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This Open Thread is Dedicated to Our Lurkers

Hello lurkers! How are you? Are you having a nice time here at Persephone? I love lurkers, because I am one. I’ve been on the shadowy fringes of the Internet since before some of you could reach the light switch, and I have lurked in every corner.

However much I respect lurking, we’d love it if some of you would take this thread as an opportunity to introduce yourselves. Jumping in at a new place can be scary, but we’ve got some of the best commenters on the web here, I can almost promise you’ll get a really warm welcome and maybe even make a new friend.

(Aside: Why does spellcheck hate the word commenters? What else would one call a group who makes comments?)

We’re very lenient about moderating comments here. We welcome disagreement. Heck, sometimes we like poking disagreement with a stick, but we don’t tolerate personal attacks. We have members and staff who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, we’re all going to see the world differently. Fortunately, we’ve never had much of a problem with any of our comment threads. Because you guys are awesome.

I saw a few comments wondering about the protocol for open threads, and there really isn’t one. We put one up every weekday at 10p EST (GMT -5), Friday’s OT stays around until we start posting again on Monday. You can talk about whatever you’d like in the open threads. Some ideas, if you need ’em:

  • share favorite recipes
  • tell us what you’re doing right now
  • talk about the TV show you’re watching
  • post a link to a new band you love
  • ask advice from your fellow Persephoneers
  • gossip about cute celebrities
  • play forum game favorites like Would You Rather or Fuck, Marry, Kill
  • pimp your blog
  • talk about your cat
  • declare your allegiance to the anti-Oxford comma coalition, Team Right (Lies! Team Oxford Comma is clearly superior. -PoM)
  • place bets on who would win a beer pong battle between the staff of Other Ladyblog and the Persephone writers. (Hint: us. There’s more of us, and I bet more of us can stomach cheap ass beer.)
  • gripe about that asshole who did that thing that made you pissed
  • write dirty limericks about Andrew Garfield’s hair
  • play truth or dare

In other words, have lots of fun. : )

Okay, ready? EVERYONE IN THE POOL!

Who's awesome? You're awesome! This purple haired Sim agrees.

 

By [E] Selena MacIntosh*

Selena MacIntosh is the owner and editor of Persephone Magazine. She also fixes it when it breaks. She is fueled by Diet Coke, coffee with a lot of cream in it, and cat hair.

198 replies on “This Open Thread is Dedicated to Our Lurkers”

I lurk mostly because I’m only online at work. By the time I get a chance to read posts it’s well past and I don’t know if I have much to add at that point. That being said, I really enjoy what PM’s got going on over here. I’m going to try and be less of a lurker and comment even if it’s a day or so late.

I’m delurking and it makes me nervous. Not as nervous as posting art on conceptart.org, but still nervous. The sim in the picture makes me laugh because at one very Sims 2 addicted time I knew exactly what the name of that hair was and where to download it. *holds nose and jumps in the deep end at the new place.*

I have a date with them every Friday night. I normally don’t know who anyone is talking about, but it’s great fun anyway. There’s no drama like Sims drama. I think if the sims and Harry Potter communities joined forces, they could bring down 4chan.

PM me a link to your legacy, if you want. I’ll totally read it.

Ok, YA literature geeks and avid readers in general, I have a question/request for you, from my awesome 16-year-old goddaughter:

“I need to get into another awesome series, like the Sookie Stackhouse novels or The Hunger Games Trilogy, but it should be one that already consists of a few volumes so I can really dive into it and have reading material for at least a couple of months. The most prolific the author, the better, because if I like it I will want the new books to come out quickly and frequently.”

(Yeah, all sixteen-year-olds are demanding and impatient, even the geeky ones.)

So, what do you recommend?

Hmm, without knowing what attracts her to those books, she could try Holly Blacks trilogy — Tithe, Ironside, and the other one whose name is escaping me or Fransca Lia Block, who has series (Wheetzie Bat novels) and stand alone books that all take place in the same universe. Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy is awesome. I like VI Warshowski and Kinsey Milhone in the mystery genre, that’s Sarah Paretsky and Sue Grafton respectively.

And there’s the Thursday Next novels, up to 4 or 5 I think, though I found the charms wear thin after a while.

Or you could just give her some VC Andrews and say goodbye to her for a couple of years.

Hey, thanks for all the recommendations! I’m sorry it took me a while to reply. I don’t really know what attracts her to those books, and I still haven’t had time to read any of them. She’s really into vampire stuff like most 16-year-olds are today, and I know she has been trying to sink her teeth (hehe) into Anne Rice, but I have no idea whether she’s liking her writing or not.

I always thought VC Andrews was more Danielle Steel than YA…

His Dark Materials is another series that I’ve been thinking about, but I think she has already seen a couple of the films and this tends to ruin the books for her (she never really got into HP because the movies came out before she had the chance to read the books).

How do you feel about Terry Pratchett? I’ve never read anything by him, but if you want prolific, I think that would be a good way to go!

I second Slay Belle’s Philip Pullman and Garth Nix.

Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master trilogy is really great, but I’d say the reading level might be a bit harder to get into than the series you mentioned. If your goddaughter likes the trilogy, McKillip’s other books are written in a similar style: atmospheric, with plenty of magic and mystery, and sometimes with a romantic element.

I third Pullman and Nix and I will add Michael Scott’s series about Nicholas Flamel. It’s up to four books, ‘The Alchemyst,’ ‘The Magician,’ ‘The Sorceress,’ and ‘The Necromancer.’

And, you know, if she wants prolific there’s always Terry Pratchett.

I haven’t read the Riddle-Master trilogy, but the name rings a bell… And I don’t think a harder reading level would necessarily be a bad thing, especially now that she’s like a year and a half away from starting college! No offence to Charlaine Harris and her readers, but I think at some point you need to graduate to more complex stuff. I’ll definitely check out your suggestions, thanks!

The Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfield is what I recommend to people who like “The Hunger Games.” There are four books in the series (he wrote it as a trilogy, then had an idea for a completely different book. Then he realized that the storyline fit perfectly into the world he’d already created. Fourth book is extra.)

Wow, so many authors I hadn’t even heard of! I’m taking notes and I’ll look into all of your suggestions – a bit of research is involved since she’s a speaker of English as a second language and I always try to make sure that the English books I give her are accessible for her level. Thanks for the recommendation!

I recommend the David and Leigh Eddings series. She can start with The Belgariad (5 books), and then there are a follow up series of 5, as well as a few ‘special’ extra books. They wrote another series too, but I didn’t like it as much.

They are in the epic adventure, Lord of the Rings, vein, but with stronger female characters.

Good luck!

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