Day 202: We’ve had the fall-themed gnomes out front since just after Halloween, but this weekend they were joined by a new figurine — a new gnome who is a little more excited about the next major holiday following Thanksgiving.
Year 50 Day 201
Day 201: As with many Sundays, an uneventful day at home, so here’s a fuller view of the wall of my home office that often appears behind me in photos. From left to right, the bookcases are: comics, graphic novels, nonfiction and non-genre fiction; two cases of Star Trek (with my Star Trek video collection stored on top); and two cases of non-Trek science fiction and fantasy. The skeleton is a Halloween decoration that will eventually get tucked away, but for now sits in that chair and startles me every time I walk into the room.
📚 Clarkesworld Issue 206 edited by Neil Clarke
64/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standouts in this issue for me were James Van Pelt’s “The Long Mural” and Louise Hughes’s “The Parts That Make Me”.
Year 50 Day 200
Day 200: Science still hasn’t determined the cause of the occasional craving for the tasty tasty cardboard goodness of a Totino’s Party Pizza, but when it hits, it hits.
Year 50 Day 199
Day 199: We actually made it home while the sun was still up today! It wasn’t a bad week, but it was a long one, and we’re both happy to be at the weekend and looking forward to the long weekend next week.
📚 Uncanny Issue 55 edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, Monte Lin, and Betsy Aoki
63/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this issue were Naomi Kritzer’s “The Year Without Sunshine”, Cecil Castelluci’s “We’re Looking for the Best”, and John Scalzi’s “Speed Racer’s Long Road”, which actually has me thinking about rewatching Speed Racer, which I haven’t seen since it first hit video.
Year 50 Day 198
Day 198: This is my “getting off campus later than expected for the third day in a row” face.
Year 50 Day 197
Day 197: Nothing fancy today, just a t-shirt I like. All it takes to be a “real” fan of something is to be a fan. No gatekeeping allowed!
📚 A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
62/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1993 Hugo Best Novel
This definitely holds up, and I really enjoyed re-reading it. From the concept of various zones where FTL travel (and higher technologies) are possible as they get further away from the center of the galaxy, to the exploration of group intelligence with the Tines (packs of dog-like creatures that are singular sentient entities when in packs of 4-6), it’s a really excellent read.
