Oh my god, it’s been ages, and that story that was eating my brain is … still eating my brain, but not as badly.
So how about a round of What’s Going on In Laura’s Life? With a dash of What’s Laura Been Reading?
1.
Well, like everyone else in the US, New Zealand, and Australia, I have downloaded Pokemon Go and … been kicked off the servers repeatedly. Which isn’t the worst thing in the world except that while my husband and I have at least gotten to play a little, the 9-year-old hasn’t gotten to play at all. Happily, we got it sorted out after his play tonight (he’s in summer theater camp), and he caught himself a Bulbasaur in the living room.
2.
I’ve been playing Pokemon Y because my husband. I like being able to customize my trainer. I’ve also gotten a lot less sentimental about my team in my old age, man–like, I’ve been boxing guys left and right because Oh, this one’s super cute, farewell weird-looking evolved pokemon starter! Mega-Gengar is awesome.
3.
I read Joe Hill’s The Fireman, which I enjoyed, for the most part. There were all those Stephen King easter eggs in it, which was amusing, but what struck me (and that I haven’t seen anyone mention) is how much like a Stephen King novel it was. The plot is very King. It read a lot like King–mostly older, early-80s King, the leaner stuff pre-Stand but without all the italics. I honestly felt like I was reading … not a pastiche, because this was still very much a Joe Hill novel, but his take on his dad’s stuff. Because there were things in it that I thought were what Stephen King would write if he was in his thirties or forties right now and had grown up in the same time period I did.
It’s really a weird thing to read after reading Mr Mercedes earlier this year and having a lot of trouble with it. I’ve been reading King since I was twelve, and this was the first time that I felt like he was my parents’ age. I kept waiting for some sort of payoff to that feeling of Joe Hill sort of playing with his dad’s stuff, but it never really happened, which makes me wonder how much of it was purposely done.
One way or another, though, it’s a pretty solid book. If you like apocalyptic novels that aren’t The Road, then definitely check it out.
Laura E. Price 