Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 126
December 26, 2018
Happy Yuletide!
The Yuletide Archive this year is full of wonderful stories, complete with the yearly array of quirky, Yuletide-only fandoms. This year it's The Voynich Manuscript and Medieval Manuscript Illustrations such as knights fighting snails, penis trees, and barnacle geese.
Other fandoms that may be of interest include Crazy Rich Asians, C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine Chronicles, Stephen King's The Stand and The Long Walk, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home, Earthsea, and The Left Hand of Darkness, and William McGonnigall's The Tay Bridge Disaster.
I got two absolutely fantastic stories. It was a great Yuletide for me.
Unfit to Be Strangers. The Leftovers. They're all alone together. A haunting and very moving story about grief and new connections in a post-apocalyptic world. It's spoilery for an aspect of the show which I would highly recommend not being spoiled for, so if you haven't seen it and are considering watching it, don't read this. But if you're definitely not going to see the show, this story stands on its own as it's about original characters.
Lifeline. The Punisher TV. A flashbang leaves Frank temporarily blind and deaf while attempting to rescue hostages, including David. If you like the show, you have got to read this story. It's 10K of exciting action and Frank & David interaction, and is very clever and impressive in that it's basically Die Hard only he actually is blind and deaf for most of the story.
I have four stories total between the main collection and Yuletide Madness, if you want to try to find them.
comments
Other fandoms that may be of interest include Crazy Rich Asians, C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine Chronicles, Stephen King's The Stand and The Long Walk, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home, Earthsea, and The Left Hand of Darkness, and William McGonnigall's The Tay Bridge Disaster.
I got two absolutely fantastic stories. It was a great Yuletide for me.
Unfit to Be Strangers. The Leftovers. They're all alone together. A haunting and very moving story about grief and new connections in a post-apocalyptic world. It's spoilery for an aspect of the show which I would highly recommend not being spoiled for, so if you haven't seen it and are considering watching it, don't read this. But if you're definitely not going to see the show, this story stands on its own as it's about original characters.
Lifeline. The Punisher TV. A flashbang leaves Frank temporarily blind and deaf while attempting to rescue hostages, including David. If you like the show, you have got to read this story. It's 10K of exciting action and Frank & David interaction, and is very clever and impressive in that it's basically Die Hard only he actually is blind and deaf for most of the story.
I have four stories total between the main collection and Yuletide Madness, if you want to try to find them.
comments
December 25, 2018
Happy Yuletide, Merry Christmas, and Happy Whatever Holiday You Might Be Celebrating!
I woke up to TWO wonderful-looking Yuletide stories! I also woke up to family excitement and celebrations. I'm going to save the stories for when I can actually read them, which will probably be later today or tonight.
comments
comments
December 23, 2018
Not My Father’s Son, by Alan Cumming (Audiobook, read by author)
I checked this out of the library for the rather shallow reason of enjoying Cumming’s natural Scottish accent, under the impression that it was a memoir about his showbiz career and the title referred to his career path.
It’s actually a fairly intense memoir about his childhood with a physically and verbally abusive father, and how that came back to haunt him when he did a show where they researched his genealogy. While Cumming became fascinated with a relative on his mother’s side, a war hero who died under mysterious circumstances, he also found out some complicated secrets involving his father. The result was basically Alan Cumming’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer: Family Secrets Edition.
It’s well-written and Cumming comes across as very honest and likable. The story is interesting, though some parts start feeling a bit repetitive. It does talk about show business, but that’s more in the background than the foreground; it’s much more about difficult family issues, coming to terms with your past, and child abuse recovery. It’s a solid book and his voice is indeed lovely, though I’m still left wanting to know his thoughts on Cabaret.
Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming Audio CD[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
It’s actually a fairly intense memoir about his childhood with a physically and verbally abusive father, and how that came back to haunt him when he did a show where they researched his genealogy. While Cumming became fascinated with a relative on his mother’s side, a war hero who died under mysterious circumstances, he also found out some complicated secrets involving his father. The result was basically Alan Cumming’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer: Family Secrets Edition.
It’s well-written and Cumming comes across as very honest and likable. The story is interesting, though some parts start feeling a bit repetitive. It does talk about show business, but that’s more in the background than the foreground; it’s much more about difficult family issues, coming to terms with your past, and child abuse recovery. It’s a solid book and his voice is indeed lovely, though I’m still left wanting to know his thoughts on Cabaret.
Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming Audio CD[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 22, 2018
Talisman, by Carla Speed McNeil
Did you ever have a book you loved when you were a child, lose it, and then forget what it was called so you could never find it again?
