Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 71
June 13, 2021
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June 7, 2021
Touching the Void
If you like theatre you want to see this.
The play version of Joe Simpson's Touching the Void is streaming for three more days, through June 13.
It's based on an incredible climbing survival story (spoiler: Joe Simpson is alive and well) but it's about much more than climbing and survival, though it's also about that. The play version is absolutely phenomenal, and it's additionally by far the best film of a live performance I've ever seen.
I will put up a spoiler post to discuss details once June 13 is past. It's not plot spoilers, it's that the play is full of delightful surprises in terms of how they translate one of the least likely stories to ever become a play into a play.
It was INCREDIBLE. Literally everything was great. The writing concept was so clever and effective, and the staging/set/sound/lighting design was AMAZING, and the actors were marvelous.
It was one of the best plays I've ever seen, and I can't believe I'm saying that about a play I've never seen live. But it felt like I was seeing it live.
![[personal profile]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1491408111i/22407843.png)
rydra_wong
, thank you SO MUCH for alerting me to this.
comments
The play version of Joe Simpson's Touching the Void is streaming for three more days, through June 13.
It's based on an incredible climbing survival story (spoiler: Joe Simpson is alive and well) but it's about much more than climbing and survival, though it's also about that. The play version is absolutely phenomenal, and it's additionally by far the best film of a live performance I've ever seen.
I will put up a spoiler post to discuss details once June 13 is past. It's not plot spoilers, it's that the play is full of delightful surprises in terms of how they translate one of the least likely stories to ever become a play into a play.
It was INCREDIBLE. Literally everything was great. The writing concept was so clever and effective, and the staging/set/sound/lighting design was AMAZING, and the actors were marvelous.
It was one of the best plays I've ever seen, and I can't believe I'm saying that about a play I've never seen live. But it felt like I was seeing it live.
rydra_wong
, thank you SO MUCH for alerting me to this. comments
June 4, 2021
Sherwood Smith has a Patreon!
You can now become a Patron of Sherwood, who is working on a really cool new project.
Become a patron of Sherwood's work here.
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Become a patron of Sherwood's work here.
comments
May 28, 2021
Bacchanal, by Veronica Henry, Part II: Occam's Marmoset
Layla read this book first, and then I started it and recommended it to Scioscribe while I was still reading it, and we finished within minutes and started emailing each other - partly to rave about how good it was overall, and partly to discuss the ending.
It was when we started delving into the ending that an email chain began which ended up so funny that I am reproducing it here. It's spoilery for the ending, but I'm not sure exactly how spoilery as part of what's odd about the ending is how confusing/ambiguous/inconclusive it is on several key points. However, I don't think knowing some aspects of the ending in advance ruins the book at all.
Cut for spoilers. Also some possibly incorrect spoilers. ( Read more... )
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It was when we started delving into the ending that an email chain began which ended up so funny that I am reproducing it here. It's spoilery for the ending, but I'm not sure exactly how spoilery as part of what's odd about the ending is how confusing/ambiguous/inconclusive it is on several key points. However, I don't think knowing some aspects of the ending in advance ruins the book at all.
Cut for spoilers. Also some possibly incorrect spoilers. ( Read more... )
comments
May 27, 2021
Bacchanal, by Veronica Henry
Liza, an African-American woman with a poorly-controlled psychic ability to talk to and control animals, gets a job in a traveling carnival with a dark secret. The book is set during the Depression, and all but one of the important characters are African-American or African.
In other words, this book hits several of my favorite subgenres at once: circuses and carnivals, people with psychic abilities, animals, and historical stories about minorities that are not primarily about oppression.
Racism is an important theme, and a big part of why the carnival is such a refuge and why people are willing to look away from things they don't want to see to keep it going. However, being African or African-American is important in a lot of other ways as well, and there's a lot going on that isn't about racism. Things like family, ancestry, magic, moral choices, were-hyenas, creepy weirdos with grass for skin, and dancing turtles.
The characters are all flawed/morally grey, but interesting and complex and often very likable. The choices they make are generally grey because they're trying to protect one person at the expense of someone else, not because they're cruel or want to hurt anyone. (Demons and a few others excepted.)
This would make a GREAT TV series - Carnivale meets Lovecraft Country. I really hope it happens.
It has some first-novel flaws. Some of the plotting/pacing is shaky, and the ending is both extremely abrupt and quite strange. I can't say it's a bad ending, as it does some things I liked a lot, and it doesn't spoil the book at all, but it could have been a lot better.
I will put up a second post later to discuss the ending specifically. There was an aspect of it that I want to talk about because it was SO BATSHIT, but the book deserves better than to have all discussion taken over by literally one sentence in the last chapter.
