Wool (Silo I), by Hugh Howey

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A Thing I’ve Read 13/25: Wool (Silo I), by Hugh Howey

The cover of Wool, by Hugh Howey. In the fore-to-midground a barren, rocky landscape is seen, with hills rising to both sides of the cover. In the middle, and in some distance, stands a human figure with its back to the reader. A bright light shines into the valley. The further up one looks the more the view is overlaid with CRT matrix, its red-green-blue slits clearly visible on the upper side. In the lower part, laid over the rocky terrain, is the name of the book written, with a similar effect: bright on the bottom, a CRT-matrix clearly visible on the top of the letters. The author's name is written in bright letters below.

The world is a giant underground silo. The outside is toxic. The order of society must be preserved at all costs, lest humanities last outpost crumbles to dust. Of course nothing goes ever wrong.
The story, or maybe rather “the collection of novellas”, follows the events of said Silo, beginning with the old sheriff volunteering to go outside to clean the cameras, and all that unravels from it.

I have devoured this book, and I highly recommend it for anyone up for some… rather dark apocalyptic fiction.

I was also not at all surprised to learn that this was one of the inspirations for Tales: Inside.

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

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A Thing I’ve Read 12/25: Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

The cover of Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke. In front of a dark blue night sky with golden stars stands a column, on which a (a statue of a?) faun stands upright with one hoof, the other raised in the air. The faun has pale skin and blond hair on its head and its lower body and legs, and it's playing a double-ended flute. Along the bottom of the cover are the stylized swirls of a roaring ocean. The name of the author is printed on the top, the name of the book on the bottom.

I’ve decided to read this one after the good people of Poltergeist announced a larp based on it and a lot of people were very excited, and now I do see why.

It is the story of a house made out of endless rooms, filled with statues, the lower level flooded, the upper full of rainclouds, and of a man exploring the house, and of the Other, his friend, and the people of the house’s past and present and future.

Being less cryptic would mean spoiling the fun, so give it a read!

Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

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A Thing I’ve (re-)Read 11/25: Harrow the Ninth (Locked Tomb II), by Tamsyn Muir

The second time around this book continues to be an absolute fever dream, but knowing what’s coming (and maybe a few hours of wiki-binging beforehand) really did help to make a lot more sense of everything.
This does not mean the book is not recommended, but it features a protagonist of questionable mental health and in parts second-person narration, making the whole thing A Ride than can be hard to pierce together.

I also have the feeling that knowing what to look for made some statements stand out better.

Two down, one to go, Alecto when?

The cover of Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. In the background the gray of a dead planet in front of stars, with blue veins across it and a blue star barely flaring across its lower edge. In front of that the protagonist, Lady Harrowhark, The Revered Daughter, a young women with short black hair and a skull painted on her face, clad in black garments, bones forming a ribcage over her chest, and a white coat slung over her shoulders. Across her back she carries a large, two-handed sword. Around her are rather less than more complete skeletons, skulls and bones pieces, floating around her and her outstretched hand.

The Watcher in the Rain, by Alec Worley

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A Thing I’ve Listened To 01/25: The Watcher in the Rain, by Alec Worley

The cover of The Watcher in the Rain, by Alec Worley. It shows a view of a city in the Gothic architecture elemental to the w40k-setting in pouring rain, with a figure standing on presumable the top of a roof in the foreground. A giant eldritch entity is reaching for it from the background.

I think someone recommended this w40k audio horror story to me, at some point? Anyway, I’ve finally managed to listen, and it’s a solid story with excellent production design, about two Upstanding Imperial Citizens and an Absolutely Harmless Warp Entity That Only Wants To Be Friends. Absolutely nothing bad happens, of course.

I don’t think longer audio things will be A Thing within my media consumption, but that’s an attention economy thing.

Radicalized, by Cory Doctorow

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A Thing I’ve Read 09/25: Radicalized, by Cory Doctorow

The cover of Radicalized, by Cory Doctorow. On a red background in white letters the author on top and the title on the bottom, and between them in a two-by-two grid four white circles with black icons in them representing the stories: a slice of bread with the "forbidden"-sign on it, a superhero silouette, a pill with the hand of a drowning person reaching up from the bottom, and a skull with the white parts represented by human silouettes.

