Whatcha reading?
I've slowed down hard, having run out of Popcorn Reading. I'm alternating currently between Beyond Order, the new Jordan Peterson book, and Cold Case Christianity. The latter is... one of the craziest takes on an atheist becoming a believer I've ever run into, which is "homicide detective with decades of experience treats the resurrection as a cold case homicide." If you are a writer (or you love mysteries), he has filled the book with details of his cases and what they taught him about evidence, eyewitness testimony, conspiracy theories, artifacts, etc, and it is fascinating. And then he explains how the methodology he learned as a detective makes it clear to him that the resurrection was real, which is... equally fascinating.
Beyond Order is, as usual, brain-breaking. There was an entire chapter on art that I will be thinking about for decades. I am only halfway through the book and I have 59 highlights already.
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"Buy a piece of art. Find one that speaks to you and make the purchase. If it is a genuine artistic production, it will invade your life and change it. A real piece of art is a window into the transcendent, and you need that in your life, because you are finite and limited and bounded by your ignorance. Unless you can make a connection to the transcendent, you will not have the strength to prevail when the challenges of life become daunting."
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"Artists are the people who stand on the frontier of the transformation of the unknown into knowledge. They make their voluntary foray out into the unknown, and they take a piece of it and transform it into an image."
Etc, 57+ more.
Oh wait, I did read a piece of fluff, which I have complicated feelings about, because it was poorly edited and the plot was unevenly handled but I enjoyed it anyway. It was about a girl from a noble family who ran away and disguised herself as a minstrel and ended up the king's friend, and the political intrigues that happened there, and all that is... not well sketched and yet the characters were charming and so I kept going.
When I say poorly edited, I mean there was literally stuff left from the editorial pass in the text:
"[...] Maids' Mistress, then started planning meals, and managing stores... I guess she mostly fills the role of seneschal (maybe give a brief definition of the word for your readers)."
"[...] and the chilblains. (slight definition?)"
"[...] ask.(What did she ask? About the chapel?)"
There but by the grace of excellent first readers go all of us. 😓
But it was a cute book, so if you want something cute and "don't need much brain" and can put up with the occasional "oops they would be mortified if they realized they left that in" mistakes, it's called Minstrel, by Bernadette Durbin.
Oh, and I started Tess of the D'Ubervilles as my 'classics I missed' book.
Your turn!
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
- Pen: Moonman Starry Glass dip pen, Mars: https://www.jetpens.com/Moonman-Starry-Sky-Glass-Dip-Pen-Mars/pd/31536
- Paper: Strathmore Writing Series 500, lined: https://www.jetpens.com/Strathmore-500-Series-Writing-Pad-8.5-x-11-Lined-50-Sheets/pd/15322
- Ink: Robert Oster, Rose Gilt Tynte: https://www.jetpens.com/Robert-Oster-Rose-Gilt-Tynte-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Shake-N-Shimmy-50-ml-Bottle/pd/25170
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
I'll be there Friday to Sunday in the writer's alley, selling books, stickers, and magnets... I'll also have art in the show and I'll be on... four? Five? Panels! I guess I'll see when I get my schedule! Regardless, look for the big Earthrise-themed banner. Website, if you want to check it out: https://necrofl.org/
Theme this year is cryptids and GOHs are Timothy Zahn and Seanan McGuire. Should be fun! Come say hi!
