Jewish Vampires and Interdimensional Weirdness
Review: Transmentation|Transcience by Darkly Lem Darkly Lem is a pen name used for collaborations between no less than five authors - Josh Eure, Craig...
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...