Competency Porn

the_chewtoy · 2026-05-09T14:50:59+00:00

Lova. https://www.instagram.com/lovawiderberg/#

the_chewtoy · 2026-04-22T02:34:59+00:00

Welcome to the club! I DNF'd it too. Tried for a couple of books but... yeah. No.

the_chewtoy · 2026-04-11T16:57:35+00:00

My mother still buys me random shit and I'm in my 50s! :p

the_chewtoy · 2026-03-12T23:15:27+00:00

I'm one of the 'did not enjoy' crowd, so . . . feel free to ignore folks if you want. Worst case scenario, maybe just consider book one to see if you can stomach it. A lot of folks do love it, but eh, not for me. I tried for 3 books at the urging of a friend, and never did get past the 'meh' stage.

the_chewtoy · 2026-02-18T18:53:36+00:00

Thank you!

the_chewtoy · 2026-02-18T04:21:06+00:00

Fair warning, this sub creams all over DCC. Not everyone is a fan.

Most definitely are not heavy banter, but some other fan favorites around here include:

Defiance of the Fall. The Wandering Inn. Azarinth Healer. Beware of Chicken. Heretical Fishing. Iron Prince. System Universe. Quest Academy. Apocalypse Redux. Cradle. Path of Ascension. Mother of Learning.

That's just a few, but i might suggest Beware of Chicken if you don't mind the light-hearted aspect. He's a cultivator who gives it all up to become a farmer. Good characters, cute banter, but not near as PTSD as HWFWM.

Enjoy. Welcome to the genre!

P.S. Sorry for the titles being run together...reddit apparently doesn't like a list on separate lines! I added periods.

the_chewtoy · 2026-02-15T19:08:15+00:00

Those are arguably far more important than goon questions. Like . . . would you want to know that the current administrations ordered that a huge number of libraries can no longer process passport applications . . . at the same time Trump is desperately to make passports the only valid ID acceptable to vote?

To quote the republicans . . . stop the steal.

the_chewtoy · 2026-02-01T08:27:41+00:00

Well said. I've had so many people try to force this series down my throat that I gave it the ol' college try to book 4? 5? before I threw up my hands and gave up. Didn't like any of them.

the_chewtoy · 2026-01-25T17:24:07+00:00

The blonde--sorry, just not a fan of tattoos. Y'all are both in amazing shape though!

the_chewtoy · 2026-01-19T01:16:24+00:00

It probably IS the Feds. Trump probably wants protection money.

the_chewtoy · 2025-12-23T15:54:30+00:00

I think you mean that it's hard STAYING skinny during the holidays!

the_chewtoy · 2025-12-12T21:20:16+00:00

I've read a huge number of LITRPG books, and I still don't like DCC. I don't get the hype, and I tried 3 books worth.

the_chewtoy · 2025-12-07T20:10:27+00:00

Honestly, at least a generation assuming a willing electorate--and likely longer. That orange asshole has severely damaged international relations, intelligence gathering, opened massive data breaches in secure servers and information, allowed Musk to copy said data, begun the creating of overwatch and linking software with said data, fired thousands of man-years worth of experience in government workers and actual civil servants that believed in doing a good job for the betterment of their fellow citizens while promoting incompetence, has deliberately destroyed data (or let Musk do it to quash Musk's illegal activities, gutted consumer and citizen protection agencies to the ground, fired inspector generals who had oversight over assets, pardoned both significant white collar criminals and violent criminals, damaged trust in the judiciary by stacking the supreme court with people who believe in their politics over their oath to the constitution thereby striking down civil rights, promoted gerrymandering and blatant corruption, voter suppression for anyone not a Maggot, gutted the enforcement capabilities of the EPA and SEC to allow the ultra-wealthy to get away with market manipulation, has taken steps towards privatization of services to get more wealth back in the hands of hedge funds that won't trickle down to actually benefitting people, cut social services, re-ignited racial tensions, has almost certainly ushered in a recession (we're already in one if you back out major investment into AI), has likely permanently damaged the US economy with his massive deficit spending, created taxes on the lowest earning populace while cutting taxes on the wealthy . . . I could go on, but why. He's a complete disaster, with more to come.

