Sunday!
So the next Dresden book will be called “Peace Talks”.
Now, I suppose I could speculate on what the main conflict was going to be based on nothing more than that (which, seriously, is all I know about it) but I had no idea that Nicodemus would have been the source of the main conflict of “Skin Game” after that title was released… though “Cold Days” probably would have gotten me to speculate about how the main conflict would have involved the main conflict involved in Being The Winter Knight.
Of course, I would have also guessed that we were going to begin to wrap up major storylines (and begun our winding down of the series) rather than ending with “Oh, this story is JUST GETTING STARTED!” (I mean, given “Changes” and “Ghost Story”, I figured that we were in the home stretch).
With those acknowledgments in place, let’s speculate.
I’m guessing that we’ll hammer out exactly what the “parasite” is, exactly, what it can do, and integrate it into the Dresdenverse. Along the way, we’ll deal with more of the Winter Knight thing (specifically, the physical costs of being the Knight) and we’ll figure out a workaround so that we can drop that particular thread. Oh, and Thomas will show up again. The main conflict will probably involve the… um. Peace Talks… Hrm… Who’s at war with whom? Seems a bit early to have active conversations with the Outsiders and their factions. The Summer Court, then? Winter vs. Summer and we’ll establish how everybody needs to be on the same side, here? That would also let us hammer out what’s going on with Molly as well… so I’ll start preparing myself for that.
I’m really looking forward to it already.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
(Photo is “Movie Night“, taken by Ginny, used under a creative commons license.)
Spoiler alert!!
The peace talks are with the vampire courts. Remember, the council was at war with all of the courts, just not the red-court. The destruction of the red court did not end the war (though it did end any reason for further hostilities) The peace talks are between the remaining courts and the white council. Thomas is likely to make an appearance, as is Mavra.
As I’ve predicted on tv tropes, Thomas is going to end up with Amoracchius* and hopefully kill Mavra. As a member of the white court who can feel true love, the sword of love is strangely fitting for him. Given that he has taken down the one of the nickleheads before, and that he is the son of the white king, looks to be a good candidate for it. And if Jim’s teaser is accurate, Thomas is going to be a dad.Report
Hannibal last night was…bonkers, even by the standards that show has previously set. And now begins the Red Dragon arc.
Is anyone else watching Wayward Pines? I’m about 6 or 7 episodes in, and it’s also bonkers, except it’s just…not good, yet I can’t stop watching. It’s entertainingly awful. Matt Dillon in particular is just atrocious.Report
I thought they hammered out what the parasite was pretty thoroughly. Not what it could do, of course, but what it was.
I suspect Peace Talks will cover more than the Courts, as Dresden — in his new role — has come to see more of the larger picture, and learned quite a bit about the Nemesis and the increasing threat of Outsiders.Report
I will fall back on Kuato:
“You are what you do.”Report
I haven’t had the opportunity to note stuff on a Sunday post fro a while, so this is actually a few weeks worth of stuff…
READING
Between the Wold & Me : The shortest of everything I’ve been reading, the new book by Ta-Hehisi is taking the longest time to read. Not shockingly, I love it. The content is powerful, obviously, but there is also the fact that Coates might craft the most beautiful non-fiction prose in the writing world today. I can’t recommend the book enough.
The Girl With All the Gifts : A great page turner that kind of is, and kind of isn’t, about the zombie apocalypse. Highly recommended beach read material.
J : Another highly recommended title, this one a quite, reflective and rather heartbreaking dystopian novel by Mann-Booker winner Howard Jacobson. Like all my favorite dystopian novels, it focuses less on the politics of what makes a dystopia or lionizes rebellious leaders, but instead focuses on the way societies can crush the lives of ordinary people. The actual mechanics of the dystopia — the result of what is referred to only as What Happened, If It Happened — plays a very second fiddle to the characters whose everyday lives are impacted.
Station Eleven : Another dystopia novel, and one that I liked. But also one that suffered in my eyes by the mere fact that I read it immediately after reading J. I wonder if I would have liked it more if it hadn’t come along at a time when it had impossibly big shoes to fill.
More Mexican Everyday : One of those cookbooks that is interesting enough in it’s presentation — more talk about how and why to do things that lists of ingredients and instructions — that I actually read it cover to cover. Will be making great use of this book in the coming months.
Up next, based partially on the recommendation of Mr. Likko and partially on the my love of palindromes, is Seveneves.
WATCHING
Mr. Robot : If you are on this site, you will love this show. Period.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell : I confess, I tried to read the book years ago and just couldn’t wade through it without being distracted by… well, anything, really. The BBC miniseries is a hoot, though.
Aquarius : Not a bad show, but one that would have been better if it had been more like the cable fare NBC was trying to mimic and limited to 10-14 episodes. As it was, it just dragged on a wee bit too long.
