#lizardwrapped

[last year]

stats

maaan i read a lot this year, actually 🤔 a lot of short books which inflates the total number a little, but still. not bad, not bad.

also, friend me on storygraph y'all

best of

aka this year's favorites

Absolute Favorite: Rakesfall (Vajra Chandrasekera)

this book!! gripped me from page 1, half the time i had no idea what is going on - and this book doesn't give a fuck if you get it or not lol - still couldn't stop reading. somehow, this touched something inside me that very few books manage, and i still can't explain what exactly. just that i finished it and thought "yep. new favorite book."

Favorite Classic: Molloy (Samuel Beckett)

i made a point of deliberately mixing up my reading diet and reading both "current" stuff as well as older ones, and i heard good things about Beckett, so i figured why not. and his whole trilogy is SUCH a weirdass experience. absolute masterpiece that i probably wouldn't recommend to anyone unless i knew they were into weird shit. very hard read, half the time you have no idea what's going on, and then he blows you away with a random sentence that has you reevaluate your life. jfc that prose. i need to re-read this soon.

Favorite Nonfiction: Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwan (Rosemary Sullivan)

ough my heart. so i'm not a poetry person, at all. but Gwen MacEwan for some reason fascinates the hell out of me, even tho i rarely get her work. but she herself as a person is just such a tragic figure and idk, i just want to wrap her into a blanket lol. and this biography is SO good. very long and detailed, and just very… personal, i think. intimate. maybe it's because the author knew her. but it's a great and tragic read.

Notable Mention: The City and Its Uncertain Walls (Haruki Murakami)

this fucking book. a slow, meandering mess that is probably twice as long as it needs to be - and yet. strangly compelling, not once did i think i wouldn't finish it. i'm still not sure what it is about this book that draws me in, but i've read it in march and i'm STILL thinking about it. the damn town behind the wall. the unicorns. the library ghost. the fucking autistic shadow. i kinda hate that it hasn't let me go yet, because it's not a particularly great book imo. maybe i need to re-read it (doubtful). anyway, congrats Mr Murakami, idk what you did, but you somehow did it.

other favorites

in no specific order

because this whole thing deserves a little yearly review too...

after not writing anything for the public in sooo many years, i actually wrote quite a lot this year. only had to overcome the initial feeling of "cringe omg i can't post that 😬", and now have lost all shame and am enjoying myself immensely, subjecting the world to my bullshit. i think i actually improved quite a bit over the whole year.

AO3 STATS [link]

28 works 48,102 words total 18x ocworld: 17 short bits + 5 chapters Dark Lights, Shine Loud 7x fallout: 6 of those Courier Mika including 20 oneshot chapters Come All Sufferers (#fnv au) 2x star trek disco

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SPOTLIGHT some points stolen from this list

.characters i thought most about: mika - light of my life, bane of my existence. the ultimate blorbo from my brain, bouncing around in there 24/7. she's terrible and i love her so much. (#mika tag) gabriel - grew SO MUCH this year, mostly thanks to the silly little fallout au. i have a lot of thoughts but not enough words. i love him so much. (#gabriel tag) special mention: fiona - what started out as daria's nameless dead backstorywife somehow turned into an actual character that has been living in my brain now extensively. little miss tortured poet. i love her. (#fiona tag)

.favorite title And there are days like this, too because it's the perfect throwback to the kinda-first part 4261 days. and i wasn't even the one who came up with it, that was @voidthing special mention: The Hills Have Eyebots. because it's just funny.

.favorite opening line

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Mika cursed when her can of energy drink let out the familiar hiss of danger. Despite her best efforts and a few quick sips, she still managed to spill some of it on herself and the couch. Great, another point for Nic's long list of things to be pissed about. As if the general mood in this apartment hadn't been shitty enough those last few weeks. Oh well, let her bitch then. [Dark Lights, Shine Loud]

is it my best line? nah, far from it. is it the perfect introduction to Mika? hell yea - cursing, consuming caffeine, and making a mess. what more do you need to know lmao. i just really like that one, still. the whole first chapter, actually.

