grotesque and irreligious
banner
abf1994.bsky.social
grotesque and irreligious
@abf1994.bsky.social
Theatre, opera, figure skating
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Here it is: My thoughts on Heated Rivalry's fantastic adaptation of romance genre storytelling - and why this is such a bizarrely rare phenomenon on TV.
"The real question here isn’t why Heated Rivalry is a hit—it’s why this kind of romance series is so rare in the first place."

The great @gavia.bsky.social returns to Fansplaining with an incisive piece on Heated Rivalry, romance publishing, and the TV industry. Read or listen to an audio version:
The Success of Heated Rivalry Should Not Be a Surprise — Fansplaining
Romancelandia understands why the show is a hit. Why is it so hard for Hollywood to get the message?
www.fansplaining.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
highly endorse this episode on HR from one of my favorite podcasts.

it is a goddamn delight to have a deep dive from critics whose expertise sits at the intersection of genre romance, film and tv, professional hockey culture, *and* fandom culture!
January 26, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Some news from me!
January 15, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
pound for pound this might be the funniest thing ever written
December 31, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
I would never do the "Here comes the airplane" bit to feed my child. Embarrassing for us both. I would calmly explain the importance of adequate nutrition and they will yield to unimpeachable logic
December 30, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
The very last Calvin and Hobbes strip was published 30 years ago today.
January 1, 2026 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
(daft punk One More Time voice) Auld Lang Syne
December 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
yuna (saying goodbye after learning ilya’s fucking her son and wanting to make him feel at home): and ilya, i just want to say, i’ve talked a lot of shit about you over the years, and … you should know i’m not sorry. about any of it
shane: MOM, GOD
ilya (through tears): thank you. that means a lot
December 28, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
late to the party, but The People's Joker is SO funny and clever and original. idk the international streaming situation, but in the UK you can rent it straight from the the distributor's website. watch.eventive.org/matchboxcine
Catalog |
watch.eventive.org
December 16, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
All right, Booksky: it's my 2025 Books of the Year post! Get your book recs here.

Featuring lashings of romance and SFFH, a fair bit of murder, and some extremely specific history nerding, like you weren't expecting that.
Best Books of 2025 – KJ Charles
kjcharleswriter.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
when someone tells me not to use em dashes because AI uses em dashes
November 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Sally Rooney putting her money where her mouth is (figuratively of course). Bravo.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
August 16, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Tom Lehrer made all of his music 100% public domain so if seeing people sad about his death makes you want to check them out… it’s free. he wanted you to share them.

tomlehrersongs.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
pre-orders now open for the next issue of Mynah 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

www.indiegogo.com/projects/myn...
Mynah Mag 5: Issue 5 of Singapore's Untold Stories
Smart, surprising, deeply reported. Help make Mynah #5 a reality! | Check out 'Mynah Mag 5: Issue 5 of Singapore's Untold Stories' on Indiegogo.
www.indiegogo.com
August 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
I'm glad Tom Lehrer got to spend over a year in a world without Henry Kissinger
July 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
I've never seen *anything* like this, either.

Joint statement from BBC, Reuters, AFP, AP about their journalists literally starving.
Joint statement on Gaza from AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters
www.bbc.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
🚨BREAKING: The last journalists working for AFP in Gaza have said they can no longer work for the news agency.

They are out of energy and they are starving to death.

I have never seen a statement from a news organisation like it.

🧵
July 21, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
One of the most extraordinary live performers I've ever seen - generous, electric, scalding, tender. Thank you, Andrea Gibson. 49 is far too young: coloradosun.com/2025/07/14/a...
July 14, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
It's true. One of the reasons I'm an author is because I read a trad-pubbed fantasy novel from the 80s when I was a teenager which was so mediocre that I went "Shit, if this can get printed..." and never quite gave up on that, even though it took me a while to make a proper go of it.
Second favourite @tkingfisher.com quote this evening: "Things done badly are an enormous inspiration."
July 9, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Second favourite @tkingfisher.com quote this evening: "Things done badly are an enormous inspiration."
July 9, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
"it is honestly shocking how rarely the single most important fact has been stated: at some point, senior figures in Unbound’s management structure decided they had the authority to take money raised by authors [ ] and money owed to authors [ ] and spend it".

Yes. Absolute press fail.
What Unbound’s demise has shown, to a quite alarming degree, is how little tangible, active advocacy is available to authors in this situation, say the authors affected by the collapse of Unbound in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
Opinion: The Unbound authors' view
ebx.sh
June 24, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Smut!
Give me smut and nothing but!
A dirty novel I can't shut
If it's uncut
And unsubt-
-tle.
June 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
I’ve said it before and will say it again: this is the best mystery novel I’ve ever read
SALE TIME!

DEATH IN THE SPIRES ebook is on 99p / 99c in Nook/Kobo/Apple/Amazon. Get it while it's cheap!

🔪Edwardian murder mystery
🔪Intense pining
🔪Golden past gone horribly wrong
🔪Anglo-Saxon poetry

books2read.com/u/bwEBN0
June 5, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by grotesque and irreligious
Copper Script is out today! Get your morally conflicted policeman / chaos graphologist romance here.

All e platforms books2read.com/u/4NE2KG
Gumroad kjcharles.gumroad.com/l/copperscript
Out in pb too, audio on its way.
May 29, 2025 at 7:33 AM