In which I mention squirrels, haircuts, and magical doors
Hello!
Welcome to the second week of my weekly newsletter, Meanwhile in a Fictional Universe! This week’s post is similar to my first, except it’s my second newsletter and I mention different things.
Personal update only tangentially related to genre stuff
I’ve reached the point of my quarantine where I’ve moved from having in-depth conversations with my dog to yelling one-sided rants at the squirrel who lives outside my office window.
I’ve known some nice squirrels in my life, but this squirrel is the worst. He digs up my potted plants (I’m guessing to hide nuts, or whatever a Los Angeles squirrel buries instead of nuts) and likes to hang out in his tree and heckle me and Pennydog.
Neither me nor Penny like the squirrel very much—poor Penny just looks away every time she sees him while I talk back to the furry-tailed rodent every chance I get. Is this healthy? Probably not. But does it feel good to grumble and shake my fist at my obnoxious, tree-dwelling neighbor? It sure does.
In addition to yelling at squirrels, I also channeled Jo Marsh à la Little Women this week and chopped off 3-4 inches of my hair with fabric scissors. My hair was long before the pandemic, and pregnancy hormones along with many months without a professional haircut left me with scraggly blue and purple curls (once upon a time, I also dyed my hair) crawling all the way down my back.
I didn’t plan to cut my hair off. I was in my office the other morning, and just saw the scissors lying there on the dresser, minding their own business.
But then something took over me. It was sudden. It was messy. And then it was done, and I’ve never felt so alive.
I stood in the middle of my office afterwards, shaking my fists with maniacal glee while tufts of split-ends fell to the floor. Even the squirrel chittering at me from the tree outside couldn’t dampen my mood—I was in charge of my destiny, a triumphant warrior.
This week, at least.
But meanwhile, in a fictional universe…
Let’s set aside my delusion of becoming a mighty warrior, however, and explore much more interesting fictional universes.
Books? Books!
(Disclaimer: I use affiliate links here through Bookshop.org, and may get a small commission if you purchase these books through them. )
The Wayward Children Series by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire is one of the most prolific and wonderful authors out there. She’s got something for everyone, whether your jam is urban fantasy, portal fantasy, graphic novels, or pretty much anything else. I just finished her Hugo-nominated novella In An Absent Dream, which is the fourth book in her Wayward Children series that revolve around the young people who find magical doors to other worlds and who then find themselves back in our world struggling to get by. I’ll have a full review of that book on Tor.com eventually, but TL;DR, the entire series, including In An Absent Dream, is really good. If you’re new to this series, I recommend reading the first book, Every Heart a Doorway, first. You can then, in my opinion at least, read the other novellas in any order you’d like.
The Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger
I’ve only read the first two books in this five-book series—Soulless and Changeless—but they have been an amazing comfort reads over the past couple of months. If you love steampunk set in a Victorian London that also has werewolves, vampires and a main character who is equally tied to proper etiquette and making sure she has a parasol handy to whack whoever she needs to, then this series may be for you. Carriger also has a young adult and another adult series set in the same world, so there’s plenty of reading here if these turn out to be your thing.
Not Books But Still Nerdy!
Dragon Con, AKA my favorite pop culture convention of the year, has officially moved to a virtual format for 2020. Dragon Con is a major cosplay convention—to get a taste of it, here is me three years back in a deep-cut Wonder Woman outfit with two other attendees (yes, there are human beings under those Lego mini-fig outfits):
While the attendees will all miss it, I especially feel for the vendors who depend on Dragon Con and other cons for their livelihoods. The good news for Dragon Con vendors is there’s already a Facebook group for them to promote their wares. I’ll give a special shoutout to one of my favorite Dragon Con vendors SkirtyBirt, who makes the best skirts, and now also sells masks for you to wear and enjoy!
Articles!
Dragon Con is the Anti-San Diego Comic-Con and a Mardi Gras for Nerds: Curious to learn more about Dragon Con? I wrote this piece for /Film a couple of years ago outlining how the con differs from the more industry-led cons like SDCC.
Lucasfilm Goes Classic MTV With A Mandalorian Music Video: If you watched The Mandalorian or Black Panther, you’ve heard composer Ludwig Göransson’s work. I’m not a music critic but his scores are, in a word, awesome. He recently came out with a stay-at-home music video featuring Mandalorian’s main title score, and I highly recommend watching it (link is in article above).
Obligatory Pennydog photo
This photo has Penny, of course, but it also includes a cameo from our jerk of a squirrel neighbor. Note how the squirrel is just staring me down like it could give two nuts what I thought about it. Note how dejected Penny is, her eyes conveying the sad knowledge that she fought the squirrel and the squirrel won.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share with anyone you want. I’m also on Twitter @vfarmstrong, where I post somewhat more frequently than here. Follow me there as well if you like!