laceblade | Reading

Posted by Katherine Dacey

https://mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/28/the-manga-review-saturday-morning-cartoons/

If you’re a teacher, librarian, or parent, this week’s newsletter is for you! To celebrate Pride Month, manga experts from around the web have been highlighting great, queer-friendly titles for young adults. The all-librarian staff at No Flying No Tights, for example, just compiled an excellent list of nine LBGTQ-friendly titles for older teens that touch on many aspects of the queer experience, from first love to gay marriage and gender dysphoria. For readers more interested in queer-friendly manga for women, Alex Henderson has a short but thoughtful list of yuri titles that run the gamut from After Hours to She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat. Also worth a look is Cy Catwell’s in-depth discussion of Run Away With Me, Girl, about a pair of young women who buck societal expectations about love, marriage, and family to find their own pathway to happiness.

NEWS AND VIEWS

File this under It’s About Time: Dark Horse announced that it will be publishing a new, deluxe edition of Lone Wolf and Cub with unflipped pages and oversize trim. Look for the first volume in March 2026. [ICv2]

In other licensing news, Graphix will publish Spider-Man: Shadow Warrior, a manga that finds Peter Parker and friends transported to feudal Japan. The title, which is aimed at elementary and middle-school readers, arrives on shelves in September. [ICv2]

What LBGTQ+ manga would you like to see make the leap from print to screen? [Anime Feminist]

Once again, Jocelyne Allen highlights a manga that isn’t available in English, but really ought to be: Cats~Yojo-han Bura Bura Bushi~. [Brain vs. Book]

Lace up your skates: Deb, David, Chip, and Christoper debate the merits of Dogsred, a melodramatic sports manga from the creator of Golden Kamuy. [Mangasplaining]

REVIEWS

The latest Reader’s Corner covers everything from seventh volume of My Girlfriend’s Child to the first installment of Kaiju No. 8: B-Side… Giovanni Stigliano gives high marks to Neighborhood Craftsmen: Stories from Kanda’s Gokura-cho… and if you have a young cat lover in your house, check out A Library Girl’s review of A Man & His Cat Picture Book: Fukumaru and the Spaceship of Happiness.

New and Noteworthy

BONDS (Giovanni Stigliano, Asian Movie Pulse)
The Colour Out of Space (Edward Picot, Broken Frontier)
Guardian: Zhen Hun, Vol. 1 (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Lycoris Recoil Official Comic Anthology: React (Danny Lee, Asian Movie Pulse)
My Death Flags Show No Sign of Ending, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
Not So Shoujo Love Story, Vol. 1 (AJ Mack, Yatta-Tachi)
Otonari Complex, Vol. 1 (AJ Mack, Yatta-Tachi)
Silkscreen (AJ Mack, Yatta-Tachi)
Snegurockka of the Spring Breeze (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
Teppeki Honeymoon, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
Watari-kun’s ****** Is About to Collapse, Vol. 1 (MrAJ Cosplay, ANN)
A Witch’s Life in Mongol, Vol. 1 (Claire, Beneath the Tangles)

Complete, Ongoing, and OOP Series

Adults’ Picture Book: New Edition, Vol. 3 (Mark Thomas, The Fandom Post)
Aria of the Beech Forest, Vol. 1 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
Call of the Night, Vol. 20 (King Baby Duck, The Boston Bastard Brigade)*
Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 2 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
The Gay Who Turned Kaiju (AJ Mack, Yatta-Tachi)
Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 25 (King Baby Duck, The Boston Bastard Brigade)
Jungle Juice, Vol. 5 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus Edition, Vol. 5 (SKJAM! Reviews)
Let’s Do It Already, Vol. 5 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
Oshi no Ko, Vols. 9-10 (darkstorm, Anime UK News)
Pink Candy Kiss, Vol. 2 (Eleanor Walker, Okazu)
Rainbows After Storms, Vol. 3 (Erica Friedman, Okazu)
The Shiunji Family Children, Vols. 2-3 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
A Star Brighter Than the Sun, Vol. 2 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 1 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
Suzume, Vol. 3 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, Vols. 15-16 (Noemi10, Anime UK News)
Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood, Vol. 3 (HWR, Anime UK News)
The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 13 (King Baby Duck, The Boston Bastard Brigade)
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Vols. 5-6 (luce, Okazu)

* Final volume

https://mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/28/the-manga-review-saturday-morning-cartoons/

https://mangabookshelf.com/?p=85041

torachan

1. We had an award ceremony for one of the stores today and I got some cakes for the ceremony and they were really good. Would definitely get from that bakery again.

