Author Archives: lydias

About lydias

I'm a sci-fi writer who loves lifting weights and hates eating Brussels sprouts.

August 28, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Funny Animal Video

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Close-up photo of a little brown baby bunny sitting in a patch of dirt outside. Its ears are perked up as it listens for anything nearby. One of my favourite types of amusing animal videos involves rabbits squeezing through spaces the humans thought were far too small for them to fit through or hopping further than anyone thought they should be able to.

If you’ve never held or otherwise been near a rabbit, know that a lot of their volume can be taken up by their fur and that they hop over and around all sorts of barriers.

Their bodies beneath all of that fluff are smaller and more flexible than you might think, especially if they’re sporting an especially fluffy coat or if it’s the right time of year for their winter fur to grow in.

Here is a short video about a baby rabbit who squeezes thought a cage.

Here is another one.

And a third and final great escape from a so-called rabbit-proof fence. (I do not think anyone consulted the rabbits before deciding to call it that!)

This is a baby bunny who has been temporarily placed in a laundry basket that is much too high for them to jump out of….right?

The tale of a rabbit in a large glass cage.

All of these videos are short. They are a few minutes long at most, and some are more like 20 to 30 seconds of footage.

I adore seeing tiny little rabbits outwit humans. It’s so funny.

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Tagged as Animals, Humour, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

August 27, 2024 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Posts I’ve Written That Give You the Best Glimpse of Me

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Stock photo of a white person peeking out at the world through white blinds. I think stories about people is a great way to get to know their personalities, so here are some of the stories I’ve told about myself over the years.

1) Keeping the Pipes Clear

This is how my grandfather found a safe way to involve his young grandchildren in digging ditches and keeping his land from accumulating too much water.

2, 3, and 4) Three Fun Facts About Myself

In which I talk about my heart murmur (which is not at all serious or anything, just interesting), share how I saved a turtle, and graciously responded to a vacation that did not go the way I was hoping. These three things are not at all related to each other, by the way.

5) Non-Bookish Hobbies

Did you know I’m trying to become fluent in Spanish and love weightlifting, for example?

6. A Review of Reading Breaks

A glimpse into my silly sense of humour as well as an explanation of why I sometimes take breaks from reading.

7. The Pet Fish I Almost Had

I still think about this little fish and hope he or she had a long and happy life.

8) Things I Love About Halloween

It’s my favourite holiday of the year!

9) A Photo Essay in Memoriam of a Tree

In which I get sentimental about a sick tree I was really hoping would survive but sadly did not. It was so gorgeous when it was alive. Click above for photos.

10) What I Do When I’m Not Feeling Well

A lighthearted look at dealing with minor illnesses like the common cold and how I handle them.

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Tagged as Personal Life, Top Ten Tuesday

August 22, 2024 · 1:00 am

The Perfect Job: A Review of Pathways to Bolingbrook

Title: Pathways to Bolingbrook

Author: William Brinkman

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: February 27, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Historical

Length: 26 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Two desperate women search for answers in this gripping Urban Fantasy double-header.

Miriam craves escape from her dead-end life in Iowa City. A stranger’s offer could make her dream come true… or plunge her into a nightmare.

Sara, reporter for a struggling paper, stumbles on a cryptic recording—one she doesn’t remember making. Could uncovering the truth destroy her career… or her family?

The quiet suburb of Bolingbrook masks dark secrets. Stories about local paranormal activities fill the pages of the local tabloid, Bolingbrook Babbler. Are they just tales or terrifying truths?

Will Miriam embrace a dark path? Will Sara risk everything to expose a secret?

Review:

It takes a special sort of person to accept such dangerous and thankless work.

I enjoyed getting to know Miriam and Sarah in this introduction to their world. They were both intelligent and resourceful women who had already accomplished quite a bit with their lives before being approached by a mysterious man with the sort of job offer most folks will never be aware even exists much less have a chance to try for themselves. While they didn’t meet each other here much to my surprise, I could see a lot of similarities between their personalities that made me wonder what they’d think about each other at some point in the future when the plot does bring them together.

