(no subject)

[puddleshark]

***

Heavy rain all Sunday night through to Monday morning, and a chaotic start to the week. Roads and railway lines flooded. I only got ten minutes down the road on my way to work yesterday and had to turn back. Luckily I had my laptop with me, and was able to work from home.

I thought the main roads would be open again this morning, but no, they were still closed. The temperature plummeted overnight. Black ice and accidents everywhere. But I did manage to chart an indirect course to work along the back lanes.



January is so tiring. So little daylight. So hard to make yourself go for walks when it's either belting down with rain, or bitterly cold. Or both.

I'm struggling to find any series I want to watch, so I have been reading a lot. Comfort reads. Books read for the umpteenth time, known by heart, and unlikely to tax my brain. Martha Wells. Megan Whalen Turner. Lorna Freeman (who wrote the first half of a fantasy series, then stopped writing. Unless I turn to writing fan fiction, poor Captain Javes will never get rescued... And I really like Captain Javes. I feel I ought to be plotting his rescue.)



I am still watching The Blood of Youth on Viki.com. Chinese wuxia drama. It's all fight scenes and the silly props - outsize swords and fake beards. Actors playing elders pretend to stroke their beards, being very careful not to touch them in case they fall off.

But somehow it transcends the cheesiness. It's one of those rare wuxia dramas where the characters come alive, and have believable friendships - like the first series of Evernight, or Word of Honour.

***

I finished watching the Korean fantasy Alchemy of Souls on Netflix, and actually loved it in the end, despite the sudden lurch into darkness at the end of Series One. The payoff in Series Two - brooding, dangerous, anguished Jang Uk! - was worth it. And despite the change in female lead, it all came together rather well.

***

I didn't think the series that has taken over the slot, Crash Course in Romance, would be my thing. Netflix Korean romances tend to be so bland. But really enjoyed the first two episodes - strong characters, with interesting back stories only hinted at.

Comments

[heleninwales]

I've actually managed to start reading fiction again. It seems I hadn't completed lost the appetite for novels and part of the problem was that I'd been trying to read things that weren't grabbing me. I seem to have got out of touch with new stuff, but I enjoyed Witchmark by C.L. Polk. She is a new writer to me, but I will definitely read the next book in the series.

We're hoping to get out for a walk on Thursday, but the weather has turned so cold that I've stayed in today and yesterday.

[puddleshark]

I struggle to find new fantasy authors I like, possibly because I've read so much fantasy over the years that I find most new fantasy novels a bit boring. Or too dark.

But I liked Witchmark a lot. I've also been enjoying recent books by Katherine Addison, Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine.

The sun is shining here, and I should head out. But it is so cold.

[heleninwales]

I will investigate those authors. Thank you for the suggestions.

[kaishin108]

That rain sounds torrential, yikes. Oh how I hate black ice. Relieved to hear you found a safer way to get thru the traffic. How far is your commute?

[puddleshark]

In winter when the roads are clear, it's only a twenty minute commute. Twice that during the tourist season.

I think it's official now that we are having a wet winter. All the roads that flood during wet winters are now flooded. And some new roads this year as well - this is what happens when you build housing estates on low-lying fields that used to soak up the water.