Heroes, Season 1 : The subsequent seasons were so arduous that I plum forgot how fantastic the first season was until I watched it again last week.
Wayward Pines :Great start, then it got slow, then it got mind-numbingly stupid. The “big reveal” anticipation that kept me in the Wayward Pines game made me want to punch the show’s writer in the face when it finally came. I have abandoned it.
Sense 8 Here is my rule of thumb for recommending the the Wachowski’s Netflix series Sense 8: Did you love or hate their Cloud Atlas? If you loved Could Atlas, you will love Sense 8; and likewise you should avoid it if you were a CA hater.Report
RE: Wayward Pines. Yes, the Big Reveal was stupid…but I suspect that the Big Reveal was in part or whole a lie, and there is another Big Reveal coming.
At least, I hope so. I’d also like to see what they do with the Toby Jones character…I’d like to see a work of fiction in which a mad scientist (who is basically correct/righteous in broad outline, if not his methods, which are….unsound) plays God, and things go wrong (as they do) so he starts over and tries again, and again, with varying degrees of success and shadiness involved each time, as his “creation” “betrays” him via chance or intent or his own error/shortsightedness.
I think in the hands of the right creators, the story of a fallible (but basically good) Creator struggling and doing the best he can with and for his even-more-fallible creation could be really compelling and moving metaphor.Report
I should make clear though – these are not those creators. I have no hope that this show will suddenly get a brain. I just think there’s at least the germ of an interesting idea in that character and the setup.Report
” Coates might craft the most beautiful non-fiction prose in the writing world today. ”
Yeeeaaahhhh… no. John McPhee is still alive, and Coates has a long way to go craft a sentence at that level.Report
Hmmm, McPhee is a delight for sure, but I’d have to go with David Quammen and (especially) Barry Lopez (Arctic Dreams!!) in the Best Non-fiction Prose category. Just an opinion, of course, and heavily weighted, since it’s MY opinion!Report
Although those are three of my favorite writers, I’d also put Maggie Nelson, Kiese Laymon, and Anne Fadiman up against them in a beautiful-nonfiction-writing-cage-match and cheerfully bet on my team to win. (Granted the odds ratio would be small.)
I’m really looking forward to Ta-Nehisi’s new book, @tod-kelly – good to hear it is the all-that I was expecting it to be.Report
I don’t think I’ve read anything by any of those writers, which is sorta sad, really. I’ll check em out (I lovs me some beautiful prose).
Re: TNC’s new book: Tod’s review was an additional push to read it, but I was pretty much committed when I read David Brooks white splain to TNC that he’s just wrong wrong wrong.Report
It’s funny how that works, as after I read Brooks, I said “yeah, I am done with TNC, that cements what I felt for the last 5-6 years” I was never a Brooks fan, but that helped me put my finger on why I was never a TNC fan (no politics.)
Oh, Anne Fadiman is good, really good.Report
Fadiman is an uncommon name. Is the any relation to …
Yup, Clifton’s daughter.Report
Speaking of Anne Fadiman @maribou I was living in Merced and managing a book shop when Spirit Catches You.. came out. Tried mightily to get her to do a signing, but to no avail.Report
I finished Game of Thrones.
Damn, Stannis.
Started second half of the first season of Game if Thrones.
Listening to Watchman.Report
You mean, you finished all five novels? Congrats.
Now there’s the three Dunk and Egg stories, and the two “histories” of the Dance of the Dragons. And the World of Fire and Ice book.Report
I goofed up. I’m current on the TV show, and from there moved on to The Flash (end of first season) not GOT.Report
Ah. I’m not current on the TV show, jut halfway through this last season. But I’ve read everything in print.Report
Some pretty significant divergences, though it’s hard to know where the show is going in a different direction and where it’s simply moved ahead. (That’s as spoiler as I will get.)Report
Boo, Stannis! Boo!
You deserved whatever it was that Brienne dished out to you.
Boo!Report
Packing! Moving! To Yonkers! Many more changes afoot, perhaps more to come…Report
Don’t forget the baby.Report
The baby is easy. He fits neatly in a box. The toddler? He keeps fighting his way out. Might need to put him in one of those black clothes storage bins with the clamp down lids.Report
As long as he’s got air and water, he’ll be fine.Report
Tell Dolly we said Hello.Report
Well, speaking of expecting this popped up on the the Cormac McCarthy forum:
Amazon Uk (Which, for whatever reason, always lists books before its US counterpart) has these two entries…
Untitled McCarthy 14 Mme – 1 Sept 2016 Macmillan Hardbacks – 9780330457422
and
Untitled McCarthy 15 Mme – 13 Oct 2016 Macmillan Hardbacks – 9780330457446
So, there goes my next year of waiting…
As of right now, rereading The End of The Affair for something I am writing now, also still working on Mobey Dick.Report
@aarondavid Moby Dick is the epitome of the book that you hated when you read it in high school, and loved when you reread it as an adult. Or at least, it sure was for me.Report
I didn’t read it in high school, but am loving it now. It is one of those books that you just want to savor. I picked up a weird/bad habit working in book stores of reading a chunk of a book and putting it down partway to start another. I often have 5-10 books going at once that I will pick back up (or not) as the mood catches me. This is not helped as I am a compulsive book buyer, with new books coming in all the time.Report
For me it was Heart of Darkness. Hated it as a college freshman, 5 years later found it lying around in my brother’s room and couldn’t put it down.Report
Still reading Zweig’s WWI cycle which, for those of you also obsessed with that war, is wonderful. Also Virgil is still dying.