While I totally understand that this was written as an introduction to a series, it would have been nice to have more conflict. Almost all of it was devoted to introducing the two protagonists, briefly describing what their lives had been like so far, and giving hints about why they might decide to take on these new roles. Yes, it was interesting and completely necessary to have all of that background information, but it also meant that the characters didn’t have much to wrestle with during the brief time I knew them. I would have loved to see how they both handled some sort of small problem that could foreshadow what to expect from them in the future.

With that being said, I did enjoy the world building and little snippets of foreshadowing that occurred. Bolingbrook honestly sounds like a rough place to live, but it also seems like it could be full of wonderful surprises for Sarah and Miriam. My hope is that this will provide them plenty of conflict in later instalments as I thought there was a lot of promise here that hadn’t quite been realized yet.

Pathways to Bolingbrook was interesting.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Book I Wish Were More Popular

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A gorgeous black woman dressed in a mermaid costume and sitting on the sand at the beach as the waves roll in. Her bra is metallic purple, her fin is light green, and her hair has been braided with red extensions. She’s lovely and looks very happy to be there.

It was so tempting for me to list five or six stories today, but I did follow the rules by narrowing down my choices to books that have been published in the last five years that I think should have been far more popular than they were.

My answer for this week’s theme?

The Deep by Rivers Solomon. That link will take you to the Goodreads page for it, and this one will show you my review of it from 2020.

What is it about? Without giving away spoilers, it’s about black mermaids who bear little to no resemblance to Disney’s bubblegum representation of mermaids. Their meaning is much deeper and thought provoking than that.

What I love about this novella are all of the layers readers get to unwrap as they discover more information about Yetu and her people. My impression of her changed several times as I read this book, and I keep hoping someone will finally turn it into a film or TV show.

Other themes in the storyline include intergenerational trauma, the lingering effects of racism, figuring out how to heal from the past, accepting love (both romantic and platonic), and, interestingly enough, the many differences between aquatic and land-based organisms.

Obviously, humans in their current form cannot live in the ocean. It takes a lot of alterations to make such a thing possible and some of them created opportunities for amusing misunderstandings, so keep an eye out for those moments as they appear.

The world-building leaves a lot of space for readers to come up with our own ideas of how certain things worked or what happened in the time periods Yetu does not have knowledge of as well. This is yet another reason why we need more readers for this book and for an on-screen adaptation to happen.

I need more folks around who would like to discuss the possibilities of this world and what might happen next to the characters!

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Tagged as Books, Rivers Solomon, The Deep, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

August 20, 2024 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Animals I’d Want to Meet

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

If only it were possible to meet all of them!

1. Enzo from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

2. Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web
by E.B. White

3. All of the friendly rabbits from Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams

4. The Velveteen Rabbit from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco

5. Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and maybe even Toad from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

6. Bambi from Bambi (Bambi, #1) by Felix Salten

As some of these answers included multiple characters, I think this will suffice.

Which fictional animals would you want to meet?

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August 15, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Title: Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Author: Janky Fluffy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 20, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal

Length: 58 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Little Defective Things: Mother and Father must protect their ordinary daughter from the evils of perfectionism.

Forgotten Toys: She is not a toy and must save herself.

A Pretty Apocalypse: Social media causes the kingdom’s collapse.

Hair Like Starlight, Eyes Like Dreams: A man has a near-death experience and meets an angel.

21 Broken Christmases: The Grim Reaper is a woman and is in charge of more than just death.

Leftover Food for Wellness: A troll meets humans for dinner.

Salt’s Real Kiss: The magic man promises beauty for a price, and Salt refuses to pay.

Of Butterflies & Ghosts: Bobby enters the rundown funeral home and discovers the truth about his wife.

Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes: The genie falls in love.

Her Turquoise Reunion: She survived the most brutal school with kindness.