2. This evening after I got home Carla asked if I'd be interested in going down to Disneyland for an after dinner trip and even though we just went yesterday, I decided going tonight and then having Saturday and Sunday just for staying home and resting would be nice, so we went down there tonight and had dessert and watched the parade. I'm super tired now but I had a great time.

3. It's the weekend!

4. Yawn!

fennectik posting in

anime_manga

Up till now I've only watched the OAVs and the reboot Dirty Pair Flash which didn't attract me as much as the old timy whimy series. I never even knew a series existed until I stumbled into them on youtube. I gotta say there's a lot of what you can learn from here which potentially connects to said OAVs, and the 80s scifi feel of its phenomenal.

Dirty Pair is a gallant guilty pleasure of mine.

Current Mood: nostalgic

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3108/

To combat the threat, many airlines are installing wing-mounted spray bottles.

https://xkcd.com/3108/

mangabookshelf_feed

Posted by Sean Gaffney

https://suitablefortreatment.mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/27/lady-rose-just-wants-to-be-a-commoner-vol-3/

http://27.18092

By Kooriame and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

Content warning: this book is filled with suicide ideation, and has several attempts near the end, though none are successful.

I know that it’s not economically feasible and would not be popular, but sometimes when you get a light novel series like this I wish that it could have been one 800-page book. Or at least have all three come out on the same day. Because this third and final volume of the Lady Rose series really requires you to remember everything from the first two, and the series rewards going back and checking on certain scenes over and over again. That said, if you did what I did, and read the books as they came out, and tried to recall what was going on, you should still be okay here. Fii’s story is done, and she doesn’t even play a major role in this book till near the end. Unfortunately, that’s just in person. In the background, Fii trying to escape her noble life and become a commoner turns out to drive a heroine to dark, depressing thoughts. And that’s just when she’s five years old.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but our protagonist is hit by a truck (while pushing a girl out of the way of the same truck) and winds up in the world of Savior of Nations: Lady Rose. She is THRILLED. She doesn’t even care that she’s in the body of the villainess, Liliana. This means that she gets to see her favorite character, SETH! Immediately deciding to learn reading, writing, and proper etiquette, despite the reactions of her father and servants, she does succeed in meeting Seth, as well as Melvin, who she declares a “friend of convenience”. Unfortunately, when Liliana turns five, Felicia arrives on the scene, and Liliana gets an immediate lesson in the difference between one who tries her hardest and one who is simply perfect. Unfortunately, over the next ten years or so, this means that Liliana gradually loses her grip on reality.

The first few books already had a tinge of psychological horror. With this third book, it goes beyond tinge and gets into the deep waters. I haven’t seen a light novel get so far down the path of fucked-up narration since I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!. Even when Liliana begins to realize the possible cause for her mindset… grief at her happy, loving life being cut senselessly down by a truck… she rationalizes that it’s too late now. The bulk of this book is Liliana trying to find a way to die. Fortunately, we know how that goes, as we read the second book, but still. This book also has a few surprises in store – notably one of the busiest Truck-kuns I’ve ever seen in an isekai – but for the most part it is best when focusing on Liliana’s desperate attempts to fix things, then fix everyone but herself. The one flaw is the almost total lack of Seth. The author says that having Seth in the book more would have given away the twist, and yeah, I guess, but I still think the impact of the end might have been better if he’d had a larger presence.

This series is now done, though I do wish we’d seen the stories that were only suggested where she apologizes to her maids. Liliana’s inability to really read people at all has affected her maids more than anyone else, and I hope they get some comfort and relief. As for Liliana herself, I think things will be fine now. She’s had magic bread, after all.

