Platform Decay
4/5. A good outing. Murderbot does a complex rescue in corporate space, and there are juveniles, terrible.
Things I like:
So yeah, pretty good, even with the tragic absence of most of the usual main cast and crew.
4/5. A good outing. Murderbot does a complex rescue in corporate space, and there are juveniles, terrible.
Things I like:
- Getting a nuanced and varied look at just what life in corporate space looks like, particularly for average people. And how those people deal with the various kinds of violence and oppression that surround them. A lot of this was extremely sketchy and gestural before, but this book does a huge amount of background work on adding texture to the world.
- Wells playing out some of the consequences of the governor module hack code being out there now in ways that the fandom has been chewing on for a while.
- Murderbot getting to snark a bit on the ways that Preservation’s utopia is also sometimes really full of itself and incorrect about its own righteousness, as utopias do.
- Emotional self-awareness (oh no, terrible, how could a murderbot have a worse fate).
So yeah, pretty good, even with the tragic absence of most of the usual main cast and crew.
In which Boyd and Miles share Benjamin Sisko duties - or is one of them Dax?
( Past Tense: The For All Mankind Edition )
( Past Tense: The For All Mankind Edition )
Counting by months, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rushthatspeaks and I have been together for fifteen and a half years and married for five and a half and missed any formal celebration of our last anniversary because I was on my way to a hospitalization and so when we found ourselves this afternoon at Castle Island where an absurdly stiff breeze was scooting parasailers like hi-vis velella all over Pleasure Bay, the most natural thing when we tired of walking a wind tunnel around the faience-glinting waves was to pursue a meal on the brick-backed patio of our traditional anniversary restaurant, South Boston's ten-year-old Venetian-style bacaro SRV. We found street parking right around the corner. We ordered a smattering of cicchetti—the never-bettered polpette in their velvet of red sauce, the squid-black crostini topped with salt tufts of baccalà, a translucent dab of quince atop a sweetly plush mouthful of ricotta and salumi, an astonishing smear of uni and oyster butter sharpened with mignonette, plus a kitchen gift of lightly crisped eggplant—and a lambent scallop crudo dressed like the jeweled sea with tiny cubes of astringent kiwi and creamy pistachio and torn fresh mint, served on a shell I would have kept if it had come from a beach and not a restaurant I wanted to let me back through its doors ever again. Even the foccacia was bouncy, salt-skinned, assertive enough to eat even without wiping out the bright tomato sauce left over from the eggplant. My amaro mocktail was as darkly herbal as if it could have gotten me high and Rush-That-Speaks' Salt of the Earth was a tongue-spinning concoction of mezcal, fennel, and absinthe that should not have been able to taste so much like green brine. We wrote them an appreciative note and promised to return before autumn, declining their non-negligible roster of desserts in favor of checking out Uncommon Ice Cream up the street, which had not existed the last time we ate at SRV. Rush got the strawberry which really meant its cinnamon toast crunch swirl and I had the savorily flecked rosemary honeycomb. It had been actual ages since I just walked into a restaurant for an affordably luxurious meal with someone I loved, as in the pre-glacial world I could inhabit more or less safely. The two-hour free space on Mass. Ave. was just a present from the parking gods.
