Greetings, amazing people! Happy weekend to all! It’s almost the end of July — can you believe it? — and I am so glad, as I am anything but a sweet summer child. But for those of you who love the sun, I hope that you get all of the enjoyment that you wish for in the back half of the summer season. Remember to hydrate, wear sunblock, and take breaks. And when you’re taking those breaks, enjoy the delightful content that our writers have created for your reading pleasure. Yes, it’s that time again. Let us take our weekly jaunt into the past and look at all of the lovely things that happened this week!
Monday
This week, we had our first repeat guest on My Favorite Things: author Jason Ridler stopped by to update all of us on the latest, greatest things that he delights in. Those things? “Inverting the Mean Girl archetype, art that unfortunately imitates life, the best grit-lit traditions, and improv that truly breaks the mold. Interested? Read on to learn more!”
Tuesday
Carey M. Ballard returned with her latest Chain Reaction column. This month? Tales of science fiction construction! Trust me on this, okay? Did you ever wonder about the people who built such masterpieces of technology, such as the Death Star? If not, why not? The engineering required must have been incredibly sophisticated and labor-intensive, and the time needed to construct such things must have…right, I’m rambling. Anyway, take a look at Carey’s post and join me in infrastructure geekery.
Wednesday
Kendra Merritt has been making excellent progress on the Resolution Project! Kendra’s goal, as a reminder, was to expand her knowledge and experience of some of the classics of genre fiction. This month’s selection was Foundation by the inimitable Isaac Asimov. Read her thoughts and if you’ve read this series, hop into the comments and chat with Kendra. Spoiler: she liked this one. Next month’s read will be Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land if you’d care to join Kendra on next month’s voyage!
Thursday
Nancy O’Toole Meservier, our comics specialist (among many other things!), took up the goal of reading and analyzing this year’s Hugo nominees for Best Graphic Story. There are some excellent choices on this year’s ballot, and Nancy has broken them down and offered her opinion on whether or not each selection is award worthy, and what she believes their chances of winning are. Take a look! (And, if you’re a voting member of the Hugos, remember to cast your ballots soon, if you haven’t already! There’s only a few days left!)
Friday
I’ve been reminding you for weeks, and the time has finally arrived for our discussion of Naomi Alderman’s novel The Power. Have you read this one? If so, we would love to have you join in the conversation right here. Thanks always to book club overseer, Merrin, for her dedication and hard work in bringing these discussions to life each month!
Book Club
Done with The Power? Remember that we’re reading Jo Walton’s Among Others for August. Our September selection will be announced this week. If you have read along with us for any of our book club selections, share the love and bring your friends! We do so enjoy meeting new people and chatting with almost everyone.
And that, as they say, is that. What are your big weekend plans? I am planning to scale Mount Laundry. It will be a perilous journey. I shall be attempting this journey alone, and if I do not return next week, assume that a clan of sentient socks has either taken me as tribute to the Laundry God, W’Hirl P’ooole, or perhaps chosen to worship me as their newest deity. Here’s hoping for the latter. Enjoy your weekend!
(Hello, mysterious wizard, why are you in my yard? I mean…yes, it is dangerous to go alone, and it’s not that I don’t appreciate the sword, but…wouldn’t some laundry detergent be more helpful in pushing back the rampaging hoards?)
Photo by Ricardo Cruz on Unsplash
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