https://suitablefortreatment.mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/27/lady-rose-just-wants-to-be-a-commoner-vol-3/

http://27.18092

kaberett

Went on an Adventure to post a lost item back to someone (hopefully in time for the next thing they want it for...), and was rewarded with DUCKLINGS.
Not too warm to achieve fallback dinner of I Don't Know, Bake A Potato, with the result that we finished the lurking salad leaves and also stuck some of the cook-from-frozen pasteis de nata into the oven once potatoes were done.
Ridiculous organic greengrocer had an option on sending us rainbow chard this week, which means I might actually manage to cook one whole new recipe this month (!), which was otherwise... not looking likely. (I have been comprehensively failing to sow any, but there we go.)
Went fossicking in sofa to try to at least rationalise my horrid piles. Found one (1) of the two (2) fancy watch chargers I own, and not the one I was expecting to turn up (because I thought I'd probably mislaid it in a field), which hopefully means that given a leeeetle bit more fossicking I might even find the second.
Really enjoying playing with pens for the purposes of making notes on the pain reading. (Today has been Mindfulness for Health, with detours to read up more on the gate control and [neuromatrix] theories of pain; I was surprised that Model First Proposed In The 1960s is still apparently more-or-less the best we've got for "how the fuck does psychology and emotional affect and other sensory input actually affect how pain is experienced?")

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6748 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #965.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

starwatcher posting in

ebooks

This one has multiple genres.

Books for sale, mostly $1 to $3

Hit the "Genres" button at the top of the page to narrow your search.

Happy reading!

ETA: Jesse_the_k notes that "This is a meta-search engine, compiling deals from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google and Kobo." I didn't realize that was note-worthy, but yeah. Whatever platform you use to read, you're covered.

unsounded_feed

https://unsoundedupdates.tumblr.com/post/787477275385937920

•LATEST UPDATE HERE•

Elka is very sensitive. Good thing she thought better of bringing along that Get Well card she had everyone sign back at the depot, the one that said: “YOU’RE OUT OF THE ARMY NOW LOL!”

Check out the print book ANNOUNCEMENT if you missed it! :D

After over 15 years, Unsounded finally has a publisher! The comic is going to be put to print by Iron Circus Comics, a very cool company that’s done webcomics as illustrious as Rice Boy, Lackadaisy Cats, and TJ and Amal. Pretty rad, right? Our tiny baby has finally grown up, and it’s all thanks to you, readers. Your support all these years helped the comic reach its end, and that’s really what got a publisher to consider it. So thank you.

Now, please, please head over to the Kickstarter campaign page, and give it a follow! The campaign will be launching in a bit over a month. There’ll be LIMITED bonus goodies - including commissions and free shipping - but you’ll have to act fast once it launches! Let’s get lots of followers on there before then, it makes us look sick and cool.

There are some crucial logistical things for current readers to know though. The most important one is these two books are NEW COMPILATIONS. They do not sync up with the old self-published books, and the old shop is coming down this weekend. Those old books are beloved, but now outdated. The NEW books - in addition to having new covers and newly retouched art - are LONGER. Volume 1 contains chapters 1-4 as well as a Duane in Sharteshane bonus comic (this is the old v2 comic). Likewise Volume 2 is LONGER, containing chapters 5-8, a newly illustrated Tainish guide, and a brand new Knock and Anadyne comic.

I had no choice but to recompile the books, my darlings. In order to get the entire massive story into 6 books, I had to squish more into the early volumes. I know it’s a little disappointing, please don’t be too mad at me. Compromises had to be made in order to ever see the entire story in print. I wanted to also publish a third book at this time, and even did a rad new cover for it to try and sell it to the publisher, but there simply was not room in their schedule for 3 huge books this year. To get the rest of the books, we have to make sure these first two sell well! So please consider purchasing them when the campaign starts. I really busted my ass to make them worth it for you! Even as I’ve been drawing the final chapter and epilogue the past year, I’ve been working on these books :)

So! Contact me on Tumblr if you have any questions! And please follow that preview page so you’ll know when the crowdfund launches! Thanks, everyone! :)

-Ashley

••••••••••••
Discuss the comic on Discord or Reddit

https://unsoundedupdates.tumblr.com/post/787477275385937920

torachan

1. I had a nice birthday! Other than going to Disneyland, we didn't really do anything, but Disneyland was fun. And it was nice not having to go to work, though I kept thinking it was Saturday and now I have to go back to work tomorrow (boo).

2. I got a little storage cabinet to organize all our extra legos. The sets usually come with an extra piece for all the small ones. I guess they figure those are most likely to get lost. Up until now we've been putting them in ziploc baggies with the name of the set they belong to, but that's gotten out of hand and also they don't need to be separated by set. I just started sorting them out today and I imagine that will take some time, but it should make everything more organized and save on space once it's done.

3. Love those big Chloe yawns!

helloladies posting in

ladybusiness

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.

( Read more... )

torachan

Birthday trip! I don't ever bother getting a birthday badge or anything because I don't need random people telling me happy birthday (and also there's usually a long line) but I do like going to the parks on my birthday.

