It might be even harder for you to believe than it is for me, but Deep Space Spines is approaching one year of existence. October 19 marks the day I posted the welcome post, and the review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture went up the very next day.
So, just to commemorate one year, I’ve decided to hold a little fundraiser. The main purpose for this would be putting money toward re-upping the domain, which comes due on October 10. Any additional funds would go toward getting substantially farther ahead on book-buying (and I’m already pretty far ahead as it is)1, and maybe also looking into some supplemental research materials.
For the fundraiser, I’m focusing on small one-time donations. You can donate any amount you want by clicking the combadge on the left or right here, both of which will take you to the page where you can donate directly. Although if you’ve been thinking about becoming a patron, you can do that as well. I have no set expectations for this fundraiser, but we’ll see how it goes.
Also, according to its GOG.com page, Star Trek: Judgment Rites is coming up on its 25th anniversary. Judgment Rites is one of my favorite video games of all time; that and a book we’ll get to soon enough are what really made me fall hard for TOS, and it shaped a lot of my ideas about how to go about solving problems.2 So as a bonus, starting November 7, I’ll be posting an article about one episode of Judgment Rites every Wednesday until the end of the year. I’m excited to talk about my first non-literary piece of tie-in media, and getting to write about this game will be both a thrill and an honor. I hope you look forward to it as much as I do.
This announcement will remain at the top of the homepage throughout September and a little bit of October.
This fortnight’s big non-Trek read was Severance by Ling Ma, which infuses the apocalypse with a significant helping of millennial weltschmerz. In an alternate-continuity 2011, a dangerous fungal infection makes its way across the continents, causing nearly the entire world’s population to fall ill. The infected victims, known as the “fevered”, seem to perform mundane tasks over and over. Candace Chen, a young woman who works for a print supplier arranging printings of specialty Bibles, never becomes fevered, and just kind of hangs out in New York City continuing her routine until doing so becomes entirely untenable. I’ll grant this is a pretty reductive take, but it’s kind of like The Road, except if that book had gradually turned into The Handmaid’s Tale, and also had a lot to say about capitalism.