(1) “The Empire Strikes Thomas Kinkade” points to Jeff Bennett’s satirical improvements on “The Artist of Light.”
(2) American wizards have a completely different word for “Muggle” reveals Entertainment Weekly.
Next year’s Harry Potter prequel film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set in 1926 New York, where the wizarding community uses another term entirely for people without magical powers.
In shifting the franchise away from the U.K., author J.K. Rowling — who also wrote the movie’s screenplay — is poised to introduce several new words into the Potterverse lexicon, and the most significant might be what Stateside wizards say instead of Muggle: “No-Maj” (pronounced “no madge,” as in “no magic”).
(3) And here’s a gallery of images from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
In Entertainment Weekly’s new issue, we go on the set and deep inside the chamber of secrets of J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Here’s your first look at Katherine Waterston as Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Alison Sudol and Queenie Goldstein, and Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski.
(4) More alleged secrets are spilled by the host of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert:
J.K. Rowling can’t stop revealing “Harry Potter” secrets, even though the last book came out over 8 years ago. It’s time for Stephen to take spoilers into his own hands.
(5) Adam Whitehead, in “A History of Epic Fantasy – Part 25“, courts controversy by asking about the Harry Potter series:
But is it really an epic fantasy?
That question has been asked many times before and has proven slightly controversial. The more obvious answer may be no: the books are set in the “real” world, with some of the action taking place in real locations such as London. Much of the story is set in and around a single location, Hogwarts, whilst epic fantasy is often based around a long journey or series of journeys across a fantastical landscape. Epic fantasy also usually features a large and diverse number of nonhuman races, whilst Harry Potter only has a small number of them, and all of the primary protagonists are human. Epic fantasy also relies on characters with diverse skillsets, whilst in Potter pretty much everyone of note is a wizard.
But there are strong arguments to the counter. The books may touch on the real world but most of the action takes place in original, fantastical locations such as Hogwarts. Also, the books make much of the idea of the world being similar to ours, but one where magic is real (if mostly secret) and the impact that has on government and society, making it arguably an alt-history.
(6) At World Fantasy Con 2015:
When Gene Wolfe interviewed Tom Doherty & we all interviewed them both. @WmReeve @Prittithings @alatalan #WFC2015 pic.twitter.com/JUHgPtJNQr
— Christine M. Cohen (@rileymarie42) November 8, 2015
(7) Also allegedly sighted at WFC by Adam Christopher. No context!
Well I don't know about you, but I love a good SFF street fight… pic.twitter.com/73V0IzGndI
— Adam Christopher (@ghostfinder) November 7, 2015
(8) Ethan Mills continues his celebration of Stoic Week at Examined Worlds.
Friday: Relationships with Other People and Society Stoics, Vulcans, Buddhists, and artificial intelligences alike are often accused of being emotionless and not caring about other people. In all four cases, this is a mistake (although in the case of AIs, it may depend on which AI you’re talking about). See my philosophical tribute to Leonard Nimoy for more on this point. As any sufficiently nerdy Star Trek fan knows, Vulcans actually have emotions, but, in many of the same ways as Stoics, they train themselves to move beyond being controlled by negative emotions and they cultivate positive emotions like compassion. Vulcans like Spock do care about their friends. The deep friendship that Spock feels for his crew mates, especially Kirk and McCoy, is unmistakable, as illustrated most poignantly near the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (whether Spock is a utilitarian or virtue ethicist is hard to say.)
Marcus Aurelius realized that cultivating compassion for everyone is often hard, especially when other people are obnoxious (as they so often are, even more so now that we have internet trolls).
(9) In “Guillermo del Toro’s Guide to Gothic Romance” at Rookie the director lists the Gothic romances that influenced him.
