The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan


[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4.5 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

Kohaku Ichimura In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, Episode 1

I’m still working on streamlining my anime reporting, trying to get down to just two posts a season – an early tracker and a final count. Here’s the initial summary of the shows I sampled – and which ones are getting attention. (Shows are on Crunchyroll unless otherwise specified.) There are a lot of sequels I’ll be following, too. Note: I still haven’t gotten around to watching the new shows on HIDIVE. I remain stressed for time this month.

( All the Shows, Below This Cut )

His pleasure (1317 words) by Ciacconne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Final Fantasy XVI
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Clive Rosfield/Joshua Rosfield
Characters: Clive Rosfield, Joshua Rosfield
Additional Tags: Incest, Smut
Summary:

The events of Phoenix Gate never happened. The Rosfield brothers grow together.

Joshua isn’t above using his authority to get what he wants from his brother, his First Shield.

—- 

My first FF16 fic! 

TWICE performing “I Can’t Stop Me” TWICE This Is For World Tour Climate Pledge Arena • Seattle, Washington January 13, 2026 Sony RX100 VII • Zeiss 24-200mm (35mm equiv) f/2.8-4.5 f/4.5 @ 200mm • 1/800s • ISO 3200

This is a lengthy post written mainly for myself so that I’ll have a record of what actually happened. At my age, memory is the first thing to go.

tl;dr: I went to Seattle to see the TWICE This Is For World Tour Concert at Climate Pledge Arena.

I feel extra fortunate in that I was able to get tickets to two TWICE concerts this month. Of the two concerts, only the first one, in Seattle, was I able to get a fancy VIP Soundcheck reserved seat ticket, which provides:

• One premium reserved or general admission ticket to the show
• Access to the pre-show TWICE soundcheck
• Exclusive VIP gift item
• VIP laminate and lanyard
• Pre-show tour merchandise shopping opportunity
• Early entry to the venue
• Designated check-in and on-site VIP event staff

I’ve never had this before and I was eager for the experience.

( A TWICE Adventure, Below This Cut )

U.S.S. Athena Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Episode 1

(Spoiler-free Commentary)

The premiere episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is available for free viewing (for I don’t know how long) at YouTube. I made time to watch it last night.

I had been hopeful for a good showing, and I was not disappointed. I’ve always loved Holly Hunter (since Broadcast News... and, yay! The Incredibles!) and want her to be a big success here. Also, I’m a fervent Trekkie – from way back to the actual broadcast years of the original series in the 1960s.

In the episode, Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti were fabulous, as expected. The cadets were the expected variety of races, temperaments, maturity, composure, and intelligence; they have room to grow.

(One odd thought... if you take the academy’s chancellor and most? all? of the academy’s recruits into space... wouldn’t losing them all at once be catastrophic for the academy? I guess we’d better hope that only a small percentage of cadets are on the Athena at any one time. Dunno.)

I don’t have the time nor the budget to subscribe to Paramount+, so I won’t see the remainder of season one until much later. But I’ll continue to monitor reviews. There are always lots of review articles online. I did follow review articles of Foundation and Murderbot when I was watching those series. There are plenty of Starfleet Academy reviews online currently.

There was one article I enjoyed: I Love That Holly Hunter Can’t Sit in a Chair Normally on ‘Starfleet Academy’ at Gizmodo. And I too love that about Captain Ake.

What was quite interesting was the comments section of the article. Apparently a large number of Trekkies really dislike the new show. Reading their complaints was interesting. I hope the producers of the series ignore that feedback and simply continue on their chosen path.

On the other hand, a couple of comments did resonate with me.

I LOVED her doing all that! I'm 5'2" myself and while I don't often get the chance to be in chairs like her character's, I could see myself doing that on occasion. I almost certainly did as a kid. As for those having a "problem" with this show, I am a long-time Trek fan, having started watching as a kid right after it went into syndication in the 1970s (I'm just one year older than the franchise), and I love every iteration. Are they all perfect? No. Do some of them challenge Roddenberry's vision? Of course. Are they woke? You better believe it, from day one 60 years ago! But they never stray so far that you can't recognize the ultimate message: We can be better. We can do our best to be kind, understanding, tolerant, collaborative and uplifting. If you don't like that, fine; don't watch. But don't tell me Starfleet Academy is not Trek, because it very, very much is, and it proved that in the first two episodes right off the bat.

–– MartinC

and:

I liked her character, immensely. And look – I’m 70, and I know they’re targeting a generation that’s several removed from me, but it’s still Trek … and I love it.

And I’ve got to say … when they brought the Athena (god, what a gorgeous starship) down to San Francisco, with Rufus Wainwright singing “you’d better wear some flowers in your hair,” it was practically a religious moment for me. I feel sorry for anyone who can’t share that joy.

–– Zaphod

Haters probably didn’t like Lower Decks or Prodigy or Strange New Worlds either. Well, let them sulk elsewhere. I like all flavors of Trek. (Admittedly, I have some reservations about Enterprise.) Haters include non-Trekkie White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. SMH. Let Miller know that Star Trek has been “woke” for 60 years.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid


[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4.5 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

Second plea deal coming for the Gen Con heist. The longest-running story I have followed for this newsletter is nearly over! Well, except the 2023 Hugo saga is probably going to beat it for longevity later this year.

Utage Kinoshita Tamon’s B-side, Episode 1

The last couple of days I’ve been doing volunteer work for my church – and also working with medical clinics for evaluations. It’s not been a quiet week.

At times over the next two weeks I’ll be traveling and staying in cities on the West Coast to see concerts performed by TWICE. I love seeing TWICE – but generally hate to travel. Tomorrow I’ll be making checklists and itineraries, reviewing transportation and lodging logistics, preparing camera equipment, and packing for the first leg of the adventure. For a fair portion of mid-month I will be offline and unavailable.

Also, the new season of anime kicked off last week. I try to sample all the new shows within the first three weeks of the season – but I won’t be successful this quarter because of away time. Maybe I can post my assessment at the end of the month?

As of today, I’ve checked out 16 shows and have 13 yet to be reviewed (with additional shows premiering all the time). I’m not counting Jujutsu Kaisen and Fire Force and Oshi no Ko, which are known quantities – nor Frieren, which shows up in another week but without question is in my watchlist. I haven’t even started on HIDIVE. Anyway, there’s a lot to check out. Eventually.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4.5 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )