The Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity

The next chapter: September 2026 update

/ Melanie Marttila / Leave a comment

Things get worse before they get better

A halo around the sun.

Life in general

I recovered from my illness on the 2nd. Mostly. I suffered aftereffects of it for more than two weeks, but damn, as soon as my body/brain was forced to slow down, it did not want to speed up again. The exhaustion was heavier. I slept longer. I moved slower through each day. It was too cool to go swimming, and some days I couldn’t rouse myself to do anything physical other than walk Torvi.

But I started getting back to some form of normal slowly. The yoga came back on Mondays and Fridays. The weightless workout on Wednesdays. I was still sleeping in. I was still moving slowly through my day. My body/brain needs rest. But my body was feeling better.

When I started this sick leave, I was almost 170 lbs. By mid-September, I cracked 160. I lost a lot of weight in 2021. My lowest was 140 lbs, but I was too thin at that weight and levelled out at 150. I’ve been steadily regaining the weight since. If I can get back down to 150, that would be ideal, but if I can keep myself below 160, I’ll be content.

I think all the sleep I’m getting is helping. Sleep is foundational. It has so many positive, knock on effects.

I decided to hold off investing in a three-month adult swim pass until November. There are a few writerly events coming in October that will mean I won’t be able to take full advantage of the pass. Also, I was still sleeping in so late that it limited the times I could swim. It would have meant further adjustments to my daily rituals, and I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with change. I decided to let my current patterns settle into habit before I introduced another element.

I felt clearer. But still heavy, still tired.

I continued checking in with my body/brain every morning. How many spoons did I have? Where did I want to spend them? I’d skip lunchtime reading if I had to. I may have opened my documents but didn’t actually write. I was showing up as I could.

I started removing things from my life that I had been using as regulation/support, but that I now realized were not serving me. Like my time-waster game. I used to use it to wind down in the evenings, but it was no longer fun, and I realized that I was spending a lot of money on it. Even though the game is free, there are in-game incentives to purchase gems (currency) and keep your self flush with artefacts. I expect I’ll save more than $100 a month from uninstalling it >embarrassed face< I shifted the 2 to 3 hours I used to play >embarrassed face redux< to additional writing and personal reading time.

I started getting to bed earlier.

I reduced my twice daily sudoku to once a day. I initially reduced daily spider to weekends only but then decided to play it in the evenings as a reward on the days I wrote (or comfort when I didn’t). I took Sundays off from my Duolingo practice (Finnish and Irish) and lunchtime reading.

I started unsubscribing from newsletters, decluttering my inbox.

Weekly planning and tarot/oracle cards moved to Mondays (from Thursday for planning and Friday for tarot), so I could start my week off on an even keel.

As the month progressed, I settled into my new life-in-progress.

The month in writing

My writing progress was still uneven, but I started to work on Reality Bomb again! By the end of the month, I had reviewed 17 chapters (!)

I finished a longer poem and then wrote two more.

I started working on another review, then finished it, and submitted it!

Writing felt easier. I started looking forward to it again and moved into flow more often when I did.

Signs of healing, I think.

On the 5th, Can-Con Ops shared their finalized program! Once again, I’m part of two panels. The first is Toxic Writing Relationships on Friday, October 16 at 5:30 pm. The second is Killing/Saving Your Darlings on Saturday, October 17 at 4 pm.

I’m also hosting an SF Canada Meetup Saturday morning at 10 am.

Mel's Can-Con 2026 schedule.

On the 17th, I received notice that my application to the Banff Futurisms Intensive was not accepted. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to work with Nalo Hopkinson.

But there is another opportunity on the horizon. Banff is offering a Fantastic and Futuristic Writers Residency in September 2027 with faculty mentors Amal El-Mohtar, Anuja Varghese, and Alaya Dawn Johnson, and guest speaker Dongwon Song. I’ll have to brush up on my proposal writing skills. I think that’s where I’m weakest right now due to executive dysfunction.

My review of Brit Griffin’s The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien was published in The Seaboard Review of Books on the 21st.

The cover of The Haunting of Modesto O'Brien by Brit Griffin.

In writerly business, the September SF Canada Board meeting was on the 12th. Lots of action items this time around, but we reviewed all the documents beforehand and the meeting went smoothly. I took care of the most important action items immediately after.

Filling the well

The new hazel moon in Virgo was on the 10th.

The autumnal equinox was on the 22nd, though it had been feeling like fall since mid-August. Interestingly, it was the start of a warmish stretch. We’d already had to close up the house and even turn on the furnace a time or two. Torvi and I enjoyed the lovely fall weather.

The full changing colours moon in Aries was on the 26th.

The full changing colours moon on Sept 26, 2026.

In terms of writing-related events, Revision Alchemy continued through September. I actually made it to the evening Zoom meeting on September 1st! I’ve missed July and August’s and watched them as recordings. I received some lovely support from some lovely humans. I didn’t stay for the co-writing as I was still in the no-write zone at this point. I was also able to attend the coffee chat on the evening of the 25th. Breakout rooms prompted conversation. I didn’t stay for the co-writing this time, either, but it was because I’d already conquered two chapters that day and my brain was ready to shut down for the night.

I signed up for a free, three-day training about “Opting Out of Urgency” with Sarah Tacy on the 10th, 15th, and 17th. I watched all the sessions on replay because I was still sleeping in so late, I wasn’t functional by the time the live sessions were being held. Enlightening.

I signed up for “Post-Dystopian Space Exploration” with Mary Robinette Kowal and Dr. Sian Proctor through Clarion West on the 12th. Great conversation!

I registered for K.M. Weiland’s masterclass on “Flat Character Arcs: From Transformation to Integration” on the 22nd. Because I was taking my mom to an appointment, I watched the replay. It was a more in-depth exploration of concepts she’s already introduced in her character arcs and archetypal characters arcs books. Excellent.

On the 24th, I signed up for another Clarion West talk. “Mycology, Decay, and Metaphors for Community” with T. Kingfisher and Daniel Winkler was interesting! And T. Kingfisher was hilarious.

Rod Carley was in town doing a book signing at Indigo on the 26th. I stopped by to get a copy of The Great Catsby by Hilton, graciously signed by his human, Rod. Scott Overton showed up while I was there, and I rewarded myself with 8 small (in terms of pages, not dimensions) journals, and an iced chai latte and ginger chewy from Good Earth.

Finally, I signed up for another Banff Centre information session on the 29th in the hopes of finally learning something about the science fiction and fantasy programs that I want to attend.

