https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26487972-darkside-dare-e-cover-sneak-peek

Artist Ron Miller and I got started on this several weeks ago, so the final version has arrived at about the same time as my final revisions pass, ongoing this week.

Do check out Ron's website, full of his many, many projects including info on nonfiction and fiction books he's written: https://www.black-cat-studios.com/

Anyway, the new cover:

I also bagged the vendor-page copy:

"Penric takes a chance…

Two intractable problems are brought to the door of sorcerer Learned Penric of Vilnoc and his Temple demon Desdemona. Cinar Camurat, a mutilated Cedonian cavalry captain, has traveled two thousand sea miles to Penric for aid. Iva of Bita, a secret hedge sorceress, lies dying in her Orban hill village, and wants no aid at all.

Penric and Desdemona know well the hazards of medicine and magic, but their greatest puzzle may lodge in the tangle of hopes and fears in human and demonic hearts."

I'm finding it increasingly interesting, though not easy, to explore stories and story structures that are not villain-driven with their too-often-facile action and boss-fight climaxes. I mean, I find bashing a well-drawn villain as cathartic as the next fangrrl, but surely there are more possibilities...

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on March, 30

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26487972-darkside-dare-e-cover-sneak-peek

oursin

Well, I suppose getting a text from the GPs apropos slots opening up for Covid booster was not entirely unanticipated - I was looking the other day to see whether these were on the horizon - so anyway, my dearios, I am scheduled for mine in just over a fortnight.

But the other thing was getting an email from radio people as to whether I could talk to them about History of Criminalisation/Decriminalisation of Abortion THIS VERY AFTERNOON -

- which it so happened I could, and these days, it is not just talking to them, it is being on Zoom as well with instructions re camera -

So I am always up for saying that the way the police have been carrying on of very recent years, and the health professionals who have been grassing women up to them, is worse than the Victorians as historians have pretty much failed to find anything much in the way of prosecutions of women rather than abortionists -

- possibly because in most cases that even came to light it was because the woman had died, though there are a few cited In The Literature where she lived and testified in the court case, and presumably was granted immunity.

I suppose it is not totally improbable that a very detailed search of the British Newspaper Archives using the various likely search terms under which one would anyway search for cases of abortion (not the word mostly used) would turn up a case or two of women prosecuted for procuring their own, but I really think it's more likely to turn up a lot of fascinating detail about who was doing illicit abortions, and whether local juries thought they were performing a public service and had just had bad luck in this one case (came across at least one in a fairly random swoop myself).

Unfortunately time constraints and what they actually wanted me to talk about (like why the 1861 Act still pertains, cue me ranting about having to defend the 1967 Act, which just introduced Exceptions to the existing Act, for decades because of the RtL mobs rather than press forward with further reform) prevented me from doing the full oursin Boring For Europe on the subject.

Mr 'warm leads for archivists' is still badgering me.

atlas_obscura_feed

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frankie-the-chrome-gnome

Nestled in the dappled woods of the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, near giant weathered curling antlers, stands the stoic, philosophical, and reflective Chrome Gnome. After years of standing beside the Peninsula Link Freeway, startling birds and distracting drivers, Frankie was moved first to the corner of Hastings and McMahon Roads in Frankston, before settling into his new (and hopefully forever) home at the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery.

An average-sized human will come up to his boot (and be happy for it), and only able to appreciate his delicious girth from a distance.

Pensive and strong, this gargantuan guardian symbolizes strength and tenacity during uncertain times, while maintaining a sense of humor.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frankie-the-chrome-gnome

smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/in-extremely-loving-memory-of-sandra-hill-1942-2026/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168432

nb: We are still having issues with connections to our image library, so if some of the covers don’t load, I have linked to their info pages so you can find images on retailers.

Romance author Sandra Hill passed away on 26 March, surrounded by loved ones, per her obituary. She was 86 years old, and is survived by her four sons, her sister, and four grandchildren. May her memory be a blessing.

Because y’all, Sandra Hill was a gift to romance, and I shall not have it any other way. Amanda and I talk a lot about how romance in the late 90s and the 00s was often zany. Outlandish, absurd plots? Yes. Unexpected characters? Oh yes.

A | BN | K | AB

VERY VIRILE VIKINGS? You bet your sweet bippy we have very virile vikings.

