In the queue, da doo da doo-doo, in the queue, da doo da doo-doo, my social life is distanced so I'm in the queue.

Currently struggling with William Gibson's "The Peripheral", first volume in a new trilogy. Blurb sounded interesting, and I'm a longtime fan; but I'm unexpectedly struggling with rocky prose and a disjointed story line. I've lost track of the characters, and looking for contextual clues everywhere. Not what I expected from Gibson.

Some Charles Stross "Laundry" novels, and a three-pack of Octavia Butler lined up. I think next, though, I'll tackle Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials", a.k.a. "The Golden Compass". It's considered a children's story, but we know how flexible that category can be, especially in sci-fi/fantasy. I was enthralled by HBO's adaption of the first volume into a television show. It stars a young actress named Daphne Keen, and her performance was magnificent--four feet tall and bigger than life. Since she's playing an 11-year old, they've already greenlit the remaining volumes/seasons, because the actress is at that age when her appearance changes daily. They'd need a new star if they waited too long. Remember Hermione in the later Harry Potter films?

And of course there's lots of streaming video. I dumped Netflix and picked up HBO, and that's been well worth it--deep catalog. Also got CBS All Access to watch the new Star Treks, and while CBS also has a deep catalog, it's 99% drek. I'll probably cancel when "Picard" wraps up.

Can you imagine being quarantined/self-isolated back when we were young? Mass entertainment was movie theaters--closed; three TV networks--vapid; and libraries and bookstores--closed. My god, remember daytime TV? We're lucky to be shut in at this point in history, aren't we?