The Joy Factory Weekly - Issue #10 (6/21/2021) -- The Mega Issue
Alright! You've got your tickets! Let's get to this!
June has been a bit weird. A lot is going on over at the Duke compound. First, I’ve started a war with several robins and a pair of squirrels, the former of which has been digging up my potted plants. I’m not terribly pleased about this, but I want my plants to grow and be productive! Obviously, that means I’ve taken to gardening...again. For much of June, I’ve been building up my collection of edible plants (and one catnip plant). I’ve planted maybe twenty or so green onion plants, three varieties of mint (sweet, peppermint, and chocolate mint), three varieties of pepper (a red bell pepper, a variety of compact orange bell pepper, and a Carmen pepper plant), two kinds of basil, and two things of cilantro. I may have gotten...obsessed.
Beyond those adventures, which have been complicated by the lack of rain (solved by yesterday’s blast), I’ve been working on three different editing projects (two paid and one...not). Additionally, I’ve geared up for the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference, which started today. And I’m still working on the Actual Play Project, about which I can’t say too much because we’re getting pretty close to recording stuff!
Needless to say, the Joy Factory took a backseat to paid work and work work. I also temporarily pushed back a couple of Movie Roulette posts because I wanted to conduct a bit more research and needed to wait on the library books to arrive! Woo! But I’m back at it now…
In the realm of “things Shaun has released,” you might want to check out these lovelies:
A new post! “10 Caribbean Books You Should Read At Least Once” over at Medium! Clap it!
Over at The Skiffy and Fanty Show, Brandon O’Brien and I discussed Ousmane Sembène’s Xala (1975), an early work of African cinema! Also: don’t forget to check out our interview w/ P. Djélí Clark!
More to come, of course, but check out the Fin and Dockets section for more info on that.
Alright! Now onto the main affair...clickables?
As a fan of Caribbean literature who has spent quite a lot of his life reading and thinking about it, it seemed appropriate to finally do…
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And so it came to pass that the Joy Factory Monthly turned its attention a classic Disney musical, Pete's Dragon (1977). This episode, I'm joined by Alex Brown, a librarian, historian, and literary critic. Together, we deep dive into the history if Pete's Dragon, what makes the film so enjoyable, the wild world of drunk lighthouse keepers and angry teachers, and so much more!
You can find out more about Alex at these lovely spaces:
Alex's Website (Punk-Ass Book Jockey)
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Clickable Geekery
With all the controversy over Worldcon happening literally as I am writing this, it seemed appropriate to begin the Clickables section with this fascinating piece on the 1951 New Orleans Worldcon (from Deep Cuts). It looks at the irony of holding a convention about the future in the middle of the Jim Crow era in Jim Crow territory. It’s not a happy story, but it’s a reminder of the world we used to have and the promises we need to fulfill as a culture. Also on a less-than-happy note is this Guernica Mag article by Daegan Miller on reading, the anthropocene, and several recent works. What interests me here: it’s not the only piece questioning the role of reading in our present time. We need to start thinking about how we live meaningfully, collectively (even with individuality), and honestly. And over here in the U.S., we’re so far from any of that it’s not even funny...
On a happier note, you might want to check out Chris Farnell’s Den of Geek piece on the humanizing of space in ensemble science fiction television. Naturally, Farnell brings up Farscape and Star Trek and Blake’s 7, but there are also solid explorations of newer works like The Expanse or Mass Effect and quotes from prominent authors like Charlie Jane Anders. It’s a solid piece! If we stay back in time, you might be pleased to know that Raiders of the Lost Ark turned 40 earlier this month. The folks at Film School Rejects offer a specific look at John Williams’ incredible soundtrack (history, theme, and more).
Over at Nightmare Nostalgia, there’s a great piece on Predator, its designs, and its influence. I personally consider Predator to be one of the best 80s movies, and it seems plenty of folks agree. :P. On a related horror note: the folks at Puzzle Box Horror have a deep dive into the lessons of witches from horror literature; they mention Scott Snyder’s Wytches, which is a fantastic graphic novel that you absolutely should read! Then there’s Luna Station Quarterly’s selection of multilingual works of horror by Eve Taft, which includes works in Yiddish, Thai, German, and more! And the last of my horror selections is this strange piece from HNN on horror films as dating fodder. It includes actual meat, drawing on psychology, gender studies, and more. There’s obviously much more to discover here, so maybe someone else will really run with it!
