So things are about to start calming down around here, and I’ve starting doing The Reading.
Finished Halting State by Charles Stross a few days ago.
Cool near future sci-fi techy stuff, great fun, cunning. Left me feeling it was a bit fluffy, but that could be because I raced through it.
The Atrocity Archives is still by far my favourite Stross so far, though.
I’ve almost finished McSwny’s Issue 21, which is awesome. I’m a short story ho of note, so these Quarterly Concerns are perfick for me.
The stories are, as usual, great.
What makes this QC for me is the fantastic tickly bits: a letter to Ray Charles between each story; a 12-panel storyboard of the next story. The letters are the real deal, with names blotted out, and are a great slice of how very, deeply, odd humans can wrt to their relationship to celebrities. The storyboards are ace. They’re pretty and somehow manage not to give away the story, but still seem spot on when reviewing after the story.
Despite it being quite short, I’m about half way through The Pharmacist’s Mate, which is groovy. Quite unlike anything I’ve read before – combining odd things in a very natural way.
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Today, I noticed a colleague reading a book called “I Feel Guilty When I Say No.” She offered to lend it to me. Naturally, I politely declined. She then asked if I had any books she could borrow. Such as, I ask (with trepidation). Romantic dramas. Um, no.