A note on Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend (which I have not listened to yet)

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Lady Steed and I were at Target recently and saw a big vinyl this which stopped her cold:

And rightly so. Although the fans on Genius may argue that this image “pokes fun at the male gaze” or “highlight[s] Sabrina’s satirical brand” or “challenges misogynistic views,” at it’s core it’s a woman on her knees being dominated by a man. So Poe’s Law is in full effect here, making the image a very 2025 phenomenon. Some people will revel in the debasing of a female celebrity. Others will treat her ironic debasing as a victory for women. Third- and fourth-wave feminism meet in this image and explode, is what happens.

Anyway, Lady Steed was appalled. Women winning the right to receive abuse seems a pyrrhic victory at best.

I’m also appalled looking at her hand in the carpet. What happened to it? Did someone finetune this image with AI?

Anyway, in making the cover of Thubrina, my reference was to one of the alternate image covers. (You need lots of different physical versions of music in 2025 to maximize profits.)

This is Sabrina’s “approved by God” image. I didn’t attempt anything more than the hair and being black and white because let’s be honest: I didn’t spend my teenage years looking into the mirror working on my sultriness. Faces funny and scary were much more me.

Anyway, Thubrina is now available at most ebook outlets. Print will show up eventually for those who think five dollars is an insufficiently absurd amount to spend on a goofy little project like this.

Where you will not find it is on Amazon. This isn’t some big moral stance I’m taking (though perhaps I should claim so?); they just rejected it. I’m not sure why. They rejected Eternities of Cats for strange but clear reasons, viz., they apparently don’t carry multi-author works that include previously published work. Never mind that we could all make a list of exceptions you can buy on Amazon right now, but at least they gave me a reason. No reason for Thubrina. Is it part of some new quest to cut out plagiarism? Well, this isn’t plagiarism and I don’t know how it could have reached that conclusion instantly anyway. Is it because I noted there was some adult content? I doubt it. Otherwise, how did certain congressional candidates get their work on Amazon? Or Sabrina this exceedingly horny album? So it’s a mystery. But at least you can (now or soon) get Thubrina via your local library. Good on America.

AS PROMISED, having finished the publication process, I will now listen to Man’s Best Friend. I am about to do that right now, starting here in just a few minutes. Head on over to Bluesky if you want to follow along. Tomorrow’s Thubrina post will republish (some? all?) of this live commentary, but if you care and want to be part of the conversation, head on over now.

See you soon!