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Chit Chat and Reccomendation Post: April 2023 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-01 01:22:10
Imported:
2023-09

Content

Hello, Patrons! It's time for our monthly chit-chat and recommendation post, a cozy little space to update each other on what we've been doing lately and all the things we’ve enjoyed during the month!

I dunno about you, but my April feels like it vanished in a blink! Time seems to move funny in the spring, always going much faster than I want it to because there's so much to do before summer gets here and really puts me in an IRL crunch. There was the usual household stuff that rolls around every spring (spring cleaning, etc.!) but content creation related tasks were also quite busy for me this month. I had to properly file my annual channel taxes for the first time, which was quite nerve wracking! Estimating payments is one thing, but itemizing business deductions was quite another. I think (hope?) I did okay.

Also, I think I made more Patron posts this April than I have...in the entire history of my Patreon? Plus of course trying to get ahead of Monster Girl Mayhem was a big part of that. Just a lot of things going on to keep the wheels turning.

Anyway, now it's time for the fun stuff! Here are a few things I enjoyed during April!

Articles: The best thing I found this month is not an article per se, but a whole site: ClickAmericana, a retro museum full of kitsch and vintage stuff that makes my brain go brr. I'll admit the site design is quite, uh...dated, but that sort of adds to its charm for me. I anticipate spending many hours combing through various historical artifacts and ephemera.

Cozy games are getting darker: a short exploration of a (recent-ish) trend in gaming: cozy games with darker elements, particularly indie games, are becoming more commonplace. Which is pretty handy forsomeone like me! While I appreciate the genre, they're not generally my thing. My brain craves games with fail conditions and quests and time limits, rather than the more undirected, relaxing gameplay that cozy games favor. Dark stuff, though! That's way more up my alley. I will watch the development of this subgenre with great interest!

Confessions of a Sid Meier’s Civilization Addict: Just a little meditation on one of my favorite game series, and how the best gaming experiences feel.

Books: I read quite a bit this month, thanks to the magic of audio. But I'll whittle my list down to the best of the bunch.

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson - I've been exploring a lot of Hodgson lately; if you're unfamiliar with him, he was a sailor and a horror writer, notable for being one of the primary influences on Lovecraft's later work. His stories contain themes like body horror and cosmic horror, often taking place at sea.

My criticisms of Lovecraft's oeuvre are myriad, but I've definitely enjoyed delving into the things that shaped him as a writer. This, for instance, scared the absolute BEJABBERS out of me. I never really clicked with cosmic horror prior to House on the Borderland, but holy crap. 11/10, do not read alone at night. I'm not exaggerating when I say some parts of it made my heart race in anxiety.

On that note, another Hodgson story The Voice in the Dark is also good! And scary! And sad. :(

Donovan’s Brain by Curt Siodmak - Apparently I'm having a Moment (TM) where I'm all about poking through influential weird fiction of the early 20th century, because I recently picked this up on a whim. It's--if not the first, then one of the first--"Brain in a Jar" sci-fi stories ever written. (A theme touched on with varying degrees of success by things like The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Brain Dead, and of course Futurama.) I LOVED it.

I also finally, finally started Swords and Deviltry, the first book in the pretty much legendary Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy series. I'm not far into it, and I assume it'll take me a million years to get through with my attention span, but it lives up to its reputation as quite good so far!

All right, I think that's about it for me this month. What did you get up to, Patrons? Tell me all about your April and all the cool things you played/watched/read/did!

