Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 23
October 4, 2023
Happy upcoming birthday to me
On October 29, I will be 50! I spent my twenties and thirties feeling sixteen, and now I feel about thirty. Maybe I'll actually feel fifty when I'm eighty.
I always wanted to be one of those tough older women who lives alone in a cool little house and does crafts and knows the names of all the wild plants and lets the neighborhood kids pick her berries and pet her cats, and now I am. It's everything I imagined it would be.
If you would like to help me celebrate, here are some possibilities.
1. Donate to Tenth Life. This is a small neighborhood no-kill cat rescue and trap-neuter-release nonprofit in Varna, Bulgaria. I personally vouch for it. If you click on the "cats" tag, you will see photos of my visit (plus a bonus rescue hedgehog). A monthly donation, even small, is ideal as it allows them to plan ahead.
2. Write me some fic! Draw me some art! Make me something cool! Mail me something delicious! (This possibility is why I'm posting in advance.)
Here is my Amazon wishlist. If you get me something off it, you may get to read a review of it. Eventually.
comments
I always wanted to be one of those tough older women who lives alone in a cool little house and does crafts and knows the names of all the wild plants and lets the neighborhood kids pick her berries and pet her cats, and now I am. It's everything I imagined it would be.
If you would like to help me celebrate, here are some possibilities.
1. Donate to Tenth Life. This is a small neighborhood no-kill cat rescue and trap-neuter-release nonprofit in Varna, Bulgaria. I personally vouch for it. If you click on the "cats" tag, you will see photos of my visit (plus a bonus rescue hedgehog). A monthly donation, even small, is ideal as it allows them to plan ahead.
2. Write me some fic! Draw me some art! Make me something cool! Mail me something delicious! (This possibility is why I'm posting in advance.)
Here is my Amazon wishlist. If you get me something off it, you may get to read a review of it. Eventually.
comments
Absent in the Spring, by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott
"I wonder," she paused, "if you'd nothing to think about but yourself for days and days I wonder what you'd find out about yourself--"
One of six non-mystery novels written by Christie under the Mary Westmacott pseudonym. This is the first I've read. Christie wrote it in three days and thought it was one of her best novels.
Middle-aged wife and mother Joan Scudamore is passing through Iraq on her way back from a visit with her grown daughter when a flood strands her at a rest stop for a week with absolutely nothing to do. There's no other guests, she hates the food, she's hardly going to converse with the staff, there's nothing to see but desert, and she only has three books. With no other alternatives, she looks back on her life and slowly begins to realize truths about it and her that she refused to see or admit to before.
( Read more... )
While not a genre mystery, Absent in the Spring does have a central mystery - what is the truth about Joan? - and a sequence of reveals. It's very technically accomplished. It's not a fun book like a lot of Christie's mysteries as Joan is so awful and we're relentlessly inside her head, but it's interesting and I can see why Christie herself liked it. It was a very difficult concept to pull off and she pulls it off.
Christie scale: A single but HAIR-RAISING bit of anti-Semitism. A single but HAIR-RAISING bit of "rape: it does a woman good." MEDIUM amounts of racism.
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comments
One of six non-mystery novels written by Christie under the Mary Westmacott pseudonym. This is the first I've read. Christie wrote it in three days and thought it was one of her best novels.
Middle-aged wife and mother Joan Scudamore is passing through Iraq on her way back from a visit with her grown daughter when a flood strands her at a rest stop for a week with absolutely nothing to do. There's no other guests, she hates the food, she's hardly going to converse with the staff, there's nothing to see but desert, and she only has three books. With no other alternatives, she looks back on her life and slowly begins to realize truths about it and her that she refused to see or admit to before.
( Read more... )
While not a genre mystery, Absent in the Spring does have a central mystery - what is the truth about Joan? - and a sequence of reveals. It's very technically accomplished. It's not a fun book like a lot of Christie's mysteries as Joan is so awful and we're relentlessly inside her head, but it's interesting and I can see why Christie herself liked it. It was a very difficult concept to pull off and she pulls it off.
Christie scale: A single but HAIR-RAISING bit of anti-Semitism. A single but HAIR-RAISING bit of "rape: it does a woman good." MEDIUM amounts of racism.
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October 3, 2023
Earthstar Magic, by Ruth Chew
A brother and sister encounter a sweet but distinctly incompetent witch and her flying earthstar. I had never heard of an earthstar before reading this book, but the kids are familiar with them.
Unsurprisingly for a Ruth Chew book, shrinking is involved. This book is collected as "Three Shrinking Tales," to go with her other collections "Three Witch Tales" and "Three Wishing Tales," but in fact most of her books contain at least two out of the three if not all three.
