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Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/06/the-big-idea-nicole-glover/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59030

When you find there to be a lack of magic in your world, make a new one. That’s exactly what author Nicole Glover set out to do when crafting the whimsical world of her newest novel, The Starseekers. Come along in her Big Idea to see how the ordinary can be made just a little more magical.

NICOLE GLOVER:

I always found it a severe disappointment when I realized as a child that I was living in a world where tea pots weren’t enchanted, ravens didn’t linger on fence posts to give me a quest, and that dragons weren’t snoring away in caves. I didn’t need unicorns or griffins as pets and I never had the urge climb a beanstalk, I just wanted a touch more wonder in the world. 

So I did the only thing any reasonable person can do: I started writing fantasy.

From riffs on fairy tales, to tales of travelers seeking a library hidden in a desert oasis, to my current series, in my stories I explored what a world could look like with an abundance of magic. 

And with each story I found myself most intrigued by the quieter uses of magic.

The spells in my stories warmed boots, provided a bobbing light for the overeager reader trying to read one last chapter, or put up the groceries for a weary shopper. I found joy in writing about enchantments that made tea kettles bubble with daydreams or devising cocktails that made a drinker recall their greatest regrets.  The magic in my stories didn’t include epic quests and battles,  and if there were curses, they probably had more in common with jinxes and weren’t nearly as difficult to untangle.

Everyday magic, is the word I like to use for it. Such magic is small spells and charms, that are simple enough for anyone to use and often have many different uses.  In contrast to Grand magic which are spells that only a few can ever learn because they are dangerous, and just do one thing really well and nothing else.

Magic that’s in the background, in my opinion, is more useful than Grand spells that could remake the world. (After all what’s the use of a sword that’s only good for slaying the Undead Evil Lord, when the rest of the time it’s just there collecting dust in a corner?) Grand magic is clunky and troublesome, and can be like using a blowtorch when a pair of scissors is all that is needed. You ruin everything and don’t accomplish what you needed to do in the first place. It’s also very straight forward as the magic leaves little wiggle for variation or adjustment without catastrophe. And if a writer isn’t careful, duels involving magic can easily devolve into “wizards flinging balls of magical energy at each other.”

Magics with a smaller scale, leaves room for exploration. It can even allow you to be clever and to think hard of how it animates objects, impacts the environment, creates illusions, or even transforms an unruly apprentice into a fox. Most importantly, Everyday magic are the spells and enchantments that everyone can use, instead of magic being restricted to few learned scholars (or even forbidden). 

Everyday magic allows a prankster to have fun, a child could get even on the bully, let’s an overworked city employee easily transform a park, and have new parents be assured their baby in snug in their crib. 

It’s also the sort of magic perfect for solving mysteries. 

The world of The Starseekers, runs on Everyday magic. I filled the pages with magic that creates staircases out of books, enchant inks and cards,  brings unexpected utility to a compass, lends protection spells to bracelets, and even store up several useful spells in parasols. There is an air of whimsy to Everyday magic, giving me flexibility to have it suit my needs. Magic seeps into the surroundings, informing how characters move through the world and how they think about their acts. It allows me to consider the magical solutions to get astronauts to the Moon, how a museum may catalogue their collection of magical artifacts, or what laws on wands and broomsticks might arise and if those laws are just or not. 

Embracing Everyday magic is what made The Starseekers possible, because making the everyday extraordinary is one of the many things I aim for as a writer and a lover of magic.

The Starseekers: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books-a-Million|Bookshop|Powell’s

Author socials: Website|Instagram|Bluesky|Threads

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/06/the-big-idea-nicole-glover/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59030

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/05/some-of-the-best-products-i-bought-in-2025/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58990

Things are tough out there. Money is tight, groceries are expensive, and day by day products are getting worse and worse. These days, you get far less bang for your buck.

You go on Amazon or Etsy to buy something, and everything is from a “brand” called QvorTply, and they sell the most suck-tastic dropship items. More and more often people tell me they’re buying things from Temu and Shein and that it’s all crap and a complete waste of money.

So, what is worth buying? Which brands can you trust, what products are worth buying, and which brands aren’t total bastards? Well, I don’t have all the answers, but I did buy a lot of stuff in 2025 with some mixed results. Today, I’m here to share some products and brands that I really like, and what I felt like was worth my money and a good purchase.

This will be a pretty interesting assortment of stuff, and while they’re in no particular order, I will be mostly trying to keep things of the same category together, like a big section of fabric/clothing items, then a section of food items, etc. Anyways, I hope you find something you like!

I’m going to start off with a brand I’ve actually talked about on the blog once before: Geometry. That’s right y’all, I liked it so much that I’m telling you all about it again just in case you missed it the first time!

Geometry is a home goods brand that specializes in towels, but has also recently branched out into blankets, linens, table cloths, things of that nature.

I never thought that I could love a dish towel so much, but Geometry’s Kitchen Tea Towels are the quite literally the greatest dish towels of all time. And to think, I was so hesitant to buy one of their towels because of the $18 price point, but now I can’t stop recommending them to all my friends.

