Dear Sweet Filthy World

I was up at 2 a.m., and in the hours before dawn we had terrible winds, gusting to 38mph. I do not like the wind. Too much of my childhood was spent hiding underground, waiting for tornadoes to pass.

God, I'm tired.

I tried to write this morning. I'm trying to find a Dancy story worth telling I have not told already. I listened to Xe Sands read "Bainbridge" a second time.

You know, I'm just not up to this. See you tomorrow.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast (frazzled)




11:43 a.m.

Overcast today, a high of 52F.

So, besides working on the new Dancy story, and besides getting back to work on the "last" Tinfoil Dossier story for SubPress' omnibus edition of the series (was The Brandenburg Prism, is now The Tunguska Prism), I'm also planning two new editions of my books with S.T. Joshi. I'll say more about these tomorrow. And there's the Bashi, and I need to make serious headway on the plioplatecarpine paper (MP2 or 3 or whatever). I'm busy. I just have to stay well enough and motivated enough to work steady. In part, that means not letting myself dwell overly on the news, and in part it means that another marathon of dentistry is in my near future.

This morning, about 4 a.m., I began listening to all of the audiobook of Alabaster, and by about 7 a.m. I'd finished it. By the way, Xe Sands might be the best reader/narrator I've ever had for any audiobook (and I must have had fifty by now). I'd love if The Red Tree could be redone with her; I hate the reader I wound up with. Anyway, what surprised me about Alabaster (2006 and 2020, SubPress; 2014, Dark Horse Books) is that, while I'm still pleased with all the stories, the two standouts for me are the title story and "The Well of Stars and Shadows." Not "Les Fleurs Empoisonnées," "Waycross," or "Bainbridge," the three "epics." It was an interesting reappraisal.

Night two of spaghetti tonight.

Meanwhile, to quote Heather Cox Ricahrdson:

[Greg] Bovino has been the official face of CBP’s violence. On October 6, journalists and protesters in the Chicago area sued the Trump administration for a “pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.” On October 9, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to restrict federal officers’ use of flash-bang grenades, tear gas, pepper-spray and other “less-lethal” weapons and tactics against journalists, peaceful protesters, and religious leaders in and around Chicago. On October 16, after videos emerged of agents throwing tear gas canisters into crowds and charging protesters, Ellis required officers to wear body cameras.

Last Thursday, a video showed Bovino throwing what seemed to be a tear gas canister at protesters without warning, and plaintiffs called Ellis’s attention to it, arguing that his actions violated the TRO. Immigration officers claimed a “mob” of “hostile and violent” rioters had thrown a rock at Bovino and hit him in the head, although none of the videos from the protest show such an event. On Friday, Ellis ordered Bovino to appear in court on October 28, yesterday. Michelle Gallardo, Mark Rivera, and Cate Cauguiran of ABC Eyewitness news in Chicago shared the Department of Homeland Security’s boast that Bovino would “correct Judge Ellis of her deep misconceptions” about what it calls “Operation Midway Blitz.”

In fact, according to WTTW Chicago politics reporter Heather Cherone, Ellis took time to read her initial TRO to Bovino and reminded him that agents must give warnings before throwing tear gas. She called out an incident in Little Village when an agent pointed a pepper gun and then a real gun at a combat veteran lawfully standing on the side of the road and allegedly said: “Bang, bang,” and “You’re dead, liberal.” She also called out an incident in Old Irving Park on the North Side of Chicago in which federal agents threw tear gas near a children’s Halloween costume parade. “Those kids were tear gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween in their local school parking lot,” Ellis said. “[T]heir sense of safety was shattered.” “Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat. They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them,” she said.

Yes, America has a Gestapo, answerable, ultimately, only to the whims of the Horror Clown.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




4:12 p.m.

Overcast, some rain over night, chilly. Our high was 58F.

I might have slept four hours.

I had an early doctor's appointment, at 9:30 a.m., and that sort of devoured the morning. Don't ask. I'm hanging in.

This afternoon, recovering from the morning's appointment, I was reading a thread over at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, which set me to ruminating on a topic I often come back to, for one reason or another, belief and choice. At Facebook I posted:

I do not *choose* to believe. I believe based on experience, investigation, observation, etc. I am baffled when people say something is what they "choose to believe." The idea that choice can play a role is entirely incommensuarble with my understanding of belief/knowledge. The worst of this is the idea that people choose to believe things because doing so makes it easier to face the world. I did not choose to abandon the Christianity of my childhood for atheism. Intellectually, I was left no honest choice (no, I am NOT saying religion and intelligence are irreconcilable, but only speaking to my case).

Anyway...I'm feeling stronger after two weeks of constant illness, pain, and poor sleep, and I hope not only to get a lot more writing done in the predawn hours (which have become The Time When I Write), but to get back to McWane on Friday to finish setting up the "office." I want to have this lastest Bashi (basal Eocene; PETM) sample done by then.

Meanwhile, we are within about $600 of making November's rent, and to that end we are offering the ONE copy of the recent German edition of Agents of Dreamland that I am willing to offer. Please consider it. Thank you!

I think that's all for now. I'm trying to avoid politics, trying to avoid the news, because truthfully we've surpassed a point where the endless horrors of the horror clowns assault on every facet of America is just too much for me to watch.

