(Side note: writing this post made me realize I have precisely zero Halloween-themed mugs, which seems like a major oversight. I picked the most spooky mug I could find (murder-ish? not close at all) and am now actively looking for a spooky mug to add to my collection. If you know of any good ones, feel free to put them in the comments!)
Mug lore: Another gift! In my experience, when people find out you’re a writer, writing-themed merch becomes the go-to safe bet for gift giving. This mug is no exception. While I find the quote a little kitschy, I appreciate the sentiment. (Also I can’t say a former boss or two never ended up in one of my stories so maybe the pithiness rings truer than I’d like to admit.)
What I’m drinking: Black currant tea. I’ve tried a lot of fruit-flavored teas over the years and generally find them disgusting. Something about it makes the tea taste sour and unpleasant to me and there is usually a terrible aftertaste. Black currant (or blackcurrant) is the exception. I think it helps that it’s a black tea mix (most fruit flavors end up in lighter green or even the dreaded herbal mixes) and I enjoy black tea immensely. For whatever reason, for me the fruitiness in black currant doesn’t overpower the tea flavor (which for me is the whole point) and I find it delightful. However, it can be hard to find in my area. I usually get it at World Market even though it’s pricier than my usual (read: extremely budget) tea options, so it’s a treat when I actually buy it.
What I just finished reading: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, the third in the Ana and Din mystery series. I love love love this series. It’s fresh, exciting, and combines two of my favorite genres: mystery and fantasy. I thought the first book, The Tainted Cup, would be my favorite for sure, but this third installment has knocked it off the throne. For me, the best parts of this series are the sections where you can see hints of our world reflected in a strange, warped mirror. Trade has this at almost every turn. The premise of the book is an examination of Bennett’s world through its food and farming system. In a lesser author’s hands this would be terribly boring. When Bennett does it, you can’t look away. I was fascinated, appalled, and intrigued. If you haven’t read the series, please do so. It’s only getting better.
What I’m reading now: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus. When I went to see The Odyssey in theaters a few months back, I was struck by a few of the absolutely baffling trailers chosen to accompany it. From a meet cute romcom with strange authoritarianism vibes, to pure horror films well out of season, to Edward Cullen catching predators, the most confusing of all for me was boy swallowed by whale. I struggled to conceptualize how such a premise might be stretched to movie-lengths (though I guess they’ve done similar things with movies like man vs boulder) and wondered how much more there could be to the plot, when most of the exciting bits appear to take place over the course of the trailer.
When I mentioned this to a friend a few weeks later, she told me the movie was based on a book and offered to bring it in for me to read. I rarely turn down a good recommendation which is how I ended up roughly halfway through the prose version of the story.
So far the writing is clunky in spots and beautiful in others but overall, I like it. The book unapologetically swings for the fences and is steadily growing on me. One of the worst crimes I think a book can commit is being boring and whatever Whalefall is trying to accomplish, it isn’t losing my attention. I also want to mention the cover art which is absolutely arresting. My friend said she originally picked up the book entirely on the strength of the cover and I’m not surprised.
What I’m writing now: 86k words on my work in progress. I’ve got two to three chapters left and am ready for it to be OVER and DONE and OUT of my BRAIN. I’m in a rush to finish before November rolls around because NaNoWriMo historically obliterates all other projects in my life for the duration of the month. I’m close though, I can feel it.
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