Sandra Hill was a treasure, dependable for a truly off the walls reading experience with campy, fun, and often endearing characters.

Please note that every word of this is very high praise. I’m genuinely sad to have lost one of the writers who I think made romance as great as it is.

The finest element to Sandra Hill’s writing was that you could kind of tell she was having a great time. You know how when you watch a show or a movie, and there’s a special kind of chemistry between the actors, a vibe that there’s a little something extra in their performance, because you can visibly tell they’re really enjoying themselves? That’s a Sandra Hill romance: the books are so unhinged they are barn doors, and she did not seem to be taking herself too seriously.

I mean, consider The Very Virile Viking.

Look, when don’t I consider The Very Virile Viking? I talk about this book all the time! I remember where I was when I read it (on a family cruise, where I had packed a suitcase that was just books because ereading wasn’t a thing). I remember a particular scene so clearly, I can picture where I was when I read it.

Show Spoiler

To wit: Magnus Ericsson, he of the very virile viking-ness, has traveled forward in time to 2014, along with a whole assortment of kids. Ten of them, to be precise. He is very virile, after all (sort of. It’s a plot point).

And at one point he gathers all the kids together and is like, “So clearly we are in the future, yeah?” And the kids basically reply, “Yep, pretty much!”

I don’t know why this scene stuck with me. Probably because it’s demonstrating real and caring parental attention to this collection of children, and also because it’s so on the nose it’s hilarious.

He’s a viking. (A very virile one!) And he and all his kids start out in 999, and end up in 2014 Hollywood. Because of course they do. This is a Sandra Hill book.

I mean, this is the author of the book we dubbed “The Pull My Finger Viking.” Better known as The Bewitched Viking.

The Bewitched Viking, a man with a blonde mullet and no shirt beckoning the reader with one finger raised and a big smarmy smile

Perhaps her publisher is who gave us the Pull My Finger Viking, but we know it was Sandra Hill’s work that inspired a cover this wonderful, this absurd. Truly majestic.

In addition to virile vikings, you know what else Sandra Hill gave us?

Immortal Viking Vampire Angel Navy SEALs.

AKA “The VVangels.”

Just…just gaze upon that sentence

A | BN | K | AB

Immortal. Viking. Vampire. Navy SEALs. And is the cover copy for book one, Kiss of Pride, as incredible as the above? Ha. Of course it is.

Is he really a Viking with a vampire’s bite?

An angel with the body of a thunder god?

A lone wolf with love on his mind?

D: All of the above?!

Yes, indeed, the answer is D. (The answer is always D, especially when the viking vampire angels are involved.)

Then there’s book 7 in the Deadly Angels (that’s their proper series name. Immortal Viking Vampire Angel Navy SEALs takes way too long to say): The Angel Wore Fangs.

This book is TUMBLR FAMOUS. Look at the range of Sandra Hill. TUMBLR famous.

A | BN | K | AB

Why, you ask?

Well. Let me tell you.

Once guilty of the deadly sin of gluttony, thousand-year-old Viking vampire angel Cnut Sigurdsson is now a lean, mean, vampire-devil fighting machine. His new side-job? No biggie: just ridding the world of a threat called ISIS while keeping the evil Lucipires (demon vampires) at bay.

I need to stop and catch my breath. A thousand year old Viking Vampire Angel named Cnut is going to fight ISIS. And demon vampires but also ISIS.

Let us continue:

So when chef Andrea Stewart hires him to rescue her sister from a cult recruiting terrorists at a Montana dude ranch, vangel turns cowboy. Yeehaw!

The too-tempting mortal insists on accompanying him, surprising Cnut with her bravery at every turn. But with terrorists stalking the ranch in demonoid form, Cnut teletransports Andrea and himself out of danger—accidentally into the tenth-century Norselands. Suddenly, they have to find their way back to the future to save her family and the world . . . and to satisfy their insatiable attraction.

Cnut and Chef Andrea end up in the 10th century. WAIT. Did they take over the Very Virile Viking’s home? I imagine it was spacious; he had 10 kids and he didn’t need a home in the tenth century anymore, now, did he?

The delight that I found in Sandra Hill titles is not measurable. Her books remain one of my favorite examples of what happens when truly unlimited imagination and fluency in romance meets high-grade silliness and camp.

Sandra Hill’s contributions to the genre are truly unique. They are masterpieces of the elements of romance fiction that we celebrate unreservedly, specifically over the top, absurd, campy, often silly, and enjoyable stories.

