I’ve been picking up the analog paintbrush again recently. I’m mostly painting little credit card sized images that let me practice techniques and water control.

I need a lot of practice. Maybe I should to stick with digital art. I wasn’t intending this to be a ship in the desert. I intended it to be some sci-fi communications output.

Besides painting, I continue to work on editing book 4 of The Lyra Cycle … in between doom scrolling. There’s been too much of that as well.

A curious thing

I also recently picked up a Nebula subscription. Unfortunately, there’s not quite enough archaeology. I hope they get more soon.

However, I did find Stefan Milo (you can also find him on YouTube).

One of the videos I watched recently, though it was a few years old, was on the potential evidence for Vikings (or some other group) on the Azores before the arrival of the Portuguese. When the Portuguese arrived, the Azores were uninhabited. However, a couple of things have been found that point to earlier human habitation — and northern European specifically.

First, the poo fungus. In particular, fungus associated with sheep and cattle dung was found in sediment samples from a couple of lakes. That doesn’t mean northern Europeans however.

It’s the mice. Most of the mice are Iberian mice. However, one population shares genetics with a Northern European population. Of course, mice are pretty accomplished travellers, maybe rivalled only by rats, so these mice could have hitched a ride on some Portuguese ship visiting the north.

Nonetheless, we’re able to use science to start teasing out that mystery — and I love historical mysteries.

Books for your TBR shelf

In honour of Black History Month, someone on Bluesky posted a list of SFF books by Black authors. I grabbed a couple from the library, and just finished So Let Them Burn. I love the Jamaican-infused world — and the story was engaging. I have book 2 on my list. Now I’m reading Cinderella is Dead. I’m enjoying it so far.

If you’re an avid reader, have you checked out Kobo+? It’s an alternative to that other subscription offering, if you’re looking for one. Get started with some of these sci-fi and fantasy books.

Happy reading!

— CR

Where to find my books

If you’d like to read any of my scifi or urban fantasy books, you can find them at your favourite online retailers. Or you can buy them direct from me on the Armchair Alien store.

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For the past number of months, searching — and stressing about not finding anything — took up most of my mental space. And now, althoug I’m relieved at finding a place, I have a mountain of work to do to prepare for the move. So, if you hear a little less from me for a little longer, you know why.

I hate moving. Growing up, I moved every couple of years. Seriously. I lived in at least 9 cities before graduating high school. Though I’ve only lived in 7 since then (though that doesn’t count moves with a city – that would be higher). So I’m tired of moving.

That said, there are some benefits to moving — be it literal or figurative movement.

I like to think that I’m not a big consumer. I realize that’s a lie when I move, but it means it’s a good opportunity to declutter and find new homes for things I’m never going to use.

It’s also a good opportunity to dust.

I also get to make my mark on a new place. What colour should I paint the kitchen? Oh, wait, that means I have to paint. There’s a lot of work in my future.

But moving house is also a good opportunity for mental movement. I do love exploring a new area, finding new walks, new coffee shops, new parks. Like walking the same way in the opposite direction, it can give you a new perspective on old places. It’s an opportunity to grow, and maybe meet new people.

Still, I hate moving.

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The Lyra has a cat, Grim. I considered renaming him Elmo, as in St. Elmo’s Fire. But he’d been Grim from the beginning, and it just didn’t fit.

Grim was a stray who wandered onto the Lyra and decided to stay. Every once in a while, Tink threatens to leave him at the next port but all the appreciate his appetite for the bakweevils that infest the ship.

Bakweevils are endemic are cargo ships that ever carry foodstuffs. So Grim serves one of the traditional roles of a ship’s cat — eating the vermin. He’s also a great judge of character.

Grim is a character that I describe in detail — and he is a character. He’s definitely got a personality and plays a part in the first novel, besides hunting bakweevils.

There’s a lot of danger in being a ship’s cat — and the Lyra certainly gets into more than its share of trouble. Reading about ships’ cats was actually very sad. Many of them ended up going down when a ship sank. And one was shot during the Shakleton expedition along with the sled dogs

At some point, I plan to tell Grim’s tale, how he ended up alone on a space station and wandering onto the Lyra. In the meantime, he returns in book 2 of The Lyra Cycle, A Lost Ship in A Dark Grave, comes out March 1.

Learn more about the series.

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The first is A Psalm for the Wild-Built* by Becky Chambers. I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying this takes places on a world where, because of past events, half of the world is intentionally left without people. There were so many lovely things about this story that dovetail into my awakening sense of where the world needs to go — living within our means, not always having the newest things, a nearly circular economy.

But the Wild connects with the other book.

Islands of Abandonment visits places that had a huge impact by humans but are now largely abandoned because of human-caused events — Chernobyl, the no-man’s land in Cyprus, Detroit. It looks at them with an eye to how nature can reclaim these catastrophic places … if they’re left alone.

