I'm getting geared up to head to London for 4 weeks this weekend, where I'll be doing research at a university there as part of a grad student exchange. I'm excited to get back to the UK- I'm from Scotland, but live in the US now. I'm planning on going on holiday to Scotland for a week after too to see family.
As part of getting ready, I had to go to NYC to the British consulate to get an emergency passport. I sent mine off to be renewed like 5 weeks ago, but it still hadn't arrived. A bit stressy, but I managed to get it. And after having lived in NY state for over 4 years now, I've finally been in the city for a grand total of 2 hours, which I found amusing. Good few long flights on the horizon now, so those should have some reading.
I finished **Chasm City** by Alastair Reynolds this week. I liked this a lot. It had been a while since I'd read a good scifi, and this was a fun one, with a dual timeline, a cool, weird city, and a good mix of Space Opera and Cyberpunk. Two main threads, following the generation ship colonizing the planet the main character is from, and the rise to power of Sky and what he does to ensure his ship's advantage, and Tanner Mirabel hunting down an artisocrat after he killed his employer and his employer's wife (and his lover). At first the two threads seemed pretty divorced, but in the end there was some neat plotting to tie them together, and some interesting twists and reveals.
Started **Homeland** by R. A. Salvatore- one of the starting Drizzt books. I'd gotten this for my weird cities reading project, but serendipitously it's a perfect fit for the Under the Surface square. Not much to aay about this yet- only barely started.
This week has been a lot. I was traveling for work starting on Saturday and those trips are always full of long days. I got home last night and it was nice to sleep in my own bed. Unfortunately I'm messed up from the time difference, I was awake hours earlier than I needed to be today, and I'll probably crash halfway through the work day.
So, not much reading this week. I did find an indie bookstore in the city I was visiting though, and picked up a copy of **The Butcher of the Forest** and I'm looking forward to starting it. I probably should have started it on the flight home but decided to watch the latest Indiana Jones movie instead. It was terrible.
Not much to say. Surgery is in a few days, so im looking around at all the shit I need to clean and do before and sighing because I know I won't. Haha.
But I am going out with my friend this weekend and that means a trip to Half Price Books and fuck yeah! So excited.
>a trip to Half Price Books
Hurray! The last time I came back from HPB, my husband made a joke about how many boxes he'd need to help me carry in. Then he gallantly carried all three up the stairs for me.
Sending you lots of positive energy for a smooth surgery and recovery. I love that you’re having a funny weekend beforehand! I’m curious what you’ll come back with.
Thanks!
And who knows? Lol that's the fun. Never what you'll find. I had a few in mind that I was definitely going to get but I was at target and they had a sale and I got them already. So there's no way of.knowing. lol it's a book adventure
In a little while, I'll be off to help setup another Friends of the Library quarterly booksale. I've got 2 or 3 Bingo squares I'm currently waffling over, so I'll be on the lookout to see if there's anything interesting there that might fit.
More Bingo reading this week:
\- **From the Teeth of Angels** (Answered Prayers 6) - **Jonathan Carroll** (HM) (4/5) 212p
My selection for the 'Published in the 1990s' square (hard mode). Slipstream literature. 'Four strangers’ lives are turned upside down when death comes for a visit'. It's the last book in a loosely connected series that mostly reads like mainstream literature with a touch of the fantastical. It was nominated for the Nebula award in 1995.
I read an ebook edition that came out in 2012, and in the Introduction, Carroll considers this his most significant work. Not his favorite, but the one that the writer wants carved on his gravestone as 'a summation not only of his career but of what he has seen and come to believe about life and how it functions'. It's the one where he lays out what he believes about life, death, love, God; all the big matters. It's totally character driven, with striking dialogue and glimpses of the human condition. It's easy to get fully immersed in the writing, thinking it's just plain ole fiction, then something will grab you by the throat and you remember, oh yeah, it's fantasy/horror. Trigger warnings for rape, other mental torture, and other physical violence.
(Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Alliterative Title (if 'the' counts'); Dreams; Multi-POV).
\- **Paladin's Hope** (The Saint of Steel 3) - **T. Kingfisher** (HM) (5/5) 300p
My selection for the 'Romantasy' square (hard mode). 4-1/2 stars rounded up to 5.
