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#maybe that's just cryptonomicon
catnipster69 · 30 days
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Mind Your P’s and Q’s
Sam was tired as fuck and maybe a little clumsy. He swung the weapons duffel a bit too hard onto the tiny motel table, and he watched it slide all the way off the other side until it made a thump and a crunch when it hit the floor. Yup. He'd definitely broken something.
“What was that?” Dean asked as he walked into the room carrying their personal duffels.
“Uh… I might have dropped the weapons bag.”
Dean stood stock-still as he locked eyes with Sam, then he put his burdens down and went to see the damage.
Sam approached cautiously and watched Dean bend over and unzip the duffel.
“Seriously?” Dean looked up at Sam accusingly. “Seriously?!” Dean pulled out the mangled remains of a—was that a Casa Erotica DVD?
Sam frowned, relieved it wasn’t anything important but confused about why it was in the weapons bag. “Dude. Shouldn’t that be in your duffel? There are knives and guns and shit in there. Heavy guns…” He shook his head, gaining steam. “And why do you even own a porn DVD? You told me I couldn’t buy that Neal Stephenson book because ‘there was limited room for personal belongings.’ And were you planning on watching that on my laptop? Because after last time, I said never again. The Q key still sticks.”
Dean didn’t seem to be paying much attention to Sam’s tirade as he examined the state of the DVD inside the broken case. He picked up the disc by the edges and held it up before letting out an exhale. “We’re fine. Looks like it was just the case that was damaged.”
“Oh. Uh, good.” Sam felt foolish now for getting so defensive.
Then Dean pulled out the giant hardcover edition of Cryptonomicon that Sam had wanted from the used bookstore. “It was gonna be a surprise, but… here. Maybe the weapons bag wasn’t the best place to hide it.”
“Wow. Wow! Thank you! I’m, uh, sorry I hassled you about the DVD…” Sam rubbed his forehead ruefully. “I guess you can—do you want to use my laptop?”
“What about the letter Q?”
Sam shrugged. “I trust you.” Sam expected more keys to get gunked up. But that was OK.
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metastablephysicist · 3 years
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The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
Brief summary: In present-day China, Wang Miao, a nanotech researcher, and Shi Qiang, a detective, investigate the recent suicides of prominent scientists and their ties with a strange VR game called the Three Body Problem.
Wow, what an enjoyable read. I’ve been trying to branch out in the sci-fi that I read and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this. Compared to say, Neal Stephenson, Cixin has just as much (if not more) technical detail in his writing that I LOVE without the annoying insertions of Stephenson’s weird sexual fantasies, objectification of women, and use of slurs (pretty par for course in mainstream hard sci-fi, unfortunately). The Three-Body Problem is very information dense, as there are references to Chinese history and culture, notable physicists and mathematicians, (astro)physics, etc., but these digressions add so much richness to the story. 
I was initially skeptical because the premise of the novel involves aliens, leading me to believe that it might be more fantasy than sci-fi. Don’t let this dissuade you from picking it up! I was impressed with the realism that Cixin treated his story with. All in all, 10/10, will be reading the next two books in the trilogy. Hopefully the in-the-works Netflix adaption will do it the justice it deserves.
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pleckthaniel · 2 years
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all the neal stephenson novels ive read at least part of, ranked
because ive read probably too much neal stephenson for any normal person and CERTAINLY too much for anyone who doesn’t actively work in the tech industry
the diamond age: MY BELOVED. this one goes bonkers crazy. kind of steampunk adjacent but also heavily implied to take place in the same (cyberpunk) world as snow crash. it’s about a little girl coming of age in a horrifyingly cynical dystopia and all the people who try to help her along the way both directly and indirectly. also REALLY interesting commentary on the effect of access to resources on life outcomes as well as philosophies based on idolizing the past. such a good book CANNOT emphasize this one enough. its one of my favorites ever
seveneves: MY BELOVED PART 2. personally i think this is probably objectively the best neal stephenson novel. basically at the start there’s 1 year (or something; i cant remember the exact time limit lol) until the moon breaks up completely and obliterates all life on earth. part 1 is about humanity’s attempts to preserve itself, part 2 follows the struggles of the remnants of humanity after most of the species is wiped out, and part 3 takes place like thousands of years later when earth is habitable again and humanity is returning. it’s seriously SO good oh my god. the diamond age is my personal favorite of neal’s but if you pick one book on this list to read pick seveneves fr
the rise and fall of DODO: also very very good. time travel plus magic shenanigans plus secret government organization. ties itself up VERY neatly for such a chaotic story lol. i do have one problem with it which is that it sets up a will-they-won’t-they kind of romance as the emotional core of the book but the payoff kinda falls flat to me even though i was invested. but otherwise i loved it, i would say this is the “fun” one in neal’s canon if you don’t want to have to wade through a lot of lectures about science and philosophy (which why wouldn’t you)(that’s the interesting part)
anathem: pretty good and interesting imo, but it was also very very slow-paced and philosophical so if you’re not into that you will not enjoy. basically goes ‘what if math was religion and also the many-worlds interpretation was 100% true’ and unfolds from there.
snow crash: good, obviously. i mean it kind of both defined and skewered an entire genre at the same time, is one of the more influential works of science fiction period, launched the idea of the Metaverse/a VR Internet into popular consciousness, et cetera. i just personally dont like it nearly as much as some of neal’s other work. it’s very.. chaotic in a way that’s harder to follow than the more meticulously written books i guess? hiro protagonist is an iconic name though
the big u: satire of american college life. im sort of on indefinite hold on reading this one bc my copy is at my parents’ house but it’s funny so far, if roughly as sexist as you might expect a book written by a cis man in the 80s to be. it’s supposed to get really fucking weird by the end which is why i haven’t officially quit reading it
zodiac: deeply boring. lots of interminable scenes of a guy going around on an inflatable paddleboat. i quit like 1/3 of the way through
cryptonomicon: the parts set during the 90s are pretty interesting, but i ended up noping out in the middle of Generic White Man Character #85′s endless war flashback about getting pinned down in guadalcanal. i know a lot of people really like this one though so idk maybe give it a shot if you have a higher tolerance for world war II bullshit than me
the baroque cycle: haven’t actually read these just wanted to say. i know i’m an overwriter but who the fuck writes books this long. hire an editor bro
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midrashic · 3 years
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28 | FAVORITE TITLE | REAMDE | NEAL STEPHENSON
i had to find a place for my favorite sci-fi author somewhere this month! my favorite stephenson novel is actually anathem, but that title is fairly straightforward. reamde is. a wild book. like, i wouldn’t say that your suspension of disbelief needs to be in high gear, but maybe your suspension of probability (just about every american bogeyman somehow crosses paths in this novel). but what i loved is the way the titular virus, “reamde,” hints at so much--the ubiquitous “read me” of newly installed software, and the way other anagrams, both “remade” and “reamed,” hint at the pure action thrills of this book.
nb. sokolov my love 💛
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Neal Stephenson is continually rocking the literary world with his brazen and brilliant fictional creations--whether he's reimagining the past (The Baroque Cycle), inventing the future (Snow Crash), or both (Cryptonomicon). With Reamde, this visionary author whose mind-stretching fiction has been enthusiastically compared to the work of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Foster Wallace--not to mention William Gibson and Michael Crichton--once again blazes new ground with a high-stakes thriller that will enthrall his loyal audience, science and science fiction, and espionage fiction fans equally. The breathtaking tale of a wealthy tech entrepreneur caught in the very real crossfire of his own online fantasy war game, Reamde is a new high--and a new world--for the remarkable Neal Stephenson.
[ april in books ]
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Title: Snow Crash
Author: Neal Stephenson
Rating: 3/5 stars
Neal Stephenson's three best novels are about computers. The original Cybernet (1994), The Diamond Age (1996), and Cryptonomicon (1999) were about how computers work, and how they interact with their users. Then in the mid-2000s he wrote A Brief History of Time, just about how time works. And then, after writing all at once for seventeen brisk, gorgeous pages, he goes back and writes seventeen more, and then another seventeen, and another, and more, and the result is some 900 pages of fantastical extrapolation, barely punctuated by stretches of pure, simple explanation.
It's not that Stephenson doesn't like or understand computers. He seems to. It's that all of his novels are about how computers work. If you happen to like Stephenson's other stuff, most of it is pure salesmanship, but this is a fault he shares with Heinlein and Asimov and several generations of other proud inventors who saw themselves as producers of sturdy but often humiliating boxes for men to stow their useless dicks. Stephenson is the only one who thinks he can play the role of the participant within that straitjacket.
Is there anything wrong with that? It's an outside shot, really -- after all, you can get anything you want by inventing it, and so if you insist on being the one to take the leap and invent the particular sort of adult dude it's hard to imagine thinking "this direction is clearly wrong" -- the right choice is to invent the adult dude in question as himself, not as a specific, heavy-set novelty act they grew up wanting to see. And maybe that right choice can make a novel (and a series of novels) a little less easily washed away by its own incomprehensible content.
All of which is not to say that it's somehow not a good book. Neal Stephenson is still very good, is still very good even in this low-pressure environment, which takes some doing.
The last lines of the book are:
I have invented for that moment a aesthetic universe where the options are endless.
Everyone's never
Ever Anyone's strong
steel beyond
Weak beauty hollow imitations thirsty illusion cheap picnics
gold alloy
mine
cheap
pyramids stripped labels sandy ruins
ancient
ephemeral entertainment anti-democratic recreation
wallpaper
new struggles 60
minds
defies
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A categorization of every Neal Stephenson novel I have read (having just finished Reamde)
The only popular one (all side tracks, big, bold, and ridiculous): Snow Crash
Some side tracking, but still accessible, do read: The Big U, Zodiac
The perfect ratio of side tracking to plot for me: Reamde, Seveneves
Lots of side tracking, maybe read: Cryptonomicon (though this makes it fun to just pick up and read random little bits as a break), The Diamond Age, Anathem
The two written under pseudonyms, do they even count?: Interface, The Cobweb
3000+ pages of side tracking, don’t read unless you’re some kind of masochist (like me): The Baroque Cycle
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unfortunate-rp · 5 years
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Congratulations, ROSE! You have been accepted as your desired character, LUCA BIANCHI. I am really in love with your para sample, which perfectly captures the essence of the series and this roleplay with the codes and how members interact with each other. Please be sure to complete the steps listed on the NEW MEMBER CHECKLIST and send in your account within the next 24 hours.
Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?
Your Name: Rose
Your Age: 28
Your Pronouns: She/Her
Time zone: GTM-3
Activity Level (Please give a number from 1-10 and an explanation): 5, I will be fairly active while I’m on vacation, after that I will be around two or three times a week, specially during weekends.
Tumblr account (for contact purposes): REDACTED
How did you find us?:tumblr search #literary-rp
Triggers:None
IC:
Character you’re applying for: Luca Bianchi
Why did you choose this character?: I love reading and writing, plus, I’m taking sign language lessons. So he just seemed perfect.
Secondary character preference: Maybe Ava Coleman, but for now I’m settle on Luca.
A sample in character (3+ paragraphs with a minimum of 500 words in third person [Yes, we check the length]):
Language barrier is a term is used to describe difficulties in communication due to different languages (or dialects) which make a message hard to pass through. It is not proper, though, to be used in a situation that the message was not successfully passed through only because one of the people in the conversation was far too foolish to understand an answer to a request. Therefore, Luca knew for sure Mrs Poe was using the term inappropriately when she said “I asked you for a book that would help me solve a code, not a very long book on a man’s private time in the restroom. This is a clear example of a language barrier.” The Caesar Shift, the book on the woman’s hand, contained the chipper for one of the most ancient codes in history and was perfect for people who would like to start on code breaking. Luca was not exactly the best lip reader, but he had understood Mrs Poe’s needs, he knew just what the lady wanted and chose a book perfect for her needs, so the message passed through just fine. It was not his fault if Mrs Poe might be in need of new glasses, making her believe The Caesar Shift was a book about a man named Caesar who might have had the most terrible stomachache in history. The librarian did his best not to shiver as Mrs Poe’s saliva was spat onto his cheek while she screamed “SOLVING CODES” as if this was going to be any help to transmit her intentions. Even if this were really a language barrier situation, screaming would not help Luca understand her any better. Becky (Luca’s loyal service hedgehog) knowing how tense this could make her owner feel, crawled over the front desk caring him a napkin which Luca used to clean his cheek before finally signing and mouthing, “I’m sorry” to Mrs Poe. Even though he was not really sorry. The man stood up from his desk and walked again to the large wood catalogue file cabinet across the room.
From the top of his mind, he could name some books that would help Mrs Poe on her research, The Zodiac Mystery Code, or Cryptonomicon. Even the underrated Gold-Bug would be amazing, that is, if she was open to putting her mind into work. You see, code deciphering is not an easy task, and Luca knew it better than anyone else how hard and time-consuming it could be. Nevertheless, the librarian believed that if any of those amazing pieces were handed to her he would have a similar problem. So, instead, he moved to the letter C…. ‘Coachella’, ‘Cobra’, ‘Cocoa’, ‘Codenames for children on the run’and…. Bingo! Luca got the card out of the cabinet, read the code with the location of the book, and moved fast across the aisles, knowing exactly where to go. Mrs Poe followed him, babbling something, but Luca did not care much to read her lips now, as he did not think it would be any relevant. He stopped in front of a shelf and carefully inspected the numbers, his hands passed through the books’ spines looking for the right number, DC559.45.H35. There it was. He pulled a copy of ‘Coding for Dummies’, a book that would not be appropriate for what Mrs Poe wanted, but something on the title suggested it could be interpreted as perfect for her. Luca handed it to the woman with a fake smile. She looked at him, first puzzled, but soon smiled back, thanking him for getting exactly what she needed. She even waved her hands around as if this would make her message any clear.
Luca was about to follow her back to the front desk when he noticed something odd. What was ‘Report from Engine Co. 82’ doing in that shelf? Its code was VR986.10.A85, and it belonged to the true stories shelf. This was wrong, so wrong. Luca took this book out of its wrong place angrily, wondering who could be the savage to misplace it in such a careless way. For his further despair, he noticed the one to its right was misplaced too, the FF112.14.U31 was supposed to be with the other biographies, and goodness right next to it stood DS388.54.G59. What was all this madness? It took Luca only a second to look at it more carefully, though.
VR986.10.A85
FF112.14.U31
DS388.54.G59
The message was successfully passed through: VFD.
What headcanons or plans do you have for this character? (Please take any current plotdrops into consideration):
Being older, Luca always felt the need to be protective towards August, and towards people he loves in general.
He is extremely organized with his books since a young age. A misplaced book or a folded page is the death of him (figuratively).
August knew about Luca’s gender identification before he said anything out loud because they were that close.
Luca picked up a hedgehog as his support animal. While most people didn’t see how an animal that spikey could be any support through rough times, Luca saw the potential in Becky, and she is the best support animal one could find.
After losing his brother, he became paranoid about the idea that there is always someone following him. And maybe… there is.
The place he loves the most is, of course, the library, but as a close second, he loves his kitchen. After the accident, he learned that cooking could make him calmer. So he will take the time and effort to make Violet’s the best possible meals. Plus, he had read once before that the way to a man’s heart is the stomach, so maybe this new skill could also be helpful to get closer to Philip.
He always checks the stove three times before and three times after using it.
He has a real hard time trusting people even inside VFD and this might come sidewise on his missions.
Do you want any additional connections for your desired character that you’d like us to add to their bio?: Not for now.
Anything else?: 
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lyravellas · 6 years
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TAZ Amnesty Character Headcanons: Ned Chicane
Ned: “I’m an old man.  I can’t keep up with you young people nowadays, go easy on me”
Also Ned: *drives a snowmobile off a ski jump and does a flip*
*Something weird/creepy happens in town* *Ned pulls out half a bottle of whiskey and chugs it*  I’m either gonna make money off of this or die trying
Duck is impressed and maybe also a bit scared.  Aubrey is thrilled
*waving flyers for the Cryptonomicon at a group of teens* Send these to your friends.  You can sext or meme them
Does Ned Chicane Want To Fuck Mothman Or Not –– an ongoing debate between Aubrey Little and Duck Newton
You decide who’s on which side
Listen.  It’s not that he’s actively trying to be a bad influence on the children of Kepler.  It’s just that teaching kids how to make a flamethrower out of aerosol and a cigarette lighter is just so much easier than being a “good role model”
Local Man Is So Weirdly Into Cryptids That He Becomes A Cryptid Himself
“Oh yeah, Bigfoot’s real.  I fought them in the Denny’s parking lot last Tuesday”
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shoku-and-awe · 7 years
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Questions meme
Tagged by @curiosidadarmoniosa​ (Thank you, friend!) You have to answer these 20 questions You have to tag 20 people.
1.    Name: A common English-language girl’s name :)
2.    Nickname: Reggie
3.    Zodiac sign: Cancer
4.    Height: 5′1″ (155 cm)
5.    Orientation: Bi
6.    Nationality: USA
7.    Favourite fruit: Mango! Despite allergy.
8.    Favourite season: Fall
9.    Favourite books: Too many to choose! But I’m in the middle of three right now: Crytponomicon by Neal Stephenson, a book of classic short stories (that I bought at the airport because I forgot Cryptonomicon), and Tokyo by Donald Ritchie (kindly on loan from @todayintokyo ).
10.  Favourite flowers: Hmm... I appreciate flowers in general, but don’t think I have a favorite. All the ones that come to mind are flowers that remind me of special people.
11.  Favourite scent: Maybe strawberry?
12.  Favourite colour: Blue or green
13.  Favourite animal: Rabbits!
14.  Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?: Coffee, definitely.
15.  Average hours of sleep: 6 or 7
16.  Cats or dogs?: Dogs, but I like cats too.
17.  Number of blankets your sleep with: One lightweight sheet and one heavy comforter on my feet, so nothing can grab them.
18.  Dream trip: Easter Island! Or Antarctica.
19.  Blog created: April 2015. 
20.  Number of followers: Just shy of 2700.
Well! I am certainly not going to tag 20 people, but if you’re itching for a chance to do a survey, please consider this your tag :D
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killerxbunny · 7 years
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I was told to read Cryptonomicon...
No one told me it was 900 pages of the page long descriptions of random things, really large amounts of sexism like wow, a bunch of characters throughout history it's skips around where barely anything happens for long periods of time, large amounts of the author showing off how much he knows about unix and coding and math ooh so smart. Just so boring. I had to struggle through the first 200 pages. I kept expecting to somehow find a thread between all the disjointed story telling. Honestly this book should have been like 300 pages and maybe shouldn't jump around so much, God I can't stand this book. I mean there are parts where the author is definitely funny and I like some of the humor. And some of it is interesting. But if I have to actively not throw this book at a wall. This is not a good book in my opinion. And especially not for women in computer science.
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hongbab · 7 years
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Cliffhanger - “Lee Jaehwan,” the guy replies and reaches out a hand for Sanghyuk to shake. “Guide to lost souls trying to find themselves The Book. Always a pleasure to set up a rendezvous between an enthralling story and a reader starving to read something good.” (Hyuk/Ken, g, 6798 w)
a/n: written for this prompt. anon asked me to not make it “too depressing” and i tried my best, so much so that more than 3/4 into the story i forgot i was supposed to include the song’s interpretation haha well anyways, it’s crooked as it is because i remembered a little late that i should be concentrating on the song, but hopefully it’s not that bad!
lots of hand holding ahead;;
recommended song: dodie - would you be so kind
Something about libraries has always drawn Sanghyuk to them, but actually visiting them has been a totally different question.
He doesn’t know if it’s because the books there aren’t his own possessions or because those places are way too quiet. Nevertheless, he’s standing in the doorway of one now, feeling a little lost.
The public library isn’t very big on the inside which is quite understandable considering how small the whole town is, and the librarian doesn’t even spare him a look as he passes the counter, murmuring a ‘hello’. Sanghyuk strides to the shelves, reading the signs above that say HISTORY, ROMANCE, BIOGRAPHY and SCIENCE, desperately looking for the fiction section. He soon finds it, stopping in front of the shelf, feeling helpless.
There are just too many books. And he has no idea which one to read.
In retrospect, it would’ve been clever to search for something good on the internet and arrive to the library with a specific idea of what to choose, but he didn’t do that, so he just stands in front of the labels and cracked spines of unknown books, anxiety rising in the pit of his stomach, thinking about how embarrassing it would be to just leave.
