jeffy

So, I did run on Thursday, just never got around to putting a post up. Went here. This inches past the 25-mile mark on the Hobbits' journey.

Thursday was the after-work beer gathering to send off those laid off. Good seeing everyone, and good to hear about all the troubles they're having getting along without me. Well, good for my ego, not so good for them.

On Friday, since I wasn't biking to work for Bike To Work Day for the first time in years, I volunteered to work at the check point here in town which necessitated getting up at 4:15am which was novel after going to bed about then a few days previous (major props to anyone who can diagram this sentence). It was fun hanging out with city staff and talking to lots of bicyclists.

Saturday, instead of running I went for a hike with a friend. 6+ miles with 2000+ feet of elevation gain. Here's a swag of where we went just to show the general locale and terrain. The trail's been rerouted since that topo was made so actual distance is a little longer or so I'm told. My legs are quite sore today. I did fine with keeping up with my friend, so the running is definitely helping my endurance. Oh, and we saw a bear!

Today (Sunday) we borrowed a car and went down to my sister's place for dinner and visiting.

Glad I don't have to go to work tomorrow, I need a rest!

Since yesterday was FOC_U day I thought I'd point out a few SF books by writers of color that I've read recently (all after racefail caused kate_schaefer to post a list of books recommended by the Carl Brandon Society)

Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell is a shoot-em-up space opera set largely in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant where humans live in floating cities and maintain mining operations on the inhospitable surface. The Mongoose of the title is an enhanced and dreadlocked super soldier spy type guy who's trying to stop some cosmic bad guys. I didn't really get the plot, but I wrote that off for this being a later book in a series. The cultures of the floating cities were interesting and there were sky pirates, so what's not to like?

The Good House by Tananarive Due is kind of a modern gothic romance set between southern Washington State and Los Angeles. There's some nice cultural stuff going on between the African American main characters and the mostly white denizens of the small town where the title house sits. The haunts are interesting for having their roots in Haitian Vodou. I'd have liked it better if it had been about 30% shorter.

Finally, Filter House by Nisi Shawl. I loved this book. It's a collection of short stories, all with some sf-nal element. And there's enough variety in the settings and situations that something in it should appeal to just about any SF fan. The range goes from colonial starships to inner-city magic to post-apocalyptic survival. Added on to all that high-level creativity, Shawl's prose is artful without being showy. I think every story had something in it that made my brain go *ping*, and pointed out just how seldom that happens lately. Highly recommended. (And it just (co-)won the Tiptree Award!)