( Read more... )

mangabookshelf_feed

Posted by Sean Gaffney

https://mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/26/manga-the-week-of-7-2-25/

https://mangabookshelf.com/?p=85047

SEAN: The second half of the year begins, appropriately, with a lot of stuff.

ASH: A belated Happy Solstice, everyone!

SEAN: The big light novel of the week is not an Airship title (and technically not a “light” novel), so we’ll have to wait. Till then, Airship does have the third volume of Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! in print.

And in early digital we see Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 11 and The Too-Perfect Saint 3.

Cross Infinite World debuts I Want to Be a Saint, But I Can Only Use Attack Magic! (Seijo-sama ni Naritai no ni Kougeki Mahou shika Tsukaenain desu kedo!?). A young woman desperately wants to not be isolated. She wants to be a saint. But when she goes to magic academy, it turns out she can only use attack magic (men’s magic) and not healing magic (women’s magic) at all! I hope this kicks against gender binaries more than it sounds.

ASH: It would be great if it does.

SEAN: There’s also The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor 7.

Dark Horse has another Lovecraft title, The Colour Out of Space (Isekai no Shikisai), a one-shot which ran in Comic Beam. A spooky town with a spooky university gets a spooky meteorite. This is award-winning (the manga, that is).

ASH: Gou Tanabe’s Lovecraft adaptations have been excellent thus far; I expect this one to be no different.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Tamamori’s Fantasies Never Stop! 2.

Random House is debuting a new imprint, Ink Pop. Their first title is a manga hardcover, I Wanna Be Your Girl (Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku). This ran in the magazine Ganma!. A girl has been in love with her childhood friends for years… but now finds that she identifies as female. Wanting to be supportive, she helps with her friend’s transition… and starts to dress as a man to see what it feels like. This is apparently a great LGBT title, and the imprint is being pitched for younger readers.

MICHELLE: Interesting!

ASH: Very! The manga itself as well as the emergence of yet another manga publisher!

ANNA: Great to see!

MJ: It’s been a while since I weighed in here, but uh… hello?? I might need this.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one digital debut, a manga. Zero Damage Sword Saint (Kougekiryoku Zero kara Hajimeru Ken Hijiri Tan). Based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, it’s about a young man who wants to be a magic swordsman. But it turns out he can only use healing and defensive magic! Running away from mockery to a magic academy, he probably finds life there a lot better than the woman in the CIW title above.

ASH: That’s probably true.

SEAN: There’s also, for light novels, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 7, Knight’s & Magic 7, The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 5, and Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta 4.

And for manga we get The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases 7, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 3, The Coppersmith’s Bride 6, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 11, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 6, The Retired Demon of the Maxed-Out Village 2, and Tearmoon Empire 8.

No debuts for Kodansha. In print we get The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé 2, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 8, Thunder 3 5, and Wind Breaker 12.

Digitally we see Blue Lock 22, How to Grill Our Love 15, and Those Snow White Notes 30.

The big debut for Seven Seas is the debut of The Twelve Kingdoms novel, which had come out about 20 years ago but is getting a proper release now. They’re dividing the first book in half, and it has a new translation. A high school girl finds herself in another world, beset by dangers, and far more important than she expects. Can this overcome the fact that everything has tried to imitate it since its original release?

ASH: This series is fantastic; I am so incredibly excited that it’s being re-released! (And hopefully we get the whole thing this time.)

ANNA: Wow, I would love to be able to read the end of this series!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a 5th volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (the deluxe hardcover version).

Their first manga debut is BL Game Rebirth: My New Life as the Hero’s Younger Brother (BL Game no Shujinkou no Otouto de aru Koto ni Ki ga Tsukimashita). An office worker who loves BL dies and is reincarnated in her favorite game as the main character’s younger brother! …wait, the main character’s already hooked up? …wait, did he have a younger brother?

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: The second debut manga is a manwha. What It Means to Be You features a couple who are currently shunned and shamed by society. Our heroine, knowing everyone hates her, tries to kill herself… only to wake in her husband’s body! And he’s in hers! Can a Freaky Friday plot save their marriage?

ASH: Maybe it can!

ANNA: Worth a try!

SEAN: There’s also a new omnibus, Tokyo Revengers: Brilliant Full Color Edition.

