Beth Winter 🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇵🇱🇺🇦

Frodo wakes. ‘Where am I?’ ‘In the House of Elrond. It is ten o’clock in the morning. The morning of October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know.’ ‘Gandalf!’ ‘Yes, I am here. And you are lucky to be here, too, after all the absurd things you have done since you left home.’

Dan's bang on, here. I've seen almost no international criticism, outcry or expressions of solidarity over Erdoğan's latest brutal crackdown on Turkey's LGBTQ community

Black Sails was 4 seasons of gritty violent pirate drama perfection i beseech you all to go watch

Extra dramatic sunset to start my last week at the lakeside. (And four kilogrammes of sloes. Crazy good foraging this year.)

The sunsets here are freaking spectacular.

The sunsets here are freaking spectacular.

RIP Tim Curry, who had the range to star in the two greatest movies about a mutiny in the middle of a transatlantic sea voyage, and also the crew occasionally breaks into song

The last two days are an absolute devastation for transgenders of a certain age. Goodbye Tim, forever gender goals. Goodbye Dolly, the person who showed teen me how much gender was a performance instead of gatekeeping.

'cause you've seen blue skies through the tears of your eyes and you realise you're going home Smooth sailing, Tim! What an awful week.

Dolly Parton and Patti LaBelle playing their acrylics. Two icons.

I had no plums for two years. This year, All The Plums. And soon, All The Jam.

I admit a sunset eclipse is spectacular.

No better feeling than the cool breeze of a summer storm passing a breath away after a humid hot day. (Climate change, bruh. I've spent some time in each of the last 40 summers here, I remember only one day over 30c before 2005.)

...I just realised that between great- and grandparents I have four people working in transport infrastructure (two rail, two maritime). Two others in finance (married to each other). So I guess I'm building a railway!

Concert tickets booked. Now to workshop an answer to "why are you taking the day off" less involved than "Kazakh tenor with six octave range I first heard on Chinese tv"...

ooh, Martha Wells' Witch King is only $3 www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/...

you know how in Sailor Moon it's like. if any new trendy product or shop or something pops up you're like DUDE DON'T GO IT'S A TRAP YOU'RE GONNA GET YOUR ENERGY STOLEN this is how fun little social media trends feel in the age of AI 🫠

Fun things: I first saw Artur Ruciński as Marullo in Rigoletto and he was a showstopper in a cast led by Dobber and Kurzak. He just debuted his Cortigiani aria at this concert and yep, he's gone far. Heads up Paris and New York!

This is outstanding 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Ukrainians take to the streets of Kyiv for pride 🌈 It was led by the LGBTQ military group who are calling on Ukraine to change its laws around marriage and civil rights so that gay soldiers risking their lives have the same rights when they return from the frontline.

Extremely delighted to say LONG LIVE EVIL has been chosen as a Top Read and is now in a Kindle Deal going for 1.99 for a limited run beginning today! Please shove evil upon your loved ones, so you can fall in the chaos pit together. www.amazon.com/Long-Live-Ev... #booksky

rip Anthony Stewart Head 😭😭

I miss the days when there was at least a reasonable expectation that you waited until confronted by the hero to deliver a villain monologue. You didn’t f***ing type it up and hit All Staff.

PSA, bluesky will now start labeling entire accounts as nsfw which means if you occasionally post adult content you're at risk of having your entire account basically nuked in regards to discoverability/visibility horrendous change imo

The package has been delivered, so here, look at my first properly blocked ombre crochet shawl! Pattern is Otsukimi by Natamota, yarn is Kokonki. All the mistakes are mine...

Shah Cheragh Shrine and Mosque  Complex in Shiraz, Iran. The complex is known especially for its fabulous interior of mirror  mosaics, Shah Cheragh shrine is one of the most prominent sites of pilgrimage in Iran....

I was wondering why so many gorgeous vyshyvankas on the street in Warsaw today!

The fact that @sarahreesbrennan.bsky.social and @nataliezed.bsky.social released villainous sequels one after the other is violence to my sleep.

Annoying abundance of riches: tomorrow is publication day for both the newest Radch novel and the sequel to Long Live Evil. At least last Tuesday both the new Murderbot and Singing Hills titles were novellas, but urgh, decisions are hard.

You know the rules

Peak May 4th content.

GNU Terry Pratchett, whose words will echo long after we, and our children, and our children’s children have moved on thank you, as always, for making me a better person (quote from Reaper Man)

I was aware of a lot of these, but laid out with links and treatments all together, it's a lot. (3am wakeups, this is me.)

🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.

Important point. Tusk is still struggling after many years. But still, it is a huge victory for Magyar, Hungary and for Europe.

Okay CTA. This is a good sign.

we’re winning

Pope Leo is going full TWAIL and I am here for it.

I do believe we have a Spring.