rushthatspeaks and I have been together for fifteen and a half years and married for five and a half and missed any formal celebration of our last anniversary because I was on my way to a hospitalization and so when we found ourselves this afternoon at Castle Island where an absurdly stiff breeze was scooting parasailers like hi-vis velella all over Pleasure Bay, the most natural thing when we tired of walking a wind tunnel around the faience-glinting waves was to pursue a meal on the brick-backed patio of our traditional anniversary restaurant, South Boston's ten-year-old Venetian-style bacaro SRV. We found street parking right around the corner. We ordered a smattering of cicchetti—the never-bettered polpette in their velvet of red sauce, the squid-black crostini topped with salt tufts of baccalà, a translucent dab of quince atop a sweetly plush mouthful of ricotta and salumi, an astonishing smear of uni and oyster butter sharpened with mignonette, plus a kitchen gift of lightly crisped eggplant—and a lambent scallop crudo dressed like the jeweled sea with tiny cubes of astringent kiwi and creamy pistachio and torn fresh mint, served on a shell I would have kept if it had come from a beach and not a restaurant I wanted to let me back through its doors ever again. Even the foccacia was bouncy, salt-skinned, assertive enough to eat even without wiping out the bright tomato sauce left over from the eggplant. My amaro mocktail was as darkly herbal as if it could have gotten me high and Rush-That-Speaks' Salt of the Earth was a tongue-spinning concoction of mezcal, fennel, and absinthe that should not have been able to taste so much like green brine. We wrote them an appreciative note and promised to return before autumn, declining their non-negligible roster of desserts in favor of checking out Uncommon Ice Cream up the street, which had not existed the last time we ate at SRV. Rush got the strawberry which really meant its cinnamon toast crunch swirl and I had the savorily flecked rosemary honeycomb. It had been actual ages since I just walked into a restaurant for an affordably luxurious meal with someone I loved, as in the pre-glacial world I could inhabit more or less safely. The two-hour free space on Mass. Ave. was just a present from the parking gods.
Mind you, I didn't remember till quarter past bedtime, so I am not done reading yet. But I will read!
Season of Drabbles is revealed! I wrote 5 things, and enjoyed being super sneaky about at least a couple of them for a change.
As Sholio:
Orchestral (Biggles, 200 wds)
Biggles/EvS on a music-related "date."
Time and Tide (Star Trek TOS, 700 wds, Spock/McCoy [sort of])
I was hunting around for other people to treat, saw this person mention time loops among their interests, and realized it would be really interesting to try writing a drabble sequence in which each drabble was an iteration of the time loop.
(This was also one of the ones I mentioned that was a fandom I've never written before. Particularly neat in this case since this is far and away one of my oldest "fandoms" - I use that in quotes because I'm not sure if you can call it that when you're as young as I was when I first watched episodes on TV a very long time ago, but it's definitely something I've had feelings about since an early age.)
As AltSholio:
A New Normal (Agent Carter, 100 wds, Jack & Peggy)
My actual assignment, and I had fun with it! Just a bit of post-canon adjustment and banter.
Stay (Biggles, 100 wds, h/c)
H/C fluff for the win.
Second Contact (Project Hail Mary, 300 wds, Grace & Rocky & Adrian)
Grace meeting Adrian. This would be the other fandom I hadn't written before, and probably wouldn't have under my main because there's not likely to be any more of it, but I enjoyed writing this little treat!
As Sholio:
Orchestral (Biggles, 200 wds)
Biggles/EvS on a music-related "date."
Time and Tide (Star Trek TOS, 700 wds, Spock/McCoy [sort of])
I was hunting around for other people to treat, saw this person mention time loops among their interests, and realized it would be really interesting to try writing a drabble sequence in which each drabble was an iteration of the time loop.
(This was also one of the ones I mentioned that was a fandom I've never written before. Particularly neat in this case since this is far and away one of my oldest "fandoms" - I use that in quotes because I'm not sure if you can call it that when you're as young as I was when I first watched episodes on TV a very long time ago, but it's definitely something I've had feelings about since an early age.)
As AltSholio:
A New Normal (Agent Carter, 100 wds, Jack & Peggy)
My actual assignment, and I had fun with it! Just a bit of post-canon adjustment and banter.
Stay (Biggles, 100 wds, h/c)
H/C fluff for the win.
Second Contact (Project Hail Mary, 300 wds, Grace & Rocky & Adrian)
Grace meeting Adrian. This would be the other fandom I hadn't written before, and probably wouldn't have under my main because there's not likely to be any more of it, but I enjoyed writing this little treat!