Also from Seven Seas: 365 Days to the Wedding 8, The Ancient Magus’ Bride 20, Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 5, Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent 3, Otaku Elf 9, Punch Drunk Love 3, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me 4, A Tale of the Secret Saint 9, and Yakuza Reincarnation 13.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more of The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: Yes, indeed! (Though I do need to catch up…)

SEAN: Square Enix brings us Daemons of the Shadow Realm 8 and The God-Slaying Demon King 2.

Steamship has At Your Service in Another World 2 (the final volume).

Titan Manga debut Cosmic Censorship (Uchuu Kenetsukan), a mecha series from LINE Manga. A track girl suddenly finds herself involved with mysterious powers and needs to save the world.

ASH: This sort of thing seems to happen from time to time.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts SANCTIFY: Lost Paradise, a sequel to the Sanctify BL series. Expect dark supernatural smut.

Udon is listed as having the second volume of Veil, which surprises me given how the first book just a) came out and b) sold out.

ASH: I did manage to get my hands on a copy; hopefully I can snag this volume, too.

ANNA: Yikes, I need to get this!

SEAN: Viz debuts Nue’s Exorcist (Nue no Onmyouji), a Weekly Shonen Jump title. A boy who can see spirits has tried to avoid them most of his life, but when asked by a spirit to defeat evil haunting his school, he gets swept up in adventure.

Also debuting is a sequel. The Demon Prince of Momochi House: Succession (Momochi-san Chi no Ayakashi Ouji: Tsugu) picks up where the last series left off. It also runs in Asuka.

MICHELLE: Huh. I don’t think I ever finished the first one.

ASH: I’m not sure I did either, but I enjoyed the volumes that I read.

ANNA: I actually finished it, I think! Will be curious to check this out.

SEAN: Also out: Blue Box 16, Blue Exorcist 31, Dark Gathering 14, Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki 2, My Special One 10, One Piece 109, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite 4, Pink Candy Kiss 2, Tamon’s B-Side 8, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 14.

MICHELLE: Byakko Senki! It’s been almost five years since the first volume came out.

ANNA: Yay!!!!!!!!!

SEAN: Yen On debuts Who Killed the Hero? (Dare ga Yuusha wo Koroshita ka?), an award-winning light novel. The demon lord has been defeated, though it cost the hero’s life. Now, several years later, a writer doing a book on the hero’s party wonders… is that really what happened?

They also have Love Is Dark 3.

Yen Press debut The Hitman Stans (Koroshiya no Oshi), a seinen title from Harta. A hardcore hitman feared by all says he’s retiring… to devote his life to his favorite idol.

ASH: This could potentially be fun.

ANNA: It does sound fun.

SEAN: The other debut is I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class (Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni natta). Based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, it’s about a loner who discovers that his pretty classmate also likes B-movies, and they become secret friends. This runs in Comic Alive+.

And there’s also Spring Storm and Monster 3.

Too much manga? Maybe. But don’t buy all of it, just what you want!

https://mangabookshelf.com/2025/06/26/manga-the-week-of-7-2-25/

https://mangabookshelf.com/?p=85047

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6747 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 06 secrets from Secret Submission Post #965.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

kaberett

If you have had long-term pain, of any kind, for any reason, a component of your pain is neuroplastic. Neurons that fire together wire together: you've had lots of practice at being in pain. This comes down, fundamentally, to how we learn.

Which means that while neuroplastic pain management approaches may very well not solve all of your problems, they'll treat a component of them, and that's worth having -- in exactly the same way that we don't want to e.g. give up painkillers that "take the edge off" but don't solve the whole problem.

(None of this is actually novel except insofar as most education about chronic pain blithely asserts that "most" healing has completed within 3-6 months, so pain persisting beyond that timescale Is Neuroplastic unless you've got cancer we suppose. So in the context of My Project, the framing of "this is an approximately unavoidable complication of your underlying condition that requires active management in its own right" strikes me as important.)

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

This week's questions were suggested by

bindyree.

1. Who was your favorite teacher?

2. Why was that teacher so special?

3. Do you think teachers get paid enough?

4. Do you have a favorite year of school?

5. If you could travel back in time and tell yourself something now that would have helped you get through school, what would you say?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

asknicola_feed

Posted by Nicola Griffith

https://nicolagriffith.com/2025/06/26/a-miracle-built-on-a-moment-a-37-year-love-story-in-photos/

http://nicolagriffith.com/?p=86424

June 26, 1988, East Lansing, MI: I met Kelley and fell instantly in love. I love her still—in some ways more than ever, because I know her better. It’s also the 10th anniversary of Obergefell v Hodges. I’d intended to write a post about that but I find the post I wrote last year says everything I want to say: it explains without explaining just why that Supreme Court decision was so important. So here it is again—I just updated a little and added another picture at the end.