A collection of four dystopian novellas that’s been on my list for ages, and they’ve not aged a day since release. Especially the titular radicalized, about an armed uprising against the US healthcare system…

As usual, Doctorow has a very keen eye on How Things Will Get Worse Under Capitalism, and it’s a good read that can be tackled one-by-one.

Wir waren jung und unerschrocken: Skipper von Traditionsschiffen erzählen, von Martina Boetticher

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A Thing I’ve Read 08/25: Wir waren jung und unerschrocken: Skipper von Traditionsschiffen erzählen, von Martina Boetticher

Eine Sammlung von Erzählungen und Lebensgeschichten aus der Traditionsschifferszene, wie das damals(tm) so war und wie das heute alles schwieriger ist. Und darüber wie damals einfach mal gemacht wurde, zB die Geschichte der versuchten Weltumseglung der Pippilotta.

Interessant zu lesen, hätte aber Lektorat und Korrektorat vertragen können.

Das Cover von Wir waren jung und unerschrocken: Skipper von Traditionsschiffen erzählen von Martina Boetticher. Es zeigt ein augenscheinlich altes Photo eines Traditionsseglers, mit viel Film-Grain, auf See mit gesetzten Segeln.

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb I), by Tamsyn Muir

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A Thing I’ve (re-)Read 07/25: Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb I), by Tamsyn Muir

The cover of Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. It shows the eponymous desaster lesbian, a lean and muscular woman mostly clad in the black garb of the Ninth House but with uncovered arms, in her right hand a rapier and on her left a glove with steel claws. Her face is painted with a skull mask beneath short red hair in a crew cut. Across her back is strapped (heh.) a sword, with the hilt extending over her left shoulder. In the background a whole lot of skeletons are in the process of shattering explosively.

As expected, this thing is a lot less confusing the second time around, and having it in print also helps when checking for the Dramatis Personae aka “who was that again?”. It still is a wild ride around very interesting world-building, and apparently I had hallucinated a whole plot point in Canaan House. Books-in-memory are always a gamble. I once again highly recommend this whole series.

(I also have no idea why Charlie says “in space” in his cover blurb, when maybe half a percent of everything is actually in space, but hey.)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built & A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk&Robot I&II), by Becky Chambers

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The cover of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers. In shows the title in varied-width-letters over a semi-stylized forest crossed winding roads and pathways, with Mosscap standing on a path playing with butterflies and Sibling Dex sitting on their wagon with a cup of tea in their hands.

Two Things I’ve re-Read:
05/25: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk&Robot I) and
06/25: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk&Robot II), both by Becky Chambers

Some so-very-much needed comfort food, the story of Sibling Dex and Mosscap, and their adventures in the wild and in the villages, and it’s.. just so good. Wholesome. Comfortable. Hopeful.

And I might be a little emotional now, after inhaling it after whatever this week was.

The cover of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky Chambers. It shows the title in width-varied letters in front of a picture, in the background of which a stylized view of a city of habitat-spheres on poles, growing amid the trees of a forest, in the foreground a road winding through some hills, on it the tea-wagon of Sibling Dex.

Love, Death, and Robots S04

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A Thing I’ve Watched 06/25: Love, Death, and Robots S04

A poster for Love, Death, and Robots, Season 4. It shows on a black background three candy pieces: a heart with the letters L and V, a cross with the letters D and T on one arm, and VOL and 4 on the other, and a block with two eye-like holes with the letters R, B, T and S. Above it the line "Volume F*** / May 15".

It was… alright? I feel a bit like the concept has run its course and maybe it’s time to get off the horse while it’s still alive.
I don’t fully understand why “Can’t Stop” was in there, “Spider Rose” was a good watch, as was “The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur”, “How Zeke Got Religion” was good but really gory, and “For He Can Creep” has some very good cats.
Again, an alright season, but it lacked the pull of its predecessors.