eor

7. Terry Pratchett "Sorcery"

Continuing the re-read of all the Discworld books. In "Sorcery" you can feel Pratchett getting the rhythm which he honed for many years. It's hard to put my finger on just how, but every now and then I'd hit a bit of very prime stuff. Bits of this felt repeated from the early books and I'm glad for the next book we get to move on to a different cast of characters. It seems by the way Pratchett ended it, he wanted a break from the characters as well.

8. Jennifer Worth "Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End"

This book, like the previous two has a mix of dark and light stories. There are some places where we cover ground which we'd gone over in previous books, sometimes from a different perspective, sometimes not. This book wraps up several of the main characters stories and is a natural ending point of the series. I don't think it was as strong as the first two books, but it was nice to see how some of the things turned out.

9. Asimov's Jan/Feb 2023

I have had a subscription to Asimov's since the '80's. We have boxes of back issues on shelves or in storage. It is hard to contemplate, but I'm debating letting my subscription lapse. Every now and then there will be an outstanding, wonderful story. But in general the number of stories that do nothing for me outweigh the ones which do anything for me. I feel like the quality of the stories has been steadily declining over the years. This makes me sad. It seems the longer form stories tend to lose the most and the short works are where we see the remaining gems.

What follows is what I wrote to a friend about Norman Spinrad's "Up and Out".

"Derien started to read it and gave up after a few paragraphs. I had to read the whole thing, because I always do.  Spinrad is either a) senile, b) a really bad author, or c) a genius author who is able to write an entire long form story perfectly in character of a thoughtless tech bro. It's hard to tell which based on the evidence presented. As far as the qualities of the story, it's hard to know where to start.  All complications and consequences are just glossed over. The writing made we want to poke my eyeballs out with a spork. The plot was wanking over (to quote the Australian "Honest Government Ads" group) shitfuckery. If it was a spoof of how Musk would think and write about himself, it was brilliant. If it was intended to be anything other than a farce, it was sad indeed."

The whole first part of this issue was either torture or did nothing for me. My favorite was Ramsey Shehadeh's "Cigarettes and Coffee" which did a good job of putting the reader into the shoes of a main character who is not in charge of everything and not infinitely wealthy, and who's world just doesn't turn out perfect no matter what they do. Quite the opposite in fact.

10. P. G. Wodehouse "Sam In The Suburbs"

After Asimov's I decided to read a random P.G. Wodehouse. I thought based on the title and the settings that this book was written later in his career, but it's was actually published in 1925. The prose was right on the mark with humor both overt and implied. The plot is a bit less clear. Maybe he tried to put too much in there. The start is a bit clunky because plot points involving the main character need to get established. I thought Wodehouse spent a bit too much time on the early scenes in London. He brings in a ton of different characters all working on different threads through the middle of the book. In the end he ties it all together, but the way he chose to do it seemed a bit off. While I was reading it I actually thought of a way it could have tied out better, but I can't remember it now and might never again.

Not the strongest Wodehouse book, but still a fun read.

11. Terry Pratchett "Wyrd Sisters"

I finished the re-read of "Wyrd Sisters" while on vacation. I had forgotten just how unresolved Pratchett left many of the story lines in this one. He really had fun bashing tropes in this one and the refusal to resolve everything feels like more of that. Granny is much more Granny in this one, but hasn't quite jelled into her final state. Nanny springs into action basically complete. After reading this one, I almost feel like I have to read one of Jasper Fforde's "Fool" series to get my full dose of Shakespeare pastiche.

In the process of our move we gave our treadmill to one of the guys I work with. We really didn't want to store it and he has a big house, so it was a perfect re-homing. He has mentioned that it's getting used not only by him and his wife, but also the kids have been using it. Apparently everyone in the family wants to get in on the act, even the youngest who is only allowed on it when it is off. It makes me happy that they are using it.

They get raw milk from a neighbor. I'm not sure who came up with the idea, but someone decided to put a couple of quart jars half full of cream in a backpack and have one of the older kids run on the treadmill for a few miles. Exercise with a side of butter, sheer genius! I am so happy they are getting use out of our treadmill.

John Larkin'S "Scatman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy8kmNEo1i8 because I'm making more dance mixes for walking on the treadmill.

I heard a bit on the radio the other day on the fast fashion trend. I have been aware of fast fashion, it's environmental impact and it's impact on overall clothing quality. I had not previously heard that some segments of society believe it is gauche to wear a piece of clothing after it has appeared once in your social media feed. Let's just say I'm not in that camp.

In the course of moving we've had to go through and assess our clothing. I finally parted with the shirts I had been using to work out in the yard. This was hard for me, because they still had a little wear left. Yes, they had paint stains. Yes, they were starting to get thin. They were shirts which my Uncle had gotten made for his business and I inherited them when my dad past away. I have no idea how long he had them, but I've used them for years, first when I worked in the warehouse and then later for yard work. In all I had these three shirts for about 20 years of not light use.

