December 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Strangers in the House by Georges Simenon (K)
Rendevous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke (K)
A Starbound Solstice by Juliet Kemp (K)
Chocolat by Joanne Harris (K)

Shorts:

Last Text by Ephiny Gale (DSF)
THE TINDER BOX by Kate Elliott (https://www.tor.com/2021/12/01/the-tinder-box-kate-elliott/)
Cons of Time Travel by A. Rector (DSF)
Fairy Tale by Adam-Troy Castro (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/fairy-tale/)
The Station of the Twelfth by Chaz Brenchley (https://www.tor.com/2021/09/08/the-station-of-the-twelfth-chaz-brenchley/)
MATCHED by BOB DEROSA (https://everydayfiction.com/matched-by-bob-derosa/)
Winter Peterson Breaks the Wall by Jonathan Helland (DSF)
Sometime Called Parchment by J. Comer (DSF)
Leaf Piles by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (DSF)
Anti-Quarantine by Jeffrey Lyons (DSF)
DEAR COMRADES by J.D. HARLOCK (https://everydayfiction.com/dear-comrades-by-jd-harlock/)
Folkway by Eric Brown (DSF)
Vincentka vs garbage water by Helen Oyeyemi (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/19/vincentka-vs-garbage-water-an-original-short-story-by-helen-oyeyemi)
All The Difference by David M. Barry (DSF)
Curses, foiled again by Anonymous (https://archiveofourown.org/works/35733463/chapters/89102761)

Poetry:

The Song Thrush and the Mountain Ash by Simon Armitage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnlotoguX8)
WHICH WITCH BY WENDY PURCELL (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/12/which-witch-by-wendy-purcell.html)
Battle of Maldon tr. Adam Roberts (https://medium.com/adams-notebook/battle-of-maldon-2e8db1361f01)
In Passing by Lisel Mueller (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/154099/in-passing)
An Arbitrary Light Bulb by Ian Duhig (https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/an-arbitrary-light-bulb/)

Non-Fiction:

CITY SPACES, PACE BIAS, AND THE PRODUCTION OF DISABILITY by QUILL R KUKLA (https://blog.oup.com/2021/12/city-spaces-pace-bias-and-the-production-of-disability/)
A 975-day nightmare: how the Home Office forced a British citizen into destitution abroad by Amelia Gentleman (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/02/home-office-forced-british-citizen-into-destitution-abroad-windrush-compensation-scheme)
Domino Theory by George Monbiot (https://www.monbiot.com/2021/11/19/domino-theory/)
The Body, Otherwise by Angela Rehbein (https://the-rambling.com/2021/09/17/issue12-rehbein/)
Investing in Lego more lucrative than gold, study suggests by Mark Sweney (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/10/investing-in-lego-more-lucrative-than-gold-study-suggests)
Alaska’s Absent Snowy Owls by Kylie Mohr (https://hakaimagazine.com/features/alaskas-absent-snowy-owls/)
TURNS OUT THE MUCH-MALIGNED MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO IS GOOD, ACTUALLY! by Elizabeth Heritage (https://www.tor.com/2021/12/14/turns-out-the-much-maligned-mysteries-of-udolpho-is-good-actually/)
Don’t call it sleaze, call it corruption – why scandal haunts Boris Johnson’s government by Jonathan Freedland (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/16/dont-call-it-sleaze-call-it-corruption-why-scandal-haunts-boris-johnsons-government)
Robots, Slaves and Orphans by Adam Roberts (https://medium.com/adams-notebook/robots-slaves-and-orphans-156c77abe4e3)
From apanthropy to zwodder, Susie Dent’s A-Z of Christmas (https://inews.co.uk/opinion/apanthropy-zwodder-susie-dents-a-z-christmas-1367064)
THE SNARE OF THE TREE, AND OTHER PERILOUS SEDUCTIONS: Essays on Dangers in Game Design (Occult Scraps Book 2) by Alexis Kennedy (K)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars, Finn Mackay in Conversation with Cheryl Morgan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU7LMddDbYc)
How to stop languishing and start finding flow with Adam Grant (TED talk) (https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_how_to_stop_languishing_and_start_finding_flow?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social&utm_content=2021-12-09-onesheet#t-946821)
Megson’s Yuletide Carol Show (online)
Advent Carol Service live from Clare College Chapel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cacR2rEEBCo)
Solstice at Newgrange (https://www.gov.ie/en/news/ce616-winter-solstice-at-newgrange-2021/#)