I have said many times that I do take some things very seriously – the comment space here, for example – but I do not take myself seriously at all. And I read Sandra Hill’s books with the suspicion that she didn’t take herself seriously, either. Which is probably one of my very favorite traits in a person.

Thank you, Sandra Hill, for making romance what it is. The genre would not have been the same, and certainly not as a fun and zany, without you.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/in-extremely-loving-memory-of-sandra-hill-1942-2026/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168432

james_davis_nicoll

A new Magpie Games Apocalypse Megabundle presenting a diverse abundance of Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying games from Magpie Games.

Bundle of Holding: Magpie Apocalypse MEGA

tcampbell1000 posting in

scans_daily

I have a few tangents to explore with this one! The main story part will be quickish: three out of four of the stories in this JLQ volume are better placed elsewhere (we’ve seen one already). It’ll also be quickish because two of the three characters in the remaining story (Flash and Thunderbolt) can autocomplete the phrase “Quick as a…!” ( Could’ve been three for three if the third character had been the Crimson Fox. )

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: Where do you do most of your crafting?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

pronker posting in

fancake

Fandom: Dark Shadows

Pairings/Characters: Magda Rakosi/Sandor Rakosi, Angelique Bouchard Collins/Barnabas Collins, Barnabas Collins/Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, Aristede, Andreas Petofi, Quentin Collins

Rating: Gen

Length: 93,699 words

Creator Links: AO3 Profile

Theme: Siblings

Summary: What if Julia loses her memory? What would happen if Blair had to actually help the Collins family? The answer was obvious: He'd hate it. He'd hate it soooo hard.

Reccer's Notes: Siblings come in all flavors, and this fic explores the dynamics of a witches' coven brother and sister, Angelique and Nicholas. With Satan as "parent," how is the more familiar sibling relationship different? How is it the same? Author delves delightfully into the question, as well as the all-too-human found-sibling relationship of Quentin and Julia.

Fanwork Links: The Wide Winged Moon

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: comatose in bed
Current Music: birdsong

charlie_stross_diary_feed

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2026/03/taking-a-short-break.html

It's the end of March. Since the last blog update I've had my second cataract surgery (it went much better this time), written a portion-and-outline of a new novel (for my agent, who will hopefully have feedback or maybe just go ahead and sell it so I can write the rest), and ... been diagnosed with exertional angina. Happy joy. I swear, you hit 60 and the warranties on all your body parts expire simultaneously. (NB: keep your medical advice to yourselves!)

We've also been treated to the unedifying sight of the Paedopotus Rex attacking Iran for no sane reason (the main beneficiary appears to be Benjamin Netanyahu), setting off a conflagration in the Middle East that is already having global repercussions. Per United Airlines, aviation fuel is expected to be over $175 a barrel through the end of 2027 even if the Straits of Hormuz are unblocked within a week or two; J. P. Morgan prognosticate that the last pre-closure consignments through the Straits should be reaching European ports this week, the far east in about 10 days, and the USA by the middle of April, after which all bets are off. Supply chain shocks, here we come!

It's not just crude oil, of course, although it's looking as if the shortages we're in for are going to be as bad as both the oil crises of the 1970s stacked. About 30% of the world's ammonia, required as a feedstock for fertilizer, is manufactured close to the gas wells in the region. And it's getting into growing season in the northern hemisphere. This promises to spike the price of food and trigger famines and eventually revolutions in poorer nations.

Helium, vital for any number of advanced tech (such as hard disk drives, semiconductor fab lines, MRI machines ...) is a by-product of natural gas wells: about 20% of the global supply comes from the Gulf. So TSMC, Samsung, and the other fabs will be hitting crisis levels of supply shortages within a few weeks.

This is not only an emergency for fuel, food production, and electronics: it's going to trigger inflation globally. Iran has had the great idea of allowing ships through the Straits of Hormuz if they pay a transit fee of about US$2M ... in Yuan. Which means oil is now de facto denominated in Chinese currency, not dollars (great win for Trump!).

The truth of the matter is, we're being forced to confront an iron law of economics: you can optimize a system for efficiency or for robustness, but not for both. Just-in-time supply chains are efficient, but there's no slack in the system. Systems with warehousing and storage and redundancy built-in are resilient, but they're not efficient. And over the past 50 years we've abandoned them, in the name of efficiency, so that the excess capacity could be sold off and turned into profits. This war is payback time for the cult of efficiency over robustness in business.

