Reupload - October 2023 Blog

 What’s been happening

How fantastic, my second blog and very little has happened this month. To me, at least. 

Most of my time has been thinking about and preparing for Halloween. Honestly, it’s so nice to have a kid around to share the excitement with. My nephew loves the decorations, especially the pumpkins and lanterns, and he has a little costume and bag all ready for trick-or-treating. He wears the bag on the crook of his elbow like a handbag and it makes him look so cunty.

I had a lot of trouble with my costume, namely that I had no idea what I wanted to be. Everyone else was dressing as a vampire, and I didn’t want to copy them. I have a cockroach costume I often default to, and assumed this would be what I wore. Then, on the morning of Halloween, inspiration hit. I was going to be a witch, using mostly clothes from my wardrobe. After a mad scramble to buy a hat, I got out my graduation gown, my nan’s shawl, and a belt. I glued a veil to my hat for extra effect. Wearing every piece of jewellery I owned, I tied anything even remotely-witchy to my belt, and wore black pyjamas underneath for comfort. 

Then we went trick-or-treating. We drove to a nicer neighbourhood and met a whole load of other kids out in costume. It was a really nice community spirit, and everyone who opted in was having fun. I do like that Halloween is an opt-in festival, and there is an understanding that you should only knock on houses with pumpkins outside. That way everyone has fun and feels safe. Halloween might be my favourite time of the year (along with Christmas, though the two blur together), but I understand why my 80 and 90 year-old grandparents don’t feel comfortable opening the door to strangers in the dark.

Anyway, we’d spent weeks getting Nephew to say “boo”. Weeks and weeks. And he was saying it! And every time he said it we’d all scream and he’d laugh. He was saying “boo” to everyone and everything. Until we actually went outside, then he was too nervous to say a word. He’d just stare and take the sweets (usually just the one, but no one really minded if he double-dipped), and sometimes wave goodbye. He was generally kind of nervous interacting with strangers, but really, really wanted to go into every house without a pumpkin, for some reason.

The night was soured a little by one of the houses. We’d been warned there was a scary house at the end of a cul-de-sac, like something out of a horror film. We could see the place a mile off: the one with the smoke machine and music blaring. These are my kind of people, I thought. They had skeletons and scarecrows outside, but as we approached, one of the scarecrows started running at us.

Nephew screamed and cried and clung to his parents. He was so upset at being scared like that, because he’s a literal baby and the kid waiting outside to scare people should’ve known better. And Nephew wasn’t the only kid who ended up crying, because this dipshit didn’t learn his lesson and kept scaring small children. He’s lucky no one kicked the shit outta him.

Nephew was fine eventually, but definitely more nervous approaching houses.

Still, we got a lot of sweets and chocolate that we divided between us (saving some for Nephew, but there isn’t much he can eat) and put Little Man to bed. 

Writing

I changed some names in my manuscript, and then didn’t touch it for the rest of the month. I need to finish my editing but I can’t focus on it! I’m going to claw my own face off if it’s not finished by the end of the year. No other writing can take priority over my novel.

But write I did.

The West Virginia novel is coming along great. The first chapter is nearly done and we’re making strides with the second. The only problem is there’s a lot of research to be done that I haven’t started. 

I also came up with a vague idea for a steampunk story, namely the characters and setting. Most of the worldbuilding I’ve done is building the city in minecraft. It’s set in the 1880s during a new ice age and follows two young leftists: an Irish factory worker and a Jewish journalist from the Russian Empire. I originally set it in London, but now it’s in a fictional city along the Thames estuary. I haven’t gotten very far into the story yet, though.

Reading

I didn’t read as much as I’d hoped, since I’m pretty behind on my reading challenge. Most of the month was spent getting through The Light Fantastic. I don’t know why I found it so difficult to finish, but more on that later.

Heritage Aesthetics by Anthony Anaxagorou

I saw my friend wanted to read this, and I like poetry, so I picked this up at a warehouse sale. I’ve found Cyprus’ history fascinating for a while now and it’s nice to read something by someone actually from Cyprus. I’d tried a few travel books by Brits and they were terrible.

It’s a powerful poetry collection. I'd like to read it again to let it sit in my brain properly, though.

Cancelled by “Jake A. Howling”

This is one of two books by youtuber duo Blind // Drunk I bought PDFs for because I like their videos and wanted to read their books. They’re parodies of the various right-wing slurry the duo reads on their channel, this particular one in particular definitely-not parodying two specific anti-trans writers clinging to relevancy. The story follows Patrick Rowlahan, who is viciously cancelled after “accidentally” retweeting antisemitic bile.

The story has way more twists and turns than I was expecting. I’d forgotten anything Blind // Drunk had said about the book and assumed it was a more grounded, personal drama along the lines of Yellowface. Instead, there were murder furries, vampires, a lot of gore and death. It was also very funny.

Sleeping Giant by “Tom Chancy”

The second right-wing parody book. This was pretty fun. I didn’t like it as much as Cancelled, but it was a quick read and just as insane. I liked the transgender demon monsters.

The Steampunk Bible by Jeff VanderMeer

This is the book that got my steampunk juices flowing. Until now, I’d been a fan of the steampunk aesthetic without thinking about what the movement was actually trying to say. It did me a lot of good to read about the origins, how steampunk has developed, and the anti-consumerist messages. Politics have always been a part of my stories, even the steampunk ones, but this has helped me think of incorporating them in more radical ways.

A Bride’s Story 1-4 by Mori Kaoru 

I don’t think there’s ever been a more beautifully illustrated manga. The painstaking detail in which the clothing is rendered defies description.

I’m not too fond of the age difference between the main couple. I understand that it’s a historical story, and the marriage was arranged by their families, but the story is still building a romance between them and I don’t like it. 

The other couples are fine. I think how the English researcher is portrayed is a bit generous. I’ve read some travel writing from Victorian English writers and they’re incredibly racist and dismissive of the local people. Mr Smith is a lot more likeable. I’m not sure what to make of the twins either; they teeter between outrageously funny and obnoxious.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

This book was a weird one. While it was definitely an improvement on the Colour of Magic, I’m still hoping the rest of the series is as good as everyone says. Reading the first two Discworld books first was a mistake and I should’ve listened to everyone who said so. 

That being said, the jokes were better, I liked the characters more. Now that I’ve spent two books with them, Rincewind and Twoflower have grown on me a lot. I liked that it built up to a finale, and the writing and plot were tighter. That being said, I didn’t like the romance between Cohen and Bethan, or the fact that the water troll from CoM just disappeared between books. 

All in all, I hope I read more next month.