The Moment

37 years ago today I met Kelley. 37 years ago today I fell instantly and irrevocably in love. Most people find that difficult to believe. I understand. I’ll say only that if you ever have every cell in your body stop, shiver, and align in one direction like iron filings around a magnet, you will know. It remains the oddest, most powerful and inarguable thing that’s ever happened to me. A done deal, the work of a moment. And absolutely non-negotiable.

37 years later, here we are, living the life that bloomed from that moment. Every day is a miracle.

Does this mean our life together was inevitable and easy? It was not. Against that simple, visceral knowing was ranged every rational, practical and institutional argument in the world.¹ So although the connection, commitment, and (so far) life-long bond happened in an instant, it took 18 months to make it possible for me to move from the UK to Kelley in the US, and another 5 years of browbeating the world to make the US State Department declare it to be in the National Interest to grant me, an out lesbian with no money, connections, degree, or job offer, but with a chronic degenerative illness and no visible means of support, a waiver to live permanently in this country.²

37 Years: A Photostory

I met Kelley in the corridor of a dorm at MSU in East Lansing, Michigan. It was 104º with no air-conditioning. We were there for Clarion—I was their very first foreign student. I’ve told the story elsewhere. But the bottom line was: we had six weeks together and then I had to go back to my life—family, partner, job, mortgage—in the UK with no practical hope of coming back…

Two photos: on the left, Kelley with long blonde hair , white shirt and black bow tie looking a long, cool glass of water. On the right, Nicola and aother woman standing on crash mats—Nicola is demonstrating a strangle hold and how to break out from it — While we were apart. Kelley went to parties

While we were apart. Kelley went to parties

That autumn we were apart, in 1988, was very, very hard. Kelley was working at GE Computer Services, going to parties, and making friends in the Atlanta queer community. In Hull, I was grief-stricken (my little sister died), stressed out of my mind (in love with two women on opposite sides of the Atlantic), and frantically earning money to get back to the US. As well as my actual job as a caseworker at a street-drugs agency (basically doing social work for people using heroin and meth), I was teaching women’s self defence as many evenings and weekends as I could. I hadn’t really started to get sick yet…

Nicola and Kelley—with short and longn fair hair respectively looking about two years ago and hopelessly in love, gazing at each other and also adoring a small cat — 1989—what is love without a cat?

Then I did get sick. And I lost weight. But then, finally, I managed to get back to Kelley. I’m not sure we let go of each other for more than 5 minutes at a time the whole seven weeks I was in the US. This Polaroid was taken in Tampa, where Kelley introduced me to her mother and stepfather.

This time when I left her it was to return to the UK one last time, sell my house, leave my partner of 10 years, and say goodbye to my family. It took three months. It was hard.

We lived in a brand new apartment way outside Atlanta: Duluth, Georgia. Then moved closer into the city with a rented house in Decatur. Finally, with the advance I got from Ammonite, we had just enough to put down a scarily skimpy deposit and risk an adjustable rate mortgage on a little house in Atlanta itself. At some point I would either sort immigration and we’d move somewhere not so damned hot, or the immigration thing would completely implode and we’d have to leave the country. Either way, we’d be selling before the interest rate jumped too much. It was worth the risk. But money was tight, immigration was daunting, and my mysterious fatigue was not getting better.

Balck and white pohoto of Nicola andn Kelle both with short hair, Nicola is holding Kelley from behind, they look tired but comforted by each other — Stressed and tired we find refuge in each other. Photo by Mark Tiedemann.

In this photo, taken in 1992, the strain is showing. We were seeing lawyer after lawyer and not getting the immigration answers we needed. I was having medical test after medical test, ditto. We knew it was serious when I began to limp. Six months later, I had my diagnosis: MS.

Two women's hands wearing new wedding bands in front of a wedding cake

Six months after that, we got married. I wore long sleeves because of all the IV bruises on my arms. But I was so happy that day. I don’t think we let go of each other at all except to hug other people. It was a home-made wedding; the whole thing, excluding the rings, cost $500.

