Not to get emotional about my big dumb bird friends but, I love my big dumb bird friends.
If you watch Sunwings in the late afternoon, they will keep their wings outstretched to catch the last sunrays on their solar panels. Then as soon as the sun sets, they panic. They'll frantically flap up towards the west, squawking and flailing, before landing and booting up their shields - they'll repeat this pattern over and over again until dawn. But why raise their shields when there is no active threat? My theory is, they're scared of the dark. Their source of energy and light is gone and their tiny bird brains don't know it'll come back again because they aren't programmed to know about "morning". So they boot up their glowing shields, wasting their power, so they have some light against the dark.
Then the sun rises in the opposite direction and they go "...OH." and turn around to sunbath and recharge again.
So dumb, I love them.
1K notes
·
View notes
ONE DAY
↳book > screen
There was something about the gesture, the tilt of her head and the pulling back of her hair as she applied the lotion to her neck, and he felt the pleasant nausea that accompanied desire. Oh God, he thought, eight more days of this. “Want me to do your back?” he said. Offering to apply sun cream was a corny old routine, beneath him really, and he thought it best to pass it off as medical concern. “You don’t want to burn.”
“Go on then.” Emma shuffled over and sat between his legs. He began to apply the lotion, his face so close that she could feel his breath on her neck, while he could feel the heat reflecting off her skin, both of them working hard on the impression that this was everyday behavior and in no way a clear violation of Rules Two and Four, those prohibiting Flirtation and Physical Modesty.
“Scooped quite low, isn’t it?” he said, aware of his fingers on the base of her spine. “Good job I didn’t put it on backwards!” she said and a silence followed while both of them thought oh god, oh god, oh god.
260 notes
·
View notes
Become an Advance Reader for Duck Prints Press!
Reviews are essential for showing prospective readers that we’re publishing awesome books that they want to buy and read. We’re looking to recruit an active group of people who post reviews of our work, and to do that we need your help! For the first time, we’re offering Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of one of our projects: Aether Beyond the Binary, our most recent anthology, featuring 17 stories of characters outside the gender binary exploring modern-esque aetherpunk worlds.
How it works: You see this post. You think, oh, I love reading! I love leaving reviews! I want to join the Duck Prints Press Reviewer Program! Then, you go and read the rules for our Reviewer Program. And, if everything there sounds like something you can do, you fill out the form, and – we’ll be in touch! Even better: this program isn’t only for Aether Beyond the Binary, and isn’t only for “advance” titles. Our reviewers are encouraged to claim titles that are currently released, too, to help build up a robust collection of reviews of Duck Prints Press titles!
Requirements:
You must be over 18 years old.
You must be prepared to post reviews on Goodreads and/or Storygraph.
You must also post the review on the appropriate listing on the Duck Prints Press webstore (for advance titles, you’ll have to wait ’til we list them there).
Upon acceptance to the program, you must join the Duck Prints Press Book Lover’s Server.
Reviews must be at least 100 words long must and engage with the actual content of the work being reviewed.
Reviews must be left within 6 months of claiming a title, or you will be removed from the program.
What isn’t Required:
That the reviews be positive. Reviews are for readers. We require that reviews be honest to your own experience of the work, not that they be glowing.
That you post the reviews to social media. Doing so is definitely a bonus, but you don’t have to.
That you associate yourself publicly with the review-leaving (beyond using a valid Goodreads and/or Storygraph account). As in, you don’t have to say, “I, (your name here), reviewed this book” or link your book website accounts with your existing social media presence or anything like that, nor do we request any demographic information beyond confirmation of your age.
That you purchase anything. Absolutely no purchase necessary!
What You Get:
A e-book copy (ePub and/or PDF) of the work you’re reviewing. We do not provide physical ARCs.
After you post your first review, you’ll get a coupon for 10% off a purchase from the Duck Prints Press webstore!
For every ten reviews you post, you can claim a freebie sticker from among our sticker offerings, if you want. (You’ll have to provide a snail mail address to get this, of course.)
A community of fun book-lovers to hang out with! (You can get that even without joining the ARC program, though – our Book Lover’s Discord is open to everyone.)
We’re accepting applicants for claiming Aether Beyond the Binary ARCs through April 10th, 2024. On the 11th, we’ll randomly select 25 of applicants to receive ARC copies of Aether Beyond the Binary. Everyone else will still be entirely welcome in the program and invited to start with a different, back-catalog book or story to review. We’ll make another pool of Aether Beyond the Binary ARCs available in May.
So… those are the basics. Interested? Go read the full rules, then apply to be a Duck Prints Press ARC reader TODAY!
113 notes
·
View notes
Honestly, the real story behind the Cat Person film/short story sounds more interesting and chaotic than the movie itself.
So, basically how bad was real life Robert?
The original girlfriend, whom the author based it on, insists he was a decent enough guy, they dated for a few years. She says the bad sex and foul text messages never happened. She remembers him fondly. But acknowledges she was 18 when they started dating and he was 32. (red flag.)
But then the author, who also knew and dated him, paints him out to be a terrible guy, then based the story on the original girlfriend, who is reasonably pissed about it. And the author included every exact detail so everyone in their social circle knew it was about them. But then made up all the nasty stuff..
Original girlfriend says when the story went viral it sent real life Robert into a spiral of depression. He died suddenly in 2021. She never explains why, but the suggestion is suicide.
Creative writing majors be causing all the drama.
185 notes
·
View notes