Tiny Songs for Nocturnal Beings: The ghouls come for their yearly feeding.

Fleeing Monsters: Emelia must survive the monsters. But who are the real monsters?

Content Warning: Death, a cult, ableist characters. I won’t discuss any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Think of this collection like a sampling platter of different worlds and characters. A nibble here and there may fill you up.

Trolls aren’t very common in modern fantasy stories from what I’ve observed, so “Leftover Food for Wellness” piqued my interest. Figuring out why someone would purposefully seek one out in this day and age didn’t take very long, but it did give me food for thought as the arrogant main character made one bad decision after the next. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what those choices were and how they turned out for him, but I liked seeing his reaction to getting his wish. There’s definitely something to be said for making wishes come true…even the ones that never should have been made in the first place.

As intrigued as I was by the premise of “A Pretty Apocalypse,” the plot holes in it made it difficult for me to remain invested in what was happening. Social media has downsides to be sure, but I wasn’t convinced that this alone could cause society to collapse. While all of the stories in this collection were purposefully written to be short and sweet, this was one of multiple examples I thought would have been better if there had been more time to explain what was happening in them.

“Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes” was refreshing. Of course genies should have the chance to fall in love the way humans do! There were a few fun twists in this one which was a little surprising given how short it was. I will tip my cap to the author for pulling that off and for finally making the genie the main character of this sort of tale. That doesn’t happen often enough in this genre for my tastes, so I was glad to see it here.

Tiny Forgotten Wishes was my first introduction to this author’s work, and I look forward to reading more in the future.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things I Wish More People Talked About Openly

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

This week’s prompt was interesting because I’m a pretty private person. Theoretically, I am all for people sharing details of whatever is going on in their lives, including topics that previous generations tended to keep to themselves.

A photo of four different phones. From left to right there is a: 2000s-era black cellphone, 1980s-era green landline, 1960s-era white rotary phone, and 1940s-era black rotary phone. That does not mean that I am equally comfortable sharing everything about myself in great detail, though! I need time to get to know someone first to see what sort of character they might have and whether something small I share privately with them is going to be spread to every single person they know in the world by tomorrow morning. 😉

So what do I wish people talked about openly more often?

Their Average Days. Social media can often be a highlight reel of the best times in life…but what about when you’re not doing anything out of the ordinary? What do those days look like?

Small Accomplishments. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I love listening to or reading about people doing little things that are difficult for them but may be easy for someone else like making a phone call or trying something new. There’s nothing like cheering someone on for something that most folks would probably overlook if it wasn’t pointed out.

What They’re Grateful For. I believe that gratitude is often an underrated virtue, so it’s wonderful to see what someone is grateful for today even if it’s something minor like watching a gorgeous sunset.

Compliments. Everyone needs a nice compliment now and again.

How about all of you?

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Tagged as Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

August 13, 2024 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Trains

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Photo of train tracks going through a forest. There isn’t currently a train on them, but you can see the sun setting in the distance and the dark, evergreen forest on either side of the tracks. It’s a quiet and thoughtful moment. Thank you to Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next for this topic idea. I’m narrowing down “Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel” to just books about trains as I think travelling by train is just about the nicest ways to get around.

Canada doesn’t have as much train service as I wish we had, but you can still travel between most of the larger cities this way. It’s so relaxing to sit in a soft, comfortable seat and surf the Internet, eat some tasty food, or watch the countryside fly by. I much prefer it to driving or flying!

Here are some books about trains. Interestingly enough, they are all for children.

1. The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, #1) by Gertrude Chandler Warner

2.The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

3. Ghost Train by Paul Yee

4. Bear on the Train by Julie Lawson

5 .A Sea So Far by Jean Thesman

6. The Runaway Train by Jane Flory

7. The Train to Impossible Places: A Cursed Delivery by P.G. Bell

8. Bob the Railway Dog by Corinne Fenton

9. Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story by Dandi Daley Mackall

10. Lackawanna: A Novel by Chester Aaron

What is the train system like where you live? Can you hop on a nearby train when you need to travel, or do they only carry stuff like livestock or bulky goods?

