graculus

I'm pretty much still exclusively reading SF and Fantasy, with the occasional non-fiction book thrown in (but very occasional) and these are the best of what I read in 2016:

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor, a first contact novel set in Nigeria

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin (though you need to read The Fifth Season first)

A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace

Conspiracy of Ravens by Lila Bowen

Updraft by Fran Wilde, which finally came out in paperback in the UK

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which subsequently went on to win the Nebula and World Fantasy Award

The Silver Tide and The Iron Ghost, both by Jen Williams

There is also ongoing love in my heart for Saga, Ms Marvel and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

More detailed commentary is available at my Booklikes blog if you're interested in any of the above.

Meanwhile, on the idiot box, this is how it falls out at the moment...

Still watching (though in some cases massively behind): Brooklyn Nine Nine, Elementary, iZombie, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Vikings, Lucifer

Got bored and/or annoyed and wandered off from: Sleepy Hollow, Blindspot, How to Get Away With Murder, Empire, The Blacklist, Jane the Virgin

Unexpectedly enjoying: The Good Place (and I usually loathe US 'comedy', so that's saying something) and Pitch (even though I know less than nothing about baseball!)

Happy to discuss any of the above in the spoiler-laden world of comments!

September is the start of the new TV season for most things so it's been traditional for me to post something around then about what I'm watching, what didn't survive the end of last season and what I'm looking forward to - yep, I know we're in mid-October but there's still new stuff coming so whatever... Spoilers likely in the comments, opinions welcome!

The old faithfuls (some class, some cheese - you decide which is which)

I'm still watching Person of Interest and even though s5 is only 13 eps, I'm already looking forward to it. No date yet for the US premiere as far as I know. Meanwhile Elementary season 4 is back on 5th November, again with no UK date confirmed. I was delighted to discover that one of the ITV channels here was showing s3 of The Americans, though I'm still a few episodes behind as all that season has aired in the US.

Season 3 of Brooklyn Nine Nine just started in the US, with no sign of a UK premiere date yet, but it's still good. ( spoilers )

Somehow I made it to the end of the previous season of Sleepy Hollow and have seen the first episode of the new season, which premieres in the UK on 22nd October. ( spoilers )

As for shows currently on hiatus, still loving both Vikings and Orphan Black and was delighted when Sense8 was renewed - I also quite enjoyed Daredevil. I also have a backlog of both Turn and Longmire episodes to catch up on. It will probably come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I absolutely loved Agent Carter.

For those folks in the UK who're wanting to see s3 of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Alibi has the season premiere on 28th October.

I caught up with Empire earlier in the year and s2 just started in the UK, so loving the scenery-chewing but only just tolerating (and to be honest, fast-forwarding through at times) the bursting into song/rap.

What didn't survive or which I am unsure about

This year I bid adieu to Grimm after losing interest partway through the last (problematic, imho) season and then also Hannibal - I made it all the way to near the end and then noped out of a particular scene in either the last or penultimate episode. Started season 2 of Dominion but lost interest and wandered off.

I just started watching season 4 of Arrow and get the sense that could go the way of the previous shows quite soon, ditto for The Blacklist which went a bit crazy at the end of last season.

I've also seen the pilot episode for Blindspot and ( spoilers )

Impressive newcomers & what I'm looking forward to

I was mightily impressed with season 1 of The Detectorists, which is a very charming little comedy staring Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones. Season 2 starts on 29th October.

Meanwhile, season 2 of iZombie just started in the US, as did season 2 of How to Get Away With Murder (UK premiere is 28th October), so we'll see if they can maintain their respective interest for me. Season 2 of Jane the Virgin just started in the US and again this is a show I enjoyed more than I expected to but am unsure whether it will be able to hold my interest in the longer term.

On recommendation, I watched and quite liked season 1 of Killjoys - for some reason Syfy here in the UK have not shown this yet, which is frustrating.

I am very much looking forward to Jessica Jones, which is due in November and am hopeful about a show called Into the Badlands which seems to be an odd mixture of all sorts of genre influences (so is likely to either be awful or awesome, no middle ground), also due in November. I've also seen the pilot of The Man in the High Castle which is based on the Philip K. Dick alternative history novel of the same name and that again could go either way when the rest of the episodes are released, again in November.

