(1) DAMN THE SPOILERS, FULL SPEED AHEAD. Scott Timberg writes for Salon on “The art of ‘Archer’: ‘The arc of the character of Archer is really interesting’”. I’m told there are spoilers – but I rarely watch Archer so I read the profile anyway….
Oh, yeah, Archer’s favorite movie is what again?
He loves “Gator” and also “Smokey and the Bandit.” And there are references to “Deliverance” and “Hooper,” all of them.
I took this show originally as a kind of guilty pleasure for other retro straight guys who like single-malt scotch and ’50s Playboy and “Man Men.” But I’ve found gay men and left-leaning feminist women who love “Archer,” too.
It makes me wonder: Is this a show that heroizes Sterling Archer as the coolest cat ever or is it somehow a critique of toxic masculinity? Is he a sleek, Bond-like hero or a cross between a frat boy, a hedge fund asshole and a lacrosse bro?
I think it’s all of that. But I also think it’s up to each individual viewer; I would never tell anybody what to think about it. What I personally love about it is that it shows all sides of Archer, this character. On one hand, he definitely fits the image of the lacrosse bro. And then he has a moment where he says, “Pam, I think you’re my best friend.” There’s a real heart to this person.
He’s not a flat character at all. He definitely has blind spots, you know? And he definitely pretends to have blind spots. There’s a description of him as “willfully obtuse,” which I think is quite apt.
(2) PARALLAX VIEWS OF THE NEWS. “Cassini sends back intriguing pictures of Saturn from new ring-grazing orbit” says the Los Angeles Times.
Cassini’s cameras captured the latest images of the giant hexagon on Dec. 2 and 3, a few days after the spacecraft first began its new orbit on Nov. 30. Each side of that six-sided figure is about as wide as Earth. At the center, a giant storm swirls on the north pole. It’s a surprising structure, surrounded by Saturn’s smoother rings, and scientists have long wondered how it maintains its shape. (Saturn’s larger cousin, Jupiter, has no such shape at its northern pole.)
“Forget the Great Red Spot – Saturn has a hexagonal storm” reports the BBC. (Both articles have the same newly-released photos.)
The destructive ending being planned for Cassini is a result of the spacecraft having nearly exhausted its fuel.
But Nasa is also concerned about the small, yet important possibility that the probe will crash into one of Saturn’s moons at some point in the future.
Given that some of these bodies, such as Enceladus, are potential targets in the search for extra-terrestrial life, it has the potential to contaminate these bodies with terrestrial microbes borne on Cassini.
Starting from April, Cassini will begin its grand finale, in which it will make the first of 22 dives through the 2,400km gap between the planet and its innermost ring.
The spacecraft will make its final plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn on 15 September.
(3) FUND APPEAL. Katherine Kerr needs to rebuild her career so she can afford her husband’s care. More details on her Patreon site.
Yes, my author photo there looks a little grim. Here’s why. Six years ago, my much-loved husband developed early-onset Alzheimer’s dementia. As you can probably guess, this turned our lives upside-down. My writing career first faltered, then ground to a halt while I desperately tried to take care of him myself. Didn’t work — we now have a full-time live-in caregiver while I try to get my writing back on track. Our primary caregiver, VJ, is wonderful but he isn’t cheap, just worth every penny….
What I want to do is get my writing career back on track. I have a contract for a new book in the Deverry universe. I also want to write more short fiction. In the meantime, however, those bills make it hard to concentrate. I spend about $300 a week on food, basics, and utilities, plus even more on medical expenses. My current income falls short. Any help I can get is very very welcome. And thank you all very much.
(4) HINES BENEFIT AUCTION #11. The eleventh of Jim C. Hines’ 24 Transgender Michigan Fundraiser auctions is for a flash fiction story from Stephanie Burgis, written specifically for the auction winner.
Today’s auction is for a brand new flash-fiction story written for you. That’s right, author Stephanie Burgis will write a story for the winner of the auction about any of the characters from her published novels – the winner gets to choose! You’ll let her know which character should be the protagonist, and Burgis will write it within a month of getting the commission. You can find all of her published works on her website.
Burgis reserves the right to share it with other readers later, but it will belong to the winner alone for the first month after she sends it to you.
(5) SWEDISH SF ARTIST LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER. There’s a new Kickstarter campaign for an RPG based on Simon Stålenhag’s art, “Tales from the Loop: Roleplaying in the 80s that never was”.
