Reading

Not to be rude

but I feel like you could've found this one yourself.

This book too.

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( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Ammanford, Wales

Entry tags:

Exploring Carmarthenshire With Cheryl

I took today off from the Day Jobbe and Cheryl and I set off to explore parts of Carmarthenshire, the county in which the lives. I wish I'd brought my pedometer, because I am sure I logged a whole lot of steps.

There are a lot of photos in this entry, but there more than sixty overall today. You can always click through to see more.

( Hill Forts, Donuts, Museum, a Castle, and a Great Meal )

Then it was time to head for "home" in Ammanford. We got back just before dark, tossed my still-damp clothes into the washer-dryer, and I set to work trying to tag all of these photos.

I have tomorrow off as well, but fortunately we don't have to be up that early. The plan is to pack and then head up to London, then to a hotel near Heathrow in order to be able to more conveniently catch my flight home on Saturday.

It's been a great week here with Cheryl. I wish I could stay longer, but things are pressing on me.

Entry tags:

Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West, by Kelly Ramsey

Kelly Ramsey became a hotshot - the so-called Special Forces of firefighting - with three strikes against her. She's a woman on an otherwise all-male crew, a small woman dealing with equipment much too big for her, and 36 years old when most of the men are in their early 20s. If that's not enough, it's 2020 - the start of the pandemic - and California is having a record fire year, with GIGAFIRES that burn more than ONE MILLION acres. At one point her own hometown burns down.

The memoir tells the story of her two seasons with the Rowdy River Hotshots, her relationship with her awful fiance (also a firefighter, on a different crew), her relationship with her alcoholic homeless father, and a general memoir of her life. I'd say about three-fifths of the book is about the hotshots, and two-fifths are her fiance/her father/her life up to that point.

You will be unsurprised to hear that I was WAY more interested in the hotshots than in her personal life. The fiance was loosely relevant to her time with the hotshots (he was jealous of both the male hotshots and of her job itself), and her alcoholic father and her history of impulsive sexual relationships was relevant to her personality, but you could have cut all of that by about 75% and still gotten the point.

All the firefighting material is really interesting, and Ramsey does an impressively good job of not only vividly depicting hotshot culture, but also differentiating 19 male firefighters. I had a good idea of what all of them were like and knew who she meant whenever she mentioned one, and that is not easy. You get a very good idea of both the technique and sheer physical effort it takes to fight fires, along with plenty of info on fire behavior and the history of fire in California. (She does not neglect either climate change or the indigenous use of fire.)

This feels like an incredibly honest book. Ramsey doesn't gloss over how gross and embarrassing things get when no one's bathed for weeks, you've been slogging through powdery ash the whole time, there's no toilets, and you're the only one who menstruates. She depicts not only the struggle of trying to keep up with a bunch of younger, stronger, macho guys, but how desperate she is to be accepted by them as one of the guys and how this causes problems when another woman joins the crew - a woman who openly points out that flawed men are welcomed while every mistake she makes is taken as a sign that women can't do the job.

I caught myself wishing that Ramsey hadn't had an affair with one of her crew mates as many readers will think "Yep, that's what happens when women get on crews," and then realizing that I hadn't thought that about the man who had the affair with her. Even I blamed Ramsey and not the equally culpable dude!

Ramsey reminded me at times of Amy Dunn's vicious description of the "cool girl" in Gone Girl, but to her credit, she's aware that this is a persona she adopted to please men and fill the void left by her alcoholic dad. Thankfully, there's a lot more to the book than that.

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

hugos

Hugo Ballot - 2025

Herewith my Hugo ballot for 2025. Categories not listed are ones in which I didn't vote.

