🖖 #StarTrekDiscovery S02E05: Mostly continues the stronger season. I’m really enjoying Pike, the adventures in the Upside Down, and the “sinking ship” effects were really fun. But I’m not sold on the non-secret Section 31, and the continuing Spock teases are ever more annoying.
Geekery
Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.
This image, visible for just a second or two in this trailer for LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS, an upcoming animated SF anthology show on Netflix (content warning: strobing/flashing images, glimpses of possibly NSFW content) made me laugh.
Book sixteen of 2019: Slan, by A.E. van Vogt. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1941 Retro Hugo Best Novel 📚
Definitely dated, esp. regarding views of women, odd extrapolation of tech (a very 40s world, but with ray guns & antigravity ships), but I’ve read far worse from this era. Fans are slans! 😏
Book fifteen of 2019: The Book of Merlyn, by T.H. White. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚
A curious coda to TOaFK, mostly serving as an argument against humankind’s warlike tendencies. Not critical to finish Arthur’s story, IMHO.
Book fourteen of 2019: Assignment: Eternity, by Greg Cox. ⭐️⭐️ 📚
An average Trek romp, marred by the author trying too hard to drop “clever” references to other Trek and pop culture events, and (worse) using a PNW indigenous people’s name for the name of a planet (Duwamish).
A Theory About Saru (ST:DSC) 🖖
I’ve come to a theory about Saru on Star Trek: Discovery. Obviously, spoilers ahead (at least, if you haven’t seen all of ST:DSC to this point, and if I’m correct).
2019 Philip K. Dick Award Rankings
As I’ve done for the past few years, I’ve read all of the nominated works for this year’s Philip K. Dick Award. Following is my ranking, from least favorite to my favorite and pick for the award (which, if history is any guide, means that it won’t be the winner, so my apologies in advance…), along with my brief comments.
- THE BODY LIBRARY by Jeff Noon (Angry Robot)
Much like the first in this series, there are a lot of interesting ideas, in this case about stories, narratives, and our relationships with them…yet it simply didn’t resonate with me at all.
- ALIEN VIRUS LOVE DISASTER: STORIES by Abbey Mei Otis (Small Beer Press)
Some of these are funny, many of them are disquieting and leave the reader a little uneasy. I didn’t dislike it, though I’m not sure I can really say that I liked it, either.
- 84K by Claire North (Orbit)
Set in a distressingly plausible near-future dystopic Britain, the unrelenting dreariness was difficult for me. As with post-apocalyptic fiction, I’m not a big fan; I prefer more hope in my futurism.
- THEORY OF BASTARDS by Audrey Schulman (Europa Editions)
Neat near-future exploration of interpersonal connections and intimacy, through the lens of research into the sexual habits of bonobo apes.
- TIME WAS by Ian McDonald (Tor.com)
A short, sweet tale of soldiers in love, time travel, the unraveling of their story, and the love of books. I very much enjoyed this one.
- AMBIGUITY MACHINES AND OTHER STORIES by Vandana Singh (Small Beer Press)
One of the best collections I’ve read in a long time. Fascinating, sometimes haunting stories, not a dud in the bunch, and a definite pleasure throughout.
Good luck to all the authors! I look forward to seeing as many as can attend at the award ceremony at Norwescon 42 in just a couple months!
Book thirteen of 2019: 84K, by Claire North. #PKDickAward nominee. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in a distressingly plausible near-future dystopic Britain, the unrelenting dreariness was difficult for me. As with post-apocalyptic fiction, I’m not a big fan; I prefer more hope in my futurism.
🖖 #StarTrekDiscovery S02E04: A marked improvement over last week (no Klingons makes a big difference). Mysteries, science and technobabble, pissy fungus blobs, Number One, and reasons for no holograms on the Big E and (potentially) for no spore drive! Much better!
Idle curiosity: What other biological mutations would Dumbo have needed in order to fly, particularly given an elephant’s weight, the lack of bones to give the ears structure to support the body, and their forward placement meaning the body would tend to droop below the head?