With great disgruntlement, Hestia submitted to the invasion of her sovereign space as I cleaned and restocked the pantry, disposing in the process of many of the shredded paper bags in which she had been pleased to nest and very unfairly folding the unshredded ones into the indispensable bag of bags, out of reach of the mighty paw of kitten. I have been so ill for so long that I have been barely cooking for myself and tired of it: nothing is superabundant, but groceries were included among the errands I spent my day running. The shelves tidily contain cornmeal and jam and tinned fish and soup. spatch organized his ramen. When I have finished cleaning the counters, I will be able to bake something. I just heard a train whistle blowing in the night, which always makes me think of Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl" (1985). Someday I will eat a seaweed cheese.
spatch organized his ramen. When I have finished cleaning the counters, I will be able to bake something. I just heard a train whistle blowing in the night, which always makes me think of Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl" (1985). Someday I will eat a seaweed cheese.One must imagine Sisyphus horny - Star Wars story, Obi-Wan in a time loop
May. 4th, 2026 11:12 pmpetraOne must imagine Sisyphus horny (13133 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Time Travelling Obi-Wan Kenobi, Time Loop, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Bad Decisions, What Would Quinlan Vos Do?, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Sex (Star Wars), Premature Ejaculation, Misdirection, Virgin Obi-Wan Kenobi
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Time Travelling Obi-Wan Kenobi, Time Loop, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Bad Decisions, What Would Quinlan Vos Do?, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Sex (Star Wars), Premature Ejaculation, Misdirection, Virgin Obi-Wan Kenobi
Summary:
The twentieth time through what has got to be the worst, and longest, day anyone has ever experienced without dying irrevocably, Obi-Wan wakes up on the Negotiator, checks the chrono to be positive of the date and swears a bloody streak, then comms Anakin. He has tried this day doing what he thought best, what he thought Yoda would think best, then Shaak, then Mace, then every other Jedi he's ever respected.
He has been putting off trying what he believes Quinlan's approach would be, or at least what Quinlan would counsel Obi-Wan to do, but the time has come.
Okay, not literally, but the comic in this May the Fourth be with You tumblr post is absolutely killing me.
I'm saving the art because I would be so, so sad if I were to lose it, but please go let the artist know if it amuses you anything like as much as it tickles me.
( Image descriptions )
( Images saved on Dreamwidth, lest Tumblr cease to be )
And yes, I did have to use this icon for this post.
I'm saving the art because I would be so, so sad if I were to lose it, but please go let the artist know if it amuses you anything like as much as it tickles me.
( Image descriptions )
( Images saved on Dreamwidth, lest Tumblr cease to be )
And yes, I did have to use this icon for this post.
One day everyone in the world woke up with these words in front of their eyes, somehow inscribed in their inner eye: YOU ARE LIVING IN A SIMULATION. Simultaneously, a number of impossible things appeared on Earth, apparently to prove it: a frozen tornado, windows between continents, etc.
It's now seven years later. Those words still appear before everyone's eyes periodically. And tours have sprung up to take people to see the Impossibles, or at least as many as can be seen on a seven-day bus trip.
This extremely high-concept premise resembles that of The Measure in some ways: a world-spanning event, clearly real and equally clearly done by a more-than-human power, with immense existential implications, and with no one having any idea why it happened or why it happened now. But this is Daryl Gregory and he's very good with bizarre high-concept premises, and this book is excellent.
The other genre of When We Were Real is "set of random people thrown together" story. A number of the characters are, at least on the surface, straight out of a 1930s train story or a 1970s airplane story: two nuns, a rabbi, a pregnant woman, an elderly woman in a wheelchair and her devoted daughter, a set of elderly tourists, a person who's secretly dying, a person with a secret identity, a fugitive from the law. The only stock character it's missing is the cute child.
The many characters are very human and likable, with even the most frustrating of them having reasons for being the way they are; the annoying pregnant influencer's reason for being an annoying influencer turns out to be both sympathetic and heartbreaking. (Yes, it's partly to provide for her upcoming baby, but the real question is "Why an influencer rather than some other job?")
( Read more... )
The Impossibles themselves are excellent. My favorite was the time tunnel, where you can stay an infinite amount of subjective time (you get a home pulled out of your own history or desires, plus fresh-baked bread every morning) and emerge several hundred miles away, only a second having passed outside. But the flock of non-real sheep was pretty great too.