Leaning into premise: A+. The carnival is central and vivid and great. Psychic powers and magic and animals and race/ancestry are very important.
WARNING: Child harm, animal harm (both non-graphic, but central to the story). Liza's ability can accidentally kill the animals she's trying to talk to, and a child-eating demon is the main villain.
Bacchanal
[image error]
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In other words, this book hits several of my favorite subgenres at once: circuses and carnivals, people with psychic abilities, animals, and historical stories about minorities that are not primarily about oppression.
Racism is an important theme, and a big part of why the carnival is such a refuge and why people are willing to look away from things they don't want to see to keep it going. However, being African or African-American is important in a lot of other ways as well, and there's a lot going on that isn't about racism. Things like family, ancestry, magic, moral choices, were-hyenas, creepy weirdos with grass for skin, and dancing turtles.
The characters are all flawed/morally grey, but interesting and complex and often very likable. The choices they make are generally grey because they're trying to protect one person at the expense of someone else, not because they're cruel or want to hurt anyone. (Demons and a few others excepted.)
This would make a GREAT TV series - Carnivale meets Lovecraft Country. I really hope it happens.
It has some first-novel flaws. Some of the plotting/pacing is shaky, and the ending is both extremely abrupt and quite strange. I can't say it's a bad ending, as it does some things I liked a lot, and it doesn't spoil the book at all, but it could have been a lot better.
I will put up a second post later to discuss the ending specifically. There was an aspect of it that I want to talk about because it was SO BATSHIT, but the book deserves better than to have all discussion taken over by literally one sentence in the last chapter.
Leaning into premise: A+. The carnival is central and vivid and great. Psychic powers and magic and animals and race/ancestry are very important.
WARNING: Child harm, animal harm (both non-graphic, but central to the story). Liza's ability can accidentally kill the animals she's trying to talk to, and a child-eating demon is the main villain.
Bacchanal
[image error]
comments
May 25, 2021
Chook Update
The chickens have moved into their new home, a chicken coop in the orchard. You can see video on Instagram.
The coop isn't totally finished but it's chicken-worthy; the run isn't finished at all. But they were getting way too big for the horse trough and flying out at the slightest provocation, so in they go. Enjoy your new home, not-so-little chooks!
The chickens have been an absolute delight. They are such weird and charming creatures. If you look at them closely you can absolutely see that they are dinosaurs. Their eyes especially are strange, and their feet: somewhat reptilian, but not quite...
I have named six of them. I have three of the same breed which must be Green Queens, because I ordered two of them and also got some grab bag chicks. So I'm giving away two, which I won't name, and keeping my favorite, Darrell. She is a huge gray hawk-like chick, very fluffy, who enjoys flying out of the trough the instant the lid is off and perching on my hand. The three Green Queens look extremely similar and Darrell is largely identifiable because she's the one who comes to me immediately. She should lay green eggs.
Mary-Lou is the smallest, I think lowest in the pecking order, and is a darling black and white Exchequer Leghorn. She is timid but enjoys sitting in my hand. She will lay white eggs.
Gwendoline Mary Lacey is a large white chick, quite fearless. She will jump up to grab at things. I am pretty sure she's an Austra White, a very classic-looking hen, and will lay cream or beige eggs.
Daphne is also a large white chick, lower on the pecking order than Gwendoline. I think she's a Snowy Easter Egger and will grow up to look like a white hawk. She should lay green or blue or blue-green eggs.
I have no idea what Clarissa is but she is absolutely gorgeous, dappled browns and chestnuts. She was so flighty when younger that I planned to give her away, but she's calmed down a lot and is now one of my favorites. She's very lively. She was in the blue-green layer assortment.
Bill, short for Wilhelmina, is most definitely not a rooster. She is a Gold Sex-Linked (hens and roosters look different as chicks) and is a lovely chestnut red. She'll lay a brown egg.
They're a lot of fun to watch and enjoy eating greens from my hand. Can't wait for my rainbow of eggs.
comments
The coop isn't totally finished but it's chicken-worthy; the run isn't finished at all. But they were getting way too big for the horse trough and flying out at the slightest provocation, so in they go. Enjoy your new home, not-so-little chooks!
The chickens have been an absolute delight. They are such weird and charming creatures. If you look at them closely you can absolutely see that they are dinosaurs. Their eyes especially are strange, and their feet: somewhat reptilian, but not quite...
I have named six of them. I have three of the same breed which must be Green Queens, because I ordered two of them and also got some grab bag chicks. So I'm giving away two, which I won't name, and keeping my favorite, Darrell. She is a huge gray hawk-like chick, very fluffy, who enjoys flying out of the trough the instant the lid is off and perching on my hand. The three Green Queens look extremely similar and Darrell is largely identifiable because she's the one who comes to me immediately. She should lay green eggs.
