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Reading: In Progress

Books I’m reading now:

  • The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (audiobook): a futuristic tale of how cities become their own life forms, but must be defended against ancient eldritch creatures who prey upon young cities. Humans act as the City champions. There is a sequel, which I already have on paper.
  • Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil: non-fiction about how algorithms are both poorly designed, intentionally opaque, and then misused to deny people good things, like jobs and healthcare.

I have some promising sci-fi recommendations, but some of those are also a series, and I’m considering waiting until that is complete before I start.

Also: I’m very eagerly waiting for the third book in William Gibson’s Jackpot Trilogy. The line between eager and impatient is written in smearing graphite for me: I’ll be so excited when it is released! (Also: more of The Summer Hikaru Died, which you are getting the blow-by-blow of here because I can’t contain myself.)

I’m also still reading entirely too many manhwa, including new seasons of those I endorsed earlier, plus many that I’ve started (described below) but may not finish. The two most likely to keep my attention are in bold.

  • A Savage Proposal (Webtoon), in which the young princess of a defeated kingdom agrees to marry the infamous warlord who defeated her armies, sacrificing her happiness to prevent the wholesale slaughter of her subjects, only to discover that he is… young, really hot, and more respectful to her than the creepy men of her own kingdom.
  • I Will Become the Villain’s Poison Taster (Tappytoon), an isekai story in which a modern girl winds up in the body of a villain, decides the villains might be her only safe allies if she wants to survive, and begins to suspect that the heroes are up to no-good. (Silly dialogue, naive heroine.)
  • Frost will Always Fall (Tappytoon – age restricted), in which a directionless modern girl with a shamanic family has flashbacks to her past lives, where she is torn between two men, at least one of whom she has hot sex with in both the past and present. One of the men has killed her (past) and/or will kill her again (future), though she isn’t sure which.
  • The Villainess Empress’ Attendant (Tappytoon), in which a knight runs away from her kingdom and royal boss, and winds up a servant to the empress of her adoptive homeland – and swears to use her powers to protect the lovely-but-gaslit empress against some unexpectedly close and evil foes with terrifying powers. (The crown prince is pretty. This always helps.) This is wholesome.
  • The Young Emperor Is Obsessed With Me (Tappytoon), in which a mage who prevented the destruction of the world by sealing an interdimensional gate used by evil invaders is adored by a sociopathic boy, who grows up to be a sociopathic emperor; he burns down her house & enchanted forest to force her to live with him (oh-oh); she may be the key to defeating a returning threat to the world, if she can overcome the traumas of all she lost.
  • To My Husband’s Mistress (Tappytoon), in which an innocent young woman falls for a love scammer who kills her father and then has his girlfriend kill her; she takes on a new identity for a multi-year plan to bring her killers and their accomplices to ruin while drinking too heavily, loathing herself, and being bankrolled by a frequently shirtless prince with his own revenge plans.
  • You Can’t Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf (Webtoon), a woman abused by a powerful husband in the afterlife dies (?) there horribly, but relives her earth death and has a new chance at her underworld afterlife (?) by marrying a different, random underworld nobleman; her new husband is patient about her PTSD, but doesn’t know her true situation, nor that he is interacting with her past-afterlife-abuser.

The overarching theme is: women in unusually bad situations having a do-over in some form. Let’s not wonder why I am drawn to these stories, or if we must, emphasize that most of them will likely have a happy-ish ending.

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Writing: Correspondence adds up

top view of a matcha latte featuring a foam heart
Mmmm, almond milk matcha latte: I love you back.

I’ve tried to have a restful and unproductive weekend, but got antsy, put away laundry (my least favorite chore), and through my restlessness made my home slightly less chaotic.

I mailed holiday cards out to my short list of active European correspondents, skimmed through my mail to find some unanswered letters, and wrote long, handwritten replies with fancy pens on obscure papers. Of the 43 cards and letters received from my pen friends so far this year, I’ve only got one left to respond to. I wrote ~67 letters this year (!!!!), and will likely write more during Xmas break. I’ve made 172 posts on this blog (this will be 173), and 185 photo posts (only some of which have wordy narratives) at my photo blog. I also filled several notebooks with personal nonsense that I needed to clear from my mind…

So perhaps I can go easy on myself for not completing the editing of my first NaNoWriMo novella, which I left somewhere in its third draft? Or at least easier on myself? Let’s pretend the answer is yes.

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Writing: Fountain Pen (Teal and White Theme)

The pen! The ink is Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai, because I love that ink. Yes, the pen glitters.