As for the war itself, it's a shit-show. Mass murder of innocent schoolgirls aside, Pete Hegseth is demonstrating the truth of the aphorism that lieutenants study tactics, majors study strategy, generals study logistics, and field marshalls study economics. Going by his demonstrated expertise, Hegseth is clearly a lieutenant: he seems mystified that the US defense industry giants can't throw together a new factory producing Tomahawk or Patriot missiles in a week. (He seems to have AI-pilled himself into believing that all military hardware problems can be solved in software. Or maybe he just believes that his Warrior Jesus will provide.)

I would have more to say on this subject if I wasn't gibbering in a corner about the stupidity of it all, but meanwhile I have hospital and other appointments coming up, then a science fiction convention at the weekend. I'll try to lighten the topic of conversation when I get back: this reality is getting to me (again).

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2026/03/taking-a-short-break.html

superfangirl1 posting in

scans_daily

( Read more, )

cosmolinguist

Two dozen people from my workplace, which is national so we normally work in all kinds of places, schlepped to London for two days together in the head office today.

Only for the office to have to be closed by lunchtime in the first day because there's a flood in the building. Ominous rumors about toilets and smells abound...

We spent the first half of the afternoon trying to find somewhere to decamp to.

I don't even know if we'll be allowed back in the building tomorrow, lolsob

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool with howling wind.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches plus a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

.

Current Mood: busy

atlas_obscura_feed

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alexander-hamilton-birthplace

Alexander Hamilton's birthplace

Alexander Hamilton was a founding father and an immigrant. His birthplace is located here at Nevis. You can see his statue and a replica of his childhood home on the actual site he lived.

The Museum of Nevis History is located in the home now. Hamilton's roots in Nevis was evident in his leadership style, as he opposed slavery.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alexander-hamilton-birthplace

smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/and-this-is-how-you-know-im-not-ai/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168424

Hey y’all! We’re having some really annoying technical difficulties with images this morning, which means your regularly scheduled (and really excellent) edition of Cover Snark is delayed until I can…get the covers to show up.

So in lieu of a lot of rippling ads like packs of King Hawaiian rolls ( Amanda) and really jacked, dehydrated men staring at their junk, and floating alien babies affixed with bad Photoshop – you can almost see the covers in your mind, can’t you?! – I’m going to ask:

How you doing?

It’s been A Morning for me: on top of having no images on the site and a lack of Man Titty, had my second shingles shot today, so I’m prepared to feel Extra Crappy tomorrow. Plus I got a parking ticket despite having bought parking for said shot appointment, and I have to fight with my health insurance, too. I’m logged into like six portals right now trying to connect to the right people.

Administrivia is exhausting! And the site of my vaccine is ITCHY.

But, aside from it being A Morning, this week is Passover, and so there will be Big Feasting this week. And I have sweet potato tacos in the fridge for lunch. So life isn’t entirely annoying, just mostly annoying.

So how are you today? What’s up with you? DOTH THOU NEEDEST TO VENTE! Or CELEBRATE WINS? Please feel welcome to do so in the comments.

And please allow me to share the meme (fingers crossed the image loads correctly!) that has caused me to almost say, “I’m here for my shongles shit” at the doctor’s office.

A walgreen's sign that has been altered to read GET YOUR SHONGLES SHIT TODAY!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/and-this-is-how-you-know-im-not-ai/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168424

smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/rogues-f-f-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168400

Sweet Filthy Boy

RECOMMENDED: Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren is $1.99! This is book one in the Wild Quartet series and I gave it an A. The entire series is on sale and I hope it lasts. I saw it listed as both KDDs from yesterday, but also as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale which lasts through the 31st. Fingers crossed!

One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Devil She Knows

The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur is $1.99! This release was featured on Dahlia’s monthly queer romances post and I think in a deep dive on comic-style covers.

“A fantasy-tinged sapphic romance with perfect banter.”—People

A down-on-her-luck woman makes a deal with a crafty demon to win back her ex-girlfriend after a proposal gone awry, only to discover the girl of her dreams might be the devil she knows, from nationally bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.

Samantha Cooper is having a day from hell.

