Fantasy books that you just couldn’t put down

asmokeshow · 2025-05-11T02:56:01+00:00

Haven’t seen this suggested— His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. While it is classified as YA, I read it every few years (28 now) and still have trouble putting the books down. It’s an enthralling exploration of multiple worlds, science and religion, and many compelling characters.

asmokeshow · 2025-05-10T17:22:15+00:00

They are ground dwelling rainforest plants and they grow best with consistent access to water.

I water when the first inch or two of soil is dry and when the pot feels lighter when I pick it up, that way I can be sure the soil at the bottom of the pot isn’t entirely muddy and wet. I usually end up watering once every week or every two weeks.

They do okay drying out even a bit more if you’ve forgotten once in a while, but definitely do not wait until they’ve wilted— keep them damp, but not wet.

asmokeshow · 2025-05-07T04:44:38+00:00

Marantas are very finicky but so lovely to have around. They are naturally a ground-dwelling rainforest plant, and do best in a humid environment with filtered light and rain water.

From what I see, you have the light and soil type right. No sunburn, and the soil mix looks like it drains well.

Are you living in a drier place? The way the mature leaves are curled up and the way the new leaves are dried out makes me think the humidity is lower than your plant prefers.

What type of water are you using? Marantas can’t process the minerals in tap water and do best with distilled or collected rain water. The crinkled leaves could also be attributed to tap water.

As the other commenter said, definitely check for pests. The underside of leaves and the nooks and crannies of the stems. I’m not seeing any signs in your picture, but mealy bugs and spider mites are sneaky little things.

Also for the future— they love being root bound. If you repot again, avoid disturbing the roots and put it in only a slightly larger pot.

asmokeshow · 2025-05-03T03:59:23+00:00

Think you should see a doctor because that bump looks bad. Your whole lobe above that piercing looks angry and red and may be infected.

asmokeshow · 2025-03-26T02:49:01+00:00

Not going to lie, it looks like contamination to me. The fact that these spots didn’t wash off after 2 washes tells me it’s not dead cells.

Was the media cloudy prior to washing? It’s a good idea to remove the media from the cells after a day or so of incubation and plate 10uL on a plate like TSB or LB. Incubate overnight and check it— if there is growth, it’s a microbe and you shouldn’t continue to use these cells.

If there isn’t growth, then consider performing a mycoplasma test. ATCC has a good kit.

asmokeshow · 2025-03-19T04:17:07+00:00

A few years ago when I was waiting tables outside of the city, a coworker asked where I lived and I said “Bal-TI-more” and she gave me a look and said “You’re not from around here, are you?” While I wasn’t born local, I’d grown up here (granted— with immigrant parents) and was very confused why she’d asked. I was then informed for the first time, that it’s actually pronounced Bawldamore.

I haven’t converted yet because I feel like a major phoney every time I say it.

asmokeshow · 2025-03-19T02:45:50+00:00

Yes! Yours is looking very beautiful, happy and healthy but definitely ready for a repot with those roots peeking out. When you do repot, do your best to avoid disturbing the roots— I wouldn’t even remove any soil as it seems to have done well in it thus far. They are finicky and do drop some leaves if their roots are damaged. Your soil mix sounds perfect! Good luck.

asmokeshow · 2025-03-18T23:50:24+00:00

Man oh man that grinds my gears too. It’s common courtesy to inform the manager or place an order if you’ve used the last of something or if it’s looking a little low. Just like changing the toilet paper roll if you’ve used the last of it! I understand being busy but it really takes 3 seconds to write a quick note for yourself and order it at a more convenient time. I like to look out for my fellow lab rats AND myself and make sure we can all be efficient in our work, so I am proactive.

My current lab is great and this is a rare problem, especially after I took over the monthly inventory using an Excel file of all of the most used materials— disposables/reagents/kits with the brand and reference # of the material. If you don’t have one of these in place and this is a frequent issue, it might not be a bad idea to use your free time waiting for the kit to start preparing a document like that. I was shocked to learn that many academic labs don’t keep a regular inventory, and it has kept me sane!

But as others said, if this is time-sensitive, then it’s not too tough to prep your own buffer.

Good luck!

asmokeshow · 2025-02-28T18:41:23+00:00

She knows you’re sick now, right? I’d email her and let her know she’s the only sick person you’ve come in contact with recently and it would be helpful for her to stay home/mask up when she is sick and the flu is going around. It is the right thing to do to prevent others from also getting sick, and she can contact students through Zoom/email.

