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A list of things for November 2023

By Jen Myers —

I did virtually nothing throughout November (other than regular work and home responsibilities) but read, watch movies, walk long distances, go to yoga and write. It was lovely. I'm ready for a calm winter season.

Here is a list of nice and quiet things I did, made and absorbed over the past month.

  1. I posted two lists of what I've been reading, watching, and listening to (it was a lot this month): Recently 10 November and Recently 26 November.
  2. Over at my little horror film podcast Quiet Little Horrors, we explored silent films with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Shadow of the Vampire.
  3. I put together a list of horror writing markets for December.
  4. I've started exploring more computer games and I was immediately entranced by Strange Horticulture, a dark, lyrical puzzle game that also has a cat you can pet, so it's everything I could want. Highly recommended. Related, I'm open to good horror and/or narrative-based game recommendations if anyone has them.
  5. I read Roger Shattuck's Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography. It was provocative and useful to interrogate the unassailable morality of the march of progress. I am not certain if I landed in the same position that Shattuck did, and I believe there are more nuances of social imbalance that he did not fully account for—but this book and its conversation seems very relevant to current discussions of technological tools and human artistic effort. Some things, I agree, are better not to pursue. I also agree with Shattuck here: "... to acknowledge a limit on experience may extend our freedom to be ourselves."
  6. As part of my ongoing quest to bring back the fun, human old internet, I added a guestbook to my website. It would be delightful if you signed it.

I'm pretty much updates-only on Twitter now, but I'm active over on Bluesky. I still have a handful of invitation codes for Bluesky so if any of my newsletter readers would like one, let me know. You can reach me by email about that or anything else at [email protected].

Thank you for reading! I'm grateful for you. 🖤