Mary-Lou is the smallest, I think lowest in the pecking order, and is a darling black and white Exchequer Leghorn. She is timid but enjoys sitting in my hand. She will lay white eggs.
Gwendoline Mary Lacey is a large white chick, quite fearless. She will jump up to grab at things. I am pretty sure she's an Austra White, a very classic-looking hen, and will lay cream or beige eggs.
Daphne is also a large white chick, lower on the pecking order than Gwendoline. I think she's a Snowy Easter Egger and will grow up to look like a white hawk. She should lay green or blue or blue-green eggs.
I have no idea what Clarissa is but she is absolutely gorgeous, dappled browns and chestnuts. She was so flighty when younger that I planned to give her away, but she's calmed down a lot and is now one of my favorites. She's very lively. She was in the blue-green layer assortment.
Bill, short for Wilhelmina, is most definitely not a rooster. She is a Gold Sex-Linked (hens and roosters look different as chicks) and is a lovely chestnut red. She'll lay a brown egg.
They're a lot of fun to watch and enjoy eating greens from my hand. Can't wait for my rainbow of eggs.
comments
May 24, 2021
Ponies on the Trail, by Diana Pullein-Thompson
The Pullein-Thompson sisters all rode and wrote pony books. I have yet to read enough of them to figure out differences between the sisters' writing style; I've enjoyed books by all of them.
In Ponies on the Trail, fifteen-year-old Sandy and her younger brother Fergie get a job as assistant guides on a pony camping trek. (Fergie is for Fergus, not the singer or the Duchess of York, whom I spent several years thinking had started a second career as a pop star.) Both ponies and clients are an amusingly mixed bunch, the logistical details of the trek are very believable and a lot of fun, and Sandy especially gets to shoulder new responsibilities.
There's a mystery subplot which is not terribly mysterious, but this is compensated for by a delightful subplot involving a Russian refugee writer who is unfairly suspected of two totally unrelated crimes, and gets the vindication that all writers dream of.
One of the Jane Badger reprints of classic pony books as inexpensive ebooks.
[image error]
comments
In Ponies on the Trail, fifteen-year-old Sandy and her younger brother Fergie get a job as assistant guides on a pony camping trek. (Fergie is for Fergus, not the singer or the Duchess of York, whom I spent several years thinking had started a second career as a pop star.) Both ponies and clients are an amusingly mixed bunch, the logistical details of the trek are very believable and a lot of fun, and Sandy especially gets to shoulder new responsibilities.
There's a mystery subplot which is not terribly mysterious, but this is compensated for by a delightful subplot involving a Russian refugee writer who is unfairly suspected of two totally unrelated crimes, and gets the vindication that all writers dream of.
One of the Jane Badger reprints of classic pony books as inexpensive ebooks.
[image error]
comments
May 23, 2021
The Giant Under the Snow, by John Gordon
A British children's fantasy from 1968, somewhat in the style of Susan Cooper. Three children, Arf (Arthur), Jonk (Jonquil), and the startlingly normal-nicknamed Bill, have a magical adventure when Jonk finds an ancient gold buckle in the hand of a giant Green Man buried under a hill.
It turns out that an ancient witchy woman is trying to keep an equally ancient warlord from using his army of "leather men" (no, not that kind, they're spidery shriveled guys) to use the buckle to unite a magical belt and wake up the Green Man to take over. She gives the kids the ability to fly with magical backpacks, and a whole lot of the book is them learning to use them and zooming around. That part is a bit reminiscent of Penelope Farmer's The Summer Birds, and it's lovely.
As is often the case with children's fantasies of that era, the villains are evil because we're told they're evil; it's not really clear what they'd actually do if they won. Arf deeply annoyed me because every time magic isn't literally happening in front of him that second, he reverts to believing that he imagined it, even if he spent the whole night flying. That aside, it's a fun book with some lovely, evocative writing, and unlike most children's books of that era with mixed boy/girl casts, it's the girl who gets the Big Boss Battle at the end.
[image error]
comments
It turns out that an ancient witchy woman is trying to keep an equally ancient warlord from using his army of "leather men" (no, not that kind, they're spidery shriveled guys) to use the buckle to unite a magical belt and wake up the Green Man to take over. She gives the kids the ability to fly with magical backpacks, and a whole lot of the book is them learning to use them and zooming around. That part is a bit reminiscent of Penelope Farmer's The Summer Birds, and it's lovely.
As is often the case with children's fantasies of that era, the villains are evil because we're told they're evil; it's not really clear what they'd actually do if they won. Arf deeply annoyed me because every time magic isn't literally happening in front of him that second, he reverts to believing that he imagined it, even if he spent the whole night flying. That aside, it's a fun book with some lovely, evocative writing, and unlike most children's books of that era with mixed boy/girl casts, it's the girl who gets the Big Boss Battle at the end.