The kids bounce back and forth between trusting and distrusting Trudy the witch and it takes them forever to figure out the secret of the earthstar, so they were not my favorites. But there's lots of great shrinking bits like the shrunken kids getting covered in juice eating part of a raspberry, and the regular-sized kids cutting up a raising with scissors to add to cornflakes served to the shrunken witch in a bowl made of the cap off a bottle of lemon juice. Also a pair of absolutely amazing illustrations of a shrunken boy getting fed to a baby bird.
An Amazon reviewer writes: Had this book when I was a kid. It ignited my love of mushrooms, reading and witchcraft.
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Original cover:
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comments
Unsurprisingly for a Ruth Chew book, shrinking is involved. This book is collected as "Three Shrinking Tales," to go with her other collections "Three Witch Tales" and "Three Wishing Tales," but in fact most of her books contain at least two out of the three if not all three.
The kids bounce back and forth between trusting and distrusting Trudy the witch and it takes them forever to figure out the secret of the earthstar, so they were not my favorites. But there's lots of great shrinking bits like the shrunken kids getting covered in juice eating part of a raspberry, and the regular-sized kids cutting up a raising with scissors to add to cornflakes served to the shrunken witch in a bowl made of the cap off a bottle of lemon juice. Also a pair of absolutely amazing illustrations of a shrunken boy getting fed to a baby bird.
An Amazon reviewer writes: Had this book when I was a kid. It ignited my love of mushrooms, reading and witchcraft.
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Original cover:
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October 2, 2023
Blackfish City, by Sam J. Miller
An orcamancer - a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear by her side - comes to a post-apocalyptic floating city!
How could that premise possibly go wrong?
Yet again, not enough of the actual premise. For about the first half to two-thirds of the book, the characters hear about the orcamancer, talk about the orcamancer, search for the orcamancer, and catch brief glimpses of the orcamancer, but it's all second-hand. (I kept wondering how the hell an extremely conspicuous woman accompanied by an ORCA AND A POLAR BEAR were managing to hide out for so long, when the entire city seems to be looking for them.) This can sometimes work to create a mystique about the thing we keep hearing about but don't actually see - it's a key technique in horror - but here it just frustrated me because the orcamancer was by far the most interesting thing in the book, and the orcamancer was not actually there. It's like the author spent his awesome allotment on the word "orcamancer," and then didn't have enough for the actual orcamancer.
The city itself, to be fair, is pretty cool. It's very vividly described and feels real on its own terms, with noodle shops and martial arts and social workers. My big problem was that there are five POV characters and I didn't really care about any of them. If I was to describe them to you they'd sound good, but they didn't come to life for me. There's an AIDS-allegory disease that similarly didn't work for me.
Ambitious but not my cup of noodles.
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comments
How could that premise possibly go wrong?
Yet again, not enough of the actual premise. For about the first half to two-thirds of the book, the characters hear about the orcamancer, talk about the orcamancer, search for the orcamancer, and catch brief glimpses of the orcamancer, but it's all second-hand. (I kept wondering how the hell an extremely conspicuous woman accompanied by an ORCA AND A POLAR BEAR were managing to hide out for so long, when the entire city seems to be looking for them.) This can sometimes work to create a mystique about the thing we keep hearing about but don't actually see - it's a key technique in horror - but here it just frustrated me because the orcamancer was by far the most interesting thing in the book, and the orcamancer was not actually there. It's like the author spent his awesome allotment on the word "orcamancer," and then didn't have enough for the actual orcamancer.
The city itself, to be fair, is pretty cool. It's very vividly described and feels real on its own terms, with noodle shops and martial arts and social workers. My big problem was that there are five POV characters and I didn't really care about any of them. If I was to describe them to you they'd sound good, but they didn't come to life for me. There's an AIDS-allegory disease that similarly didn't work for me.
Ambitious but not my cup of noodles.
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September 22, 2023
It's Yuletide!
Yuletide nominations are open now! Nominate your favorite obscure canons via
![[community profile]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1497869825i/23063418.png)
yuletide_admin
!
This year we get to nominate four fandoms with four characters each. FF.net no longer counts toward eligibility, so some older fandoms are now eligible again.
I have nominated Mary Stolz's Cat in the Mirror, Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (Lucy Eyelesbarrow, Mary Dove, Mr. Rafiel, and Miss Marple), and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles.
What are you nominating for Yuletide?
comments
yuletide_admin
!This year we get to nominate four fandoms with four characters each. FF.net no longer counts toward eligibility, so some older fandoms are now eligible again.
I have nominated Mary Stolz's Cat in the Mirror, Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (Lucy Eyelesbarrow, Mary Dove, Mr. Rafiel, and Miss Marple), and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles.
What are you nominating for Yuletide?
comments
September 13, 2023
Dear Trick or Treater...
My AO3 name is Edonohana. Thank you for creating for me!
If you have any questions, please ask the mods to check with me. If there is any issue with the mods feeling that your story for me doesn't fit my requirements, please point them to this letter and ask them to check with me first, rather than rejecting the story without checking with me.