Category: Best Novel

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre): 1
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK): 2
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW): 3
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)): 4
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor): 5
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom): 6
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Novella

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom): 1
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom): 2
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire): 3
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom): 4
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom): 5
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom): 6
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Novelette

“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov's, September/October 2024): 1
“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59): 2
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024): 3
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024): 4
“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58): 5
“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie in Lake of Souls (Orbit): 6
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Short Story

“Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024): 1
“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, Jan 2024 (Issue 164)): 2
“Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56): 3
No Award: Unranked
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine Issue 57): Unranked
“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58): Unranked
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024 (Issue 168)): Unranked

Category: Best Series

InCryptid by Seanan McGuire (DAW): 1
Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press): 2
The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri (Orbit): Unranked
Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): Unranked
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books): Unranked
The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra): Unranked
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Related Work

“The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson (YouTube): 1
“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones (File 770, February 22, 2024): 2
Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene Books): 3
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll (University of Minnesota Press): 4
No Award: Unranked
r/Fantasy's 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge by the r/Fantasy Bingo Team (r/Fantasy on Reddit), presented by the r/Fantasy Bingo team: Alexandra Forrest (happy_book_bee), Lisa Richardson, Amanda E. (Lyrrael), Arka (RuinEleint), Ashley Rollins (oboist73), Christine Sandquist (eriophora), David H. (FarragutCircle), Diana Hufnagl, Pia Matei (Dianthaa), Dylan H. (RAAAImmaSunGod), Dylan Kilby (an_altar_of_plagues), Elsa (ullsi), Emma Surridge (PlantLady32), Gillian Gray (thequeensownfool), Kahlia (cubansombrero), Kevin James, Kopratic, Kristina (Cassandra_sanguine), Lauren Mulcahy (Valkhyrie), Megan, Megan Creemers (Megan_Dawn), Melissa S. (wishforagiraffe), Mike De Palatis (MikeOfThePalace), Para (improperly_paranoid), Sham, The_Real_JS, Abdellah L. (messi1045), AnnTickwittee, Chad Z. (shift_shaper), Emma Smiley (Merle), Rebecca (toughschmidt22), smartflutist661: Unranked
“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford (Genre Grapevine and File770, February 14, 2024): Unranked

Category: Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Dune: Part Two, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures): 1
Flow, screenplay by Gints Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža, directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio): Unranked
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, screenplay by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures): Unranked
I Saw the TV Glow, screenplay by Jane Schoenbrun, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (Fruit Tree / Smudge Films / A24): Unranked
Wicked, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, directed by Jon M.Chu (Universal Pictures): Unranked
The Wild Robot, screenplay by Chris Sanders and Peter Brown, directed by Chris Sanders (DreamWorks Animation): Unranked
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Fallout: “The Beginning” written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Amazon Prime Video ): 1
Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Fissure Quest” created by Mike McMahan and written by Lauren McGuire based on “Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Brandon Williams (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+): 2
Star Trek: Lower Decks: “The New Next Generation” created and written by Mike McMahan, based on “Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Megan Lloyd (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+): 3
Agatha All Along: “Death's Hand in Mine” written by Gia King & Cameron Squires, directed by Jac Schaeffer (Marvel, Disney+): Unranked
Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+): Unranked
Doctor Who: “73 Yards” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+): Unranked
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Semiprozine

Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing editor Monte Lin; poetry editor Betsy Aoki, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky.: 1
FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher and executive editor DaVaun Sanders, poetry editor B. Sharise Moore, art director Christian Ivey, acquiring editors Rebecca McGee, Kerine Wint, Egbiameje Omole, Emmalia Harrington, Genine Tyson, Tonya R. Moore, sponsor coordinator Nelson Rolon: 2
The Deadlands, publisher Sean Markey; editors E. Catherine Tobler, Nicasio Andres Reed, David Gilmore, Laura Blackwell, Annika Barranti Klein; proofreader Josephine Stewart; columnist Amanda Downum; art and design Cory Skerry, Christine M. Scott; social media Felicia Martínez; assistant Shana Du Bois.: Unranked
Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and Valerie Valdes, assistant editors Premee Mohamed and Kevin Wabaunsee, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht; and the entire Escape Pod team: Unranked
khōréō – produced by Zhui Ning Chang, Aleksandra Hill, Danai Christopoulou, Isabella Kestermann, Kanika Agrawal, Sachiko Ragosta, Lian Xia Rose, Jenelle DeCosta, Melissa Ren, Elaine Ho, Ambi Sun, Cyrus Chin, Nivair H. Gabriel, Jeané Ridges, Lilivette Domínguez, Isaree Thatchaichawalit, Jei D. Marcade, M. L. Krishnan, Ysabella Maglanque, Aaron Voigt, Adialyz Del Valle Berríos, Adil Mian, Akilah White, Alexandra Millatmal, Anselma Widha Prihandita, E. Broderick, K. S. Walker, Katarzyna Nowacka, Katie McIvor, Kelsea Yu, Lynn D. Jung, Madeleine Vigneron, Marie Croke, Merulai Femi, Phoebe Low, S. R. Westvik, Sanjna Bhartiya, Sara Messenger, Sophia Uy, Tina Zhu, Yuvashri Harish, Zohar Jacobs: Unranked
Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective: Unranked
No Award: Unranked

