Jul 8 2020

Well, hello there.

Rosemary

It’s been (oh, wow) about three months since I last posted here.  But fear not: I have not abandoned my blog.  I’ve just been… occupied.

I had some personal stuff that needed attention (nothing dire; don’t worry); and simultaneously some unavoidable other tasks (think:DMV in the age of pandemic);  and then minor things that became hard because of being simultaneous with everything else —

— All on top of THE STATE OF THE WORLD, especially the United States.  Which state itself consists of three huge things going on simultaneously.

So, with everything all together, I’ve been kind of exhausted and not much inclined to blog…

But it’s been too long!  So, here I am.

I still have things to say… and I will, in the coming weeks, also say some stuff about the Great Big Things going on in the world — largely because silence is open to misinterpretation.

But… not today!  Today all I can handle is just stepping out of the general chaos and exhaustion, looking around, and basically being okay with my plans.

Oh, and I really did not want to miss the opportunity to make you aware of Jo Walton’s new book:

 

Or What You Will by [Jo Walton]

I’m so excited about this.  I was at her reading at Scintillation last year, where she read the first chapter, and I just fell in love with it.

Now, the first chapter is all that I have read so far — it just arrived on my Kindle today — But rereading that chapter just confirmed my previous delight.

For a taste, here’s the very first paragraph:

She won’t let me tell all the stories. She says it’ll make them all sound the same. She’s had too much of my tricks and artfulness, she says. I have been inspiration, but now she is done with me. So I am trapped inside this cave of bone, this hollow of skull, this narrow and limited point of view that is all I am allowed, like a single shaft from a dark lantern. She has all the power. But sometimes she needs me. Sometimes I get out.

Jo Walton, Or What You Will, Tor Books, 2020

In other news: the New Decameron is continuing, in a slightly different form.  After 100 days of stories and excerpts to delight us during our pandemic isolation, they are moving forward by reposting the original 100 offerings.  So, if you missed them the first time around, you can still get to see them all.

In other other news: A friend bought himself a Tesla.  And sold me his previous car.  2009 Toyota Venza.