something queer going on

Watched: Yesterday I saw Knives Out. (It's the first movie I've seen in the cinema since I got my eyes fixed and that became possible again, yay!) It's very entertaining and satisfying, with good performances by a lot of good actors having a good time. I recommend it highly. Not saying more because it's hard to talk about without spoiling it.


Read: I recently re-read Andrew Taylor's Roth Trilogy (The Four Last Things, The Judgment of Strangers, and The Office of the Dead), which together comprise what might be called the story of the formation of a serial killer, set in a Church of England clergy milieu and featuring hints of the supernatural. They're told in backwards chronology, with the first book set in the 1990s, the second in 1970, and the third in the late 1950s, so after you've read the first one you'll know whodunnit in the other two, but that's not a problem as the second and third books are more character studies than mysteries anyway. I originally read them back in the 1990s when they were new, and I loved the first one, was meh on the second, and didn't finish the third. On re-read, I still love the first and am meh on the second (mostly because the main character is a self-absorbed dick), but the third is now my favorite. It's mostly a slice-of-life story set in a struggling cathedral and theological college, with the crime happening sort of around the edges, and the main character enough of an outsider to be entertainingly observant.

After finishing these I picked up another of Taylor's books, The King's Evil, which is a Restoration-era historical mystery. But both setting and characters feel flat compared to the better two Roth books, and I'm struggling to finish it. One thing I've noticed with Taylor, and this is unusual for male writers, is that he writes women much better than men. The first and third Roth books have female main characters, and are great, while the second Roth books and The King's Evil have male main characters who bore and irritate me. This may be because Taylor seems fond of perhaps my least favorite trope, "man is sexually obsessed "in love" with The Wrong Woman." Ugh. And fair warning: Taylor is one of these writers whose stories exist in The World Without Queer People.

I'm also trying to read Mary Robinette Kowal's Ghost Talkers, which drew me because (1) First World War British army uses mediums to garner intelligence from dead soldiers, which is a catnip premise for me, and (2) cheap ebook. But I'm not loving it so far. The premise is very much just a premise, without much development of its potential for glorious weirdness, the characters are by-the-numbers so far (spunky American woman and the more conventional English officer who loves her), and, as that last bit suggests, much more focus on het romance than I'd like. I'm hoping for queer characters at some point. Isn't Kowal supposed to be one of the progressive younger guard of sff writers who include queer characters? We'll see


Listening to: The Magnus Archives, a horror podcast already beloved by several of you. It's awesome, although scary enough that I, a coward, can only listen to it during the day. I usually listen to an episode during my morning walk, after which I have, most days, a shift at work to help me gain some distance before bedtime! I just listened to episode 32, "Hive" (the statement of Jane Prentiss), and it truly outstanding.

The format, for anyone who's unfamiliar, is this: Jonatham Sims is the head archivist of the Magnus Institute, a paranormal research foundation in London. The archives, consisting of written statements from people who believe they've experienced something supernatural, are in a horrible state, and as Jonathan tries to organize them, he reads certain statements into a tape recorder. (How this is supposed to help with organizing I don't know, but whatever.) So the podcast is lots of individual little first-person horror stories, with connections gradually emerging between them. There's also an ongoing present-day plotline involving Jonathan, his colleagues, and the Institute itself. It's so much fun! (And there are queer characters!)

Jonathan Sims is also the name of the actor playing Jonathan Sims the archivist. Real!Sims also writes all the episodes (so far, anyway), and has shown an impressive range as both a writer and performer. The historical episodes, for instance, feel period-correct without being obnoxious about it.

As of now there are 160 episodes over four series, and I'm torn between wanting to listen to them all NOW so that I'm caught up and can join in discussion, and being glad that there's so much more still to enjoy.

BTW, has anyone asked the Rusty Quill crew if they're all militant vegetarians? Because, yeah, that's kind of a theme, isn't it?