The Year's 1/12 Over and I Haven't Prepared for the Holidays

You know that saying that work will expand to fit the time you give it? You CAN finish this project in 3 months, but if they give you 6 then you will work those entire 6 months on the project. I’m starting to feel that way about ADHD and your to-do list.

This month I finished the edits on Chaos Terminal, book 2 of Midsolar Murders, and when I was done I thought, “Ahhh, now I can do all those fun things.” And yet now when I look at my to-do list, it seems just as stressful as when I had “finish book” on the list.

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I’ve been forcing myself to get through things today, some of the more pressing things, etc. January has been a weird month, with vacation and many migraines and my first colonoscopy (normal and clean and happy and I don’t have to go through that again for 10 years!) and book stress.

And dog stress. Always dog stress. While her knees are healing well, her skin issues continue. Luckily we’re close to a vet school (NC State) but unluckily they’re books through March. Folks. Get pet insurance. Trust me.

February brings with it Boskone (Feb 17-19 in Boston) which I’m very much looking forward to. Hopefully I can unveil the Chaos Terminal cover sometime this month.

What I’m watching: We are the last people in the world to learn about Spy Family, a charming and violent anime that takes place in Cold War Europe. It features a spy who needs infiltrate the parent group of a private school so he must create a family (totally a normal way to go about doing things…). He finds a single woman who is worried that the secret police will think her single status is suspicious and she too needs quick matrimony—oh and she’s an assassin. They don’t know each others’ secrets; they just know they’re in a marriage of convenience. They adopt a little girl who just happens to be a telepath, so she knows what’s going on, but she’s also six, so her view of the world is “Papa’s a liar” and “SO COOL” and “I have to make world peace!”

As my friend Daniel said, it’s hard for a show to try to make a little kid cute and not have it be saccharine, but Anya is indeed adorable.

I will say one part of the show squicks me, and that is the fact that Yor’s brother (not a main character) has obviously incestuous feelings for her. She’s completely oblivious to his blatant hatred (jealousy) of her new husband.

What I’m reading: Finishing up An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good by Helene Turnsten (translated by Marlaine Delargy) which is about an 89 year old woman, Maud, who just wants to be left alone during her golden years, but some people try to take her apartment, or cause a ruckus with spousal abuse, or try to steal from her, and those people have to die.

I love me some murder granny action.

What I’m Playing: I was excited to get Fire Emblem: Engage at last, because Three Houses was such a masterpiece. While I do enjoy the gameplay, and the additions (pets!) are fun, the plot is disappointing. Generic fantasy countries are warring and I would complain about the freaking neon sign telegraphed foreshadowing about some characters, but I don’t want to spoil. But nothing has surprised me at all thus far. So if you like Fire Emblem gameplay, definitely check it out. If you don’t know the series, get Three Houses instead.

Small spoiler- it kind of goes without saying, but just in case: don’t give horse manure to anyone.

Podcasts: I finally got through all the shows I was sitting on from December, so those are up at murverse.com. I also introduced the podcast Barcon to supporters, where I have a casual conversation on Twitch and then release it as exclusive audio on Patreon and Substack.

And that’s the news! Thanks for reading, and be sure to forward it to anyone who you think would like it! Remember you can get my books signed and personalized from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, and find all the links to all my things at murverse.com!

Stay safe, stay kind:

Mur

The Hot Mic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.