Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/29/the-big-idea-jes-honard-marie-parks/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57998

Great minds think alike. For authors Jes Honard and Marie Parks, their great minds had to do just that to co-author the second novel of their Grigori Cycle series. Come along in their Big Idea as they share their thoughts and process not only for Undeniable, but also their first book, Unrelenting.

JES HONARD & MARIE PARKS:

We’re a society of high achievers. 

From a young age, the world demands we set goals and check them off. 

If we fail, we’re losers. If we succeed, we move on to the next task.

There’s not much space to consider who’s impacted—including ourselves. 

Nor do we feel we have permission to pause, reflect, and grow. At most, we might buy ourselves a congratulatory ice cream before moving on to a fresh goal.

The Grigori Cycle is written by not one, but two high achievers. When we met on a roleplaying forum dedicated to the 90s book series Animorphs, we joked that we shared a brain. And when we first sat down to write Unrelenting, the first book in the series, we’d already spent years checking off the boxes of our infinite to do lists.

Write what you know, they say. Is it any wonder the main character of Unrelenting is filled with an obsessive focus on her goal? 

True, Bridget’s search to find her missing sister is more consequential than finishing a novel. But the way she approaches the mystery is, well, unrelenting—even when she stumbles into an ominous world of magical contracts and millennia-old supernatural beings.

We were a few chapters into Bridget’s story when we decided, almost on a lark, to pitch our definitely-not-finished book to a small publishing house. (Not-yet-published authors, do not do this. We did everything backwards.) 

By some miracle, they asked for the full manuscript, and suddenly we had an extremely tight deadline.

Unrelenting had started as a fun, creative project. But in that moment, it became a mission requiring a feverish pace. We spent hours in Zoom rooms, obsessing over plot lines, character arcs, and the minutiae of description. Truth be told, it didn’t take too much for us two high achievers to enter method-actor mode and embody our protagonist.

But one day, we finished the manuscript.

Want to know the extent of our celebration?

We filmed a 2-second GIF of ourselves dancing.

The next day, our noses were back to the grindstone with revisions.

No ice cream for us. 

In the first book, Bridget also succeeds, but only by a narrow definition of the word. By the time we reconvene with her in the sequel, Undeniable, she has faced devastating losses.

But Bridget doesn’t pause. She doesn’t take stock of her life and mental health, now that her initial goal is achieved.

She presses onward.

Instead of allowing herself to grieve, she sets her mind on using the magic tools she’s discovered to bring a loved one back to life. Why process emotions when you can live in denial and hyperfocus, right?

Like Bridget, we also pressed onward with writing Undeniable. But we didn’t have to deny ourselves our own character arcs.

This project was a catalyst to think about how society’s mandate of endless achievement is, frankly, bullshit. And not just in the abstract. In the midst of creating this manuscript, we experienced a cross-country move, a divorce, and the deaths of loved ones. 

We didn’t always succeed in reminding ourselves to rest, but we did manage to center the joy of writing and of being friends. As a result, writing this book felt less like a manic race than its predecessor.

We used Undeniable to explore the darker side of the coin. What happens when you push your support system away? 

Bridget has grown to accept others’ help, but she still hasn’t learned that their goals deserve as much space as hers do. As a result, she fails to treat her allies with the care they deserve. She takes risks, steps on toes, and disregards the feelings of the people closest to her.

The big idea in Unrelenting and Undeniable isn’t just that unquestioning focus causes more harm than good—it’s that old habits die hard, even in the most extraordinary of circumstances. To break the cycle of toxic achievement, we have to look outside of what we’ve been told to do. We can lean on our most trusted friends to help us find new metrics for success.

When our world is falling apart around us, it can be too easy to get caught up in the doing of it all. But whether your personal goals are big or small, don’t forget to pause from time to time. Reflect. Breathe.

Ask where your impact can be felt most, and if you need to ask for help. (Yes, this is a note to self.)

And whether you hit your goals or not, don’t forget to celebrate your self-care efforts and the people who are with you every step of the way.

