In the first half of the seventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holiday<\/i>, Dairine gains an ally to help her deal with her first full day with her exchange wizards. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
It struck me while reading this how\u00c2\u00a0difficult<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0it would be to describe great portions of my life, my society, the cultures I belong to, and many other things to beings who were not from Earth. The culture shock I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to deal with from my non-American friends who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to visit me was challenging enough, but at least there was\u00c2\u00a0some<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0common ground there, you know? Explaining rest stops made sense once you got to see how vast and far-reaching our highway system was. (This happened when a friend of mine visited me and we went on a road trip, for example.) Same with food; just because some things seemed radically different, I could at least find a way to make things make\u00c2\u00a0some<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0sort of sense.<\/p>\n
Duane is dealing with a culture shock that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much more far-reaching than I have seen, and SHE DOES IT SO WELL. Most of what we see here is humorous, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great take on a phenomenon that is a challenge to write. Duane had to think of practically every little thing that\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0confuse these three aliens in order to write this believably! She starts with something innocuous but UNDERSTANDABLY WEIRD:\u00c2\u00a0snoring<\/i>. Filif would have no concept of it! Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reference to Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enclosed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is totally something they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d notice, too.<\/p>\n
The main force in this chapter so far, though, is Carmela Rodriguez, queen of my heart, doer of all that is good in the universe. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an absolute\u00c2\u00a0sweetheart<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to Sker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ret and Filif, which is great all by itself. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to see how her time spent in front of her wizardry-enhanced television has made her a better person. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t judge these beings, and she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make them feel unwelcome, either. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s open, joyous, and celebratory, and you know what? I think Dairine needed that. This has been a bit more stressful for her than she expected, and Carmela provides a necessary levity in these scenes.<\/p>\n
That is never more true than when Carmela meets Roshaun. SWEET CATHARSIS, YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING. It makes complete sense to me that Carmela would see Roshaun, give him one look, and go, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Her disinterest in him is actually\u00c2\u00a0precisely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the best technique. Roshaun probably loves the reactions he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten from Dairine, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left feeling confused. Carmela doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t respond to him as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used to. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s celebrate this exchange:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have not yet been\u00c2\u00a0formally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0introduced, in that I\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 Roshaun finally said, trying hard to sound chilly about it.<\/p>\n Dairine opened her mouth, but had no chance to say anything, for Carmela was once again looking Roshaun up and down, this time with the expression of someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been asked a personal question by someone who should have been asking her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paper or plastic?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Formally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0introduced? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let you know if and when I think we need to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about you, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a better person for having read that.<\/p>\n Anyway, I was also fascinated by the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disguises\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that the wizards wore for their first outing on Earth. Giving them \u00e2\u20ac\u0153human\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appearances wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough, and I was so pleased that Duane addressed this. Both Filif and Sker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ret are not humanoid, which means that there are a whole new set of gestures, expressions, mannerisms, and physical challenges that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to keep in mind. I\u00c2\u00a0am<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0worried about the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no touching\u00e2\u20ac\u009d thing. Being in public is a daring thing all on its own, but guaranteeing no physical contact at\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>? AND IN A MALL? What if someone brushes too closely???<\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m anxious about this, but at the same time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I KIND OF WANT TO SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just all-around fascinated by this set-up. Filif is gonna learn about human \u00e2\u20ac\u0153decorations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which includes Christmas. (That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna be a nightmare, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?) We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Sker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ret excited to try ice cream for the first time. And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Roshaun, who is enamored with Carmela, but not so enamored with the bus or Dairine. How is he going to react in a\u00c2\u00a0mall<\/i>? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be in an enclosed space full of people he most likely will assume are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beneath\u00e2\u20ac\u009d him. Do other people do the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shopping\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for him in his home world? Is this whole\u00c2\u00a0thing<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0beneath him? Honestly, I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only humanoid here, but I desperately want to know what his life is like. This chapter contains the only reference from him about wizardry, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 are there other wizards there, too? Is he the lone wizard like Quelt is on Alaalu?<\/p>\n I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WAIT TO READ MORE.<\/p>\n I am thrilled to confirm that I will be a Guest at CrossingsCon 2017! Badges are now available, so COME HANG OUT WITH ME THIS SUMMER<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UvgVGU0eNcw<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the first half of the seventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holiday, Dairine gains an ally to help her deal with her first full day with her exchange wizards. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[525,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wizards-holiday","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"