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Mar. 18th, 2010 10:08 amFinished: Sun of Suns (Book One of Virga), by Karl Schroeder (reread)
Started: Queen of Candesce (Book Two of Virga), by Karl Schroeder (reread)
It's a reread, so I don't really have extended comments. I still quite enjoyed it, it's a light actiony tale of navies and pirates and towns made of wood spun for gravity, with some cool SF ideas thrown in the mix.
Finished: Shadow's Bend, by David Barbour and Richard Raleigh
So, Shadow's Bend is a story of real life pen pals (who came close but never actually met in person) HP Lovecraft (creator of Cthulhu and such) and Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan), on an adventure and road trip when Lovecraft comes across an artifact that suggests the otherworldly horrors in his stories may be true. A kind of irresistable premise. So how was the book? Ehh. There were a few good moments, but mostly it read like long fan fiction, and not especially good fan fiction. More detailed, with a few spoilers, behind the cut. ( Read more... )
Started and Finished: Midshipman's Hope,, by David Feintuch (reread)
Started: Challenger's Hope,, by David Feintuch (reread)
There is something so cracky about this series. I really shouldn't reread it as much as I have, and what's more, I really shouldn't COMPULSIVELY keep reading. It's one of the few books that I'll usually pick up at home just to get to the next part. And it makes no sense. It's not bad, but it's not especially, objectively, good either. It's set in a future in which there's been a big conservative backlash, Church and State are in bed, and because journey's between colonies takes about a year and a half, the Captain of U.N. Naval vessels (as lone representatives of the government) have extreme powers up to and including ordering hanging, impressing people into a five year term of enlistment in an emergency, etc. The Navy runs something like out of the Napoleonic era. Midshipmen are regularly caned if they get too far out of line because it builds discipline. And a main character who's decent, honorable, religious, has daddy issues up the wazoo, and sworn to uphold his oath to the Navy despite quite often being thrust into impossible situations, ( Read more... )
...
Anyway, speaking of books and writing, it looks like I probably will not be attending one of those writer's workshops after all. But at least it's not due to my own cowardice. Apparently, I didn't even know signups had started for the workshops, and they're already all full up. Oh well. I probably would have backed out for other reasons (if you needed a laptop or something I couldn't go anyway), though a part of me did want to meet other aspiring writers in the area and perhaps set up some contacts.
TV-wise, Caprica's still going good. Only a couple weeks till new Who, and Stargate Universe is going to be back again soonish I think. Looking forward to both. Lost, though, has been a disappointment. (spoilers ahoy). ( Read more... )
Oh, and this was on Writer's Block a while back, and liked it, so I'm posting it:
If the interior discussion in your head were indexed by category, what would the five most recurring subjects be?
1. Writing. Plot ideas mostly, but some characters, lines of dialog, etc. Mostly my own stuff, some just ideas for cracky pointless fanficy stuff that I'll never actually write down (What if Veronica Mars joined the Stargate program), but I put it all under writing. I'll put my What I'd Do With series here too, even if I haven't had one in a while.
2. Imaginary conversations. Things I either wish I had said to somebody in a past case, or what I wish I could say to somebody, or what I might say in the event somebody asked me something that they are unlikely ever to ask.
3. Not quite the same as #1, but semi-daydreaming myself in various situations... having super powers, being lost in another world, being in a zombie apocalypse, or being in the situation of another book.
4. TV/Books, what I think might happen or what I think is wrong with them now or the particular things I like about them.
5. Self-loathing
5 sometimes moves up the list depending on the time of year. So yeah, I spend a lot of time in the land of imagination.
In "things breaking" news, you know my computer? The one I bought... oh, about a year and a month ago I think. No, it's okay. But the new keyboard that came with it spazzed out and died on me. So I went back to the one I'd had about 4 years before that. I guess they really don't make them like they used to. Edit: And meanwhile, my OTHER computer's keyboard, which is even older... has spontaneously HEALED itself. Before, the home and end keys didn't work. Not a big problem, but annoying. Now they do. WTF?
