The Literate Kitty

Generalizations to be made about humankind abound... but for right now, let’s go with something on the lines of,   “after humans have completely effed up one place, it’s a sure thing they’ll soon seek out the next place to take over (and immediately set about effing it up in similar fashion)” .   I mean, it’s pretty much one of our signature moves.     It isn’t much of a stretch, then, to envision a not-that-far-off future in which we’ve plundered all of Earth’s once-bountiful resources, along with overpopulating our planet to the point of having to seek out new digs to inhabit...  namely, the Moon .   But what comes after  that ... once the Moon—with its considerably smaller size and limited resources—has likewise been pillaged and overrun by greedy bipedal interlopers?   The next, most-obvious (meaning,  least-inhospitable of all remotely-viable options ) candidate, of course. The Red Planet. Mars.   The thing is, we humans are never content with  just  brutal pioneering. No, we come

Keep your enemies close, and your friends, well— keep an even closer eye on them...   The damage we do—or at least, that we  can  do—to each other, is horribly immense in its scope and variety.     We’ve become inured to it, frankly, because we see it EVERYWHERE. Trolls going off on some one or some thing , online. Hate speech. Political upheavals.   But we also see it closer to home. Family members, intentionally hurting or neglecting those they should hold precious. Lovers, seemingly forgetting all of the reasons they came together, in the first place.     And close friends, taking perverse delight in using and wounding those whose darkest secrets they carry and were sworn to protect.   Heather Darwent gives us a look at all of these in her compelling psychological suspense debut,  The Things We Do to Our Friends .   Often people choose universities where they’ll feel right at home… either because the school is,  literally , close to their home, or because many friends go there.