Worldbuilding

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Why Fantasy NEEDS More Fantasy Jobs on YouTube

Fantasy worlds are filled with magic, monsters, ancient ruins, cursed artifacts, and god-level threats but when you look closely, the same few roles always seem to keep everything running. Warriors, mages, priests, nobles, and merchants handle almost everything… somehow.

That's because many people prefer stories with big, flashy plots. However, some other people like smaller, everyday stories -- the whole "cozy" angle is all about that, not about blowing shit up. Now I love a good explosion as much as the next guy, but that's not all I enjoy. Variety is good.

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Nominations Clarifications #1

Jan. 26th, 2026 11:35 pm
extrapenguin: Picture of the Horsehead Nebula, with the horse wearing a hat and the text "MOD". (ssmod)
[personal profile] extrapenguin posting in [community profile] space_swap
Dune (Movies - Villeneuve)
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell

Please nominate according to the instructions. Thank you! Your fandom/remaining noms will not be approved unless you comply with the instructions.

Mugen Kouro | Infinite Space
Original Work
Phantasy Star
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (TV 2026)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV)
Star Trek: The Original Series

Please disambiguate your nominations! This means adding the fandom in (brackets) to the end, e.g. Character: Alis Landale (Phantasy Star)

Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
We already have the fandom Star Trek: The Original Series in the tagset. Nominator of plain Star Trek, Kirk and Spock already exist there. TOS Movies nominator, would you mind being merged into regular TOS, as they're the same cast and continuity, or is there some big division I'm unaware of?
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
January 26 - 'if given the opportunity, where would you like to travel in 2026?' for [personal profile] goodbyebird:

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(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

FTH 2026 Signups Are Open!

Jan. 26th, 2026 05:10 pm
[personal profile] fthmods posting in [community profile] fandomtrumpshate

Do you create fanart, fanfic, podfics, videos, or any other kind of digital fanwork? Do you have services you can offer your fellow creators such as betaing, typesetting, research, or sensitivity reading? Do you want to use any of this to raise money for progressive causes?

If so, welcome to the 10th annual Fandom Trumps Hate auction!

Some light reading before you go straight to the signup form - even if you've participated before, please check these out!

One change to note: If you would like to offer your fanwork in "Any fandom," the options have changed. We have summarized those changes here.

If you've read all that and are ready to proceed, the 2026 signup form is here!

The main auction is only for digital fanworks - do you create physical fan crafts that you'd like to raise money with? Check out our Fan Crafts Bazaar!


Discworld Reading Blanket

Jan. 26th, 2026 10:00 pm
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
[personal profile] vivdunstan
For any fellow Discworld fans the Discworld Reading Blanket is back in stock at the Discworld Emporium in Wincanton (*), after it sold out rapidly previously. Buying me one!

* Wincanton is the town very near to Martin's home village in Somerset. So where his family would go to the supermarket, post office, school etc. He went into the Discworld Emporium once, on a visit back home twenty years ago. Was rather wowed.

Monday Media - January 26

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:35 pm
lebateleur: A picture of the herb sweet woodruff (Default)
[personal profile] lebateleur
WE FINALLY GOT SNOW YESTERDAY! The initial "2 feet starting at 7 pm Saturday night" became "3-5 inches starting after midnight Sunday morning" but seeing as we haven't had a real snowfall in ten-freaking-years I WILL TAKE IT. (Seriously, I hate "sunny blue skies and cold with no snow" winters. There are few things I find more depressing.) I tried my absolute best to stay up for the snowfall as the estimated start times ticked further and further back into the night but alas, tapped out around 11:30 pm. There was a good 4" (Only four? *sob*) on the ground when we got up yesterday morning, but we went out for a lovely multi-mile walk through the streets and Park in the virgin snow, seeing absolutely nobody aside from a few other couples and a group of seven armed national guardpuppets walking single file up the street in the opposite direction, doing absolutely fuckall of use to the city.

