#Friday Black

[libraryspectre]

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is officially an insta-read for me. Chain-Gang All-Stars was my favorite book of last year, and I was SO impressed that it was his first novel. I just finished his short story collection Friday Black, and yeah. I can't wait to see what he writes next. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll read it

[agentravensong]

ever since jacob geller released his video on time loop nihilism, i’ve wanted to read the short story he discusses at the end of it. well, on saturday, i went to a few different local-ish bookstores and just happened to finally find a copy of the collection that short story is from at one of them. and over the past few nights i’ve been going through it, and i just finished it

and that’s all just a preamble to me saying you should read “friday black” by nana kwame adjei-brenyah. the time loop story, “through the flash”, is the last one, and it really is something special (flowey-asriel fans you will eat this shit up), but the rest of the collection is too. mostly speculative fiction stories that take a strong concept and go all in on it; all have very strong and distinct character voices, and the emotions are sometimes subtle, sometimes bombastic, but always raw and hard-hitting. already looking forward to rereading it.

[jessaerys]

oh i forgot to log that i finished friday black by nana kwame adjei brenyah! lil short story anthology that is caustic and so angry yet full of tenderness. hard to choose a favorite but i specially liked the finkelstein 5, the hospital where, light spitter and through the flash. the talking fetus one was the weakest imo. highly recommend

[nerves-nebula]

haha me after reading the first short story in friday black :)))) this book is going to do unthinkable things to me and im so excited

[librofm]

Short Story Collections I like: part 3

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Racism in America is the paint, but the images the author creates are so personal and imaginative that I got totally wrapped up in the world. Friday Black turned out to be the perfect appetizer to Chain Gang All Stars (also so good)

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Excellent scifi-ish mind bender, except there’s a super self absorbed guy in one of the stories that I related to wayyyy too much. Thanks a lot Ted. Also the movie Arrival is based on the titular story.

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read May 2023

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

I keep hearing great things about Riley who I think is way better known in the UK than in North America. I believe My Phantoms was more of a crossover hit. It’s about the narrator, a middle aged London woman, and her awkward semi-estranged relationship, especially with her mother. It reminded me a lot of My Name is Lucy Barton in that the trauma is kind of vague but there is this nostalgic sense of pain overlaying the whole thing. Really liked this.

Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban

Loved this. It’s about two middle-aged strangers in London, a lonely book seller and a lonely children’s book author, who each come to the conclusion they need to free the turtles at the London aquarium. Short and sweet and sharp. Hoban isn’t a writer I’ve heard of before this but apparently he’s pretty well know in the U.K. Will def be reading more of him.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

A fictional biography of the artist X written by her widow, journalist C.M. Lucca. I had some mixed thought mostly positive feelings about this one. The background is an alternate history of the U.S. imagining a world in which the South willing segregated and the North became more liberal which I found fascinating. What didn’t work for me was Lacey re-purposing some real artists quotes to build up X, an iconoclastic artist. It was a bit weird to see quites I understood used like that. Still worth a read. Also my first book of 2023 that was published in 2023. 

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

LOVED THIS. A set of speculative fiction stories set in America. These are dark and often funny. I was kind of surprised I never heard of this before (I discovered this on a whats that book reddit post) and it was an NYT best seller. Totally up my alley. 

Search by Michelle Huneven

This is a fictionalized memoir supposedly written by a fictional memoirist and food critic as she joined her Universalist Unitarian’s search committee for a new minister. I thought this would be cuter than it was, about found family and oddballs but it’s something darker and more complex than that, about how groups are flawed, change is slow, and not everyone has pure intentions. Very interesting. I will be picking up more of Huneven for sure. 

An amazing month for reading choices! Possibly my best of 2023. 

[foldingfittedsheets]

Back in 2017 I signed up for one of the Cards Against Humanity sillies and did their Cards Against Humanity Saves America. Basically they were like fuck Tr*mp and his border wall and used the funds from the campaign to buy land and to make all 150,000 contributors part owners of said land across the US/Mexico border.

It was fun and silly and I got a little certificate.

Today I got an email that Elon Musk illegally annexed that land for SpaceX and that CAH are suing him over it. So possibly I’ll get like $100 if they manage to win a lawsuit and stick it to Musk. It’s like even more bang for my original buck.

[someguyiguess]

edit: this is not about the fucking musical go fuck yourself and learn to read a room

pro insider tips for black friday from a retail worker

stay home

stay home

stay home

stay home

stay home

stay home

stay home

dont even think about going to a store

[hifrifrimetime]

everyone say thank you to our second patron saint

[yuumei-art]

It's Friday the 13th! Time to celebrate the unlucky voids in all their glory~ Here is a collection of Space Cat that I've painted over the years. What shenanigans will he get up to next?

[eleganceofhersoul]

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[crapload-of-crafts]

The complete Hatchetfield-verse poster set

All of these are up on my Redbubble if you would like to buy a sticker or poster of these designs!!!

[nerves-nebula]

i need to keep reading Friday Black. Black horror is literally so fucking healing.

[februarys-wednesday]

starkid fans when they see Normal Man and his Barista Crush onscreen for 0.5 seconds:

[hipsternumbertwo]

BLACK FRIDAY