If you’ve read my blog, you might not be surprised to find I believe in the scientific method. And I believe the scientists. I believe we’re facing a global catastrophe. It’s not one that will play out over the course of days, like Chernobyl, or years, like the Salton Sea. It comes slowly but still astonishingly quickly when you consider the global scale.

What might come as a surprise to you is that I believe in aliens. NOT that they’re here. This is not so much based on science, but rather that in all the planets in all the solar systems in all the galaxies in the universe, it seems mathematical that life evolved elsewhere but some of it has probably gotten to the stage we’re at: being able to ponder their place in the universe … and their possible extinction from it.

Which brings me to the lizard people

Well, the Silurian hypothesis. This hypothesis takes its name from a prehistoric, sentient reptilian species introduce in Dr. Who. But the fundamental question of the hypothesis is how would we know if there had been another advanced civilization on earth — what clues could we find? It DOES NOT postulate that there actual was such a civilization. It’s a thought experiment to figure out what we could look for on other planets to see if they’d had an advanced civilization at some point, perhaps long after the artefacts of any such civilization have been ground to dust.

Which brings me to the Drake equation

When I listened to the Stuff to Blow Your Mind episode on the Silurian hypothesis, it struck me how the hypothesis impacts the equation.

If you’re unfamiliar with the equation, it’s an attempt to calculate how many civilizations exist in our galaxy that we might be able to communicate with.

Simplified slightly (see the full equation), it’s based on:

• the rate of star formation times
• the fraction of stars that have planets times
• the portion of those planets that could support life at some point times
• the fraction of those where life actually develops times
• the fraction of those planets where intelligent life arises and forms a civilization times
• the portion of those civilizations that develop technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space times
• the length of time which those civilizations release detectable signals into space.

I think the average person, when we hear about it, we think we’ve “survived” the Drake equation. But we’ve only been releasing detectable signals for 200ish years (unless there were Silurians ). We haven’t reached our fingers that far into the universe. And not to put too grimly, but we’re at a place right now where we change our civilization in ways that we leave less of a trace on planet (and possibly send fewer signals into space) or our civilization doesn’t survive long enough to be very detectable.

Which leads me to … I’m not sure

Back to Islands of Abandonment, it was interesting to see the ways nature can — not exactly recover, because none of the places are what they were before humans remade them or even before the disasters that allowed them to be abandoned — the ways nature can reclaim the earth and make it wild again.

Rewilding is one of the few ways I see of moderating the climate upheaval we’re just starting to see. It gives me hope. But, for nature to reclaim these abandoned places, we need to abandon them. We need to leave them alone, without our impact or our tinkering. That’s not something we do willingly.

To sum up, I want to be a tea monk in a Becky Chambers book.

*As with many links on the website, book links in this post may lead to affiliate links but also include libraries.

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“But failure is bad, right?”

Not necessarily. Smart businesses adopt a fail fast mentality – try the creative thing, learn quickly if it works or you need to try something else. But I’m getting off topic.

I decided to write down and share some writing goals this year. Because goals are like resolutions. They have layers you’re more likely to stay with it if people know you’re trying. At least that’s the theory.

First reflection…

I know a lot of folks would agree that 2021 kind of sucked. Did it suck as hard as 2020? It’s a tough call. I think there was a lot of hope that life would be “back to normal” by now. For me, I’d be okay with returning to a different normal — there were definitely things about our old normal that were broken.

At the same time I count myself fortunate. I was able to visit family TWICE this year. I continued to be able to work from home at a day job I still have. I went for walks with friends in the stunning area of the world I live in.

But what about writing?

Last year, well, I kept writing. However, I had one book published. One. I revised another one, and am in the middle of revising a third. I thought I’d do more.

But I did continue growing my digital art skills. Though that also suffered during the summer of migraines.

Now comes 2022

I always think I’m going to be able to finish — write and revise — more books. But this year, I’d like to bring 4 books to completion. However, only one of those has not a single word on paper. I’d also like to get another one drafted…and this is very I over commit.

A Lost Ship in a Dark Grave (The Lyra Cycle Book 2): The next book for my scifi pen name, the revisions on this one need to be done ASAP since it’s already available for preorder, going live on March 1. Ach, the pressure. It’ll be fine, it’s all fine.

Kandi’s tale (title TBD): This is a novella in the Lyra Cycle world. It tells the tale of how Kandi ends up on the cargo ship Lyra. This is drafted and has been through a round of revisions. Once it has a title and a cover, I’d like to get it out to some initial readers before it’s fully foisted on the world.

The Lyra Cycle Book 3: This is also drafted. Very, very roughly drafted. Basically the revision will be a rewrite level of rough…but the bones are there so this one has a good chance for 2022.

