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shadowkatDid very little today - but read, dozed, went grocery shopping (which always involves a 1.9-2 mile hike, partially with heavy baggage - because hello, no car), cook, talk to mother (we talk daily via phone - she lives far away, although we probably would do it regardless), and watch a little telly.
Also completed another somewhat abstract watercolor of people I saw on the sidewalk from memory. It is actually an abstract watercolor. I have a somewhat expressionistic/impressionistic style in my art - according to every art teacher that I've ever had. They actually preferred it. I can do realistic - it just requires going from a photograph or live, and isn't as much fun. Kind of the difference between writing a contract or journal article and writing a story.
Speaking of stories? I am reading multiple stories across different mediums at the moment.
One of which is the X-men comics - which may inspire me to write fanfiction. Mainly because they got the perfect set up for a favorite female character (aka my namesake) to save a favorite male character - technically saving both characters, with no romance involved, just a made-family vibe. I just not sure the writer will do it? The X-men comics have gotten really good all of a sudden, after a bit of dry spell for a while there. They've always been anti-fascist, and into human rights and environmental issues, but the speculative sci-fi, narrative style, art, and concepts have been elevated more than a few notches. These aren't your kid-brother's comic books.
[Pause to get on soap box]
* Note - the next person who tells me that they stopped reading comics when they were a teen, or how they never got into them as a kid? I'm ripping a new one. I've refrained to date. But no longer. If you are not into comic books, don't understand the appeal, etc - don't respond. Or respond with curiosity not judgement. Building yourself up by putting someone else's tastes down is beneath us, folks. And a good way to piss me off. Do not do it.
Just in case there's any confusion? These are the statements that annoy me:
"I haven't read any comics since I was in my teens, I moved past that stuff."
"I only like real comics like the indie ones, and the ones that are actual literary works - such as Persepolis. Are you saying you like superhero comics?"
"I could never get into superhero comics as a kid. I did try the cult and underground stuff."
"I don't like comics, I only read literature."
Don't put down what someone else loves. It's unseemly. (Well unless it's a politician or a crazy ass fascist - then go for it.)
Ahem. I used to hide my love of comics from people. Why? People got all judgey on me. And gave me the side-eye. Like I was some weirdo. A woman over the age of 18 into comic books? I remember getting those looks every time I went into the comic book stores and looked for issues. And every time I'd reveal my love? Same thing. They'd look at me as if I had horns on my head. As if I were buying some kids book or worse a porn magazine. Also they make weird-ass assumptions - which don't fit. It was annoying. Now with digital - I can hide it better. Digital is wonderful. You can buy the comics you want - instantly from Amazon, at a discount, they don't take up any space, and you can enlarge them, or read them frame by frame. Plus it indexes the issues for you. If I wanted? No one would ever know I bought the things.
But I like talking about the stories and characters.
The X-men comics I read are adult comics. I wouldn't give these to kids. No one under the age of maybe 18 should be reading these. They are dark, and while there is light content in there, they contain adult concepts. They aren't what you find in the Sunday Paper. They are actually like graphic novels, with top tier art - and highly paid professional artists. Mainly they are books told more with paintings than words. The writing is tight and minimalist and mainly dialogue. If you want to learn how to write dialogue well - read comics, and plays. I love dialogue - and comics are basically dialogue with pictures. And I think visually. I find it to be a nice break for my brain - which has to work harder to figure out words - so with pictures plus words - it's well a break?
Also they are character driven sci-fi fantasy serials, that are constantly exploring various science fiction concepts, and characters from multiple angles. They aren't hyper-realism, although there are a few out there that are, and they can slide into that from time to time. I've seen every artistic style imaginable within the X-men graphic novels/comics - from abstract to hyper-realism. Even magna. And I've read Magna as well.
[Gets off Soap Box - Sort of?]
Sigh. Life would be so much easier if everyone liked the same things I did and in the same way. Then again, it would also, probably, be boring.
