To encapsulate the last three months in a meme:
In November:
- I participated in a panel of writers at Organized Intelligence, a conference about LDS perspectives on AI. One of my central metaphors was quoted in a Deseret News summary of the event.
- I attended the American Academy of Religion/Society for Biblical Literature conference in Boston and presented my paper on Mormons writing aliens. This conference was huge, but perhaps because of that, I was able to find a bunch of other scholars working on religion and sci-fi/fantasy. Easily the most productive conference I’ve been to. I’m making plans to return next year.You can see all the energy I’m gathering just by being at AAR/SBL.
December started out with:
- Attending Dragonsteel Nexus with my kids and El, my podcast co-host on The Storming Journey. Sanderson always puts on a good party. This was followed next weekend by
- Watching my daughter perform in Ballet West’s Nutcracker! This was our first time doing a major ballet production. The practices nearly killed us, but it was all worth it seeing how happy she was being on that stage. Once that was over, it was time for
- Christmas at Hogwarts, or at least a very elaborately themed AirBnB.I can’t believe someone cosplayed as my favorite religious joke in all of Sanderson. This made my day.
And in January:
- Further Light finally launched! I’m so excited about the stories, essays, and poems that have been published so far and can’t wait for you to read them as well. If you can’t wait either, you could always grab your own copy of issue 1 in print or ebook.
Throughout it all, we’ve been releasing weekly episodes of The Storming Journey. Some of my favorites were our episodes on Excellence, Pain, and Authority. And we even squeezed in a discussion of Wake Up Dead Man on Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree, which changed the way I saw a part of the movie I previously despised.
And now for a dump of book reviews, which is actually pretty small considering it’s three months of reading.
Speculative Fiction
Hyperion by Dan Simmons – I was finally pushed over the edge into reading this book by seeing that someone was presenting a paper about it at AAR. The paper ended up being about the later volumes in the series, but I’m still really glad I was propelled into reading this, because this book is complex and devastating. It also deals with religion in several interesting ways. The connection to the Canterbury Tales was not as pervasive as I thought it was going to be, but still the concept of a pilgrimage in the space era stands out as a unique plot structure. Be warned if you pick it up that this book has a lot of adult content, in addition to playing out situations that will emotionally wreck you in a way made possible only by sci-fi conceits. I intend to get to the rest of the series, but it may take a while to drum up the emotional fortitude.
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys – Another one brought to my attention by a conference paper. This book is a great example of how to bring contemporary religion into a science fictional setting. The premise is somewhat solar punk: after multiple disasters (ecological, political, otherwise), humanity is finally beginning to work to harmonize its technological existence with the earth. The government of our main characters is a sort of anarcho-commune where decisions are essentially made by a giant reddit-like system of discussion boards and upvoting. In the middle of this, aliens arrive. Their goal is to liberate humanity from their dying world by teaching them new tech like building Dyson spheres and integrating them into the galactic harmony. A clash of worldviews ensues between the aliens and our Jewish narrator who is determined to help them see the value of a planet.
Probably the most fascinating sci-fi idea here is the fact that the aliens refuse to negotiate with anyone who doesn’t have children and bring them into diplomatic settings. The elevation of parenthood (more specifically motherhood) into a sign of trustworthiness and investment in successful collaboration was fascinating, especially where it clashed with the progressive liberal views of the protagonist on sex/gender. Lots of interesting conversations in this book about what makes life valuable and what is worth saving. None of the political points scored here ever felt like the author was just trying to preach; there’s always a thoughtful counterpoint to show the expanse of ideas. I haven’t even touched here on the cool Passover scene with alien guests! Worth your time to pick up.
Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett – This may be controversial, but I think I’ve decided that Terry Pratchett novels are just not for me. It’s not that they aren’t amazingly written and funny. I love the conceit of world where the rules of story are part of the fabric of the universe. The idea that Death itself is getting to be too much of a personality and therefore needs to be retired is pure genius. But as much as I enjoy a Pratchett novel when reading it, I give them almost no attention when I’m not reading them, meaning I have a hard time picking them back up and continuing to the end. It’s like eating a sandwich: it’s fine, filling even, but if I’ve got virtually any other kind of food to hand, I’m probably not making one. I’ve tried entering Discworld at several different points now, and I think it’s time for me to stop trying for a season.
Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold – After finally convincing my husband to try out the Pen & Des books and watching him rocket through them in our shared Libby account, I started to feel a little jealous. That plus going through the no-man’s-land of the week between Christmas and New Year led to me picking up the first novella again. I forgot just how young and naive Penric is in his first adventure, and how many of the things that Penric does by instinct, like naming his demon, are very unnatural in the world the story is set it. Still really tight writing, and a good beginning to a fun series of adventures.
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox by Lois McMaster Bujold – I think I may have missed or forgotten some of the latest Penric & Desdemona novellas because I was a little confused by this book at first. But of course, Penric’s antics and voice won out and I enjoyed the book anyway. The addition of two more points of view made things more varied. Not one of the most stellar adventures, but still fun nonetheless.
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones – Picked this up after hearing on the podcast Eight Days of Dianna Wynne Jones that this was the book with the most literary criticism written about it. After finishing the book, I can see why. I found the ending almost entirely incomprehensible without going online and reading what people had said about it. This book does that thing that Sanderson is always saying authors shouldn’t do with a twist: held off explaining it for so long that the audience who would like the twist quits in frustration. Most of this book is mundane experiences, punctuated by brief magical interludes which are never explained or commented on until the last chapter. And the mundane interactions are one of my least favorite kinds: completely selfish and un-self-aware parents wrecking their children’s lives while blaming them for it. I know it happens and is a valid story, and also usually a portion of every DWJ book. But for some reason, it bothered me a lot more in this one, probably because it’s not dressed up in ridiculous humor but just plain bleak. The final connections to the fairy story she’s retelling are interesting, but in my opinion not enough to make it worth wading through the rest of the book.
Fiction
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5-8 by Beth Brower – It’s difficult to review these books individually as they really do blend into each other. Just as with the first few volumes, the highlight of this series is Emma’s voice. She’s hilarious, even when the pretense that she’s writing all this down in a journal begins to wear a bit thin. (See this hilarious thread calculating how long Emma would have to spend writing each day to finish the work). I like some characters more than others and I’m intrigued to continue the series, but sad that I’m now caught up and can’t binge read them.
The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet by Katherine Cowley – Finally got this one off my TBR list by getting my bookclub to pick it for our January meeting, and I’m so glad I did. Katherine Cowley manages to keep Mary as almost as stodgy, self-righteous, and socially oblivious as the original, but by putting us in her head makes her likeable. Mary is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, as the reader may spot some of what is going on before Mary begins to pick up on it. I loved the idea of the socially-incompetent sister channeling what the various other Bennet sisters might do in order to get by in the world. And the throughline of her comparing herself to Elizabeth is heartbreaking. The mystery plot is fun and light, but it’s the characterization that really elevates the book to five stars for me.
The True Confessions of a London Spy by Katherine Cowley – I picked this one up immediately after the first novel because I needed more Mary Bennet. The book has some great historical details that I hadn’t seen anywhere else, like the ice festival on the Thames and the first London restaurants. Mary’s escapades and, yes, romances, were even more fun than the first novel, though they do begin to strain believability within the universe of Pride and Prejudice. But if you’re willing to go along with it, it’s an enjoyable ride.
Nonfiction
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green – I am not in any way a fan of John Green’s fiction, probably because they are mostly contemporary romances which is one of my least favorite genres. (I’ve read An Abundance of Katherines and watched the movie version of The Fault in Our Stars. Just not for me.) But I enjoy his YouTube commentary enough, and heard enough positive reviews from friends, to pick this one up. I’m glad I did because the essays in this volume are absolutely wonderful. I could have done without the conceit of giving things star ratings, because aside from the meta-moment where he asks himself why he’s refusing to give anything five stars, it doesn’t really add a lot to the essays themselves. On the other hand, it’s hard enough to get anyone to pick up a collection of essays, so I can’t really fault him for trying to make them cohesive somehow. Anyway, this volume is absolutely worth your time; you will cry, you will laugh, you will stand in awe. In audiobook form, they are also podcast-level consumable. You can finish an essay in a short commute, which is nice.
Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier – While I think Shrier made some good points, especially about the fact that therapy isn’t a universal good, I find that some points here are exaggerated for rhetorical effect. In fact, I was so put off by her alarmist tone that I could not finish this book. I would love to hear about a book that covers the same ground from a more journalist or at least more neutral tone.
