48/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standout stories this month are Djuna’s “The People from the Dead Whale”, RJ Taylor’s “Upgrade Day”, and Arula Ratkanar’s “Axiom of Dreams” (which also introduced me to some mathematical concepts I didn’t know about).
geekery
Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.
Year 50 Day 130
Day 130: Today was the first ConCom (Convention Committee) planning meeting for Norwescon 46. It was good to get back into the planning mode with this group of friends, and I feel like we’re off to a good start. Once again, it looks like my job lineup this year is webmaster, social media manager, Philip K. Dick Award coordinator, and Thursday night DJ. Just six and a half months to get everything planned and ready to go!
📚 Grounded by David Bischoff
47/2023 – ⭐️
Uff. Bad enough that the characterizations are off for everyone, especially Picard, and that the threat comes off as a bad B-movie monster. But on top of that, one of the introduced characters is described as “having Autism”, which is presented as a disease in a way that may have been acceptable 30 years ago, but is just offensive now, and, of course, which later gets tied to psychic abilities and is apparently curable. Cannot recommend.
Year 50 Day 129
Day 129: Happy Star Trek Day to everyone* who celebrates!
* Everyone except whoever decided to pull the plug on Discovery so suddenly that they had to re-shoot key moments of the last few episodes to cobble together a series finale instead of a season finale, whoever decided to pull the plug on Prodigy so suddenly that they’re still finishing the second season and hoping that someone else picks it up to broadcast it, and whoever decided that an appropriate Star Trek Day celebration was a 22-minute “special”, the first two episodes of Strange New Worlds on broadcast TV, five “very” short animated bits (only one of which debuts today), and a 25% discount on the online Star Trek store. Seriously, why are the Ferengi Pakleds in charge of this franchise?
(Updated to change Ferengi to Pakleds. The Ferengi are far too profit motivated to do this bad of a job keeping the fans engaged.)
📚 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
46/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1992 Hugo Best Novel
Really good continuation of the story from Shards of Honor, even beginning the day after the earlier book ended. Bujold manages to create fascinating, sometimes relatable, and often very flawed characters, and to craft a world that’s an interesting mix of almost medieval feudalism and future technology. For a series I didn’t know anything about and initially approached with a little skepticism, I’m definitely understanding why it got the awards and the good words it has from many of my friends.
📚 Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
45/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
More interesting than I’d expected it to be, given that neither military nor romance are among my generally preferred SF genres. Bujold’s characters are interesting, making even the “captive falls for noble captor” scenario more workable than it might have been, though there were definitely still moments that didn’t really work for me. And there was an unexpected coda, unconnected from the main plotline and characters, that was a neat way to end the book.
📚 Nightshade by Laurell K. Hamilton
44/2023 – ⭐️⭐️
Some potentially interesting situations hobbled by poor writing and in need of at least one more editing pass. Characters seemed to make out of character decisions because that was what was needed to move the plot along. Not one of the more impressive TNG novels.
📚 Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
43/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Back to the wizards of Discworld. Last time (in Equal Rites) we had the eighth child of an eighth child, this time we have the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son, all wizards, making them a “sourcerer” — someone who can tap into the very source of magic to create new magic. This does not go well for the Discworld, or for hapless reluctant participant (not really a hero) Rincewind. Once again, somehow, while not necessarily doing much, the Luggage is a standout character.
📚 Mort by Terry Pratchett
42/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Death has made appearances in every Discworld book so far (my understanding is that this continues throughout the series), but this is the first where Death is more of a central character — though most of what we learn is through Death’s apprentice, Mort. A neat way to really start to flesh out Pratchett’s cosmology and how he approaches Death (and death) on the Discworld.
🎥 The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter (1984): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sure, the effects don’t match what can be done today, but they still perfectly capture the state of the art for the time, and the story is still a lot of fun. Plus, you have to love seeing Robert Preston in full Prof. Harold Hill mode once again.