I took my mom to her doctor’s appointment on the 15th. She’d had some bloodwork and an ECG the week previous, and the ECG revealed some atrial fibrillation. She was prescribed blood thinners, referred for a Holter monitor, and referred to an endocrinologist for her elevated calcium (hypercalcemia).

She’s had elevated calcium at least since her last surgery and hospitalization in 2024. They identified some nodules in her parathyroid gland around that time, but when she saw the specialist, he said surgery would not be necessary. I remember at the time researching both parathyroid nodules and excess calcium in the system and noting that hypercalcemia could affect memory, cause skill regression, and all the things that are concerning me about my mom right now.

It’s frustrating that the doctor didn’t act until a-fib was detected. It feels like if they’d acted when the problem first arose that they could have prevented a lot of what Mom’s going through now. I’m hoping that a solution is forthcoming, but the speed of referral in northeastern Ontario means we may be waiting a while.

Fortunately, we were called by the NEO Heart Clinic within a few days, and they scheduled her for an appointment on September 30th, when Mom got another ECG and the Holter monitor.

I took Mom to get our hair cut on the 22nd. The stairs are getting more challenging for her, but it felt good to be freshened up for fall!

My support group started up meetings after their summer vacation with a session on nervous system regulation on the 17th. It was good to see some familiar faces again and I was amazed by how many of us were deep in the depths of burnout.

My next therapy session was on the 24th. Again, there was some processing and recounting of what I’ve been experimenting with now that I have some time to dedicate to self-care. My approach was validated. Next, we’re going to be incorporating the values work we did earlier in the year into my burnout recovery strategy, focusing of the values that are most fulfilling to me. Afterward, I rewarded myself with an iced coffee with espresso foam from Tim Hortons.

And Torvi’s touch-up was on the 20th. Another trouble-free appointment. And I committed the sin of buying her a Hallowe’en costume. I don’t know if she’ll wear it, but we’ll see what she thinks.

Other seasonal scenes from my dogwalks:

What I’m watching and reading

My first watch of September was Lucky (Apple TV). Lucky (Luciana) is the con artist daughter of a con artist (now in prison) who is married to a con artist celebrating their theft of $10 million from his mother and estranged father, who will now most likely kill them both. But after a night of celebration, Lucky wakes up alone and the money is gone. In short order, FBI agent Billie Rand closes in, and then her mother-in-law Priscilla arrives looking for her son and the money, and Lucky goes on the run, evading both Rand and Priscilla, finds her errant husband and the money, and tries to get out of her situation, and her criminal career, alive. Fun and twisty. Watched it because I adore Anya Taylor-Joy.

Then, I finished watching Tales from Earthsea (Netflix). While it’s a decent movie and it did twig my memory into moments of the original Earthsea trilogy, it’s nothing like Le Guin’s novels (she said this herself). The kingdom of Enlad is dealing with widespread disease. Prince Arren kills his father and steals his sword. Arren is later rescued from wolves by a man who is later revealed to be Sparrowhawk. They visit Hort Town where Tenar lives with the orphaned Therru. An evil wizard and a quest to restore the balance tie up in Arren’s quest to find peace with himself after his patricide (which is never really explained). It’s a bit of a mess of a story, but I enjoyed it for all that.

A note about these movies. Not every Studio Ghibli movie is a Hayao Miyazaki movie, but all Hayao Miyazaki movies are Studio Ghibli movies. If you get what I mean.

Next, I watched season 3 of Silo (Apple TV). This is a hard one to summarize without getting into spoilers, but here goes. Three months after the rebellion, silo 18 appears peaceful. Juliette is now mayor, but something is off. She can’t remember anything that happened before waking up in medical. She gets flashes of memories, but they just confuse her. Bernard has died and Camille is now head of IT. Sims is now head of judicial and has little influence over his wife or the raiders he used to command. In the past Congressman Daniel Keen and journalist Helen Drew are slowly drawn into the web of the silo project. The two storylines converge in a bizarre way in the final episodes, and several massive revelations point to an interesting final season.

I finished watching Porco Rosso (Netflix), another Studio Ghibli movie I hadn’t yet watched. Marco Pagot is a former WWI flying ace who has become a bounty hunter in the Adriatic. He’s been cursed to look like a pig (by whom and what means, it’s never said) and has taken the name Porco Rosso (the Crimson Pig). There is a lot of porcine name-calling throughout the movie by various characters including Porco himself, but there are moments when he is unguarded, or has achieved a moral victory in which his human appearance is revealed. It may be part of Myazaki’s anti-fascist, anti-war sensibilities and a comment on what we now know as PTSD. Marco lost his brother in the war in a dog fight he barely escaped himself. He remains friends with his brother’s widow, Gina, who owns the Adriatic Hotel, and she waits for the day he will join her on her private patio. It’s clear that Marco/Porco suffers from survivor’s guilt and that he feels that he doesn’t deserve Gina’s love. He rescues children from pirates and tries to make up for his part in WWI. A strangely philosophical movie for having a pig as its protagonist.

Then, I watched Pom Poko (Netflix). This movie is narrated like a wildlife documentary. The tanuki (shapeshifting raccoons—Hachi from Inu Yasha is one) of the Tama Hills outside Tokyo are endangered when their forest habitat is increasingly developed by humans. They use their shapeshifting abilities to try to scare the construction workers away, but more workers appear the next day. In desperation, they reach out to the elders of distant tanuki temples for help. Years later, one of the messengers returns with three masters from Shikoku Island temple, where the tanuki are still worshipped and human encroachment is not a problem. They train the tanuki to stage a ghost parade, but the humans are entertained rather than frightened, and a local theme park owner takes credit for the spectacle. This failure sends the tanuki spiraling. One group embarks on a campaign of eco-terrorism but are run over by a truck. One of the elders goes senile and starts a Buddhist dancing cult, sailing away in an illusory boat with all the tanuki who can’t shapeshift. Another group approaches the human media to protest their habitat’s destruction. Another of the elders is approached by a kitsune (shapeshifting fox) and considers using his shapeshifting abilities to join human society. An interesting fable, but I found the prominent balls on the male tanuki disturbing.

Next, I watched Graveyard of the Fireflies (Netflix). This was an award-winning Studio Ghibli movie, but I’m here to warn you that it’s deeply depressing. It begins with the death of a young boy, Seita. In post-war Japan, he sits despondent in a train station while people pass him, muttering. Some are sympathetic, but most are derisive. One leaves some food, which is ignored. Seita has given up. When his body is taken away, his one possession, a candy tin, is tossed. In a spectral field of fireflies, the spirit of Seita reunites with the spirit of his little sister, Setsuko. Then the movie rewinds to reveal the tragic tale of how these two children became orphans and then died in the last days of WWII.

