Dream journal

Totalitarian dystopia. Both shalmestere and I were working for the library, which had installed seven pieces of software on all the employees' computers and phones. Six were of some conceivable use in doing our jobs, while one was purely a way for them to keep watch over the workers, their actions and thoughts.

One day shalmestere, dispirited by the oppression, sent me to work without her. I found when I got there that only three of the seven apps were present, not including the surveillance app (although I supposed that any of the rest could be used for some kind of surveillance), and I developed some hope that we might be able to escape.

And that's all I remember of the dream.

Passages

Yesterday morning (New Year's Eve) my mother's youngest sister Eleanor died. This is the one with "mental retardation" (I'm not sure if that's still an accepted term), believed due to a birth complication that deprived her of oxygen for a while. She'd lived in a variety of group homes since their mother died thirty-odd years ago. Her relationship with her four sisters was fraught: not only was she "the baby of the family", but perpetually dependent, both financially and emotionally. She'd had a couple of injuries in the past few months, wasn't interested in physical therapy to recover from them, and had recently stopped eating, so I think it was time.

Exactly four years earlier (New Year's Eve 2015), my mother's eldest sister Evelyn died. This is the one who had a breakdown in college, was diagnosed with "paranoid schizophrenia" (I'm not sure if that's still an accepted term), and lived in a variety of mental institutions for the past forty-odd years. The last time I saw her, she was happy, cheerful, and utterly disconnected from reality (although she recognized my mother).

A few months ago, my wife's eldest sister died. This is the one extrovert in the family, the gorgeous flirt who attracted boys from miles around and peaked in college.

On the other hand, my mother has a very good prognosis after surgery a week or two ago to remove a cancerous lump. My half-brother got married in November 2018, and my brother has a devastatingly charming toddler, having gotten married in July 2017 (22 years to the day after shalmestere and I got married).

Reading

My print copy of hrj's Floodtide finally arrived at the local indie bookstore yesterday (only six weeks after official publication date; apparently there were some problems at the printers). And I may have piqued the interest of the lady behind the counter and a customer who overheard me talking about the series, so there may be a few more orders coming.

The series is set in early 19th-century Europe, with magic. But "magic" means something very different to different people. In the first book it means ceremonies invoking Christian saints for divine aid; in the second book it means alchemy; in the third it means music; and in the fourth (whose main characters are on a lower socioeconomic rung than those in the previous books) it means folk charms.

And of course, many of the central characters in all the books are lesbian, but there are no sex scenes (so far) so I gather the books don't really fit into "lesbian fic". Being lesbian is just one more complication in the protagonists' already complicated lives as they try to make a living, find love, and stay out of trouble.