I Love The Dynamic In The Discworld Fandom On This Site, I Think It's Mainly Because There Are A Lot

I love the dynamic in the Discworld fandom on this site, I think it's mainly because there are a lot of dormant fans, if you will, who've read and loved the books for years but haven't engaged much recently, who sort of reappear whenever a fun post is doing the rounds. It's fantastic. We get the cozy small fandom vibe without the screaming matches, but also get the popular posts from time to time, y'know?

The Glorious 25th of May.

Cozy Mysteries (6/15/23)

I finished Six Cats a Slayin’ by Miranda James. It was fine! 

I also tried to read Thread on Arrival by Amanda Lee and One Foot in the Grove  by Kelly Lane. Didn’t work out. Double amnesty!

Thread on Arrival: I really wanted to like this one because a) it has a dog, and b) it’s set in an embroidery shop. The protagonist is asked to lead a class for a support group for women with abusive partners, and then she gets wrapped up in a murder investigation. I eventually realized I was pushing myself to keep reading, and for books like this (hobby books for pure enjoyment), reading should be easy. (It’s stopping that’s the hard part.) So I put it down.

One Foot in the Grove: This has a cool premise, in theory, because the protagonist owns and operates an olive grove. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it past the first chapter because it was too heavy on the interpersonal intrigue. (The protagonist jilted a man and left town, now she’s back, and the judgment of her neighbors is strong.)

I think I need to take a break from cozy mysteries from the American South. 

Another thing I’d really like is to get my hands on more cozies where there are people of color. And I mean people, as in multiple! There are so many blue-eyed, blond romantic leads in these books and it’s like. Fine. Blue eyes and blond hair are fine, but is there no love for brown eyes and brown skin? 

My other issue with cozies in full color is that, like, the ones I was finding were all “they’re Chinese and they work in a laundromat!” or “they’re Chinese and they own a Chinese restaurant!” And that’s basically it. They were a product of their time. I haven’t even seen one where they’re black or hispanic. Yikes? (To those to whom that comment is nonsensical, I can clarify that laundromat and restaurant are outdated stereotypical jobs for Chinese folks in the US.) (Also, I’m limited because I’m just cruising my library’s collections. Not even doing an interlibrary loan.) (But also! My library serves a population that’s like 70% Asian! C’mon now.)

But that’s a lot of negativity so here are some mysteries with POC protagonists that I read and enjoyed!

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

I do have a few caveats! They both try to be hybrids of mystery and romance, and they don’t quite hit the beats on either genre. At the same time, they are quite (joyfully, in my opinion) trope-y. Just fully embracing the tropes. (Although in Arsenic and Adobo, I was screaming “stop talking to the police without a lawyer!” which I tolerated then but at this point I’ve abandoned at least 3 books because I just couldn’t put up with it any more.) If you like that, great. If you don’t. That’s okay. 

Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness and The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel by David Casarett. I think this one is an example of “writing the other.” The protagonist is a nurse-ethicist in Thailand (she is Thai). The plotting/writing is a little weird in places, but the characters are fun overall and I read both books without slowing down much. 

Okay, that’s a bookshelf update. I’ve got a new tab open and I’m looking up titles of cozies with POC protagonists and/or POC authors. Recommendations are appreciated!

All the little angels rise up high…

Went out my way walking to the bus today to find some lilac. Truth, justice, freedom, yes, reasonably priced love, of course, but what it comes down to is - a hard boiled egg. Take care of yourself and each other in the immediate term, or the long term won't work out for anyone. Put your boots on and do the job that's in front of you. I love you.

This is my favourite bit of Jon's character arc:

Jonathan refused to be provoked. "I'm not charitable," he said coolly. "My father was. Now the results of... certain of his charities threaten this kingdom. I wish he had been more just and less kind."

...

The sentences for all should have been death - the laws on treason were strict - but Jonathan would not begin his rule with executions. He granted more pardons in the first week of his official reign than had King Roald in all of his.

I'm not being snide, I really like the arc Jon gets of showing how his sense of judgement develops. Later on we do get to see Jon screw up, of course, but overall he's a good ruler and he's a good ruler precisely because he has this incredible sense of scale and of the big picture.

This is easier for me to explain in reference to Daine and Kel, but the sense of bigness is one of my favourite things about Tamora Pierce's writing and the thing that has most influenced me, so I get sentimental about it.