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paracactus.bsky.social
Para 🌵
@paracactus.bsky.social
700 followers 220 following 3.2K posts
Sci-fi & fantasy reader. Antelope appreciator. Also posting a lot about my many and varied crafting WIPs. She/her (or they/them) 🏳️‍🌈

Filter topics: #booksky (reviews) | #NamibiaCam

📍🇸🇮

otherworldsreviews.wordpress.com
goodreads.com/parawanderer
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paracactus.bsky.social
Para 🌵 @paracactus.bsky.social · Nov 10
I keep forgetting we can do pinned posts now

Hi! Call me Para. I'm into:
- SFF books (esp. queer)
- cross stitch (+ knitting, crochet...it alternates)
- Namib desert livestream, with a focus on antelopes & zebras
- enamel pins
- cheap fountain pens & unusual colour ink

I review books on my blog:
To Other Worlds
SFF book reviews, recommendations, and more
otherworldsreviews.wordpress.com
paracactus.bsky.social
Got what I need so I can make my own bookbinding press this weekend 👀

So close to being able to use my work training for personal projects!!
A set of two long, about 2 cm thick, threaded wooden sticks and multiple square nuts.
November 28, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
aplante.com
i know WHY this is but that just makes it even more of a kick in the pants lmao
screenshot of a tumblr post from user “wildmansters” The thing that really boils my potatoes about Al in general is that I have been a creative professional for over a decade now and the devil has ALWAYS been in the details. Big and small, I've had single-person businesses rip me to shreds over how their colors turned out on newsprint, and have worked with huge companies with THICK brand guidelines with every detail of their brand identity laid out and enforced with an iron fist. But I guess all of that stuff doesn't matter anymore? Who gives a fuck if this Al generated baby has six fingers, that mom-and-pop shop is still going to use it. That rug from Temu says Happy Thanksgivirg? Oh well haha it's just a silly funny thing now (nevermind that you never would have given a B-grade item from a craft show the same consideration). I don't actually care that the Al Coca-cola ad has a truck that changes size every scene, but I can't help but think about how, if it had been some poor underpaid artist, they would have been laughed out of the building. I don't really know how to put it in a succint way but it just feels all the more obvious how much more grace and flexibility has always been possible but never offered.
November 28, 2025 at 3:28 AM
paracactus.bsky.social
When you see this, post an image from your gallery to describe your mental health
An owl that looks like it hasn't slept in a year
November 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
neonhemlock.bsky.social
📚 50% off ebooks because capitalism i guess
use code UGHFINE
or you could just buy them! up to you 📚

www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks
50% off ebooks the world SALE kinda half-assed and barely visible use code UGHFINE
November 28, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
sarahgailey.bsky.social
Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com

stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...
Why I Need the Birds
A Love Letters Feature by Amal El-Mohtar - November 2025
stone-soup.ghost.io
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 PM
paracactus.bsky.social
Ordered some fancy paper for making notebooks and threw in a couple treats to make the shipping worth it 😁

(The colour of the pen is even more obnoxious irl, I LOVE it)
A transparent, neon red Kaweco Perkeo fountain pen and four inks: Colorverse Brunch Date, small bottles of Diamine Desert Burst and Lady Grey, and a tiny little bottle of Herbin Rouge Amarante. The inks are propped up against a dry lavender bouquet.
November 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
doodlemancy.com
hello fellow artists. google has fallen. pinterest/duckduckgo AI filters don't work. do not despair; here is a list i made of places to find reference images without having to sift through piles of worthless garbage: doodlemancy.dreamwidth.org/20757.html

🚯 #NoAI #HumanArtists #ArtistsOnBluesky
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Para 🌵
evelasco.bsky.social
Cover illustration for ‘La noche de los mundos’, by @inesgaliano.bsky.social and Loredana Volpe, published by Ediciones Mutis. Art direction by Loredana Volpe.

Yep, all those lil drawings in the frame have a meaning in the story! Had lots of fun with them.
Illustation of someone's hands holding a pink skull. Another person's hands, wearing what seem the sleeves of a dress, are holding the first person's arms. Behind the skull is a circle frame in the style of Alphonse Mucha, with little icons. In the background, there are different iterations of a theater stage and empty seats, overlapping. In the top corners, there are hints of dark curled tentacles.
November 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
clericofthevoid.bsky.social
It’s transgender awareness week so please be aware of 🏳️‍⚧️🌸💖✨h e r✨💖🌸🏳️‍⚧️
Artwork of Jude. She is sitting, propping herself up on a broken sword like she’s using it to get herself upright. She is wearing golden armor decorated in oakleaf and acorn inlay, an undercoat in dull purple embroidered with little flowers. She is in profile looking upward and angry, her lip is snarling a bit. Her long braid is a mess, falling down her back with small yellow flowers in her hair. There are scars on her face, across her undercut. The sword she’s holding is glowing and translucent peachy pink, broken in three places. Glowing pink magnolia and hellebore flowers are growing up around her. The background is a dark swirling sky with a hint of gothic architectural window elements. A dark silhouette of Kye stands behind her, covered in stars and above her head a black sphere that glows violets at its edges.
November 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
rblemberg.bsky.social
Popping in to Bluesky on this fine morning to say that "fountain pen drama" that so many people are referencing relates to Ferris Wheel Press (FWP). Countless people asked for comments on their JKR collab, founder ignored all questions wrt the LGBTQIA+ community.

