Jun 26 2024

Let’s Hang Out by Chris Duffy

subtitled Making (and Keeping) Friends, Acquaintances, and Other Nonromantic Relationships.

Jeez, who couldn’t use a guide like this? Alright, if I’m being perfectly honest: me, as I’ve never really had trouble making and keeping friends. Sure, I’ve had spectacular blow ups with best friends, but that was usually their faults, and I’m pretty good at repairing stuff once they get over themselves, if they ever do. But I’m also one of those irritatingly personable people who loves cultivating other interesting people, who loves listening to others and admiring the cool stories they have to share. I will also gleefully drown any spasms of self-consciousness in my pursuit of doing both what’s fun and what’s right. If anything, I sometimes actively avoid pursuing friendships so I can concentrate on things like work and spending time with my kids.

But it’s really freaking nice to know that there are incredibly accessible manuals on how to meet and cultivate non-romantic relationships, such as this one written by comedian and writer Chris Duffy. Even before the pandemic, adults out of college had been lamenting the difficulty of making friends in real life. The lockdowns limited our in-person social connections out of necessity, but recovering from the experience has proven difficult, as Mr Duffy notes in these pages. But it’s especially because we’ve been starved of human contact that it’s more important than ever that we re-learn how to do something that seemed to be far simpler when we were younger.

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Jun 25 2024

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: X-Men Expansion Preview by Elisa Teague, Matt Forbeck & Marty Forbeck

I had the opportunity to stop by my friendly local-ish game store (shoutout to the wonderful folk at Game Kastle College Park) for the first time this past Saturday because it was Free RPG Day! I’ve missed every single iteration of the day since it’s inception, so was super ready to take part this year, even if only for a while or, if I could manage it, a whole session.

It was actually an email from Marvel that alerted me to this year’s festivities, and their free X-Men Expansion Preview that I beelined to after coming in and having a hello chat with the guy behind the counter. I have wanted to be a member of the X-Men ever since I was a pre-teen, possibly even sooner, but have found most superhero RPGs to be, frankly, underwhelming. Weirdly, I’ve had the most fun roleplaying as a superhero using GURPS. So I didn’t really pay much attention to the release of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game (I’ve never dreamed of being an Avenger, which is basically the focus of the core book, and understandably so.) When news of the X-Men Expansion Book came out tho, I had to at least get a look at the preview to see whether this would be a game I want to make the effort to play.

The comic-book-sized preview starts by giving you a brief overview of the rules. The system is based on a d616 system, which cracked me up because a) lore, and b) it’s 3d6 like in GURPS! The bulk of the book is essentially the X-Force chapter from the upcoming expansion, giving the history of the group from when Rob Liefeld first debuted the name all the way to their current incarnation.

EXCEPT THEY DON’T TALK ABOUT THE MILLIGAN/ALLRED RUN SO EFF THIS BIO FOREVER.

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Jun 24 2024

Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith & Boulet

When I saw that a copy of this title hadn’t been included in the Hugo Voter’s Packet, I was ready to skip over it entirely. I’d heard good things about Bea Wolf elsewhere, and I’m always interested in what modern creators do with the classic Beowulf tale, but I wasn’t about to do anything to acquire a copy myself till I realized that this was published by one of my all-time favorite imprints. I will read anything First Second Books publishes, as I trust their taste implicitly.

And then when I saw that I could borrow this digitally from one of my local libraries, and read it in my browser instead of being forced to use the terminally dreadfully Adobe Digital Editions that so many other lenders prefer, I was exceptionally pleased. Over this past intensely busy weekend, I cracked open my digital copy whenever I was at my computer, and was deeply grateful for the Overdrive platform that automatically keeps my place in the book no matter how many times I had to close my browser and turn off my PC.

But what about the story itself? Frankly, reader, I was enthralled. I’ve previously drowsed through Seamus Heaney’s translation, and have Maria Dahvana Headley’s version tucked somewhere in the deep archives, waiting to be rescued from neglect. I know the Beowulf story, more or less, tho I’ve never found it as enthralling as J R R Tolkein did — and let’s face it, some of his own narrative choices prioritize linguistic nerdery over actual story, so his recommendations don’t carry the greatest weight with me. But in changing the setting from an old Scandinavian court of warriors to a contemporary neighborhood of kids, Zach Weinersmith has given this story a modern resonance that remains very much in conversation with the themes of the original.

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Jun 23 2024

Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum

A hotel, especially a grand one in the center of a major metropolis, can be its own world. Vicki Baum opens up one such world in Menschen im Hotel (lit. “People in a Hotel” but published under the better title of Grand Hotel), telling interlocking stories of people in Berlin’s finest hotel over the course of a few days in the late 1920s. She sets the scene with a humble porter, whose wife has been suddenly rushed to a hospital for the birth of their first child but who is nevertheless on duty in the hotel. She shifts focus to other staff members who keep the hotel running with aplomb and discretion before settling in on Dr Otternschlag, a disfigured veteran of the Great War, who spends several months each year in the hotel. Each time he enters the lobby, he asks at the front desk whether he has received any mail or whether anyone has asked after him; the answer is always no. Otternschlag settles in to watch the world pass through the lobby, and Baum gradually introduces the rest of her cast.

Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum

There’s Otto Kringelein, an assistant bookkeeper from the provinces who has traveled to Berlin for medical consultations. Having learned that his condition is incurable and will kill him in a matter of weeks, he decided to liquidate his savings and live the high life for the little time he has left, if only he knew how. There’s Grusinskaya, a renowned ballet dancer whose name can still fill seats, but whose fame is waning as time and changing tastes catch up with her. There’s Baron Felix von Gaigern, who also came through the war but whose wounds are not visible. In the decade or so of peace, he has squandered an inheritance and now lives as a confidence man and occasional thief. There’s Preysing, the general director of the factory where Kringelein has worked; he’s in Berlin for negotiations that he hopes will save the firm, and also redeem him in the eyes of his overbearing father-in-law, founder of the business.

It’s a cinematic book, with transitions from scene to scene and character to character that read as if a camera were gliding out of one conversation to another, or switching perspectives as characters cross paths in the great lobby, or maybe following one in through the revolving door and following another out. The novel was in fact adapted for both stage and screen, re-titled as “Grand Hotel.” The 1932 film won the Oscar for best picture and is the source of Greta Garbo’s famous line, as Grusinskaya, “I want to be alone.”

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Jun 21 2024

Ava’s Demon, Book Two: Aftermath by Michelle Fus

I adored the first volume of the Ava’s Demon series, and am even more impressed by this follow-up effort! My biggest complaint about the first volume is slightly alleviated here, too, as this cover is definitely less awkward than Volume One’s.

After the catastrophic events that capped Book One: Reborn, Ava finds herself battling Wrathia for control of a body that barely has enough energy to stay conscious. Odin collects her unconscious form and manages to make it onto the transport that Gil and Maggie, coincidentally, are using to flee the devastated space station. Maggie, ofc, is less than thrilled to be stuck on yet another spacefaring vessel with Odin and Ava, even before Odin explodes her lies to Gil. As the quartet try to figure out what to do next, they slowly learn more about each other and how to become more vulnerable and honest with one another… well, some of them do, anyway.

Meanwhile, Odin’s (adorable) sisters Crow and Raven are reporting back on their errant brother, as we learn far more about their family’s messed up dynamic as well as their fascinating background. Elsewhere, Strategos Six has been tasked with a mission from Titan following the destruction Wrathia caused, and has promoted a soldier to the position of Taxiarch Five.

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Jun 20 2024

Hugo Awards 2024: Best Novelette Nominees

Hunh, I didn’t realize that almost all of the novelette nominees in this year’s Hugo Awards category have their own entries on Goodreads. I’ll have to populate my shelves there accordingly.

Anyway, my favorite novelette this year by a country mile was C. L. Polk’s Ivy, Angelica, Bay. She’s long been one of the authors I’ve wanted to read but just can’t find the time for, so this was a great way for me to finally sample her work. Set in the 1970s, this is the story of witches battling over Hurston Hill, as Miss L’Abielle is called upon to protect her beloved neighborhood from greedy property developers. That’s just the backdrop, however, for a tender tale of found family, as Miss L’Abielle simultaneously grieves the loss of her mother while dealing with the orphaned girl who’s arrived on her doorstep. This story made me cry, which is quite an accomplishment for a work of about 50 pages or so.

My second favorite story had a similar theme of hope and community, Naomi Kritzer’s The Year Without Sunshine. It’s a very low-key story of resilience in the aftermath of apocalypse, as a semi-urban community bands together to provide essential services to all its residents. There isn’t a lot of high drama in this story, which only adds to the realism of it for me. How would our communities actually cope when the skies go grey and services fail? It’s honestly one of the most reasonable looks at life post-apocalypse that I’ve ever read, as remarkable for its lack of theatrics as it is for its upbeat optimism.

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Jun 18 2024

Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer

A graphic novel about viola players, whaaaaaaat!

Haha, sorry, as an orchestra cellist, it’s always fun for me to read about underrepresented instruments and their players. Perhaps more importantly, this Middle Grade comic is about two nonbinary teenagers who meet at the title summer camp, which has the no-pressure name of Camp Prodigy, lol. There they learn how to navigate and confront the challenges of putting way more pressure on themselves than necessary, whether it comes to music or pretending that everything is okay for the benefit of the people around them.

Our two main protagonists are Tate Seong and Eli Violet, who sorta meet backstage at a concert one day before meeting for real a year plus later at Camp Prodigy. Tate was actually inspired to take up the viola after hearing Eli play backstage that evening, but hasn’t really progressed via school instruction since. After being discouraged from performing in the school concert, Tate is feeling pretty down about music — not to mention their inability to come out about not being a boy to their family and friends — so is thrilled when their parents suggest sending them away to a summer camp for music students of all abilities. They’re not great at the viola but they’re ready to learn, and they look forward to camp.