Category: Best Fan Writer

Camestros Felapton: 1
Abigail Nussbaum: 2
Alasdair Stuart: Unranked
Jason Sanford: Unranked
No Award: Unranked
Roseanna Pendlebury: Unranked
Örjan Westin: Unranked

Category: Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Must Read Magazines (not a Hugo)

Moniquill Blackgoose (2nd year of eligibility): 1
Bethany Jacobs (2nd year of eligibility): 2
Angela Liu (2nd year of eligibility): Unranked
Hannah Kaner (2nd year of eligibility): Unranked
Jared Pechaček (1st year of eligibility): Unranked
No Award: Unranked
Tia Tashiro (2nd year of eligibility): Unranked

Glancing at Trump's tantrum-of-the-day

I guess today's coin flip has landed on "pivot to popcorn". If the world is burning we may as well get some use out of it, right? Popcorn all around!

Watch on YouTube

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( Read more... )

Can't believe those storms did nothing about this heat or humidity

Blech.

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( Read more... )

firmament

firmament (FUR-muh-muhnt) - n., the vault of the heavens, the sky; in Ptolemaic cosmology, the eighth celestial sphere, carrying the fixed stars.

Another old one, going back to the early 13th century, taken this time from Latin firmāmentum, the sky, originally support/prop, from firmāre, strengthen/support/make firm + -menutum, noun suffix of agency ("that which"). Firmāmentum was used in the Vulgate Bible to translate the Septuagint Greek steréōma, foundation/framework, from stereós, solid/rigid. This in turn was used to translate Hebrew rāqī́aʿ, the barrier used in Genesis 1:6 to separate the heavenly waters from the earth below, which has a root sense of being beaten out thinly -- which is an interesting image for what Elohim was doing.

---L.

Entry tags:

UPDATE: Tempestuous Tours + news

BLOG FICTION

Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket. ¶ Latest installments:

NEWS

About a millisecond before I was about to release my next ebook, a medical crisis occurred in my family (though not to me or my companion). It's the sort of crisis that involves dozens of members of a support team, professional and nonprofessional. I'm one of the two people coordinating all that. I'll continue posting blog fiction here whenever I can, but expect my presence here to be light for a while.

Entry tags:

regency romances

Old-timey regency romances

"Old-timey" seems to be an emerging term for stuff either set or written before the 21st Century. Here we get an amusing confusion: Old-Timey regency romances, I noted when scanning reviews by what appears to be younger-than-me readers, refers to the regency romances written in the sixties-eighties, even the nineties.

I used to collect these in my late teens, once I'd gone through everything the library had. They were sold by the bunch in used book stores, fifty cents for ten, which suited my babysitting budget--I could read one a night once the kids were asleep.

I did a cull of these beat-up, yellowing volumes with godawful covers 25-30 years ago, donating the real stinkers* and keeping a slew of others because my teenage daughter had by then discovered them.

But she left them all behind--she stopped reading fiction altogether around 2000--and I always meant to do a more severe cull, perhaps dump the entirety. But thought I oughht to at least check them out first, yet kept putting it off until recently. While I was recovering from that nasty dose of flu seemed the perfect time.

I finished last night.

