Books Done!

I have sorted and shelved all* the books!

Say WAH HOO for me!




*and by "all" I mean all except the books in Dr. Skull's office. Those are his problem.

What I'm Reading Now

I'm working on finishing off my novel (it's finished, I'm just doing the final read through) before submitting it, as well as editing another novel (someone else's, I'm just doing the proofreading), and also writing what is turning out to be a novella (why, why, why do I write novellas, why?), so I'm busier than usual with writing these days.

But! I'm still reading heaps.

Justine Larbalestier, My Sister Rosa

This, like all of Larbalestier's novels, is compulsively readable. (Larbalestier wrote Liar, which is one of my favorite werewolf books.) It's YA, from the POV of an older brother, about his younger sister, who he is pretty sure is a sociopath. His parents are high-earning, high-status workaholics who have left him to raise the sister (six years younger than he is), and given him essentially no help in dealing with her psychological issues.

What's This?

Hey, look! An artist we all know and love has started a Patreon!

For $2.00/ month, you too can support a fledgling artist!

Monday Links

The Worst Student in your class had something to say

Math joke (I think?)

Why this amuses me so much I cannot begin to explain

Interesting cartoon about the division of labor in the heteronormative household

What I'm Reading

I'm still sorting books -- up to the T's now, plus we have sorted and shelved the poetry, the graphic novels and (some of) the reference books.

Meanwhile, here's what I've been reading:

Jo Walton, Farthing, Ha'Penny, Half a Crown

These are three separate books, a trilogy. I found them during the great sorting, and uttered a cry of glee, since I had forgotten all about them. I think these may well be the first Jo Walton books I read, though I'm not sure about that.

They're alternative history novels, set in London (mostly), a London in which England made peace with Hitler in 1941. America never entered the war; Hitler conquers most of the Continent, and in the first novel, Farthing, Germany is still fighting Russia.

Life at the delagar house

My kid and Dr. Skull went to the Farmer's Market together this morning. They returned with many things, including five enormous sacks of pickling cucumbers. "TF," I said, when I saw these. "What do you plan to do with that many cucumbers?"

"Make pickles," Dr. Skull said, as if twenty gallons of pickles were just what we needed.

My kid's tweet about it:

my dad: we're gonna buy five bags of pickles
me: why
my dad: mom is 85% of our impulse control
me: sounds legit

— me, an intellectual (@jasperlizard) May 20, 2017

Sorting Books

Still sorting and alphabetizing books. I made it through the J's today.

You would not believe how tiring this is. I mean, most books can't weight more than half a pound, right? And I'm only working at this a few hours a day. But at the end of the day I'm aching like I've been bailing hay or digging ditches.

Also, books are very dusty.

Also, we have so much poetry. You'd think one of us was married to a poet or something.

Monday Linkage

I'm spending these days between semesters taking all the books in the house off the shelves and out of the boxes in the back closet (where they have been stores forever), dusting the shelves and the books, and putting everything in alphabetical order, and order by subject.

So far I'm up to the C's.

I'm also writing a lot, though. Meanwhile, have some links!


Lots of people seemed to be confused by what cultural appropriation is and what we should care. Scalzi writes a post. (But a broad hint, for those who are confused: no, "cultural appropriation" does not meant that white straight people aren't "allowed" to write about people from other cultures.)

My Kid's Tweet

D'aw, y'all:

since its mother's day i'd like to take a moment to appreciate my my mom @delagar. having her as my mom is the luckiest thing in my life

— me, an intellectual (@jasperlizard) May 14, 2017

Liberal = Not-Christian

This attitude, which I'm not even sure Rod Dreher realizes he ascribes to, is one that my child was exposed to commonly as she grew up in our Red State.

It's not that Rod Dreher is saying, wow, look at how American attitudes toward these specific social questions have changed. No, he is literally saying that if someone is a Liberal they cannot be a Christian.

Quiz for You!

I missed only the one on the Senate, though I was close!

Your News IQ

How'd you do?

Linkage

Yesterday was the kid's very last day of high school. Is she pleased? My, yes.

Although she confessed last night that she was a little sad too. "Do you want to go back to high school?" I asked, curiously.

Her expression grew horrified. "Oh hell no!"

Meanwhile, today is my last day of Spring 2017 -- I'm giving my last exams, I mean. I still have to go to commencement on Saturday. (The kid is not attending her high school commencement, for which I am more grateful than I can say.) And I also have a mountain of grading.

While I am grading? Some links for you:

In Dutch Harbor, Alaska, bald eagles have become so common the local post office has to arm its patrons with helmets to keep them safe as they go in and out of the building. That's just one of the interesting accommodations the locals are making to live with their massive colony of eagles. Remember when bald eagles were endangered?  Me, too.

What I'm Reading Now

It's the end of the semester, the GOP is more and more brazen about revealing their true motives and natures, and I continue to read obsessively.

Though yesterday we did go to Fayetteville to celebrate the kid's birthday -- she's nineteen, if you can believe that. I cannot. She used to be five. She used to be seven. Once she was thirteen. What is this behavior, turning nineteen? Yet here she is, an adult, earning money with her art, heading off to the university. Kids. Whattaya gonna do.

What I'm reading:


Claire North, End of the Day

I can't decide about this one. It's been getting excellent reviews and good reactions all over the net, and there were some amazing moments in it. Plus the premise is just great -- Charlie gets hired to be the Harbinger of Death. That is, Death (or rather, Death's agent) sends him out to deliver certain gifts to people. Maybe these people are going to die, or maybe not. (The gift can be a warning or a courtesy, Charlie explains.)

A Few Things You Can Do To Fight Back Against TrumpCare

(1) You can donate to those running against the GOP legislators who voted for the vile and cruel bill. Go to this link to learn more: ActBlue

(2) You can take broader actions: Enough is Enough

Trump and his rich friends are in this to loot the country. Don't let it happen.

End of the Semester

My last day of teaching was yesterday. Next week is exams and grading, plus commencement on Saturday.  This semester went well, I'm pleased to say -- all four of my classes were filled with students interested in doing good work.

TrumpCare

When I was a young graduate student, living on my stipend and what I had saved from my three years working at the library, I looked at the cost of the medical insurance which was available to us as students -- which cost nearly six hundred dollars a year, or a tenth of my stipend, for what was, after all, not very good insurance. Basically, unless you got cancer, it covered nothing at all. And what, after all, were the odds that I would get cancer?

Hey, Look What You Can Buy!

It's the May/June issue of F&SF with my story in it!

Available from Amazon, among other places. Check your local bookstores, also!