Peter Darbyshire's Blog, page 5

Change your normal this year

It’s the start of a new year and there is no better time to change your normal. Unless your normal state is working well for you, in which case carry on! Here is a list of 10 things I have found helpful in changing my normal.

Choose a theme for the year. This can be anything — The Year of Fitness, The Year of Saying Yes, The Year of Saying No, The Year of Family. Whatever you choose will help give you a direction for that year and help inform your decisions, which in turn will help you change your normal. I’m opting for the Year of Creativity this year.
Whatever your goals are for the year, put a system in place that will help you achieve them. Goals are great but if you don’t know how you are going to achieve them then you probably won’t. Put a good system in place and the goals will take care of themselves. Hint: The more enjoyable you make the system, the greater the chance you’ll be able to stick to it.
Stop drinking. This was a life-changer for me, as I lost weight, became fitter, developed greater emotional stability and focus — and became more present in my life. I stopped drinking in 2019 and I’ve never regretted it.
Exercise more. I don’t mean you have to go to the gym and throw a car’s worth of weights around — although power to you if that’s your thing. Exercise can be as simple as walking to work instead of taking transit or going for a walk at lunch with colleagues or friends. I find that whenever I’m stressed, I go for a walk and my mood immediately improves.
Connect with family, friends and colleagues more. I’ve made a real effort to try to connect with people more, even if it’s just a lunchtime walk at work, and I’ve found the effects have been great for my mental health. I’ve rekindled old friendships and developed new ones, and all the social connection has simply made me feel better as a person. The stronger your social foundation, the stronger your foundation overall.
Practice gratitude. I try to practice gratitude every day, ideally first thing in the morning to set the tone for the day. I find that if I can begin the day with something to be grateful for it helps me to see the good in other things or events throughout the day rather than focus on the negative. It makes me happy, and happiness comes with all sorts of advantages. It’s important to remember that gratitude doesn’t just have to be about the big things in your life. Often I am grateful for spending time with a friend at lunch or a beautiful morning. And sometimes I even grateful for the hard moments in life, for helping me to become a stronger, better person.
Choose happiness. When we choose happiness, we are choosing to process the world in a certain way — to see the possibilities rather than the roadblocks. That gives us more opportunities and advantages — and more chances at greater happiness!
Practice compassion – including self-compassion. I’ve found I’m less likely to hold a grudge or get caught up in negative emotions if I can manage some compassion toward the person who is causing me problems. Most people don’t set out to make life difficult for other people, after all. Sometimes it just happens because of challenges they are facing outside of their control. Practicing compassion helps me keep my inner peace and hopefully prevents me from becoming the difficult person. More importantly, I’ve learned to practice self-compassion. I used to beat myself up for not being perfect, for not having a handle on my anxiety, etc., but now I remind myself that I am a human being subject to innumerable stresses and forces outside of my control. And when I practice self-compassion, I am more likely to rest and recharge or otherwise take the steps needed to look after myself, which means I am more healthy and resilient in the long run.
Focus on what you can control and accept what you cannot. Life will put plenty of challenges and obstacles in your path. They are neither good nor bad. They simply are. What they mean to you will depend on your own mindset, so develop one that serves your happiness rather than your anxieties.
Always remember that how you spend your time is who you actually are. When you waste time on mindless activities or something you don’t particularly care about, you are actually wasting your life. Every action you take is a vote for the sort of person you will become.

I hope all your change is for the positive this year!

(Pic is of me changing my normal a few years back.)

Related Reading List

Here are some books I’ve found very useful in helping to change my normal. I hope they can do the same for you.

The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan HolidayStillness is the Key by Ryan HolidayFour Thousand Weeks by Oliver BurkemanThe Happiness Advantage by Shawn AchorAtomic Habits by James Clear

Don’t Quill the Messenger interview

My interview with Don’t Quill the Messenger is now live. It was a great conversation about my book The Dead Hamlets, who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays and the power of theatre. (Direct link: https://www.dragonwagonradio.com/dontquillthemessenger/2024/12/28/the-dead-hamlets)

New Cross editions make list of best book covers of 2024

I’m delighted to see my Cross series of supernatural thrillers make the list of best book covers of 2024 from the Hamilton Review of Books! I do love these covers.

