Testimony of Mute Things launches today!
Oct. 23rd, 2025 02:42 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
lois_mcmaster_bujold_feedVendor-page copy:
Testimony of Mute Things
Note: in the internal chronology of the Penric & Desdemona tales, this story falls between “Penric’s Fox” and “Masquerade in Lodi”.
A contentious Temple conclave brings sorcerer Learned Penric and his demon Desdemona, in support of his superior Princess-Archdivine Llewen of Martensbridge, to the disputed Carpagamon border town of Occo. There, the uncanny pair will tangle with dangerous new intrigues and old histories, that will test their magical skills, their wits, and their hearts.
***
Cover art again by my very old buddy Ron Miller – his website is well worth visiting, jammed full of art and other treats. https://www.black-cat-studios.com
As I hope people will construe, this is technically a prequel, but as usual written to also stand alone for any folks who stumble across it ala carte.
Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXHBQJM5
Barnes & Noble Nook: TBA
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/testi...
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/test...
Google Play Books: TBA
Updated Penric & Desdemona internal chronology:
“Penric’s Demon”
“Penric and the Shaman”
“Penric’s Fox”
“Testimony of Mute Things”
“Masquerade in Lodi”
“Penric’s Mission”
“Mira’s Last Dance”
“The Prisoner of Limnos”
“The Orphans of Raspay”
“The Physicians of Vilnoc”
The Assassins of Thasalon
“Knot of Shadows”
“Demon Daughter”
“Penric and the Bandit”
“The Adventure of the Demonic Ox”
(“Demon”, “Shaman”, and “Fox” are collected as paper volumes in Penric’s Progress; “Mission”, “Mira” and “Limnos” in Penric’s Travels; and “Lodi”, “Orphans” and “Physicians” are collected in Penric’s Labors.)
Happy reading!
Ta, L.
posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on October, 23
October 23, 2025
Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:41 pmsp2_feed
First Comic Previous Comic Next Comic Today’s Comic Latest Updates
Oh, hey. A table top rpg I did art for is funding on BackerKit. The Cryptid Show has reached goal, but there’s a new stretch goal where I get to do more illustrations. Consider backing it so I can give you more “delightful” creatures like these. -R.
Birdfeeding
Oct. 23rd, 2025 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of sparrows and house finches. Some of the sparrows were splashing in the red birdbath.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- I potted up some of the asparagus seeds from the Charleston Food Forest.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- I planted 10 'Colour Magic' tulips around the barrel garden, and still have 10 left. These flowers change colors as they mature, often starting white or yellow with color at the edges which then spreads.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- I planted the rest of the 'Color Magic' tulips in the tulip bed.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- We went out for lunch. I picked up a bag of 12 assorted Dutch irises and a bag of 12 mixed crocuses at Rural King, plus 4 bags of compost and manure to top the flowerbeds. Then I got a bag of 15 purple and pink tulips, and a bag of 5 purple-and-white striped crocuses at Home Depot.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 10/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
Warning re Friday's Comic
Oct. 23rd, 2025 05:25 pmjbwoodford posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
girlgenius_lairThankful Thursday
Oct. 23rd, 2025 06:51 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- Thunderbird, emacs, pandoc, LaTeX, CSS, and a blanket to put over the yak I had to shave. (But Unicode does not appear to have a yak emoji, which makes me sad.)
- Linux, and the way it processes updates when I want it to. Also its ability to perform even rather drastic updates without making me stop what I'm doing and deal with them. With a few exceptions. *Glares at Firefox.*
- Grocery stores that deliver.
- Fresh noodles. Also, butter, mushrooms and shallots.
- The local swans.
Quick note
Oct. 23rd, 2025 09:11 amdialecticdreamerFacts and Feelings (Part 1 of 1, complete)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 09:10 amdialecticdreamerBy Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1978
[Wednesday, December 14, 2016]
:: Elisabeth Finn speaks to Loudmouth about the underlying assumptions which pushed Frank the Crank into an office that he wasn’t actually campaigning for. Things are friendly, but the implications are serious and treated as such. This story was written for the October 2025 Magpie Monday and is sponsored for everyone to enjoy, with my deepest thanks. ::
Doctor Elisabeth Finn wore a berry red blouse that closed with a spherical pearl button at the base of her neck. The silk shimmered under even the faint movement of her steady, patient breathing. She nodded as Loudmouth finally opened her office door. “Thanks for seeing me. I know that you probably had to clear a slot,” the blonde greeted.
Loudmouth cocked a bright red eyebrow. “That’s your ‘diplomatic doctor’ voice. What’s wrong?”
Elisabeth pressed her hand over her heart, then dropped it to her side. “We should have this conversation in private.”