Of course most of them are heavily influenced by Georgette Heyer, or at least in conversation with. Some were written when Heyer was still going strong. Authors from UK, USA, Australia, etc. For the most part you could tell the UK ones not only because the language was closer to early nineteenth century--these writers surely had grown up reading old books, as had Heyer--but their depictions of small towns in GB were way more authentic than those written by writers who'd never seen the islands.

But there were common threads. Good things, as one reviewer trumpeted: they wrote in complete sentences! They knew the difference between "lie" and "lay"! In the best of them, characters had actual conversations. Even witty ones! (There's an entire chapter in Austen's Emma, when we meet Mrs. Elton, which demonstrates what was and what wasn't "good conversation." I can imagine readers back then chuckling all the way through at Mrs. Elton's egregious vigor in bad conversational manners.)

But those are the superficials. What about the plots? Here were common tropes shared with contemporary romances of sixties and seventies. A bunch of these tropes have long since worn out their welcome. I didn't know why I hadn't culled some of the books containing the most egregious examples--maybe they were just so common that they were invisible, and there was some other aspect of a given book that had made me chuckle fifty years ago.

Dunno. But in this cull, as soon as I hit the evil aging mistress who will do anything to hang onto the (total jerk) hero, including setting the young and pure heroine up for rape and ruin (which she always j-u-s-t escapes), out it went, the rest of the novel unread: the plot-armored heroine will get her HEA. my sympathy lies with the mistress, whose grim situation veers closer to historical accuracy. Ditto I dumped unfinished the ones where the hero, who can't seem to control his raging hormones (or you know, talk like an adult) mistakes the pure and innocent heroine for a lightskirt and corners her at every opportunity for "can't-say-no" making out, while she castigates herself afterward, moaning, "Whatever is wrong with me?" Basically, while these heroines (and their readers) did not want to be raped, they did want to be ravished. And they weren't guilty of being bad girls if they were overpowered, right?

That was a VERY common trope in the early contemporary romances, the ones read by my mom by the literal sackful, and traded with other women at the local shop. In the seventies, Mom and her buddies organized themselves. None had the budgets to read everything coming out, so one woman would buy the new books from the Dell line, and another the Kensington line, and so on, then they'd trade them back and forth. Mom saved a sackful for my visits--she thought they were something we had in common, and I never disabused her of this, though I was fast getting sick of the "virginity" plotline. I read them all, noting patterns.

I could say a lot about why I think Mom and her buddies couldn't get enough of that plotline, but I'm trying to get through these regencies. In which the authors did understand the social cost of straying. But the heroine gets her reward at the (abrupt, usually) end, a ring from the guy who'd been cornering her for bruising kisses two chapters ago, and wedding bells in the distance. As I got older, I wondered if those marriages would make it much past the wedding trip. As a teen, I read uncritically for the Cinderella story--as I recollect all the weirdness about the heroines and their main commodity, their virginity (and their beauty) whizzed right over my head.

That said. Every so often you'd get a storyline that was a real comedy of manners, and while the research/worldbuilding was never as period-consistent as Heyer's secondary universe, they'd be fun stories. Like Joan Smith's Endure My Heart, which I'd remembered fondly for the battle of wits between hero and heroine--she the secret leader of a smuggling ring, and he the inspector sent to nab whoever was running that successful venture. Now, on rereading it, there were plenty of warts, but I remember the fun of the early read--and the only two attempted rape scenes were done by a villain, not the hero.

The regency romance has staying power, but it's evolved over the decades since these "old-timey" regencies for the 21st C reader who wants on-page sex, without real consequences. And only vague vestiges of the manners of the time. Few, or no, conversations or even awareness of the dynamics of salon socializing. Basically modern women in sexy silk gowns, and guys in tight pants and colorful jackets and rakish hats, with all the cool trappings--country houses, carriages, balls, and the elegant fantasy of the haut monde.

In the donation box the old ones go.

*I'll never forget the one that had to have been written in the mid-seventies, which had the pouting heroine stating on the first page that she was bored, bored, bored with Almack's and why did she have to participate in the marriage mart anyway? She wanted, and I quote from memory, "actualize her personhood!" Then there was the one that featured the hero, leader of fashion, sporting a crew cut and a "suit of flowing silk of lime green"--I think the author meant a leisure suit.

