Oracne's Brain Radio

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea grew out of a series of interviews O'Hea intended for archival purposes, about Dench's memories of all her Shakespeare roles. After her grandson overhead them talking, the idea arose to turn their talks into a book, which was a great idea. I enjoyed reading this so very much I didn't want it to end, and now I've realized I should probably find a production of Cymbeline and watch it, as well as the rest of the Henry plays. This is a chatty book (since it originated as actual chatting between old friends) that also is supremely informative about how this particular actor interpreted her parts, and her philosophy on the art of acting, and what she learned from her various mentors. I loved that she would sometimes say she wished she'd play a certain part differently if she did it now. There's also a fair few anecdotes about productions and working with different directors and actors. If you're into theatre, or into Shakespeare, or just interested in an entertaining person talking, definitely check this out.

They're Gonna Give You Hell by unlimitedInk is an epic Mandalorian farce that also has some important found family and leadership themes. Shortly after dropping off Grogu with Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin missed him painfully and goes to mope around Tatooine. I'm not sure how much to spoil of this, but I'll just say a swathe of different Mandalorian sects become involved in trying to figure out who will lead them and where they will go, a couple of unexpected sentiences are revealed, more than one Armourer shows up, and Boba Fett is grumpy. If you are a Bo Katan fan, don't read this one.

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair by tigriswolf is a very sweet Winter Soldier story; shortly after freeing himself from Hydra, he encounters an asthmatic child who's run away from abuse and immediately becomes protective, which leads to him slowly recovering himself and learning to be a person again, while putting the child first. He and his adoptive daughter make their own family and make a home; only then is able to bring Steve Rogers back into his lift.

Dark Side of the Moon by imogenbynight is a Supernatural AU in which Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak are astronauts. Dean, an engineer, is on the moon when an unthinkable tragedy happens and he needs rescue; Castiel is part of the rescue crew. Aside from being able to travel back and forth to the moon without orbital constraints, this is a somewhat realistic space story, with some spooky parts in the middle.

An Ever-Fixed Mark by AMarguerite is an epic Soulmark AU of Pride and Prejudice in which Elizabeth Bennet's soulmark reads "Fitzwilliam." And she marries Colonel Fitzwilliam, who in this story is terrific, but fair warning, he dies of a wound, and then, slowly, Elizabeth comes to realize she a second happy marriage might be possible. I enjoyed this a lot and did I mention it's epic? Buckle up, it's a long ride in a bumpy carriage with lots of intriguing meta examination of Soulmarks and the various ways they could be interpreted.

The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond is a paranormal heist novel set in contemporary Kentucky. Danielle Poissant is the daughter of a renowned art thief whom she helped send to prison, which led to her being shut out of the world of criminals with magic in which she'd grown up. Wracked by guilt at betraying her family (it's complicated), ever since then she's been working as a sort of one-person-and one-dog "Leverage" team, retrieving funds from scummy people and splitting them with the original victim - while not using her magical gift for forging paintings. But then, of course, she's dragged back into the world for One Last Time by an old partner of her mother's. The romance element is minor, but I felt like there was just enough to spice up the heist plot. This was a lot of fun, and dog fans will love Dani's collie Sunflower, who is a Very Good Girl.

I've found it difficult to get a post in on Wednesdays, because I am now in the office that day and don't feel like getting back on the computer when I get home. So I've been compiling for when I do have time to post, and still using the same tag to keep everything together.

The Building of the House by kvikindi is set in the X-Men movieverse after X-Men: Apocalypse, and is a terrific interpretation of Peter Maximoff's speed powers through narrative style. Peter is the pov character and his breathless very very long digressive sentences, skimming along the surface of truths he doesn't want to admit to himself, are just brilliant. Peter's finally met his father, who is a grim supervillain; what is he going to do about it?

the wires for empathy by napricot is a slow burn romance and road trip story about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. They work at finding ways to use super powers for making things better without punching people; replacing destruction with community. It's great.

stop the world (for a moment) by azurewaxwing for thievinghippo is an ice skating AU of the Chinese show The Untamed, which I haven't seen in its entirety; I am sure I missed some in-jokes. Set in the modern day, Lan Zhan is a popular erudite figure skating commentator whom the network has unexpectedly paired with motormouthed former skater Wei Ying. The near-opposites turn out to work well together. I particularly enjoyed how they practice together by commenting on other sports.