“Looking for something?”
Sanghyuk snaps out of his daze, glancing to his right where the sound came from. A few feet away from him stands a boy probably around his age, wearing a pair of stonewashed jeans that end above his ankles, the rest of his skin covered by old black boots, and a well-worn sweater that most probably used to be emerald, though it’s now mostly just an ugly toad colour. The guy pushes his round, metal framed spectacles further up on the bridge of his prominent nose, plush lips stretching into thin lines as he smiles at Sanghyuk, cocking his head to the side questioningly.
“Uh,” Sanghyuk says cleverly, “not really. I just… want to read something, you know? But I don’t have an actual idea about what to read.”
“Hm,” the boy murmurs and presses a finger on his lips, looking up at the shelves. “Do you like manga? You look like you would like manga.”
“Well, I do like that kind of stuff,” Sanghyuk replies, “but I’m more of an anime person when it comes to that.”
“I see,” the guy says, still staring at the books. “A classic?”
“Maybe,” Sanghyuk shrugs. “I haven’t really read anything in a long time, so there might be some that I haven’t read yet.”
“Okay,” the boy leans a little forward, inspecting the books. “A horror or whodunit?”
“Not really a fan of those,” Sanghyuk says.
“Something sports-related?”
“I’m not very sporty either,” Sanghyuk mumbles and feels the tips of his ears growing warm. He wishes he could just give it up and go home to play Overwatch with his friends, but the guy next to him seems very determined to find him something good, and the way he even stands on his tippy toes to look at the higher shelves is kind of admirable.
“A thriller?” The boy sinks back on his heels and glances at Sanghyuk. “More toned down than a horror book, so you might like it.” He must see something on Sanghyuk's face, because he smiles brightly before turning back to the shelves. “Guess not.”
“Look, I’m—”
“Read this,” the guy says and shoves a heavy book into Sanghyuk's hand.
The cover of the book is a bluish grey, with some sort of cross symbol printed on it, and on the bottom it reads ‘Cryptonomicon’ in the most awful mud-brown (possibly golden back in the days) font Sanghyuk has ever seen. He turns the thick paperback over, skimming through the synopsis, catching some words like ‘codebreakers’ and ‘conspiracies’ and something about World War II, and frowns when he reads the last line by the Wired magazine: A hell of a read.
“It is,” the stranger says and he reaches out, pointing at the line with fingers too bony for someone so soft-looking. “A hell of a read. Really, I’ve read it like, three times at least. You should thank me later.”
“Okay,” Sanghyuk says tentatively and then blinks up at the beaming boy. He’s about half a head shorter than Sanghyuk, but his joyful expression makes it feel like he fills up the space between them and between the shelves. “I don’t know whom I should thank though.”
“Lee Jaehwan,” the guy replies and reaches out a hand for Sanghyuk to shake. “Guide to lost souls trying to find themselves The Book. Always a pleasure to set up a rendezvous between an enthralling story and a reader starving to read something good.”
“Han Sanghyuk. Are you a matchmaker?” Sanghyuk laughs and Jaehwan grins even wider, showing almost two full rows of teeth.
“I’m so much better than a matchmaker,” Jaehwan replies and lets go of Sanghyuk's hand. “I don’t only make true love happen, but I also give people lifelong friends.”
“Right,” Sanghyuk smirks. “Would you… like to get a cup of coffee with me? Down in the coffee shop? I need some suggestions as to what to read after I’m done with this one,” he holds up Cryptonomicon.
“Oh, sorry,” Jaehwan says and actually looks sad, his shoulders drooping. “I still have some soul guiding to do and I have only a few pages left of The Sum of All Fears—which is great and I highly recommend you read it. But if you stop by next time, we can go to the coffee shop.”
His eyes are sparkling as he says that, his smile bunching up his cheeks and smoothing out the sharp edges of his face. He’s cute, like a little elf that’s trying to bring happiness into the world, though Sanghyuk can’t be sure of his intentions outside of the library. His pointy ears resemble that of an elf’s, anyway.
“Yeah, okay,” Sanghyuk nods. “Then, good luck finding the perfect matches?”
“Thanks,” Jaehwan smiles. “And you have fun with that.”
“I hope I will.”
Jaehwan starts walking backwards, towards the end of the aisle, waving his hand at Sanghyuk and skipping a little as he turns around before disappearing behind the shelves.
Sanghyuk lets out a soft laugh, a little exhalation, as he walks towards the counter, putting the book down in front of the librarian, a young girl who’s tapping away on her phone. She takes the book before Sanghyuk could say anything, and then reaches out without looking up from her screen.
“Card,” she orders.
“Oh,” Sanghyuk says, “I haven’t joined yet, but I’d like to.”
The girl sighs and takes her hand back, clicking here and there on her computer. Sanghyuk looks towards the aisles while she does so, sees Jaehwan crouch down by a little boy at the children’s section, wearing a wide smile.
“You need to fill this out.”
Sanghyuk turns back, realizing he’s grinning without a proper reason, and takes the form and a pen from the librarian, scribbling down his data. When he’s done, he hands it back to her, and the girl taps the keyboard some more.
“Has he been working here for long?” Sanghyuk asks, leaning in closer. “Lee Jaehwan.”
“He doesn’t work here,” the girl says, and then puts the book back on the counter. “Lending time inside the cover, your card’s going to get mailed to you.”
“Thank you,” Sanghyuk replies, a little confused.
He looks back up into the general direction of where Jaehwan was a moment before, but he has disappeared and the little boy is holding up a book to his mother and jumping happily, a smile spreading on his small face. From behind them, Jaehwan stares at Sanghyuk and holds his thumbs up.
Sanghyuk leaves the library in a strangely elevated mood.
*
If there has been one thing that got Sanghyuk to read the 1168 pages long novel in a week, it was the prospect of seeing Jaehwan and possibly getting a cup of coffee with him.
It does happen like that; Sanghyuk hands Cryptonomicon back to the bored librarian who registers the event under Sanghyuk's name, but doesn’t even meet his eyes. Sanghyuk pulls a face he knows the girl won’t see anyway, and marches into the main aisle, his head snapping left and snapping right, looking for a mop of dark hair and a pair of round glasses too huge on a face too sharp-edged for someone so… small.
He finds Jaehwan in the reading room alone, with a cushioned chair pulled close to a window and Jaehwan sitting on it with his socked legs drawn under himself. He’s immersed in a book resting in his lap, head propped up on his hand. His brow is furrowed in concentration, maybe displeasure, and the sight makes Sanghyuk smile a little as he pads in, stopping right next to Jaehwan.
“Something bad happening?” he asks quietly, and Jaehwan looks up at him, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Sanghyuk nods towards the book.
“Things I would never agree with,” Jaehwan says, and sticks a piece of paper (previously a shopping list, now serving as a makeshift bookmark) in the book, closing it afterwards. Sanghyuk reads the title of it: 1984 by George Orwell.
“You might be taking it too seriously,” Sanghyuk says.
“Have you read it?”
“Yeah, and it’s amazing,” Sanghyuk replies. “And Cryptonomicon was really good, too.”
“Oh?” Jaehwan perks up, a smile making its way on his face. “Have you finished it?”
“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nods.
Jaehwan scrambles to stand up, pulling on his sneakers without untying his shoelaces.
"Would you like to talk about it by a cup of coffee?" he asks, placing the book on a shelf where it doesn’t belong. When Sanghyuk looks at him questioningly, he just shrugs, saying, "It'll be easier to find when I come back."
He leads the way out of the reading room, and picks up his bag from the counter, the librarian not sparing the two of them a look.
The coffee shop downstairs is small and looks pretty unpopular, if the lack of guests on a sunny Saturday afternoon is any indication, but it's charming in its own way, at least to Sanghyuk.
"Hey, Hongbin-ah," Jaehwan greets the guy behind the counter.
The brown haired boy is far too handsome for a coffee shop worker; the kind that makes headlines on blogs, declaring him to be the “hottest barista” and becoming Instagram famous just because of the sheer fact that he’s attractive and isn’t on a runway but behind a counter. He is wiping a mug clean, his eyebrows running up on his forehead when he looks up at Jaehwan.
"How come you've climbed out of your cave upstairs?" he asks without saying hello.
"Couldn't you be a little kinder?" Jaehwan asks, pouting sadly. "I have a guest today. A newbie in the field of library-going. I still have a lot of work to do on him."
Sanghyuk snorts and Jaehwan looks at him, amused. The guy called Hongbin narrows his eyes, but then smiles, wide and blinding, dimples appearing in his cheeks, though it’s nothing short of sarcastic.
"What can I do for you, dear guests?"
"I'd like the usual," Jaehwan replies happily, and then both of them stare at Sanghyuk who feels a little uncomfortable, staring up at the menu above Hongbin's head.
"Uh," he says, "I'd like the same."
"I doubt that," Hongbin grumbles.
"Excellent choice!" Jaehwan exclaims, and then motions towards Sanghyuk, "Come."
They sit down in a booth by the window, Jaehwan placing his hands on top of the table, lacing his fingers, and Sanghyuk lets himself marvel at them a little, at their angularity and all of Jaehwan's bones looking so sharp and still so graceful, a wide silvery band glinting on his right middle finger.
"So," he says, resurfacing from his daze, "can I have a question?"
"Go ahead," Jaehwan says cheerfully, his kind smile appearing on his face.
"The librarian girl told me you don't work there. What do you exactly do at the library all the time, then?"
"He lives there," comes the reply from Hongbin who puts their drinks on the table. "He's pretty much a library freak."
"A compliment," Jaehwan nods and Hongbin grimaces at him, but then leaves the table. "I do certainly not live there, though I've tried to move in before, but unfortunately, the town leaders are quite against people looking for shelter in a library."
"You're kidding me," Sanghyuk mumbles, eyebrows raised.
"Am not," Jaehwan shakes his head and pulls his drink closer to himself. "They're pretty strict."
"I didn't mean that," Sanghyuk laughs at the absurdity of it all. "I meant you couldn't be serious about wanting to move into the library."
"Oh, I was serious about that," Jaehwan replies, taking a sip of his beverage through the straw. "I figured if I was going to spend most of my time there, I might as well bring my stuff with me. But to answer your question, I love books, if that hasn't been clear so far."
