We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far

This month I finished a queer historical romance debut novel by an author named Emma and then started a queer historical romance debut novel by an author named Emma.

Recent: Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban, very cute, recommended if you want cute Victorian lesbian romance. Also some very nice RWRB fanfic, with ideas I wish we saw more of in fiction/writing in general.

And finished Quiet Pine Trees which was a great time all round.

At work, Biggles Goes to War by W. E. Johns - if you want to read good mid-20thC boy's adventure fiction, pick a Biggles book set somewhere European and enjoy yourself.

Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc, translated and possibly also adapted by Edgar Jepson (sources are unclear). This was fun, and I read a few of the short stories, but I did guess the twist on all of them, and in the novel I guessed it by chapter 5. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and probably says more about the development of mystery fiction over time than about my abilities, but it loses its charm when you read a bunch in a row. LOVED Sonia, though, I want something with her as the focus. Also, the last scene of this was so slapstick I wonder if it was an inspiration for Bugs Bunny.

Grim Tales by Edith Nesbit - much more romantic than the other ghost stories I've been reading lately, which were mostly by men and frequently by bachelors. Which of course may say more about the markets she was writing for than about her own tastes.

Current: One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny, enjoying it so far but not very far in yet.

Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah, because I have been wondering if my brain would like nonfiction better right now, and this is exactly the kind of nonfiction I wanted.

Closed some AO3 tabs, opened some more AO3 tabs.

At work, Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome, which manages to avoid the frequent difficulties of Victorian Brits writing about Europe by making fun of Britain just as much. Also, I've never been to Germany, but much of his description of it reminds me startlingly of the American Midwest. Yay bicycles.

Future: Either A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court or The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective depending on what I feel like. Also most likely more RWRB fanfic.

And now to go make French toast for dinner.

I posted this on tumblr yesterday and then realized that today is Wednesday, so here it is here too.

I was tagged by breathedout to post recent, current, and future reading. Unfortunately it is the middle of January, when winter seems eternal and focus nonexistent. However, it occurred to me as I said that that the middle of January is certainly better than the beginning of January, so there’s that!

Recent: The last thing I finished at work was a collection of E. F. Benson’s ghost stories. (I am efficient enough at work that I have the spare time to work my way through public domain literature.) I’ve been reading a lot of Edwardian ghost stories recently and it’s just so nice watching terrible things happen to near respectable academics while I wait for the printer to go off. Benson has some interesting interactions with modern technology (his modern) but an annoying tendency to try to explain the metaphysics. I prefer M. R. James.

I also read the most recent installment of the further adventures of Madame C—, which was excellent as usual. In audio there was Dead Man’s Ransom by Ellis Peters—I find her work very one-note, but it’s a note I really want to hear sometimes.

I have also been reading a bunch of RWRB fanfic. (I skimmed the novel this summer because the gifsets were hot but it really isn’t my preferred tropes.) From the outside, it appears to be good in direct proportion to its smuttiness.

Current: At work I am now going through Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which I am enjoying as much as one can enjoy anything in January. It is kind of amusing how many of the “rules” of modern fiction writing it flat out has never heard of and doesn’t care about. I do find it somewhat stunning that Warner wrote this particular novel when she was only just over 30.

I have just started Time Was by Ian McDonald, which I hoped would be a gay version of This Is How You Lose the Time War, and it looks like it may even live up to that.

I am halfway through the audiobook of The Intrigue by Marion Chesney (aka M. C. Beaton), which is nice enough, but I don’t think I’ll feel the need to continue the series. Especially as the narrator is just okay.

Future: My hold on Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher will hopefully come in by the end of the month. Other than that, I should probably see if I can focus better on nonfiction right now.

But I also have a skip-the-line copy of Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher for a week. I don’t know if I’m in the best place to appreciate it but maybe it’ll be a nice counterweight.

And finally, on the way home today I read Cat Sebastian's "Bells Are Ringing," which is her free holiday epilogue to We Could Be So Good, and loved it, like I loved the novel. Also, today was already better than the last couple weeks mood-wise. Apparently next summer I'll be reading a baseball romance. Well, these things happen.

So I have been working on this diploma since slightly before the pandemic and already it looks like it will take a least a year longer than I hoped it would take when I started

and I really really dislike virtual classes and even more labs

and I have mostly just been pushing through it and pushing through it and pushing through it for the sake of an imagined future that will get me out of the background environment through which I am pushing

and part of that is working on my resumé and job prospects etc. etc. for co-op learning which I have been putting off because uuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhh.

