![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
books
Nov. 6th, 2025 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraWhen We Were Real, Daryl Gregory, 2025 sf novel. Comedy-drama about an alternate world otherwise like our own that has been informed, several years prior to the start of the novel, that they are a simulation; the novel tells the story of a group of people taking a bus tour of physics-denying Impossibles that show ways that the simulation has been or can be manipulated. Gregory takes a goofier tone than someone like Greg Egan might (although there is also very much some big violence in the climax) - this is closer to John Scalzi, although not so page-turny. Gregory's character work felt a little pre-fab - there's a computational neuroscientist/programmer who is "trying to cure Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia" in the way that movie scientists are all-purpose science things experts, a Marvel comics writer aging dudebro (on the one hand, it's weird for me to read things like "the craft of writing comics... bored the shit out of most wives and girlfriends" when for me the world of comics mostly *is* "wives and girlfriends" (some with wives or girlfriends themselves) and on the other hand I'm sure I would also be bored if I had to listen to this dude talk), an indecisive rabbi, teens who are dumb and annoying and dangerous. But there's a neat little thought experiment about the chance to take a break in a pocket universe, and while I might wish he had thought a little more deeply or clearly about subjectivity and narrative and entertainment, it was enough of a conclusion/punchline for the weight of the book.
Harmattan Season, Tochi Onyebuchi, 2025 noir-fantasy novel. I didn't give this the fairest possible shake as I kind of lost track of its due date and ended up skimming heavily past a certain point, but I had been struggling with it before then. Sometimes I enjoy it when authors don't explain and define and just expect you to pick it up and figure it out, or, you know, are writing for an audience who is not you and you get to enter into their context-of-assumptions for a bit, but, man, I don't know, where are we, when are we, what should I be picturing this place is like, what do all these words mean, what's going on, what am I hoping for or anticipating here, how should I be feeling about this, I need *something*. Was that whole bit where the street kid was describing a possible heist a satire or spoof or were we supposed to take that seriously. Possibly if someone made a movie of it and had to visually specify the place and time and give us music and lighting mood clues I would be like oh this is an amazing story actually? (And I feel like it would make a really good movie? Sending this wish out into the world...)
Harmattan Season, Tochi Onyebuchi, 2025 noir-fantasy novel. I didn't give this the fairest possible shake as I kind of lost track of its due date and ended up skimming heavily past a certain point, but I had been struggling with it before then. Sometimes I enjoy it when authors don't explain and define and just expect you to pick it up and figure it out, or, you know, are writing for an audience who is not you and you get to enter into their context-of-assumptions for a bit, but, man, I don't know, where are we, when are we, what should I be picturing this place is like, what do all these words mean, what's going on, what am I hoping for or anticipating here, how should I be feeling about this, I need *something*. Was that whole bit where the street kid was describing a possible heist a satire or spoof or were we supposed to take that seriously. Possibly if someone made a movie of it and had to visually specify the place and time and give us music and lighting mood clues I would be like oh this is an amazing story actually? (And I feel like it would make a really good movie? Sending this wish out into the world...)
Work That Came Out in 2025
Nov. 5th, 2025 12:19 pmmarthawellsBecause I've been slow to update my web site, here's a list of everything I wrote that got published in 2025.
* January Paperback compilation editions of The Murderbot Diaries novellas from Tordotcom. Vol I: All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, Vol II: Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy, and Vol III: System Collapse and Fugitive Telemetry. Reprint.
* May The Emilie Adventures, compilation of author's preferred editions of Emilie and the Hollow World and Emilie and the Sky World, Tordotcom. Reprint.
