I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled
Hi! Did you forget this newsletter was a thing? I did, a bit. But mostly I needed a break from my life, which I took in the ocean.
A friend and I went and stayed with family on the North Carolina coast, which is like a 2nd home to me. We swam every day, read–between us–some 15 books, visited my favourite little lighthouse:
And even ran from a storm.
On the whole, running away from your life is something you should do at least once a year, I highly recommend it. But now we’re back.
Notable Breakfast
In the Outer Banks, there is a place called Duck Donuts, where they make the donuts right in front of you, and you pick which icing and topping you want on each one. There are fun flavors, like peanut butter, maple, and lemon (MY FAVE FOREVER). I am a traditionalist, so I like my donuts simple–icing with sprinkles, like the good lord intended. My bud asked for bacon and got a GIANT HEAP.
Dog Thing
The woods are best when they are empty and we can run and run and run.
Mixed Media
About once a year, I go through a mad book-reading phase. Like, word books. Books without pictures. I read 1-2 graphic novels a week, and I love graphic novels, but at a certain point I need a break. This break usually coincides with a trip of some sort, and this was no different. I wrote about this series of books on my blog, but I love them enough to repeat myself.
The Paradox Trilogy by Rachel Bach is everything I could want or need from a space opera. You’ve got mad world-building, a complex universe, a badass hero dragged into a mess not of her own making, and a splash of romance to season the dish. These books were sold to me based on my love of Mass Effect, and I can see the resemblance (I spent the first chunk of the first book imagining what the game of the book might look like), but that’s not to say that you have to have a love of one to appreciate the other.
This an action-heavy book of a very on-the-ground type–battles take place within spaceships. I can have trouble following written fights, but in this case it definitely works. The protagonist is Devi, a mercenary utterly driven by her own ambition. She takes on the most dangerous missions with the highest payouts, and has an incredible suit of armor to show for it (which she lovingly calls the Lady Grey–it becomes a character in its own right, based on Devi’s interactions with it). Devi has no illusions about the length of her life–her luck’s gonna run out sometime–but she wants to achieve the highest rank she can before she goes. She is flawed and fun, and utterly charming. I would happily read 20 more books about Deviana Morris.
Also: I started Ann Leckie’s Ancillary series based on an excerpt at the end of the last Paradox book, and I love it so far. The 3rd book comes out in October, so you’ll definitely be hearing more about it. I’ve listened to The Worriers’ album Imaginary Life roughly 100 times and I am not ashamed. I saw Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and liked it! Rebecca Ferguson’s Isla Faust was utterly fantastic, and the film did some subversive things that I loved. My one issue was that, her awesomeness aside, Isla was essentially the only female character in the film. Where was Paula Patton, who kicked ass in the previous MI? Where were all the other women.
I Read Comics for a Living
This is going to be a mash of things from the last month, mostly because I really wanted to talk about Baba Yaga’s Assistant. I am guaranteed to go nuts for anything Emily Carroll illustrates, but I really loved the writing in this, too! (Carroll usually illustrates her own work, this was written by Marika McCoola.) This is a lovely little hardcover book about Masha, a girl in her late teens/early 20s, who decides to take a position as Baba Yaga’s assistant when her widowed dad announces he is getting remarried without consulting her at all. It is equal parts sweet and spooky, and while it lacks the sense of impending doom present in most of Carroll’s work, it doesn’t suffer for it.
Also good:
Bombshells #1 might seem like the sort of fluff that’s hard to take seriously, but it is definitely more than that. With both Marguerites working on it–Bennet on words, Sauvage on art–it is happily feminist, with some great bits of history to it. Set during WWII, Bombshells in about various DC heroines–Batwoman fills the Rosie the Riveter role in Gotham, Wonder Woman deals with the fighting in the air above Themyscira, and Supergirl is a Russian Night Witch.
Giant Days #6 This is the issue the comic was meant to end on, and I’m so pleased that Boom extended the run and we get 6 more issues of Giant Days. I’d be hard pressed to name a comic that delights me more on a consistent basis. This issue sees Daisy and Ester visiting Susan in Northampton, only to find they’ll have to rescue her from herself. One sad note: this was artist Lissa Treiman’s final issue. I completely understand her reasons for leaving, but oh, how I’ll miss her!
Star Wars #8 This issue is Stuart Immonen’s first on the art, and Stuart Immonen is a man who knows how to art. But its strength for me is all of the Han & Leia interactions, and Leia’s continued BAMF-ness in this comic. I couldn’t find a photo of it, but (mild spoiler here), Leia totally and literally kicks Han in the butt in this issue. It is delightful.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Eberjey Flynn Pyjamas (Top, Pants, Shorts)
Fics I Shouted About
In Response by obroech Teen Wolf, Sterek. Sweet little fic about Stiles & Derek getting in the habit of sending each other a selfie first thing in the morning while Stiles is away.
Untitled by Mad-Madam-M Teen Wolf, Sterek. Little not!fic about Derek taking care of Stiles and I just wanted to curl up inside of it and take a nap.
Untitled by coyotequeens Teen Wolf, Sterek, Mermaid AU. I don’t quite understand the appeal of mermaids, in general, but I like it when mythical things are clearly not human and a little bit vicious, so I loooove this fic about fisherman Derek accidentally capturing merman Stiles.
Lastly
Going to the ocean often puts me in the mood to read poetry, and I nearly always buy a book of poems when I’m down there. This year it was Scattered at Sea by Amy Gerstler, which on the whole I enjoyed.
On that note, today’s subject line is from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
That’s all! As always, send me feedback, or find me here: tumblr I twitter I instagram
