Please use the comment section to just chat about whatever you want. Susan’s Salon is posted early Monday (Sydney time which is still Sunday in most countries) . It’s fine to be sad, worried, very worried, angry or maybe even happy (or all of those things at once).
Please feel free to post what you like (either troubling news or pleasant distractions) in the comments for this open thread. [However, no cranky conflicts between each other in the comments.] Links, videos, cat pictures 🐈 etc are fine! Whatever you like and be nice to one another 😇
I read awhile back that the continent of Australia has been shifting location significantly in recent years. I just figured it had moved east a time zone or three. 😉
Watched “Bill & Ted Face the Music” and it was nice. Not very good and felt a lot like a high budget fan film, but still nice. I will have forgotten it tomorrow.
I liked it quite a bit but there was certainly nostalgica. On the other hand I have trouble of saying this were good movies that year, what was good, in anyones opinion?
I liked Russian sci-fi horror “Sputnik”, which is a 2020 movie.
I wanted to like “The Midnight Sky”, but it moves at the pace of a dying sloth and the science is, well, it starts with “hitherto undiscovered habitable moon of Jupiter) and only goes down from there. Nice effects though.
@Hampus: Weathering With You was definitely worth watching to me; saw that back in 2019. Very much ‘magic realism’, but that’s not surprising considering this is the same director who did Your Name.
Typed Ende today, First draft 66.800 words, leave it here to see, how that chances in the afterwork. It’s a bit short for a science-fiction novel, but I am happy, to have it.
Next looking, were I screwed up and then having the curage to show it to a few friends.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. Second draft is interesting so far.
There is another think that I read in the newspaper today. I don’t know if I should post it, because it could give Timothy ideas. In Germany there is a cat, who is a candidate for major (its in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern so nearer toward Cora than me), it should be illegal (Cat is too young, only six und other formalitys are not meet) also I think you have to be human to become major of a town, but it managed to become in item in the newspaper.
There are a lot of dog mayors and probably some cat mayors in the US. They’re in unincorporated towns where “mayor” is an honorary position, so it doesn’t mean the critter actually has any power except getting the town in the newspaper and selling souvenirs to tourists in the local store.
I have never heard of an animal mayor in Germany, though that cat is probably more competent than some mayors I have known. I also think you have to be human, though not necessarily German and indeed, Rostock, also in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has a Danish mayor. He’s definitely not a cat, though.
Has Timothy seen the Zoom meeting where a lawyer forgot to take the cat screen off his computer and showed up as a cat? The poor man was reduced to explaining to the judge, “I am not a cat.” If you look like a cat, though, it seems to me the best response would be to own it: “Your honor, I must protest this blatant anti-cat bias. I’m as good a lawyer as anyone else.”
Just an utterly awful week for me – Working on an appellate brief till past midnight on friday is NOT how I want to start my weekend. Ugh.
In better news, three physical books I ordered for my new bookshelf came in – so I now have physical copies of In Other Lands, The Traitor Baru Cormorant and The Broken Earth trilogy (which came in a nice box set). All books I have ebook copies of already – although the paperback of In Other Lands has the “Wings in the Morning” novelette included as a bonus, which is awesome – but now I can’t have those books taken away or altered by amazon on a whim so whooo.
Finished four more books and a novella this week (Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell, the second season of Serial Box’s “The Vela”, Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne, We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen, and “How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories” by Holly Black), nothing tremendous to write home about. None of them were bad and I generally enjoyed all of them, but none were truly great enough for me to really recommend – I mean I guess I’d truly recommend the Holly Black if you enjoyed the trilogy it’s a tie-in for, but if you haven’t read it, it will not be for you. Hopefully I’ll get to some more interesting stuff this week.
These days, the physical books I buy are often ones I have read and really enjoyed in ebook (or from the library) first. I have the Holly Black out from the library now, and it sounds like it will be about what I was expecting. I did like the trilogy. And more art from Rovina Cai! I might need my own copy because of that.
eBooks are still what I use if I want something ASAP for research reading or if it’s free. Otherwise my Kindle is where books go to die. When I relax I need to get away from screens.
Oh same. I’ve read all three of those works and have them in ebook form! I just love them so much that I want them in physical form.
I generally:
A. Read things first as library ebooks (or physical when elibraries dont have).
B. Buy those books as ebooks if I love them enough and/or see them on sale
C. If I really love those books, will buy them in physical when price drops enough.
Especially since I got a new bookshelf this month that I have to fill!
Yes, nowadays I get a book when I read it in e and decide I must have it for my very own to croon over.
I got a hardback sight unseen last month because it was on a topic I lurve and was massively illustrated with photographs (at least one on each page) and color photos just don’t work as well in ebooks. So it was necessary. Also books entitled “The Art of…” because duh.
I’ve found ebooks fill what used to be the “disposable books” slot that MMPB (new or used) used to take up. Read once, don’t care what happens to the book after that. It does cut down the household clutter, especially after a year of not having anyone/where to offload books to.
Glad to hear you liked the Black prequel — I did enjoy the trilogy quite a bit. Those were my first Holly Black books, but I’ll be looking at more in the future.
And I hope you enjoy In Other Lands. I liked that a lot — in fact, I’ve been thinking recently that I should reread it one of these days.
Aw, geez, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
In the late 90s, my urban city got hit by a big river flood (a 100-year event that sadly happened again a decade later) that took out the city’s water plant. 10 days with no shower and no toilet were pretty horrible. BUT we had electricity, and it was summer, so no one was freezing to death and we could still buy water and cook and stay reasonably cool.
What’s been happening in Texas is so much worse. And it’s absolutely criminal, because it never should have happened. (Yay for deregulation, what a genius strategy that was! NOT )
Sending you and everyone there my sympathy and best wishes for safety and getting things back in order soon. ❤
The software here doesn’t seem to let threads go more than three deep, so I can’t reply directly to Cam, JJ, and Cora. Hopefully they’ll see this! I really appreciate your concern.
