July

The monthly round up

Another month, and as we slowly sweat through the summer heat, here’s what I’ve been up to/enjoying.

Reading

I’ve had a back-to-back Jack Strange month. After reading 25 Days in Athens in preparation for my event with him, I thought, why not do Christmas in July with Look Up Handsome. Both are delightful gay romcoms that are charming, funny and feel very real in their characters. I personally highly identified with Will from 25 Days, for example, ending up there for 25 days because he accidentally booked a hotel for that long. Never have I ever turned up at the wrong hotel *drinks*. But both 25 Days and Look Up Handsome are further proof of the queer joy that can be found in finally seeing romances that feel like they’re for your own community.

Meanwhile, I devoured the second Cowboy Novella Saddle Studs (cowboys are very in apparently). And I’m slowly savouring We Could Be So Good by Cat Stevens, as the 1950s, New York Newspaper setting is so on brand, and so wonderfully written I want to take my time.

Watching

July was a really good TV month. Anyone who has spoken to me in recent weeks knows my evangelism for Widow’s Bay. So much so I’m giving it its own post. But whatever you think it is- whatever Gogglebox made it look like- it isn’t. You sort of have to experience Widow’s Bay to understand it, and as much as it isn’t ‘the next Martha’s Vineyard’ and definitely almost certainly isn’t cursed…it’s a ride. Local boy Matthew Rhys suffering but doing it with charm is also a plus. Also do ask me about my love of Jaws and how this relates….

I accidentally also discovered the American ‘Doc Martin’...I say accidentally, I saw a thumbnail of Josh Charles, thought ‘I could do with some Josh Charles’ and when they’d said ‘Doc Martin’ six times in the first five minutes, twigged this was the remake I’d heard Martin Clunes talk about months before. I preface this with I’ve never watched the original so have no emotional attachment to that version, but I have adored this (I’m one episode from the end I think). It’s delightful, charming, really funny and has characters you’re already deeply invested with a few episodes in. Pop Culture fans, please enjoy the presence of Stephen Spinella, original Prior Walter and Blah Blah from How I Met Your Mother.

I’m still very into my The Rookie era, and it’s great to see as we get to season 3 they’re starting to lean into the social justice/social conscience element of a cop show, and I think, handling it really well.

I also finished Grantchester having accidentally abandoned it mid-series earlier this year. Again, anyone who knows me knows my love of the OG Hot Priest Drama. And I’m truly sad to see this one go. But I will say they were able to leave it in a good place- everyone’s stories are wrapped up, but not closed off, so if there ever was a desire to revisit, they could. But also there feels like a truly satisfying arc from where everyone began to where they end up, and you don’t get to say that often. A little bit of social justice commentary for the final episode with a far-right speaker at the University left no doubt about the stealth politics it always had. And a happy ending for the two queer characters; truly we couldn’t ask for better.

Listening

I have watched this album preview with Sara Barielles approximately 20 times in the last month, and will not be apologising for who I will become when the album comes out in August. And yes, the song for Gavin did destroy me.

Otherwise I’ve been firmly back on my Orville Peck bullshit. And as it’s the anniversary of Folklore, it would have been rude not to indulge. It’s beginning to smell like salt air and rust on your door after all.

Doing (Fun)

I know I mentioned it in passing last month, because it technically was, but at the time of writing I hadn’t been to see Orville Peck, and boy did that man take me to Gay Cowboy Church. My friend Jan and I discovered that the man who was once a star of Mischief Theatre (true story) was doing the whole gay cowboy thing and was exactly our jam, so we swore that when he (finally) came back here, we would be there. And it was worth the wait. That voice, live, was everything you’d hope and more. He’s adorable and charming on stage, and points to the Gay Cowboy crowd who were impeccably behaved. But the highlight was the encore. Having read the set list and stalked Reddit, I knew he wasn’t singing the song for me, and I’d made peace with it. One day, I told myself. But in a skill honed as a Swiftie following surprise songs of the Eras tour, when I recognised the song from one chord, me (and Jan) gasped, grabbed each other and cried for three minutes. Shout out to the lady next to us who did the same. I’d wait another seven years to hear Let Me Drown live again.

Talking of the voice, I also got to see Ramin Karimloo in Sweeney Todd this month. And if anyone wants to know just how old I am, I’m ‘Ramin in national tour of Miss Saigon’ old. Which means by my calculation I have been following that voice for 21 years. Through almost every production (yes, including Love Never Dies), and when I heard he was doing Sweeney (my second-ranked Sondheim), I knew I had to hear it. Bonus points that the lovely Joe Murphy, formerly of the Sherman Theatre, was directing, and it was everything I could have wanted. I have never, outside of my favourite Sondheim (Sunday), felt compelled to stand mid-show, but I could have stood and applauded during ‘Epiphany’. But to quote my friend at the curtain call, ‘you know it’s good when Emily stands’ …I’m just very discerning with my ovations.

Other than that, I have enjoyed a month of no book events and no hockey and summer ice schedule, so less skating time, to actually feel like I’m catching up with friends, but as of next month we’re back to the hockey schedule.

Doing (Work)

July has (thankfully) been quieter than June, not that I’m not grateful for the opportunities, but you can only sustain the kind of chaos a book launch in Pride month creates for so long. So I’ve enjoyed some steady ‘day job’ with just 1-2 night jobs, versus…what felt like six. I also (finally) got to the end of one project, which means (say it quietly) I have some capacity again…in addition, I’m putting together my teaching for Autumn, so if you’d like to learn something nerdy…Again, I have capacity.

I did two delightful events, one with my friend Mikey Bell, and the other with the brilliant Jack Strange. Two delightful bookish friends who make doing this nonsense all the more brilliant.

On the books front, I finished a new proposal that I’m really proud of, and if anything comes of it, I would be incredibly excited about it. I also actually cracked open the document for the Gilmore Girls book that I have entirely neglected for other things. Oh, and worked through a copyedit of the Queer TV book. Began the publicity plan for that as well. So maybe it wasn’t quite so quiet a month.

Oh, and right under the wire at the end of the month, I started quietly convincing myself to start working on fiction projects again.