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Tagged as Top Ten Tuesday

August 8, 2024 · 1:00 am

For the Sake of Knowledge: A Review of Grim Future

Title: Grim Future

Author: Nick S Nicholas

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 24, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 31 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Grim Future is a short story with the feel of an Indiana Jones meets the Mummy vs Space Invaders! Alec Kennedy, his love interest Rhonda Williams, and their expedition team’s leader Nathan Gray embark on an adventure to Egypt, hoping to discover an artifact that elevates them and their university sponsors into the international archeological spotlight. What they find will change the world in a way they never expected…

Content Warning: Murder, Sexism (I will discuss the latter briefly in my review)

Review:

Tombs are a window to the past. What sort of past that might be is an entirely different question altogether.

The character development was handled nicely. Alec’s self-absorption and difficulty with noticing subtle changes in his social environment quietly influenced every decision he made, and I was curious to see how he’d react to this expedition given that he was working in a group and would have to share the glory if anything of note was discovered. This was a pattern that repeated itself with other characters, too, whose flaws only made them more interesting to me because of how important they were to future plot twists. While I can’t say that I particularly liked most of the characters here, that is not a bad thing by any means. Honestly, unlikeable people can be the best options for certain types of storylines, and this is one of them.

While I could make an educated guess about what they were seeking, I do wish the ending had been longer and included more details about the antagonists’ motivations for behaving the way they did. The beginning and middle portions were so well written that I was surprised to see things suddenly be wrapped up the way that they were. There was a lot of space here for exposition, and I would have happily given a much higher rating if even if a paragraph or two of it had been added to explain what their precise goals were.

With that being said, I loved the way Mr. Nicholas turned certain science fiction tropes about female characters and what their roles should be in this genre on their head. I was a little concerned about where this was headed at first based on Alec’s one-dimensional approach to interacting with his love interest, but I’m glad I kept reading anyway. Just because things appear to be one way in the opening scene does not at all mean they will still feel the same way in the final one. Keep that in mind as you read if your initial reaction is the same as mine was.

Grim Future was a wild ride.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Funniest Advice I’ve Received

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

The word advice is written in block letters with chalk on a chalkboard. I began working on this post in March and will slowly add to it until the publication date arrives.

Sometimes advice is funny because it’s horribly wrong and should never be followed by anyone.

In other cases it’s amusing because of how it makes you see the world or the way it plays with our expectations of what might happen among many other reasons.

I tried to come up with a mix of these types for my replies.

Piece of Advice #1

“Stop taking your antibiotics once you’re feeling better! That way you’ll still have some antibiotics to take the next time you’re sick.”

This is something a relative who does not understand science, medicine, public health, or how antibiotics work said a few years ago. Please do NOT follow her advice. The last thing we need in 2024 or beyond are more antibiotic-resistant superbugs getting passed around and causing life-threatening illnesses.

Piece of Advice #2

“Never do anything you wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics.”

And, honestly, I think this is an excellent litmus test to apply when deciding whether to take a specific risk.

Piece of Advice #3

”Leave Canada geese alone.”

I had multiple Canadians tell me this when I first moved up here, and it’s something everyone should listen to. Yes, they’re beautiful birds, but they can also be quite territorial and aggressive, especially during breeding season. It’s best to give them a wide berth and admire them from afar.

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Tagged as Advice, Humour, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

Author Archives: lydias

About lydias

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Funny Animal Video

Top Ten Tuesday: Posts I’ve Written That Give You the Best Glimpse of Me

The Perfect Job: A Review of Pathways to Bolingbrook

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Book I Wish Were More Popular

Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Animals I’d Want to Meet

A Review of Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things I Wish More People Talked About Openly

Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Trains

For the Sake of Knowledge: A Review of Grim Future

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Funniest Advice I’ve Received

Piece of Advice #1

Piece of Advice #2

Piece of Advice #3

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