November 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal (K)

Shorts:

Real Enough by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (DSF)
Evaluation of Alternate Nutrition Sources for Persons Affected by Vampirism by pervocracy (https://archiveofourown.org/works/34747540)
The Mirror Merchant's Tales by Daniel Ausema (DSF)
The Candy Shop by T.R. Frazier (DSF)
THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER by A. R. HANSEN (https://everydayfiction.com/the-princess-in-the-tower-by-ar-hansen/)
A Little Dog Like You by Rosemary Sutcliff (https://sutcliff-space.dreamwidth.org/29354.html#cutid1)
How to identify a robot by Carla Ra (DSF)
The house of untold stories : 50 unexpected tales by Peter Chiykowski
Date and Time by Susan Taitel (DSF)
Shouty Lads by CHARLES EP MURPHY (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/shouty-lads/)
The Stranger by David Paul Rogers (DSF)
PERFECT SON by CHERYL POWELL (https://everydayfiction.com/perfect-son-by-cheryl-powell/)
A Patchwork of Puddles by Lynden Wade (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/11/a-patchwork-of-puddles-by-lynden-wade.html)
A note on dating conventions by Daniel James Woodhouse (DSF)
The Brink of Disaster by William Shaw (DSF)

Poetry:

“To the Rain” by Ursula le Guin (https://twitter.com/coopesdetat/status/1458904378497122321)
“On Passing the New Menin Gate” by Siegfried Sassoon (https://twitter.com/MarcDavenant/status/1459819031922360321)

Non-Fiction:

Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial by Puhan, Suarez, Lo Cascio, Zahn, Heitz, Braendli ( (https://www.bmj.com/content/332/7536/266)
Mustn't Grumble: The surprising science of everyday ailments and why we’re always a bit ill by Graham Lawton (K)
Two Thoughts on Eucatastrophe by Adam Roberts (https://medium.com/adams-notebook/two-thoughts-on-eucatastrophe-e2fc62f97a3c)
How two BBC journalists risked their jobs to reveal the truth about Jimmy Savile by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/02/jimmy-savile-bbc-journalists-risked-jobs-reveal-truth)
‘No one knew they existed’: wild heirs of lost British honeybee found at Blenheim by Donna Ferguson (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/no-one-knew-they-existed-wild-heirs-of-lost-british-honeybee-found-at-blenheim?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)
Team discovers evidence of prehistoric human activity in Falkland Islands by University of Maine (https://phys.org/news/2021-10-team-evidence-prehistoric-human-falkland.html)
How can I make myself more motivated? by New Scientist (https://www.newscientist.com/question/can-make-motivated/)
What lies beneath: the secrets of France’s top serial killer expert by Scott Sayare (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-serial-killer-expert-france-stephane-bourgoin)
Sustainable gin and family-sized crisps! My week eating a climatarian diet by Emma Beddington (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/nov/10/fig-rolls-out-seaweed-in-my-week-eating-a-climatarian-diet)
Shortage nation: why the UK is braced for a grim Christmas by Tim Harford (https://timharford.com/2021/11/shortage-nation-why-the-uk-is-braced-for-a-grim-christmas/)
Samantha Willis was a beloved young pregnant mother. Did bad vaccine advice cost her her life? by Sirin Kale (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/23/samantha-willis-was-a-beloved-young-pregnant-mother-did-bad-vaccine-advice-cost-her-her-life)
Inside story: the first pandemic novels have arrived, but are we ready for them? by Lara Feigel (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/27/inside-story-the-first-pandemic-novels-have-arrived-but-are-we-ready-for-them)
Love and Limerence: The Forgotten Psychologist Dorothy Tennov’s Revelatory Research into the Confusions of Bonding by MARIA POPOVA (https://www.themarginalian.org/2021/11/25/love-and-limerence-dorothy-tennov/)
The Novel That Riveted France During Lockdown Arrives in the U.S. by Roger Cohen (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/books/anomaly-herve-le-tellier.html?smid=tw-share)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Blazing Worlds: Climate Adaptation and the Imagination (RHUL, online)
Burnaby Concert (in person)

October 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Green Man's Challenge by Juliet E. McKenna (K)
Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis (K)

Shorts:

A Guided Meditation for Pandemic Anxiety (As Approved by Our Lord Xanthalu) by Effie Seiberg (DSF)
Wait for Night by Stephen Graham Jones (https://www.tor.com/2021/10/11/read-wait-for-night-by-stephen-graham-jones/)
Seven Reasons your Blind Date is staring at the Mysterious Iron Ring on Your Hand by Dani Atkinson (DSF)
Hidden in Her Wild Red Eyes by Dafydd McKimm (DSF)
The Last Navigator by Marissa Lingen (DSF)
SMALL MONSTERS by E. Lily Yu (https://www.tor.com/2021/10/20/small-monsters-e-lily-yu/)
Emily and the What-if Imp by GWYNNE GARFINKLE (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/emily-and-the-what-if-imp/)
Chocolate by Gwen Whiting (DSF)
PINK UMBRELLA by TIM BOITEAU (https://everydayfiction.com/pink-umbrella-by-tim-boiteau/)
Obstructionby PAMELA RENTZ (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/obstruction/)

Poetry:

“The Wife of Usher’s Well” (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/04/poem-of-the-week-the-wife-of-ushers-well)

Non-Fiction:

Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans by Kristyn R. Vitale, Alexandra C. Behnke, Monique A.R. Udell (https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31086-3)
Leave no trace: how a teenage hacker lost himself online by Huib Modderkolk (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/14/leave-no-trace-how-a-teenage-hacker-lost-himself-online)
The Fable of the Gazelle by Max Gladstone (https://maxgladstone.substack.com/p/the-fable-of-the-gazelle)
He’s a poet and the FBI know it: how John Giorno’s Dial-a-Poem alarmed the Feds by Ralf Webb (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/18/john-giorno-dial-a-poem-returns-fbi-feds-instapoet)
Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past by David Graeber and David Wengrow (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/19/unfreezing-the-ice-age-the-truth-about-humanitys-deep-past)
Stitching Hope by Kamala Thiagarajan (https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/stitching-hope/)
Lord of the Sommes by Adam Roberts (https://medium.com/adams-notebook/lord-of-the-sommes-72396664f4c0)
Longthorpe Tower and how mediaeval audiences saw their world by Michael Smith (https://unbound.com/books/werewolf/updates/longthorpe-tower-and-how-mediaeval-audiences-saw-their-world)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Narrow (https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2021/09/29/narrow/)
Kim Stanley Robinson: The Ministry for the Future (online from Glasgow Uni)

Read:

Fiction:

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard (K)
The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard (K)
The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard (K)
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (K)
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (K)

Shorts:

THE ELF & THE WRITER BY BILL DAVIDSON (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/09/throwback-thursday-elf-writer-by-bill.html)
Mon pays c’est l’hiver by Amal El-Mohtar (https://lackingtons.com/2014/02/13/mon-pays-cest-lhiver/)
The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie by Kathleen Jennings (https://www.tor.com/2021/09/01/the-wonderful-stag-or-the-courtship-of-red-elsie-kathleen-jennings/)
Moose Trap by Rich Larson (DSF)
Lost Portals by MARK S. BAILEN (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/lost-portals/)
Your Cat by Beth Cato (DSF)
Saint Natalis of the Wolves by Emory Noakes (DSF)
Art by Anastasia Gammon (DSF)

Non-Fiction:

Music, Musicians and Brexit by Peter Cook (https://fedtrust.co.uk/music-musicians-and-brexit/)
Sci-fi Eye: It’s the end of the world as we know it by Gareth L Powell (https://www.theengineer.co.uk/sci-fi-eye-its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/)
The Red Warning Light on Richard Branson’s Space Flight by Nicholas Schmidle (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-red-warning-light-on-richard-bransons-space-flight)
Why We Can’t Shake Ambergris by Mark Wilding (https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/why-we-cant-shake-ambergris/)
The disastrous voyage of Satoshi, the world’s first cryptocurrency cruise ship by Sophie Elmhirst (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/sep/07/disastrous-voyage-satoshi-cryptocurrency-cruise-ship-seassteading)
The Last Glimpses of California's Vanishing Hippie Utopias BY DAVID JACOB KRAMER (https://www.gq.com/story/californias-vanishing-hippie-utopias)
What does Fluffy think? by Amia Srinivasan (https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n19/amia-srinivasan/what-does-fluffy-think)
How the “Renegade Burn” Reinvented Burning Man — Without Burning a Man by Giselle"Gigi" Bisson (https://gisellebisson.medium.com/the-2021-renegade-peoples-burn-an-anarchist-alternative-to-burning-man-redefined-fire-ba7695b8e5dd)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Bromyard Folk Festival
Lindsey Sterling: Artemis Tour (https://www.lindseystirling.com)

