Beyond Selidor

Today is, apparently, all about the online author events. Having watched the recording of Roshani Chokshi's Instagram Live event last night, I'm now alerted to the fact that Zen Cho is doing a similar event in about half an hour today. Since this will fall right at the start of my working day, I'm also going to watch it later, and will update this post with the link to the recording so you can all do the same. [Updated to add the link to the recording.]

I will, however, be able to watch Amal El-Mohtar's keynote speech at Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations live on Youtube this afternoon, as it's due to stream at 5pm British Summer Time, which is exactly when I stop work. This may be of interest to some of you as well — check what time it is in your timezone, or come back to the same link to watch asynchronously, as it will be available for a little while afterwards. El-Mohtar is a great public speaker — she's brilliant whether in a podcast, a panel, a kaffeeklatsch, or doing a keynote address, so I highly recommend this event.

Reading-wise, I've been firmly ensconced in Egypt these past few days, with P. Djèlí Clark's short story 'The Angel of Khan el-Khalili' (about feminism, justice, and the workers' movement (including a scenario evocative of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire), set against a version of 20th-century Egypt where steampunk automata are part of every home, and angels and djinn talk to people who dare to seek them out), and then Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, a work of historical children's fiction that I read after lirazel used it as the answer to one of the thirty-day book meme prompts. I think if I'd read this as a child, as lirazel did, I would have enjoyed it uncritically. However, while I love the overall story and setting (a teenage girl, enslaved and chafing against her situation, winds up working as a spy and embroiled in the dangerous politics of ancient Egypt in the time of Hatshepsut), the book is very much of its time, with some very unfortunate 1950s implications which soured things a bit for my twenty-first century eyes.

Onwards to the last book meme prompt:

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by

( My answer )

And that's the final post in my series of answers to a great set of questions about books and reading. I've really enjoyed answering them, and I'm happy that I managed to do this across every single day of April without any gaps!

I'll leave you with some photos and a video of the beautiful blossoms in our garden! Have a great weekend!.

Today, I've been completely charmed and entranced by this video of European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti preparing a meal in space. The food itself looks kind of yucky (I'm sure it tastes fine, but it's hard to make rehydrated goo look aesthetically appealling), but the actual preparation made me smile — the food and utensils keep floating around while she's talking, but she eventually notices them and grabs them, only to absentmindedly let them float off again a minute later.

I don't know how many other people here are fans of Roshani Chokshi's books, but she's going to be doing a live Q&A on Instagram today at 8pm EST. That's unfortunately a bit too late for me in the UK, but it may be more congenial for those of you located in the American continents. Her account is roshanichokshi, and I believe she will record it later to watch.

Also, Tor.com have reprinted an old P. Djèlí Clark short story set in the same universe as his forthcoming A Dead Djinn in Cairo novel. You can read 'The Angel of Khan el-Khalili' for free here.

We're down to the third-last book meme prompt:

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

This one is a weird one for me. I feel I'm so open about my reading preferences — whether stylistic, characterisation, character relationship dynamics, genres, tropes, or themes explored — that nothing I say I like would surprise anyone.

So instead I'm going to throw this open to you. Based on what you know of me, suggest a book you think I adore (or might adore if I read it in the future). If it's a book I've read already, I'll tell you if you're right or not, and why. If it's something I haven't read, I'll look at the Goodreads summary and tell you if I think I'm likely to enjoy it. That way, I'll maybe end up with a pile of recs to add to my to-read list!

( The other days )

Today's book meme prompt asks a question that I feel a bit strange answering:

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

( My answer )

( The other days )

It's been a sunny, sleepy Saturday, and I've spent most of the morning reading self-indulgent fanfic, interrupted by a quick trip into town to the outdoor market.

We're on to the final week of the thirty-day book meme:

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

( My answer )

( The other days )

I'm feeling extremely run down and tired today, so I'll keep this post short and sweet — rather like the book in question:

22. A warm blanket of a book

( My answer )



( The other days )

After yesterday's exhausting conferencing, I collapsed into bed around 8.30pm and slept for close to eleven hours. With that sleep debt repaid, today has been a lot less tiring, and in between work, I managed to finish another book in my lunch break: Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold, edited by Carolyne Larrington. This anthology brings together various women writers from the UK and Ireland to retell folktales from around these island with an intersectional feminist twist. The stories have been compared in reviews to things like Carter's The Bloody Chamber, although for me they lacked the requisite bite and sharpness — they were well told, but had a kind of studied cautiousness about them. I found the 'forgotten' descriptor in the title something of a misnomer, given that I recognised most of the original tales from the folklore anthologies I used to read as a teenager — but maybe that's just my own weirdness!

Onwards to today's book meme prompt:

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

( My answer )

( The other days )

I've spent a lot of today in the garden. Matthias and I have now filled two out of the four vegetable patches — with seeds for parnsips, beetroot, and romanesco cauliflower. The other two beds will be seeded in May with peas, butternut pumpkin, and zucchini. I've also transferred a lot of the windowsill seedlings into the outdoor container garden.

The whole place is in full bloom.

I've finished up one book this weekend so far — Seven Devils, a feminist space opera by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May. The two authors describe it as being like 'Fury Road in space,' although it felt more Firefly-esque from my perspective. It was a fun, solid book with a group of found family resistance fighters trying to overthrow an evil empire, but it was enjoyable rather than groundbreaking.

On to the book meme, which asks for:

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

( My answer )

( The other days )

Today, when I was getting a takeaway coffee from my favourite cafe in Ely, the barista recognised me as a regular when she worked in my favourite cafe back in Cambridge. Like me, she had lived for years in Cambridge before moving to (much cheaper) Ely. I never truly feel like I live somewhere until the baristas know me (and my coffee order) on sight, so I guess this means I'm at home in Ely now?

I've passed the halfway point on the books meme. Today's prompt asks for:

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

( The other days )

( The other days )

Via fandomcalendar I learnt about an upcoming fanworks exchange that is very much to my tastes: Interlibrary Exchange. The event kicks off in May with nominations, and assignments will be due in mid-August (with what appears to be a six-week period to create them). The exchange is devoted solely to canons based on novels, and the mod goes into more detail about what is and isn't eligible in an FAQs post here. The main comm for the exchange is libraryarchivist.

I'm really enthusiastic about this, as all my fandoms are book fandoms, and I've been missing the old fanworks exchanges for book fandoms that previously happened during the northern summer but seem to have disappeared in the past few years. I'll have to see what ends up in the tagset, but as long as there's at least something I can write I'll be keen to participate. I hope it may be of interest to some of you as well.

It's time for today's book meme question, which asks for:

14. A book balanced on a knife edge

( My answer )


( The other days )

Today is the last day of my holidays. I've mostly spent it keeping out of Matthias's way, as he had to go back to work (from home) and he works in the living room. Although we work for the same employer, so I know all his colleagues, I don't like the idea of sitting awkwardly in the background during his online meetings.

We woke up this morning to actual snow — snow that had settled. It's melted now, but I'm boggling at seeing it in April, especially since a week or so ago we had temperatures in the mid-twenties. Snow settled on the branches of blossoming apple trees is a really incongruous sight!

Today's book meme prompt is:

12. A book that came to you at the wrong time

( My answer )

( The other days )