Motley Kamuka

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers reminds me of 2 songs from my childhood. Barracuda by Heart and Don't Go For That by Hall and Oates. They are both songs about people pressuring them to write hits a certain kind of way. Through their integrity they wrote songs that were hits, but not by using the corporate formula being pushed on them. The idea that someone wrote this book and I have it in my hand goes against the "you don't have to do anything" message. I like the message, even if it's confounded. No message is free from counter examples. What I like is the quality of empathy, caring and honoring of one's truth, authenticity of her characters. There's a real kindness in the imaginary communities she creates. 

I read the 4th Becky Chambers Wayfarer series, the concluding novel. I'm half repulsed at the programmatic wokeness, half impressed and hopeful. You can see the quotes below that echo the same ambivalence.  I googled "books that make you more intellectually flexible." I didn't see these books listed on them. You don't have to like the empathy, the gently encouraging self monologues, the teamwork, the communication, but every once in a while I wasn't bored.  Chambers a lesbian author and she wants a world where all kinds of attraction and coupling is explored. Not quite the L Word in space. Even in this future galactic consciousness, there are prohibitions against interspecies flinky, so you can still make people uncomfortable. You mean squares are universal? The square community is going to hate these books. Someone messaged me to give a spoiler to the first one, some crusader from the square community, but I read Romeo and Juliet even though Shakespeare spoi...

Becky Chambers was born in 1985 (that makes her 34 in 2019). She grew up outside LA in California, with scientist parents, “My dad worked in aerospace en­gineering, and my mom is an astrobiology educator." She was the outcast not being a scientist in her family. Her family is bookish and her mother read to her, and bought her books for her birthday. She studied theater in SF and then managed a theater. She noticed those devoted to theater only did that, and she liked playing video games and watching science fiction. She met her wife Berglaug Asmundardottir in Iceland (I'm extrapolating). She worked as a bartender and then a freelance writer to pay the bills till her writing career took off. This quote: "Boredom is so important. I still use boredom in my day-to-day if I’m stuck on something. The worst thing I can do is go online and start goofing around on web­sites or chatting with my friends, because then nothing else gets done." She wrote short stories for ...