Happy Easter! Resurrection and special thanks!

Happy Easter, y’all! Joe Hills here, writing as I always do in Nashville, Tennessee, with a few quick updates now that I’ve returned from the Pacific Northwest.

Resurrection?!

Since today is Easter, I’m going to start off by thanking folks for joining me last night to kick off the next novel I’ll be reading weekly, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Here’s the VOD of that:

You can find the playlist for my Frankenstein readings at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7On8E0_x1tqXTMocvxGuv2kqu3XThT_t

If you’d like to read along at home, or read ahead, you can find the text I’m reading from via Project Gutenburg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm

I’ll usually be reading Frankenstein each Saturday night from 8:30–10:30pm US Central Time, though next week’s Saturday reading will be much earlier in the day than usual to accommodate family plans. You can find my latest streaming schedule at https://joehills.net/soon

Gamers For Giving 2025

Y’all really showed up for this year’s charity stream event and helped HermitCraft raise over $800,000 for Gamers Outreach for the second year in a row! Thank you for helping us build and deliver hundreds of gaming karts to children’s hospitals!

There are so many generous and talented folks who worked to make this event successful that you may have caught on camera throughout the weekend, like Anthony from Mojang, the production crew from Liquid Dogs, and the Gamers Outreach staff. I’m grateful to all of them for making the weekend spectacular!

I wanted to take a second here to shoutout two folks I worked with off-camera who particularly helped us have an amazing event: Travis Ericksen and Nate Jones.

Special thanks to Travis Eriksen from Childs’ Play Charity for loaning Gamers Outreach and HermitCraft the telepresence robot that ZombieCleo, Oli, and Joel piloted around the studio, and for taking time out of his weekend to help us troubleshoot it with his tech expert Garrett!

Travis previously visited my studio with his kids, and we had a great time together, so if you’d like to learn more about Child’s Play, consider checking out the VOD of his visit!

Special thanks as well go to Nate Jones of Northstar guitars! Nate is the amazing luthier who built the custom HermitCraft guitar for the auction. The guitar sold for over $5000 and brought delight to every Hermit who held and signed it. If you’d like to see Nate’s build video for that, you can find it here:

The weekend was packed with fun moments, so I’m in the process of editing a recap video about the weekend now. I hope to have that video out by the end of the week, so I’d best get back to editing!

Until next time, y’all, this is Joe Hills from Nashville, Tennessee. Keep adventuring!

 

Report for the NOPOE in Exile

It has been an incredibly busy week on #HermitCraft!

Come check out how VintageBeef and I have been searching and trapping the Permit Officers’ facilities, and see my side of me trying to mess with Skizz during his stream yesterday!

Recommend: The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey

I’ve just enjoyed The Mercy of Gods, the latest novel by James S.A. Corey, which focuses on some distant future offshoot of humanity that has lost touch with their earthly origins and is suddenly introduced to the rest of the galaxy by way of an imperial alien invasion force. It kicks off a series called Captive’s War, presumably because the POV characters are all POWs attempting to sort out how best to understand their enemies and resist effectively despite bleak prospects and bizarre challenges.

Given that Corey’s nine Expanse novels and many side-stories and novellas consistently impressed me over the last decade, this felt like a safe purchase and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s more of the same style of writing, but with different settings and scope. The concepts of the different alien species were varied and interesting, and I found the characters’ internal struggles and decision-making thought-provoking—even when their choices didn’t strike me as optimal.

The most resonant structural choice of the novel for me was that the story is broken into six parts, and each part opens with a historical analysis from one of the enemy alien captors about where things went wrong for them after capturing these humans. As a science fiction reader, this initially feels recognizable and comfortable, like Asimov opening chapters of Foundation novels. As the story progresses, a disconcerting feeling creeps in that while the captor alien is trying to pin the blame for his failings on a particular human, this may not be that straightforward a narrative. It feels like a Cardassian enigma tale, where every character is guilty, and the exercise for the reader is to determine guilt of what. The answers all seem to be some small manifestation of hope as resistance, which collectively may tip things in future novels.

As the other books in the series aren’t out yet, I don’t know if they’ll stick the landing the way Expanse Book nine did, but what I’ve read is pretty good. I’m confident enough to encourage folks check out this novel while we wait for more.

Recommend.

There’s work to do!

It’s been a year since HermitCraft 10 began and my fiftieth episode showcases the work still left to do at Hermit Holmdel!

Join me and special guest Allison Chapman, national LGBTQ+ legislative researcher and trans rights activist, as we talk about work to do in America as well!

Retraction: YouTube community post from January 26th, 2025

I apologize to any subscribers who received a ghost notification for my now-deleted YouTube community post on the evening of January 26th, 2025 condemning what I felt to be lax historical research standards in a particular YouTube video.

Folks I trust claim that I don’t fully comprehend the impact that someone in my position can have when criticizing others.

I have removed the community post to avoid any potential unintended harm its persistence may have caused.

2024Q4 Estimated Taxes Due Tomorrow

Self-employed artists and small-business owners, 2024Q4 estimated taxes are due tomorrow!

If you’re like me and plan to spend January 15th wearing palm leaves, eating bread delivered by a raven, getting buried by lions, and generally partying near a clear pool in celebration of Paul, the first Hermit, it’d be wise to remit that today.

Just married!

I’m so excited to share that Lauryn and I are finally married!

Thank y’all so much for your support as we navigated the stresses of the immigration system! We did it!

Thanks as well to Judge Hayes, who is awesome, and I strongly recommend to any Davidson County resident looking to get married soon!

I’m gonna drop off the net for a bit to enjoy some time relaxing with my new spouse, so until next time, y’all, this is Joe (and Lauryn) Hills from Nashville, TN!

Keep adventuring!

A photo of Joe Hills and Lauryn Hills kissing in a couthouse. A photo of Judge Hayes with Lauryn Hills and Joe Hills A photo of Lauryn Hills sitting in the judge’s chair in front of the Great Seal of Tennessee. Joe Hills leans jauntily on the chair.

Working on a Kate Campbell parody

11yo, bored: why are we listening to this, don’t you have a stream to go do?

Me: this song from the turn of the century was arranged and performed in a very old-fashioned way, which is juxtaposed against lyrics about how modern the South had become, with the introduction of Mercedes and Nissan factories and Starbucks with “fat-free lattes.”

11yo, alarmed: THERE WAS FAT IN LATTES?’