I would previously have though that 40 books in a year was reasonable, but way beyond me, and for the last few years I was reading probably <10. Then I went and read 50-60 (depending on how you count) in the last 7 months of 2025; it's amazing what developing a hyperfixation can do.

I'm about halfway through and wow, absolutely zero punches pulled.

"Warmonger with the Nobel"

There's probably something decent along those lines.

Yes, I think that's probably why people keep reaching for "twink", it's hard for a term "non masculine straight man" to not immediately be interpreted as derogatory.

I'm pretty sure I've heard it used to refer to people understood at the time to be straight men, but whether it should be is another question.

Readhead: very
Elf: a bit short, but pointy ears do suit me
Vampire: well the palor and avoiding sunlight come with the redhead part, and I've been meaning to try put fangs
In your area: depends on how reliable Eurostar is feeling at the moment

And yet still apparently impossible

Yeah, just finished it and I may have cried.

Not to mention the diplomacy bonuses most game's don't even bother to model from there just being a random bunch of people who's baseline opinion of your country is "my friends/relatives live there".

Books 1-3 in 8 days is a very impressive rate of Dorley reading.

And of course thanks to Beth for organising this whole thing and holding the readathon which motivated me to get check out a bunch of books in my library I might not have gotten to otherwise.

No bundle or anything on this one, so I suppose consider it my endorsement of Vyria's work in general that I went and bought it at full price:

vyriadurav.itch.io/the-hatchling

The thing about capitalism is that it's a system based on efficiency, unlike communism, which just creates a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy.

So in conclusion I am now a true sicko I guess.

On the one hand I still really do like the game, it was my most played game for 3 years in a row, and my 3rd most played this year. On the other hand, I'm currently playing EU5 and mostly worrying that it's going to collide with the 1.0 release of Terra Invicta, which I've been waiting for for ages.

You're very welcome, thank you for writing them, and happy new year!