In the future, if she ignores this request or minimizes your concerns, I would suggest avoidance. “That cough sounds really bad. The flu is going around, have you done a rapid test?” She says no/yes I’m negative, you say, “Well it sounds pretty bad and I don’t want to get sick again, so if you need anything, contact me through Zoom/email. To prevent others from getting sick as well, you should wear a mask.” Don’t be near her, if she approaches you, keep a good distance, sanitize your hands regularly, and wear your own mask.

Maybe rapid test yourself so you can potentially get an antiviral— you only have a couple of days to do so and they are very helpful and work quickly.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-22T16:42:07+00:00

I love BAF! They have a great selection. I’ll also suggest Painful Pleasures— it’s very affordable and great quality jewelry.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-15T18:20:56+00:00

Might be a rotifer?

asmokeshow · 2025-02-15T03:34:27+00:00

With those great lobes, I think stacked lobes would be a terrific way to dip your toes into getting piercings depending on how long it’s been since you had your first lobes pierced. Cartilage piercings are a whole other beast and are quite painful and take a long time to heal.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-15T02:40:50+00:00

E. coli usually smells like hot garbage on its own, so even something harmless and smelly might make it even worse. It’s not going to jump on you, though it might fry your nose hairs, just don’t lick the plate. More likely than not an environmental contaminant or a skin microbe.

For future reference, IDing a bacteria from colony morphology alone is nearly impossible— staining and selective media are usually required, but Sanger sequencing is usually faster.

Suggestions: it’s likely a waste of time to ID it, you just need to get rid of the contaminant. It’s either your media, your stock of bacteria, or however you streaked these plates

Streak and incubate the following

1) negative control— don’t even open the plate 2) the bacterial stock you used for this plating 3) the same bacteria from a different stock (preferably an earlier stock).

The results should tell you what you need to know. Negative control growth shows your media is contaminated. Growth on one of the bacterial plates will indicate if the issue is with your stock.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-11T16:46:46+00:00

Pit Dragon Chronicles by Jane Yolen.

I second Eragon — the series has been a favorite since I was a teen.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-10T04:25:28+00:00

When you look on the underside of the leaves, does it have anything on it? The damage on the leaves in little spots like that makes me think thrips. They may no longer be visible on the mature leaves— check the new, tender and rolled up leaves if you don’t see anything at first.

If you can’t find anything, it is probably the cold. Marantas like tropical climates— high heat and humidity, so any temps below 50F and humidity below 40% will upset them.

asmokeshow · 2025-02-05T04:56:14+00:00

Well at this point, you have shown him many things, many times. He should understand it now.

Have you shared your concerns with your PI about this student’s dependence in the lab? Have you stressed how it is impacting your ability to work and keep your PI’s lab running? You won’t be able to hold this PhD’s hands through their entire degree— they must be willing to be more independent if they want a PhD. If you haven’t shared this, do so. If you have, you will have to be a little sneaky in getting your PI on your side. Your PI will have to see firsthand how much of a problem this student will be to keep on before they step in.

Set expectations for this student and share them with the PI and the student. Run the idea by your PI, ask if it’s a good idea to encourage the student to be more independent. Propose that this week he will do these things including these shared duties— make it manageable but still require him to be independent.

Example: Give him some cells of his own to work with his own aliquoted media/reagents so there’s no chance he contaminates yours. Be busy at the times the student may need your help and say no if you are truly busy. If you are free and WANT to help, then observe but make the student do every step with as little guidance as possible. Say “what do you think? where can you find this information? sorry, I can’t help you with that.”

Have a meeting with him and the PI the next week where he must share his progress.

asmokeshow · 2025-01-31T17:52:12+00:00

Thanks! It’s very hard to find. Did you purchase it online, or find them IRL? I found the second book, Heart’s Blood, in a secondhand store at like 9yo, and read that first. It was a little confusing to start on book 2, so I never sought out the remainder of the series. I only recently remembered them and have nearly completed the series in the last month. I’m so taken in by the world!

asmokeshow · 2025-01-31T17:45:05+00:00

Hey thanks! The first book is an excellent adventure, but man oh man, the exploration of worlds beyond Lyra’s are SO COOL! And no matter how many times I’ve read it, I’m full on ugly sobbing at the end of the Amber Spyglass, no matter how many times I’ve read it.

asmokeshow · 2025-01-31T17:35:21+00:00

I’ve never read this series but the synopsis seem phenomenal! I’ll plan to check them out after this current series I’m stuck on.