Then there was Barbara Cartland. Whether or not she hired a stable of writers to churn these out once a month under her name or not, she boiled the story down to the barest skeleton of tropes, padded out mostly by ellipses. Except for one early one, published in the thirties or early forties that lifted huge chunks of a Heyer, stuffed into a really weird plot...

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Ammanford, Wales

Entry tags:

cheryl,
trains

Graduation Aftermath: A Tale of Two Trains

Part of the package that Exeter University offered Cheryl included first class train travel for her and me to and from Exeter. Cheryl collected me at Heathrow Airport last Saturday and we went into London Paddington on Heathrow Express, then on to Exeter on Great Western Railway, as I reported at the time. After the ceremony at the university on Monday, they had a hire car take us to Exeter St. David station, where we had enough time for me to get a coffee at Starbucks (Kayla's Starbucks app seems to work here in the UK) and catch our train.

( Trains, Wonderful Trains )

It was a pretty good train trip, although we were more than 30 minutes late into Swansea due to a combination of issues. Cheryl will contact the person who arranged our travel in case they want to claim compensation.

Cheryl drove us to her home in Ammanford from Swansea and heated up a dinner she had made in advance of the trip for this sort of this sort of situation. I didn't realize until I tucked in to her mince over rice just how hungry I was.

We got to bed pretty late. I did not realize until the next morning that I was so tired that I hadn't put in my CPAP mask and anti-teeth-grinding mouth guard. I must have been asleep within a minute of turning off the light.

I was happy with our train trip, even with some of the delays and distractions. It turns out that I've been mostly traveling first class on these entire trip. That won't be the case going back to London on Friday, but that's okay. I can see how one could get spoiled by such things, though.

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ere

A walk to the Weald Moors

We went for a walk on the other side of town for a change. One side of us is hill country and the other side is moorland- the Shropshire Plain. The nearest moorland to us is known as the Weald Moors.

We walked out via Apley and its very fine pool.

The blackberries are starting to fruit even since last week when they were still in flower:

( More pics! )

Entry tags:

“let’s have a toast for the assholes/ let’s have a toast for the scumbags/ every one of them i know”

The trip to Switzerland to see my brother-in-law and the niblings (and Alps) was lovely (especially the Alps).

Finding out that, while I was gone, my company made another round of layoffs, including me, was not so lovely.

Sigh. Time to retool my resume to cater to current AI analysis patterns and ascend the Job Search Alps (which are not the lovely kind).

---L.

Subject quote from Runaway, Kanye West.

welkin

welkin (WEL-kin) - (lit./arch.) n., the sky, the vault of the heavens.

Another that goes back to Old English, in this case wolcen/wolcn, cloud (cognate of German Wolke, cloud), and after the transition to Middle English welken/wolken, it initially retained that meaning before shifting to the current sense. According to one dictionary, the carol that now starts "Hark, the herald angels sing" was originally "Hark, how all the welkin ring" (using modernized spelling).

---L.

Robben Island by Pamela Sneed

The only antidote I may have to Trump’s election
is in a small ferry to Robben Island
one that shuttles you to the former prison
where those who fought against apartheid were held
The only answers may be in one wool blanket
a basin
toilet
cell
and the tiny windows of Robben Island
in the discarded artillery
the rock and the limestone yard
where many were blinded
driven mad
Now the survivors former prisoners
give tours
their faces carved like tree roots exposed
The only answers may be in the surrounding peaks of Table Mountain
its Twelve Apostles
all now standing as testament to what
through years of struggles
can be defeated
overcome

***********

Link

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: nears oberwiesenfelds

Entry tags:

munichs

bears steps outs sorts ofs

Bears talkeds girls ins tos goings fors walks. Was hards as girls is alreadys doings lots walkings. Todays wes wents across the strees tos Olympiaparks . Its has losts grass ands tress. (nots sees anys ponds fors fishes) wes did nots goes verys fars intos parks as wes weres boths thinkings its mights rains. Stills is nices to gets outs somes.

