The Joy Factory Weekly - Issue #3 (4/19/2021)
Alright. You've got your tickets now. Here goes!
Literally everything this week has been put on some variation of "hold." Why? Well, my Patreon supporters got the detailed answer, but the short version is "job market shenanigans." A lot of what I had originally planned last week got shoved to the side in preparation for events happening this week which demanded much of my attention. On the one hand, I feel rather guilty about it, as I have been having productivity issues all year. On the other hand, "job market shenanigans" are ultimately good for me, and so I know I shouldn't feel too guilty. But then I feel guilty anyway because woo brainworms.
That said, there have been some other things going on. For one, I semi-attended WriteHiveCon and Flights of Foundry this weekend, mostly as a lurker. I didn't attend all that much, but given that most of those events should be put up on YouTube, I'll get to see them eventually. Both events were pretty interesting, and I am continually amazed at how much I enjoy virtual conventions. You've heard me wax lyrical about them before, especially on The Joy Factory Monthly podcast. So I shall say no more.
In other news, here are some of the things I have been up to in the last week:
The Skiffy and Fanty Show dropped a two new episodes! The first on Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (w/ Alex Acks and myself). The second a Patreon-exclusive episode of the Speculative Dispatch on Session Zeroes for TTRPGs (with myself, Mike Underwood, and Brandon O'Brien).
This week, I'll be releasing one S&F podcast on Brown Girl Begins (2017; Sharon Lewis) and recording a Torture Cinema episode on Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter (2001) w/ Paul Weimer and Tonia Ransom. Additionally, I'm working on about six new Joy Factory Interviews (and more after that), one of which I hope to drop next week. It'll be a wild week.
And, well, that's about it for the update! Also: the semester is almost over...
Clickable Geekery
Stephanie Malia Morris recently shared her personal experiences with the stories her parents told her as a kid. I love these kinds of stories, as they give insight into the different ways people come in "contact" with the supernatural!
Speaking of horror things: Leslie Lee II has a new article up on Blood Knife about the relationship of outer space to madness and terror, which takes us though classic works such as Alien and some unexpected ones like Blindsight by Peter Watts. If you need a reading/viewing list of space madness and terror, then this is for you! Oh, and if you want to take a dive into the deep past, Nerds of a Feather has a nice piece on horror in the silent film era for you!
On an unrelated note, Darkworlds Quarterly recently took a look at some of the sword and sorcery one-shots from Marvel comics. We're talking "back in the day before I was even born" here. A part of me wants to pop down to the local comic shop to see if any of these are available (and affordable). Another part of me just really loves all that vintage writing, even if a lot of it is not great and probably bonkers.
Clickable Factoids
Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz about methods for detecting alien civilizations. We've seen discussions of biological indicators and technosignatures. Recently, I've seen several articles about using the detection of oxygen to do this work, with this piece from Centauri Dreams providing an in-depth look at the science. I am, of course, quite hopeful that we'll detect alien life in my lifetime, but that probably won't happen. Besides, I'm convinced the Oort Cloud is actually an alien quarantine zone to keep us from detecting the 47,000 civilizations currently out there...
Back here on Earth, Dr. Zahi Hawass announced that archaeologists have found a lost city in Luxor, which dates back to the reign of Amenhotep III. It is, apparently, the largest city ever found in Egypt, which is really saying something. I'm sure we'll learn a lot more in the coming years, but this is most exciting indeed!
And if you're into architecture, Joe M. McDermott's list of documentaries for SF writers may be just what you need. The list makes me a bit nostalgic for those moments in my college days when we discussed Soviet-era utopian housing projects and other such adventures. It also makes me long for a deeper conversation in our culture about the role of architecture in our connection to this place called the United States. That beauty in our designs matters. That design is more than just function...
Clickable Writing Advice
The fine folks at Campaign Mastery have several extended thoughts on the roles and responsibilities of GMs. These are mostly TTRPG-relevant, of course, but given my recent interests in this realm, I'm going to be thinking a lot about issues of collaborative storytelling and ways to improve it!
Clickable Fiction
Quite a few fantastic works of short fiction dropped last week, including:
"Prayers of the God-Fearing" by Malena Salazar Maciá and translated by Toshiya Kamei (Teleport Magazine)
"Telling Stories of Ghosts" by Wendy N. Wagner (Apex Magazine)
"When the Snowshoe Hare Turns White" by Eileen Gunnell Lee (Nightmare Magazine)
"The Giving One (Part 1)" by Ashok K. Banker (Lightspeed Magazine)
"Worm Blood" by Octavia Cade (The Dark)
"For Lack of a Bed" by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots)
You also should check out the April 2021 issue of Defenestration, the Spring 2021 issue of Suspense Magazine, and the 17th issue of Omenana!
You'll be surprised to learn that I didn't consume nearly as much as I would have liked this past week. Much surprise! I was darn busy! Still, I did manage to put a few things in my brain:
Currently Reading:
I've officially started reading Acacia by David Anthony Durham for a podcast thing. This is my first read of this book, and I can tell you right now that I absolutely adore the writing in the first two chapters. There's something really magical about it. The descriptions. The way it flows between exposition and dialogue. *chef's kiss*
Currently Watching:
I've continued watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. A podcast on this is imminent, but for now, I'm just trying to understand what they're trying to do here and why it's not quite working for me.
TFatWS has also got me re-watching the MCU from the start. I've powered through Iron Man, one of the best films in the franchise, and sucked down Iron Man 2, which I still think is better than people give it credit for. Eventually, I'll move on to Thor, because watching things in the order of release is an experience. I'll say this: the MCU was a success for a reason, and it all started in these early films.
Beyond that, it's The X-Files in this house. Delicious X-Files.