The worst was last Tuesday, when the power had been out for a day and a half, and my indoor temperature was in the single digits (that’s low 40’s to you, JJ). Since then things have been steadily improving: power was on Tuesday, which let us get heat back; it went off several times after, but has been on steadily since Wednesday night; water pressure was high enough on Friday that I could shower, completely back to normal on Saturday, and certified safe to drink today. And temperatures today got up into the low 20s (or for you and me, JJ, it broke 70).
I should also note that my company, which has a history of doing right by its people, officially notified me that the work missed on Monday through Wednesday won’t count against any sort of time off. Really, I’d have been okay with spending a couple of sick days!
So overall it wasn’t great, but I can’t honestly say that I was more than inconvenienced.
Hoa! Hope all is well with you. Was just wondering who I knew who lived in Texas. It has been scary to read about and made me think about what precautions I should take myself.
Finished The City We Became by N.K Jemisin — going on my Hugo ballot. Didn’t know if I would like it, but yup — now I can’t believe I waited this long to read it! Looking forward to the next. Also finished The Unidentified by Colin Dickey. Possibility for best related work, but I have some other things lined up to read before I make the call. Now reading Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. This is every bit as good as I thought it would be from all the recommendations I have heard. Pretty sure it will be on my Lodestar ballot, but I have more YA reading to do too. Cover and interior illustrations are yet another reason Rovina Cai is one of my pro artist picks.
Finished rereading Edward Eager’s delightful kid fantasies from the 1950s with Seven Day Magic. There’d undoubtedly have been a sequel but he died of lung cancer soon after.
Watched my new Bluray of the ’56 Invasion of the Body Snatchers with many special features. Amused to discover that while I’d vaguely envisioned Don Siegel as a kind of scruffy rebellious looking type, his photo looks very Hollywood country club (which I do not mean as a criticism of the guy).
There must be something in the air about eyeglasses. After our earlier brief discussion, my main pair of glasses broke last week. I spent a couple of days casting about the internet and winnowing through bazillions of frames and finally got new ones ordered last night. I keep multiple pairs — instead of bifocals or trifocals I have separate pairs for long distance (for driving), mid-distance (for every-day walking around) and short distance (for reading) — so I’m not completely bereft in the meantime, but it does get tiring to walk around straining to see mid-distances while wearing short-distance lenses.
I have also spent a couple of days being absolutely incensed by the gall of the Newsmax morons to insult a DOG, for Dog’s sake. An OLD dog, even. For those of you who may not have heard, the idiot Greg something-or-other on Newsmax was so desperate for Democratic targets the other day that he chose to insult Champ, the Biden’s 12-year-old German Shepherd, claiming that he looked dirty, unkempt, and unloved for several minutes on-air. He even got his “guests” to chime in. I mean, just how low can these idiots sink? I just shake my head in disgust and wonderment.
Otherwise, we survived the cold spell. I think our lowest low ended up about 10 F, give or take a degree or two. It was about 17 or so last night, but today we’re supposed to make it into the mid-50s — and we’ll have several days in the 50s and even a 60 or two in the next week. Spring is definitely starting to spring! OTOH I did get a burst pipe on that coldest night, sigh. That damned pipe cracks in the same place at least once every year. Fortunately, I am able to fix it myself. Unfortunately, it’s a PITA. But thus is life!
I forget whether I mentioned that I finished the 2nd Koli book, The Trials of Koli, last week. Aside from that, I’ve only finished one other since then — A Little Hatred by Abercrombie (it’s long, just a little over 20 hours). It’s pretty standard Abercrombie — sharp, vivid, cynical writing; sharp, vivid, cynical characters; and very little turning out for the better. I thought it was perhaps not quite as dark as previous books, but since it’s just the first in a trilogy, there’s no telling yet just how badly things will turn out.
After that I needed a break from cynicism and started a couple of romances that didn’t stick — the first had a bad narrator, then the second had bad writing. I finally settled on Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase, which I had been wanting to read (listen to) since I enjoyed book 1 of that series (A Duke in Shining Armor). It’s going well — Chase is also a sharp writer, but not cynical! — and I always enjoy listening to Kate Reading narrating anything. So for now I’m happily settled in to my little mental day spa.
He could find nothing worse to say about Joe Biden than that he doesn’t like the way his dog looks? He’s not trying very hard then. Even I could come up with equally silly, but a tad more justified criticisms of Joe Biden.
And as Champ is already at the upper age of the usual life span for his breed*, of course he looks a little scruffy sometimes. He’s a very old doggo. I think the Bidens must have taken very good care of him for him to reach that advanced age and still be able to play with the younger dog.
That’s a good series of posts, particularly considering how insistent readers and authors of military science fiction are that any military that will ever exist will be organised either just like the US marines or the Royal Navy.
Have you read Adam Robert’s New Model Army? The ending sort of fails, but up to that point it’s a wonderful exploration of how a future military might work.
The weather went from minus 15 degrees Celsius to plus seventeen degrees in a few days, which is not something my body likes.
In other news, my new space opera novelette has decided it wants to be a novella. I have now also reached the sex scene, though they’re still at the foeplay.
I also need to get another novelette in the same series ready for publication and two short stories ready for submission.
“In other news, my new space opera novelette has decided it wants to be a novella. I have now also reached the sex scene, though they’re still at the foeplay.”
Sometimes you’re never sure if it’s a spelling error or not…
I was laid off at the tail end of last year, and I’ve struggled a bit motivating myself to look for a job. At the same time, I had two interviews last week. My concern is that I may end up being the second best candidate for both jobs.
After a start to my week that was full of challenges, things have been very much looking up. They lifted the boil water notice today, and on Friday I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. So by the start of April I should be protected.
My parents have all gotten at least their first. I got to move ahead in line because I have a risk factor (to wit: obesity). When I got the shot I also got an appointment to have a second in four weeks’ time.
I finally got around to reading Piranesi last night, but your review of it is no longer open for comments.
It’s a very weird Crowley-esque sort of book, and I kind of enjoyed it — but there are so many parts of the plot which didn’t seem to hang together for me.
– ertneqyrff bs gur zrgubq hfrq, gur bayl jbeyq crbcyr raq hc va vf gur Ynolevagu, fb nccneragyl vg’f gur bayl nygreangr jbeyq; jurer qvq nyy bs gur fgnghrf pbzr sebz?
