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jadislefeuMisc
I found Knife Fights, Lockpicking, and Other Things I’ve Done to Become a Better Writer kind of tritely written, disappointingly lacking in knife fights, and weirdly unaware of the fact that genres other than 'thriller' exist. (Also, I feel like she probably would have been better served talking to an actual blind person who uses a cane than trying it herself for a couple of hours, because there's no way she learned all the nuances of the experience. And/or hiring a sensitivity reader. Maybe/hopefully she did that in addition to buying a cane?) Seriously though, "I've...taken classes in...knife fighting" being the entire description of that was not a good payoff for that title.
How Math Can Be Racist: Giraffing is a good post about the problems with algorithms, particularly the giraffe one that I'm familiar with from Janelle Shane's work with neural nets.
Myths Made Modern: Announcing The Mythic Dream, a New Anthology from the Creators of The Starlit Wood--Ghat damn, that TOC. John Chu, Amal El-Mohtar, T. Kingfisher, Arkady Martine, Seanan McGuire, Rebecca Roanhorse, Alyssa Wong... just absolutely jam packed with amazing talent. Definitely looking forward to that.
“The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show” — Revealing T. Kingfisher’s The Twisted Ones--Honestly I hate comp titles, the x meets y description doesn't interest me at all, but it's by Ursula Vernon and it's her first official horror novel (rather than 'I was trying to write middle grade and my agent was like 'ursula this is not a children's book it's terrifying'') so I'm interested in it anyway. I wish I could read the text on the cover properly--AND TWISTED MYSELF ABOUT LIKE THE TWISTED ONES, I think? Probably-'about' has the lowest contrast and I'm most unsure of it. I'm also pretty certain that Alex will be into this, as he also loves Ursula Vernon and he's way more into horror in general than I am. (I have anxiety! Most horror just fuels it! Except some weirdly defined subset of creepy stuff that I love ardently and he doesn't like, for some reason. First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us, and eat some for meat. ANYWAY, the point here is not the time I didn't sleep for two days because he talked me into watching Grave Encounters.) Cassandra Khaw says it made her "physically leap away from [her] Kindle in terror", so that's an... exciting review. Note to self: Read this in the morning and plan to watch disney movies or something afterward. And be prepared for the possibility of needing to put on simultaneous ghibli and bubblegum pop while reading. (I have Horror Coping Mechanisms.)
A great discussion about the drawbacks of federated fandom at sciatrix's dw, with lines drawn to dysfunctional forum culture.
Fanfic
Slowly picking at Benefits of Old Laws still, I've been seized by an extended fit of ennui and haven't been reading much. (Mostly I've been sulking about how I can't convince my brain to be interested in anything.)
Profic
Birthday Girl at Uncanny Magazine--content warnings for suicide, and abuse based on mental illnesses, including institutionalization, of children. Quietly brutal. Unusual formatting helps make it kind of dream-like. Or nightmare-like.
Tor.com's January-February Short Fiction Newsletter has a great new story from John Chu, the author of the fantastic The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere! Warning for abusive sibling. On a happier note, it's queer! I haven't read the others yet.
Reread What Gentle Women Dare at Uncanny Magazine from a link on twitter, which I opened without remembering I'd read it before. I don't... know that I actually like it much or indeed at all. It's bleak and brutal and full of sexual violence and dead children. None of which are things I enjoy reading! Compelling, well crafted, I just... don't enjoy the experience.
I found Knife Fights, Lockpicking, and Other Things I’ve Done to Become a Better Writer kind of tritely written, disappointingly lacking in knife fights, and weirdly unaware of the fact that genres other than 'thriller' exist. (Also, I feel like she probably would have been better served talking to an actual blind person who uses a cane than trying it herself for a couple of hours, because there's no way she learned all the nuances of the experience. And/or hiring a sensitivity reader. Maybe/hopefully she did that in addition to buying a cane?) Seriously though, "I've...taken classes in...knife fighting" being the entire description of that was not a good payoff for that title.
How Math Can Be Racist: Giraffing is a good post about the problems with algorithms, particularly the giraffe one that I'm familiar with from Janelle Shane's work with neural nets.
Myths Made Modern: Announcing The Mythic Dream, a New Anthology from the Creators of The Starlit Wood--Ghat damn, that TOC. John Chu, Amal El-Mohtar, T. Kingfisher, Arkady Martine, Seanan McGuire, Rebecca Roanhorse, Alyssa Wong... just absolutely jam packed with amazing talent. Definitely looking forward to that.
“The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show” — Revealing T. Kingfisher’s The Twisted Ones--Honestly I hate comp titles, the x meets y description doesn't interest me at all, but it's by Ursula Vernon and it's her first official horror novel (rather than 'I was trying to write middle grade and my agent was like 'ursula this is not a children's book it's terrifying'') so I'm interested in it anyway. I wish I could read the text on the cover properly--AND TWISTED MYSELF ABOUT LIKE THE TWISTED ONES, I think? Probably-'about' has the lowest contrast and I'm most unsure of it. I'm also pretty certain that Alex will be into this, as he also loves Ursula Vernon and he's way more into horror in general than I am. (I have anxiety! Most horror just fuels it! Except some weirdly defined subset of creepy stuff that I love ardently and he doesn't like, for some reason. First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us, and eat some for meat. ANYWAY, the point here is not the time I didn't sleep for two days because he talked me into watching Grave Encounters.) Cassandra Khaw says it made her "physically leap away from [her] Kindle in terror", so that's an... exciting review. Note to self: Read this in the morning and plan to watch disney movies or something afterward. And be prepared for the possibility of needing to put on simultaneous ghibli and bubblegum pop while reading. (I have Horror Coping Mechanisms.)
A great discussion about the drawbacks of federated fandom at sciatrix's dw, with lines drawn to dysfunctional forum culture.
Fanfic
Slowly picking at Benefits of Old Laws still, I've been seized by an extended fit of ennui and haven't been reading much. (Mostly I've been sulking about how I can't convince my brain to be interested in anything.)
Profic
Birthday Girl at Uncanny Magazine--content warnings for suicide, and abuse based on mental illnesses, including institutionalization, of children. Quietly brutal. Unusual formatting helps make it kind of dream-like. Or nightmare-like.
Tor.com's January-February Short Fiction Newsletter has a great new story from John Chu, the author of the fantastic The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere! Warning for abusive sibling. On a happier note, it's queer! I haven't read the others yet.
Reread What Gentle Women Dare at Uncanny Magazine from a link on twitter, which I opened without remembering I'd read it before. I don't... know that I actually like it much or indeed at all. It's bleak and brutal and full of sexual violence and dead children. None of which are things I enjoy reading! Compelling, well crafted, I just... don't enjoy the experience.
