Reading

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star trek: strange new worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3

So I've been a SNW skeptic since it was first announced, and have never been impressed by the show. But I've gotta say, I've seen six episodes of the third season, thanks to screeners, and we are so far yet to hit a good episode. We have, however, hit several repetitive m/f relationships, multiple love triangles, weirdly a lot of antisemitic subtext, and the decidedly bad look of Pike trying to stop his girlfriend from consenting to life-saving medical treatment.

Mostly I think this is because Akiva Goldsman is a hack who doesn't understand Star Trek or subtext, but also I wonder how much is because the seasons are being filmed back-to-back, and so there's no opportunity to see and respond to criticism. Ironically I think part of Discovery's problem was that it was too responsive to fandom, but Goldsman can't be left alone to pursue his creative vision because he doesn't really have one.

Anyway, at this point I'm only watching because I have a podcast, and also out of a sick eagerness to see if Pike will have to murder his girlfriend and have manpain about it, or if she'll sacrifice her life to save him.

(I've seen people theorise that the problems this season are due to the show pivoting in a more conservative direction to appease Skydance, and I am sorry to say that these scripts predate the 2023 strikes. Like, there was time for the writers to go back and think, "Oh, there's some dodgy stuff here, we should fix that!")

Entry tags:

life

Some reading!

This replacing of the floors is turning out to be a long project, since most of the grunt work has to be done by us, two olds. It's basically packing to move sans truck. I'm doing more culling, noting my own inconsistencies in regard to what I keep and what I toss. What seemed a ream of letters from one person went out, except for a slim batch of early ones when X visited a country they felt strongly about. But the rest had begun so well, with many book and writing discussions, then became a long downhill slide over the years until I reached the point when I dreaded seeing their handwriting on an envelope. Out those go--those letters served their purpose at the time, but are not worth keeping to revisit.

And yet, I cannot toss old letters from relatives, which are largely reports on their daily doings. Some of those letters are more than fifty years old, so they've become curiosities, little reminders of what life was like in the late sixties/early seventies. But mostly I won't toss those letters because to do so is to silence those voices forever. Sorry, kids, you'll have to toss them when you toss whatever I leave behind.

Not much time for reading as I tear this place apart, and also cull more books. So far I've completely emptied three tall bookcases, and there's a lot more to go!

I've begun reading Emily Eden, whose writing shows influence from Jane Austen. Also, there's the monthly Zoom discussion of Anthony Powell's twelve volume roman fleuve A Dance to the Music of Time; I missed the August live discussion due to conflicting appointments, but they record it, and I'm listening in pieces. So far the talk re this book, The Valley of Bones seems to be circling around how much it's a roman a clef.

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(no subject)

So the daughter has decided she wants to look at One Tree Hill. She is now 10 episodes into season one, and is refusing to talk to me about it because I'll have an opinion, and she'll know what it is just by looking at my face. Which, you know, valid.

In fairness, she did ask me if she was allowed to look at Dawson's Creek at the same time as she asked me about OTH and I told her that she could look at it but if she preferred Dawson to Pacey, I would disown her.

Edit So she likes Lucas, hates Nathan. Likes Peyton. Likes Lucas and Peyton, hates Lucas and Brooke. Likes Haley but hates Haley with Nathan. Hates Nathan's dad which, and this was my only comment, is pretty much the universal OTH opinion. Otherwise, would anyone like an almost 16 year old, very pleasant disposition, lovely straight teeth, great little baker?

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culture,
links

PBS

On their ongoing mission to reserve the entire national treasury to themselves and their suck-ups, the orange excresence and fellow scumbags have axed PBS.

But! For a few bucks a month (before they thieve those, too) you can view PBS's entire backlog, plus other goodies. And do some general good at preserving our culture while at it.

Okay, back to dismantling this entire house so we can replace the disgusting floors.

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books: monthly

Books for July

Lots of rereads this month! But at least it got me back into reading again :-)

Shaman - Noah Gordon*, 5/5, 652 pages
I've read this book several times by now and still enjoy it. I've always liked historical novels, and this is one of the better ones I've come across. It incredibly detailed, but the slow pace makes sense, and allows the reader to fully immerse themselves in the setting and atmosphere.

As always, when I read this kind of book, I'm appalled at how Native Americans (or native anyone really) were treated by the colonizers. It's a hard few chapters to get through.

My favourite parts were still the descriptions of the actual doctoring - both by Rob J. and by Shaman.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna*, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
I would definitely characterize this as "cozy fantasy". Take your stereotypical British fiction and add a magical element, and you've nailed the atmosphere of this book to a tee. And it seems to be a stand-alone novel, which is a pleasant surprise.