Watched Ex Machina. I didn’t like it, though it was beautifully filmed. Every step it took was the obvious one, and it was too long for the story, such as it was. Should have been a short.Report
I enjoyed the hell out of Ex Machina notwithstanding my agreement with your critique. I enjoyed that the screenplay found a way to fill in the backstory using visuals, and the tycoon character played by Oscar Isaac was more than a little bit unexpected, at least as to his personality (as was the dancing).Report
I will say this much: when the zombie apocalypse hits, I’m taking over his house.
It was definitely well directed, and superbly filmed. I just wish there had been more to it. And I wish I didn’t know pretty much how it was going to go by the time of the first power outage.Report
In art of this type, one sentient’s “tedious predictability” may be another sentient’s “tragic necessity.”Report
Reading Mistborn. Quite enjoying it, too.
Not watching much of anything, although lately I’ve seen Jupiter Ascending, new RoboCop, AntMan, & Minions.Report
How was Minions? The trailers look hilarious, and I thought about taking the 7-year old for his birthday (which was Saturday), but we couldn’t get it in. May take him in a couple weeks.Report
Not bad, definitely aimed at a younger audience than Despicable Me was, but still enjoyable.Report
Both reading and watching Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell.Report
Had you read the book before? Interesting to do both at the same time. I think they changed the chronology a bit; no? Mr. Norrell appears quite late in the book I thought. Doesn’t it open with the quest to find someone actually practicing magic? Yet the photos I’ve seen have him in the show from the beginning. I wondered how that alters the spell the story weaves?Report
I’m somewhat delayed on JS &Mr.N, but I don’t see it mucking about with the chronology much in the first few episodes. The book introduces Norrell right quick. That quest to find someone actually practicing magic is a short prologue that ends with Norrell established as a main character.
I like the show quite a bit. It lacks a lot of the narrator’s whimsy that makes the book so wonderful, but the excellent writing and acting makes up for it. I am puzzled by the way the gentleman with the thistledown hair is presented. In the book, he’s very much a character who is affably amoral, whereas in the show he is outwardly sinister.Report
Ha. I think, perhaps, I’m conflating the the time it took for me to engage here; it’s been many years since I read it. But the beginning seemed long before we find Mr. Norril.
Trying to decide to re-read first, to watch first, or to do simultaneously now.Report
@zic
They do play with the timing a little. I think they’re trying to even the Strange and Norrell sections out a bit rather than having the first third be all Norrell and the second third being all Strange.
They’re also emphasizing the differences between the magicians, presumably because they’ll have less time for developing them.
I have only see. The first 2 episodes though, so I. Not sure how far they’ll diverge bReport
I’ve heard good things about the show and want to watch it, but BBC got dropped from my cable package through a snafu and I haven’t straightened it out yet.
I have to say that I was very underwhelmed by the book when I read it, despite it sounding like something that would be right up my alley. For magician fiction, give me Carter Beats The Devil or The Prestige.Report
Is The Prestige the basis for the movie with Christian Bale and Michael Caine?
I ask only so that I had an excuse to watch this (NSFW):
Report
It is @chris and The Trip is hilarious!Report
Someone finally got my friend drunk enough to do voicework again.Report
Reading: “The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates.”
In other words, the original. It is quite readable, which doesn’t surprise me. I generally find 18th century English prose very readable. More so than 19th century prose. Like most people, I suspect, I only knew the story second through eighth hand, in a compressed form. It is interesting reading Defoe’s text and comparing it with my impressions. As a trivial example, I always assumed that the human footprint Crusoe found in the sand was Friday’s. Friday actually comes into the story a few years later. More thematically, I was surprised to realize that a major point (perhaps *the* point) of the book is a How-I-Came-to-Jesus witness story.
I may write a review once I am finished.Report
I recommend reading Coetzee’s Foe when you finish, particularly if you like any of Coetzee’s other works. It is probably his best (though I am particularly fond of Life & Times of Michael K).Report