Nicola adn Kelley both wearing white and smiling in a restaurant — I started to let my hair grow

Although the marriage had zero legal force it had a profound effect on me. Weirdly, that manifested in me beginning to grow my hair. (Something about being settled? Being a wife? It’s a mystery.)

headhsot of nicola and kelley wearing weird southern clothes with nicola's hair in an updo — Now we play grownup, or maybe dress-up: Southern Ladies Who Lunch

Anyway, by the next spring it was long enough to spray and pin into an up-do for a big ol’ Southern party at my editor’s father’s house: everyone who was anyone in Atlanta society was there. It was like playing dress-up. It was playing dress up.

Then I sold another book (Slow River). I got my Green Card. And we moved to Seattle.

1997 Nicola and elley both with long hair standng in front of a house holding each other and laughing — 1997 outside a friend’s house in Seattle

1997. Seattle. We are much more at home. Kelley has a fab job at Wizards of the Coast and I’ve published two novels and sold a third (The Blue Place). We have a lovely little house in Wallingford (that’s a friend’s house in the background). We’re bursting with happiness. One fly in the ointment: my hair. It’s long enough to plait, very heavy and very annoying. Here it’s scragged out of the way; I am sick of it.

Nicola and Kelley on a bed—both thsir hair is growing—and nicola ad kelley at a restaurant table. Nicola's hair is very sort and very white; kelley's is long — 1999, Monteplier VT

1999. Vermont. I’ve started to shorten my hair; this was also th eyear I started using a cane. One year later, in 2000, I’ve chopped it all off and bleached it white. This is us in the Queen’s Grill onboard QE2: a transatlantic crossing that was our 40th birthday present to ourselves. We’re both wearing long dresses because they take First Class seriously on that boat. (Next time: a tux! At the time I didn’t know anywhere I could get one.)

Nicola adn Kelley on a front porch and icola and kelley at a table — About to dance the Freedom Fandango

2000 was a big year. My MS was increasing upon me and Kelley cashed in her stock options. Life was uncertain. We had no idea how many years of good life I, and so we, had left. Live life now, is what we decided. Kelley quit her job and we threw an enormous party—rented out a whole nightclub in Pioneer Square—called it the Freedom Fandango, and invited everyone we knew.

I underwent an experimental course of chemo. Felt brilliant. Felt terrible. Then stabilised. The second photo was taken after I’d stabilised again: me and Kelley at the PK Dick Awards with our friends Mark and Donna. I was there to support Mark, who was nominated, and to accept the award for Steve Baxter if he won—which he did. I was about to publish the second Aud novel, Stay. Kelley was about to publish her brilliant novel Solitaire .

‘Stabilised’ is always a relative term when it comes to MS. It’s actually a course of endless decline. By 2004 it was clear we would have to leave our beloved house-with-all-the-steps in Wallingford and find something more accessible. So here in 2005 is one last shot of Kelley making hummus in the kitchen of our old house. One of me in the kitchen of our new single-level house a month later in Broadview. Kelley has published Solitaire and just started the longest-ever negotiation for the movie rights. I’m working on Always.

May 2008 in Los Angeles: winning my sixth Lambda Literary Award (for And Now We Are Going to Have a Party). Then the day after in the bar feeling a leetle rough. Then June in Seattle: a dinner party at home to celebrate our 20th anniversary. I am about to start writing Hild. Kelley is writing the screenplay for OtherLife.

These are all taken between 2009 and 2012. The black and white one by Jennifer Durham is me being delirious with delight at getting an offer from FSG for Hild.

2013. General happiness, and then, a few months later, a fully legal wedding on the 20th anniversary of our first nothing-legal wedding. All these photos by Jennifer Durham, too.

2013, as co-Guests of Honour at Westercon.

In 2013 Kelley and I were co-Guests of Honour at Westercon. It was fabulous. We turned it into a mini Clarion reunion and had a splendid time. All that year, and the next, we travelled: a US hardcover tour for Hild, then a UK tour, then a US paperback tour, culminating in Washington DC for Kelley’s father’s 80th birthday.

In 2015 and 2016 I found myself in the news, a lot. In 2015 it was the unexpected whirlwind around the Literary Bias data I put together. In 2016 it was the even more unexpected resurrection of Anita Corbin’s Visible Girls series and then Visible Girls Revisited. It’s pretty weird being recognised for a random moment 43 years ago.

