Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Michael Hanscom Book 19 of 2025: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Miles heads out to solve a diplomatic crisis that quickly becomes more of a crisis than expected (which, well, of course, that’s how it works, right?). Ties together a lot of threads and brings in long unseen characters from prior books in the series. I continue to be impressed with how consistently enjoyable this series is. Only a few books left before I’m done!
A foggy morning walk to explore the grounds of the resort was really nice.
Just the usual mindless evening stuff: NCIS: Origins, Drag Race All Stars, and Scrubs. Scrubs “My Musical” is still an excellent episode.
No links this week; too much of what I’ve read has been about the political idiocy, and, well, you can find those stories absolutely everywhere.
Book 18 of 2025: Polostan by Neal Stephenson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On the one hand, it’s basically all setup — it very much feels like Stephenson wrote another 1,000-plus page opus and the publisher cut it down into more manageable pieces. On the other, if you’re the type who enjoys Stephenson’s 1,000-page plus opuses, it’s captivating and engrossing setup, as he sets the stage with events in 1930s America and the Soviet Union, with his usual digressions and fixations on whatever minutiae have captured his fancy. Hopefully it won’t be too long between volumes, as it’s a minor pity that I can’t just read the full story in one go.
Not the best start to Tuesday morning. And it didn’t get much better from there; a failed water pump had led to the car dumping its coolant and cracking the radiator and coolant reservoir. A lot of money and a few days wait for repairs, that turned into a few more days when the wrong part got shipped to the service shop. Hoping we’ll have it back on Monday.
The main ballroom of the convention center Summit building is huge. I mean, I know these spaces are big, but standing in it while it’s completely empty was impressive. I spent a couple moments trying to estimate how many times I could fit my entire house in there (stacked vertically as well as arranged horizontally) before just going with “lots” and giving up.
It was good to be back in Benaroya Hall for the Seattle Symphony. The last time we were here was one of the last Messiah performances before the pandemic kicked in and shut everything down.
Started NCIS: Origins. It’s pretty standard NCIS, but the ’90s setting makes for some entertaining music choices, and we’re being pretty impressed by the casting for younger versions of known characters. Also been doing a lot of Antiques Roadshow, because it’s soothing.
A few months ago I’d pre-ordered Ministry’s latest album, The Squirrely Years Revisited, where they update a bunch of those early synth pop tracks that Jourgensen has practically disowned for decades. So far, first impressions are good. While a lot of recent Ministry hasn’t done much for me, as they’ve moved more towards straightforward metal over industrial, they’ve done a really good job of blending the original synth pop tracks with their modern sound, landing in a place that works well for me. Glad Al decided to admit that these tracks are part of his history!
Book 17 of 2025: Requiem by Kevin Ryan and Michael Jan Friedman: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picard gets thrown back in time to Cestus III – just days before the Federation’s disastrous first contact with the Gorn (well, first contact before Strange New Worlds started up…I’m still unclear how they’re reconciling that whole thing, but that’s not for here…). Fleshes out the story of the Cestus III colony in really good ways, with a standard but perfectly acceptable framing story as the Enterprise tries to get Picard back.
This is the second week in a row where I’m actually posting this wrap-up on Monday morning, but backdating it to Sunday evening. Sometimes life just gets in the way!
That said, even with life getting in the way, this is kind of a slow week. Work (both the paid job and the volunteer jobs) has been busy and we’ve had some general home things to take care of, and those have taken up enough time that there’s not really a lot for this week’s wrap-up.
As seen at a local Joann’s Fabrics; I snickered, because I’m that mature.
Read Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente.
We almost finished S3 of Evil, but then had a few busy days and wanted to make sure we could concentrate on the show, so took a detour into the soothing regularity of PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. And while we do enjoy it, I kind of want to challenge them to do a “breaking the pattern” episode that does not include a common musical instrument, Rolex watch, or weapon or other war memorabilia. Sure, being formulaic is part of the appeal, but they could vary the formula a little more than they do.
Another batch of requests for the Norwescon dances came in, so I’ve added and have been listening to the following albums, plus a few one-offs that aren’t listed:
Of these, Chappell Roan, Kraftwerk, Robyn, and Thumpasaurus have been catching my ear the most. Eisunfunk and Kontravoid have good bits but are a bit too noisy to go in my regular rotation, and Lady Gaga is…well, Gaga. Not bad, there’s some good dancefloor bits, but honestly, for almost all of her songs, I couldn’t tell you which album they came off of. Mayhem is actually a bit disappointing in that regard; for all the pre-release talk of how she was working with artists/producers in the darker/industrial side of things, it really just sounds like everything else she’s released. Gaga does what she does well, but it all blends together.
🇺🇸 Too much of what I read online was focused on current news and the fall of America, so nothing of note to share.
Book 16 of 2025: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A hilarious Eurovision-in-space with humanity’s very existence at stake. I love Valente’s near stream-of-consciousness style and descriptions that draw very well deserved comparisons to Douglas Adams. Great, and I’m both looking forward to reading the recently released sequel and seeing Valente at Norwescon in a month.
From my wife, amused by my lap full of Apples as I took the selfie to go with the blog post about the book I’d just finished.
Decor at the Mercury.
We’re starting to get requests in for the Norwescon dances, which is always a fun way to be introduced to music I don’t know. So far, I’ve added the following to my collection:
Book 15 of 2025: Clarkesworld Issue 222 edited by Neil Clarke: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this month were “Pollen” by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman, and “The Sound of the Star” by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang.
Book 14 of 2025: Uncanny Magazine Issue 63 edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this issue were “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills, “Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson, and “Infinite Halves by J.L. Akagi.