– Xrggreyrl yrsg frireny crbcyr gb qvr va gur Ynolevagu, jul qvqa’g ur yrnir Wnzrf Evggre gurer vafgrnq bs oevatvat uvz onpx naq yrnivat uvz gb qvr va uvf ubhfr jurer Xrggreyrl jbhyq or vapevzvangrq?
– Xrggreyrl, Near-Fnlyrf, naq Encunry jrer nyy noyr gb ghea nebhaq naq jnyx onpx bhg, jul qvqa’g Ebfr Fberafra qb gung evtug njnl orsber ur jrag znq?
– Ebfr Fberafra’f wbheanyf pbagnva vasbezngvba juvpu zvtug uryc uvz ertnva uvf zrzbel. Jul qvqa’g Xrggreyrl gnxr gurz njnl sebz uvz?
– V’z abg fher jung bgure raqvat zvtug unir qbar gur gevpx, ohg gur raqvat yrsg zr srryvat qvffngvfsvrq.
I read The Song The Owl God Sang over the weekend. It’s a collection of folk tales from Ainu culture (the indigenous people of Northern Japan – think Hokkaido). They were interesting in that most of them in the collection are told from the perspective of the spirits, and it’s sometimes not entirely clear who is speaking until near the end of the song. Of course, that’s slightly ruined by the fact that translator has chosen to use names for each of them that are The Song The ___ Sang.
Started Semiosis this morning while waiting in immigration to renew my visa. I got through two chapters. It’s… okay, I guess? I’m not that enamoured of it. Unless it takes a dramatic turn for the worse I’ll finish it this week, but it’s not particularly amazing.
My parents had their first shot of the vaccine last week, so that’s some good news too.
Trying to do more reading, which I am, but I keep getting stuck into these non-fiction books that are Heroic Fantasy Sized, so while I’m consuming many words, I’m not finishing many books.
Ted Cruz has once again lived down to his Backpfeifengesicht reputation.
While I am terribly sorry for the people of Texas, I am not at all sorry for their politicians and bidnessmen. Yeah, that’s what you wanted, that’s what you got. They were so proud of having an electrical grid that’s not connected to either of the two major grids of the US, and for spending the least amount of money possible on it. Et voila.
As a Californian, I also have schadenfreude (what is it about Texas that can only be described in German, and not in just the German-settled parts?). They were all “hyuk hyuk” years ago when their boys at Enron were jacking up the price and cutting off the supply to here. And we managed to cut our power usage by running things more efficiently and investing in non-fossil fuel tech. We are warm and dry with running water, thanks.
But the place is so gerrymandered that the average person won’t be able to hold the fossil fuel barons to account for their evil deeds. And the rich assholes and politicians will be happy to lose a few more Black and brown people anyway – and after all, *they* still have light, heat, and water and that’s all that counts.
I am giving a “good for you” shout-out to all the people on Padre Island who picked up the poor freezing sea turtles and brought them into the convention center.
Reading-wise, I’ve been tracking down things I missed last year looking for more things to put on my Hugo Ballot.
Writing-wise, I have been trying to sort out a bunch for timing issues in the subplot of my current book.
Otherwise, I had an interesting talk with my mother in which she told me about a rather alarming number of incidents where she had gone to the Emergency Room in the last 15+ years. It started with getting her annual flu shot and having a bad reaction for the first time, ever. The next year she tired again and she had a severe allergic reaction. So she skipped the next year’s flu shot, but then it was time for your ten-year Tetanus booster and that resulted in another trip to the ER.
She also started having very adverse reactions to medications (mostly over-the-counter drugs). And after one of the hospital visit, the conversation she had with her regular doctor reminded her a lot of articles she’d read about how American doctors, particularly men, often don’t take seriously symptoms reported by they women patients, which prompted her to call the clinic and ask to be switched to a woman doctor.
The upshot of it all is if she tries to take anything but diphenhydromine or acetaminophen, she tends to have some of the worst and rarest bad side effects. So her new doctor agrees that she should not attempt to get any of the COVID vaccines. I can’t argue with that decision, based on all these other incidents. Particularly since she has been diligent about social distancing, not getting together with family members for the holidays, wearing her mask, insisting that people that have to come to her home for whatever reason wear a mask.
So, I don’t get to stop fretting about her for a while, yet.
fontfolly, I’m sorry to hear that the COVID vaccine is so seriously contraindicated for your mom, and I know that means increased worry for you and her, but it sounds as though it is the right decision. And I am SO glad that she now has a doctor who will actually listen to her and take her seriously.
I moved across the city 8 years ago, and now it’s a major 2-4 hour undertaking any time I visit my doctor… BUT she has been my doctor for 15 years now, she knows that I actually know what I’m talking about from a medical perspective (and am not just someone who’s spent a lot of time on WebMD and crackpot websites) — and that’s worth the kind of gold that dragons sit on in their lairs. 🙂
I would emphatically not recommend fracturing one’s elbow during Hugo nominations season. It’s hard to read library books in pain and one-handed. (Although the surgeon did suggest that I’ll be out of the cast before nominations close.)
I fractured a leg during nomination season, which is much better for the purpose. Particularly when the packet came out and I could put them on Kindle while elevating the leg. I mean, after the unbearable pain or heavy painkillers part ended. I was out of the cast before nominations closed, too. Be sure to do all your physical therapy afterwards — lifting books will probably help.
I know, I know, I need to just stop reading the rants over at Hoyt’s blog. But this has got to be about the most offensive example of blatant xenophobia I’ve seen in a while —
“Certain stories make the rounds about wild animals that get mistaken for pets. It can be someone from another country trying to pick up a skunk because it looks like a cat, a coyote or bear cub thought to be a stray dog, or a feral dog left alone with a house cat. The stories never end well. Once of the worse I heard (and some of these are true) was a young woman who found a badger cub and thought it a lost kitten so she took it home and put it in the basket with her kittens. Whether true or not, it makes a good model for a multicultural society that has scrapped the idea of a common culture, particularly when that culture ignores the differences between classes and ethnic groups for the simplistic broad groupings of race and sex. Whether you realize it or not, there are badgers in the basket.”
