Hi,
Welcome to the Hardihood Books November Roundup. I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving (if you are outside of the U.S., I hope you had a good month).
What I Published in November:
My first story this month, “Running for City Council,” is based on a true story related to me by one subscriber. Of course, I took wild creative liberties with it, but in some cases I didn’t stretch the truth all that far. Some parts of the story wrote themselves, and I’m guessing some of you will find something relatable in some of the characters.
This month, I only wrote one essay. In past Novembers (and some other months), I’ve done more fiction than nonfiction, and with two novellas ongoing I figured I should do that again. This essay was called “Reading in the Age of AI.” I wasn’t entirely satisfied with it, but I wanted to build upon last year’s essay about thankfulness and literature while also commenting on recent debates about “artificial intelligence” and the written word. While I consider myself a Butlerian Jihad science fiction fan, in the short run I’m not terribly worried about “AI.” Or, at the very least, I find some of the specific claims (in this case, “AI is going to eliminate book reading”) hard to take seriously.
After that, I published chapters five and six of “Civilization in the Wilderness.” All of the major characters are in the story at this point, and the journey is about to begin. These chapters are free, just like last month.
Next, I published “A Whole Day Until Thanksgiving,” which is inspired in part by my memories of reading Calvin and Hobbes. I tried to write the story from the little girl’s perspective, and just as was true for Calvin, things that seem small to adults loom large in her life. I also drew on my own memories from childhood. The hot plate bit, for instance, isn’t entirely fictional. I did something like that myself when I was eleven.
My final short story was “The Day After Thanksgiving.” Every year, columnists make hay of the fact that Americans can’t have civil Thanksgivings anymore because we’re so divided about politics. The joke in the story, of course, is that this isn’t true. Perhaps I’ve milked this joke for all its worth, but in my defense, I think columnists have milked the topic for all it’s worth, too. This story is short, and also free to the general public.
Finally, I published the last two chapters in “If You Can Keep It,” my novella which takes place in ancient Rome a fictional classical civilization with a republican form of government. You could call it fantasy, or you could call it a political thriller. The drama centers on a tragic friendship between two senators with different visions of the good, and different beliefs about their own roles.
From the Archive:
Last year, I wrote a story called “Into the Wilderness,” which I really liked. It’s an iceberg story, which is intentionally cryptic. It is free to the public.
I also published a free story called “Thanksgiving in Waremouth.” It’s about a crazy family who end up having a good Thanksgiving despite their differences.
In Closing:
Paying subscribers should keep an eye out for tomorrow’s newsletter, which will contain another short Halloween story.
Please feel free to email me with any feedback. If you’re on the free list and you’d like to respond to one of my stories or essays, you can email me, or reach out via Twitter (@benconnelly6712) or LinkedIn (which I no longer check frequently). You can also follow me on Notes.
Thank you for reading and subscribing.
Cheers,
Ben Connelly