Marcie did. It was a paper book in a world where those are scarce, which a family friend, Jaeger, read aloud to her before she knew how to read. It had a werewolf who is never entirely wolf or entirely man, mists and monsters, and a queen of the forest. When her mother, not understanding what it meant to her, threw it out, Marcie set out on what would prove to be a lifelong quest, first to find it and then to recreate it.
This is the fourth book in this series, but the first that I read. It’s an easier entry than the first book – almost all of the story is there on the page, and what isn’t is either not necessary to understand the plot or can be roughly figured out from context. For instance, her father is brain-damaged and helpless, but also violent and terrifying; why he’s like that is covered in Sin-Eater, but all you need to know in Talisman is the effect that has on Marcie.
Probably every writer and most readers have been Marcie to some degree or in some part. Unlike other books I’ve read which deal with similar themes, Talisman doesn’t end with Marcie’s decision to become a writer, but follows her as she struggles to translate the images and ideas in her head into words that convey their beauty and vividness to others.
The art is a little bit simpler in this book than the other Finder volumes I’ve read, more like a children’s book illustration. It’s very evocative, as is the entire story.
The hardcover edition is currently selling for $6! Great deal.
Finder: Talisman[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
Marcie did. It was a paper book in a world where those are scarce, which a family friend, Jaeger, read aloud to her before she knew how to read. It had a werewolf who is never entirely wolf or entirely man, mists and monsters, and a queen of the forest. When her mother, not understanding what it meant to her, threw it out, Marcie set out on what would prove to be a lifelong quest, first to find it and then to recreate it.
This is the fourth book in this series, but the first that I read. It’s an easier entry than the first book – almost all of the story is there on the page, and what isn’t is either not necessary to understand the plot or can be roughly figured out from context. For instance, her father is brain-damaged and helpless, but also violent and terrifying; why he’s like that is covered in Sin-Eater, but all you need to know in Talisman is the effect that has on Marcie.
Probably every writer and most readers have been Marcie to some degree or in some part. Unlike other books I’ve read which deal with similar themes, Talisman doesn’t end with Marcie’s decision to become a writer, but follows her as she struggles to translate the images and ideas in her head into words that convey their beauty and vividness to others.
The art is a little bit simpler in this book than the other Finder volumes I’ve read, more like a children’s book illustration. It’s very evocative, as is the entire story.
The hardcover edition is currently selling for $6! Great deal.
Finder: Talisman[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 21, 2018
Riding Rockets, by Astronaut Mike Mullane
First sentence of this astronaut memoir: I was naked, lying on my side on a table in the NASA Flight Medicine Clinic bathroom, probing at my rear end with the nozzle of an enema.
A no-holds-barred account of being an astronaut by a man who did three missions on the space shuttle. Much of it absolutely hilarious, some of it is sad (he knew the astronauts on Challenger, and was very close to Judith Resnik), some is angry (an analysis of the dysfunctional NASA culture that ended up literally killing people), and some is beautiful. If you like the first chapter, and I sure did, you should definitely read the book.
Mullane is distinctly politically incorrect, but unlike most people to whom that phrase can be applied, he actually examines what he means by that, why he’s like that, and what it felt like to have his views changed. He arrived at NASA as a sexist pig, then met the female astronauts and realized that they were just as competent as the men and in some cases more so. That story (“I was prejudiced until I met the people I was prejudiced against”) is common; what’s uncommon is the warts-and-all honesty about how that actually happened, what it felt like, and that some but not all of his views changed. (He evaluates women’s attractiveness a lot; if this will make you ragey, be warned.) The book felt very honest, which is one of the main things I look for in a memoir.
Some books by/about astronauts make wonder why the hell they even do it, beyond for the challenge and a desire for glory, when so much of it sounds so miserable and regimented and boring. Others gloss over the gross and frustrating aspects. Mullane’s is the first I read that glossed over nothing, but also made me understand the other reasons why they do it. His few but memorable descriptions of the awe and beauty of space are breathtaking.
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
A no-holds-barred account of being an astronaut by a man who did three missions on the space shuttle. Much of it absolutely hilarious, some of it is sad (he knew the astronauts on Challenger, and was very close to Judith Resnik), some is angry (an analysis of the dysfunctional NASA culture that ended up literally killing people), and some is beautiful. If you like the first chapter, and I sure did, you should definitely read the book.
Mullane is distinctly politically incorrect, but unlike most people to whom that phrase can be applied, he actually examines what he means by that, why he’s like that, and what it felt like to have his views changed. He arrived at NASA as a sexist pig, then met the female astronauts and realized that they were just as competent as the men and in some cases more so. That story (“I was prejudiced until I met the people I was prejudiced against”) is common; what’s uncommon is the warts-and-all honesty about how that actually happened, what it felt like, and that some but not all of his views changed. (He evaluates women’s attractiveness a lot; if this will make you ragey, be warned.) The book felt very honest, which is one of the main things I look for in a memoir.
