I’m British, so I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Though sometimes I wonder if we should celebrate the day those pesky Puritans finally settled somewhere nice and far away. Anyway, as far as I can tell, Thanksgiving is largely an excuse to get together with friends and family, and eat way to much food. In that light, I’ve decided to throw together a Thanksgiving post. Here are all the things running this blog has given me hat I’m thankful for.

You can blame the internet for the menu. I don’t know what they’re eating over there in the States, but I’m having a chicken burger and some fruit.

Pilgrims

Blogging can be a solitary activity, but I have met so many fellow readers along the way. Sometimes it’s someone giving me a recommendation, other times it’s me giving them one. I’ve met people in comment sections, on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, Discord, and more. I’ve done buddy reads (indeed, I’m about to start another one in the next few days), and found a bunch of people to nerd out with. I started the blog because I had no one to talk to about science fiction, and that problem has been more than rectified.

Native Inhabitants

We readers may be explorers in the strange worlds of science fiction, but this wondrous landscape would not exist if not for the people who were already living there. I refer, of course, to the authors. I still remember the first time an author emailed me to say thanks for a review, and in the following years I’ve been fortunate enough to chat to authors on social media, and even had the opportunity to interview a few of them. In my experience, authors have been universally wonderful people.

Turkeys

Turkey isn’t just a festive meat, it’s also another word for something that doesn’t succeed. I’ve read plenty of books that I didn’t enjoy, but I’m still glad I read (most of) them. We can learn a lot from books that are badly put together, and when our dislike is purely a matter of personal perspective, it can lead to some brilliant conversations about how we define taste and quality.

Gravy

I don’t like gravy. If I’m going to make my food wet, I’ll do it with sauces or a good curry. But sometimes its useful to do things we don’t like. Putting in the hard work and adding those blog tags, formatting those images, and cross-posting to every social media can be exhausting, but it’s worth it. I’m still not pouring meaty water on my food though.

Potatoes

Ah, the humble potato. SO unassuming, yet so versatile. I don’t really know where I’m going with this metaphor, so let’s just say that sometimes I pull a post out of the back corners of my mind, and it unexpectedly takes off. I don’t think I’ll ever go viral the way some people do. In fact I’m pretty sure I don’t want to. I’m too much of an oddball to deal with that kind of attention. Regardless, when a years-old post suddenly gets some traction, it’s a lovely feeling of validation.

A Handful of Nuts

Most of the people who comment on my posts are utterly lovely, and of course I’m thankful for the time they take to share their thoughts. A tiny fraction, however, have some very odd thoughts that they’d like to share. I let these comments stand because a) they’re harmless enough, and b) sometimes it’s fun to laugh at the weirdos.

Pumpkin Pie

I’ve been to the United States twice now, both times in October, and somehow I’ve not had any pumpkin pie. Plenty of apples, plenty of donuts, and my new favourite drink, root beer. Next time I get a chance, I’m tucking into that delicious pumpkin pie. In that light, the final thing I’m thankful for is my girlfriend, without whom I’d probably never have left the UK, and definitely wouldn’t have had a chance to sit in a chair once occupied by William Shatner!