I finished watching season four of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (CBS/CTV SciFi). I found it to be a huge improvement over last season. Though all but one episode were what could be considered “gimmick” episodes (two time travel eps, a horror ep, a The Hangover, but ST ep, a noir ep, a transporter accident/puppet ep, a catastrophic warp sitch ep, a soap opera ep, and a fairy tale ep), the writers never failed to explore the personal situations of the characters. Each crisis forced one (or more) characters to confront wounds from their pasts and develop. And it reinforced the quintessential ST ethos. Excellent!

For my first book of September, I finished reading Network Effect, the first Murderbot Diaries novel (the rest have been novellas so far) by Martha Wells. Murderbot must rescue its humans again. At least it’s convinced Dr. Mensah to stay behind and get some therapy for her trauma, but having to deal with Mensah’s partner and daughter is putting it even more on edge than usual. When the rescue mission lands Murderbot and its humans on an eerily familiar ship that’s crawling with blue-skinned hostiles and hostile drones that are invisible to Murderbot’s sensors, it has to turn its pain sensors waaay down before it manages to kill the hostiles and destroy their drones. When it realizes that the ship is ART (Asshole Research Transport), but ART itself is nowhere to be found, Murderbot gets, well, murderous. From there, Murderbot and its humans have to rescue ART, ART’s humans, and then another SecUnit has to rescue Murderbot from colonists infected by alien remnant technology. Yes, it’s a clusterf*ck of rescues and I can’t wait until they get to this novel in the Apple TV series!

Then, I listened to Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher. I enjoyed the first in this series, Swordheart, so much that I pre-ordered Daggerbound and dived in as soon as it popped up in my library. Learned Edmund, scholar of the Many-Armed God is delivering an artifact to another scholar and a load of books. He’s decided, after years of fruitless effort trying to change the order from within, to leave the Many-Armed God’s service. When he’s set upon by bandits, however, he tries to save the books and the artifact—a sword—at great personal cost. In the scuffle, the sword is knocked out of its sheath, and a beautiful warrior appears wielding two blue steel daggers, saving Edmund, and his precious cargo. The warrior is known as the Dervish and has been trapped in the sword for hundreds of years—and had many cruel wielders who have caused him no end of trauma. He wants to hate his latest wielder, too, but Edmund is both sweet and kind. He rambles on about random facts from his encyclopedic memory and “adopts” Dog Violet the rag and bone gnoll and Large Frances, a giant pillbug scholar and ambassador of her people. Together, they brave a village that wants to feed them to a dragon, and a cult that wants to possess the Dervish and his sword for their own nefarious purposes. Of course, the Temple of the Rat comes into play, and the Dervish reluctantly reunites with his old commander Sarkis (from the first book). A great, fun read and a truly sweet romance.

Next, I listened to Middlebridge Mysteries 2, the spin-off of The Mistletoe Murders series featuring Violet Wilner, both created by Ken Cuperus (and now written by various other authors). In Violet’s sophomore year, she continues to juggle schoolwork, friends, boyfriend, and her penchant for solving mysteries. She was so excited at the end of last year to ditch her hard-partying roommate Krista and move off-campus with her best friend Bonnie. She was even more excited to be working on the cold case project for Professor Bellows, even if she was working with her academic rival Stewart. But Krista gets kicked out of her sorority and shows up on Violet’s doorstep and the cold case project is restricted to digitizing the case files. Even Hunter is having troubles this year, but Violet has no time to listen as she uncovers a dorm theft ring, a blackmailer, and tries to keep Professor Bellows from being framed for murder. This continues to be a light, enjoyable series, though this instalment is bittersweet.

After that, I caught up on It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton.

I returned to Dungeon World, listening to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman. Level four is all about trains, a confusing system of them called the Iron Tangle. Sponsorships open! Crawlers can now own property! The Krakarens are back! Donut gets eye lasers and a new crown! Mongo reaches full, terrifying size! And Mordecai is a toad! Carl tries to form a network of the remaining crawlers so they can work together to save each other as the number of crawlers plummets. But betrayal and corporate shenanigans are in play, and Carl has to do some pretty stupid shit to get his team and friends to the next level. Still SO. MUCH. FUN!

I finished reading Under the Full and Crescent Moon by Aamir Hussain. In this historical fantasy, Hussain imagines how a historical society might have developed if it was both matriarchal and Islamic. In the medieval hilltop city of Medina’tul-Agham, Khadija is the daughter of famed mufti Fazlur, whose fatwas she’s studied and copied out all her life. Because her mother died, however, Fazlur has been ill-equipped to usher his daughter into the life of a woman in Agham. Fortunately, their mutual friend Imam Fatima brings Khadija to the monthly meeting of the Circle of Mothers, and her life blossoms. She makes friends, becomes a court scribe, and even entertains a marriage proposal. But then, Fazlur dies, and a conservative mufti from the capital arrives, undoing Fazlur’s legacy. This novel was inspired by the accomplished women in Hussain’s life. And I loved it.

Finally, I listened to The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, the third in his Thursday Next series. After the events of the last novel, Thursday is sent to the titular well to take refuge in an unpublished book called Caversham Heights. She’s still apprenticed to Miss Haversham, who has a penchant for street racing in the Outland (or real world), and Thursday is working on her qualifying testing to become a Jurisfiction operative. But something’s not quite right. She keeps forgetting Landon, who only exists in her memories since his eradication from history. Turns out that Aornis Hades has implanted Thursday with a Mind Worm to exact revenge on her for killing her brother Acheron. And then, Jurisfiction operatives start dying. It all has something to do with the new software Text Grand Central wants to launch. Loving the rampant wit and wordplay!

A sidenote: Though published in 2003, the tech plot is oh, so relevant to today’s LLM/AI concerns. Read (or listen to) The Well of Lost Plots for that, alone!

And that was the month in this writer’s life.

Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

The next chapter: A month in the writerly life. https://melaniemarttila.ca

I acknowledge with respect that I am in Robinson-Huron Treaty territory, that the land from which I write is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and home of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Wahnapitae First Nation.

The next chapter: January 2025 update

/ Melanie Marttila

As the light returns . . .

Image of Junction Creek on a bright winter day.

And 2025 begins . . .