There's serious themes - existentialism, mortality, meaning, God, ethics, love - but delivered with a light touch. It's more plotty than I expected, given the quest/picaresque structure, and the story is very satisfying. You don't get answers to all the questions, but you do get a general outline as to what's going on and why. It's a very human and humane novel, of the moment but in a good way.
Content notes: Cancer. Plans for suicide due to terminal illness. Pregnancy and birthing issues. Violence.
Wishing everyone who enjoys Star Wars a very Lucastrian day!
I posted this:
But I cried the whole time (doesn't matter, had sex) (300 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Sabé, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Sabé (Star Wars), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Quinlan Vos, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence, First Time, Gossip, Loss of Virginity, Crying During Sex, But then I already tagged it Anakin Skywalker, Confessions, Masturbation, Consensual Infidelity
Summary:
...
And if the stars align and my betas have time, I will have another story soon, this one on the classic theme of Obi-Wan Time Travelling, but with a Groundhog Day twist and loss of virginity.
I posted this:
But I cried the whole time (doesn't matter, had sex) (300 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Sabé, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Sabé (Star Wars), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Quinlan Vos, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence, First Time, Gossip, Loss of Virginity, Crying During Sex, But then I already tagged it Anakin Skywalker, Confessions, Masturbation, Consensual Infidelity
Summary:
Padmé talks about Anakin with Sabé.
Obi-Wan talks about Anakin with Quinlan.
Anakin practices basic stress relief in his bunk.
...
And if the stars align and my betas have time, I will have another story soon, this one on the classic theme of Obi-Wan Time Travelling, but with a Groundhog Day twist and loss of virginity.
Tom Bertram on being upbraided by his father for getting into debt to such an extent that his extremely wealthy father can't get him it out of it without selling the living promised to his younger son.
“I blush for you, Tom,” said [Sir Thomas], in his most dignified manner; “I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.”
Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, 1st, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; 2dly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, 3dly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.
We've all met Tom. We've probably all been Tom to some extent, but usually aged more about 5 than 25. Unfortunately, one can think of people who retain this characteristic many decades later in life.
It's also interesting to see the ordinal adverbs not spelt out as "firstly" etc, which one would expect from a modern novel.
Anyway, I have just restarted reading Mansfield Park. It's been well over a decade since I last did, and Austen seemed a good option for my current project of making an effort to read more for relaxation.
“I blush for you, Tom,” said [Sir Thomas], in his most dignified manner; “I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.”
Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, 1st, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; 2dly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, 3dly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.
We've all met Tom. We've probably all been Tom to some extent, but usually aged more about 5 than 25. Unfortunately, one can think of people who retain this characteristic many decades later in life.
It's also interesting to see the ordinal adverbs not spelt out as "firstly" etc, which one would expect from a modern novel.
Anyway, I have just restarted reading Mansfield Park. It's been well over a decade since I last did, and Austen seemed a good option for my current project of making an effort to read more for relaxation.
The last book!
Last week: Astrological phenomena and the star of Bethlehem. Messianic (?) prophecy about Vespasian. Brutality of the siege, and discussion of the law of war protecting prisoners from the enemy army (or lack thereof). Imperator.
This week: Book 7. Wrapping up of the war. The Masada fortress and group suicide (which I think is interesting to think about given the discussion we had a few books back). The temple of Onias. (Dedicated commment threads for both of these below, for anyone who wants to join in!)
Yay book club, thank you everyone!
Last week: Astrological phenomena and the star of Bethlehem. Messianic (?) prophecy about Vespasian. Brutality of the siege, and discussion of the law of war protecting prisoners from the enemy army (or lack thereof). Imperator.
This week: Book 7. Wrapping up of the war. The Masada fortress and group suicide (which I think is interesting to think about given the discussion we had a few books back). The temple of Onias. (Dedicated commment threads for both of these below, for anyone who wants to join in!)
Yay book club, thank you everyone!
