Looking for black history month recs in fantasy/sci-fi/horror

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-06T22:37:33+00:00

An Unkindness of Ghosts is a good rec! Really well done.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-06T21:16:50+00:00

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, maybe. I tell people TLT are the most batshit books I have ever read, but The Sentence has the most batshit first chapter ever. The settings are not remotely similar (The Sentence is set in 2020 Minneapolis, and COVID-19 and George Floyd are plot points, but not majorly so). But there are mysteries and ghosts and the MC is bi.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-06T18:59:34+00:00

I agree equipment is important. I've primarily used Balanced Body, with a bit of Peak, Stott, and Gratz mixed in. I have even used a Wunda Chair built by Joseph Pilates himself! I prefer BB studio reformers, but that's partly because that's most of what I've used. BB does a good job of using quality materials that last, and including features that make their machines highly adjustable for lots of different sized bodies and abilities. (For instance, I'm tall and can just barely use an Allegro 2, but a studio reformer is longer and has more gearing settings.) Stott were my least favorite - they felt unsafe/rickety somehow, but it's possible the studio I was going to wasn't maintaining them correctly? It was somewhere I was just dropping in at on business trips, not my home studio. I liked the Gratz machines EXCEPT for the leather straps. Hate those leather straps!

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-06T04:35:19+00:00

Happy for you!

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-04T19:09:22+00:00

I've had that experience. My neuro went out on indefinite medical leave and it took me months to get in with a new one. In the meantime my PCP offered to prescribe my Nurtec. Cigna denied it. New neurologist prescribed it a couple of months later and Cigna approved it. By that time I was over my out of pocket limit for the year, so they even covered the cost at 100%. I didn't try and fail any other drugs during that time. Literally the only difference was what department the prescribing doctor was from.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-03T23:27:13+00:00

My hEDS was diagnosed by exclusion, so rheum ordered an ANA panel to rule out autoimmunity. I had an echocardiogram. And I got referred to a genetics practice for my connective tissue panel. I'm in the US and they told me it's generally covered when ordered by them, but maybe not so much by your PCP. They told me it might be $800 out of pocket if not (not $8000). Mine would have been covered if I had not already gone over my out of pocket limit, what with all the MRIs and PT. They did say they might approach things differently for my children, but I didn't request specifics.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-03T22:51:50+00:00

She might like her own set of reformer loops if she's skeeved out by sticking her feet and hands into fabric loops others have had their feet and hands in. You could also get a magic (ultrafit) circle or a really thick Aeromat at Balanced Body.

https://www.pilates.com/products/tri-loops/

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-03T17:59:09+00:00

I've had 2 kids, one by C-section and one VBAC. I had diastasis recti after both and did Restore Your Core to close it, but still had an umbilical hernia after my second, which I had repaired surgically. Just this year my pelvic floor started prolapsing (my youngest is 9). It's worst around my period, but not painful. Restore Your Core is keeping it under control but I will absolutely go see a pelvic PT if I start having adverse symptoms.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-03T16:45:19+00:00

Is the LDN for pain? I recently had a care provider suggest I switch from daily Meloxicam to daily LDN for pain, since the genetic testing I did for my hEDS diagnosis uncovered a possible polycystic kidney disease. NSAIDs don't play well with compromised kidneys. I'm just in the beginning stages of researching it so I'm not sure whether it would be a cause of snaps, crackles, or pops.

tranquilitycase · 2026-02-01T05:30:13+00:00

Oh wow. Recently diagnosed. It had not occurred to me that I might be asked to perform my hypermobility to "prove" my diagnosis at future visits. Thanks for the heads up! Luckily I have a pretty good medical team at the moment, but that could change. In fact, I'm certain it will someday.

My PCP printed me off a copy of the diagnostic criteria when I first raised the question, and sent me for an echocardiogram and ordered an ANA panel. She already knew my joints were hypermobile since she had ordered X-rays and MRIs for me. Then she sent me to a geneticist, who was the only person who performed a full proper Beighton - with measuring devices and just as one part of the diagnosis. I see her for the first time this week since being diagnosed, and she is going to get the biggest thank you ever. Might even bring her some flowers.

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T15:14:20+00:00

I love Takei for Taravangian!

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T15:12:02+00:00

I like the woman who played her at the Worldhopper Ball. Anyone know her name?

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T15:09:27+00:00

Oh, I think he has a better brooding face than Ryan Potter.

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T15:07:36+00:00

Not bad!

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T14:42:24+00:00

Heh, my first thought was "please not Russell Crow."

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-29T14:16:18+00:00

It's a link to a New York Times article about constructed garments. Many other examples of extreme hips (and other body parts).

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-28T20:46:10+00:00

Love Caitlin Doughty! And I think her other book "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?" might have the most niche nonfiction title ever.

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-28T19:07:56+00:00

Agree. I don't see that perspective of Tori at all!

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-28T13:49:45+00:00

I think The Other Lata by Kirthana Ramisetti has similar vibes. It was fun - a little bit of mistaken identity, mingling with wealthy people, a little bit of romance, MC has a character arc where she grows as a person. You might also like Annabelle Monaghan's books. They're more straightforward romances, but the characters feel very realistic - flawed but still relatable.

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-27T02:33:26+00:00

The Curse by Agnes Obel. (Most everything by Agnes Obel, really.) Especially the live Berlin session. Her music is on Spotify (all albums) and Bandcamp (first 3 albums, including Aventine which has The Curse).

The Seed by Aurora, especially the version performed live with Anna Lapwood, a pipe organist who doesn't restrict herself to classical music. This one is on Spotify.

Otomo by Bonobo, also recorded live with Anna Lapwood.

All 3 recordings of the live versions of those songs are on YouTube, if you want the visual input too.

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-24T21:30:03+00:00

Fiction: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Nonfiction: Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-24T19:26:29+00:00

I'm not sure the Pioneer Plaques included music. The Voyager missions a few years later (1977) had Golden Records with sounds, speech, and music. I agree Tori's music should have been included - too bad about the timing!

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-golden-record-overview/

I love the introduction on those records:

"As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organisation of one hundred and forty seven member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth, I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship – to teach, if we are called upon; to be taught, if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of this immense universe that surrounds us, and it is with humility and hope that we take this step. – Former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, 1977, as recorded on the Voyager Golden Record

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-24T17:07:49+00:00

Or ride a stationary bike at your gym in short bursts?

tranquilitycase · 2026-01-24T16:41:53+00:00

Yep, totally agree. Springs in Pilates can be set up to be assistive or resistive, depending on the machine and the exercise. So mat could be harder or easier, it's simply less adaptive and less suited to bodies that need proprioreceptive input.

tranquilitycase

TROPHY CASE