( Read more... )
A Favor and a Future? (part 1 of 1, complete)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:57 amdialecticdreamerBy Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
[Wednesday, December 14, 2016]
:: Lautaro Fuentes must explain to his former boyfriend (and current roommate) that he has a job waiting for him in Mercedes, which will take him away from his old life for at least a year. They discuss the reasons behind the need, and focus on positive next steps. Part of the City Engines story arc in Polychrome Heroics, this story was written during the October of 2025 Magpie Monday event, and its sponsorship makes me grin like a loon. Thank you! ::
Lautaro Fuentes stared at the clock on his phone, his thoughts still whirling despite the long walk to the grocery store and back to the small apartment above the garage. He sighed, and began walking up the outside stairs to the door leading into the apartment that he still shared with his ex, Hubie. He checked his phone again. Hubie would be home in five minutes, maybe ten.
The young Hispanic man began putting away the groceries with absent familiarity, all the while thinking of ways to explain his decision to Hubie, rather than defending or even allowing the other man to argue him out of it. Lautaro put away the clean dishes sitting bone dry in the wire dish rack, already looking at ways to use up the single jalapeno pepper, the slightly wrinkly red bell pepper, and the lone carrot which had been sitting in the refrigerator before he’d gotten the phone call which had changed his plans for at least the next year, possibly more.
Possibly forever.
( Read more... )
Grrl Power #1402 – Spacehole
Oct. 23rd, 2025 10:00 amgrrlpowercomic_feed
It’s less that the FlyBall is blinking and shimmering and making noises like an agitated gerbil, and more that it’s doing… something. The visual are mostly for the audiences benefit, though if Sydney was paying attention, she would notice something going on. She has gotten used to being orbited by multicolored light sources though, so this isn’t enough to catch her attention.
As to Sydney’s question… Well, the reason I have Altus’s answer trail off the last panel is 1) an advanced space alien probably knows more about physics that we do. We like to think we mostly have a handle on stuff, but dark matter comprises about 27% of the universe, and dark energy accounts for about 68% of other… “stuff,” and we don’t know what that is either. So, we don’t know what 95% of the universe is made of, and we also haven’t married Newtonian and quantum physics, so it’s fair to say that there might be some significant surprises left for use to discover. Maybe instead of nickel-iron, most rocky planetary cores are tungsten, which would maybe make up for 2-3% of the dark matter. Or maybe a bunch of aliens thought it’d be cool to paint their planets Vanta Black and we just can’t see them.
BTW, “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy” sound cool for sure, but it’s just a fancy way for scientists to say “we dunno.” It’d be like trying to recreate grandma’s holiday ginger cookies from taste and not being able to figure out what that last seasoning is, and calling it “Dark Spice.” It’s cardamon, BTW.
The second reason for the trail-off is, I just have no idea how to answer it. It seems to me that wormholes would be weapons of mass destruction. Like they destroy actual mass, and lots of it. But that model of a wormhole that shows two pieces of graph paper being connected by a funnel is obviously such a wildly simplistic view of what’s going on that any speculation I made based on that would be like trying to recreate grandma’s cookie recipe after shoving one of the cookies up my ass. Which wouldn’t give me an informed starting point regarding the ingredients, is what I’m saying. Unless the human rectum just happens to be an excellent platform for ferreting out cardamon. I wouldn’t know. I would be surprised to learn if that’s the case, but I think it’s safe to assume our crinkle stars aren’t cardamon truffle hogs.
Ooh, look! A new vote incentive! And it’s updated with color!
Well, in progress, obviously. I have another one that’s actually a bit further along, but everyone was all, “Sydney Kobold vote incentive!” So I switched to this one. Plus the other one was a multi-character picture so it will actually take me longer to finish. I hope to have an update for this one each week, so stay tuned. There is a slightly higher res version on Patreon.
By the way, this gunmetal blue-ish background and teal pencils are how I draw the comic. I set it up this way so I don’t have to spend all day staring into a bright white blank page.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Checking In and Backing Up (part 1 of 1, complete)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:42 amdialecticdreamerBy Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1788
[Wednesday, December 14, 2016]
:: Graham casually “bumps into” Frank the Crank at the food truck nearest his garage. They talk about his genuine options for the role of city councilman, rather than the ones which were presented to him. Part of the Polychrome Heroics universe, this is a series focused on Frank the Crank’s development as a city councilman. I’m calling the series “City Engines” and using that as a tag. The story was written for the October of 2025 Magpie Monday, while waiting for prompts, so I am doubly grateful to the sponsor for the joy of posting it. ::
Frank scrubbed at his beard with the thick soap, closer to pudding than gel, and rinsed his face carefully, never moving higher than his cheekbones. The stuff stung his eyes like a nightmare, but it was about the only thing that got grease and oil off of his skin and out of his hair, so it was worth using it judiciously. He patted his face dry, then waved to the trio of teenagers staring into the engine sitting on cinder blocks as if it would divine the future for them. “I’m going to lunch, and bringing back enough for everybody. What’s your hard no? Dougan?”
The first boy spoke up immediately. “I hate pumpkin anything. Pumpkin pie spice is great on apples, but I hate pumpkins.” His younger sister Mila elbowed him, hard. “Thanks. For lunch, I mean.” He shoved floppy black hair out of his face, leaving a streak of oil on his forehead.