I mean, seriously?? Immigrants and members of other ethnic groups are now badgers about to eat us poor little helpless kittens????
If anything, this is a great argument for handing out free Xanax to all. These guys are in serious need of a chill pill.
” Whether true or not, it makes a good model for a multicultural society that has scrapped the idea of a common culture, particularly when that culture ignores the differences between classes and ethnic groups for the simplistic broad groupings of race and sex. ”
Broad groupings? Is Hoyt arguing racism just needs to be more selective (“I got nothing against Chileans, man, but it’s the guys from Uruguay, they’re animals!”)?
And white America has never really had a common culture.
Just to be clear, this particular idiocy was a guest post on Hoyt’s blog, written by Denton Salle. I should have stipulated that in my first complaint!
It’d break that guy’s brain if he ever realised that animals also co-operate for mutual benefit. For example ravens will call wolves to carrion so the wolves can rip it open and they all get a meal. Ravens will also act as an alarm system and get protection in return. They’ve also been observed playing with wolf cubs, even.
Also on another note entirely, if you’re going to be a xenophobic freak could you *at least* have proper command of the language in which you’re frothing? “Once of the worse”? Come on, man.
I hate to tell him this, but some of his proud (white) ancestors were so dumb they started letting WOLVES hang around with them. Carnivores that travel in packs to kill, and feature as the villains in any number of stories. And those guys just let them eat their food and sleep by the fire!
Sure enough, some of the wolf offspring eventually became mayors of small towns!
(and thus I tie 2 topics together and am very pleased about it)
Yeah, but them coyotes are invaders too — you can see them invading right there in that vid. It’s the poor little defenseless Murcan kittens we gotta protect!
I’ve only ever heard these stories reported about *white* people doing these dumb things. At least the ones that were backed up by actual reporting, as opposed to their friend’s cousin’s in-law’s Facebook friend’s brother.
Woo, the husband has an appointment on Sunday to get his first Covid shot! Kind of a longish and annoying drive away, but worth doing.
Still no telling when they’ll get to me or the rest of our bubble. So we all remain enbubbled.
Not going to quit wearing a mask, though. I’m keeping those at least till the majority of people get vaccinated, if not longer. I may keep it up during winters from now on, just to keep colds and flu and general yuck away.
I just got out of the weekly family Zoom, in which my Tr*mp-supporting father insisted that the attempted overthrow of the government was no different from the last year of violent protests and property destruction.
I pointed out that 93% of the protests have peaceful, which of course was irrelevant to him. I also pointed out that I know he had Government class in high school (albeit back in the Dark Ages), and that he understands the difference between property destruction and an attempt to overthrow the legal government of the United States.
I swear to god, I would never wish anyone dead, but the only thing that’s going save the U.S. is all of these horrible dinosaurs finally dying off.
Camestros Felapton 
104 responses to “Susan’s Salon: 2021 February 21/22”
Oops! Posted a bit earlier than I had planned!
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I was wondering…
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I read awhile back that the continent of Australia has been shifting location significantly in recent years. I just figured it had moved east a time zone or three. 😉
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Watched “Bill & Ted Face the Music” and it was nice. Not very good and felt a lot like a high budget fan film, but still nice. I will have forgotten it tomorrow.
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I liked it quite a bit but there was certainly nostalgica. On the other hand I have trouble of saying this were good movies that year, what was good, in anyones opinion?
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I liked Russian sci-fi horror “Sputnik”, which is a 2020 movie.
I wanted to like “The Midnight Sky”, but it moves at the pace of a dying sloth and the science is, well, it starts with “hitherto undiscovered habitable moon of Jupiter) and only goes down from there. Nice effects though.
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Oh, thanks for the Sputnik rec! Watched the trailer and that looks good!
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I saw Sputnik at a friends house
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Cam says: I saw Sputnik at a friends house
And? Is this code for something?
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Haven’t found anything as yet, but still have Bacurai, Over the Moon and Weathering With You on my to watch list.
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I also liked Sputnik a lot. It’s not the most original film under the sun, but it’s very well-done, and the cast is terrific.
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The Vast of Night is nice as well.
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@Hampus:
Weathering With You was definitely worth watching to me; saw that back in 2019. Very much ‘magic realism’, but that’s not surprising considering this is the same director who did Your Name.
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Gnnnnn… Why oh why oh why does the world insist on providing fodder for Trigger stories?
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Typed Ende today, First draft 66.800 words, leave it here to see, how that chances in the afterwork. It’s a bit short for a science-fiction novel, but I am happy, to have it.
Next looking, were I screwed up and then having the curage to show it to a few friends.
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Congrats on typing “Ende”.
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations, StefanB! I look forward to hearing more about your story as you polish and refine it.
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Congrats!
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Thanks to everyone for the kind words. Second draft is interesting so far.
There is another think that I read in the newspaper today. I don’t know if I should post it, because it could give Timothy ideas. In Germany there is a cat, who is a candidate for major (its in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern so nearer toward Cora than me), it should be illegal (Cat is too young, only six und other formalitys are not meet) also I think you have to be human to become major of a town, but it managed to become in item in the newspaper.
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There are a lot of dog mayors and probably some cat mayors in the US. They’re in unincorporated towns where “mayor” is an honorary position, so it doesn’t mean the critter actually has any power except getting the town in the newspaper and selling souvenirs to tourists in the local store.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosco_the_dog
Sometimes people will put up an animal as a protest candidate.
But since 6 years old in a cat is the equivalent of 41 in human years, I think kitty meets that qualification. Probably doesn’t speak German, though.
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StefanB: I don’t know if I should post it, because it could give Timothy ideas.
Ah, you puny, insignificant human! Mayor of a town? Pshaw! Timothy has bigger plans. Much, MUCH bigger plans. 😈
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I have never heard of an animal mayor in Germany, though that cat is probably more competent than some mayors I have known. I also think you have to be human, though not necessarily German and indeed, Rostock, also in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has a Danish mayor. He’s definitely not a cat, though.
