Cosmic Joke
The last time I visited seanan_mcguire, she handed me Divine Misfortune, by A. Lee Martinez, and told me I should read it. When I later asked her to clarify whether she meant you in general or that I, specifically, should read it, she answered, "Both." I had an idea of what sort of books A. Lee Martinez wrote, but I didn't know anything about Divine Misfortune but the title, so I decided to go in completely blind! I didn't look up anything about it; I didn't even read the back of the book.
I was hooked from the first chapter, though, which introduced the hilarious concept of the book: not only are gods real, but anyone can become a follower of a god to pay tribute and reap the benefits. The book opens as our heroes, Teri and Phil, essentially surf an online dating service to find a god. They settle on a luck god...who promptly moves in with them, to their dismay.
Meanwhile, Bonnie finds herself attached to Syph, a goddess of heartbreak, and Worthington becomes the number one follower of Gorgoz, a chaos god.
One critic called A. Lee Martinez an "American Terry Pratchett," and I wouldn't go that far (although I can't think of any other candidates), but the book is good fun. The three plots intersect, but the plotting isn't really the strong point of the book, actually. I found that halfway through the book, the actual story wasn't really holding my interest, but the characters are fun, and the tone is silly and absurd while still treating the situation with seriousness (there's an Office of Divine Affairs). If you enjoy books about gods acting like regular people, then this is a book you will enjoy!
And speaking of divine misfortune...
So there's this girl I've had a general crush on for approximately 22 months, but I haven't really done anything about it because what's the point. But I figured that if there was one girl I knew that I would ask out, it would be her (well, there are others, but I thought she had the highest probability of saying yes).
Since I am the dateless wonder, I take female friends to my company holiday party so I'm not so alone. This year, I asked her, and she said it sounded like fun.
When I messaged her to confirm her availability, she did. And also spelled out in no uncertain terms that it should be clear to everyone we were just friends, we're friends, she wants to hang out with her friend, she's not interested in a date.
Why do I even ever entertain the slightest notion, the tiniest inclination to actually ask a girl out? Now I'm getting rejected even without asking! (This is actually the second time I've been preemptively rejected, but I wasn't interested the first time.)
If there's one thing I like, it's pretty girls who don't want to date me.
I was hooked from the first chapter, though, which introduced the hilarious concept of the book: not only are gods real, but anyone can become a follower of a god to pay tribute and reap the benefits. The book opens as our heroes, Teri and Phil, essentially surf an online dating service to find a god. They settle on a luck god...who promptly moves in with them, to their dismay.
Meanwhile, Bonnie finds herself attached to Syph, a goddess of heartbreak, and Worthington becomes the number one follower of Gorgoz, a chaos god.
One critic called A. Lee Martinez an "American Terry Pratchett," and I wouldn't go that far (although I can't think of any other candidates), but the book is good fun. The three plots intersect, but the plotting isn't really the strong point of the book, actually. I found that halfway through the book, the actual story wasn't really holding my interest, but the characters are fun, and the tone is silly and absurd while still treating the situation with seriousness (there's an Office of Divine Affairs). If you enjoy books about gods acting like regular people, then this is a book you will enjoy!
And speaking of divine misfortune...
So there's this girl I've had a general crush on for approximately 22 months, but I haven't really done anything about it because what's the point. But I figured that if there was one girl I knew that I would ask out, it would be her (well, there are others, but I thought she had the highest probability of saying yes).
Since I am the dateless wonder, I take female friends to my company holiday party so I'm not so alone. This year, I asked her, and she said it sounded like fun.
When I messaged her to confirm her availability, she did. And also spelled out in no uncertain terms that it should be clear to everyone we were just friends, we're friends, she wants to hang out with her friend, she's not interested in a date.
Why do I even ever entertain the slightest notion, the tiniest inclination to actually ask a girl out? Now I'm getting rejected even without asking! (This is actually the second time I've been preemptively rejected, but I wasn't interested the first time.)
If there's one thing I like, it's pretty girls who don't want to date me.