you cannot gender me in a way that matters

BISEXUALS GROW FROM THE GROUND

I really do love it when a character gets to safety after some grueling experience they survived and got out of by their own strength and skill and cunning, and... then gets drastically worse very rapidly afterwards. Just utterly collapsing, sick, out of strength, in so much pain, hardly able to get out of bed without help, probably emotionally an utter mess too

Because they've just been pushing their body on and on, to its limits and past, because they had to, because it was up to them to deal with it all, there was no help, no back-up, nothing to rely on but themself. So their mind and body have just burned up all the reserves and endured it all as best as possible, they've held together until they got out of that situation

But now that they're finally safe, their body recognizes it. Now that they're finally safe they no longer need to endure more, they no longer need to keep anything together, to push the pain and exhaustion aside and refuse to feel it in order to go on. They're finally safe to stop all of that. And so- they collapse. All of it catches up with them all at once, and they have no optipn to keep it at bay anymore, they just have to feel it. Have to suffer the consequences of all the injuries, exhaustion, whatever illness they might've picked up, whatever's going on

So far I've only mixed up the main batch of colors, but I'll split them up and create a palatte of tints and shades once I have access to a scale again.

I don't have any fancy tools and have been blending the fiber by hand, so it's probably best I have a forced break for the sake of my fingers. Once I'm done I should have a very useful set of 57 2g swatches to play with! (Plus 5 more for a set of grayscale swatches)

The ratios are presented in the same order as the wool swatches in the photo above it. I didn't simplify any of the ratios so you'll have to deal with 2:2s instead of 1:1s, oops.

May I present the best apple:

The Raven Scholar, Antonia Hodgson. My big standout new author find this year, with a classic fantasy court drama/murder mystery featuring a truly excellently written cast of characters. Review.

A Drop of Corruption, Robert Jackson Bennett. Second of the Holmes and Watson-style intrigue murder mysteries, with a rare combo of unique fantasy worldbuilding and a classic, plotty mystery. Review.

How to Find a Nameless Fae, AJ Lancaster. bi4bi fantasy romance with a sensible 40 year old protagonist, fairy tale plot, and a love interest with more than a little bit of Howell Jenkins. Review.

I Leave It Up to You, Jinwoo Chong. Leaning a bit towards litfic, about a queer man's complex relationship with his family and their sushi restaurant after waking up from a coma. Review.

Blood on Her Tongue, Johanna van Veen. A properly bloody Gothic novel set in 19th century Netherlands. Excellent atmosphere. Review.

A Brother's Price, Wen Spencer. Genderswapped Regency romance with the sociological SFF worldbuilding to back it up. Review.

The Incandescent, Emily Tesh. Emily Tesh never misses. Slice of life about a jaded teacher at a elitist magical school for teenagers. Review.

The Everlasting, Alix Harrow. Time loop narrative about butch lady knights, fascism, and the meaning of the stories we tell ourselves. Review.

A Far Better Thing, HG Parry. Excellent fairy changeling angst based on A Tale of Two Cities. I love a good tragedy. Review.

Upcoming Releases

The Subtle Art of Folding Space, John Chu. Probably a bit obvious to compare it to Everything Everywhere All At Once. Messy family drama and interdimensional shenanigans. Out April 7th. Review.

The Duke, Anna Cowan. Absolute souffle of a lesbian melodrama and very much in the shape of classic eighties Regencies, except the duke is a woman. Has the intensity and drama I've been missing from some sapphic romances. Out April 28th. Review.

The Poet Empress, Shen Tao. Still thinking about this one. Ruthless, pragmatic fantasy set in a mythical China that takes aim at a lot of dark romance tropes and hits it out of the park every time. Out January 20th. Review.

A Widow's Charm, Caitlyn Paxson. Delightful fantasy romcom about a widow blackmailing a guy into (illegally) necromancying her recently dead husband. Out March 31st. Review is held until spring but here's the Goodreads.

Honorable Mention

One Yellow Eye, Leigh Radford. Story about a woman trying to save her infected husband in the most compassionate take I've ever read about a zombie plague. Excellent medical details also. Review.

Notes from a Regicide, Isaac Fellman. Messy, rambling narrative about a trans man trying to make sense of his trans parents, with a sprawling SF future that only shows around the corners. Review.

What Fury Brings, Tricia Levenseller. The only thing you need to know about this book is that CS Pacat enthusiastically blurbed it. What if HE got kidnapped and dark fantasy romanced, and also the protagonist lady had biceps the size of cantaloupes. Review.