What I’ve Read
So, I have finished nothing that was traditionally published in the last week, but I have read a non-trival amount of fic, and worked thru a lot of books that I hadn’t actually had a chance to finish yet.
For the finished things, I’m trying to pull back into the format I used for recc’ing works, because if I preserve more info, then it’s easier to find things if they are later taken down

Title: The Legend Of Liob by Killbothtwins
Fandom: Star Wars Clone Wars
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38656698
Length:19K
Summary: The Republic sends a combat photographer to be attached to the 212th until further notice, citing the need for a morale boost. The clones make up a fake clone, citing the absolute fact that it is very funny. Somehow, these two things save the galaxy.
Why I love it: I love Cody’s point of view on this fic, as he tries desperately to reign in the nonsense that several thousand bored soldiers get into while playing a joke on their newly assigned war correspondent.  I love the original character’s general willingness to do what she can to help the clones out and use public opinion to help them. The troopers of the 212th are having some fun in the middle of some of the worst possible things that could happen to a person, and it is truly hilarious. This is just a very fun fix it fic!

Title: Triumvirate by celinamarniss
Fandom: Star Wars ex-canonical pre-disney works by Timothy Zahn
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494842
Length: 77K
Summary: (Mine) Mara Jade and Prince Luke Skywalker of Naboo are given as concubines to Admiral Thrawn. Surprisingly, this works out well.
Why I love it: Welp, I did not expect a threesome where Thrawn the meat in a Luke and Mara sandwich, but, hello, we are here. It’s a bit kinky, a bit dark, a bit sweet, a bit of an AU

Title: Seeking Shelter By sphagnum
Fandom: Original work
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15648981
Length: 7k
Summary: Guns down, gentlemen. Oscar protocol. The betas lowered their rifles instantly, pointing them at the ground in front of Max instead of his chest. Max took a deeper breath in, his tension easing a bit as he moved past the part of the plan where he might just get shot dead before he had a chance to try to bargain. It had always been a risk; it had just seemed like a better death than slow starvation.
Why I love it: I unrepentantly adore writing where characters are operating thru a hard language barrier. In this case, one character has a form of fictional virus-induced aphasia and it’s really well written and interesting to see the world thru his eyes while also getting the dialogue of the people around him.

What I’m Reading:
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - book club, descriptive heavy but interesting. Someone I love who typically has deeply different reading tastes than me truly hated this book, and I took that as the recommendation that it usually is.

Westerns: Making the Man in Fiction and Film by Lee Clark Mitchell - Reading for the Great Queer Supernatural Rewatch - we’re thinking about westerns and masculinity! And how that genre of work says things about The American West as a setting and what it means for the kind of masculinity that the characters of Supernatural are dealing with. Related to the third chapter, we also watched Stagecoach (1938) which had some fascinating elements to it in terms of writing and an ensemble cast. (It was the first movie in which I found John Wayne to be charming and a good actor - I normally get deeply grossed out by him!) The racism in Stagecoach felt generic, by which I mean, it’s an inherent part of the genre and cannot be removed, but was also not pointed or with a lot of motivation behind it. Racism as wallpaper. Had a nice long discussion with a friend of how that compared to the John Carter of Mars novels that they’re currently reading, which really wants to pound into your head that the Martians cannot actually feel love and are terrible people who deserve to be conquered. Compared to Stagecoach, where Geronimo is a boogeyman and the Apaches are portrayed with all the inhumane violence of a twister, the John Carter novels are far less palatable to us. But I have a sneaking sense that Stagecoach’s racism has a longer tail because as a viewer of the film, you have to accept The Bargain that a Western movie is making in order to get any pleasure from it.

Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir by Jeremy Barlow - a bit spare. I recall that this was a means to publish plots that had been cut short by the end of the Clone Wars cartoon, and it’s a got a little bit of that feeling - I keep thinking that this would be better with performances behind the characters.

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell - continues great! I'm about halfway thru and the main couple, who started the novel by trying to pull off scam to fake a mental bond that would put one of them permanently in control of the other, are now in a situation where the power dynamic has swapped! The whole thing is running on a basis of trust, admiration for each other's deeply different skill sets, and a solid basis of unacknowledged lust, so it's pretty much catnip.

What I’ll Read Next

Library books in the house
Maul: Lockdown - Joe Schreiber
The Whale Rider -Witi Ihimaera
Tiger's Daughter - K Arsenault Rivera
Riot Baby - Rochi Onyeuchi
The Silence of the Wilting Skin - Tlotlo Tsamaase
An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

Recently purchased and need to read: NK Jemisin's The World We Make, Frey Marske's A Restless Truth, California Bones

Newly purchased: Even Though I Know the End by CL Polk - this apparently started life as a Destiel fic and I didn’t know that and I have Polk $11 for the good of the fandom collective even before I got into the book

Also newly purchased - To Seek and to Find by Tamryn Eradani - I found this on a list of books that had started their lives as Supernatural fanfic and I bought it almost as an act of solidarity - I’m hopeful that it’s good, but if it’s not, it’s still only $5.

