Re: WWW:Wake

It’s so long since I invoked the 150 page rule, I think it’s time to restate it. Life is short. If you start reading a book, that doesn’t mean you have to finish it. Honest. The book won’t care. Sometimes, even though I’m not exactly enthralled, I feel obliged to give a book more of […]

Black-Eye Susan

The Black-Eye Susan that is not a sunflower is back. And the bees have found it. This is Halictus ligatus, another bee that I see fairly often, tiny bees bearing great saddlebags of pollen on their legs. Bugguide tells me he’s a male. If you look closely, you can see that he’s brushing his antennae. […]

Why I like the Kirk Poland

Bad Prose competition. Where else can you savor such gems as: Her face had the fragrance of the gibbous moon. and …a pile of dessicated eyeballs. It held in its hand a terrible battleaxe, the likes of which she had never seen. And now I know why nipples go spung.

Re: Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs

Is Readercon more fun than a barrel of dinosaurs? Don’t answer that. Read or listen to “Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs,” by Leonard Richardson first and enjoy the episodic adventures of two dinosaurs from Mars.

Re: Shambling Towards Hiroshima

Appropriately enough, I read James Morrow’s “Shambling Towards Hiroshima” all in one go while Gamera The Invincible played on Wolfman Mac’s Chiller Drive-In. It’s 1984, and Syms J. Thorley has just won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Baltimore Imagi-Movie Society. Known as the Monogram Shambler, his real name is Isaac Margolis. His most famous […]

The crowd on the bee and butterfly bush

The butterfly bush is surrounded by the darting shadows of bees against the all-too-clear blue sky. Amid the heat wave, this and the coneflowers are the main source of nectar around here. The powdery lavender scent is drawing an amazing variety of bees and such. Last year, the butterfly bush was the domain of the […]

Re: Boneshaker

The prologue is the most exciting part of Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest. In 1863, the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine went on a rampage. In Seattle, there was a boom when the failed 49ers passed through to strike out for the Yukon. Angling for a commission from the Russians to drill for gold, a mad scientist, […]

Divisive garlic

It hasn’t rained for a couple weeks. The heat is setting in. The less irrigated corners of the garden are getting crunchy underfoot. The rain barrel is even running low. This week is going to be hotter. Summer weather in July, what a concept. No wonder the garlic cloves I stuck in the ground last […]

Three cheers

For the red, white, and blue!

The bees have arrived on the coneflowers

The full trinity of bees have found the coneflowers. Bumblebees, honeybees, and Agapostemon Virescens. Let’s call her Aggie.