Finally, you’ve got a little over a week to snatch up this Afrofuturism and Black Fantastic StoryBundle curated by Tenea D. Johnson. It features some truly incredible writers, some of whom are new to me (and whom I must read immediately). GET IT!
Pay what you like and get a bundle of awesome ebooks and more!
Clickable Factoids
Over at Centauri Dreams, Gilster has a quick article about some recent work on the Oort cloud, interstellar travel, and more. There’s mention here of interstellar travelers using resources found along the way to continue fueling travel, which I find pretty interesting. Generation ships, here we come (maybe). In other space news, Universe Today reports on the merger of three galaxies, a rare occurrence which comes with a pair of friendly black holes. It’s pretty cool!
Adjacent to space are a couple of science-y bits. The first is a piece at Literary Hub about cryonic preservation. The science, the science fiction, and the Capsicles, oh my! Basically, it’s fun! Additionally, Atlas Obscura takes a look at Tom Brown, who has saved a thousand varieties of apples in the Appalachians. I desperately want to visit the dude’s orchard! Lastly, new evidence shows that blue whales were recorded off the coast of India! Mostly, this is important because it highlights another region where conservation efforts may be needed. And, yes, we need to save these amazing creatures!
And in the realm of history, there’s this great piece at JSTOR Daily on James Baldwin and the FBI’s monitoring of his work. It’s a critically important reminder of the legacies of racism in the FBI (and U.S. policing overall), and I strongly recommend folks read it!
Clickable Fiction
“The Cosmic Looters” by Edmon Hamilton (Imagination Science Fiction)
“Tower of Ivory, Tower of Horn” by Reno Evangelista (Strange Horizons)
“Wolf Tones” by Sofia Samatar (Lightspeed Magazine)
“Inselberg” by Nalo Hopkinson (Lightspeed Magazine)
“Heart Shine” by Shveta Thakrar (Uncanny Magazine)
"River, Clap Your Hands” by Sheree Renée Thomas (Uncanny Magazine)
“The Heart” by Ovidiu Bufnilă (AntipodeanSF)
“A Winged Bug’s Pain” by Sele Hanakusa and translated by Toshiya Kamei (AntipodeanSF)
“A Morning with Grey Clouds” by Swylmar S. Ferreira and translated by Toshiya Kamei (AntipodeanSF)
“How to Steal a Million Dollars Dragons” by Effie Seiberg (Fantasy Magazine)
“The Far Side of the Universe” by noc (Tor.com)
“Ali Knows the Future” by Karl El-Koura (Daily Science Fiction)
“In My Tower” by Mary Soon Lee (Daily Science Fiction)
“Empty Houses” by Caspian Gray (Nightmare Magazine)
“Dead Men Eat” by Roseline Mgbodichinma (Kalahari Review)
“What Friends Are For” by Beth Cato (Nature Futures)
You might also want to check out Issue 046 of Luna Station Quarterly, the June 2021 issue of Fantasy Magazine, Issue 332 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 11 of Zooscape, the May 2021 Issue of Strange Horizons and the May 2021 issue of Electric Spec! Also: you should give Whetstone Issue 3 a shot; it’s an amateur pulp sword and sorcery mag and might fill up your soul!
Discover more about Dragon Man, a new sister lineage for Homo sapiens.
First up, let’s look at some academic media! There’s Gregory B. Sadler’s return to the Worlds of Speculative Fiction series with a look at Philip Jose Farmer’s World of Tiers. I’ve never read the work in question, but this lecture got me a bit curious!
Additionally, Stanford recently dropped the Michel Serres Distinguished Lecture by Jean-Pierre Dupuy in June. Dupuy is a noted philosopher and engineer; here, he offers a wide-reaching lecture on Serres, theories of the globe, and more. It’s fascinating how he draws connections across language, literatures, etc.
