a chair. Mother insisted that I listen in on the interrogations and [Message] transmissions."
My bleary eyes turned to examine the princess as my sluggish thoughts worked to rationalize the disconnect between what I was hearing versus seeing. Seleyna looked as radiant as the day I met her, with sandy colored hair flowing down past her shoulders in waves, a sun-kissed complexion that contoured her entrancing stone-blue eyes, and... a teasing grin that was having fun at my expense.
She chuckled in chorus with my groan, then reached into a pouch on her belt to pull out a small vial, "Here, give me your hands."
I did as instructed, then watched as a few drops of a strong peppermint scented oil were placed in my left palm.
"It's called Morning Refresher, an infusion of stimleaf and some other herbs. Rub it around your eyes and face. It'll help perk you up."
Eager for anything to relieve my bloodshot eyes, my fingers dipped into the oil, then massaged the tiredness away as the cool sensation pumped fresh blood into my skin. It worked wonders, invigorating every pore on my face, but sadly did nothing to penetrate the buildup of anger simmering deep below.
We eventually approached my room, creating an awkward moment when Seleyna stopped along with me outside my room, leaving me scrambling for a polite way to ask her to leave, "Umm... sorry, but... I'm going to be a few minutes."
"Oh, of course. I'll... see you down at the dock?"
I nodded my head, feeling bad as I entered my room, but knew it was the right call when a guttural growl finally cracked open the seal on my emotions. I was just supposed to do a quick check to make sure nothing got left behind by the corpsman when they came for everyone's storage crates, but I desperately needed the moment of isolation to finally vent the rage that had been building up ever since Arc was returned to me.
"Okay, I get that you're a bit upset... but, hear me out---"
"A bit?!" I barked, unclipping Arc from my belt so I could hold him in front of me and properly glare, "Only a bit? You created a national incident last night while you were ducking around!"
"C'mon bud, you're making a mountain out of a gopher hole; corrupt politicians crop up like weeds all the time."
My grip tightened, "Were you not paying attention when the jarl was profusely thanking Seleyna and apologizing to me? That weed is from an inner ring family, was publicly endorsed by Crown Princess Myrtice before the recent election, and nearly won it. The Jarl took a huge risk when he assembled the guards, and only had the confidence to do so because that Royal Knight was available and willing to investigate."
"Okay... I'll admit I got lucky there... but you know how it is, no plan survives first contact, and even if that part failed, I still had options. It's not like any sane person would presume I escaped on my own into the night with the weapons."
I could almost feel him squirming in my hands as he tried to downplay what happened, but I wasn't having any of it.
"And what would you have done then? Left a pile of weapons on the front door of the palace with a written note? Smuggle yourself back in and leave me reaching to explain why my weapon's rack has extra armaments?"
"I... umm... uh, well... no." Arc's blustering finally ended, and his tone shifted into a morose tenor, "I'm sorry. Private Tomas was about to get killed, and I panicked. Afterwards, when I finally was able to think of something plausible, Bones mentioned that they had stolen other weapons like me in the past, and well... I thought maybe..." Arc faded out, unable to continue.
I sighed, letting the billowing steam inside me vent out completely, then sat down on the bed with Arc laid out next to me.
"Were you at least able to talk to the other weapons?"
"No... the first one I tried to talk to just got upset with me for waking them and told me to leave. The others... they didn't even respond."
My fingers traced along Arc's scabbard until they found his favorite spot and began scratching. It must have been utterly disappointing for him to go through all that effort, only to find the venture pointless.
We sat there for a minute, hearing the shuffle of armored boots exiting the neighboring rooms, the occasional whinny from a horse outside, and the ticking of the clock informing me of the time.
I sighed once more, wishing the tiny respite could last longer, but at least I was able to think of something that might cheer up Arc.
"I'm pretty sure Lancel's figured out that something's off, and he might be growing a tad paranoid. Would you be willing to properly meet him?"
"Already? Umm... yeah, I... I would like that. Did you have a time and place in mind?"
"Well, I was originally hoping to do it this morning, but... ugh, now that I think about it, doing it half an hour before we board a crowded boat might not have been the best idea."
Arc started laughing, "No... probably not. Let me think... there's still stops at Brushstroke and Loggercliff before we start marching to Coldwater Spring. We might be able to find the time there, assuming nothing world-shattering happens along the way."
My head slowly turned down to stare at him incredulously.
"What?"
"You recently berated me the other day for tempting Phymur."
"I did? When?"
"Right when that Mudfish grappler attacked. I remember because you called me something rude in that weird language you won't tell me the origin of."
"I think your memory is playing tricks on you. I don't recall saying anything, and we both know who is more reliable in that regard."
I shook my head, happy that Arc was feeling himself again, but slightly annoyed that meant he was back to his half-mad state of mind.
Checking the clock once more, and figuring it was time to get moving, I got up to open the door and step out but ended up lurching back uncontrollably to keep from crashing into a commando preparing to knock on my door.
The leather-clad assassin held up their open palms, "Apologies Sir Travis, it was not my intention to startle you."
My breathing must have taken a full minute to calm down, but the hooded figure was patient, and simply stood there motionless as I regained control of myself, "None needed, umm... Raven Four?"
"Yes, The Raven Four." They folded their forearms into a formal salute, then did something unexpected, "As the entrusted captain of this battalion regarding mission security, let me begin by extending you a formal apology on behalf of Squad 3. I should not have fully trusted the local palace guard to deter thievery."
"Oh... umm, thank you." I stammered out, not quite sure how to react. Every commando I'd interacted with before always spoke in a gruff monotone with no readable body language. This one was expressing genuine emotion, not just in his vocal tone, but with the way his shoulders slumped in defeat and how their eyes lowered in shame.
Raven Four's demeanor didn't last long, however, and he quickly returned to his usual mysterious nature, "I also volunteered on behalf of the captains to come and ask if you were satisfied leaving the investigation in the hands of Royal Knight Blavot, or if you will be remaining here to conclude the investigation."
Remaining here? What the...? I have neither the rank nor authority to change my own mission mid-assignment. Gods, I'm not even a fully titled mage yet, just an Initiate. Why is he asking me that?
I remained quiet, drumming my fingers against my thigh in confused thought, glancing occasionally at the commando, until the obscuring fog finally lifted.
Ugh... I'm an idiot. Lancel used to complain about officers in the army springing competency tests on him. I should have known this was going to happen eventually. Hector literally stated that the purpose of these expeditions was to give us field experience.
Grinning with satisfaction, I turned to Raven Four, "Sir, unless I'm ordered otherwise, my current mission for the kingdom still stands. I do not intend to abandon my squad over a personal matter."
Raven Four's large eyes narrowed at me for a minute, then suddenly widened enough to show the whites, "That's... eh, correct. We have not issued you new orders... and complications aside, we still have a mission to complete." He nodded as if to reassure himself, then resumed, "If you have any questions regarding the investigation in the future, you are welcome to ask, given that you were targeted."
Arc whispered to me using my earring, "Hey, can you ask him about what will happen to the thief?"
I asked, then felt a tremble of anxiety run down my spine as the commando contemplated the question for a full minute before responding. "That depends on the judges. Paulus has been cooperative so far, despite some clear agitation whenever a commando enters his cell, and is providing information on the local Thieves' Guild, so that will lower his sentence. What will hurt him is that Galoys, his partner, is claiming that they stopped him from killing a corpsman that entered your room, and was left bruised, bound, and abandoned in retaliation."
"Uh-oh... that's not what happened..."
A deep pit of dread formed in my gut, "Will that testimony affect his sentencing?"
Raven Four nodded, "Yes, by a great deal, full calendar cycles of indentured servitude in the capital instead of a few years if the judges believe him."
Rot! I'll never be able to live with myself if I don't figure out a way to help.
My jaw clenched in agitation as my brain tried to think of a subtle way to inform them of the truth, but before I could, Raven Four audibly gasped and shifted into a defensive stance with both daggers retracted from his wrist sheaths.
I stepped back from the twitching commando, wondering what the rot was going on at first, until a sneaking suspicion started tingling in the back of my skull.
Raven Four stood there on the defensive, then after what felt like ages, turned his head my way before raising his forearms to return his daggers, "Apologies again... I... I need to report something." He then spun on his heels and ran out of the room.
I waited a few seconds for him to get out of range, then rapped Arc with my knuckles, "What did you do?"
Arc cackled like the madman he was, "Sent him a Message over his private channel. Given that all the commandos I've seen so far sleep in their uniforms, he's probably panicking at the thought of someone skilled enough to touch his cowl without getting noticed."
I sighed, mainly because my earlier scolding failed to stick for more than six minutes, but also to cover the smile trying to creep across my face.
Arc
Philiadra River -- Hillstripe County
ETA to Brushstroke Fortress -- 8 Hours
My focus floated over the crowded main deck to watch in awe as Varguk's hands dexterously prepared stimleaf concoctions with the speed and flair of a Vegas bartender. And I do mean bartender. The typical lattes were getting interlaced with espresso poured into shot glasses, iced drinks shaken like cocktails, and one weird order where an egg was stirred into a mixture till it thickened enough to get slurped up like a Jello shot.
It was quite the change from the typical morning aboard the ship, and I was curious as to why. Normally the cessation of morning drills would give way for individual training under a tight schedule to fairly divide the time. Though, I had a feeling my answer was walking up the steps to the aft deck.
Spartan Captain Aguk carried a drink in each hand, paused briefly after the ascent to set his jaw, then approached his fellow Squad Captain Adaline, "Good morning, would you care for a stimleaf beverage? Spartan Varguk added steamed milk for nutrition and infused caramel to provide a palatable flavor."
The Royal Knight slowly removed herself from the railing she was leaning on, then turned to smile at the half-orc with noticeably tired eyes as she took the latte, "Thank you. I must admit, I was surprised to see you grant permission to the junior's request."
"His reasoning was sound, given that you and many of the mages and knights were unable to get a full night's sleep." "Plus," the half-orc paused to look down at the battalion as they mingled with one another while waiting for drinks, "I felt it was an appropriate relaxation of military discipline, befitting the spirit of Union Fortress."
Adaline sipped at her drink during Aguk's explanation, then raised an eyebrow, "That's... err, I intend no offense, very un-spartan-like of you."
Aguk cleared his throat and shifted his weight to the other leg, "No offense felt. And... thank you for the compliment. Spartan attempts to integrate more with the other branches of the military haven't always meshed smoothly." His hands readjusted their grip on his drink, "On that note, let me thank you for filing a recommendation to have Varguk join the battalion. A skilled chef is always welcome, but a spartan that can take off their stripes along with the armor... that's... well... Have you ever met some of the more hard-headed spartans who served under the previous queen?"
The Royal Knight chuckled, "Yes, I have." She sipped on her drink, then had a moment of realization before looking back up at the tall and broad man with a nervous smile, "I need to correct you, Princess Seleyna put in that request, not me."
