This was a ‘freebie’ loan from the library. It was part of a promotion where readers in particular book clubs were given a ticket to visit Longwood Gardens as part of picking this book to read for the club. I was one of the folks that was able to get a ticket as part of this deal.
This was a slow read for me. I was really hesitant when I tried to get into it. Part of me thinks it’s because as a book club book it felt a little like ‘homework’ and I’m particularly good at avoiding that (always have been). Once I got a feel for the writing style then I was OK with it and things really moved along.
As I told folks at our on-line book club meeting, this book feels a lot like an “old school” science fiction book. The big deal part of this book revolves around the idea rather than a single protagonist. That made it difficult for a lot of our book club members, but not so much for me. There was enough tying each generation together that the story carried for me.
As for the idea itself – a sentient plant as our friend or foe on an alien planet is very interesting. There was a lot of bits that felt like science class, but I could move through those pretty easily. I liked the number of different ideas that cropped up through each section of the book as well. The story spans a fair amount of time but that didn’t seem to slow it down.
I found out this is part of a duology, but I don’t know that I’m invested enough to go and dig up (see what I did there – dirt joke) the next one. IF you’re into plants, alien life and survival stories this could be for you.
In my continuing re-read of the Dresden
Files novels I have just finished reading Fool Moon.
Spoilers if you haven’t read it ~
I had forgotten just how beat up and
broken Harry gets. He gets shot. I forgot that Murph breaks an arm. I
knew that her partner died in the series, but I didn’t realize that
Carmichael bought it so soon. I think this is a bit of the television
show creeping into the memory of the book. Carmichael in the books
looks nothing like the television show version and it far less
annoying… and far more dead.
I’m glad I’m going back through these
books. It’s tough to recall all the little details (and not so little
details apparently). I’m tempted to make a series of notes about
injuries sustained by Dresden, but I’d have to go back through the
first book looking for them and I’d rather forge ahead.
I do still like this book. It was tight
and quick and showed a lot of expansion to the world building that
the series would continue to expand on. I admire the world building.
As for my new view on things, looking
for the misogynistic? That’s harder in this book.
Harry continues to state that he’s from
a different school of thought. He claims to understand that he’s a
bit of a chauvinist, but doesn’t do anything about changing that
attitude. I actually went and looked up the definition of chauvinist
– and the word itself is actually defined as aggressive or
exaggerated patriotism. Only when combined with ‘male’ does it take
on a different meaning… and it’s a large collection of ugly words.
Not as ugly as misogynistic, but still ugly. I suspect either the
author or the character really wanted it to be chivalrous. Chivalrous
I think is more fitting. Harry doesn’t think women less capable,
doesn’t believe that women owe anything to me and in fact depends on
women in his life in many ways. Those are not the characteristics of
a misogynist, and not really of a chauvinist either. To be fair – a
lot of Harry’s problems go away if he quits with the “I think women
are delicate flowers that must be protected” attitude, but then it
makes him less of who he is. I look forward to seeing if this goes
away or increases in the upcoming books. It has certainly made for an
interesting viewpoint for me, and good discussion with others who
don’t like the series.
I wrote previously that writing is still hard. Among other obvious statements, I’m going to continue that train of thought.
Work is still work.
After a couple of weeks getting our balance with the way things work now people seem to have gotten the hang of remote working. I say this because teleconferencing has spiked for me personally. Others may or may not have been experiencing this before ~ it’s a new thing for me. I had 5 teleconferences yesterday. I’ve got 3 lined up for today. I had 2 on Monday. Three days, 10 meetings. I bailed early on my on-line book club meeting because I was just exhausted by the end of the day. It’s just the same as when I was at the office being interrupted… I got very little actual work done.
I will admit it’s nice to see other
faces, but it’s still work.
So, I don’t have all the “extra”
time that some people have right now. I’m thankful to still be
working. There are a lot of folks out there that aren’t and they’re
suffering because of it. Yes, I’ve taken a 20% pay cut, but I should
survive that. We’ll go right back up to full levels as soon as work
in the construction industry picks up again.