Own but reminding myself - Penric's Demon! Get on that! Fansplaining podcast just described it as Venom but in the middle ages, good god, ride that like you stole it. 

What I've Read

Finished The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente - A Hugo Best Novella Nominee- this really stuck the landing. I have bounced off of Space Opera because it was so dense but this was really great and the shorter length really worked for me. Tetley is really kind of fascinating because she lives in the absolute worst possible timeline and yet she's convinced that here world and her life really matter. 

What I'm Reading

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry - CM Waggoner - book club - I'm just past the halfway point and I'm delighted by how much plot this book has decided to lean into. Delly is making such interesting mistakes! The cast is basically just all women, which I kind of love for an adventure, and the world building is fascinating. My book group had some interesting question about the details of the world building. 

What I'll Read Next

Far Sector, Master of Djinn, Elder Race - all hugo nominations, all physical library books. 
  Also out from the library, I have the Bedlam Stacks, For the Wold, and Golden Age by Naomi Novik, a Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert (more Captain Hook), the Return of the Thief as an audiobook. 

What I've Read

A Conspiracy of Kings - Megan Whalen Turner - The ending lands! It's just a dang good book!

Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard - Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novella Nominee)  - I have loved AdB since I read the Tea Master and the Detective in early pandemic, and I have a special place for her novellas. This is worth a read. We'll see if I want it for my Hugo card.


What I'm Reading

Thick as Thieves - Megan Whalen Turner - This is hilarious. Literally just wonderful writing. I am loving Kamet as the narrator.

Four Profound Weaves - RB Lemberg - I have read precisely to the point that the book club asked for and no farther. I am a virtuous and obedient book club member. But I really want to see how this goes. I love the viewpoints of both the main characters - elder trans people from different cultures, dealing with some really important personal metaphors. 

Melusine - Sarah Monette - The pacing on this is just slower than I usually like. Not bad! Just, not as tight as the Goblin Emperor. 

Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire -  Hugos Death Race 2022  (Best Novella Nominee) - Started this morning, probably could finish tonight if I want to. Solid so far! I like the main character, and hope that her cowardice passes as she grows. 

What I'll Read Next

Um. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyers. I rewatched the first movie and it (mostly) was really fun and I liked it. I can see the problems that others have mentioned! I'm just choosing a different interpretation!

I was also inspired by a friend's Oscars Death Race this year to try a Hugo Death Race - aka, trying to read all the works nominated in their categories, before the awards are announced in September. I made a Google Doc and everything! 

So, on that list I will next read Becky Chambers the Galaxy and the Ground Within, and Alix Harrow A Spindle Splinters

Work in Progress

Sock Madness 16 continues! Tho I failed to get it in under the wire, I have finished the Engelkristall socks https://www.ravelry.com/projects/kitewithfish/engelkristall annnnnd they don't fit. I'm shopping around for a friend with slightly larger feet than mine.

I'm more than 25% on the first round Ipomoea sock https://www.ravelry.com/projects/kitewithfish/ipomoea-socks - Since I am a cheerleader, I don't have to stick strictly to the pattern, and I plan to start sock 2 with some modifications - mostly, I'm adding moar beads, because I think they look pretty cool and I've gotten good at stringing them.

What I've Read
It's actually been a pretty light week for reading.

I finished In Other Lands, which was delightful to listen to. I had actually first read it back in the days when it was just a fun writing exercise on Sarah Rees Brennan's journal, and I will always have a soft spot for it.

I tried reading the Assassin's Apprentice and it just dragged - I like Robin Hobb but I was just not engaged and found the narrator a bit tiresome.

I also re-read some of Helenish's works - Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property was, as always, a touching vision of recovery. Looking is a new one, Teen Wolf, and also kind of soft and wonderful.

Edit: Just after posting this, the library gave me the audiobook for All Systems Red by Martha Wells, which I adored when I first read it and adore now. Murderbot has the whole Socially Awkward protagonist gift that I so love. I really need to go and read everything by Martha Wells. 

What I'm Reading
It Takes Two to Tumble - Cat Sebastien, read by Joel Leslie. I'm close to finishing this rather delightful little story - a gruff sea captain and a kind clergyman with an unconventional family have great chemistry together and bond over the sea captain's unruly children. Dyslexia! Family secrets! Women side characters who have hopes and dreams for themselves! A rope swing!

Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - I'm trying to finish this, but it really is YA. It's churlish to resent a book for being in a genre, but by far the elements I like the least of this books are the parts that mark is strongest as YA - the scenes in the high school, and the romance with the two brothers. I'm also not that interested in the mystery - the comparisons to The Westing Game are not, so far, earned. But I'm only halfway and there's plenty of book to read.

What I'll Read Next

I completely forgot about this after downloading it but I waaant it.
Five Times Frederick Wentworth Had the Breath Knocked Out of Him On the Ice (and one time he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding) by AMarguerite 

I have Good Omens as an audiobook, as well as some Holly Black and Martha Wells and other things. I really need to find a few more audiobooks to have lined up - but I also have a new novella by Alexandra Rowland to read so, lots to get into!

Oh, man, I was feeling nostalgic about some SPN writers from about 9-10 years ago and reached out to one, and wow, still around on DW, that's such a delight to find out!

Unrelatedly, here's something I just read in my newfound love of horror fics in Supernatural, and oooof, I need people to read this so we can all share this experience. 

Recs:
Fandom: Supernatural, involves elements of the film The Descent (2005)

I still exist!

Life updates:
My garden this year is amazing and my peas and potatoes are causing me real joy. Also, if you have never enjoyed salad, try growing your own romaine lettuce in a pot, it's a-maz-ing how much better the fresh leaves are. My peas are hilarious and honestly I wonder if they are drunk. 

Fic recs: 
My love of Supernatural is ongoing, as if the Great Queer Rewatch,  but I am realizing that longer fics are harder for me to read in that mode right now. I'm not sure why! But this rec set is mostly going to be light on Supernatural recs, and instead on shorter or fresher fandoms that have caught my eye recently. 

Coups, huh?  

"Don’t Prosecute Gotham’s Supervillains for Their Latest Scheme" by the Joker

*****
Some other reading I am doing!

Title: Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
Author: Carol Clover (originally 1992, my copy is the 2015 Princeton Classics edition)
Link: Jstor actually has the full text!
Why I love it: This is actually a tricky one, because I am reading it slowly as part of the background reading for the Great Queer Rewatch of Supernatural, and so I am on Chapter 3. That said, it's really interesting, and I am using it both as a resource on its own and pulling its citations for my own reading. It's made me a much more careful reader of Supernatural. I'm also planning to read a good number of other things about gender and sexuality in film, and particularly in horror, so there's a lot I'm thinking about here.   There are some flaws - her analysis needs a lot more gender studies than it has (the field was pretty young in the late 1980's), so I'm planning to supplement with Gender Trouble and The Epistemology of the Closet. That said, this is a really approachable classic for thinking about film and horror, and as a person who really benefits from having a specific set of examples to look at when diving into a new field, this has been great!

**

Title: If I'm Haunting You, You Must Be Haunting Me 
Author: Mardia 
Fandom: Knives Out ( 2019)
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22042492
Author Summary:
It seems horribly fitting that when Marta’s soulbond arrives, it’s in the most absurdly ridiculous, horrible way imaginable. It involves the Thrombeys, so of course something that should be wonderful just ends up being terrible in the end.
Why I Love It:
Oh, oh, I love this. This is a soulmate Marta/Ransom fic. Let's be real - Ransom is the fucking worst and there is something deeply wrong with me for enjoying this pairing so much. But he's so entertaining, and so amorally loyal to Marta in this fic that I really, really enjoy setting the moral analytic part of my brain aside for a bit while reading it. I find there is something deeply attractive about indulging the fantasy of having someone really lean into that amoral devotion. (The line where Juliet calls Romeo, "The god of my idolatry" just sends shivers down my spine.) As Marta spends so much of the film being a good and noble person, this feels indulgent and fun and deeply sexy. Highly recommend. 

**

Title: Ernesto de la Cruz vs. The Court of Public Opinion
Author: skater_of_the_surface
Fandom: Coco (2017)
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13573815
Author Summary:
The thrilling sequel to Coco that you've all been waiting for! Miguel visits ... wait for it... wait for it... A LIBRARY.  Or : Miguel probably can't prove that Ernesto is a murderer, but stupendous fuckbucket is still on the table.
Why I Love It: It's epistolary fiction! A story told thru a series of article and tweets, detailing what happens when Miguel tries to spread the story of what really happened to his " no-good dirty rotten guitar-playing great-great-grandfather." It's charming and fun to read. (The author is not Mexican and does not speak Spanish.)