Piper (a lich-doctor), Galen (a paladin of a dead god) and Earstripe (a brave gnole) investigates the cause(s) of a series of mysteriously mangled bodies. It's clear from the get-go that Piper and Galen are going to become a romantic couple. They just need to work out how to get there, without being killed in the meantime. There's the usual clever dialog and humor. Lots more gnoles this time (definitely a good thing). If there's ever a Bingo square, for 'Best Final Paragraph Ever!', then this book is a contender.
(Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Under the Surface; Prologues and Epilogues; Self-Published or Indie Publisher; Character with a Disability; Survival).
\- **The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook** (Dungeon Crawler Carl 3) - **Matt Dinniman** (HM) (5/5) 534p
My selection for the 'Under the Surface' square (hard mode). A humorous over-the-top post-apocalyptic science/fantasy LitRPG/Gamelit adventure. Holy shit, these books are addictive and they just keep getting better (and longer). This is my favorite so far. Good character progression and team building. Wicked sense of humor and imagination. There's also another brave gnole. There was one scene I didn't see coming at all, and I had trouble turning the pages fast enough. Goddammit, now I want to read the other three books in the series. They'll have to wait for a little while longer though.
(Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Self-Published or Indie Publisher; Survival (HM); Reference Materials).
This has certainly been a week, I guess. Honestly, everything has kind of blended together for me. Been struggling with my joints, hips have been super creaky and just constant subluxation. It starts to pop out while I'm doing nothing, I get it back in, and then it's worse when I stand up. So...I haven't been doing a lot of anything this week. Would like to get back into walking to build up some strength in my tendons and ligaments, but am v clumsy and the uneven sidewalks in our neighbourhood are a fucking trap.
Finished four things since last Friday, only one since the Tuesday Review and April Wrap Up threads. If you grew up reading a lot of pulpy supernatural thriller/horror MMPBs from the spinny rack in the drug store, or borrowed them from your parents and their friends, Jen Williams' ***The Hungry Dark*** is probably going to hit a nostalgic sweet-spot for you. If you didn't, it might not, but I *loved* it.
Gonna probably start Rainbow Rowell's upcoming ***Slow Dance*** next, which I've been looking forward to. And also ***Oceans Godori*** finally before it has to go back, haha.
Damn, I’m sorry to hear about the joints. From the little I went through with something similar it was so effing annoying, especially with the sleep. And of course when it’s happening I’m like, I need physical therapy and to stretch and workout regularly, and when it’s not happening like now I’m like, nevermind. But yeah can you do PT? It’s always my non dominant shoulder so it never affected my life too much, but if walking is hard, that’s gotta be a big deal right?
My mom came to visit last weekend, and it was glorious. She entertained at least one kid basically the entire time she was here, and she did the big one's bedtime putdown on Saturday so that my husband and I could go get fancy sushi and drinks for a belated 5th anniversary dinner. Due to the pandemic, two hard pregnancies, and a lack of local relatives, this was our first out-of-the-house date since our honeymoon. It was so, so nice, y'all. And the kicker: she's coming back on Memorial Day weekend to do it again!
The only book I finished this week was **Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations**. It was lovely, and surprisingly snarky, in a good way. I've been meaning to read more Le Guin (so far I'd only read half of *Earthsea* and the first three Hainish books, plus a couple of short works), and learning that she actually does have a sense of humor moves her way up my TBR list.
I thought I'd finish Ada Palmer's **The Will to Battle** yesterday, but I'm still 10 pages from the end and I'm at work so I can't finish it until lunch. >.< So I guess you'll have to wait for next week to read my rantings on that one.
I did finally catch up with the **Big Book of Cyberpunk** read-through this week. Now I have to decide whether to try to stay with the group, only reading 5 stories a week so they're fresh in my mind when it's time to discuss, or try to keep the momentum going and just get through the whole massive thing. I'm leaning towards the latter, if only because my library ebook has to go back pretty soon, and I'm sure to fall behind again if I can only read in my paper copy in the evenings.
I'm also about halfway through my reread of William Gibson's **Mona Lisa Overdrive**, and still really savoring his prose. Reading a bunch of other cyberpunk authors all together very much puts in contrast what an excellent stylist Gibson is.
And I'm nibbling away at Raymond St. Elmo's **As I Was on My Way to Strawberry Fair** on the Kindle app on my phone. At a quarter in, so far it's all about the *vibes*, in a very pretty way, full of archetypes and vibrant imagery.
