( Spoilers within; read at your own risk )

Don't worry, there are no spoilers in this post. Beware the comments, though. :-)

I just got done with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Absolutely amazing. This is seriously the best book I've read in a long, long time. It actually broke into my list of top-5 favorite books, if you can believe it. Wow. I had some very high expectations ( Read more... )

The workshop was over Wednesday afternoon. Matt, my friend from U of A who now works in San Diego, picked me up from the hotel. I dropped my stuff off at his place, then we went out to eat at Islands restaurant, where I had a very tasty burger. We went from there to downtown San Diego, called the Gaslamp district, to meet up with Teemu, Wolfgang ( Read more... )

Dan Simmons is an author I greatly respect, not only for his fiction but also for his essays. (Here would be as good a place to start as any. Fascinating speculation about Shakespeare and his talent.)

Anyway, I just started looking through his forums, and I've discovered that he has attracted a group of really sharp thinkers. Specifically, I've ( Read more... )

The weekend of the 4th of July, Jeff S. (decidedlyodd) came down to Berkeley, his old haunt, to visit friends. Friday was the day of the ICSI picnic, and that evening, Jeff arrived in San Francisco and caught a BART over to Berkeley. mrsmalkav and I met him at the downtown Berkeley stop, and then we all went over to grab some food at the so-called "Asian food ghetto ( Read more... )

Last weekend I picked up "Hearts in Atlantis" by Stephen King in the bargain section of Barnes & Noble. (Hardcover for $6, sweet!) Lately I've been reading--gasp!--a couple of non-fiction books. Yesterday, some half-formed plans to be a tourist fell through, and I was in the mood for a good book, so I cracked open this one and began to read. ( Read more... )

Timothy Zahn has long been one of my favorite authors. He is one of the best authors out there at weaving believable technology with superb pacing and plot. "Manta's Gift" is one of his most recent novels, published in 2002 ( Read more... )

Dan Simmons has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read "Hyperion". He is also one of the most versatile authors out there, with horror, suspense, sci-fi, and mainstream titles under his belt--and he has won awards for many of those. Having heard about a new sci-fi epic by Simmons nominated for the Hugo award for best sci-fi novel of ( Read more... )

It's been forever since I posted! I guess it's time for a whirlwind update. Here are the highlights--those highlights that I can remember, at least--from the past month ( Read more... )

I'm sure you all have seen the movie "Fight Club". I personally consider it one of my top 5 favorite movies ever, so I was very pleased to get the book for my birthday (thanks, Sis!). The book is the debut by Chuck Palahniuk ("Paula-Nick"), and it includes an essay about the work by the author ( Read more... )