Phew, I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’ve done one of these updates. After a couple of months in limbo, we’re back in Prague.

Read:

There have been a lot of articles I’ll find under “human growth and development” coming my way….hmmm…and two that haven’t left me are:

What Does It Mean to ‘Throw Like a Girl’?

 “For the woman the very act of reaching back, twisting the body, and hurling an object forward to its target is an act of revolt. It is the assertion of space and place, of freedom and subjectivity. To throw is to not simply be in space, but to be the very ground of space and time.”

I Don’t Own My Child’s Body tackles thorny issues of consent that arises when a reluctant child is told to “give Grandma a hug!”

And finally, because I’m always hungry for more ways to skip the grains (get it, “hungry” ha ha), there’s the Huffposts’ How To Substitute Cauliflower — Deliciously — For Just About Everything You Eat  because I’m convinced cauliflower is the new “tastes like everything else.” Just don’t leave the leftovers in the fridge for long, it has a way of stinking up the joint.

Now that I’ve beaten the submission queue for GNS into some semblance of order, I am ready to indulge in some great books out (or on the way) from folks I know and love:

Caren Gussoff’s new novel, The Birthday Problem, a post-apocalyptic tale of pandemic mental illness. Which I had the pleasure of reading sections of at various points when it was a “work-in-progress”  and can’t wait to see it all stitched together.

Talebones publisher Patrick Swenson’s sci-fi noir The Ultra Thin Man also released this month and is already getting fantastic reviews.

Seen:

My friend, CW classmate, SFWA vice president and former editor of Fantasy Magazine, the fabulous Cat Rambo is running her own short story funding campaign over at Patreon  where sponsoring her gets you a fresh story every two weeks. Cat’s stories appeared in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. One of my personal favorites, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection Near + Far (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. At a buck a story, you’re getting a great deal on some of the highest quality fiction in the genre.

I could not, for the life of me, see what any of the fuss was about Prometheus. Don’t get me wrong: it’s visually stunning (if a bit sterile) and Michael Fassbender is impossible to take one’s eyes off as AI David. But overall, meh. As an aliens prequel it served. As a standalone sci-fi/thriller/horrror? Yawn….If I cringed and squirmed excessively as Noomi Rapace effectively gives herself a c-section, as one who is five months pregnant might do on seeing an alien spawn being plucked from the freshly lasered torso of a woman, well that was just cheap body horror getting in a few sucker punches on an easy target.

I also saw Fassbender in Shame, which was likewise underwhelming and had the unsexiest sex scenes in a movie to date. Which, admittedly, may have been the point.

I quit Kick-Ass 2 about 20 minutes in.

Heard:

Maybe it was the impending move, but I’ve been listening to cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s recording of the Dvorák Cello Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on repeat a lot lately. The recording is accompanied by six other pieces for cello composed by Prague’s native son and is up at Amazon. Often thought to be THE cello concerto, it’s one of my favorites and I really dig this recording.

Catching up on backlog of Moth podcasts, I was totally riveted to cellist Marika Hughes’ strange tale of life in New York City, The Drip  and the laugh/cry/laugh/cry Listen Here, Fancy Pants  by Anthony Giglio.