Serah
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etherealserah.bsky.social
Serah
@etherealserah.bsky.social
340 followers 170 following 610 posts
she/her
heart belongs to @video-witch.bsky.social

Watch my cries for help here: http://youtube.com/@ethereal_worlds
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etherealserah.bsky.social
I wasn't expecting to get actual birthday presents but I got some great ones.
Four books on a couch. Jirel of Joiry and Doomsday Morning by C.L. Moore (both Golden Age Masterworks editions) and A Dreamer's Tales and Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany Unabridged 1915 Original Version both by Lord Dunsany (natch)
November 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
A little bit later, but I know there's also at least one demake of a Japanese eroge from this scene! Anime Story from 2004 is a conversion of Three Sisters' Story for MS-DOS and Windows.
Screenshot of Anime Story for the ZX Spectrum. A monochrome blue image of an anime woman sits above a text box and between a frame stating the game's name. A screenshot of Three Sisters' Story for MS-DOS and early Windows. The same anime woman is now visible in colour, wearing purple hair and a red jacket.
November 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
perfect way to start the game
November 10, 2025 at 6:49 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
I'm kinda getting obsessed with multimedia CDs. Some of what I'm looking at is in my existing wheelhouse--digital magazines, electronic literature, etc--but I'm also trying really really hard not to buy "Wines of the World" right now. I don't even drink wine!
A screenshot of a screenshot in a magazine, displaying the user-interface of Wines of the World's Wine Browser. It has a pleasant, wooden texture and posh-looking fonts. The caption reads: "The browser feature accesses a database of more than 20,000 wines."
October 20, 2025 at 1:32 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
this how you insert a break into your exposition
They could spit upon the fire and it would become a glowing ember. The flame-talkers came and began to burn the forests. The Urshuca opposed them violently." The communication stopped for a minute or so as Sorthalan rose to his feet, turned from us, and urinated impressively into the night. "There were men controlling the fire that night when Christian came," Keeton whispered. I had not forgotten them. I had called them Neoliths. They seemed the most primitive of Christian's entourage, but apparently they had a mind control over fire and flame itself. From Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
October 11, 2025 at 10:02 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
I mean, it has dodges, parries, light/heavy attacks and a lock-on so I feel it makes sense to comment on the systems it's so obviously drawing on?
September 22, 2025 at 7:13 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
The original French seems to have much stronger poetic form, but what's neat about this volume is that you get both the original text and the translation facing each other! I have some other Old French romances that were straight up converted to prose so this is greatly appreciated
Ont torné en fiens entasser; Car qui violt avoir amasser, Quant il n'en ist honors ne biens? Assés valt certes mains que fiens. Li fiens encrassce vials la terre, Mais li avoirs c'on entreserre Honist celui ki l'i entasse. S'il a .m. mars en une masse Trestolt icho tient il a nient, Et neporquant perdre le crient; Et om qui crient n'est pas a ase, Ains vit a dol et a mesaase. Li avoirs fait l'ome lanier, Et sans preu faire travellier. Il ne fait el fors soi sollier. Si ne croit mie sa mollier: Il n'a cure qu'ele le balle, Car s'i faloit une maälle Dont avroit il desparellié Les .m. mars por cui a villié. Ne sai que dire des haïs Por cui cis siecles est traïs - De honte ont mais lor cort enclose. Chi n'a mestier metre de glose, Car jo n'i fas nule sofime. Jal savés vus tres bien meisme: Old French on the left page, modern English on the right
September 22, 2025 at 1:07 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
Reading Roman de Silence (Sarah Roche-Mahdi translation) and I love how it opens with a lengthy tirade about how much the poet hates rich people.
What good does it do one to pile up wealth if no good or honor issues from it? Assets are worth much less than manure: at least dung enriches the soil, but the wealth that is locked away is a disgrace to the man who hoards it. If a man amasses a thousand marks, he soon thinks this is nothing, and yet he's afraid of losing it. And a man afraid is not at peace, he is miserable and ill at ease. Wealth only makes a man mean-spirited and makes him toil without profit. All he does is soil himself. He doesn't trust his wife any more: he doesn't want her to spend any of it, for one missing penny would mar the perfection of those thousand marks he lost sleep over. I don't know what to say of those hateful men who thus abuse this earthly life— thye have enclosed their courts with shame forever.
