You are...Useful
The Handmaid's Tale 3.2 "Mary and Martha" Marthas, it turns out, have their own catch phrase...and substantially more freedom than Handmaids. They're still...
What is a Population Bottleneck - and How It Might Have Affected Us
Genetics is an interesting topic. Our genetic code is a mechanism for natural selection and evolution. It also determines things like our hair and eye...
Double Trouble
Review: Impostors by Scott Westerfeld This trilogy is a sequel to Westerfeld's hugely underrated (IMO) Uglies post-apocalyptic YA series, and gets even more...
I Can Still DO It...
Just as a note that I can still do it at my age. We hiked from Harpers Ferry to the Maryland Heights overlook (there’s proof) and then went all the way up to...
Light and Dark
The Avengers 2.1 "Mr. Teddy Bear" Sometimes, I go off on a 60s spy fi tick. Especially The Avengers given Emma Peel...let's just say as a girl I couldn't...
The Importance of the Mill - Water, Wind, and More
Remnants of the mill race of a major pulp mill, Harpers Ferry, WV, USA You've probably, at some point, met a "Miller." It's a pretty common English surname....
Sharks and Serial Killers
Review: His Selachian Majesty Requests It took me a while to warm to this book. There is perhaps a bit too much explicitly Christian imagery in it…countered...
Heading For the End of Summer
So, it’s approaching the end of summer. Not close to being fall yet, but the lesson barn horses are about to go on their annual vacation and back to school...
Shattered Relationships
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.10 “The Last Ceremony” The handmaids get a new source of gossip when a Commander drops dead (presumably of a heart attack) while in the...
Unmoving Predators - the Peculiar Evolution of Carnivorous Plants
It’s a general rule. Plants don’t eat. They survive entirely off of photosynthesis. Except that’s not actually true. Plants also, as any gardener knows, draw...
Changing American Stories
Review: The Island of Dreams by Jaye Viner On the list of things I’m not particularly fond of – Neverland riffs. I always found the original vaguely creepy,...
Happy Summer!
So, first of all, I need to direct all of your attention to The Halfling & The Spaceman, who interviewed me for their video podcast. Unfortunately, the video...
Lies Will Out
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.9 “Smart Power” I think the writer’s room messed up…because there’s filler content at the end, stuff that wasn’t necessary to show....
You Sank my Battleship – Or Not – A History of Ships of the Line
The term battleship comes from line-of-battle-ship or ship-of-the-line. This basically means that a battleship is a large warship designed to fight other...
Lizard People and High Flying Kites
Review: Shadow of the Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza The tone of this book is noir. The plot, however, is pure pulp. Duster Raines (a noir name if there...
Wilmington!
I admit that I’d never thought of going to Wilmington, but we were looking for some place close to Greg’s parents. But we had a lot of fun! Highlights: The...
Cracks in the Dystopia
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.7 “After” The bombing kills a number of Commanders and Handmaidens. Fred Waterford is seriously injured and is replaced by another...
The Rise and Fall of the Shopping Mall
There’s a prediction that most malls will close in the near future due to online shopping. I’m personally not convinced, but certainly the shopping mall has...
The West Passage and The Pandora's Box
Review: The West Passage by Jared Pechaček I’m calling this fantasy even though there’s hints of a more technological past. The author is calling it epic...
Summer Calm
It’s always hard to queue multiple updates. When you get this, I’ll be in Wilmington, NC, getting some much needed R&R. Almost through Astounding at this...
Kaboom!
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.6 “First Blood” The first blood here is Serena Joy’s…we see a flashback of her being deplatformed and then shot in the time before. Or...
The Queen is the (Is)land - Female Power in Black Sails
Black Sails is a series about pirates. As I mentioned in another blog, there were very few women pirates in historical reality (many more, of course, in...
Drift Compatible...Dragons?
Review: So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole Apparently, mecha that bond with their pilots is…a fashion now? Although, unlike in Moonstorm, the mecha aren’t the...
Musings on the Hugo Awards
This is a queued post - and the picture is from Pittsburgh. I’m ALMOST done with my reading for the Hugos at the time of writing. I only have Astounding to...
Fire Bad
Black Sails 4.9 Fire on a sailing ship is bad. Shame. I liked that ship. I was highly amused by the Highlander-style interspersed training montage.Also,...