Do you ever wonder what goes on in the wondrous mind of director, producer, and screenwriter Guillermo del Toro? Yes? Same. Well, to chime with the recent release of his creepy, goth thriller Crimson Peak, Guillermo has curated a syllabus of the Gothic and Gothic romance novels, short stories, and engravings that influenced the making of the film. He sent us these recommendations with the following words: “I hope you enjoy some of these as fall or winter reads by the fireplace.” Before you post up beside an actual fire, here’s what Guillermo del Toro has to say about these Gothic essentials.
First on the list –
Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu This book defines the link between fairy tales and gothic romance. Uncle Silas is a convoluted, highly perverse mystery-thriller about innocence in danger, written by the master of ghost stories, J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It’s a dense but rewarding read, and it was crucial to Crimson Peak.
(10) Superman will make a (blurry) appearance on the next episode of Supergirl.
Consequently, Josh Wilding at We Got This Covered is a little bit crabby.
While it makes some sense that Superman would come and save the inexperienced Supergirl, the series really needs to find a way to take him off the board so he’s not continuously used as a plot device in future. If that’s not going to happen, then he should make an actual appearance instead of all these endless teases.
(11) Cedar Sanderson, “The Slow, Dark Eclipse of the Soul”, at Mad Genius Club.
It’s been a discouraging week, overall. First there was the article about SF writers coming into the genre without reading the classics of the genre. Then, when I started working on a list of classics available free (or very cheap) online to suggest to potential readers, I got a comment to the effect of ‘classics suck, they should die in a fire, and why should anyone read them?’
In the aftermath of that, which left me wondering why I was trying to make this list… I don’t make the lists to force anyone to read anything. I can’t – who am I? I’m not the teacher, or the… anything. I’m just someone who likes to create these lists of recommendations with input from others, and then they generate even more suggestions in the comments. I make lists to be beginnings, not endings. The hope is that someone will see a title they had never read, or had forgotten, and that strikes mental sparks in folks who have favorites they want to share, and so on. It’s about building up the genre, not tearing it down. I’d never say ‘you must read these books, and only these books, all others are anathema.’
As I was saying, I was still mentally mulling the whole ‘classics suck!’ thing over in my head, when a minor controversy erupted over writing book reviews. When, if ever, is it ok to be critical in a review? Should we put ourselves in a position where we say ‘well, that author is on my side, ergo I must never say a bad word about his work?’ Well, no, I don’t think so. Nor do I think that the occasional critical review is a bad thing – as long as the review is analyzing the work, not the author, and leavened with the good along with the bad. That’s how I do it. But it’s discouraging to be told that we can’t present a critical view of a work, simply because of who the author is.
(12) Fans are so smitten by the idea of an illuminated toy lightsaber that’s sturdy enough to bash around that they have fully funded Calimacil’s Kickstarter and then some – raising $46,889, well beyond the $38,259 goal.
The challenge was to build a lightsaber made of foam for safe play. To integrate light, we had to enhance the foam formula we normally use to build our products. Moreover, we had to develop a new technology into the handle to enable both light and sound. Thus our journey began, and we successfully achieved the creation of a fully immersive foam LEDsaber!….
The LEDsaber can communicate with a smartphone through Bluetooth. With that communication enabled, you will be able to customize the light effects of the blade. Multiple choices of colors are available: red, blue, green, orange and more. Even more, you can create various visual plasma effects on the blade….
Calimacil has no intention to commercialize the product using any kind of trademark associated to Disney. For the purpose of the kickstarter campaign we use the term LEDsaber.
(13) A lot of people post about their pets passing away, and I empathize with their sadness and loss.
It’s rare that someone can communicate what it was like to be in relationship with that animal, as John Scalzi has in “Lopsided Cat, 2000-2015”.
(14) And I therefore place next a BBC video in which an “Astronaut plays bagpipes on International Space Station” –
A US astronaut has played a set of Scottish-made bagpipes on the International Space Station to pay tribute to a colleague who died.
Kjell Lindgren played Amazing Grace on the pipes after recording a message about research scientist Victor Hurst, who was involved in astronaut training.
It is thought to be the first time that bagpipes have been played in space.
(15) Internet English – the language in which “honest” means “brutal”!