August 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Man on the Balcony (The Martin Beck series, Book 3) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (K)
Tomorrow by Chris Beckett (K)
The Wan by Bo Balder (K)
John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow by Mimi Matthews (K)
The Man Who Died by Anntti Tuomainen (K)

Shorts:

Find Soulmates Near You by Emma-Rive A. Nelson (DSF)
Monster under the Bed by Garry McNulty (DSF)
Sometimes They Call Me Human by Victoria L Brun (DSF)
'NOW YOU SEE ME' BY JUSTIN C. KEY (https://gizmodo.com/lightspeed-presents-now-you-see-me-by-justin-c-key-1847424250)
The Surviving Twins by Anastasia Kharlamova (DSF)
Splat Day by Bo Balder (DSF)
My List of Bedtime Bogeyman Blues by SARINA DORIE (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/my-list-of-bedtime-bogeyman-blues/)
Your Attention Please by Karl El-Koura (DSF)
Dinners Like We Used To Have by Kelly Sandoval (DSF)
Babel's End by Jean-Louis Trudel (DSF)

Non-Fiction:

PLANTS IN SCIENCE FICTION: SPECULATIVE VEGETATION, EDITED BY KATHERINE E. BISHOP, DAVID HIGGINS, AND JERRY MÄÄTTÄ BY OCTAVIA CADE (http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/plants-in-science-fiction-speculative-vegetation-edited-by-katherine-e-bishop-david-higgins-and-jerry-maata/)
The March of the Karens by Ligaya Mishan (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/t-magazine/white-women-karen.html)
Paul Mason: ‘Modern fascism’s interests are being represented in government by rightwing populists’ by Killian Fox (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/14/paul-mason-how-to-stop-fascism)
German street names still echo Nazi, Communist, and even Roman past by FRANK JACOBS (https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/german-street-names)
Tim Dowling: the pet food system is broken, and the cat blames me (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/21/pet-food-system-broken-cat-blames-me-tim-dowling)
‘My persian had a three-hour blow-dry!’ 150 years of cat shows – then and now by Sirin Kale (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/25/my-persian-had-a-three-hour-blow-dry-150-years-of-cat-shows-then-and-now)
Sally Rooney on the hell of fame: ‘It doesn’t seem to work in any real way for anyone’ by Emma Brockes (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/28/sally-rooney-hell-of-fame-normal-people)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Dinner @ friends—indoors!
Guests here—indoors! And a stayover.

Read:

Fiction:

Roseanna (The Martin Beck series, Book 1) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (K)
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (The Martin Beck series, Book 2) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (K)
Bryant & May – London Bridge is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler (K)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (K)

Shorts:

TAYLORMADE: OF ETSY & THE ELVES, BY HEATHER TALTY (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/07/throwback-thursday-taylormade-of-etsy.html)
ALUMINUM FOIL & PLASTIC WRAP BY STEVEN M.S GODON (https://everydayfiction.com/aluminum-foil-and-plastic-wrap-by-steven-ms-godon/)
EGUNC BY MARY K. CURRAN (https://everydayfiction.com/egunc-by-mary-k-curran/)
RUMPELSTILTSKIN, VEGAS STYLE, BY ROBERT ALLEN LUPTON (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/07/throwback-thursday-rumpelstiltskin.html)
Three Truths and Three Lies About Jack by Andrea Eberly (DSF)
Time Machines by Melissa Mead (DSF)
When You Came Back by Lynette Mejia (DSF)
Ten Years In by Thea Boodhoo (DSF)
Lamplighted by David Gianatasio (DSF)
A Garden of Snakes and Stone by K. Shefferd (DSF)
THE STORY THIEF by GLORIA GARFUNKEL (https://everydayfiction.com/the-story-thief-by-gloria-garfunkel/)
Halfers by Chris Hobson (DSF)

Non-Fiction:

