Flat Hand
A rainy, misty, cloudy day. Cooler, with a high of 57˚F.
I tried to work today. I ought have tried harder. There was a round of email with Geralyn at Subterranean Press regarding the forthcoming second edition of From Weird and Distant Shores. By the way, we have a very limited number of the printed ARCs (just 4), with Bob Eggleton's beautiful wraparound cover available for sell, that we're selling for $100/ea. These are not going on eBay. You want one? Email Kathryn at dreamingsquid(at)gmail.com. First come, first served. Available only while supplies last. You snooze, you lose.
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, especially the very rare, forever-out-of-print Centipede Press illustrated edition of Houses Under the Sea. Thank you. Money keeps the wheels turning and the cats fed.
Today I finished Peter Brannen's really excellent The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions.
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As an author, I believe part of my job is saying what I mean and encouraging others to do likewise. To wit, people, please avoid the sloppy, wishy washy, mock-inoffensive "It's not okay" catchphrase that has swept...well, wherever. Say what you *mean*. If a thing offends you, say so. If you find it racist or sexist, say so. If it's simply rude, say so. Whatever. Be specific. "Not okay" is not only vague, it smacks of a weird moral absolutism. There is no room for grey. There is only white and black, all moral issues childishly boiled down to "okay" and "not okay." This is passive-aggressive behavior enshrined in slang.
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Things that science teaches us: Rodents cannot predict how many weeks of winter remain.
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Tonight, Kathryn and I saw Jason Reitman's Ghost Busters: Afterlife, and we both adored it. Really, I think I have been waiting for this film most of my adult life. Finally, justice has been done to the original. It is a funny, smart, sweet, nostalgic, magical film. No, it's not the original. It's a love letter to the original, in all the right ways. Mckenna Grace is fantastic as Egon Spengler's granddaughter (I'd only encountered her previosly in a different girl scientist, one of young Sheldon Cooper's nemeses) and Finn Wolfhard is almost as good. And it was great to get so much more of Gozer! And ECTO1 has a gunner's seat! And...and...and...see, I could go on like this all day. In fact, I think we're going to watch it again last night. It made my face hurt from all the smiling. This is my second favorite film of 2021, after Dune. And yes, it owes a lot to the Stranger Things and It, but so the fuck what? That only adds to the charm. If you loved the original and hated that mess from 2016, see it. Now.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
4:17 (day before yesterday; mosasaur frontal, Platecarpus sp.)
I tried to work today. I ought have tried harder. There was a round of email with Geralyn at Subterranean Press regarding the forthcoming second edition of From Weird and Distant Shores. By the way, we have a very limited number of the printed ARCs (just 4), with Bob Eggleton's beautiful wraparound cover available for sell, that we're selling for $100/ea. These are not going on eBay. You want one? Email Kathryn at dreamingsquid(at)gmail.com. First come, first served. Available only while supplies last. You snooze, you lose.
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, especially the very rare, forever-out-of-print Centipede Press illustrated edition of Houses Under the Sea. Thank you. Money keeps the wheels turning and the cats fed.
Today I finished Peter Brannen's really excellent The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions.
---
As an author, I believe part of my job is saying what I mean and encouraging others to do likewise. To wit, people, please avoid the sloppy, wishy washy, mock-inoffensive "It's not okay" catchphrase that has swept...well, wherever. Say what you *mean*. If a thing offends you, say so. If you find it racist or sexist, say so. If it's simply rude, say so. Whatever. Be specific. "Not okay" is not only vague, it smacks of a weird moral absolutism. There is no room for grey. There is only white and black, all moral issues childishly boiled down to "okay" and "not okay." This is passive-aggressive behavior enshrined in slang.
---
Things that science teaches us: Rodents cannot predict how many weeks of winter remain.
---
Tonight, Kathryn and I saw Jason Reitman's Ghost Busters: Afterlife, and we both adored it. Really, I think I have been waiting for this film most of my adult life. Finally, justice has been done to the original. It is a funny, smart, sweet, nostalgic, magical film. No, it's not the original. It's a love letter to the original, in all the right ways. Mckenna Grace is fantastic as Egon Spengler's granddaughter (I'd only encountered her previosly in a different girl scientist, one of young Sheldon Cooper's nemeses) and Finn Wolfhard is almost as good. And it was great to get so much more of Gozer! And ECTO1 has a gunner's seat! And...and...and...see, I could go on like this all day. In fact, I think we're going to watch it again last night. It made my face hurt from all the smiling. This is my second favorite film of 2021, after Dune. And yes, it owes a lot to the Stranger Things and It, but so the fuck what? That only adds to the charm. If you loved the original and hated that mess from 2016, see it. Now.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
4:17 (day before yesterday; mosasaur frontal, Platecarpus sp.)