Happy weekend, my friends!

So this week I’m finally reading our latest book club novel “Abigale Hall” by Lauren A. Forry. It’s a gothic tale that takes place in the aftermath of WW II in England. Seventeen year old Eliza Haverford and her troubled 12 year old sister Rebecca have lost their parents in the war; their Aunt Bess sends them to work in Abigale Hall in Wales. There they meet the stern Mrs. Pollard, the housekeeper, who takes care of the owner of the house, Mr. Brownawell. But–you guessed it–there’s something strange going on in the old run-down house: strange lights and noises, bloodied books, terrifying dreams, and mysterious predecessors. And Rebecca’s fragile mental health is getting worse. It’s a weird, spooky read, and I’m enjoying it so far.

I’m still working my way through Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice, but will probably finish it soon. I’m thinking I’ll reread Kenobi by John Jackson Miller, as I’m in an Obi-Wan kind of mood considering all the hype about the series coming up next year. More on that soon.

First, in movies I watched The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton’s book. My daughter had read in in her English class, and I read it along with her. I read it ages ago when I was a teen, and remembered liking it. My daughter’s class also watched the movie based on the book; I had never seen it, so I watched it on Youtube so we could talk about it. It was really a blast seeing all these future 80’s superstars before they were famous; it was a laundry list of 80’s teen heartthrobs, lol. The movie was actually pretty good–it stayed close to the book, and only omitted a few things for time. I would have loved to see more of the relationship between the Curtis brothers: Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy. It’s a great story about the class divide and the futility of violence; the fact that teachers are still assigning it now, a book about youth gangs in the 1960’s, shows that the themes are still relevant today, and probably always will be. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

So there was a lot of hype about Disney+ day this past Friday, and a lot of excitement building around what revelations they may offer us. I will admit I haven’t seen everything–it wasn’t some big special but bits and pieces offered on social media. I’ve seen the sizzle reel of the Obi-Wan show, and while it’s exciting, I think most of us were hoping for a real trailer. No such luck. There was some really intriguing concept art that was shown, which people will be speculating about for the foreseeable future. We’re just going to have be patient, lol. But surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of Star Wars stuff, which is disappointing.

I did check out the Boba Fett special Under the Helmet, a short doc on the popularity of the famous bounty hunter, leading up to the release of The Book of Boba Fett later this year. I missed the whole obsession with Boba over the years, but he’s cool and I’m on board for the show.

Marvel seems to have a TON of stuff coming out next year and beyond, and while I probably won’t watch all of it, I’ll definitely be watching some: Loki Season Two is at the top of the list, as well as What If Season Two. Of the new shows, only Hawkeye has caught my attention (very soon!) and something I’d never heard of called Moon Knight with Oscar Isaac. I’m not sure if I’m interested in Agatha: House of Harkness yet. Maybe, we’ll see. I think I can live without She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel, etc. And I’ll be busy with all the Star Wars shows coming out, too, namely Obi-Wan, Andor and The Bad Batch Season Two. There’s only so many hours in the day, lol.

Also, I suspect I’ll still be busy writing my Star Wars fan fiction. I’m still only in the development stage: taking notes and doing character sketches, putting together a rough outline, and doing a LOT of research on Wookieepedia and Youtube. I’d like to think I know a lot about Star Wars, but when you decide to write about that universe, you realize just how much you don’t know. Writing fanfic is a great way to learn about all the stuff you never knew about. It always amazes me how rich and complex the world of Star Wars is. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed, thinking I can’t do this, I’ll never get it right, there’s too much, what have I gotten myself into, etc. But I’m determined. I’m going to see it through, and you know what? I’ll learn something, definitely about Star Wars, but also about writing, and myself as a writer. As daunting as it is, it’s also been great fun, too.

Oh, and I’ll be watching Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings on D+ tonight. I’ve heard good things about it, and it should be fun. I’ll write about that in next week’s post.

That’s it for this week. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!