I decided to buy an Esterbrook Camden in Manitoba Blue, because I couldn’t resist that the nib matched the pen. (Yes, I am that easy to sway.). It turns out that the pen is a pleasure to write with, and is extremely smooth. I’m keeping a journal with it now, and the way it glides over Clairefontaine paper is just magical.

Did I need another pen? No. Am I glad I got it? Yes. Will I use it? Oh, goodness yes – with eight active European pen friends AND so many members of my family suffering from arthritis, I’m on a spree.

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Life: A Tsunami Warning Was NOT on my Bingo Card Today

SF Beneath Clouds
Weblog by A. Elizabeth Graves. iPhone photography and links to science-y and foodie topics.

The sky was busy and interesting, with strange clouds and orange sunlight this morning. Busy, but quiet. I still didn’t expect our phones to all go off like fire alarms, warning us that our lives were in danger and to head for high ground if we were near the coast. A large earthquake far up the coast had the potential to send a big, very fast wave our way; they were giving us about an hour’s warning.

It was a relief that the warning was called off, that no one was harmed (by waves, at least) and that the threat passed quickly. Also, it was fun to catch up with colleagues for a while, as we were all too amped up to focus on our work for a bit.

We have earthquakes frequently, and most of them are uninteresting in all the right ways, but this was a reminder that land can be BUSY.

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Film: Alien Romulus

Alien Romulus
directed by Fede Alvarez
from 20th Century Studios
2024

The Alien franchise (which I loved the first two films of) gets a classic/traditional addition very similar to the first movie.

A group of young people trapped in endless mining-colony/company-town debt devise a plan to salvage cryopods from a derelict structure in orbit to escape from their slavery and all associated corporate planets.

What they don’t know is that the structure is a Weyland-Yutani Corporation lab, and was the scene of a grizzly accident involving certain xenomorphs…

The introductions to the characters are efficient, yet also effective in explaining their desperation. Great sets (love those labs, the hallways, the blinking analog buttons, asymmetrical doors…), great monsters, great atmosphere, solid pacing, everything I want in sci-fi. The rings around the planet are LOVELY, especially close up!

Yes, in the Before Times (pre-2020), I would have argued that people are not so foolish about the risks of deadly contamination, but I know better now. The odds that humans would TOTALLY bring alien-contaminated friends back to their only spacecraft, or insist that they could quickly open a door without letting a fast and fatal xenomorph through, are through the hollow, alien-filled roof.

This is a great addition to the Alien family, and I’m impressed with the friend who recommended it to me. I recommend it!

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Film: The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy
directed by David Leitch
from Universal Pictures
2024

This cute action-comedy about an interrupted film crew romance, combined with a murder mystery and behind-the-scenes-making-of-a-(fictional)-space-opera, is a tribute to professional stunt performers doing real, traditional (non-CGI) stunts.

The stars are attractive, the comic timing is good (a song reaches a crescendo and there is… not a matching peak in the story!), the coming-back-from-career-ending-injury story is so American, the villains are appropriately villainous, and THERE IS A VIOLENT ACTION SCENE SET TO A PHIL COLLINS SONG (a song I can now tolerate playing in my head because the action was well performed). The credits show actual-making-of scenes to ensure you appreciate the stuntfolk.

[Sound of me patting myself on the back for NOT using the word paean in this entry, and also having belated revelations about why people understand my legal writing.]

I was entertained.

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Life: Sleep and its absence

The flash flood warnings have ended! That’s a treat. I’m dry and on land, and grateful for that. The weather has been highly variable all weekend, and has induced panic over opportunities to take advantage of the harsh, high contrast sunlight I enjoy (I have SO MUCH FILM waiting!), only to to be promptly foiled by low-ish temperatures and the arrival of diffuse clouds.

I’ve taken a brief break from posting while trying to get my sleep schedule back in order. That… hasn’t gone well.

I’ve been delirious after a days of averaging just five hours of sleep, and my punchiness (using the least common definition of that word) isn’t especially entertaining. I’ve increased my exercise and decreased my caffeine, so at least I am warmer and more fit during my delirium.

I’ve been reading, yet my preferred manhwa are either just getting started, not at a sensible reviewing point, or just returning from hiatus. The few ‘mid’ ones aren’t worth your time to read (or my time to write about). I’ve got a couple books going, and am determined to finish them completely before I write about them. I have two new reading friends (!) who love sci-fi (!!), and so may drop everything to start some of their recommendations. I’m selling them hard on Martha Well’s Murderbot Diaries (marthawells.com) and the gargantuan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (nealstephenson.com). They didn’t flee despite the gleam in my eyes, so I am encouraged. (Watching me struggle to maintain my composure while gushing about William Gibson’s most recent work is surely challenging...)