.favorite piece of dialogue

"You didn't answer my question - you think we're doing the right thing here?" "Yes." There was not a bit of doubt in his voice. "You believe in our stupid plan?" "I believe in you." [Doing The Right Thing]

just sums up the whole fallout au and their dynamic so well, and also *clutches chest*

special shoutout to the close second, the "I'm not a lesbian" bit in In Whiskey Veritas

and another special shoutout to the last bit of Left My Heart In The Sierra Madre because. T_T

.favorite ending line

Falling in love with her best friend was such a bad idea, July thought, and yet she didn't know how not to. [Viola sororia]

it's so sappy. but 🥺🥺🥺

close second for a completely different vibe:

Freud would probably have something to say about distracting yourself from your shitty mother by sleeping with a woman roughly that same age. Good thing Freud was dead. [Mommy issues]

.favorite text overall 4261 days i still think this is the best thing i've written. for someone who does not have particularly much experience with grief in general, i really really like writing a lot about it somehow...

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OUTLOOK 2025

the big multi chapter thingies are very far up my to do list, but yknow how it is with adhd brains - ohhh lets do that quick short text first, and that one, and that one *procrastinates the big ones*

BUT that is the plan:

. finally getting some more chapters into Dark Lights, Shine Loud. there are a bunch lying around as first drafts, but they still need some work. soonTM

. continuing the way-too-ambition plotheavy heistthing What Happens In Reno, Stays In Reno after those first few intro chapters. this requires an extensive brainstorming session to get the actual plot hammered together.

. the shiny new wip that i am itching for (because shiny and new), because it's gonna be a bit different in various ways so that makes it excitingTM

....and of course just continuing to write, overall. gonna keep my #fff streak up.

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SPECIAL THANKS

@voidthing for basically being my secret co-author. always improves the quality by SO MUCH and is the bestest anyway 💕💕💕

the whole @flashfictionfridayofficial community - turns out a regular thing is really good to get a habit going, and also y'all are so nice and cool and just 💕💕💕

i was a huuuuge reader when i was younger, and then eventually i fell out of that somehow. but this year i finally managed get back into a more or less consistent reading habit, so imma blab about that

STATS

(powered by Storygraph, will probably update these when december is over lol)

BEST OF

The Instant Fav: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy usually, "fantasy YA" is something i do not care about. at all. i didn't particularly care about teenage protagonists back when i was that age, i do not now. and run-of-the-mill european-medieval-coded fantasy also isn't my thing. at all. BUT when Margaret Killjoy, who is amazing and great and such a cool person, brings out her first real novel (after a bunch of novellas and short stories which i also enjoyed a bunch), guess i have to read it. AND IT'S SO GOOD. it's exciting and funny and tragic and hopeful and queer af and well written and i just really really loved it. go read it y'all. [favorite line]

The Slow Burn: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer been meaning to read this one for ages, because i love the movie so much, although i heard people either like the movie or the book. and i did enjoy it well enough, read the next 2 books too, it was.. nice. i think i gave it 4.5/5 initially. and then i couldn't stop thinking about it. re-read parts, read about it, hyperfocused. people always go on about how they want a relatable protagonist, but i don't think i ever actually had a character like that. well, hello Biologist. she's just like me fr. if i were a biologist. anyway, this book tickles something inside me. maybe it's the autism. [favorite line] [another favorite line]

The Surprise Hit: The Magos by Dan Abnett when you ask the internet "which warhammer 40k book is a good starting point", the Eisenhorn trilogy usually gets recommended. what doesn't get mentioned is "well, that one actually belongs to 2 more trilogies and another novel and a bunch of short stories". started, felt entertained enough to continue, had my fun. they're not great, the first 3 Eisenhorn ones have the weirdest-ass pacing, Eisenhorn himself is a dramatic bitch, but overall good enough. Ravenor trilogy is ok. the short stories inbetween range from :shrug_emoji: to good enough. (Bequin on the other hand is really really good) and in comes The Magos. suddenly the pov character is not some larger than life inquisitor doing god's the emperor's work, but the saddest wettest little nerd way in over his head. and he hates all this daemon- and chaos-bullshit and all the guns and the blood and just wants to go home to his books and he cries and he pukes from all the gore, and his ex wife is there too, and he mouthes off to FamousTM ScaryTM InquisitorTM Eisenhorn because it's all bullshit, and you just wanna wrap him in a blanket. and of course he saves the day eventually. i'd die for Valentin Drusher. [favorite line]

i'm such a fucking GamerTM lmao

because for some reason my wrapped numbers are once again off, have my last.fm numbers instead, as well as some BONUS

most listened and loved album: gabriel bruce - love in arms fav album released 2023: rome - live in kyiv 2023 fav studio album released 2023: miese mau - blumenstrauß random fav dj set: lorenzo raganzini @HÖR