In less than 24 hours, her life has unraveled, leaving her single and with nowhere to live. Adding insult to injury, she’s trapped in an elevator with a gorgeous woman claiming to be a demon.

Daphne is not at all what Samantha expected from someone claiming to be an evil supernatural entity. She’s pretty, witty, dressed in pink, and smells nice. And she’s here to offer Samantha a deal she can’t refuse. Six wishes in exchange for one tiny trade—Samantha’s soul. There’s a glaring loophole in their contract, one Samantha fully intends to exploit so she doesn’t fork over her soul. After all, she only needs one wish to win her ex back.

Hell-bent to gather the last of the one thousand souls she needs so that she can be free of her own devilish deal, Daphne grants each of Samantha’s wishes . . . with a twist, so that Samantha is forced to make another.

As Samantha’s wishes dwindle and Daphne offers her glimpses into the life she thought she wanted, the unlikely pair grows close. Perhaps the girl of Samantha’s dreams is actually the stuff of nightmares, but Samantha and Daphne will have to outsmart the Devil himself if they want a chance at happily ever after.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Never Trust a Rogue

Never Trust a Rogue by Olivia Drake is $2.99! This is book two in The Heiress in London series. This one seems to have a fake engagement and mystery elements.

A pretend engagement is filled with very real desire in the midst of a dangerous undercover investigation in this Regency romance from the RITA Award winner.

The wealthiest heiress of the season, Miss Lindsey Crompton finds detective work far more fascinating than social engagements—at least until she meets Thane Parker, the Earl of Mansfield. Thane is a paradox: a war hero and a cad, a wicked scoundrel and an indulgent guardian of his young ward. When Lindsey sneaks into his house to investigate his role in a series of murders, he blackmails her into a betrothal.

Thane has a secret life he keeps hidden from everyone, especially the infernally curious—and curiously alluring—Miss Crompton. Working with the Bow Street Runners, Thane is tracking a killer who may be one of Lindsey’s suitors. Even if their engagement is a ruse, the heat between Thane and Lindsey is undeniably real. And with a murderer on the loose, desire has never been so dangerous . . .

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Water Moon

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yamboa is $2.99! This released January 2025. Elyse mentioned it on Hide Your Wallet because it sounded cozy and magical.

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2026/03/rogues-f-f-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=168400

sovay

My poem "The Cryptogamists" is now online at Strange Horizons.

I am honored to have it appear as part of the magazine's special issue on fungi in SFF, an entangled network of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art by Mary Soon Lee, Ruthanna Emrys, Romie Stott, Yri Hansen, and branching more.

Given an invitation to write about mushrooms, mosses, lichens, my brain responded, "But what if Geoffrey Tandy had been posted to Bletchley Park because they really did need specialists in cryptogams?" It was written almost entirely to a combination of Kele Fleming's "Turing Test" (2024) and Rabbitology's "The Bog Bodies" (2026) plus the occasional "Five Minutes of Pink Oyster Mushroom Playing Modular Synthesizer" (2020). It is the first poem I have been able to write all year.

Current Music: Kele Fleming, "Turing Test"

atlas_obscura_feed

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hiwassee-dam-and-recreational-area

Built between 1936 and 1940, the Hiwassee Dam was originally built to harness the Hiwassee River and provide power for the Tennessee River Valley.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the TVA Act in 1933 and one of its purposes was for national defense. The Hiwassee Dam was chosen as a site for torpedo testing because of its remote mountainous location and because at places it reached 250 feet deep.

In 1956 a reverse-drive generator turbine, the first of its kind in the nation, was so important to the nation that in 1981 it was made a National Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hiwassee-dam-and-recreational-area

heartsways posting in

scans_daily

( Read more... )

jstordaily_feed

Posted by Matthew Wills

https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-rio-grande-was-engineered-into-a-border/

https://daily.jstor.org/?p=330667

Nature abhors a border. Take the Rio Grande, which since 1848 has been the border between a large part of the United States and Mexico. As a river, its very fluidity makes it difficult to pin down. Overtopping its banks in flood, willfully changing its course, meandering without any regard for imaginary lines written across terrain, water presents a serious problem to those who police those imaginary lines.

“Up until the 1930s, the governments of the United States and Mexico permitted the river to ‘meander’ through the alluvial flats of the border region,” writes environmental historian C.J. Alvarez. “The waterway had dozens of bends and twists that would be completely unrecognizable to anyone familiar with the border today.”

