My Immortal is the stuff of legend. Author Tara Gilesbie, better known by her online handle XXXbloodyrists666XXX, first posted it on fanfiction.net between 2006 and 2007. The original was deleted, but it is archived numerous places online - here’s one.

(Aside: I’m pretty anti Harry Potter these days, for obvious reasons. I’m willing to write a review of this particular Harry Potter fanfic, though, given how much JK Rowling would hate it.)

This tells the story of Hogwarts student Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way. She’s in Slytherin, and a goth, and a vampire. Her best friend is Willow, an insert of a friend of the author who assisted with editing. Willow is also Slytherin, a goth, and a vampire. Other characters include Draco Malfoy, Ebony’s crush, who is obviously in Slytherin, and also a goth and a vampire. It wouldn’t be a Harry Potter story without Harry, who has transferred to Slytherin, is a goth, and has become a vampire. He actually calls himself “Vampire” now. And Hermione …

Julie Victoria Jones remains one of the best-kept secrets in fantasy. She launched her career in 1995 with the Book of Words trilogy, which attracted critical praise from Robert Jordan and Katherine Kurtz and sold over a million copies for Warner Books. The trilogy was an accomplished work for a debut writer, rough around the edges (especially in the first volume) but quickly establishing its own voice, with a dark sense of humour illuminating a main narrative that balanced action and tragedy.

She followed that up with the stand-alone novel The Barbed Coil (1998), a rarity in that it told a complete epic fantasy story with worldbuilding, a nice magic system based on painting and artistry (an idea in vogue again thanks to beloved-videogame-of-the-moment Clair Obscur) and some great characterisation, all in one relatively modest 500-page volume.

However, it was her subsequent and still-current series that blew the roof off for most people who read it. The Sword of Shadows is a huge, …

So I have toddlers who are super into this character right now and we’ve been watching the movies a ton. I was sitting there the other day with them while the first one was playing for the umpteenth time and I started wondering; what do you think Mary Poppins “is”?

Is she a benevolent witch? Is she some sort of fae creature? A demigod? A legendary creature like Santa Clause that has adapted to modern times? And for that matter, what’s up with Burt? He seems intrinsically tied to her and has some sort of magical ability, though significantly less than hers.

What book does everyone rave about but you couldn’t finish reading, or had to force yourself to keep reading to see what everyone else is going on about?

Following Rushdie’s stabbing, Matar admitted in 2022 to having read only “a couple pages” of the book which Iranian religious leaders denounced as blasphemous.

On Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times published an advertorial summer reading list containing at least 10 fake books attributed to real authors, according to multiple reports on social media. The newspaper’s uncredited “Summer reading list for 2025” supplement recommended titles including “Tidewater Dreams” by Isabel Allende and “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir—books that don’t exist and were created out of thin air by an AI system.

The creator of the list, Marco Buscaglia, confirmed to 404 Media that he used AI to generate the content. “I do use AI for background at times but always check out the material first. This time, I did not and I can’t believe I missed it because it’s so obvious. No excuses,” Buscaglia said. “On me 100 percent and I’m completely embarrassed.”

Novelist Salman Rushdie backed out of delivering a commencement speech at a California college just days before the graduation, following protests by some students on campus.

The celebrated British-Indian author, whose novel The Satanic Verses has long triggered controversy and even death threats, backed out of delivering a May 17 commencement speech at Claremont McKenna College earlier this week, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

News that Rushdie, 77, would no longer deliver the address was shared across the campus in an email from Claremont McKenna President Hiram Chodosh.

“I write with news that Sir Salman Rushdie notified us yesterday of his decision to withdraw as our keynote commencement speaker,” he wrote.

“This decision was his alone and completely beyond our control,” Chodosh added. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to Sir Salman’s visit to CMC and have extended an open invitation to him to speak on our campus in the future.”

Over the past few years I have been reading all Hugo Award winners (excluding retros, so back to 1953) and wanted to share some of my best / worst picks and thoughts.