* May "Data Ghost"
In print and ebook: Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, Editor in chief Julie C. Day, coeditors Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney, and assistant editor Julia DeRidder.
https://essentialdreams.press/books/storyteller-a-tanith-lee-tribute-anthology/
In audio and online: Pseudopod #995, Narrator Rae Lundberg, hostAlasdair Stuart, Audio Producer Chelsea Davis
https://pseudopod.org/2025/09/26/pseudopod-995-data-ghost/
* July 10 "Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy"
Reactor Magazine, Art by Jaime Jones, edited by Lee Harris
https://reactormag.com/rapport-martha-wells/
* October 7 Queen Demon, sequel to Witch King, second book in the Rising World series. Tor Books, edited by Lee Harris, art by Cynthia Sheppard, audiobook narrated by Eric Mok
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-demon-martha-wells/1146167707?ean=9781250826916
* There was also a TV show!
May - July Murderbot on Apple TV, produced, written, and directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, guest directors, Aurora Guerrero, Roseanne Liang, and Toa Fraser, executive producer Andrew Miano. Depth of Field, Phantom Four Films, and Paramount.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30444310/fullcredits/
* January Paperback compilation editions of The Murderbot Diaries novellas from Tordotcom. Vol I: All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, Vol II: Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy, and Vol III: System Collapse and Fugitive Telemetry. Reprint.
* May The Emilie Adventures, compilation of author's preferred editions of Emilie and the Hollow World and Emilie and the Sky World, Tordotcom. Reprint.
* May "Data Ghost"
In print and ebook: Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, Editor in chief Julie C. Day, coeditors Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney, and assistant editor Julia DeRidder.
https://essentialdreams.press/books/storyteller-a-tanith-lee-tribute-anthology/
In audio and online: Pseudopod #995, Narrator Rae Lundberg, hostAlasdair Stuart, Audio Producer Chelsea Davis
https://pseudopod.org/2025/09/26/pseudopod-995-data-ghost/
* July 10 "Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy"
Reactor Magazine, Art by Jaime Jones, edited by Lee Harris
https://reactormag.com/rapport-martha-wells/
* October 7 Queen Demon, sequel to Witch King, second book in the Rising World series. Tor Books, edited by Lee Harris, art by Cynthia Sheppard, audiobook narrated by Eric Mok
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-demon-martha-wells/1146167707?ean=9781250826916
* There was also a TV show!
May - July Murderbot on Apple TV, produced, written, and directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, guest directors, Aurora Guerrero, Roseanne Liang, and Toa Fraser, executive producer Andrew Miano. Depth of Field, Phantom Four Films, and Paramount.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30444310/fullcredits/
reading and watching
Nov. 5th, 2025 12:56 pmthe_shoshannaI read thirteen books in October! (And DNFed two.) And three already in November.
Geoff and I are considering going to the Channel Islands on our next trip, so I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for research, like you do. It did a good job of really making me feel the location and community, and although for the most part it hit all the expected beats -- city girl ends up in small tight-knit rural community, you will be shocked to learn that she finds love and meaning there! -- it had some unexpectedly hard-hitting moments as well, and certainly didn't make me any less interested in going to Guernsey! Although I plan to bring my lover with me rather than finding one there, thanks anyway.
My local book group read This Is How You Lose the Time War, which took me a while to get into, because significant aspects of the worldbuilding aren't explained, you're just dropped into them; but I absolutely think that was the right way to write it, and once I found my feet I really liked it.
I DNFed The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Saved, because I thought I was in the mood for a horror novel but within fifty or so pages something so horrible happened that I was donezo, nope, nope nope nope, close file. It did seem to be well written, though; I expect it's a good book but it was way too much for me. So instead I read something called Fake Dating the Prince, which is exactly what it sounds like plus also gay, and it was delightful. The horror novel I read that was just my speed was Meddling Kids, which starts from the premise of "What if Scooby Doo but also Cthulhu?" and was a romp. But also horror. But also a romp. (The frontispiece is a reproduction of a 1977 local newspaper article about the protagonists' last case as teenagers: "Teen Sleuths Unmask Sleepy Lake Monster," and the town is Blyton Hills and the article is written by Nancy Hardy and the photo is credited to J. March and I'm not sure the author could have name-checked more teen classic lit if he'd tried for a week. I knew I was in good hands from that moment.)
