Dear Reader,
I have been a little too much in my own head with trying to come up with something clever for you. Part of my brain lately has been taken over by work stuff, which is mostly not that interesting unless you work on the same stuff. Another part of my brain has been preoccupied with bodily autonomy and civil liberties, but there’s nothing I have to add to that discourse that hasn’t been better said already by others.
(I can’t find the meme to share so will just add: if you know a woman, or a person with a uterus, who needs help to go camping in a state that is friendly to camping,then I volunteer to drive and pay for meals and gas. Because everyone should have the fundamental autonomy as a human being to decide what is right for their own body, including the decision to go camping.)
I also found out about a week and a half ago that I’m anemic, and it turns out seriously iron-deficient so I have probably been dancing with anemia for quite some time without realizing it. Which does kind of explain why I’m so tired all the damn time, and also why sometimes my brain no make words so good.
So I’m doing something different this issue and, in lieu of a longer essay, will be subjecting you to my musical stylings. I started playing guitar when I was in law school and desperately needed something else to do with my brain. I can just manage to bang out chords but have never made much progress beyond that. But really the guitar is just an excuse to sing.
I would probably sing all the time if it were socially acceptable, just idly while I was going about my business. But that doesn’t really work in, say, an office setting, or while out shopping for groceries. So instead I try to keep to only mildly-oddball levels of breaking into song, among friends and family. And of course I sing to my cat—most often a tuneless little cat song that goes something like “You are a monster / monster, monster / You are a monster / monster beast.” The more tuneless, the better.
Before we get to the musical portion of today’s love letter, though, let’s talk books. And then if you’re not into low-production-quality folk acoustic jams, you can bail once the guitar starts.
I just reread the Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara, and man, it’s just so good every time. These books bring a fresh take to the ol’ werewolf-shapeshifter romance. In the world of these stories, werewolves live in secret amongst ordinary humans and only recently have come out to the government. Cooper Dayton is an agent of the BSI, a special hush-hush branch of the FBI that specifically deals with werewolf crime. On the heels of a bungled case by some other BSI agents which resulted in the needless shooting of two young wolves, Cooper is selected as part of a pilot program to be partnered with Oliver Park, an agent of the werewolf governing organization called the Trust. Or does Park have another agenda? So kicks off the five-book series, with new settings and fresh mysteries to unfold in each book.
I really enjoy how these stories are built out over the course of the series. We are introduced to the deeper complexities of wolf culture as Cooper is, with new layers developed in each book. Cooper and Oliver’s relationship likewise continues to develop on a long arc through the series. It’s a lot of fun on a first read, but even better, it’s particularly rewarding on a reread, when conversations and events take on an entirely more nuanced cast once you understand each character’s backstory and motivations.
I also find the dynamic between Cooper and Oliver to be uniquely lovely and satisfying. Both are very strong characters with their own messy baggage, and they find such joy and sweetness in each other. There is explicit sex in these books, and a lot of the sex is quite playful, with elements of roleplay. The sex scenes also do a beautiful job modeling what it can look like to check in on your partner as you’re playing out a scene, to make sure that you’re on the same page and still all enthusiastically consenting.
The series starts with The Wolf at the Door. Highly recommended.
And now onto the musical portion. For the audio recording, I’ll be queueing up four songs to play at the end, and I will do my best to get the sound balance to come out right-ish, but this is my first attempt at something like this in Audacity, so no guarantees it will be seamless. If you’re reading the text version, each song is separately posted to Instagram and linked at the end.
That’s all my news. Oh, and I got a wee bit of a sunburn this past weekend because it’s finally, finally getting warm enough to run around jacketless and even in short sleeves. My daffodils are coming up and just about on the verge of blooming. The grass is finally greening up, and trees are leafing out, and all the things of the earth are stretching out and remembering that it’s good to be alive. Hope you feel that too.
Love,
Beas
"Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls, with an extra verse and some gratuitous rearrangement
"Almost (Sweet Music)" by Hozier
