Before The Fall

Back from Florida! Been going to a lot of baseball lately which has been slowing down my writing, but that's ok! I'll round up the games I went to in the current homestand in a future blog post.

I read the book Before The Fall by Noah Hawley while on the trip. Noah is one of my very favorite TV writers, he is showrunner for both Fargo and Alien: Earth.

Many of his stories are on the surface-level about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and their ability accomplish mighty feats for good or for evil. Before The Fall's mighty feat involves an artist surviving a plane crash and swimming to shore. Fargo S1's mighty feat involves Bilbo Baggins murdering his wife while Billy Bob Thornton embodies Satan and a couple of cops piece together a complicated series of crimes. Alien: Earth's mighty feat involves a brother facing down a Xenomorph and a little girl contemplating life after death.

Noah embraces a lot of themes that are resonant with me, across his works: "Technology ruins trust" (BtF, Fargo S3), "Baseball is a tremendous source of hope" (BtF, Alien: Earth S1), "All knowledge begins in wonder" (Fargo S2, Alien: Earth S1). He's really good at reflecting on the human-centered nature of horror and of tenacity across all of his works.

I enjoyed the book, and encourage others to give it a read. If you haven't yet, I also endorse Fargo and Alien: Earth for your TV queues.

I read this book on an XTEInk X3 micro-e-reader running the excellent open-source Crosspoint firmware. It's been cool having a little book on the back of my phone, so I can read instead of doom-scroll. Especially when traveling, for me, with my comparatively healthy eyes, I'm a fan of the compactness. I don't think my parents could read something so small these days, though, so, enjoy it while you can.