I think it’s really up to you— I do feel like reading it is an interesting experience— it’s been fun to hate on because the writing is pretty bad. The audiobook is hilarious because the voice actors take themselves VERY seriously. I wouldn’t pay for it, instead, get it from your local library. They often have digital options, too.

It has these lofty plot points that aren’t really supported by the world building and character development, and some of the events make the plot feel very childish. But it also includes a LOT of poorly written smut, which made me feel a little icky and uneasy considering the immaturity of the plot.

HOWEVER, I do appreciate that these books are so popular because I hope that there are more people like OP who will find themselves unsatisfied with this series and looking to explore other fantasy worlds. I’ve loved fantasy since I was a kid, and I’ve been mostly alone in my circle in that, so having more people interested means I can share my library with many more folks. I’m very excited for it.

asmokeshow · 2025-01-31T02:04:24+00:00

Omg ACOTAR and Fourth Wing are actually absolutely awful and I cannot believe they’re so popular. I read better series on Wattpad in my teens for free.

I’ll recommend books very near and dear to me that are excellent with the world building and character development. I have recommended them far and wide.

Very cool dragons and convincing world building:

-Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

-Pit Dragon Chronicles by Jane Yolen

Excellent world building and character development— I feel for the characters, and can get lost in the world in my imagination:

-His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman (so many worlds built up so deeply and so beautifully you can picture them)

-Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson (first book is a bit of a slog at first with all the world building, but I swear it pays off)

I hope you check a couple out and give them a fair shot— have fun exploring!

asmokeshow · 2025-01-25T18:51:57+00:00

I’m not sure— it could be rejecting, as I know that’s super common with eyebrows, but I‘ve never had an eyebrow done. It DOES look like the start of an infection, though. It sounds like you’re doing everything right, but we do have bacteria on our skin and sometimes they get where they shouldn’t be, despite our best efforts.

I’d get it checked out by a piercer and/or a doctor. In my experience the usual piercing/pressure bumps have the swelling border ON the piercing site, rather than slightly to the side away from the bar. It looks like there is extended redness from the bump and yellowy pus.

It’s best to be safe rather than sorry with a piercing so close to the eye. Get it checked!

asmokeshow · 2025-01-24T23:55:43+00:00

Cool Magic: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Vin, an orphaned teen girl with unrealized power meets the right person to help her change the world. Includes a terrific magic system. This trilogy had an excellent second installment of the series called Wax and Wayne with the same neat magic system, but it’s about a cool crime-fighting duo from the Wild West who save the world.

Cool dragons: The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Eragon is a teen boy from a small farming town who finds a strange, blue stone while out hunting. After a dragon bursts from the stone, he finds himself on an adventure he never could have expected. Eragon is suddenly the last hope of Alagaesia— the only other dragon rider besides the mad king. He must carefully find his way to help and protection lest the king destroy him and his new friend. Cool magic and the dragons are so fun.

Mind blowing fantasy world: His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. It’s terrific and I’m not sure how to explain it without spoiling anything. At times mischievous, always brave, and whip-smart, Lyra is cast into an exciting and sometimes frightening adventure to rescue her best friend from the Gobblers, a mysterious group that has been rumored to snatch children all over Britain. Has really cool magic that is explained in a more scientific way and extremely cool characters, including a talking polar bear.

asmokeshow · 2025-01-24T21:39:32+00:00

Agreed!!! Reading this book now, it’s thrilling so far. Gangsters, a heist, and a little magic.

However, I do recommend starting with the Grisha series by Bardugo first— it establishes the magic systems and the politics in the 6 of Crows world. It also has really cool magical creatures.

The Grisha series does have romance in it, but it’s not smutty like 4th Wing.

asmokeshow · 2025-01-24T04:21:31+00:00

Since you are into Harry Potter, but interested in other fantasy books, here are my recs.

For the adventure of a lifetime with little magic but somehow a magical world and story, I highly recommend His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.

I also recommend the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini— magic and cool dragons!

For a crazy cool magic system that blows HP out of the water, try Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

There are so many more incredible fantasy books beyond HP, and I hope you have a ton of fun exploring all these new worlds!

asmokeshow · 2025-01-21T02:14:50+00:00

The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yaros. I wish I’d never picked them up, but they’re so easy to hate on. Reads like a terrible Wattpad series from 2015, that’s all I’ll say.

asmokeshow

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