The Force is awakening soon – and we have an honest look at the trailer for the movie that everyone’s already going to see anyway.
[Thanks to Mark-kitteh, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Hampus Eckerman.]
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robinreid on November 8, 2015 at 1:14 pm said:
@Steve Wright: re forcing people to read books. Unless you’ve got a set reading list for an academic course…
Not even that works.
I can say that as a student there were books I skipped in my English courses, even in my doctoral program (or, well stopped reading, like _Lady Chatterly’s Lover_ and _Ulysses_ [Joyce’s not the other dude’s]). And I know that students have skipped reading books in my classes (in many cases because they will tell me flat out–astounding but true!).
People who think teachers can “force” students to do anything have never been teachers (yes, there’s the threat of the GRADE but amazingly enough it doesn’t mean everyone will do everything you say).
I remember a party where the English grad students were playing a shame game, competing on the basis of what canonical work they themselves had never read.
It was fascinating watching them struggle between must win by revealing worst gap and must not embarrass self with revealed vulnerability in face of competition.
(English department was a snake pit.)
@Aaron
Exactly how fragile are the Pups that a strong female character can send them running away with their tail tucked between their legs?
I expect they think the ‘strong female character’ is going to neuter them or something.
Hell, if I can read The Library at Mount Char with all its blood, gore, and sociopathy, Puppies can certainly put up with a few ‘shes’ and messages about colonialism.
I vaguely recall something like this made it into a story somewhere. It was faculty instead of grad students. The winner admitted to never having read something like Hamlet. The kicker was they were later denied tenure.
Still waiting for curry wurst to make it to America.
Every Wednesday at the cafeteria in the Chattanooga VW plant. Apparently they have to import the special ketchup they use. I find the dish to be… odd. Granted, the Germans are often puzzled by what we eat as well (Was ist ein ‘grit’?).
Re Currywurst: The best I’ve had is from the old S-Bahn train at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.
(Oh, and you can simulate the ketchup by blending a little paprika into standard tomato sauce.)
On the Lovecraft bust thing: whatever you may think of the political angle, I think it makes sense, since Lovecraft was really trying to write science fiction, not fantasy. The whole point of the WFAs, at least originally, was that science fiction was dominating SFF awards. So, since the award is supposed to celebrate fantasy and not science fiction, choosing an actual fantasy author, rather than a (perhaps borderline, but still) science fiction author is only logical.
andyl: Whenever my mum made them they were real sausage meat – we used real sausages and removed the casing – and home-made flaky pastry. Commercially I would be surprised if they used anything other than sausage-meat – which is usually the cheapest pork meat (and sausage rolls are invariably pork).
I think it’s a question of terminology. In the U.S., “sausage” refers to spiced meat — ranging from mildly spicy to medium spicy to knock-your-socks-off chorizo hot spicy. If it’s not spicy, it’s a hot dog.
I was repeatedly disappointed by the utter blandness of sausages, cocktail sausages and sausage rolls in Commonwealth countries until I realized that they don’t have an equivalent for the term ‘hot dog”, and “sausage” is a one-size-fits-all term for anything that is basically that shape.
For us a hot dog is specifically a sausage served in a split bread roll. And generally the blandest possible sausage imaginable.
There are good hearty sausages out there (and some bloody awful ones) which are much nicer than hot dogs.
Long ago I read an article about Kinkade that had some pieces he’d done before he went for the style that makes Hallmark cards look daring – even some before-and-after of the same places – and he could actually paint something interesting. So I’d say every spot of paint is where Kinkade wanted it too – and the reason was pure money.
:: shuffles his feet in a rather embarrassed manner ::
I, um, sort of managed reasonably good marks, back in my school days, for my essay on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. It was about twenty-five years later that I actually, um, read the book….
(Which I think, by the way, is a genuinely great book, and William Golding is a writer for whom I have immense admiration. It’s my personal opinion that Lord of the Flies gets ruined for a lot of people by teachers who think that, because it’s a book about children, it must be a book for children – which I don’t think it is.)
