#jeffvandermeer — Public Fediverse posts

Bescheid geb: #JeffVandermeer hat in einem Anflug visionärer Überwältigung einen vierten, dicken #AreaX-Roman geschrieben: »Absolution«.
(Geht mir als Salieri-Fan gleich einer ab.) Erscheint im Oktober.

Im Juni gibts vorher 10-Jahre-Jubelausgaben der ersten drei Bände mit neuen Vorwörtern von Karen Joy Fowler, N. K. Jemisin und Helen J. Macdonald, sowie neuen Covern von Pablo Delcan.

Ich hoffe doch sehr, dass der dann auch bei Kunstmann bzw. und/oder Knaur rauskommt.

Bescheid geb: #JeffVandermeer hat in einem Anflug visionärer Überwältigung einen vierten, dicken #AreaX-Roman geschrieben: »Absolution«.
(Geht mir als Salieri-Fan gleich einer ab.)

Ich hoffe doch sehr, dass der dann auch bei Kunstmann bzw. und/oder Knaur rauskommt.

Bescheid geb: #JeffVandermeer hat in einem Anflug visionärer Überwältigung einen vierten, dicken #AreaX-Roman geschrieben: »Absolution«.
(Geht mir als Salieri-Fan gleich einer ab.) Erscheint im Oktober.

Im Juni gibts vorher 10-Jahre-Jubelausgaben der ersten drei Bände mit neuen Vorwörtern von Karen Joy Fowler, N. K. Jemisin und Helen J. Macdonald, sowie neuen Covern von Pablo Delcan.

Ich hoffe doch sehr, dass der dann auch bei Kunstmann bzw. und/oder Knaur rauskommt.

Bescheid geb: #JeffVandermeer hat in einem Anflug visionärer Überwältigung einen vierten, dicken #AreaX-Roman geschrieben: »Absolution«.
(Geht mir als Salieri-Fan gleich einer ab.) Erscheint im Oktober.

Im Juni gibts vorher 10-Jahre-Jubelausgaben der ersten drei Bände mit neuen Vorwörtern von Karen Joy Fowler, N. K. Jemisin und Helen J. Macdonald, sowie neuen Covern von Pablo Delcan.

Ich hoffe doch sehr, dass der dann auch bei Kunstmann bzw. und/oder Knaur rauskommt.

Area X
#jeffvandermeer #AreaX #SouthernReach

Area X
#jeffvandermeer #AreaX #SouthernReach

Over the last few years, in-spite of a noticeable uptick in doomscrolling and my digital media intake, I’ve actually been reading books too. I’d say again, though I never stopped completely of course. Yet, it still does feel like a bit of a renaissance or at least an uptick.

I think there are a few factors at play including; 1) the pandemic and shift to WFH left me with more time on my hands and at home 2) as did fatherhood 3) fatherhood and older age mean that now, more often than in my 30s, I retire earlier and am more likely to have time in bed to read 4) after years of a never-ending backlog, I switched my NYT’s Sunday subscription to digital only and no longer spend my limited reading time slogging through every page of the Sunday edition.

Also worth noting, many of these books/series were either; 1) books I already had on my shelves but had not gotten around to reading, or 2) gifted/loaned/recommended to me by my, now, brother-in-law who was finally getting around to some books in his own pile.

Ceremony (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), By Leslie Marmon Silko

One of the first books I picked up at the start of COVID-19, lockdowns et al. Originally purchased in 2018. Would absolutely recommend if only for the poetic verse (?) of Pueblo myth/stories, scattered throughout. More than just telling a story, the book expresses a strong sense of place, of the desert South West; of creosote, piñon tress and rocky mesas et al. Plus, the mix of the main character’s post-WWII “shell-shock” and mythical or supernatural elements give it a more mixed up than clear or linear narrative. Ultimately, it reads as a tale of rebirth or at least renewal. As exemplified by more than 10 references to sunrise, including the dedication (?) below printed on the last page.

Sunrise,

accept this offering,

Sunrise.

The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution, By Julius S. Scott

Read as part of a relatively short-lived book club, during the second half of, the first year of the pandemic. The book club consisted of members of a groupchat I was invited to, which especially in those first days of lockdown was an important source, of friendship and solidarity.

Was also an interesting and somewhat nostalgic return to some of my graduate school readings and studies of the Black Atlantic. In fact after reading, I went back and looked at some of those books I still own and at least 1 includes a footnote reference to the as yet unpublished, samizdat version of this manuscript.

Cannot recommend enough, even to those who might not have a background/interest in the Black Atlantic. The way Scott fleshes out a “history from below” via the culture and networks of the “lower” class(es), of musicians, sailors and the like, has proven influential far beyond the immediate topic and time (Age of the Haitian Revolution) of his book. Especially given its incubation, it did feel a bit too short and I would have happily read something longer. Yet, on the flip side and perhaps in part due to it’s length, it was a surprisingly easy and fresh read. Less academic or dense than some of the books I remember reading during my own studies.

Hyperion Cantos series, By Dan Simmons

First books I’d truly binged in a long time. Read the first two very quickly, then the next two within a year. The kind of bingeing where I’d stay up late reading then wake up in morning and read with coffee on the couch. Fairly traditional format and structure. The second two in particular go deep into AI, quantum, theoretical physics and the like. One neat reoccurring plot device across the series are more unexpected (for sci-fi?) or slow forms of travel. Yes there are spaceships, but also a flying carpet, river raft and land-wind-wagon.

Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance, By Jeff VanderMeer

A Christmas gift. Still haven’t gotten around to watching the movie, but quite enjoyed this. Particularly the tales of “the Agency“. As well as the naturalist diaries of the “first” (at least of this series) expedition. Strongest impression is one of atmosphere, as in vibes. Dank or humid and strangely natural. While we do know more by the end, there are other and new unexplained mysteries. Perhaps it is also something to do with genre? It certainly doesn’t read as a hard sci-fi, space tale. Though clearly alien. Set partially, yes, in the past but also in the future…

The St. Louis Anthology, Edited by Ryan Schuessler

My first and so far only 😦 purchase from Belt Publishing, though they have so many titles (and a Tarot deck!) I desire. Pulled the trigger, on account of my familial connection to the city, plus they were having a sale. Having only lived there a short time in the early 90s, I learned a lot. Yet, thoroughly appreciated it. For instance, I did not know about the post Balkans, Bosnian influx and now I really want to eat at Balkan Treat Box.

Cuba Libre, By Elmore Leonard

My first Elmore Leonard. I enjoyed it and would read more. Not exactly detective noir but adjacent and certainly prewar. Led me to reflect on book(s) I read on Teddy and Rough Riders, many years ago. Also of the symbolism of the “cowboy” heading south? Cuba and the Caribbean writ large, as the new Frontier. See the Monroe Doctrine and “so-called Roosevelt Corollary” I suppose…

Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau, By Ben Shattuck

I picked up this and Wild Witchcraft just before heading on a road trip back East, to visit with family and introduce my son to his grandparents. During one of my son’s first visits to a library. While a different kind of trip than the walks Shattuck retraces, it made a fitting companion. Given the hurricane (Ian) we rode out in St. Augustine, plus other encounters (like a near-tornado in Abilene), the centrality of weather and changing seasons, really resonated.

Especially as it was only after returning home that I finished the memoir, and though we left Denver in late but still clearly summer, we returned to fall and impending winter. In addition, the way Shattuck reflects on both the passage of life and the seasons reinforced my own more, life-reflective mood. Brought on by the first visit with my parents since becoming a father.

Oddly, the simple B&W illustrations made little impression the first go around, but upon going back through the book, more than one jumped out as particularly evocative alongside their adjacent text; ‘Cygnus’ p. 96, ‘Cloud Over Salt Marsh’ p. 155 and ‘The Dark Wood’ p. 227.

Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies, By Rebecca Beyer

While I was initially attracted by the folk herbalism and remedies of the title, in the end it was the authors thoughts on ritual(s) that struck me the most. Though admittedly there can be overlap, which her own writing makes clear.

Since I own a number of folk remedies and herbalism books already and grew up taking tinctures and the like, those sections ended up feeling less revelatory? Plus, as she emphasizes there is certainly a bio-regional aspect to herbalism and plant medicine. Which given she is residing in/writing from Appalachia and I am in the Mountain West, means not everything directly translates. For instance, in terms of wild foraging. Though of course, so many non-natives can be cultivated seasonally, or are now invasive and widespread.

Again, what really stuck, was her writing about the “Wheel of the Year“. On using ritual as a way to mark the changing of seasons or add a bit of magic to the annual rhythms of your garden/home/life-making.

Whether that be planting/harvesting “by the moon and the signs of the zodiac“, “Offering of the First Fruits” or breaking bread in silence for a “Dumb Supper“. Going beyond those larger cycles even, ritual can be incorporated in such a way that the practice of herbalism becomes more than utilitarian Epicureanism or healthcare. Mixing in smaller or more regular moments of invocation and manifestation. Of love charms and divination, of protective plants.

The Long Goodbye, By Raymond Chandler

My second Chandler, though not the second in his series of Marlowe novels. My first, was the first, The Big Sleep. Perhaps it can be said of all noir, but compared to the first this felt more melancholic? However, the character of Marlowe came across as more compelling, complex, cool too I think…

Remembrance of Earth’s Past (地球往事) trilogy, By Liu Cixin

Almost unimaginable timescales. Heady. Definitely helped me fully understand the whole Dark Forest thing. I think I preferred the second book, time had jumped too into the far future by the third. Into other dimensions or worlds? The whole story within a story of the “computer” game, used as a device in the first is quite neat. Definitely not sure I understood the inclusion of the pre-fall of Constantinople timeline in the third…

That is to say, compared to the Simmons series I’d certainly agree “The Three-Body Problem series wasn’t a quick read for me, but I won’t forget it anytime soon. What an achievement.“

https://namhenderson.wordpress.com/2023/10/17/reading-during-since-the-pandemic-2020-2023/

#AreaX #BeltPublishing #books #COVID19 #DanSimmons #fatherhood #HaitianRevolution #herbalism #JeffVanderMeer #LeslieMarmonSilko #magic #noir #ritual #SciFi #TheBlackAtlantic #Thoreau

I think that “Authority” has become my favorite book in the Southern Reach Trilogy and I’m not sure what to think about it. #fiction #sciencefiction #book #clifi #scifi #AreaX #JeffVandermeer

I think that “Authority” has become my favorite book in the Southern Reach Trilogy and I’m not sure what to think about it. #fiction #sciencefiction #book #clifi #scifi #AreaX #JeffVandermeer

I think that “Authority” has become my favorite book in the Southern Reach Trilogy and I’m not sure what to think about it. #fiction #sciencefiction #book #clifi #scifi #AreaX #JeffVandermeer