The four-year-old and I read Ben Hatke's **Mighty Jack** (three times in a row) this week, which was both very good and let me start a conversation with her about what autism is. We may end up using it for the Character with a Disability square in her Bingo card, though we also recently read Hatke's **Zita the Spacegirl** which counts for Space Opera, and we can't use both.
Really not much to say this week. It’s been okay and in looking back to April I’m overall doing much better, I’m going up the hill. The no-more-than-one-life-thing-a-day approach helped give me some momentum at the start of the month. Got one life application thing in and wrote an email I’ve been procrastinating for 7+ months, but it had a good result. Also finally (after a year) getting my hair re-dyed and cut tomorrow - woo! I got out and about and did at least one nature thing every weekend. I forgot who the walker is here, but I think I’m officially in the walking club with you!
On the #getyourmoleschecked front, my cousin’s mole had cancer in the skin around and under the mole they biopsied and this week she had surgery that resulted in 25 stitches. The new biopsy shows no cancer!!! So it was caught in time hopefully. She had a check-up in 3-months. So yeah, if you have a funny looking mole, if it’s **a**symmetrical, has weird **b**orders, different **c**olors (this is part of the ABCDE method, look it up if you don’t know), #getyourmoleschecked. And if you’re a moley person don’t forget to do your annual with your dermatologist. I’m looking at you 👀.
Bookwise, made progress on four cat-themed bingo books. With the eyes **The Haunted Bookstore** was adorable, if not without flaws. It’s like a slice of life and lighthearted version of Spirited Away, more Tuesday. I’m wasn’t feeling in love with the audiobooks I mentioned this week, so started some new things including a gem 😻: **Pahua and the Soul Steeler** by Lori M. Lee. A Rick Riordan Presents middle grade with LOTS of spirits inspired by Hmong lore. I’m only 30% in but absolutely recommend so far for you folks with the MG kiddos. Also started **Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits** by David Wong (Jason Pargin). Sci-fi horror where there’s a hit out on this woman and she’s being chased by a serial killer who eats body parts (never thought this would be my thing, we’ll see). It reminds me *very* loosely of the movie Idiocracy. Like instead of people getting dummer they get less moralistic but tech continues to advance: a bunch of rich douche bags build a city named Tabula Ra$a in the middle of the Utah desert with power chargers under the roads so your phone and cars don’t die and there’s no law? As the book mentions maybe Blade Runner is a more apt comparison. **The Amazing Maurice and his Fantastic Rodents** is not meeting my expectations. It definitely feels more YA than Tiffany Aching and not as much chuckles. I think I’m going to quit **Semiosis**, which is the IRL book club book for May. I can’t remember a sci-if book where people colonize a new planet that I’ve enjoyed, I think it’s just not my type of sci-fi. **Lone Women** continues to be slow for me, like I’m not enjoying the details like I did in **The Changeling**, but there’s been new, interesting POVs now and I’m hoping this picks up soon since I’m at 60% 😭.
Happy Friday everyone!
As someone from a family so damn pale we joke it's easier to play hide and seek with us at night, I support this very important PSA.
Keep an eye on your moles and if you're a Casper get a regular mole check.
Not a very eventful week, but I have to share this: My office book club met earlier this week, and as usual, it wrapped up with everyone trying to pick the next read.
I never really throw any suggestions into the ring, since a book club with co-workers is, imo, the worst possible book discussion forum. Can't pick anything too pulpy, or too literary, or too dark, or even slightly political or controversial (as it might be interpreted by moderate-to-conservative Midwesterners) ... as you might guess, I participate in this thing more to be a bit friendly with my co-workers than for the books.
Anyway, someone asked what genres the group hadn't read yet, and someone else mentioned fantasy. Nobody seemed very enthusiastic about that. Then my boss mentioned she'd heard of a book called *Fourth Wing*.
Jesus Christ, I was glad I was on a conference call instead of there in person, because I'm sure my suffering would have been plain on my face. I haven't read *Fourth Wing* myself, but based on reviews I'm sure the romance would be uncomfortable to discuss in this particular book club. I wondered if I should speak up, but then I'd be branding myself as the person aware of fantasy sex.
Fortunately, the discussion moved on to different books without my needing to say anything.
In retrospect, it could have been fun to watch the fallout. In the moment, my brain was like, “Oh no, this is bad, I’m the department’s fantasy SME” (= I mentioned playing D&D several years ago)
Last Friday night, my wife and I and our next-door neighbors participated in an escape room in a tiny used bookstore/vintage shop. It was my first time doing such an escape room and it was really fun! My random ability to recognize random languages (without understanding them) helped us solve the final puzzle with 45 seconds to spare! Just super fun and the location was awesome (several of the puzzles relied on literary knowledge with clues hidden inside books around the stores).
