dewey's readathon Archives - Writing from Neverland

October 25, 2020October 25, 2020

Articles of the Federation for Dewey’s Readathon

Articles of the Federation is written by Keith R.A. DeCandido and it is the 15th thing I have read for the readathon. It is also extremely my jam. It was marketed as “The West Wing but in Trek” and that is an very apt description. Also, full disclosure, Keith’s a dear friend and I love all his incredibly varied work. This book is no exception to that.

I was incubated a Trekkie, my parents are mad Trekkies, and I grew up with Trek in a way that I didn’t with Star Wars. It’s always been there in the background of all my fandoms. This book gave us a glance at the inner workings of the Federation government which is not something we get to see a lot of in the series. It’s fantastic.

The characterizations are brilliant and very memorable, the writing excellent, and you walk out of this novel having had a very vivid picture painted for you in exquisite detail. If you loved the West Wing, if you love Trek, you will not be disappointed with this book.

My only regret is that there are not seven more seasons of this show/book. I would cheerfully throw all the money at it.

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020

Die #1-14 for Dewey’s Readathon

It’s Dewey’s time again! I love this so much and it’s the 3rd or 4th year that I am participating in it. Got a later start but hey, it doesn’t matter as much because yay reading.!!! I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. Currently I am on the lunch break so I figured it was as good a time as any to update y’all on my progress.

So far for the readathon: Die issues 1 through 14. I love this comic. I love this comic more than I can properly express in words or emojis. Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans and their whole team are just freaking brilliant and what they do and this comic is a masterclass all its own on craft, games, storytelling, and the consequences of our own choices. There are layers to it that doesn’t reveal themselves truly until you reread it.

If I have a favorite type of literature, it’s things like this. If you enjoy twisty things, D&D, or really self-aware literature that likes to turn tropes and cliches on their end, do yourself a favor and pick this up. The first 2 trades are out and the third should be following in the next little while.

It’s so breathtakingly unflinchingly good.

There’s even a beta version of an RPG that Gillen wrote while creating this. It’s magical.

September 29, 2017

Dewey’s Readathon!

Wow. This October marks the 10th anniversary of Dewey’s Readathon, and if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I urge you to check this link out. It’s an amazing thing that I look forward to every time it rolls around. This year they are doing 30 Days of Readathon leading up to it and it looks like a blast. So here’s the chart if you want to keep up with me.

I’m a few days behind, but I’ll try and catch up as quickly as possible, when life allows me to. Being a writer with a day job does have it’s downsides.

30. Favorite Book

Gosh, that’s like trying to pick a favorite child or pet. My library isn’t 2500+ strong because I’m not really a big reader. There are a few that I habitually go back to, some that I own in several formats, and then there are some that I continually buy and re-buy because I keep flinging them at people (Good Omens, if you’re curious. I’ve bought it about 19-20 times by now). So I will talk about one of the books that I re-read frequently. It’s an old book, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs back in 1912 and it’s the first in the Barsoom series. I’m talking, of course, of A Princess of Mars. You might be more familiar with the movie based on it that Disney put out years ago, titled John Carter. The movie itself is excellent and a fairly decent adaptation of the first two Barsoom books. This book mixed my love of fantasy and history with my love of space and gave me exciting adventures

on a far away planet. It gave me a heroine that wasn’t the traditional damsel in distress. She’s a competent adventurer, fully capable of defending herself and surviving the wilds of Mars without John’s help. The movie made her the leading scientist of Helium, which was something I adored. It gave me a healthy romance pairing and aliens who weren’t humans in funny costumes. It gave me a world that felt alive and lived in.

It’s the first out of a long series and overall, it’s one of my favorite reads and re-reads because it’s all around a great story.