Okay so this book has about 440 pages in the hardcover edition I got from my local library. It was sitting in my stack for about two weeks before I got myself to read it. Even though it was one of the rare books I specifically hunted for at the library.
I got weird vibes from it every single time I considered reading it. The fact that Neil Gaiman praised it probably didn’t help, because that told me it was going to be a ride of a book. I wasn’t wrong.
It was also the kind of book that made me sit down and need to write this vague review.
I started it two days before the day I’m writing this. And then put it down right away because it was immediately creeping me out. Mostly in a good way, but also in the itchy way that gets behind your neck and tells you something’s looking at you from a corner you’ll never quite see.
Even in the jacket summary, there’s immediately a sense of a story both on a massive scale that it depersonalizes and on such a small scale you’re practically in the streets of NYC with the characters. When I read Neverwhere, first as a comic and then as the original book, that was exactly the contrast that messed with me the most, so I knew I needed to proceed cautiously.
I had read about 40 pages by this morning. Today, I read the final 400.
Partially because I’d already had one odd dream about the book. I didn’t want too many more.
And partially because it was just that good.
Jemisin successfully mixes Lovecraftian horror (and f that guy) with an even more frightening lens on the real world. Racism, sexism, colonialism, classism, homophobia, gentrification; Jemisin tackles all of these ideas with her diverse and fascinating main cast.
The commentary isn’t particularly subtle (the multi-formed villain literally appears as only white women), but I think that’s part of what makes it work. Subtlety has its place. But so does directness. Especially in fantasy, where some readers are more than willing to ignore or even argue against what they don’t like (re: Lovecraft can eat a bag of tentacles).
Not to mention, that commentary actually makes the story that much more unsettling.
Yes, the cosmic horror is horrific. The existential dread is palpable. Questions about the “Greater Good” get asked in ways so brief you can’t help but find them sitting in your stomach hours later, to say nothing of the disturbing number of deaths that happen off-screen with only the mildest of note. It’s a wonderfully creepy book.
Jemisin includes those classic elements of good horror, but those parts didn’t make me have to put the book down for a few seconds.
No. The parts that got me sat firmly, dreadfully, with their roots in reality.
A few spoilers here.
One of the main characters runs an art gallery in the Bronx. She’s queer and Lenape, a veteran of both Stonewall and AIM. She’s a fighter. A group of alt-right “artists” tries to get her to show their racist, homophobic, terrible art in the gallery. When she refuses, their distressingly large online following proceeds to dox her and her staff, sending threatening messages, and ultimately breaking into the gallery and vandalizing the art there.
And that, that was terrifying. In a way I can’t begin to describe.
Because that happens.
That happens in real life. Constantly. To queer people, to People of Color, to disabled people, to activists, to anyone who dares to speak out. To anyone who’s different, to anyone who manages to anger the wrong person at the wrong time. The threat hangs over our heads whenever we try to make the world the safe and welcoming place we all deserve.
That’s what Jemisin captures. We’ve created a culture of hate and anger, and it’s only gotten harder to fight back against. When the rage of thousands of people can be turned on you with a few keystrokes, when the cops don’t care, when
We can fight it, though. And we do.
Jemisin lets her heroes fight back. By loving each other, by supporting each other, by building communities. We fight by becoming more.
That’s what I want to take from The City We Became, in the end. Not the fear. But the hope. The belief that we can keep going, even when the world outside is terrifying.
Go read it. Jemisin explains it in a way that my last-minute gut-reaction ramblings could never dream to. It’s worth it, I promise.
Howdy folks! I am, in fact, not dead, just apparently not super into blogging for the sake of blogging, especially not in the rather rigid, scheduled format I started posting with. It turns out, trying to come up with unique writing tips and curated lists on a weekly basis is hard to do while pursuing an engineering degree and running a side business in the middle of a pandemic.
I twice started long posts only to abandon both posts as drafts. One of them was about the books I read in 2020, if that tells you anything. Blogging, it seems, is not my strong suit. I would caution you, reader, to not get your hopes up that this update post means more content will be coming… but who, really, can say.