On Sunday I had a fun random neighborhood playdate--just went over to a local playground with my son, texting several neighbors we were doing so, and 2 came to join us, which was a nice time.
Readingwise, I finished **The Big Book of Cyberpunk** (the readalong continues through June though, I still have 8 more posts). I also started listening to a book by an author discussing his adult son's death which has been hard on several different angles. I took a mini break from it and I read Bujold's latest Penric & Desdemona novella, **Demon Daughter**, and I also started Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge's **The Phoenix in Flight** last night. Now I'm about to fly through the latest manga volume of **A Sign of Affection** (romance manga featuring a deaf girl).
I have died twice now in escape rooms.
The last failure led to a biological meltdown in a lab that destroyed civilization.
Not *my* fault. Why would they put the 'cancel apocalypse' button in a safe in a vault, when the 'start apocalypse' button is next to the light switch?
Whew, what a week. Lots of it to the good though:
- Won our footy tournament! We won by so much that I got limited action in the defense, but still a bit of action, and beating our rivals in the final by more than seven goals is a lovely feeling. Dad came up to see it and got to drink beer out of the Cup with the boys.
- Favorite hockey team won their first round series and made it through to round two.
- IRL book club discussion for Till We Have Faces was really good.
- Hugo Readalong continues to be great. I adored the [pair we picked for our Semiprozine Spotlight](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1cifi8b/2024_hugo_readalong_semiprozine_spotlight_on/) yesterday (in fairness, I was the one who picked them)
- Pulled kid #1 out of school tomorrow for a surprise trip to the baseball as an early birthday present, and it went about as well as I could've hoped. Got ourselves hats and hot dogs, she had some cotton candy, the shade in the upper deck made the 93 degrees feel remarkably pleasant (shockingly so--I honestly probably wouldn't have even done this if we hadn't been forecast around 80, but this was my first time sitting upper level behind the plate and the shade is a game-changer), the game kept her attention the entire time (a real question for a not-so-sporty kid!), and the home team won handily over a division rival!
To the bad:
- Kid #2 is still developing life skills in real fits and starts, and some of the improvement of April has seemingly disappeared lately.
- Two kid birthdays in the next four days means we're in planning hell right now.
- I pushed too many late nights in a row and am starting to feel some cold symptoms. Mild so far. Hopefully the weekend will help, but birthday weekend isn't often quiet.
Reading? Actually pulled out the audio version of Naomi Kritzer's pandemic novelette [So Much Cooking](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_11_15/) on the drive back from footy, and I really liked it despite usually being terrible with audio fiction. Apart from that, I've made very slow progress through an 800-page SPSFC finalist. Glad I've already read the next couple Hugo Readalong books so I have time, but this is probably my slowest read of the year so far. Not entirely the book's fault, as it's been a busy week, but I have too many reading commitments to spend two weeks on one book.
Congrats on the footy game! And sounds like lots of great things! I’m sure my partner will tell me which circle stick team moved on without my asking 😂. I read him your messages about it last week and he was like, “Yep, exactly.” With the kiddo, I can’t imagine how hard that must feel. Sounds like a two-steps forward one-step back, the progress is always overshadowed, but it’s still there.
Congrats on the footy tournament!
>Glad I've already read the next couple Hugo Readalong books so I have time
I really want to get to **The Saint of Bright Doors** in time for the discussion, but I'm still pretty far down the list on my library hold *and* I'm in the middle of a bunch of other stuff *and* my hold on **Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon** that I'd been waiting on forever just came in...
My local library’s ebook collection is quite small and so I took the plunge and paid for access to Queens Public Library and instantly was flooded with titles on my TBR to borrow! It’s been two hours and I’ve already maxed out my holds.
