Romancing McShep

We've had a spell of wet autumn weather, but still a few nice sunny days. Auckland's reservoirs are 71% full - an improvement. My Mexican sunflower is in full flowering, probably at its height now. Here's the latest pic. It'll go on being glorious for a few more weeks before I cut it back.


Signalboosting: squidgiepdx has started a DW comm for posting about what people can do to take action, resist and protest in the US, as there's nothing quite like that yet, on DW. It's called communityactionusa.

If you like fibre arts, you might enjoy a 30 minute vid on Netflix called Quilters. It's about life-sentenced men in a Missouri max. security prison who make quilts for local foster kids as part of a rehab programme. They have to be stable and non-violent to join (although all have violent pasts, long ago). Most of them had reached a measure of peace and wisdom after decades inside, and their love for the craftwork was evident. One guy unfortunately blew it and lost access to the programme as he was so obsessed with quilting he took cutting tools and fabric squares back to his cell to keep working, and was caught. You could see him gradually losing it, his sewing getting more erratic and mistakes creeping in, and I did wonder if he was on drugs. But overall it was a heartwarming documentary, and the quilts were beautiful.

Book rec: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh. I devoured this, staying up stupidly late to finish it. It's mostly set in a school for magicians in modern day England, but that's where any similarities to HP end. For one, it's from the POV of a senior teacher and I think anyone who's been a teacher, especially of teenagers, will love it. I grew up with parents involved in teaching of different sorts and that put me off teaching as a career, but this book made the skills and vocation of teaching viscerally real, even tempting. The magic system worldbuilding was excellent, more like mathematics and academically complex, all powered by interactions with demons that weren't religious, just predatory manifestations of wild magic. The school itself was also brilliantly realised, its roots mediaeval and Tudor, but with modern sixties concrete dorms and offices, the whole protected by thaumaturgical engines that sounded like a combination of ancient steam boilers and valve radios, a nightmare to maintain but impossible to replace without closing the school down. It's a private school, so most of the characters were to some degree priviledged, but they took children on scholarships, and a handful of "sorcerers" - kids who manifested innate magic very early, sometimes killing their families accidentally, were fostered within the school. There was good female and diversity rep, the protagonist was bi, and the issue of private schools and priviledge was addressed and explored. CW for some fighting, violence, and an amputation, and a few people are possessed by demons. Gorgeous writing.

Audiobook rec: The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison. The third book about Thara Celehar, Witness for the Dead, with some lovely sections revisiting emperor Maia. The reader was Liam Gerrard who is fantastic and manages Thara's slightly hoarse, ruined voice well. I slways read these books as audiobooks as in print I get hung up on the long, complex names, whereas in audiobook, Liam is incredibly fluent with the names and titles, and it flows. As usual with this series I loved the book, which starts with Thara bereft of his ability to speak with the dead, so while still a prelate, unable to be a Witness. That doesn't stop him investigating various issues, the main one being the fate of ancient cavern-dwelling dragons in the mountains, but also a dysfunctional city cemetary whose past administrator filled rooms with paperwork without actioning anything, where Thara kind of does a Marie Kondo. The heart of the book is about Thara as a Witness, and his sense of self and purpose when that fails. There's also some nice exploration of his platonic but intense friendship with the director of the Vermilion Opera, and a new relationship with a handsome orange-eyed captain of the guard. No real CWs although the nature of his calling means some description of dead bodies, and there's some mostly off-screen violence. Entertaining and satisfying.

TV series: there are some I'm watching avidly but won't review till they're done - Mobland, and Murderbot. Also The Last of Us, but that one I watch kind of masochistically, tensed for the latest horror! Anyway, I've discovered The Rookie featuring Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame (Netflix). It's not new, from 2018, not really grimdark but is of course copaganda. But then a lot of programmes I like are, and I love the West Wing as fantasy wish-fulfillment - this is similar. The show does have some bad apple cops, incompetent detectives, and shows the ruthlessness of the system even though the core cast are good guys. But it has good diversity and female rep although it's persistently het so far. I realise gay cops are likely closeted but they could have shown that, and some gay and trans rep in storylines would be better. (ETA: I've learned there *is* a closeted gay charcter but I'm not at the reveal part yet. But still, only one. :/) Anyway, it's entertaining and I'm watching an ep a day. CW for cop-programme-typical levels of violence, opiate addiction, and some killings.
amberdreams reccd Ludwig which I loved to bits, burning through season 1 in no time. UK murder mystery/cop show starting David Mitchell (brilliant) as a puzzle making and solving genius, very much on the spectrum, investigating his identical twin brother's disappearance by impersonating him as a detective inspector. The structure is comfortingly formulaic (a murder per episode with a Christie-like denoument at the end) and the plot arc about the search for his brother is well-written and ties it all together. Clever, funny, and gripping. CW for cop-programme-typical levels of violence, and some killings, but a bit less than in The Rookie. Mild discomfort esp. initially from his social anxiety, but his humour, competence and obsessive focus work to overcome that.

OK, enough from me. Hugs to you all! How's spring going?