Update June 2026
- Buck Bloom
- Jun 3
- 7 min read
Update June 2026
Is it that time again? Wow! A month just flies by. And honestly, I have little to say for this update.
On News of my latest co-op project with Zach, we are almost half way there. I just an hour ago before writing this finished my chapter turn. It is incredible that we started this in March and we are already getting close to half of the novel done. Beyond that, I have been doing very little writing.
Nice days have returned to my area, the rain has let up and the sun has become so warm that I actually sweated on a few walks. My one gripe about the nice weather is my pollen allergy has come late this year, usually it takes its course in April or May. But since it had been exceptionally cold at the beginning of this year, all the pollen is coming out in June. But I will admit, my sinus issues are still nowhere near as bad as they have been before. Thus far, anyway.
I am still playing Doom 2016 but very sparsely. I played once during my whole week off vacation and I think I only played for a couple of hours. I’m a little over halfway through so far. I just got the BFG and delved into the Lazarus Lab. I hope the finish the game sometime soon because my PS4 has been on the fritz. The console’s been getting error messages and couldn’t load Crunchyroll which lead me to buying a smart TV. I still LOLz at the fact that Crunchyroll is a Sony app and its always struggled to work on a PS, Sony hardware. The irony is not lost on me.
I have been finding myself less on Crunchyroll and more outside lately, doing whatever chores and stuff I can do while the weather stays nice. And I have been finding myself watching stuff I’ve seen before, such as select things from this here article:
Honestly, I do not know if its out of boredom or lack of interest, but I find myself not giving a lot of [new to me] anime a chance. And on top of that, I unsubscribe to Spotify and Netflix for two reasons: 1) subscription costs keep going up. And 2) I am not on the platform enough to justify the monthly price. And since I freed up my monthly subscription costs, I decided to give the free trial on Audible a chance, once again.
Yes, my last test drive with Audible concerned the “Arc, the SS Tier Heroine” by Azrie. Which by no means is bad and read well too. But it was another isekai story and honestly, I am getting kind of tired of the genre. Funnily enough, some anime studios and production companies are starting to feel the same way. I may return to Arc again, it was well written enough for me to get to the half way point of the story.
Now, the free trial for Audible offers some perks, such as a small selection of audiobooks that are free and access to podcasts (which I have yet to delve into). And I also was offered a free credit to purchase any audiobook I wanted. And I chose to add to my library Don Quixote.
Okay, let me start by saying this: I get it. I have seen enough anime, TV, movies, and even read enough books to understand the premise. An elderly man reads way too many fantasy novels, thinks himself a knight, and goes on adventures that lead to highjinks and misfortune. I have seen plenty of fiction about a lead character that suddenly gets way too caught up in their own fantasy. And this often leads to them annoying others or even brings bodily harm to themselves or others.
Don Quixote is not for me. I get it, I do. I understand why it has become a staple in literary culture and a touchstone for the modern age of story telling. I’m not downing it at all. I just got bored with it way too soon and the repetitive nature of Don Quixote was not for me. There is only so many time an old man can act like a chivalrous knight, harass a group of pedestrians and promptly get his ass handed to him for attacking them before it loses its charm for me.
Jeez, the famous windmill scene that most people know about from the story happens in chapter 8 of the audiobook I was listening to. And after that, I genuinely lost my engagement with the story because it was a weekly series that lasted for years. There were 120+ chapters in the whole audiobook and I just could not, I just could not do it. It was not for me, so I did not continue with Don Quixote nor do I plan to in the near future.
On the flip side, I found an audiobook for free of “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James. I love haunted house stories, it is one of my favorite genres. I had been wanting to read this story for a long time however . . . and I’ll just be blunt here . . . Henry James is a difficult writer for me to get into. I was introduced to James in an English class back in college. I will admit that “Daisy Miller” is a great story about unrequited admiration and well executed by a master storyteller. “The Beast in the Jungle” is the most difficult to read and gloomy thing I have ever had to endure. It remains my most dreaded literary classic. So for me, Henry James is hit or miss.