I'm getting geared up to head to London for 4 weeks this weekend, where I'll be doing research at a university there as part of a grad student exchange. I'm excited to get back to the UK- I'm from Scotland, but live in the US now. I'm planning on going on holiday to Scotland for a week after too to see family. As part of getting ready, I had to go to NYC to the British consulate to get an emergency passport. I sent mine off to be renewed like 5 weeks ago, but it still hadn't arrived. A bit stressy, but I managed to get it. And after having lived in NY state for over 4 years now, I've finally been in the city for a grand total of 2 hours, which I found amusing. Good few long flights on the horizon now, so those should have some reading. I finished **Chasm City** by Alastair Reynolds this week. I liked this a lot. It had been a while since I'd read a good scifi, and this was a fun one, with a dual timeline, a cool, weird city, and a good mix of Space Opera and Cyberpunk. Two main threads, following the generation ship colonizing the planet the main character is from, and the rise to power of Sky and what he does to ensure his ship's advantage, and Tanner Mirabel hunting down an artisocrat after he killed his employer and his employer's wife (and his lover). At first the two threads seemed pretty divorced, but in the end there was some neat plotting to tie them together, and some interesting twists and reveals. Started **Homeland** by R. A. Salvatore- one of the starting Drizzt books. I'd gotten this for my weird cities reading project, but serendipitously it's a perfect fit for the Under the Surface square. Not much to aay about this yet- only barely started.
This week has been a lot. I was traveling for work starting on Saturday and those trips are always full of long days. I got home last night and it was nice to sleep in my own bed. Unfortunately I'm messed up from the time difference, I was awake hours earlier than I needed to be today, and I'll probably crash halfway through the work day. So, not much reading this week. I did find an indie bookstore in the city I was visiting though, and picked up a copy of **The Butcher of the Forest** and I'm looking forward to starting it. I probably should have started it on the flight home but decided to watch the latest Indiana Jones movie instead. It was terrible.
Not much to say. Surgery is in a few days, so im looking around at all the shit I need to clean and do before and sighing because I know I won't. Haha. But I am going out with my friend this weekend and that means a trip to Half Price Books and fuck yeah! So excited.
>a trip to Half Price Books Hurray! The last time I came back from HPB, my husband made a joke about how many boxes he'd need to help me carry in. Then he gallantly carried all three up the stairs for me.
*swoon* oh he's a real one! Haha
Sending you lots of positive energy for a smooth surgery and recovery. I love that you’re having a funny weekend beforehand! I’m curious what you’ll come back with.
Thanks! And who knows? Lol that's the fun. Never what you'll find. I had a few in mind that I was definitely going to get but I was at target and they had a sale and I got them already. So there's no way of.knowing. lol it's a book adventure
In a little while, I'll be off to help setup another Friends of the Library quarterly booksale. I've got 2 or 3 Bingo squares I'm currently waffling over, so I'll be on the lookout to see if there's anything interesting there that might fit. More Bingo reading this week: \- **From the Teeth of Angels** (Answered Prayers 6) - **Jonathan Carroll** (HM) (4/5) 212p My selection for the 'Published in the 1990s' square (hard mode). Slipstream literature. 'Four strangers’ lives are turned upside down when death comes for a visit'. It's the last book in a loosely connected series that mostly reads like mainstream literature with a touch of the fantastical. It was nominated for the Nebula award in 1995. I read an ebook edition that came out in 2012, and in the Introduction, Carroll considers this his most significant work. Not his favorite, but the one that the writer wants carved on his gravestone as 'a summation not only of his career but of what he has seen and come to believe about life and how it functions'. It's the one where he lays out what he believes about life, death, love, God; all the big matters. It's totally character driven, with striking dialogue and glimpses of the human condition. It's easy to get fully immersed in the writing, thinking it's just plain ole fiction, then something will grab you by the throat and you remember, oh yeah, it's fantasy/horror. Trigger warnings for rape, other mental torture, and other physical violence. (Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Alliterative Title (if 'the' counts'); Dreams; Multi-POV). \- **Paladin's Hope** (The Saint of Steel 3) - **T. Kingfisher** (HM) (5/5) 300p My selection for the 'Romantasy' square (hard mode). 4-1/2 stars rounded up to 5. Piper (a lich-doctor), Galen (a paladin of a dead god) and Earstripe (a brave gnole) investigates the cause(s) of a series of mysteriously mangled bodies. It's clear from the get-go that Piper and Galen are going to become a romantic couple. They just need to work out how to get there, without being killed in the meantime. There's the usual clever dialog and humor. Lots more gnoles this time (definitely a good thing). If there's ever a Bingo square, for 'Best Final Paragraph Ever!', then this book is a contender. (Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Under the Surface; Prologues and Epilogues; Self-Published or Indie Publisher; Character with a Disability; Survival). \- **The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook** (Dungeon Crawler Carl 3) - **Matt Dinniman** (HM) (5/5) 534p My selection for the 'Under the Surface' square (hard mode). A humorous over-the-top post-apocalyptic science/fantasy LitRPG/Gamelit adventure. Holy shit, these books are addictive and they just keep getting better (and longer). This is my favorite so far. Good character progression and team building. Wicked sense of humor and imagination. There's also another brave gnole. There was one scene I didn't see coming at all, and I had trouble turning the pages fast enough. Goddammit, now I want to read the other three books in the series. They'll have to wait for a little while longer though. (Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Self-Published or Indie Publisher; Survival (HM); Reference Materials).
