I’m slowly getting back to normal after a pretty nasty bout of depression, which is good. Last night, my WoW raid group finally dropped Kil’jaeden, and I’m getting close to finally collecting 250 mounts, which makes me a little sad that I still care so much about it, but, honestly, WoW is one of the few things I still consistently enjoy in a relatively uncomplicated fashion. Plus, I’m still kind of riding the high of finally getting that gorgeous fox mount last week that I’ve been wanting since before this expansion began. I’m pretty stoked about it.
This week I’ve been slowly working my way through The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty, which is an excellent but difficult read. There’s a weird lull in my TBR list this month, though, so if I’m going to read something challenging this is a good time to do it. Today, however, was less reading and WoW playing and more moving a bunch of things in my living room around so I could vacuum and dust more properly than I normally feel up to. This was followed by cooking two meals worth of food–delicious chicken tacos and a chicken tortilla soup–so I don’t have to cook the next couple of days, with a bottle of Riesling and Game of Thrones as my “reward.”
I have high-ish hopes for this coming week in terms of productivity. After taking a longer-than-intended break from Titus Groan, I’m hoping to get back into that in the further hopes of finishing the trilogy by the end of the year so I’ll be reading to start The Book of the New Sun right off in January, but I’m not making any promises just yet. This is my daughter’s last full week of summer break, so I’ll be getting her ready for high school over the next few days, which will almost certainly take more time and impact my productivity more than I hope it will. One has to be realistic.
It’s the beginning of a new month, so Tor.com has got you covered for this months new releases:
If you’re as unenthused as I am about the new iteration of The Great British Bake-Off on Channel 4, you might be heartened to learn that Mary Berry is getting a cooking show of her own at BBC One.
Just in case you were feeling sad about how inferior the US is to the rest of the world, some dingbats in Norway hilariously mistook empty bus seats for women in burqas.
This piece on the politics of pockets is neat.
Jon Oliver is still being sued by that Bob Murray guy, and the amicus brief just filed in the case is a thing of beauty.
So is this look at our new reality of living in the land of large adult sons.
Beloved and influential editor Judith Jones has passed away.
I won’t be making it to Worldcon in Helsinki this year, but I will be watching the live coverage of the Hugo Awards Ceremony. You know, just in case.
The winners of the 2017 Mythopoeic Awards have been announced.
The shortlist for this year’s Dragon Awards was released, and it is definitely a list of things. Cora Buhlert takes a closer look at it.
Book Riot listed 100 Inclusive YA SFF Books. I haven’t been reading much YA in the last year or so, but there’s some great stuff on here if that’s your jam.
Yoon Ha Lee wrote about gender and sexuality in the Hexarchate setting (in which his novels Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem take place) for Omnivoracious.
At Queership, Ada Palmer wrote about the way she uses gender in her brilliant, ambitious Terra Ignota series: Part 1 | Part 2. Part three should be forthcoming next week.
Book covers are important, and I liked this essay by Anna Solomon about the covers of women’s books in particular.
Skiffy and Fanty reviewed Moonshot Vol. 2, which reminded me that I need to hurry up and make time to read this. I loved the first volume, so it’s pretty unconscionable that it’s taken me so long to get around to reading the second.
Likewise, this Smart Bitches, Trashy Books review of that French Beauty and the Beast movie from a couple years ago reminded me that I love Vincent Cassel and European cinema and am garbage for not watching this yet.
Ta Nehisi Coates broke down some of what’s so fucked up about HBO’s Confederate series that’s currently in development.
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry wrote about building her own goddamn castle.
Jim C. Hines explains, more patiently than I ever could, why we can’t/shouldn’t all just write about whatever we want.
Mari Ness continued her series on fairy tales with a piece about “The Nightingale.”
Nisi Shawl’s Expanded Course in the History of Black History returned with a look at The Spook Who Sat By the Door by Sam Greenlee.
I have been telling pretty much everyone I know about J.Y. Yang’s Tensorate novellas, coming out September 26 from Tor.com, and now you can read excerpts from both of them online:
There’s a new story by Ashok K. Banker at Lightspeed: “Tongue.” With an author spotlight here.
Fireside Fiction published the first part of a new serialized story by Sarah Gailey this week.
Fireside also has released their new #BlackSpecFic Report, which I haven’t gotten all the way through yet, but is every bit as important and informative as last year’s.
Podcastle has new fiction from A. Merc Rustad: “What the Fires Burn.”
The second half of content from Issue Seventeen of Uncanny hit the web. My faves:
- “Packing” by T. Kingfisher
- “The Worshipful Society of Glovers” by Mary Robinette Kowal
- “I Built This City for You” by Cassandra Khaw
SF Bluestocking 