---

Unrelenting: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s

Undeniable: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s

Authors’ socials: Website|Jes’ Instagram|Marie’s Instagram|Jes’ Bluesky|Marie’s Bluesky

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/29/the-big-idea-jes-honard-marie-parks/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57998

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/28/a-mini-vacay-in-columbus-part-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57936

For my and Bryant’s second day in Columbus, we had to start things out right by going to brunch. Much like Monday, Tuesday is a rough day to eat out because a lot of restaurants are closed. This is even more true for brunch places, as many of them are only open on the weekends. Plus, a lot of restaurants that normally do lunch and dinner also tend to do brunch only on the weekends. So, we had somewhat slim pickings for brunch, especially if we didn’t want to go somewhere that was just pastries and coffee.

We finally settled on Simply Honest Cafe, which is open everyday from 8am to 2pm. Perfect brunching hours! It’s in German Village, so we actually drove because it was just a bit too far of a walk for us, but it was a very short drive down. Fun fact about Simply Honest Cafe, they actually partner with other small businesses in the area. Their coffee is from Roaming Goat Coffee Co., also in Columbus, and get some of their produce from Yellowbird, a Columbus foodshed.

Simply Honest Cafe is a casual-style eatery, where you order at the counter and they bring the food out to your table. The inside is pretty open and spacious, and they even have a cute patio with string lights. Inside, there’s tons of plants hanging around, which I thought was a nice vibe. It wasn’t very crowded, so I took a picture of the interior:

When we walked up to the counter to order, there were so many options! The menu was honestly huge, and it was a bit overwhelming because I felt like I had to choose right away even though there was no one in line behind us. Which was no fault of the employee taking our order, she actually assured us that we could take our time, so it was just my own weird anxieties that made me feel that way.

First thing first, we just had to try their iced cookie butter latte:

These looked absolutely scrumptious, with a cookie butter drizzle inside the cup and on top of the whipped cream, plus one whole Biscoff cookie on top! This latte was so sweet, creamy, totes delish all around. These were six dollars a piece. They also have a Dubai chocolate latte I’d really like to try if I go back sometime soon.

For my main dish, I got their sweet potato hash, with crumbled turkey sausage, roasted sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, citrus kale, avocado, smoked gouda, a fried egg, cilantro, and arbol chili mayo:

This sweet potato bowl was ridiculously good. It tasted so fresh and healthy, it was really light without sacrificing flavor. The sweet potatoes were nice and soft from being roasted, the avocado was perfectly ripe, and even with the chili mayo it wasn’t too spicy at all, just had great flavor all around. It was very balanced and filling. I feel like I made a great choice with this dish, and it was fourteen dollars.

Bryant really wanted some good ol’ pancakes, so he got a stack:

This is their buttermilk pancakes topped with a whipped honey cinnamon butter. They say on their website that their buttermilk pancakes are made from scratch, so that’s nice. Bryant was nice enough to share, so I tried a bite and they were warm and fluffy, honestly you can’t go wrong with pancakes. I also liked that the strawberries were really fresh. If you’re craving a stack, these are pretty great, and only eleven dollars. But if you just want one, you can get a single pancake as a side for four dollars.

There was one more thing I was really craving: biscuits and gravy. But I didn’t want to have it all to myself, so I asked Bryant to share with me. He agreed so I went ahead and ordered their biscuit and gravy breakfast, which comes with two eggs and a side of potatoes:

For fourteen dollars, I felt like this was a really good portion of biscuits and gravy. I loved that it came with eggs and potatoes, as I can honestly think of no truer breakfast combo. I’m glad we shared this because those biscuits were very filling!

I thought the service, though casual, was very friendly. The guy that brought our food out complimented Bryant’s sweater and even asked him where he got it because he liked it so much.

We had a super pleasant experience at Simply Honest Cafe and I’d really love to go back. It’s quick, affordable, and has really good food and coffee. Apparently they do catering, too!

After brunch, we decided some shopping was in order, and went to a Barnes & Noble. It’s been awhile since I’ve perused a bookstore, but lately I’ve had a stronger desire to read than I have in recent past, so I’m glad Bryant suggested it. We decided we’d each pick out a book and then swap when we were done with them. Here’s what we decided on:

Perhaps when I finish mine (or both) I’ll report back on how they were! I also bought a Lego set because I’m weak-willed and can never say no to another set. I got the Great Wave Off Kanagawa set, and it is taking me for-flippin’-ever to build. But it’s gonna be awesome when I’m done.