At least we have a major Guild Wars 2 expansion dropping tomorrow.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




12:29 p.m.

Overcast all day. Our high was 60F. I have to start finding where I've hidden my warm clothing.

I am discovering that trying to write a Dancy Flammarion story at this point in history poses new problems. I never thought of those stories as innocent or naive, but they seem that way now. Many things seem that way now.

Documentaries this afternoon.

We're rewatching Season Four of Stranger Things, getting ready for next month's release of Season Five. This is the season that triggered to the Kate Bush renaissance.

The third night of chicken.

You know, that's enough for now. I will torture the world will my monotony again another day.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




3:05 p.m.

Cloudy today and a high of 74F.

This one will be short. Mostly, I want to remind people about the ongoing sale over at the shop. To wit, due to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you. My thanks to the folks who've made purchases so far.

Last night we saw Zach Cregger's Weapons (2025) and loved it.

The second night of chicken tonight. There were documentaries in the afternoon.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




3:23 p.m.

Sorta cloudy today. A high of 76F.

“I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.” ~ Daniel Keyes (Flowers for Algernon)

Making my entry early, because I suspect I have far more energy this afternoon than I will in a few hours.

The afternoon's film was George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Spooky got a chicken for dinner. Chicken lasts at least three nights.

The most interesting thing about today was a conversation with Kathryn about the correct plural of platypus. Lots of people use platypuses, which is simply incorrect. Or, thinking platypus has a Latin origin, they use platypi, also wrong. As the word is Greek, the correct plural is actually platypodes ("flat feet").

It's relevant to one of her new necklaces (photo below).

Once again, due to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you. My thanks to the folks who've made purchases so far. We're maybe a fifth of the way to our goal.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




11:35 a.m.

Sunny today. A high of 78F.

So, there's this thing that, over the decades I have been publishing, I've seen readers say again and again, about my work and about the work of many others. "I threw the book across the room!" Because they were angry at something that occurred in the story. And I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. Great hyperbole, I suppose, but I've read a few thousand books, suffered hundreds of disappointments, and never once have I thrown a book anywhere.

I just wanted to put that out there.

The afternoon's film was Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).

Night three of chili. It won't last four after all, not this time.

Tonight we finished the HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown. It was very good, though I think I liked Task better (they occur in the same setting, though they share no characters). The best thing about Mare was watching Kate Winslet's performance.

Once again, due to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you. My thanks to the folks who've made purchases so far. We're maybe a fifth of the way to our goal.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




2:27 p.m.

Sunny today. Our high was 73F.

I tried to start a new Dancy story, the new Dancy story, "Saint Joan in Babylon." I didn't get very far. That was, by the way, the original title for the story that became "Tupelo."

Still, pretty much as lousy a day as was yesterday.

The afternoon's film was James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). I finished reading Philip Gefter's Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Tonight was the second night of chili.

Once again, due to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you. My thanks to the folks who've made purchases so far. We're maybe a fifth of the way to our goal.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




2:39 p.m.

Cloudy with some rain today. The high today was 73F.

I've had a string of brutally awful days. But, then, so have we all.

Once again, due to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you. My thanks to the folks who've made purchases so far. We're maybe a fifth of the way to our goal.

I realized today that this year is not only the 20th anniversary of Sirenia Digest, but also of Frog Toes and Tentacles. Damn, time is a bitch.

Um...Spooky made a pot of chili for dinner. That'll last at least four nights, probably. We watched the first episode of Mare of Eastown, which is sorta tied into Task.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




3:10 p.m.

Sunny today. A high of 77F.

As I mentioned yesterday ~ Thanks to a preponderance of bills having to be paid, that have been paid, there's much more money going out than coming in, and we'll be putting a number of new items up in the shop and, maybe, a couple of things on eBay. Maybe. Their 15% commission has pretty much killed eBay for us. But yes, we're looking to sell enough to cover most of November's rent, so please have a look. And thank you.

I haven't had a good night's sleep in days. Or nights. Whichever.

This afternoon's film was James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Wow, that seems like a long time ago.

Soup and French fries for dinner.

And we watched the final three episodes of Task. I thought we had one left, we had three. Truly marvelous. Strong recommended. The score and cinematography stressing how good cinema now belongs on both the large and small screen.

Meanwhile...

HCR writes, and I quote:

Several administration videos and images have responded to Americans saying “No Kings” by taking the position “Yes, We Want Kings,” an open embrace of the end of democracy. But they are more than simple trolling. Led by Trump, MAGA Republicans have abandoned the idea of politics, which is the process of engaging in debate and negotiation to attract support and win power. What is left when a system loses the give and take of politics is force.

The idea that leaders must attract voters with reasoned arguments to win power and must concede power when their opponents win has been the central premise of American government since 1800. In that year, after a charged election in which each side accused the other of trying to destroy the country, Federalist John Adams turned the reins of government over to the leader of the opposition, Thomas Jefferson. That peaceful transfer of power not only protected the people, it protected leaders who had lost the support of voters, giving them a way to leave office safely and either retire or regroup to make another run at power.

The peaceful transfer of power symbolized the nation’s political system and became the hallmark of the United States of America. It lasted until January 6, 2021, when sitting president Trump refused to accept the voters’ election of Democrat Joe Biden, the leader of the opposition.

This is a terrible moment in American history.

Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast




11:21 a.m.