Sex with autistic people is all like

‘Trying to survive the collapse of late stage capitalism by being extremely productive is like trying to stop a person from drowning by throwing them a towel.’ - new essay. link.medium.com/KHJ0E6f5lfb

I got to experience totality once. I was seven.
I’ll never forget it.
If that just happened for you, I hope it was everything you wanted it to be.
It’s so terrifyingly marvellous, sometimes, being a human among humans on this strange planet. #TotalEclipse #Eclipse

Gaza’s healthcare system has now been destroyed.

No modern society can function without one.

The absence of one imposes a death sentence on growing numbers of people: from the ill and sick to the injured to pregnant women.

Along with the siege, this is a genocidal act.

I am once again wishing you all a very happy ‘yes there is, it’s the 17th of November and also every other day of the year’ day.

Spoiler alert: they did not.

As it happens, I have a new essay out today about Harry Potter fan fiction, why it mattered so much to so many, and why the world has moved on. Enjoy:

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepenn…

Metafixation: ‘I have had hours of intense, one-on-one, occasionally involuntary instruction in this subject because I fancy/friendcrush/am related to/live with the expert.’

METAFIXATION:
The special interest or hyperfixation of a favourite human. It’s not *your* thing, but infodump is a love language and you’ve listened to them excitedly explain for so long that you’re an expert by proxy.
Mine include: Scots Gaelic and Taylor Swift. What are yours?

I’m sure noted ‘Gender critical’ agitator Helen Joyce is free to read smutty Harry Potter fanfic in public for any reason she pleases. If it was indeed for ‘research’ purposes, she might find my essay on the subject useful: open.substack.com/pub/lauriepenn…

A very interesting and thoughtful essay on fandom, fan ownership, and the death of a culture.

Fantastic essay!
'some alchemy of knowledge and earnest yearning that makes you kin, and if you know the code words, you never have to go back to your ordinary life – at least, not forever? Well, it’s real, and I can tell you how to get there. It’s called fandom'

Seriously. It’s amazing. You get to play through the whole dark beautiful story twice, first as Byron/Mary Shelley/Polidori/Clare Clairemont/Percy Shelley, then as one of the servants, pulling the strings, curating the carnage. We’re very proud of the design. You should sign up.

Goths, larpers, dreamers: come and play with me at the Villa Diodati.
There are still a few days left to sign up for the most incredible immersive roleplay experience you’ll ever be part of. I’m on the writing and design team. Gothic runs again this fall:
gothic.avalonlarp.studio/sign-up/

Some truly shambolic content from concern trolls today.
What’s wrong with my having housemates at 37? How else should I be living? Specifically?

I’m sure noted ‘Gender critical’ agitator Helen Joyce is free to read smutty Harry Potter fanfic in public for any reason she pleases. If it was indeed for ‘research’ purposes, she might find my essay on the subject useful: open.substack.com/pub/lauriepenn…

As it happens, I have a new essay out today about Harry Potter fan fiction, why it mattered so much to so many, and why the world has moved on. Enjoy:

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepenn…

My housemate told me about this and I yelped, ran to find out if it was real and am now posting on this hellsite for the first time in AGES.
Good god, what a series of events. What a day for the tattered credibility of so-called Gender Critical feminism.

'Who does it benefit to treat books like accessories, reading like an accumulation, readership like it’s a ticket to some kind of elite club?'

Molly Templeton discusses language, reading as aesthetics, and how we can find community in book spaces.

reactormag.com/why-are-we-tal…