Sometimes its nice to just have a place to write down my thoughts and feelings. Maybe someday someone will read these things, and maybe they will always just remain my private archive. That’s okay either way.
I keep meaning to go back in and post to my website. I’m not really sure why its been hard for me — something about having to navigate through several layers just to get to posting. But that’s a bit dumb, isn’t it? I used to have to do much harder things to keep my blog going and I certainly did it. I guess you can get used to the ease of things, and it makes it harder to do the little tasks. I’m really trying to slow things down a little bit. I’ve been feeling so stressed out, overwhelmed by the amount of notifications and fluff and the constant drain on my attention.
Shouldn’t I be paying more attention to my house? My life?
I lose track of the days when I don’t write them down, and I don’t really want to live in a constant fog either, as much as I would rather just disappear into my fictional world.
Found out that Etta Pierce had a few novels out that I hadn’t read yet — well, novellas. I purchased them off of her Etsy and I’m looking forward to reading them. Bloody Bargain, Integrating With Kal, and Divina Corpora. I really enjoy her writing, even if it isn’t exactly “high brow”. She really does make me want to finish my novel and get it out there, you know? Maybe even the silly little SFRs I keep writing in my head.
I’ve been reading the Alien Sex anthology edited by Ellen Datlow though, I picked up several of hers from a Humble Bundle collection as it looked right up my alley. It’s been… interesting. A bit hit and miss.
The first story, about the intelligent orangutans was certainly a heck of a way to start things off, though it was really well written. “Her Furry Face” by Leigh Kennedy. The main protagonist comes off as quite unlikable, though I feel like that’s very much the point.
“War Bride” by Rick Wilber was also an interesting read, though I feel like there could be a lot more to it. Seems like there is, too, considering that its part of a larger universe. I might have to check that out, I’m always interested in first contact stories, and it feels like ones where aliens take over the planet and the humans just kind of have to live with that are few and far between. It didn’t really hook me in, but it did make me interested. I want to know more about these strange aliens who take humans as lovers and pets…
“How’s the Night Life on Cissalda?” by Harlan Ellison just felt… crude, honestly. Felt like the kind of story someone tells to a friend as a joke, somehow written up and published here. I just didn’t see much point to it. Like. Okay, these aliens teleport and then have sex with everyone until they die. I guess maybe its someone’s fetish? Just not for me. Not funny and not particularly interesting.
“The Jamesburg Incubus” by Scott Baker was another miss for me. Interesting ideas, I suppose, but again it just reads as someone’s idle fantasies without really saying anything. Maybe I’m missing the point? Man justifies his fantasies, makes excuses for self, and then oh, it turns out okay in the end because his wife joins in on it and its suddenly angelic? Some kind of commentary on marriage and kink and sex and religion? Maybe I should give it a better read sometime. I don’t think I do these stories any favors by reading them so late at night before I go to bed.
“Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” by Larry Niven… I tried to read. It’s just… boring and needlessly brutal. The snippet at the end states that it was “party conversation” until the author was made to type it up and frankly… I think it should have stayed that way. How tedious. I skipped through the majority of it. For me, it reads like those power scalers who are always arguing about who Goku could kill. Where’s the story? The interest? Who cares? To me it reads like someone who just wants to imagine the different ways in which sex might brutalize a woman. Not a fan.
I’m only about halfway through the next story, so I suppose I shall write down my thoughts on that one tomorrow. It’s 1 in the morning, and quite time for me to go get my glass of ice water and settle down to read for the night.
I did a little bit of drawing today, though I only finished a silly piece. Well, it started because I was meant to be drawing a meme image to add to Kajj’s art fight randomizer thing, but then I kind of got into rendering the tiles and the metal, making a bit of a study of it. As I make my way through my backlog of art, writing, and reviews to upload, perhaps I will wind up sharing that here too.
Goodnight, stranger who is reading this. I hope that you are well.