We’re experiencing a pandemic. Fires blaze around us. The air is filled with smoke. Social changes and politics are beyond volatile. I’m still waiting for the space aliens to land or for my dog to start talking. All of that and the new fucking block editor. In the meantime I’m reading two books that are extremely close to home. I had no idea when I started these how close.
The Brief History of the Dead
by Kevin Brockmeier
Official Description: The City is inhabited by those who have departed Earth but are still remembered by the living. They will reside in this afterlife until they are completely forgotten. But the City is shrinking, and the residents clearing out. Some of the holdouts, like Luka Sims, who produces the City’s only newspaper, are wondering what exactly is going on. Others, like Coleman Kinzler, believe it is the beginning of the end. Meanwhile, Laura Byrd is trapped in an Antarctic research station, her supplies are running low, her radio finds only static, and the power is failing. With little choice, Laura sets out across the ice to look for help, but time is running out. Kevin Brockmeier alternates these two storylines to create a lyrical and haunting story about love, loss and the power of memory.
My Note: I am loving this book. It is unexpected and beautifully written
Second Sleep
by Robert Harris
Official Description: 1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts–coins, fragments of glass, human bones–which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death?
Fairfax becomes determined to discover the truth. Over the course of the next six days, everything he believes–about himself, his faith, and the history of his world–will be tested to destruction.
My note: This is not the 1468 you’re expecting.
As I write this my computer is acting like a ghost is in it so I’m going to be quick. I’m in Aptos, California right now. We are mostly out of the smoke. The object that looks like a giant dead fish in the water is a sunken ship. Just thought I’d share last night’s sunset.
Read a good book. Stay safe. Wear your mask. Pet your dog. Talk to your kids. Stay sane. Kiss a Vampire (it is safe to do that you know.)
~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman
Vampire Maman 
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