JJ–The, um, mildest of demurrals re:sausage-as-spicy-meaning-hot. Plenty of central-European and Italian sausages are not hot-spicy but savory or garlicky or salty. I love sausage, and in every tradition I’ve encountered the defining characteristic is ground meat, with or without a casing. The meat in question is often (historically) the least appealing or toughest parts of the critter, and the added ingredients extend the bulk and shelf life and improve the flavor. If the Brits eat bland sausage, it’s still sausage–boring, maybe, but sausage.
The better type of British traditional sausage is enlivened with herbs and so on. There are traditional regional variations, etc etc.
Mind you, cheap ones simply contain what CMOT Dibbler would describe as “genuine pig parts”.
I managed a B in my first year uni English exam essay on Pride and Prejudice despite not having read the book. I had seen the BBC miniseries and read most of Jane Austen’s other books so could talk on the plot and her style, which ended up being enough.
JJ: be careful about making broad claims about US usage. It’s a big country, and we can’t even agree on what to call flavored, carbonated sugar-water—half the country calls it “pop”, and the other half “soda”. As for “sausage”, I mostly hear it used to refer to “sausage-shaped” things (frankfurters, bangers, kielbasa, bratwurst, hot links, etc.). The main exceptions are usually qualified: “breakfast sausage” which may or may not be sausage-shaped, and italian (or pizza) sausage.
Should never have read that Scalzi text about lopsided cat. Crying now. Will have to go and hug my cats to feel better. 🙁
In the realm of sausage nostalgia, the ones that linger in my memory but would undoubtedly be not at all as good in reality were a type I only ever had at the hockey arena in Prague in the late ’60s. A short very thick sausage, with a very coarse grind that meant one encountered dangerously juicy chunks of hot fat when attempting to take manageable bites. They were served with a medium-hot mustard and possibly with some sort of bread carrier. But that’s as far as my childhood memories take me.
I don’t imagine that they were special in any way to the hockey arena, but that’s where I encountered them. In a way, it’s fun to have a culinary memory so closely tied to a sense of place. (It was a very memorable hockey season that year, though the games I attended weren’t the iconic ones. 2-0! 4-3! Yes, this is a very obscure sports reference.)
JJ:
“Sausage” is an amazingly broad category; it includes a wild number of Latin American variants on Iberian pork products. It involves the genuine Portuguese chorica and linguica; there are wide variety of more or less German and more or less Polish types. And there’s the traditional hot dog, whether supermarket (bland) or New York street merchant (kosher or halal or nothing-tastes-quite-like-it-don’t-ask-about-the-source-of-the-meat).
For the sake of completeness, I should mention the Glamorgan sausage, which is made with cheese and leeks. (That’s instead of the meat, not as well as.)
@IanP: I’ve had one of those haggis for breakfast! At a Scottish festival. It was called a “haggisburger”, but: slice of haggis (deep fried for extra Scottishness), on soft white bun, blob of brown gravy of unknown provenance. Delicious. In the interests of Celtic solidarity, I washed it down with a Guinness. And then that afternoon I heard 700+ bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace”.
The full English/Scottish/Irish breakfast is a wonder. One wonders about clogged arteries, but one eats it anyway. I prefer white pudding to black, and wonder how anything as possibly healthy as a tomato got in there — I don’t eat it. Of course, a good American diner can do you something very like it, and for sheer gluttony, there’s always Sunday brunch, with screwdrivers and mimosas and every kind of breakfast meat, plus eggs and all the pancakes, French toast, and pastries you can cram in your maw.
But now I want Li’l Smokies. I lived on those for lunch for quite some time as a kid. They’re so li’l, you figure you’ll just eat one… or two… or the package.
(In America, we have either knishes, calzones, pirogi [and related], empanadas, burritos, or Hot Pockets.)
@SciFiMike: I am so glad I wasn’t eating or drinking anything when I clicked your link. Everyone: do look at it, but be warned.