My poem "Gramarye" has been accepted by Not One of Us. As indicated by the title, it bears some influence from Susan Cooper. The rest was influenced by anger and the sea. I am coming up on twenty-five years as a published author and it started with this pocket-sized black-and-white 'zine. I always encourage writer-type persons of my acquaintaince to send them fiction and poetry.
I regretfully conclude that I am not the target audience for Elizabeth Myers' Mrs. Christopher (1946) when its its banger of a premise—whether the three witnesses to the shooting of a blackmailer will turn in their benefactor of a little old lady who pulled the trigger when the reward is £500—plays out as a Christian thought experiment of forgiveness and love in which there is no suspense after all except for the punch line of the verdict. Its tempted witnesses are not psychologically unbelievable and their different circumstances are drawn in well-written detail, but taken all together they feel like a rigged deck. I am not sure whether I should try the film it was adapted into, Marc Allégret's Blackmailed (1951). On a shallower note, the author had an incredible face in her short life. I was glad to read that she bonded with Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, actually, there are quite a few noir thrillers told from the perspective of a woman, but Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's The Blank Wall (1947) may have been my first, too, through its screen translation of Max Ophüls' The Reckless Moment (1949), and I like the cover choice of Jo Cain's New York Harbor (c. 1940) a lot.
I regretfully conclude that I am not the target audience for Elizabeth Myers' Mrs. Christopher (1946) when its its banger of a premise—whether the three witnesses to the shooting of a blackmailer will turn in their benefactor of a little old lady who pulled the trigger when the reward is £500—plays out as a Christian thought experiment of forgiveness and love in which there is no suspense after all except for the punch line of the verdict. Its tempted witnesses are not psychologically unbelievable and their different circumstances are drawn in well-written detail, but taken all together they feel like a rigged deck. I am not sure whether I should try the film it was adapted into, Marc Allégret's Blackmailed (1951). On a shallower note, the author had an incredible face in her short life. I was glad to read that she bonded with Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, actually, there are quite a few noir thrillers told from the perspective of a woman, but Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's The Blank Wall (1947) may have been my first, too, through its screen translation of Max Ophüls' The Reckless Moment (1949), and I like the cover choice of Jo Cain's New York Harbor (c. 1940) a lot.
Hello!
I have requested Biggles for this exchange for convenience - if you feel moved to include any characters from the wider WEJLU please feel extremely free to do so.
Requested ship/s: Biggles & EvS, Biggles/EvS
DNW: Permanent character death, rape/non-con, underage, infidelity, WW2 setting
List of requested tags and some general prompt-like thoughts below the cut.
( Read more... )
I have requested Biggles for this exchange for convenience - if you feel moved to include any characters from the wider WEJLU please feel extremely free to do so.
Requested ship/s: Biggles & EvS, Biggles/EvS
DNW: Permanent character death, rape/non-con, underage, infidelity, WW2 setting
List of requested tags and some general prompt-like thoughts below the cut.
( Read more... )
I was talking to The Husband last night about a video game he's been playing, an indie game that is apparently a two-person production (it's made by a husband and wife team of developers) and that segued into talking about Babylon 5 and Marvel, and he said something that I wanted to write down because I think it's always going to stick with me.
"Every person's brain emits a particular color of paint. If you mix too many of them together, you just get mud."
You can massage the metaphor in various directions - sometimes mixing together different paint colors is lovely! Or, if all you have to look at is suburban beige, any color really stands out. One person's garish or too pastel is another person's perfect hue. And so forth. It's just such a lovely way to look at it, and I will be thinking about that for a while. I like having different unique paint colors to look at, and refining my own.
"Every person's brain emits a particular color of paint. If you mix too many of them together, you just get mud."
You can massage the metaphor in various directions - sometimes mixing together different paint colors is lovely! Or, if all you have to look at is suburban beige, any color really stands out. One person's garish or too pastel is another person's perfect hue. And so forth. It's just such a lovely way to look at it, and I will be thinking about that for a while. I like having different unique paint colors to look at, and refining my own.
In the afternoon when the overcast cleared, spatch and I went walking down to the Mystic and I photographed a whole lot of flowers, of which I was happiest with the ones that came out like abstracts.