An update on Possum Paper Works
I’m pleased to say that Possum Paper Works the business is stronger than ever. In the last few months, though I’ve mostly ignored this site, I was accepted in to two different markets held by local community print shop Studio Two Three. Over these two markets, particularly the second, month-long Winter Market, PPW did amazingly well.
Before the market, I cranked out about 55 notebooks over the course of 15 days. The photo above shows all of the stock I initially supplied the market with. I thought for sure it would be enough. It sure looks like enough!
It was not. The Richmond community turned out in force! And rightly so–the market was filled with amazing works from local artists. After just the first weekend, I was emailed with a request for more stock. I ended resupplying twice, making 26 additional books total and adding multiple pre-made books. Somehow, I sent exactly 100 books to the market. Only 12 returned.
I’m currently in progress of listing the remains of my stock to Etsy. I also got a new printer for Christmas, so keep an eye out for potential lined(!) notebooks and guided gratitude journals in the future.
An update on me
Public universities are a disaster. But I’m graduating in Spring, hallelujah.
I learned the hard way in July why they say to keep the plastic guards on paper cutters. Luckily it was not bad enough to warrant a trip to the ER. It was, however, a useful lesson.
It’s finally time. Only took 9 posts for me to get to the subject that started it all for me – making my writing better by keeping a journal. Are you ready to hear this writer and bookbinder’s take? Of course you are.
Writing Tip #9 – Keeping A Writing Journal
Since May 15, 2013, I have written in a journal every day. And I mean every day. Travel, food poisoning, the flu–none of those things have stopped me yet. Even when I could barely stay awake for more than a few minutes I managed to get a few words out. Good words? Maybe not. But that’s hardly the point.
I have made writing every day, even if it’s just a line or two, part of my necessary routine. If I can hold a pen, I will write. I’m not breaking my streak for anything.
The majority of those thousands of entries aren’t accounts of my day-to-day life. No, I write about the day-to-day lives of my characters. I note the shorter stories that popped into my dreams. I wander around in the plots and details of my storylines until I have a sense of what’s going on.
It’s been more helpful to my writing than I ever could’ve imagined. All of those tips that say to write every day to improve? They aren’t kidding. I look back on my early entries and I can’t believe I wrote so poorly.
I mean, in my defense, I was 13 and mostly recording the surprisingly dramatic adventures of my toys, heavily featuring all the rubber ducks I had in the tub. The content was always going to be a little iffy. Still, there’s gold in there.
I can look at old entries and find character details buried in the action and words that I love and never would’ve been able to express back then. Even if I never use the characters again, it makes me wildly happy to read their old stories.
In more recent years, my journal has been a fantastic way to keep notes for later. A good chunk of the dialogue in the novel I wrote over the summer came almost directly from what I had written in my journal the year before.
My favorite part is always when I find something I wrote and go, “Wow, I totally forgot about that.” That’s how I know writing every night is worth it.
Why you should journal too
I’ll keep this simple. There’s a ton of reasons why you should journal, and not all of them are just regarding writing. Here’s a few:
Writing more = better writing (usually)
It’s a great way to keep writing if you have a day job that prevents you from having the time or energy to write.
It keeps a record of tiny details about your stories for you to find later – continuity is helpful, y’all.
The more you write the more you have to read a year or two down the line – reading my old journals is almost like reading a book, and it never fails to keep me entertained.
Someday some ancestor of yours will get to read your notebook and find out what you were like. This may or may not be a bad thing, that’s up to you.
When you’re famous and dead your family can sell your books for lots of money or make some literature scholars very happy.
Step #1 – Find a notebook you can’t wait to write in.
Four years’ worth of my journals – including the first book I ever made!
Go into Barnes & Noble (or their website) and find the leather journal that makes you swoon. Hunt down 20 cent composition books during the back-to-school season of sales. Find a journal software or app you can jive with. If you’re feeling extra awesome, order a snazzy Possum Paper Works book or a custom journal from another bookbinder!
Your journal doesn’t have to be fancy. At all. My first one was a $10 Spider-man journal from Walmart, and I got similar style books for most of the first 6 or 7 journals I filled.