Productive Goblins – The December 2024 Bibliofiles edition

I went on a bit of a Christopher Buehlman binge in December, reading The Daughters’ War and then re-reading The Blacktongue Thief to compare them. Each of them is a brilliant read, as is Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup. I hope you like the books in this edition of the Bibliofiles as much as I did.

Fiction

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

The thief Kinch finds himself sent on a mission by the Takers Guild to accompany Galva, a hardened veteran of the Goblin Wars, to a distant city that has been attacked by giants to… well, he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do there. But he knows better than to cross the Takers Guild, which seems to have its hands in everything behind the scenes.

What follows is a crazed and absolutely fantastic adventure where they make their way across a most hostile land, encountering monstrous goblins, strange magicians, a very cunning kraken, and a very peculiar blind cat. Kinch falls in love with a young witch and tries to redeem his troubled past, but nothing is what it seems in this book.

And the storytelling, oh gods, the storytelling! It’s equally dramatic, horrifying and comic, as Buehlman always hits the right notes to keep the reader reading on. Kinch is one of the best narrators to ever tell a fantasy tale, and this tale is as original as it is inventive on every single page. Every character has a great backstory and wonderful arc, the magic is weird and captivating, the action scenes are unpredictable and real, and you never know where the story will take you next.

The Blacktongue Thief is one of the best fantasy books to ever grace the genre. I can’t wait to read whatever comes next from Buehlman.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55077697

The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buhelman

Goblins. Guts. Glory.

The prequel to Christopher Buehlman’s absolutely magical The Blacktongue Thief, The Daughters’ War is set in the Goblin Wars that form the background of the first Blacktongue book. The Daughters’ War follows the warrior Galva from The Blacktongue Thief through the bloody conflict that nearly ended humanity at the hooked claws of the goblins. It’s a very different book, however, as it falls more into grimdark or even horror fantasy than the fantasy caper of The Blacktongue Thief. Perhaps that’s fitting for a book about humanity’s desperate struggle against a race of hungry goblins that want nothing more than to enslave and eat them.

As different as it is, though, The Daughters’ War is another brilliant read from Buehlman, who has quickly become the envy of every other writer in the field. His invention of the war corvids used to fight the goblins — fierce giant birds created through dark magic — is one of the best additions to the fantasy genre in decades. And this is the best invocation of the horrors of war since Joe Abercrombie’s Heroes. As the army of Galva and her fellow dams — female warriors as the goblins have killed most of the men — move through ravaged cities and witness the devastation of the goblin hordes, the tension grows and grows until the inevitable battle. This is no Tolkien fantasy where a handful of noble hearts prevail against the horde, though. It’s war at its ugliest and most brutal, and sometimes the good guys — or good dams — don’t win. An absolute masterpiece of the genre.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195790571-the-daughters-war

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Sherlock Holmes detective stories meet fantasy in this tale of murder, contagion and leviathans. The Sherlock Holmes part is played by the quirky Ana, an intellectual who doesn’t leave her quarters if she can help it and instead lets her assistant Din do all the legwork for her. Din, the narrator, is an engraver, which means he can remember everything he encounters, even if he doesn’t understand it. The two are one of the most memorable pairings in fantasy fiction since Frodo and Sam. Or maybe Frodo and Gollum….

Ana and Din are brought in to solve the mysterious death of a military officer in a mansion where he doesn’t belong, after a plant has erupted from his body and torn him apart. It turns out he is not the only one to suffer such an affliction, and the deaths lead to a breach in a fortification that keeps the strange and deadly leviathans out of the land. Their investigation takes them deep into the intrigues of the empire, and the murder mystery also becomes a political thriller and class critique, with a touch of horror thrown in.

The Tainted Cup is an incredibly layered tale, where every detail is memorable — and every detail matters. It’s one of the smartest and most intriguing fantasy books ever written. I’m looking forward to following all the future adventures of Ana and Din!

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150247395-the-tainted-cup

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

What happens when Dread Lord Gavrax wakes in his castle/lair/laboratory with no memories of who he is but with an army of goblins at his disposal, an untrustworthy second-in-command, a captured princess in the dungeon, a village full of frightened servants and a group of other dark wizards that want him to take part in a ritual to summon something even worse than them? You get a fun, cozy fantasy that keeps you guessing while never taking itself too seriously.

