Merchanters on the Rise
Review: Alliance Rising Recently, C.J. Cherryh revealed that her partner, Jane S. Fancher, has played a heavy role in her success. Alliance Rising is the...
Carol Hall (1944-2005)
So, there is a reason I didn’t post on schedule and it wasn’t because I forgot (although the fact that I was doing a reading might have made that happen)On...
Seriously, Parthenogenesis in Dragons?
The Avengers 2.11 "Traitor in Zebra" "Who's side are you on?" "Yours" (after Steed intentionally angers a suspect to try and see if they slip up.""I'll take...
Do Plants Have Gender? It's Complicated
If you're anything like me, you're not a fan of plants having sex. Especially those cherry trees. KN-95 masks are a great invention. But do plants have...
Classic SF Time
Review: Power Challenges by Ben Bova Ben Bova's last novel was published in 2021, a few months after the author's death, by Caezik SF & Fantasy, an imprint...
Some Upcoming Events
Mea culpa. I had a bit of a day yesterday and forgot to post this. So, I do have some stuff coming up! October 3 The Strong Women, Strange Worlds multi-...
Poison and Bad Decisions
I couldn’t find a good pig… The Handmaid's Tale 4.1 "Pigs" June and the other fugitives are now disguised as Marthas on a farm owned by a highly oblivious...
The Drive to Play
Boring people don't play. Except it's actually worse than that. In fact, play appears to be as fundamental a drive as, well, sex. And we don't fully...
The Earth is...Not a Good Place?
Review: Litany For A Broken World by LJ Cohen Multiverse books are often hard to write and this one is a multiverse in more ways than one. The book centers...
Capclave!
Kinda craving the desert today. Where I am going is Capclave. Please swing by the Rantings of a Wandering Mind table and buy a book or three from me and/or...
Relax, The Dog Doesn't Die
The Handmaid's Tale 3.11 "Liars" Ooh, boy. Serena arranges a meeting with the American spy, who apparently claims he can help her get Nicole back. How does...
XX is Boy, XX is Girl - Not Always!
Sex and gender is something we keep arguing about, and one of the central arguments of those who think it's immutable is that XY = boy and XX = girl. I could...
Language and Emotion
Review: Overmorrow by Lancelot Schaubert So, where do I start with this book? It's well written, the prose is beautiful, but it comes over to me as trying a...
Fall Fun?
Will be spending this weekend attending Small Press Expo. Next weekend is Capclave! Not a huge fan of them being back to back, but the wonderful people who...
We Can Be Useful
The Handmaid's Tale 3.8 "Unfit" This episode focuses on Aunt Lydia. We find that she was a teacher before...in an environment that was already showing signs...
Everything You Know About Vampires Is Wrong
Ah, vampires. A staple of not just horror fiction but dark fantasy, urban fantasy and, of course, romantasy. Sometimes they're evil monsters. Sometimes...
Cyberpunk, Old Style
Review: Iconoclast by Dave Walsh This book is a cyberpunk romp. Yes, it deals with identity, but it never gets that serious about it...or, to be honest,...
Ravencon, Here We Go!
So, Ravencon 2026 is kind of special. It’s the 100th anniversary of the coining of the term science fiction, in its current context, by Hugo Gernback....
Canada, But Not Quite
The Handmaid's Tale 3.5 "Unknown Caller" Serena arranges a trip to Toronto to meet with Luke and Nichole in a safe, public space. And doesn't try to snatch...
Why the Dark Ages Weren't So Dark
It happened again. Some less than educated person on social media started talking about the "Dark Ages" and kept doubling down when actual historians told...