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Toil and Trouble

@alixmiddlec.bsky.social
845 followers 559 following 457 posts

PNW dog mom weirdo, reader, pinko, crone she/they reading: True Biz, Sara Nović “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality” - Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A cover collage of books I read in September
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Love you, Seattle
Person with religious “repent sinners” style sign at a crowd lined up to enter a concert venue being followed by another person with a “Jimothy says Shut Up” sign with an illustration of our local, short-spined, raccoon hero.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Just learned a new word - "alexinomia" According to @allusionistshow.bsky.social, and alexinomia.org, I seem to have a fairly textbook case of this. Fascinating! And comforting to learn I'm not alone in my specific anxieties.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Natasha “Best Cat Ever” 6/15/11 (approx) - 9/22/26 💔🩶💚🩶💔
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
August reads with @libro.fm and @thestorygraph.com
all the books I read in August
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weird menace and excessive bloodletting @gemmafiles.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Fungi have alllllll the sexes
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Mutual of forking Omaha over here
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
July books read
StoryGraph summary of books I read in July
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Half the planet is having a massive fight about how to correctly interpret an Ancient Greek poem but go ahead, close some more humanities departments.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
The only AI I have any interest in are the ones written by Becky Chambers.
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Chuck Tingle @chucktingle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
THANK YOU SEATTLE THANK YOU THIRD PLACE BOOKS LOVE IS REAL. now headed to minneapolis for an evening of chaos and proving love tonight. LETS TROT
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
June books read
StoryGraph cover collage of books I read in June
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Tara Wine-Queen Writes @tarawinequeen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Hello, sharks. Today I am asking for the arc of the moral universe to bend quicker
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Great day tidepooling yesterday at Richmond Beach [species best guesses with help from iNaturalist]
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Highly recommend this summer, pride month, neurodivergent, queer, found family, road trip, comedy, tearjerker. Rom-com with depth and heart. I laughed, I ugly-cried, I cringed at the painfully relatable bits. 🥰 Brilliantly narrated by @natalienaudus.bsky.social and @jercarparvo.bsky.social
libro.fm
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun Narrated by Natalie Naudus Audiobook on Libro.fm
USA TODAY Bestseller Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Romance Stonewall Book Award Honoree A Publishers Weekly, BookRiot, and Elle Best Romance of the Year The author of the “sexy, ins...
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
list of books I read in April
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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 16/04/2026
I believe that in order to take some small step forward, the word “bird” should be replaced with “saur” in all common names. Mockingsaur. Secretarysaur. Red-winged blacksaur. HUMMINGSAUR
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 15/04/2026
- When in doubt, just round the number down. - If you want to get away with this bluff, you’d better come up with a damn good story. - Tread carefully. Traps are everywhere.
buff.ly
Are You Playing Dungeons & Dragons or Doing Your Taxes?
“The rules are constantly being updated, but they’re still shackled to a system from the 1970s.”
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Just finished the absolutely magnificent and heartbreaking No Friend to This House by @nataliehaynes.bsky.social Could not recommend this highly enough (especially the audiobook, narrated to perfection by the author).
Cover of the audiobook No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Sharing this for a friend who isn’t on Bluesky: Check out The Wayward Souls of Avalon - A Cozy Queer Sci-Fi Novel by Dragon Bone Publishing
kickstarter.com
The Wayward Souls of Avalon - A Cozy Queer Sci-Fi Novel
Book one in a Cozy, Sci-Fi Duology following two men as they're caught up in the end of Earth, a trip to Mars, and a budding romance.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Two of the kindest, most talented folks you’ll ever meet, right here. 🩷 🖤 @chucktingle.bsky.social and @sgj.bsky.social
Chuck Tingle and Stephen Graham Jones standing in front of a ECCC screen
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Stunning. Speechless. Going to be thinking about this one for a long time. Heavy, epic, and at times - hilarious? Historical fiction at its absolute best. (and I get to see him at a book talk at our local bookstore on Monday!)
Audiobook “cover” for Now I Surrender by Álvaro Enrigue
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
February StoryGraph wrap-up.
A selection of several book covers made from StoryGraph to show what I read in February
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The cyclamen and hellebores are up.