The Barnes & Noble was next to a Sephora, so I  grabbed a couple items I needed to restock for my skincare routine. The stores were also next to a World Market, which I was very curious about, so we went in there and I was blown away by all the different stuff they have. I don’t know what I was expecting from a place called World Market, but they had so much stuff that just felt completely random like tons of chairs and rugs and furniture, cooking ware and dishes, holiday items, so much foreign foods and snacks, soaps and bathroom items, even alcohol! A lot of alcohol, even! It was absolutely wild and I spent way too much time looking around and convincing myself to not buy everything I laid eyes on.

They even had my favorite chips, Honey Butter chips from Korea. Man I love those things.

Anyways, after going back to the Airbnb and chilling, it was time to go to our (rather early) dinner reservations. I made 4pm reservations at Lindey’s, because we were going to be attending the Stardew Valley concert at the Palace Theater at 7. Bryant actually got us the tickets a couple months ago, and I planned this trip completely around the concert. If he hadn’t gotten the tickets, we wouldn’t have even gone on this fun excursion to the city!

I was so excited to dine at Lindey’s. I follow so many Columbus-foodie type accounts on Tik Tok and everyone always rates Lindey’s as their number one spot in the city for fine dining. I have heard nothing but endless praise for Lindey’s and was so happy to finally be trying it.

I can tell you right now I’ll probably never go back.

Lindey’s opened in 1981, and is located in the German Village, so there’s lots of street parking or they have valet. I decided just to park on the street like a block or two away. Lindey’s is located on a corner, and there’s a step up from the brick walkway to a concrete slab to get through the ornate wooden double doors.

Immediately upon entering, I thought that Lindey’s looked very familiar. It looked a lot like Smith & Wollensky in Chicago. A dark, wooden bar, white tablecloths, and that exact same shade of green bar chairs and booths.

We were the first people there other than two gentlemen at the bar, and we got seated at the one table that was directly next to the front door and host stand, and the waiter’s station was directly behind the host stand as well. This was an unfortunate place to be sat, as the door opening consistently was very chilly and loud, we heard every single person that walked in say “reservation for X” and talk to the host, and the waiters were also like, standing directly next to us throughout the whole meal because they were busy at their station putting stuff into the computer, putting dishes they picked up off tables into the dish bin, etc. It was honestly very distracting and overstimulating, especially because our seat was under a speaker and the music was pretty loud.

Just like Smith & Wollesnky, Lindey’s decided to make their menus huge, cumbersome, floppy paper menus (and in green!):

Even the drink menu was just as huge:

Considering how small the table is, I truly don’t understand why they would have such large menus. With just our two menus they took up the whole table, let alone if we actually had four people at our four-top table.

Aside from the regular dinner menu and drink menu, they handed us this daily special:

The special being on a paper menu is completely fine, but I expect nicer menus from a fine dining place than giant paper.

After looking our options over, we decided not to get a starter, but I did opt for a cup of lobster bisque.

The cup was ten dollars, and came with creme fraiche and shrimp on top. I’ve mentioned before that I’m very picky about lobster bisque, and thankfully Lindey’s passed the test. I quite enjoyed this lobster bisque, it was creamy and piping hot, and had sizeable pieces of lobster in it. I do think ten dollar is a little much for a smaller portion, but it was pretty good.

Bryant stuck with water throughout the meal, but I decided to try a cocktail, and got the Sugar Magnolia:

Watershed chamomile gin, St. Germain, lemon juice, lavender syrup, eucalyptus tincture, and Barcina Cava. It was light, bubbly, not overly dry, and looked very pretty. I liked this drink but I don’t know that it was worth the eighteen dollars. Admittedly, it is one of the more expensive cocktails on the list, so I could’ve chosen a cheaper one if I really wanted.

Our waitress brought out some bread for the table:

While Bryant and I both really liked the crunchy seeded crisps, I do feel like the butter and bread was lacking. The butter was unsalted and unflavored, so it was just kind of bland and underwhelming. Plus the bread wasn’t warm.