So, after telling you about shows I've stopped watching, how about some that I started (or will shortly start)?

1. iZombie - it's a new Rob Thomas show! It's essentially Veronica Mars with zombies, as our main character is one and also helps solve crimes by eating the brains of murder victims. And then we also get David Anders and Bradley James (yes, Arthur from Merlin) as recurring characters - Bradley looks really strange with dark hair.

2. Empire - I love Taraji P. Henson and what I've heard about this show, which is about the rap music business, sounds good. It's going to air in the UK on E4 from next Tuesday (28th).

3. Jane the Virgin - the title of this originally made me go 'hmmm' but I've now seen the first 3 episodes and was sufficiently entertained to want to see the rest of the season. It's essentially a US remake of a telenovela-style storyline with all that entails. For example, our eponymous heroine goes for a routine gynaecological exam and gets accidentally impregnated, and the sperm involved of course belongs to her boss, so now despite planning to save herself for marriage, she's pregnant. Hijinks ensue. Anyway, if you're in the UK, E4 have just started airing this (first episode was last night).

4. Daredevil - no, not the appalling Ben Affleck movie, but the Netflix-produced series, which has just ordered season 2. I've only seen the first 3 episodes so far, but it's been pretty good, although I think the pacing in eps 2 and 3 hasn't been great. Cool fight scenes, though.

5. Aquarius - this looks interesting, so we'll see how we go. It's a 1970's police drama with David Duchovny as the main character. It's airing in the US from 28th May.

Five new(ish) shows with not many episodes so you can catch up on them easily...

1. Turn - I have to admit, it was the casting which drew me to this (Jamie Bell, Burn Gorman, Aldis Hodge etc. etc.) but the relative newness of this period, as opposed to multiple cop and medical shows, helps make this tale of spies in the American Revolutionary War interesting too.

2. Crossbones - I have to admit I was a bit ambivalent about this show early on, and it nearly got canned about episode 2 or 3, but I stuck with it and the amount of double-dealing and back-stabbing means I can't always see where the plot is going long-term. John Malkovich is the star, chewing the scenery at times as Edward Teach (Blackbeard to his enemies).

3. Dominion - loosely based on the 2010 movie Legion, here's another show that is pretty much cast with non-Americans all the way across the board. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what it's about, though I wish they'd really do something more with the main female character who (surprise) is mostly there as a love interest for the main male character and is just a little self-righteous at times.

4. Brooklyn Nine Nine - okay, so it's a few more episodes than the previous ones in this list, but they're half hours so it all works out in the end! I freely admit to starting to watch this show despite Andy Samberg (I know some folks love him but not me...) and because of Andre Braugher. And then I just really got into it, which is not an easy thing for me where US 'comedy' shows are concerned.

5. A Young Doctor's Notebook - a little something to balance the above cheese, this miniseries stars Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm as two versions of the same character, one younger and one older. The younger one is recently graduated from Moscow's medical school and is sent to 50 miles from the middle of nowhere to run a small hospital just as the Russian Revolution is breaking out. He is 'haunted' to some extent by his more experienced and world-weary older version, who gets to give a bit of a running commentary on the younger one's behaviour and lack of a clue how the world really works. Outstanding performances from both, can be a bit graphic in terms of medical stuff so beware if that's an issue for you.

Oddly enough, the last entry I have tagged as 'TV stuff' is from about this time last year, talking about what I was watching then so I thought it'd be interesting to see how things have changed (if they have) and/or what I'm currently watching. So, I'm volunteering to give my opinion on any or all of the following, whether I watch them now or no longer, just ask!?

