Evening and huzzah, goda människor, from a basement out here in central Minnesota. I hope this missive finds you all safe, sound, hearty, and hale. Nearly bedtime around these parts, but I wanted to hop and post something before hitting the rack.
Category: Reading
Summer Reading: Christina Henry’s THE GIRL IN RED
Finished up The Girl in Red by Christina Henry last week. Fun retelling of the Red Riding Hood narrative set in an apocalyptic, plague-ridden United States. Cordelia, or Red as she prefers, is walking to Grandma's house, and doing her best to avoid, outsmart, and overcome the military, ruthless militias, and scavengers intent on harm. … Continue reading Summer Reading: Christina Henry’s THE GIRL IN RED
PBS American Masters: Worlds of Ursula K Le Guin
Just finished watching PBS' excellent documentary on Ursula K. Le Guin, and would highly recommend checking it out when you get a chance.
Ruminations on God and Faith in Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers
Nearly finished with Chuck Wendig's apocalyptic tome, Wanderers, and I wanted to share a powerful exchange between two central characters (Benji, a CDC specialist, and Matthew, a broken and defeated pastor who's lost his faith). No spoilers here, just one of those heady truths we so often find in good fiction.
Late to Dinner: Simon Stålenhag
Stålenhag is a Swedish visual artist, writer, musician, and tabletop RPG designer, and it seems as though he's been churning out his creative projects for a number of years. As with much of the cool art that's out there*, I'm only learning about it now, hence the whole "late to dinner" phrase in the title.
Learning Short Fiction World Building with N.K. Jemisin’s HOW LONG ‘TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH
How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is a solid collection of Jemisin's short fiction spanning her career. And in each selection she delivers on her world building, much in the same way she did in The Fifth Season: inserting information as it becomes relevant to the narrative, avoiding huge info dumps.
Barstow & Grand
Currently the journal's taking submissions for its third issue (in fact, this weekend it'll be free to submit), and if you have a piece of fiction or nonfiction, a poem, or a hybrid text of some type, and a connection to Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley you should send it on in.
More Cheap Reads
The Cabin at the End of the World: Eerie, intense, heart-wrenching thriller. Tension so thick you could bludgeon it with a specially hand-crafted doomsday gardening tool.
Cheap Reads
Two good ebook deals today on Amazon: 1) Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Anthony Doerr's New York Times review. 2) The Color of Water by James McBride Interview with James McBride on Global Perspectives Just under two bucks each. Check 'em out. Huzzah!
From Alison Smith’s “Her Left Hand, The Darkness”
from New York Public Library "If no one is expecting much, it’s not hard to exceed their expectations." " ‘Don’t try to be an author,’ she said as we stood outside a lecture hall in the bitter cold. ‘You cannot control that. Instead, try to be a writer. And to do that, you must write. … Continue reading From Alison Smith’s “Her Left Hand, The Darkness”
