#337
Mar 16, 2025
Books
This week I read:
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
This is kind of a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep (which I read in 2022) but can easily be read a standalone novel, there’s no references to Fire in this book. Stylistically it’s pretty similar, with two parallel stories from the very beginning of the book that slowly converge towards the end: one story following the “spiders”, intelligent inhabitants of a world orbiting a strange star that’s dormant for roughly 200 out of every 250 years, and the other following the human groups who have come to trade with or dominate the spiders.
One thing I really liked, which was also similar to Fire now that I think about it, is that the spider sections were narrated as if they were human. Expressions, language, aesthetics, were all “translated”. Just like the hive-mind dog-creatures in Fire. But when the humans of the story finally meet the spiders the viewpoint shifts to a human one, and the spiders are horrifying! Big ten-limbed creatures living in dark, low-ceilinged dwellings with uncomfortably hairy carpets, that speak by hissing and clicking, and emote with rapid, predatory gestures.
Volumes 4 and 5 of the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition by Hitoshi Ashinano (chapters 83–140)
There’s not really much to say here, there isn’t much of a story, each chapter is fairly self-contained: the only story really is that time passes and things change and come to an end, but also new things begin. It’s well worth a read.
Roleplaying Games
The Halls of Arden Vul
This week was one of those funny sessions where loads happened from the perspective of the players, but actually very little happened that I need to keep track of in my notes.
They did some exploration, killed a giant snapping turtle that had nearly eaten the party’s frontline fighter a few sessions back, found some treasure, and we ended the session with them breaking into a tomb and awakening its guardian: the greater mummy Neferet, Beloved of Thoth, wielder of the Iron Circlet of Ghanor and one of the more powerful individual foes in the setting.
Next week will begin with a fight to remember.
Miscellaneous
House Buying
Things have progressed really well this week:
- Monday: I rang the estate agent to make an offer on the house, and they got back to me a couple of hours later with the news that the sellers accepted. I then submitted the mortgage application and enlisted a conveyancer.
- Tuesday: I got a quote from a surveyor.
- Wednesday: I went into the bank to provide some ID, as the automated check had failed. I also instructed the surveyor to go ahead with booking that in ASAP.
- Thursday: I received a mortgage offer from the bank, and printed, signed, and posted a statement about my LISA: the last piece of documentation the conveyancer needed to get started.
- Friday: The survey happened.
Two and a half days from mortgage application to offer has to be some kind of record. I’m going to contact the surveyor tomorrow to confirm when I can expect the report, but after that I’ve done my side of the process: I’m now entirely reactive, just providing whatever information and signatures the other parties ask for.
I’ve let the sellers know that ideally I’d like to complete and move in by the 29th of May, though unless they get a move on I doubt that’s going to happen. I’ll have to put all my stuff into storage and spend a fortune on temporary accommodation for a week or two… but it can’t be helped. If only my landlord had told me sooner she intended to evict me and sell the flat…
I’ve been having fun for the last few evenings planning out how to furnish each room. It’s just a rough draft until I get into the house and can measure everything properly (I don’t 100% trust estate agent floorplans)—noting down where all the radiators, power sockets, and other obstructions are—but I’m starting to get a good idea of some parts. For instance, I’m going to get a new bed. My current bedframe doesn’t really fit in with the other bedroom furniture—it’s metal whereas everything else is wood—so I’ll get a new wood one, and make it a bit larger and replace the cheap mattress and flat pillows while I’m at it. I’ve even been looking into the really mundane things like bins and toilet brushes; I find often a space looks really nice except for these little things that get overlooked as you just get something cheap and basic that does the job. But I want everything to look nice.