This loose winding river posed two problems in the West Texas–Northern Chihuahua region. Its “shifting course created uncertainty as to the exact location of the international divide” watched over by the joint US–Mexico International Boundary Commission. (The IBC changed its name to the International Boundary and Water Commission in 1944).

Flooding was the other problem, both for the area’s farmers and for the people living on both sides of the mirroring cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez.

As a result, a “rectification” plan largely designed to safeguard US agricultural interests straightened the river through the 1930s with large earthworks. All told, 155 miles of winding river were straightened down to 88 miles by the project’s completion. “Sixty-seven miles of river were simply removed.” The effort to make sure neither the US nor Mexico lost overall territory in the process saw 5,121 acres “ceded back and forth between the two countries.”

Thus straitjacketed and stabilized, the Rio Grande became a lot easier to police. Instead of twists and turns, murk and muck, the border became a clear-sighted earthwork-encased channel. As Alvarez shows, this was recognized from the beginning of the project, with the American IBC commissioner writing (for public consumption) that it would lead “to more satisfactory enforcement of the immigration and customs laws.”

“Border policing and hydraulic engineering” turned out to be “mutually constitutive.” As Alvarez argues, the meshing of border policing and engineering projects during the first half of the twentieth century were major components of the effort to harden the border.

More to Explore

American Army Entering the City of Mexico, Filippo Constaggini, 1885

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated

Liz Tracey

February 2, 2023

Signed February 2, 1848, the treaty compelled Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory, bringing more than 525,000 square miles under US sovereignty.

At the same time, the massive hydraulic projects that made the arid West bloom in places like “the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys of California, South Texas, the Salt River and Casa Grande Valleys in Arizona and elsewhere,” created “a sustained demand for cross-border migrant labor.” Big Ag was made on the flow of government water projects—and the flow of migratory labor, government-sanctioned (as in the Bracero Program, 1942–1964) or not.

Alvarez also analyzes the construction of the first large-scale border fence. This was done over 237 miles of the 674 miles of land between the Pacific and El Paso–Ciudad Juárez, where the river becomes the border. Most of this construction took place after 1948, “propelled by concerns about a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Mexico in 1947.” But, as with the All-American Canal, an 82-mile-long aqueduct parallel to the border completed in 1942 to move Colorado River water to the Imperial Valley, “law enforcement enlisted it into the project of interdiction.” Interdiction of humans, that is, not quadrupeds.

Weekly Newsletter

Alvarez also revisits Falcon Dam on the eastern end of the Rio Grande. This was constructed in the early 1950s for flood control, irrigation, and hydropower. It was also constructed as a border crossing. At its dedication in 1954, President Eisenhower called the joint project a testament to “two peoples” living in harmony. That same year, Eisenhower’s West Point classmate, Joseph Swing, Immigration and Naturalization (INS) commissioner, put “Operation Wetback” into operation, deporting more than a million people south across the border.

“In a single generation, the thirty years between 1924 and 1954, the built environment of the border changed radically to match the increasing authority of the Border Patrol and the IBWC,” writes Alvarez. The premise “that physical construction could be a central means of effecting control over other people as well as the nonhuman world would continue to evolve as one of the most definitive aspects of border history.”

The post How the Rio Grande Was Engineered into a Border appeared first on JSTOR Daily.

https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-rio-grande-was-engineered-into-a-border/

https://daily.jstor.org/?p=330667

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/the-big-idea-ec-wolfe/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59898

Though we flip through a story’s pages as quickly as our eyes allow, do we ever stop to think about the story that lies in between the pages? The one that happens off-screen, out of sight, and in the background? Author EC Wolfe has, and she used these thoughts to craft a new novel in her Kerovosian Chronicles series, Shrike.

EC WOLFE:

I’m sure I’m not the first to say that real characters and stories don’t have to come from some deep place to be compelling. Compelling characters and stories come from real places, places that we can connect to as individuals. This is why, as an author, I spend a lot of my time asking “What if?” Granted, asking the question aloud has gained me a reputation for being a little bit weird, but asking the questions of myself and then answering them on paper has gained me a reputation as an author.

My hard drive is full of answers to “What if?” left in folders labeled Scrap. These ideas languish in digital purgatory until I can answer the next question, “What happens next?” The answer to that question is singularly responsible for the second two books in the Water Girl series; I just kept answering it.

