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The Boroughs - Addiss and Matthews (2026)

The plot isn’t spectacular, the ideas aren’t novel (like at all), and the ending doesn’t track, but there’s a nice turnaround at the 3/4 mark. The acting and the mood are SUPERB throughout. It captures the “No one believes me” fear of old people in homes, there’s found family, and a focus on old(er) people, which was refreshing, and there’s a little Daddy-daughter stuff in there. The characters…

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The man who folded himself - Gerrold (1973) is a time travel story that started strong but got lost at the half way mark and never made it back. It is infatuated with a strange exploration of sexuality and misses a chance to be more interesting. #scifi #bookreview

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This is a fast paced, twist filled, science fiction novella. Using rotating viewpoints, it starts incomprehensibly and gets clearer as it goes along, mirroring our own growing awareness of just what the hell humanity has gotten itself into. #scifi #bookreview #books

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Gateway (Hechee #1) - Pohl (1977)

I came to this book because someone claimed the Hechee series was the best depiction of aliens they had read. I am no longer taking recommendations from that person.I spent the whole book going “When are we gonna see some action?” At the 99% mark I was like, “OK, maybe these last five pages will have something.” Nope. The writing was fine, probably more than fine, because I kept reading, but…

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This was an immensely enjoyable book for both my (pre)teen daughter and me as I read it to her at bedtime. I found it continuously engaging, delightful, emotional and having unexpected depth #bookreview #writing #arthurian #fantasy

The princess, the crone, and the dung-cart knight - Morris (2004)

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Stargate SG1: Solitudes (S1E18)

(Spoilers) This is a tougher, darker and deeper episode than most. It relies entirely on acting and writing for its effect. Props and effects are almost absent. It deals with some tough situations: claustrophobia, being shipwrecked, being lost, frostbite, freezing to death, starving to death not knowing what happened to close friends, feeling helpless against fate. On the brighter side of ledger,…

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Lord of Light - Zelazny (1967)

The story starts strong, with an intriguing premise, fast flow, world, cast of characters and striking writing style. The last quarter of the novel is disappointing: it goes on too long, the writing is weak and it waters down the payoff. Stylistically the writing feels like someone had read a translation of the Ramayana and felt compelled to write science fiction in that tone. Plot wise, it had…

Lord of Light - Zelazny (1967)

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The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi (2009)

(As usual, spoilers galore) Good: World building The story is excellent at building a far east colonial island vibe with a post apocalyptic post fossil fuels backdrop. This is the first time I’ve read an explorations of a spring powered society (Spring Punk? Tension Punk? Hookes Punk?) and it was quite fun. The book does this really well because a lot of the plot and backdrop is seamless…

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi (2009)

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A must read for both pleasure and study of technique. Each chapter is a piece of the puzzle thrown on the table, each containing an intriguing and increasingly unhinged fragment of the picture until, at the final chapter, the whole image is revealed to us. #scifi #book #review #horror

The hair carpet weavers - Eschbach (1995/2005)

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I really liked the writing and ideas in this "parallel worlds with a twist" story The ending lands without the full force that the buildup promises but very good nevertheless. #scifi #book #review

The City and The City - Mieville (2009)

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Freeze-Frame Revolution is a "Hard SF" novella that I didn't enjoy that much. It starts out with some interesting premises and promises but gradually fizzles out. #scifi #hardscifi #book #review

Freeze-Frame Revolution - Watts (2018)

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I enjoyed reading this book for the language and ideas. It is very likely not for everyone. #book #review #scifi #hardscifi

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A long way to a small angry planet - Chambers (2014)

I picked this up because I saw it highly recommended. I gave it the standard 20% read and looked up the synopsis online and it was a DNF after that. The primary reason was that it was – to be blunt – incredibly boring and none of the ideas were innovative enough to overcome that dullness. The general pattern of writing was some dialog then a pretty long info dump. As we went on the dialog became…

A long way to a small angry planet - Chambers (2014)

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I enjoyed this much more than the previous movies but the enjoyable part came perhaps on the final third of the movie. #movie #review #dialofdestiny #indianajones

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - 2023

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Mechanics: Organizing novel files (2)

It's the first quarter of the 21st century and it's really still just the ancient #vim #editor that can open a 140000 word manuscript for responsive viewing, and editing. #writing

(This is an iteration on my previous workflow. This post will make no sense and have no interest for most people. This is just me figuring out a better workflow for myself after several years of working.) tl;dr: New workflow The whole manuscript is one markdown file I use the neovim editor with the outline plugin to navigate from chapter to chapter Rationale My old workflow consisted of one…

Mechanics: Organizing novel files (2)

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Robot mop (Qrevo S) review

I am in pursuit of the future we were promised, where the robots do the housework and we write the poetry. Astute observers of the human condition will note that the LLM revolution has turned this future on its head, so that it is the robots who are writing the poetry and we’re cleaning the robots. Nevertheless, one sphere in which the robot revolution has gone in the right direction is house…

Robot mop (Qrevo S) review

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Borne - VanderMeer (2017)

Borne left me better for having read it, though for the longest time I could not figure out what it was. It isn't really science fiction but a story of relationships. #writing #bookreview #sff

Borne left me better for having read it, and that is all I ask of the journey. For most of the time I was reading it, though, I did not know what to do with it. It wasn’t really science fiction and it was pretty surreal and a bit tongue in cheek (I thought). For the longest time I kept looking over my shoulder in case this turned out to be an allegory or an elaborate metaphor or lesson of some…

Borne - VanderMeer (2017)