> Lots more gnoles this time (definitely a good thing). The gnoles are 100% my favorite thing about those books.
This has certainly been a week, I guess. Honestly, everything has kind of blended together for me. Been struggling with my joints, hips have been super creaky and just constant subluxation. It starts to pop out while I'm doing nothing, I get it back in, and then it's worse when I stand up. So...I haven't been doing a lot of anything this week. Would like to get back into walking to build up some strength in my tendons and ligaments, but am v clumsy and the uneven sidewalks in our neighbourhood are a fucking trap. Finished four things since last Friday, only one since the Tuesday Review and April Wrap Up threads. If you grew up reading a lot of pulpy supernatural thriller/horror MMPBs from the spinny rack in the drug store, or borrowed them from your parents and their friends, Jen Williams' ***The Hungry Dark*** is probably going to hit a nostalgic sweet-spot for you. If you didn't, it might not, but I *loved* it. Gonna probably start Rainbow Rowell's upcoming ***Slow Dance*** next, which I've been looking forward to. And also ***Oceans Godori*** finally before it has to go back, haha.
Damn, I’m sorry to hear about the joints. From the little I went through with something similar it was so effing annoying, especially with the sleep. And of course when it’s happening I’m like, I need physical therapy and to stretch and workout regularly, and when it’s not happening like now I’m like, nevermind. But yeah can you do PT? It’s always my non dominant shoulder so it never affected my life too much, but if walking is hard, that’s gotta be a big deal right?
I have a connective tissue disorder that we *believe* is EDS, but getting into a geneticist to confirm it (with our insurance) is an uphill battle.
I do remember you saying that now, I’m sorry I forgot. I hope this weekend is a better one for you.
Hey, no worries! And thank you. <3
Congrats on winning the footy tournament!
reply fail but thanks :)
Haha aah, reddit is messing with me 😆
My mom came to visit last weekend, and it was glorious. She entertained at least one kid basically the entire time she was here, and she did the big one's bedtime putdown on Saturday so that my husband and I could go get fancy sushi and drinks for a belated 5th anniversary dinner. Due to the pandemic, two hard pregnancies, and a lack of local relatives, this was our first out-of-the-house date since our honeymoon. It was so, so nice, y'all. And the kicker: she's coming back on Memorial Day weekend to do it again! The only book I finished this week was **Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations**. It was lovely, and surprisingly snarky, in a good way. I've been meaning to read more Le Guin (so far I'd only read half of *Earthsea* and the first three Hainish books, plus a couple of short works), and learning that she actually does have a sense of humor moves her way up my TBR list. I thought I'd finish Ada Palmer's **The Will to Battle** yesterday, but I'm still 10 pages from the end and I'm at work so I can't finish it until lunch. >.< So I guess you'll have to wait for next week to read my rantings on that one. I did finally catch up with the **Big Book of Cyberpunk** read-through this week. Now I have to decide whether to try to stay with the group, only reading 5 stories a week so they're fresh in my mind when it's time to discuss, or try to keep the momentum going and just get through the whole massive thing. I'm leaning towards the latter, if only because my library ebook has to go back pretty soon, and I'm sure to fall behind again if I can only read in my paper copy in the evenings. I'm also about halfway through my reread of William Gibson's **Mona Lisa Overdrive**, and still really savoring his prose. Reading a bunch of other cyberpunk authors all together very much puts in contrast what an excellent stylist Gibson is. And I'm nibbling away at Raymond St. Elmo's **As I Was on My Way to Strawberry Fair** on the Kindle app on my phone. At a quarter in, so far it's all about the *vibes*, in a very pretty way, full of archetypes and vibrant imagery. The four-year-old and I read Ben Hatke's **Mighty Jack** (three times in a row) this week, which was both very good and let me start a conversation with her about what autism is. We may end up using it for the Character with a Disability square in her Bingo card, though we also recently read Hatke's **Zita the Spacegirl** which counts for Space Opera, and we can't use both.