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Has Timothy seen the Zoom meeting where a lawyer forgot to take the cat screen off his computer and showed up as a cat? The poor man was reduced to explaining to the judge, “I am not a cat.” If you look like a cat, though, it seems to me the best response would be to own it: “Your honor, I must protest this blatant anti-cat bias. I’m as good a lawyer as anyone else.”
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Oh yes
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Finished the edits on my third novel, which is slated to come out this summer. Yay! Now I get to start writing the sequel.
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Congrats!
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Also congrats on finishing the edits.
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations, delagar! Will you post a link here when it comes out?
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Absolutely!
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Yay!
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Just an utterly awful week for me – Working on an appellate brief till past midnight on friday is NOT how I want to start my weekend. Ugh.
In better news, three physical books I ordered for my new bookshelf came in – so I now have physical copies of In Other Lands, The Traitor Baru Cormorant and The Broken Earth trilogy (which came in a nice box set). All books I have ebook copies of already – although the paperback of In Other Lands has the “Wings in the Morning” novelette included as a bonus, which is awesome – but now I can’t have those books taken away or altered by amazon on a whim so whooo.
Finished four more books and a novella this week (Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell, the second season of Serial Box’s “The Vela”, Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne, We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen, and “How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories” by Holly Black), nothing tremendous to write home about. None of them were bad and I generally enjoyed all of them, but none were truly great enough for me to really recommend – I mean I guess I’d truly recommend the Holly Black if you enjoyed the trilogy it’s a tie-in for, but if you haven’t read it, it will not be for you. Hopefully I’ll get to some more interesting stuff this week.
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These days, the physical books I buy are often ones I have read and really enjoyed in ebook (or from the library) first. I have the Holly Black out from the library now, and it sounds like it will be about what I was expecting. I did like the trilogy. And more art from Rovina Cai! I might need my own copy because of that.
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eBooks are still what I use if I want something ASAP for research reading or if it’s free. Otherwise my Kindle is where books go to die. When I relax I need to get away from screens.
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My ereader is my constant companion — more than my phone!
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Oh same. I’ve read all three of those works and have them in ebook form! I just love them so much that I want them in physical form.
I generally:
A. Read things first as library ebooks (or physical when elibraries dont have).
B. Buy those books as ebooks if I love them enough and/or see them on sale
C. If I really love those books, will buy them in physical when price drops enough.
Especially since I got a new bookshelf this month that I have to fill!
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I’ve been trying to stick to signed copies, first novels and authors I really like. It’s worked moderately well.
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Yes, nowadays I get a book when I read it in e and decide I must have it for my very own to croon over.
I got a hardback sight unseen last month because it was on a topic I lurve and was massively illustrated with photographs (at least one on each page) and color photos just don’t work as well in ebooks. So it was necessary. Also books entitled “The Art of…” because duh.
I’ve found ebooks fill what used to be the “disposable books” slot that MMPB (new or used) used to take up. Read once, don’t care what happens to the book after that. It does cut down the household clutter, especially after a year of not having anyone/where to offload books to.
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Glad to hear you liked the Black prequel — I did enjoy the trilogy quite a bit. Those were my first Holly Black books, but I’ll be looking at more in the future.
And I hope you enjoy In Other Lands. I liked that a lot — in fact, I’ve been thinking recently that I should reread it one of these days.
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I bet you had power, heat, and tap water that was safe to drink. Living in Texas, I got a refresher course this week on not taking those for granted.
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Hope you are safe – the news about Texas filtered through over here pretty slowly
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Aw, geez, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
In the late 90s, my urban city got hit by a big river flood (a 100-year event that sadly happened again a decade later) that took out the city’s water plant. 10 days with no shower and no toilet were pretty horrible. BUT we had electricity, and it was summer, so no one was freezing to death and we could still buy water and cook and stay reasonably cool.
What’s been happening in Texas is so much worse. And it’s absolutely criminal, because it never should have happened. (Yay for deregulation, what a genius strategy that was! NOT )
Sending you and everyone there my sympathy and best wishes for safety and getting things back in order soon. ❤
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I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you’re safe and will get power, water and heat back soon.
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The software here doesn’t seem to let threads go more than three deep, so I can’t reply directly to Cam, JJ, and Cora. Hopefully they’ll see this! I really appreciate your concern.
The worst was last Tuesday, when the power had been out for a day and a half, and my indoor temperature was in the single digits (that’s low 40’s to you, JJ). Since then things have been steadily improving: power was on Tuesday, which let us get heat back; it went off several times after, but has been on steadily since Wednesday night; water pressure was high enough on Friday that I could shower, completely back to normal on Saturday, and certified safe to drink today. And temperatures today got up into the low 20s (or for you and me, JJ, it broke 70).
I should also note that my company, which has a history of doing right by its people, officially notified me that the work missed on Monday through Wednesday won’t count against any sort of time off. Really, I’d have been okay with spending a couple of sick days!
So overall it wasn’t great, but I can’t honestly say that I was more than inconvenienced.
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It’s a setting. I can change it to go deeper but usually the level is enough and having a deeper setting makes comments go weird on some WP themes
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Hoa! Hope all is well with you. Was just wondering who I knew who lived in Texas. It has been scary to read about and made me think about what precautions I should take myself.
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Finished The City We Became by N.K Jemisin — going on my Hugo ballot. Didn’t know if I would like it, but yup — now I can’t believe I waited this long to read it! Looking forward to the next. Also finished The Unidentified by Colin Dickey. Possibility for best related work, but I have some other things lined up to read before I make the call. Now reading Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. This is every bit as good as I thought it would be from all the recommendations I have heard. Pretty sure it will be on my Lodestar ballot, but I have more YA reading to do too. Cover and interior illustrations are yet another reason Rovina Cai is one of my pro artist picks.
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Finished rereading Edward Eager’s delightful kid fantasies from the 1950s with Seven Day Magic. There’d undoubtedly have been a sequel but he died of lung cancer soon after.
Watched my new Bluray of the ’56 Invasion of the Body Snatchers with many special features. Amused to discover that while I’d vaguely envisioned Don Siegel as a kind of scruffy rebellious looking type, his photo looks very Hollywood country club (which I do not mean as a criticism of the guy).
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Today I read a short story with the opening line “Marcy was washing dishes when her husband brought home the dead baby for dinner.”