A Series of Unfortunate Collisions by Scourge_of_Nemo is a Star Wars AU in which bounty hunter reality shows are a thing. Hardscrabble hunter Din Djarin, striving to support his adoptive son Grogu and the children of his covert, only slowly realizes he's in a slow burn romance with major figure Boba Fett. I always like seeing art from the artist's side, and I loved that Fennec Shand's editing skills are highly valued.

My Heart Will Be Your Home by dr_girlfriend is a sweet Avengers AU and Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton romance. Clint had left the spy life behind when he and his wife Bobbi Morse had a child; now divorced, he's a single father who encounters the Avengers in the midst of an attack. It's a sweet story about two people with a lot of regrets and pain learning to move forward.

Not a Second Time by FaustianSlip is an epic M.A.S.H. sequel, set during the Vietnam War. B.J. Hunnicutt has not been in touch with Hawkeye Pierce since they left Korea, and he also hasn't told Hawkeye why. Drama ensues when Hawkeye's elderly father dies and, overwhelmed by loneliness and loss, he enlists in the Army. Margaret Houlihan tells B.J., who realizes he can't suppress his feelings any more. This story had a very old school slash feel, with some excellent historical detail, and a lot of same-sex relationships playing out despite the less-welcoming time period.

I have belatedly read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, and wow did it have a lot more going on than I was expecting even though, this being Pratchett, I should have expected themes such as the What Is the Meaning of Life, What Happens to Us When We Die, and Nothing Can Be Solved Unless People Talk to Each Other. And on top of all that, The Importance of Stories is a major theme. Basically, some rats near Unseen University gain speech and intelligence after eating magical detritus from the wizards' trash heap; together with Maurice the cat who's also been Changed, they end up working with a human boy to run a scam in which the rats invade a town and the boy, for a fee, pipes them out of town. The boy and the rats are tired of the scam but they agree to One Last Score...except something is weird about this town. There are no keekees (rats who have not been Changed) yet there's famine because rats have supposedly eaten all the stored food. This turns out to be a convoluted plot which it takes everyone to figure out, including the story-obsessed mayor's daughter. Recommended.

Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole by Isabel J. Kim, Clarkesworld Issue 209, February 2024.

Here's the 2020 N.K. Jemisin story from Lightspeed: The Ones Who Stay and Fight.

Here's the 2023 Cynthia Gómez story from Strange Horizons: The Ones Who Come Back to Heal.

1. I had a snow day on Friday that replaced my vacation day, as I posted about before, and another vacation day on Monday; drinkingcocoa and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and saw the fabulous exhibit of post-1989 Korean Art we'd been unable to see on Friday (museum closed due to weather). She had seen it before so anticipated my reaction to a few of the pieces. Some favorites: reproductions of sculptures made of soap and exhibited outside, meant to slowly disintegrate; massive, detailed embroidery that North and South Koreans had secretly collaborated on; a lacquered defensive necklace of spikes; some works incorporating found objects and collage-like 3D printing; a virtual reality film about the DMZ between North and South Korea.

2. Monday night, I attended a reading of a one-act play at nearby friends' house; the playwright was a fairly recent alum of one of the friend's college, and wanted feedback on the piece. I am not a theater person at all but had some feedback the writer said was useful, so go me. The audience was a mix of folks, of whom only one was a playwright, so I didn't feel weird about what the right sort of feedback might be. I petted both their cats, and spent the entire play on a chaise longue with elder cat, who is very soft and ended up pressed against my leg. Kitties!!!

3. I made pot roast and for once, my gravy turned out well! Maybe I am getting the knack of it! I am not a huge gravy fan, so I never used to make it, but it seems like a basic skill, so I'm working on it.

4. The lined hiking pants I bought from Duluth Trading Company months ago were absolutely splendid in the snow. They shed snow, they dried quickly, and I was warm without long johns while I shoveled. And they have a ton of pockets! I hope they last well!

