ominousspectre

29 | little trans rat boy who loves fantasy, horror, and classics

1698 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Reading...

The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People (International Folk Tale Series)

34%

33%

Murdle: Volume 2, 100 Elementary to Impossible Mysteries to Solve Using Logic, Skill, and the Power of Deduction

75%

ominousspectre joined a quest

Solarpunk Futures 🌞🪸🫂

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When all hope feels lost, solarpunk envisions a brighter future. These stories blend themes of sustainability, justice, and community building to address some of the biggest challenges of our time.

ominousspectre made progress on...

10h

Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

Thomas Ligotti

33%

Post from the Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe forum

10h

ominousspectre

Thoughts from 33% (page 149)

If only he were not so drained by chronic insomnia, all those lost dreams swishing around in his head...

this line is so good

Post from the Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe forum

10h

ominousspectre

Thoughts on The Lost Art of Twilight 31% (page 138)

I've never read a story that so thoroughly encapsulates how horrific it would be to be a vampire. Chained to an endless hunger and endless night

Post from the Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe forum

11h

ominousspectre

Thoughts on The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elise 27% (page 119)

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the first story in the section Dreams for Insomniacs would hit a tiny bit close to home.

I want to like the holidays so bad, I really do, and there's a certain nostalgia I have for a time when it was easy to. Having divorced parents who live hours or a full plane ride away sort of sours it, because I'm so stressed from running around that I never feel like I enjoy it enough. Then there's those extended family members that I never feel right around (like Aunt Elise), I can't even say why I don't quite like them very much, but I don't. (Of course, there's also the family members I don't like for very real reasons 😂).

This story hits that sore spot for me. Nothing is really frightening or awful, but the warm glows and bright colors always end up a little sour when I want nothing more than for them to be sweet, and I'm left wondering if I'm really there at all.

ominousspectre commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

17h

vulpix

is this trope problematic?

I recently read a book which used the trope where the other characters don't realize who a trans character is (i.e. who they're related to) because "so-and-so only had one son/daughter!"

I'm cis and wanted to check if the trans community finds this trope to be problematic (or overused)? The character wasn't deadnamed in the book I read and no one used the wrong pronouns (even though it was in the viking era which was cool). Jw!

ominousspectre commented on ominousspectre's update

ominousspectre TBR'd a book

20h

Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam Poetry

A.R. Venkatachalapathy

The breathtaking poems in Love Stands Alone speak to us across time, space, language and culture. The interior, akam, and the exterior, puram, form their two overarching themes. The akam poems are concerned with love in all its varied situations: clandestine and illicit; conjugal happiness and infidelity; separation and union. The puram poems encompass all other aspects of worldly life: wars and battlefields, the munificence of kings and chieftains, and the wisdom of bards.With a comprehensive introduction by A.R. Venkatachalapathy, M.L. Thangappa’s translations delight the senses and bring alive a world long past.

ominousspectre TBR'd a book

20h

The Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi Hammurabi

"The Code of Hammurabi" is a well-preserved ancient law code, created circa 1760 BC in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi. The stele containing the Code of Hammurabi was discovered in 1901 by the Egyptologist Gustav Jéquier, a member of the expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan. The stele was discovered in what is now Khuzestan, Iran (ancient Susa, Elam), where it had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC. It is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

ominousspectre TBR'd a book

20h

The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)

Snorri Sturluson

'What was the beginning, or how did things start? What was there before?' The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse mythology. Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realisation that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales fully in the context of Norse mythology. This edition also includes detailed notes and appendices.

ominousspectre TBR'd a book

20h

The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic

R.K. Narayan

The Ramayana is, quite simply, the greatest of Indian epics - and one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytelling 'Almost every individual living in India,' writes R. K. Narayan in the Introduction to this new interpretation, 'is aware of the story of The Ramayana. Everyone of whatever age, outlook, education or station in life knows the essential part of the epic and adores the main figures in it - Rama and Sita. Every child is told the story at bedtime . . . The Ramayana pervades our cultural life.' Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki, probably around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless variant versions in different languages. Here, drawing his inspiration from the work of an eleventh-century Tamil poet called Kamban, Narayan has used the talents of a master novelist to recreate the excitement and joy he has found in the original. It can be enjoyed and appreciated, he suggests, for its psychological insight, its spiritual depth and its practical wisdom - or just as a thrilling tale of abduction, battle and courtship played out in a universe thronged with heroes, deities and demons.

ominousspectre TBR'd a book

20h

Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam Poetry

A.R. Venkatachalapathy

ominousspectre commented on a post

21h

selmuhmm

Edited

today i learned that a hoopoe is a really cool and pretty bird!! (from 1%)

Look how stylish!! (expand post for a pic) A peach-orange hoopoe bird perched on a branch, rocking a slightly deeper orange mohawk with black tips. It has zebra-striped wings, with a long, thin and slightly curved beak

It’s obvi a quick Google search away, but I thought it didn’t hurt to add this to the beginning of the forum because I had never seen or heard this word before (for a hot sec I even thought it was a fictional creature lmao).

I have never seen this bird either, so my mental images were not imaging for the first couple of pages.

Since I have only read the first few pages, I haven’t really gotten a grasp of the hoopoe character, so i’m curious!! Based on the look of this bird, what kind of vibes do u guys think she is radiating?

It’d be fun to see how aligned the character is with how the actual bird is perceived!

I can’t quuuuite put my finger on it, but to me, I think it’s the combo of the eyes and the proud-looking mohawk that’s just giving a slightly defiant "I know better than u" attitude🙂‍↕️

ominousspectre earned a badge

21h

Summer 2026 Readalong

Read at least 1 book in the Summer 2026 Readalong.

Post from the The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People (International Folk Tale Series) forum

21h

ominousspectre

Thoughts from 32% (page 41)

There is a strong Native belief in not interfering with others, but instead in giving them the chance to have their own thoughts, to make up their own minds and express themselves freely

ominousspectre made progress on...

21h

The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People (International Folk Tale Series)

Hitakonanu'laxk (Tree Beard)

34%

ominousspectre started reading...

22h

The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People (International Folk Tale Series)

Hitakonanu'laxk (Tree Beard)

Beautifully and authentically narrated, these stories tell among other things, of how Nanapush, the Grandfather of Beings and Men, created the earth upon the back of a great turtle; of how Mànàka’has the Rainbow Crow, flew to the twelfth heaven to receive the gift of fire from the Creator; and of how the Lenapé people came to live along the eastern seaboard of what is now known as the United States.

ominousspectre TBR'd a book