In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop.
Acclaimed scifi artist Simon Stålenhag’s paintings of Swedish 1980s suburbia, populated by fantastic machines and strange beasts, have spread like wildfire on the Internet. Stålenhag’s portrayal of a childhood against a backdrop of old Volvo cars and coveralls, combined with strange and mystical machines, creates a unique atmosphere that is both instantly recognizable and utterly alien.
Now, for the first time, YOU will get the chance to step into the amazing world of the Loop. With your help, we will be able to create a beautiful printed RPG book about the Tales from the Loop.
This game is our third international RPG, after the critically acclaimed Mutant: Year Zero and Coriolis – The Third Horizon. The lead writer is the seasoned Swedish game writer Nils Hintze, backed up by the entire Free League team who handle project management, editing, and graphic design.
(6) REPURPOSED HISTORY. The election of Donald Trump has made some people revise the history of the Puppy Wars of 2015 – can no one accurately remember what happened only last year? – to furnish a heroic example for the current resistance narrative. See — “Patrick S. Tomlinson Wants YOU To Fight The Power”.
Eventually, the intractable nature of the invaders became clear and a new strategy of opposition and containment emerged. To countermand the exploitation of the nomination rules slate voting represented, the equally devious, yet totally legitimate under the same rules, voting for “No Award” became the marching orders for the faithful.
And it worked. With a clear plan in place, our superior numbers and organizational skills kicked in and slapped the puppies’ poisoned pills out of five categories, doubling the number of times No Award had been given in the Hugo’s entire seventy-three-year history up to that point. I was sitting in the audience for the ceremony. It was electric.
And despite their whining in the aftermath about “burning down our own awards” the attack had been largely turned back. The very next year, puppy influence over the nominations had already begun to ebb, with fewer categories subject to full slating takeovers and fewer No Awards handed out as a result. More women and POC won major awards. And by next year, changes to the rules will see the threat recede even further in the future.
That is how in two short years we beat back the puppies, and that is the model we have to use now that the same sickness has metastasized onto our society, indeed all of Western Civilization. It’s easy to forget now, but the facts are the forces of fascism and intolerance are exactly like the hordes of GamerGate and the Puppies. They are loud, angry, aggressive, shameless, and without scruples.
But they are also a clear minority. As of this writing, more than two point three million more Americans had voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. More Americans voted for Democratic Senators. More Americans voted for Democratic Representatives in the House. It is only through exploitation of the rules in violation of the spirit of American democratic ideals that the forces of intolerance and bigotry maintain their majorities. This has been true for more than a decade. This makes them vulnerable to our superior numbers should we have the foresight and resolve to set aside our petty bickering and unify in an organized fashion and agree to a coherent plan of counterattack.
(7) POLISH FANZINE. For Eurocon this year the publishers of the Polish fanzine Smokopolitan produced an English-language edition, which includes two articles about fandom. You can download a .mobi or .pdf version here.
We proudly present our special English issue, created for Eurocon 2016 in Barcelona. Inside you will find short stories by, among others, Pawe? Majka, Andrzej Pilipiuk and Micha? Cholewa, as well as essays about many branches of speculative fiction in Poland
(8) GLENN IN HOSPITAL. Former astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn reportedly has been hospitalized for the past week.
Hank Wilson with Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs said Wednesday that the 95-year-old Glenn is at the James Cancer Hospital, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has cancer.
Wilson said he didn’t have other information about Glenn’s condition, illness or prognosis.
Glenn apologized for his poor eyesight this year at the renaming of Columbus’ airport after him. He said then he’d lost some of his eyesight because of macular degeneration and a small stroke. Glenn had a heart valve replacement in 2014.
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY
- December 7, 1925 – Future five-time Olympic gold medalist and movie Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in 150-yard free-style swimming.
- December 7, 1945 – House of Dracula shown for the first time. The film features four different actors in the role of Frankenstein’s Monster: Glenn Strange, Boris Karloff (via footage from The Bride of Frankenstein), Lon Chaney Jr. and his stunt double, Eddie Parker (via footage from The Ghost of Frankenstein).
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
- Born December 7, 1915 — Leigh Brackett, a famed sf/f creator in her own right, as well as mentor and sometime collaborator/co-author for Ray Bradbury.
(11) ANOTHER BEST OF THE YEAR LIST. The list of 44 books in “NPR’s Best SFF of 2016” has “Something to outrage (or at least annoy) almost everyone, I expect….,” promises Chip Hitchcock.