Thankfully the “Turn of the Screw” is well deserving of its reputation. I can safely say this was a James hit for me. I want to write a haunted house story, it inspired me that much. However, James’ prose is really difficult to get into for anyone of modern day sensibilities. And by that I mean the man uses words that no one uses and the language is very much reminiscent of Victorian England. I got the gist of most of it and was able to follow along with Emma Thompson [of all people] who does a stupendous job of reading James’ otherwise challenging prose.
After enjoying that, I decided to give another light novel a chance called “The Villainess is an SS+ Rank Adventurer” by Kaye NG and read by Brenna Larsen. Book one of the series is free for membership and wow, I am surprisingly into this. Those, I will admit, there are plenty of villainess animes on Crunchyroll and I still do not know what makes a villainess any different from just a regular villain. But man oh man, when you get into the silliness and get what the story is doing with the genre, it becomes a lot of fun.
The light novel series is about a spoiled princess who believes the world revolves around her, finding out from her family that their kingdom is in financial ruin and she is about to be married off to some rando. Not wanting to lose her freedom and cozy, luxurious lifestyle, the princess sets off on an adventure to save the kingdom. The twist is that she is in possession of an all magical sword that basically makes her an OP adventurer without realizing it.
I will be upfront. Listen to the preview and if you get the joke, enjoy! But I know full well that the princess is an unlikeable lead and for most people it is hard to follow a story with a lead like that. For me, I picture the anime that would spawn from this and I can quickly see it becoming a favorite of mine. The princess should have been dead ten-times-over but somehow, due to the all magical sword or dumb luck, she comes out on top.
And Brenna Larson, who is an accomplished voice actress, sells the hell out of this audiobook. She brings exactly what is needed for every narrative beat and dialogue exchange. If an anime is made of this series, I genuinely cannot imagine anyone else doing the princess’s voice but her.
I am so into this goofy story that I am almost done with book one and honestly am considering buying book two and continuing the series. Don Quixote has his chivalry and gets beat up for his troubles. I was not down for it. The villainess princess treats people like crap and bubbles her way to the top. And I am so down for it. I just shrug, different strokes for different folks and all that.
The problem I am having is that there is so much on Audible it becomes daunting. There are so many stories I am either too derpy to get into or too lazy to pick up and Audible has opened the door for so much. Horror, sci-fi, classics of all kinds, there seems to be no limit to what is available. And a small percentage is for free with a membership, otherwise wait a month for a credit or buy with the discount.
The one huge complaint that I have is that the Audible app is not available on my smart TV. I get the app not being available on PS4 because gaming and listening to audiobooks don’t have much crossover potential. But I hate eating up the battery on my phone and tablet. I may have to finally bite the bullet and get a headset of some kind. I hate having a headset on but doing a nice weather walk while listening to an engaging audiobook sounds so appealing.
Anyway, I do hope listening to books I have always wanted to read or discover something new will spark my interest in writing again. I have been slacking off this year. I see so much empty space in my writing journal and I have no one to blame but myself. I wrote a lot today and it feels good. I should spend more time writing. I mean, what else am I going to do during my free time? Probably tend to my garden . . .
Yeah, forgot to mention that. I just recently and finally got a garden planted! Cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, chilli peppers, and jalapenos. Also some oregano and sage, because I miss having an herb garden. Crossing fingers this year will be a bountiful harvest.
Oh and I saw Mortal Kombat 2 . . . without having seen Mortal Kombat 1 . . . it was a lot of fun. And I have nothing more to say about that. Oh and He-Man movie is coming out soon and . . . I will eventually see it. Honestly, we shall see about the movies this year. There are just way too many audiobooks to enjoy 😁
Good Luck and [not endorsed by Audible] but still give it a shot,
—Buck
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