Reading
I just finished Hell
Divers
by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. It is a pretty cool concept with some really well
fleshed out characters! I go through phases on Audible where I am waiting for my
next credit to come through and I try some books from the list of “included with
subscription” titles. 80% of the time I end up stumbling across a great book!
This was definitely one of those times.
At first I thought the book was going to be some trope filled action novel that everyone has seen before, with some typical down and out protagonist that has to learn some lesson. However, it is much more than that! The story and characters are very compelling. The premise of the story is that the remaining descendants of the human race all live on a handful of airships and have to send “Hell Divers” down to the earths surface to scavenge supplies. There’s all sorts of action, but also deeper themes like loss, childhood being lost, coming to terms with long dead dreams. There is also a class divide on the ship, but it plays out much more nuanced than I had anticipated. Both sides are aware of it and trying to fix the issue, but it is an unfortunate side effect of their circumstance.
Highly recommend it if your into dystopian action sci-fi! I’m a big fan of Gears of War, so this book was right up my alley! The guy that read the book also sounded like he could have voiced a character in Gears, so that only enhanced the experience for me.
Over the last 2 nights, while working on my chain link fence project, I was
listening to an audio drama called Don’t Hang
Up
by Benjamin Stevenson. It was ok… It’s a 3.5 hour audio book that has been
dramatized. The two actors make it sound like a Radio DJ talking to a listener
phoning into the station. That part about it was really cool! The story was
pretty ok. I managed to guess who the “bad guy” was fairly early on, and the
ending left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. I have read some stories like this
before and I don’t love that I am trying to like the main character the whole
way through, even though the plot of the book is to show their worst side. Why
am I listening to an asshole talking with a psychopath? I don’t like either
character and they are the only 2 real characters… BUT it was a good idea! I
liked the premise, and being an audio engineer myself, I love all the pro audio
talk! Mmmm… Not the best, but not the worst. 3/7 stars ★★★☆☆☆☆
I’m currently about half way through a paperback book I picked up last week.
TANGENT ALERT There’s a local bookshop I drive past every day that I have never been in until getting this book. It is run out of the side of someone’s house (I’m guessing the owner of the shop) and is only open through the summer. When I went inside I didn’t know what to expect as it is tiny and I live out in the middle of nowhere really. To my delight, the shop was filled with an excellent selection of books! They had a bunch of books I knew, a ton I had never seen, new books, used books, kids books, and an interesting section of books filled with very local history. I’m talking an 800 page hardback book on the history of the smaller town next to the small town this shop is in. Mad! TANGENT OVER
Anyways, in this magical little bookstore I found a westerns section. I have never read a western, but thought it might be fun! So I ran my eye over the spines looking for the least problematic western I could (at a guess) and then flicked through to see how big the font size is and what the page count was.
TANGENT ALERT (AGAIN) This may sound childish, but I know myself! If the book is more than ~220 pages with small-ish font then I will probably never get to the end of it. I want to try and guarantee some success with my reading! If I can get into a rhythm with reading physical books then the 1000 page tiny print books will come eventually. Until then, short, sharp, and easy to read please! I can listen to Stephen Kings The Stand for 48 hours and be sad that it’s over by the end, but if I had to read a physical copy of it I wouldn’t have got past chapter 2… TANGENT OVER (BUT BE VIGILANT!)
So anyways, the book is A Town Called Fury: Judgment Day
by William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone. It is the 3rd installment in the
Town Called Fury series from what I can tell. It’s pretty good to be honest! I
have been taking it to work and reading it on my lunch breaks, as well as doing
an hour of reading in the evenings. The story is pretty western-y, the town
Sheriff, Jason Fury, is doing his best to keep everyone alive while Apache’s
repeatedly attack the town. It has some good banter between some characters, the
female characters actually have some agency and are super interesting instead of
being played down as I was expecting, and the Native people in the book have
motivations that aren’t just “Kill white man because he white man!” (But it
isn’t that far off from that…). You can’t escape the insensitive racism. I did
have to go into reading this expecting to cringe and squirm a bit at those
parts. I have no real knowledge of this era in history other than from video
games and movies, so I don’t want to get too into the weeds on this issue, but I
do know that if it sounds fucked, it’s probably fucked…
Decently fun cowboy adventure! The whole time I am reading it with a southern US accent in my mind! Just watch out for the racist bits, oof…
Thoughts/Focus
I am still working on ways to cope with ADHD. I have been trying the idea of “Do it now!”. This idea is to do a task you keep procrastinating right now when you think of it. In my last therapy session I mentioned a task I had been putting off, and my therapist told me to leave her on the call and for me to go do that thing right now while it was on my mind. Super simple, surprisingly effective! Today I did 3 of these!
- Cut some wood down so I could fit it in the bin and have the lid close for the garbage man to take next week.
- Took out all the box board and threw it in the recycling bin ready for recycling pickup tomorrow.
- Went to the mailbox and got the mail. Normally I would do this on the way in from walking the dog, but with the fence project on the go I haven’t been past it. This means getting the mail is back to being a huge task in my ADHD brain. All swings and roundabouts though. Don’t get too worked up over it! 😁
Projects on the go:
- This website/blog continues to be an exciting new thing for me! I haven’t had as much time to write this week, but I have been keeping it in the back of my mind! I am staying up a little later tonight just to get this all written up. I have been desperate to get some time to write!!!
- Chain Link Fence - On the weekends I can get a lot more done, but I have been chipping away in the evenings to try and keep the project moving along. The hope is to have it ready by the end of this weekend coming if I can rent the last bit of gear I need to stretch out the fabric. Here’s hoping! 🤞
Projects in mind:
The projects I have in mind haven’t really changed from my last “Now” post. I am focusing on the Fence and survival at the moment.
One thing I would like to try soon though is a bit of creative writing. As a kid I wanted to be an Author and write fiction books. I have been reading so much recently and fancy giving it a try myself! Maybe I’ll start a side project on here where I do all my planning and drafts out in the open.
My last thing I have been pondering is getting into adult colouring with crayons. I have been using crayons to colour pictures in with my son, and I really enjoy the process. Crayons blend really well, and I find them very easy to use and get the effect I want. It might be something I try out on my own every now and then too. I told my wife I might become a famous artist working in crayons, Crayon Man! She said “Crayon Man! Wax in his ears and in his heart.”. I pissed my pants laughing at that! 🤣
Listening
Math rock this week! One of my favourite bands, PHARAOHS, have 2 albums that I come back to all the time. The band is no longer together from what I can find, but they left 2 absolutely banging albums in their wake!
Definitely worth a listen! Super catchy, great melodies, amazing harmonies, lyrics are about really boring everyday crap but I somehow totally agree with them and want MORE! Great musicianship! The guitar playing is really alien to me and I love it a lot!
That’s all for “Now”… get it? Until next time!