(12) AMAZING STORIES, THE MAGAZINE. Today Amazing Stories highlights “’The Great Milo’ by David Gerrold”, one of the stories by established pros included in its issue along with winning stories from its Gernsback Writing Contest. The tag from Gerrold’s story is —
Never piss off a man who buys ink by the barrel.
(13) COMING TO A TBR PILE NEAR YOU. Nancy Palmer and Bertie MacAvoy agree – they loved Craig Russell’s Fragment.
Nancy Palmer reviewed it at her website.
…I ended up reading the whole thing, compulsively. It’s a slender volume. The story, however, is a big one.
Sometimes what’s scary about a thriller is its plausibility. One of the things speculative fiction writers do best is tell the truth sideways. And there’s a lot of truth here. Craig Russell’s near future ecological and political world are a little too easy to imagine as reality. It was a compelling, but uncomfortable read: I found myself reading faster as the story progressed, hoping there might be some way to avert disaster. Maybe something in the way of hope, that might be carried past the pages of the book and into the outer world. The hubris and political manipulation in Fragment: yes, there are real-world analogs. Seeing the potential outcome as spelled out in this novel? Dread inducing. But I couldn’t look away.
And Bertie MacAvoy praises it, too:
I just loved Craig Russell’s first novel, Black Bottle Man, and told him so, although I didn’t know the man at all. It was an old-fashioned sort of novel, very much in control, and I found it fantastically well written. May others have agreed, if you look at the number of awards it received for a debut novelist. I awaited his second novel eagerly.
Not only is it just as good, or better, but it is wildly unconventional, even for these most unconventional S.F. days, and it caught me so firmly I wasn’t even aware of the tricks he was playing on the reader until the book was 65% read. I love being tricked, when it is done well. (Done poorly, however, of course, I just feel let down.)
It strides the border between intricate Science Fiction and an almost Kafka-esque style. And doesn’t break the rules of either. That is the ultimate trick.
So I advise all and sundry to read ‘fragment’. You will be the better for it. And, it’s quite a thrill-ride.
(14) CLIPPING SERVICE. “How The Internet Unleashed a Burst of Cartooning Creativity” is a piece on Medium.com that was originally published in The Economist in 2012 (so it’s not behind the Economist paywall). Randall Munroe is prominently featured, but Kate Beaton and Zach Weiner are also interviewed. Also of interest is the section on Arab cartoonists who would be censored if they were restricted to newspapers but are freer to express themselves on the Net.
Triumph of the nerds
The decline of newspapers and the rise of the internet have broken that system. Newspapers no longer have the money to pay big bucks to cartoonists, and the web means anybody can get published. Cartoonists who want to make their name no longer send sketches to syndicates or approach newspapers: they simply set up websites and spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Randall Munroe, the creator of “XKCD”, left a job at NASA to write his stick men strip, full of science and technology jokes (see above and below). Kate Beaton, a Canadian artist who draws “Hark, A Vagrant”, sketched her cartoons between shifts while working in a museum. Matthew Inman created his comic “The Oatmeal” by accident while trying to promote a dating website he built to escape his job as a computer coder.
The typical format for a web comic was established a decade or more ago, says Zach Weiner, the writer of “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal”, or “SMBC” (below). It has not changed much since. Most cartoonists update on a regular basis?—?daily, or every other day?—?and run in sequence. “I think that’s purely because that’s what the old newspapers used to do,” says Mr Weiner. But whereas many newspaper comics tried to appeal to as many people as possible, often with lame, fairly universal jokes, online cartoonists are free to be experimental, in both content and form.
(15) SFFSFF. The annual Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival (SFFSFF) at Seattle’s MoPOP has announced its program selections for the January 28, 2017 event. From Seattle Seahawks battling giant monsters through the city’s streets to a mind-altering cell phone app with unintended consequences, this year’s lineup of 23 films is presented in two packages with a 30-minute intermission between sessions and concludes with an awards ceremony. Ticket information and further details at the linked site.
(16) SCOUTING REPORT. This Inverse article – “11 Science Fiction Books That Will Define 2017” includes the official title and cover for book #3 in Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy.
Science fiction books have always looked toward the future through both creative speculation and adventurous escapism. After the 2016 Presidential Election, science fiction authors are poised to be more influential than ever before.