In related news my Hugo nomination ballot has grown longer
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That’s always a good thing. The longer Hugo ballot, not the baby for dinner.
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Now I’m wondering if the dead baby is the main course, or if it’s some sort of zombie/ghost baby who’s coming to join them at table.
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There must be something in the air about eyeglasses. After our earlier brief discussion, my main pair of glasses broke last week. I spent a couple of days casting about the internet and winnowing through bazillions of frames and finally got new ones ordered last night. I keep multiple pairs — instead of bifocals or trifocals I have separate pairs for long distance (for driving), mid-distance (for every-day walking around) and short distance (for reading) — so I’m not completely bereft in the meantime, but it does get tiring to walk around straining to see mid-distances while wearing short-distance lenses.
I have also spent a couple of days being absolutely incensed by the gall of the Newsmax morons to insult a DOG, for Dog’s sake. An OLD dog, even. For those of you who may not have heard, the idiot Greg something-or-other on Newsmax was so desperate for Democratic targets the other day that he chose to insult Champ, the Biden’s 12-year-old German Shepherd, claiming that he looked dirty, unkempt, and unloved for several minutes on-air. He even got his “guests” to chime in. I mean, just how low can these idiots sink? I just shake my head in disgust and wonderment.
Otherwise, we survived the cold spell. I think our lowest low ended up about 10 F, give or take a degree or two. It was about 17 or so last night, but today we’re supposed to make it into the mid-50s — and we’ll have several days in the 50s and even a 60 or two in the next week. Spring is definitely starting to spring! OTOH I did get a burst pipe on that coldest night, sigh. That damned pipe cracks in the same place at least once every year. Fortunately, I am able to fix it myself. Unfortunately, it’s a PITA. But thus is life!
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Wow, a low with 2 digits and above zero!
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I know, we in the South are spoiled! 😉
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Oh, PS, as for reading —
I forget whether I mentioned that I finished the 2nd Koli book, The Trials of Koli, last week. Aside from that, I’ve only finished one other since then — A Little Hatred by Abercrombie (it’s long, just a little over 20 hours). It’s pretty standard Abercrombie — sharp, vivid, cynical writing; sharp, vivid, cynical characters; and very little turning out for the better. I thought it was perhaps not quite as dark as previous books, but since it’s just the first in a trilogy, there’s no telling yet just how badly things will turn out.
After that I needed a break from cynicism and started a couple of romances that didn’t stick — the first had a bad narrator, then the second had bad writing. I finally settled on Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase, which I had been wanting to read (listen to) since I enjoyed book 1 of that series (A Duke in Shining Armor). It’s going well — Chase is also a sharp writer, but not cynical! — and I always enjoy listening to Kate Reading narrating anything. So for now I’m happily settled in to my little mental day spa.
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He could find nothing worse to say about Joe Biden than that he doesn’t like the way his dog looks? He’s not trying very hard then. Even I could come up with equally silly, but a tad more justified criticisms of Joe Biden.
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Going after the easy targets. These guys are both morally corrupt and lazy.
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So the RWNJ are LITERALLY puppy-kickers.
More projection proved!
And as Champ is already at the upper age of the usual life span for his breed*, of course he looks a little scruffy sometimes. He’s a very old doggo. I think the Bidens must have taken very good care of him for him to reach that advanced age and still be able to play with the younger dog.
*9-13 is the range; Champ’s 12 1/3.
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Don’t know if anyone else here follows Bret Devereaux’s blog, but he’s just finished a four-part essay series on the myth of the “Universal Soldier”, which I think is worth a read – starts here: https://acoup.blog/2021/01/29/collections-the-universal-warrior-part-i-soldiers-warriors-and/
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That’s a good series of posts, particularly considering how insistent readers and authors of military science fiction are that any military that will ever exist will be organised either just like the US marines or the Royal Navy.
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Have you read Adam Robert’s New Model Army? The ending sort of fails, but up to that point it’s a wonderful exploration of how a future military might work.
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The weather went from minus 15 degrees Celsius to plus seventeen degrees in a few days, which is not something my body likes.
In other news, my new space opera novelette has decided it wants to be a novella. I have now also reached the sex scene, though they’re still at the foeplay.
I also need to get another novelette in the same series ready for publication and two short stories ready for submission.
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“In other news, my new space opera novelette has decided it wants to be a novella. I have now also reached the sex scene, though they’re still at the foeplay.”
Sometimes you’re never sure if it’s a spelling error or not…
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It is a typo, though probably a Freudian one.
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Woooo!
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I was laid off at the tail end of last year, and I’ve struggled a bit motivating myself to look for a job. At the same time, I had two interviews last week. My concern is that I may end up being the second best candidate for both jobs.
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After a start to my week that was full of challenges, things have been very much looking up. They lifted the boil water notice today, and on Friday I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. So by the start of April I should be protected.
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Congrats on getting your vaccination. My 85-year-old neighbour finally had a vaccination date next week. No one else I know has got one.
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My parents have all gotten at least their first. I got to move ahead in line because I have a risk factor (to wit: obesity). When I got the shot I also got an appointment to have a second in four weeks’ time.
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Yay! This made me happy to hear.
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I finally got around to reading Piranesi last night, but your review of it is no longer open for comments.
It’s a very weird Crowley-esque sort of book, and I kind of enjoyed it — but there are so many parts of the plot which didn’t seem to hang together for me.
– ertneqyrff bs gur zrgubq hfrq, gur bayl jbeyq crbcyr raq hc va vf gur Ynolevagu, fb nccneragyl vg’f gur bayl nygreangr jbeyq; jurer qvq nyy bs gur fgnghrf pbzr sebz?
– Xrggreyrl yrsg frireny crbcyr gb qvr va gur Ynolevagu, jul qvqa’g ur yrnir Wnzrf Evggre gurer vafgrnq bs oevatvat uvz onpx naq yrnivat uvz gb qvr va uvf ubhfr jurer Xrggreyrl jbhyq or vapevzvangrq?
– Xrggreyrl, Near-Fnlyrf, naq Encunry jrer nyy noyr gb ghea nebhaq naq jnyx onpx bhg, jul qvqa’g Ebfr Fberafra qb gung evtug njnl orsber ur jrag znq?