I’ve also found a new way to remain informed of serious journalism, politics, truly bad jokes, good owl photos, and types of fungus I didn’t know existed. Somehow, these are all available in one place. Yes, I joined Bluesky Social. I… will regret this, but not right away: all of my favorite people left the bird site and are using bsky’s tools to reconnect me to the same networks of thinkers, plus a new pool of silliness. (My sudoku scores are about to plummet…)

AEG in SF (or at least somewhere near SF most of the time) (@aeginsf.bsky.social)
Possibly too dedicated to drinking coffee to remember to post. Writer, photographer, reader, printmaker, blogger, foodie, insomniac, professional teeth-gnasher.

Don’t be alarmed by my relative inactivity here. I’m hoping to make up for this over the holidays, when I have a near-infinite list of projects saved up to do…

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Film: Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari)

Suzume
written and directed by Makoto Shinkai
produced by CoMix Wave Films
2022

Suzume is an ordinary, orphaned, teenage schoolgirl being raised by her aunt in a town in Kyushu. She is plagued by nightmares of being a toddler and looking for her mom in the wreckage of her northern hometown in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami. Her dreams are frightening and unpopulated (with one exception), and occur under a gorgeous and slightly surreal night sky.

One day on the way to school, a stranger appears, asking if there are any abandoned ruins with doors nearby. Suzume directs him to an abandoned onsen, and later tries find him: while there, she discovers and opens door to another world with a sky similar to that of her nightmares. She also handles a sculpture that comes to life and runs off.

So begins Suzume’s coming of age story, which sees her run away from her slightly resentful & overprotective aunt to save the world by performing ritual closings of abandoned places in order to prevent disasters. She is accompanied by the stranger, Souta, a man-turned-into-her-childhood-chair whose family has traditionally prevented disasters through rituals with a special key. Souta also wants to reclaim his human body and force a sculpture-turned-cat to resume its obligations in disaster prevention.

The story reflects the sorrow of the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the mystery of how and why such disasters happen, the author’s sense that it is strange to celebrate founding places but not leaving them, and the strain of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The story is beautifully animated, with special attention to water, reflections, and backgrounds; the shades of blue are especially stunning. There is well-integrated CGI for 3-D effects. The locks / keyholes are animated in a pretty way. The kindness of people to each other and Suzume is pleasing; the heroine has an easy time finding assistance from others, especially women. The romance element feels abrupt, but is in its early stages, so is plausible that it is just the idea of a romance created through shared extreme experiences.

I’ve read that this film is similar to the author’s earlier and more famous works, Your Name and Weathering With You, with some commentary that the one or the other of these works is better. I’ve heard positive things about both, and will eventually watch to compare them.

Overall: this is an especially pretty film about a teenager running off to save the world – with a good theme song! I enjoyed the quality of the animation.

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Life: I slept more than 7 hours!

During night time hours… in my own time zone! Seven hours that were more or less consecutive!

I was confused when I looked in the mirror this morning. I looked like an entirely different person…

No, that’s not right. I looked like the dewy, relaxed, possibly healthy version of myself in some selfies I made in Kobe last month. Selfies that I used to reply to a friend in Germany in WhatsApp, which inspired her to send laughing emoji, because I looked “great” and “relaxed,” which are not ways she is accustomed to seeing me in photos.

Gosh.

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Book: Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

Cover of audiobook version of Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

Where the Wild Ladies Are
by Aoko Matsuda
translated by Polly Barton, performed by Sara Skaer
audiobook published by Dreamscape Media (at Libro.fm)
2021

This is a collection of contemporary stories, inspired by traditional Japanese ghost stories. In each story, someone who is dead (or someone connected to the dead) gets a new identity, or a new job, or a new chance to tell their favorite relative not to make the same mistakes they did while also criticizing their apartments.

Why haunt a well when you can be a small business owner? Why not report a fire if it will bring your true love out of the monastery… oh, wait, that one has consequences – don’t do that. Why not pretend to be a human wife, even though the expectations of human wives make absolutely no sense (in general, and also to you as a fox spirit)?

These are fun stories, and one of them (about a ghost helping out single moms) even got me all misty-eyed. The audiobook is well performed and enjoyable to listen to (forgive the annoying ghost aunt – not all ghosts complain as much as she does!), and notes at the end describe the traditional tales that inspired them.

I enjoyed these stories and the clever character-based connections between them, very much.

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