Sharing
This one is about sharing and that it can be easy to forget the things we share with others can be things they remember far longer than you’d think.
As this post is all about sharing things, I'd be remiss to not note that I've begun serialising my old novel, The Audacity Gambit, on a weekly basis. You can either poke through the archive or sign up to get it in your inbox here.
It's so funny how one can forget the things they've done. I've been thinking about folks sharing their work online, the beauty and joy of it, and about the work and dedication for anything that involves continuous updating. I remember the early era of webcomics, the joy of sharing stories. Obviously, loads of folks still make webcomics, even though the world around it is so different now. (There's still webcomic rings, btw--Knifebeetle is one for longform, narrative-driven webcomics, if that's your jam!)
I had a webcomic even! I think the story took about two years with continuous weekly updates, and even during time between "chapters" I had guest art. I like meeting small goals (although weekly pages isn't that small a goal really!) and I like sharing things I've made, and webcomics were a great place for that. I've tried to dip back in, on and off, but it's often more difficult now to keep apace with schedules and regularity.
The internet makes it easier to share things with others, whether it's stuff you've made or things you've found. That's sort of the joy I suppose this newsletter is--a combination of small goals (keeping a month ahead at least with these newsletters, until um, this month) and sharing things. Moments and links and books and games. It is hard often, in this modern world, to keep in touch with those we love to the level we might like. But it is always worth it to keep trying.
It can be easy to forget sometimes, I think, how our lives intersect others. One can't know what silly little gifts we give another will become some heart's touchstone.I think we all have things in our life that those we love have given us, from a shirt (the joy of wearing something handed down or picked out by a friend!),to objects (a mug from a beloved, a dice set that feels lucky because of who gave it to you), to the more ephemeral things like memes and phrases (a constant joy thanks to my family discord). They fit into your life and maybe you'll forget their origin, then one day you remember again, bright and shining.
And it is important to remember that these gifts, these reminders, are things we give to others too! Someone you love drank their morning juice from a silly tin cup you gave them. Someone waters plant cuttings you passed on. Someone has a meme you made saved in the depths of their phone. Someone has a silly phrase they use because you used it first and they wrapped it into their speech.
For good or ill we all touch each other, our spheres of being overlapping. It is nice when we can we reach out and pass joy along.
Now I share some things I've read and enjoy and think you might enjoy as well.
- The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (as read in the collected Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1-4) by Patricia C. Wrede (and that link goes to Bookshop, but your library probably has it) is something I read because a mutual recommended it or mentioned they'd loved it as a young person, so into my holds it went. The collected edition is particularly charming as each chapter is preceded by a note from the author about the writing and timing of it. Set in a delightful fantasy world with dragons and princesses, where fairy tale rules are played with joyfully it's a nice book for basically anybody old enough to be reading chapter books.
- Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange is non-fiction, which I don't read much but the appeal of reading about the history of malls drew me in. And guess what? It is super interesting! There is so much about malls that is tied so deeply and maddeningly to the most frustrating of socioeconomics, but also so often they were made with a true joy of third spaces and architectural joy. If you're even the littlest bit curious about malls and their sisters like open air downtown market spaces, you'll have a fascinating time.
- Chronicles of Amicae by Mirah Bolender begins with City of Broken Magic and is a twisty story that pulled me in from the start. Following what could be described as pest control experts specialising in dangerous magic, the books build a heavy and complex world with unique creatures and magic systems, which is always going to be a delight for me.
Some sunny moments for your summer (if that's where your hemisphere is at rn).
ID: A photograph of an overgrown field of summer-dry grass studded with green stems and white flowers. On the left is a sun-bleached wooden fence that leads off to an open covered structure. Centre-right stands a dark green tree, with the corner of a road on the far right. The sky is as sun-faded as the grass and fence, a dusty blue. End ID.
ID: A photograph of a half-blown dandelion fluff. The tree and green space behind it is heavily blurry, with sparkles of bokeh from the sun. Almost indistinguishable in the blur of the background is a person hunching down as they also take a photo. End ID.
ID: A photograph with a gently sloping mountain range taking up the bottom edge of the image. Above it is a blue sky shading from sun-washed pale at the mountain top to medium blue at the top of the image. A cloud like a pulled-apart cotton ball hovers above the mountains, a sunbeam slashing out of its centre, spreading into dramatic rays. End ID.
- I recently played A Hand With Many Fingers by Colestia, which is $5 over at Itchio and well worth it if you are a bit of a research nerd. It requires a pen and paper to keep track of the archive file boxes you sift through to put together an all-too-real mystery. Very realistic archive research simulator, down to a rug on the stair landing that is a little rucked and made me feel like I'd trip every time.
- Tea Parties around Nebula-55 by Adriana C. Grigore is a soft and slightly sad short story over at Clarkesworld. Fittingly its about sharing moments and memories.
- An nice little article on the fascinating history of food flavouring that also has links at the end to more bits about food flavouring, which is a whole weird world of a thing. Natural or artificial, food flavouring relies on chemical mixtures that surprise us sometimes (that link there has some AMAZING graphics btw).
- The Nalendar by Ann Leckie, which is collected in her Lake of Souls short story collection btw, is about little gods and big dreams. Listen, if you are going to have a presumptuous little lizard in a story I will love it most especially.
- This is a surprisingly simple and satisfying folded paper "love token" - they can also be found searching for instructions for "puzzle purse" - that satisfies the middle school part of the brain that folded notebook paper into proto-letter locking configurations to pass in class.
If you've thought of donating eSims, this guide was very helpful, and Crips for eSims for Gaza is a good option if you can't easily manage topping them up. There are also more traditional donation targets like the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, UNRWA, and Doctors Without Borders. If you prefer giving directly to families, Gaza Funds is a nice resource that facilitates finding campaigns.