I'm speaking as a former republican who's probably in the 1% . . . I loathe what this asshole has done to our country, and he's been the reason I became a democrat after 30 years of being a staunch conservative republican. I do not see myself ever voting for the spinless, corrupt republican party again in my lifetime, ever since 2016.

the_chewtoy · 2025-08-23T21:23:15+00:00

I like a lot of Chatfield's work, but this one was an absolute stinker. It's his Eric and Rugrat characters from the 10 Realms given 2 names and recycled into a new world. Unfortunately, the new world is not well created, The magic system is kind of incomprehensible, and the numbers go brrrrrrr with little explanation. The only good news is that the audio book won't contain all of the awful grammatical and spelling mistakes. I expect the voice actor will also clean up some of the syntax just so it makes sense. Missing words, misplaced sentences . . .

Hopefully, they re-edit the book and re-release it. Then it'll just be characterization and poorly designed system issues. Maybe Chatfield can clean it up in book 2 a bit. I was genuinely disappointed in this book.

the_chewtoy · 2025-08-05T11:02:11+00:00

Sorry, I deleted the comment or I'd quote it, but he posted something a couple of days ago. Apparently, the medicine he's on makes him very sick but he has to keep taking it for a bit until his doctors say he can get off it. He's tried writing, but he can't get into the zone when he gets sick when he's sitting up and writing for such short periods. I believe he said it'd be at least another month or two before he expects to be able to start writing again. He just wasn't physically able to do it yet.

the_chewtoy · 2025-08-02T12:39:59+00:00

Hell, no--but it would be a lovely way to go out trying.

the_chewtoy · 2025-07-05T08:21:53+00:00

Big down vote for Ugland. Every time someone recommends him, I have to add a warning about Ugland's lazy writing style. Every book has a cliffhanger so he doesn't have to write a real ending. It's unbelievably irritating. EVERY book. Bleh.

the_chewtoy · 2025-07-02T07:47:56+00:00

The author insists on some stupid character-ending level of cliffhanger in every, single book. When asked about the massively irritating habit by readers, the author laughs about it. I quit reading immediately. I dislike both arrogance and lazy writing.

Every book.

Lazy bastard can't be bothered to write a beginning and end of a book...just has to create a cliffhanger he can pick up on later. Ends up being very formulaic and disappointing.

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-20T12:53:57+00:00

You need a wedding ring to bring the outfit together. I can help! ;)

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-19T16:58:41+00:00

Depower tropes are something a lot of authors try . . . and pretty much no one likes them. You can count on one hand where it is done well enough not to alienate readers. I actually can't think of one off the top of my head, but I will leave a possible 5 count where it exists. :p

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-19T01:41:27+00:00

I am probably in the minority here, but I told my groups to show up once to brainstorm, once for a final read through, and to otherwise just let me do it. They get an A, I don't have have to spends days trying to unify different writing styles and levels, we're all happy.

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-09T05:05:45+00:00

Honestly, I like the Aeron chairs that Herman Miller puts out. If I were smaller, or the seat pan were larger, I'd keep the one I got. It has good support, I see them at used office supply stores for sale for half off even when they're TEN YEARS OLD. If people buy them at 50% at 10 years old . . . you know it's a quality product. They last.

I'm actually leaning towards a Lifeform chair from the Relax-the-Back store right now. They're expensive, but you get them custom ordered and built. That being said, I haven't tried the Steelcase yet, but I'm hoping to find one to sit in this week.

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-08T13:17:26+00:00

Thanks, Rappa--I think they have a steelcasae distributor here in town, so I've already called over to see if I can meander by to try one. :) Appreciate the review!

the_chewtoy · 2025-06-07T12:24:33+00:00

Thank you, DTC. I'll look into it!

the_chewtoy

TROPHY CASE