These strange times have amplified my collection of moments. I’m sharing this small selection with the hope it gives you pause and, in some cases, joy.
Weird. An astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up his nose while inventing a device to stop people touching their face. One religious politician commits his secular nation to his deity as a secular loyalty club emails its members to announce a “temporary pause on redemption”. Another government tells its people to talk like a particular robot cat to combat domestic violence.
Beautiful. Marie Howe’s ‘Singularity’. Bob Ross’s positivity. COVID-19 made into music. Having a wordless conversation with a kookaburra; remembering this article about hearing birds. Two weeks of homeschooling. Salted caramel cinnamon scrolls.
Interesting. There’s a Bolivian orchestra trapped in a haunted German castle. This pandemic may enable a few people to do more, but we’ll see less from female academics. This clip on curry tree berries makes me smile. Reading past winners of the Ig Nobel Prize sparks fresh ideas. The neighbourhood cat we thought was ownerless showed up at our door yesterday wearing a shiny new collar.
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Also, I have news:
- One of my tiny fictions, ‘The Lion’, will feature in Pulp Literature Issue 27 [linked from my Publications page].
- I am honoured to be reading one of my stories live on Pulp Literature‘s YouTube channel at 10am Pacific time on Friday 29 May [for Perth people, that translates to one o’clock on Saturday morning!] alongside the very excellent Theric Jepson and Michael Kamakana, with Jen Landels hosting.
- I was fortunate to win Sunspot Literary Journal‘s Single Word Contest in April, for my hybrid piece, ‘The Meaning of Free’.
thirtyseven 