Month: November 2020

Book Review | Dune by Frank Herbert

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You know you’ve had an unpleasant experience with a book when you dread even typing up a book review for the thing. When you don’t even get the visceral ‘this book is trash and I need to scream to the heavens (and the internet) my displeasure’, but are thoroughly stuck in the ‘do I really have to pull thing thing out again?’ duldrums.

For those of you not familiar with Dune, it’s a bit of a space epic- centering around Paul Atreides, the son of an aristocratic family that is tasked with the management of the dessert planet Arrakis (otherwise known as Dune), which is the only source of a drug which extends life and provides mental abilities. The story is full of political intrigue and conflict, as various factions seek to control the planet and its resources.

Now, I will say, to start out, that the world building here can be fantastic. There is no way to disagree with this being a foundational piece of modern science fiction literature, because it feels so different than its contemporaries- ahead of its time. The culture of this world, its people and history, is fascinating. The author did an interesting job picking out pieces from actual cultures to build off of.

Unfortunately, the book is presented in such a way that making sense of the world building is a headache. Normally I don’t mind being dropped into a world a being left to figure out some of the mechanics myself, in this case however I spent a good portion of the early part of the book in varying levels of ‘what is going on here, again?’ When you have to look up the cultural concordance in the back of the book at least twice a page for the first fifty or so pages there’s something wrong.

Additionally. The dialogue really leaves something to be desired. At times its good, and feels pretty well normal, and then there’s portions that are so unrealistic, where you can’t help but think ‘nobody speaks like that’. It’s overly stilted and formal, as if they’re actors in a play. This feels especially so when encountering what I can only compare to thought-bubble. Oh, how I hated the thought-bubbles, which often feel intrusive and, in the worst cases, completely take away some of the intrigue the author was (I am assuming) going for. Revealing some character details and thoughts, fine, but when it gets to the point of spoiling what would essentially be a plot twist otherwise… not good.

So, long story short, yeah, I can appreciate the affect that Dune had on modern science fiction. I really do think you can call it a science fiction classic, and I really think it would be up some people’s alley. Does that mean I liked it, or ever want to read it or anything in the series, again? Nope. I’ll be quite happy to never have to interact with the story ever again.

Thankful Not-really-Thursday – Only Two Days Late!

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So this has been a ‘I’m not blogging right now’ week, evidently. It’s been a weird one all around, with a massive amount of quarantines at school, and subsequently distance learning going back into affect, and needless to say my mental energy has been elsewhere. More on that in a minute. I really did want to do this at least however, even if it was a little off, timing-wise. So, here we go with my thankful list for this weird-ass week.

Cabbage Patch Girl
I haven’t been out all that lately (going back to the whole covid ramping up thing), but I did take one trip out this past weekend and had a bit of luck. I was prowling around a venders mall and found a cute little cabby in pretty good shape. The elastic on her dress is worn out and I’ll have to fix her toes on one foot, but she’s adorable, with a brown yarn ponytail (yes, she’s a Coleco) and brown eyes. I’ve got her all cleaned up now, drying in my bathroom and waiting to be named.

Weird Little Cookbook
At the same place that I got the little cabby girl I found a really weird cookbook- so of course I got it. Weird cookbooks are totally my thing. It was printed by an army/navy wives organization called Jango and almost all of the recipes were originally hand-written by their contributors before being printed.

Of course, this makes a few of the recipes rather difficult to decipher, but I’ve never seen another recipe book quite like it so it’s worth it.

Another Completed Draft!
Yeah, this is the reason for my blog going quiet this week. My brain decided to latch onto the last rough patches of my book and just ram the final edits in- draining all my creative energy and keeping me up at insane hours at the same time. All of this took place over the period of a couple of days in, essentially, three marathon sessions, and I think I’m only just now recovered mentally. It was a rush, that’s for sure.

New Music
This is probably in no way surprising to see here. Finding new music always makes me happy. I’ve found, through the years, that the right song sets my writing off like nothing else. Sure enough, “Meet me in the Wood” by Lord Huron fueled a lot of the creative surge this weekend.