It’s working for me!
Yes, Scalzi gets cats. And is steadfastly non-maudlin about it, something I never managed.
I just realised there is something disturbingly Kinkadian about JCW’s prose.
Tintinaus: I fully expect to hear from TB soon that the kitten photos on Scalzi’s blog are a gratuitous attempt at drumming up page views due to his waning popularity.
*snort*
I suspect that the reality behind Scalzi’s posts is actually twofold:
1) Kittens! OMG they’re so awesome I have to share them with everybody!
and
2) I don’t have a substantive topic I want to write about today, but thankfully, I don’t have to think up something, I’ll just post Kittens!
Damien Hirsh is doing it too.
The simplest way I know to make Currywurst ketchup is simply to blend some curry powder into standard tomato ketchup. Paprika is a nice addition as well. Other common additions include Worchester sauce, honey, vinegar, apple juice or apple sauce, chilli powder and/or Tabasco. There are actually dozens of recipes for Currywurst ketchup online, though most of them are in German.
@MC Simon:
I didn’t know you were local! I’m across the river in Hixson!
@”sausage rolls”:
I was at the store this afternoon and picked up a package of “Sausage Rolls.” They were in the bread aisle and look like upscale hot dog buns. Which is fine, because I’d picked up some cheddar sausages a few minutes earlier.
NaNo peeps, I’m rooting for you. o/
(5) The definition of epic fantasy in this seems a bit overly specific to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if it excluded a couple of classics. I don’t know whether I’d call Harry Potter epic fantasy, but I do know that the commenters over there claiming that it must be urban fantasy (because modern world) might need a refresher on what the word “urban” means. 🙂
(9) I went to the exhibition on Gothic at the British Library awhile back – if there are any enthusiasts here I could scan some pages from the (excellent) exhibition book if anyone is curious about something specific.
(11) Wasn’t there an article linked from one of the Pixel Scrolls Suggesting that it would be a good idea for young writers to read the classics in order to avoid retreading old ground? I’m not sure if it suggested that young writers weren’t, but I’m sure it suggested they should. That’s probably what Sanderson is referring to. Good for her for trying to put an accessible list together. No-one is forced to use it, but it sounds like it could be a useful resource for those who want it.
I wonder if the section about criticism is intended as a rebuke to her fellow Puppies, the Mythical SJWs, or another group entirely? It reads like an in-group comment, but I can’t tell for sure.
Shame about the comments on strong female characters driving people away from books, and avoiding making people sad in general because apparently readers can never, ever cope with a negative feeling. I generally prefer happy endings, or at least mostly happy ones, and characters that stay alive, but some of the moments and endings that have stuck with me the longest were very much not those things. Suggesting that a writer ought to avoid them seems a bit odd. (Especially since GRRM is making sack loads of money killing off everyone in an endless parade of misery.)
Re: NaNoWriMo – just checked my word count, 29,000 words dead. A good place to call a halt for the night, I think!
(I know people who are way past 50,000 already, so I don’t think I’m all that impressive, myself.)
Jason Sanford: The fossilization of science fiction and fantasy literature
To which John Scalzi responded: No, the Kids Aren’t Reading the Classics and Why Would They.
And the more constructive Do My Homework! where James Nicoll solicits suggestions for canonical SF to
foist ontoencourage “young readers” to try.In an earlier comment I tried to allude to it (rather unsuccessfully). It seems like Sanderson started writing an article about classic SF’s relevance & attraction to young writers, but it unfortunately morphed into a rebuke of *something* or *someone*
Baffled DC Comics Shocked to Learn People Might Want Supergirl Comic Right About Now
Shocked, I tell you. Who could possibly have thought more people would be interested in buying the comic as a result of a TV show? Certainly not the DC marketing team.
The literary shame game is from David Lodge’s Changing Places where it’s called “Humiliations.” And the winner is indeed the uber-competitive junior prof who admits to not reading Hamlet … and thus loses his tenure bid as a result.