[image error]
comments
May 22, 2021
Check out this Exchange
![[community profile]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1497869825i/23063418.png)
multifandomhorrorexchange
is an exchange I think some of you would enjoy. It's for fic or art with horror elements, 1000 word minimum, and a really fun, extensive tag set which includes, among many other items of interest...Original Works
Space Pirate Crew Stranded in Uncharted Void with a Missing Captain and Broken Ship
Disaffected Young Lord Bed-ridden For the Summer/Creepy Butler
Madwoman in the Attic & Her Son Who Just Wants Revenge On Whoever Put Her In the Attic
Depressed Person & Mascot of the Cereal They Eat for Every Meal
Person & Super Intelligent Snail That Will Kill Them If It Touches Them
Clown Ghost & Evil Circus Owner Mistreating The Circus Performers
Stylish Goat-Headed Cult Leader
Books
Tolkien's The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Sellic Spell (never even heard of that before)
House of Leaves with pairings/characters including The House on Ash Tree Lane/Will Navidson, Johnny Truant/The Minotaur and The House On Ash Tree Lane
Gideon the Ninth
Stephen King's Dark Tower, IT, Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot, and Pet Sematary
Movies
Annihilation (really interesting set of pairings there)
2001 (Ditto, including Smart Man-Apes & Alien Monolith and Smart Man-Apes & Less Smart Man-Apes)
Veggie Tales
Sapphire and Steel
Lisa Frank Merchandise (Lisa Frank Cat With Rainbow Wings, Lisa Frank Rainbow Unicorn, and Lisa Frank Skye Pegasus.)
And much more!
Last year had some particularly excellent IT works, such as the art The Library for IT by seinmit and Always the Fire, a tense and eerie Mike Hanlon story by Miss_M.
Come on in! The water's fine. Until something grabs your ankle.
comments
May 18, 2021
Multifandom Horror Letter
Thank you for creating for me! If you have any questions, please check with the mods. 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, etc.
Don't worry about whether you're hitting the selected sub-genres exactly, or straying into subgenres I didn't request. They're there as inspiration, not as limits. You have full permission to choose horror types other than the ones I requested, or to broadly interpret the ones I did request, so long as you don't hit a DNW.
Similiarly, I don't care if a story is sexually graphic or not. Whatever suits the story is fine.
I would enjoy any art treats if any of my prompts inspire you visually. I would prefer that art not be sexually graphic.
I love h/c and I think it would go well with horror for most of the canons I'm requesting.
I love evil houses and eerie locations and I am familiar with a bunch from the tagset; feel free to send any characters to the Overlook Hotel, the Marsten House, Hell House, the House from House of Leaves, Mid-World, Salem's Lot, and the Shimmer.
My AO3 name is Edonohana.
I have requested The Dark Tower, Punisher, The Stand, True Detective, and Us before. All prompts in previous exchanges are still valid and welcomed. You can find them by clicking on the "fic exchange letter" tag.
( General DNWs )
( Crossover Fandom )
( Dark Tower )
( The Defenders (Punisher) )
( The Falcon and the Winter Soldier )
( The Legend of Hell House (1973 movie) )
( The Ritual )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
( True Detective )
( Us (movie 2019 )
( WandaVision )
[image error] comments
Don't worry about whether you're hitting the selected sub-genres exactly, or straying into subgenres I didn't request. They're there as inspiration, not as limits. You have full permission to choose horror types other than the ones I requested, or to broadly interpret the ones I did request, so long as you don't hit a DNW.
Similiarly, I don't care if a story is sexually graphic or not. Whatever suits the story is fine.
I would enjoy any art treats if any of my prompts inspire you visually. I would prefer that art not be sexually graphic.
I love h/c and I think it would go well with horror for most of the canons I'm requesting.
I love evil houses and eerie locations and I am familiar with a bunch from the tagset; feel free to send any characters to the Overlook Hotel, the Marsten House, Hell House, the House from House of Leaves, Mid-World, Salem's Lot, and the Shimmer.
My AO3 name is Edonohana.
I have requested The Dark Tower, Punisher, The Stand, True Detective, and Us before. All prompts in previous exchanges are still valid and welcomed. You can find them by clicking on the "fic exchange letter" tag.
( General DNWs )
( Crossover Fandom )
( Dark Tower )
( The Defenders (Punisher) )
( The Falcon and the Winter Soldier )
( The Legend of Hell House (1973 movie) )
( The Ritual )
( The Stand - Stephen King )
( True Detective )
( Us (movie 2019 )
( WandaVision )
[image error] comments