( I hear the river say your name. )
Physically I am just pretty miserable, but the lilac is breaking out in real bloom and Rob has been showing me potato-quality Deep Space Nine (1993–99). I had tarragon-sautéed mushrooms and zucchini for dinner.
spatch and I went walking down to the Mystic and I photographed a whole lot of flowers, of which I was happiest with the ones that came out like abstracts.( I hear the river say your name. )
Physically I am just pretty miserable, but the lilac is breaking out in real bloom and Rob has been showing me potato-quality Deep Space Nine (1993–99). I had tarragon-sautéed mushrooms and zucchini for dinner.
I signed up for Season of Drabbles on an impulse under a new account called AltSholio (note my A+++ socking skills). In the past I've been slightly inhibited about signing up for some kinds of exchanges that I would've been more likely to try back on LJ - drabbles, fanart, that kind of thing, stuff that's a bit out of place on my main account - so I created this new account so I can play around with things that I might otherwise hesitate to try.
Anyway, I had fun and I ended up writing 5 things across both that and my main account - two of which are for fandoms I've never written before! And I got two delightful gifts as AltSholio:
Bygones (Agent Carter, 200 wds, Jack & Peggy)
A sweet little season 2 coda, very much in character.
We'll Meet Again (Biggles, 600 wds)
Slightly AU next meeting for Biggles and EvS, set in the early 1920s. Great characterization and a delightful concept!
Author reveals will be on Tuesday.
Anyway, I had fun and I ended up writing 5 things across both that and my main account - two of which are for fandoms I've never written before! And I got two delightful gifts as AltSholio:
Bygones (Agent Carter, 200 wds, Jack & Peggy)
A sweet little season 2 coda, very much in character.
We'll Meet Again (Biggles, 600 wds)
Slightly AU next meeting for Biggles and EvS, set in the early 1920s. Great characterization and a delightful concept!
Author reveals will be on Tuesday.
When I say that reading Aster Glenn Gray's Diary of a Cranky Bookworm feels like spending several delightful hours with an old friend, this is just about the least surprising statement in the world I could possibly make, because:
a.) Aster is indeed a longtime friend, and also
b.) both the book and Sage-as-protagonist are drawing explicit inspiration from many other teen-girl-writer bildungsromans (I Capture the Castle, the Montmaray trilogy, the collected oeuvre of LM Montgomery, etc.) that are beloved old friends to me, and also
c.) every character and interpersonal dynamic in this book does indeed feel like an exact portrait of someone I either was or knew in high school, with pitch-perfect and sometimes painful accuracy
Sage Perrault, Our Heroine, is an imaginative, judgmental misanthrope from a small town in Minnesota who was fortunate enough to form a small tight friends group in elementary school who also proved themselves worthy of her affection by being precocious readers:
- Georgie, Sage's best friend since kindergarten, when her mother (terrified of Sage becoming a miserable loner like Gay Cousin Rachel who Never Comes Home For Christmas) seized on the other precocious reader in class and started arranging playdates with feverish speed. Sensible, driven, raised by an overprotective mom who never got out of town and is thus double determined to Get Out Of Town. Friends outside of Sage: church youth group
- Arielle, the dramatic friend, with inattentive divorced parents, a moderate case of main character syndrome, and a rich life of the imagination often expressed through implausible lies about her past. Passionate in her enthusiasms but will not stop obnoxiously sending you fanfiction that you do not care about. Friends outside of Sage: drama club
- Hilary, the chillest friend; always delighted to run with any bit that she's given and make it more fun and funny, but holds her own emotional cards close to the chest. Has a very nice boyfriend and never talks about him. Wonderful to hang out with at any time but is planning for pre-med so will almost certainly be far too busy to stay in close touch with anyone when they scatter. Friends outside of Sage: almost the entire school, everyone loves Hilary because she's a delight, and the fact that she chooses to eat lunch with Sage and Hilary and Arielle is frankly a great compliment to all of them
This has left Sage peacefully free to hold onto grudges also formed in elementary school, continue happily hating the kids in her class that she has hated since they were all eight, and avoid going through the effort of speaking to anybody else. Unfortunately, it's senior year! College is looming, and with it new tensions and unpleasant questions, such as:
- can being a precocious reader really continue as the be-all and end-all of Sage's perception of her own self-worth? and how can she write a college essay about it?
