A very pleasant breezy morning today. It is very clear, the sky blue. I’m sitting outside in the shade and the air is carrying a scent of flowers. I am also reading a book and thoroughly enjoying it: Gurnah’s By the Sea. He is rapidly turning into one of my favourite writers. I think I am now more or less totally off the old science fiction/ fantasy stuff with rare exceptions. The old stuff that I enjoyed, most of it feels so poorly written or facile now. And the new stuff doesn’t resonate. There are exceptions: Ursula Le Guin remains one of my favourite writers and I did enjoy most of Jemisin’s books very much, though not her latest couple. But a lot of current writing, particularly the worthy and cosy stuff, I find incredibly lightweight. As for the old – I reread Cyteen just now, and found myself itching to edit it. There was a good book in there, but it was as self-indulgent as Neal Stephenson.
I shall return to my book now.