Death to Realism! 029
Death to Realism! 029
Hello! As we crawl towards the longest days of the year my sleep schedule is a bit disrupted, but the weather has been (mostly) treating me well. Just a reminder that this newsletter is now PWYW and you can change your subscription using the links at the bottom (especially if you were having an issue with this before, it should be sorted out now.) If you need a refresher on the origin & nature of these bi-weekly updates, check out the first issue before reading on.
What's New?
My birthday zone was on the 8th, four days after my actual birthday. It was really fun! If you didn't come around, we all really enjoyed watching George Kuchar's Ascension of the Demonoids, which is available online here. I also did some minor housekeeping on my homepage, adding links to the newsletter, and rearranging the writing portfolio section to show off my fiction and be a bit easier to navigate.
I've also, for lack of other major news, reached the point of being tentatively satisfied with the major revision of the novel I guess I started mid-late last year. I have sent it out to some indie publishers and agents, and plan to try a few more this week, mainly just to see what will happen! I hate sitting on stuff; the reason I tend towards zines and web games is how I can just shoot it off once it's done. But thanks a ton to all the people who have read and given feedback so far.
Coming Soon
It's the last week for Plaintext Distro submissions! Please read over the site and submit any booklet or single-page zines to me by June 17th. From then on I'll be making the print order and preparing the site as well as the other stuff for the table, which will appear at Glasgow Zine Festival festival for in-person purchases on July 3rd. You can also now see the full programme of zine tables and events that will be featured at GZF here.
The Rec Room
Jazz Mickle hosted another awesome zone premiere of her new album this week, so giving that a listen is my top rec
The full opera of David Kanaga's Soft Valkyrie is also coming soon, so it's the perfect time to catch up on Act 1
The annual Queer Games Bundle has enough good stuff in it to keep you occupied for at least the next year. If you've purchased it and are hungry for recs, I can offer some of my own!
And, I'm always happy to see the writing jams having a long-term influence. Check out this Visual Essay Jam inspired video about how visuals and sound work together to create a sense of space in RPGs.
I've Been Reading
In terms of books, I made my way through Summer Fun by Jeanette Thornton recently, which was especially a treat for my Beach Boys loving heart, but is in general a really interestingly-structured and emotionally intense novel about fannish identification that I'd reccomend even if you haven't laid on the ground and cried to Pet Sounds.
And for articles, I really liked this articulation of the function of the text prompt in demonstrating AI models, as well as this slightly curmudgeonly but perceptive exploration of a particular mode of technologically mediated address I now realize does slightly annoy me every time I encounter it...
I think that's all I have this bi-week! For new subscribers who have signed on since the last newsletter, you can check out the archive of past issues at any time!
Thank you again for your support,
Emilie