Trump was inaugurated and issued so many damaging executive orders, defining only two sexes (look into the wording of that one, it says “at conception,” which, as any high school biology student should know, means everyone’s female-lol), walking back civil rights and DEI, endangering trans people, immigrants, the health care system, and releasing all his Jan 6 “supporters,” among other heinous things. He’s also imposing insane tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China, which will honestly harm Americans as much, if not more, than us, and generally letting his tech bro buddies have their way with the world. And don’t get me started on his, erm, problematic nominations.

Meanwhile in Canada, our PM finally took the hint and stepped down, prorogued parliament, and even though a new Liberal party leader will be chosen, he’s basically handed the country to the Conservatives, who will not hesitate to call an election the instant prorogation ends. And now the Ontario premiere has called an election, seeking a “strong” mandate for his ridiculous plans.

The federal Conservative leader is promising to eliminate 100,000 federal public service jobs, threaten women’s healthcare, dismantle pharmacare and the new dental benefits plan, and I don’t know what else, because he won’t say anything definitive about his platform or plans. He’s a meme machine, but not much else.

Record wildfires have done more damage than ever, climate change has progressed too far to rein in, and covid continues to mutate.

I mean, it’s never not been a bad year in my recent memory. Last year, the Israel Hamas War dominated the news (and continues to do so). The year before, it was the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, which is still ongoing (and still hateful). Before that, it was two years of pandemic. We could go back as far as written history will take us, and something horrible has always been happening. We just see it every day now because of social media and near-instantaneous international news.

Personally, I worry about my job. I worry about arts funding cuts and the loss of years of advocacy work regarding the Copyright Act and Public Lending Right. I worry about trying to bring a novel into an increasingly destabilized publishing industry. But those problems are small compared to what’s happening in the rest of the world.

Food for thought: John Scalzi’s take on how Trump’s tariffs, etc. are affecting his career.

And yet . . . I have hope. Grassroots organizations and unions are rallying. Creative communities are rallying. Charities are doing their best to help the people most in need.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones, people. We are cursed to live in interesting times.

Life in general

It’s no longer quite as dark outside when I go for my afternoon walk with Torvi, and every day, it’s a little brighter. I seem to be emerging from my burnout with the New Year and the return of the light.

I’m continuing to support my immune system with Cold FX, Emergen-C, and twice-daily neti-pots (really, I couldn’t do it more often—someone in my support group called it soothing, but it’s sensory torture for me). I’m still a bit stuffy, but I think it’s just seasonal due to the winter temperature. I can’t really say it’s cold. The lowest daytime temperature we’ve had here is -15 Celsius. Even with the wind chill, it’s manageable. Especially when you’re used to -30 and colder.

I felt well enough, in fact, to wean myself off the supports, but within a few days, my symptoms returned, and I learned my lesson. I will continue to support my immune system throughout the winter.

And when the weather breaks into spring, I have renewals of the Ryaltris to add to the mix.

Something shifted around the 20th. I think I uncovered a resistant pocket of infection somewhere in my sinus. *TMI warning.* I had bloody mucus from the right nostril and yellow lugies from the left. In the following days, I was hacking up/choking down/blowing out much of the same. So, I started the Ryaltris, in addition to everything else. By the end of the week, things seemed to be clearing up (again).

The mom situation has been resolved. For now. Thought small, troubling things continue to occur. It’s just the way things are with aging parents.

And I’m managing work stress better. I can only do what I can with what I have, and it is enough. So am I. Is my mantra these days.

I’m writing again. I’m not caring so much about the quality of the work. The words are wording. Everything else can be fixed in post, as they say.

The month in writing

Got back to Reality Bomb. I was determined to finish it by the end of January. I didn’t quite get there, but I’m soooooo close!

I reached out to Suzy early in the month, but she didn’t respond. I hope it’s just because she’s super busy with her new podcast and ongoing events and that she just doesn’t have space in her schedule for me. Of course, my brain is telling me that she’s cut off all contact because of my over-long absence. Or that she’s facing family/personal problems of her own and can’t reach out until they’re resolved.

On the 2nd, I submitted my application to the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity Science Fiction program 2025. The deadline isn’t until April 16, but with the amazing faculty they have on tap, I didn’t want to wait until the last minute.

As a result, I’ve decided not to apply to Your Personal Odyssey this year. I just can’t deal (right now) with the whole application process, finding references, etc., only to be rejected twice, for the early bird and the regular deadline. They’ve added an instructor to the course, but I think there are still too many applicants for me to make the cut.

But I submitted a couple of other small grant applications around mid-month.

There were a couple of poetry contests I submitted to, as well.

My Dispatches critique group dissolved (also in the week of the 20th). There were only five of us and one member left in December. Another withdrew this month, and the three remaining members had to decide what to do moving forward. We decided to discontinue. It was a good run, but it was time to move on.

And a local literary festival has been cancelled due to lack of funding. Arts funding in Canada is decreasing and a lot of lovely smaller festivals are in danger. It’s a sad truth. Support your local festivals, if you can. They may disappear.

I just had a couple of writerly-business things to attend to in January.

I attended The Writers Union of Canada Town Hall on the 16th. Interesting issues raised, questions answered, and an opportunity to see fellow TWUC members.

The SF Canada post-AGM board meeting was held January 20th. Essentially, we shuffled into our roles (I’m Veep this year!), settled a few outstanding pieces of business from last year, and presented some ideas about what we wanted to tackle this year.

Filling the well

The first full moon of the year, the Spirit Moon in Cancer, was on the 13th. As is usual for the time of year, it was overcast. I warned you about the infrequency of moon pictures, yeah?

But I took a nice one a couple of mornings later. And there were more clear mornings as January progressed.

The first new moon, the Birch moon in Aquarius, was on the 29th. It was also Chinese New Year. Welcome the year of the SNAKE!

I opted for few webinars this month. Trying to mind my spoons rather than spend them all—even on fun learning opportunities—and end up back in the depths of burnout again.

I signed up for an Author’s Publish webinar, “How to craft an emotional journey for your readers,” with Erin Swann on the 10th. She leveraged from Donald Maass and Lisa Cron, two of my favourite writing craft experts.

On the 15th, I signed up for The FOLD Academy’s “Pitching Perfect” webinar. It was a panel of past participants and how they benefitted from the event as opposed to how to construct your package.

The FOLD academy offered a great webinar by Catherine Hernandez on the 18th. I waited for the recording to be posted on their YouTube page. It was interesting. Hernandez is now working on screenplays and constructs dialogue intuitively. Most of the webinar was focused on her process.