More directly tied to literature, there’s this panel discussion on the history of Indian SF/F. It comes with a handy PowerPoint so you don’t miss any of the names!
Lastly, Alan Liu from the University of California, Santa Barbara offers a lecture on the role of literature in the information age (among other questions). This is, naturally, something after my own heard, as I am constantly trying to consider where literature fits into what I currently do as a professor of digital writing and rhetoric!
Now let’s look at some of the CFPs I found (in order by deadline):
1. “Dune, from Herbert to Villeneuve”
Deadline: July 31, 2021 / PAMLA
Panel seeks abstracts for presentations on the legacy of Dune. Serves as a response to the upcoming film adaptation.
2. “Obayashi Nobuhiko”
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2021 / New Anthology
New collection seeks proposals for essays on all aspects of Obayashi’s career, including Hausu, his advertisements, and more!
3. “Screening Loss: An Exploration of Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema”
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2021 / New Book
Collection seeks abstracts for essays on the treatment of loss within current horror cinema, including works such as Midsommer, The Babadook, El Orfanato, and more!
4. “Special Issue on Young Adult Speculative Fiction”
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2021 / MOSF Journal of Science Fiction
Journal seeks subs on YA SF, including longform essays, reflective essays, and book reviews.
5. “Black Horror Film”
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2021 / The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film
New handbook seeks abstracts for essays on the taxonomies of race, blackness in horror, themes of transgression, sound, and liberation, etc.
Deadline: Aug. 1, 2021 / New Book
Edited collection wants proposals for chapters on all facets of aboriginal and indigenous horror. If you’ve got a paper on Blood Quantum brewing, submit it here!
7. “LGBTQIA+ Fantastika Graphics”
Deadline: Aug. 20, 2021 / Fantastika Journal
A new digital symposium helmed by FJ seeks presentations on fantastical representations of LGBTQIA+ folks, including themes of post-humanitie, race, and more.
8. “Pikachu’s Transmedia Adventures: The Continuing Adaptability of the Pokemon Franchise”
Deadline: Aug. 27, 2021 / New Book
Collection seeks abstracts for essays on a myriad of topics concerning Pikachu, Pokemon, transmedia studies, and Japanese culture. There are a lot of angles here!
9. “Lee Child”
Deadline: Sept. 1, 2021 / Symposium at University of East Anglia
Submissions sought for the first scholarly event on the writing of Lee Child. There are a lot of angles here, folks. Read the CFP!
10. “Embodying Horror”
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2021 / NeMLA
Panel seeks papers on the relationship between the body and horror. Interdisciplinary, critical race, and feminist/queer perspectives welcome.
11. “Video Games and the Literary”
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2021 / NeMLA
Panel seeks subs concerning the connections between video games and literature. Includes examinations of games via literary theory, video games as rebuttal of literary ideas, etc.
12. “The Exorcist: Studies on Possession, Influence, & Society”
Deadline: Oct. 31, 2021 / Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural
Journal seeks subs for a special issue on The Exorcist, including how it might be used as a framework for analyzing data, the arts, and more. Plenty to see here. Get those subs ready!
13. “Chinese Fandoms” and “Trans Fandom”
Deadline: Jan. 1, 2022 / Transformative Works and Cultures
Two special issues of TWC seek papers on the changing nature of fandom in China OR to expand our understanding of trans fandoms. Lengths and styles are variable. Should be interesting!
14. “80s Horror”
Deadline: Jan. 17, 2022 / Horror Studies
Journal seeks subs for a special issue on the 80s error of horror, including its impact on the genre, its themes concerning culture, government, and more, etc.
15. “Robin Hood Studies”
Deadline: Dec. 31, 2024 / The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies
Journal seeks subs on all aspects of Robin Hood. Upcoming special issues will look at Otto Bathurst’s 2018 Robin Hood film and Robin Hood games.
16. “Horror and Monstrosity Studies Series”
Deadline: None / University Press of Mississippi
Series seeks monographs on all aspects of the themes of monstrosity, including from a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives. It’s a long list of possibilities, y’all!
Now on to...media?