So, what makes Geometry’s tea towels worth eighteen bucks a pop? Well, without even getting into the brand’s sustainability efforts and partnerships with artists, the towels themselves are huge in comparison to a regular dish towel. They are extra thin, making for quick drying time and way less musty-ness. They wash and dry so easy, and are even super wrinkle-resistant. I never knew how much I hated wrinkles in my dish towels until I saw Geometry’s come out of the dryer wrinkleless.

Whatever vibe you’ve got going for your kitchen, there’s a towel to fit it. You can filter the towels by styles such as retro, coastal, floral, abstract, or by color if you’re trying to stick to a specific color scheme. There’s so many different prints to choose from, and all of them are from real artists.

One of my favorite designers they have partnered with is Julianne Haness. They even have a little article over her and her art! I also quite like Ceyda Alasar, Rebecca Bobko, and Janna Sue Design. In a time of AI “art” and brands not wanting to pay artists for anything, it’s so nice to see a brand that respects the artists’ they partner with and provides tons of different designs from artists all over the world.

Aside from their tea towels, the only other product I’ve tried is their table runners. I bought three back in November or so, all of them in their large 16″ by 120″ size. I really like them! They’ve got a real nice heft and thickness to them that makes them feel like a quality product. I got two for the holidays, this Cedar print one, and this Doodles for the Holiday design. The third is for the summer, and is called Summer Air. I especially love this one because of the baguette.

So, I love the products of theirs that I’ve tried, and I love that Geometry partners with real artists. For my final trick, I’ll tell you about their sustainability efforts that really seal the deal on them being a cool brand. All of their products are made from recycled materials, and they say that a tea towel saves 3.5 water bottles from going into the landfill.

Geometry also has a recycling program called the Take Back Bag. Basically, you purchase this bag from them for $20 (stick with me here), you fill the bag with your old (clean) towels, linens, other textiles you no longer want, send it back to them, and you get $30 to use on Geometry products! A whole free ten bucks to spend on great tea towels just for recycling and making a positive impact on the environment.

So, yeah! Try a tea towel or two. Let me know what you think. In a perfect world, their membership program wouldn’t be full right now, and I’d be in it, but alas.

Continuing with fabric type goods, the next brand on my list is Fresh Clean Threads. How many times have you seen a shirt company advertising that their shirts are different? How many claim to be more comfortable, softer, and fit better on bigger bodies, so you take a chance on them, only to realize they’re not really as special as they claim to be? For me, the answer is a lot! There’s a lot of brands that had big claims, but only Fresh Clean Threads has delivered.

I absolutely love Fresh Clean Threads shirts, hoodies, crew sweatshirts, and joggers. To be clear moving forward, they have a women’s collection but I have only ever bought from the men’s collection. I’ve not tried any of their women’s stuff.

Anyways, a standard t-shirt is $23 and a long-sleeve is $25. The hoodies are just under $60 and the crew-neck sweatshirts are about $50. To me, this all seems pretty standard pricing, but they do have sales like, all the time. They even have a whole tab for just sale items if you’re feelin’ frisky. Like usually a pair of joggers is almost $50 but this two-pack is $30 right now?! Crazy deals to be had, I tell you what.

You can also build a bundle of five items and get a discount and it doesn’t even have to all be the same type of item. Pretty cool.

Their sizing is from S-3X for guys and XS-3X for women, and they have a “tall” option for men, too. I personally wear the 2X in men’s for all their tops and bottoms.

Fresh Clean Threads has, in my book, made the most comfortable shirts of all time. Like they actually nailed it. Even though I wear the men’s shirts and hoodies, everything fits so comfortably and no part is too tight on me. Especially the sleeves, I hate when sleeves are too tight or too short on my arms. They have perfected the sleeve game.

Plus, the hoodies are actually hefty and warm! Very soft inside. And best of all, none of their products come with scratchy tags. You don’t have to rip off any plastic tags or have anything itchy inside your shirt. I really value that in a shirt.

I swear every single shirt I own has shrunk in the dryer, but I’ve washed and dried my Fresh Clean Threads items a hundred times and they don’t shrink even a little bit and they haven’t worn out at all even through constant use. These are just really solid shirts, y’all!

You can wear them out and about as is, use them as a comfortable base for layering, and honestly the t-shirts are so comfortable I actually sleep in them on an almost nightly basis. They’re just really versatile, excellent staples, and I highly recommend them.

I’m also in their membership program, which is $19 a year and gets you 20% off every purchase, free shipping on every order, and early access to sales and new product launches. I can’t tell you how worth it it’s been for me to be a member, because I have ordered over twenty-five items from them (about half of which were gifts).

Finally, you know I have to mention their sustainability efforts. Fresh Clean Threads is partnered with the Coral Reef Alliance with a $50k minimum pledge each year, all of their factories are WRAP certified, and their packaging is 100% recyclable. Solid stuff!

For our next clothing brand we have the ever-popular Bombas. It took me far too many years to realize that the quality of your socks actually matters. I used to think that any ol’ sock was just as good as any other sock, it was of no importance to me the fabric of the sock or how thin it was. Well, now I know better! And Bombas are the best socks I’ve ever owned.

