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[lodessa]

How do I do this again? It's been so long that I've sort of forgotten.

Let's see. Time flies. We've been in our house for three years now, married for seven years, and in January we will have been together for twelve. This is my eighth year teaching (sixth at this school).

2018 has been one of those years where you aren't in crisis really (internally or externally) but everything is just really hard and tiring. My commute is arduous feeling, writing is a struggle. My husband keeps being hit with bad news (in the last month his sister got diagnosed with cancer, one of his friends died in a motorcycle accident, and his grandma died). Like... I know it will pass, but I'm tired.

Fandom-wise, I'm still faithfully shipping Janeway/Chakotay (Star Trek: Voyager). I've also been having an ASOIAF Jaime/Brienne resurgence. I started watching Doctor Who again with Thirteen after just never getting around to watching Twelve at all and I've been pleased with her and all the new companions. I've been writing a little for Star Trek: Discovery, a show I'm still a little worried about making the wrong choices. I'm watching the Charmed reboot (which I'm enjoying) and I watched the Sabrina one (it was fine but maybe overhyped by friends) but neither is making me feel fannish.

It's been a slow reading time for me. I'm still catching up on all the Brandon Sanderson books (up to date on Stormlight Archive, read the first Mistborn triology, and partway though Warbreaker which I was really enjoying but then I got busy/interrupted).

Making consumable things has really been my most fruitful creative outlet: home brewed cider, fresh pasta, syrups from scratch... there's something nice about making something you can tangibly enjoy.

Anyway... hi friends (old and... relocated)? How is it going?

I'll probably be posting a masterlist of the fic I wrote this year (paltry as that might feel compared to years like 2014 and 2015( or maybe one for the last couple years. We'll see).

Comments

[lodessa]

I have Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign, which I devoured(!) but then I had to find the next bit and stalled out. I really love how Bujold doesn't try to stick to a specific genre across books so each other is the type of story it is instead of trying to fit some "Vorkosigan Style" mode. Does that make sense?

It's been WAY too long. Like I think the last time we saw each other was a little before we bought our house and that's been three years!

[hamsterwoman]

If I kept all the records straight, which I think I did, the last time we met up was April 2015 (O.o) (and I probably could've surmised that from the Toby Daye publication dates, too, as the one I have from you is The Winter Long :)

A Civil Campaign is MY FAVORITE! It was actually also the first book in the series I read, and I was very confused by a lot of it, but still loved it, and went back and read things properly in order, and then loved it EVEN MORE. And Memory is probably the strongest book in the series (though not one I've reread, because it's such a gut-punch). And Komarr is really interesting, because I didn't think much of it when I first read it, in my early 20s, but when I reread it after a decade of marriage and parenthood, I appreciated it a lot more.

And, yes, I absolutely know what you mean about LMB doing a lot of different sub-genres within the series, heists and mystery and romantic comedy and personal drama -- and she does all of them really well!

I need to look through my shelves and see which ones I have in hard copy. I think I should have Diplomatic Immunity, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and CryoBurn. I do think Memory through A Civil Campaign is sort of the pinnacle of the series, but I did enjoy the later books as well, and hope you will, too.

[lodessa]

Yes. They are all really strong in their own ways. ( It also really helps that Miles finally really grew up.) I feel like that might be the secret to keeping a series going so long without it feeling derivative/like a better or worse version of the same basic book, each book being its own genre with different focus/conventions.

And it is so true about books impacting us differently at different points in our lives. I've been thinking a lo about that with the GRRM books and how when I started reading them at like 14 I was the age of the younger generation of characters, vs now I relate more to the prior generation... because it's been 20 years.

[hamsterwoman]

( It also really helps that Miles finally really grew up.)

Yes. I mean, he is still very much Miles, but I think he's at least a bit more aware of his effect on other people instead of just sort of steamrolling along.

And I think you're onto something with the mixing up of genres. Another long-running, in both time and number of books, series that I love is Dragaera/Vlad Taltos, and Brust very explicitly picks different genres for each book within the framework -- he's got some heists, a war story, a legal thriller, a book that's like B5's "A View from the Gallery" -- and it definitely helps keep things fresh.

when I started reading them at like 14 I was the age of the younger generation of characters, vs now I relate more to the prior generation... because it's been 20 years.

*nod* Also true. It's been similar for me, since I think I read the first two books in college, and the next two when I had children of my own, and Winds of Winter will be, what, like 25 years after I started reading the series, best case XP

[lodessa]

Yes. Miles definitely didn't lose his character traits/flaws... just grew into them in the way people do over time.

Because we do change throughout our lives. Kinda tying the two together... I feel like if that GRRM ever finishes I'm going to be older than just about all the characters except like Maester Aemon and Olenna Tyrell. ;P

[hamsterwoman]

. I feel like if that GRRM ever finishes I'm going to be older than just about all the characters except like Maester Aemon and Olenna Tyrell*. ;P

Haha! See, I was very wise in imprinting on Olenna and identifying with her from the moment she appeared in the books. That way I can keep "my" character for the duration, no matter HOW old I get :P

*and Walder Frey, lol XP