The Life of Finn Book 1: Okay, that’s not the actual title but this is new urban fantasy! I’m finally back to the stories that stared it all. I think I’ve mentioned before how I fall in love with side characters. Bee, Dar and Rhys. And now Finn. She’s getting her own spin-off series. Look for more details in 2022.

The Lyra Cycle Book 4: If this one gets drafted this year, I’ll be astonished. But you never know — I’ve surprised myself before. Like yesterday, when I finally caved and put up a hummingbird feeder — the pugnacious, cute, littlle bas…birds were freezing.

What else will 2022 bring?

Who knows. But my other goals for the year are to keep the garden in better nick (ha!) and get back on the digital art learning (more likely). Go for more hikes in my phenomenal neck of the woods and visit family more. Continue to find ways to reduce my impact on the planet…easier when I still don’t feel quite ready to roll the dice with international travel.

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Arcane

I wasn’t going to watch Arcane. Just another animated production based on a video game that I’ve never played, and never plan to. But the tile in Netflix was enough to draw me in.

The animation is lovely throughout, but it was really the opening sequence that hooked me. The way they combined a very different style of animation with the music was gorgeous.

And there’s a great attention to detail. I love anything art deco, so the faucet handles in the shower scene were delicious. And they made great use of those little details to delineate the class differences.

Wheel of Time

In Wheel of Time it’s the costumes, in particular those in S1:E6. Even though the Aes Sedai are divided into their groups, and the colours become a uniform, it was interesting to see how each individual woman had her own style. I don’t know if that’s the same in the books, or if all the women in a colour group wore a similar uniform to each other.

And the costume of the Amyrlin Seat — airy and heavy all at the same time — both matched the eponymous seat she sat in as well as the tower but also separated her from the other women.

The use of details in the costumes and setting in the opening of S1:E8 clearly indicated that this was different time in the world.

And I appreciate the aesthetics of Daniel Henney — that’s not objectify! It’s an objective appreciation of physical beauty where I find it

Cowboy Bebop

Yes, haters, I loved Netflix’s Cowboy Bepop. Full disclosure, I never watched the anime and don’t plan to. They may just appeal to different audiences.

The world in the live action series was great. Right from the Vegas inspired The gritty wild, wild west of some locales contrasts beautifully with the opulence of the opera on Ganymede and sleek austerity of the Syndicate headquarters. Again, I loved the costumes.

And the Bebop itself reflects its residents. A little dark, a bit broken, rough around the edges, but it keeps on keeping on.

I did have a few issues with the story. I liked the earlier episodes more than the later ones, where they were more self contained, though had hints of the characters larger lives and history.

Now, I’m onto season 2 of The Witcher. Maybe I should have waited until after I’d watched that before posting this.

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But I would also happily spend hours at the library. I still wholeheartedly support the mission of public libraries — everyone should be able to access a variety of books, no matter your funds. And nowadays, no matter their distance from the library itself.

Entering the library was like going on an adventure — you never knew what you’d come out with. And you didn’t have to worry about whether you (or your parents) could afford it, just whether you had room in your alloted lending limit.

For me, looking for books online doesn’t allow for the same exploration and happy discoveries (hello, Cosmos*, what are you?) as being in a library in person. But I also find myself reading ebooks more and more, and books are like places — there are so many wonderful ones, it’s hard to justify reading the same one again. I usually don’t need to own my own copy unless it’s a reference book.

What does this have to do with Overdrive?

Well, the stars have aligned — I recently discovered my local library started using Overdrive for ebooks again…and my ereader supports Overdrive!!! Overreaction, I think not.

All of which makes me excited about reading books from my library without ever leaving my home. Given that winter is coming here, this is also a good thing.

*I use what’s called a universal link when I mention books on the website, which links to links, in case you’re interested. Some of those links use affiliate codes, so if you do want to buy the book, I might earn a few pennies. However, if I can find the book on Overdrive, I’ve also started adding that link to the list. You’re library might not stock it (or they might use a different service than Overdrive), but it’s worth asking. The same goes for books by your favourite authors (like me ) — if you can’t afford to buy their books or want to read an ebook but support libraries, it’s great to remember you might be able to get it at your local library.

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Reading the etymology of ‘cerulean’, it (possibly) traces its origins back to the Latin for heaven. Which is the perfect word for The House in the Cerulean Sea: heavenly.

That’s it, review done.

Okay, fine. I’ll write a bit more. This book made me laugh out loud and ugly cry — all at the same time. I think the last time that happened was watching The Big Sick on a plane home from India.

To give a brief intro, the story centres around caseworker Linus Baker, who reads the rules and regulations to relax. When he’s set a new case to work on, he finds those rules and regulations aren’t the comfort he hoped for, and his view of the world is put to the test.