"It has," Sanghyuk snorts and then examines his own drink. It's a glass of... something, with dark syrup on the bottom and some coffee mixing with what seems to be vanilla ice cream, milk froth and whipped cream on top, sprinkles of cookie crumbs and caramel decoration sitting upon all of this, a spoon and a straw stuck into the whole thing. "What... is this?"
"It's called a 'bookworm'," Jaehwan answers, pulling out his spoon carefully not to drop whipped cream on the table. "Hongbin gave the name of it and it went through with the management well! It's something I invented."
Sanghyuk thinks about that for a second, and while he doesn't yet know Jaehwan all that well, he finds he isn't really surprised this is all Jaehwan's doing.
"Is this a latte with whipped cream and cookie crumbs and caramel and vanilla ice cream and... what's that on the bottom? Chocolate syrup?"
"Not exactly," Jaehwan says, happily turning over a spoonful of whipped cream in his mouth. "It's chocolate chip cookie flavoured syrup; the coffee shop's own thing."
"Looks like liquid diabetes," Sanghyuk murmurs.
"Hm, that might have been a better name for it," Jaehwan giggles and Sanghyuk grins at him.
'Bookworm' tastes ten times sweeter than it looks, but Sanghyuk drinks it all, engaging in a conversation about Cryptonomicon and other books with Jaehwan, finding out that Jaehwan has no one favourite book because he's simply too much of a nerd to choose. Sanghyuk listens to him most of the time, only sneaking in a comment about books he's read, but otherwise paying full attention to Jaehwan as he digs into his "coffee" with his spoon to reach the scoop of ice cream, talking animatedly about all the stories he loves. He seems very into the whole topic, sounding more passionate about it than Sanghyuk has ever felt about anything, bright smiles breaking out on his full lips, and adjusting his glasses every now and then, and Sanghyuk wishes Hongbin wouldn't tell them they're closing.
"Oh, look at the time," Jaehwan says, flicking his left wrist to look at his battered watch. "It's already past nine. We've been here for more than four hours."
"Astute observation," Hongbin calls from behind the counter. "I'm tired, so please, just pay and leave."
"Sad thing good conversations always end too soon," Jaehwan sighs and stands up, gathering his stuff.
"We could continue it another time," Sanghyuk offers a little quietly, afraid of being rejected like the first time.
"Yeah, just drop by the library anytime you want and we might be able to come downstairs," Jaehwan says.
"If you're not too engrossed in a book?"
"Exactly," Jaehwan grins and pulls out his wallet.
"My treat," Sanghyuk says touching the back of Jaehwan's hand to stop him. His skin is warm but dry and Sanghyuk, for some reason, files that away with all the other things he has learnt about Jaehwan today. He unsuccessfully tries to fight off a blush as he pulls his hand back. "Thanks for the talk and, well, the diabetes."
Jaehwan laughs at that, loud and boisterous, his eyes forming crescent moons and creasing at the corners, and damn it, he looks so cute the way he pulls his shoulders up like he's trying to hide his smile into the collar of his black turtleneck.
Sanghyuk pays for their coffees more than he would consider reasonable for non-alcoholic drinks, and they exit the coffee shop together, stopping in front of the door and watching Hongbin turn the sign around to 'closed'.
"Next time you come to the library, I'll let you choose something based on your gut feeling," Jaehwan says, huddling into his coat in the cold February night.
"I thought you were supposed to match me up with my better half of a book?" Sanghyuk asks.
"That's only the first step," Jaehwan replies and his eyes are sparkling as he says that. "I can see the potential in you to be my partner on this project and that means you need to learn how to choose good stories just by following your instincts."
"I feel honoured?" Sanghyuk laughs. "I guess?"
"You better do," Jaehwan says and hits Sanghyuk's shoulder lightly. "Good night, Sanghyuk."
"Good night, Jaehwan."
Jaehwan smiles at him one last time and then turns around, walking off towards a bus stop.
Sanghyuk watches him go and presses a hand on his stomach, trying to figure out if the movement inside is from butterflies or the drink, the possibility of it being the two mixing together hanging above his head.
*
Sanghyuk finds himself standing helplessly in front of the bookshelves yet again, staring up at unfamiliar book spines.
“You’re too tense,” Jaehwan says and his grip tightens on Sanghyuk's shoulders as he stands behind him on his tiptoes, peeking around to see the books. “You need to relax and just let the book choose you.”
“Is this like that thing in Harry Potter?” Sanghyuk asks a little sourly. “The wand chooses the wizard?”
Jaehwan chuckles behind him and seems to lose his balance a little, plastering up on Sanghyuk's back for a moment and Sanghyuk is glad Jaehwan can’t see him blush.
“Something like that,” Jaehwan replies finally. “Now concentrate on the books.”
Sanghyuk sees familiar titles like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lord of the Flies, but decides to leave them there, even if half of them are books he has only heard of but never read. Jaehwan said he should rely on his gut feeling, so that's what he does, reaching out for a book on the top shelf, jostling Jaehwan on his back enough for Jaehwan's hands to fall off his shoulders and catch his waist. Sanghyuk flinches, almost yanking a dozen books down, and Jaehwan lets go of him like he touched burning wood.
"Sorry," Sanghyuk mumbles, flustered, and when he turns around, he sees Jaehwan standing in front of him with a pretty blush spreading across the bridge of his nose, tinting even the tips of his elf ears pink, his hands hovering aimlessly in the air. He's still half a head shorter than Sanghyuk and his general build is still so much smaller, and Sanghyuk knows these are not supposed to be things to fall for in a person, but shit, he feels himself mentally trip with every glance takes at Jaehwan.
"You— you chose that one?" Jaehwan asks in a strangely high-pitched voice.
Ah, yes. His voice, too. That's also another Jaehwan-thing worth falling for.
Sanghyuk takes a deep breath and blinks down at the book in his hand.
It's a thin paperback, not as worn as Cryptonomicon was, its condition suggesting that it hasn't been read a great many times. He turns the book around and traces down the patterns on the cover: it looks like a printed circuit board; the neon turquoise lines almost glowing on the dark blue background. It's entitled Straight Line, and Sanghyuk turns it around in his hand again, opening it at the first page, frowning at it.
"There's no author," he says, looking up at Jaehwan who seems quite jittery, pulling the sleeves of his sweater (a mint green knitted piece this time) over his hands, avoiding Sanghyuk's gaze.
"Really?" Jaehwan asks, walking to the chair he pulled by the window.
"Have you read this one before?" Sanghyuk asks, following him to sit down on the carpet with his back against the wall right next to Jaehwan. Sanghyuk looks up at the boy, but Jaehwan won't look back down at him.
"I think I have," he replies, opening Bram Stoker's Dracula at the page he had previously left off. "I can't really remember."
"Is it that bad?" Sanghyuk grimaces at the paperback in his hand. "You said you remember most of the books you've read."
"I don't know if it's bad," Jaehwan shrugs and he finally glances down at Sanghyuk, the nervousness still visible on his face, hiding behind his watery smile. "I guess you'll have to see it for yourself."
"Yeah," Sanghyuk mutters. "But why does it have no author?"
"Some authors prefer to remain hidden from the public, you know," Jaehwan says, and there it is, a truly happy smile, somewhat even condescending as he flicks Sanghyuk's forehead. "Noob."
"Nerd," Sanghyuk fights back and catches Jaehwan's hand, his fingers wrapping around Jaehwan's own. He holds it one second too long and they're already two blushing idiots again; a scene right out of a sappy romance novel.
Straight Line is quite intriguing as it is, and the more Sanghyuk reads of it with his head resting against Jaehwan's thigh, the more he doubts Jaehwan could forget this story if he ever read it.
It's something Jaehwan would like, Sanghyuk thinks, with the storyline centring around a young genius learning how to build androids just to save the love of his life through building her again after she dies, installing their shared memories into her mechanical brain, and Sanghyuk finds himself sucked into the story.
There are fingers in his hair, blunt nails scratching lightly, and Sanghyuk gets dragged back into reality by Jaehwan's hand on top of his head.
"Ugh?" he groans, and as he blinks up at Jaehwan, he feels his eyelids moving heavily like he would fall asleep anytime. He didn’t even notice he’s been getting tired.
"The library's closing," Jaehwan says, smiling down at him, his hand falling away from Sanghyuk's hair.
"Oh," Sanghyuk takes Jaehwan's left hand gently, pulling it into his sight to look at his watch. "Wow. Okay, yeah. We should leave, huh?"
"Unless you want to hide away behind the shelves," Jaehwan grins and he must see something on Sanghyuk's face, because he starts laughing a beat later, covering his mouth. "I was just joking, we can't actually do that, Hyerin knows we're here."
"Pity," Sanghyuk says, but gets on his feet, placing a clean handkerchief between the pages. Jaehwan takes the book from him and hides it between other paperbacks, along with Dracula.
"You seemed quite preoccupied with the story," Jaehwan says once they're standing on the street, in front of the coffee shop, Jaehwan waving at Hongbin who's standing behind the counter inside. He turns back to Sanghyuk. "Is it that exciting?”
"It's pretty good," Sanghyuk nods. "I'll come tomorrow, too. I really want to read it some more."
"Well, I'll be here," Jaehwan chuckles.
"Don't you have anywhere else to be?" Sanghyuk asks, smiling.
"Not really," Jaehwan shakes his head. "Besides, I'm glad I'm not alone anymore."
Sanghyuk almost chokes on his own saliva but manages to hold back, his second reaction being reaching out for Jaehwan's scarf to adjust it around his neck, pulling it further up so it bunches just under Jaehwan's mouth.
"Thanks for showing me... everything," Sanghyuk says awkwardly.
Jaehwan nestles into his newly arranged scarf—judging by the way his eyes begin to crinkle, hiding a smile behind the clothing item.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then," Jaehwan says.
"Yeah."
It's fleeting and nearly unnoticeable, but Sanghyuk's heart almost blows up inside his chest as Jaehwan wraps his ice cold hand around Sanghyuk's warm one, squeezing his fingers lightly, only to let go a moment later, averting his eyes and turning around to leave for the bus stop.