Entry tags:

reading

What I've Been Reading Wednesday, July 16, 2025

It's been hot! I've been reading! Most of it has been pretty good. A selection (not a complete list) follows.

All the Murderbots! The novellas, anyway. I enjoyed the TV series but the books are so much snarkier and more fun. Skarsgård sold it to me in the finale, though.
Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout. Lit-fic, enjoyable, part of a series I will probably read more of.
All the Water in the World, by Eiran Caffal. Climate-change distopia with neurodivergent main character, compelling.
When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance, by Riley Black. Climate-change non-distopia, because here we are.
Voyage of the Damned, by Frances White. Not quite what I thought it was going to be, but look at that pretty cover!
Somewhere Beyond the Sea, by T.J. Klune. I would have loved this had I been the target audience (and I'm sure they do) but I found it a bit preachy and overdone.
The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami. Literally nightmare-inducing, fascinating and horrifying.
Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist, by Jasmin Graham. Another where I am not the target audience, but a very interesting and enjoyable read.

What I Am Currently Reading

The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks, by Amy Stewart. Very interesting and fun, even though I will never in a million years sample all the delicious-sounding cocktails.

A Drop of Corruption,by Robert Jackson Bennett. Sequel to The Tainted Cup, Holmes-and-Watson-esque, both neurodivergent in different ways, really interesting worldbuilding, fun characters.

What I Am Reading Next

Harrow, by Joy Williams, for a Goodreads "Acclaimed Titles" challenge.

In other news

Look at this insane sunflower that grew from a bit of dropped bird seed!

Entry tags:

Wednesday reading: The Tale of Emily Windsnap

Two weeks running with posting about reading on Wednesday, whohoo! ... It won't happen again for a while.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap, by Liz Kessler

I wanted to read this after

troisoiseaux recalled loving it as a kid and enjoyed it on a reread. I was intrigued by her description of Emily’s starcrossed parents’ romance and Emily’s needing to rescue her father from mer-prison (which is only half the story; the other half is Emily discovering she turns into a mermaid in water, meeting a mergirl who can be her best friend, and learning about mer-school, etc., while meanwhile managing her mother and babysitter and the mean girl at human school).

( more analysis than a slim volume should have to bear )

The tl;dr of this is that I thought it was a fun, imaginative adventure story, and I can understand why

troisoiseaux remembers it fondly.

Something that's always interested me

is when an organization feels the urgent need to say something both in officialese and also everyday talk. I can think of three very relevant examples in NYC:

1. Every time you do your taxes or do almost anything that involves interacting with the state government, you'll have to pick your county, and if you live in Brooklyn or Staten Island that means they list the county with the coterminous borough in parentheses.

2. If you have a kid in school, every year they send you a form reminding you to fill out your Emergency Contact Card, and every year they include the phrase "Blue Card" right afterwards. Because that's what we all call it. Because they're blue.

3. And here's one I haven't thought about much since adolescence, but if a job is apt to hire teens then they will ask for their Employment Certification and then, inevitably, add "Working Papers" right afterwards, again, because that's what everybody calls them.

There must be other examples I'm missing, as well as non-NY examples. I sometimes wonder if it'd be easier for them to just cave to the inevitable and start listing the everyday term first and then list the "real" term afterwards.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Ammanford, Wales

Entry tags:

cheryl

Graduation Day in Exeter

Cheryl Morgan has now posted about being made an honorary Doctor of Law from Exeter University, as I explained in my previous entry. Now that we are back at her home in Ammanford, and after having spent the day on my Day Jobbe, I can write about more details of how the day went.

( The University Experience )

While it would have been nice to stick around and socialize, we had a train to catch. I'll write about trains tomorrow, I think.

As you know, Cheryl and I have helped organize complex events. We both were very impressed with how well this ceremony went off. There were no obvious hitches, and everything went as to plan.

I was deeply honored and touched that Cheryl invited me over to stand with her on this huge day.

Update, July 16: Cheryl helped me update the names of some of the people in the photos.

Current Mood: worries

Entry tags:

worries

Bears ins Munichs

Bears is worries, mores thens thats. Girls is soooos lows. cans nots cheers hers ups.