Hi friends,

I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. I also realized that the newsletter I sent last week didn't have a working link. Oops! Sorry about that. So this week, you get a double issue.

Not exactly wild, not exactly abandoned: A walk through San Francisco’s Presidio

Take a walk with me through my favorite park in San Francisco, Park Presidio, as I reflect on 20 years of getting lost in its in-between spaces. Once a military base, now an experiment in habitat restoration, it’s still changing and still pleasantly strange. Read more

The Moon Moth and Rose/House: Science-fiction murder mysteries by Jack Vance and Arkady Martine

If you joined this newsletter back when it was called Angry About Literature, well, here's one where I'm happy about literature. I read two fun short fiction works recently and it inspired me to think about the overlaps between murder mysteries and science fiction. This post is also a review, but for once I don't include spoilers. So you can read it safely and then go read the novelette and novella. Here's a little excerpt:

Part of the fun of science fiction is figuring out how the world works. Writers can hold back some information about the world and let you figure it out from clues to fun effect. And here’s where I think there’s a neat structural overlap between a murder mystery and science fiction. In a mystery, the writer of course knows who-done-it (or alternatively, how they will be caught) but they skillfully reveal enough to let you start figuring it out and lead you to a satisfying ending, if not necessarily a neat conclusion. So if you can combine the unfolding mystery of the world with the unfolding mystery of the murder, ideally having the protagonist use elements of the revealed world to solve the murder, that works very well. Read more

Thanks for reading and see you on the internet!

AK

Hi friends,

I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. If you joined this newsletter back when it was called Angry About Literature, well, here's one where I'm happy about literature. I read two fun short fiction works recently and it inspired me to think about the overlaps between murder mysteries and science fiction. This post is also a review, but for once I don't include spoilers. So you can read it safely and then go read the novelette and novella. Here's a little excerpt: 

Part of the fun of science fiction is figuring out how the world works. Writers can hold back some information about the world and let you figure it out from clues to fun effect. And here’s where I think there’s a neat structural overlap between a murder mystery and science fiction. In a mystery, the writer of course knows who-done-it (or alternatively, how they will be caught) but they skillfully reveal enough to let you start figuring it out and lead you to a satisfying ending, if not necessarily a neat conclusion. So if you can combine the unfolding mystery of the world with the unfolding mystery of the murder, ideally having the protagonist use elements of the revealed world to solve the murder, that works very well.

Review: The Moon Moth and Rose/House: Science-fiction murder mysteries by Jack Vance and Arkady Martine

Thanks for reading and see you on the internet!

AK

Hi friends,

This week's blog post is about gardening, in the sense that I am digging up patches of dirt and putting plants in them. Except, instead of tasty or very pretty plants, I'm trying to grow plants that will thrive in droughts and produce a mini ecosystem for birds and bugs. Come with me and learn about pillbug habitats and one of my favorite poems.

One bug may hide another

Thanks for reading, and see you on the internet!

-AK

Hi friends,

The latest blog post is a collection of fragments of poetry and drawings. Even if you're not 100% into poetry, you might want to check it out for the drawings. Did you know that all the abstract drawings and weird word art illustrating my blog posts are my own work? My mom didn't realize that, so maybe some of you didn't know either. Anyway, if you like the squiggly, doodly, and oddly language-like symbols you've seen along my more developed prose posts, you might want to check out my latest:

Fragments from the first year of the plague

Thanks for reading and see you on the internet!

AK

Hi friends,

I wrote a new blog post that you might enjoy. I just finished reading Promises Stronger Than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders. It's the last novel in a young adult space opera trilogy. My post isn't a review, but it does start with an idea from the novel that stuck with me, the tactical ballgown. Here's a little excerpt:

An icebreaker is a pickup line for making friends. Like a pickup line, it immediately signals your intention. "What's your tactical ballgown?" could be a great icebreaker.

What's your tactical ballgown? Utterances that undermine their own purpose and clothing that’s the right amount of too much

Thanks for reading and see you on the internet!

AK

Unplayable games and untellable tales: A sort of review of The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

So as I sat down that day with my lunch, struck by the beautiful meal, I wanted to thank someone or wish someone well, or at least feel some appreciation. I don’t want it to be like the sad desk salad days when office workers would rush outside, buy a prepackaged salad, and then hide in our cubicles and eat it alone like we were Mandalorians who had to take off our helmets in private to eat. I want to appreciate what I have. It would be handy, at this point, to have a God to thank, to stand in for all the people and circumstances that made the meal possible. Believers have an advantage in these situations. Read more.

Have you ever been to a corporate training, maybe one about some proprietary software or technique, where you got a manual, maybe in a 3-ring binder? You probably had to go to the training in person before they’d let you have the manual and sit through it, even though a lot of it was literally just the trainer going through the manual with you. Later, you get to keep the manual, and, let’s even say this manual is very useful, it’s kind of weird that you couldn’t just get the manual first. But no, for some reason you had to hear it out loud first. Weird, huh? Read more.

Thanks for reading!

- AK