I really don't understand it. While the rest of the world's going crazier, it's been a pretty chill week for me. Speaking of which, we might as well get the links to this week's News in place.
Most of this revolves around the murder by Minneapolis police officers of George Floyd and the resulting protests that have spread to all 50 states in the nation, as well as several countries. Friday we look into Mississippi's own legal outrage, as the case against the cop that killed Columbus resident Ricky Ball under extremely suspicious circumstances - po-po, when you cut your body cameras off, it never looks good - was dropped by newly elected State Attorney General Lynn Fitch. The story's pretty bad, mainly in that Fitch dismissed the case with a two-sentence statement like it was barely worth her attention. Something to keep an eye on for sure.
I finished the first three books of the Expanse series the Lee County library had to offer online readers. I liked them but I doubt I'll get back into it anytime soon. While the hard sci-fi aspect and non-military setting appealed, every story was some sort of solar system-wide big deal and that gets tedious for me after a while. It's sort of like the new Doctor Who where each season ended with some massive universe-spanning to-do that only the Doctor could fix or, actually, like the never ending "Secret Crisis War" that seems to be the go to for mainstream comic books these days.
I'd still like to find some science fiction books that are sort of like Blake's 7, small outlaw groups just trying to get through the universe but not having to save it. Probably means I should be writing those stories, if you consider things that way. Like I've said, I still can't get my head in that space and really don't understand how to get there. I write and this is what I do. News and Gibberish, and I think I'm better than okay at it. Other people are good at ripping science fiction swashbuckling yarns, that's what I want.
I have been reading Engraved On The Eye, a collection of short stories by Saladin Ahmed. Very enjoyable, and all told from what I gather is a Muslim or at least Middle Eastern perspective. Fighters of monsters using holy magic. Muslim cowboy wizards. Renegade female Dervishes fighting against small minds. Good stuff. In fact, I'm enjoying the tales so much that my only real complaint is they're all too short. His 2012 book Throne of the Crescent Moon won a Hugo and appears to be the same universe as the first short story (monster fighting Muslim doctor who uses holy magic and has a young Dervish as a partner), so I'll check that out eventually.
He came across my radar because the nerds who get upset about such things were mad that a Muslim person of color was writing a Spider-Man book. That piqued my interest, in that anything that pisses those choads off has to have something going for it. So, good job, buttholes, you're racist gatekeeping wankery turned me on to an excellent writer I was henceforth unaware of and encouraged me, a middle-age middle-class white dude, to give him some money and, indeed, encourage others to do so as well as post multiple links to facilitate that. Well done, indeed, you miserable little fart stains.
I don't know what else. My uncle's in the hospital getting a new stint put in his heart and his oldest grandson got married today. Because of him in the hospital and the whole COVID-19 business, they did it via Zoom. My uncle's doing well and the grandson is happier than he has been lately. He's had a string of bad breaks of late, bless his heart, and even a good kid like him will get frustrated. But his new bride is a jewel and, like I said, he's a good kid, so hopefully things will start to shine a bit for him.
We could all use a break these days, I think. Just a little good news or a world-wide equivalent to winning 50 bucks in an office football pool. Something that doesn't involve killing someone.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are moderated, & may be discarded & ignored if so chose. Cry more & die, man.