I’ve been trying to give my creative
needs outlet. As always, I have six or eight projects that have
cropped up in the “OH! I should to THAT” category and got
notes or nascent beginnings. I’m really trying to focus on the things
that I know I have opportunities for though. There’s a lot going on –
and I’m doing my best to stay on track and continue to function.
We’ll see how it all shakes out as we go.
I’ll continue to share things here as
they come up. Hopefully there will be exciting stuff on the way!
I pre-ordered this book so I was on the list when it came out. I am very lucky to have spent some time with the author at science fiction conventions in the past – I was able to get a copy before the official release day.
I agree with the author – I don’t want to tell you how to go about enjoying your books – but you’ll get a lot more out of this second in the series if you read the first one, well, first (you should totally go buy it if you haven’t!).
I enjoyed this book. I like the world and the premise. I like the characters.
I was looking for something light, and there is some heavy stuff in this book. I don’t think it was meant to be in depth and certainly didn’t feel like some other works I’ve read where it felt like as much text book or research paper as it did anything else – but there were parts of this story where I was reading and felt as weighted down as the protagonist.
I think that’s a sign of some very good writing right there. This book also does something that the best science fiction does. It takes on things from the real world in fictional terms. There’s a lot of stuff to discuss from this book too. I’d love to chat about it – you should go get it and read it!
I’ve seen a ton of posts about all the time that some people have on their hands these days. I’ve seen posts, some joking, some serious about how much some people accomplished in the past when under quarantine rules. I’ve seen numerous posts about how one should feel about all this time, your personal level of anxiety and how much work you should get done.
A friend of mine posted an update on how much had been written during this time of not leaving the house… and questioned its value.
Writing is still hard.
Extra time at the keyboard doesn’t change that. Some people might not even get extra time at the keyboard. Some people might not be able to take it. I am extremely lucky to still be working. I am on the same hours / schedule I was before the modern plague hit the world. I still can’t sit here in front of the machine for 12 or more hours at a time. I reserve a great deal of time for work here on my computer – the day job kind.
That is not to say that other projects are still lagging. Quite the contrary actually. I’ve been chipping away at things little by little. The biggest boon to me is the reduction in travel times along with the reduction in number of meetings. There are no places I have to go, no drive time involved in going there. Very few people clamoring for my attention. that has made a certain amount of focus easier for me, so I’m getting more writing done than I have in a while.
That is not to say that it’s good writing. There is a lot of anxiety floating out there and as I have stated in other posts, the panic can and will rub off. I’m hoping that as we adjust to the way things are right now that the new schedule will allow for even more work to get done.
In the end – writing is still hard. IF you’re creative and you’re struggling – that’s OK. If you’ve got scads of free time and you can make a go of it – then you go! Get cracking and make something awesome. If you’re not a maker, be a consumer when you can. Authors, freelancers, small businesses are all going to undergo changes in the coming months. IF you’ve got the time, dig up a new author or a small press and see if you can find something you like.
Hopefully I’ll be able to pull my bits and pieces together and keep forging ahead.
I have to say up front – I bought this book because I knew there was a Jim Butcher story in there and I wanted to read that. I don’t know if I would have found this anthology if not for him.
The collection is a total of 19 stories. As with any anthology, this one was up and down for me. I did not read the story from the Dresden verse first. I tried just plowing through stories front to back. Then I got impatient and read Mr. Butcher’s story. I was missing something – and it prompted me to go back and start re-reading the Dresden Files.
That’s a significant part of why it took so very long to finish all the stories in this book. I did in fact read them all. I think that matters for an anthology – you can find new authors you really like that way.
Of the other 18 stories there were a few that stood out. I was surprised and delighted to be reminded of the Myth series with Aahz & Company in “Myth Deeds”. It’s been forever since I’ve read any of those. “Prisoner 141” was interesting, but it seemed to me more the kind of story that needs discussion when done. “Valentine Blues” was a fun take on an old story. “Tragedy of John Metcalf” was the most true to the parallel worlds theme and it was well done. I really liked the world building of “Demons of Arae” and will probably look up more of that.