Luckily for readers, sci-fi authors are known to churn out their books like rabbits, creating a never-ending stream of great works. In 2017, we’ll see the continuation of several acclaimed book series, but will also have plenty of impressive standalone science fiction, too. Below is a list of eleven books that are slated for release in 2017 that will define science fiction in the upcoming year. Keep in mind these dates can be finicky, and that they can change at warp speed. But, otherwise, happy reading to your future self!
[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, James Davis Nicoll, John King Tarpinian, Dawn “No Middle Name” Incognito, J(“No Middle Initial”)J, Hampus Eckerman, and Chip Hitchcock for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Anthony.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
First! Also, Babylon’s Ashes (the latest Expanse book) is already out in my local brick and mortar bookshop. Kudos to Orbits distribution network!
Ticky
(6) I think I hurt myself rolling my eyes so hard.
Missed edit window: the eyeroll was in reference to “marching orders”.
J (“No Middle Initial”) J
*snort*
(6) REPURPOSED HISTORY.
WTF is Patrick S. Tomlinson smoking? 🙄
And why isn’t he sharing it with the rest of us?
[X]
HOUSE OF DRACULA –a film with too many promises and parts, and fails to deliver. Starts off well, somewhere in the middle of it, it goes wrong.
(3) this is a case of “catastrophic healthcare expenses”, which most developed countries other than the US try to protect their people against. Bad enough to deal with the grief and struggles of the disease; one shouldn’t have to fear bankruptcy or loss of care as well.
(6) either my marching orders got lost in the mail or I’m not one of the faithful. Darn.
Thanks to those mentioning the Annie Bellet giveaway on Amazon. Am enjoying book 1.
(16) SCOUTING REPORT
“The Stone Sky” is a title that bodes really badly for Jemisin’s characters. Easily my most anticipated on this list. I’m interested to see what Scalzi Does Next, so The Collapsing Empire is on pre-order. I’m also interested to see the Stross, although his Merchant Princes setting might be my least-favourite of his works (which is praising with faint damns). His revised versions of the earlier novels did work better though, and with a bit of a restart in this series (I understand it’s same-setting-different-characters) I’m optimistic.
I also might be anticipating the Ada Palmer sequel, but Too Like The Lightning hasn’t even made it to ebook in the UK yet.
(5) SWEDISH SF ARTIST LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER
Do you notice their cunning plan to have really good art without having to pay more for it? 🙂
This sounds really interesting, with a theme of 80s kids exploring the strange (and an alternate US setting so you can play Stranger Things if you want) but the only thing worse than my tbr pile is my “games to run” list.
16 sci-fi authors are known to churn out their books like rabbits
Well, there’s a mixed metaphor my mind didn’t need at this early hour.
Still, yeah, the Stone Sky does sound like Jemisin’s characters are in for it. Quelle Surprise.
I am very much looking forward to Empire Games, because the Merchant Princes series is where I got first turned onto Stross’ work.
Sci-fi-authors are known to scroll out their files like pixels.
or
Im dreaming of a white pixel
11) Yeeps, I have read none of NPR’s “Best SFF of 2016” list. Own copies of 3 in the TBR pile, have about another 6 on a books-of-interest-list at my local library or on a wishlist at B&N or on Overdrive. And about another 6 I see in the list that I wouldn’t mind reading eventually.
(Does rough count of number of books on my library/Overdrive/B&N wanna-read lists: about 450. Goddamn it….)
The longer summary available on Amazon makes it look like a new-protagonist/old-protagonist split, though we’ll see.
Wonder if these books will follow up on the prospect raised of going massively crosstime instead of being limited to about three worlds, and where worldwalking came from.
I have read three of the best SFF books of 2016 (one of which, The Lie Tree, was actually one of the best SFF books of 2015 where I am). There are a few others which I mean to read in due course (in the case of Jerusalem, that means some time in the next ten years). Now, as a normal reader that wouldn’t be a problem – it makes perfect sense to read books quite a while after they first appear (wait for the paperback, wait for the UK edition, wait for awards shortlists to tell you what is significant), but as a Hugo voter I feel I should be a bit more on top of things.
As I said a while ago, there don’t seem to be many books standing out as the ones you ought to read this year. Or perhaps I am just missing out on the gossip.
Clicky.
I notice that the Inverse list is specifically science fiction, and yet includes The Stone Sky. This seems right to me, but I think the author herself calls it fantasy.