September 22, 2025 at 12:53 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
Total adoration for Nigel Dobbyn's work on the Knuckles stories, too. For as much as I love the IDW art, these two might still be my favourite Sonic artists.
September 16, 2025 at 9:16 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
the evolution of language is fun 💙📚
A passage from The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison. "Now were borne round dishes of carp, pilchards, and lobsters, and thereafter store enow of meats: a fat kid roasted whole and garnished with peas on a spacious silver charger..."
September 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
they cannot be serious.
Advice from the National Drought Group on the gov.uk website. It says: HOW TO SAVE WATER AT HOME Install a rain butt to collect rainwater to use in the garden. Fix a leaking toilet – leaky loos can waste 200-400 litres a day. Use water from the kitchen to water your plants. Avoid watering your lawn – brown grass will grow back healthy. Turn off the taps when brushing teeth or shaving. Take shorter showers. (HIGHLIGHTED) Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.
August 12, 2025 at 11:01 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
enjoying some amiga-published fiction while whittling way the hours at work. "storydisks" or "litpacks" like this are one of my favourite parts of the Amiga PD scene, and retro computers in general. such an interesting world to explore.
The interface for Dark Fiction 2 by Andrew Campbell on Amiga. The story displayed is DreamBomb by Andrew J. Campbell. "A Bizzare and thought provoking tale of discovery and premonition." The cover image is a man with an unnaturally elongated open mouth. Prose from the story "STARS AND SLEEPING PILLS" by Donna Louise Taylor Text from the introductory article, promising a PC release of this disk. The primary interface of the magazine again. The story displayed is Always by Linette Voller. "A terrifying tale of dark obsession from the author of Twisted Tales and Nightscapes." The cover image is of a person's face, half-obscured by darkness.
August 8, 2025 at 2:05 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
seeing this in da cinema in 15 minutes, very excited
poster for My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
August 2, 2025 at 7:16 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
cosmic frog looking at earth
August 2, 2025 at 2:21 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
Blood and Guts in High School (Kathy Acker) is so fuckin good. I think the point at which I really knew I loved it was when the teenaged protagonist vividly described the unwashed cock and hole of her former lover, President Carter.

Lots of really interesting experiments with form, too.
Page from the novel "Blood and Guts in High School" by Kathy Acker. There is a crude drawing of a boy with his tongue sticking out (labelled 'tongue') and a bird (labelled 'birds fly'). The main text is handwritten, vulgar and scattered across the page. It ends in the phrase "FUCK YOU SHIT PISS"
July 31, 2025 at 1:08 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
went to an experimental fiction film fest today. standout movie was Madrermana (dir Leandro E. Cerdá). a terrifying looney tunes-ass woman invades the home of a father and son and insists on doing the housework. lots of fun wordplay and effects. persistently funny and anxiety-inducing. loved it.
A deranged looking woman in black and white with cartoon glasses drawn over her eyes. Her hands are held in the air like claws and she is grimacing.
July 19, 2025 at 8:10 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
Did you know artists have been producing games and "game-like" experiences for exhibition in museums and art galleries since the 80s? Funded by arts grants, charities, and local governments, they exist entirely outside the conventional games industry while utilising its technology in novel ways
The Abandoned Library, by Dreaming Methods, 2023. Funded by XR Stories, it's an interactive VR film exploring a future devastated by climate change. The screenshot shows our protagonist reeling in shock when a screen suddenly activates in the titular library, revealing it AI librarian. Streets of Change by One to One Development Trust, 2024. An interactive documentary about homelessness which accompanies a film. The screen shows the silhouette of a homeless man sat at the boundary of an alleyway bordering an ordinary British high street at night. Lorna by Lynn Hershman Leeson, 1979-1984. An interactive laserdisc game wherein you explore the life of, and make decisions for, an agoraphobic woman named Lorna. The screenshot shows a close-up of a woman's teeth with text that says: "Congratulations! You have just become a participant in the world's first interactive video art disc game" Deep Contact by Lynn Hershman Leeson, 1984-1989. Another laserdisc game wherein the player is invited to touch the body of a character named Marion, with different events unfolding based on your choices.