The other two sections -- Currently Listening To and Currently Writing -- will have to wait for another edition. I'm absolutely not doing anything of note in these categories.
That said, I do have some media to share!
Alright! Here are a few media items you should absolutely check out!
First, Daði & Gagnamagnið, the delightful Icelandic pop group, just announced that they're releasing a 2D platformer game on mobile! It's full of Eurovision references and looks like a massive amount of fun. Check out the mini-trailer:
I also recently stumbled upon a few absolutely delightful YouTube videos. The first is this ridiculous mod for StarCraft II to convert units to "real life scale." Visually, it is one of the most absurd things you'll see in SC2, and watching the game progress here is fascinating and bonkers at the same time.
Meanwhile, Corridor Digital just released their latest "Animators React" video, which typically features a professional animator reacting to and discussing different animation styles. This one discuss Avatar in some detail, and I think folks interested in a "behind the scenes" look at animation may get a lot out of it!
And lastly, I always have to share a gorgeous space picture. This week, APOD dropped this alien-looking nightmare image of the Pencil Nebula, the consequence of a massive supernova. You can see the waves! To have been a fly on the wall... OK, maybe not... But a fly on the wall many light years away? Yeah!
Now let's talk about...books!
The library is filling up again, which means we may need to add on an expansion funded by you (lolz).
Here are the books you should check out this week:
West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire by Kevin Waite (UNC Press; April 19, 2021)
The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright (Library of America; April 20, 2021)
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart (HarperTeen; April 20, 2021)
Lovesickness by Junji Ito (VIZ Media; April 20, 2021)
A Dark Queen Rises by Ashok K. Banker (John Joseph Adams Books; April 20, 2021)
Defekt by Nino Cipri (Tor; April 20, 2021)
The first book is likely to be one of those "for certain audiences," by which I mean "folks who like well-researched deep dives into less-than-joyful periods of U.S. history. This one, by the way, ties into some of the research I conducted for my PhD, which looked at the frontier myth in the U.S. and its relationship to the space race and related subjects. Ask me about it some time. I can do a podcast. Needless to say, I do want to see what this book has to offer!
Meanwhile, I am super excited to see that a new Richard Wright book is being published. This one never saw daylight during the author's lifetime due to its difficult subject matter, but reading the synopsis now makes me wish it had been part of the conversation far earlier. It was written years and years ago, and yet the synopsis describes events that sound exactly like the present. *shiver*
Over in "teen fiction" land is Smart's Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut. That's literally where I stopped reading the synopsis the first time. You know me. Is it a Caribbean SF/F work? Yeah, I'm buying it... Otherwise, the description is one that should be familiar in YA fantasy circles. That's not a dig so much as a reflection on YA fantasy's trends. The work itself will likely do some things the synopsis cannot possibly express. We shall see!
In "international fiction" land, there's this new story collection from Junji Ito, creator of many compelling graphic novels. I feels like we've been having an Ito year since I started doing this who Joy Factory thing. There have been so many Ito releases, which either means Ito is prolific as hell OR they're rapidly shoving out translations. But I'm not going to complain about new work from a famed horror mangaka!
The last two books are sequels, and as often happens in this feature, I've not read them yet. Banker's new novel is the second in the Burnt Empire Saga, which has an exceptional cover and offers a desert-focused fantasy. It sounds intriguing, and I do love fantasy that isn't just "Europe with elves." Meanwhile, Cipri's Defekt follows on the success of Finna, a novella I have no yet read but have been meaning to read for a while. I've heard many many good things, and I'm sure some of you are excited to see this one drop.
Alright! Now let's get to this week's reading list!
As I do every week, I've asked my lovely Twitter followers to share what they're reading so I can give you a reading list to make your TBR weep blood. Here's what they said:
Network Effect by Martha Wells (from @RainbowWar71, @Stephanie_Gunn, and @CatKimbriel)
Resistance by J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato Jr. (from @KaushikKarforma)
Finders Keepers by Stephen King (from @joan_of_orc)
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies (from @JoyceReynoldsW1)
Archangel's War by Nalini Singh (from @JoyceReynoldsW1)
Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino (from @MarissaLingen)
The Brave Free Men by Jack Vance (from @monboddo777)
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (from @sarahmiyoko)
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlà Clark (from @templetongate)
The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (from @chukgoodin)
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson (from @MistyMassey)
The Anthropocene Rag by Alexander Irvine (from @MistyMassey)
Sula by Toni Morrison (from @clpolk)
Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne (from @Archergal)
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson (from @Archergal)
Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen (from @Archergal)
Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke (from @timata87)
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (from @MBoorseHistory)
Angel Exterminatus by Graham McNeill (from @MBoorseHistory)
Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson (from @delagar)
Wild Hunters by Stuart R. Brogan (from @Booksilike3)
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (from @imyril)
The Complete Short Stories by Philip K. Dick (from @M_A_Frasca)
Gods of Risk by James S.A. Corey (from @M_A_Frasca)
Liu Yao: The Revitalization of the Fuyao Sect by Priest (from @rachettwrench)
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (from @rachettwrench)
Man Against Myth by Barrows Dunham (from @rachettwrench)
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk (from @cherylreads)
Kings of Heaven by Richard Nell (from @therealdougiles)
The Paragon Hotel by Lindsay Faye (from @ConFigures)
And there you have it. A lot of books you can check out. You're welcome!
Now on to...
And there you have it! Another newsletter is complete! I hope this has been an enjoyable experience. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to share more interviews and insights into life.
As I mentioned in the Update section, I won't have any actual dockets this week. Promising anything is a no go beyond "stuff to be recorded." And so I'll leave you with my gratitude for sticking around here and my hope that y'all have a fabulous week!
If you have suggestions, questions, or other shenanigans you want to let me know about, you can hit me up on Twitter or on my contact form!
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!