Author Archives: Thistle

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About Thistle

Agender empty-nester filling my time with writing, cats, books, travel, and photography. They/them.

I’ll Have What He’s Having, by Adib Khorram

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Thistle

Farzan goes to Kansas City’s newest wine bar to drown the sorrows of his recent failure in dating. There, he’s mistaken for a restaurant critic and treated to a night of incredible food, wine, and attention. David, the sommelier, knows … Continue reading →

Posted in 2025, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Regret List

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Thistle

Back in 2015, I came up with a concept for a novel called The Regret List. At the time, it was a sapphic rom-com that I meant to write for NaNoWriMo that November. I began it, got about 15k words … Continue reading →

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Bitter Waters, by Vivian Shaw (audio)

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Thistle

This is a novella-sized addition (3.5) to the Greta Helsing series. I’ve read the first three, with the fourth coming out later this year. Honestly, it’s been long enough since the third (2019) that I barely remember the previous installments. … Continue reading →

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Fanfic minis – March 2025

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Thistle

A bit of a short one this month. Most of what I’m currently reading is in-progress and didn’t finish in March. Plus, I’ve been trying to focus more on other priorities. First: One Night in Bangor by Atalan. A bet … Continue reading →

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Tattoo Tour: Dead Cute (5)

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Thistle

When I closed The Zen Leaf in 2023, I had four tattoos. There were the original two I got back in 2013/2014, the second of which was such a bad experience that it took me nine years to try again. … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fanfic minis – Feb 2025

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Thistle

Time for another good omens fanfic roundup! Feb was a huge month for fics, in part because several stories that I’ve been reading for ages have now wrapped up. First: in the house we remain by commodorecliche. This is a … Continue reading →

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Fanfic minis – Jan 2025

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Thistle

Ello, ‘ello! I thought I’d do a monthly mini-review type thing for the fanfic that I read each month, since I’m trying to get back into the habit of book reviews. I know a lot of people don’t think of … Continue reading →

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whoops…

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Thistle

Hmm, so there’s this thing where I said hello, then never wrote again… I do have reasons! First, it was because WordPress went crazy for a bit and tried to take away the old editor from me, and I despise … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 1 Comment

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Thistle

Hello! What am I doing here, you ask? Well, I was going through the end of 2024, looking over everything, and I got annoyed because I couldn’t remember most of the books I’d read this year or the latter part … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

End

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Thistle

My first official blog post was 15.5 years ago on 2/14/08. My first official post at this URL after some blog shuffling, when I was resurrecting The Zen Leaf, was nine years ago today, on 8/14/14. I’m still honestly not … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | 4 Comments