Zeven

Hello hello, happy November.

This is going to be short and sweet because there isn’t much we can currently talk about re: writing. Hopefully that might change next month though, so please do watch this space…

We got to see some of the ESFF crowd recently and it was a great reminder of how nourishing it can be to have a community of writers around you. Look at these lovely faces!

What we’ve been writing:

Absolutely nothing. Which isn’t to say we haven’t been planning/plotting/dreaming/scheming. There are currently several projects bubbling away on the backburner and we’re hoping to jump into at least one of them very shortly - after we get some guidance from our agent about what the best plan of action is. It’s so valuable having someone to help with these decisions, otherwise we’d still be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks!

What we’ve been reading:

• The Bone Ships by RJ Barker - I started this in October and finished it in November, and my assessment from our last mailing still stands; this is a great fantasy story with creative worldbuilding and really fun character work. It’s currently on Amazon UK for 99p so if you haven’t picked it up I highly recommend you do!

• Melmoth by Sarah Perry - a dark, atmospheric story with a speculative overtone that probes at the questions of guilt and responsibility. It was a melancholy and thoughtful read and I can see how it could be divisive, but it personally worked extremely well for me, especially with the events currently unfolding in the world right now.

• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - a short dystopian novel about cannibalism (kind of) and what makes us human. I enjoyed this, though it had the quality I associate with very ‘literary’ writing where the main character is just so tired of everything, which can make the reading a bit slow and ponderous. It did remind me how much I love reading novels in translation, however, with a sort of playfulness of language that you miss only reading books written in English.

• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - I sadly started but did not finish this book. I had been really looking forward to it, but as with a lot of very-hyped books, it did not meet expectations and I couldn’t really get into it. Honestly I think I need to stick to books I’ve never heard of, because then I can go in completely fresh.

• All the Birds Will Be Hostile by Raine Wilson - this was a beta read for our good friend, and when I tell you you’re going to love this novel!! There’s no one who captures wildness and longing quite like Raine, and Wyn’s slow unfolding and exploration of what ‘home’ means is going to devastate readers!

• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel - a pandemic novel that’s not exactly about the pandemic. I had no idea what this was about before reading (somehow missed all the hype!) and mostly enjoyed this speculative time-travel story. I wished the framing device had been followed more faithfully (I have a thing about nested narratives) but the character work was lovely and the writing fantastic, as always.

• The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley - a book I enjoyed most of the way through whose ending did not work for me, and which coloured my feelings about the rest of the book immensely.

Links:

• Cymera is having a writer’s festival! We will be teaching a class for it! Come join us!!

• Struggle with comparing yourself to other writers and coming up lacking? You might be experiencing comparanoia.

• I really enjoyed Dave Goodman’s story Such is My Idea of Happiness this month!

• 1000 Georgian and Victorian names for dogs. Next dog we get is for sure being called Master Hubert.

Mushroom of the month

This month’s mushroom is the bane of gardeners all over: Armillaria mellea, or honey fungus (a category that encompasses 10 different species). Unlike many mushrooms which either digest dead wood, or live in symbiosis with their hosts, A. mellea actively kill the trees they grow on, and they’re very difficult to eradiate. Seeing them in a garden or park is often a sign that a tree is not long for this world - and they’ll happily make their way towards new growth once they’re done.

However, honey fungus are also extremely cool - some variety are bioluminescent and are responsible for foxfire, a phenomenon that is both very cool and an excellent name for a book.

They are also known as one of the largest organisms on Earth, with one specimen in Oregon measuring over 8.8 km² (and 2500 years old). Honey fungus may be a parasite, but I bet it’s felled fewer trees than people even though it’s been around a lot longer.

Anyway, that’s all for now - hopefully the next time you hear from us it’s with exciting book news!! Stay safe and warm, friends. x