The Long Hot Sticky Buggy Summer
Hallo, friends, neighbors, weirdos, tinkers, tailors, soldiers, spies! How is this July 1st finding you? Keeping your fingers crossed about democracy, probably. I know that I am. I hate election season, and this year I’m hating it even more than I ever have before. My anxiety is on a rocket ship to Mars, I tell you what. To riff off the old curse: I wish that we were living in far less interesting times.
It’s been a quiet time out here in Stephen King country. Our first summer in the woods! So many bugs! So much humidity! So many chickens bock-bocking across the yard! If you’d have asked teenage city me if I was going to grow up and live off a dirt road in the middle of the woods, raise chickens and grow garlic, and quietly stand on the back porch of a 175 year old farmhouse and watch fireflies all night… well, that teenage boy would have rolled his eyes and gone back to playing on his Colecovision, and listening to Duran Duran, and drinking Jolt cola.
I still listen to Duran Duran, by the way.
Vintage.
I have recently started reading the George Smiley books from John le Carré, for reasons which are honestly quite unknown to me. Back in my bookseller days, I used to sell stacks of his novels, almost exclusively to old men (or the wives of old men, buying gifts for their husbands), so I can only think that I’m reading them now because I too am an Old, and I’m crossing some rite of passage. I’m only two books into le Carré’s works so far, but I see the appeal. George Smiley is an interesting character, not at all the heroic archetype. It’s making me want to finally watch the Gary Oldman film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, now thirteen years old, though of course I’ll have to read the book first, because that’s the sort of guy that I am.
I’ve also been rereading all of Stephen King’s Dark Tower books for the first time since that series ended back in whenever the hell in the past it was. I’d sort of forgotten how much those novels feel kind of made up as he went along, which isn’t to say they are bad books (although there’s some solidly cringey stuff in there, for sure), but there are a lot of bits in it that feel like the wheels on the bus are threatening to come off. I’m choosing to take it as a lesson in “just keep going” when you’re writing. You can always fix things later in revision (or maybe if you’re Stephen King, you just keep going and then never look back; I like King, always have, but sometimes he’s just hitting singles instead of grand slams, you know?).
I’m thinking this may be the last month of making everything free over at my Patreon account, but that will depend on how July plays out. I’ve got a few non-creative Real Life irons in the fire right now that are awfully important, so if they draw more of my time away from arty endeavors than I want them to, that decision may slide a bit until things settle down. There’s that life/art balance that has to be made, at least until I win the lottery or find gold beneath the chicken coop. It could happen, right?
Anyway, I’m planning on always having free things at Patreon, so if you aren’t following me over there, you obviously should! Don’t make me have to give you the FOMO, people!
I am currently a little obsessed with a band called Tashaki Miyaki, who I encourage you to seek out in whatever streaming/physical format you choose. They’re a Los Angeles band that give me really strong Mazzy Star vibes, so if you enjoy that psychedelic folk sound, they might be your jam. I stumbled across them through their cover of The Replacements song “Unsatisfied,” and ended up putting their entire discography into rotation. Give them a try, I think you’ll like them.
Also on repeat in our household: Ted Lasso. This is probably our fifth viewing of the series, and it’s ridiculous how good it is. It’s soul soothing for us, uplifting, and always makes us feel better after watching. No spoilers for anybody who hasn’t seen it yet, but almost all the character arcs are perfect, and if you don’t want to hang out with 99% of the cast by the end of the series, then you are a monster who doesn’t have a heart (I say 99% because there is one character who doesn’t earn the redemption the show awards him, and who I still want to punch in the face, but the wheels on Ted Lasso stay on very nicely almost all the way through, and that’s a bus I intend to keep riding any time I need a TV hug).
Like audiobooks but hate DRM and the Amazon/Audible monopoly? Then I suggest trying out the indie audiobook site Storyfair. They are Cory Doctorow-approved, so you know they aren’t garbage, and they also pay out royalties to authors to the tune of 75%, which is unheard of in the biz. I’m not really an audiobook guy, but I know lots of you are, so I’d say give these folks a look and see what you think.
Here’s a little bonus, for all you Stevie Wonder and Sesame Street fans. Watch out for the little boy absolutely killing it with his dance moves.
Okay then, folks! That’s enough of my rambling for right now. Hope you’re all doing the bestest that you can, and remember that you can always come find me at my various places if you want to connect!
Mastodon: https://wandering.shop/@sebastianmalloy
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SebastianMalloy
Main blog: https://www.sebastianmalloy.com/
Two Francisco: https://www.twofrancisco.com/