Oh well. At any rate - as in all things, I will continue to defend to my dying breath others rights to love and enjoy what they love and enjoy and be whomever they are/want to be and/or define themselves as being however they please, as long as it doesn't harm or hurt any one. (Fascism and Religious fanaticism is not something I'll ever support). Also, being annoyed or offended doesn't count as harm - learn a little tolerance - people tend to be annoying by default, I'm certain I'm annoying somebody half the time. [Not at the moment, well outside of writing this I suppose.]
Sigh, still on soap box. Why you all put up with me, I've no clue.
Now, off soap box, and hopefully no longer self-deprecating as result. (I've been criticized a lot for doing this in my life time, so I make snarky remarks about it - to kind of fend it off? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Probably make more sense to just stop doing it - but why do that, when I can snark and be self-deprecating instead? It's a lot more fun.)
***
Anyhow back to the books I'm reading - which is a lot more interesting, than talking about myself and my annoyances.
1. Comics via Comixcology - read on Fire HD, which is about the size of a small comic book and in color.
These have gotten alarmingly good. Alarmingly, because my addiction is back, and I'm buying them again. Although they are generally speaking fairly cheap.
* X-men issue #26 (of god knows how many...they keep rebooting this comic) - this was advertised as the Wedding between Emma and Iron Man. It's not. So, I was expecting - well a wedding, and the drama involved during it as both teams come together. But, that's not what happened. At all. They managed to surprise me, and in a good way. Kudos. In short? They don't get married in the issue, and I'm still not clear whether they've already gotten married, or are about to or even intend to, or if it is just a big fake out or not? I was hoping this issue would clear it up. It didn't. If anything it added a few more wrinkles to the plot. I am actually pleased by all of it. It makes it more interesting on multiple levels.
Also the Emma/Stark relationship is kind of similar to the Emma and Kingpin relationship - although with a lot more romantic/sexual chemistry involved. Stark and Emma genuinely care for each other, have a long-going flirtation, they have slept together, and both run in the same circles. They aren't the love of each others lives - and they are okay with that. Possibly too much alike in some ways for that to happen. If anything they are involved for the mutual survival. It's a necessary partnership to take down their mutual enemies and avenge their friends and found family, those they'd die for.
Emma clearly still cares about Scott - who has been missing in action for weeks. And she's concerned. She brings this up to her friend, Kate Pryde, aka Shadowkat, who she doesn't call Kitty any longer, but Katherine. But Katherine wants to be called only Shadowkat. She's become a ninja assassin, who literally can walk through any object, silent as a ghost. Katherine is looking for Scott (aka Cyclops) and states she hasn't found anything yet, but she's getting closer. So clearly she is hunting for him. Their plan is to go off together on a killing spree - and take out Orchis and as many of the evil fascist people involved as they can. And they really don't care if they die in the process. The two of them together could accomplish quite a bit. They are both deadly. (I adore them.)
But alas, she can't go off with Katherine - because Stark stops her from killing Feilong, or wiping his brain clean. Mainly because Stark needs the information in his brain, not because he cares about Feilong. Stark is a bit of a strategist. [Emma clearly has a type.]
Meanwhile - it's made clear by Wilson Fiske aka The White King (previously Kingpin) that she works for him not the other way around. She also appears to be Stark's assistant. Emma is in hell. She's hiding as Stark's assistant Hazel Kendall, a drab secretary with brown hair and glasses - with an inhibitor ring which prevents her from using her mutant abilities and anyone from detecting them, created by Stark, enabling her to hide from Orchis in plain sight.
And prior to all of this? Shadowkat aka Kitty tries to kill Firestar. Emma warned Tony that Sk was going after Firestar. And that if she was his mole with Orchis, he might want to warn her, if not she'd get an urn from the basement. Stark calls her, and FS manages to convince SK that she'd been volunteered (against her will no less) by Jean Grey to spy on orchis. Jean had changed Stasis (a major villain's) memories so that he thinks he talked Firestar into being a mole within the X-men, and a traitor. She also convinces the other X-men of it. Jean did while she was dying - so Firestar didn't have much of a choice. Poor Firestar. Jean's a class-A bitch. I love Jean, but she can be annoying at times.
