Reader's Diary #2070 - Arathi Vallipuranathan: Potato Curry

Arathi Vallipuranathan's "Potato Curry" is a sweet, possibly sad (but I found it sort of sweet) short story about a daughter and her dying mother.

Alternating with the present day and flashbacks, we get a sense of both women, who, like many children and their parents, find themselves a bit distant and different as they age. It doesn't mean however, there isn't time for an understanding.

Reader's Diary #2069 - Joe Vallese (editor): It Came from the Closet

I've yet to watch the Shudder series Queer for Fear which claims to look at the LGQBTQ+ community in horror film. I had a friend who watched it report to me that while he found it interesting, he found some of the ideas to be a bit of a stretch, reading LGBTQ metaphors into movies that he really didn't see strong, if any, connections. I'll still try it, but I had similar initial reservations about It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections of Horror. 

Also, I should note that I had never considered before that horror films had a particularly strong fanbase in the LGBTQ community. The first time I heard anything of the sort was when Babadook surprisingly became a Pride icon.

To be clear, It Came from the Closet, doesn't necessarily assert that horror films are inherently queer. Nor does it make, at least I didn't think so, leaps of reasoning to find connections. What it did do, however, was present thoughtful, personal essays from queer horror fans. In some of these, they acknowledged that some films were more problematic than queer positive, and in such cases, there were profound reflections on as to why they were still fans. 

I was also extremely impressed by the diversity and intersectionality. Not only were the letters represented, but we also had POC writers, writers with disabilities, and so on. 

It gave me a lot to think about and I also added a few horror films to my "to watch list". 

Reader's Diary #2068 - Emma Franieczek: The Other Woman

I love the scenes described by Emma Francieczek's "The Other Woman," at once evoking a mood and complimenting the character development. 

It's a story of a love triangle, and as these things tend to go, eventually a tragic love triangle. 

Reader's Diary #2067 - Andrew S. Weiss and Brian "Box" Brown: Accidental Czar

Like most of the world, my attention has been with Ukraine for some time now and of course, on the man responsible. Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin, written by a former White House advisor on Russian relations, seemed like a great place to start.

It certainly confirmed my suspicions on the man: all the ruthlessness and fragile ego of Trump but with an actual brain for schemes, he's an incredibly dangerous individual. Perhaps it was not the intent though of Weiss that I also walked away realizing more and more how Russia and U.S. interfere in the world and we're all largely victims in their game. 

As for the art, I was less impressed. I absolutely loved Box Brown's Tetris and his style fit that book and topic perfectly. Here though he was drawing real life political figures and they most definitely did not resemble who they were meant to represent. I found it really distracting.

Reader's Diary #2066- Allie Erickson: A Man's Man

 The voice in Allie Erickson's "A Man's Man" is strong and yet it isn't. It's strong in the sense that it's well-developed and believable yet it's from the point of view of a man who lacks any confidence. He sees his difference from other men (soldiers) as a reason for shame. Nor does he entertain the idea that maybe some of the other men were fronting, really no more secure in the ability (or desire) to kill another man than he was. 

Needless to say, it's a sad, but effective story.

Reader's Diary #2065- Terry Bisson: They're Made Out of Meat

 Terry Bisson's "They're Made Out of Meat" is a humorous look at an alien life form who discovers, and disgusted by the fact, that humans are entirely made of meat. He is so repulsed by this in fact that he deems the entire human race not worthy of contact.

 Being judged so harshly just for what we are? I don't know, maybe the humans are better off.

Reader's Diary #2064 - Tanvi Ahuja: Kairi’s Sixteenth: An Imaginary Story In Hindu Rashtra

While set in a fictional place, it's not hard to draw parallels with real life places in Tanvi Ahuja's short story "Kairi's Sixteenth." It deals with a young Hindu girl who's facing an arranged marriage.

I don't think it's too big a spoiler to report that it does not present arranged marriage in a positive light. She also offers up some great criticism of some societies that support arrange marriages (patriarchal to the point of misogyny). 

Bleak, but effective story.