– Ebfr Fberafra’f wbheanyf pbagnva vasbezngvba juvpu zvtug uryc uvz ertnva uvf zrzbel. Jul qvqa’g Xrggreyrl gnxr gurz njnl sebz uvz?
– V’z abg fher jung bgure raqvat zvtug unir qbar gur gevpx, ohg gur raqvat yrsg zr srryvat qvffngvfsvrq.
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I read it too and had similar thoughts. Here are some of my takes in regard to your points:
>>Lrnu, gur jul naq gur ubj bs gur jbeyq vf yrsg n zlfgrel.
>>V ernq n yvoenel pbcl bs gur obbx, fb V qba’g unir vg va sebag bs zr. V guvax fbzr bs gur crbcyr jrer yrsg gb qvr (be cbffvoyl xvyyrq) ol Near-Fnlyrf engure guna Xrggreyrl. Nyfb V guvax fbzr bs gurz pbhyq unir orra crbcyr jub tbg vagb gur jbeyq ba gurve bja naq gurve qrnguf ner haeryngrq gb rvgure Near-Fnlyrf be Xrggreyrl. Fb V arire ernyyl fnj Xrggreyrl nf n ehguyrff naq pyrne-rlrq xvyyre. Naq va ertneqf gb Ebfr Fberafba, V qba’g guvax Xrggreyrl jnf nyjnlf npgvat engvbanyyl. Frra nf n pubvpr ol gur nhgube, vg’f n jrnx rkphfr, V tenag lbh.
>>V crefbanyyl jbhyq fcevat onpx yvxr n fhecevfrq png ng nal gvzr, va nal havirefr, jurer V sbhaq zlfrys cnegjnl guebhtu n cbegny. Ohg gung’f zr. Zl crefbany gnxr ba Ebfr Fberafba’f punenpgre vf gung ur jnf gur xvaq bs crefba jub jbhyq chfu sbejneq va chefhvg bs vasbezngvba ertneqyrff bs evfx. V znl unir orra gnxvat gbb zhpu sebz gur vavgvny vapvqrag va gur obbx bs uvz tbvat gb frr gur pbasyhrapr bs gur gvqrf, naq trggvat vagb engure cerqvpgnoyr qvssvphygvrf.
>>V’z erylvat ba zrzbel urer ntnva, ohg Ebfr Fberafba nffhzrf ur uvzfrys vf erfcbafvoyr sbe gur zvffvat wbheanyf naq inaqnyvmrq ovgf, ohg Ebfr Fberafba vf abg n eryvnoyr aneengbe. Nyfb, Xrggreyrl’f neebtnapr naq qvfzvffny bs Cvenarfv jnf nyy V arrqrq, aneengviryl fcrnxvat, sbe Xrggreyrl vtabevat nal guerng Cvenarfv zvtug orpbzr. Ohg V pna frr ubj gung pbhyq or n ybbfr guernq gung znxrf n abiry hygvzngryl abg jbex sbe fbzr crbcyr.
>>V sbhaq gur jubyr obbx hafrggyvat naq qvfdhvrgvat, vapyhqvat gur raqvat. V unir ab vqrn vs gur nhgube vagraqrq gung be abg.
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I read The Song The Owl God Sang over the weekend. It’s a collection of folk tales from Ainu culture (the indigenous people of Northern Japan – think Hokkaido). They were interesting in that most of them in the collection are told from the perspective of the spirits, and it’s sometimes not entirely clear who is speaking until near the end of the song. Of course, that’s slightly ruined by the fact that translator has chosen to use names for each of them that are The Song The ___ Sang.
Started Semiosis this morning while waiting in immigration to renew my visa. I got through two chapters. It’s… okay, I guess? I’m not that enamoured of it. Unless it takes a dramatic turn for the worse I’ll finish it this week, but it’s not particularly amazing.
My parents had their first shot of the vaccine last week, so that’s some good news too.
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Occasional rain, occasional sun, constant credentials.
Trying to do more reading, which I am, but I keep getting stuck into these non-fiction books that are Heroic Fantasy Sized, so while I’m consuming many words, I’m not finishing many books.
Ted Cruz has once again lived down to his Backpfeifengesicht reputation.
While I am terribly sorry for the people of Texas, I am not at all sorry for their politicians and bidnessmen. Yeah, that’s what you wanted, that’s what you got. They were so proud of having an electrical grid that’s not connected to either of the two major grids of the US, and for spending the least amount of money possible on it. Et voila.
As a Californian, I also have schadenfreude (what is it about Texas that can only be described in German, and not in just the German-settled parts?). They were all “hyuk hyuk” years ago when their boys at Enron were jacking up the price and cutting off the supply to here. And we managed to cut our power usage by running things more efficiently and investing in non-fossil fuel tech. We are warm and dry with running water, thanks.
But the place is so gerrymandered that the average person won’t be able to hold the fossil fuel barons to account for their evil deeds. And the rich assholes and politicians will be happy to lose a few more Black and brown people anyway – and after all, *they* still have light, heat, and water and that’s all that counts.
I am giving a “good for you” shout-out to all the people on Padre Island who picked up the poor freezing sea turtles and brought them into the convention center.
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Reading-wise, I’ve been tracking down things I missed last year looking for more things to put on my Hugo Ballot.
Writing-wise, I have been trying to sort out a bunch for timing issues in the subplot of my current book.
Otherwise, I had an interesting talk with my mother in which she told me about a rather alarming number of incidents where she had gone to the Emergency Room in the last 15+ years. It started with getting her annual flu shot and having a bad reaction for the first time, ever. The next year she tired again and she had a severe allergic reaction. So she skipped the next year’s flu shot, but then it was time for your ten-year Tetanus booster and that resulted in another trip to the ER.
She also started having very adverse reactions to medications (mostly over-the-counter drugs). And after one of the hospital visit, the conversation she had with her regular doctor reminded her a lot of articles she’d read about how American doctors, particularly men, often don’t take seriously symptoms reported by they women patients, which prompted her to call the clinic and ask to be switched to a woman doctor.
