newnumber6

So there's a new kitty around the apartment (since the same day I posted last about the possibility, things happened fast). He's not a baby, don't know exactly how old he is, but he's a smallish kitty, already litter trained, black. Cute guy, not the OMG cute of a baby kitty. Quite a lot of energy too, the other cat would never follow me into my room and this guy races me in there sometimes.

Anyway, on to other things:
Book Foo!

Finished: Probability Moon, by Nancy Kress
Started: Iron Sunrise, by Charlie Stross

Thoughts about Probability Moon behind cut, not terribly spoilery except general concept stuff. Quick thought: okay, not especially memorable.

Probability Moon focuses mostly on an anthropology team investigating a humanoid race on a distant star, with a particularly curious society. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, the military is investigating a moon of the planet which seems to be an alien artifact that might be key to winning a war.

It was okay. It didn't really evoke any strong feelings one way or another. The central conceit of the alien race (not really a spoiler since it's mentioned on the back of the book), that they're all compelled to share the same worldview and opinions on things due to an unknown mechanism that makes them feel pain when they disagree is interesting although I'm not sure if it was portrayed entirely convincingly and consistently with all the permutations. Still, it was probably the best part of the book. I did kind of want to get more on the alien race they were at War with, but guess that's being left for the sequels.

I might read the second book in the series if I happen to find it used, but it's not one of those series where I read the first book and think, "OMG MUST FINISH"

Finished: A Meeting At Corvallis, by S.M. Stirling
Started: Brain Rose, by Nancy Kress

Thoughts on A Meeting after the cut, not spoilery since I know some on my flist are reading the series. Short version: Not bad, a little flatter. Don't know how long I'll stick with the series, though.

This is the third book int he Emberverse series, an 'alternate world' in which, for unknown reasons, almost all technology above and including steam power no longer works, so people are forced to go back to older ways of doing this, including combat. So basically it's like a fantasy/historical epic, except without any magic (although people believe in it and there are iffy moments throughout the series), and where many of the people fighting are modern day people who remember modern day things. And of course, there are the Stirling writing ticks. I've said many times, he's the kind of writer I love for his ideas and where they let my mind go rather than for his actual writing. He spends, for my tastes, far too long on things like battles (which tend to bore me in fiction) and certain themes and character types keep popping up that I don't care for. Still, it's mildly satisfying as a sort of conclusion, if a bit flat at points.

I still would have liked a little more time spent on finding creative ways around or to exploit the new physical laws that made the new societies formed essential, rather than focusing all on sword/bow battles with a few more modern tweaks.

I say 'a sort' because it's not the end of the universe by any means (although it does seem to be designed as a conclusion to the first round of plots). Looking at Wikipedia it looks like there are at least 5 more books upcoming. And although there are certain aspects of the series I'm really interested in (particularly how in specific it ties in with the Nantucket series, and whether there'll be any specific crossover rather than just "oh hey my relative was in that other series" type in-jokes), I just don't think I have the patience or the interest to read that many more books in the series. I think I'll stick to 'maybe if I find them used' here, too, and, maybe, that might be a good policy for Stirling in general.

What else? Well, it's a writing cycle, but since I'm spending some of tomorrow helping my dad move some stuff out of storage, I figured I'd get a jump on it and... yesterday I completed the whole writing cycle. So I actually have a built in break, and it also helps provide me with a bit of practice for whenever I decide to up my word count goals. I've still been working on the novel-length project, which I've been doing for the last 5 cycles (making it, I think, officially my longest of those, not counting NaNo). So yay me.

And although I'm done with my writing quota, that doesn't mean I'll not be doing any writing... I'll still be working on editing and I'm also slowly working on two different projects I'm trying out in the comic form. One an ongoing idea I've had for a while, and another a sort of SF/Horror short (don't know exactly how long it would wind up being yet because it's still in the early stages, but I'd say 3 regular size comic issues feel about right so far). So we'll see how it goes.

We're also changing internet service providers and phone service, so if I drop out of contact, and the unlikely event that's noticed, that might be why. Not that I communicate on the phone at all, but something I suppose could screw up on the internet. We'll see. Possibly TV too, which would be somewhat more annoying, but at least it's summer so not much is on, and I could download anything that is.