Anyhow, favorite female character, Shadowkat, is poised to rescue Scott from Orchis. And if you are reading this - you know where I got my online name from.
* Captain Britain issue #1 of 5 - it's kind of a gay lesbian action fantasy romp, which others may find more entertaining than I do. Some good stuff here and there. And the art is pretty good. Plus Pete Wisdom, another fav. But Betsy has alas, always bored me, I much prefer - Kwiannon aka Psychlock.
* X-Force issues 20-30 (of god knows.. see X-men) This is the saga of Domino getting her mojo back by taking out the genegnieer. It's kind of a horror action comic - with a lot of body horror, and biological experimentation. Also it delves into Beast who is becoming more and more of a super-villain, he rejects his humanity completely, along with the name Dr. Henry McKoy or Hank, and just goes by Beast now. And he has become more and more bestial. The character arc is actually rather well done. You see him slowly sliding in this direction over time, becoming more and more righteous in his cause, thinking the means justify the ends, not being self-aware, and truly not caring about anyone but himself. Both Abigail Brand and Beast go down the same road, thinking their means justify their ends, and sacrificing bits of their souls along the way - and both do get found out by those they've betrayed, and are ultimately destroyed by them.
X-Force is interesting because it continues to explore the consequences of setting up a Black Ops group with no constraints, how that destroys everyone within it. And how we fight our enemy or the monster at the gate is as important as the why. Beast wants to kill them before they decide to attack. And by doing this, he chips more and more of his conscience away, crossing more and more lines. Sage and Domino, and dear god, even Wolverine question this - and instead he shuts them down in different ways. It's a nice commentary on some ahem current politicians and fascists out there.
* Wolverine issues #25-29 (see X-men) - Saga of Beast taking control of Wolverine, and his ultimate betrayal of Logan. Beast basically kills him. Resurrects him - but limits his mental capacity, puts a controlling Kraokan bio-necklace around his neck made by Black Tom, places him a pit below Kraoka (the island prison) and only brings him out to kill and/or eat. Telling him that he is Beast's own private assassin. Is stupid. Dumb. And only valuable as an assassin for Beast. He basically tortures him, and makes him do horrible things. It's irredeemable. Seriously, the most physically tortured characters are Wolverine and Cyclops.
This is of course leading to Wolverine killing Beast. And leaving Kraoka, which explains why Wolverine wasn't there when Orchis attacked and killed Jean. Also, why Mother Righteous has Wolverine Army, and Orchis does - Wolverine has died so many times, and left his adamantine skeleton behind, people were able to grab it. Also the genegenineer was able to sell his DNA to the highest bidder. For once they are commenting on the consequences of dying, and being resurrected multiple times.
See? Not for kids.
*The Last Slayer - this is an AU comic where Tara wasn't killed by Warren, although everything else more or less happened, and Buffy at the age of 50 finally loses her powers and becomes a watcher with Spike. They are watchers for a teenage Thess, Willow and Tara's daughter, who is orphaned when both are killed doing a magic spell to bring back the sun.
Tara kind of comes back in another form - but Thess moves on. Anya is another Watcher or on the council. Thess is a lesbian.
Spike and Buffy are canonically together now. I know it's canon, because the rights holder has a character bible that anyone doing a commercial version of the story AU or otherwise has to follow. And in it - Buffy is with Spike, Angel is off doing his own thing, and can be paired with pretty much anyone else.
It's well drawn (for the most part) and well written unlike most of the Buffy comics that I've seen from Dark Horse. These are actually better than the S8-9 comics. The comics got a whole lot better after the evil editor aka Scott Allie got fired from Dark Horse. And Chris Gage took over Dark Horse's version. Once Whedon was kind of kicked out of the mix, the story improved, which is interesting in of itself?
2. Audible or Audio Books - Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories from the Road by William Least Heat Moon
So far, he's talked about the beginnings of micro-breweries in Brooklyn, New York with Red Hook Beer. (I've had it - prior to the gluten intolerance bit). Kansas. New York's geography. Japan - a town over there. The Mayan Ruins. It's kind of like listening to a journalist's travel blog. Rather comforting actually.
3. The Hollow Places - E-Book on the Kindle by T Kingfisher. (If I had to pick between Barnes and Noble and Amazon - I'd pick Amazon, I'm angry at B&N for ahem, reasons, also the Kindle is the better reader. Even B&N knows that - their electronic reader disappeared from their stores after being featured there for about five or six years. And it is cheaper and I get discounts, and it did a better job of selling my book to folks.)
T Kingfisher is a psychological horror writer. Her style of horror is more creepy and stuff you see from the corner of your eye. I like that style of horror - it's more in line with Jackson's and possibly HP Lovecraft, in regards to monsters at any rate, not the racism and misogyny (ugh 1950s horror and sci-fi writers - Lovecraft not Kingfisher). Also she does Southern Gothic, without the class and romance, and a country folklore. Someone at Good Reads said she didn't get metaphors, I disagree - I think she does, and does them well, just not how others might see them? Everyone interprets metaphors differently - we don't think the same, after all.
This book is about Kara (Carrot) and Simon who stumble upon a nightmarish pocket dimension while attempting to fix a mysterious hole in the wall of Kara's Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum (think low-bred Ripley's Believer it or Not). There's a little melding of HP Lovecraft in here.
4. Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James - in paperback, courtesy of an independent book store in Brooklyn. Not that far - it's a huge paperback and difficult to cart around with me.
But the prose is lyrical and the man can write circles around most. It's like reading prose poetry. It ebbs and flows like water and wind throw trees. I can hear the voices in their original Jamaican and Island tones.
And it has a distinctive narrative voice.
A lot of writers out there have never developed a distinctive voice. The good ones, or the ones who are memorable have. Although admittedly I can't remember some of them - but most of those were translations so don't count.
It starts with a young girl - pushed aside, with a rope around her neck, in cavern, while her brothers hoot and holler. Dash and run around her. She, being but a girl, is neglected and forgotten. Left to find her own way, or be sold or bartered off into marriage. Not praised and trained like the boys.
It's not sexist. So much as brutally honest. And we're in the girl's point of view as well as her brothers. Her treatment from the narrative's perspective is despicable - we are supposed to be upset by it.
5. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang - Hardback from independent bookstore in Brooklyn. It is a satire of the NYC Book Publishing Industry. About a woman who gets a book deal by stealing her dead rivals book and plagiarizing it as her own. Oh, I should add the anti-hero protagonist is a white woman, and the dead rival was Chinese-American.
I've not started it yet, but I need to soon - since I plan on giving it to Wales for Christmas.
Clearly I'm constantly reading or listening to books, and in between doing other things. One of the pluses of living in NYC, particularly Brooklyn, is I'm surrounded by books. There's little book houses - where people drop off and take books, an ever-expanding library in the basement, people keep adding to it, two libraries, and two book stores in the area. Plus a lot of writers. The lovely thing about the information age? Is it is not hard to find books or book clubs for that matter. Even my workplace has a book club - it just meets in Manhattan - and well, it's reading books I've either already read (say five years ago) or on audio (and don't feel like discussing). But it exists and I can join at any time. So too does the church, and now the neighborhood book store.
***
Oh, I found out via FB's neighborhood Kensington Page, that a new bookstore has popped up in the area. This one on Church Street and between Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue, I think. It's called... Lofty Pigeon Books- apparently a couple that meet working at a book store, decided post-pandemic to deliver on their dream of opening up their own book store and giving back to the community. They aren't hiring - which is wise, actually.
Because then you don't get to do the hands on service as much.
[I worked in a book store, and I won't do it again. Nor will I run or open up one. My father is right - too many movable parts that I can't control and have to keep track of. I want to read and write books, I do not want to market and sell books. Me and marketing and retail are unmixy things. Library - I'll do (well, maybe not - I'm allergic to old books as I've recently discovered), not a book store (the books are fine - they are new, but I hate selling things). I don't like selling things. I can buy things, I just suck at selling them.]
Also completed another somewhat abstract watercolor of people I saw on the sidewalk from memory. It is actually an abstract watercolor. I have a somewhat expressionistic/impressionistic style in my art - according to every art teacher that I've ever had. They actually preferred it. I can do realistic - it just requires going from a photograph or live, and isn't as much fun. Kind of the difference between writing a contract or journal article and writing a story.
Speaking of stories? I am reading multiple stories across different mediums at the moment.
One of which is the X-men comics - which may inspire me to write fanfiction. Mainly because they got the perfect set up for a favorite female character (aka my namesake) to save a favorite male character - technically saving both characters, with no romance involved, just a made-family vibe. I just not sure the writer will do it? The X-men comics have gotten really good all of a sudden, after a bit of dry spell for a while there. They've always been anti-fascist, and into human rights and environmental issues, but the speculative sci-fi, narrative style, art, and concepts have been elevated more than a few notches. These aren't your kid-brother's comic books.
[Pause to get on soap box]
* Note - the next person who tells me that they stopped reading comics when they were a teen, or how they never got into them as a kid? I'm ripping a new one. I've refrained to date. But no longer. If you are not into comic books, don't understand the appeal, etc - don't respond. Or respond with curiosity not judgement. Building yourself up by putting someone else's tastes down is beneath us, folks. And a good way to piss me off. Do not do it.
Just in case there's any confusion? These are the statements that annoy me:
"I haven't read any comics since I was in my teens, I moved past that stuff."
"I only like real comics like the indie ones, and the ones that are actual literary works - such as Persepolis. Are you saying you like superhero comics?"
"I could never get into superhero comics as a kid. I did try the cult and underground stuff."
"I don't like comics, I only read literature."
Don't put down what someone else loves. It's unseemly. (Well unless it's a politician or a crazy ass fascist - then go for it.)
Ahem. I used to hide my love of comics from people. Why? People got all judgey on me. And gave me the side-eye. Like I was some weirdo. A woman over the age of 18 into comic books? I remember getting those looks every time I went into the comic book stores and looked for issues. And every time I'd reveal my love? Same thing. They'd look at me as if I had horns on my head. As if I were buying some kids book or worse a porn magazine. Also they make weird-ass assumptions - which don't fit. It was annoying. Now with digital - I can hide it better. Digital is wonderful. You can buy the comics you want - instantly from Amazon, at a discount, they don't take up any space, and you can enlarge them, or read them frame by frame. Plus it indexes the issues for you. If I wanted? No one would ever know I bought the things.
But I like talking about the stories and characters.
The X-men comics I read are adult comics. I wouldn't give these to kids. No one under the age of maybe 18 should be reading these. They are dark, and while there is light content in there, they contain adult concepts. They aren't what you find in the Sunday Paper. They are actually like graphic novels, with top tier art - and highly paid professional artists. Mainly they are books told more with paintings than words. The writing is tight and minimalist and mainly dialogue. If you want to learn how to write dialogue well - read comics, and plays. I love dialogue - and comics are basically dialogue with pictures. And I think visually. I find it to be a nice break for my brain - which has to work harder to figure out words - so with pictures plus words - it's well a break?
Also they are character driven sci-fi fantasy serials, that are constantly exploring various science fiction concepts, and characters from multiple angles. They aren't hyper-realism, although there are a few out there that are, and they can slide into that from time to time. I've seen every artistic style imaginable within the X-men graphic novels/comics - from abstract to hyper-realism. Even magna. And I've read Magna as well.
[Gets off Soap Box - Sort of?]
Sigh. Life would be so much easier if everyone liked the same things I did and in the same way. Then again, it would also, probably, be boring.
Oh well. At any rate - as in all things, I will continue to defend to my dying breath others rights to love and enjoy what they love and enjoy and be whomever they are/want to be and/or define themselves as being however they please, as long as it doesn't harm or hurt any one. (Fascism and Religious fanaticism is not something I'll ever support). Also, being annoyed or offended doesn't count as harm - learn a little tolerance - people tend to be annoying by default, I'm certain I'm annoying somebody half the time. [Not at the moment, well outside of writing this I suppose.]
Sigh, still on soap box. Why you all put up with me, I've no clue.
Now, off soap box, and hopefully no longer self-deprecating as result. (I've been criticized a lot for doing this in my life time, so I make snarky remarks about it - to kind of fend it off? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Probably make more sense to just stop doing it - but why do that, when I can snark and be self-deprecating instead? It's a lot more fun.)
***
Anyhow back to the books I'm reading - which is a lot more interesting, than talking about myself and my annoyances.
1. Comics via Comixcology - read on Fire HD, which is about the size of a small comic book and in color.
These have gotten alarmingly good. Alarmingly, because my addiction is back, and I'm buying them again. Although they are generally speaking fairly cheap.
* X-men issue #26 (of god knows how many...they keep rebooting this comic) - this was advertised as the Wedding between Emma and Iron Man. It's not. So, I was expecting - well a wedding, and the drama involved during it as both teams come together. But, that's not what happened. At all. They managed to surprise me, and in a good way. Kudos. In short? They don't get married in the issue, and I'm still not clear whether they've already gotten married, or are about to or even intend to, or if it is just a big fake out or not? I was hoping this issue would clear it up. It didn't. If anything it added a few more wrinkles to the plot. I am actually pleased by all of it. It makes it more interesting on multiple levels.
Also the Emma/Stark relationship is kind of similar to the Emma and Kingpin relationship - although with a lot more romantic/sexual chemistry involved. Stark and Emma genuinely care for each other, have a long-going flirtation, they have slept together, and both run in the same circles. They aren't the love of each others lives - and they are okay with that. Possibly too much alike in some ways for that to happen. If anything they are involved for the mutual survival. It's a necessary partnership to take down their mutual enemies and avenge their friends and found family, those they'd die for.
Emma clearly still cares about Scott - who has been missing in action for weeks. And she's concerned. She brings this up to her friend, Kate Pryde, aka Shadowkat, who she doesn't call Kitty any longer, but Katherine. But Katherine wants to be called only Shadowkat. She's become a ninja assassin, who literally can walk through any object, silent as a ghost. Katherine is looking for Scott (aka Cyclops) and states she hasn't found anything yet, but she's getting closer. So clearly she is hunting for him. Their plan is to go off together on a killing spree - and take out Orchis and as many of the evil fascist people involved as they can. And they really don't care if they die in the process. The two of them together could accomplish quite a bit. They are both deadly. (I adore them.)
But alas, she can't go off with Katherine - because Stark stops her from killing Feilong, or wiping his brain clean. Mainly because Stark needs the information in his brain, not because he cares about Feilong. Stark is a bit of a strategist. [Emma clearly has a type.]
Meanwhile - it's made clear by Wilson Fiske aka The White King (previously Kingpin) that she works for him not the other way around. She also appears to be Stark's assistant. Emma is in hell. She's hiding as Stark's assistant Hazel Kendall, a drab secretary with brown hair and glasses - with an inhibitor ring which prevents her from using her mutant abilities and anyone from detecting them, created by Stark, enabling her to hide from Orchis in plain sight.
And prior to all of this? Shadowkat aka Kitty tries to kill Firestar. Emma warned Tony that Sk was going after Firestar. And that if she was his mole with Orchis, he might want to warn her, if not she'd get an urn from the basement. Stark calls her, and FS manages to convince SK that she'd been volunteered (against her will no less) by Jean Grey to spy on orchis. Jean had changed Stasis (a major villain's) memories so that he thinks he talked Firestar into being a mole within the X-men, and a traitor. She also convinces the other X-men of it. Jean did while she was dying - so Firestar didn't have much of a choice. Poor Firestar. Jean's a class-A bitch. I love Jean, but she can be annoying at times.
Anyhow, favorite female character, Shadowkat, is poised to rescue Scott from Orchis. And if you are reading this - you know where I got my online name from.
* Captain Britain issue #1 of 5 - it's kind of a gay lesbian action fantasy romp, which others may find more entertaining than I do. Some good stuff here and there. And the art is pretty good. Plus Pete Wisdom, another fav. But Betsy has alas, always bored me, I much prefer - Kwiannon aka Psychlock.
* X-Force issues 20-30 (of god knows.. see X-men) This is the saga of Domino getting her mojo back by taking out the genegnieer. It's kind of a horror action comic - with a lot of body horror, and biological experimentation. Also it delves into Beast who is becoming more and more of a super-villain, he rejects his humanity completely, along with the name Dr. Henry McKoy or Hank, and just goes by Beast now. And he has become more and more bestial. The character arc is actually rather well done. You see him slowly sliding in this direction over time, becoming more and more righteous in his cause, thinking the means justify the ends, not being self-aware, and truly not caring about anyone but himself. Both Abigail Brand and Beast go down the same road, thinking their means justify their ends, and sacrificing bits of their souls along the way - and both do get found out by those they've betrayed, and are ultimately destroyed by them.
X-Force is interesting because it continues to explore the consequences of setting up a Black Ops group with no constraints, how that destroys everyone within it. And how we fight our enemy or the monster at the gate is as important as the why. Beast wants to kill them before they decide to attack. And by doing this, he chips more and more of his conscience away, crossing more and more lines. Sage and Domino, and dear god, even Wolverine question this - and instead he shuts them down in different ways. It's a nice commentary on some ahem current politicians and fascists out there.
* Wolverine issues #25-29 (see X-men) - Saga of Beast taking control of Wolverine, and his ultimate betrayal of Logan. Beast basically kills him. Resurrects him - but limits his mental capacity, puts a controlling Kraokan bio-necklace around his neck made by Black Tom, places him a pit below Kraoka (the island prison) and only brings him out to kill and/or eat. Telling him that he is Beast's own private assassin. Is stupid. Dumb. And only valuable as an assassin for Beast. He basically tortures him, and makes him do horrible things. It's irredeemable. Seriously, the most physically tortured characters are Wolverine and Cyclops.
This is of course leading to Wolverine killing Beast. And leaving Kraoka, which explains why Wolverine wasn't there when Orchis attacked and killed Jean. Also, why Mother Righteous has Wolverine Army, and Orchis does - Wolverine has died so many times, and left his adamantine skeleton behind, people were able to grab it. Also the genegenineer was able to sell his DNA to the highest bidder. For once they are commenting on the consequences of dying, and being resurrected multiple times.
See? Not for kids.
*The Last Slayer - this is an AU comic where Tara wasn't killed by Warren, although everything else more or less happened, and Buffy at the age of 50 finally loses her powers and becomes a watcher with Spike. They are watchers for a teenage Thess, Willow and Tara's daughter, who is orphaned when both are killed doing a magic spell to bring back the sun.
Tara kind of comes back in another form - but Thess moves on. Anya is another Watcher or on the council. Thess is a lesbian.
Spike and Buffy are canonically together now. I know it's canon, because the rights holder has a character bible that anyone doing a commercial version of the story AU or otherwise has to follow. And in it - Buffy is with Spike, Angel is off doing his own thing, and can be paired with pretty much anyone else.
It's well drawn (for the most part) and well written unlike most of the Buffy comics that I've seen from Dark Horse. These are actually better than the S8-9 comics. The comics got a whole lot better after the evil editor aka Scott Allie got fired from Dark Horse. And Chris Gage took over Dark Horse's version. Once Whedon was kind of kicked out of the mix, the story improved, which is interesting in of itself?
2. Audible or Audio Books - Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories from the Road by William Least Heat Moon
So far, he's talked about the beginnings of micro-breweries in Brooklyn, New York with Red Hook Beer. (I've had it - prior to the gluten intolerance bit). Kansas. New York's geography. Japan - a town over there. The Mayan Ruins. It's kind of like listening to a journalist's travel blog. Rather comforting actually.
