S.A Reidman > Recent Status Updates

😰WTF Emma. Chapter 2: The Hermit is a real Horror show. Psychotic breaks are terrifying

Oh wow what a good opening chapter! I was literally mourning for Junie and Pam and Jim's lost and then bam ... Plot twist so early in the story.

A complete absence of senses should have been sending me into panic, but I’d never felt more clarity and calmness in all my life.

I have high expectations

*cracks neck*
Right then bring it, what's all this about huh
*flexing my fingers*

The opening story was not it. I've read 2 short stories by NK Jemison so far and I am just not on the train. I don't know why? Maybe I need to temper my expectations. I'm holding out for another short before I take the plunge and read the big one. I want to be on the train. 3rd time could be the charm.

Adrian Tchaikovsky does not disappoint - but I prefer his Science Fiction SF more. Great take on Erzsebet Báthory though.

I was not expecting an interconnected set of short stories. It's refreshing.
Poor Dracula, but also...WTF?

My Sept2025-Feb 2026 Sabbatical in the Wilderness
I did the thing. 6 months to read. Been camping, reading, hiking, reading trekking, reading, exploring, reading, telling my dogs to get away from yet another cave, reading and outdoor cooking. reading, eating under moonlight, reading and not tracking for weeks. #Vanlife has been so freeing, soothing, decluttering for my soul. So reviews coming in hot

Catching strays over here, pew pew
Go off Oscar
Is this a burn book?

🤣 witty dialogue, the banter is "bantering" (What🤷🏽‍♀️...well it is) I'll have 10 of these please🙏🏽🥹

"At their first meeting he’d declared her a princess. At their second he was putting Empress on the table. At this rate she’d be an angel by teatime and a goddess by nightfall." - Alex, Part 1, Chapter 4: This Much Luck

Finished: Laika's Ghost - Karl Schroeder 4⭐
So eclipse season coming in hot with intense aspects and a couple days ago I felt the tug to be outdoorsreading in moonlight ...magic. I try to avoid reading about the suffering of the only space-dog in history. Poor Laika. Thankfully, this was not that. So, to my pondering- what if? A metal pyramid on that red planet - that would be something

Finished: The Wind Blowing and This Tide by Damien Broderick RIP 1944-2925 4⭐
Felt like a kid going to the observatory and gazing into space for the first time. In this short, there's a starship and they find it from the niggling sensations of the "secret" remote viewers (which reminds me to catch up on conspiracy theories channels - this one seems realistic.) and said starship is on Titan, the Titan.

Oh don't mind me, just making the circle sign, praise to Saint Beatrix ...I think I might have joined this religion without realizing it. 🙏🏽Loving every page of this book so far.

Go on then, ensnare me.

Huzzah! A fantasy map.

I try to avoid the hype machine but I have wanted to read something by Joe Abercrombie for years. I have the highest expectations and I still need to read The First Law. Let's see here what do we have here:

1. Questionable parish
2. Elves
3. Holy man at a crossroads?
4. Are there seraphim? Well....I'm bout to find out

If I had a gong I'd have rung it. Just pretend

So, where's the nearest TBR Anonymous?
For those of us who can't help but add/buy books😭 to a point where there are more books than there are days in the year.
I mean, this is the calculation I just got:
At 1 book per day, that’s 1,183 days total — roughly 3 years and ~3 months. It's doable sure but
Between you and me - I just saw 8 more books I desperately want to add.🤷🏽 Like c'mon

🥹omg I love this universe and this iteration of spacefaring. I need memory liqueur - First Read to remember the wonder

As a fan of Looper, The Island, Altered Carbon season 1, Gattaca and the Cleon story line in Foundation, this is a big yes♥️
"Everyone on the Fairweather had a book and a body: the Library held a copy of your mind in the one while you walked around in the other. You could update your book as often as you pleased, and when your body was damaged you could have your book-mind decanted into a new one" -curiosity 100

finished: An Exile of the Heart 3.5⭐ by Jay Lake RIP (1964-2014)
Pistols At Dawn! Heya except it was in space and not at dawn so Pistols in Zero gravity. Who cares that was an epic opening. The gist of the story managed to yank me right out of the little English sleepy countryside mystery I had just finished. We have assassins, Kardasev Civilization 2, Arranged Weddings and pining for love. Scifi weekend yes

Suprisingly quick read and the pacing is not rushed.

🍿well well well

I say this as someone who had a Khave/Coffee reading done after a delightful Khavaltı in a cafe overlooking the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Don't write the fortune down and don't repeat it over and over. Geez Frances. Setting things in motion with all of that.

#PoolsidePuzzlers from the #SummerReadingChallenge

Whoa...hold up and hold on just a minute.
I'm gonna need all these "sliding into dystopianism with our eyes closed" books to notbe so prescient because ... c'mon, look around, this book is a diary at this point.

Nope nope nope... stop making accurate predictions right this second please.

"They’re pregnant all the time, but they never give birth, on account of how they’re pregnant with tomorrow and a year from now and alternate universes where everyone is half-bat". - Catherynne M Valente is fast becoming my favorite Weird Fiction author anchored by a bizarre narrator because honestly, WTF? But also - that was wild.

finished: The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild 4⭐
The Past is Red was a favorite,Valente doesn't disappoint.She has a knack of making the end of the world humoros, chaos fascinatining.Case in Point:"In the Red Country, a story is a lot of words, one after the other, with conflict and resolution and a beginning, middle, and, most of the time, an end. But in the Blue Country, a story is a dinosaur" Hooked!