There were other good stories in there and a couple that didn’t work for me. I know how tough anthologies can be – I would suggest grabbing this one and giving it a shot. You never know what you might find that appeals to you.
There are still other people in the
world. I know that sounds silly, but I also know that if you’ve been
quarantined at home for a couple of weeks you might lose track of
that simple fact.
It’s easy to consider others when
you’re reaching out across a computer connection. People still exist
in the real world too. This is not some bizarre Martrix variation. I
am putting this out there because of a small incident from early this
morning.
I am fortunate to be among those who
are still working. There are a lot of folks out there that aren’t and
that’s causing people to make some difficult choices. Because I am
still working, I am still on my regular old schedule. On that
schedule I am up relatively early ~ and generally out the door for a
brisk walk of a mile or more every morning around 5:30 am.
For a community on “lock-down” and
under a government mandated stay at home order there were a LOT of
people out there, including the local share-a-ride bus. Again, at the
risk of sounding silly a couple of dozen cars out and moving that
early is a lot. I am very aware of my surroundings while I’m out like
that. It’s early, it’s dark most days and I have no desire to be
accidentally run over by somebody that hasn’t made it to the local
coffee shop to “wake up” yet (that’s an entirely different
discussion for a later date).
When I was walking up to one of the
intersections a car from the neighborhood down that street rolled up
almost to the corner and stopped abruptly. I normally take the
crosswalk and keep chugging along, but I hesitated and slowed down.
The driver of this car – a young lady that I’m certain was on the
way to some kind of work deemed life sustaining – while still in
gear, opened the driver side door. I thought perhaps she was going to
ask something or was in need of assistance. I stopped and waited.
While I was watching from the sidewalk on the passenger side of her
car she proceeded to search around insider her car as if she’d lost
something. Ducking down below window level, craning back over toward
the back seat… generally looking scattered.
Here was my thought process: IF you’re
looking for something, take your car out of gear and put it into
park. IF you can’t figure out how to turn the dome light on in your
car without opening the door, perhaps you should pay more attention
to how to operate this machine you’re in charge of… IF this young
lady couldn’t manage to handle those two basic things there was NO
WAY I was going to walk in front of her car to cross the street. Not
happening, no matter how much reflective stuff I have on.
Here’s the part that prompted this
post. As I went around the back of her car to continue my walk
something reflective must have caught her eye since I was walking
through the light of her brake lights. She looked shocked and shaken
that somebody else existed in the world. I had my headphones in, but
I think there might have been a squeak that came out of her car that
had nothing to do with car parts needing oil. She proceeded to stare
at me as I walked away for a really long time. I almost wanted to go
back and ask her if she was OK – but when I was probably 20 or 30
yards away and looked back I heard the car door slam shut and she
pulled around the corner.
I know that stay at home orders are challenging. Please don’t forget that eventually you will need to go out and deal with real people in the actual, physical world again. You’re going to need to be extra vigilant to avoid people that forget there are other people in the world…
It has been a year. Today isn’t a
specific anniversary date, but it has been a year since the company
that ran a number of conventions including ReGenerationWho imploded.
I wrote about my feelings in Death of a Convention last year, but now
I’ve had significantly more time to reflect.
That time to reflect has both helped
and hurt.
Time away from the chaos, rushing and
stress has given me the chance to really enjoy all the fun we had and
the amazing things we accomplished over the years. I have so many new
friends because of the things we did. We were part of something
amazing and wonderful. It has helped me to see just how cool the
fandom community really is.
Time away has hurt too. I don’t get to
see many of those folks on a regular basis. We’re connected via
social media, but sometimes an in person get together is needed. It
has also hurt to see folks that did not handle any of this well. I
will not name people here, but I have generated a deep and abiding
anger toward some parts of the collapsing mess that was. It hasn’t
gone away. I don’t think it will any time soon.
I think that’s the key to it all.
Keeping the memories and the feelings we all made together. There
will be other conventions in the future (not this year of course –
2020 the plague year) and there will be more chances to make that
magic.
Keep doing amazing things, even when they hurt a little too. It’s part of what makes us who we are.