Comments

PsionicsKnight

Hello everyone, I hope things have gone well for you this April! It's also really good to see you read House on the Borderland, Velvet! While I haven't read it officially, I want to really bad. If you are interested: two other stories like it are The Night Land (also by Hodgeson) and The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen. For me, it's been a mixed bag--I've still been struggling with work; if I didn't mention it before/this happened in April--sometime in the last couple of months, I was (apparently) written up for not meeting my quota a fifth time in one year. If you get six write-ups in one year at Amazon, it's a job termination. Technically, while I did get one write-up taken off this Tuesday... I got another one last week, so I'm back to square one--though in two weeks time, I'll lose a write-up again. Though, I'm starting to think these "write-ups" might not happen and are just a way to bluff me into quitting before my fifth-year anniversary (where I get a $1500 gift bonus), as well as from the fact that Amazon is just not doing the best right now and is getting rid of workers. In any case, after I looked into some other savings I got from Amazon, I've calmed down and even put in a resignation notice earlier today. It's going to be for October 22nd--since then I'll have both the five-year anniversary and a little over an extra month (which I think will look really good regarding employers)--and I believe that if I can wait out for over the Summer, I'll be able to leave Amazon not only on my own terms, but with a nice chunk-of-change that I hope to use for both indie publishing at least one book, as well as building myself a new desktop computer. Now, as for things that went on throughout April, things were a bit crazy. I finished with my classes this term, and now have started a new school term with new classes--History of Photography and Advanced Digital Graphic Design for Web. While I didn't do too well in my typography course due to difficulties with the assignments/communication and getting distracted by my gaming laptop, I at least got a C+. It's not the best, but I'm happy I passed and can continue my classes. In other news, I've also finished a few Udemy courses--Udemy being a skill-building website with many excellent topics--and I'm happy to be done with them since I'm sure they'll be a great help! The first I finished was the Webflow Web Design course, which I can now eventually go onto use to do some freelance web design. While I do need some more practice, and need to upgrade my plan, I think what I've got a good grasp on what to do as a freelance web designer. So, Velvet, if you or anyone else here ever wants/needs a website, well... you know where to find me. ;) I also finished Rob Parnell's Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell Course and Jason Links Writing Your First Fantasy Novel course, both of which I think have excellent information regarding my intentions of becoming a published fiction author (at least to see if I want to continue down that path). Right now, I'm doing Jason's Fantasy Worldbuilding Course and once I'm done with that, it's onto the Blogging Courses next! Because of this, I haven't had much time for reading or watching shows. That being said, I got to listen to Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic, which was a great treat. For those not in the know: Epithet Erased is a Original Web Cartoon that takes place in a world where some people--called "Inscribed"--are bound to Epithets, words that grant their users great powers. While some Epithets are more straightforward and impressive ones, like Fire, Ice, Barrier, others are a bit more... unorthodox, like Soup and Coupon. The main series deals with the Arsene Amulet, a special relic that is said to take another's Epithets. Specifically, it deals with a couple of groups who try to steal the amulet for their reasons. Despite it being pretty well-made, the creator of EE--Brendan Blaber/JelloApocalypse--didn't get the funding he initially wanted to continue the series into a second season. So, he's decided to make some graphic audios of the story, hoping they can be animated in the future. In the first new book, Prison of Plastic, we see one of the characters, Molly Blyndeff--a.k.a. the Cosmic Brown Girl who stole everyone's hearts--in her own home life as she and her friends deal with her sister. It was a real treat to see the story continue, and I only wish I got to it sooner! However, I have to be honest and say that, while I probably wasn't meant to, I ended up sympathizing with Lorey--Molly's bratty, borderline-abusive older sister--a bit, since I've dealt with a lot of problems IRL that Lorey has gone through (only worse in one case). Granted, I think the end of the series implies that Lorey is going to realize what a terrible person she's been, but I feel the intention was to make her quite unlikeable. Still, I do recommend both the original cartoon and Prison of Plastic--Epithet Erased is a charming, wonderful story and I can't wait to see it continue! As for games, I also want to mention Ranch Simulator and Eastshade. For the former, Ranch Simulator is a game kind of like Stardew Valley, where you inherit a dilapidated farm/ranch and have to take care of it--though, in this case, things are more realistic. Eastshade has you be a painter, living in a world of anthropomorphic animals for some reason, who is traveling to the island of Eastshade to fulfill your dying mother's wish. It's more of a relaxing, walking simulator with some quests/puzzles, but is more meant to be a peaceful experience. Still, I do enjoy it--the scenery gorn is amazing and I really enjoy the world portrayed! Lastly, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but there is a book series I highly recommend that I've just started--Malazan: Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. It's a large-spanning series--kind of like A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones--which has a lot of political struggles. In this case, though, Erikson only gives you some information and you have to connect the dots for yourself. And there's some incredible creatures and worldbuilding, since alongside more unique versions of humans and elves, there's also creatures like the T'lan Imass (undead neanderthals with fire magic), the K'Chain Che'Malle (non-avian/reptilian dinosaur people with a hive system, gravity-based magic, and some individuals who are basically raptors with blades for arms), the Fokrul Assail (grey alien-esque creatures with double-joints, allowing them to be superbendy, and mind-magic). What I think is the biggest draw to this series is its main theme though, which can best be summarized in this beautiful quote by one of the characters, Itkovian Otanthalian: "We humans do not understand compassion. In each moment of our lives, we betray it. Aye, we know of its worth, yet in knowing we attach to it a value. We guard the giving of it. Believing it must be earned. Compassion is priceless, in the truest sense of the word. It must be given freely, in abundance." Hope you all have a good day and I'll chat with you later!

TheYounglingSlayer

It's been a busy month, hence why I'm... *Checks watch* ... 21 days late? April and May have completely ran together, so suffice it to say that I've been very busy, but things have been really good! My girlyfriend and I are now rapidly approaching our 3 month, which is pretty wild! Oh, I take my instructor qualification class in a few days, so wish me luck and hope I don't shoot like shit. In any case, I hope y'all had a good April and your May is going even better! I'll try not to be so late in June! Oh yeah, dad advice: remember to take care of yourself. It's too easy to get caught up in your day to day life and forget to do important things like staying hydrated and getting a good night's sleep!