Laughter Through Tears

Writing badly set back by the cold that laid me down from Sunday through Tuesday. And on Thursday I discovered that my mother will be away for a long weekend, and I'm needed at home. Not much writing over the weekend, although I've got a couple of fics in progress.

I did get a lot of reading done, lately. I finished the third and fourth Murderbot books. I read a KJ Charles magpie romance. Then I read one of Seanen Macguire's Wayward Children books. There was a giveaway on Tor for one of the ones I don't have, but obviously the book club is N.America only, so I missed out on that. Finished the book late last night, and then this morning I was trying to figure out what to read next.

I'm thinking of starting in on Maurice Broaddus's Pimp My Airship. But first I'm watching the third John Wick movie with my family.

I binge-watched the first season of Killjoys concurrently with reading Kameron Hurley's God's War. The latter sat at the top of my metaphorical TBR pile for years, after having received multiple enthusiastic recommendations. I started reading it and was quickly sucked in, although at intervals there were lulls in my reading. Not surprising, given the pervasive violence of the narrative, that now and then I needed a short breather.

Killjoys suffered somewhat in comparison... at first. ( Read more... )

Crossposted to hazelgold.net.

Yesterday while waiting for the dentist I finished God's War.

I'd been intending to review it immediately after finishing. I should have known better.

God's War is a dense, layered book that's not easily digested in one go. There's a lot going on, and even more going on under the surface. Add in the real-world subtext of choices made to characterization, relationships and most especially worldbuilding, and that's one hell of a chew-toy for the brain to gnaw on.

What's more is the book's been out for a good few years, now. The trilogy is complete and in fact I think Kameron Hurley has actually completed a second trilogy of novels since. My low reading habits during my years at uni leave me racing to keep up with current events in SFF. I'm severely behind the curve.

Meanwhile I also reinstalled the Kobo reader app on my phone, after installing an SD card and moving most of my apps to it borked the library access somehow and the app wouldn't start. In the course of my picking up and dropping innumerable books, I once started reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and got about halfwasy through before it depressed the fuck out of me (yes, I know, Anne Bronte, it's not like you didn't warn me). The book was mentioned recently in a discussion about male love interests and I decided it was maybe time to pick it back up.

This is not too unusual. I often read several books in parallel. Doing so on my phone just happens to be more convenient. My tablet is slim and light so long as I have a backpack, but if I'm carrying a handbag as I do now, I usually leave it at home. Except when I expect to spend an hour on the bus, or when I know I'll be waiting at the dentist's office. So I have a book I'm reading on my phone, and another one on my tablet.

My move has been delayed by a tenant-renter domino effect. I'm not sure what my feelings on this are. I'm uncertain of a lot of my feelings right now. I got a book about cognitive behavioral therapy and have been reading it in careful increments, but I think that might have been optimistic.

Just a bit ago I felt like I had a lot to say.

I've been picking at the first world SF anthology. Short stories are hard for me to engage with, but I enjoyed several of the ones I read. I think I'll try to dedicate a post to the book, later on. I've also been replaying Cinders now that it's on Steam and getting a sceond wind, and playing the hell out of Heroine's Quest.

Dumbing of Age has been ratcheting up the drama something fierce. Two of my favorite female characters are coming into crisis over their angsty backstories at the same time, and somehow they've come into a collision course, too.

The trope_bingo deadline is coming up fast, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'll likely fail this one as well. I'm not distressed as such over work taking time away from my hobbies, because duh, reality. I think I was just clinging a little to the idea of making a checkbox-shaped space in my brain and labeling it "trope bingo", mostly because of my own issues with procrastination and completing projects.

There was conflict at the office this week that distressed me. It wasn't aimed at me, or even between employees, but it was just very uncomfortable for a while.

Oh! As part of not having the energy to do anything fun, I've spent most of the week with pizza and Person of Interest season three. Yes, I'm up to that part. Super impressed by the fact that it's not only a fridging, but a conduit fridging. Like, the whole thing is set up not only for the edification and suffering of the male characters, but to tear them apart and consequently bring them back together, closer than ever. At least, that's my take on it.

Anyway, I'd best wrap up this patchwork quilt of an entry before I think of something else, and then another after that.

So here I am again, attempting to connect my study materials to real life, fandom and/or porn, while nursing a stalking cold and a headache that feels as though Betty Crocker is trying to mind-control me through a handsome red tiara. Meanwhile I still haven't read the most recent monthly package of comics because I planned to do it on Friday but was just too goddamn exhausted, and the book I have been making gradual headway on since Dragon*Con has reached its point of WTF no return. I wish I was in bed reading or mainlining a new TV series. My bed is cozy and using it to study makes me sad.

Both my favorite fandoms are making me sad, both of them because of shipping. The only novelty is, in one case it's the f/f shippers who have gone rabid, illogical, fling flaming poo mad. As for the other Lost Girl-related stuff, that's to be expected. Ah, the mild social discomforts of being the "bad bisexual" in any given group of vagina-lovers. I could go on, but I don't feel like it. As for Homestuck, at this point I truly think I'd be happy if Jake English just up and died. Maybe I should do a whole essay about how hard it is for me to relate to male characters.

Just my luck, I get a canonically queer intellectual character that I actually sort of like, and his entire existence causes my primary fandom to go up in a BFBVFS.

I miss my Eeyore icon. Where'd it get off to?

I submit that the real difference between fantasy and sci-fi is this:

In fantasy, green skinned people are people you kill. In sci-fi, they're people you have sex with.

I think I have a throat infection.

WTF, weather, WTF?

( Cut for screenshot )

For those who forgot or never knew, here is a handy reference guide. Note: a caption does not weigh 100 grams, so take this with a grain of salt.

Also, Karin Lowachee MARRY ME PLEASE a.k.a. "interrogating masculinity in science fiction" (I would add "in military science fiction"), is putting out a new book called The Gaslight Dogs. Her previous three books have put Lowachee firmly on my "read first, ask questions later" list. Apparently Scalzi has flagged her, so maybe this series will fare better. I am still holding hope for the Warchild books to continue someday.