For my entree, I decided to keep the lobster train rolling and picked the Maine Lobster Risotto:

Wow, now these plates are looking awfully familiar. It’s almost like they look exactly like Smith & Wollensky’s plates that are white, have a green line around it, and say the name of the restaurant at the top of the plate in green cursive.

Back to the food, I was honestly disappointed by this risotto. The gulf shrimp on top were overcooked and tough, and awfully fishy. The asparagus was toothsome and the risotto was bland. I just was not impressed, especially for the price point of thirty-seven dollars.

Bryant picked the Chicken Scarpariello:

The menu says it’s pan-seared chicken with ricotto gnudi (I thought it was gnocchi, to be honest), Italian sausage, peppadew peppers, wood grilled mushrooms, with roasted tomato sauce and lemon oil. So I found it strange that there were peas on the plate. It wasn’t listed on the menu, anyway.

I thought the presentation of this dish was kind of… not good. It looks haphazardly thrown together and messy. Bryant liked it, but I thought it was just okay. The gnudi was fine but kind of bland, the peas seemed like they’d been blanched so they were rather firm, the sauce was lacking. Again, I just wasn’t wildly impressed. This was thirty dollars.

Thoroughly unimpressed so far, I was definitely looking more forward to dessert.

I hate when paper menus are dirty. If one gets dirty, you should throw it away since they’re just paper. Dirty menus are seriously unappetizing in my opinion, but maybe I’m just being nit-picky.

Anyways, Bryant didn’t want a dessert because he was full, but I saved room and got a box for my risotto. Which the waitress boxed up for me! Love to see it.

I ending up picking the basque style cheesecake, as it seemed like the most unique thing on the menu:

An ube basque cheesecake with a mango passionfruit glaze and whipped cream. Y’all. Y’all. I was going to tell y’all to pass on Lindey’s, but I change my mind. Go to Lindey’s, sit at the bar for like fifteen minutes, and just get this cheesecake. It is so good, my mind was honestly blown by this cheesecake. It’s perfectly sweet and creamy with just the right amount of ube flavor, and the mango passionfruit glaze is bursting with fresh, tangy, tropical flavor that contrasts the cheesecake amazingly. This slice was twelve dollars and it was worth every penny. This is a prime example of why I say dessert is the best part of the meal. Holy cannoli.

After all that, we still had some time before the concert, so I got a pot of tea to sip on since it was so dreary and rainy out. Listed on their dessert menu under specialty teas, I opted for their chai, which was $4.50 and came like this:

Our waitress also brought out some sugar packets for me, as well. I enjoyed the tea. The tag said it was Hubbard & Cravens. It was nice to sip on while we waited for the check.

Before we left, I decided to use the restroom. I almost never mention this in my posts over restaurants but I secretly judge the heck out of a place by its bathrooms. Anywhere that offers free menstrual products automatically gets bonus points.

Anyways, I asked where it was, and the waitress said it was up a small set of stairs and to the left. So I went up there and when I went through the door, I noticed it was really narrow. Like awkwardly so. And then I noticed that there were two stalls, neither of which were handicap accessible. Hmm.

When I got back to the table, I asked the waitress if there was a different bathroom that was handicap accessible. She said no, and that their building isn’t ADA compliant. To even get in the front door is an obstacle to those in a wheelchair. I was shocked to hear this. How could a fine dining establishment in Columbus not be handicap accessible? She said that it’s because it’s considered a “historic building” they’re not allowed to change any of the structure. It has to remain intact the way it is to preserve its historical-ness or something.

That is so totally bogus, man. I don’t care how historic a building is, y’all can find a way to make it accessible for everyone. That is truly unreal to me.

All in all, I did not care for Lindey’s. I thought it was tacky instead of classy, middling food for high prices, and has incredibly ugly dishware and menus. The best part of our experience was our waitress, who was an absolute peach and a wonderful server. She was extremely friendly, and even complimented my hair! The service and cheesecake really improved Lindey’s score in my mind.

Moving on from dinner, the Stardew Concert was something I was really looking forward to. Bryant is actually the one that got me into Stardew in the first place, so I have him to thank for my sporadic obsessive playing and love of the game and music. If you’ve never played Stardew Valley, it is a truly wonderful game, with an awesome pixel art style, super fun and unique music, and so much exploring, foraging, crafting, cooking, fishing, combat, oh man it’s seriously loaded with tons of different stuff to do, you’ll seriously never get bored of it.