Some books by/about astronauts make wonder why the hell they even do it, beyond for the challenge and a desire for glory, when so much of it sounds so miserable and regimented and boring. Others gloss over the gross and frustrating aspects. Mullane’s is the first I read that glossed over nothing, but also made me understand the other reasons why they do it. His few but memorable descriptions of the awe and beauty of space are breathtaking.
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 20, 2018
My Fandom Stocking!
It's up now.
This is essentially a treats-only exchange, with no minimum wordcount for fic. Given that, I request approximately one bazillion fandoms, plus book reviews, plus original art, plus icons, plus original fic, etc. If you ever wanted to give me a small gift but didn't know any of my fandoms, this could be your chance!
comments
This is essentially a treats-only exchange, with no minimum wordcount for fic. Given that, I request approximately one bazillion fandoms, plus book reviews, plus original art, plus icons, plus original fic, etc. If you ever wanted to give me a small gift but didn't know any of my fandoms, this could be your chance!
comments
My Chickens and I, by Isabella Rossellini; Photography by Patrice Casanova
Yes, that Isabella Rossellini, glamorous movie star. And also, charming chicken fanatic. This book consists of an account of how Rossellini ordered a box of chicks and fell headfirst into becoming a chicken fan, plus her genuinely informative and fun explanation of chicken evolution, chicken heritage breeds, and other fascinating chicken facts. It’s about one-third text, one-third Rossellini’s own adorable cartoon illustrations, and one-third glamour photographs of chickens plus some decidedly non-glamorous photos of herself with her chickens.
This book gets my vote as the single most delightful thing I’ve read all year, and this was the year that I discovered Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax and A Nun in the Closet. Perhaps it’s relevant that I borrowed it from my step-mom, who raises chickens, and I read it while staying on her property and the day after we went to a farm to pick up a replacement rooster for her rooster Dragonne, tragically killed by a bobcat. So I was in a chicken mood. However, if you have no interest in chickens before you read this book, that will probably have changed by the time you’re done.
My Chickens and I[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
This book gets my vote as the single most delightful thing I’ve read all year, and this was the year that I discovered Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax and A Nun in the Closet. Perhaps it’s relevant that I borrowed it from my step-mom, who raises chickens, and I read it while staying on her property and the day after we went to a farm to pick up a replacement rooster for her rooster Dragonne, tragically killed by a bobcat. So I was in a chicken mood. However, if you have no interest in chickens before you read this book, that will probably have changed by the time you’re done.
My Chickens and I[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 18, 2018
Do you like X-Men comics?
Join the new X-Men Classic comm, a community for discussing Chris Claremont-era X-Men and all things mutant, including related comics like New Mutants, Magik, X-Factor, etc.
comments
comments
The Last Light of the Sun, by Guy Gavriel Kay
A faux-historical novel involving Vikings and Anglo-Saxons under different names in a world with two moons... but seriously, it’s Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. There are blood eagles and King Alfred the Great burning the cakes, only they all have different names so I kept having to stop and try to figure out who the real-world analogues of the Karchites were (still no idea on that one.)
If you’ve read Kay’s novels in the same world, like The Lions of al-Rassan or Sailing to Sarantium, you’ll have a good idea of this and whether you’ll like it or not: a chessboard-like style of plotting where a great many scattered characters all turn out to have a role to play in some climactic action, lots of atmosphere, action set-pieces, coincidence/fate, and an operatic level of drama.
The oppression of women in this book really oppressive to read about. Almost every female character was living under conditions of total or near-total powerlessness, and they’re generally very conscious of and miserable about it. Though some managed to wrest some agency or happiness out anyway, and that aspect was well-done, it was still depressing. The one that got to me the most was the woman who identified with the male warrior society, was clearly suited to it, and had even managed to learn to fight well. Too bad, a ten-year-old farmer boy is going to be pressed into battle with a scythe he can barely lift, while she gets sent off for a political marriage to a thirteen-year-old boy.
There’s a very striking moment in which a woman does something incredibly brave that has no effect on the plot - she’s trying to do something very important which, unbeknownst to her, someone else has already done. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful riff on one of my favorite themes, which is that our actions are meaningful regardless of their impact on the bigger picture. On the other hand, it really summed up the status of women in that world: they live in a society where 99 times out of 100, even their most extraordinary efforts will change nothing.