Shrike is different.

Shrike is the sixth book in the Kerovosian Chronicles, but it’s not “What happens next?” nor is it “What if?” Shrike is the answer to a question that could have been asked in books one through five, but those books were about Chana and Thorne, and Voil and Kade, and Navi and Harker, and Ceff and Nythan, and Kerovos.

But this book isn’t about them. It’s about the ones who brought Kerovos’s plan to fruition and yet were little more than a footnote for their troubles. Shrike isn’t about what happens next, it’s what happened when we weren’t looking. The Shrikes didn’t just appear and help out of the goodness of their hearts, so where did they come from? What sort of person would take Kerovos up on a job offer? What did it cost them and what did they gain? Did anyone ever know what they did?

It stuck out to me that there were several stories left untold once I’d finished the fifth book, several characters that deserved the pages necessary to explain their motives, their victories, and their failures. Like ours, the world of the Kerovosian Chronicles is full of players shuffling about on a game board, for good or ill. Some of them stood out more, and like a tag you can’t rip out, it bothered me until I took the time to figure out why. I realized that Kerovos had taken their glory in his eponymous book and I felt compelled to give it back to them. It’s an honor to grant them the story they’d been denied, these characters who made choices just like you or I. Hard choices. Painful choices.

Like any other characters of my invention, these characters aren’t perfect. It feels disingenuous to write perfect people since I have yet to find a person, now or in history, who was or is. Instead, these characters are real because they aren’t perfect. As I mentioned, it’s not deep. You can throw a little deus ex machina in there to help them along but it’s still about the choices people make. There are always more What Ifs and scrap on the hard drive, but for now, I’m happy to share Shrike. A story about real people and the answer (but not really) to yet another “What happens next?”

Shrike: Amazon

Author’s socials: Facebook

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/the-big-idea-ec-wolfe/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59898

Profile

ironymaiden

November 2024

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Page Summary

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed - Darkside Dare e-cover sneak peek
oursin - That was unexpected
atlas_obscura_feed - Frankie the Chrome Gnome in Langwarrin, Australia
smartbitches_feed - In Extremely Loving Memory of Sandra Hill: 1942-2026
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Magpie Apocalypse MEGA
tcampbell1000 in scans_daily - Justice, Like Lightning…: JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY #8 (JLI 76)
badly_knitted in get_knitted - Check-In Post - March 30th 2026
pronker in fancake - Dark Shadows: The Wide Winged Moon by Kark
charlie_stross_diary_feed - Taking a (short) break
superfangirl1 in scans_daily - Superman #177: Language Barrier
cosmolinguist - This away day could've been an email
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
atlas_obscura_feed - Alexander Hamilton Birthplace in Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis
smartbitches_feed - And this is how you know I’m not AI!
smartbitches_feed - Rogues, F/F Romance, & More
sovay - Give me a cipher, give me a lover, set me free
atlas_obscura_feed - Hiwassee Dam in Owl Creek, North Carolina
heartsways in scans_daily - Disney Villains: Gaston #1
jstordaily_feed - How the Rio Grande Was Engineered into a Border
scalziwhatever_feed - The Big Idea: EC Wolfe

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Mar. 30th, 2026 07:46 pm

and her minions

Reading

Darkside Dare e-cover sneak peek

That was unexpected

Frankie the Chrome Gnome in Langwarrin, Australia

In Extremely Loving Memory of Sandra Hill: 1942-2026

Bundle of Holding: Magpie Apocalypse MEGA

Justice, Like Lightning…: JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY #8 (JLI 76)

Check-In Post - March 30th 2026

Dark Shadows: The Wide Winged Moon by Kark

Taking a (short) break

Superman #177: Language Barrier

This away day could've been an email

Birdfeeding

Alexander Hamilton Birthplace in Charlestown, Saint Kitts and Nevis

And this is how you know I’m not AI!

Rogues, F/F Romance, & More

Sweet Filthy Boy

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Devil She Knows

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Never Trust a Rogue

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Water Moon

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Give me a cipher, give me a lover, set me free

Hiwassee Dam in Owl Creek, North Carolina

Disney Villains: Gaston #1

How the Rio Grande Was Engineered into a Border

More to Explore

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated

Weekly Newsletter

The Big Idea: EC Wolfe

Profile

November 2024

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags