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Wednesday Reading Meme
Aug. 3rd, 2022 10:23 amWhat I’ve Read
Strange Adventures by Tom King – Hugo 2022 Nominated – Best Graphic Novel – Eh. This is good, but it’s incredibly Tom King-ish. By which I mean, an American gets involved in a war abroad, lies a lot, and the CIA could probably sue for co-author credit. King’s work is good, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure if the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy angle is really working for me. It does finish out my Best Graphic Novel category, tho!
Tame a Wild Human by Kari Greg – I read this technically-a-book book on some curiousity – got it from the library, and at free, I think the price is fair. It’s unexamined werewolf porn – there’s better on AO3, but it’s not terrible, I just think that the happy ending is, uh, kind of soured by knowing that your “misunderstood” werewolf bf did literally order some torture and murder to occur in front of you? Which might work for some people, or even me, if the writing could pull it off, but uh, nope.
a simple thing by iridan – Star Wars & Mandalorian to season 2, not in continuity with Book of Boba Fett – This 650K work is technically lacking a chapter or two before it's complete, but I read it over the course of about 5 days, riveted. It’s a truly ambitious work that brings in a significant amount of Expanded Universe characters and backstory to flesh out a potential future for both Din Djarin and the Mandalorians as a culture in diaspora. Like. This is magnificent and I have enjoyed every word. I also really appreciated how the author was very careful about thinking thru what elements of fanon v canon v her own headcanon she wanted to include, and I think she did a really good job at that.
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021) Hugo Nominated for Best Short Story - deliciously creepy, makes interesting use of an online medium, definitely recommend reading on a computer rather than a phone. An interesting blend of modern tech as the medium to explore a theme that is probably more in the realm of fantasy, and I enjoyed how carefully the metanarrative built on itself, slowly, comment by comment, until the story's conclusions arrived in your brain as gently as a needle.
What I’m Reading
Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlies Jane Anders – Hugo Nominated Best Related Work – How to get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories – Just started, we’ll see!
Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss – Traviss laid the groundwork for a lot of Mandalorian cultural elements, including language, so I’m going to read this as backstory for Mandalorian fic. It’s compelling and I’m appreciating the fact that someone noticed that the Republic grew a slave army to fight their wars, and that’s BAD. Pages, they are turning. I'm not sure whether or not I would find this all so compelling if I didn't have the Star Wars gremlins living rent free in my skull, but they have indeed taken up residence there, so this is pretty great for me.
What I’ll Read Next
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott – Book Group
Short stories and novelettes - Hugo Nominated
Strange Adventures by Tom King – Hugo 2022 Nominated – Best Graphic Novel – Eh. This is good, but it’s incredibly Tom King-ish. By which I mean, an American gets involved in a war abroad, lies a lot, and the CIA could probably sue for co-author credit. King’s work is good, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure if the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy angle is really working for me. It does finish out my Best Graphic Novel category, tho!
Tame a Wild Human by Kari Greg – I read this technically-a-book book on some curiousity – got it from the library, and at free, I think the price is fair. It’s unexamined werewolf porn – there’s better on AO3, but it’s not terrible, I just think that the happy ending is, uh, kind of soured by knowing that your “misunderstood” werewolf bf did literally order some torture and murder to occur in front of you? Which might work for some people, or even me, if the writing could pull it off, but uh, nope.
a simple thing by iridan – Star Wars & Mandalorian to season 2, not in continuity with Book of Boba Fett – This 650K work is technically lacking a chapter or two before it's complete, but I read it over the course of about 5 days, riveted. It’s a truly ambitious work that brings in a significant amount of Expanded Universe characters and backstory to flesh out a potential future for both Din Djarin and the Mandalorians as a culture in diaspora. Like. This is magnificent and I have enjoyed every word. I also really appreciated how the author was very careful about thinking thru what elements of fanon v canon v her own headcanon she wanted to include, and I think she did a really good job at that.
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021) Hugo Nominated for Best Short Story - deliciously creepy, makes interesting use of an online medium, definitely recommend reading on a computer rather than a phone. An interesting blend of modern tech as the medium to explore a theme that is probably more in the realm of fantasy, and I enjoyed how carefully the metanarrative built on itself, slowly, comment by comment, until the story's conclusions arrived in your brain as gently as a needle.
What I’m Reading
Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlies Jane Anders – Hugo Nominated Best Related Work – How to get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories – Just started, we’ll see!
Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss – Traviss laid the groundwork for a lot of Mandalorian cultural elements, including language, so I’m going to read this as backstory for Mandalorian fic. It’s compelling and I’m appreciating the fact that someone noticed that the Republic grew a slave army to fight their wars, and that’s BAD. Pages, they are turning. I'm not sure whether or not I would find this all so compelling if I didn't have the Star Wars gremlins living rent free in my skull, but they have indeed taken up residence there, so this is pretty great for me.
What I’ll Read Next
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott – Book Group
Short stories and novelettes - Hugo Nominated