July 17, 2025 at 10:09 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
if you're ever in the mood for some very standard heroic fantasy, you could do a lot worse than THE HORSE LORD by peter morwood.

it does start to really like the word "sonorous" towards the end though.
Lord Santon studied Dunrath from his position on the ridge. For an hour now a heavy mist had veiled the uppermost part of the donjon, and there was a dull, sonorous drone in the air like a monstrous swarm of bees, as much felt through the ground as heard in the air. There was a blare of horns, their sonorous bellow thinned by distance, and the ranks closed into steel-fringed wedges faced with scarlet shields. Groups of horsement moved up alongside. The Alban drums and bugles sounded a response, sending couriers galloping down from the generals on the ridge as each There was a sound of chanting from the lord's dais at the far end of the hall, one sonorous phrase punctuated by the striking of a gong.
June 28, 2025 at 1:12 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
I've always placed a huge premium on atmosphere, which all four of these games have in abundance. Aidyn Chronicles and Black Viper in particular, though, also just play really well in my opinion
Top Banana, Commodore Amiga. Text says "RECYCLE THE HYPE" Aidyn Chronicles, Nintendo 64. The sky is a pink and orange gradient as the hero stands on a plateau looking to the horizon. Exclaibur 2555 ad, PS1 Black Viper, Commodore Amiga
June 22, 2025 at 5:06 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
love the ending to the amstrad version
Congratulations.... You have saved the earth from the evil alien threat. Unfortunately... Destroying the heart activates a self-destruct mechanism which blows up the planet. How sad.
June 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
I can't get over how adorable and impressive the intro to Dragon Quest Adventure (1980) is. (GIF courtesy of bluerenga.blog)
June 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
Been playing The Lords of Midnight lately, and it sells its cheesy high fantasy world and premise with a confidence and grandiosity that feels impossible for a 1984 ZX Spectrum game. Absolutely magical experience that has lost none of its power in the 41 years since its release.
THE LORD OF MARAKITH: He has found shelter and is refreshed. It is night and Marakith is utterly invigorated. The Ice Fear is quite cold. Marakith is quite afraid. He has with him the sword Wolfslayer. He thinks again... A landscape of 8-bit mountains and a fortress bathed in darkness. The text says: "THE LORD OF MARAKITH. He stands in a village in the Domain of Marakith, looking North to the Mountains of Ithril." A tower can be seen looming behind an 8-bit mountain range. Settlements can be seen dotted about in the distance. The text says: "LUXOR THE MOONPRINCE. He stands in a ruin in the Domain of Marakith, looking North to the Mountains of Kumar." Night has fallen and the Foul are abroad! Seven days have passed since the War of the Solstice began. The bloody sword of battle brings death in the Domain of Ithril and of Dreams and of Kor and of Blood and of Coroth and of Ithril and of Marakith.
June 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM
etherealserah.bsky.social
River of Time has maybe the most beautiful sunsets in the medium to this day. And it opens on one! What a way to set the mood
May 14, 2025 at 4:15 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
I got my bike today and now all I want is excuses to bike to places
A very pretty teal, low-entry hybrid city bike next to a tree in the park on a sunny day by Manchester standards
May 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
etherealserah.bsky.social
If you need Cool Screenshots, boy do I have 'em. These are from some of their older (2000s) Flash-based interactive e-literature. Or, if you're a gamer, visual novels :p
From "Inside: A Journal of Dreams" (2000). Leaves on a branch. Text weaves between them. It simply says: "Beauty of the" over and over From "Last Dream". A photo of the front of a British brick house. Most of the photo is in black and white, but some of the plants retain a faint green hue. The text says: "this was one of the last dreams i wrote down, before my grandad died. he told me he had to work at this one, and it was to do with the lights" From Dim O'Gauble (2007). Abstract cracked patterns with floral flourishes and the hint of childishly drawn faces and maps cover an image of old wooden room with an old wooden chest of drawers in it. Within the pattern is the number 5. The text says: "you told me to sit down and draw, that old silver tin full of felt pens and broken crayons, i would scribble as you smoked. My mother used to call them my "timewasters" back then just scribbles on old bits of packaged paper. Crumpled maps and memories."
May 5, 2025 at 11:38 PM