The Wonderful World of Was | November '23
🇦🇺 A depressing edition 🇵🇸 🇮🇱 | 🧑🦰 Unless you're a redhead🧑🦰
It’s time to break out that hair, my lovely redheads.
Why am I singling out one to two percent of the world’s population? I’m never one to call out a subset of people (except maybe the one percent), but for those of you with red hair, today is a momentous occasion: National Love Your Red Hair Day! Sure, it’s a US-based holiday, but I’m here to tell you that no matter where you are in the world, it is okay to love your red hair. At least today.
Naturally, it leaves those of us (that other ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent) without red hair left wanting, but I’m sure we can all find a day to love those mops resting atop our heads. Or we can grasp at straws: my beard has a reddish tinge to it, for instance, or at least the hairs that haven’t gone grey do. So I can kinda sorta love around twelve hairs on my face.
National Love Your Red Hair Day has been going strong since 2016, when the day’s founders, the Vendetti sisters, published How to Be a Redhead. That was 140 years after Mark Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, way back in 1876. I’d make a remark about what that means for the direction literature’s taking, but it feels a little too easy, doesn’t it?
If this newsletter is memorable enough for you to remember last month’s, you’ll recall that September wasn’t my most productive month. Well, I’m pleased to tell you that October was even worse. Still no blog posts, and again, no more progress on the latest draft of Luminary. In fact, I had the lowest output since I’ve been keeping track of my writing. On the plus side, I only wrote six words less than I did way back in September, 2021.
I’ll skip past updating you on my dreadful effort this month, but I have at least been writing book reviews, so naturally, I’ll link to those. I have ten of them. The next couple of months will be a little quieter on that front, so they’ll either be hugely unproductive, or I might have something else to show for it.
It really comes down to whether I can get my shit together.
Australia says no
“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
The above question was put to Australians on 14 October, to which the country decisively voted no. For a referendum to result in changing the Australian Constitution, a double majority is needed: a majority of Australians voting yes; and a majority within the majority of our six states. It failed on both counts, with the only region to vote yes being mine. But because of a little technicality of us being a territory and not a state, we didn’t even count towards the state majority.
In effect, Australia voted against constitutionally recognising its First Nations people, ie, those who were here before the British colonised it. Whether it’s the fact the change never received bipartisan support, a poor campaign from the “yes” side, a misinformation campaign designed to scare white Australia, or widespread racism, far smarter people than me have written about what went wrong.
I’ll just add my two cents in saying it was a sad day to be Australian. Australia has no agreement with its First Nations people and has a history of gross discrimination against them. They have shorter life expectancy than the rest of the country, higher rates of incarceration, and largely, they lack the privilege afforded to white Australia. The request to amend our constitution came from Australia’s First Nations people, and it was a modest request. So modest that it wouldn’t do a great deal to fix these issues. But it would have been a first step. Equality seems so far away right now.
War, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, obviously.
If Russia’s attacks on Ukraine weren’t enough, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel. Let’s take a moment to denounce that. It was a horrendous atrocity. And while we’re denouncing shit, let’s also denounce all the Islamophobia and antisemitism that’s cropping up over that bastion of free hate speech, Twitter/X/whatever.
When a country is under attack, they have a right to defend themselves. Israel has the right to fight back against Hamas. But can we also maybe denounce the atrocities that Israel’s committing? Can we denounce the loss of innocent lives at their hands and the war crimes they’re committing?
Rather than throwing support at a particular side, can’t we call for a ceasefire? Can’t we just denounce the loss of life? Can’t we, like, just fucking denounce war or something?
Book reviews
Throughout October, I reviewed an eclectic mix of books. If you’re looking for something to read, why not avoid the big five powerhouses (they’ll be fine without your money), and throw your support behind an independent author (who could use your money to keep on writing)?
There’s ten reviews to get through, so let’s not dilly dally.
Sister of the Dead and Mother of the Bond are the second and third books in EC Greaves’ Vyshivka Trilogy, epic fantasies borne from Slavic mythology, and without a human in sight. Read them if you like your fantasies packed full of brutality and beauty.
The Eye of Ksera is the first book in Sedigitus Swift’s Tales from Ondiran, a fantasy novel packed full of humour and wit. Read it if you enjoy fantasy stories that get you laughing from the beginning, and keep you laughing until the end.
Into the BeanStalk, the first book in J. Paul Roe’s Jack: series blends a futuristic dystopia with the classic fairy tale. Read it if you enjoy both cyberpunk stories and classic fables.
The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island, parts I, II and III, by Lukas Krueger, tell the action-packed story of a young man drawn into a battle against a supernatural threat. Read them if you enjoy old school martial arts movies.
Secrets Gnaw at the Flesh is the second book in C.J. Weiss’ Virulent Nightmare Origins series and tells the horrific story of a family’s experience with a haunted house. Read it if you like your horror blended with family drama.
Second Hand Rose by DE Fox features its protagonist returning home to a town called Friendship, to take over her family’s antique store, before horrific happenings ensue. Read it if you’re a fan of sweet trappings belying horror.
Spirit & Fire kicks off Cymraeg Tales, TC Marti’s latest series in his Renegades Epic, presenting an epic fantasy set within the multiverse’s past. Read it if you enjoy action-packed fantasy and sprawling epics set across multiple series.
Bowie album of the month
Well, it was only a matter of time until I featured the album widely considered David Bowie’s lowest point, Let’s Dance. I won’t disagree with that, and I won’t disagree with the assessment he sold out—it was a result of signing up with record label EMI America in a bid to become the biggest pop star in the world, after all. And I won’t argue about it being full of 1980’s excess. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For what is lacks in artistry, it was hugely successful commercially, if not critically, and brings some entertaining earworms. “Modern Love” and “Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)” aren’t what many people would call Bowie classics, but they’re certainly underrated numbers.
Fun fact: the film clips for the titular “Let’s Dance” and “China Girl” were filmed here in Australia. And although “China Girl,” despite the best of intentions, is somewhat racially insensitive by today’s standards, the reason I’m featuring the album now is the “Let’s Dance” film clip. One that Bowie used to spotlight Aboriginal people in protest of our country’s treatment of its First Nations people.
I’ll leave that film clip here.
Can you believe that when the next edition hits, it’ll be December? Where has this year gone?
TTFN,
Was