Linky linky

I'm making an effort to go though my enormous backlog of open tabs (~80 each on desktop and mobile) and actually read/look into/otherwise process the link. Some are easy (huh that's a dead link now) others are longer (looking at you, hour long keynote videos).

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Backbone is a post-noir narrative adventure. Become raccoon private eye Howard Lotor as you uncover a deeply personal story of change and transformation, and explore dystopian Vancouver, BC inhabited by animals.

Backbone (video game) - I played the demo and it was cute and very atmospheric. Got stuck in a couple places - had to retry a section a dozen times, and looked up the solution to another puzzle - but overall good.

There are many kinds of princess, and all of them have stories. There are princesses in ice, and they are wise, but they have uncalloused hands; they cannot climb a mighty pine. There are princesses in fire, and they are clever, but their hands are hot; they would set the branches burning. There are princesses in lands where the sun has never set, and they are beautiful, but they have narrow shoulders and slender arms; they cannot pull themselves, hand over hand, until their foreheads brush the sky. This princess was a princess of trees, of tall places and implacable challenges, and she climbed until the sun went down, and there was her old friend moon, shining silver in the darkness.

Seanan fairy tale collection - this link led me to a half dozen original fairy tales. Wonderful, charming, several apparently in the same universe. I loved the little references to the other stories, and how perfectly fairy tale they felt.

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Reading: Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch is amazing. I'm only halfway through and I feel so seen. The meme section was intensely nostalgic. The explanation of why emoji caught on so quickly and the different generations of Internet people are also great. I've never highlighted so many sections in a book.

I also started The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin in audiobook. It's a weird book, but good so far, and I like the audiobook. I started it because it was recommended as scratching the same itch as Rivers of London. I firmly disagree on that point, but it's still a good book

Finished: I blitzed my way through the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch in audiobook. The narrator (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) is amazing, and does a wondreful job with the many different accents and characters. The series itself is an urban fantasy magic police procedural. Peter Grant is snarky and scientifically minded, much to the amusement of his reserved very-British mentor Nightingale. Many characters to love, and a wonderfully diverse cast. My only regret is that there isn't more.

Next: I have so many options! I just downloaded the Hugo packet and there's two dozen books on my to-read list in there, plus books already pending on my to-read list: Ruin of Angels (Max Gladstone), The Galaxy and the Ground Within (Becky Chambers), Middlegame (Seanan McGuire)