I am a very easy recipient and will be delighted with whatever you make for me. I have no special requirements beyond what's specifically stated in my DNWs. I'm fine with all POVs (i.e., first, second, third), tenses, ratings, lengths, etc. I enjoy both shipfic and gen. I am fine with sex if it suits the story, or no sex if that suits the story.
I don't have strong feelings about tricks vs treats, so you may do either or a combination of both for any work. You may ignore my Art/Fic preferences for extra gifts.
General Likes: Hurt-comfort, action/adventure, horror, canon-divergence AUs, domestic life, survival situations, mysterious alien technology, worldbuilding, evocative descriptions, camaraderie, loyalty, trauma recovery, learning to love again or trust again or enjoy life again, difficult choices, miniature things, food, and animals.
Art-specific likes: I like watercolors, bold graphics, Tarot cards, comics, pin-ups, characters in pretty/cozy environments, battle poses, and Art Nouveau. You can never go wrong by posing a character using their powers or with an adorable kitten/tiny dragon/pegasus/etc or with their signature weapon/airplane/etc.
I have requested some of these canons before. All prompts in previous exchanges are still valid and welcomed. You can find them by clicking on the "fic exchange letter" tag. Some prompts are longer than others because I've requested them before; it has nothing to do with how much I want a certain fandom.
( General DNW )
( Dark Tower - Stephen King )
( Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey )
( Firestarter - Stephen King )
( Misery - Stephen King )
( Miss Marple - Agatha Christie )
( Sandman - Neil Gaiman )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
( True Detective )
( Watership Down )
( Worrals - W. E. Johns )
comments
If you have any questions, please ask the mods to check with me. If there is any issue with the mods feeling that your story for me doesn't fit my requirements, please point them to this letter and ask them to check with me first, rather than rejecting the story without checking with me.
I am a very easy recipient and will be delighted with whatever you make for me. I have no special requirements beyond what's specifically stated in my DNWs. I'm fine with all POVs (i.e., first, second, third), tenses, ratings, lengths, etc. I enjoy both shipfic and gen. I am fine with sex if it suits the story, or no sex if that suits the story.
I don't have strong feelings about tricks vs treats, so you may do either or a combination of both for any work. You may ignore my Art/Fic preferences for extra gifts.
General Likes: Hurt-comfort, action/adventure, horror, canon-divergence AUs, domestic life, survival situations, mysterious alien technology, worldbuilding, evocative descriptions, camaraderie, loyalty, trauma recovery, learning to love again or trust again or enjoy life again, difficult choices, miniature things, food, and animals.
Art-specific likes: I like watercolors, bold graphics, Tarot cards, comics, pin-ups, characters in pretty/cozy environments, battle poses, and Art Nouveau. You can never go wrong by posing a character using their powers or with an adorable kitten/tiny dragon/pegasus/etc or with their signature weapon/airplane/etc.
I have requested some of these canons before. All prompts in previous exchanges are still valid and welcomed. You can find them by clicking on the "fic exchange letter" tag. Some prompts are longer than others because I've requested them before; it has nothing to do with how much I want a certain fandom.
( General DNW )
( Dark Tower - Stephen King )
( Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey )
( Firestarter - Stephen King )
( Misery - Stephen King )
( Miss Marple - Agatha Christie )
( Sandman - Neil Gaiman )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
( True Detective )
( Watership Down )
( Worrals - W. E. Johns )
comments
September 12, 2023
Winterfox/Benjanun Sriduangkaew is back
I have not personally heard from her - please do NOT inform me if she's libeling me on Twitter or anything like that - but apparently she's being a busy little bee on social media, sweetly befriending new writers with marginalized identities who have no idea that she's a serial blackmailer.
If you have the good fortune to have never heard of her, she's a multi-millionaire heiress (yes really) who chooses to devote her life to bullying people on the internet, making death threats, and boosting her own career as a science fiction writer by trying to destroy the careers of other writers she sees as rivals - primarily women writers of color. She befriends new writers, encourages them to confide in her, and then demands that they do what she say or she'll send their correspondence to their boss, significant others, etc.
I know how outrageous this sounds. I am not making it up. There is an avalanche of documentation of it if you choose to look it up. If you spot someone you know being befriended by her, it would be a good idea to warn them.
She has a new pseudonym, Maria Ying, which is publicly linked to her Benjanun Sriduangkaew identity. She is also known as Requires Hate, Lesifoere (the identity she used to bully trans people with repulsive transphobic slurs), and many other identities.
I am not on Tumblr so I can't reblog this, but here's a post warning people about her. If you have a Tumblr and wish to do so, you can reblog it and possibly save some new writers a world of trouble.
She has still not promised to stop abusing, harassing, and lying about me. The last I heard from her, she was calling me a pedophile on Twitter.