By this time I’d transitioned to using a wheelchair. I was ill and tired. Kelley was working staggering hours as a freelancer. We were dealing with a Lot of Family Stuff. This photo was taken by Anita for the new series; I don’t like the photo, perhaps because I feel as though I look heavy. (I’m not talking about physical weight but emotional weight.) And I was unhappy about the wheelchair. It’s hard to explain: I’m not unhappy about using a wheelchair—the wheelchair has given me a kind of freedom I had lost. I was unhappy about being posed with the wheelchair. It felt…weird. Sort of fetishistic. In fact I’ve cropped this photo because in the original the chair became the focal point.

2019. © Anita Corbin as part of the Visible Girls Revisited series..

Then it was the pandemic, and we went nowhere and took only endless photos of experiments with home hair cuts.

Then, woo-hoo, we started going to conventions again—specifically ICFA. Here we are in 2022 and 2023, loving the sun and the company.

Spear won awards and nominated for a bazillon more, and Menewood came out. And here we are at the World Fantasy Convention last year.

Nov 2023, WFC. We’re in the bar—shocking, I know—I’m off camera to the left

And here we are this time last year at the same event—Kelley at the pre-game wine-and-nibbles (I was doing the meet-and-greet with board members and donors at the other end of the room) and me on the stage an hour later.³

Kelley listening to friends talk while I sing for my supper at the other end of the room

We’re both tired. We’ve been through a lot of external stresses the last couple of years.⁴ But as you can see between the photos of te year before and then last summer we were beginning to get a lot of that sorted and the strain is easing. And, as always, we find our refuge each in the other—and the strength inside ourselves to be strong for the other when they can’t.

This last 12 months has been more difficult in health terms—but, again, recently the news has been encouraging—and, again, other stressful parts of our lives are improving. (Apart from, y’know, the occasional, Hey, we nearly died moment. And the even more recent week where every single one of our appliances—washer, dryer, stove, fridge—died at once.)

But also in the last 12 months some amazing things have happened: I was inducted into the SFF Hall of Fame, the Aud books have been republished in the US (and this time next week the UK), and earlier this month I SFWA honoured me with the 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. Kelley and I were in Kansas City together and did a lovely joint presentation as well as enjoying another mini Clarion reunion. Here we are at the banquet, before they let in the awards audience and before I go up on stage. The food, sadly, was awful but the company, as always, marvellous.

Nicola in a white jacket and Kelley in a pastel blue and violet dress at a banquet table — Nebula banquet, June 2025. Photo by either Mark Tiedemann or K Acuna (sorry I can’t remember which)

Kelley is the finest person in the world. I fell in love with her in a moment but have spent my life since then trying to be the person she deserves. I might never get there but it continues to be an amazing journey.

Little things like reason—everyone, even Kelley to begin with, thought I was, well, perhaps ‘not sensible’ is the kindest way to phrase it—family, my partner, friends, jobs, money, health, immigration law… ︎
And thereby create new immigration law. ︎
So many photos these days seem to be taken at events where for one reason or another we can’t sit, as we prefer, right next to each other. We really, really have to fix that! ︎
I wrote about that here and here. ︎

https://nicolagriffith.com/2025/06/26/a-miracle-built-on-a-moment-a-37-year-love-story-in-photos/

http://nicolagriffith.com/?p=86424

yui_miyamoto posting in

anime_manga

Fandom : Ace of Diamond / Daiya no Ace / ダイヤのA
Author : Yui_Miyamoto
Story Title : still more art to create.
Rating : PG
Genre(s) : Romance, Angst
Main Character(s) : Sawamura Eijun, Miyuki Kazuya
Summary : Sawamura goes running to relieve his frustrations…
Warning(s) : M/M.
Disclaimer : Daiya no Ace belongs to Terajima Yuji, Madhouse, and Production I.G.

Livejournal / Fanfiction.net / AO3

yui_miyamoto posting in

anime_manga

Fandom : New Cutey Honey / 新キューティーハニー
Author : Yui_Miyamoto
Story Title : sutareta. (obsolete.)
Rating : PG
Genre(s) : Romance, Angst
Main Character(s) : Kisaragi Honey, Hayami Chokkei
Summary : (Taking place in the Shin/New Cutey Honey timeline) Chokkei’s crush on Honey continues until he starts to question if she’ll fall into a deep sleep once more…
Warning(s) : None.
Disclaimer : Cutey Honey is created by Go Nagai-sensei.

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