- how much of what Arielle's told them all about her plans for college is normal bad ideas, and how much is outright lies, and how much is in fact a cry for help?
- how can Sage break it to beloved best friend Georgie that she doesn't want to go to the U [University of Minnesota Twin Cities], which is the ultimate apex of Georgie's ambitions, and instead kind of wants to attend a small liberal arts college somewhere in the middle of nowhere?
- but if she doesn't go to college with Georgie, will she ever successfully speak to another human being?
- and on that topic, is it possible that a Longtime Beautiful Enemy is in fact a human being worth talking to, to despite the fact that she's bad at spelling and was mean in middle school?
Sage, early on: Arielle always tries to blow on whatever flickering embers of bisexuality she finds within herself, which I admire. I'd be far more inclined to play Whack-A-Mole. And obviously part of the book is also that Sage has to stop playing Whack-A-Mole, but the big emotional question of the Longtime Beautiful Enemy subplot is less "will they kiss" [though they do, eventually] than "can Sage build an emotional connection with a new person, at the same time as she's facing fundamental shifts in all her other most important relationships?" At its heart this is a book about friendship in all its different shapes, the different kinds of ties you build with different people and the way those change with you as you grow.
And also, of course, about being judgmental about books and films and art. There's a whole other conversation that I feel like I've been coincidentally having in various different contexts about the purpose of the literary cross-reference in this sort of text; I am definitely one of the people for whom there's a profound self-indulgent pleasure in watching characters react to another work [Kage Baker's infamous Cyborgs Watch D.W. Griffith scene my beloved; what a bad idea to spend a whole chapter on it and what a delight it was for me personally] as long as I don't believe that the author believes that all right-thinking people should agree with the character's opinions. Fortunately I am in no danger of this with Sage. Sage has a LOT of opinions about books and films and art, and I disagree with many of them but so do many of Sage's friends; this, too, is one of the important shapes of friendship.
a.) Aster is indeed a longtime friend, and also
b.) both the book and Sage-as-protagonist are drawing explicit inspiration from many other teen-girl-writer bildungsromans (I Capture the Castle, the Montmaray trilogy, the collected oeuvre of LM Montgomery, etc.) that are beloved old friends to me, and also
c.) every character and interpersonal dynamic in this book does indeed feel like an exact portrait of someone I either was or knew in high school, with pitch-perfect and sometimes painful accuracy
Sage Perrault, Our Heroine, is an imaginative, judgmental misanthrope from a small town in Minnesota who was fortunate enough to form a small tight friends group in elementary school who also proved themselves worthy of her affection by being precocious readers:
- Georgie, Sage's best friend since kindergarten, when her mother (terrified of Sage becoming a miserable loner like Gay Cousin Rachel who Never Comes Home For Christmas) seized on the other precocious reader in class and started arranging playdates with feverish speed. Sensible, driven, raised by an overprotective mom who never got out of town and is thus double determined to Get Out Of Town. Friends outside of Sage: church youth group
- Arielle, the dramatic friend, with inattentive divorced parents, a moderate case of main character syndrome, and a rich life of the imagination often expressed through implausible lies about her past. Passionate in her enthusiasms but will not stop obnoxiously sending you fanfiction that you do not care about. Friends outside of Sage: drama club
- Hilary, the chillest friend; always delighted to run with any bit that she's given and make it more fun and funny, but holds her own emotional cards close to the chest. Has a very nice boyfriend and never talks about him. Wonderful to hang out with at any time but is planning for pre-med so will almost certainly be far too busy to stay in close touch with anyone when they scatter. Friends outside of Sage: almost the entire school, everyone loves Hilary because she's a delight, and the fact that she chooses to eat lunch with Sage and Hilary and Arielle is frankly a great compliment to all of them
This has left Sage peacefully free to hold onto grudges also formed in elementary school, continue happily hating the kids in her class that she has hated since they were all eight, and avoid going through the effort of speaking to anybody else. Unfortunately, it's senior year! College is looming, and with it new tensions and unpleasant questions, such as:
- can being a precocious reader really continue as the be-all and end-all of Sage's perception of her own self-worth? and how can she write a college essay about it?