I actually didn’t buy Bombas for like, a solid year because I could not get past the price point. Between $15 and $20 for a pair of socks?! Who has that kind of money for socks? Well, after years of buying cheap packs and running holes through them and having to buy more cheap packs, turns out I do spend that kind of money on socks, so why not redirect it towards actually quality ones so I can stop buying the cheap packs?

I have been wearing the absolute heck out of my Bombas and they are literally just as intact and just as comfortable as day one of having them. I’ve not gotten any holes or threadbare spots or anything, and they feel nice and thick without being constricting or making my shoe too tight.

Personally, I really like their women’s half calf socks with this cute retro stripe design.

Bombas whole thing is that they donate an item for every item bought. Whether it’s underwear, shirts, or socks, they have given over 150 million items to 4,000 different community organizations in all fifty states. I honestly had a hard time believing they were really giving away a pair for every pair bought, but a couple months ago someone I know told me that her family member goes to a low-income dentist in Dayton, and they have a big basket of brand new Bombas free for the taking in their lobby. Turns out, Bombas was impacting my community and I didn’t even know it!

If the price point is really getting to you like it did to me, you can use code COMFORT20 for 20% off your first order, and there’s free shipping when you spend $75. Trust me, it’s a good investment long-term.

Moving on from textiles, I’d like to briefly mention AppyHour! The reason I say briefly is because I have already done three posts over AppyHour this past year (which you can see all three of here), but I just wanted to mention that I liked them enough to put them in this recommendation list.

AppyHour is a subscription based service and purveyor of fine meats, cheeses, and accoutrements that are shipped to your door so you have everything you need to make a yummy and impressive snack spread for you and your guests.

I think they’re a really nice small business with good customer service and are providing good quality products for a good price! I would say really the only thing to keep in mind is if you get the boxes long-term there do tend to be some repeats of items. Honestly this isn’t too much of an issue for me because the repeats I’ve gotten are some of my favorite items, like the Prairie Breeze Cheddar, and I’m plenty happy to put them on a board again.

And of course I’m still super grateful that when I posted about them in the past, y’all used my referral code for twenty bucks off your box, and all these months later I’m still working through the credits I got from that. I have enjoyed many a box paid for entirely by y’all signing up.

So if you’re in the market for some charcuterie goods to entertain visiting friends and family, definitely check out AppyHour! They’re pretty cool.

Branching out into jewelry, this next brand is the most new to me on this list, as I only found out about them during their Black Friday sale in November.

Nominal is a jewelry brand founded by a Palestinian Muslim Arabic-speaking woman and her husband, and each piece is inspired by the rich culture of the Middle East. Every order donates to Palestine relief aid, with over a million dollars donated so far. My favorite of all their jewelry is in their Palestine Collection.

I bought the Olive Leaf Earrings, the Palestine country map necklace, a super cute dainty watermelon bracelet, and watermelon studs.

All of their gold-plated jewelry is 18k gold with hypoallergenic stainless steel underneath. They say you can wear your pieces in the shower, sweat in them, wear them daily, and not worry about them tarnishing, fading, or causing skin irritation. I think Nominal has so many beautiful pieces for an affordable price, and has an amazing cause behind it. It’s something I feel good about purchasing and wearing on the regular.

Finally, I’d like to feature Le Creuset, as I am truly a ride or die customer for Le Creuset products.

Le Creuset is probably best known for their enameled cast iron Dutch ovens. While there are many brands that also make these types of products, Le Creuset is truly the cream of the crop. Yes, they are expensive, but if you have the money, you won’t find anything better.

Le Creusets are beautiful, come in a wide array of colors, and are going to be your new favorite pot to cook in, whether it’s on the stove-top or in the oven. Hefty, reliable, beautiful, their Dutch ovens are the best of the best.

But what about their other products? Well, aside from owning four of their Dutch ovens (one in Sea Salt, one in Marseille, a red heart shaped one, and one smaller one in White), I also have one braiser (with a glass lid (in Sea Salt)), a tea kettle (white with pink and red heart print), a set of mugs (in Shell Pink), two of these square baking dish sets (one in Sea Salt and one in Marseille), a heart shaped spoon rest (in Chiffon Pink), a baking sheet, this salt crock, two mini coquettes (one purple with a flower lid, one white and pink/red heart print one), and a pink pepper and salt mill set that I can’t find in their pepper and salt mill section so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

I love Le Creuset. So much. Their products are so wonderful and beautiful and you’ll be proud to showcase them on your stove or serving up soup to your guests at a dinner party. My wishlist of items from this brand are never ending. My self control is at a breaking point around these damn Dutch ovens. Plus, they have some crazy sales going on right now.

So, there you have it. Six brands I bought from in 2025 and think they’re worth recommending to others. Brands that supply you with actual quality products, and that are worth your money. Because there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t worth your money out there, and I am personally sick of wasting money on bad products.

I hope you found something you like amidst my recommendations! What’s a brand you’ve recently discovered that you’re a big fan of? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/05/some-of-the-best-products-i-bought-in-2025/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58990