Still not Wednesday 31/05

[liv]

Recently read: For reading on the plane, I ended up turning to Athena Andreadis' 2013 anthology of SF featuring female protagonists, The other half of the sky.

I was particularly taken with Sailing the Antarsa by Vandana Singh. It's about an explorer from an Indian-influenced future who leaves everything behind to travel into space; I found it really evocative, with elements of classic SF and a touchingly melancholic tone.

I'd like to call your attention to staranise's untitled Sequel to The Secret Garden. Her approach to the problem of Edwardian children's literature where the modern reader knows that WW1 is just over the horizon is really sweet without denying reality. And it's poly and adorable and ok, could have done with a Yorkshire picker, but that's a minor thing. I'm also terrified by the image of untreated asthmatic nursing someone with Spanish flu.

And for a non-fiction longread, siderea linked to a moving elegy for a historic New York building and observation of the less obvious effects of gentrification: The death and life of a great American building.

Currently reading: Runemarks by Joanne Harris. ghoti_mhic_uait recommended it to me and lent me her copy. I don't see anything in the packaging that suggests it's marketed as YA, but I'm finding it really simplistic and patronizing.

I could cope with the protagonist, Maddy, embodying the absolutely typical 'not like other girls' trope, if she didn't have a sister Mae who is despised for being blonde and pretty and is literally described in the dramatis personae list as 'a brainless beauty'. And I'm annoyed about the standard order evil church which represses Magick and the old ways and enforces Victorian style ye olden times gender roles. I think it was a mistake to tell part of the narrative from Loki's point of view; he's much more mysterious and trickstery when viewed from the outside than if you actually have to read through his somewhat ponderous thought processes. Still, even though it's tropey and spells everything out in unnecessary detail, it's a fun and readable story.

Up next: I'm thinking it's time to pick up Declare by Tim Powers; it was a birthday present half a year ago and Powers is definitely not over-simple as a writer!

Comments

[ambyr]

I've had my eye on The Other Half of the Sky for a while. I hope I stumble over a copy at some point.

[flippac]

I ought to get a little further into Declare when I feel more with it. Been meaning to as one of Charlie Stross's "if you liked the early Laundryverse..." mentions in the fore/afterwords for ages.

[seekingferret]

My favorite part of the St. Denis article was learning that the building at 51 Astor, which replaced the hellscape where I spent thousands of hours in class when I was in college, is now referred to as the Death Star.

[lethargic_man]

I nth the recommendation for Declare. (And it's fascinating to see how the two authors independently had the same idea but went in such different directions with it.)