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Everything that happened on the blog last week with a couple extras.Too much? Not enough? Let me know what you think.

On November 5, 2023, I posted the first thing on the fresh new @turnandwork Instagram account. So next week, in addition to the regular stuff, I’ll be looking back at my favourite stuff from the year.

I’m calling it Year Zero because it was probably 10 months before I really found a look and feel for the site that I liked. About the only thing that hasn’t changed in the last year is the logo. I was new to WordPress (I’ve run dev teams for years, but never done the work myself), so my journey was sometimes ugly (literally).

I’ve been working hard on a few things that I think are pretty slick, and I hope you like it. Every day next week there’ll be three posts dedicated to Year Zero. Books, music, short stories and more.

Thanks for being here, and I’m looking forward to bigger and better things in Year One. Now the good stuff:

The month wrapped with the last Dead Anyway post on Thursday, looking at their musical influences and some of my thoughts. I had other ideas that I’m bummed that I couldn’t get to. If only I didn’t have to work for a living.

Here are six short, mostly seasonally appropriate stories that I loved. If you only have a few minutes, read The Astronaut

Just mind-boggling books this week. Rejection is simply bonkers, hilarious and actually difficult to read. Nobel Prize winner The Vegetarian is a dark and upsetting and lingers long after the final page.

The real gem was the Angela Carter stories. They’re full of sexy vampires, lush, indulgent and sensual language, and real nightmares. I can’t believe I didn’t know of her already.

I’m always looking for good writing and good music. If you have something to recommend (your own stuff or something you’ve found), lay it on me.

It just occurred to me that every act on this week’s playlist is woman-fronted. That’s not deliberate, but it’s interesting. Some great features this week:

Also on the playlist:

Singles from previous faves fxrrvst, Colby!, Roach, Slow Fiction, Kassie Krut, Luvcat, untitled (halo), and Kat Koan with new discoveries from talker, Wench, total tommy, Chaos Chaos, darcey beth, Charlie Houston and Lucky Iris.  

19 songs, 65 mintues. Hear it all on Apple Music or Spotify

Get the playlists

NEXT WEEK: A short story collection by Raymond Carver, a short novel by Gwendoline Riley, and The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, which is lights-out good. Music from Emmeline.

And, of course, a bunch of surprises.

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