That being said, the book was an absorbing read, with a lot of great storytelling in “how will he get out of this fix?” mode and some very otherworldly-feeling depictions of faeries and other supernatural beings.
The other thing I liked a lot was that the characters are all living at a time of immense change, and many of them are wrestling with that. There’s a conversation at one point between an Anglo-Saxon and a Welsh character who’ve seen the ruins of Rome, and know that hundreds of years ago, people had a level of comfort and art and peace that they’re not even close to achieving now, and how they’re trying anyway. The themes of life on the cusp of change, fighting for things that won’t be possible within your lifetime if at all, and that it’s important to try even without knowing if you’ll ever win, felt very timely.
The Last Light of the Sun[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
If you’ve read Kay’s novels in the same world, like The Lions of al-Rassan or Sailing to Sarantium, you’ll have a good idea of this and whether you’ll like it or not: a chessboard-like style of plotting where a great many scattered characters all turn out to have a role to play in some climactic action, lots of atmosphere, action set-pieces, coincidence/fate, and an operatic level of drama.
The oppression of women in this book really oppressive to read about. Almost every female character was living under conditions of total or near-total powerlessness, and they’re generally very conscious of and miserable about it. Though some managed to wrest some agency or happiness out anyway, and that aspect was well-done, it was still depressing. The one that got to me the most was the woman who identified with the male warrior society, was clearly suited to it, and had even managed to learn to fight well. Too bad, a ten-year-old farmer boy is going to be pressed into battle with a scythe he can barely lift, while she gets sent off for a political marriage to a thirteen-year-old boy.
There’s a very striking moment in which a woman does something incredibly brave that has no effect on the plot - she’s trying to do something very important which, unbeknownst to her, someone else has already done. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful riff on one of my favorite themes, which is that our actions are meaningful regardless of their impact on the bigger picture. On the other hand, it really summed up the status of women in that world: they live in a society where 99 times out of 100, even their most extraordinary efforts will change nothing.
That being said, the book was an absorbing read, with a lot of great storytelling in “how will he get out of this fix?” mode and some very otherworldly-feeling depictions of faeries and other supernatural beings.
The other thing I liked a lot was that the characters are all living at a time of immense change, and many of them are wrestling with that. There’s a conversation at one point between an Anglo-Saxon and a Welsh character who’ve seen the ruins of Rome, and know that hundreds of years ago, people had a level of comfort and art and peace that they’re not even close to achieving now, and how they’re trying anyway. The themes of life on the cusp of change, fighting for things that won’t be possible within your lifetime if at all, and that it’s important to try even without knowing if you’ll ever win, felt very timely.
The Last Light of the Sun[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 17, 2018
Sin-Eater Part I & II (Finder # 1), by Carla Speed McNeil
Finder is a fairly famous science fiction comic that was originally self-published, then moved to Dark Horse. I was reading it for while, then forgot to keep up, then decided I needed to re-read everything before reading the latest volume, didn’t get around to that, and then forgot about it, which is what inevitably happens with me and all long ongoing comic series no matter how much I like them. I am now re-reading in the hope of actually catching up with some of the new volumes.
The world is post-apocalyptic, with incredibly intricate cultural worldbuilding. If you enjoy that sort of thing, you will probably enjoy this comic. The first two volumes center around Jaeger, a Finder and Sin-Eater and wanderer and ex-soldier who comes from the desert to a domed city where he knows some people, including but not remotely limited to…
- the people who work in a bookshop, such as an elderly woman who does divination with rocks and an intelligent male lion-creature left there as a guard by one of the more humanoid lion-women.
- Brigham, a violent and unbalanced man from a clan with strictly defined male/female gender roles, who has just been released from prison and is about to go back to stalking his family.
- Emma, Brigham’s ex-wife, from a clan where everyone presents as female, who lives much of her life in a literal dreamworld, works as a landscape architect, and has an AI assistant who speaks in a phonetic French accent.
- Their three children, each with their own complex story. Gender roles and identity figure prominently in their lives, but how is too complicated and ambiguous to summarize.
The main plot in this volume is Jaeger’s attempts to protect Brigham’s ex-family from him, their attempts to move on from Brigham’s control, and the backstory of how and why the current situation came about. But the world and story have a very complex and largely unexplained background. For instance, as I was writing this I realized that I wasn’t sure whether Jaeger came to the city specifically to check up on the family because he knew Brigham was going to be released from prison, or whether that was coincidental, or whether he didn’t know but it wasn’t a coincidence but rather a way that his Finding abilities operate.
