HOLIDAY TIME! Mountains, beaches, ice cream and some reading...| Vlog No. 10

[@RaynorReadsStuff]

Thanks for taking us on holiday, I needed a break 😅. What beautiful scenery, I do love Wales. Sounds like you all had fun. Glad you enjoyed Grief is the Thing With Feathers. I’m about to embark on Lanny. Have a good week 😊

[@alex_unabridged]

You're welcome! 😂 I love Wales too, we've been going for years and the mountains are some of my absolute faves. We did have fun, despite some dodgy weather. 'Grief' was fabulous, Porter is so imaginative and creative with his prose. I'm somewhat in awe of his talent (and a teensy bit jealous 😉). Fingers crossed you enjoy Lanny!

[@troytradup]

Sounds like a lovely holiday despite the weather. I say "sounds" because I listened to the video while driving out to my sister's house this morning and so have seen none of the accompanying visuals. I will try to catch them over lunch tomorrow. Look forward to your zine!

[@alex_unabridged]

🙄Ah, yes - I forgot you often listen rather than watch! I'll give you a pre-release warning next time I do a visual-heavy vlog! Is good to have rekindled some enthusiasm for the Slate Trail project, have been going through my notes etc this week and there's tons to work with. Just need to resist temptation to try and pack too much in and end up with a bigger project than it needs to be!

[@troytradup]

@@alex_unabridged It's all that good ol' American drive-time. I did catch up on some of the visuals, at least. Lovely!

[@arockinsamsara]

Always far better to appreciate what is than to mourn unfulfilled expectations... Look forward to seeing what art you develop from that experience! Glad you're enjoying _Authority!_ Not everyone gets on with the second book since it is so different. I finished the trilogy and I am about halfway through the new one now, and I have a (non-spoiler) review of the trilogy coming out later in the week. One of the things I find most brilliant about the series, and this continues in the fourth, is that VanderMeer changes the writing style for each book. The first books is an amorphous 1st person dream journal, the second is (mostly) a close third person political thriller that is mostly full of sharp edges and right angles, and the third one jumps across multiple POVs, going back and forth in time and going in and out of Area X, in a desperate, frenetic kind of spiral that includes 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person narration. The fourth one changes it up again... VanderMeer is playing with style and presentation and, at least in my reading, that is part of the effects of Area X, the way it is both insidious and pervasive, and has different masks and appearance for different people, depending on what they bring to it...

[@alex_unabridged]

Absolutely better to appreciate an experience for what it is! I'd lost sight of that with the Slate Trail project - I'd had it planned for so long, it got delayed for a couple of years (I was originally meant to go hike it in 2020 and then the pandemic hit). I'd built it up into this vision of what it was going to be, and then it all went a bit haywire! But there's so much to learn from that, and so much value in sharing that sort of experience too. The bonus of having a bit of distance on the project is that I can be a bit more reflective now, which I think will benefit the writing etc. We'll see! It took me a little while to click into 'Authority', it's very different, isn't it! But once I stopped 'expecting' it to be like 'Annihilation' and appreciated it for what it actually was I really started to enjoy it. VanderMeer can really write, that's for sure! Am still reading it (it's been a crazy busy work-week!) but should have it finished by the weekend. Might not get to 'Acceptance' this month, but won't leave it too long - I want to get to that in a timely manner so I can read the new one! Will look forward to your review of it ☺

[@michellesmelancholia]

The ice cream looks delicious but I am definitely NOT an ice cream in any weather person haha I couldn't get into Legends and Lattes, think I need a bit more action! Exciting to hear about your novel! Love the police predural/monster mash-up!

[@alex_unabridged]

😂I know, I'm probably mad for wanting to eat ice cream in freezing cold, rainy weather! Strangely, the only time I'm slightly less likely to go for ice cream is when it's really hot. Dairy in scorching weather doesn't always sit well for me! Little oddity that I am... That's a fair comment about Legends and Lattes - it's rather quiet on the fighty fighty stuff! I think it came along at just the right time for me, when I was just in the right mood for it, and it turned into a go-to comfort read straight away. Am a ways off finishing the novel, but I am making progress (slowly but surely). I'm nearly ready to show a couple of bits of it to people, so if you want to have a read in the not-to-distant future I'd love to hear your thoughts...😉

[@michellesmelancholia]

@@alex_unabridged YES YES YES I'd love to read it! I might have a story for you to read as well if you're still wanting to practice editing or just for fun!

[@alex_unabridged]

@@michellesmelancholia That's an emphatic YES from me! Send me whatever you like, more than happy to take a look at your writing! Just drop me a message on Discord when you're ready to share it, and we can chat through what might be most helpful to you in terms of how I approach it (a more 'casual' read vs a formal copy edit) 😊