Currently Reading
I’m reading far too many things right now. These include:
Xala by Ousmane Sembène
The Shining by Stephen King (yes, I’m still nursing it)
The Rise of Nerd Politics by John Postill
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom (mostly out of curiosity; it is not good)
Algorithmic Regulation edited by Karen Yeung and Martin Lodge (for a review)
For the most part, I’m reading these for fun. Xala is the original text for the movie of the same name (written and directed by Sembène; we covered it on Skiffy and Fanty). It’s an odd book, but I also find it quite enjoyable to read. Sembène’s style is fairly straightforward with a tinge of an almost folksiness. If anything, this book makes me wish he’d written cozy mysteries. He would have been good at them.
The others are either “curiosity readings” or “things I need to read for important things.” I ran a poll last week, which gave me The Rise of Nerd Politics, a book more about classic nerds rather than the kind of nerds associated with fandom. Still, it ties into some of the things I teach at BSU -- namely, Internet politics and the changes in the way political activity works. Bloom, however, is purely curiosity based, and I can tell you that it’s a glorious mess of a book; expect me to come back to it later.
So there you go. That’s what I’m reading!
Currently Watching
I just finished The Devil Below (2021), which was underwhelming, and Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness (2021), which was remarkably good. Now, I’m working my way through The Ripper, which concerns the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer from the 70s; so far, it’s quite good, but the tone is very different from Sons of Sam.
Beyond that, I’m working my way through Leverage for a podcast thing. I’ve never seen the show, so this has been a real experience. Expect more on that later!
Currently Listening To
I’ve moved on from psytrance to other variations (classic trance, progressive, house, and vocal trance). Frankly, you just need to check out the 2021 Joy Factory Playlist on Spotify to see what I’m listening to.
Why am I on this train? Well, most trance varieties do not contain vocals and feature powerful melodies. I end up with both worlds: music I can listen to while I work AND music I can pause for to let myself...go. I love me some emotion-inducing music!
Currently Writing
I’ve been hard at work on a short story which has no name. I shared an excerpt with my $5/mo patrons a little while ago. It’s partly a story about fate and partly a story about my youth, but in a horror universe full of horrifying underworld imagery, my grandmother being a creeper, and other wonders. I’m having an absolute blast with it!
Beyond that, I’ve put the horror novel on hold to work on an outline. I’ve found that my biggest problem, like a lot of writers, is finishing things. Since I hate the editing process from a writing perspective, I’m hoping this will help me make things more meaningful and productive! Plus, I’d like to actually FINISH something and start submitting fiction again!
Now let’s turn to the media you should check out!
I’ve found some lovely goodies for all of you!
First up, there’s this great history of Jigsaw from the Saw franchise by CZsWorld. He even shows up in Jigsaw cosplay to make your life...horrifying...
Then there’s this first episode of Science Fiction Sparkle Salon from the Center for Science and the Imagination. It features Malka Older, Annalee Newitz, Arkady Martine, Amal El-Mohtar, Karen Lord, and Katie Mack! What a cast :o
In the realms of audio fiction, there were quite a lot of great pieces worth shower, including:
“The Machine That Would Rewild Humanity” by Tobias S. Buckell at Escape Pod
“Akiko’s Legacy” by Eugie Foster at PseudoPod
“Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy” by C.L. Clark at PodCastle
“Three for Hers” by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko at PodCastle
“Red Box” by Tracy Cross at Nightlight Pod
Lastly, I have this single gorgeous image from APOD to share. It’s of the Tadpole Galaxy, and it is just stunning. Look for yourself:
There are times when I turn on a thing and realize it was a mistake. Sometimes it’s a terrible 80s horror film like Edge of the Axe (1988) or a TV series you don’t realize will leave you disappointed until it’s too late (ahem, Jupiter’s Legacy). This time, it’s Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead.
If I’m honest, I came into this with high hopes. Unlike most people over the age of 25, I actually quite enjoy Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (2004) -- even though I agree that the original is a better film. I thought the film handled its zombie universe well, built up meaningful personal stakes for its characters, and had sufficient tension to make for an occasionally terrifying adventure. It is upon that experience that I came into Army of the Dead with certain expectations for the kind of film we’d get. Alas, a heist-y Dawn of the Dead we did not get.
