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I've been enjoying a glut of books and media lately. Just before Christmas I bought Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach on a bit of a whim actually as I was already on a mission to buy my Godmother a new historical thriller/crime mystery novel at the local Waterstone's. It's been a while since I read anything new, especially in sci fi/spec fic and as hers was the only feminine name in the section that I hadn't read, I decided to go for it.
That and I do love a good bit of pulp.
It turned out to be pretty good. So decent that I splurged and bought the rest of the series off Amazon (one of the few perks of being an adult) and now I'm currently ripping through the sequel, Honours Knight.
I think what I love most about them - aside froma a high level of readibility, very serviceable prose (and that's a genuine compliment. Beautiful prose might get awards but... well it tends to make me cry and I have a real life to live) - is how it embodies a principle I'm currently calling 'Just change the one thing...' because whilst it follows the adventures of a rough, heavy drinking, happily sexed, space faring mercenary who's good at killing, knows it and is unashamed about getting to the top... the only difference is that it's a woman at the heart of the story, and just that slight change to voice and tactics - the way she describes dealing with overbearing male colleagues in Fortune's Pawn is like a leaf taken out of any woman CEOs memoirs - is enough to make what would be a good but not particularly original narrative step up a notch.
Tom from the amazing Tom and Lorenzo once spoke about this on their podcast a couple of months ago when reviewing London Spy, wherein it's a pretty standard plot of a hapless ingenue discovering plots and intrigue and betrayal amidst a world of spies but the one difference is... at the centre of the narrative is a gay couple. With that, particularly as the lead is a gay man, comes a slightly new spin - the subtle politics of age relations within the mainstream gay community gets examined, indeed as do the politics of existence as a gay man, yes even in 21st century 'open and tolerant' Britain.
In honesty... I only got as far as the first episode because whilst I enjoyed it I just didn't find it compelling enough to keep watching... and reviews elsewhere seemed a bit disappointing, but it definitely has its fans so clearly worked for some. The important point is that it's really interesting how changing 'the one thing' can make such a difference, especially given recent massive disappointments like Netflix' Godless and the popularly praised but for me woefully lacking Firefly of yore, which are good examples of how just changing 'the one thing' isn't always enough.
Anyway, enough from me as the book still calls.
Related and interesting
Tom Rob Smith talks about London Spy...
What else I've been reading...
Heavy by Derek Des Anges
This book is one of those you don't think they write anymore. Masterful prose, I can't express how much I enjoyed reading it. I thought the world building was excellent and each character bestowed with a slightly unnerving depth. I have a soft spot for plots based in alternate historical settings that are almost oblivious that they're in a different timeline. Please, buy a copy and read. This will be subject to a longer review, methinks!
Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin
I... keep forgetting what I've read so I'm going to start this one all over again (not a big deal as I only got 15 pages in or so). It's like a lovely version of the footnotes from Pratchett's novels, Peakian in its focus.
What else I've been watching...
Michael Clayton, dir. Tony Gilroy - much duller than I thought it would be, not as clever or as engaging. Better as a TV series, methinks.
The Men Who Stare at Goats dir. Grant Heslov - much kookier than I thought it would be. Pleasant enough to have in the background. I thought it was going to be more based on the more esoteric research interests of the US military but instead settled for an attempt at magical surrealism in the midst of the War on Terror.
Denial dir. Mick Jackson - genuinely surprised by how impactful this turned out to be, and not just because of the subject matter at the heart of it. Rachel Weisz amazing as always. I think for me the big lesson was in how important it is to appreciate value of different tactics when dealing with people who allow their hateful bigotry to get in the way of interpreting data. So touching, humanist, with - what I thought - slightly-too-subtle-but-definitely-there indictments of male posturing
Florence Foster Jenkins dir. Stephen Frears - I tried. I found myself truly enjoying it by the end but to be honest it was really hard at the beginning and through most of the second act. I hate Britain's Got Talent etc. for how easy it is to mock the delusional 'talentless' and I wasn't sure if we were being invited to do that to the eccentric Foster Jenkins. I did like the portrayal of her relationship to Bayfield, her passion for music and how genuinely people could be brought from derision to pity to admiration.
The Marvellous Mrs Maisel created by Amy Sherman-Palladino - I. Loved. This. Show. Another example of the 'change one thing'. Or in this case two. Or three. A proper review/analysis coming up, I swear.
