Forrest > Recent Status Updates

"Torso in Shadow" puts the baffled and baffling narrator in the subways beneath NYC, which may or may not be disintegrating above. Surely it is convulsing, socially or physically. Amidst these convulsions, in the underground, the narrator meets a woman. Perhaps this is Adam and Eve witnessing the birthing pains of a new world. Difficult to tell. But the attempt must be made. An ouroboros of a story, eating itself.

"The European Monster Part Two" is dark and obtuse, much like the philosophy of Emil Cioran, the inferred inspiration for the story (first published in a volume of stories dedicated to the Romanian philosopher). Here the narrator finds himself in a labyrinthine situation, becoming a part of a (political? criminal?) machine at the heart of which is the titular monster, perhaps a modern Minotaur.

Profoundly existential, yet hopelessly defiant, "The Chamber in the Universe" examines monuments, devotion, power, hope, and death. The temple representing as empty vessel exposing the hollowness of existence, while being the instrument by which the common-builder nudges the cosmos, even a particle's-width; one of the most human of desires: to matter, even when nothing matters. To make one's mark forever in the void.

"Black Chroma" is set in what seems to be a post-apocalypse, though it may be the structure of the narrator's mind that is collapsing, rather than civilization. Paranoia and agoraphobia combine to expose (him?) to the bright pinpoint lights of the cosmos, a nakedness only occulted by self-burial. Five stars.

My second time reading the novella "Orphans on Granite Tides". This has been revised from the original (which I've read previously). Not sure what changes were made - I should ask Adam - but wow, does that prose POP! The first two paras on P.46 are going to need to be quoted as an example. Absolutely stunning.

Forgot how a good, clean scifi book feels to read. I love challenging books (look at my "Read" and TBR lists), but sometimes it's great to just dive into a simple "oh my gosh, we're encountering aliens for the first time" book.

Well, now I know where Marc Miller got his ideas for the third Imperium.

Even with having limited my physical TBR pile to 15 books, I still feel like there's too much to read. So, I spread myself thin by reading lots of books at once. Or maybe that's just ADHD, I dunno.

To be fair, I've actually finished another on my Currently Reading list, but I don't feel like doing the review just yet. Have to let it stew for a bit.

I need a good dose of scifi.

Leaving for a family reunion next week. The hardest thing is deciding which/how many books to pack. Thankfully, we're driving, so I have options.

Over halfway . . . it's gone quickly!

The eternal questions of agency. Egginton does a pretty good job of making the argument for free will, despite outside observers' abilities to predict action. Just because someone says you will do something and you do it does not mean that you were compelled to do it. Seems logical on the face of it, but deterministically-minded people love to argue against this logic.

I find strange comfort in academic anthropological pieces. Reminds me of my undergraduate studies, I suppose.

Brutal and beautiful. Brian Evenson meets Italo Calvino.

I might be going over to Germany again for work in October, which means Latin reading goes on hold while I try to improve my Deutsch. Someday I'll get all those Latin books on my shelf read, but probably not this year.

Review soon.

"We were younger here and youth is always the hardest home to go back to, because it hurts so much to see it again."

Oomph. This last section took it out of me. An emotional purging.