"Oh... I see." Captain Aguk's chest deflated, "That's twice I owe the princess now."
"Twice?"
Aguk nodded, "Yes, back in the spring when I was scouting for talent, I heard the story about the princess attending an outer-ring party, and was surprised that the spartan she danced with was a potential recruit I dismissed. I grew curious, and after a little digging, I was able to find an after-action report that helped explain the glaring contradiction in behavior from what his psych profile suggested. I determined that if he was willing to push himself in such a fashion, then he would be an excellent fit for the Combined Arms branch, and perhaps even act as a role model for future recruits."
He gestured down to where his point was being actively illustrated; Reidar discussing possible equipment options with Travis the mage, Lieutenant Fernrod the knight, and Longspur Eleven the commando.
"I was still a sprout back when Queen Claudette came into power, and one of the first recruits to be subject to her push for cultural integration." The half-orc sighed with a forlorn expression, "I sometimes think I was the only one of my squad-siblings to earnestly try and find common ground with civilians and the other branches."
A gentle hand rested on the spartan's forearm, and he looked down to see its owner gazing up at him.
"I'm glad you did, and that you keep trying."
The two smiled at each other... until the moment lasted a bit too long and shifted into that awkward stage, resulting in them quickly shifting their attention back to their battalion.
Adaline summoned the confidence to speak first, "This social hour seems to be going well. If you're willing to adjust the morning schedule, I'd be amenable to repeating it tomorrow."
"I can do that. However, Staff Sergeant Julien will need your authorization to request supplies at the next fortress. Varguk donated his personal stock today, and I feel we should not take advantage of his kindness."
"Agreed."
"Put me down, you mud-footed beast!" Private Tomas narrated in his terrible rendition of an elven princess. It was sadly much better than his attempt to lower his voice for the grizzled spartan covered in blood and assassin arrows. "I cannot comply. My orders are to escort you safely to the capital."
Ugh, I can't believe I'm listening in for the plot...
With nothing better to do, I continued monitoring the corpsman (and the creepily attentive horses), discovering that after fleeing to safety, Drozuk collapsed onto the ground from blood loss, startling Princess Radelia. Growing worried, she removed the damaged armor from the muscular orc, then began to bandage his wounds with torn strips from her dress.
Bowing out before things got steamy, I floated my focus up a level to where a pair of spartans were waiting for their turn to spar.
"Then after we had enough time to get a feel for each other, we started going at it like beasts for hours. It was exhilarating!" The half-orc paused to catch his breath, "And... exhausting, I almost slept through rollcall this morning."
The female spartan shook her head, "You and your fetishes..."
"Hey, Fortresses & Fighters is a legitimate hobby. It's even on the list of recommended leisure activities to engage in with non-spartans."
"It's a children's game..."
"Originally designed by a Baron General Knight to teach large-scale military tactics." The first spartan argued.
I mentally rolled my eyes, then kept floating along, finding it noticeably harder than usual to stave off the boredom. The anticipation of finally saying hello to Lancel must have been getting to me and was probably compounded by the small taste for socialization I had yesterday talking to Bones. I moved up to the aft deck where the knights were receiving magic instruction, keeping a healthy distance from the former guard captain to keep temptation at bay, and decided to be a more active help to Travis as he taught Galehaut.
"Condensing array number 2."
Travis gestured at the goliath to turn over his forearm, then briefly compared the inactive enchantment with the custom diagram he sketched for the man's large forearms before critiquing, "Your diameter on this line end needs to be wider. If that pull isn't strong enough, you won't be able to recycle the water flowing over from the other side."
Galehaut grumbled, then glanced at the answer key before fixing his enchantment formation. Despite only using a trace amount of mana to create the equivalent of a pencilled-in sketch, the constant reshaping was clearly draining the man's mental fortitude as he kept practicing.
"You're making steady progress. I haven't even mastered this enchantment yet." Travis reassured, then nodded when the corrections finished, "That looks good. Switch arms."
The big knight relaxed as he let the formation disperse, then raised his other arm to start stenciling out the enchantment before tilting his head to the custom diagram Travis wrote up, "At least I have you here to help with the hard part. Would have taken me weeks to make sense of all those calculations."
Travis looked up with a sheepish grin, "Umm... this is the easy part."
Galehaut locked eyes with Travis, then at the diagram, then with his arm, then back to the diagram, and finally back up to Travis, "This..." his deep baritone voice cracked, "this is the easy part?"
My best friend held up a palm, then summoned a thin ball of Water Mana, "Once you have this memorized, the next step will be to maintain the exact same structure and shapes while increasing the density of the mana enough to finally trigger the enchantment." Travis flexed his fingers, forcing more and more mana into the sphere until the attracted water vapor condensed into a bead of water. "After that comes the hardest part, not letting it fall apart in combat." He demonstrated by gently banging his hand against the knight, causing the hovering thimble of water to ripple with instability.
Galehaut sighed, then to Travis' delight, clenched his jaw and redoubled his focus on his next attempt. He still ended up with some lines out of tolerance, but the number of overall errors had gone down. Sadly, their allotted time for practice was almost over, and the goliath had to quit before his elevated mana amperage grew too high.
Travis handed Galehaut the diagram to keep, then gave his neck and arms a quick stretch after the two parted, leaving me an opening to speak.
"You are aware that you just lied to him, right? His affinity should kick in to help once he tries activating it."
"I'm aware," Travis whispered into his arm as he brought it across his chest to stretch his shoulders, "but that will only ever apply to Water spells, and if he cobbles his enchantments together haphazardly, they'll be underpowered and too expensive for reliable use. It's better for him in the long run if he develops a habit of learning spell formations properly, especially if he wants to expand his repertoire. Besides, he's been putting in a lot of effort to teach me proper swordsmanship, it's only fair I return the favor."
"You know, I sometimes miss that little kid who'd loosen the ink jar lids at school when no one was looking..., but then I get reminded that he never truly left." Travis smirked at my comment, but my 360-degree sword vision spotted Vesril approaching, so I figured I better warn him, "Heads up. Edgelord is coming to talk."
The elven Ice Mage sauntered in next to Travis, leaned against the balustrade with his arms crossed, then cast off the Wind Mana collecting around his shield/snowboard to form a [Sound Barrier].
"Captain Adaline denied my request to go wake surfing. Said that boredom wasn't a compelling reason, and that I should be taking this time to 'become acquainted with my squadmates.'" He rolled his eyes behind the twin lens of Shadow Mana floating in front of them, not even bothering to hide the snark in his voice, "Hence why I'm here. Talking to you, the social bee of the battalion."
Travis' face went from confusion over why the anti-social elf was talking to him, to full-blown gobsmacked after being called a social bee, and for good reason too. Despite his best efforts to be more outgoing, Travis was still an introvert at heart, preferring to hang over the railing and watch the scenery pass by (or sneaking below deck to coddle his nameless horse), instead of playing cards or sharing stories. Heck, it was only a year ago that Travis was turning down offers from the other boys in his village to visit Lakewell Fortress, actively ignoring Ingrid's attempts at flirting, and spending every waking hour training to become a mage.
"Figures..." The punk-rock elf covered in piercings muttered after Travis failed to respond, "The one time I actually do what my dad wanted... and you become tongue-tied."
He reached into an elongated pouch to touch a wand he carried, then cast a [Remote Ear] spell in sync with one of the frequencies to start listening to the fantasy equivalent of a gothic metal band. The dark atmospheric undertones crossed with harsh vocals eventually snapped Travis out of his stupor, and they listened in until the end of the current song.
"This is... different. Does this band just happen to be performing right now, or do they take turns with others?"
Vesril groaned, clearly annoyed that he'll have to actually talk, "The band playing right now, Stonebreaker Tempest, is one of a dozen bands booked to play their set once per day on this frequency."
Travis nodded along, tapping the helmet clipped to his belt, "Huh, I guess it never occurred to me that Message channels could be dedicated to music instead of long-range communication."
The Ice Mage shrugged, "Not surprised. Used to be impossible to stop some duck-feathered asshole from adding their own inputs and shitting over everything. But about a calendar cycle back, some genius finally figured out how to make a relay artifice that didn't distort or pollute sound enough to make your ears bleed." He gestured at the spell as it started outputting a new song, "The channel jockey I pay manages a master feed with a dozen other guys, then distributes copied signals. Either a private one like mine, or a shared channel that only needs a couple dozen people to reset in case a mudfoot gets a hold of it."
The two kept talking, but I got distracted by a fast-approaching ship entering the outermost range of my vision and sent out my focus out to get a clearer picture. It was of an older Lakelander style (Viking longship from my old world), but what really caught my attention was the two mana users on board. A woman wearing a wide brimmed hat inexpertly using Wind Mana to fill the sails and propel the vessel faster, and a man with a very blatant Fire Affinity with matching inscribed sword manning the rudder.
The unknown ship exited the river connecting to the lake we were on, and as if guided by fate, turned to face us.
Artificer Volmaegar, standing watch at the prowl, spotted the target and called it in, "Captain, unknown vessel on approach." The beardless then flipped down the visor on their helmet, and pumped Metal Mana into the glass while triggering their mana sight, "I'm seeing over a dozen rowers, a Wind Witch, and... Rust! Confirmed pirate, Verain the Scorcher."
"Prepare the cannon." Ordered Ship Captain Sampson. He then turned to face an approaching Captain Adaline, "Normally I'm obligated to pursue and eliminate any and all threats, but..." The ship captain tilted his head towards Seleyna.
The Royal Knight nodded grimly, "The safety of the princess supersedes that, plus..." she paused to glance at Travis and the other gathering teenagers before whispering, "I'm not a fan of having kids blooding their swords."
Volmaegar interrupted with an update, "We've been spotted... they're turning tail."
Captain Sampson grimaced as he adjusted the wheel, "I need orders..."
Adaline clenched her jaw with indecision but got saved by Raven Four speaking over the Message channel.
"My team is willing to capture all targets, we only require the mages to disable the enemy ship."
I saw the tension bleed from Adaline, and after exchanging nods with Captain Aguk, messaged over the battalion's channel, "All squadrons prepare for combat."
Taking over command, the spartan leader turns into a possessed man as he barks out orders in and out of everyone's helmets, sending the knights and spartans of each squad to the edges of the main deck; Travis, Vesril, and the Creeksmith twins to the foredeck; then assigning Seleyna, Drozuk, Mattius, and Treblana to guard the aft deck. This, I assume, doesn't go over well with the princess... given that her fingers are clenching quite visibly around her bow as she prepares it, but she manages to hide her annoyance in time before her bodyguard turns around and gives a "you will stay right there where it is safe" glare.
