Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells 📚

Speaking of shorter books, here is the latest novella in the Murderbot Diaries, according to the blurb a prequel to the recent novel Network Effect but really more of a stand-alone entry which happens to be set in that particular time period.

Here we find Murderbot playing the role she was clearly built for, that of the hard-boiled consulting detective forced to work alongside the authorities (in this case Station Security) to unravel a tangled and sometimes dangerous murder case. It’s a natural fit, with the first person wry commentary of the artificial protagonist leading the reader through the twists and turns as new characters and situations are introduced in rapid succession.

There is less combat than in some of the previous outings, which is all to the good in this case, as it leaves more room to explore the world of Preservation Station and for Murderbot to interact (often reluctantly) with humans, bots, and various ship pilots. The murder mystery itself if almost tangential to the story, but (as is required by the hard-boiled genre) it is resolved in the end, in no small part thanks to the skill and persistence of Murderbot.

If you haven’t read any of these I would definitely recommend going back to the first novella and working forward, as there are many references to previous characters and events. But as part of the series this is a real page turner.

Highly recommended.

Book cover for Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, a figure in armor walks beside a tall robot.

This experiment did not go well.

Uncooked pizza sitting on a charcoal grill.

Desperate measures.

Edible but overcooked on the bottom. Chicken, fennel and chives.🍕

Smol snapper we met on the bike trail (note pine needles for scale):

Very small snapping turtle on an asphalt path.

Interesting article by Jessica Nordell about the challenges of diversity in academic mathematics. This is clearly relevant across all of society. www.theatlantic.com/education…

Bright yellow mushroom covered in brown spots growing through pine needles on the forest floor.

Very loud thunder-booms last night, it felt like the whole house was shaking.

The only thing we’ve found which helps cope with our current stress is listening to the live album of David Byrne’s American Utopia over and over. See the film first.

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace 📚

My new plan to get back into reading is to sample shorter works, which brings me to this title from a few years ago. The author has a new book out recently which I ran across on the new book shelf at the library, which in turn reminded me that I had been meaning to read Archivist Wasp. I found it in the stacks, and it is a compelling story.

By the way, I can’t say how nice it is to be able to walk into the library again and actually look for books on the shelves, or walk up to the circulation desk to pick up a request. Masks are required and everybody is wearing them, but this in no way detracts from the pleasure.

Archivist Wasp is in some ways a very simple book, telling the story of Wasp, who holds the office of Archivist in a small town, an unpleasant position which separates her from society, places her under the authority of the town’s unsavory priest, and requires her to spend most of her time alone trapping and disposing of ghosts, which are endemic. The narrative follows her point of view as she encounters the unique ghost of a former soldier and their subsequent journey into the realm of the dead on a hunt for the ghost’s former companion.

But at the same time the story is very complex, taking place in a vaguely described post-apocalyptic world, with numerous flashbacks to explore the soldier ghost’s history during that apocalypse. At the same time, Wasp’s own backstory is revealed to be different from what she had been taught. The stories of these two characters are interlaced in a complicated series of adventures and revelations, and both experience meaningful change and growth. There is clearly a deeper story here which is only partially revealed during the journey; for example, we never learn why there are so many ghosts, or how the ghost realm came to be; these things are just presented as accepted fact.

The story comes to a satisfying conclusion, resolving the personal arcs of the two main characters, while at the same time leaving much of the world unexplained. Perhaps more will be learned in the sequel.

Highly recommended.