The Scroll of the Marquis des Files
@Andrew M
I’ve often wondered if Fifth Season would turn out to be more science than fantasy in the end (or some flavour of Science Fantasy) but as you say Jemisin has stated it’s definitely fantasy – I think I read an interview where she was a bit surprised that people might think otherwise.
I think that what makes me think it feels like science fiction is that she’s determined to fully examine the details of the world she’s built.
(That may say more about me than Jemisin’s work though!)
Oh, how many times must a fan tick that box
Before they are finally subscribed?
The next line, my friend,
Was used here once before,
So we’ll skip the rest of the song.
Can’t seem to subscribe this morning. Could someone try turning the blog off and then back on?
@KIp I think editing your autoexec.bat and config.sys files is needed.
16) Scouting Report: So someone can already predict which will be the most influential of a bunch of books not yet published? That’s a pretty bold move there.
6. Yes, I think it a bit over wrought, but there is a direct connection between the Alt-Right crowd and Rabid Puppies, so it is not all that far-fetched.
I wrote to Luke O’Brien, author of a piece titled My Journey to the Center of the Alt-Right Here because there were so many SF references in the piece (not to mention the title) and he confirmed that he left out references to the puppy movement in his piece because there was just too much ground to cover; he did send me a link to a “meet the perps” post Here
In his email response he stated that there were direct connections between GamerGate, Rabid Puppies and the Alt-Right movement, not just ideological similarity.
The “movement”, whatever you want to call it – I call it Fascism – HAS to undermine free thought (not to mention undermining all reliable news sources) as part of its strategy. There’s no bigger collection of free-thinking progressives trying to entertain (“brain wash”) our youth than the SF field, and no other collection of thought-producers who identify as intellectually “elite” than the SF field. It stands to reason that Fandom and the field would come under attack in our current political climate.
(11): I’ve only read two (LaValle, Tidhar) out of the 44 on this list, although five more are in my TBR pile (Samatar, Mieville, Palmer, Danielewski, Liu), and the Evenson will probably make it onto Mount TBR also.
(11) I’ve read 3 (Jemisin, Kij Johnson, Mishell Baker), bounced off one (Anders), and have two on my to read list (LaValle, Samatar).
(3) Katherine Kerr – Sorry to hear about her husband. A loved one losing their mind while being sound of body is one of the hardest things to deal with.
Several of her older books have come back on the market in ebook lately. I bought several.
(6) – What JJ said.
I’ve read 6 on the NPR list, and have several of the others on my holiday wish list. Lists like this are very helpful, in case I missed some things! It looks like there are several graphic novels on that list as well!
The ones I have read are Central Station, Borderline, All the Birds in the Sky, The Dream Quest of Vellit Boe, The Obelisk Gate, and Necessity.
I’ve read Ape House and it is sorta SF, if you squint at it right. Excuse enough to post this here. The author tries her hand at being a scalper, it goes poorly, and she’s actually confused as to why anyone would have a low opinion of her.
An article.
A sample of commentary.
As a sometimes collector of various things, I rank scalpers amongst the lowest of scum.
Mark: Perhaps Jemisin takes the line that science fiction has to be about the possible?
It looks like there are several graphic novels on that list as well!
Ah, true. I spotted the Coates, but not the others. Would they be worth checking out for Best Graphic Story?
The list also includes a couple of novellas, and one work (by Shaun Tan) which would seem to belong under Related Work, if anywhere.
@Mark
“Everybody Must Get Stoned” would have been worse, though.
steve Davidson: There’s no bigger collection of free-thinking progressives trying to entertain (“brain wash”) our youth than the SF field, and no other collection of thought-producers who identify as intellectually “elite” than the SF field.
Much as I like our field, colour me skeptical on both of these declarations. “A big collection of…” I can grant, but not the flat assertion we’re the biggest. It seems a bit “fans are slans”, to be blunt.
“Everybody Must Get Stoned” would have been worse, though.
“Everybody Gets Stoned” is even worse.
(11) Of those, I’ve only read The Obelisk Gate and The Ballad of Black Tom.
So very many books, so very little time.
@Darren Garrison– Scalper got scalped! Justice served.
I like seeing best-of lists and will-be-great lists, but I don’t have time right now to go over all the new-to-me books in these lists (mostly NPR’s; I’ve heard of a lot of the “Inversion” list sequels).