Of course, I’m still drifting around in the Good Omens fandom at the moment, and I found a song inspired by the show and it’s so absolutely pretty and sweet and the writer/performer is so talented and great. Come With Me by Chxlotte is turning into one of my faves and the other stuff I can find by her is is wonderfully good too. I just wish she had more out there.

Old Gods of Appalachia
Of course, that’s not all I’m listening to. It’s not every day one finds an Appalachian cosmic horror audio drama, but I ran along Old Gods of Appalachia and holy cow is it good. It’s created by Appalachians so it has this weird verisimilitude- it feels Appalachian, which, let me tell you, isn’t always something you find when it comes to stories set here. I’m not very far in at the moment, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of what I’ve listened to.

Hot Tea
It’s late fall, and my classroom has been like an iceblock this week because the heat doesn’t work for some reason, so a hot cup of tea has been a welcome warm-up at home. It was never as much a thing in my family. Iced sweet tea was almost always in the fridge during the summer, but we never had an abundance of earl gray or such sitting around at home. I found out, this week, though, that my Mamaw was a hot tea fan- though she didn’t usually drink it since everyone else was drinking coffee. Now, every time I brew up a cup of tea I feel a bit of connection to her.

Thankful Thursday – No! Bad brain. Bad.

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So, it’s been a week, in that it has literally been a week since the last Thankful Thursday post, and the fact that this week has been one of those weeks, if you get my drift. Not gonna sound quite so cheery today, but it is what it is. Some weeks are easier, or harder, than others, but there’ll always be silver linings and little spots of sun- it’s just sometimes more difficult to find them. Regardless…

It’s Thursday-
Week’s almost done. Despite what I just said it’s honestly not been a bad week. Not great, but not bad. There honestly hasn’t been much, outside of my own head, to complain about for the majority of the time; mostly just a bunch of bad brain days pushed on top of each other. That hasn’t made that time any easier. I’m very happy to have the weekend within reach.

Fanfic Authors-
Lately, I haven’t had the energy to do much by the time I get home- reading being the exception. And I’m not going to spend that valuable resource by pushing my way through Dune. I need the written equivalent of comfort food. Thank god for fanfic writers because I swear there have been a few fics this week that have saved my sanity. 

McDonalds-
Say what you will about the place, its an easy dinner, that let’s me not think. Decision fatigue’s been bad this week, so it’s nice to just pull through, order a chicken sandwich and be done with it.

The Election is Over! –
With the exception of the inevitable recounts, the hellishness that was waiting for the results to be declared is finished and we can move on with our lives.

Library time-
We’ve been doing research in the library this week. I love research days. They’re chaotic and a lot of times I feel like I’m running all over the place and it’s exhausting, but I love helping students find their info and put order to their thoughts. 

Writing progress!
I’m one chapter (and a bit) away from finishing this draft of my book, and I’m so much happier with it now, but I’m happy to be able to hand it back over to my beta readers. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they make of my changes.

Book Review | Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

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Title: Good Omens
Authors: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Publication date: 1990
Length: 412 pages
Genre: fantasy-supernatural, humor, horror
TW- racism, sexism, homophobia, slurs, maggots, violence, gore, blood, death,  corpse, language, referred to sexual content (fade to black)

Despite my love for this book I’ll be the first to admit, it’s a headache to try to sum up. Essentially though you have a mixup of cosmic proportions when the anti-christ goes missing, a witch with the only completely accurate book of prophecies ever written, and an angel/demon duo who would rather be drinking a nice glass of wine thank you very much can we stop with this whole apocalypse thing already? 

The humor is on point. I rather doubt anything touched by Terry Pratchett could fail in that regard. I don’t often laugh aloud while reading, but there are several parts of the book where I couldn’t help myself. The humor is wonderfully weird and smart (not high-brow by any means, but smart), absurd and wry.

