A storm of books

There’s some nasty weather coming through, so naturally I went out and got the essentials: a stack of books and a case of paper. This is the first time I’ve bought a whole case (there’s a 50% rebate deal at Staples), so it feels like now I have a lifetime supply of paper. Of course, […]

Crabapples multiply

While the apple trees I planted this year are still establishing themselves, the crabapple that inspired me is fruiting. Several handfuls worth. I guess keeping the weeds off the tree work. The crapapples look like big, hard cherries hanging in their clusters. Thing is, since crabapples are so tart, how do I know when they’re […]

Re: Thief of Time

One thing I am is stubborn. Another thing I is reluctant to leave anything unfinished, no matter how long it takes me. So after more than a year (has it really been that long? and is that really so surprising?), I am returning to my Pratchett Project. In my first pass, I read enough of […]

Reading list updates

Now that my Hugo reading is long past done and over, it’s time to admit that I have quite a list on request at the library. So this is what the Current Books section of my To Be Read stack looks like:

Fall surprises

Just when I had given up on my sad-looking, spindly poblano plant, it decided to prove me wrong. (I get to be wrong a lot in the garden.) It cleverly concealed its fruits in the shape of withered sunflower leaves amid all the withered sunflower leaves. And that’s not the only strange thing.

Re: Moral Machines

Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen raise some interesting questions in Moral Machines. Who is responsible when a driverless train runs amuck? Or when an automated medical system prescribes the wrong drug, or fail to detect drug interactions? Why do we react to a robot displaying emotions as if it could feel them? Does a bomb […]

Re: Iteration

If you’re feeling down about the state of the world and need some way to imagine it getting better, you could read “Iteration,” John Kessel. Enzo is a grumpy checker at Tyler’s Superstore surrounded by grumpy people, until he receives an email that says: “Re-invent the world.” Bit by bit, he does, and so do […]

Re: Sandra Plays For the Cast Iron Man

Sandra is playing piano at the last piano bar after the end of the world. Radok asks her for an unwelcome encore. As their argument grows heated, we discover steam and big honking rivets in “Sandra Plays For the Cast Iron Man” by Tom Crosshill. There punk also in its heart that longs for music […]

Harvest Moon

It’s the first night of autumn. There’s a full moon hazing its light through the clouds. Jupiter hangs below it like a fat jewel in the eastern sky. No way are the cats going to come in.

Re: A Whispering Voice

In a mix of rhymes, assonance, and chants, “A Whispering Voice,” by Elizabeth Creith is a prose poem about what Goldilocks did after she escaped the three bears. The first line dares you to keep reading, especially out loud. Goldilocks stalks the forest walks in ragged socks, regretting the courage that made her so bold […]