So, there is an embroidery machine in my house at the moment. My partner borrowed it from a friend to make Monster Hunter-related patches. The monster designs are still a work in progress, but whilst he was working out how to work the machine he asked me if there were any designs I would like as patches, and I immediately thought of the faction emblems from Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire series that are on the Solaris site. If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know how much I loved that series, and everything else Yoon Ha Lee that I’ve read. I only have a small bag though, so he just did the Kel and Shuos emblems for me. I’m very happy with the results, and thought they’d be worth sharing. I’ll add more pictures when I decided how to arrange them on my bag.
Speaking of Machineries of Empire, the final book in the Series, The Revenant Gun, will be out later this year. I know I have mentioned that, but I haven’t been so excited for a new book in ages. The conclusion of the trilogy takes place nine years after the end of Raven Stratagem and will follow a teenage, cadet incarnation of Shuos Jedao, who has been tasked by Nirai Kujen with re-conquering the Hexarchate. He has no memory of his time as a general or the massacre he committed, but he is good at video games.
That probably won’t make a lot of sense to people who haven’t read the other books or at least followed my reviews, but trust me, it is going to be awesome.
Whilst I’m here, I should probably apologise for the lack of reviews. The most recent novel I read was Ada Palmer’s The Will to Battle. Since I have already reviewed both previous books in this series (Too Like the Lightning and Seven Surrenders) I don’t want to do a review on it. All I’ll say now is that this series just keeps getting better, and I am as excited to read the final book, Perhaps the Stars as I am to read The Revenant Gun.
I’ve also been reading some short fiction from last year for the Hugos. I read Linda Nagata’s The Martian Obelisk last night and added it straight to my ballot. I use a site called Rocket Stack Rank to keep up-to-date on short fiction, and have found a lot of gems on it that I would have otherwise missed.
I’ve also been reading Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, which I’ll review when I’m done. I’m not sure what I’ll be reading next. There are a few novels from last year that I should read before nominations for the Hugos close, but the death of Ursula K. Le Guin has made me realise that it is an absolute travesty that I have read barely anything she has written, so fixing that oversight is a bigger priority at the moment.
Le Guin’s work has influenced so much of modern science fiction and fantasy, and her death earlier this month has really shaken the SFF world. I’ll be late to the party, but reading more of her work is something I look forward to.
At the end of the day, I cannot promise more regular blog posts. But I do hope you enjoyed looking at some of my crafts.
Happy Reading,
Lauren.
Jayde Holmes 
Cool patches, though I don’t know the series. I do know and like “The Martian Obelisk,” too.
I don’t know if you have any particular titles in mind for Le Guin or what you’ve read but I most enjoyed her first collection, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, for short stuff and probably The Left Hand of Darkness for novel, though I also liked the PKD-ish The Lathe of Heaven. Also, of course, The Dispossessed and some others and a lot of people love her fantasy series, of course. But if I had to pick three, it’d probably be those first three.
Thanks for the recommendations. I actually have a copy of The Wind’s Twelve Quarters that I’ve been meaning to read for years. So far the only Le Guin book I’ve read is The Telling, which I liked, but it didn’t really engage me that much. At least, the story didn’t. The ideas, worldbuilding, and Le Guin’s writing I remember enjoying a lot. Looking back, I think I picked the wrong book as an introduction to Le Guin. I had been thinking of getting into Wind’s Twelve Quarters next, I think I’ll start it as soon as I can now.