In the non-writerly realm, I had my doctor’s appointment, by phone, on the 8th, had to arrange for follow up bloodwork (on the 14th) and to pick up my refill of Ryaltris.

I took my mom to her first hair appointment at the hairdresser’s since her surgery in September. This is a big deal because there is a set of stairs that, even before her surgery, she had difficulty with. But she conquered them like a champ!

My support group met on the 22nd. The topic this time was late diagnosis. There was a lot of food for thought this month. Would I have wanted to be diagnosed when I was a child? Probably not. It was in the 70s and would probably not have done me any good. If I had been born in the 90s or later, diagnosis could have changed my life and potentially led to a better outcome for my dad’s mental health journey.

I wanted to mention a professional kudo. On the 20th (it was a pivotal week in the month!), I was notified that I received a King Charles III Medal at work. These medals were awarded not only because of service excellence within the public service, but also for our activities in our chosen communities. For me, it was my creative career and involvement in the ND community.

I’ll share a picture of the medal when I receive it. It may be a while.

And I’m realizing that I should probably add these professional awards to my CV 🙂

What I’m watching and reading

First something from last month. There were only six episodes before the holidays, and I wasn’t sure if the series was finished. Turns out it was. I watched the series version of The Mistletoe Murders (Amazon/Stack TV), based on the Audible series of the same name and written by the same author, Ken Cupris. The first mystery was the same as the audio series, but the rest were newly scripted for the show. There are necessary differences, but it was an enjoyable, undemanding watch.

I gave up on Netflix’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, and on AMC’s Mayfair Witches and Sanctuary. Life is too short.

I’d enjoyed Marquez’s novel, but it did not translate well to a series. I think it may have been a problem of adaptation.

I mentioned my disappointment in the first season of Mayfair last year, but thought I’d give season 2 an opportunity to redeem itself. Alas, no. At the end of the first season, Rowan found herself suddenly pregnant with . . . Lasher. After a rapid and secret pregnancy and childhood, Lasher, who gave all his power to Rowan so he could be born and experience life as a human, starts stalking and killing the women of the Mayfair clan. Just no.

Sanctuary showed promise in the first episode or so as a supernatural murder mystery set in the isolated town of Sanctuary, where witches are celebrated rather than reviled. But then, the main witch character, Sarah, whose daughter Harper has been accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend, who was a popular sports star, is targeted by her supposed best friend, the mother of Sporto, because she won’t resurrect the kid? Who’s been days dead and buried? And just as her BFF regains her senses and reconciles, Sarah’s daughter reveals that Sporto drugged, raped her, and recorded the whole thing to share on the internet. Which sends BFF over the edge and into a vengeful rage. I would have thought Harper or Sarah more justified for the rage, but no. OMG. So. Much. DRAMA. Hard no to continuing.

Onto the stuff I did watch in January.

Phil and I watched the third and final season of What if … ? (Disney +). Good, but I found the second and third seasons not quite as good as the first season. Still, seeds were sown, questions answered (and more posed), and we enjoyed.

Then, I finished the second season of The Rings of Power (Amazon). Better than the first, but I still found myself wanting the story to just get on with it. The pacing was off, and I can’t really put my finger on how. Several characters were ensorcelled, imprisoned, or otherwise lacking in agency, which may have something to do with it. But the story has proceeded. And I’ll probably watch the next season when it comes out.

Next, I watched the whole of the first (and only) season of The Spiderwick Chronicles. CTV Scifi showed it two episodes a night over four nights. Friendly Space Ninja rated the series one of the worst of 2024, and at first, I wasn’t sure why, but after a few episodes, I figured it out. The characters are so inconsistent and illogical. I’m sure that this has to do with the choices made when adapting the book, but to present what I think are supposed to be complex characters, you need to ground their emotions. That was largely absent and so every time a character did a 180, it felt totally unearned and totally out of character. And then, they had to explain everything (at one point we have to endure a puppet show dramatization that’s really an infodump), but that irritated me because if they set things up properly to begin with, there’d be no need to explain. Now, I haven’t read the books, so I have nothing to compare the series to. I liked Christian Slater’s ogre/Dr. Brauer, but other than that, no one really captured my attention. And even then, Slater was just “chewing the scenery,” as they say. And he had no chemistry with the actor playing Helen.

Finally, I finished the second season of Pachinko (Apple TV +). It continues to be a generational epic moving between two timelines. In the past, Sunja and her family survive WWII, and she works hard to ensure Noa gets into university. In the present, a widowed Sunja finds new love, while her grandson, Solomon plots revenge against a business rival that puts his relationship in jeopardy. Looking forward to finding out what happens next.

My first read of 2025 was actually a listen: Goblin War, the third in Jim C. Hines Goblin Trilogy. Vika has gone off to magic school and has been replaced by Relka, who, after being saved by Jig at the end of the last novel, will stop at nothing to shout (literally) his virtues and those of Shadowstar at every opportunity.

This time, the goblin mountain has been invaded by humans, the sister of the ill-fated adventurer from the first book, in fact, and Jig’s been recruited by an orc chieftain to fight in her army against the humans. But the war is merely the ruse of a scorned goddess, estranged spouse of Shadowstar, Jig’s forgotten patron god, to call forth the god of death (by sacrificing all the orcs, hobgoblins, and goblins in her army) and defeat him, thus ending her forgotten status. More foolish humans, more stumbling Jig antics, and more Smudge! It was fun.

I followed that up with Goblin Tales, a short anthology of tales around the Goblin Trilogy by Jim C. Hines. There are a few stories that precede the trilogy, including how Smudge became Jig’s companion, one featuring Vika at magic school, and one following the events of the trilogy. Another fun, light listen.

Then, I finished reading the Aurora Award-nominated The Fountain by Suzy Vadori. I figured it was about time I read it 🙂 Ava’s the new kid at an exclusive boarding school. Her family isn’t particularly well off, but both her parents are alumni, and Ava earned a scholarship. Courtney makes Ava’s life hell in the first days, telling Ava the wrong time for swim practice so she shows up late, changing the lock on her locker, so Ava has to dash across campus in her swimsuit, and planting performance-enhancing drugs in Ava’s locker so that they fall out when the school’s maintenance worker opens it for her. She’s only been at the school for two days and already she’s under threat of expulsion. It’s no wonder that when she finds a fountain in the woods near the school, Ava tosses in a coin and makes a wish that the school never heard of Courtney or her family. The problem is that the fountain is magic, and Ava’s wish comes true. A bittersweet YA novel about the choices we make, and the wishes we can’t undo.