In contrast, I also threw away a shirt I got for free after attending an event a couple of years ago. After only two years of light wear it developed a huge hole in one of the seams. It was thin to start with, so it was no surprise.

Catching up on a lot of books, most of which are re-reads which I finished a while ago, so I'm not going to be detailed.

( Cut for length )

13. Bill Raney "Letters to Zerky"

I ended up with "Letters to Zerky" pretty much by chance. One of the vendors I use for van parts is located in Colorado, but the parts portion of the business was acquired from a guy from southern California. When I was buying some parts I looked in the sale section and saw a book about a couple who travelled the world with their young son in a VW van. So somewhat van related. My suspicion is that the prior owner of the parts business was a friend of Bill Raney and had bought a significant number of copies and kept them as inventory. Then years later the subsequent owners found all these copies in their inventory of "parts" and just wanted them out of their inventory. I got the book for less than $2 new.

The bulk of the book is a combination of letters Bill Raney wrote to later give to his infant son and journal entries from his wife. The former start out stilted and sporadic. Later in the journey we start getting the journal entries, which are much more spontaneous, but have reference to things which can't be deciphered. In it's base this story is inherently interesting. But the way the author decided to compile it makes a rocky road. I feel like with changes to what non-Letter/Journal narrative material was included and where could have smoothed out the whole thing. And honestly, I would have like to have seen the journal entries all the way through because they had the frequency and spontaneity which the letters lacked.

14.Jasper Fforde "The Eye of Zoltar"

I re-read Jasper Fforde's "The Eye of Zoltar" to remind myself where we left off before starting on the final book in the Dragonslayer series. Like the other books in the series, I think I enjoyed it more on the re-read than I did the first time around.

15. Jasper Fforde "The Great Troll War"

So after re-reading all the previous books I finally got to "The Great Troll War". I don't think there will be many people who anticipate the ending of this book. It wasn't my favorite, but it's fitting for the series. My absolute favorite part of the book was the nod to Alfred Bester's seminal work, I howled with laughter when I hit that bit. Good things I was home alone at the time. There were some other cultural references slipped in as well.

Now I see that there is a 2nd Shades of Grey book due out in the UK in early '23. I can't wait!

16. Frank Herbert "Dune"

This was my first read of "Dune". I think I'd avoided it before just because I'm contrary, it's one of the science fiction books that everyone reads. I avoid whatever everyone else is doing. But I had picked up a copy at a library booksale years ago and it was lingering on my bedside table.

I was surprised by how progressive this 1965 classic actually is. Admitted, despite Herbert's best attempt he can't seem to help falling into the stereotypes of male and female roles, it seems like he was really trying to get there. The primary themes are probably more relevant today than they were when it was written. I mean you can pretty much translate spice to oil and sit back with your feet up. The struggles among the different groups mirror many of the struggles our different countries and generations face today. We've got the old feudal lords hanging on to power by any means they can no matter what the cost to other people or the planet(s). Herbert's narrative spends a lot of time in the viewpoint of people who are less than nice and loving. It makes them and their motivations more real, but it's somewhat like if Tolkien spent significant time in the mind of Saruman, makes for a much darker milieu. I think I'll wait a while before reading George R. R. Martin's series.

7. Asimov's May/June 2022

I wasn't thrilled with this issue. It featured another Commander Amanda story by R. Garcia y Robertson. I read all the stories in every issue, but I really have to wonder if that's a good policy for someone with a limited lifespan. I was waiting for the story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch to stop the fill in and start the story. Still waiting. I wasn't all that thrilled with the latest of Robert Reed's greatship stories. But the remainder of the long works were more interesting to me. I really like the way Zack Be concluded "Meryl's Cocoon", he got a different perspective there, which I wasn't expecting. On average I enjoyed the shorter works more than the longer ones.

8. Neil Gaiman "Coraline"

Gaiman wrote this book for his daughters and although it is a scary book intended for kids it's also a fun read for the rest of us. It's a fairytale with modern sensibilities and a coherent plot. Should probably be required reading for every daughter, but let them find it, don't force it.

9. Jonathan Swift "Gulliver's Travels" (alas a bowdlerized edition)

It had been many many years since I'd read any of Gulliver's travels. I read this version because it's what I had on my Kobo from Project Gutenberg, but I'd rather have read the original. It is amazing how sharp this is even today. Three hundred years on and the satire and political commentary still holds. The titles of the offices have changed, but not much else. I plan on reading the full version at some point.

10. Jasper Fforde "The Song of the Quarkbeast"

I re-read "The Song of the Quarkbeast" in preparation for reading the last book in the series. This book grows on you with more readings. I think I enjoyed it more this time than I did the last.