And while writing this entry, I turned my head in apparently what was the wrong direction and now my neck is sore and stiff. :P. Alas.
Started: Queen of Candesce (Book Two of Virga), by Karl Schroeder (reread)
It's a reread, so I don't really have extended comments. I still quite enjoyed it, it's a light actiony tale of navies and pirates and towns made of wood spun for gravity, with some cool SF ideas thrown in the mix.
Finished: Shadow's Bend, by David Barbour and Richard Raleigh
So, Shadow's Bend is a story of real life pen pals (who came close but never actually met in person) HP Lovecraft (creator of Cthulhu and such) and Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan), on an adventure and road trip when Lovecraft comes across an artifact that suggests the otherworldly horrors in his stories may be true. A kind of irresistable premise. So how was the book? Ehh. There were a few good moments, but mostly it read like long fan fiction, and not especially good fan fiction. More detailed, with a few spoilers, behind the cut. ( Read more... )
Started and Finished: Midshipman's Hope,, by David Feintuch (reread)
Started: Challenger's Hope,, by David Feintuch (reread)
There is something so cracky about this series. I really shouldn't reread it as much as I have, and what's more, I really shouldn't COMPULSIVELY keep reading. It's one of the few books that I'll usually pick up at home just to get to the next part. And it makes no sense. It's not bad, but it's not especially, objectively, good either. It's set in a future in which there's been a big conservative backlash, Church and State are in bed, and because journey's between colonies takes about a year and a half, the Captain of U.N. Naval vessels (as lone representatives of the government) have extreme powers up to and including ordering hanging, impressing people into a five year term of enlistment in an emergency, etc. The Navy runs something like out of the Napoleonic era. Midshipmen are regularly caned if they get too far out of line because it builds discipline. And a main character who's decent, honorable, religious, has daddy issues up the wazoo, and sworn to uphold his oath to the Navy despite quite often being thrust into impossible situations, ( Read more... )
...
Anyway, speaking of books and writing, it looks like I probably will not be attending one of those writer's workshops after all. But at least it's not due to my own cowardice. Apparently, I didn't even know signups had started for the workshops, and they're already all full up. Oh well. I probably would have backed out for other reasons (if you needed a laptop or something I couldn't go anyway), though a part of me did want to meet other aspiring writers in the area and perhaps set up some contacts.
TV-wise, Caprica's still going good. Only a couple weeks till new Who, and Stargate Universe is going to be back again soonish I think. Looking forward to both. Lost, though, has been a disappointment. (spoilers ahoy). ( Read more... )
Oh, and this was on Writer's Block a while back, and liked it, so I'm posting it:
If the interior discussion in your head were indexed by category, what would the five most recurring subjects be?
1. Writing. Plot ideas mostly, but some characters, lines of dialog, etc. Mostly my own stuff, some just ideas for cracky pointless fanficy stuff that I'll never actually write down (What if Veronica Mars joined the Stargate program), but I put it all under writing. I'll put my What I'd Do With series here too, even if I haven't had one in a while.
2. Imaginary conversations. Things I either wish I had said to somebody in a past case, or what I wish I could say to somebody, or what I might say in the event somebody asked me something that they are unlikely ever to ask.
3. Not quite the same as #1, but semi-daydreaming myself in various situations... having super powers, being lost in another world, being in a zombie apocalypse, or being in the situation of another book.
4. TV/Books, what I think might happen or what I think is wrong with them now or the particular things I like about them.
5. Self-loathing
5 sometimes moves up the list depending on the time of year. So yeah, I spend a lot of time in the land of imagination.
In "things breaking" news, you know my computer? The one I bought... oh, about a year and a month ago I think. No, it's okay. But the new keyboard that came with it spazzed out and died on me. So I went back to the one I'd had about 4 years before that. I guess they really don't make them like they used to. Edit: And meanwhile, my OTHER computer's keyboard, which is even older... has spontaneously HEALED itself. Before, the home and end keys didn't work. Not a big problem, but annoying. Now they do. WTF?
And while writing this entry, I turned my head in apparently what was the wrong direction and now my neck is sore and stiff. :P. Alas.