In the category of fan writers gone pro, I really liked Freya Marske's Cinder House and loved Emily Tesh's The Incandescent. In the category of fan genres gone pro, not sure about the writers, I've been reading a bunch of hockey romance; I picked up a couple of Rachel Reid's one-shots and then got tired of waiting for a library copy of her Game Changers books (one of which is soon to be a Crave miniseries!) and bought an omnibus of the first three when it went on sale. I've read the first one and am about to start the second, on which the miniseries will be based. I heard somewhere that Reid commented somewhere that a PG-13 adaptation of the book would have to be, like, twelve minutes long, because there's so much sex in the book? Anyway I look forward to reading it 👀.
As for watching, I watched The Long Walk withdorinda; I remembered being quite moved by the novel decades ago, but I hadn't even realized there was a movie until a couple of weeks ago! It was well made and wrenching and I'm glad I saw it but wow I am not making a general recommendation. Another friend and I watched the movie of What We Do in the Shadows; I enjoyed it and was surprised when I mentioned it to Geoff and he said he thought it was terrible! But my friend wants to go on to watch the TV show together. I'm not sure I'm up for that much casual killing of humans as light entertainment? (Despite the fact that she and I just finished watching Interview with the Vampire together. At least there it's not played for laughs as much.)
And season 10 of Shetland premieres in the UK today! I'm really looking forward to that. Also, looking further ahead, the Call the Midwife Christmas special and new season -- and I was absolutely thrilled to hear that they've announced a prequel series! The main show is getting awkwardly close to modern times, and I would love to see younger versions of the characters before and during the war.
Whee!
ETA: Oh, Rachel Reid. I'm not qualified to reality-check your hockey writing -- and let's be real, it's not like I'm reading you for the hockey -- but when you tell me that Montreal is an hour's drive from Ottawa? I have questions.
Geoff and I are considering going to the Channel Islands on our next trip, so I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for research, like you do. It did a good job of really making me feel the location and community, and although for the most part it hit all the expected beats -- city girl ends up in small tight-knit rural community, you will be shocked to learn that she finds love and meaning there! -- it had some unexpectedly hard-hitting moments as well, and certainly didn't make me any less interested in going to Guernsey! Although I plan to bring my lover with me rather than finding one there, thanks anyway.
My local book group read This Is How You Lose the Time War, which took me a while to get into, because significant aspects of the worldbuilding aren't explained, you're just dropped into them; but I absolutely think that was the right way to write it, and once I found my feet I really liked it.
I DNFed The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Saved, because I thought I was in the mood for a horror novel but within fifty or so pages something so horrible happened that I was donezo, nope, nope nope nope, close file. It did seem to be well written, though; I expect it's a good book but it was way too much for me. So instead I read something called Fake Dating the Prince, which is exactly what it sounds like plus also gay, and it was delightful. The horror novel I read that was just my speed was Meddling Kids, which starts from the premise of "What if Scooby Doo but also Cthulhu?" and was a romp. But also horror. But also a romp. (The frontispiece is a reproduction of a 1977 local newspaper article about the protagonists' last case as teenagers: "Teen Sleuths Unmask Sleepy Lake Monster," and the town is Blyton Hills and the article is written by Nancy Hardy and the photo is credited to J. March and I'm not sure the author could have name-checked more teen classic lit if he'd tried for a week. I knew I was in good hands from that moment.)
In the category of fan writers gone pro, I really liked Freya Marske's Cinder House and loved Emily Tesh's The Incandescent. In the category of fan genres gone pro, not sure about the writers, I've been reading a bunch of hockey romance; I picked up a couple of Rachel Reid's one-shots and then got tired of waiting for a library copy of her Game Changers books (one of which is soon to be a Crave miniseries!) and bought an omnibus of the first three when it went on sale. I've read the first one and am about to start the second, on which the miniseries will be based. I heard somewhere that Reid commented somewhere that a PG-13 adaptation of the book would have to be, like, twelve minutes long, because there's so much sex in the book? Anyway I look forward to reading it 👀.
