Hey there!

How many of you have been watching or reading the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells? I've been binging through the books this year, and my husband and I finally splurged the $9.99 to get Apple TV for a month to watch the series.

And it was delightful.

If you've been around this newsletter for a bit, you know I like to talk about how reading/consuming stories gives us a very specific superpower.

(For example, "Why we story," and "And now for a bit of excitement.")

Stories literally rewire your brain, forming new neural pathways and connections as you put yourself in a character's shoes and see the world through someone else's eyes.

The Murderbot series brushes up against this concept regularly. If you don't know it, the main character is a construct Security Unit who breaks free of its governor module. It calls itself Murderbot because everyone is afraid of what a rogue SecUnit is capable of, but really it just wants the freedom to...watch soap operas.

Throughout the series, Murderbot is having to navigate the world of human emotions, conversations, and expectations. Whenever it gets stuck, it turns to its favorite media (The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon) for an example of how to handle human interactions.

It's sometimes poignant. Often quite funny.

And it also illustrates the most beautiful thing about story.

We learn through experience—but we can also learn through someone else's experience, if we feel the story deeply enough.

The most recent book of the Murderbot Diaries (book 7) explicitly talks about this. Both in the plot (which revolves around using story as a tool of persuasion) and in Murderbot's increased understanding of itself.

In the book, Murderbot notes that its love of Sanctuary Moon is actually what gave it the tools and drive to free itself from its governor module. Watching the show actually retrained its neural tissue to make it more human.

Watching the show gave it a superpower.

Empathy.

Whether or not you're already a Murderbot fan, I recommend checking out this interview with the author, Martha Wells. My friends Luke Elliott and James Bailey got to chat with her live at WorldCon for their podcast, Ink to Film.

(By the way, I was on their podcast back in 2019 talking about The Expanse series!)

Here are the links:

• ​YouTube​
• ​Podcast website​

I'm curious.

Have you ever read anything that rewired your brain? (AKA, made you think differently about the world?)

Anything that stuck with you, reshaped your opinions, and maybe even changed your actions?

The most recent book that comes to mind for me was Solito by Javier Zamora. It's a story that's truly haunting (in the best way).

For Your TBR

Speaking of stories! I've got another batch of new-to-me thriller authors this week (so please let me know what you think if you pick up one of their books).

Oh! And don't forget the Space Opera Sisterhood StoryBundle! It'll be wrapping up soon, so go grab these books before they're gone.

This bundle is loaded with 11 books (including 3 StoryBundle exclusives!) from some truly stellar authors—including the first three books of my own Nanshe Chronicles series. You can snag the starter bundle for just $5, or get all 11 books for only $25.

The One Who Smiles by Lynn M. Kristopher Rachel Quinn is barely holding her life together. The FBI has sidelined her, her colleagues think she’s unstable, and every therapy session feels like a test she’s destined to fail. But when a ragged street preacher calls her by name and whispers a terrifying prophecy, Rachel is dragged back into a hunt she can’t ignore. Children are being found burned. The numbers don’t add up. The more she follows the preacher’s cryptic warnings, the more she questions her own sanity. Get My Copy!

Before The Echo by Maya Inari Before the Echo is a chilling, emotional prelude to Deception’s Echo. When Alyssa Turner vanishes into the night, her sister Naomi refuses to believe it was by choice. As secrets unravel and trust fractures, Naomi is left wondering: what happened to Alyssa… and why doesn’t anyone seem to care? Get My Copy!

Happy reading,

Jessie