Quentin's Weeknotes 6/15/19-6/21/19

This Week:

• I read/played “My Father’s Long Long Legs” an incredibly creepy piece of Interactive Fiction. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you’re a fan of atmospheric, ambiguous horror (think Junji Ito, Thomas Ligotti, Laird Barron, or Jeff Vandermeer), it is absolutely worth 10 or 15 minutes of your time.
• I finished Karl Tarlo Greenfield’s “The Subprimes." Despite being a piece of satire, it was a hard read, both for its frightening evocation of our current politics, and an ending that largely ignored the hard work it will take to undo such politics.
• I discovered this delightful piece of ancient history that I didn’t know before. Apparently there was a genre of writing in ancient Mesopotamia where animals, forces of nature, or plants would debate each other. There’s Bird versus Fish, Summer Versus Winter, Cattle Versus Grain, etc… Quite apart from how astonishingly contemporary this feels, I am here for the body-blows that Bird lands on Fish:

You are bereft of hips, as also of arms, hands and feet – try bending your neck to your feet! Your smell is awful; you make people throw-up