Just because it’s a funny story however, doesn’t mean it isn’t, at times, messed up and creepy as all get out. One of the authors is, after all Neil Gaiman, and his signature darkness is all throughout the story. The horror elements aren’t overwhelming, but they’re used efficiently, like an unexpected dagger. 

The fact that they balance their two styles so well is one of my favorite things about the book really. 

Now there is one thing to keep in mind- not a criticism, but rather an observation. If you dislike bouncing around from character to character- preferring one central protagonist- this might not be a book for you. The story is fast-paced; there are a lot of players here and a lot going on. Gaiman/Pratchett managed to balance all the voices wonderfully, but in doing so they never dwell on a single part of the story for overly long before moving on to another perspective.

Long story short, I love this book. Funny and creepy and weird, it’s a unique story. It’s written by two of my favorite authors and it’s like having the best of both worlds. If you’re a fan of either Pratchett or Gaiman you need to try this book out.

Thankful Thursday – Cold Mornings

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New EP from Bring me the Horizon
Post Human: Survival Horror– what a name for an EP. I found it on election day and it’s felt rather fitting- synced right up with my headspace. Sometimes you just feel like screaming.

The Penumbra Podcast
I’m up to date on The Magnus Archives and Nightvale, but I had The Penumbra Podcast lined up- still warming up to their style of standalone eps (I’m more of a connected narrative person) but I’m really enjoying Juno Steel so far.

The bared outlines of mountains
As much as I miss the color of summer, there’s something cool about the hidden shapes being revealed once the leaves start coming down. Exposed curves and lines and structures coming into view for the first time in almost six months.

Crisp air
There’s something special about those first cold breaths you take in autumn- cold enough to still be jacket-comfortable but chill enough to wake you up a little. The first time your breath appears in white puffs, imagined dragon smoke racing from between your lips. 

Familiar stories
I’m still creeping through Good Omens at the moment. I’m enjoying it more this time around than I have in a while. Perhaps more so than when I first blazed through it.

Book Review | I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

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Title: I Am The Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Publication date: 2002
Length: 357 pages
Genre: Ya, contemporary, speculative
TW: weapon- gun, abuse-verbal (from parent), strong language, rape, abduction, violence, blood, sexual content, threatened murder, alcohol, gambling, death imagery-hanging

I have found, at times, that anticipation can be my worst enemy when picking up a new book, especially when written by an author I’m familiar with. That was, unfortunately the case here.

I Am the Messenger is the story of a 19 year old cabdriver whose life seems to be going nowhere. That changes, however, after stepping out of his comfort zone and helping to catch a bank robber. That event is not a one-time deal, as he would have preferred, suddenly sucked into a series of tasks sent to him of playing cards- a person to help or hurt- but either way to make a change.

I loved the writing style of the book, which some however may not be as fond of. It’s a little outside of the norm, with short sentences and paragraphs, the result being that the story can move quite quickly at times. In addition, the author’s descriptions are colorful without being flowery. 

Additionally, Zusak does wonderful job of getting the reader into the protagonist’s head, Ed having very clear voice. The protagonist pulls the reader along in his questions of what exactly is going on. The question, however, is will you like it there.

Ed’s thoughts, concerning his best friend and crush Audrey are sometimes icky at best with the all-too-often appearing thought of ‘she’ll sleep with anyone else, why not me?’ Following that up eventually with ‘I’m doing all this good stuff; I deserve something’. A lot of his interactions with women feel strange throughout. 

A lot of the interactions in general feel off, and not quite real. The secondary characters closest to our protagonist are mostly fine, but past that a lot of them start feeling very cookie-cutter. To be honest, I kept waiting for some sort of reveal letting the reader know that it’s all been in his own head, or the people are actors, or something similar. There was a weird twist ending, but it wasn’t that at least.

Perhaps it was partially to do with the fact that I absolutely loved The Book Thief but I felt a little let down by this book. I know it’s best not to compare the two, but seeing what Zusak can do made the flaws in this story stand out all the more, though I Am The Messenger does have a certain charm of its own.