Now, I love the Barnes & Noble books. I had two that I got as gifts, and my current journal is another one from their line. I spent $35 for a journal that will last me over a year now that I don’t always write a full page. It’s basically the only thing I’m willing to buy from B&N.
I like lined paper books, because I tend to write linearly when I use pen and I sometimes write more when I use paper. You might be more of a blank-page bullet journalling type (see the end of this post for more resources about that!), or your journalling might be sporadic and on-the-go and need to stay on your phone. Find the book (or app) that sounds like it’ll fill your needs the best.
You can also always make your own book. Just be aware that if you do that…you might not ever want to stop making books…
Step #2 – Figure out what time of day you’re most likely to write during.
This is dependent on a couple of factors. Mostly, you want to figure out when you’ve got at least five or ten minutes of free time, and when you’re most motivated to sit down and focus for a little bit.
I’ve kind of given up on focusing most of the time. I write while scattering back and forth between the TV, my laptop, or whatever else has my attention that night. Sometimes I do actually want to write, and suddenly find myself wishing I had more than 1 page. But I make rules for myself. No more than one page, and these days, no more than 5 entries per 2 pages. It makes sure there’s something written, no matter how short.
A neighbor of mine always writes right after she wakes up. That’s when she’s at her peak. It might work best for you too, writing a few lines before you even get out of bed.
You could write whenever, but I definitely recommend sticking to a set time whenever possible. Making it a daily routine, as regular as your cup of coffee or brushing your teeth, will help you stay with it longer, and thus write more.
Step #3 – Get to it!
Don’t sit there staring at your blank notebook. I know you don’t want to mess up the nice paper or the lovely blank screen. I get that. But come on, dude. You want to write? You’re gonna have to write.
Don’t look at me like that.
This took me nearly a week to write, okay? I get it. Writing sucks. Still. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…to write, you…have to write.
But it doesn’t have to be all that awful.
Journal to improve your writing – but let yourself write about anything you want.
Write about stories and character ideas. Write tiny sections of dialogue, worldbuilding, that stupid little scene where your characters make a bunch of terrible cow puns.
But write other things too. If you had a crappy day and you can’t think of anything other than whatever drama’s on your mind, write it out. If you need to work through something going on in your life, let your journal be your therapist. There’s a reason journalling is touted for its positive effects on mental health.
Plus, it’s actually a lot of fun to keep a normal “diary” journal too, even if all you write for it is one line at the start of every writing entry like I do. It can show you how far you’ve come as a person and not just as a writer.
If rules help you meet your writing goals, set rules. But don’t be afraid to break them.
Don’t get discouraged if you miss a day.
That’s okay. I promise. You’re not me. I am a dangerously stubborn being. Not everyone works at their best under pressure.
A few years ago, I had to force myself to break my own “one page a day” rule. My mental health was in the toilet, and most nights writing a full page made me feel worse with the stress of trying to come up with enough to fill a page.
One night, I decided I was done. I wrote a few lines, and stopped. I didn’t write again until the next night.
Not once have I regretted it.
Let yourself take breaks. It’s as important in journalling as in everything else in the world. Not every novel has to be a masterpiece, and not every journal entry has to be something you’ll ever look at again. That’s fine.
I promise.
Have fun with it.
Use your favorite pens. I started with Uniballs I had lying around, then got more as I found out how much I adored them. I used a red pen every fourth night to switch things up.That was the extent of the “fun” of the journal, other than the joy of writing.
About when writing started getting hard, I started using a different kind of Uniball, with a bunch of their colored Signos brightening up my collection. It made a huge difference. One night more recently I was feeling lackluster again and I used a Papermate Flair pen that I’d just gotten. I doodled all over my margins, and while my writing wasn’t as hot, the emotion was there, and I actually managed to get a bit done.
It makes a difference, if you can have a little fun with your journal. It really does.
Just remember, if it’s hurting you more than helping, stop and re-evaluate. Writing itself isn’t always fun. That doesn’t mean you have to make yourself feel worse by doing it.
Finally, it’s never a bad idea to tag your entries.
Man, I wish I had started doing this as soon as I started writing.
What I mean by tag is have some kind of short word or acronym you can use to show what you wrote about on any given day.