For the concert, we were quite a few rows back but right on the aisle, so it was a pretty clear view straight ahead to the stage. There was an absolute monster of a line for the merch table, but you could also just scan a QR code and buy your merch from their online shop. Granted, it took like a week for it to come in and you had to pay for shipping, but I figured that was better than waiting in that line and then having to hold everything awkwardly the entire time.

There were quite a few people in cosplay of the characters from the game, and I even saw a really good Emily and Clint couple (which I also kind of hated because I hate Clint and he doesn’t deserve to be with Emily!).

The orchestra played the songs alongside a screen that either showed gameplay, or showed fanart-type backgrounds of locations from the game, like the farm and the traveler’s cart.

Honestly, the music was rough. The pianist continuously messed up in every single song, and was also the loudest and most prominent part of the orchestra. She fudged up the notes constantly, and the banjo was no better. Some of our favorite songs were just kind of butchered by the piano alone. There was one song that was strictly string instruments (not the banjo) and they absolutely nailed it. The violins were perfect and beautiful and I wished there were more songs that had just them.

The conductor mentioned that all the musicians literally showed up at the venue that day and they barely got any practice in beforehand, and it was apparent.

Also, the person DIRECTLY behind me was coughing up a lung the entire time and I was not only extremely annoyed, but I was also having health anxiety and fearing that I was going to get COVID or something from her, so that was unpleasantly distracting on a number of levels.

Plus, we parked in a lot right next to the theater, which only had about twenty spots total, and was twenty bucks to park in. Only to come back to the the car and see that we (and so many others) were trapped in their spots because they had people parked to the gills in this dang parking lot, with so many cars parked everywhere that everyone was blocked in by other vehicles. Rows and rows of blocked in cars! So we had to sit in our car for like twenty minutes before everyone finally made it back to their car and everyone was able to actually move their cars and leave. It was insanity. How are they allowed to do that (“they” being the parking lot operators that told everyone which spot/where to park)?!

If you’re wondering what merch we got, I got the Void Chicken keychain and Bryant got the White Chicken keychain, and then I got the poster and of course I had to get the Junimo t-shirt. Shit was expensive.

Anyways, by this point we were very full and very tired, so it was another decently early night. Second day in Columbus in the books!

Are you a big fan of brunch? Have you heard of either of the books we bought? If you’ve tried Lindey’s before, did you have a better experience than us? Do you love Stardew Valley? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/28/a-mini-vacay-in-columbus-part-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57936

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/26/some-big-news-with-the-scalzi-family/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57898

Athena has been looking for a place of her own for a while, and she wanted something here in Bradford, to be close to work and to us, both of which we were pleased about. We’d all been tracking properties here in town when they went up for sale, and even looked at one or two to see if they were a place Athena could see herself living in. Nothing quite gelled.

Then this Craftsman-style house came up on the market. We got a chance to go look at it and we all came away from it thinking, basically, wow, this is it. Lots of room, in great shape, amazing character, and, for Athena, walkably close to work. It’s kind of a dream house for what she needs and wants.

As a family we put in an offer and it was accepted, and pending inspections (which we expect will not offer any particular surprises) we close in a couple of weeks. I’m really happy for Athena, and also, happy for us. And while I’m at it, just a tiny bit wistful, as our kid is truly is, officially, moving out and on her own, and that’s a big moment for any parent.

Only a tiny bit wistful, though, since I plan to make her current bedroom my new music studio. That beats having to walk down two flights of stairs and into a cold basement to get to my current set-up. I’m pretty sure Athena will see this as a fair trade.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/26/some-big-news-with-the-scalzi-family/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57898

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/24/smudge-and-saja-in-a-savage-battle-for-survival/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57891

Spoiler: Not really, they’re just playing around. But they sure do look fierce, don’t they. I think Smudge is actually happy to have a kitten to tussle with, since Sugar and Spice hate it when he tries to do that. Saja, on the other hand, is up for a wrassle any time.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/24/smudge-and-saja-in-a-savage-battle-for-survival/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57891