(mini-thread)
November 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
iridescentdreams.bsky.social
"Get his ass” Is so unreasonably funny to me. A huge win for the English language. Today's version of "seize him" imo
November 16, 2025 at 5:22 AM
paracactus.bsky.social
Handing that to my favourite characters
lanyardigan.bsky.social lanyardigan @lanyardigan.bsky.social · Jan 24
Someone handed this to my grandpa in an Inwood bar, c. 1946
A yellowed and very worn paper card that has been taped back together: YOUR STORY HAS TOUCHED MY HEART Never before have I met anyone with more troubles than you. Please accept this token of my sincerest sympathy.
November 14, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Para 🌵
martasrsly.bsky.social
Not GoodReads Choice Awards for Romantasy having 0 queer books but 3 repurposed Harry Potter fanfics I Hate it Here
November 13, 2025 at 9:35 AM
paracactus.bsky.social
This week on #TheMagnusArchivesReadalong, we're starting season 2! Lots of great episodes in this batch.

(Supplemental: The Archivist is acting real suspicious. I think the events of the finale have done a number on him...)
From the Fantasy community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the Fantasy community
www.reddit.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
paracactus.bsky.social
It's a shame I have to take a couple days off work (sick with a cold)(not covid) just as I might have finally been allowed to fix books for real 😭

I hope there are still some left next week...
November 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
hazelmonforton.com
I really hope I never attract the attention of Joyce Carol Oates, Kendrick Lamar, or menswear guy.
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
patsux.bsky.social
to somewhere | gouache
Gouache painting of a man wearing light blue ensemble (scarf around his head, blazer and a pair of knee-socks,) a dark blue shirt tucked in a pair of teal shorts, and he is wearing dark blue dress shoes. A heavy sling bag is hanging off his right shoulder, and he is carrying a suitcase on the left hand. There are three fish surrounding him, with a green and turquoise floral patterns as a backdrop.
November 10, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
ironspike.bsky.social
A togglable "I'm an adult with kids and a job" feature that assumes you only get to play once a week, and dumps a summary of what you were last doing/your current objectives in a corner tooltip on loading a save.
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 AM
paracactus.bsky.social
The tradeoffs I will make to avoid dealing with bureaucracy and phone calls and whatnot 🫠
November 11, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Para 🌵
fresaprincesa.bsky.social
My second #embroidery project and my first time painting with thread 💜 I followed @crewelghoul.bsky.social’s tutorial and while I had to alter the colour scheme a little (don’t have that vibrant purple in my arsenal), I’m happy with my pansies!
Hand embroidered pansies in an embroidery hoop. Three purple and black petals are accompanied by dainty dark green leaves.
November 9, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
arthur.baron-clement.com
Krita, day 4
Rough landscape digital painting of a couple of houses surrounded by trees and lost in the mountains.
November 7, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
gdbee.bsky.social
Little Sunfish
Illustration of a mermaid lifting her drapey hair to reveal a glowing tiny sunfish. She is wrapped with pearls and shells and has turquoise shells, and has a ponytail updo. Other bright sunfish are migrating around. Drawn by gdbeeart/prinnay in Nov 2025
November 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
binarypartitioned.space
every piece of mass-market software these days feels like living with an unruly pet where you have to constantly stop what you're doing to check if it's secretly eating plastic under the dresser again
November 7, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by Para 🌵
clarkesworldmagazine.com
Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.
thebookseller.com The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 21d
Amazon has launched a new AI-driven translation service, Kindle Translate, for Kindle Direct Publishing authors 👇 #BookSky
Amazon launches AI translation service for indie authors
ebx.sh
November 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Para 🌵
singlecrow.bsky.social
if fucking ChatGPT could do any of the goddamn things the stupid fucking internet and also apparently every stupid person I know thinks it could, it wouldn't have to ADVERTISE AT ALL, let alone coy fuckboy minimalist copy CAREFULLY DRAFTED NOT TO BE ACTIONABLE

god, I'm mad about this bullshit.
November 7, 2025 at 10:13 PM