Black Mirror, S2-3 dir. sundry - I feel I have to actually carry on watching this now it's become a thing and I'm getting into tech and spec fic critique. Meh, it's good but gets a bit wankishly nihilistic sometimes but alright overall.
That and I do love a good bit of pulp.
It turned out to be pretty good. So decent that I splurged and bought the rest of the series off Amazon (one of the few perks of being an adult) and now I'm currently ripping through the sequel, Honours Knight.
I think what I love most about them - aside froma a high level of readibility, very serviceable prose (and that's a genuine compliment. Beautiful prose might get awards but... well it tends to make me cry and I have a real life to live) - is how it embodies a principle I'm currently calling 'Just change the one thing...' because whilst it follows the adventures of a rough, heavy drinking, happily sexed, space faring mercenary who's good at killing, knows it and is unashamed about getting to the top... the only difference is that it's a woman at the heart of the story, and just that slight change to voice and tactics - the way she describes dealing with overbearing male colleagues in Fortune's Pawn is like a leaf taken out of any woman CEOs memoirs - is enough to make what would be a good but not particularly original narrative step up a notch.
Tom from the amazing Tom and Lorenzo once spoke about this on their podcast a couple of months ago when reviewing London Spy, wherein it's a pretty standard plot of a hapless ingenue discovering plots and intrigue and betrayal amidst a world of spies but the one difference is... at the centre of the narrative is a gay couple. With that, particularly as the lead is a gay man, comes a slightly new spin - the subtle politics of age relations within the mainstream gay community gets examined, indeed as do the politics of existence as a gay man, yes even in 21st century 'open and tolerant' Britain.
In honesty... I only got as far as the first episode because whilst I enjoyed it I just didn't find it compelling enough to keep watching... and reviews elsewhere seemed a bit disappointing, but it definitely has its fans so clearly worked for some. The important point is that it's really interesting how changing 'the one thing' can make such a difference, especially given recent massive disappointments like Netflix' Godless and the popularly praised but for me woefully lacking Firefly of yore, which are good examples of how just changing 'the one thing' isn't always enough.
Anyway, enough from me as the book still calls.
Related and interesting
Tom Rob Smith talks about London Spy...
What else I've been reading...
Heavy by Derek Des Anges
This book is one of those you don't think they write anymore. Masterful prose, I can't express how much I enjoyed reading it. I thought the world building was excellent and each character bestowed with a slightly unnerving depth. I have a soft spot for plots based in alternate historical settings that are almost oblivious that they're in a different timeline. Please, buy a copy and read. This will be subject to a longer review, methinks!
Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin
I... keep forgetting what I've read so I'm going to start this one all over again (not a big deal as I only got 15 pages in or so). It's like a lovely version of the footnotes from Pratchett's novels, Peakian in its focus.
What else I've been watching...
Michael Clayton, dir. Tony Gilroy - much duller than I thought it would be, not as clever or as engaging. Better as a TV series, methinks.
The Men Who Stare at Goats dir. Grant Heslov - much kookier than I thought it would be. Pleasant enough to have in the background. I thought it was going to be more based on the more esoteric research interests of the US military but instead settled for an attempt at magical surrealism in the midst of the War on Terror.
Denial dir. Mick Jackson - genuinely surprised by how impactful this turned out to be, and not just because of the subject matter at the heart of it. Rachel Weisz amazing as always. I think for me the big lesson was in how important it is to appreciate value of different tactics when dealing with people who allow their hateful bigotry to get in the way of interpreting data. So touching, humanist, with - what I thought - slightly-too-subtle-but-definitely-there indictments of male posturing
Florence Foster Jenkins dir. Stephen Frears - I tried. I found myself truly enjoying it by the end but to be honest it was really hard at the beginning and through most of the second act. I hate Britain's Got Talent etc. for how easy it is to mock the delusional 'talentless' and I wasn't sure if we were being invited to do that to the eccentric Foster Jenkins. I did like the portrayal of her relationship to Bayfield, her passion for music and how genuinely people could be brought from derision to pity to admiration.
The Marvellous Mrs Maisel created by Amy Sherman-Palladino - I. Loved. This. Show. Another example of the 'change one thing'. Or in this case two. Or three. A proper review/analysis coming up, I swear.
Black Mirror, S2-3 dir. sundry - I feel I have to actually carry on watching this now it's become a thing and I'm getting into tech and spec fic critique. Meh, it's good but gets a bit wankishly nihilistic sometimes but alright overall.