Everything (of substance) that I read in August, with some annotations.
A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.
Total: 4 novels, 2 novellas, 19 short stories, 6 essays/articles, 1 light novel + 2 light novel preview chapters, 23 manga/comic chapters + 64 manga webcomic chapters, 2 visual novels
This month I read: a screed against the current state of paywalls in academic writing and journalism; an essay reflecting on the morbid responsibilities placed on teachers; an update on the long-term effects currently being experienced by COVID-19 survivors; an obituary for the longest-surviving apple tree from those originally brought to Washington; an investigative piece about a particularly destructive GRS surgeon and a call for standardization and regulation in the field; and a short history of kudzu.
I previously shared a list of the non-interactive fiction in the Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, and I've been reading through the whole list. I can wholeheartedly recommend everything I've read so far, there are some amazing works in there!! Check out Julian K. Jarboe for some intense and varied, extremely trans short stories; Jess Sebastian for a novel with sweet queer romance, taking ahold of your responsibilities, and a super cool fantasy city setting; Lily Reeves for some bite-sized, very funny autobio comics; Zach Hazard Vaupen for three creepy, disorienting short comics; C. Bedford for a first installment in a sexy, colorful sci-fi comic; and RoAnna Sylver for a novel about fighting vampires and coping with trauma, featuring a grey aro/ace romance and an exciting sequel hook.
This month I also played all or parts of a handful of visual novels from the above mentioned Itch.io bundle as well as the Visual Novel Romance Collection for Black Trans Lives. Again, everything I sampled was exactly what I wanted. Check out Highway Blossoms for a choice-free lesbian romance about a treasure hunt roadtrip with a stranger; That Which Binds Us for a het love story featuring a magic knife that can erase your memories of a chosen person; Brassica for three princes sent on a wild goose chase of a quest by the sapphic princess they have each been sent to marry; and LadyKiller in a Bind to play as a lesbian masquerading as her brother, featuring the best and most creative conversation/choice system I've played!
The scanlator group Sexy Akiba Detectives recently finished their work on this manga and I gave it a reread. The art is beautiful, the story features two adult women who had previously dated in high school, there's a happy ending, and as always Rankarana's translations are so well localized and idiomatic.
Don't forget that you can download old issues of this magazine if you love classic sci-fi and don't mind sorting through trash and gems! There were one or two in this issue that were so awful I couldn't read them; my favorites were “Dusty Zebra” and “A Start in Life”.
I watched the movie adaptation of this novel recently and enjoyed it, but I could tell that there was supposed to be more to the story, so I tracked down the book... If you liked the movie, you'll like seeing the other characters who are relegated to side-status in the movie get fleshed out. Be forewarned that the movie and the novel have different endings.