Janni Lee Simner
@jannileesimner.bsky.social
Writer and struggling idealist. Author of the Bones of Faerie trilogy. www.simner.com
“I built entire cities no one will ever visit … I had to kill many precious things.”
Elle Cordova@ellecordova.bsky.social · yesterdayRough Draft vs Final Draft
“I built entire cities no one will ever visit … I had to kill many precious things.”
Elle Cordova@ellecordova.bsky.social · yesterdayRough Draft vs Final Draft
Everyone knows about Tucson’s fire dragons, but we have water dragons too. Can you see them?
Everyone knows about Tucson’s fire dragons, but we have water dragons too. Can you see them?
If Dolly Parton could do all the good she did in this world with her millions, imagine what those with billions could do if they actually wanted to.
So I’ve finished all eight Dungeon Crawler Carl books and Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey. What am I supposed to read now?
"All art—serious, frivolous, and everything in between--exists to say, 'You are not alone'." @sarahbethdurst.bsky.social in Sea of Charms
Finished Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey this week. Lots of nice moments there. Including and especially: “Lying Odysseus replied, 'I will tell you the truth completely.'”
Why do I feel called out by the Le Guin bot?
Ursula K. Le Guin Bot@leguinbot.bsky.social · 2w agoGo to bed; tired is stupid.
Only in silence the word, Only in dark the light, Only in dying life: Bright the hawk's flight On the empty sky.
Not sure why the algorithm decided to send me there, but there’s a whole ecosystem of fb reels that are just people bragging about their Disney vacations and telling each other how to do Disney “right.”
Listen, Tenar. Heed me. You were the vessel of evil. The evil is poured out. It is done. It is buried in its own tomb. You were never made for cruelty and darkness; you were made to hold light, as a lamp burning holds and gives its light.
Starting Dungeon Crawler Carl 8. The books are all about having to survive in a rigged system, which I think is why they resonate now. Also: “Elle: Donut, I love you, but have you ever considered not saying everything that comes to you the moment it pops into your head?” “Donut: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”
Listening to Emily Wilson’s The Odyssey. “Poets are not to blame for how things are. Zeus is.”
Just a reminder for anyone wary of lettuce right now that your community and your local farmers markets may have local farmers growing it—and it’ll probably taste better, too. Here’s one of my favorite growers here in Tucson. www.heirloomfm.org/vendor/farme...
Farmer ALP, Heirloom Farmers Markets
heirloomfm.org
The oddest thing about the response to this essay is people who say it’s “personal”. You can disagree about some or all of it! I may well be wrong! But it’s not “personal” to analyze a film or other work of art, even negatively. Criticism is more than “Hurray!” or “Hiss!”
To be fair, cats still have mixed feelings about even that.
Sarah Andersen@sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · last mo.
I enjoyed The Odyssey movie. And I enjoyed Emily Wilson’s take—through the lens of her deep expertise—on why the movie didn't work for her. It’s a review that gives us worthwhile things to think about, which is what reviews are for.
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last mo.I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
The temperature sensor in our car has always run high, sometimes by as much as 10 degrees. Still. And all.
Remember, both the Iliad and the Odyssey were originally audiobooks.
But we're all walking in the night, now, on ground we don't know. When the day comes we may know where we are, or we may not.
Life poem: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” —Aboriginal activists group Queensland, 1970s
This is. And thou art. There is no safety. There is no end. The word must be heard in silence. There must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss.
The longer a man stays in a form not his own, the greater this peril.
If you need permission to skip it, consider it given. Or maybe just read the Riddles in the Dark chapter for context about the ring—and also because imho it’s more strongly written than the chapters around it.
Janni Lee Simner@jannileesimner.bsky.social · 2mo agoFinally reading (listening) to the Hobbit. It’s slow going, with characters who stumble from adventure to adventure and coincidence to coincidence. I can see why I never made it through before. The leap Tolkien made to get from this to the Lord of the Rings is really quite remarkable.
Finally reading (listening) to the Hobbit. It’s slow going, with characters who stumble from adventure to adventure and coincidence to coincidence. I can see why I never made it through before. The leap Tolkien made to get from this to the Lord of the Rings is really quite remarkable.
But we, insofar as we have power over the world and over one another, we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and the wind do of their own nature. We must learn to keep the balance.