Next, I finished Kelley Armstrong’s Cursed Luck. Kennedy is the middle of three sisters who are all curse weavers. Aiden Connolly is a luck worker—do not call him a leprechaun—who wants to hire Kennedy to unweave the curse on the necklace of Harmonia, one of the most famous cursed objects in history. When Kennedy’s sisters are kidnapped, she and Aiden must depend on each other and navigate the dangerous world of immortals—do not call them gods. Fun and sweet. Aiden is autistic-coded (IMO).

Then, I read another Jim C. Hines book, Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen. Tamora is 12 and known as T-Rex on her roller derby team. One night, after practice, she finds goblins going through the dumpster behind the arena. She captures one and he tells her that they came through a magical portal to escape war in their world. As she learns more, Tamora and her non-verbal autistic brother Mac (LOVED!), embark on a series of adventures to rescue three of their friends who disappeared two weeks ago, around the time the goblin says he and his people arrived. Quite a complex story for a middle grade novel. Fabulous.

My first non-fiction read of 2025 was The Green Witch’s Herb and Plant Encyclopedia by Rowan Morgana. Most of it was a listing of 150 herbs, plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees with all their magical correspondences, growing, and foraging instructions. It rekindled a long-held dream of mine to have a house and yard with good soil large enough for me to have a full garden and sacred grove.

Next, I read another of Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series, Being a Green Mother. Orb is born with the ability to hear the songs of the world and see fairies and other supernatural creatures. She has a vision that she will marry Satan, or see the world devastated. Soon, she becomes obsessed with finding the Llano, the ultimate song (of life, the universe, and everything?), which promises a cure for her vision/curse. She journeys with the gypsies (sorry, its what Anthony calls them) and eventually joins a circus and meets Mym, who will become the incarnation of war. Her quest lands her with the band The Living Sludge, with whom she performs, and they live in Jonah, a legendary fish, cursed never to swim in the water again. And then there’s Natasha (Ahsatan—cue eye roll), who sings almost as beautifully as Orb herself. When Orb becomes the incarnation of Nature, Natasha reveals his true identity and proposes. Orb’s childhood vision is about to come true.

I didn’t mind the story, but Orb was a dithery woman, despite her power and abilities. She doesn’t pick up on several significant cues and ends up impulsively igniting a chain reaction that dooms the world. There is a happy-ish ending, but the novel was just okay.

Then, I listened to the short Audible and The Great Courses collaboration, Find Work-Life Balance by Christine Carter. I’m already doing most of what she suggests, but it was a good reminder and a validation that I’m doing what I can to remain productive and mitigate burnout.

Next, I finished Kim Fahner’s The Donoghue Girl. Chef’s kiss! An amazing historical novel focusing on the mining town of Creighton. Lizzie Donoghue seems to have been born out of her time. She wants more than what her Irish-Catholic upbringing offers and is, by turns, headstrong and deeply empathetic. She’s also attracted to Michael Power, her sister Ann’s boyfriend. Family tragedy, mining corruption, and Finland’s Winter War figure prominently in Lizzie’s story in which her whirlwind romance causes as much destruction as it brings joy. The bittersweet ending will leave you wanting to know what happens next. Couldn’t recommend it more. And yes, Kim’s a friend, but that doesn’t change my recommendation.

Finally, I read T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Grace. Stephen is a paladin whose god died, and that’s a problem because the Saint of Steel was the only thing keeping Stephen’s berserker rage in check. Grace is a fugitive perfumer who’s been accused of murdering a visiting royal. Both resist their attraction to one another because they feel unworthy (for different reasons) but eventually, they realize that love is the answer to their problems. This cozy romantasy was just so adorable. Loved!

And that was the month in this writer’s life.

Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

The next chapter: A month in the writerly life. https://melaniemarttila.ca

The next chapter: December 2024 update

/ Melanie Marttila

Settling into recovery mode … (cue olde-timey modem squealing)

Picture of the quarter moon above a tree.

Life in general

The illen settled in, but I hadn’t yet gotten headaches, facial pain, or any of that ilk, so I continued on with the neti-pot, Emergen-C, and Advil Cold & Sinus. If things got worse, I figured I’d go to the clinic as I’d done in the past and see what came of it.

If I made it through to my January doctor’s appointment (not my preference—I really didn’t want to be sick over the holidays) I’d see what he’d say about it.

In the meantime, I’m trying to take care as best I know how. Staying hydrated, eating well, getting as much sleep as I can, though I rarely get the sleep I need during the work week. And that’s the blessing and curse of working from home. I can still work while I’m sick without exposing anyone else to what I’ve caught, but sinus infections aren’t contagious, per se.

There was work to be done, though, and so work I did.

I sought the advice of a pharmacist who recommended Cold FX. So, I tried that out. I thought the illen was too far advanced for it to help but combined with meds to reduce symptoms and the irrigation of the neti-pot, it seemed to help with sleeping through the night. I also added hot toddies in the evening (tea with honey and rum). I’m pulling out all the old home remedies and supports I can.

And…toward the end of the month, after some narsty nights plagued with coughing—more the result of stubborn snot clinging to my airways and turning my throat into some bizarre mucus air harp (wheeze, whistle, gurgle) than anything else—I finally managed to sleep through the night.

Things seemed to be turning the corner in a positive direction.

I’ve discovered that if I have anything other than work scheduled on a weekday evening, be it a critique group meeting, support group meeting, haircut, taking Torvi to get her nails ground—anything, I’m out of spoons for the day.

I’m trying to respect my energy levels, day to day, and I’m learning that my executive function and support needs also vary daily. What I was once able to do easily, I may now struggle with. It’s a difficult lesson to learn.

Thank…whatever, I have some time off over the holidays.

The month in writing

Getting back into writing mode is an iffy proposition. I worked on some edits for a short story early in the month and that seemed to go well.

I wrote a poem. Not sure of its quality, but it felt good in the writing.

But when it came to Reality Bomb, the going was tough. I got back to it on the 9th but managed maybe half a page. Still, I touched it!

The next day, I had an appointment after work and my Dispatches meeting, so I wasn’t able to get to RB.

I did a little more work on it the next evening, but the following two days were challenging at work, and I had no energy to speak of in the evenings. I also had a sneezing fit (one every 10 to 15 seconds for about a half hour) the first night and that took all the fight out of me. The second night it was coughing fits over the course of an hour, which aggravated my GERD. I’m sure both helped to usher out infection (it’s what they do, after all) but both were exhausting and not conducive to trying to write (or do anything else).