Dreadful is a perfect read for these troubled times. The only real drawback is you’ll likely finish it too quickly and leave yourself wanting more.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63051209-dreadful

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Are you suffering from burnout or overwhelm? Struggling to be productive in a world where pseudo-productivity seems to be the only thing that matters? (You know, looking busy rather than producing actual meaningful work.) Maybe you need to embrace slow productivity instead.

Newport looks at a handful of historical and contemporary figures to reveal their secrets to getting things done — Jane Austen, Steve Jobs, even Jewel. It all boils down to carving out periods of intense focus by eliminating distractions and other demands on your time. In short, focus on quality rather than quantity.

Of course, this is easier said than done depending on how you are trying to apply this to your life. There are a few strategies suggested here, but overall it’s more of a philosophical approach than it is a how-to guide. Newport presents the big picture of how much focus matters and then leaves it to the reader to determine how to change their lives to create a more focused approach to their projects that matter.

It’s not exactly new material — Newport has covered much of this ground before in his other books, particularly in Deep Work. But if you’re a fan of his work or you’re looking for ways out of the overwhelm cycle, then Slow Productivity should be on your reading list.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197773418-slow-productivity

Unboxing the new books!

The new editions of my Cross series of supernatural thrillers have arrived so I made my first unboxing video! Check out the lovely new versions of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets and The Apocalypse Ark!

A supernatural thriller for a supernatural holiday

The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the first book in my Cross series of supernatural thrillers, has made The Tyee’s holiday gift list! Very happy to see this. https://thetyee.ca/Presents/2024/12/05/Holiday-Book-Recommendations-Part-Two/

Dark lords, dragons and angels – The Bibliofiles November 2024 edition

November was a light month for reading for me — both in content and quantity. I didn’t read many stories, but I did manage to finish a few books I’ve been wanting to read for some time. It seemed a good month for fantasy and escapism….

(Previous Bibliofiles)

Fiction

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

If you’re in the mood for a cozy, fun fantasy with some raunchy elements, then Django Wexler’s How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying may be the book for you. It’s a sort of Groundhog Day meets fantasy novel, in which the heroine Dani has died over and over in trying to defeat the Dark Lord’s forces. At the beginning of the novel she decides she’s had enough and sets out to instead become the Dark Lord in her latest life. She’s remarkably successful, gathering an army of fantastic creatures — orcs and yetis and stone golems and the like. Along the way she has flings with some of her army and confuses pretty much everyone with pop culture references from our world. That last bit may make or break the book for readers, as it seems Dani is somehow from our world, but the circumstances are mysterious and largely unexplained. The plot drives this wannabe Dark Lord toward the Convocation, where she must compete against other contenders for the title of Dark Lord — including some nasty characters that have killed her in past lives. It’s all very light and charming and, best of all, the first book in a Dark Lord series.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198493860-how-to-become-the-dark-lord-and-die-trying

I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

I don’t quite know how to describe I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter Beagle other than to call it charming. It follows the tale of young Robert, a dragon exterminator who is called to the palace to get rid of an infestation of dragons as the king and queen try to marry off the princess Cerise. The princess is uninterested in marrying anyone, until Crown Prince Reginald turns up — although it quickly becomes clear he is uninterested in being a crown prince. Oh, and Robert isn’t exactly happy being a dragon exterminator either. In proper fairy tale fashion they decide Reginald has to hunt down and slay a dragon to prove his valour, and that’s when things start to go awry. They cross paths with larger and meaner dragons as well as a scheming wizard, and everyone’s plans are ruined. It’s a weird little book that falls somewhere between YA and more traditional fantasy, and it’s often more cerebral and philosophical than it is action-packed, but that may not be a bad thing. It’s certainly unlike anything else out there on the genre shelves right now, so if you’re looking for something a little different and you’ve got a thing for dragons, then this may be the book for you.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199798488-i-m-afraid-you-ve-got-dragons

Pulling the Wings Off Angels by KJ Parker

A theological student in a fantasy land owes the local crime boss more than he is able to pay, so the crime boss decides to settle for an angel in return. Not just any angel, though — he wants the one the student’s grandfather kidnapped and locked up in a chapel years ago.

So begins the latest intellectual and philosophical caper by KJ Parker, who is perhaps the smartest fantasy writer in the genre today. To say any more would be to give it all away. Just read it and then go read all of Parker’s other books when you’re done.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59807972-pulling-the-wings-off-angels

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P Djeli Clark

Eveen the Eviscerator is one of the best assassins of the city of Tal Abisi. She also happens to be undead with little memory of her former life — part of the deal when you work with the assassins guild. She only has a few rules to follow in her profession, chief among them that you always finish the job. And Eveen hasn’t failed yet.

