Supper, Dinner, Sharp Ends and Clock Strikes

My friend Lois shared this post about the difference between Supper and Dinner, and the meaning of dinner changed as a result of industrialisation and the rise of the middle class. 

Meanwhile, this week’s my newsletter will feature a short semi-essay about the origins and goals of of the Short Fiction Lab series. If you’ve read Eight Minutes of Usable Daylight and Winged, With Sharp Teeth, and you’re curious about the behind-the-scenes stuff, there’s still time to sign up.

I just finished Sharp Ends, Joe Abercrombie’s collection of short stories set in the same world as his First Law Trilogy. It was a weirdly enjoyable colleection–the stuff that I loved, I really, really loved. The story I disliked proved to be a major stumbling block, though, and meant I left the book 80% read for the better part of nine months before finally finishing things off. There is, however, something to be said for Abercrombie’s riffs on the sword-and-sorcery partnership featuring Shev and the Lioness of Hesslop. They recur several times through the colleciton, and remain a constant delight. 

Meanwhile, I’ve just started reading The Clock Strikes, a novella in Sean Cunningham’s Hawthorne House series. Still early, but I’m extraordinarily jealous of the rather beautiful cover:

It’s a book about sorcerers and werewolves and time travel, which is not a combination you get everyday. I’m quite excited to see how Sean pulls it off. 

Goodreads informs me that I’ve got to read another 11 books to hit my stated goal of reading 80 books this year.

Personally, I think thats achievable, so long as I include the thesis reading alongside the fiction books.