But I finally finished rewriting the troublesome chapter I started working on last month and moved on with my re-read. I finished that in a couple of evenings, with minor touch-ups.

When I got back to the drafting of the final two chapters, though, I stalled again, but just for a couple of days while I was focusing on recovery, finishing up the Christmassing, and doing some associated running around.

The going was slow, but I got back to it.

Along with preparing my application to the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity SFF Program, and some grant applications.

Something I neglected to mention last month was that an old friend of Siobhan Riddell reached out to me and offered to send me one of the sketches she’d done for him. I couldn’t justify accepting one of his remembrances, but I did accept a couple of pictures. They’re lovely.

This has happened periodically over the years, and it gives me all the feels to know that Siobhan’s wondrous work has touched other people as deeply (or deeper, frankly) as it’s touched me.

Then, I received some news about Through the Portal. Apparently, their website was down, but it’s back up and running again.

And they are planning two in-person events for the anthology, both in Toronto. One was on December 28th and the other in February 2025. I can’t participate in either, so I’ve been kept out of the loop on the publicity.

I received an opportunity mid-month to submit my work to the poetry in Canada poetry bookshelf. I’ll let you know when The Art of Floating makes its appearance.

There was an SF Canada board meeting on the 3rd to prepare for the upcoming AGM. It was an efficient meeting, and all the necessary decisions and arrangements were made.

The AGM itself was scheduled for the 28th. There were a few technical issues and delays, but everything worked out in the end.

The year in review

This has been a momentous year for me in terms of writing. My debut poetry collection! All the promo and signings and reviews and events around that! More poetry publications! A cli-fi short story publication! Another acceptance of a poem and a short story for future publication!

Given that I’ve been in burnout since September, that’s not bad!

In terms of words written or revised in the year, I:

  • wrote only 1,553 words of short fiction and revised 187 (that I tracked),
  • wrote 3,232 words of creative non-fiction,
  • wrote 28 new poems, and
  • wrote 39,059 words in this blog/newsletter.

I stopped tracking my revision efforts on Reality Bomb partway through the year. It was getting complicated. But if things progress as they have been, I should finish with a 120k-word draft. I’d wanted to bring it down more than that, but I still have a listening pass to go, and hope to find a few more places to trim then.

In writing-related events, my ongoing, though stalled, work with Suzy Vadori, and the Stillwater Writing Retreat are highlights.

In retrospect, though I took my six-week, self-funded leave as a means to recover from the flurry of activity around the launch of The Art of Floating, I now recognize that I was probably anticipating burnout even then. I could not have anticipated the accidents and illnesses of either my mom or my mom-in-law, but I could probably feel the impending exhaustion.

I’m grateful I took the leave and that my employer offers the work arrangement, but it means that I won’t be able to take another until the latter part of 2025.

At work, I was able to accept an acting position as an instructional designer on a new team, and though the transition has been a bit fraught, things are finally coming together on the one major project.

In terms of reading, I set myself the goal of reading 50 books this year. In fact, I’ve read or listened to 93 books, 186% of my goal. Admittedly, reading several poetry collections, a fair amount of short non-fiction, and listening to audiobooks helped to increase the number of books I read this year, I still outpaced my goal by quite a bit. And I’ve read a bunch of books that I wouldn’t normally.

Filling the well

The new Reed moon in Sagittarius was on December 1st.

The full moon in Gemini was on the 15th.

Winter solstice fell on the 21st. Did my altar thing.

And the new Elder moon in Capricorn was on the 30th. I know the second full moon in a month is referred to as a “blue” moon, but I had no idea that the second new moon in a month is called a “black” moon. It’s not official astronomy terminology, but that’s what’s out there on the interwebz.

I had no writerly events this month, to my great relief. I needed the relax and to focus on getting my words back.

I did meet for a final time this year with my Dispatches critique group on the 10th. It was a relaxed evening.

I had a massage on the 4th. Bliss.

My support group met on the 18th. This month’s topic was shame. And hoo-boy is this a big issue for me.

And I finished the month with some well-earned and desperately needed annual leave. I was off from the 21st through to January 1st, 12 days off for the price of 5.

My bestie and her partner came up for a visit on the 28th. Phil made cookies and apple cake. They went home with the remainders.

What I’m watching and reading

I watched the fourth and final season of Superman & Lois (CTV SciFi). Yeah, they did the death of Superman. Last season, Lex Luthor turned Bizarro into Doomsday by injecting him with a serum that resurrects him and then killing him repeatedly (I know, I know). Doomsday kills Superman in front of his family, ripping out his heart. Jordan gets him to the Fortress and into suspended animation, but he can’t heal without a heart. So, General Lane sacrifices himself after injecting himself with the serum that resurrected Bizarro so that Lois and the boys can use it to heal Clark. But having a human heart is enough to make Clark age and slowly de-power.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Final showdown with Doomsday (again) and Lex in John Henry’s suped-up suit. Superman saves the day. In the aftermath, Lex goes to jail for good, several couples are united, Jon (who developed powers) and Jordan get married and have a passel of kids. Lois’s cancer returns, she dies, and then Clark’s human heart gives out. Clark and Lois are reunited in the afterlife.

Having said that (and rather snarkily), S&L was one of the best series to emerge from the “Arrowverse” (even though it was supposed to be in a separate timeline). All the other series got old after a few seasons of retreading the same ground, although most were entertaining, initially.

Charlie Jane Anders has an interesting take on why the Arrowverse, as a whole, was the best set of superhero series on TV. I don’t know if I agree with her, but she says that superhero stories, having come from the comics, are inherently episodic and focused not on superheroic antics, but on the emotional entanglements and journeys of the characters. They’re soap operas. I see her point, but I was never fond of soap operas. Maybe that’s why the various Arrowverse series got old for me, real fast, and why S&L, at only four seasons, comes out ahead of the pack.

Then, I watched the first season of Time Bandits (Apple TV +). I watched the original Terry Gilliam movie so long ago that I don’t really remember it, but I enjoyed this new adaptation. History nerd Kevin is bullied, and his family doesn’t understand him. When the self-proclaimed Time Bandits enter his room through a portal in his closet, pursued by the Supreme Being (who wants his map back, thankyouverymuch), Kevin is swept away into time travelling adventure, while the bandits try to steal treasures from everywhen they visit. Fun.