3. The Hollow Places - E-Book on the Kindle by T Kingfisher. (If I had to pick between Barnes and Noble and Amazon - I'd pick Amazon, I'm angry at B&N for ahem, reasons, also the Kindle is the better reader. Even B&N knows that - their electronic reader disappeared from their stores after being featured there for about five or six years. And it is cheaper and I get discounts, and it did a better job of selling my book to folks.)
T Kingfisher is a psychological horror writer. Her style of horror is more creepy and stuff you see from the corner of your eye. I like that style of horror - it's more in line with Jackson's and possibly HP Lovecraft, in regards to monsters at any rate, not the racism and misogyny (ugh 1950s horror and sci-fi writers - Lovecraft not Kingfisher). Also she does Southern Gothic, without the class and romance, and a country folklore. Someone at Good Reads said she didn't get metaphors, I disagree - I think she does, and does them well, just not how others might see them? Everyone interprets metaphors differently - we don't think the same, after all.
This book is about Kara (Carrot) and Simon who stumble upon a nightmarish pocket dimension while attempting to fix a mysterious hole in the wall of Kara's Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum (think low-bred Ripley's Believer it or Not). There's a little melding of HP Lovecraft in here.
4. Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James - in paperback, courtesy of an independent book store in Brooklyn. Not that far - it's a huge paperback and difficult to cart around with me.
But the prose is lyrical and the man can write circles around most. It's like reading prose poetry. It ebbs and flows like water and wind throw trees. I can hear the voices in their original Jamaican and Island tones.
And it has a distinctive narrative voice.
A lot of writers out there have never developed a distinctive voice. The good ones, or the ones who are memorable have. Although admittedly I can't remember some of them - but most of those were translations so don't count.
It starts with a young girl - pushed aside, with a rope around her neck, in cavern, while her brothers hoot and holler. Dash and run around her. She, being but a girl, is neglected and forgotten. Left to find her own way, or be sold or bartered off into marriage. Not praised and trained like the boys.
It's not sexist. So much as brutally honest. And we're in the girl's point of view as well as her brothers. Her treatment from the narrative's perspective is despicable - we are supposed to be upset by it.
5. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang - Hardback from independent bookstore in Brooklyn. It is a satire of the NYC Book Publishing Industry. About a woman who gets a book deal by stealing her dead rivals book and plagiarizing it as her own. Oh, I should add the anti-hero protagonist is a white woman, and the dead rival was Chinese-American.
I've not started it yet, but I need to soon - since I plan on giving it to Wales for Christmas.
Clearly I'm constantly reading or listening to books, and in between doing other things. One of the pluses of living in NYC, particularly Brooklyn, is I'm surrounded by books. There's little book houses - where people drop off and take books, an ever-expanding library in the basement, people keep adding to it, two libraries, and two book stores in the area. Plus a lot of writers. The lovely thing about the information age? Is it is not hard to find books or book clubs for that matter. Even my workplace has a book club - it just meets in Manhattan - and well, it's reading books I've either already read (say five years ago) or on audio (and don't feel like discussing). But it exists and I can join at any time. So too does the church, and now the neighborhood book store.
***
Oh, I found out via FB's neighborhood Kensington Page, that a new bookstore has popped up in the area. This one on Church Street and between Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue, I think. It's called... Lofty Pigeon Books- apparently a couple that meet working at a book store, decided post-pandemic to deliver on their dream of opening up their own book store and giving back to the community. They aren't hiring - which is wise, actually.
Because then you don't get to do the hands on service as much.
[I worked in a book store, and I won't do it again. Nor will I run or open up one. My father is right - too many movable parts that I can't control and have to keep track of. I want to read and write books, I do not want to market and sell books. Me and marketing and retail are unmixy things. Library - I'll do (well, maybe not - I'm allergic to old books as I've recently discovered), not a book store (the books are fine - they are new, but I hate selling things). I don't like selling things. I can buy things, I just suck at selling them.]
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Date: 2023-09-11 12:41 pm (UTC)I liked Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk in watching the Daredevil series.