Captain Sampson focuses on his attunement with the artifice engine, then begins to ramp up the crystal mana embedded into the gears turning the propeller, causing them to spin faster and faster, until Warden's Hammer increases speed enough to slowly begin catching up, giving everyone on board enough time to get into position before attack. Wanting to get a good view of the action, I moved my focus to sit behind Travis, who is looking like a proper badass wizard at the starboard prowl, poleaxe held in his right hand and his left extended to cast a mixed trio of Orb spells in preparation, waiting in anticipation for the action to start.
A trio of [Fire Bolts] from the mages sounds off the attack, all three aimed high at the sails, but the Wind Witch onboard the pirate ship counters with a swipe of synced Air Mana through the spells to disrupt the formations. Her cloud of mana then raises high in the air before brutally slamming down to deflect a follow-up volley of [Water Bolts] targeting the rowers.
Interesting... I've never gotten to see a witch use magic before. Well... I guess I technically saw Brains back in the day, but he was showing off for a crowd, and wasn't exactly using a completely legal style. Now that I have a comparison, his spellcasting looked more like a halfway point between mages and witches. This lady isn't using spell formations at all, just using the natural pull energetic mana has on matter to force the air to do her bidding and summon strong gusts of wind.
Her witchcraft seems effective too, the mages on the foredeck can't get anything past her, but... as the onslaught from Travis and the twins continues, the more and more obvious it is that her strategy doesn't have staying power. Infusing her mana evenly into the environment is exposing it to getting discharged at a higher rate, which means she needs to keep pumping out more and more freshly synced mana to keep her dominance. Sure, the higher the pulse-rate of mana, the stronger the pull, and the more bang for her buck she's getting with each mote, but I can already see her internal mana amperage pushing into Stage 2 mana sickness. If she doesn't give up soon, she'll go feral.
Warden's Hammer keeps a respectable distance as it pulls parallel to the pirate ship, letting the mages on the aft deck contribute, but despite the pounding the enemy ship is taking (or the looming cannon a very eager artificer is pointing at them), the pirates still refuse to give up.
Growing irritated at having to contribute more than minimal effort, Vesril loses his patience, and pulls his weapon by the handle to lay atop his outstretched arm. Mana flows off his body onto the shield, levitating just off the surface to create three long condensing array lines to summon a cylinder of water in the center. He then adds in additional lines on each end to create forward-pointing triangular flanges, a wide and long set at the base to act as fuel for propulsion and a smaller set at the tip for stabilization.
And... I just now realized why they're called Arrow spells...
The Ice Mage chuckles as he extends his left hand and molds a trio of Wind Arrays into a wind tunnel before he calls out, "Is that the best your feeble magic can do? Let me show you your place human."
The [Water Arrow] launches, and an eye-blink later, a thunderous crack erupts from the pirate ship as a shotgun spray of wooden shards assault the rowers on the other side. The Wind Witch screams in agony as she's hit with debris then looks up in horror as the mast holding up the sails topples over like a falling tree.
Capitalizing on the distraction, the commandos launch their attack, leaping over the knights and spartans, and diving into the water. Except for Raven Four, who goes full ninja and sprints across the lake surface, using his summoned cloak of Shadow to leave behind a mana clone each time he zigs and zags.
Beserking into a rage, Verian the scorcher draws his sword and summons a torrent of Fire Mana into his palm, crushing it till it concentrates into Light Mana, then launches it at the dozen Shadow clones leaping onto the ship. It's not enough to fully negate the spell with the opposing mana type, but it is enough for Verian to quickly spot the real commando and slash with his sword.
Raven Four narrowly dodges by rolling onto the deck, then is forced to leap back when Verian continues his swing while activating the sword inscription to not only coat the weapon in flames but spew out Fire out the false edge like a gods and God-damned rocket, propelling his body to move in a fast 360 to try and finish his foe with an overhand chop.
Holy crap! That is the most awesomest weapon ever!
"I know! Right?" Travis chimes in, fully in sync with my excitement. "That's definitely getting added to the list of possible inscriptions for my poleaxe."
Really Travis? I get to watch a pirate get into a sword fight with a ninja, and you have to ruin the moment?
I ignore the traitorous bastard, opting to watch closely as Raven Four continues the fight, weaving and bobbing through Verian's attacks by using his summoned cloak to obscure his movements, before creating a false arm with his mana, and tosses a dagger at an exposed limb. The weapon flies true, penetrating deep into the pirate's leg, and causing him to cry out loudly in pain. The distraction is more than enough for the commando to go on the offensive, who kicks out the legs beneath the rapscallion, palms the enemy's skull, then pulsates every mote of mana in his body at once to provide the force needed to bury Verian into the wooden deck with a heavy thud.
A pained groan escapes the pirate, letting me know he wasn't dead (yet), but Raven Four takes no chances, breaking all four shins and forearms with heel stomps, then gently picks up the inscribed sword. He then checks his surroundings, nodding with approval that his team was able to successfully secure their onlooking targets by swimming under the ship and attacking from behind, then returns his attention back down.
"So," Raven Four growls, "care to explain why a well-known pirate is traveling on a main thoroughfare?"
Verian wheezes but manages to get enough air to spit up blood and a single word, "Behemoth..."
Well... fuck. That's not good.

First time doing Book Bingo and completed a hard mode card! Here's what I read this year, with overly generous reviews (warning: some spoilers may follow):
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Title With a Title: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson- rating: 5/5
Okay, I might be slightly overrating this with a perfect 5/5, but I just really loved this book, primarily because of Yumi and Painter's relationship.
Superheroes: The Engineer by Will Wight - rating: 4/5
As much as as I enjoy Wight's writing, this series hasn't quite grabbed me the way Cradle did so far. "Evil Superman" is an overdone trope and I feel like Starhammer wasn't a particularly unique execution of it, and they needed to develop his relationship with Mel more. Still a very fun read, and the ending made me very excited for the future of the series.
Bottom of the TBR: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang - rating: 4.5/5
Loved both how this book showed the immigrant experience and the fantasy elements rooted in Chinese mythology. Great story and the major plot twist was very well-executed.
Magical Realism: Kindred by Octaiva E. Butler - rating: 5/5
Easily the best book I read last year. The book did a great job of showing the horrors of slavery and how easily they can be normalized. As a fan of hard magic I didn't love the lack of any explanation for the time travel, but that's just my tastes and has little to do with the actual quality of the book.
Young Adult: The Spice Road by Maya Ibrahim - rating: 3.5/5
A very average YA novel with a Middle Eastern setting. I enjoyed it a decent amount, and I actually thought it did a decent job of portraying how privelege made the main protagonist blind to problems in her society, but the rest of the book did little to stand out, and the romance subplot in particular was kinda cliche and cringy.
Mundane Jobs: City of Strife by Claudie Arsenault - rating: 4/5
I really liked (most of) the characters in this book, and I appreciated how much LGBT representation, particularly aroace, this book had. That being said, I think the book did a poor job of meshing together all the disparate plot threads, and the main villain wasn't particularly interesting.
Published in the 00s: Blue Beetle Vol. 1: Shellshocked by Keith Giffen, Cully Hammer and John Rogers - rating: 4/5
I read this in preparation for the Blue Beetle movie (which btw is very underrated and worth a watch) and enjoyed it a lot. However, I barely remember what happens in it by the time of writing this, so evidently it wasn't anything out-of-this-world.
Angels and Demons: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - rating: 4.5/5
As a huge fan of both Pratchett and Gaiman, I found that their writing styles meshed very well and made for a very fun read. While I enjoyed the book for the most part, I have... mixed feelings on the ending.
Five Short Stories: Exhalation by Ted Chiang - rating: 4.5/5
A great collection of short fiction with a lot of variety. My favorites were The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, The Great Silence, and Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom.
Horror: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - rating: 4.5/5
A someone who doesn't really read or watch much horror, I really liked this book. I think "nature horror" like this is really interesting in how it shows that some things are just beyond humans' ability to control. The writing style was a little slower than I'm used to but I still really enjoyed it.
Self-Published: Red Dot by Mike Karpa - rating: 4/5
By far the most obscure book I read last year, I chanced upon this thanks to a recommendation by another user here. I really liked how this book had a "post-post-apocalyptic" setting, which I don't see too often, and I appreciated how it did a story about AI with a "cozy" vibe with no killer robots or end-of-the-world disaster. I found it weird how often "blockchaining" was mentioned, although the way it was used makes me suspect that the author just doesn't understand what that actually means.
Middle East: The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah - rating: 4/5
A decent YA novel with a Middle Eastern setting. I found it pretty enjoyable, and I liked how classic stories like Arabian Nights were used in the world-building. That being said, I don't think it did anything special or groundbreaking.
Published in 2023: Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopolou - rating: 4/5
A debut YA novel that deserves more love. I'm a fan of both Greek mythology and murder mysteries so this book worked really well for me. That being said, it's still a YA book and couldn't really do much to stand out beyond it's unique premise, but it's still very solid for a debut novel.
Multiverse: The Will of the Many by James Islington - rating: 4.5/5
One of the most popular new releases of 2023, and it's easy to see why. The story, writing and settting all pulled me in immediately, and the various mysteries will keep me guessing right up to the release of the second book.
POC Author: Noor by Nnedi Okarafor - rating: 4.5/5
A really solid short novel with an interesting Afrofuturism setting. The setting, basic plot, and political themes were all great, but I felt the writing left a little to be desired.
Book Club: The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan - rating: 4/5
A pretty solid opening book to the trilogy, it was pretty engaging, and I enjoyed the philosophizing about the role of the justice system. I do feel like the "mystery" aspect was a little weak, however. It was enough to get me to read the whole trilogy, which I enjoyed, particularly the second book.
Novella: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - rating: 4.5/5
Not much to say about this book that hasn't been said already. Red and Blue's dynamic was great and made the book a pleasure to read, and I liked how much they developed the world in a short book with relatively limited scope (although I would 100% read a longer novel series set in this world).
Mythical Beasts: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - rating: 4.5/5
(I'm counting Czernobog as a mythical beast for this category, plus the Staryk have clear inspirations from real myths). A real interesting and unique take on the story of Rumpelstiltsken. It was great watching the relationships between the main characters all develop, particularly with the antagonists.
Elemental Magic: The Legacy of Yangchen by F. C. Yee - rating: 4/5
The ATLA spinoff books are pretty great and need more love! I really enjoyed the political games and characters trying to outwit each other in the Yangchen books. My biggest complaint came from overuse of non-chonological storytelling, to the point where it got a little unecessarily confusing near the end.
Myths/Retellings: In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune - rating: 4.5/5
A really interesting take on Pinnochio, with a neat post-apocalyptic world and great gay and ace representation. The side characters, especially Nurse Ratched, really elevated the book as well.
Queernorm: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree - rating: 4.5/5
I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I'm glad I finally got to read the book that got everyone raving about "cozy fantasy". I really enjoyed how the book really stuck to avoiding any major action the whole time. Also Thimble is precious.
