Updated Feb. 2017: I don't know if I will ever be able to read dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction again. It is all far too realistic, even more so than when I first got into it.

(Re-dated so I can more easily find the damn thing; started 3 Dec. 2009.)

Broken down by various categories; to be updated as necessary and as I remember.

( lists, and if you don't want anything resembling spoilers, not even 'this book is bleak, this one is not,' then don't click the damn cut tag )

I decided to reread Erickson's Malazan novels, because what better time to start from the beginning than right after finishing the end? Also, Tor is doing a reread, with blog posts and discussion, which has been handy for helping me catch even more things I missed the first time. But now I am all caught up with the Tor posts, and will easily finish ( Read more... )

A week ago, 3 days after all the snow had finally melted off the yard (quickly, too; it all went over the warm weekend, from over a foot deep to nothing!), I saw the first snowdrop of the year blooming. A couple days after that, I noticed one of the species crocus had bloomed. I suspect the big Dutch crocus had already started blooming, but I ( Read more... )

The SO's description of what a wet parrot smells like. Or, more succinctly, "EW ( Read more... )

I have read almost all of these, or at least other works by the authors. Except David Eddings, who perhaps now I will never read.

About the only time I wish I had a smart phone/PDA/similar is when I am compiling a list of books (or music, or movies) I want to track down, because when I hit libraries or bookstores, I really want all the authors/titles/notes along with me. And I want my ENTIRE list, not just a few things I scribbled on a scrap of paper before I walked out the ( Read more... )

I don't think I've ever read a book before where I actually hoped all of the characters would fail (and they are none of them villainous) and their worlds be destroyed, completely and utterly, and everyone would die, /knowing/ they had completely failed. That is how much the characters and the plot and the writing and the EVERYTHING annoy me ( Read more... )

A few years ago, the song I'm quoting in the subject line was playing on the intercom in the local art supply store, and it got me thinking. (Yes, that means I've been thinking about writing this post, and have been putting it off, for probably 3 years now ( Read more... )

At least in reality, that is. The fiction writers can blend architecture and SF to their hearts' content!

From an article about the BLDGBLOG book: “Architecture is, in many ways, a very specific type of science fiction; it is its own genre of speculative thought,” writes Manaugh. He’s convinced that architecture needs to be more exciting, and that ( Read more... )

AKA: Another slow day at work.

( lengthy )