Creature of Mad Enthusiasms

Why everyone who struggles with depression, anxiety, and mental illness needs to read The Bloggess and buy Jenny's new book:

“Clearly I wasn’t as sick as I said I was if the medication didn’t work for me. And that sort of makes sense, because when you have cancer the doctor gives you the best medicine and if it doesn’t shrink the tumor immediately than that’s a pretty clear sign you were just faking it for attention. I mean, cancer is a serious, often fatal disease we’ve spent billions of dollars studying and treating so obviously a patient would never have to try multiple drugs, surgeries, radiation etc. to find what will work specifically for them. And once the cancer sufferer is in remission they’re set for life because once they’ve learned how to not have cancer they should be good. And if they let themselves get cancer again they can just do whatever they did last time. Once you find the right cancer medication you’re pretty much immune from that disease forever. And if you get it again it’s probably just a reaction to too much gluten or not praying correctly. Right?

“Well, no. But that same, completely ridiculous reasoning is what people with mental illness often hear. …. we hear it from others, but also from someone much closer and more manipulative. We hear it from ourselves.”

From: Furiously Happy
~ Jenny Lawson

A bunch of people on the flist have been making or asking for recommendations for classic Trek novels, so I started digging in my library to see what I had thought was worth keeping through multiple moves over multiple years. It's been a while since I've read any of them, so YMMV (and at least one case, I'm looking at it going "You must be joking, I kept Spock Messiah? What in hell FOR?")

But these, off the top of my head, are the books worth having, if you can find 'em. Some are obscure, all are long out of print. Get 'em on ebay before the demand drives up the price.


Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah. Frankly, her fanfic was better because she wasn't stuck within Paramount's limits. (If you can score any of the Twin Moons fanzines, grab 'em quick!) But she had an understanding of Sarek and Amanda as a loving couple that is unparalleled. Murders centers very much on them as opposed to the TOS Enterprise crew, although there is, naturally, plenty of Spock and some of Kirk & McCoy.

How Much For Just the Planet by John Ford. The crackfic against which all crackfic is measured. How Paramount let the man write a musical comedy as a tie-in novel may never be known, but imagine The Trouble With Tribbles with musical interludes and the insanity cranked up to 11. [ETA: My memorial post A Book With Yellow Pages was about this novel.]

Dreadnaught! and Battlestations by Diane Carey. Yeah, Piper's a bit of a Mary Sue, but so's Mary Russell. If you like Mary, you'll probably like Piper, especially as Piper does not marry a main character.

Ishmael by Barbara Hambly. This one will be tough to find because it disappeared off the shelves as soon as Paramount belatedly realized that Hambly had managed to write an unlicensed crossover with Here Come the Brides without them noticing. (I may have kept this more for the novelty of owning it rather than the merits of the novel.)

The Romulan Way by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood. I list more Duanes below, but this one was a particular favorite, focusing on a federation sleeper agent among the Romulans. The Romulans are treated with dignity and respect, which is one reason I liked it; another is that the only TOS character to have a large role is McCoy.

Spock's World by Diane Duane. A long-term history of Vulcan and the evolution of its people. She has some bits with their language that linguists will appreciate.

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan. Everyone in TOS is in it, but as the title suggests, Uhura carries the story. Lots of vibrant worldbuilding as they seek for the cure to a plague on a planet of intelligent felines.


These books I haven't read in so long that I'm not sure if I should be recommending them or not, because I don't really remember a thing about them. However, I found 'em worth keeping at the time, so I'll list them:

Pretty much everything else by Diane Duane. I've got Doctor's Orders, The Wounded Sky, and My Enemy, My Ally.

Crisis on Centaurus by Brad Ferguson. After listing what action the K/S/M trilogy is up to, the blurb on the back continues "Now Lt. Uhura, left alone in command, must jeopardize the crippled Enterprise to save, Centaurus, Kirk - and Joanna McCoy!" So probably one for the Uhura fans.

Demons by J.M. Dillard

There was also something about a world of singing fur seals that I remember enjoying and which also had a lot of Uhura in it, but it's not coming to hand tonight and I don't remember the name. {ETA: Named in comments.]

I've been recommending books on- and off-line and it's doing rather well, so I thought I'd take the opportunity of a lazy Sunday to post a general set of "books I think y'all might enjoy." They're all American books, but I'm pretty sure most are commonly available just about anywhere.

Presented in no particular order, a baker's dozen to start with:

Defending Angels by Mary Stanton. I Genre: Mystery. ( I stand by what I said in my review )

We'll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews. Genre: Cozy Mystery. ( An absolute must-read for the convention crowd )

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. Genre: Urban Fantasy. ( In a world where others are a persecuted minority, Kitty (a misnamed and forcibly created werewolf) runs a talk show. )

Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold. Genre: Fantasy. ( A tightly plotted political thriller with a casting twist )

Holmes on the Range by Steven Hockensmith. Genre: Mystery ( When an illiterate cowboy hears about Sherlock Holmes, he decides to use 'detectivin' on the range. )

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Genre: Chick Lit ( If you'd told me four months ago how realistic and entertaining I'd find a chick lit book, I'd've sneered at you for weeks. )

The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella. Genre: Fiction ( It's tempting to list 'food porn' as the genre for this. )

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson. Genre: Chick Lit/Urban Fantasy ( Like a glass of champagne, frothy, frivolous, fun )

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Genre: Mystery. No cut, because I've raved about J S-F enough in this LJ; y'all get the message. It's the first book of the series, and thus the best intro.

Nation by Terry Pratchett. Genre: Survival I know it's classed as YA, but you're never too old for a good book. Pratchett is my other favorite living author, a quantum moreso than J S-F. Nation is a standalone, good for people who are intimidated or turned off by Discworld. Again, no cut because you've already heard me give my arguments for this one.

The White Deer by James Thurber. Genre: Fantasy. Do I really need to list why anyone should read Thurber, my favorite dead author? He can make the English language dance and do tricks that no other author can. Deer is his sendup of fairy tale, legalese, and advertising: "Seek Gralio, better than the true Grail!"

Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. Genre: Urban Fantasy ( An undeservedly obscure series that ought not to be a footnote between the Blood and Shadows books. )

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery. Genre: Fiction ( Again, you're never too old for a good book. )