11. Asimov's July/Aug 2022

Overall I felt that this issue was stronger than the last. Alas, Rick Wilber's "The Goose" didn't do it for me. I like alternate history, but it feels like this was just an exercise or indulgence. In several critical ways the characters didn't stay in character because it would have prevented the plot from clunking along. The second story in the Bridesicle world mixed bleak and hopeful and came out with an interesting flavor. Screaming Fire mixed familiar and alien in a complex world. It seems like there could be a lot more stories there. Perhaps the strongest of the novelettes was Robert R. Chase's "Goblin Market" which crammed a lot of world and story lines into a tight package.

3. Timothy Cotton "Got Warrants?"

Picked up Timothy Cotton's "Got Warrants" when we were at the local library last Saturday. It was an easy read, but not as fun as I was expecting. Cotton made fun entries for the Bangor Police Department's facebook page, but those are inherently short form. In this book he tried to stretch out scenes which tended to make them thin. He also used a very limited repertoire of techniques. I'm a fan of alliteration, but like rosemary, if you use to much it just ruins the flavor. Alliteration should never span paragraphs. Also, it is clever to disguise certain basic words by using other word which are less common or more syllabically endowed. But when you do it too much you just sound like a kid who is trying to be clever and has just made it to the level of irritating.

So, like the farmer's almanac, this book might go well by the toilet where you can read a page or two while taking care of essentials. But make sure you've also got an almanac handy because you'll want to wait a few days before you go back to it.

2. Asimov's Mar/Apr 2022

The cover story, Rick Wilber's "Blimpies" made me want to read more set in that universe, which is possible because he's got more coming out. I did think there were a couple of places where the story could have had so much more kick with just a few edits. There was one chapter which started with the end and flashed back, which I thought just killed the suspense. Another chapter ended with a paragraph which if had been moved to the next chapter about that character would have preserved more suspense. I mean, really, as a reader you know how the story arc will probably work, but there still can be suspense in the details, in the how they get there. But overall the would was interesting and the story was a fun read.

This issue contained quite a few good stories with some nice variety. The punchy short "Offloaders" by Leah Cypess is a fun spin on a story told through what's not written. I liked Ray Nayler's question of what it is to be human, "Mender of Sparrows". I agree with the motivation behind "Jack McDevitt & Larry Wasserman's "The Gold Signal", but the story didn't really get there for me. Steve Rasnic Tem's "Do You Remmeber?" gives another perspective on uploading. It didn't go where I expected it to and that's a good thing.

Some in general it was a pretty good issue.

I'm noticing a fair number of stories which have same sex marriage as a background point, not pivotal to the story. Generally, I think this is a good indication of social progress (at least within the tiny slice of society which is science fiction writers and readers). It's one thing to have a same sex couple because it required for the plot or to make a point in the story. But I think having them just appear in stories because, "hello, they exist", is a step toward greater overall acceptance. However, I do feel obligated to point out, the majority of those same sex couples are female. So we may still have a ways to on the path to enlightenment.

Wow, it has been a long time since I've posted. It's even been a few weeks since I looked at Dreamwidth.

I've been fighting a bought of depression. Nah, I'm just joshin' you, I haven't been fighting it at all. Cause when it comes down to it what do you do when you're depressed? You might sit in front of the computer and doomscroll. You might wander from thing to thing and never get anything done. You might try retail therapy and find it and your wallet empty. But do you really fight depression? Yeah, here's a broom why don't you go sweep back the tide.

Anyway enough of my privileged problems.

It's hard to believe that the recent legislative and executive antics in Texas aren't the worst news in the world, but Texas is going to have to up its game. Perhaps they'll outlaw wearing headscarves in college to kick it up a notch.

What is happening in Ukraine... well shit. It's awful to see that Georgia was the appetizer and Syria the first course. I hope we can avoid this being a formal French meal. There are plenty of possible shitty outcomes. My imagination isn't strong enough to come up with a possible good outcome. The best possible outcome is probably a horrific experience for millions of people and complete economic destitution for millions more.

Below is a work in progress, my apologies to Shinehead and Sting, goes to the tune of "Jamaican in New York"

Don't have coffee, I have nothing here
And I love it when it's quiet
You can hear shells in the night where we live
I'm a civilian in Kharkiv.

See me running down the street for bread
Hope I make it back inside
You can hear shells where we live

Oh, I'm a civilian in Kharkiv
I'm a human, just another human,
I'm a civilian in Kharkiv
I'm a human, just another human,
I'm a civilian in Kharkiv

See the cocktails stacked up in the crate,
We have to use them all some day
Takes a man to make a stand, sometimes he die
Be yourself, no matter what they say

Oh, I'm a human, just another human,
I'm a civilian in Kharkiv
I'm a human, just another human,
I'm a civilian in Kharkiv