Wintry mix and an increasing number of fishtailing and/or marooned cars on the unplowed roads ultimately got us to head back home. We made hot coffees, and then hot cocoas, and then mulled cider. I settled in to read my Asian news sites, and then my European news sites, and then realized it was Burns Night. And then I got a little sad.Read more... )

Games: A main gaming group member's beloved-by-everyone pet passed away last week, so gaming has been preempted by other distractions, hugs, and really, whatever else they need from us for the foreseeable future.

Witchcraft has proved super challenging and great fun. This is a solo player tabletop game where you command a coven of witches trying to protect your fantasy medieval European village from fairytale monsters in the face of a skeptical jury. The game's mechanics are complex and challenging, with enough variability in their components to create a lot of replay value. Would I enjoy them as much if the setting were "medical researchers trying to save their chronically ill patients from certain death in the face of a skeptical ethics review board" or "rogue military alpha males trying to save their kidnapped ladyfolk from 'terrorists' in the face of a skeptical JAG?" Absolutely fucking not. But this game knows the sort of player it wants to appeal to with its chosen scenario, I am exactly the sort of player it appeals to with its chosen scenario, and it plays to my/those preferences brilliantly.

Otherwise, a fellow resident is in the early stages of setting up a gaming night, with Azul, Carcassone, Catan (*sigh*), or Wingspan as potential options, so I'm (no pun intended) on board and excited about that.

Music: I skipped last week's house session as my socializing meter was at 0. Both yesterday's pub session and today's house session have been cancelled due to Weather (ruling out group playing), and seeing I can't get the humidity in my unit above 19 percent even with both humidifiers going full blast for the past 72 hours, I won't be doing any solo playing at home. (PS: Houseplants, I am so, so sorry. Please don't all of you die on me I swear I am doing the best I can.)

Podcasts/Articles: Nothing this week.

Roleplaying: Nothing this week.

Television: An unsung hero uploaded a 40 minute interview with one of the Stars in My Personal Firmament of Irish Fluteplaying to yt this week, and I inhaled it like oxygen.

Video Games: Machinarium, Pentiment, and Ghost of Yotei continue apace. The GC has been replaying Knights of the Old Republic on the tower, so my Ultima IV replay has not progressed at all in the last seven days.


これで以上です。
[personal profile] fthmods posting in [community profile] fandomtrumpshate

The Fandom Trumps Hate Fan Crafts Bazaar

Every year, we get emails and comments from people who make physical fan crafts or art who want to list their creations in FTH. There are a variety of reasons that non-digital fanworks are not a good fit for the way we run the main FTH auction, but in 2020 we introduced the Fan Crafts Bazaar, a way for fan crafters to support our orgs parallel to the main auction. If you'd like to see what it looks like, you can view last year's Bazaar here.

2026 Fan Crafts Bazaar calendar:

Monday, Jan 26th - Signups open
Friday, Feb 27th - Craft Bazaar opens
Tuesday, March 3rd - Signups close
Wednesday, Mar 18th - Craft Bazaar closes (though individual stalls may close sooner)
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[personal profile] wychwood's 2025 book awards

Jan. 26th, 2026 09:10 pm
wychwood: black-and-white Magneto is an oldfashioned boy (X-Men - Magneto oldfashioned)
[personal profile] wychwood

176 books read in 2025 - just under the long-term average (182) but my highest since 2020.

stats ) awards )

My book of the year

A tough one! I'm not sure anything really stands out. But I think I've spent more time thinking about Augustine the African than the others, so maybe that.

Science

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:16 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The magnetic secret inside steel finally explained

For years, scientists noticed that magnetic fields could improve steel, but no one knew exactly why. New simulations reveal that magnetism changes how iron atoms behave, making it harder for carbon atoms to slip through the metal. This slows diffusion at the atomic level and alters steel’s internal structure. The insight could lead to more efficient, lower-energy ways to make stronger steel.


And there's a hint about one way that secret but mundane smithcraft, as well as magical or superpowered manipulation of materials and forces, can create objects that work better.