As for watching, I watched The Long Walk with
dorinda; I remembered being quite moved by the novel decades ago, but I hadn't even realized there was a movie until a couple of weeks ago! It was well made and wrenching and I'm glad I saw it but wow I am not making a general recommendation. Another friend and I watched the movie of What We Do in the Shadows; I enjoyed it and was surprised when I mentioned it to Geoff and he said he thought it was terrible! But my friend wants to go on to watch the TV show together. I'm not sure I'm up for that much casual killing of humans as light entertainment? (Despite the fact that she and I just finished watching Interview with the Vampire together. At least there it's not played for laughs as much.)And season 10 of Shetland premieres in the UK today! I'm really looking forward to that. Also, looking further ahead, the Call the Midwife Christmas special and new season -- and I was absolutely thrilled to hear that they've announced a prequel series! The main show is getting awkwardly close to modern times, and I would love to see younger versions of the characters before and during the war.
Whee!
ETA: Oh, Rachel Reid. I'm not qualified to reality-check your hockey writing -- and let's be real, it's not like I'm reading you for the hockey -- but when you tell me that Montreal is an hour's drive from Ottawa? I have questions.
Three sentences about 2025-11-02
Nov. 2nd, 2025 11:01 pmirilythHappy Standard Time! Now I can finally stop being annoyed at everyone at work who says "EST" when it's actually EDT, for a few months at least.
Still feeling kinda discombobulated, although I don't think the timezone change had much to do with it, but I guess you never know. I slept in this morning, played a game or two of Magic with Quentin, and picked up Juniper from her usually Sunday morning babysitting gig, so she could drive home; she walked there, and can walk home, but wanted to get home quicker today. I went for a nice walk after that (it was a beautiful day), and then Junie drove me and Quentin to his D&D game, then picked up a friend of hers, and then she drove us to Alewife so they could take the T into Boston for some shopping and hanging out. I shopped on the way home for ingredients for dinner, once of the recipes from a Trader Joe's cookbook we'd gotten from Michelle & Eric for Xmas last year, from these people I believe. I don't see the particular thing on their site, but despite not having much experience cooking fish, and really not knowing at all what the heck I was doing with the asparagus, I managed to make honey mustard glazed salmon with roasted potatoes and asparagus, and it was pretty good. :^ ) Caught up on random online things after dinner, and now I've stayed up too late, oof.
New condo fixups; winter is coming
Nov. 2nd, 2025 10:17 pmflexagonA fairly happy week of bouncing back and forth between the new condo, my usual condo, and the squirrel's place. The new condo now has blinds in the windows (except the bathroom window where there's translucent film instead), coat hooks in the hallway, and protective bumpers installed in lots of places where a door would otherwise hit a wall. Tomorrow I'll work more on installing a couple of hinge pin door stops, putting protective drawer liner on all the drawers and shelves, and calling a locksmith to get a combo lock put on the door. I also spent a productive couple of hours installing towel rods for the new 2nd floor owner over there, who is obviously a good person to form an alliance with. All of it had to go in with drywall anchors (bleh, give me a stud!), but it went fine and she didn't have to hire a handyman.
Body stuff continues to be interesting. I held a 75-second straight handstand, by my coach's timer, on Wednesday, and he doesn't press the button until a person is up and balanced so you know that's really real. I shrugged it off, only mildly pleased, and he made a big point of telling me it's really good and quite an achievement, etc. So -- all right! I think it is a new record for a straight hold. I also discovered a big asymmetry in my chinup strength by experimenting with mixed-grip chinups, and did well in my press lessons but with no single big thing to report. Did my TGUs with 55lb again, and that made me happy.
Halloween occurred, and with it a very good circus show in which I got to see Tiny Person being insanely awesome in two excellent acts. In one she was a kind of undead Barbie-ish character, and in the other she was a sleeper who was awakened by (and thrown around, and stacked upon) two demons. So good. My enthusiasm was only somewhat dampened by getting gum on the train of my Morticia Addams gown -- heated white vinegar and a toothbrush did pretty well for undoing that, this evening, but what a pain.
My squirrel is leaving his big company for real in a few months; the exit papers are signed.
