Hell in Several Forms
Cinema Disaster: Dune Warriors On the tin, Dune Warriors is a Mad Max ripoff, set after the apocalypse with, you know, tires and infinite gasoline. It...
Thinking About Seasons
Seasons. We take them for granted. They might not be exactly the same, but anywhere away from the equator gets seasons (and even near the equator there are...
Changing Worlds and Hospitals In Space
Review: Dead Hand Rule by Max Gladstone Not the last book, so you know. Gladstone’s crazy complex magic system really sings here…although I definitely...
Capclave, Ho!
It’s been…a week. A few weeks ago, our friend Becky passed after a long illness. Her funeral was on Tuesday. In Minneapolis. So, yeah, fly to Minneapolis,...
Tracking Cats
Anna Pigeon 1.1 “Track of the Cat” Police procedurals are always something I have mixed feelings about. I grew up taught there were four kinds of cops –...
Flying Free - Thoughts on Falconry for Fantasy Authors
I never got past apprentice in falconry…I had to give it up for a variety of logistical reasons, but I have basic training in handling both diurnal raptors...
Experimental Colonies and Dead Dragons
Review: The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi This just got…interesting. Unity is an experimental, secret colony that’s designed to stress test different...
Brrr
I wore a long sleeved shirt for the first time this week. That makes it officially fall. Got my COVID shot yesterday and it is absolutely kicking my rear. I...
Bad Mythology and...Lobster?
Cinema Disaster: Prisoners of the Sun You know a movie is bad when it actually feels like an insult to von Danikenism – and I have zero patience with von...
Real History Had Child Marriages – So My Fantasy World Should Too
Okay, first of all, you absolutely can have child marriages in your fantasy world, and whether I judge you for it depends on how you write it. But using...
Space Soldiers
Review: The Human Division by John Scalzi In case you misread the title the same way I did, this book is about humanity splitting into factions, not a...
Pretty Quiet...
Don’t have much news this week. I have two books in the Beauty of Dragons bundle on Itch - check my social media for the link as links in email can get it...
Spies and Assassins
The Avengers 3.22 “The Outside-In Man” Oh, this one is a tangled web. Somebody who defected to the classic fictional, somewhat evil country is now returning...
A Brief History of Chocolate
Chocolate. Most humans love it. Not all, and some unfortunates are, of course, allergic to it. Most other animals find it at least somewhat toxic…and cacao...
POV Switches and Duets
Review: Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone Gladstone’s world counts, in my mind, as urban fantasy despite being wholly a secondary world. This book...
Capclave, Ho!
Got my Capclave schedule: Start Time Duration Room Name Session ID TitleFri 5:00 PM 1 Hr Washington Theater 13 Forbidden Books Fri 8:00 PM 1 Hr Eisenhower 73...
Movies Good and Bad
Cinema Disaster: Rollergator As a note, the alligator is never, at any point, actually skating. It’s a Scott Shaw movie, so its all women doing the skating....
Are We the Only People Who Get to See Solar Eclipses?
Earth’s not that unique…and we probably aren’t unique either. Given the sheer size of the universe, likely there are other people, on other planets, looking...
Space Colonies
Review: The Last Colony by John Scalzi The first two books of the series are military SF. The Last Colony takes a side step into something more like a...
On my Way Home
In theory I should be back by late afternoon today. In practice, I’m not going to jinx it. I’d rather not spend my entire birthday in Detroit airport. There...