Next, I finished Black Cake (Disney +) based on Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel of the same name. Byron and Benedetta (B&B) are estranged but come together when their mother dies of cancer. In a series of pre-recorded statements, the siblings learn that their mother, who they knew as Eleanor, was actually Coventina. As they slowly learn the truth, they begin to work through their own secrets and trauma. I enjoyed it (especially Nine Night and duppies), and I have the ebook, which I’ll now have to read 🙂

The series ended on a cliffhanger as B&B’s recently revealed half-sister begins to listen to her separately-recorded message from Eleanor/Coventina, but Hulu cancelled it, so the book may be the only place I can find out what happens next (!)

I also finished watching the latest season of Only Murders in the Building (Disney +). The gang is excited because an OMitB movie is being made, but it’s not long before they figure out that Sazz, whose murder was revealed in the last moments of last season, is missing. When they find one of her prosthetics in the apartment’s incinerator, they have their next season of the podcast. Charles’ serial killer ex escapes prison, Oliver and Loretta navigate their long-distance relationship, and poor Mabel ends up squatting in a dead guy’s apartment. And, of course, another murder was revealed in the last minutes of the season. Fun, as always.

Then, I watched The Lost City when it was shown on the CTV Scifi channel. It’s been on my list of fun movies to watch for a while, but I haven’t been able to find it on any of the streaming services. I guess it will be on Crave now, but I was happy to have a relaxing evening of enjoyable and undemanding viewing. Sandra Bullock stars as Loretta Sage, a former archeological researcher and reclusive romance author on a book tour with her cover model Alan played by Channing Tatum. When she’s abducted, Alan ropes in former Navy SEAL and CIA operative Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) to help him rescue Loretta.

Phil and I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, Joy to the World (Disney +). It was a lovely, sentimental story, and I loved the idea of the time hotel, but the story could have used more Joy in it 🙂 The character was a bit sidelined in the story, but I guess you only have so much runtime to fill, and you have to make cuts somewhere. Watch it and see what you think.

Finally, Phil and I finished watching the third season of Bleach: The 1,000-Year Blood War (Disney +). Yhwach tricks Ichigo into killing the Soul King, though one of the soul reapers sacrifices himself to become the Soul King’s right hand. Various factions of the soul reapers fight various members of the Stern Ritter. At the end, Uryu’s plan to infiltrate the Stern Ritters and stop Yhwach is revealed. He stays to fight Haschwalth, who is endowed with Yhwach’s Almighty while Yhwach sleeps, and sends Ichigo to kill the sleeping Yhwach. One more season to complete the story arc!

My first listen of the month was the Audible Original Goblin Hero, the second in Jim C. Hines’ Goblin Trilogy. The reputation of “Jig the Dragonslayer” draws a desperate ogre to the goblin caves. Pixies have taken over the ogres, literally, and they need Jig’s help. The goblin leader is all for it, wanting to rid herself of Jig and all the goblins who want him to be leader instead of her. And Jig’s not too sad to go, either. Vika, obsessed with the hero’s journey, has been bothering Jig to teach her magic, but he doesn’t know how.

Things get interesting when Vika decides to embark on her own hero’s journey and follows Jig into the heart of rainbow-coloured, mind-controlling, pixie madness. Fun!

Then, I read Legacy, the second in Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Sharing Knife series. Dag and Fawn return to his home, uneasy with their anticipated reception. Dag warned her that it would be more difficult than sorting things out with her family, but Fawn doesn’t realize how hostile the Lakewalkers are until Dag’s brother Dar refuses to recognize their marriage and insists that Dag turn around and deliver Fawn back into the uncaring arms of her family. Things get complicated when Dag has to lead a rescue mission to a northern town overrun by a Malice and it’s mudmen and mind slaves, leaving Fawn to face the hostility of the Lakewalkers alone. Very good.

Next, I read The Heart Forger, the second book in Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch series. It’s the continuing story of Tea, The Bone Witch. Each chapter continues Tea’s past adventures as she relates them to the bard she initially compelled to tell her tale and jumps into the present as the bard witnesses what she does as a result of all she learned. A complex plot and intertwined characters. I loved it.

Then, I finished my reread of C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew. There was a time when I used to read the entire Chronicles of Narnia about once a year, sitting at my desk in the evenings, but it’s been decades since I thought to pick up some of my childhood favourites. As good as I remembered it.

I also read The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco, the third book in The Bone Witch series. There seemed to be some issues with bringing the story full circle with the dual timelines and some critical events/information were glossed over toward the end, relying on revelations from the beginning of book one and narrative summaries from earlier in the book to fill in the gaps. It was a bit disorienting, but the author ultimately stuck the landing with a bittersweet ending that was worth it.

I read Kelley Armstrong’s Tales of the Otherworld. This collection so shorter tales focuses more on the Cabal than on the werewolves, but vampires make a couple of appearances, and we get the backstory of how Elena and Clay met and fell in love.

Next, I finished That Hideous Strength, the third in C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. Having read the full trilogy now, I’d say they’re more in the way of science fantasy than science fiction.

Unlike the first two books, which focus of the adventures of Ransom as he travels first to Mars and then to Venus to fight the evil spirits of the universe, this novel begins with the tale of Mark and Jane Studdock, as Mark, a sociologist and academic, is seduced into the ranks of the NICE. Jane, lonely and rudderless as she tries to orient herself to married life when her husband is so often absent, begins to have visions, which draw her into the community of St. Anne’s.

NICE aims, through eugenics and fascism, to control humanity. Weston, Ransom’s antagonist in the last two novels, is mentioned as a martyr to their cause and other of Weston’s co-conspirators from the first novel have been given new names as they seek to corrupt the social and intellectual foundations of Britain. At St. Anne’s, Jane meets the director, who is, in fact, Ransom, and who has an odd affinity for animals. In a final battle for free will and humanity, Ransom’s people find Merlinus Ambrosius, whom NICE operatives are also seeking. Merlin is sent into the NICE stronghold to disrupt their plans, free their prisoners and animals, on whom they experiment, and lead the internal revolt.

Perelandra, or Venus, comes to take Ransom to his heavenly reward, Mark is freed from the machinations of NICE, and Jane welcomes her wayward husband home. The characters are mostly passive, with the exception of Merlin, but even he is counselled not to murder anyone, but to let them be hoist by their own petards. Not for everyone, but enjoyable.

And that was the month in this writer’s life.

Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

The next chapter: A month in the writerly life https://melaniemarttila.ca