AMA - Bramblethorn

[seela]

How do you pick the books you read?

 

[Bramblethorn]

How do you pick the books you read?

These days, mostly social media. I'll see an author posting online, follow them for a while, and if they seem interesting and not-an-arsehole I'll give their stuff a try.

Though with one it was a case of "I like this cheesecake, I wonder who the artist is... wait what do you mean there's a six-book arc with an actual plot?"

 

[ultramarineblue]

What are the best books you've read lately?

 

[ashkitten]

Bold of you to assume I'm asleep by the middle of the night...

I don't usually have a problem with waking up with worries. The issue is more that I have a hard time switching off to go to sleep - I want to read a little bit more, play one more turn of a game, ... and this is especially a problem when I've had a big day of interacting with people.

Once I let myself go to sleep, usually what wakes me up a couple of times in the night is hungry cats. (I know, I know, but they spend the rest of the night cuddling and I don't have the heart to kick them out; also, one of them has food issues that mean I can't just give him a big meal to last him through the night.)

What game are you most likely to stay up late playing?

 

[Bramblethorn]

What are the best books you've read lately?

I loved Tamsyn Muir's "Gideon the Ninth" and "Harrow the Ninth". Not easy books to read (some serious grief and depression along the way) and I spent the first act of both muttering "is this going somewhere?", but they really stick the landing and I can't wait for the final book in the series. HtN in particular is a glorious mindfuck. And Gideon's voice is glorious.

Amal el-Mohtar + Max Gladstone "This Is How You Lose The Time War" - two time-travelling agents working for opposite sides start leaving one another notes, and the correspondence develops...

Seanan McGuire's "Every Heart A Doorway" and sequels. All those stories about children who stumble through a magic portal into another world, have fantastic adventures, and then come home again? This is about what happens afterwards.

Stjepan Šejić's "Sunstone" series (graphic novels). Sexy, funny, warm stories about BDSM and relationships. I'm not much of a superhero comics reader but his "Harleen" was also excellent.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What game are you most likely to stay up late playing?

I go through phases. Lately it's been Rimworld, Masters of Orion 2 (very retro), and a tower defense game with monkeys fighting off balloons (and, important for Fara, a banana-based economy). In a few weeks it'll be something different. I'll probably grab Hades for the Christmas hols.

 

[ashkitten]

I loved Tamsyn Muir's "Gideon the Ninth" and "Harrow the Ninth". Not easy books to read (some serious grief and depression along the way) and I spent the first act of both muttering "is this going somewhere?", but they really stick the landing and I can't wait for the final book in the series. HtN in particular is a glorious mindfuck. And Gideon's voice is glorious.

Amal el-Mohtar + Max Gladstone "This Is How You Lose The Time War" - two time-travelling agents working for opposite sides start leaving one another notes, and the correspondence develops...

Seanan McGuire's "Every Heart A Doorway" and sequels. All those stories about children who stumble through a magic portal into another world, have fantastic adventures, and then come home again? This is about what happens afterwards.

Stjepan Šejić's "Sunstone" series (graphic novels). Sexy, funny, warm stories about BDSM and relationships. I'm not much of a superhero comics reader but his "Harleen" was also excellent.

Aaaah! I loved Gideon, haven't read Harrow yet. The bodyhorror was almost too much for me. Also, Gideon is such a ridiculous hunk. I would love to hang out with her.

 

[KimGordon67]

If you were to give one piece of advice to someone entering a non-monogamous relationship (not necessarily strictly 'poly', because it may not involve other actual relationships, but also not monogamous), what would it be?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Aaaah! I loved Gideon, haven't read Harrow yet. The bodyhorror was almost too much for me. Also, Gideon is such a ridiculous hunk. I would love to hang out with her.

There's some great Gideon/Harrow fan art out there. Most of it involving Gideon's biceps.

 

[Bramblethorn]

How’s the kitties?

They're good. We had the cleaner in yesterday, which is never their favourite thing. Senior Cat is sleeping in her secret place in my wardrobe, and Junior Cat is notifying me that it's been several minutes since he was fed. Last night he climbed under the quilt and cuddled up with me - not going to get many more opportunities for that before summer, I suspect.

 

[Bramblethorn]

If you were to give one piece of advice to someone entering a non-monogamous relationship (not necessarily strictly 'poly', because it may not involve other actual relationships, but also not monogamous), what would it be?

Hmm. Maybe "don't assume"?

