Life and Things

So, I had my biopsy. That was fun. I ended up under general anesthesia, but recovered quick. Not my first rodeo after all. That’s my eleventh surgery under general. The puncture has turned into a scar. It feels weird, and yet, I find it a point of pride. It shows I survived something out of the common.

I do not have malignancies, or autoimmune hepatitis, so yay. But I do have scarring that could turn into full cirrhosis. The doctor believes we can reverse the damage. I hope so. I’m starting to lose weight, ever so slow.

I joined the Litsy #HalloweenGoesPostal and have collected my focus to mail.

I’ve been doing more reading rather than working on Evalyce. I did get a little writing done over the month. Most was editing. I went back to playing my game, though not near as often, especially after they royally ripped off many players by putting a deal up that was available for most of the day. However, buying the deal did not give what was offered, and they refuse to honour it, saying it was a ‘mistake’. Given that they are rooking people into paying real money for illusory goods crafted of ether, that pissed me off. It costs nothing for them to honour the false advertising.

 

Blog Stuff

Still working on cataloguing my posts and adding them to the Kruetzet Archives.

 

Books Read and Reviewed in September

Rook by JC Andrijeski, NA, 3*

TemptationTrials by B Truly, 4*

Fate of the Stars by Arwen Paris, 4*

Sea Odyssey by Alexander Flint, 4*

Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger,  4*

Ann, Not Annie by Sage Steadman, 4*

Across the Darkling Sea by K Ferrin, 4*

Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel, 4*

Creature Files: Predators by LJ Tracosas, 4*

The Longing and the Lack by CM Spivy, 4*

Sleep, Savannah, Sleep by Alistair Cross, 4*

Sons of Isan: Taking Refuge in a Thai Temple by William Reyland, 5*

Sticks, ‘N’ Stones, ‘N’ Dinosaur Bones by Ted Enik, 5*

The Missing by Jerico Lenk, 5*

The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire, 5*

Tudor Fashion: Dress at Court by Eleri Lynn, 5*

Amazon Wisdom Keeper by Dr Loraine Y Van Tuyls, 5*

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield, 5*

Amazing World: Sea Creatures by Lee Martin, 5*

 

Best Reads of the Month

Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel

This was a novel of catastrophe, with an underlying story of paranormal drama. The harbingers and Beekeepers flock to the disaster, but they did not cause it. I like stories with unique preternaturals, and these certainly were!

 

The Missing by Jerico Lenk

Another book with a gender fluid MC, where it just simply is. So much of this story made me think of the Men of Letters from Supernatural. I appreciate how the ghosts here are not evil. Most really just need to be helped. I think my favourite character was Zayne. 

Amusingly enough, given the Supernatural association, Zayne in my mind looked and sounded a lot like Badger from Firefly. Who plays the dapper demon Crowley in Supernatural.

 

Amazon Wisdom Keeper by Dr Loraine Y Van Tuyls

This was a beautiful memoir of one woman’s journey to find herself. Tuyls brings the spirituality of her ancestry into her psychology practises. It will certainly prompt introspection on the reader’s part!

 

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield

This is a modern retelling of a historical event, plague in the village of Eyam. This was purely a man vs nature story, of how humanity is likely to respond to threat of plague and a town-wide quarantine. It’s a chips down tale that forces the characters to learn who they really are. Sometimes the answers may surprise you.

 

Best Series New to Me

The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire

This is book eleven- Eleven!!- in the October Daye series, and the first one I’ve read. How have I not had this series in my life before now? I’m so confused. Needless to say, I loved it, and got some of the previous books in the series. Not having the experiences of the past ten books to shape my perceptions, I immediately latched on to Simon as a favourite. I get he did some very bad things, but it seems he had good reasons. I look forward to past and future books in the series.