Women's Future Month 2022: Finishing Series by Butler and Le Guin

Reading the Patternist series with a beer on a nice afternoon

March is Women's History Month, so echoing my "Black Future Month" post, this seemed like a good chance to finish two series by two of my favorite authors: Octavia E. Butler's Patternist series and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. Okay, so the Earthsea books aren't about the future, at least not our future. 

But Le Guin's fantasy may be about my future: I hope to do some serious academic work on both Butler and Le Guin in the future (building on the article on Le Guin I've already published), so maybe this will be a seed of some future project. Echoing a phrase from Le Guin, I might even call it something like Realists of a Larger Reality.

 

Shifting Realities: Four Past Midnight by Stephen King

In my long-term quest to read all of Stephen King's books (a quest that feels about as attainable as Roland's Tower), I finally arrived at this classic. Four Past Midnight isn't up there with The Stand or Different Seasons, but it's solid middle-tier King, which is still good stuff. These are technically novellas, but I think The Langoliers and The Library Policeman might really be short novels for King (what would be average length novels for other writers).

Happy (?) Second Pandemiversary!

KN-95 masks, arranged artistically(?)

 

Happy Second Pandemiversary! 

No, wait, that's not right. Try this: I wish you a safe and healthy second pandemiversary!

Better, but still a bit weird. Let's just go with the pained irony approach: Happy (?) Second Pandemiversary!

Reading for Black Future Month 2022: Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor and Rosewater by Tade Thompson

 

Last year I wrote a post on "Black History of the Future" with reviews of novels by Samuel R. Delany, Walter Mosley, and Octavia E. Butler. This year for Black History Month, I decided to take an even more explicit cue from N. K. Jemisin's How Long 'Til Black Future Month in calling this post "Reading for Black Future Month 2022." I read two books set in future Ghana and Nigeria respectively: Nnedi Okorafor's Remote Control and Tade Thompson's Rosewater.  

I also started a book in Octavia E. Butler's Patternist series, Clay's Ark, but it looks like that one is going to spill over in to Women's History Month for me. Look for that review soon.

And of course nobody should limit their reading of Black and/or women authors to February and/or March! But these provide nice ways to give some structure and inspiration to my reading.

Random Thoughts, Part 17: The Randomness is New for '22

My lists of random thoughts continue with Part 17, and they're new for '22! And of course there are also random memes for no particular reason.

 

Pandemic Journal, Part 25: New Year, Same Pandemic

 

My longer-running-than-I-would-like pandemic journal continues with Part 25! This one includes the first several weeks of 2022: omicron surge, canceled plans, everyone but me playing Wordle (see above), and the pandemic still going on despite many people deciding it's over for them. But I have also continued to collect memes for my and your amusement.

Expanding the Expanse: Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey

 

I read the first two books of The Expanse book series around 2013 and 2014. I meant to read the third book soon... and then I didn't. Instead, I watched the entire TV show The Expanse, which just ended recently. Occasionally while watching the TV series over the years, I would think, "I should read the rest of the books someday." And then I didn't. Until now!