Re: Sly Mongoose

I’ve been having a terrible run of luck with fiction the last week, none of them worth talking about, though I was tempted to take a picture of the stack of books I could barely start that went back to the library. To some degree, I managed to break that streak with some kickass Azteca-Caribbean […]

Birds on a rainy day

It’s still raining, but that’s not slowing down these goldfinches. One stuck to the nyjer feeder, while others foraged on the coneflower seed heads. Everyone is wearing their winter plumage, so I guess I won’t be seeing any wild canary-yellow birds zooming by until next summer. Still, with that buff background, the white borders on […]

Re: Libraries in the Ancient World

A slim book that speaks of many books, from tablets to scrolls to codices, Libraries in the Ancient World, by Lionel Casson, offers a swift overview of book collections in the West. From the origins of writing, libraries have been dealing with cataloging the holdings, repairing damaged books, and preventing theft. In a way, all […]

Birds from a sunnier day

Here’s some pictures I’ve been saving for a rainy day (and yes, it poured today and it’s going to keep pouring, they say). For some reason, I get excited when I see a woodpecker visiting the cat entertainment center bird feeders; I guess it seems more “woodsy” than a sparrow. Based on its size, compared […]

Flaws and Growth

I’ve been working my way through listening to the podcast, Writing Excuses, and an episode that got me thinking is their discussion of Flaws & Handicaps. After defining flaws as internal and handicaps as external, they talked about how flaws can drive comedy and how handicaps can create constraints that define the story. But the […]

Awwww

I missed a day. I didn’t manage to hit “Publish” before midnight, and I was too sleepy to notice. But them’s the rules. I missed a day. That’s how it works when you make a resolution. Eventually you trip. Mostly, I’m relieved that I don’t have a perfect record to maintain. It figured that I […]

Re: Craphound

“I, Row-Boat” was so enjoyable, it reminded me to look for more from Cory Doctorow, and I went all the way back to his first professional sale, “Craphound.” This story is available in a variety of formats, from hard-copy to podcast, and they all start the same: Craphound had wicked yard-sale karma, for a rotten, […]

Last Fruits?

The fall-bearing raspberries I planted this spring are actually bearing fruit already. In fall. Lots of them. Nom, nom, nom.

The Fabric of Reality – Part II: What I didn’t like

As I mentioned last week, The Fabric of Reality is a thought-provoking book, but sometimes it’s just provoking. The book spends too much time blasting away at theories that aren’t useful and misrepresenting theories that are commonly accepted, not enough time crossing over some of its logical leaps, and no time at all discussing valid […]

Re: The Young Woman In A House of Old

If you’re in the mood for ornate prose and intense emotion, Vera Nazarian is just what you need. I liked her Nebula nominated “The Story Of Love” just enough to want to read more. So now I am reading more (in her collection Salt of the Air), and while some stories I didn’t finish and […]