If you can’t say anything nice, and there’s not much else to talk about, it’s hard to get a conversation going, isn’t it? I’m not going to pretend that the election and the parade of terrible news since hasn’t put a damper on my spirit this year. When you throw in the fact that mercury is apparently circling backwards around my office, I just don’t have a great deal of positive news to share.
I’d like to point out one story that’s flying a little under the radar. While everyone is focusing on the genuinely awful transition to a Trump presidency, the governor of Texas is trying to be the Mini Me to Trump’s Dr. Evil. He’s taken to twitter to link to conspiracy theories on non-news sites like WND, to attack electors for doing what the electoral college is meant to do , and to attack companies which exercise their right to boycott, which the courts have determined is protected by the first amendment. He’s even taken to aping one of Trump’s signature lines. Texans like to say that everything is bigger in Texas. Apparently, this applies to political embarrassments as well.
I did get around to reading The Handmaid’s Tale and absolutely loved it. Good speculative fiction most often revolves around not just having a delicious idea, but actually executing on that idea. Larry Niven, for example, is chock full of great ideas and writes great short stories about them, but he struggles with stretching them to novel length. Margaret Atwood had a terrific concept and did it justice, all the way to the ambiguous and completely appropriate ending.
Oh, and there’s a new Nine Inch Nails EP! I haven’t heard the whole thing yet, but what I’ve heard is raw and angry and very, very promising. Alan Moulder helps out on production, and there are a few other familiar names on board as well. I’ve been in a tweexcore mood of late, but there’s nothing like a short burst of Trent Reznor to get me going on a chilly, grey Christmas eve eve.
And really? That’s about it right now. We’re going to be traveling the next couple of days and I’ll be thinking about what I’m going to do instead of end of year lists over the next week. There will be a good deal of football (the kind you play with your feet), good food, and the love of my life to keep me warm in these dark days of December, so I think it’ll be OK in the end.
-RK