Feel free to link to this post.
comments
If you have the good fortune to have never heard of her, she's a multi-millionaire heiress (yes really) who chooses to devote her life to bullying people on the internet, making death threats, and boosting her own career as a science fiction writer by trying to destroy the careers of other writers she sees as rivals - primarily women writers of color. She befriends new writers, encourages them to confide in her, and then demands that they do what she say or she'll send their correspondence to their boss, significant others, etc.
I know how outrageous this sounds. I am not making it up. There is an avalanche of documentation of it if you choose to look it up. If you spot someone you know being befriended by her, it would be a good idea to warn them.
She has a new pseudonym, Maria Ying, which is publicly linked to her Benjanun Sriduangkaew identity. She is also known as Requires Hate, Lesifoere (the identity she used to bully trans people with repulsive transphobic slurs), and many other identities.
I am not on Tumblr so I can't reblog this, but here's a post warning people about her. If you have a Tumblr and wish to do so, you can reblog it and possibly save some new writers a world of trouble.
She has still not promised to stop abusing, harassing, and lying about me. The last I heard from her, she was calling me a pedophile on Twitter.
Feel free to link to this post.
comments
Adrift, by Lisa Brideau
A woman wakes up alone on a boat floating off the shore of Canada. She can't remember anything, not even her own name. She has ID for an identity she doesn't recognize. Her only clue is this note:
There are pills in the drawer for the headaches.
You want answers, but this has been done to keep you from them.
This is the only way out alive.
Start over.
Don't make yourself known.
Don't look back.
The woman, who ends up calling herself Ess, takes the warning seriously but can't resist trying to figure out who she is, what happened to her, and why.
It's 2037 and climate change has made things even worse than now, without any governments willing to do much about it. Climate refugees are turned away or put in camps, and there's a hunt on for lone amnesiacs found floating in boats, who are suspected of being climate refugees and jailed. So Ess has another reason to keep her amnesia hidden. But she can't resist trying to connect with other human beings; when she's alone, she feels her lack of identity even more acutely.
This is a low-key ambitious book which has the form of a thriller but the pacing and mood of literary fiction. It held my interest and pulls off some technically difficult elements, but I ultimately found it more admirable than enjoyable. For me it had a feeling of distance that prevented me from getting very emotionally engaged or thrilled. But that's very subjective. It got very good reviews.
Spoilers for what was up with the amnesia. ( Read more... )
Author's impressive bio: She holds degrees in aerospace engineering and urban design and currently works as a municipal sustainability specialist in Vancouver, BC focused on climate policy.
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comments
There are pills in the drawer for the headaches.
You want answers, but this has been done to keep you from them.
This is the only way out alive.
Start over.
Don't make yourself known.
Don't look back.
The woman, who ends up calling herself Ess, takes the warning seriously but can't resist trying to figure out who she is, what happened to her, and why.
It's 2037 and climate change has made things even worse than now, without any governments willing to do much about it. Climate refugees are turned away or put in camps, and there's a hunt on for lone amnesiacs found floating in boats, who are suspected of being climate refugees and jailed. So Ess has another reason to keep her amnesia hidden. But she can't resist trying to connect with other human beings; when she's alone, she feels her lack of identity even more acutely.
This is a low-key ambitious book which has the form of a thriller but the pacing and mood of literary fiction. It held my interest and pulls off some technically difficult elements, but I ultimately found it more admirable than enjoyable. For me it had a feeling of distance that prevented me from getting very emotionally engaged or thrilled. But that's very subjective. It got very good reviews.
Spoilers for what was up with the amnesia. ( Read more... )
Author's impressive bio: She holds degrees in aerospace engineering and urban design and currently works as a municipal sustainability specialist in Vancouver, BC focused on climate policy.
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comments
September 9, 2023
Booknooks: The Change, original fantasy
Here's two more booknooks - these are a bit larger. I did these a while back.
The Change, with Ross, Sheriff Crow, Felicite, and Becky.
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And an original fantasy world.
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The Change, with Ross, Sheriff Crow, Felicite, and Becky.
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And an original fantasy world.
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comments
September 8, 2023
rachelmanija @ 2023-09-08T12:31:00
I've been working on some book-based book nooks. Here's one I did a while back, from Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Check out the book Jake's reading.
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Here's one in progress, from Anne McCaffrey's Pern. Lessa and Kylara meet on the beach.
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Little wooden boxes from Daiso, 3D printed plastic figurines from Etsy (I paint them), paints, natural material, some miniature building craft materials.
comments
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Here's one in progress, from Anne McCaffrey's Pern. Lessa and Kylara meet on the beach.
[image error]
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[image error]
Little wooden boxes from Daiso, 3D printed plastic figurines from Etsy (I paint them), paints, natural material, some miniature building craft materials.
comments