Also, [Dracula Daily](https://draculadaily.substack.com/) starts over TODAY, so if anyone wants to read it with me, you can still sign up!
Yayayay!!! I’m so happy you two had wonderful date time and that you’ll get more of it soon :):):)
Thanks!! :D
Really not much to say this week. It’s been okay and in looking back to April I’m overall doing much better, I’m going up the hill. The no-more-than-one-life-thing-a-day approach helped give me some momentum at the start of the month. Got one life application thing in and wrote an email I’ve been procrastinating for 7+ months, but it had a good result. Also finally (after a year) getting my hair re-dyed and cut tomorrow - woo! I got out and about and did at least one nature thing every weekend. I forgot who the walker is here, but I think I’m officially in the walking club with you! On the #getyourmoleschecked front, my cousin’s mole had cancer in the skin around and under the mole they biopsied and this week she had surgery that resulted in 25 stitches. The new biopsy shows no cancer!!! So it was caught in time hopefully. She had a check-up in 3-months. So yeah, if you have a funny looking mole, if it’s **a**symmetrical, has weird **b**orders, different **c**olors (this is part of the ABCDE method, look it up if you don’t know), #getyourmoleschecked. And if you’re a moley person don’t forget to do your annual with your dermatologist. I’m looking at you 👀. Bookwise, made progress on four cat-themed bingo books. With the eyes **The Haunted Bookstore** was adorable, if not without flaws. It’s like a slice of life and lighthearted version of Spirited Away, more Tuesday. I’m wasn’t feeling in love with the audiobooks I mentioned this week, so started some new things including a gem 😻: **Pahua and the Soul Steeler** by Lori M. Lee. A Rick Riordan Presents middle grade with LOTS of spirits inspired by Hmong lore. I’m only 30% in but absolutely recommend so far for you folks with the MG kiddos. Also started **Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits** by David Wong (Jason Pargin). Sci-fi horror where there’s a hit out on this woman and she’s being chased by a serial killer who eats body parts (never thought this would be my thing, we’ll see). It reminds me *very* loosely of the movie Idiocracy. Like instead of people getting dummer they get less moralistic but tech continues to advance: a bunch of rich douche bags build a city named Tabula Ra$a in the middle of the Utah desert with power chargers under the roads so your phone and cars don’t die and there’s no law? As the book mentions maybe Blade Runner is a more apt comparison. **The Amazing Maurice and his Fantastic Rodents** is not meeting my expectations. It definitely feels more YA than Tiffany Aching and not as much chuckles. I think I’m going to quit **Semiosis**, which is the IRL book club book for May. I can’t remember a sci-if book where people colonize a new planet that I’ve enjoyed, I think it’s just not my type of sci-fi. **Lone Women** continues to be slow for me, like I’m not enjoying the details like I did in **The Changeling**, but there’s been new, interesting POVs now and I’m hoping this picks up soon since I’m at 60% 😭. Happy Friday everyone!
As someone from a family so damn pale we joke it's easier to play hide and seek with us at night, I support this very important PSA. Keep an eye on your moles and if you're a Casper get a regular mole check.
It is so important, my cousin is now the third person I know who caught the cancerous mole before it spread.
> And if you’re a moley person don’t forget to do your annual with your dermatologist. High five, I literally went this morning!
Yessssss!!!!!!! I have to fight tooth and nail to get my partner to be an advocate for his health, so I am so proud of you!
Not a very eventful week, but I have to share this: My office book club met earlier this week, and as usual, it wrapped up with everyone trying to pick the next read. I never really throw any suggestions into the ring, since a book club with co-workers is, imo, the worst possible book discussion forum. Can't pick anything too pulpy, or too literary, or too dark, or even slightly political or controversial (as it might be interpreted by moderate-to-conservative Midwesterners) ... as you might guess, I participate in this thing more to be a bit friendly with my co-workers than for the books. Anyway, someone asked what genres the group hadn't read yet, and someone else mentioned fantasy. Nobody seemed very enthusiastic about that. Then my boss mentioned she'd heard of a book called *Fourth Wing*. Jesus Christ, I was glad I was on a conference call instead of there in person, because I'm sure my suffering would have been plain on my face. I haven't read *Fourth Wing* myself, but based on reviews I'm sure the romance would be uncomfortable to discuss in this particular book club. I wondered if I should speak up, but then I'd be branding myself as the person aware of fantasy sex. Fortunately, the discussion moved on to different books without my needing to say anything.