**
Two Related Recs: 

Article: FAQ:THE “SNAKE FIGHT” PORTION OF YOUR THESIS DEFENSE by Luke Burns

Fanfic! 
Title: The Best Defense
Author: Neveralarch
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298529
Author Summary: 
You had to fight a big snake for your thesis defense. One of the largest ones you'd ever seen—and you'd attended plenty of defenses, seen the fear in the doctoral candidates' eyes as they sought out their snake in the shadows. You don't actually know if it's the biggest snake the facilities department had to offer, because they don't like to give out that much information. But it was a very big snake indeed.
Why I Love It:  The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense is just a perfect absurd encapsulation of the complete absurdity of academia and the way it grinds you down. Literally everyone I know who went thru a Ph.D program have major horror stories about the toll the process took on their mental and physical health and personal lives. This, makes a joke of it. The fic itself imagines the Snake Fight Portion of Your Thesis Defense turned back on the unkind and awful advisor who selected the snake for you, and imagines, What if the snake was on your side? 

CW: animal harm? people harm? Not detailed.

Specifically, I was googling to find out how many days it's been since March 13th, and I didn't get further than "How many days since..." and  Google autocompleted the phrase.

So, I think a lot of people are *done* with being in quarantine. 

It's been 102 days since March 13th, by the way.

I fell off the Dreamwidth radar, mostly due to a case of The Sads (nonclinical, dog related).

We ended up having to send the dog back to the rescue league.  She'd come in to them without a history, so they gave us the information they could about her behavior issues, but it turns out that she's actually not just food- and animal-aggressive; she's pretty aggressive across the board.

She bit me; it wasn't provoked by anything, and it came after an overall slow increase in aggressive behavior as she got more comfortable living with us. No stitches, but it broke skin and it could have been much worse if luck hadn't happened.  I couldn't come off high-alert around her after that. We were not equipped for that level of aggression. So, back she went to the shelter, and I no longer have a dog.  This was all covered in an f-locked post, but since I am REAL stringent about my access levels, most folks probably didn't see it. I was real fucking sad, friends. I hated having to make that call, even if it was the right one. 

Quarantine life without a dog to give it some structure is really annoying, it turns out - I screwed up my sleep schedule and I'm working on getting back to normal there (reasonably good results) - I'm definitely exercising less. But, also, my anxiety levels are waaaay down, so maybe she was NOT a good fit for us. 

I have some recs! I did read some excellent things!

Pro-fic:

Title: The Murderbot Diaries (series - Starts with the novellas  All Systems Red  (2018), then Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy (all 2018), then Network Effect (2020), with another novel planned for 2021. I do recommend reading them in order, but the novellas do a reasonably good job of starting 
Freebie short story (prequel, does not give away main plot): https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/
Link: http://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm
Author: Martha Wells 
Summary: (All Systems Red) "On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid -- a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is."

Why I love it: I deeply, deeply love Murderbot, as a protagonist, as a character, as the viewpoint on this larger world. Wells did an amazing job of putting us in the mindset of this person in this world, jaded and scared and trying to figure out what it WANTS, other than to be *left alone* by the weird humans who are treating it like a Real Person. Murderbot is profoundly competent and proficient within a certain field (protecting humans, dealing with semi-sentient technology, managing security systems that might be hunting it) and has a scathingly critical eye of people who are trying to do dumb things that compromise the safety of a client. Murderbot does *not* went to be a human being, thankyouverymuch, it just wants to not have to deal with all these damn FEELINGS that Other People have. Only other people. No one else. 

Not to spoil too, too much - Murderbot's story is about recovery from trauma. (I'd say of the moral injury variety, but also a lot of dehumanization, because it is literally not human.) Murderbot is classified as equipment, despite the fact that it's sentient and has organic human components in its composition - and this story is about figuring out what 'being a person' would mean in a world where literally every other thing like it is literally equipment.   So, content note for that; but since we see this world from Murderbot's viewpoint only, it never feels like that dehumanizing viewpoint is ever given any narrative weight - it's so clearly wrong that, as a reader, I was mostly furious on Murderbot's behalf. 

If I had any notes about this series, it's that there's a pacing change between the novellas and the novel. That's not a flaw! The novel involves a larger cast, more complicated plot, and opens the point of view up a bit to several other characters. It's called Network Effect for a reason - Murderbot isn't running a solo mission a this point, and we actually get to see how the character grew internally and expanded their network of "their people." It's wonderful - Murderbot gets people who love it, as its flawed, devoted, twitchy, misanthropic self. I adore this series, and the novel is excellent - its pacing is different and that wasn't quite the ultraviolence popcorn that my brain wanted just then, so it was a bit slower. 

I liked this series so much that I went and found Martha Wells's other series, Tales of Raksura, and I've finished the first book of that series and I'm into the second.