( Read more... )
CodeSOD: This Is Really Empty
Oct. 23rd, 2025 06:30 amthe_daily_wtf_feedKonrad was trying to understand how an input form worked, and found this validation function.
function IsReallyEmpty($subject)
{
$trimmed = trim(preg_replace("/&.*;/", "", $subject));
return strlen($trimmed) != 0;
}
Now, I can understand why one might want to have a different definition of "empty" when it comes to strings. An all whitespace string, like " " may rightfully be considered an empty input for many applications.
So calling trim makes a lot of sense. It's the preg_replace that starts to worry me, because that regex is clearly trying to match an HTML entity, aka . But it matches all HTML entities, not just ones like which are whitespace characters, but ampersands and greater/less-than signs.
But there's another problem with the regex. The * operator is greedy. So Hello World would see the opening &, the closing ; and decide the entire string could be rejected.
But that's not the real WTF. The real WTF is the very last line. In a function called IsReallyEmpty, it returns true if the input string is not empty, thus stretching the definition of "really" to new levels.
"Is this string really empty?" "No, it is."
[Advertisement]
BuildMaster allows you to create a self-service release management platform that allows different teams to manage their applications. Explore how!
The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 65
Oct. 23rd, 2025 04:51 pmrix_scaeduThis piece runs to 3,364 words, and I hope that you enjoy it.
Brogaiday, 15 Deichen, 1893 C.E.
Rebi, 5 Kaalen, 2157 T.M.L.
13 Ueuekayomatilistli, 20 Coatl, 6.11.2.1.8.4.1
Dear Journal,
I could hear the waves on the seawall when I woke this morning, and there was a strong wind from the sea. When I looked out the window, I could see seagulls perched on ledges and roof slopes out of the wind. At home I would make sure I tied my bonnet ribbons tightly if I went out in this weather, but I will have to find out for myself if I have sufficient means to keep my new hats on my head if I go out in this.
I was in time to exchange greetings with Mitzli when I reached the foyer before he left the house for his morning training session. I mentioned that I had missed our little interaction yesterday morning, and he said that they had needed to leave early yesterday to get things done. The he pointed out briefly that we had three more mornings before I leave, and when I do, I won't be bereft - I will be with Axolin and Lord Elnaith who are good men who will take excellent care of me, and Lord Elnaith is preparing to take his vows to me.
( Read more... )October 23, 2025: Fun With Social Media Chicanery!
Oct. 23rd, 2025 05:47 amdaily_illuminator_feedLet's say you have a social gathering coming up that you can be reasonably assured about the possible outcome – for example, you're setting up a few Munchkin games for Halloween. Create for yourself a relatively disposable social-media account for the event (such as on Bluesky), with, sayyyyyy, MyHalloweenGaming. Then, when you realize that handle's already been taken, try MyHalloweenGaming2025, MyFullLegalNameHalloweenGaming2025, and MyHalloweenDFSVJKLDFSJKLDFSJKDFSJKLJKL2025try6.
Finally have that account? Great! Let's say you're inviting Chris, Pat, and Drew, and you're pretty sure you'll play three games. Next, you post 64 short social-media messages before the game starts that reveal the outcomes; be sure not to tell anyone about these!
– I'll win all three games of Munchkin on October 31!
– Chris will win all three games of Munchkin on October 31!
– Pat will win all three games of Munchkin on October 31!
– Drew will win all three games of Munchkin on October 31!
– I will win the first and second games of Munchkin on October 31, and Chris will win the third!
. . . and so on.
With three games and four participants, that's 64 possible outcomes (4 x 4 x 4), assuming one winner.
You play the games, and hopefully have lots of fun! At this point, you also know who won.
Excuse yourself to the restroom, and then delete the 63 posts that didn't turn out correct.
When you return to the table, "remind" folks about the social-media account you made (that you're informing them about for the first time). Tell them you made a prediction a while back, and send them the link.
Ta-da! You're a prognosticator!
This is the con-artist gist of it, though there are plenty of variations you can do. For example, I'm pretty sure you could do this on your real Facebook account if you just set your "guess" posts to Private, and then make the correct one more-public after the game.
This can also be a nifty technique in RPGs to showcase a super-smart character's "precognitive" abilities or the like.
Anyway, it's an amusing gag you can do; don't use it for evil . . . just a little fun "trick-or-treat" for friends!
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
Today's Smoothie
Oct. 22nd, 2025 10:45 pmysabetwordsmithWe use the Alan's Going Green Smoothie. We don't use the jalapeño or cashews. Sometimes we use a kiwi instead of a lime. Today we used a handful of pea shoots instead of spinach, so there's a pea flavor alongside the lime.
I got tired of trying to clean my mouse
Oct. 24th, 2025 09:36 pmconulySo much cat hair, much of it felted, and I'm honestly surprised the scrollwheel was functioning at all. But it was so cheaply made that putting it back together would've been a hassle and a half, so I'm glad I had the sense to just replace it rather than depending on my own repair skills!
( Read more... )
Girls With Slingshots - GWS Hair of the Dog #758
Oct. 22nd, 2025 10:00 pmgws_feed
New comic!
Today's News:
Man, mace was THE THING back then, I guess.
Here's the original post for this comic! And the chaser post!
