Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
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Book eighteen of 2020: Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sure, the miniaturization process is basically magic, and the only woman in the story is treated abysmally, even for Asimov. But if you can cope with those, the concept and adventure is still a lot of fun.
📚 seventeen of 2020: The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A fun, quick read; amusingly thematically appropriate for the moment. Only this has the advantage of being fictional with a satisfactory resolution. If only COVID-19 could be dealt with in five days.
📚 sixteen of 2020: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny ⭐️⭐️ 1966 Hugo Best Novel
Meh. Maybe it’s a combination of mid-60s SF and the current pandemic stress, and I might have been more receptive at another time, but this was a slog.
📚 fifteen of 2020: *batteries not included by Wayland Drew ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had vague memories of the film, but as it turns out, very vague: other than the tiny flying saucers, none of this was familiar. A pleasant enough bit of fluff to distract myself with, but not much more.
📚 fourteen of 2020: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A direct prequel to the Picard series, detailing the struggles, triumphs, and travesties of the Romulan relief effort. Also the most politically & socially currently relevant Trek novel I’ve ever read. 🖖
📚 thirteen of 2020: Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee
Good grand scope space opera, with neat questions on consciousness and the psychology of AI as used in ships of war. Figured out many of the reveals quickly, but still quite good.
📚 twelve of 2020: Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee
Really enjoyed this collection. Hopeful themes, and music winds its way through nearly every story in neat ways.
Happy Leap Day!
📚 eleven of 2020: The Little Animals by Sarah Tolmie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee
Unlike most or all of the other nominees, this was more historical fiction with a thread of magical realism—not a bad thing, though, as it’s a neat work that I very much enjoyed.
Since we’re going to have a Longest Night masked ball at Norwescon this year, I picked up a basic mask this past Halloween season. However, it was all black plastic, so I knew I’d want to decorate it somehow so it didn’t look like wearing blackface. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
This Saturday, the Mercury is doing a masked ball, so this gave me the impetus I needed to find an idea. What eventually came to mind as inspiration was Vinnie, Pizza the Hut’s henchman in Spaceballs. He’s a robot, but it was all done with makeup, no prosthetics.
My painting skills aren’t great—I have no idea how to do actual shading, it’s all solid colors and lines—so I doubt people would really connect the final result with the inspiration. Even so, I’m pretty happy with the end result.
Day zero: The base mask.
Day one: Sketching the design in pencil, and the first coat of white.
Day two: Second coat of white, and adding the metallic silver.
Day three: Detailing in black, and the finished product. Likely won’t be easily identified as the inspiration, but I think it still comes across as decently robotic. I’m happy with it, at least.
