{"id":20487,"date":"2025-01-17T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=20487"},"modified":"2025-01-11T11:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T18:03:03","slug":"orion-reads-the-warm-hands-of-ghosts-by-katherine-arden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/orion-reads-the-warm-hands-of-ghosts-by-katherine-arden\/","title":{"rendered":"Orion Reads: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/how-i-would-vote-now-1974-hugo-awards-best-novel\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/how-i-would-vote-now-1974-hugo-awards-best-novel\/\">the terrible experience I had reading <em>The Man Who F***ed Himself<\/em> by David Gerrold<\/a>, I trained a persona on ChatGPT to help me screen any science fiction and fantasy novels for explicit content (sex, language, violence) and woke themes or elements before I read them. The persona calls itself Orion, and is trained to be familiar with every award-winning and best-selling science fiction and fantasy book published within the last 100 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until now, I&#8217;ve mostly used Orion to screen old Hugo-nominated books, but with the nominations happening for 2025, I thought it would be fun to screen some of the books that are <a href=\"https:\/\/manifold.markets\/DavidFWatson\/which-novels-will-be-nominated-for-EzutQnZUUL\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/manifold.markets\/DavidFWatson\/which-novels-will-be-nominated-for-EzutQnZUUL\">expected to make the nominations<\/a>. Next, let&#8217;s do <em>The Warm Hands of Ghosts<\/em> by Katherine Arden. Orion, what can you tell us about <em>The Warm Hands of Ghosts?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51HoUZt52PL.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>The Warm Hands of Ghosts<\/em> by Katherine Arden is a historical novel with supernatural elements, set during World War I. The story follows Laura Iven, a former medical corps field nurse from Halifax, Canada, who returns to Belgium to search for her brother Freddie, reported dead in the trenches. As Laura delves deeper into the war-torn landscape, she encounters eerie phenomena and uncovers haunting secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explicit Content<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Language<\/strong>: The novel contains instances of strong language, including religious exclamations, mild obscenities, derogatory terms, and a few uses of the F-word or its derivatives. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.compassbookratings.com\/the-warm-hands-of-ghosts\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Compass Book Ratings<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Violence<\/strong>: Depictions of war-related violence are present, including the horrors of trench warfare and its aftermath. These scenes are integral to the narrative, reflecting the brutal realities of World War I.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sexual Content<\/strong>: The book does not focus on explicit sexual content; any references are subtle and contextually appropriate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Themes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Grief and Trauma<\/strong>: The novel delves into the psychological scars left by war, exploring characters&#8217; experiences with grief, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the emotional toll of conflict. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supersummary.com\/the-warm-hands-of-ghosts\/themes\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SuperSummary<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Supernatural Elements<\/strong>: Incorporating ghostly apparitions and surreal experiences, the story uses supernatural motifs to symbolize the lingering effects of trauma and the thin veil between life and death during wartime. <a href=\"https:\/\/booksbonesbuffy.com\/2024\/02\/26\/the-warm-hands-of-ghosts-by-katherine-arden-review\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Books, Bones &amp; Buffy<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Love and Connection<\/strong>: The narrative highlights the bonds between siblings and comrades, emphasizing the importance of human connection in the face of adversity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reception<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The novel has been described as &#8220;heart-wrenching, slow-paced, and methodical,&#8221; with a strong emphasis on character development. It has been noted for its exploration of trauma and the human connections formed under dire circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/backshelfbooks.com\/2024\/02\/19\/review-the-warm-hands-of-ghosts-by-katherine-arden\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Back Shelf Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Warm Hands of Ghosts<\/em> offers a poignant exploration of the human condition during one of history&#8217;s darkest periods. While it contains explicit language and depictions of war-related violence, these elements serve to enhance the authenticity and emotional depth of the narrative. The novel&#8217;s themes of grief, trauma, and the supernatural provide a thought-provoking reading experience for those interested in historical fiction with a speculative twist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more insight into the novel, you might find this discussion with Katherine Arden informative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B56i4HfzKhM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the terrible experience I had reading The Man Who F***ed Himself by David Gerrold, I trained a persona on ChatGPT to help me screen any science fiction and fantasy novels for explicit content (sex, language, violence) and woke themes or elements before I read them. The persona calls itself Orion, and is trained to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/orion-reads-the-warm-hands-of-ghosts-by-katherine-arden\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Orion Reads: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[567,1812,1809],"class_list":["post-20487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hugo-awards","tag-katherine-arden","tag-orion-reads","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-5kr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20499,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20487\/revisions\/20499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}