 Pink baby hellebore budsPunk Cyclamen growing by the uprooted tree stump
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jessica BONEStown @newfoundgloryhole.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
6. if i was a really talented cis man like Joss Whedon or Neil Gaiman or Marlon Brando or Roman Polanski or Woody Allen i would simply not be a sex pest/criminal, abusing my position of authority and instead just make cool stuff that ruled and i feel like that would be enough for me? 🤷‍♀️
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Already? [spotted in our yard today]
Not a snowdrop, possibly spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum), but iNaturalist isn’t being very helpful with this one :/
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 01/02/2026
Whilst we are discussing the president’s physical capacity and stamina for a demanding and arduous job, let’s keep this right here at the forefront of the conversation:
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Favorite nonfiction, short stories, and poetry of January
Photo of several book covers. Descriptions in comments.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Favorite books of January (fiction, novel/novella length)
Photo of 12 book covers. List in comments.
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Thinkinge of askinge Chat GPT a questioun about your plannes, thoughtes, ideas? Trye a tarot deck ynstead. Cheaper, bettir for the environment, bettir resultes, not evil.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
For Burns Night, and for these times: Is there for honest Poverty That hings his head, an’ a’ that; The coward-slave, we pass him by, We dare be poor for a’ that! For a’ that, an’ a’ that. Our toils obscure an’ a’ that, The rank is but the guinea’s stamp, The Man’s the gowd for a’ that. …
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Just finished I Was A Teenage Slasher SGJ “kills” it once again. Ugh, I am demolished 😭
audiobook cover for I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
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Orion Magazine @orionmagazine.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Artist Nicole Dextras collaborates with winter 🌲 orionmagazine.org/article/ice-...
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david malki ! @davidmalki.com · 13/01/2026
YOU CAN'T REUSE BRIGHTON AND BRIGHTON Miserable! Infuriating! Frankly I'M GLAD THIS AUTHOR IS DEAD. Thank you for playing this limerick game with me. I will post another because this is very fun.
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Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
I love being terrible at chess. I love having no idea how to do a proper checkmate. I love sacrificing all of my pawns fewer than ten moves in. People devote their entire lives to it and I’m just like “wheeeeee horsies”
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
I’m seeing posts from people (outside of MN) about how US citizens should carry their passports. And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.” Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.
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Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 15/01/2026
Nature valentines. This comic is now available as a set of 6 Valentines cards: topatoco.com/collections/...
A group of six nature valentines. A picture of a bog with pitcher plants, with text saying "Our love is like a bog. Built up over time, resistant to decay, deeply interesting to just a small number of people." A yellow slime mold stretching out and exploring. "Our love is like a slime mold. Collaborative, complex, at times unnerving to behold." A piece of limestone with a small trilobite in the corner. "Our love is like limestone. Layered, useful for many purposes, shaped by the friends we met along the way." A ring-billed gull with a french fry on a beach. "Our love is like a ring-billed gull. Abundant, found in North America, sometimes sustained by french fries." An Atlantic horseshoe crab walking on the sand. "Our love is like a horseshoe crab. Tough, timeless, unrelated to true crabs." A drawing of the phosphorus cycle, with arrows connecting various parts of a scene, including algae and fish and a farm and a river and a forest. "Our love is like the phosphorus cycle. Important, really hard to draw."
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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Somebody said the U.S. has big “dying mall” energy right now and I can’t stop thinking about his accurate that feels
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
I managed to read SO many amazing books this month: The Reformatory - Tananarive Due Plain Bad Heroines - Emily M. Danforth O Caledonia - Elspeth Barker Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix … continued in comments …
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I JUST finished this book. No, not book — masterpiece. I read the audiobook, which is in and of itself a piece of art. If you have read the physical copy, I can not recommend the audiobook highly enough. If you have read neither, you know what to do.
Cover of book The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones, depicting the head and shoulders of a bison.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
I love this so much!
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
No notes, Natasha. No notes.
Grey cat sitting in front of a window, fitting in perfectly with a random assortment of gothic room decor.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
🎵 Look at my son… ❤️🤣
pittie-mix dog with red fur and a black snout making an extremely silly happy face
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Chuck Tingle @chucktingle.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
yes this timeline is a rough route. yes there are waves of strife. but behind it all lies the inertia of all things which prompted fish to trot out of the ocean and humans to gather in commune. we are driven to fill the nothing with ourselves, with LOVE. its the unconquerable wind behind our sails
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Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
John Wick, Wicker Man, and Wicked make for a *very* odd trilogy.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Making the best of a flare-up - reading with Rufus.
Woman wearing headphones and a green/grey tee, with a reddish medium/large dog nestled against her - both reclining on a pillow.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
And here I was assuming I am autistic because my dad is autistic. My bad.
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Oof 🤣
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Toil and Trouble @alixmiddlec.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Death death death death death! (you had to be there 🤣)
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