Me: I’ve never read more than one chapter of Joyce’s Ulysses, and I’m proud to admit it. 🙂
Headdesk.
Arrrrrgh.
Sure, they are only two episodes in. But so far it looks lke it’s going as well as “The Flash” and way better than “Arrow”.
Plus, you know, it actually passed the Bechdel Test. In flying colors. Seven times over. Per episode, more or less. Which the other two shows just barely managed late in the season.
Cool major women characters with depth and no stupid catfights over dudes FTW.
And no Supergirl comic? At all?
Dang, this is worse than Marvel erasing the Black Widow and Gamora from all those Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy goodies.
The after-drinking snack is surely kebabs? Also pizza, I suppose, and even more rarely something from a chippy. Whatever comes with lots of grease.
Sausage rolls can be really, really good or really, really not. It depends on the sausage and the pastry. If the sausage didn’t taste of anything then it was a bad sausage roll – but unless labelled, say, ‘chorizo sausage roll’ the seasoning should be assumed to be herby rather than spicy. Sage is really common because of Lincolnshire sausages, but there are lots of regional variations.
@Jim Henley
Indeed.
@Elisa
The summary lied to me!! Thank you for the correction!
@Stevie
I had an excellent steak and kidney pudding in a pub near the law courts last year. I’m afraid I don’t remember the name of the pub, but it was very nice, plus I got extra kidney because the friend I was with realised halfway through that she didn’t like offal very much and let me have all of her bits. 🙂 Mwahaha.
@Mark-kitteh & Mike Glyer
That little byplay was very entertaining. 🙂
@JJ
I’m not sure whether hot dogs here are the same as hot dogs in the USA, but I wouldn’t call any of our hot dogs a sausage. Hot dogs seem to be a thing of their own, which either comes in slightly weird jarred varieties or, more recently, stuff like this. Sometimes sausages inna bun are referred to as hot dogs, but they’re not really quite the same.
@Soon Lee
I could have sworn there was another one, too, that was maybe a little after the Scalzi post, but I can’t find it. That’ll be frustrating me for awhile. 🙂 ETA wait no I meant item 11 from this Pixel Scroll.
I did think it was a shame that Sanderson hadn’t managed to produce something as nice as the classics discussion prompted by Nicoll.
@ULTRAGOTHA
I don’t like to be rude but… What a bunch of blithering idiots. *facepalm*
I have a foster cat staying with me right now (potentially permanent). He’s an older grey-and-white guy with an appealing crumpled ear. For the last two days he’s been huddling in the closet absolutely terrified, looking very miserable. I hope he manages to relax soon.
The local science fiction book club is meeting tomorrow, the subject being Station Eleven. I started that today and soon decided I wasn’t up for depressing, however well written. Guess i’ll have to sit this meeting out. “The Bone Swans of Amandale” instead — so far so good!
Where’s my abuse? *sniffle*
On the sausage thread:
Hot dogs are also called frankfurters and wieners, so I suspect they have actual European antecedents. Not good for sausage rolls, though they’d do for pigs-in-blankets. I think for sausage rolls I’d buy bulk sausage (turkey for me) and go from there.
(If I were buying hot dogs, I’d most likely go for ‘Hebrew National’, which are labeled as all-beef. They come is packages of seven, which match no package of buns I’ve ever seen.)
Obviously DC didn’t take heed of the wise word of Yogurt from “Spaceballs”: Merchandising. They should have had a comic loaded up and ready to go, following the TV show’s bible, with that setting and characters. Have the first issue come out right after the pilot aired.
Meredith: I did think it was a shame that Sanderson hadn’t managed to produce something as nice as the classics discussion prompted by Nicoll.
But not exactly surprising, considering the general contrast in tone of comments there and here.
The second Scalzi blog about Lopsided Cat had me all verklempt again. Luckily it also contained kitten pictures.
@Iphinome
I put it in but then I edited it out in a fit of panic that it would be taken the wrong way! Right, *ahem*
I see you slacking off! Do you think that novel will write itself? Do you? Well it won’t, so get back to work you worthless worm!
Better?
Cedar Sanderson wrote:
What bothers me here is the implication that a) when it comes to negative reviews it should matter whether an author agrees with your politics and b) saying “I’ll try to give constructive criticism but I’ll be honest about it” is some kind of courageous stance.
Maybe among Puppies it is.
Thank you, though Coach would have said ‘you’re writing slower than molasses in January.’
So this is the sausage roll recipe in NYT that caused a stir?
In New Zealand, sausage rolls are a party/function staple wherever finger food is required. The British may claim it, but it’s at least a big a part of New Zealand culture/cuisine, and we usually have it with tomato sauce.
@Iphinome
*takes notes*
My literary shame: I’ve been a fan of Ray Bradbury almost twenty years, since reading The Illustrated Man in high school.
I only read Fahrenheit 451 a few years ago, and I’ve still never read Martian Chronicles.
@Meredith,
I didn’t get round to reading and have corrected that omission. It’s quite a sensible piece. I especially like:
@Iphinome,
January around here is the height of Summer, and thus does the existence of the Southern Hemisphere turn our proverbs to confusion. Sometimes.
Meredith
I came across your comments re flu jab and coughing which won’t go away; can’t remember which thread since I had to do an urgent thing, but I really wanted to comment before I fall asleep and forgot the content of your comments.
You should be having flu jabs, and you should see a lung consultant to investigate the cause of the coughing which won’t go away; there are many, many lung diseases beyond asthma, and as someone with severe mobility problems you are at high risk of lung infection, whether it is viral, bacterial or fungal.
The known dangers of immobility is why people who have had major surgery are hauled to their feet and frogmarched up and down, to reduce the chances of pneumonia and embolisms. They don’t have to have been labelled as lacking immune function for this to happen because stress can take out immune function all by itself, and even with fully functioning immune response people still become very ill, and sometimes die, even if they are pumped full of heavy duty IVs.
So, speaking as a patient cared for by the Host Defence Unit (I’ve always wondered why they don’t call it the Host/Hostess Defence Unit) when it comes to my lungs*, I have no doubt that you need to have this investigated by people who know what they are doing. And if your GP doesn’t understand that immobility is a high risk factor, and sees nothing to worry about in your ongoing cough, which won’t leave, then you need to get another GP who does understand what s/he’s doing.
My daughter is a Medical Registrar, (they deal with seriously ill people) and she’s horrified by the idea that your doctors have just brushed it all off. Admittedly, she is biased: her mother has, inter alia, a severe lung disease, together with another one which fluctuates between moderate and severe, and it freaks her out that nobody has properly reviewed you, and got things sorted. She grew up visiting me in hospitals; she became a medic, and stayed because walking through the hospital door feels like coming home to her.
I’m sorry that this is so long, and so very late in England; but it really is a matter of life and potential death. So, please humour me and get the flu jab and ask for a referral to a Lung Consultant, as your are entitled.
nanowrimo… thanks for the cheering.
I’m at 18601 at the moment, paused for eating supper. I hope to be soewhere between 20 and 21 thousand before I stop for the night
14784 – trying to write a social gathering and it proves to be as difficult for me as being at a social gathering. Personal insight of the day: I don’t know how people work. I may have to talk to some to get some background on how they go around being people and stuff.
Iphinome>
This is the wrong department. This is argument. You want 12a next door.
In Australia also: hence the alternate AC/DC lyrics
“It’s a long way to the shop,
if you want a sausage roll”
*grin* No worries on third person. I try not to refer to myself in third person, because that tends to drive even the most tolerant friends up the wall, but am not bothered by it in others.
It’s cool. Winning is often a toss of the dice–who read what story in a mood not to hate it that day–it’s getting to stand on the metaphorical stage with the other nominees and going “Oh my god, somebody thinks I belong up here!” that’s the real prize.
Bugger
Forgot to hit the button.