Sanghyuk catches something from the corner of his eye, and when he turns towards the coffee shop window, he sees Hongbin resting his chin in his palms, fluttering his eyelashes at him, a dimpled smile sitting on his lips. Sanghyuk decides it's better for him to go.
*
“What do you do, exactly?” Sanghyuk asks, looking up from the last ten pages of Straight Line at Jaehwan's face as he sits by his leg, head against Jaehwan's thigh. There’s a hand on his shoulder, Jaehwan resting it there, and Sanghyuk keeps fiddling with it, his own fingertips running up and down Jaehwan's bones and joints absently.
“What do you mean?” Jaehwan asks back, pushing his glasses further up on the slope of his nose.
“I mean, outside of the library,” Sanghyuk clarifies. “When it’s closed and you go home. And, like, what did you do before you started hanging out here?”
“I went to the university,” Jaehwan says, moving his index finger a little, crossing it with Sanghyuk's. “And I graduated summa cum laude, thanks for asking.”
“Let me guess,” Sanghyuk grins, “you were a Literature major, weren’t you?”
“Biology,” Jaehwan replies and flicks Sanghyuk's ear.
“Oh, that’s surprising.”
“Not as much as you majoring in History.”
“Yeah, that was surprising to me, too,” Sanghyuk mumbles, because really, it was. He applied for it because of all the pictures of excavation sites on the university pamphlet, but he never would have thought he’d get accepted. Still, here he is, skipping classes to read books with Jaehwan. “But back to the point.” Sanghyuk turns around, not letting go of Jaehwan's hand, their index fingers still hooked together, hanging in the air. “If you’re not a student anymore and you apparently don’t work—how do you get money for, like, food and clothes and all that?”
“Who said I don’t work?” Jaehwan raises his eyebrows.
“Wait, you do?”
“It’s kind of twisted that I need to remind you of this,” Jaehwan giggles, “but life doesn’t stop at 6 o’clock when the library closes.”
“So you work at night?” Sanghyuk inquires.
“You’re one curious kid, aren’t you?”
“Why else would I be here?”
“That’s a good point,” Jaehwan says and stands up. “All right, I guess it’s time I let you in on my darkest secrets.”
“Do I really want to know, though?” Sanghyuk murmurs, but then Jaehwan is holding his hand, yanking him up on his feet.
“You’re way too deep in, at this point.”
Damn right he is.
They end up walking towards the bus stop Jaehwan goes home from every day, holding each other’s hand and mostly staying quiet; Jaehwan keeps his eyes on the pavement and Sanghyuk tries to fight off astigmatism, because he can’t stop staring at their laced fingers from the corner of his eye.
“Where are we going?” Sanghyuk asks once on the bus, Jaehwan placing their hands into his lap and playing with Sanghyuk's while half of his face is buried in his scarf, the tip of his ear red again. For a crazy moment, Sanghyuk wants to lean in and kiss it, but stops himself before he would make a fool out of himself.
“My place,” Jaehwan says, still not looking Sanghyuk in the eye.
That piece of information is heavy enough to shut Sanghyuk up.
Jaehwan's flat is in the better part of town; newly built blocks with lots of green around them, the main road running just perpendicular to the street where they get off the bus, shiny, tall office buildings towering above them on the other side of the road. They walk into one of the modern-looking buildings, Sanghyuk trying to close his mouth as he awes at the decorations in the main hall but feeling he’s unable to, and they enter a lift, Jaehwan pushing the button that brings them up to the fourth floor.
Jaehwan's flat isn’t big, but it’s fairly well-equipped with dark floorboards and cream coloured furniture in the living room.
“Is this where you live?” Sanghyuk asks, standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“I didn’t bring you to someone else’s place if that’s what you mean,” Jaehwan laughs, and tugs at the zipper of Sanghyuk's coat, urging him to take it off.
“Looks fancy,” Sanghyuk says, kicking off his shoes and following Jaehwan further inside, through the living room where there is a huge bookshelf running along the wall opposite the small couch. “Are you a drug dealer or something?”
“A hitman,” Jaehwan whispers and chuckles at Sanghyuk's unimpressed look.
“You have so many books,” Sanghyuk notes as he stops in front of the shelf, eyes roving over the neatly aligned volumes. “I mean, that’s kind of what I expected, but— is this Straight Line?”
He hears a sigh coming from Jaehwan, and Sanghyuk takes the book off the shelf, seeing the same circuit board-like cover. When he looks back up, he notices the lack of authors on the books that sit close to where Straight Line did just moments before, and feels that something isn’t quite right.
“You said you didn’t remember if you read it,” Sanghyuk mumbles, brows knit. “And there are so many anonymously published books here; do you collect them?”
Jaehwan holds his hand again and pulls Sanghyuk with him towards an open door, stopping in the middle of a room that looks much like a bomb has exploded in it.
There’s a huge desk under the window, a small lamp standing by a PC, printed and hand-written texts on paper scattered around the floor, pens that have lost their caps sitting on top of them. There are also quite a few empty energy drink cans and chocolate wrappings, and it takes Sanghyuk some time to place all of those things together.
“Is this… your study?” he peers at Jaehwan and almost recoils from Jaehwan's gaze, because it’s intense and begging, like he really wants Sanghyuk not to judge him for everything he’s seeing. “And you… write?”
Jaehwan nods, stepping to the desk to open a drawer, rummaging through it until he pulls out a thick batch of printed pages, the paper yellowed already and the edges wrinkled. He sticks it under Sanghyuk's nose.
“Straight Line,” Sanghyuk reads the title on top, “by… Lee Jaehwan? You wrote this?!”
“No need to beat me up with it,” Jaehwan grins at the way Sanghyuk holds up the published book and puts the manuscript on the desk. “But yes, I did. And all the others that have no authors, outside on the shelf.”
“Wow,” Sanghyuk says, blinking down at the book in his hand and sitting down in the chair in front of the desk lest his legs give in under him. “So this is why… are you a best-selling author or something?”
“Not really,” Jaehwan laughs and steps closer, sitting on top of his desk, on a bunch of papers. His legs dangle from there. “But I’ve made some money out of them.”
“How many have you written?”
“Twelve so far. They’re really not that great, but they’re enough to provide me with some income.”
“And why don’t you have your name on them?” Sanghyuk puts Straight Line on the desk. “I mean, I’ve only been reading this one and it’s crazy good, so—”
“I don’t exactly want to become famous,” Jaehwan smiles at Sanghyuk and gently caresses his hair. “I figured if I kept myself hidden, they won’t bring attention to me, though, I must say, they don’t even sell that well and my publisher says it’s because of the anonymity.”
“You’re… wow.” Sanghyuk's eyes turn to his current favourite book once again. “So, tell me, is she going to die in the end?”
“She’s an android, Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan laughs, “androids don’t die.”
“She’s going to get shut down by the government, doesn’t she?” Sanghyuk whines. “The straight line is the line on the monitor where he checks if her parts are still working, isn’t it? It goes straight like an ECG.”
“Do you really want to spoil it for yourself?” Jaehwan pulls a face at him.
“Ah,” Sanghyuk leans back in the chair, trying to process all this information. “I can’t believe you wrote this; it’s really good.”
“You must really underestimate me.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Sanghyuk frowns. “I’m just… I don’t know.”
Silence falls between them and Sanghyuk looks around, catching some words on the pages spread out on the desk, wanting to read everything in one sitting, with Jaehwan's hand in his hair just the way it is now. He feels… so proud and excited, and his heart is about to burst the way it’s pounding in his chest, and when he glances back up at Jaehwan's prettily shining eyes, he swallows thickly.
“Jaehwan?”
“Hm?”
“This might sound weird, I don’t know. I just think you’re really wonderful,” he jabbers before he could really think about what he’s about to say, “so, I think I like you? Like, like like. In more than a… friendly way, you know? So, I’m— I’ve been thinking, would you… go on a date with me?”
There’s a blush on Jaehwan's cheeks again and Sanghyuk wants to kiss it, on both sides, because Jaehwan looks like a delicate little flower blooming whenever the pink appears on his skin, but then Jaehwan's hand disappears from between his locks, leaving Sanghyuk feel empty. There’s a sad smile on Jaehwan's lips when he says, “I have some work to do, the deadline is in two weeks.”
He gets off the desk and starts digging through his papers, with his back at Sanghyuk.
It’s like ice water being poured over Sanghyuk's head, his entire body going cold and he feels like crying; there’s not enough air in his lungs.
“I guess I’ll see you in the library, then,” he mumbles, standing up.
Jaehwan nods, leaning over the pages and Sanghyuk might be imagining it, but it looks like his hands are trembling.
Jaehwan sees him out of the flat, eyes glued to the floor, Sanghyuk examining his doormat once outside.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
Jaehwan opens his mouth, but eventually just gives Sanghyuk a mournful glance before closing the door.
*
“Uh-oh,” Hongbin says, way too cheerfully, “you just got dumped.”
“Can you give me a glass of that… sweet stuff?” Sanghyuk asks and then promptly collapses on top of the counter, burying his face into his arms.
“Drowning your sorrows in sugar won’t do much good,” Hongbin replies from somewhere above him.
The coffee machine starts whirring and silverware clinks against glass, but Sanghyuk doesn’t look up, lets grief take over him as he sits on the barstool, regretting every single word he uttered half an hour before at Jaehwan's place.
“If that makes you feel any better,” Hongbin says and Sanghyuk lifts his head, sipping at his drink sadly, “you’re not the first one.”
“Did he dump you, too?” Sanghyuk inquires gloomily.
“Not me,” Hongbin shakes his head, leaning on the counter. “A friend of mine, Wonshik. That poor boy was head over heels in love with Jaehwan—he became an utter fool for him. He’s not the literary type like you are, but he did see Jaehwan here a few times. I once saw him trying to kiss Jaehwan… well, suffice it to say Wonshik left in tears.”
“How is that supposed to make me feel any better?” Sanghyuk grumbles.
“I’m not sure,” Hongbin muses, shrugging. “But you’re the first one I’ve seen Jaehwan be so unreserved with. I kind of believed you could break the ice. What happened exactly?”
Sanghyuk tells Hongbin about everything, drinking big gulps of his ‘bookworm’ in the meantime, still feeling wounded from Jaehwan's rejection. He doesn’t think the confession was inappropriate; it might have been, if Jaehwan hadn’t shown him all those signs—then again, he might have got too ahead of himself.