- how much of what Arielle's told them all about her plans for college is normal bad ideas, and how much is outright lies, and how much is in fact a cry for help?
- how can Sage break it to beloved best friend Georgie that she doesn't want to go to the U [University of Minnesota Twin Cities], which is the ultimate apex of Georgie's ambitions, and instead kind of wants to attend a small liberal arts college somewhere in the middle of nowhere?
- but if she doesn't go to college with Georgie, will she ever successfully speak to another human being?
- and on that topic, is it possible that a Longtime Beautiful Enemy is in fact a human being worth talking to, to despite the fact that she's bad at spelling and was mean in middle school?
Sage, early on: Arielle always tries to blow on whatever flickering embers of bisexuality she finds within herself, which I admire. I'd be far more inclined to play Whack-A-Mole. And obviously part of the book is also that Sage has to stop playing Whack-A-Mole, but the big emotional question of the Longtime Beautiful Enemy subplot is less "will they kiss" [though they do, eventually] than "can Sage build an emotional connection with a new person, at the same time as she's facing fundamental shifts in all her other most important relationships?" At its heart this is a book about friendship in all its different shapes, the different kinds of ties you build with different people and the way those change with you as you grow.
And also, of course, about being judgmental about books and films and art. There's a whole other conversation that I feel like I've been coincidentally having in various different contexts about the purpose of the literary cross-reference in this sort of text; I am definitely one of the people for whom there's a profound self-indulgent pleasure in watching characters react to another work [Kage Baker's infamous Cyborgs Watch D.W. Griffith scene my beloved; what a bad idea to spend a whole chapter on it and what a delight it was for me personally] as long as I don't believe that the author believes that all right-thinking people should agree with the character's opinions. Fortunately I am in no danger of this with Sage. Sage has a LOT of opinions about books and films and art, and I disagree with many of them but so do many of Sage's friends; this, too, is one of the important shapes of friendship.
A Set of Sequels: Sovereign, by April Daniels & Prison of Sleep, by Tim Pratt
May. 2nd, 2026 12:04 pmrachelmanija
This picks up when Danny's been Dreadnought for a while, and is getting a bit too into the violent aspects of the job. This aspect is quite well done - you understand what's going on with her, but it actually is a bit unsettling. Also, Valkyrja reappears, sort of; an evil techbro wreaks havoc; a TERF is threatening the world; and Danny works on her relationships.
I liked this more than the first book. Danny developed as a character and spent a lot less time being abused by transphobes. I'll grab the third book when it comes out.
The sequel isn't as good as the first book, unfortunately. I'd have been happy with more of Zax, Minna, and Vicky exploring the multiverse, but this book is much more plot-driven and Minna and Vicky only show up three-quarters of the way through. Half or more of the book is narrated by a new character whose identity I'll leave out as it's spoilery for the first book. She was fine as a character but her storyline was less interesting. Zax gets a new companion, and I did quite enjoy his adventures with her. I also enjoyed Minna and Vicky when they finally appeared.
But the plot-driven parts were less interesting, and the structure was really odd and not in a way that benefited the book. Instead of picking up where the first book left off, we get a retrospective summary of what happened some time after that point, then we get the entire backstory of the non-Zax narrator bringing her up to the point where she meets Zax in the first book, then it jumps forward and we get what's happening to her now, then we catch up with what Zax is doing now, and then, about three quarters of the way in, we finally get the story of what happened immediately after the first book left off. I think it would have worked better to tell the story more linearly. And also, to have much more Minna.
It's not a bad book and it does have some really good parts, but there are some baffling choices made.