But when she’s contracted to kill a young girl, she finds herself at odds with the guild and winds up on the run while hunted by other assassins who are just as deadly as she is. Her flight becomes a journey into her mysterious past as it turns out Eveen and her intended victim have more than a few things in common.

It’s another delightfully weird tale by P Djeli Clark, full of memorable action scenes and even more memorable characters, scientific experimentation and philosophy straight out of Frankenstein, and more cosmic twists and turns than a Marvel movie. One of the most original voices of our generation!

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127305606-the-dead-cat-tail-assassins

Things Lost Forever by Auston Habershaw

A creepy yet beautiful tale of a master craftsman who is tasked with making a new throne for a vampire lord, even though it will likely mean his own end. But he is no mere victim. It’s court intrigue meets quiet horror in a dying world, but it breathes fresh life into the vampire genre. One of the best stories I’ve read all year.

Link: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/things-lost-forever/

Dragons of Paris by Michael Swanwick

A battle for Paris fought with tanks and artillery and necromancers and giants and dragons — actually, you had me at necromancers. This is the first Mongolian Wizard story I’ve read by Michael Swanwick, but I’ll definitely check out the others after this.

Link: https://reactormag.com/dragons-of-paris-michael-swanwick/

Non-fiction

The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers

Any parent of young boys has probably heard the argument that our school systems are failing boys if they haven’t already experienced this failure directly. Boys tend to perform worse than girls in schools, are more likely to have behavioural difficulties and wind up with IEPs, are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and so on. So what is the problem? Is it just boys are wired for failure? Or are modern schools simply not accommodating their nature?

Sommers takes a tour through the education system and highlights the ways in which boys’ physical, mental and emotional differences are ignored, suppressed or outright pathologized, often to the detriment of boys. For instance, Sommers looks at how the rough and tumble play of boys is typically discouraged as aggression rather than a critical component of male socialization that simply needs appropriate guidance, or how male stoicism is cast as a psychological weakness to be addressed rather than a trait to be encouraged.

Sommers looks at alternative models of education where boys are thriving, such as all-boys schools where competition is encouraged and rowdiness is accepted as part of daily life or schools that have a focus on typically male activities such as mechanics and engineering. But these examples are clearly in the minority in today’s world — and Sommers argues they are under threat from those opposed to any form of segregation, formal or otherwise.

While the book does largely identify real problems with how the modern education system handles boys, it does get bogged down in trying to pin the blame on specific feminists that she sees as having anti-male agendas. Sommers does try to make it clear that she is not indicting feminism itself, however, and argues that this matter is much a female issue as a male one for how we raise boys matters to everyone.

So what is to be done? It’s clear that boys and girls learn very differently and have very different needs from the education system, particularly at the younger ages. Yet segregation according to gender is not a practical answer and comes with its own drawbacks that are likely equal to any benefits. But something must be done for it’s clear that schools are failing too many boys. Which raises the question: Are the boys that are succeeding in our schools doing so because of or despite the education system?

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27996.The_War_Against_Boys

Turning pages with The Mona Lisa Sacrifice

I had a lovely conversation with Michael Elves about The Mona Lisa Sacrifice over at the Turning Pages radio show on 101.5 UMFM. We talked about the origins of the series, how difficult it is to write characters like Cross and his friends (namely Alice!), and the importance of knowing when to research the hell out of something and when to let the imagination run wild. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

YouTube version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ShO9CtDTv0

A conversation on the writing life with Michelle Berry

When I was a young writer in Toronto, Michelle Berry was very much one of the authors that inspired me. She writes fantastic, weird fiction set in a world that is all too familiar, she’s prolific as hell, and she’s an all-around lovely person. She was kind enough to mentor me a bit, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.

So I was delighted to be able to have a conversation with her now about the writing life, secret tricks of the trade and the importance of community. Check it out today — and check out Michelle’s latest book, Satellite Image! (I also mentioned Satellite Image in my August edition of the Bibliofiles.)

So precioussss

I must admit that I’m enjoying all the images I’m seeing online of the new editions of my Cross books. These are some of my favourite covers yet!

More details:

The Mona Lisa Sacrifice

The Dead Hamlets

The Apocalypse Ark