It’s obvious that I’m not using this Substack purely (or even mostly) for my history of urban fantasy project. And I think a part of me knew (and hedged against this eventuality) when I picked the domain: carterkalchik.substack.com. It easily could have been thehistoryofurbanfantasy.substack.com, and even after starting with my name I could have bought thehistoryofurbanfantasy.com and redirected it. But I didn’t.
It has been nice to have a structured, presumably permanent1 place for my writing and I’m keeping it that way. So welcome to Longer Than Is Required. Same writing, same place for my urban fantasy research — although you can now find in the homepage navigation here — and possibly a place for more things. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some standalone essays based on some weekly reading recaps2 and possibly even some forays into fiction.
Why “Longer Than Is Required”? Because I always go further than by any rights I should. I have an entire, likely years-spanning, project into the history of urban fantasy largely (although not entirely) because of one comment on my TikTok. Everything here is certainly longer than is required. But it’s also exactly how much I like.
On Repeat
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a phenomenal film in every way imaginable, and some that haven’t even been yet. It was such an overwhelming experience for me, and it all started with the music. It ended with it, too.
I think everyone should have an opportunity to experience ATSV somewhat spoiler-free, so I won’t get into any particular details. But the movie is bookended with metaphorical and literal bands, led by the arguable main character: Spider-Gwen.
And the music goes so hard, I can’t stand it. This song is the closer and it begins with the theme of a character from Into the Spider-Verse (IYKYK). It’s hard and harsh and scary. Then we get the slow down at ~1:08 which slams into the driving bed of the song which builds for a minute leading into Miles’s theme on horns at 2:10, fighting with the the song, until Gwen’s drums join the fray.
The song, and the movie, end with such a call to adventure. It was jstoobs who said ATSV left her with the same feeling as Fellowship of the Ring, and that is exactly how I felt. I want more. And so, I’ve been listening to the entire soundtrack, but especially this song on repeat.
That being said, I’m definitely holding myself back from posting about Kesha for the next several months. Just know that it’s an effort.
Finished This Week
Big week for finishing books!
Thrawn: Alliances3 (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn
Polished this one off before moving on to the third in this trilogy. This was by far my favorite of the three. I thought the parallel timelines worked great and really let us luxuriate in Thrawn and Anakin/Vader’s relationship(s). I wish the entire trilogy had been more like this and less like what the first and third books ultimately were.
Thrawn: Treason (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn
Oof.
This one really didn’t do it for me. The Thrawn books are usually marketed as a trilogy, and I think that’s deceptive. They really are pretty separate, with not a lot of connective tissue other than Thrawn. And much like the first book, Treason has a heavy tie-in to Star Wars Rebels, this time telling the story of Thrawn’s final mission before the conflict with the Lothal Rebels and Ezra Bridger ultimately swept him off the playing field (until his return in Ahsoka, that is).
Treason also has the stuff I like the least about Thrawn dialed up to 11. He never fails. He’s always morally right, even if we don’t immediately see it. And he has no real character weaknesses. I had been annoyed with his main blind spot being “he’s bad at politics” because it just doesn’t make sense for a strategist to not see the use of politics.
This book helped my crystalize why I despise this characterization. Zahn has given Thrawn the weakness of “being bad at a bad thing.” Politics in the world of these books is bad. So, it’s good that Thrawn is bad at it. And it never hurts him anyway because he isn’t bad at it, he’s really just kind of rude and socially inept.
Anyway, overall I do enjoy reveling in Thrawn’s Sherlockian theatrics and my general bad taste for these books won’t hold me back from checking out the even prequelier prequel trilogy that Zahn recently published.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
I finally got around to finishing the back half of Dracula. What a great book. I loved it as a teenager and I still loved it today, although I did find a few examples of ludicrous Victorian writing and storytelling that I put on my TikTok).
Historical Investigation TikTok (and eventual essay) coming soon.
Still Reading
King by Jonathan Eig
Now that I’ve mostly cleared the decks, I should have more time to focus on this amazing biography. Although I think I may turn this into a “read a chapter or so a day” book which could push it out past June. Still extremely highly recommended.
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by Jason Pargin
I’m re-reading the first Zoey Ashe book (and then reading the second for the first time) as a lead-in to reading an ARC of the forthcoming third book, Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia4. I remember not liking this one as much as I liked John Dies at the End and I’m not finding it that much more enjoyable on re-reading. But I trust reviewers that Pargin improves quite a lot in the second book, so I’m going with it.
I will say: if you don’t own it wholesale on the internet, it’s not permanent. Substack could go away tomorrow and my stuff with it.
This one with the Sufjan concert piece is a likely candidate.
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