This is hopefully going to distract me from the fact that I still don't have a job, keep getting interviews but no further, and if I didn't have money saved from my years of working for The Man would be up the proverbial creek. I have another interview on Wednesday morning, which ought to be more of a sure thing because it's with the folks for whom I am currently volunteering but we'll see - I'm more aggravated because it means I have to wait till Wednesday afternoon to go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Priorities, I has them. ;)

What I was watching in 2013 and what I'm watching now:

Person of Interest, Grimm, Vikings, Big Bang Theory, Go On, Happy Endings, Elementary, The Following, Once Upon a Time, The Americans, Lost Girl, Haven, Warehouse 13, White Collar, Sherlock

What's changed is due to a combination of cancellations (Go On and Happy Endings) and just-can't-bear-it-anymore (The rest, but Sherlock, I am mostly looking at you!) I didn't actually manage to make it all the way through season 3 of Sherlock, it was all just too painfully bad to cope with.

New since that last post:

Orphan Black, Sleepy Hollow, Almost Human, True Detective, Resurrection, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Hannibal, The Blacklist, Looking

Wow, that's a lot of TV and probably not a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone would think I didn't have a life or something... Anyway, like I said, want to know what I think of a particular show or why I no longer watch it? Ask away...

Yes, it's that time of year again, the time when you find out whether you picked a winner and your show is likely to get picked up for a further season or whether the TV gods are just not smiling on you. The victims so far:

Common Law (sadly, we all guessed this was coming...)
Fairly Legal (which managed to make an actress I really like very annoying)
Political Animals (living on forever in endless Tumblr gifs of Sebastian Stan half-naked)
Last Resort (damnit all)
666 Park Avenue (can't comment, as I haven't seen it...)
Partners (deeply unfunny sitcom from the creators of Will and Grace)

In better news, Elementary picked up additional episodes meaning season 1 will be 24 episodes long, boding well for a second season order and Grimm is kicking arse ratings-wise so I'm hoping a season 3 announcement won't be too long in coming... Oh, and Haven got picked up for another 13 episode season.

First off, am very entertained by the current re-run of Colditz, though I can't help being amused by the fact that one of the character's names is Dick Player - sounds like a bad porn actor name.

Secondly, it may be the case that the new version of Hawaii 5-0 is the gayest show ever to hit television but I'm just not feeling the love. Possibly because ( Cut for relatively controversial opinions )

Thirdly, been watching Haven and it's okay/entertaining enough but yet another potential fandom goes by the wayside. Oh well.

Fourthly, potential remake of Wild Wild West? The horror! The horror! This cannot end well. :(

Leverage gets a third season!.

\o/

Thanks to everyone for their congrats on the job offer - I've had a chat with my would-be boss and she was all "you're just what I was looking for!", which is always nice to hear. Unlike my current employers (it took 3 months to get from interview to formal job offer), their HR department seem to be on the ball. I've already received the paperwork for both the medical approval and payroll.

In other news, I decided a while back that I wanted to do a proper run-through of a number of the boxsets I've purchased and haven't got around to. So I finished off season 2 of Man from UNCLE, which I got halfway through a while back and then I've been watching 2 episodes a day of Wild Wild West and finished season 1 today, both for fic research purposes and to ogle Jim West's arse and give it the respect it deserves. ;)

Next up is season 1 of I Spy which someone (*smooches obelix*) kindly bought me but I've only seen a couple of episodes so far...

Finally, Torchwood. My response to it can be summed up as follows: ( Cut for Children of Earth spoilers, beware of those in the comments too... )

Now back to cleaning up the pit of weasels that is my house... not to mention the house of the weasels themselves! :P

I can tell I'm heading towards having two weeks off over Christmas and New Year (finish on the 19th, back to work on Jan. 5th!) because I'm currently fighting off a cold. Feh.

In other news, I have the song 'Please Be Patient' from the wonderful A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! going round my head.

Speaking of telly, don't spoil me for Merlin because I haven't watched it yet, but the news of various cancellations has dramatically reduced what I've been getting hold of: gone are Dirty Sexy Money, My Own Worst Enemy (which I kind of liked) and Eli Stone. Farewell too to Boston Legal and, because I got bored with it, Dexter.

My love for Leonard and Sheldon remains unabated, however. :)

Though the main source of puzzlement for me was the decision to schedule the Psych Christmas edition in November. Huh? If you watch your Christmas specials in November/early December, what do you actually watch at Christmas?

Oh and I was going to see Inkspell today but decided there was too high a risk of falling asleep in the cinema midway through...