“Okay, listen,” Hongbin says, “one of the things I managed to learn about Jaehwan since he’s been coming here is that you don’t outright tell him your thoughts. It must do with his analytical mind-set or whatever, but he likes to figure out things on his own, just like he does whenever he reads something. He loves cliffhangers and you need to let him realize what’s going on instead of giving him the answer. That said, you blew this one, buddy.”
“I blew it?” Sanghyuk asks pitifully.
“Well, a little,” Hongbin twists his mouth. “Unless he really is smitten with you, and I do think he might be.”
“What am I supposed to do now, then?”
Hongbin sighs.
“If only I knew, man. I got a headache from being so eloquent.”
Hongbin pats his shoulder and walks away to take an order.
*
Sanghyuk finds Jaehwan in the reading room just by the window where he always sits, and he plops down next to him on the floor, leaning back against his thigh. He feels Jaehwan freeze above him, but doesn’t budge, taking a thick paperback out of his bag.
“What are you… reading?” Jaehwan asks carefully.
Sanghyuk peeks up at him.
“Oh, this?” he asks, showing Jaehwan the cover. “It’s called The Grimoire, written by a certain nameless author.”
“That’s… that’s mine,” Jaehwan replies meekly. “I wrote that.”
“Did you?” Sanghyuk says casually like he doesn’t have a list of all the titles he managed to remember from Jaehwan's bookshelf in the pocket of his jeans. “Then hopefully it’ll be at least as good as Straight Line was.”
“You haven’t even finished that one…”
“I did, last night.”
“What?” Jaehwan asks, confused. “How?”
“There are these shops you can buy books at, you know,” Sanghyuk answers. “Bookshops, they are called, if I’m not mistaken. I bought it at one of those.”
“You bought my book?”
“Five of your books, to be exact. I’m kind of broke right now, but I guess that’ll only make you richer.”
“Sanghyuk…”
“Shh, I’m trying to read.”
There’s a half-oppressive silence as Sanghyuk starts to read from where he left off last night, having to re-read every other sentence as he tries to will his heart to calm down. Jaehwan is tense above him, his hand cold as he cups Sanghyuk's cheek.
“Hey,” he says, and Sanghyuk can hear the smile in his voice, “did you really like it that much?”
There it is: the ache in his sternum as his heart starts pounding, those stupid butterflies squirming around in his stomach. He reaches up to place his palm on Jaehwan's hand, attempting to heat it up, though the skin of his face must be doing a much better job at it.
“I’m not the one who underestimates you.” Sanghyuk closes the book and places it on the carpet, turning around and taking Jaehwan's hand off his face, holding it tight in his own as he looks up at Jaehwan. “I meant that it was amazing and I literally can’t wait to re-read it after I’m done with this one, and I’m only twenty pages in, but I already know I’ll want to re-read this one as well. And I’m sorry about what I said back at your place, it was just really a lot to process and I really do think you’re wonderful, because—”
Jaehwan's free hand is on Sanghyuk's neck in an instant and he’s leaning down, pressing his lips to Sanghyuk's mouth. The kiss is soft and slow and sweet and so warm compared to how cold Jaehwan's fingers are, and Sanghyuk finds himself standing up from the floor to give Jaehwan better access, eventually having to bend down himself. He hears the book Jaehwan was reading fall to the ground with a thud, his nose nudging the lens of Jaehwan's glasses and it’s going to get dirty, but Jaehwan doesn’t seem to mind. They kiss like that until Sanghyuk needs to support himself by the backrest of Jaehwan's chair because his legs become wobbly, his hand that holds Jaehwan's shaking with the happiness that wants to burst out of even his fingertips.
When he pulls back, Jaehwan's eyes are shinier than they have ever been when he looked at Sanghyuk, patches of grease smeared over the lens of his glasses, that cute flush making his face bloom like a small wild flower.
“Let me have my cliffhanger,” Jaehwan says and a wide smile spreads over his lips.
Sanghyuk can’t help but kiss his smile again.
a/n #2: yeah, that’s the plot of the error mv in straight line because i’m horribly uncreative lol idek..
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pepperf · 7 years
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Tagged by @bethanyactually, like whom my answers are mostly 'both'. :) I'm, like... pathologically agnostic.
Rules: Answer all questions, add one question of your own and then tag as many people as there are questions.
Coke or Pepsi? Mehhhh... Coke, I guess, but I'll drink either, so long as they're not diet. (That's the real question, right - diet or regular? I feel like diet is in fact not-so-secretly poison.)
Disney or Dreamworks? I have liked and disliked movies from both studios. I've probably liked more Disney movies, on balance.
Coffee or tea? I have coffee in the morning because otherwise I won't be awake, and green tea for the rest of the day because otherwise I can't sleep.
Books or movies? Read a book with a movie on the TV. :P
Windows or Mac? Both. :) That's seriously going to be my answer to about 90% of these questions. I prefer the customisability of Windows, and I prefer writing in Word, but you'll have to pry my iPad from my cold, dead hands.
DC or Marvel? I've liked each at different times in my life. Currently DC seems to be being less awful, but honestly I don't really read/watch either very much. Last comics I bought were Matt Faction's Hawkeye series. Next thing I intend to watch when I can tear myself away from The 100 is Supergirl.
Xbox or Playstation? What Bethany said - I don't play games so I don't really care.
Night owl or early riser? Oh, this is the one thing I am definite on, I'm a night owl for sure. Fuck mornings.
Cards or Chess? I really don't play games. I cannot emphasise this enough. Games are not my thing.
Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate, but I like vanilla too.
Vans or Converse? I've never owned either, I hate their flat soles. And they look the saaaaaaame. Doc Martens for me.
Star Wars or Star Trek? Oh, both. Star Wars was my childhood, Star Trek was my teenage years.
One episode per week or marathoning? I marathon if I have the option, because I have no self-restraint, but I'm currently enjoying watching The 100 week by week and squeeing with people afterwards.
Gandalf or Obi-Wan? Eh... I guess Gandalf. I had more of a sense for him, whereas Obi-Wan was a bit of a cypher. Oh, until Ewan MacGregor, of course... but those movies were so terrible that none of the characters really hold a place in my heart (sorry Padme, you were great, if only you didn't have to fall in love with Anakin for stupid plot reasons).
Heroes or Villains? It depends! Antiheroes, reluctant heroes, villains on the horns of an ethical dilemma... give me shades of grey.
John Williams or Hans Zimmer? John Williams.
Disneyland/Disney World or Six Flags? Not been to any of them, sorry. I have been to Universal Studios and loved that. :)
Forest or sea? Yeah, probably forest. I'm more of a land mermaid.
Flying or reading minds? Ugh, flying for sure, I don't want to know what people think.
Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure? I liked both... uh... god, I don't know. Twin Peaks was more innovative but Northern Exposure was much more likeable. Okay, Northern Exposure. I don't think I could sit through Twin Peaks again, a lot of it was incredibly tedious, even at the time (did anyone actually care what happened with that guy who thought he was James Dean?).
Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Lord of the Rings. I'm really not a Potter fangirl. :) However, I prefer HP fanfic to LotR fanfic, and I kind of love that HP AUs are a thing in almost every fandom - although they make more sense in some than others.
Cake or Pie? I made a pie in a cake once, trufax. It was great - cherry pie in chocolate cake. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME CHOOSE.
You are banished to a desert island, which Benedict Cumberbatch character would you choose to take with you? Ugh, has he ever played a character with whom I'd want to spend an extended period of time? Which one is likely to get me rescued sooner? Sherlock would probably get me killed, and would be seriously annoying in the meanwhile, so fuck him. Um... hell, I guess Alan Turing, because he was an actual genius so maybe he can figure a way off the island, or if not, all efforts will be made to retrieve him because he's essential to the War Effort. And because I read Cryptonomicon once, so at least I've got the start of a(n entirely awkward) conversation (that would go rapidly beyond my understanding).
Train or Cruise ship? Trains. I love trains. And I went on a Nile cruise when I was 16 and had an awful time, a combination of food poisoning, not being allowed to spend much time on things I wanted to see, and the maitre d' developing an obsession with me in a scary way I was not equipped to deal with at the time. He phoned me crying, and then tried to give me all his books in a way that suggested he was going to kill himself later. I spent most evenings with the door bolted, phone unplugged, and headphones on. I didn’t tell my family how bad it was because I didn’t want to make it a big deal, hahaha, so they thought it was funny. Ikd, maybe cruises aren’t bad if you’re not being stalked, but they’re not really my scene.
Brian Cox or Neil deGrasse-Tyson? Sorry, I was a teenager in 90s Britain so I have to go for Brian Cox, although Neil deGrasse-Tyson is clearly awesome.
Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland? I kind of dislike both, they're creepy and unpleasant. Um. Can I choose Wicked instead?
Fanfiction or fanart? Fanfic, but I am in awe of fanartists, I don't think they get enough credit.
The Hunger Games - Books or movies? Book for the first one, movies for the rest.
Be able to see the future or travel into the past? Travel into the past. Seeing the future would be dismal. No more surprises. Boring.
Han Solo or Luke Skywalker? Aww... Han was my crush, so I guess him, but Mark Hamill is just the best.
Lilacs or sunflowers? Sunflowers come out slightly ahead for me, but they're both lovely.
Spring or autumn? Autumn - and thank you for calling it that and not Fall. ;)
Campfire or fireplace? Hmm... fireplace, because indoors for preference, but, again, I like both. Setting fire to things is fun!
Watch a gory horror or a family-friendly animation? (My question, but I'm answering it.) Animation, almost every time - I've come to embrace the fact that I prefer anthropomorphic animals to chainsaw massacres.
No-pressure tagging @strivia, @shinewithalltheuntold, @rashaka, @bending-sickle, and anyone else who wants to play. 
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I was tagged by @whatlighttasteslike
Name: Heather
Height: 5′8″ / 172cm
Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw
Go-to SSBB character: Kirby
Fictional character I’d date marry: Dr. Spencer Reid seems like he’d be fun
Favourite band or artist: impossible choice, but Neutral Milk Hotel is always in my top 10
When did I make this blog: I wanna say... 2012? Ish? But I didn’t start actually using it until 2013
How many blogs do I follow: 419
What do I post about?: mostly FitzSimmons and Agents of SHIELD these days with occasional politics, intrusive thoughts, or other fandoms
Do I get asks on a regular basis?: just when I put out there that I’m willing do to graphics
Aesthetic: you know that dumpster fire meme? Yeah. That’s me.