Dangerous Currents - Beaches, Tides, and Rips
Ever swum in the ocean? I have. It’s not the safest thing to do. But thousands of people jump in the ocean (or, almost as bad, a very large lake) every year,...
Is it Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Review: In Spite of the Inevitable by Morgan Biscup First of all, this is a competently written book, solidly executed. It belongs to that subset of science...
Summer? Not Always A Fan
It’s been awfully muggy this week…although a bit better today. Lots of storms, though. Including a massive clap of thunder and lightning with opened heavens...
Bad Decisions and Broken Hearts
Black Sails 4.6 CW: Sexual assault Bad decision to end all bad decisions: Allying with Spain. And giving them permission to sack Nassau And who pays the...
Are Dogs Really Our Best Friends?
Dogs. Love them or hate them…few are indifferent to them. And most people find it hard to resist a wagging tail and big eyes. Many of our dog breeds bear...
Princess Stories!
Review: Wishing Well, Wishing Well by Jubilee Cho This is a cute little middle grade princess story. It’s clearly written by an author who was into...
Happy Fourth!
Celebrating America not as it is, but as it could be and should be…and if we play our cards right will be. Have a good summer. Have some fireworks (but be...
Bad Decisions to End All Bad Decisions
Black Sails 4.4 Bad decisions: Ignore Eleanor Guthrie. Bad decision to end all bad decisions: Ally with Spain. Because that’s what Rogers is doing in his...
Is Dungeons & Dragons Good For You?
Those of us who have been in the hobby for a long time remember the satanic panic in the 1980s when D&D was encouraging Satanism, anti-social behavior, and...
On the Silver Screen
Review: November Rain by Shannon S. Thompson This is a short YA novel that reads like it might have started out as X-Men fan fic. This is not at all a...
Origins Roundup
Origins was fun, although I didn’t get in on the game I wanted. My fault, I left it too long. Board games, though. Got to try Spirit Island, which is by the...
Will Nassau Burn?
Black Sails 4.2 Bad decisions: Mutiny. It’s always a bad decision. Long John Silver is caught by somebody with a grudge against Teach. “You talk too much.”...
Herbivores are not Vegetarians
Horse people are constantly shocked when they find out their beloved grazers are not, in fact, above supplementing their diet. Herbivores are optimized to...
Fighting the Darkness
Review: The Failures by Benjamin Liar This is the kind of debut novel you know has at least a dozen novels in the trunk behind it. The Failures reminds me of...
Hi, From Origins
Another queued post. This time I’m in Columbus hanging out and attending Origins Game Fair. The next issue of Last Girls Club drops today - please check it...
Bad Decisions and Dirty Fighting
Black Sails 3.9 Bad decisions: Underestimate Eleanor Guthrie, trust Eleanor Guthrie, execute pirates. Vane is dead. This is a bad thing for the English not...
There Are No Wild Horses - Equines, Domestication, and Living Free
If I make the statement “There are no wild horses,” people look at me like I grew an extra head…or possibly a set of horse ears. Then people go “What about?”...
A Left Turn to Finland
Review: North is the Night by Emily Rath I’m not hugely familiar with Finnish mythology and the Kalevala, although Rath does admit she takes a fair number of...
Nebulas Retrospective
My impressions of Kansas City: Barbecue, giant shuttlecocks (trust me, the dragon is not nanotech. That is a seriously large shuttlecock), a weird electicism...
Bad Decisions Abound
There really should be a ship in this show called the Bad Decision. Black Sails 3.6 Bad decisions: Rackham returning to Nassau to get pardons for himself and...
Who is Bigfoot? Is There a Truth Behind the Legend?
I’ve gone Bigfoot hunting. Honestly, lots of people have. It’s not, of course, about finding Bigfoot. It’s an excuse to go out into the woods and explore,...
Bloodsuckers Unite
Review: The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas Science fictional vampire stories are less common than the fantastic or supernatural kind. Although to be...
Hi From Kansas City
Okay, to be honest, I wrote this before I left because I don’t think I’ll be stopping for a moment on Friday…when I will be in Kansas City, Missouri. (The...
No Saints, Just Sinners
Black Sails 3.5 Today’s bad decision: You always walk away with the money. So what if you have to change your name. She’s somewhat smart. You aren’t,...
We Reap What We Sow
Review: Parable of rhe Sower by Octavia E. Butler This is where I confess that I haven’t read as much Butler as I should have. Parable of the Sower is a less...