5. The weather (ice, rain, 19 degrees F) has kept me from jogging outside, which I've found frustrating, but I'm keeping up with the stationary bike (half an hour before breakfast) even though it's not as good a cardio workout. I was frustrated that the rain today stopped, but only after I was working. I considered going out afterwards, but it was already getting dark, and I want to be able to see the ground clearly. At least all this rain will clear the last of the ice. Part of the frustration is fearing I'll lose ground on my jogging. Hopefully, the cross-training will have some benefit. Or that's what I'm telling myself. Maybe it will be dry tomorrow morning, at least long enough for a jog; it's supposed to get freakishly warm, up to 58 F, before dropping again and the possibility of wet snow Sunday night into Monday.

The speculative romance event hosted by the SFWA's Romance Steering Committee, "HEA Quest," was today. It consisted of three streamed panels followed by a Zoom session with breakout rooms so attendees could meet each other. The panels were recorded, which is good because I didn't get to absorb any of them from a writer point of view.

I moderated the second panel, "Burnout and Time Management" featuring Sarra Cannon (Heart Breathings) and Becca Syme (Better Faster Academy). It was one of the easier panels I've done in my moderating career; I'd provided more than enough questions ahead of time, and both panelists had a lot of good stuff to say. I did reshape my questions a bit as the panel progressed to have a good flow with what they'd already said. I didn't see the Zoom chat (someone else monitored), but apparently the feedback was great.

The first panel was an Editor Roundtable featuring Liz Pellitier (Entangled Publishing), Monique Patterson (Bramble), and Melissa Frain (Melissa Frain Editorial). I will need to go back and listen to that one again, as I was doing some last minute prep for my panel while it was happening; since I don't have anything to submit, though, it's a lower priority for me.

The last panel was "Marketing Through Newsletters" with Tammi Labreque (Newsletter Ninja), Kilby Blades (author, digital marketer), and A.M. Lau (Pomegranate Authors). I was spacing out a bit by that point, but it will be good for me to re-watch this one for tips and possibly even a smidge of motivation.

I'm glad it's done and it went well! The event might serve as a model for similar events. I'm exhausted now, though. I am thinking about how much longer I want to volunteer; I might need a break.

Roux for Two by Aurora Rey was a cute, lowkey contemporary romance between a fat queer femme and a trans man. Chef Chelsea Boudreaux has just gotten her own show, which will be filmed in the small south Louisiana town she left behind; her career is about to take off and take her places. College academic advisor Bryce Cormier has lived in the same town with his loving family for his whole life and never plans to move anywhere else; he longs for a partner and, eventually, children. Their unspoken high school crushes are revived when Chelsea comes back to town, and friendship turns to attraction turns to a red-hot relationship. Conflict arises, of course, but it's gentle and resolved by the characters using their words. I enjoyed this a lot and would read more by this author.

Post with links about taking antihistamines when you have COVID, or as a prophylactic measure.

"If you test positive for COVID, one of the simplest interventions you can do, especially now that Paxlovid is losing efficacy and access to it is getting harder and harder, to improve your chances of a full recovery and lower your long COVID risk is to immediately begin taking both a h1 (Claritin, Allegra, Zyrtec) and h2 (Pepcid) antihistimine available over the counter as soon as you test positive. There is starting to be enough evidence that this protocol also reduces your risk of catching COVID in the first place that if you're at higher risk for COVID complications and you don't have counterindications preventing you from taking them, starting to take them daily on a prophylactic basis whenever the COVID rates are trending up again may help."

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree is a prequel to Legends and Lattes, set early in orc narrator Viv's career as a mercenary. When she's sidelined in a small town by a leg wound, boredom leads her to make new friends and try new experiences in a way that will influence her later in life, after she retires and opens a coffee shop. So, basically, it's very similar to Legends and Lattes, and if you liked that one, you will very likely enjoy this one as well. I actually liked it a bit better because of the deft commentary on genre books and reading and what those things do for us as people. It was soothing and hopeful. Recommended.