And that sums up my experience of the actual plot of this comic. I enjoyed it a lot, but I felt like at least half of it was going over my head. Far more than Sandman, which is ostensibly about dreams but is really much more about stories, reading this feels dreamlike. It’s fragmented, incredibly vivid, emotionally realistic in the weird way that emotions really are weird, and often inexplicable.
Possibly the most odd, quirky, and worldbuilding-intensive aspect of a very odd, quirky, and worldbuilding-intensive comic are the footnotes. There are pages and pages of them after the comic, explaining everything from the entire culture of the miniature dinosaur only ever seen in the background of one panel in one issue to Easter egg-type references to the motivation of major actions of main characters which are otherwise inexplicable.
The footnotes range from interesting throwaways to explanations of events essential to the plot. If you don’t read them, the stories are compelling but dreamlike, inexplicable; if you do read them, well, kind of the same but they at least make more sense. I’m honestly not sure whether placing crucial elements of the story in footnotes that not everyone will read is McNeil’s artistic intention, or if she’s just the sort of artist who knows her world and story so well that she tends to forget to actually write in big chunks of it. I suspect the latter, but maybe also the former.
I like the art a lot. McNeil obviously enjoys drawing Jaeger’s body hair, which is not something I normally find hot but I really do here. It’s an incredibly dense, lifelike world where even the random raving wolf-headed dude and the girl who trails him have their own very detailed backgrounds (only explained in footnotes, natch) and the art shows it.
This is a very cool series but you have to approach it on its own weird terms. Contains domestic violence, other violence, a teenage girl crushing on an adult man, and probably other warning-worthy elements I forgot about or missed.
Finder Volume 1[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
The world is post-apocalyptic, with incredibly intricate cultural worldbuilding. If you enjoy that sort of thing, you will probably enjoy this comic. The first two volumes center around Jaeger, a Finder and Sin-Eater and wanderer and ex-soldier who comes from the desert to a domed city where he knows some people, including but not remotely limited to…
- the people who work in a bookshop, such as an elderly woman who does divination with rocks and an intelligent male lion-creature left there as a guard by one of the more humanoid lion-women.
- Brigham, a violent and unbalanced man from a clan with strictly defined male/female gender roles, who has just been released from prison and is about to go back to stalking his family.
- Emma, Brigham’s ex-wife, from a clan where everyone presents as female, who lives much of her life in a literal dreamworld, works as a landscape architect, and has an AI assistant who speaks in a phonetic French accent.
- Their three children, each with their own complex story. Gender roles and identity figure prominently in their lives, but how is too complicated and ambiguous to summarize.
The main plot in this volume is Jaeger’s attempts to protect Brigham’s ex-family from him, their attempts to move on from Brigham’s control, and the backstory of how and why the current situation came about. But the world and story have a very complex and largely unexplained background. For instance, as I was writing this I realized that I wasn’t sure whether Jaeger came to the city specifically to check up on the family because he knew Brigham was going to be released from prison, or whether that was coincidental, or whether he didn’t know but it wasn’t a coincidence but rather a way that his Finding abilities operate.
And that sums up my experience of the actual plot of this comic. I enjoyed it a lot, but I felt like at least half of it was going over my head. Far more than Sandman, which is ostensibly about dreams but is really much more about stories, reading this feels dreamlike. It’s fragmented, incredibly vivid, emotionally realistic in the weird way that emotions really are weird, and often inexplicable.
Possibly the most odd, quirky, and worldbuilding-intensive aspect of a very odd, quirky, and worldbuilding-intensive comic are the footnotes. There are pages and pages of them after the comic, explaining everything from the entire culture of the miniature dinosaur only ever seen in the background of one panel in one issue to Easter egg-type references to the motivation of major actions of main characters which are otherwise inexplicable.
The footnotes range from interesting throwaways to explanations of events essential to the plot. If you don’t read them, the stories are compelling but dreamlike, inexplicable; if you do read them, well, kind of the same but they at least make more sense. I’m honestly not sure whether placing crucial elements of the story in footnotes that not everyone will read is McNeil’s artistic intention, or if she’s just the sort of artist who knows her world and story so well that she tends to forget to actually write in big chunks of it. I suspect the latter, but maybe also the former.
I like the art a lot. McNeil obviously enjoys drawing Jaeger’s body hair, which is not something I normally find hot but I really do here. It’s an incredibly dense, lifelike world where even the random raving wolf-headed dude and the girl who trails him have their own very detailed backgrounds (only explained in footnotes, natch) and the art shows it.
This is a very cool series but you have to approach it on its own weird terms. Contains domestic violence, other violence, a teenage girl crushing on an adult man, and probably other warning-worthy elements I forgot about or missed.
Finder Volume 1[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