But I did some of that last weekend, because consultingpiskies was here and she is very helpful. And part of that was going to the websites of about twenty different recycling organizations and looking up what they are or might be hiring for and how to contact them and so on.

And realizing in the process that these organizations are actually, immediately helping with The State Of The World right now, because of ideals but also because that’s just what they do. And that there are jobs with them that I am qualified for right now, let alone two years from now.

And I feel much more like I have a goal again, and it’s so nice.

So.

My college is switching to online classes, except they haven't done this before in the middle of a semester and also half of my classes have really important lab components which can't be done from home. They're saying the semester will end when scheduled; I kind of doubt that. They're supposed to have figured out how this works by Monday, and until then I get to review and be anxious.

All of my work's clients are cancelling their inventory counts, obviously. I am not seriously financially affected by this.

My 79-year-old father decided to fly to Texas last weekend. He's back now where we have free healthcare and my stepmother is in an AirBnB so that's resolved, ish, but wow, Monday night was not fun.

Unfortunately being stuck at home with my mother all day is not ideal for my mental health, but ... there's nowhere else to go and if there was I'd have to go on public transit. And it's still too cold to spend much time writing in parks. But I'm generally doing okay. Lots of knitting.

The problem with saying "use the time to write!" is that this is a major disruption of routine, with bonus anxiety, which does not actually lend itself to increased creativity. I don't have that much focus for reading, either, including my DW list, which come to think of it is probably a warning sign (so, now I know). There has nevertheless been some writing. Kate Bornstein is a treasure.

I am sort of doing more on twitter, but I would not really recommend going on twitter if you don't want ALL CURRENT EVENTS ALL THE TIME.

Recommendations for podcasts accepted, no horror or true crime, without frequent interviews or changing guests every episode. Basically I want to listen to a small fixed group of people talking about things they are interested in that will not give me nightmares. Examples are Jay and Miles XPlain the XMen, Lingthusiasm, and usually Sawbones.

After a working a full time week from Thursday to Monday, I have now caught up with my reading page up to yesterday. They told us December would be really quiet and now they keep giving me last-minute shifts.

But I had the last two days off and Knumpify is back from Mexico and I have seen him. I have also applied for college.

Title: So Foul and Fair a Day
Rating: T
Universe: Marvel
Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes, Steve's around here somewhere
Summary: Badly injured on a mission, Clint is rescued by the local laird. But other people are looking for him, and Clint isn’t the only one with secrets.
Warnings/Enticements: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Pre-Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Concussions, Secrets, Spies, Canon-Typical Violent Backstories
Word Count: Probably over 7000
Author's Note: For mandatoryfunday two months ago.

On AO3

consultingpiskies is coming this evening and I just got a call from Elections Canada about working the election and I am so! happy!

So I don't like to talk about this kind of thing until after the first shift, in case something goes Terribly Wrong (and indeed it did, but in a way that had nothing to do with anything I did), but it's after that, so: I have a job! Second shift is tomorrow morning. It is part time inventory counting, and while part time isn't ideal inventory counting is the exact kind of boring I like, and also I'm very good at it. So that will be happening a hopefully-increasing number of hours a week, and removes at least one of my major sources of concern.

I have also applied to work the election and advance polls, but I won't hear back about that until closer to the actual date. (I was going to say, until they call it, but they just did.)

Went to library
Bought groceries
Researched alternate employment, sort of
Edited a lot of things

Last part of Arte Regendus is now over 12000 words and honestly almost done, yay. And i am having ideas and it's rather nice. Even if I'm also clearly still sick.

So Sunday I got the day off, which I wasn't expecting, and then we had a power outage. The ice was very pretty and I have lots of candles. It's back on now.

My anxiety has been up to 11 since about Wednesday, but there's not really anything I can do about that. Having the next week off work will definitely help.

I have been having Way Too Much Fun with Yuletide Drabbles. It's great.

I like writing out of order. You can write Holmes and Watson sneaking around and then a paragraph of making out and then more sneaking around later on, and it feels like the work is getting longer all by itself, rather than always being at the end of it and trying to figure out what happens next. I know what happens next, it's the bit that leads to that part I've already written.

The last chapter of this thing is going to make up for its lateness in length, my god. Nearly 9000 words and it just keeps going. But I think it should be good.

Now sleeeeep, and tomorrow more goddamn packing and then figuring out ordercup and windows 8.

I had an anxiety attack at work this morning, but I took an hour hiding in my boss's office and then kept working, which I guess is something to be proud of.

I so miss having a cat. No space, and my landlord wouldn't like it, and the poor thing would be alone at least nine hours a day.* But. Cat.


*My brother-in-law: "That's why you get two cats!"