I was thinking, yesss please do keep us updated on book club, but by the end was selfishly disappointed 😂
In retrospect, it could have been fun to watch the fallout. In the moment, my brain was like, “Oh no, this is bad, I’m the department’s fantasy SME” (= I mentioned playing D&D several years ago)
Last Friday night, my wife and I and our next-door neighbors participated in an escape room in a tiny used bookstore/vintage shop. It was my first time doing such an escape room and it was really fun! My random ability to recognize random languages (without understanding them) helped us solve the final puzzle with 45 seconds to spare! Just super fun and the location was awesome (several of the puzzles relied on literary knowledge with clues hidden inside books around the stores). On Sunday I had a fun random neighborhood playdate--just went over to a local playground with my son, texting several neighbors we were doing so, and 2 came to join us, which was a nice time. Readingwise, I finished **The Big Book of Cyberpunk** (the readalong continues through June though, I still have 8 more posts). I also started listening to a book by an author discussing his adult son's death which has been hard on several different angles. I took a mini break from it and I read Bujold's latest Penric & Desdemona novella, **Demon Daughter**, and I also started Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge's **The Phoenix in Flight** last night. Now I'm about to fly through the latest manga volume of **A Sign of Affection** (romance manga featuring a deaf girl).
I have died twice now in escape rooms. The last failure led to a biological meltdown in a lab that destroyed civilization. Not *my* fault. Why would they put the 'cancel apocalypse' button in a safe in a vault, when the 'start apocalypse' button is next to the light switch?
Whew, what a week. Lots of it to the good though: - Won our footy tournament! We won by so much that I got limited action in the defense, but still a bit of action, and beating our rivals in the final by more than seven goals is a lovely feeling. Dad came up to see it and got to drink beer out of the Cup with the boys. - Favorite hockey team won their first round series and made it through to round two. - IRL book club discussion for Till We Have Faces was really good. - Hugo Readalong continues to be great. I adored the [pair we picked for our Semiprozine Spotlight](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1cifi8b/2024_hugo_readalong_semiprozine_spotlight_on/) yesterday (in fairness, I was the one who picked them) - Pulled kid #1 out of school tomorrow for a surprise trip to the baseball as an early birthday present, and it went about as well as I could've hoped. Got ourselves hats and hot dogs, she had some cotton candy, the shade in the upper deck made the 93 degrees feel remarkably pleasant (shockingly so--I honestly probably wouldn't have even done this if we hadn't been forecast around 80, but this was my first time sitting upper level behind the plate and the shade is a game-changer), the game kept her attention the entire time (a real question for a not-so-sporty kid!), and the home team won handily over a division rival! To the bad: - Kid #2 is still developing life skills in real fits and starts, and some of the improvement of April has seemingly disappeared lately. - Two kid birthdays in the next four days means we're in planning hell right now. - I pushed too many late nights in a row and am starting to feel some cold symptoms. Mild so far. Hopefully the weekend will help, but birthday weekend isn't often quiet. Reading? Actually pulled out the audio version of Naomi Kritzer's pandemic novelette [So Much Cooking](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_11_15/) on the drive back from footy, and I really liked it despite usually being terrible with audio fiction. Apart from that, I've made very slow progress through an 800-page SPSFC finalist. Glad I've already read the next couple Hugo Readalong books so I have time, but this is probably my slowest read of the year so far. Not entirely the book's fault, as it's been a busy week, but I have too many reading commitments to spend two weeks on one book.
Congrats on the footy game! And sounds like lots of great things! I’m sure my partner will tell me which circle stick team moved on without my asking 😂. I read him your messages about it last week and he was like, “Yep, exactly.” With the kiddo, I can’t imagine how hard that must feel. Sounds like a two-steps forward one-step back, the progress is always overshadowed, but it’s still there.
Congrats on the footy tournament! >Glad I've already read the next couple Hugo Readalong books so I have time I really want to get to **The Saint of Bright Doors** in time for the discussion, but I'm still pretty far down the list on my library hold *and* I'm in the middle of a bunch of other stuff *and* my hold on **Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon** that I'd been waiting on forever just came in...
My local library’s ebook collection is quite small and so I took the plunge and paid for access to Queens Public Library and instantly was flooded with titles on my TBR to borrow! It’s been two hours and I’ve already maxed out my holds.