LTAFS 13 and 14

For this week in Let's Talk About Fictional Sex (LTAFS) we have: -Contraception What? -To Be or Not to Be a Parent

LTAFS 11 and 12

Let's Talk About Fictional Sex posts 11 and 12 are up:
Let's Talk Outercourse
Contraception Why?

LTAFS 9 & 10

This week's Let's Talk About Fictional Sex posts are up: 

Dating - There's an App for That

Infections, Disease, and Pregnancy Are Not Morality

And yes, the series has been moved over to Buttondown. 

Edited to remove note about prior links.

Announcement - Let's Talk About Fictional Sex

Over on the newsletter, I announcement the newsletter series I'm starting next week - Let's Talk About Fictional Sex.  The longer version is here.  The TL:DR version is basically, I'm putting together a series to talk about the things authors, writers, creators should think about in terms of the sexual dynamics they depict, and how sex scenes are a chance to better demonstrate who characters are.  Some of the pieces will be behind a subscription/paywall, some will not.  And then I'm going to compile these entries into a book.  Right now, I have over twenty pieces planned.  There may be more as we get deeper into this.  (Yeah, I saw that entendre and I left it there.) 

Edited to update link

4Q Reading Roundup

Is posted over on the newsletter, with Bookshop links.  

Edited to update link.

Pop Culture and Consent

Over on the newsletter I have a discussion about consent in pop culture, and tease an upcoming series of posts.  

Edited to update link.

Elsewhere on the Web

Over on the newsletter, I'm talking about how flowers and instagram made me like one or both of these things. 

Edited to update link.

Over on the Newsletter

I'm talking about why I like having a book on my phone.  Not all of them.  But maybe one.  

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Places on the Web This Week

Got a post over on the newsletter with third quarter reading. And I'll be both behind the scenes and in the chat for Fiyahcon this week, so feel free to wave if you are there also.  (Tickets are sold out, but there are some events open to all.)

Editor note: Apologies, I accidentally reposted instead of updating this. Fiyahcon has happened. Some material will be available in the archive.

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Newsletter - What to Watch

Over on the newsletter, I'm talking about how I figure out what to watch on TV, and a few things I have been watching new and old.  

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Talking Theater - Newsletter

Over on the newsletter, I'm talking about ways to fill the theater-sized hole in my heart right now.

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Newsletter - Part 2

Over on the newsletter, I've got part two of figuring out what to read and maybe how attending virtual book events can help.  

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What to Read - Over on the Newsletter

Hey, Folks, 

My first post is up on buttondown talking about how I figure out what to read these days.  Or at least the first part of it.  

I'll still be writing here and other places.  But for folks who like things delivered to their email box, there's this too.  

Edited to update link

Hurricane Irma

As always, be careful and do your normal due diligence for charities or fundraising.  And possibly more so with Irma, this is going to be a long term recovery.  Some of these islands won't even have power back for several months, rebuilding the rest of the infrastructure will take longer.

Tobias Buckell gathered a good list of resources here. 

Harvey Help

Lots of things happened in book world over the last few days, and I will get to them.  But you may have heard we have a historic flood going on in Texas and since the storm isn't done yet, we are really at the very beginning of all of this.  If you have the means to donate funds, there are a lot of resources that I've collected here.  Do whatever your normal due diligence is for charities.  In general, local charities tend to already have plans and contacts in place to get to the people there, and are more likely to be there, not just this week, but in the years to come.  As we have seen from other storms, this recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Even tiny amounts help, they join up with other people's tiny amounts.  And if you can't give until next month, or next year, as I said, this is a long term thing and it's really okay.  And if you can't give at all, that's also okay.  Your survival comes first. 

Global Giving is crowdfunding with the intention that the money will go to local non-profits. 

Humanity first is giving out hygiene kits and other early necessities. 

Feeding Texas is the Texas arm of Feeding America.  (And if this reminds you that lots of people need food, Feeding America donates to food banks in your areas when you donate to the national arm.)

Austin Pets Alive has been rescuing many stranded pets. A lot of evacuation centers or hotels don't allow pets, so people often have to make tough choices. 

Texas Diaper Bank provides diapers, something a lot of evacuation groups don't have or have enough of on hand especially if folks had to leave their place unexpectedly. 

GoFundMe has aggregated the Harvey specific fundraisers. 

Portlight focuses on the needs of disabled folks displaced by disaster. 

Team Rubicon is a group of military vets with relief and rescue experience. (Just a note, this group was highly recommended, there is not a Harvey operation listed on their webpage yet, but their social media indicated they are in the process of getting a group together.)

Houston's Coalition for the Homeless works with the homeless, which sadly we expect there to be more of after this. 

Link to: The Five Things I need from White People Right Now

The saddest thing about this post from Derrick L. Weston, is that it is already one highly visible police shooting behind. And I am aware that DC has it's own recent police officer onvolved shooting that has not garnered quite as much national attention. 

Today I can be found...

...Guest posting over a Happy Hearts Reads, sharing my love of adult coloring books.

Some Days Call For Cats

Some days just call for a listicle of cats fighting the patriarchy.  If that's where you are, here you go.

On This Day

Every year on this day, I read Meg Cabot's post about her 9/11 experience. I think about calling my sister, who was fine, getting sent home early from work because the building my office was in shut down for the day. People talk about how everyone was nicer, kinder, more helpful for a while. There were first responders at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and people who weren't officially first responders but showed up to help, that day and later. There was the flight that went down in Pennsylvania.  During the Olympics in London, NBC cut away from the remembrance of the 7/7 bombings because they assumed Americans didn't care.

Both 9/11 and 7/7 have become days that babies were born, that people got married, that people just went about their day.  And I think that's the most important part, that in addition to remembering these tragedies, we remember to go on.

Tiny Photos

I had a weird week with travel and a wedding and some snow and some extra travel due to snow, so basically, I am going to point you to this story about a legographer who is photographing Britain and go lay down for a nap.