I’ve seen people rank the full list as well as post reviews of each book before, so thought I’d do something different:

Favourite books (broadly following the crowd here):

• 2005 Johnathan Strange and Mr Norell by Susanna Clarke – A big read but so well written and great characters, I’ve seen it recommended in lots of places and for good reason
• 1985 Neuromancer by William Gibson – As others have said before I am sure, shaped the whole cyberpunk genre and very cool to have been written when it was (more or less pre-internet writing about the internet / hacking)
• 1966 Dune by Frank Herbert – Goes without saying, went on to read the series whilst tackling the list (God Emperor of Dune is completely mad but enjoyed it a lot)
• 1978 Gateway by Frederik Pohl – Engaging characters and not your usual space exploration story, good …

I feel really bamboozled. I was told this book is amazing, then I made a post here saying I wasn’t enjoying it ( at the ¹⁄₃ mark), and everyone said stick with it. Well, I did, and I did start to enjoy the story about half way through. But then the ending came, and I seriously wish I never invested time into this book. Everyone also says you have to re-read it, which I have absolutely zero interest in doing. I don’t know why everyone seems to love this book, I really, really don’t get it.

I loved Sarasti (maybe a little too much). I loved the ideas, and the characteristics of the crew. Very interesting characters (NOT likeable - there is a difference), but they just don’t act like people, and that creates this sense that nothing you are reading is real. And I guess that’s the point, but then I just don’t understand how people enjoy the book. I get how the book is some thing to be dissected and given it’s due, but enjoyed? I …

Mine is Roadside Picnic. I wasn’t even that into the adventure part of the story… but once I hit the speech that explains the book’s title, and the point of the book landed, it really stuck with me.

Every time I see a dead animal on the side of the road, or a some ants inspecting stray drops in an empty soda can, or a mouse caught in a trap, or pretty much any situation where animals are having a terrible experience due to something humans built as a minor convenience or left lying around as trash, I think “Roadside Picnic.” And I imagine the point of view of the animal encountering bizarre alien artifacts they can’t and could never understand, mostly encountering horrible deaths but sometimes finding outrageous hidden treasures (which are probably just as deadly).

For lack of a better term, I’ve always enjoyed books that have “big spooky spaceships” as a setting. Not necessarily straight horror (although horror is cool too!), but just a general sense of a spacecraft that’s inherently dangerous to whoever is on it.

Some books with this I liked:

• Blindsight
• Unto Leviathan/Ship of Fools
• Revelation Space (I really liked this one since it’s largely implied in the background rather than being a main plot point)
• Most Warhammer 40k books set on an imperial ship also have this vibe I guess

Some books I didn’t like for various reasons:

• Hull Zero Three
• Revenger

Would love some recommendations for other books with this same kind of vibe.

I am probably ¹⁄₄ to 1/3rd of the way through. I heard one concept from the book in a youtube video, and immediately jumped into the book head first. I like some things about it. Enough that I am powering past what I don’t like, but it’s not getting easier and I really am struggling with the urge to just look up a plot synopsis.

There are times where I literally don’t know what I am reading. I hate that it makes me feel like an idiot. Sometimes they mention something, and I have to reread multiple pages to try and find out where the hell it came from.

I saw the author’s presentation on vampires on youtube, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and I could understand it. I don’t know why Blindsight feels so different. What am I missing to enjoy this book like so many seem to?

And it was so damn good!

Now the reason of this post is that I WANT MORE!

Please suggest me books as good as HOS, i might buy Revelation Space but i need your suggestions before

Thanks !

I think Hot Fuzz is a perfect film, genuinely flawless. The script is tighter than a drum, every single line in the first half pays off in the second, you can rewatch it a hundred times and notice a new gag and it manages to switch genres for the final third and still feel like a cohesive whole.

What movie do you consider to be perfect?

I mean there are so many to choose from. Which one hits you the most personally?

Don’t know how much clearer I can be than that, so I’m just adding some extra words here to meet the 300-character post limit, because apparently that’s a thing.

So yeah, let’s talk about the most gut-wrenching heroic sacrifices in film—those moments that hit like a truck emotionally and stay with you long after the credits roll.