Coastal/Island: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty - rating: 4/5
A really solid book with a lot to love. I really liked Amina as a protagonist, especially since it's rare that middle-aged mothers get to be main protagonists. I wasn't fond of how so much worldbuilding was thrown at the reader very near the end of the book, however.
Druids: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - rating: 4.5/5
This book hooked me really quickly, between the politics and power struggles between the various factions, the worldbuilding, and the characters. I'm very excited to continue reading the rest of this series.
Robots: All Systems Red + Artificial Condition by Martha Wells - rating: 4.5/5
The Murderbot series is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites. All Systems Red was a solid start, and Artificial Condition elevated it even further. Murderbot is a great protagonist, and his character development has been fascinating.
Sequel: Babylon's Ashes by James S. A. Corey -rating: 4.5/5
The Expanse is the most recent addition to my favorite series list. I read books 4-9 within the book bingo period so any of them could have filled this space, but I chose Babylon's Ashes because it was my favorite of the bunch. I loved seeing a full-scale war break out, and getting follow-ups for almost every character in the series up to then. Plus, this is the only book to feature both of my favorite characters, Chrisjen Avasarala and Anna Valmont, so that automatically elevated it. My only complaint with this book, and Nemesis Games before it, was how the "ancient unknowable aliens" part of the plot took a backseat.

My mom is a minor hoarder. We have always had rooms in our house filled with random boxes of stuff piled high to the point where you can't move around, despite moving 3 times. Every surface becomes filled, every drawer overflowing. She collects mugs and thimbles and dolls and scarves and magnets and wall art and figurines and rocks and seasonal decorations and magazines and sewing supplies and more. She forms deep attachments to things and can't let them go. I found myself attached to things too, because thet represented a time in my life or who gave them to me.
My mom is also very generous. At birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's, she would give me and my brothers lots of gifts and presents. As I child I loved it. As an adult I'm still grateful, but I do wish it was fewer, more meaningful gifts than many gifts I don't really want and then have to deal with.
Now that I'm 24, moved out and living in a small apartment with my boyfriend, I want less stuff. So I've been going through things in my old room at home and giving things away, or posting stuff to sell of Facebook marketplace. My mom will see my posts and message me and say "You're selling that book set? You can't! Uncle X gave that to you!" Or "You can't give away that poster, I gace you that and you loved it in high school!" I've found these comments really bringing me back to getting attached to objects. It's hindering my ability to own less, I feel guilty when giving away items.
I have found myself "thanking" objects and giving them a moment before I get rid of them à la Marie Kondo. Like this morning I thanked a pair of shoes that got me through all my interviews and networking events in univeristy and my first year and my current job. And it helped and they're gone. But I still had my mom is the back of my head saying "but those are special shoes, you should keep them!"
Idk what I want out of this post tbh. Just needed to vent about how hard it is to shake this mindset of needing tons of things and holding on to them. Maybe how to shake the guilt? How to prevent forming attachments to items? Anyone have similar experiences?

https://minimalfreaks.co/2024/03/best-new-melodic-indie-dance-progressive-house-releases-22-mar-2024-588-tracks/

&ME, Rampa, Adam Port, Keinemusik - Thandaza (feat. Alan Dixon, Arabic Piano) 07:04 123bpm 11A 7 SKIES - Used to Know (Extended) 04:15 126bpm 7B Aatma - Aankhon Mein (Nineveh. remix) 03:48 115bpm 10A Aátma - Aankhon Mein (SCINTILLATE Remix) 06:27 62bpm 12B Aatma - Aankhon Mein (SHNKR remix) 05:06 122bpm 1B Aátma - Purple Sunset (Fake Tattoos Extended Remix) 05:18 126bpm 8B Aatma - Purple Sunset (Reverse Osmosis Remix) 08:15 126bpm 8B Aatma - Purple Sunset (Vinayak^A Sajana Ki mix) 03:46 123bpm 5A Aatma - Purple Sunset (Yahra Remix) 03:57 124bpm 5A Aátma - Saathi Re (Los Cabra Extended Remix) 06:37 123bpm 9B Aatma - Saathi Re (NenaHalena extended remix) 07:13 123bpm 9B Adonis Harisov - Foundation 07:11 124bpm 8B Ahmet Kilic, 2NA - Yeke Yeke 05:58 124bpm 4B Albert Klein - On Air (Amir Telem Remix) 06:31 124bpm 2A Albert Klein - On Air (Iván Tufiño Remix) 05:32 120bpm 2A Albert Klein - On Air 06:58 120bpm 2A Alec Troniq - But Then Life Happened (Counterfly Remix) 03:30 67bpm 4A Alec Troniq - But Then Life Happened 06:19 135bpm 8A Alec Troniq - It's Not a Feature, It's a Bug 05:31 129bpm 7A Alec Troniq - It's Not a Feature, It's a Bug (Synth Happens Version) 03:56 129bpm 7A Alec Troniq - The Aviating 06:11 132bpm 7A Alex Panchenco - Fly Away (Billion Watchers Extended Remix) 06:28 120bpm 5B Alex Panchenco - Fly Away (Extended Mix) 06:00 120bpm 2A Alex Panchenco - Story (Extended Mix) 06:44 120bpm 5A Alexey Union, Alar - Im Going Big 06:19 123bpm 7B Alexey Union, Jon.K - Punta Pie 04:47 122bpm 9B Allies for Everyone - Rain 06:50 123bpm 1A Allies for Everyone - Take Over Me (Akiva Remix) 06:52 117bpm 6A Allies for Everyone - Take Over Me (Hools Remix) 05:50 124bpm 9B Allies for Everyone - Take Over Me 06:15 117bpm 9B Alter Alex - Let Me Feel You 07:17 123bpm 4A Alter Alex - Let Me Feel You (Soundlimit Remix) 06:43 124bpm 7B Alto Astral - Holding On 08:19 123bpm 8B Amirali - Hideaway 07:06 126bpm 8A Anastasia Nati - Feather Οn Sea 06:32 120bpm 8A ANASTASiiA - Exploding Flashes (Extended Mix) 06:25 124bpm 7B Andrés Moris, Eichenbaum - Fades 07:30 120bpm 11B Andrés Moris, Eichenbaum - Fades (Ric Niels Remix) 06:16 123bpm 11B Andrés Moris, Eichenbaum - Profound Disruption 09:01 122bpm 10B Andrés Moris, Eichenbaum - Scent Of Life 08:19 122bpm 12B Andryx, Insimon - The Unknown 06:13 126bpm 7B ANMA (MD) - Back to Old School (Extendet Mix) 06:50 122bpm 9B ANMA (MD) - Sky Falls (Extendet Mix) 06:19 122bpm 10B Anton Ishutin - Figures 07:18 121bpm 3A ANTTA, Antua Hale - Just for Tonight 05:44 126bpm 11A Antua Hale - With Me 06:43 125bpm 3A Anvaya - Visva 05:22 123bpm 7A Aquarius Heaven, Alex Kaspersky - Ready To Win (Dub Mix) 05:51 123bpm 5A Aquarius Heaven, Alex Kaspersky - Ready To Win 05:51 123bpm 5A Aquarius Heaven, Alex Kaspersky - Their Will (Dub Mix) 05:54 122bpm 7B Aquarius Heaven, Alex Kaspersky - Their Will 05:52 122bpm 4A Arda Dölek, Eymen - Stop Me (Coxenberg Remix) 06:16 125bpm 10B Arda Dölek, Eymen - Stop Me 06:02 125bpm 10B Ark Nomads, IURII - Cosmic Ride (Extended Mix) 04:38 124bpm 2B Artego - You're Mine (Extended Mix) 05:38 126bpm 5A Artego - You're Mine (Instrumental Extended Mix) 05:38 126bpm 5A Audio Junkies - Revelations 07:24 122bpm 10B Audio Junkies - Sun Gazing 06:26 120bpm 4A Axel Haube - Dreamers 06:19 126bpm 10B Axel Haube - Dreamers (VNTM Remix) 06:01 128bpm 10B Axel Haube - Virgo 06:40 126bpm 8B Axwell /\ Ingrosso - More Than You Know (Mont Rouge Remix) 06:45 123bpm 4A Basz, Sevenkey - Nebula (Extended Mix) 05:31 124bpm 10B Black Accord - I'm Going Back 05:07 125bpm 7B BLACKWALK - From the Otherside 04:43 126bpm 12A Bliz Nochi, Tayr Anour - Fortuna 07:02 120bpm 7A Bliz Nochi, Tayr Anour - Malek 05:56 128bpm 9B Blow Up Inc. - Let The Music Play (Extended Mix) 04:31 122bpm 8B Bobsan, Lara Abou Hamdan - Mi Casa (Denes Toth's Moodyverse Remix) 05:44 124bpm 7B Bolth - Demons From My Past 05:53 125bpm 7A Boys' Shorts - Dark Room Rendez-Vous (Alinka Remix) 06:37 128bpm 5A Boys' Shorts - Dark Room Rendez-Vous (Mala Ika Remix) 05:59 128bpm 5A Boys' Shorts - On The High Line (feat. DJ City) (Jordan Nocturne 120 Mix) 05:38 120bpm 8B Boys' Shorts - On The High Line (feat. DJ City) (Jordan Nocturne Acid Shorts Mix) 06:37 127bpm 5A Bozart - Ravidol (Original) 05:42 124bpm 7A Bram VanK - Take Me Home (Dichroic Rmx) 06:34 124bpm 5A CaHen - Procyon (Extended Mix) 07:20 123bpm 12A CaHen - Rigel (Domingo + Loveclub Extended Remix) 08:12 121bpm 12A CaHen - Rigel (Extended Mix) 07:24 123bpm 12A CamelPhat - In Your Eyes (Fideles Remix) 05:58 123bpm 1A CamelPhat, Ali Love, Tigerblind - Compute (Tigerblind Remix) 06:28 130bpm 5A CamelPhat, Dorian Craft, Julia Church, Shimza - Embers (Dorian Craft Remix) 07:35 123bpm 11B CamelPhat, Øostil - In Your Eyes (Øostil Remix) 04:37 125bpm 1A Capoon - All Of My Heart 07:00 93bpm 3A Capoon - Victoria 05:00 123bpm 6B Capoon, Vicky Kroon - Yesterday feat. Vicky Kroon 07:17 124bpm 3A CARLEO - B.L.O.W 05:47 156bpm 5A CARLEO - B.T.T.B (Back to the Basics) 05:46 124bpm 7B CARLEO - T.R.O.H (The Rhythm of the House) 05:56 124bpm 1B Cary Crank - Open Sea (Meeting Molly Remix) 07:34 120bpm 4A Cary Crank - Open Sea 07:32 121bpm 4A Cary Crank - Open Sea (Ric Niels Remix) 07:36 121bpm 4A Cary Crank - Open Sea (Satoshi Fumi Remix) 08:29 121bpm 5A Chelonis R. Jones - Deer in the Headlights (DJ Hell Remix Remaster) 10:44 75bpm 10A Chelonis R. Jones - Deer in the Headlights (Dub Mix Remaster) 06:09 84bpm 10A Chelonis R. Jones - Deer in the Headlights (Radio Slave Remix Remaster) 08:46 125bpm 1B Cherry (UA) - Mosaic (Extended Mix) 05:42 122bpm 4A Cherry (UA) - Silent (Extended Mix) 06:19 124bpm 8B Choopie, Golan Zocher - Azaia 05:59 118bpm 8B Choopie, Golan Zocher - Make Me Famous (Nela Remix) 06:43 123bpm 11B Choopie, Golan Zocher - Make Me Famous 08:49 122bpm 8A Chris Drifter - On a Journey 08:50 125bpm 4B Coss Bocanegra - Gomorra 07:21 122bpm 12B Coss Bocanegra - Sodoma 07:14 124bpm 11B Covsky - Colour Theory 07:13 120bpm 3A Covsky - Zero Sum Game 07:48 121bpm 1A DAARI - Let Me Feel Right (AVTEL Remix) 06:09 122bpm 4B DAARI - Let Me Feel Right 06:16 123bpm 1A Dan Rubell - Sherpa (Dan Rubell Remix, Extended Mix) 06:19 124bpm 2B DANOR - Rose 06:35 125bpm 9B DANOR - Tapi Lapi 05:33 95bpm 8A Danushka - Until the Sun (2Qimic Remix) 06:19 124bpm 8B Danushka - Until the Sun (Dizharmonia Remix) 07:13 124bpm 7B Danushka - Until the Sun 06:58 124bpm 7B Darius Rose - Losing My Breath 03:48 126bpm 4A Dave Goode, Leon Dream - Palmer's Overdose (Jozef Conor's Blowout Mix) 07:40 120bpm 6A Dave Goode, Leon Dream - Palmer's Overdose 07:33 120bpm 6A Dave Goode, Leon Dream - Palmer's Overdose (Stargazer Remix) 06:35 122bpm 6A Dave Walker, Keltik - El Verano (Lexicon Avenue Remix) 07:18 123bpm 1B Dave Walker, Keltik - El Verano 06:30 120bpm 10A David Holmes, Raven Violet - Too Muchroom (feat. Raven Violet) (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown Remix) 07:03 120bpm 1B DCW, Zambelli, LAMAS (BR) - Falling Stars 05:11 125bpm 9A Deecross - Move It 06:54 122bpm 7B Deep Andi, KataHaifisch - Crispy Base (Just Emma 6am Mix) 06:02 122bpm 8B Deep Inzhiniring - Opposites 04:55 125bpm 5B Deep Inzhiniring - Savanta 05:36 125bpm 12B DEFLEE - Mark (Extended Mix) 04:56 123bpm 9A Deltium - Losing My Mind (Extended Mix) 06:48 124bpm 4A Deltium, RaJaxx - Dreaming (Extended Mix) 05:02 124bpm 10B Dinka - Daytona (Extended Mix) 05:49 123bpm 4B Dionigi - Dulcis In Fundo 05:25 120bpm 6A Dionigi - Mars Need Women 05:13 125bpm 9B Dionigi - Soleador 06:13 94bpm 4B Dionigi - Welcome A Board 04:02 120bpm 5B Disfreq - Later 05:52 131bpm 5B Disfreq - Lights 06:57 129bpm 6B Disfreq - Q 05:14 129bpm 5A Disfreq - U and I 07:08 126bpm 11A DMITRY SID - Reedom 05:53 121bpm 4B D-Nox, Aaron Suiss - Dragon Fly 07:23 124bpm 10B D-Nox, Aaron Suiss - Firefly 07:26 124bpm 1A Domshe - Swimming With Sharks 06:29 125bpm 7A Domshe - Tungsten 06:07 128bpm 7B Dylan Deck - Salvation (Emmanuel Dip Remix) 07:00 123bpm 4A Dylan Deck - Salvation (Monostone Remix) 06:54 123bpm 7B Dylan Deck - Salvation 08:20 126bpm 4A Ede, Deckert, Sargland - Immer (Aaaron Remix) 07:15 122bpm 1A Ede, Deckert, Sargland - Immer (Ede & Deckert "Sucuk Yamaha" Remix) 04:53 145bpm 2B Ede, Deckert, Sargland - Immer (Kid Simius "Barraca Destroy" Remix) 04:52 135bpm 1A Ede, Deckert, Sargland - Immer (Oliver Koletzki Remix) 06:15 123bpm 6A Eins Tiefer - Aftersheep 06:41 121bpm 11B Eins Tiefer - Callisto 04:08 89bpm 8A Eins Tiefer - Limitless 06:38 120bpm 9B Eins Tiefer - The Flood 06:22 122bpm 11B EMEDI - Titan 07:08 126bpm 11B EMEDI, Kallisto (AU) - Meraki 08:02 124bpm 6A Erly Tepshi, Matara - Adrenalina 06:12 124bpm 5B Eryc Karezza - Feel You There (Instrumental Mix) 06:09 125bpm 7B Eryc Karezza - Feel You There 06:25 125bpm 7B Evren Ulusoy - Proteo (FAMÜ & Seb Todd Remix) 07:01 124bpm 5A Evren Ulusoy - Proteo (FAMÜ Afterhours Remix) 07:04 124bpm 5A Evren Ulusoy - Proteo 04:15 121bpm 5A Ewan Rill - Mental Activity (ISMAIL.M Remix) 07:24 122bpm 2B Ewan Rill - Mental Activity 08:11 122bpm 2B Fabri Lopez, Callecat - Mutual Horizons 06:54 121bpm 10A FAIDE - Every Day Apart (Fort Romeau Remix) 05:39 126bpm 6A FAIDE - Every Day Apart (Hardt Antoine Remix) 06:32 123bpm 6A FAIDE - Every Day Apart (Josh Ludlow Remix) 05:36 78bpm 6A Far Distance - At The Door 06:24 124bpm 3B Far Distance - Touch Me 06:34 125bpm 8A Februm - Don't Push Me (Extended Mix) 06:11 124bpm 7B Floormagnet - Someone (Dub Mix) 05:56 125bpm 10B Floormagnet - Someone (Instrumental Mix) 07:01 125bpm 10B Floormagnet - Someone 07:01 125bpm 10B Fran Baigo - Othala (Gregory S Remix) 05:28 124bpm 8B Fran Baigo - Othala (Justrice Remix) 06:20 124bpm 5A Fran Baigo - Othala 06:46 123bpm 5A Fran Baigo - Othala (Peter Makto 5AM Mix) 07:34 123bpm 5A Frankllin, Ark Nomads - Ragas (Extended Mix) 07:01 123bpm 11B Funkin Matt - Entropy (Extended Mix) 04:55 127bpm 3A Gaucho Kid - Nuestro Destino 07:21 124bpm 4B Gaucho Kid - Piel a Piel 07:15 124bpm 5B Glenn Morrison, Drumcomplex, Frank Sonic - Bedford Avenue 07:24 122bpm 8A GRAZZE - Loss of Mind 06:47 124bpm 9B GRAZZE - The Blossom feat. Davide Famularo 07:17 124bpm 7A Gru V, Dr Green - Satya (Aman Anand Remix) 07:53 122bpm 5A Gru V, Dr Green - Satya (Dylan Deck & D.J. MacIntyre Remix) 07:42 127bpm 5A Gru V, Dr Green - Satya (ISMAIL.M Remix) 08:05 121bpm 8B Gru V, Dr Green - Satya 08:06 121bpm 5A Gueva - Aries 06:46 124bpm 8B Gueva - Luzifer 06:15 124bpm 8B Hard To Tell - African Sand 05:33 123bpm 11B Hard To Tell - Better Be 05:54 125bpm 7A Hard To Tell - Got Me 04:56 124bpm 10A Hasan Ghazi - The Saga 05:21 124bpm 12B Hasan Ghazi - The Saga (Verazlo Remix) 05:32 124bpm 12B Hendriks, STROEBEL - Never Be the Same (Extended Instrumental Mix) 04:48 124bpm 12B Hendriks, STROEBEL - Never Be the Same (Extended Mix) 04:48 124bpm 12B Hideo Kobayashi, Alistair - Espiritualidade 06:42 120bpm 10B Hideo Kobayashi, Alistair - Espiritualidade (Scott Andrews Remix) 06:52 120bpm 8A Hideo Kobayashi, Alistair - Espiritualidade (Weird Sounding Dude & FM Dub) 07:56 121bpm 7A Hopper, Carlos Pires - Confused (Akrav Remix) 07:05 123bpm 1B Hopper, Carlos Pires - Confused 06:51 123bpm 5A Huntersynth - Catch It (Extended Mix) 05:15 124bpm 12B Hyunji-A - Softly (Club Mix) 07:02 120bpm 8A Hyunji-A - Softly (Dub Mix) 06:30 120bpm 8A Hyunji-A - Speck of Dust 07:34 120bpm 9B Ian O'Donovan - Frontier 09:25 124bpm 11A Ian O'Donovan - Kosmos 10:40 126bpm 12A ID ID - Abstraction 06:21 124bpm 10B ID ID - Cercles 06:34 124bpm 10B ID ID - Confessions 06:32 123bpm 7B ID ID - Confusion 05:17 123bpm 8B ID ID - King Of Saw 05:50 124bpm 9B ID ID - Secret 06:13 126bpm 7B ID ID - Smooth 06:41 125bpm 4B igor Bartyuk - Blatant Case 07:00 120bpm 7B igor Bartyuk, VALON (SE) - Deceit and Pretense 07:30 120bpm 12B Imeïa - Blue Romance (Dub Mix) 03:54 116bpm 5A Imeïa - Blue Romance 03:54 116bpm 5A Imeïa - Elegancia 05:37 120bpm 8A Imeïa - Le Pire Pour La Fin (Extended Mix) 06:49 113bpm 4B Imeïa - The Chaos Inside (Extended Mix) 05:32 122bpm 5A Insimon - The Space 06:04 125bpm 7B Iorie, Kon Faber - Ambiguity (Gespona Remix) 05:50 122bpm 11A Irajá, Alexion, Black Box (DE) - Alright (Extended Mix) 05:03 125bpm 11A Iron Curtis, Johannes Albert - Appeal (Lerosa Remix) 06:24 125bpm 3B Iron Curtis, Johannes Albert, Lisa Toh - Nektar (Llewellyn Remix) 04:53 124bpm 3A Ivan Aliaga - Black Whale 07:16 120bpm 6B Ivan Aliaga - Robotica 07:26 123bpm 7B Jack Lazarus - Proxima Centurai 07:24 123bpm 7B Jaguar Jaguar, Chambord - Born In Blue 08:31 118bpm 9A James Organ - Running With The Wolves (feat. Francis Waves) 06:45 125bpm 6A James Organ - The Real You (feat. Kuuda) 06:17 123bpm 1A Jan René Lai - Cracked (Oliver Koletzki Remix) 06:11 125bpm 8A Jan René Lai - Cracked 04:45 122bpm 11A Japanese Limo Boys - Battle Shout 05:04 115bpm 5A Japanese Limo Boys - Kouroussa 06:47 99bpm 5A Jay-Son - Capsule Sway (Jesu Aparicio Remix) 05:48 128bpm 4B Jay-Son - Capsule Sway 06:03 118bpm 8B Jay-Son - Divine Journey of Souls 06:59 120bpm 8B Jay-Son - Divine Journey of Souls (Parissior Remix) 06:53 126bpm 5B Jeremy Olander - Holmen 07:50 127bpm 7A Jetzen - Language Model 06:31 124bpm 8A Jetzen - MegaMeta 06:34 124bpm 10B Jon.K - Moet 05:16 123bpm 9B Jon.K - Universe 06:42 123bpm 8B Jordan Arts - Drifitng Away 05:52 123bpm 10B Joris Delacroix - Turpentine (Extended Mix) 06:53 128bpm 11B Joris Delacroix, Silly Boy Blue - Fall In feat. Silly Boy Blue (Extended Mix) 05:52 123bpm 12B Joris Voorn - Horizon 05:47 125bpm 5A Jos & Eli - The Infamous 06:39 122bpm 11B Jos & Eli - They Are Coming 06:18 124bpm 5A Juliane Wolf - Far Away (Kenan Savrun Remix) 07:41 122bpm 8A Juliane Wolf - Far Away (MPathy Remix) 05:30 123bpm 11B Juliane Wolf - Far Away 05:15 123bpm 9A Juliane Wolf - Far Away (Rework) 06:50 123bpm 8A Kamilo Sanclemente - Astra 08:24 122bpm 8B Karimov Brothers - RaMaRa 04:13 125bpm 3A KARPOVICH, BRK (BR) - KNOCK KNOCK 06:03 124bpm 9B Kase Kochen - Soul Power 06:01 125bpm 7B Kase Kochen - Soul Power (Timo Lissy Remix) 07:15 125bpm 7B Kase Kochen, Timo Lissy - Liquid Disco (Astro Pleasure Remix) 07:39 128bpm 10A Kase Kochen, Timo Lissy - Liquid Disco 06:45 125bpm 10A KEKURA - Amor 44 04:59 123bpm 3A Kenan Savrun, Sinan Arsan - Luna 08:04 122bpm 12B Kenan Savrun, Sinan Arsan - Luna (Sonic Union Remix) 06:52 122bpm 9A Kimman - Surge (Extended Mix) 06:18 123bpm 6A Kimman - The Stellar Dome (Extended Mix) 05:43 121bpm 4B Komilev - Play Orchestra 06:01 123bpm 9A Konstantin Sibold, Adam Sellouk - The Dawn (Extended Mix) 05:35 123bpm 6A Konstantin Sibold, Adam Sellouk - The Dusk (Extended Mix) 06:02 123bpm 9B Kutiman, Dekel - My Everything (feat. Dekel) (OMRI. & N.O.Y Edit) 06:54 120bpm 9B L.O.S - Almas 06:16 124bpm 12A LAMAS (BR), OFF META - Magical 06:20 124bpm 6A Last Men On Earth - Arrested On Vacation (DJ Mastering) 06:19 124bpm 12B Last Men On Earth - LMOE Presents... (DJ Mastering) 06:18 123bpm 1A Last Men On Earth - SEVEN (DJ Mastering) 06:00 120bpm 9A Lauer, DENA - Affection 03:42 124bpm 10B Left 2 Dust - HIYA (Extended Mix) 05:17 123bpm 9B Lena Storm - Affection 06:55 128bpm 1B Lena Storm - The Choice 05:33 127bpm 8B Logan Sky, Steven Jones - Come Back Tonight (Alex Medina Remix) 06:47 120bpm 2B Logan Sky, Steven Jones - Come Back Tonight (Pole Position Remix) 06:00 120bpm 12A Logan Sky, Steven Jones - Come Back Tonight (Samer Soltan Remix) 05:08 123bpm 7B Lucas Pietra - Let Go 07:42 122bpm 9A Lucas Pietra - Penny Lane 07:55 122bpm 12B Luccas Deo, Holmus - Resonance 05:43 125bpm 10B Luccas Deo, Proxxy (BR) - In The Vacum Of My Mind 05:09 124bpm 9B Luke Alessi - $$$ 06:34 127bpm 3B Luke Alessi - Bay Beh 06:04 127bpm 12B Luke Chable, Danny Bonnici - Colours (2010 Version) 08:06 124bpm 9B Luke Chable, Danny Bonnici - Colours (Alex O'Rion Remix) 07:24 120bpm 10A Luke Chable, Danny Bonnici - Colours (Danny Bonnici Breaks Remix) 07:36 124bpm 10A Luke Garcia, Ian Ludvig - La Luz 06:14 120bpm 4B Luke Garcia, Ian Ludvig - Something 05:12 120bpm 7B Luke Garcia, Ian Ludvig - Something (Radio Edit) 03:01 120bpm 4A M.E.M.O., Thimble - Forgether (Extended Version) 07:24 122bpm 11B Mack Loenz - Dance With Me (Club Mix) 05:57 81bpm 5A Mack Loenz - Dance With Me (Maceo Plex Club Remix) 06:05 129bpm 5A Made In TLV - Beretta 05:40 123bpm 11B Made In TLV - Hold On 05:48 124bpm 11B Made In TLV - Needs You 05:08 91bpm 5B Madhouse, Esqivel - Me Pregunto 04:59 125bpm 8A Magnus - Poison (Paradoks Extended Remix) 05:14 127bpm 6A Maguire, Trey Mirror - Heaven Out Of Hell 03:40 93bpm 6A MakhmuriaN - Back to the Old School 06:43 125bpm 9B MakhmuriaN - Boulevard De Paris 06:46 121bpm 12B Maori - Fusion World (Extended Mix) 06:00 124bpm 12B Maori, OMRI. - 6 Pack (Extended Mix) 05:46 123bpm 2B Marc Denuit - Just Say You Want Me 08:44 121bpm 11B Marc Denuit - Overgreen 08:44 123bpm 2B Mari MaLe - Rolling Feels 07:11 122bpm 7B Mari MaLe - Space 07:21 122bpm 9B Mariano Mellino, FOLGAR, Gio Santi - Never Enough 06:38 122bpm 2B MarksMan, MXV - Close to Me (Frankllin Remix) 05:58 124bpm 12B MarksMan, MXV - Close to Me 05:13 111bpm 9A MarksMan, MXV - Your Eyes 05:06 125bpm 9A MarksMan, MXV - Your Eyes (SEIZMIC Remix) 05:54 125bpm 12B Marsh - Warrior (Extended Mix) 07:38 126bpm 11B Martin Graff, Meital O Faran - Don't Let Us Die (Extended Mix) 05:26 124bpm 7A Maverick, Jonas Saalbach - Exo (Extended Version) 06:08 123bpm 5A Max Freeze - Freak 06:03 122bpm 7A Max Freeze - Hey 05:42 124bpm 8B Mazayr, Rich Towers - Ancient Secrets (Niko Garcia Remix) 07:40 121bpm 4A Mazayr, Rich Towers - Ancient Secrets 07:03 119bpm 4A Mazayr, Rich Towers - Ancient Secrets (Pinkowitz Remix) 06:58 120bpm 4A Mazayr, Rich Towers - Dilemma 08:31 121bpm 11A McKeown & Bassiray - An Introduction 08:39 122bpm 1B McKeown & Bassiray - Flat Surfaces 08:31 122bpm 6A Michaelous - Low Altitude feat. Tarayah (Bohm Remix) 07:20 122bpm 10B Michaelous - Low Altitude feat. Tarayah (Extended Mix) 06:54 122bpm 6A Miliano - Agent 007 (Gonzalo Sacc & Lapena Remix) 06:50 123bpm 5A Miliano - Agent 007 (Gux Jimenez Remix) 06:27 121bpm 8B Miliano - Agent 007 (Lio Q Remix) 08:20 120bpm 5A Miliano - Agent 007 07:15 121bpm 8B Minoas Cirillo, ReiRei - Lover (David Mayer Remix) 07:15 122bpm 10A Minoas Cirillo, ReiRei - Lover (Francesco Chiocci Remix) 06:57 122bpm 10A Minoas Cirillo, ReiRei - Lover 06:54 122bpm 10A Miss Monique - Bloom At Night (Extended Mix) 06:30 126bpm 7B Monkey Safari - Remedy 06:11 120bpm 5A Monojack, Simon Field, Yasmin Jane - Scared (Extended Instrumental Mix) 06:35 124bpm 10A Monojack, Simon Field, Yasmin Jane - Scared (Extended Mix) 06:35 124bpm 10A Monojack, Simon Field, Yasmin Jane - Scared (Radio Edit) 04:25 125bpm 10A Monojack, Simon Field, Yasmin Jane - Scared (VIP Mix) 06:35 124bpm 10A Monophase (IT), Korolova - Reactive (Extended Mix) 05:58 125bpm 8A Monophase (IT), Korolova - Voyager (Extended Mix) 05:45 125bpm 8A Moonclipse - Doux 07:04 122bpm 7B Motip White - Hitch Dying Birds 05:49 121bpm 6A Motip White - Siam Paragon 05:43 126bpm 1A Motip White - Volcano 05:07 127bpm 8B Moullinex, GPU Panic - Ar 09:08 123bpm 6B Moullinex, GPU Panic - Bring the Lights Down 07:20 125bpm 4A MPathy, Øntold - Asa (Instrumental Mix) 06:32 124bpm 12B MPathy, Øntold - Asa feat. John M 06:32 124bpm 12B MPathy, Øntold - Asa feat. John M (Unseen. Remix) 06:27 122bpm 12B MPathy, Øntold - Sakkara 07:42 112bpm 11B Nathan Hall - Existential Anthem 05:56 116bpm 7A Nathan Hall - Existential Anthem (Sobek Remix) 06:53 115bpm 7A Nathan Hall - Existential Anthem (Theus Mago Remix) 04:55 125bpm 10B Nathan Hall - No Fun Intended 06:09 119bpm 10B Nato Medrado - Deus é Você 05:45 123bpm 8A Nato Medrado - Rush 05:21 121bpm 8B New Jackson - Like 03:57 137bpm 2A Nick Varon, Callecat - Beyond Perceptions 07:14 120bpm 5A Nicolas Petracca - Wake Up (EANP Awakening Remix) 07:24 122bpm 12A Nicolas Prieto - Raktor 08:21 123bpm 4B Nihil Young, Unseen., Robin Korsal - Night We Seek (Instrumental) 07:03 125bpm 8A Nihil Young, Unseen., Robin Korsal - Night We Seek 07:03 125bpm 8A Nikola Jovanovic - Infusion 07:06 122bpm 9B Nikola Jovanovic - Verge 07:10 121bpm 8B nineveh. - Burning Down (Extended Mix) 05:00 122bpm 3B Nino Tores - Loco Bogota (Bonafique Remix) 05:55 125bpm 11A Nino Tores - Loco Bogota 05:48 122bpm 2B Nino Tores - Loco Bogota (Saqib Remix) 06:50 124bpm 2B Niv Ast - Bag of Hopes (REBRN Remix) 06:06 123bpm 1B Niv Ast - Candolila (Elfenberg Remix) 06:29 129bpm 11B Niv Ast - Come at Seven (Rafael Cerato Remix) 06:29 122bpm 12B Niv Ast - God Knows Well (AFFKT Remix) 06:48 123bpm 10B Niv Ast - I Get Around (Shubostar Remix) 06:28 122bpm 8A Niv Ast - Monkey Island (Jenia Tarsol Remix) 06:15 156bpm 12B Niv Ast - Rockafella (Sandhog Remix) 05:46 125bpm 11B Oceanvs Orientalis - Neurality (Nick Curly Remix) 06:26 126bpm 8B Oceanvs Orientalis - Neurality 05:03 122bpm 8B Odasoul, Varoc - Dream About You (Odasoul Club Mix) 07:37 122bpm 10B Odasoul, Varoc - Dream About You (Odasoul Radio Mix) 03:15 122bpm 10B Odeon, Etri - Dune 06:24 123bpm 7B Off Night - Pressure 05:21 126bpm 2B Off Night - Pressure (Patrick Ruprecht Remix) 05:50 126bpm 11A OMRI. - Musika (Extended Mix) 05:17 124bpm 9A OneNess, VEME, AVANTOM - Create It (Extended Mix) 06:55 126bpm 8B Pako & Frederik - Western Approaches (Chris Cargo Remix) 07:44 120bpm 8A Pako & Frederik - Western Approaches (Lenz Remix) 07:48 124bpm 8A Pansil, Highjacks - Calypso (Instrumental Mix) 05:46 124bpm 8A Pansil, Highjacks - Calypso 05:46 124bpm 8A PARADIGM X, Face the Sun - Don't Want You (Extended Mix) 06:57 120bpm 6A Patrick Ruprecht - Fly With Me 05:56 124bpm 7A Patrick Ruprecht - Fly With Me (VANITA Remix) 07:40 124bpm 10B Patrick Ruprecht - Unexpected Happyness (Monophase Remix) 06:47 125bpm 3A Patrick Ruprecht - Unexpected Happyness 06:44 123bpm 6B Paul Angelo, Don Argento - Fountain of Youth (Andy King Remix) 07:32 121bpm 1A Paul Angelo, Don Argento - Fountain of Youth (Subandrio Remix) 08:08 122bpm 4B Paul Ursin - 2Waves 08:39 124bpm 12B Paul Ursin - 2048 05:41 124bpm 8B Peredel - Make It Back 06:53 126bpm 11B Peredel - Moon Light 06:14 126bpm 10A Peredel - WMB 06:36 126bpm 10B Peredel, Oppaacha - Turbo 06:29 129bpm 7B Petar Dundov - Neon Orbiter 07:57 123bpm 5B Petros Odin, Anastasia Nati - House On A Hill 07:04 120bpm 9A Philipp Wolf - Five Senses (Extended Mix) 05:50 122bpm 9A Phoebe Killdeer, Trey Mirror - Fire feat. Phoebe Killdeer (Extended Mix) 04:04 123bpm 6A PÔNGO - DAZED 06:21 91bpm 10A PÔNGO - NUDA 06:47 123bpm 6A PÔNGO - VIDEOGATE 06:37 121bpm 10B Porra, Alto Astral - Looking for You (Antrim Remix) 08:23 123bpm 11B Porra, Alto Astral - Looking for You 06:37 122bpm 8A Povar - Pepper 06:47 123bpm 7B Povar - Salt 06:03 122bpm 9B Povar - Sugar 06:03 122bpm 9B Prash - Going (Extended Mix) 05:48 122bpm 2A Promise Resolved - Confession 07:13 125bpm 9B Promise Resolved - Evacuate 07:13 125bpm 8B Reaktive, Tuna Taneri - Unveil Your Vision 04:08 122bpm 2B REALMM - All I Want Is You 06:25 124bpm 9B REALMM - Cherubic 06:33 125bpm 5A REALMM - Emoji 06:04 124bpm 6B REALMM - Follow the Light (DJ Lion Remix) 05:35 133bpm 2B REALMM - Follow the Light 05:46 124bpm 2B REALMM - Redneck 06:09 122bpm 1B Redspace, Shell Robinson - Cold Atmosphere (Michael a Remix) 06:39 121bpm 4A Redspace, Shell Robinson - Cold Atmosphere 07:12 121bpm 7B Redspace, Shell Robinson - Fusion (Gav Easby Remix) 06:58 122bpm 10B Redspace, Shell Robinson - Fusion 06:39 122bpm 10B Regard - Can't Stop Us (Extended Mix) 06:54 123bpm 7A Remcord - Carbon Fiber 05:55 123bpm 9A Remcord - The Sub Changed My Life 06:00 123bpm 9A Remcord - Wax 07:07 123bpm 1A Renato Cohen, Joyce Muniz - No Haters (Dub Mix) 06:26 120bpm 5A Renato Cohen, Joyce Muniz - No Haters (Extended Version) 06:27 120bpm 5A Renato Cohen, Joyce Muniz - No Haters 03:32 120bpm 5A Reyul Mather - Love Time Freedom 05:51 123bpm 6A Reyul Mather - My Love Is on Fire 05:48 124bpm 7A Rezident - Push And Pull (Extended Mix) 05:06 126bpm 5A Rezident, Ekko Music - Only For A Moment feat. Ekko (Extended Mix) 06:43 125bpm 7A Rezident, Kate Morgan - Muse feat. Kate Morgan (Extended Mix) 06:46 125bpm 8A Robert Owens, Komilev - Nothing To Do (feat. Robert Owens) 05:21 120bpm 7A Roswell Brothers - Civilization feat. Sunset Amanda (Ivan De La Rouch Remix) 07:09 118bpm 9B Roswell Brothers - Civilization feat. Sunset Amanda 05:09 105bpm 9B Roswell Brothers - Civilization feat. Sunset Amanda (Ruksby Remix) 04:53 110bpm 6A Roswell Brothers - Civilization feat. Sunset Amanda (Stockholm Syndrome AU Remix) 05:33 117bpm 9B Ruback - BENDAI (Extended Mix) 06:04 122bpm 8A Saintbull - El Faquir (El Faquir) 06:17 124bpm 12B Saintbull - Erks City 05:43 123bpm 11B Saintbull - Hybrid Taste 05:48 122bpm 11B Salbah - Amber 07:46 123bpm 3B Salbah - Emerald 07:04 122bpm 8A Salbah - Laia (Gravity Vibes Remix) 05:58 90bpm 5A Sascha Braemer - Be Unique 05:52 123bpm 6B Sascha Braemer - The Unknown 05:23 124bpm 6A Sascha Braemer, UNDERHER - Hear Out 05:04 120bpm 6B Sascha Braemer, UNDERHER, Turker - Into Life 06:36 123bpm 6A Sasha Carassi, Sian, David LeSal - This Music (Maori Remix) 05:44 124bpm 11B Sasha Carassi, Sian, David LeSal - This Music 06:10 125bpm 12B Schlepp Geist - Quantum Res 06:31 123bpm 11B Schlepp Geist - Silky Rubber 06:00 123bpm 11B Schlepp Geist, SOUNDQ - Phosphor 05:48 123bpm 2B Seizmic - Distruption 06:05 126bpm 7B Seizmic - Salvation 06:09 124bpm 11B Seizmic - Stark 05:55 124bpm 8A Sergey Muzarks - Endless Worlds 07:38 121bpm 12B Sharam Jey, KARPOVICH, Katwerk - Interstellar 06:44 124bpm 9A She Knows - Hechizo 04:31 115bpm 5A SHMN - Circle of Life 03:32 118bpm 7A SHMN - Circle of Life (Undercatt Remix) 06:23 122bpm 7A SHMN - Sinking 07:26 121bpm 9A Solee - Faith Healer 06:13 128bpm 4B Solee - Heat 06:46 128bpm 9B Solis [US] - Cosec (Extended Mix) 07:43 121bpm 10B Solis [US] - Daijah (Extended Mix) 06:25 121bpm 2B Solis [US] - Solstice (Extended Mix) 07:59 121bpm 2B SOMMA, LE YORA, Fêlure - Jerimeh (Extended) 06:46 123bpm 12A Soul Button - Tartribe (Nick Devon Remix) 07:05 121bpm 6A Soul Button - Tartribe 07:12 121bpm 6A Space Food, Groove Shack - Alice 07:04 120bpm 12B Space Food, Groove Shack - Luv Machine 06:41 122bpm 8B STOPPA HUCH - Almiak 07:02 128bpm 9B Tailor, Hessian, Modera - Never Enough (Rokazer Extended Remix) 07:14 124bpm 4A Tal Fussman - Don't Want 04:54 126bpm 9A Tal Fussman - Focus 05:23 126bpm 12A Tal Fussman - Gyal 04:04 149bpm 5A Tal Fussman - Into the Chamber 06:39 127bpm 4B Tal Fussman - It's Alright 05:47 128bpm 12A Tal Fussman - Will Fade 03:40 129bpm 6A Talee - How High? 04:35 120bpm 8A Talee - How High? (SX2 Remix) 07:36 123bpm 8A Tauon - Croc Mountain 07:04 122bpm 7A Tauon - Just Let It Go 04:04 120bpm 9A Tauon - Olive Trees 07:14 125bpm 4A Tauon - Pirovac 05:28 122bpm 4A Tauon - Tisno 04:41 124bpm 4A Tayak - Delirium Tremens (Lumoon Remix) 05:08 123bpm 8A Tayak - Delirium Tremens (Phunkadelica The Box Mix) 05:57 125bpm 8A Tayak - Delirium Tremens (Senses Of Mind Remix) 06:21 158bpm 9B Teho - Rising 05:06 124bpm 4A Tenvin - No Control (AIKON Remix) 07:08 120bpm 5B Tenvin - No Control 06:06 120bpm 5B Tenvin - Reset 06:13 124bpm 5B Terry Golden - Heartache 07:45 124bpm 3A Terry Golden - Moon 05:24 122bpm 7B The Drifter, Kadosh (IL) - Jakarta (Day Version) 06:50 123bpm 10B The Drifter, Kadosh (IL) - Jakarta (Night Version) 06:00 123bpm 6A Theydream - Fragments 05:37 126bpm 3B Theydream - Mirrors 03:42 123bpm 9A Thor Rixon - Beautiful Day (Dub) 05:16 125bpm 5A Thor Rixon - Fill This Room With Fire 06:09 127bpm 9A Thor Rixon, Lazarusman - Beautiful Day 05:16 125bpm 5A Those Shadows - My Mistake 05:42 123bpm 2B Thysma - Next to You (Extended Mix) 04:45 121bpm 9A Thysma - Shiver (Extended Mix) 06:38 122bpm 6B Tom Zeta - Cuando Queso (Extended Version) 06:06 126bpm 11B Tomas Briski - Cyan Book 07:23 123bpm 8B Tomas Briski - Hyacinth 07:51 123bpm 8B Tomas Briski - Introjection 07:24 122bpm 11B Tone Of Arc, Those Shadows - Imposter 06:23 124bpm 5A Trey Mirror - Overthinking 03:58 95bpm 9A Trey Mirror - Quicksand (Extended Mix) 04:36 120bpm 9A Trey Mirror - Secrets (Extended Mix) 05:48 128bpm 7A Trey Mirror - Too Far (Extended Mix) 05:50 126bpm 11A Tumzz, YA:NZ - Anxiety (Mzelv Remix) 08:19 124bpm 11A Tumzz, YA:NZ - Anxiety 07:28 123bpm 11A Two but One - Closer to Me (Extended Mix) 06:04 126bpm 10A Two but One - Perceptual Reality (Extended Mix) 05:53 124bpm 11B Under Sanctions - Nomadic Beats (Extended Mix) 05:55 125bpm 6A Unseen. - There Will Be Peace (Black Box Remix) 05:23 125bpm 9B Unseen. - There Will Be Peace (Modeplex Remix) 05:00 125bpm 12B Unseen. - There Will Be Peace 06:18 125bpm 9B Unseen. - There Will Be Peace (Yøhkan Remix) 06:17 124bpm 6A Vahicabi - Takka 05:13 124bpm 11B Vahicabi - Whiplash 06:09 126bpm 11B Varoc - Dream About You (Ismael Rivas Mix) 08:47 122bpm 11B Varoc - Dream About You (Jeaneiffel Organic Mix) 06:43 124bpm 8A Vasconcellos - Acid Dream 06:13 127bpm 1A Vasconcellos - Italo Metálico (Bizzarro Universe Remix) 06:13 132bpm 11A Vasconcellos - Italo Metálico (Mike Sacchetti Remix) 05:15 125bpm 11A Vasconcellos - Italo Metálico 06:38 122bpm 11A VegaZ SL, Enzo Vood - Above the Storm 06:56 120bpm 10B VegaZ SL, Enzo Vood - Focus to See the Light 06:54 122bpm 8B Venao - Cerebral (Auseeb Remix) 07:04 122bpm 2A Venao - Cerebral 06:56 120bpm 5A 

Hello everyone! Just finished up my first year of bingo. I had a great time and read a lot of good stuff. Here's what I read. All but 3 squares are hard mode (my goal for next year will be to complete the whole card in hard mode).
Title with a title, not royalty: The Wizard’s Butler by Nathan Lowell. Read during a migraine. It was perfect because the plot wasn’t too complicated and I could follow along even with the brain fog. Basically, a veteran in need of a job gets hired as a butler for an elderly man who thinks himself a wizard. Some people complain the book has too many mundane details about MC’s learning the ropes as a butler, but I found those scenes enjoyable. 3 stars.