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Jun 17 2024

The Blasphemers by Annamaria Alfieri (EXCERPT)

Hi readers! This week, I’m thrilled to be able to bring you an excerpt from the latest book in the Vera And Tolliver series, The Blasphemers.

Justin Tolliver is on the brink of an enormous change. The younger son of an English peer―that is, the son with no money and no prospects―he had joined the police force in British East Africa, full of dreams of bringing His Majesty’s justice to a “dark and savage” world. But it’s 1913, and with his faith in the British government in tatters, Justin is opting instead for life as an African farmer and a newly minted family-man. It is his wife Vera who has helped him put aside images of darkness and come to see Africa, instead, as all but lit from within.

Yet even as Justin is embracing Africa, Vera’s faith in the land is being tested as she is brought face to face with terrible brutalities and her own naiveté. There are murders, yes, and Justin and Vera will take a hand in solving them. But when the crimes are solved and the killers brought to justice, Justin and Vera will have to reckon with levels of injustice far beyond anything they had previously understood.

Read on for a thrilling excerpt!

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Jun 16 2024

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Through most of the first six books in the Rivers of London series, a rogue magician known as the Faceless Man has been leading the mystical branch of the Metropolitan Police on a merry chase. Well, not so merry for his many victims. But he’s a formidable practitioner, and while Peter Grant, Nightingale, and company have been able to foil some of his plans, they have not been able to lay a finger on him either magically or legally. Before the beginning of Lies Sleeping the higher ranks of the Met have decided to change that by going on the offensive and leaning on his networks with the Met’s considerable resources. It may not be pretty, it may not be elegant, but it will be — so they hope — inexorable.

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter and colleagues have identified a number of practitioners who learned from the same teacher who trained the Faceless Man. They’re not sure which of them have maintained connections to him, so they have chosen a few to subject to a period of intense scrutiny to see if they get spooked and lead the police to him. The first two passed more or less uneventfully. Lies Sleeping begins with the third, just a few minutes before everything goes, in Peter’s own words, pear-shaped. Peter and Sahra Guleed, his partner on many assignments, are stationed outside the house of one Richard Williams. Nightingale has rung the bell “because we weren’t looking for shock and awe but aiming for sinister and creepy instead. Nightingale is remarkably good at that — I think it’s the accent.” (p. 9) Not long after, Peter senses a use of magic that tells him Nightingale has well and truly cut loose; seconds later, he and Guleed are in a desperate melee with Williams’ nanny, who generally looks human but definitely isn’t. “I could see a wash of crimson around her mouth and chin, and running down the chest of her blue Adidas sweatshirt. I didn’t think it was her blood.” (p. 11) He’s right about that, and right too that his and Guleed’s combined efforts are not enough to hold her.

“Where the fuck is Nightingale?” I asled.
Saving Richard Williams from bleeding out, as it happened.
“She tried to bite his throat right out,” [Detective Constable David] Carey told me. (p. 13)

With that, Lies Sleeping is up and running.
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Jun 15 2024

Stille Zeile Sechs by Monika Maron

How much fury fits into 142 pages?

Monika Maron tells her readers from the very first sentence that Herbert Beerenbaum dies, so a good bit of Stille Zeile Sechs (Silent Close Number Six — “Close” in the sense of a small cul-de-sac street, with six as the house number) is finding out who he his, how he dies, and why that matters. Maron also has her first-person narrator, Rosalind Polkowski, slowly reveal how she came to know Beerenbaum, and what he came to mean for her.

Stille Zeile Sechs by Monika Maron

The book is set in East Berlin in the mid-1980s, a time when it looked like the Wall would remain in place forever, keeping people locked in place and subject to the whims of the bureaucrats of the Socialist Unity Party under the watchful eyes of the Ministry for State Security. Silent Close is a fictional street in East Berlin where former Party bigwigs live out their retirement, the current leadership having decamped to a closed settlement about 15km outside the city limits. The real counterpart to the Silent Close is the Majakowskiring, located in the norther part of Pankow. These days it’s a relatively normal street in a leafy part of the city; I haven’t visited. Back then it would have been very closely watched, with every visitor noted, identified and reported. One of the streets that ends at the Majakowskiring is Stille Strasse, Silent Street.

Polkowski is an unusual figure in 1980s East Germany: She has given up her assigned job as a researcher in a history institute and is making a living with whatever comes her way. In her telling, one day she had simply had enough. She had been assigned a topic soon after completing her studies, and plugged away at it year after year until in her early forties she didn’t see any sense in it. That decision was in its way a fundamental challenge to East Germany’s system. Everyone was supposed to have a job, they were all supposed to be doing their bit to build socialism and advance the revolution. They were not supposed to make their own way, outside of the institutions, like a cat with no fixed home who gets a little bit from everyone in the neighborhood. It’s never spelled out in the book, but Polkowski had to have had a relatively privileged upbringing, in Party terms, to have gotten a job as a researcher in the first place.

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