Beyond Rockets - Alternative Ways to Get to Orbit
I've probably mentioned more than once that I'm a sucker for a good space elevator story. And space elevators are an engineering problem. We know how to...
Dark Fantasy and...Sneakers?
Review: Reborn in Ash by Gabrielle Steele I like to go into books blind. Many don't, so I will warn, this book has elements of tragedy. It also has a very...
Happy Valentine's Day
Or for those of you who are single, happy Lupercalia, go pet some dogs. It’s finally starting to melt here, but people in the DMV, watch out for black ice in...
Shenanigans Ensue
Wizards of Waverly Place 1.2 "First Kiss" Okay, this one was funny. Don't teach teenagers a do over spell and then tell them not to use it. Because, well,...
A Brief Overview of Spy-Fi
Something shocking happened at Farpoint this weekend...a long time Bond fan with a personal obsession with Goldeneye asked me "What is spy-fi?" For somebody...
Dark Fantasy and Mysterious Space Elevators
Review: Empty Dagger Hand by Dusk Peterson This time, Peterson subverts the rightful heir trope. Quite nicely, in fact. I won't go into how. But this is also...
Farpoint Roundup
So, what of Farpoint I was able to actually attend was awesome. Then late Saturday night I came down with “food poisoning”…that turned out to be COVID. I...
Cold and Beautiful
Wynonna Earp 3.3 "Colder Weather" Dolls is definitely permanently dead. They don't spend an entire episode on the funeral if somebody's coming back. I'm sad,...
From Superstition to AI - Forecasting the Weather Has Always Been Desirable...and Hard
Right now, I'm sitting here looking out at the three inches of snow that was originally two feet. It's really common in the DC area for snow to be over-...
Boundaries
Review: Law of Vengeance by Dusk Peterson This is one of those writing exercises...I suspect Peterson started by writing one scene from Carle's point of...
At Farpoint
Winter pic because winter. This post was queued on Monday because I’ll be at Farpoint getting ready for the con to start - my first panel’s at 5, which isn’t...
Beautiful People
Wynonna Earp 3.1 "Blood Red And Going Down" So, here's a thing I give this show a lot of kudos for. Wynonna gives up her baby...and doesn't just carry on...
The Mail Must Go Through - Different Ways of Transporting the Post
Most of our "post" these days is instant and digital. But we still count on the post office for packages, letters, postcards... Public mail in Europe dates...
Masks
Review: Death Mask by Dusk Peterson It was worth getting through book one to get to this much more deft book. I'm still not a fan of some of the...
Lady Knights and Fun Updates
Okay, so I actually do have news. First of all, here’s my schedule for Farpoint Convention: Themes: Does Every Story Need One? – Fri 5 PM – McIntosh This is...
Breaking Seals
Wynonna Earp 2.8 "No Future in the Past" They blew quite a bit of budget on this one. Juan Carlo, who is dying, gets Wynonna to go on a vision quest. Into...
Cops, Bobbies, Peelers - Let's Talk About the History of the Police
Honestly, police are a difficult topic these days. Do we need them? What form should they take? How do we keep them accountable? But how did we even end up...
AI...Intimacy?
Review: The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu The author describes this book as "realistic science fiction." I think that's fair, as its just too slowly paced to...
Quiet January - Maybe?
So, I don’t have my Farpoint schedule quite yet…I’ve been promised soon. I’ll post it to social media once I have it, but I’m very much looking forward to...
Sing to Sleep
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1.9 "Hero or Menace" The real menace is, of course, Osbourne. And those who don't know he's a bad guy because they're...