This has been a week of joining. First, I joined the Society of Authors. Although I’m not a published fiction writer, the body of work I have from a 28 year career as a magazine journalist counts – which means that I’m in some illustrious company.
Second, I now have a borrowers membership for the University of Kent Library, which means not only can I go along and enjoy the WiFi (you can do that for free if you want) but also borrow books – and the kind of academic books I sometimes want to read can be ferociously expensive.
This week has veered between too hot and too much rain, which is probably a harbinger of the way that British summers will be in the future. Despite my Indian DNA, I'm a northerner at heart: anything above about 23 degrees and I start to basically want to curl up and fall asleep for the hot bit. The siesta is a natural response to weather that gets too hot in the afternoon, and I expect the British to eventually embrace it.
The three things which most caught my attention
- Tim Bray has a really good review of the current state of Mastodon. It's mostly positive, and I agree with Tim that some of the things that people want (post migration) really aren't all that important. And speaking of Mastodon, StreetPass is a REALLY useful extension for finding people there.
- Elon Musk's quest to destroy Twitter continues. For me, Twitter got to the point where ethically I could no longer be part of a service which was rolling out the welcome mat to the extreme right, misogynists, abusers, racists, homophobes, transphobes, grifters and general scum bags. It’s one thing to be part of a service where they are present, but another to have an owner who actively goes out of his way to orient the service towards those users’ needs.At that point, it’s a moral question, and no amount of “value” or “usefulness” I get from that service makes a difference. So if you see me on Twitter... it's not me.
- Steve Albini used to be one of the most talented musicians and producers around, but with that came a level of assholery that was Olympic standard. He's rowed a lot of that back, and now sounds infinitely more grounded and – dare I say it – happy.
Things I have been writing
I wrote a little piece of micro-fiction which I published on Mastodon. I'm interested in doing more of this. Micro-fiction appeals to my sense of minimalism.
I also worked on a couple of exercises which might turn into stories, one about a man who is killed by a wasp and another about a man in an immense galaxy filled with humanity who goes off in search of his double.
Things I have been reading
I picked up War Bodies by Neal Asher again. Everyone needs a bit of science fiction horror in their lives, right?