Army of the Dead opens with a car crash between a military convoy and a car of newlyweds outside Las Vegas. You can imagine what the newlyweds are up to on your own time. The convoy, it turns out, is carrying a monster which might be an alien or an experiment or just a regular super zombie; naturally, the super zombie infects several of the soldiers, and then we’re gifted a montage of stylistic zombie mayhem. The rest of the story follows Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a former mercenary who is hired by Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) to infiltrate his casino and salvage the vault of cash before Las Vegas is nuked to control the infection. With Scott is a crew of eccentric mercenary misfits that includes Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), Ludwig Dieter (Matthia Schweighöfer), Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro, who is CGed into the movie), Lily (Nora Arnezeder), and more. Scott’s daughter, Kate (Ella Purnell), also forces her way along to find her friend, who has gone into the quarantine zone and disappeared. Hijinks ensue.
As a film, Army of the Dead is a prime example of the Snyder approach to filmmaking. Significant portions of the film are dedicated to flashy imagery operating as a kind of concept art. Snyder has been accused of operating in a style-over-substance vein numerous times, and he does not escape that criticism here. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the brief shot in the zombie infection montage in which we watch paratroopers descend into the zombie-infested Vegas streets, where they are absurdly outnumbered and serve as little more than appetizers to the horde. While the irony is interesting, the entire sequence makes little sense. Why would the U.S. military drop paratroopers into obviously infested streets? If Vegas is the center of the infection, why wouldn’t you quarantine the area first and use crowd dispersal tactics to reduce the zombie numbers? The scene feels less anchored to the actual world and story than it does to Snyder’s style throughout the film. Ultimately, if you think even for a minute about what you’re watching, the entire thing falls apart. And, no, you can’t survive a nuke that way. No, sir.
That style-over-substance nature of the film permeates nearly every facet of the story. Scott’s conflict with his daughter, for example, is largely inserted to add tension to what is already a tense mission and to derail the story with nonsensical timelines. But we don’t understand why the tension exists, and when we do finally get an answer, it’s a throwaway line that does nothing to ground us in the emotional journey of the family -- and even less to convince us of the film’s painfully obvious ending. The subplots are also compounded on top of each other, and yet none of them feel particularly earned or “lived in.” Scott’s relationship isn’t a vehicle for a meaningful exploration of family; it is merely a device to complicate the heist plot. Did it need to be here? Not really. Couple this with other side plots, such as Tanaka’s goon having an ulterior motive, or the far more interesting I Am Legend turn as we realize early on that the zombies are not what we think they are, and you end up with a movie that seems hell bent on having personal stakes but doesn’t want to spend the time to make them land. These extra levels are stylistic flourishes of other, more complete stories, inserted to imitate effective narratives. And they’re coupled with lackluster horror tropes, such as characters doing things that nobody in their right mind would do. I might have yelled at the TV on a number of occasions...
Much of this, of course, could be resolved by simply thinking about the shot sequences or plot contrivances before putting them on the screen. What does a scene add? Does it make sense in context? Is this emotional moment earned? These are all questions that this film desperately needs to interrogate but never does. The film would also have benefited from someone on set having a watch, as we’re told numerous times that the nuke will drop before the runtime of the film has concluded. The sense of space or time is almost absent here, so much so that we might as well live in an alternate reality in which those concepts mean absolutely nothing. The result is a movie that would be disappointing if it weren’t another Zack Snyder hand flail.
All of that said, the movie is not without its goods. While Notaro is criminally underused here, there are hints at a stellar performance which, yes, is style-forward but feels anchored to a real character -- a badass helicopter pilot with a snarky mouth (give me more). Reducing Notaro to a “yes” character, though, leaves much to be desired. I could say similar things about Schweighöfer’s Dieter, who brings a frenetic energy to the cast that is much needed.
