Newsletter

A Newsletter About This Newsletter + sum rex

Teresa Van Santana

Feb 15, 2022 — 4 min read

Okay, so I’m starting to have a decent back catalog at this point, and I’ve received some feedback that at least a few folks are having difficulty keeping up with the current pace of output, so I’m gonna slow down publication to twice a week starting next week. That means you’ll get three or four this week (including this one) and then about two thereafter.

It’s tricky because personally I like to backread people’s Substacks and always get a little disappointed when I’ve reached the end. And I want folks to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth from it, but I also understand that not everyone is like me in their reading habits and may not love getting an email every day or even every other day.

Let me know your thoughts on this, either in the comments or through whatever channels we usually communicate.

As to make this not entirely an ouroboros of newsletter talking about newslettering, here are some recommendations:

T-Rex

Books

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a neat little book for word nerds. It’s an attempt to make new words to describe very particular emotional states—many of them are sorrowful, nostalgic, or painful in some way—but not all, despite the title. The creator is a little bit of a pro-cappy as best I can tell and was fiercely protective of his copyright prior to publication. I get it, but it also seems counterproductive to invent new words and then threaten to sue people if they use them. Anyway, all that aside, it’s worth a look.

You may have heard me go on about AI 2041 already. If you’re a sf writer, you really must read this. And if you’re simply tired of endless misinformation about AI and how Skynet will kill us all, it’s a nice change of pace (well, mostly). It’s fiction, a collection of short stories, but it’s based on actual AI science and market information, rather than the usual recycling of outdated tropes from 50+ years ago. The co-authors crafted stories that they think more realistically represent the possible future of AI in the next twenty years. So, you know, check it.

I’m always trying to build various reading lists. Here’s one that’s a feminist sf list, more or less in order of publication:

Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Mary E. Bradley Lane, Mizora: A Prophecy

Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett, New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future

Frances Harper, Iola Leroy (previously thought to be the first published African American novel)

Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant, Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance

A.O. Grigsby and Mary P. Lowe, NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, The Sultana's Dream

Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time

Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve

Octavia Butler, Kindred

Margaret Atwood, Oryx & Crake

Nalo Hopkinson, The Girl In the Brown Ring

Nnedi Okorafor, Binti

Tehlor Kay Mejia, We Set the Dark On Fire

Michelle Ruiz Keil, All of Us With Wings

Maya Motayne, Nocturna

Lilliam Rivera, Dealing In Dreams

Movies

Let’s see, what movies have I seen since I last gave you some rex …

I rewatched a few. The Last Days of Disco (Criterion Channel), which I already mentioned last time. But there it is again, which prompts me to say check out Whit Stillman’s other films Metropolitan (HBO Max, Criterion) and Barcelona (Amazon) if you dig watching effete yuppy fucks go through existential crises. That sounds sarcastic, but I really do enjoy them.

The Presidio was shockingly soapy. I don’t really remember it being so focused on the relationships among the three lead characters. There’s a mystery, but it’s pushed way into the background, which I kina love. The script and performances are extremely hit or miss, like shockingly so. Some scenes are great, while others feel like a first year acting class shot in someone’s living room. Most of the action scenes (especially the shoot-outs) are over-the-top and cheesy, but the chase scenes are pretty well done. Meg Ryan is giving you peak beautiful 80s hair. Worth a look, especially if you want something you can just sort of chill and vibe to and not take very seriously. (HBO Max)

There’s a short film on Netflix called Meridian that’s kina cool. It’s a hard-boiled, vaguely Lovecraftian kina deal. It doesn’t entirely work, but it’s a decent attempt for the scale of production it is. The ending is weak, though, so. But I mean, it’s 12 minutes, so you’re not really committing that much. (Netflix)

I wish there were more movies like Slow Machine. It’s kind of meta, fairly indie feeling, but really just a mood. The characters are interesting but don’t really change. I can’t say I know what it’s about? But it isn’t an abstract film, like it’s not weird-for-the-sake-of-weird or anything. The plot is pretty straightforward, it just doesn’t follow any kind of traditional formula, similar to an Antonioni film. It’s relatively short, too, at 72 mins. (Mubi)

I keep trying to get into Jennifer Reeder, but. A lot of her films feel pretty pretentious to me, if I’m being honest. She’s a visual & performance artist by education, so that’s probably part of it. I admire the ambition and many of the things she attempts to do, but they often just … aren’t well done. Anyway, Tears Cannot Restore Her: Therefore, I Weep is the best one I’ve seen so far. Works pretty well, and I can actually see her vision holding together for once. (Criterion Channel)

If you lurv movies as much as T does, come find me on Letterboxd and we’ll comment on each other’s reviews but not talk to anyone we don’t know, as that seems to be the culture over there. Also, if you’re over 23, you will feel old instantly.

Music

Here are three tracks that are almost always playing in my head rn:

AUDREY NUNA (featuring Saba), “Top Again”