Mixed Metaphors
@mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
660 followers 1.1K following 1.8K posts
reader, writer, vegan, techie, shiba inu, mixer of metaphors. He/him. I'm a sucker for a line in a book that functions both as a well-crafted, character-defining piece of poetry and also as meta-textual code for how the overall story works.
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mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I'm so so so excited to have a story in Malarkey. They are a wonderful press and I've read and loved so many of their short fiction collections. (Subscribe to their book club!!!)

Please read and share my story if you are so inclined and please forgive my use of too many exclamation marks!!!
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
This is especially scammy because you don't need to pay someone else to record ChatGPT reading a book for you. It's tricking the buyer into thinking there's a produced audiobook when there is not.

That's less important to me than the respect for quality human work, but it's an extra insult.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I've also made an exception if the audiobook narrator is the actual author of the book (often the case for low-budget indies) though the quality really varies in those cases.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I didn't actually get nutmeg mania, but I did think the scones tasted soapy. At first I thought I'd not properly rinsed out the mixing bowl. But I looked up "does too much nutmeg taste soapy" and sure enough it does! I also learned about nutmeg mania and I'm blaming all future problems on it.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I did recently find a box of cassette tapes of a "talk show" my brother and I recorded when we were little and I can confirm listening to those was amazing. We were running around the room while recording so about half of it is unintelligible. But still, good stuff. Podcast worthy at least. 🤣
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Like, 99.9% of the fantasy genre is also playing with/derivative of/inspired by other literature and myth, but not always quite so specific about it.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Which is particularly funny in this case because we're talking about a game called Hades II! How dare anyone do the same thing to the game in their critique of the game that the game is doing itself?
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I have stories and books like this stored away in my brain. I used to go to my library and check out shelves in alphabetical order. Of the ones that stuck, some are probably extremely well known and some trivial and unfindable. But I don't know if it would actually be good for me to read them again.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Exactly! I love literary fiction, video games, and genre pulp. I wish we could approach video games and genre pulp with the same critical eye and analysis and deep understanding that we do with literary fiction without getting shouted down.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
My Great Aunt once acted in a sketch comedy show where she was a grandma who thought she could solve every problem with "Chiclets and pretzels." It aired on MTV of all places, so it was a real thing. But I've never been able to find it again.
semperbufo.bsky.social
I long ago resigned myself to the fact that I will almost certainly 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 again track down this story, which has taken on mythological proportions in my head. Just one of those things, pre-internet, that you find and experience and then lose all tangible proof of. And nobody else would believe you.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
The author incriminates two specific books as being meme-ified YA fantasy, and--for gamers who do read--those are two of the books they probably read and love. So not sure the fiction allusions are helping win friends in the gamer community.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I find many (not all) people who respond this way to game criticism are also the same ones who complain video games aren't treated more seriously as "art" by whoever they think of as making that judgement. They want art critique to annoint their beloved with exclusively high praise.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Last week I learned you can get "nutmeg mania" from putting too much nutmeg in scones.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Banana bread is cake not bread and we all know it
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I'm not 100% sure though it seems within spitting distance of you. (I realize, though, that in the US we think of a two-hour drive as a close neighbor.) Somewhere right past the "Butter Tubs" is the best I can name right now. She'll be at the reading too so we'll place it all then.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Beautiful. I've stayed in Settle a couple of times, driven over the Butter Tubs, and hiked the area. I'm very excited for this book! (Though that was the case even before learning the geography of it.)
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Those light cycles better be life-size working replicas.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Just ordered it from Bookshop.org based on the snippets I've found. I've read maybe one other non-fiction sports books in my life, so probably will name this the greatest. In the fiction realm (and the real world) I have a tumultuous and not exclusively positive relationship with JCO.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
My favorite article of the year!

Also, because of you, I'm now pouring through some Joyce Carol Oates' boxing essays and they are by a wide margin the best thing of hers I've ever read.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
It's my favorite article every year. Not just about the Nobel, but in general.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Well, we'll definitely be there now! I want the travel crown. Super excited about this working out.

Charlotte is from the dales, not the moors, apparently. But the landscape there features heavily in her art, so she's invested in your book now too.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
I'm in the mountains of Western Massachusetts. Moved here recently-ish after decades in Brooklyn.

In Feb I'll be in the Yorkshire moors with @charlottesmithson.bsky.social to see the Goldsworthy "Hanging Stones." She's game to stop in Leeds on our way back to Manchester. On her birthday, no less!
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
Seriously, this person is kind of correct. Coming to NYC and going to see a random Broadway Play and expecting it to make sense is something people have been doing for at least 50+ years.

I love that the original audience responded this way too! It makes me feel like the play is working.
mixedmetaphors.bsky.social
What I love about this is it's in line with what a lot of people (most?) said when the play first came out!

It's a theater-bending (if not breaking) play. It's always been so. This person is not alone in feeling this way!

(Clarification: I think it's one of the greatest things ever written.)
luxalptraum.com
TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it
One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway
I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way.
What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money.
Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight.
To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.