About this blog
The Brain—is wider than the Sky—For—put them side by side—The one the other will contain
With ease—and you—beside—Emily Dickinson, c. 1862
Perinthia’s astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong and their figures are unable to describe the heavens, or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters.
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
This blog is a response to sci-fi burnout.
Five years ago, a little blog dedicated to science fiction and fantasy book reviews was born. That blog was christened From Couch to Moon, mainly because I was stuck at home that summer and couldn’t decide whether I should occupy my time with a couch-to-5k plan, or–what sounded even better–read and review all the Hugo Award best novel nominees I could get my hands on. I was having hip flexor issues at the time, so From Couch to Moon it was!
This was before I knew how sycophantic the amateur book reviewing landscape was. This was before I knew about publisher-blogger enmeshment. And this was before I knew how boring, cliché, and corny space battles could be after reading a thousand scenes of the same thing, and how little they had changed since 1939. It was also before my realization that many Hugo-nominated novels–regardless of year–are terrible. (It took me a few months to finally admit that one.)
It was also about 3-and-a-half years before I started to run out of new and entertaining ways to say, “I dig this,” and “This is not my bag.” Around that time, I started thinking it was time for a new blog with a new mission.
Then the 2016 US election happened, and I really couldn’t be reading no more sci-fi. We are living it.
I’m trying to come back from that. With this blog, I want to explore more of what I like: fiction that best articulates the human experience, the minutiae of life, and the unexplainable and unknowable depths of who we are. Instead of looking up to space (or enchanted forests), I want look around at life.
But still, like, you know, with some sensawunda in it.
Here are some of my greatest hits from the FC2M years:
The Moon is a Harsh Mansplainer
The Southern Reach series: Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind
Articles and Compilations:
The 2016 Clarke Award Shortlist: Surface, Contrivance, & Salience
Of the 2014 Books I Read, I Read, I Read…
I also made this, for all your PKD-reading needs, which people seem to like:
Happy to see new reviews. 🙂 Keep it up Megan!
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Thanks, Kirk!
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Congratulations on the double accomplishment of a) deciding to start something new, and b) actually doing it. I occasionally get as far as a), but…
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Thanks! If it’s any consolation, a) happened three years ago, and I’m just now getting to it, and I hope I do b) more often than not, but we’ll see..
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“This was before I knew how sycophantic the amateur book reviewing landscape was. This was before I knew about publisher-blogger enmeshment. ”
This right here is a big part of why I nuked Drunken Dragon Reviews and focused on my career as a network engineer. After a while it was just the same shit with a different paint job and I found myself reading less and less fiction and more and more tech and work-related stuff, both as a combination of fantasy burnout and the community. No regrets since 🙂
I’ve been searching out your blog (FC2M) now and then when I needed a hit of sassy book discussions and I’ve only now discovered the move, glad to see you found a way to keep this all crispy 😀
Cheers,
Rab
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Dude!!! Glad to hear from you again! Hope you’re doing alright, Rab!
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Madness.
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Does this mean you’re back?
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