I am one of the many people who fell in love with Gideon, and Gideon the Ninth, way back when it was published in 2019. A necromantic gothic lesbian space opera, it’s not to everyone’s tastes - and that’s okay! (And it just got weirder with Harrow the Ninth, and THEN there was Nona the Ninth … I can’t even imagine what the final (??) book, Alecto the Ninth, will do.) I do admit to being unable to really explain my love of the books. After all, most of the characters die - or at least seem to, ish - and the entire system of magic is necromancy, which is unpleasant. And that’s before you discover that God’s power came from destroying a planet. Enter Paula Aamli’s essay, and the concept of cosy catastrophe, and suddenly things started to make more sense. You see, I love watching disaster films, and I think it’s for the same reason. As Aamli notes, things are going completely sideways but nonetheless the characters have the opportunity and the wit to not be completely overwhelmed. Aamli explores the utility and joy of this experience in her essay, and it resonated very deeply with me.