#097: Ulna Pudding
Bookish links, cosy nonsense, & pop culture joy for February
The front door
Hello and welcome to The Brew.
This meme across my dash yesterday:
Of course I spent an enjoyable few minutes trying out funny bone-dessert combos, so here are my proudest accomplishments:
Ulna Pudding (obvs)
Radius Pie
Patella Crumble
Pelvis Pavlova
Phalange Dumpling
Humerus Cheesecake
Tibia Bake
Carpal Cake
Clavicle Custard
Fibula Cookie
What’s yours??
Library
Books
Jess and I recently recorded a 2026 Look Forward episode for Tome & Tome Again podcast and in the course of my internet travels I came across several many titles that I may never get to reading, but that sure tickled my fancy.
Here are some of the tickliest of them:
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
In Which Many Dangerous and Homosexual Things Happen.
All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is quite frankly too handsome to die a pointless death in battle. But then the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights: the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Sir Cameron. Short of ideas, Cameron throws himself on the mercy of the one person who now actually wants him to survive: the mad sorcerer.
Merulo isn’t thrilled to be babysitting a spoilt, attention-seeking knight, but transmogrifying him into a vulture is at least entertaining. Cameron, meanwhile, is on a voyage of self-discovery. It turns out he’s really, really into surly sorcerers who lock him up and tell him what to do. Who knew?
As a legion of knights surround their stronghold, the sorcerer’s poisonous ambitions draw ever closer to fruition. Cameron is quite invested in not dying, but he finds he’s also invested in Merulo. And sometimes, supporting the sorcerer you care about means taking an interest in their hobbies. Even if that hobby is trying to kill God.
Even if it might get you killed, too.
Fall in love with this laugh-out loud, genre-bending romp full of concussed elves and queer romance like you’ve never seen before.
Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum
Immortal beloveds Rebekah and Hugh are on vacation! Against a backdrop of ongoing war, this pair of chic emotional vampires from San Francisco sets off on a queer Black Sea Cruise, eager to relax, join an orgy, and feast upon their fellow passengers’ desires and sorrows. When Hugh becomes enchanted by an alluring–and possibly magical–nonbinary social media influencer named Heaven, Rebekah’s reality capsizes, and her true nature is unleashed.
A smutty horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism, Vampires at Sea is a hilarious snack!
Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
Roam through the captivating stories of World Fantasy, Locus, and Mythopoeic Award winner Theodora Goss (the Athena Club trilogy). This themed collection of imaginary places, with three new stories, recalls Susanna Clarke’s alternate Europe and the surreal metafictions of Jorge Luis Borges. Deeply influenced by the author’s Hungarian childhood during the regime of the Soviet Union, each of these stories engages with storytelling and identity, including her own.
The infamous girl monsters of nineteenth-century fiction gather in London and form their own club. In the imaginary country of Thüle. Characters from folklore band together to fight a dictator. An intrepid girl reporter finds the hidden land of Oz—and joins its invasion of our world. The author writes the autobiography of her alternative life and a science fiction love letter to Budapest. The White Witch conquers England with snow and silence.
Tome & Tome Again podcast
January’s episode of Tome & Tome Again podcast is about Terry Pratchett’s Pratchett’s classic take on Christmas: Hogfather.
When a shady client hires the assassins guild to eliminate the Hogfather, D3ath steps up to hold space for the jolly figure (with hilarious results) as his granddaughter investigates the cause for the Hogfather’s disappearance.
Find it on Podbean, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!
And another thing…
Some linking:
In our age of AI and constant crisis, real‑life community is powerful and precious
Norse mythology brims with fierce, fabulous women. Here are 5 of my favourites
‘Isolation isn’t the way forward’: readers on their unusual living arrangements
And a memeing:
Find more of my book stuff on Instagram @jemofthebrew and my website Oddfeather.
I create and send The Brew from the lands of the Gunaikurnai people, where I also live, work, and drink lots of hot beverages. I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.