All the things - or eclecticism?

Yup, I'm sure that's a word

I was chatting with someone at Day Job about music I listen to — everything from sea shanties (they’re awesome) to Latin pop (which I only about a quarter of the words of), and I mentioned that I have eclectic tastes.

If you stick around here long enough, you’ll realize that I have two pen names — C. Rene Astle (urban fantasy) and Rene Astle (scifi). If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have two. I swear this isn’t a non sequitur. The reason I have two pen names is because ‘they’ told me it would be help prevent muddying the waters for readers. Apparently, many readers are very loyal to a particular genre … which I am not. Yes, I read a lot of scifi and fantasy, but I also read non-fiction, mysteries, and even the occasional literary fiction book.

I’d love to hear from you — would you consider yourself a loyal genre reader or an eclectic one?

Image from a kaleidoscope - the only ‘eclectic’ image I could think of

This eclecticism (ha, spell check is not flagging that — it is a word!). Anyway, this eclecticism reaches into other areas of my life. I recently discovered a phenomenal YouTube channel: Philosophy Tube. If you’re interested in the ideas behind what makes us and society tick, I highly recommend it. I discovered it from this video on the cities we build but I knew I’d be sticking around after this one on gender, economics, the idea of family, ‘traditional’ values, fascism … yeah, I’m going to need to watch these a few times.

But I’ve also been binge watching Bridgerton — I’m almost through session 2. I didn’t watch the series when it first came out because “I not interested in romance” (which is a LIE). It’s fun and easy to watch while I’m sewing.

Writing update

I continue to work on book 4 of The Lyra Cycle. I maybe shouldn’t have taken than break. I now have to fact check things because I forgot where I left them at the end of book 3.

What I’m reading

I finally finished the Murderbot Diaries! I’ve been trying to get these from the library but I kept missing it when it was delivered. Luckily my Armchair Alien co-conspirator was able to loan me the last two. I loved this series — I would be friends with Murderbot. Have you read it? What did you think?

Happy reading!

— CR

Where to find my books

If you’d like to read any of my sci-fi or urban fantasy books, you can find them at your favourite online retailers. Or you can buy them direct from me on the Armchair Alien store (and get special offers and discounts).

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