Star sign: Scorpio
Time right now: 6:47 pm
Song stuck in your head: Starving by Hailee Steinfeld
Last movie watched:  Rogue One
Last TV show watched: Agatha Christie’s Poirot (thank you Netflix)
What are you wearing right now: a Deadpool themed ugly Christmas sweater and some black pants and socks that make my feet look like raccoons
Do you have any other blogs / saved URLs: uhh... 4 RP blogs, a “How to Job” blog, a blog I made to make a coworker happy where I reblog photos of cute animals and disney things, and a blog where I host images that end up in fics so that I don’t spoil the fic by hosting the image here. I had another blog last year to host my March Madness fic contest and 2 blogs in the month leading up to Christmas this year. One was FitzSimmons themed advents gifts (one per day) and the other was a blog I used to be the Secret Santa for my coworker who is on my team but lives/works in another province.
Maybe I should have just said “yes”
Why did you chose your URL: It’s a quote from a book I used to love but I tried rereading it last year and now I dunno. It’s Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, and the full quote is my blog description. It’s also accurate to my life.
Pokemon team: ... I know what Pokemon is, but that’s about as far as I go
Favorite color: probably some form of purple or blue, but basically anything saturated makes my eyeballs happy :)
Average hours of sleep: 3-5
Lucky number: 42
Favorite characters: for the purposes of this blog, FitzSimmons, but there are really far too many for me to list here
How many blankets do you sleep with: Half? I inevitably end up with both of my legs and at least one arm outside of the covers at some  point  
Dream job: I don’t know. I’m lucky enough that for the second time in my life I really love what I do. If I weren’t doing this, I think I might want to try some kind of design? And of course I’d love to get paid to write. Hire me to do the comic relief on AOS! C’mon Marvel! I work cheap :)
I tag @0hcicero and anyone else who wants to give it a shot :)
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gracebolton · 4 years
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Agile Energy Projects in the Marketplace
I’ve been on radio, TV, in print, and sprayed around the internet. Its a bit like the install day back in January, but obviously with a dollar figure attached.
Despite that, there is still a lot of people ready to step up and put the boot into Powerwall, and lithium storage in general. I will never fathom why these parties are against progress, so I don’t read into it too much.
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT…
During that time the world rolled on, and it appears renewable energy, particularly solar hybrid, has been going from strength to strength. One tweet in particular caught my eye, from Noah Smith.
2010: “Solar will never be viable without subsidies!” 2013: “Solar will never be viable without storage!” 2016: https://t.co/LHvPC2IVyw
— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) August 10, 2016
The Telegraph article linked by that tweet, written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, is an interesting discussion on battery storage as it affects the landscape. It is also a bit of a dig at the Hinkley Point nuclear project in England.
I wrote something previously on Nuclear Power, so without a re-hash I will reiterate: I AM NOT ANTI-NUCLEAR. However, I did point out there are significant financial hurdles to overcome in Australia. Leaving aside the social issues, that is.
Three paragraphs in the article from Evans-Pritchard got me thinking.
Perhaps the Hinkley project still made sense in 2013 before the collapse in global energy prices and before the latest leap forward in renewable technology. It is madness today.
The latest report by the National Audit Office shows that the estimated subsidy for these two reactors has already jumped from £6bn to near £30bn. Hinkley Point locks Britain into a strike price of £92.50 per megawatt hour – adjusted for inflation, already £97 – and that is guaranteed for 35 years.
That is double the current market price of electricity. The NAO’s figures show that solar will be nearer £60 per megawatt hour by 2025. Dong Energy has already agreed to an offshore wind contract in Holland at less than £75.
Those are some pretty compelling numbers, but the reasons why it got me thinking relate to my own work life.
A Short History Of Dwarves
I’ve been an IT guy for a living nearly 20 years now, working mainly in databases where I can help it. I’ve seen almost every tech acronym or buzzword put into practice, sometimes very poorly. Or for the sake of change.
One of the better periods was back in the day, when the technical stuff was held apart. I like the imagery that Neal Stephenson uses in Cryptonomicon – IT guys were like the Dwarves in Tolkein; working away in the dark, hammering out things of beauty like Rings of Power.
The company (Elves) would frolic up to the entrance of the forge, beseeching the Dwarves for a solution. The Dwarves would give a range of timelines and costs, and the Elves would pick one. We’d go into the forge, create what they wanted, and the land was content.
With advances in technology, and the hunger for globalisation, things needed to move faster. Thus, “Agile” was born as the new way to do things.
Credit www.dilbert.com
Generally speaking, the move to Agile is positive from my point of view. It seeks to guide the Good Ship Project through the icebergs as each one appears, not assert a course from Day 1 and expect no issues with implementation at all.
As long as Agile is implemented the right way, it can do good things.
There is a caveat though, and the seed of this started with smart devices in my opinion. If we’re ever having a beer, talking shop, I’d pinpoint smart devices as disruptive in more than just a good way.
Now non-technical people see an awesome app for $1.99 and wonder why projects still cost millions. As a result, they demand more.
Agile has collided with this belief that speed of delivery, and convenience, is cheap. Non-technical people don’t necessarily understand the systems. They’re trying to tell the developer how to do their job down to the finest detail. That isn’t actually helpful.
Dear Managers: right now, there IT guys reading this, and nodding their heads. Maybe muttering. Likely, swear words and dark thoughts are being countenanced.
Agile Energy Projects
One thing that holds true of IT projects, energy infrastructure, and pretty much anything down to a backyard deck, is the Quality Triangle.
If you are going to implement or change the project in terms of finances, timeline, or scope/size, then you have to accept it will affect the quality of the outcome. Aiming for all three is purely theoretical, in my opinion.
As with the recent Census Fail incident in Australia, sometimes it doesn’t matter how many resources you throw at a project, or how long it runs. The excreta hits the rotary ventilator, and its time to put out fires.
Hinkley Point C is subject to some base requirements, but the main one is the generation of 3200 MWe from a nuclear reactor. Not the biggest in the world but still a mighty undertaking.
Once you’ve decided it will generate that much, you’ve set your course. A prescribed amount of effort, human resources, and other elements must go into it. Critically, the reactors will be of a certain size and type, and you’ll pay the capital cost of that regardless.
If you encounter cost overruns or other issues, generally speaking you just have to suck it up, as per the article:
… the estimated subsidy for these two reactors has already jumped from £6bn to near £30bn. Hinkley Point locks Britain into a strike price of £92.50 per megawatt hour – adjusted for inflation, already £97 – and that is guaranteed for 35 years.
In Australian terms, that is $160 / MWh, which is frankly ridiculous.
All of this points to the fault lines emerging in “baseload” power argument. Not only is “base” power a myth, but the agility of these big power generation units is practically nonexistent from conception through to decommission.
As Hinkley Point C, and Finland’s Olkiluoto construction debacles show, centralised nuclear power might be green, but it isn’t necessarily going to stand the test of time, economically.
Smart Advantage of Renewables
Technologies I have seen work, or worked with directly show us that agility is the biggest factor in any tech marketplace today.
And let’s not kid ourselves: energy delivery is now a technology field. This is particularly true of renewable energy, which eschews the old school sledgehammer approach to power generation, in favour of smarts.
Smart use of power, smart direction of power, are going to be the big players moving forward. It starts with domestic applications, such as Tesla Powerwall, and smart management to deliver benefits for the home owner.
youtube
Beyond serving one household, it has the potential (and in some ways, the obligation), to serve the wider community.
This is achieved by using the battery as a trading platform. Benefits abound for the network willing to engage with customers, as I discussed in May. Reduced overall costs and waste benefit everyone in the longer term.
This move toward smarter storage also helps address the business sector. The power needs there are large, and despite being mainly during the day, will not going to tolerate the intermittent fluctuations of solar PV and wind.
Storage using batteries is one leg of the argument, across a various range of chemical makeups. Energy storage like pumped hydro can also assist deliver stable power on a larger scale. The big one for Australia should probably be molten salt reactors, particularly for South Australia, which has suffered issues recently.
Certain industries have scope for change today. Heavy transport, and transport in general, is already under the microscope in nations like Sweden, where they seek further reduction in carbon emissions.
Electric Vehicles take carbon off our roads and out of the manufacturing process through a simpler template of construction. If you don’t believe that, think about the amount of metal required to build a drive train for a petrol engine, versus an EV’s battery & motors setup.
How do we address the remaining heavy industry players, and areas outside domestic power supply that aren’t easily converted to renewable technologies?
Scale Advantage of Renewables
Critics of renewable energy sources often derisively quote land area required for building large-scale generation. Regardless of whether its wind, solar PV, pumped hydro, molten salt, or another method, a “farm” for renewable power will take space, that is true.
Nyngan Solar farm, Australia. Credit: Solar Sunwerx
Renewable energy projects are much simpler to implement from an engineering point of view, compared to a nuclear reactor. They are also more flexible.
A nuclear plant, once scoped, has very little opportunity for changing the Quality Triangle. It also isn’t going to get much more efficient if you delay implementation, because the technology is largely static.
Manufacturing issue with your solar PV arrays? Let’s just get less panels for now. They’ll be cheaper later on, or more efficient, anyway.
Dispute over one of your wind turbines? Fine: proceed with the rest of the farm until the outcome is known.
These are two examples (there are more) where the scalability of renewable energy creates a huge advantage. The unit size of a wind turbine, or a solar array, is in no way limiting for people who know how to implement them.
Pumped hydro and molten salt reactors are similar to traditional power stations, in that their capacity is roughly determined at time of construction. The key difference is they are primarily storage, over and above being generation.
They don’t need to be on all the time, only engaged when other resources are running low, or as demand spikes. This is another advantage over “baseload” coal or nuclear, which cannot uplift to address demand spiking.
Only gas-fired stations have this ability at the moment. The surging price for gas, as well as its status as a fossil fuel, renders it a short-term option at best.
The Paradigm Shift
You cannot simply build a traditional network and throw more and more renewables at it until you reach a very high number.