Additionally, Snyder is a master of the visual craft. His shot compositions, while often nonsensical, are pleasing to look at. If Snyder could focus his stories so the images are more than stylistic flourishes, I could see him producing memorable works in almost any genre. There is one scene, for example, in which the cast must weave their way through a room full of sleeping zombies without waking them; it’s as tense as any horror scene you can imagine, and I wish more of the movie focused on the horrific complexities of performing a heist in a zombie-infested city -- i.e., where the heart lives. Likewise, Snyder’s vision of apocalyptic Las Vegas is stunning and puts similar genre versions -- such as Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) -- to bed. I also found his treatment of the zombies -- as an ant-like hierarchy -- quite compelling if not underexplored, and his treatment of gore throughout made for a suitably splashy film. In a lot of ways, this movie feels like an action-packed video game. Perhaps that’s where Snyder should have taken it, as I think it would have worked better in that medium than as a film.
All-in-all, I came away from this film one part disappointed and one part kicking myself for expecting anything else. The criticisms of Snyder as a director remain accurate. He is a style-first, story-second director, and while that can make for visually-pleasing films, it doesn’t make for films worth remembering. There are better zombie movies out there, and I’ll return those to my screens sooner than I’d give Army of the Dead another shot. Find a copy of the original Dawn of the Dead (1978). You won’t be disappointed.
This week, the library is filled to the brim with new and exciting stuff. Make sure to get your library card ready (or head over to the bookstore and buy literally everything).
Here are a bunch of books worth checking out this week!
Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury (Margaret K. McElderry Books; June 15, 2021)
The Tangleroot Palace: Stories by Marjorie Liu (Tachyon Publications; June 15, 2021)
Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific by Nicholas Thomas (Basic Books; June 15, 2021)
Drug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes: Violent Myths of the U.S.-Mexico Border by Rafael Acosta Morales (Notre Dame Press; June 15, 2021)
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton (Berkley; June 15, 2021)
Sisters of the Snake by Sarena and Sasha Nanua (HarperTeen; June 15, 2021)
Haunted Homes by Dahlia Schweitzer (Rutgers University Press; June 18, 2021)
The Digitally Disposed: Racial Capitalism and the Informatics of Value by Seb Franklin (University of Minnesota Press; June 22, 2021)
Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste by Jonathan Gray (NYU Press; June 22, 2021)
Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O’Keefe (Orbit; June 22, 2021)
The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro (Flame Tree Press; June 22, 2021)
Human Evolution and Fantastic Victorian Fiction by Anna Neill (Routledge; June 25, 2021)
Black Sci-Fi Short Stories by Various (Flame Tree Publishing; June 26, 2021)
There is a lot of non-fiction here. You’re welcome.A few line up with some of my current research interests. Franklin’s The Digitally Disposed and Gray’s Dislike-Minded both look at some of the issues relevant to my digital writing course. The first will, I think, have an impact on how we talk about value systems and race in digital environments. The latter will tie directly into some of my teaching interests; I’m always trying to get us to think about how we value things online and the role of audiences in that process. Both books look fantastic!
Outside of my immediate research interests, there are a few non-fiction works I think sound really neat! Thomas’ Voyagers looks like a decent introduction to the incredible history of the Pacific going back well before the West showed up. As someone who strongly considered focusing on Hawaiian literature many years ago, Thomas’ book greatly interests me. How he will pack all this history into 224 pages is an interesting question, though… Meanwhile, there’s Moraels’ cowboys and desperadoes book, which I’m sure will be an utter joy to read solely because the American mythology of the western side of the containment (and especially the border with Mexico) is fascinating. This one, of course, offers a Latinx perspective, which is awesome.
Then there’s Schweitzer’s short exploration of haunted houses and other homes in horror film and TV. I think what most interests me here is Schweitzer’s clear interest with tracing a history to the present. What connections will she draw? Only one way to find out! And lastly, there’s Neill’s look at the impact of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species on Victorian and Edwardian fiction. I’m especially curious to see if Neill discusses the Edisonades, which I see as precursors to modern SF and were absolutely impacted by the late-19th century scientific “revolution.”