(11) ANOTHER BEST OF THE YEAR LIST. Three books I enjoyed already, several books already on my TBR stack, a handful of stuff I’m familiar with but not interested in, and a lot of stuff I don’t know (judging books by covers: much of the latter looks like YA and/or lit-fic). I like how returning to the page shows the book covers in a different order.
(16) SCOUTING REPORT. It’s weird to say which books will define next year (but #5 will amaze me and @bookworm1398, no doubt!), especially when 8 of 11 are sequels, Nth of Y series novels, and starts to sequel series. Or maybe most people except me are reading all of these series already. 😉 Still, there are two already on my list (Scalzi’s and Jemisin’s) that probably will be big (if not “defining”), despite the hype. And it’s great to see the cover and title for “The Broken Earth #3! 😀
@Mark (Kitteh): So my copy of the first “Merchant Princes” novel is obsolete? I didn’t realize he’d revised the earlier novels. (I, blush, haven’t actually read this novel I own.)
@Andrew M & @Mark (Kitteh): A debate for the ages (or not) – personally, I see Jemisin’s series as fantasy. Maybe, uh, hard fantasy??? Although I could accept the Science Fantasy label if I squint a bit.
@Kip W & @Paul: LOL.
Science news for students is talking about tech from Star Trek that might become a reality soon (or is already). Link
So they’ve discovered a bit of dinosaur tail in amber.
Ebook sale a.k.a. Meredith Moment: M. C. Planck’s The Kassa Gambit is $2.99 (ETA: U.S. sale) and should be DRM-free. I’d had my eye on it for a while, so last night I read the sample, skimmed a few reviews, and picked it up.
Then, forgetting for a moment that I’m in the middle of City of Blades, I started continuing the book before bed time. Whoops! Unlike some folks here, I can’t read a bunch of books at once, so I put it aside for after I finish City of Blades.
ETA: Planck’s ebook is indeed DRM-free, but the iBooks version can’t be read by Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre viewer, so there’s something weird about it. I don’t care (I use iBooks), but FYI. The Kobo version’s also DRM-free.
@Kendall
The original six volumes got merged into 3 with quite a lot of revisions, so if you intend to try it I’d pick up the first volume of the new 3. There’s a blogpost giving the convoluted history here.
@Various re 5th Season
I think Kendall’s “hard fantasy” expresses my thoughts on the series better than I can.
“Everybody Gets Stoned” is definitely a possible ending, I’d give it evens in fact.
Of the NPR “best of” list, I’ve read none, one is on my iPad, one I can imagine buying but have a harder time imagining it would make it up the queue to actually being read.
This is why we need lots of “best of” lists sliced in all different directions. (Just like we need to rely on more than one source for identifying a “person of the year.”) The world is wider than one source’s opinions.
Your scroll is lifting me, Glyer
(apologies to Rita Coolidge)
Finished “The Devil You Know” by K. J. Parker and found it tremendously frustrating for key plot- and structure-related reasons. I know a couple of you have also read it, and would like to gauge interest before typing a rot-13 essay. Anyone interested in discussion?
ETA: Bill, I guffawed. Nice one!
Ive read 2, which is more than I suspected, since I rarely read books the year they came out (Too little time)
Tor is clearly aiming on becoming more influence on this site : See this title! No wonder the puppies are worried!
@Mark
Hard Rock Fantasy even.
Continuing on a musical note, I like “I Am a Rock,” “Love Me Like a Rock,” or “Rock Around the Clock,” although “Gimmie Shelter” has some appeal since it’s by the Stones.
@Dawn Incognito
I haven’t read it, but will read a more detailed review with interest.
@Greg
Ha, and the sequel trilogy will feature various grades of heavy metal?
(Also: Like a Rolling Stone)
(6) Actually, for the House of Representatives, the Republicans have a lead in the nationwide total vote by about 2.5 million votes.
Also, the Democratic lead in the total nationwide vote for the Senate is literally true but somewhat misleading, given that (a) as usual for a Senate election year, about one-third of the states didn’t even have a Senate race on the ballot, and (b) in the largest state, California, the general election for the Senate was a runoff between two Democrats with no Republican on the ballot due to California’s unusual “top two” election law process.
A very pleasant Peter S Beagle short story over at tor.com – The Story of Kao Yu
@Greg Hullender: Continuing on a musical note, I like “I Am a Rock,” “Love Me Like a Rock,” or “Rock Around the Clock,” although “Gimmie Shelter” has some appeal since it’s by the Stones.
I think the obvious choice is “Rock This Country”.