Coal in Australia has been built to over-capacity, resulting in wasted capital expenditure, and poorly managed outcomes. Witness the issues South Australia has at the moment, because of short-term thinking around renewable energy integration.
We need “smart” implementation of renewable energy projects. Flexibility must remain a core tenet of implementing this intelligence.
As Evans-Pritchard covers in his article, there are many storage options in development across the world right now. We’re in a period of real transition where more options will blow the marketplace right open.
This requires the right thinking, to engage renewable sources on a far larger scale, holding hands with storage options of all kinds. Markets will shift rapidly. Consumer needs, particularly in the developing world, will have no need, and no money, for sledgehammer tactics like “baseload” power.
Projects designed for even 30-year life cycles will find themselves at risk of rejection. It will be simply uneconomical to support such inflexible systems.
With the right people at the wheel, concerns over our energy needs, and the perceived shortcomings of renewable energy, needn’t be a concern.
from https://www.sustainablefuturegroup.com.au/53/agile-energy-projects-in-the-marketplace/ from https://sustainablfutg.tumblr.com/post/628305065858482176 from https://gracebolton.blogspot.com/2020/09/agile-energy-projects-in-marketplace.html
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beastgamerkuma · 5 years
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Finding a lucrative career is tough at best and sometimes you have to use the skills that you may have in other to help the living or exorcise the dead. I tell you this right now being a paranormal investigator is not really my first choice, but when it comes down to it and sadly I can’t get my hands on a proton pack, using your sixth sense can help out others…maybe if you survive.
“HellSign is an investigative action RPG that pits you against the horrors of the afterlife, let loose on a small town. As a hunter, you’ll plan, hunt, and kill to pay the bills and get revenge on the monster that butchered your family. Just remember – a smart hunter is always prepared.”
It seems you will have to utilize different tactics and at times will have to be smart enough to hide from dangers. Doesn’t mean you won’t have the weaponry to handle such entities. You are a Freelance supernatural investigator that I hope is not in over their heads, but you are the one controller this guy.
Features:
HellSign is a hardcore single player hunting game centralized around investigating and hunting supernatural enemies.
Dark & unique art direction, using light & shadows to create a mysterious haunting atmosphere, with carefully tailored animation bringing the game to life.
Procedural level generation, mixed with dynamic clue and enemy generation makes for a massively replayable experience. Clues are logically scattered around the level which the player has to find and decipher.
Character progression & customization, with countless high-tech gadgets, weapons, and consumables.
Contrasting gameplay, with rewarding & atmospheric investigation, mixed with fast-paced intense combat throughout and ending with an epic showdown at the end of a job.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
What else is there to know? To go more in-depth there is a different form of a beastiary called a Cryptonomicon which is a journal that you will that holds details on all things that bump in the night. As you solve puzzles and unlock clues you will be able to identify each enemy.
The more knowledge you get from each ghost, demon or poltergeists you will gain extra time to prep on how to deal with it! I for one would be on the Nope Train faster than you can say House on Haunted Hill. In speaking of places there will be numerous of sites to visit and investigate. Each site you will have to have the proper ammunition and set up before you head in. I have to respect the developers for going into some nice details showing us the player what each set of equipment can do.
This is just a preview folks, but it caught my eye is that it is a supernatural RPG game which I do miss since the days of Parasite Eve, but this one takes on a more detective style with a nice feel to it. It also makes me feel safe to use conventional weaponry to bring down these threats. I am quite interested and hopefully, we will see more information develop since it is coming out on Steam Marketplace coming with an Early Access on November 7, 2018. In final, check out the preview trailer below and check back soon for further details. – Beast Out –

Hellsign Preview Finding a lucrative career is tough at best and sometimes you have to use the skills that you may have in other to help the living or exorcise the dead.
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ntrending · 6 years
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Kindle Oasis 7-inch review: tougher, smarter, and not for everyone
New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/kindle-oasis-7-inch-review-tougher-smarter-and-not-for-everyone/
Kindle Oasis 7-inch review: tougher, smarter, and not for everyone
The first book I read on an e-reader was Cryptonomicon, the Neal Stephenson epic. I kept falling asleep while reading the 931-page paper version, and it would hit me in the face. I read myself to sleep and that is what happens, but this massive tome would sometimes crack me in the face so hard that it would leave a mark.
So I picked up an e-reader, one of the early Sony models. From that moment, I was in love with the tech. Your opinion is your own, and I respect it. Now that I’ve said that, I will abuse this website and broadcast mine: e-readers are better than books. They make it easy to bring multiple volumes with you anywhere, and a backlit e-ink screen is like a printed page that glows—as opposed to your phone or tablet screen, which is like reading on a TV. Many are even waterproof. Huzzah, I’ll be in the tub. Don’t bother me for at least two hours.
Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Oasis is the everything-giant’s first waterproof reader, which is a big deal for people go to the beach/pool/rainy place and don’t want their $249 portable library to get trashed by the most common substance on Earth. It’s not, however, the first waterproof reader. Kobo has had a fear-no-h20 unit for a while now, and you can even get a specially treated Kindle Paperwhite (three models old now) from a company called Waterfi.
So, OK, Amazon’s got a waterproof reader tied to the most expansive ebook library in the world. Game over, everyone pack up their e-reader businesses and go home, right? Maybe? Probably not? For all its great features, the newest Kindle Oasis is not a perfect machine.
The Good
The new Oasis now sports Bluetooth, which is awesome for those of us who switch between audiobooks and ebooks. Software-wise, Amazon started making that super easy by syncing between Kindle and Audible earlier this year; pick up an audiobook, and Amazon will throw in the ebook version, automatically jumping you to the spot where you stopped listening. So throw on your wireless headphones, toss your Kindle in your bag, and pretend you’re actually working at your desk. This will drain your battery faster, but at least you’re not killing your phone just because you can’t wait to find out if John Adams gets elected president. (He does, but only once.)
In terms of other radios, the Oasis, like its forebears, ships with two connectivity options: Wi-Fi only (from $249, with ads, which you will never notice), and Wi-Fi and cellular ($349), which uses LTE where available. You get the LTE one if you don’t care about money or can’t ever find Wi-Fi. Honestly, this is a luxury add-on, but damn is it nice.
On the processor side, e-readers are not powerful machines and the new Oasis doesn’t do much to change that. Like its predecessor, it uses a 1Ghz processor. But somehow the new model runs faster. Side-by-side with the 2016 model, the new kid just flips pages quicker. (Menus, keypresses, etc, seem to fire with the same speed.) Its light sensor, which adjusts the screen’s brightness based on the ambient illumination, though, is so fast it’s almost annoying. If you, for example, roll over in bed to grab a glass of water and subject the Oasis to a brighter cone of lamplight, the 7-inch Oasis will lighten its screen almost instantaneously. If dials it down when you roll back over, though.
The screen in general is outstanding. Who misses paper? While older generations of e-ink screens could look pixelated, letters and words on the new Oasis are as clear as any wood-pulp sheaf. It’s not visibly better than the previous-gen Oasis or the two-generations-ago Voyage, and sports the same 300 pixel-per-inch density. It is, however, larger than both of its predecessors, which is great for a couple reasons: first, it’s excellent for readers with poor vision. The Oasis (as well as older models) support eight fonts at 15 sizes apiece, which should make it easy to read even if you’ve graduated beyond the drugstore carousel of corrective spectacles. The larger screen should also translate into fewer page-turns, helping extend battery life—a claimed six weeks at 30 minutes of reading a day. (We did not have six weeks to review the 7-inch Oasis, but in four days of heavy use the battery meter barely budged.)
The not-as-good
That large screen, though, means a large form-factor overall, and this is an area where the Oasis disappoints a bit. Up until this generation, Amazon had a great track record of releasing smaller, lighter Kindles every time. The new Oasis is neither smaller nor lighter than the 2016 model.
The weight is not much to complain about—at 6.8 ounces, it’s just a couple ounces above last year’s (4.6 ounces)—but the size is annoying. At 6.3 x 5.6 inches, it’s nearly square, and one that’s hard to wrap your fingers around. Amazon says its device was designed to rest in your palm, and it does. But not everyone wants to read sitting or standing up all the time.
Unfortunately, the Oasis is not particularly comfortable to hold while lying down. The best method I’ve found is to pinch it between your thumb and forefinger below the page-turn buttons, and either slide your thumb up or use another hand’s digits to advance. Here you actually start to feel that metal body’s extra ounces; the previous-gen Oasis is a better choice if you like to read while lying down. It’s smaller, so you can easily get your hands around it.
Actually, if you read in bed a lot, just go for the Voyage. It’s easier to grip than either Oasis and only 6.6 ounces, or 0.2 ounces lighter than the 7-inch Oasis. It’s better for people like us. It’s not naturally waterproof, but if you want to read lying down at the beach, a Ziplock bag works great. I just saved you a hundred bucks. I’m on Venmo.
It feels like everyone who reviews the new Kindles says the same thing every year: If you need a Kindle, get this new one, but there’s no reason to upgrade if you’ve got last year’s. The addition of Bluetooth and that IPX-8 water-resistance (up to 6 feet for 60 minutes—more than an iPhone, whose Kindle app is garbage) are clearly efforts on Amazon’s part to change that trend with the 7-inch Oasis. For some people, this is the Kindle they’ve been waiting for; it’s certainly an excellent reader and boasts a set of specific features that will appeal to specific people. For others, it might not be enough of an upgrade to justify the expenditure. Sounds confusing, I know. Don’t worry: We made a cheat sheet for you:
YOU SHOULD GET THE NEW VOYAGE IF
You need a waterproof reader.
You have poor vision, and would benefit from the extra screen resolution.
The money is not a concern and you like to have the Newest Thing.
Your giant hands have been waiting since the Kindle XL for something worthy of their size.
YOU SHOULDN’T GET THE NEW VOYAGE IF
You like your current Kindle/Kobo/Nook (RIP).
You read paper books, would rather spend your money on beat poetry and pins for your jean jacket.
You don’t have a ton of money and are fine using a Ziplock bag and an old model like the Voyage.
You don’t listen to Audiobooks. (BTW, you are missing out.)
You like putting your e-reader in your jeans’ back pocket. (The 7-inch Voyage doesn’t fit.)
You read in bed, lying on your back.
Written By Joe Brown
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