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Month of Joy: Patterns by Dave Robison

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“What brings you joy?” Such a simple question, right? WRONG! You’ve fallen victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia,’ but only slightly less well known is this: ‘Never ask a wordy over-thinker a simple question when… well… ANYTHING is on the line.’ Definitions So first… what IS Joy? The dictionary says it’s “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness,” so that narrows the field a bit. Ice cream, warm sheets on a cold night, sunsets, and the purring of a cat all evoke feelings of pleasure but I wouldn’t qualify them as a “great” pleasure.

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Month of Joy: Collaborative Creativity and the Joy of the Great British Bake-Off by Vlad Barash and Lorraine Fryer

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1. The Great British Bake-Off It feels like joy is a precious commodity today. It can be hard to remember good things when our TV screens and social media feeds are so overwhelmingly full of bad news. As a way of keeping ourselves from despair, we have tried cultivate a collection of things that give us joy. One of the most undiluted experiences of joy for both of us is sitting down on the couch, warm drinks in our hands, and hearing the upbeat strings of the opening to the Great British Bake-Off. We’ve watched nearly every episode that we can find; we’re just a few tantalizing episodes from the finale of Collection 6 on Netflix (Vlad has not been spoiled for the ending; for the moment, neither has Lorraine).

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Month of Joy: Werewolves In Space… Why not? by Joyce Chng

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This is supposed to be my Month of Joy post. You know, where I post what makes me happy and joyful. To be honest, I am not feeling joyful now because I keep getting reminded that I am not welcome in the science fiction and fantasy community. The gatekeepers, the old guard, want to keep people like me out of the picture because I don’t write hard science fiction.  Or legit science fiction, even. Or that I am not white, not USian, not trad. pubbed etc. And besides, you all get my country confused all the time. No, Singapore is not in China. And no, Singapore is not just like the land of Crazy Rich Asians. It’s like so much more. The old guard will probably think werewolves in space is too far-fetched, too preposterous. Oh wait, it’s also space opera — but where’s the hard science? Where are the hard scientific facts? I doubt they will ever read it anyway. And it has slice-of-life and domestic scenes — probably too ‘girl cooties’ for their masculine sensibilities. Already I hear the mutterings of ‘sjw’ and ‘POC’. Whatever.

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Month of Joy: Raspberry Curd by Sarah Gailey

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Thaw three-quarters of a bag of frozen raspberries. One quarter of that bag was used to infuse a little gin, because C had a hard day and it seemed like a nice idea to make them a cocktail with raspberry-infused gin. The cocktail was a hit, and you watched a movie together and laughed a lot at Al Pacino’s performance, and the dog snored softly throughout the entire thing. Wrap up the raspberries in cheesecloth and squeeze them out as hard as you can. The raspberry juice will be a deep beautiful fucshia, and it will run down your hands, and when you lick a drop of it from the side of your own wrist you will be stunned by how intense the flavor is.

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Month of Joy: Space Opera and Me by Cora Buhlert

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When I got the invitation to take part in this year’s Month of Joy project at the Skiffy and Fanty Show, I wondered what to write about. So I jotted down a list of things that bring me joy. One item immediately jumped out at me and that was space opera. I sometimes describe myself as a lifelong science fiction fan. Though technically, a lifelong space opera fan would be more correct, because all of my early science fiction influences, which ignited my love of the genre, were space opera.

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Month of Joy: The Little Things by Eden Royce

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Baby animals: Pictures, gifs, videos… It doesn’t matter! Kittens and big cat cubs are a given for me, especially pictures of my own little (not so much anymore – see below) guy, but the carefree innocence of baby animals playing is a sure way to get my mood back to good. Some of my faves are baby elephants, foxes, pandas, and goats (in pajamas!)

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