Hey there, cats and kittens! It’s been a minute since I wrote anything on here, so I figured I would bash some keys while I have the brainpower and see what happens. This is, as “key bashing” would suggest, pretty much just going to be a casual wee catch-up sort of post as I share thoughts on stuff I’ve been reading. Or watching. Or whatever. Let’s chat!

 

 

The Teixcalaan Duology by Arkady Martine was on my radar for a while before I picked it up, and to be honest it might have sat on my TBR for longer if it wasn’t for this year’s Subjective Chaos Kind Of Awards. A Desolation Called Peace is longlisted for the Science Fiction category, and after finally reading both books I would be lying if I said it wasn’t threatening to make my voting decision an easy one.

My initial impression of this story, pre-reading, was that it felt like a daunting prospect, a challenging read to be taken on when I had enough mental capacity to really focus on it. Then I picked up A Memory Called Empire, and was immediately drawn in. The story and its protagonists swept me up and carried me away, into a world of intricate and deeply fascinating politics and culture (iiiin spaaaace), on the wings of the most poetic and eloquent prose I think I’ve ever read in a sci-fi novel.

And then A Desolation Called Peace took all of that mind-blowing goodness and dialed it up to eleven. And it threw in a truly alien culture for good measure.

Just to make it really interesting, y’know.

Oh my god, you guys.

I just. I don’t have enough words to express how good this is. It might just be my favourite SF read so far this year, and I won’t lie. It’s set a pretty damned high bar.

What else is there?

Hmm, a lot of Netflix, heh! I recently discovered and very quickly binge-watched Schitt’s Creek, which might now be one of my favourite TV shows of all time and I have kicked myself for missing it when it aired. But on the plus side, I got to binge the entire series from start to glorious, tear-jerking finish, and the Roses are everything. I love David and Patrick and would fight to protect Alexis and Moira is just. What is Moira. Epic, is what she is. Moira is epic. And Johnny is just the best most awkward best dad.

And…?

Besides that, honestly my life has just been a lot of workworkwork and don’t stare too hard at Twitter, all that rage will give you indigestion Lisa.

There’s been a lot of rage. And there will likely be a lot more. But I suppose that’s also why I wanted to do this – really just for the sake of doing something light and positive, right now. It may not be much but I’m capable of it at the moment, and so here we are.

I’m staying afloat, and I can only encourage and hope that others out there are doing the same. And if you can’t, please remember you’re not alone.

Protest if you can, and protect yourself as best you can in the process. Scream if you need to. Read a book that enlightens you. Watch a show that gives you comfort. Eat that snack. Breathe. Get through today, and start again tomorrow. We can do this.

Right, I’m going to find something to snack on and something to comfort-binge. See you next time, dear geeks…