Superheroes, not DC or Marvel: Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Yes, it is about a supervillain instead of a superhero. And it’s not an individual with superpowers; Charlie inherits his uncle’s supervillain business, volcano lair and everything. I still think it fits the prompt. It’s a fun read and it has cats in it. 4 stars.
Bottom of the TBR: Immobility by Brian Evenson (audiobook), which has been on my TBR since its release in 2012. It was on Audible plus so I gave it a listen. I loved the performance and the story, and I would have given it 5 stars if not for the ending. Fuck that ending. 4.5 stars.
Magical realism, hard mode: All’s Well by Mona Awad. I could not ask for a better read during a chronic pain flare-up! It was weird and darkly hilarious. I think I liked it even more than Bunny. 4.5 stars.
Young Adult: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (audiobook). I’m only sorry it took me so long to finally read this book! It was as good as everyone said. Love the characters, love the story. I may continue with this series.
Mundane jobs, not set on Earth: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. Picked this up for my kid while we were at the beach. She never read it, so I did. Look, I’m not ashamed to admit it - I loved this book and devoured it in one sitting. Also, Thimble is the best. So yeah, 5 stars.
Published in the 2000s: Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. This 2007 urban fantasy is the first of the Georgia Kincaid series. Georgia is a succubus living in Seattle and working a day-job at a bookstore, and she’s about to meet Seth Mortensen, aka the writer of her favorite book series. But of course, things don’t quite go as planned. 3.5 stars.
Angels and demons, protagonist is angel/demon: A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley. A paranormal rom-com about a witch pretending to date a demon she accidentally summons and can’t get rid of, read for romancebooks’ Autumn Reading Challenge. Found it kind of a comfort read; it’s pretty low angst, with an HEA ending. 3.75 stars.
An entire short story collection: North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballangrud. I’m not sure how to describe my response to this book. Every time I finished one story, my brain said, “Another!” They are all good, but the strongest in my opinion is “The Good Husband.” I will definitely be reading more from Nathan Ballangrud. 4.5 stars.
Horror, not Lovecraft or King: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I un-ironically love Chuck Tingle (I’ve read and liked many of his “no-sex Tinglers”) and I’m a big horror fan, so it was pretty much a given that I’d read this. It is a solid entry into the horror genre, with a unique story and a likable protagonist (also, I really liked Mara Wilson as the narrator). And now it’s also a Stoker Award nominee. Love is real, buckaroos! 4 stars.
Self-published or indie publisher, has fewer than 100 ratings on Goodreads: The Demon Inside Me by Chace Verity - I don’t know what I was expecting when I checked this book out on KU, but it wasn’t this - and I am not complaining! This book was funny and sweet (and yes, also kinda smutty, but in a way that fits the characters and the story). 4 stars.
Set in the Middle East, author is of Middle Eastern heritage: Girl, Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (audiobook version).This is a book I might never have read if not for bingo. Although it is marketed as a YA novel, I think it works for adults, too. I was pleasantly surprised. Good narration, and an immersive story. 4 stars.
Published in 2023, author’s debut novel: The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (audiobook). In this debut novel, a translator attends an elite language school that promises complete fluency in just 10 days, but all is not as it seems. I thought the narration was good and the story well-written, if a little slow-paced. And I started to lose interest a little. Then the author dropped a bomb I didn’t see coming and I realized just how she had played me the whole book. Well done. 4 stars.
Multiverse, no literal doors: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Motar and Max Gladstone. A time-traveling epistolary romance? Sign me up! Beautiful prose, too . Sometimes I had no idea what the heck was going on, and it was still lovely. I will probably read it again at some point. 4 stars.
POC author, futuristic/sci-fi setting: Dawn by Octavia Butler - My one reread square. This is the first book in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy. Basically, humans have fucked Earth up royally, so aliens intervene. I’d planned to read the second book, Adulthood Rites, for this square, but once I started it, I realized it’d been too long since I read Dawn and I’d forgotten too much. But Octavia Butler’s worth a reread. 4 stars.
Book Club or Read Along Book: Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko with Julia Meitov Hersey (Translator). Someone on Goodreads described Vita Nostra as, “like Harry Potter, but if it was written by Kafka” and I was like, “I’m in.” I convinced my sister to do a buddy read of it with me. I found myself confused by it in the best way possible and I was utterly hooked; she DNFed. She swears she will finish it one day, out of spite. 4 stars.
Novella not published by Tor: Heart, Haunt, Havoc by Freydis Moon. A queer haunted house novella, and the first in the Gideon Testaments series. It was a fun read and I do plan to check out the next book in the series. 4 stars.
Featuring mythical beasts, but not dragons: Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews. I’d tried Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and couldn't get into it. But I saw the Innkeeper series posted in the bingo recommendations thread when I was looking for a book that would fit this square for hard mode. I gave it a shot and now I am hooked on this series. That’s a win for me! 4 stars.
Elemental magic, hard mode: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - I read this book specifically for this prompt, I chose it from the recommendations thread. I don’t think I’d have read it otherwise, but I'm so glad I did! I really enjoyed this one. I would have preferred it without so many third-person POVs, though. 4.5 stars.
Myths and retellings, not Greek or Roman: Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente. I was told to go into the audiobook blind, without even reading the summary, so I did. I was underwhelmed; turns out it’s just a Garden of Eden retelling. I mean, I liked it well enough, I just didn’t really get the hype. 3 stars.
Queernorm, not a futuristic setting: Prince and Bodyguard by Tavia Lark. A prince and his bodyguard fall in love while trying not to die. I read this one for a Bodyguard prompt in a different reading challenge, even though I had never read any of the other books in the series and it’s not really meant to be a standalone. I was able to get the gist of the backstory for the most part. Good balance between romance and plot. 3.5 stars.
Coastal setting, featuring seafaring: Whalefall by Daniel Krause. Ok, this one probably skates by on a technicality for hard mode, since the seafaring happens, you know, inside of a whale. There are some flashback scenes where the MC is on a boat with his dad, so I still think it counts! Anyway, this book sucked me in and kept me there, just like that whale did to Jay. 5 stars.
Druid Features vampires; a main character is a vampire: A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson (audiobook). This was my one square substitution. I like vampires, what can I say? This book is told from the point of view of one of Dracula’s wives. It’s not exactly a retelling, since the events of Bram Stoker’s Dracula don’t appear in this story at all. The narration was great, there’s good character development, and I thought it had a fitting ending. 4 stars.
Features robots, a main character is a robot: World Running Down by Al Hess - Queer, dystopian sci-fi with a bit of romance and found-family vibes. It meets hard mode because one of the MCs is an AI who has unwillingly been placed in an android body. It was a fun read and if there were a sequel I would read it. 4 stars.
Sequel: The Hour Mage by Angelina J. Steffort. Book #2 of the Quarter Mage series. The series is billed as “upper YA” and I guess it would be considered romantasy. I really liked the first one so I thought I’d read the next one. We get more character backstory and lore, and we see more of the Fae kingdom. 3 stars.