It's a comfort read with (mostly) likeable and quirky characters. I loved the kids and felt they actually acted like kids rather than "small grown-ups". There are few surprises to be found here (although not none! There were some twists I hadn't seen coming), but in this type of book, I didn't really expect there to be either. I had guessed the final resolution ahead of time, but not - as it turned out - the twist it took to get there.

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
I'm so glad that Sangu Mandanna is sticking to writing stand-alone novels rather than series. So rare for fantasy authors these days!

I had very high hopes for this novel as I absolutely adored "The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches", and fortunately it completely lived up to my expectations. To the point that I listened to the entire thing in just three days!!!

Once again found family plays a big role in the novel, and I actually think that part was even better done here than in TVSSoIW. I loved all (almost all, anyways) the inhabitants of the inn (Posy especially), and was really taken by Sera's quest to find the magic spell needed to restore her magic.

Certain aspects of the ending I had seen a mile off - others did take me somewhat by surprise. It wasn't quite as satisfying as I had hoped, but on the other hand, I can't quite see how else it could have ended.

The Search - Nora Roberts, 3.5/5, 488 pages
Not one of Nora Roberts' best books, but still very enjoyable. Fiona's and Simon's relationship was a lot more "tell rather than show", but on the other hand I LOVED reading about Fiona's work with the dogs - both the training and the search & rescue. Wouldn't have minded a lot more focus on that.

The suspense part was very predictable, but then it usually is.

Shelter in Place - Nora Roberts*, 4/5, audiobook ~15 hours
I by far prefer Nora Roberts' suspense novels to her romance novels. Sure, there's an element of romance in all of them, but she understands how to balance it properly, and writes suspense really, really well. I thought this a fascinating account of the aftermath of a mass-shooting - how different people handle the experience differently, and how people employ more or less healthy coping-mechanisms in order to move on.

There was less of a twist in this book than in some of the others I've read, but I didn't mind that part. And I loved reading about Simone's art as well as life on the island. Cici was just amazing, and Barney not half-bad either. Simone's fall-out with her family seemed slightly unrealistic, but their way of making up didn't, which really appealed to me. It's seldom reconciliation is written well.

Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King*, 4/5, audiobook ~14hrs
I love how Stephen King doesn't stick to just one or two genres, but seems to write a little bit of just about everything. This is his first foray into crime fiction (that I've read), and I thought he did it really, really well! Especially the last few chapters had me sitting on the edge of my seat and biting my nails (figuratively, anyway). A definite page-turner! And fortunately one with a proper ending, despite it being the first in a trilogy... although I'm still going to go straight ahead with the next book anyway.

I really liked Bill, Janey, Holly and Jerome and am pleased that we'll get to see at least most of them in the next books as well.

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green*, 4/5, 315 pages
I'd been warned by just about everybody that this book would made me cry. People kept saying that it was the saddest book they'd ever read, and to be prepared for a sob-fest. I don't know if I was perhaps too prepared, because while certainly sad, I didn't think it was nearly as bad as they had made it out to be. Certain parts did bring tears to my eyes, but cry? No, not this time. Of course, it might have helped that I'd guessed the ending already in Amsterdam, so it didn't come as the shock to me as it might have to others.

But it's an amazingly beautiful book. John Green really knows how to write characters to the point where the plot is of lesser importance. I couldn't put it down, but kept wanting to know more about Hazel, Gus, Isaac and the rest of them.

Books Read: 51
Pages Read: 9,753
Hours Listened To: 234

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: assorted Metric

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The writer reanimated

I finished the third Dix Dayton story today.

"Finished" for values including some brackets and asteroid research, of course. But it is a functional story with a beginning, middle, and end, and my alpha reader laughed at the right part. I first started this thing 2 years and 5 months ago, and it's had more false starts and changes of course than anything else I've ever written. Turns out, once I stopped trying to make it "sciencey" enough for Analog*, it's a perfectly fine little story and what remained to be done practically wrote itself. (For values of "wrote itself" that took all day and involved bribing myself with cookies, but hey, it worked.)

* For those who aren't aware, Analog was recently bought by an outfit called Must Read Publishing, along with Asimov's, F&SF, Ellery Queen, and Alfred Hitchcock. Unfortunately, the new owners have been sending out absurdly rights-grabby, author-unfriendly contracts. SFWA and assorted other entities have gotten involved, and the latest version of the contract I've seen is unquestionably an improvement -- but only because the first version was a dumpster fire on a train wreck that was plunging over a cliff. Now the fire is out and the train's back on the tracks, but it's all still sailing over the cliff edge. So I won't be sending this or any other story to any of the listed magazines until/unless this garbage stops and they offer a contract in line with industry standards and respectful of authors. Which sucks, because the editorial staff at Analog have always been lovely to work with, and they seem to like my stuff. But, silver lining in the tornado, taking that pressure off removed a wall that was stopping me far more than I realized, and let the story be what it wanted to be. Even if nobody else buys it either, that's worth a lot.