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (K)
HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD ADD UP by Tim Harford (K)
Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans by Melanie Mitchell (K)
The hidden world of cats: what our feline friends are doing when we’re not looking by Sirin Kale (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/22/hidden-world-cats-what-feline-friends-doing-when-were-not-looking)
12 Bytes by Jeanette Winterson review – how we got here and where we might go next by Laura Spinney (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/23/12-bytes-by-jeanette-winterson-review-how-we-got-here-and-where-we-might-go-next)
To mask or not to mask? That shouldn’t be the question by John Harris (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/26/mask-question-covid-society-british-state)
‘A lesson in loss, humility and absurdity’: how rhythmic gymnastics took over my childhood by Rebecca Liu (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/27/loss-humility-absurdity-how-rhythmic-gymnastics-took-over-my-childhood)
Statue wars, pandemic reopening, and the art of less by Tim Harford (https://timharford.com/2021/07/statue-wars-pandemic-reopening-and-the-art-of-less/)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Shape: The hidden geometry of absolutely everything with Jordan Ellenberg (organised by The Royal Institution)

Read:

Fiction:

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans
KIngdom of Silence by Jonathan Grimwood (K)

Shorts:

ApocaList: The Surprising Origins of 7 Everyday Words by Alexei Collier (DSF)
Claire de Lune by D.J. Rozell (DSF)
APPLESAUCE BY MARSHEILA ROCKWELL (https://www.fairytalemagazine.com/2021/06/applesauce-by-marsheila-rockwell.html)
UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE BY NICK BERTELSON (https://everydayfiction.com/unclaimed-baggage-by-nick-bertelson/)
PERIWINKLE BY KRYSTAL WOLF (https://everydayfiction.com/periwinkle-by-krystal-wolf/)
Preface to "Monster Hunter" by Mary Soon Lee (DSF)
Honeycomb by Joanne M Harris (K)
The Ragthorn by Robert Holdstock, Garry Kilworth (K)
Parallel Lifetimes by C.J. Heckman (DSF)
I Brought My Dragon to Show and Tell by David J. Rank (DSF)

Poetry:

Plague Songs by Martin Rowson

Non-Fiction:

AGAINST WORLDBUILDING, AND OTHER PROVOCATIONS: Essays on History, Narrative, and Game Design by Alexis Kennedy (K)
I have ‘pandemic brain’. Will I ever be able to concentrate again? by Kelli María Korducki (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/24/pandemic-brain-covid-coronavirus-fog-concentrate)
Mystery of the wheelie suitcase: how gender stereotypes held back the history of invention by Katrine Marçal (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/24/mystery-of-wheelie-suitcase-how-gender-stereotypes-held-back-history-of-invention)
How Twitter can ruin a life by Emily VanDerWerff (https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22543858/isabel-fall-attack-helicopter)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

Granny’s Attic on Zoom
From Spare Oom to War Drobe: A Journey to Narnia with Katherine Langrish (@Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow) on Zoom
Plague Songs with Martin Rowson (via Zoom)
Bertie and Bartram with Tanya Bentham (YouTube)

In a fit of socialising, we met up with friends for a picnic at Clumber (05/06) and a bak-garden barbeque (13/06).

In a fit of it’s too bloody cold, I slept with socks on last night. Am I still waiting for summer or did I blink…?

May 2021

Read:

Fiction:

Creeping Jenny by Jeff Noon (K)
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (K)

Shorts:

NAGASAKI • BY KAREN PEACOCK (https://everydayfiction.com/nagasaki-by-karen-peacock/)
The Day After the Rapture by Judith Clare (DSF)
Magical Companion Applicant #2251, or "Maggie" by Alexandra Grunberg (DSF)
Twelve Days of Snow on Crossroads Station by Mary E. Lowd (DSF)
The Lunacy Commission by Lavie Tidhar (K)

Hope it’s fiction:

Have I Told You About My Robot Vacuum Cleaner? by Max Barry (https://maxbarry.com/2021/05/12/news.html)

Non-Fiction:

The Universal Allure of New York’s Bodega Cats by Hakim Bishara (https://hyperallergic.com/640916/new-york-bodega-cats-instagram-photography-rob-hitt/)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

The Mitchells vs the Machines

April 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (K)
What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (K)

Shorts:

10 Steps to a Whole New You by TONYA LIBURD (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/10-steps-to-a-whole-new-you/)
The Wealth of Dragons by Sean Vivier (DSF)
Your Favorite Hot Refreshments by C Jones (https://www.spacesquid.com/transformed-flash-fiction/)
The Meat Grinder by Kelsey Marie Harris (https://www.spacesquid.com/transformed-flash-fiction/)
https://bethanythemartian.tumblr.com/post/633183446892691456/writing-prompt-s-youre-a-daycare-worker

Poetry:

Because by Grace Schulman (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2021/apr/12/poem-of-the-week-because-by-grace-schulman)

Non-Fiction:

'I'm the guy on the edge of the dancefloor just staring' by Sophie Atkinson (https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/jeff-noon-vurt)
Bane or Blessing? Reviewing Cultural Values of Bats across the Asia-Pacific Region by Mary-Ruth Low et al (https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-ethnobiology/volume-41/issue-1/0278-0771-41.1.18/Bane-or-Blessing-Reviewing-Cultural-Values-of-Bats-across-the/10.2993/0278-0771-41.1.18.full)
The Medical System Should Have Been Prepared for Long COVID by Alan Levinovitz (https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpywp/the-medical-system-should-have-been-prepared-for-long-haul-covid-patients-symptoms)

post-exertional malaise

Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory by Moya Sarner (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/14/brain-fog-how-trauma-uncertainty-and-isolation-have-affected-our-minds-and-memory)
Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky by Sirin Kale (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/15/man-who-fell-from-the-sky-airplane-stowaway-kenya-london)
Did art peak 30,000 years ago? How cave paintings became my lockdown obsession by Jonathan Jones (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/apr/23/cave-paintings-art-lockdown-obsession-30-000-years-lascaux)
Labyrinthine tales: We All Hear Stories in the Dark, by Robert Shearman, reviewed by Philip Hensher (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labyrinthine-tales-we-all-hear-stories-in-the-dark-by-robert-shearman-reviewed)

Watched/Listened/”Attended”:

The Long Thread Podcast: Franklyn Habit (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LY1rKoIxbHCplWeGqiivf?si=CA02FiM9R9O8AzpYrLrxoA)
Cambridge Drawing Society Spring 2021 Exhibition (http://cambridgedrawingsociety.org)
The Young ‘Uns on Zoom
Megson on Facebook
Studio Thrift - Darning Workshop on Zoom

Read:

Fiction:

Dimsie Moves Up Again by Dorita Fairlie Bruce (not finished due to missing pages!)
Dimsie Head Girl by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
Dimsie Among the Prefects by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
Dimsie Carries On by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

NB: THese are now looking for a loving home!

Shorts:

Masquerade Season by 'Pemi Aguda (https://www.tor.com/2021/03/24/masquerade-season-pemi-aguda/)
Man vs. Bomb by M. SHAW (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/man-vs-bomb/)
Of Course You Screamed by SHARANG BISWAS (https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/of-course-you-screamed/)

Poetry:

There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale (https://poets.org/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains)
Report of the Fourteenth Subcommittee on Convening a Discussion Group by Marge Piercy (https://www.everseradio.com/report-of-the-fourteenth-subcommittee-on-convening-a-discussion-group-by-marge-piercy/)
First Dog in Space by Brennig Davies (https://twitter.com/KateClanchy1/status/1377670507579981826?s=20)

Non-Fiction:

Fresh analysis reveals Laos' ancient Plain of Jars predates the Iron Age by Michael Irving (https://www.tor.com/2021/03/05/jo-waltons-reading-list-february-2021/)
Late-Stage Pandemic Is Messing With Your Brain by ELLEN CUSHING (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/03/what-pandemic-doing-our-brains/618221/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=2021-03-09T22:45:55&utm_content=edit-promo)
You are not the person you were before the pandemic by Joe Berkowitz (https://www.fastcompany.com/90612974/you-are-not-the-person-you-were-before-the-pandemic)
Kitchenly 434 by Alan Warner review – a 1970s rock Gormenghast by M John Harrison (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/18/kitchenly-434-by-alan-warner-review-a-1970s-rock-gormenghast)
We always speak of women's safety. Let's talk about male violence instead by Anne Enright (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/20/we-always-speak-of-womens-safety-lets-talk-about-male-violence-instead)

Watched:

Megson
ETA: Twelfth Night @NT

Current Location: Henbane House

Bit late with this...

February 2021

Read:

Fiction:

The Second Deadly Sin: Rebecka Martinsson: Arctic Murders by Åsa Larsson (K)
Sanction by Elizabeth Bear (K)
The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel (K)

Shorts:

Onboarding Practices for the Ravaging Horde by E. B. Brandon (DSF)
Every Tiny Tooth and Claw (or: Letters from the First Month of the New Directorate) by Marissa Lingen (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/every-tiny-tooth-and-claw-or-letters-from-the-first-month-of-the-new-directorate/)
Trash Fairies by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (DSF)