The upshot of it all is if she tries to take anything but diphenhydromine or acetaminophen, she tends to have some of the worst and rarest bad side effects. So her new doctor agrees that she should not attempt to get any of the COVID vaccines. I can’t argue with that decision, based on all these other incidents. Particularly since she has been diligent about social distancing, not getting together with family members for the holidays, wearing her mask, insisting that people that have to come to her home for whatever reason wear a mask.
So, I don’t get to stop fretting about her for a while, yet.
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fontfolly, I’m sorry to hear that the COVID vaccine is so seriously contraindicated for your mom, and I know that means increased worry for you and her, but it sounds as though it is the right decision. And I am SO glad that she now has a doctor who will actually listen to her and take her seriously.
I moved across the city 8 years ago, and now it’s a major 2-4 hour undertaking any time I visit my doctor… BUT she has been my doctor for 15 years now, she knows that I actually know what I’m talking about from a medical perspective (and am not just someone who’s spent a lot of time on WebMD and crackpot websites) — and that’s worth the kind of gold that dragons sit on in their lairs. 🙂
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I’m very sorry to hear that.
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I’m sorry she can’t get the shot, but glad she has a good doctor now. That’ll help.
Hopefully the rest of your family will get vaccinated, and your mom needs a collection of stylish masks that fit well.
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I would emphatically not recommend fracturing one’s elbow during Hugo nominations season. It’s hard to read library books in pain and one-handed. (Although the surgeon did suggest that I’ll be out of the cast before nominations close.)
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Sorry to hear. Hopes it heals well!
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Thanks!
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Sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.
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Thanks!
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Ouch!
Sounds like this is your chance to try out audiobooks. 🙂
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I’ll see what my library has. 🙂
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I fractured a leg during nomination season, which is much better for the purpose. Particularly when the packet came out and I could put them on Kindle while elevating the leg. I mean, after the unbearable pain or heavy painkillers part ended. I was out of the cast before nominations closed, too. Be sure to do all your physical therapy afterwards — lifting books will probably help.
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Yikes.
I know, I know, I need to just stop reading the rants over at Hoyt’s blog. But this has got to be about the most offensive example of blatant xenophobia I’ve seen in a while —
“Certain stories make the rounds about wild animals that get mistaken for pets. It can be someone from another country trying to pick up a skunk because it looks like a cat, a coyote or bear cub thought to be a stray dog, or a feral dog left alone with a house cat. The stories never end well. Once of the worse I heard (and some of these are true) was a young woman who found a badger cub and thought it a lost kitten so she took it home and put it in the basket with her kittens. Whether true or not, it makes a good model for a multicultural society that has scrapped the idea of a common culture, particularly when that culture ignores the differences between classes and ethnic groups for the simplistic broad groupings of race and sex. Whether you realize it or not, there are badgers in the basket.”
I mean, seriously?? Immigrants and members of other ethnic groups are now badgers about to eat us poor little helpless kittens????
If anything, this is a great argument for handing out free Xanax to all. These guys are in serious need of a chill pill.
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” Whether true or not, it makes a good model for a multicultural society that has scrapped the idea of a common culture, particularly when that culture ignores the differences between classes and ethnic groups for the simplistic broad groupings of race and sex. ”
Broad groupings? Is Hoyt arguing racism just needs to be more selective (“I got nothing against Chileans, man, but it’s the guys from Uruguay, they’re animals!”)?
And white America has never really had a common culture.
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Just to be clear, this particular idiocy was a guest post on Hoyt’s blog, written by Denton Salle. I should have stipulated that in my first complaint!
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It’d break that guy’s brain if he ever realised that animals also co-operate for mutual benefit. For example ravens will call wolves to carrion so the wolves can rip it open and they all get a meal. Ravens will also act as an alarm system and get protection in return. They’ve also been observed playing with wolf cubs, even.
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Also on another note entirely, if you’re going to be a xenophobic freak could you *at least* have proper command of the language in which you’re frothing? “Once of the worse”? Come on, man.
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Yeah, I was wondering how “race” and “ethnic background” differ in the tiny mind of this wingnut.
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I hate to tell him this, but some of his proud (white) ancestors were so dumb they started letting WOLVES hang around with them. Carnivores that travel in packs to kill, and feature as the villains in any number of stories. And those guys just let them eat their food and sleep by the fire!
Sure enough, some of the wolf offspring eventually became mayors of small towns!
(and thus I tie 2 topics together and am very pleased about it)
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Yikes!
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Oh sure, you scoff now, but look what this sort of thing leads to:
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Yeah, but them coyotes are invaders too — you can see them invading right there in that vid. It’s the poor little defenseless Murcan kittens we gotta protect!
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She’s pretending to be an American who believes in democracy. She keeps owning herself.
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I’ve only ever heard these stories reported about *white* people doing these dumb things. At least the ones that were backed up by actual reporting, as opposed to their friend’s cousin’s in-law’s Facebook friend’s brother.
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Woo, the husband has an appointment on Sunday to get his first Covid shot! Kind of a longish and annoying drive away, but worth doing.
Still no telling when they’ll get to me or the rest of our bubble. So we all remain enbubbled.
Not going to quit wearing a mask, though. I’m keeping those at least till the majority of people get vaccinated, if not longer. I may keep it up during winters from now on, just to keep colds and flu and general yuck away.
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Congrats!
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And “The Wolf of Rajala”, my matriarchical werewolf story is out in the world.
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This is the 101st comment, which is appropriate as we just lost Lawrence Ferlinghetti at age 101.
The very first time I walked into City Lights Bookstore, he was working the cash register. I don’t remember what I bought, but I had to buy something!
howls
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AAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH 🦷
I just got out of the weekly family Zoom, in which my Tr*mp-supporting father insisted that the attempted overthrow of the government was no different from the last year of violent protests and property destruction.
I pointed out that 93% of the protests have peaceful, which of course was irrelevant to him. I also pointed out that I know he had Government class in high school (albeit back in the Dark Ages), and that he understands the difference between property destruction and an attempt to overthrow the legal government of the United States.
I swear to god, I would never wish anyone dead, but the only thing that’s going save the U.S. is all of these horrible dinosaurs finally dying off.
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