Following a good video call with my new collaborator, a new crossword puzzle is almost ready to send in. I ran it through several test solvers this week, and I think it's good! A couple of tweaks, especially to the theme "revealer" clue, and it will be good to go.
Winter is coming -- DST ended today. We are plunged into the dahk-ness. I bought a new coat on Wednesday (a puffer coat this year), and Birdie went to the Fluevog store and bought some of the same boots I have. So I suppose we are prepared enough. I'm daydreaming about sewing, and making mulled apple cider, and hosting craft nights and, most especially, sleeping a lot. Speaking of which... good night, internet.
Body stuff continues to be interesting. I held a 75-second straight handstand, by my coach's timer, on Wednesday, and he doesn't press the button until a person is up and balanced so you know that's really real. I shrugged it off, only mildly pleased, and he made a big point of telling me it's really good and quite an achievement, etc. So -- all right! I think it is a new record for a straight hold. I also discovered a big asymmetry in my chinup strength by experimenting with mixed-grip chinups, and did well in my press lessons but with no single big thing to report. Did my TGUs with 55lb again, and that made me happy.
Halloween occurred, and with it a very good circus show in which I got to see Tiny Person being insanely awesome in two excellent acts. In one she was a kind of undead Barbie-ish character, and in the other she was a sleeper who was awakened by (and thrown around, and stacked upon) two demons. So good. My enthusiasm was only somewhat dampened by getting gum on the train of my Morticia Addams gown -- heated white vinegar and a toothbrush did pretty well for undoing that, this evening, but what a pain.
My squirrel is leaving his big company for real in a few months; the exit papers are signed.
Following a good video call with my new collaborator, a new crossword puzzle is almost ready to send in. I ran it through several test solvers this week, and I think it's good! A couple of tweaks, especially to the theme "revealer" clue, and it will be good to go.
Winter is coming -- DST ended today. We are plunged into the dahk-ness. I bought a new coat on Wednesday (a puffer coat this year), and Birdie went to the Fluevog store and bought some of the same boots I have. So I suppose we are prepared enough. I'm daydreaming about sewing, and making mulled apple cider, and hosting craft nights and, most especially, sleeping a lot. Speaking of which... good night, internet.
Three sentences about 2025-11-01
Nov. 2nd, 2025 12:21 amirilythIt feels like the last 48 hours have been like three or four days long, I'm not entirely sure why, just lots of different stuff going on. I slept in this morning, then ... something for most of the rest of the morning, and then played some Magic with Quentin. (We finished the Bloomburrow box, and had played a bunch of games directly out of it, and have now decided to shift to deckbuilding. I have a Frog deck, it says ribbit. He has an Otter deck, it says shit goddamn I'm complicated.) I then headed out for some pokego, Gigantamax Garbodor battle day, and that went pretty well, except I optimized things somewhat incorrectly, but it worked out ok in the end. Came home, ordered Sweetgreen for dinner, played another game of Magic with Quentin, enjoyed tasty Sweetgreen. Took Juniper and a couple of friends to a second-day-of-Halloween party, watched the Wonder movie with Quentin and Amy, and now it's super late and I'm so, so tired.
Three sentences about 2025-10-31
Oct. 31st, 2025 09:28 pmirilythBliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.
Happy Halloween! The teenagers (teenagers! two of them! they are wonderful) went out with their friends, various combinations of trick-or-treating and parties. We got about half a dozen groups of trick-or-treaters on our sleepy side street. I went for a pokewalk at like 20:30 or so, and it was nice. I checked various bowls of candy that people had left out for after-hours visitors; they were mostly empty, or full of Twizzlers, but a couple had peanut butter cups, yum.
I should try to remember that the answer to "should I go for a walk, even though I don't feel like it?" is always "YES, dumbass".
(And also, that the answer to "should I eat this thing that I've claimed I want to stop eating so much of" is always "NO, dumbass".)
yes, well, that would explain it
Oct. 28th, 2025 11:42 amthe_shoshannaGeoff and I have been watching Red Dwarf, which neither of us have seen since the 80s. It's very . . . 80s, but we're very much enjoying it! We've almost finished the second series.