I have dozens and dozens of stories. The shorter ones don’t tend to get tagged, but if it’s taking up more than three nights of writing, I try to always put a little note up by the date of the entry that tells me what the story or universe I’m writing about is.
If that tag’s not there, and I’m trying to find a specific bit of information, I’ll fly right by the page and never find it. When you’re dealing with hundreds of entries, that’s not ideal. At all. Trust me on that.
A set of recent pages from my journal. Note the lines up top with the one word tags! And the way I just kinda gave up on the red entry…
Need more inspiration?
Not enough guidelines? Not the type of journalling you’re interested in? Don’t despair!
My own Pinterest board of journal inspirations has tons of images and how-to guides sure to inspire your own notebooks, so be sure to check it out!
Here’s a couple of writers with their own tips on keeping a journal:
Heads up! This post contains affiliate links. For more information about what an affiliate link is and what they mean for you, see my privacy page.
Sheet Ghost Product Roundup
It’s October. You know what that means?
It’s spooky season, y’all.
And by spooky I mean “weird adorable puppet ghosts singing Beatles songs”, of course. I had a video here, but the Mouse Machine seems to have done as it does and removed it.
Look, man. It’s not Halloween for me without the Vincent Price episode of the original Muppet Show. The Alice Cooper episode is also superb, but the Vincent Price episode is where it’s at. Uncle Deadly is the best.
But, like, those dancing ghosts? Best part. I have a little ghost decoration that looks a bit like those puppets. It’s a year-round feature these days.
Similarly, Peanuts comics and the It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were constants in my childhood, and with those characters came the eternal bedsheet ghost. You know the one, the amorphous blob of a costume spawned from the cheap white sheet with holes cut for eyes and nothing else. It’s a classic.
All that to say, I like those traditional-style sheet ghosts quite a lot. I’ve never been a big fan of horror, but creepy-cute works just fine. More than fine, actually. With that in mind, let’s get started on the spooky sheet ghost product roundup!
A little handmade friend in a bottle! What’s not to love? No really, I’m in love. I don’t know what I’d do with this little guy, but I want one (Update: I have one now, LOVE IT). This Etsy store has lots of other little ghosts in a variety of dioramas to choose from, so check them out!
I can hear the implied “boo” in this pin? The little shoes and jeans make it even better. Seriously, this would look so cute on a bag strap or a hat, maybe next to a pin of your local cryptid. If you have one. Apparently my area is a little lacking in proper cryptids (Update: also have this super quality pin now! My aunt found a theme for Etsy gifts…).
Just the right mix of spooky and sweet. The detail on the lavender especially gets me. This artist has tons of other ghost and mild horror-inspired artworks, so if this exact design isn’t to your fancy, you can find many other beautiful works at their shop (Also have this print! Just as lovely in person!)!
This ethereal greeting card has a Poe-etic message inside for all your Halloween card needs. Invite your friends to share a pumpkin carol with you! Leave thank-yous for the spirits in the graveyards when you take a little graveyard dirt for a spell! If this card sells out, be sure to check the seller out for more Halloween inspired photos and cards.
“Strawberry Fields”….hm….Beatles….ghost…someone’s on the same page as me. Katherine Blower’s art collection features tons of lonely ghosts, and I really want to make friends with all of them. Walter, this poor ghost. Walter needs a friend. The Strawberry Fields ghost has the butterflies, at least. But I want to give Walter some love.
Anyway. Go find Katherine Blower’s art, and enjoy the adorable spirits.
This print is pretty popular on Society6, and with the bold black and white design, I can see why–it would look awesome on a spooky gallery wall. The high tops are probably my favorite part, the nostalgia levels at peak points.
This has a weirdly Tim Burton-esque style that I love. Or maybe more Edward Gorey. Regardless. Like an office party from half a dimension over, this print is ready to add a bit of odd charm to your walls.
TOO MANY GHOSTIES
If this hasn’t been an exhaustive enough list of wee ghosties for you, here’s some more art I love:
If you’re still hungry for more arts to shop, may I recommend my own lines of notebooks on Etsy and my art on Society6 and Redbubble? Your support is much appreciated and helps keep this blog running!