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you handled it. [wait, never mind, slipped into interview mode for a second...]

What is on your most-loathed foods list?

 

[seela]

These days, mostly social media. I'll see an author posting online, follow them for a while, and if they seem interesting and not-an-arsehole I'll give their stuff a try.

Though with one it was a case of "I like this cheesecake, I wonder who the artist is... wait what do you mean there's a six-book arc with an actual plot?"

Was it an actual cheesecake or does cheesecake here mean something else? If an actual cheesecake, what kind? I like cheesecake. If something else, boy, do I feel silly (and a little disappointed by the lack of cheesecake).

 

[Bramblethorn]

Was it an actual cheesecake or does cheesecake here mean something else? If an actual cheesecake, what kind? I like cheesecake. If something else, boy, do I feel silly (and a little disappointed by the lack of cheesecake).

In this context, cheesecake = sexy pictures (though usually non-explicit). But that particular series did also have a gag with cake-cake. I think I posted it a while back.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you handled it. [wait, never mind, slipped into interview mode for a second...]

When I was very new in my current job, a much more senior staff member fucked something up because he hadn't read some important info in an email I sent ("please note, we are using this standard...") Then he sent an angry email, CCed to a bunch of senior people, blaming it all on me for not using the standard he was expecting.

I walked away from the keyboard and counted to one hundred or so. By the time I got back, one of the other senior staff had replied to all with "hey, here's the email Bramble sent you earlier about this very issue..."

Bless them. It meant more because at my previous job I'd been bullied and eventually fired by the boss (mix of unethical business practices and what I guess I'd call sexual harassment) so it was great to see that somebody I didn't even know would have my back.

(It's not the one I use in job interviews, though.)

What is on your most-loathed foods list?

Onion and most of its relatives, because of what it does to my stomach. Beyond that, I can't afford to be picky - just that one restriction is inconvenient enough!

 

[ultramarineblue]

I loved Tamsyn Muir's "Gideon the Ninth" and "Harrow the Ninth". Not easy books to read (some serious grief and depression along the way) and I spent the first act of both muttering "is this going somewhere?", but they really stick the landing and I can't wait for the final book in the series. HtN in particular is a glorious mindfuck. And Gideon's voice is glorious.

Amal el-Mohtar + Max Gladstone "This Is How You Lose The Time War" - two time-travelling agents working for opposite sides start leaving one another notes, and the correspondence develops...

Seanan McGuire's "Every Heart A Doorway" and sequels. All those stories about children who stumble through a magic portal into another world, have fantastic adventures, and then come home again? This is about what happens afterwards.

Stjepan Šejić's "Sunstone" series (graphic novels). Sexy, funny, warm stories about BDSM and relationships. I'm not much of a superhero comics reader but his "Harleen" was also excellent.

I'll have to check these out. They sound very good.

 

[cookiecat]

Do you frequent any other online boards / forums?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Do you frequent any other online boards / forums?

A couple of professional ones that I check in now and then, but not as a place to hang out.

 

[cookiecat]

Whatchya doing this weekend?

 

[KimGordon67]

What's something that you're quite good at that you enjoy doing?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Whatchya doing this weekend?

I have mixed feelings about answering this one, because... things are getting better where I live, and I know for a lot of my friends on here the situation is so different :-/ I don't want to rub it in people's faces, but you asked, so.

Friday night: visited friends for dinner, had round food (pizza and donuts) to celebrate three weeks of zero new covid cases in Victoria.

Yesterday: First mall visit in months. Shopping (clothes, shoes, groceries), getting a massage, working on my current Literotica story, getting distracted by internet and phone games. lol-ing at what is meant to be a Very Serious BDSM Video which kept getting bombed by the actress's pets.

Today: weekly Discord/Codenames get-together with friends, currently getting my daily treadmill exercise, then in an hour or so heading over for an evening of board games and food with other friends who we haven't seen in person for months.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What's something that you're quite good at that you enjoy doing?

Mathematical problem-solving, and board games.

 

[Zionisacat]

What's something you're not at all good at yet enjoy doing?

 

[Bramblethorn]

What's something you're not at all good at yet enjoy doing?

Bluffing games (Among Us, Werewolf, etc.)

 

[seela]

Do you watch MasterChef Australia? Do you have a favorite contestant from all the seasons? And since they mostly film in Melbourne, have you ever seen them film or participated in the challenges as audience?