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Personal update that may only be tangentially related to genre stuff
Hi everybody! I haven’t worn pants in days!
Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration—I have put on some sweatpants for the few minutes I’ve gone outside to walk Pennydog. (Well, Penny walks. And sniffs. I, 38 weeks pregnant, merely waddle while wearing a mask.) My husband has taken over most of the Penny duties, however, and after more than four months indoors and many pregnancy pounds gained, I find pants…superfluous.
I feel good about this pandemic/pregnancy fashion choice. In any Los Angeles summer, pants simply aren’t necessary. I also only have one pair that even remotely fit me right now (and to be honest, they’re a bit tight), so that’s been an non-trivial factor in this lifestyle decision as well.
My no-pant living is also a sign, I think, of how trapped I feel these days. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way, and I’m eager for any recommendations about how to find some sort of brief refuge from the onslaught that has become day-to-day life.
One thing I’ve been doing to cope is to think about outer space. Imagine you’re living on an interstellar space ship, I tell myself when the walls of my bedroom close in on me. There are other worlds out there, a near-infinite number of adventures you could have where not wearing pants doesn’t mean that you’ve given up on everything.
And so I look to the skies. Mostly in my imagination, but there are real-life opportunities this month too. There was the lunar eclipse earlier this month, for example, though I managed to miss it. But there’s also the NEOWISE comet, which is making its 6,800-year cameo in our solar system right now. I haven’t seen it yet in real life either, but maybe I’ll make the effort to do so in the next few days. That’s something worth putting on pants for…at least for a few minutes.
But meanwhile, in a fictional universe…
Speaking of universes and self-care, I thought this would be a good week to share some of my favorite escapist space reads.
Books? Books!
(Disclaimer: I use affiliate links here through Bookshop.org, and may get a small commission if you purchase these books through them. This, however, does not impact what books I share or what I say about them.)
The Lady Astronaut Series by Marie Robinette Kowal
The novel-length installments in this series started with the duology The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, the first of which won the Nebulas, Hugos AND the Locus Awards for best novel in 2018/19. This series is alternative historical fiction—in 1952, a meteorite lands of the East Coast of the US and, along with killing millions, jumpstarts the space exploration program. We follow the story of Elma—an expert pilot and mathematical genius—during her journey to be come a lady astronaut. The third book in this alternative timeline, The Relentless Moon, came out just last week, and focuses on another lady astronaut’s experience on the rapidly growing moon colony. I’m eager to read it.
Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekhout
I like dogs a lot. I also like space, and when I read Van Eekhout’s middle grade book about dogs in space in mid-March, it was the salvo I needed to bring my anxiety down to quasi-managable levels. I immediately bought two copies for my nephews, though I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a story about some nice pups who are heroic and wear spacesuits (and don’t worry—no doggies die in this tale).
Not Books But Still Nerdy!
Like everything else this year, San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) has gone virtual, with panels and events starting this Thursday. I’ll be covering a bunch of online panels for SYFY WIRE, and I’m curious to see how these compare to the IRL ones I’m used to.
Speaking of SDCC and previous newsletters I’ve written, here is a photo of me in San Diego four years ago posing very glamourously next to a life-size(?) Jabba the Hutt statue. Oh to go back in time…
Like I did with Dragon Con last week, I also want to give a plug to all the indie artists and vendors who depend on cons like SDCC for their livelihoods. SDCC’s unofficial blog has put together a list of artists, small press, and exhibitors that I encourage you to check out. I’ll also give a special shoutout to Fanbase Press, who has put out some amazing graphic novels including Quince, where the main character Lupe finds out she has superhero powers during her quinceañera.
Articles!
Hemingway at Comic-Con: With San Diego Comic-Con coming up this week, it’s that time of year to share this satire piece I wrote for McSweeney’s a couple of years ago.
Marvel Studios Most Electrifying Moments at San Diego Comic-Con: A Retrospective: I’ve covered SDCC for the past couple of years, but my husband, who happens to be a huge Marvel fan, has been attending for the last 20. He served as my research assistant for this piece I wrote for /Film last year chronicling Marvel’s presence at the con over the last decade.
Obligatory Pennydog photo
Also in honor of Comic-Con, here is Penny in one of her many cosplays. This one is not her favorite, I have to admit (she didn’t like the hair buns), but it was one of my favorites, and so now I am sharing it with you.
Thanks for reading! And as I said at the top—feel free to share with anyone you want and/or subscribe using the button below. I’m also on Twitter @vfarmstrong, where I post somewhat more frequently than here. Follow me there as well if you like!