Last night I dreamed that Rimmer managed to fix a radiator on board the space ship, and decided that this achievement was so staggeringly, impossibly transhuman that he was clearly a superhero; showed up in a full-on supersuit complete with self-waving cape (no wind required); and announced that henceforward he should be addressed as "Captain Radiancy."
Then I woke up and found that it was three a.m. and yesterday's flu and COVID shots had me running the usual moderately significant fever.
I still think that Rimmer wanting to be called "Captain Radiancy" isn't out of character, though!
Last night I dreamed that Rimmer managed to fix a radiator on board the space ship, and decided that this achievement was so staggeringly, impossibly transhuman that he was clearly a superhero; showed up in a full-on supersuit complete with self-waving cape (no wind required); and announced that henceforward he should be addressed as "Captain Radiancy."
Then I woke up and found that it was three a.m. and yesterday's flu and COVID shots had me running the usual moderately significant fever.
I still think that Rimmer wanting to be called "Captain Radiancy" isn't out of character, though!
Polycule, bio family, dancing...
Oct. 27th, 2025 11:33 amflexagonA few other things from the week:
My base flew back from Europe tonight and we decided to punt on tonight's acro, giving me a much needed evening of rest. Somehow I'm super tired. I did some really solid strength work this week, but I think it's the one tumbling class (ok, walkover lesson) I took that really left me feeling unbalanced and sore. Gymnastics is a harsh discipline.
- Got to meet a potential new polycule member. I liked them. I'm a little worried about sketchiness -- I just don't love it when someone's been separated-not-divorced for many years, their stated reasons for not divorcing don't hold any water, and their spouse purportedly doesn't want to hear anything about other partners. But it's not up to me. So... who among us hasn't taken a gamble and hoped that the sketch would fill in nicely?
- This reminds me, I had lunch with Lion on Tuesday and it went fine, especially after we discovered we're both playing Blue Prince. Exposure therapy works! It's actually much much weirder that Lioness smiled at me at the circus school on Sunday. I'm trying to just let my system respond to that without my brain getting in the way.
- My house has a leak, and the neighbors fretted for a while about who to go with for the permanent fix, because we already spent the condo association's reserves on paint this year. In the meantime, the leak was on the side of the house with my tiny native plants, and I think they're almost all trampled. Sorry, little things, I failed to protect you. Maybe I'll try again next year.
- Went dancing at ManRay on Saturday with the squirrel. I think we're pleased with ourselves for finally going. It was on our Bingo board of dates for the year, and now we have two bingos. Good squirrels!
- Most interestingly, Birdie's father E came for a visit. She was nervous about it beforehand and a little overwhelmed during, so I stepped up more than I'd previously intended to on planning and hosting (and I had already planned to put E in my new condo on an air mattress, which indeed was done, and saved him a few hundred dollars). That visit kind of dominated Thursday through Sunday. It was interesting to see the parent/child relationship in the middle of that mid-20s individuation thing. I think E was slightly startled to watch Birdie ransacking my bookshelf and playing with my cat and trying on all my boots -- yeah, she has settled in quickly to the local nature of our relationship. A mildly invasive but cute development. E thinks I can be good for her just by modeling a fairly healthy life, and if I can do that then I'm certainly happy to; he was able to give me some hints of what not to model, and luckily I don't tend to do those things anyway but can easily take a bit more care with my language. I made them both stop at a scenic spot in the cemetery to take photos, taught them how to play Wavelength, and E got home safely. So -- good visit.
My base flew back from Europe tonight and we decided to punt on tonight's acro, giving me a much needed evening of rest. Somehow I'm super tired. I did some really solid strength work this week, but I think it's the one tumbling class (ok, walkover lesson) I took that really left me feeling unbalanced and sore. Gymnastics is a harsh discipline.
Database maintenance
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceGood morning, afternoon, and evening!
We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)
I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.
Ta for now!