To be frank, I wasn’t sure I’d like Linus at first. He was so beige and was beige about being beige. But, if you feel the same, stick with it. Stick with him. You’ll be happy you did.

Despite being a writer, it’s hard to put into words why I loved this story. Yes, it’s a tale about discovering the magic in yourself and learning to see the magic in others. Yes, it’s a story about just because people are different doesn’t they’re bad. Yes, it is extraordinary…but also so ordinary.

It’s your regular boy-meets-boy tale…and that is run-of-the-mill in the world TJ Klune writes about here. I want to say that’s refreshing, but really, it’s about time.

Okay, they happen to be surround by magical creatures. But what is most magical is the characters and their relationships, and how they and those relationships grow over time.

And Calliope, Calliope is the most magical and extraordinary creature of all. You have to read it to know what I mean.

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After my first walking tour on vacation in Greece, I knew that was how I wanted to visit Southern Spain.

I arrived in Sevilla, despite an Icelandic volcano trying to thwart…wait maybe that was Greece. I arrived in Sevilla at the tailend of a feria. I think it must have been the feria de abril, even though it was May. This meant there were displays tucked away in doorways, horses in the streets, and people in fantastic outfits.

Soon, though, I was headed to Cordoba, my second favourite city of the ones I visited.

The Gaudalquivir is still broad where it flows through Cordoba, past La Mezquita. Inside the phenomenal Mezquita, which I could not get a good picture of so you get a blurry one, there was a wall of names in Arabic on tiles – builders of the original building. Another thing you notice in Cordoba is the presence of ancient scholars — I believe the statue is Maimonides.

From Cordoba, we headed to Granada. There was nothing like catching my first glimpse of the Alhambra against the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas.

Yes, I realize “snow-capped Sierra Nevadas” is a bit of an interlingual tautology…and yes, I had to look up tautology.

Anyway, I swear my heart stopped, which makes sense, because time skipped a beat. Again, I do not have a picture that does it justice.

Next up were hikes through the Alpujarras before heading to Ronda and its famous bridge. A little less famous is the cat. It’s said that Hemingway based his tale of cliffside executions on Ronda — though it might not be true.

As I was gathering the pictures for this post, I realized some were missing, including most of those from Sevilla. I was so sad. I would love to say that just means I need to go back when I feel I can travel again, but all the places unvisited by me + the major impact of travel on climate change = not visiting the same place twice, so it’s unlikely.

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Why this talk of mirrors? I recently listened to the four part megasode about mirrors on the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. This podcast is a regular one in my rotation — I’ve mentioned it when talking about vampires and sexbots and the source of story ideas. It’s one of the ones the helps fill the creative well, as well as educate me. And this series of episodes has given me an idea for my return to urban fantasy after writing scifi under my super secrect pen name Rene Astle.

The earliest mirrors

The first mirrors we know of are old. They go right back to the Ҫatalhöyük site in modern-day Turkey (a fascinating site where people access their homes via the roof and buried their dead beneath the floor). Technically these early mirrors were made of glass, in so much as obsidian is glass. But it would be thousands of years before the glass mirror as we know it today had its beginnings.

The Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (whose name means Smoking Mirror) sees all in his obsidain mirror. But is his view warped by that smoky, unreliable mirror?

Even when we moved to metal and the earliest metal-coated glass, it’s hard to imagine the reflection was very clear. You can understand where some superstitions around mirrors arise if you often get visual echoes.

Through the looking glass

It’s not just Alice who finds another world through a mirror. Ancient Chinese myth tells of creatures in the mirror, waiting to wake and battle our world. The flicker of movement you see sometimes is the army stirring. Goosebumps!

It puts me in mind of some of the beliefs of seeing your soul in the mirror. Besides the common practice of covering mirrors post death (so the soul doesn’t linger), there’s also a superstition of covering mirrors near sick beds so the soul isn’t lured away to the world beyond the mirror.

The science of the mirror

I’m fascinated by the mirror test that is suggested to test self-awareness in animals. A handful of animals tentatively pass the test, including some cool corvids, though there’s some debate about how many.

The tidbit about the science — and art — of mirrors from the podcast that I knew but still stuck with me is that when you meet someone’s gaze in a mirror, they’re looking at you. Keep that in mind if you people watching in a reflective surface…if you meet they’re eyes, they’re watching you. As in the painting of Venus by Peter Paul Rubens (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).

The magic of the mirror

Curses! Okay, I’m not one to believe in curses or seven years of bad luck, and I’m pretty sure I never tried Bloody Mary in my childhood.

In addition to crystal balls and still pools, mirrors are also linked to scrying — as with the witch in the tale. However, hearing these myths about another world beyond the mirror’s surface sparks more story ideas than the others. When a character looks into the mirror what looks back at them? I can’t wait to get started!

So what will my mirror tale entail? You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.

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