The fiction side is also full of some fascinating works. I recently got an advanced copy of Sambury’s Blood Like Magic, which is full of witches and family magic and dark wonder. I am absolutely adoring all the diverse work being done in the YA SF/F/H space! Speaking of which, Sisters of the Snake looks fantastic, too! Of course, it grabbed my interest because of the title (sneks!), but I’m also really interested to see how two actual twins tackle and Aladdin-esque narrative full of thieves and magic and more! Also of interest: Castro’s The Queen of the Cicadas. No, it doesn’t have to do with this year’s cicada armageddon, but it does feature urban legends, goddesses, borderland politics, and more. I really can’t wait to read this one!
Meanwhile, Liu’s The Tangleroot Palace has a stunning cover. I’ve not read Liu’s short fiction yet, but I think it’s safe to say that the content of this collection, which explores bone collection magic, Chinese warriors, and more, will be something up my alley! Then there’s something quite outside of my usual reading interests: Holton’s The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. The title does a lot of work here, but so does its fun treatment of Victoriana, from crime societies to gothic locations to, yes, a little bit of romance! Plus, there might be an assassin involved. ;)
On the science fiction side, O’Keefe’s Catalyst Gate is one I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I remember reading O’Keefe’s work when she stormed onto the scene a few years ago. This book conclude her most recent series (a PKD Award nominee!). Seeing her continue to smash it with compelling works of science fiction (this one a military space opera) is a real treat. Lastly, I think everyone should check out Flame Tree Publishing’s Black Sci-Fi Short Stories, which is full of some truly fantastic new and old works. This one seems like a must have for anyone wanting to change up their reading!
And on that note, it’s time to turn to...more books?
Every week, I’ll ask my Twitter followers what they’re reading. Here’s what they said:
The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen (from @tarkusest)
Beyond a Reasonable Stout by Ellie Alexander (from @chadwickginther)
Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey by Holley Bishop (from @chadwickginther)
Eddy Current by Ted McKeever (from @tadethompson)
Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski (from @carturo222)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson (from @ChazBrenchley)
Island Reich by Jack Grimwood (from @ChazBrenchley)
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (from @CamestrosF)
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (from @RainbowWar71)
Machine by Elizabeth Bear (from @oldscout)
The Second Sect by Tao Wong (from @oldscout)
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds (from @LA_Knight89)
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (from @LA_Knight89)
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (from @LA_Knight89)
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho (from @delegar & @neonhemlock)
The Herd by Andrea Bartz (from @neonhemlock)
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (from @SteveJWright1)
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry (from @MisteyMassey)
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (from @Reubenhub)
Fall of Light by Steven Erikson (from @Reubenhub)
Nose Dive by Harold McGee (from @Reubenhub)
The Best of C.L. Moore (from @Reubenhub)
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft by Wizards RPG Team (from @AdronBuske)
Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove (from AdronBuske)
Meg Langslow Mysteries by Donna Andrews (from @CatKimbriel)
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (from @AlteredInstinct)
Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson (from @templetongate)
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes by Paul Cornell (from @jspinkmills)
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (from @taylor_dallas)
Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (from @deafoddish)
White Trash Zombie Unchained by Diana Rowland (from @cherylreads)
Bag Man by Rachel Maddow (from @eschiss1)
The Name of All Things by Jen Lyons (from @Bethynyc)
Dragons Don’t Eat Meat by Kim McDougall (from @lizCarlin4)
Shadows End by Ron Ripley (from @TwinnerCat)
The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang (from @certifiedjenius)
And there you have it. Follow me on Twitter @shaunduke if you want to share your reads next time!
And there you have it! A mega edition of the Joy Factory Weekly Newsletter! Thanks, as always, for hanging out with me. You’re awesome!
I’m currently auditing a writing conference, so you should expect things to be on the light side of things this week. Here’s what to expect:
More podcasts! I have two episodes of The Skiffy and Fanty Show to edit and release PLUS our monthly Speculative Dispatch episode for patrons. Then The Joy Factory Monthly should drop a new episode by Monday (more on that when it happens)!
Possibly an article or a pair of book reviews. I’m a bit scattered right now with various editing projects and the conference, so I’m keeping things tentative.
And there you have it!
Joyful Transmission Concluded!
Thanks for reading The Joy Factory Weekly newsletter! As always, if you want to support the project or my other work, head over to patreon.com/thejoyfactory. You can find me @shaunduke on Twitter and at shaunduke.net!