This was post-last session, leading up to the session I am going to run today. As usual it was written by Scott
Continue reading Exalted: What we did on our coastal vacation
Monthly Archives: April 2009
The Unseen Night Sky
Via Fred at Eternal Golden Braid.
Take a look at today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.
It’s a superimposed, black and white image of the nebulae and stellar formations which are normally too faint to see in the night sky, all together in their relative positions.
So while Earth’s night sky is impressive when you get to a dark and isolated place (as I confirmed on my trip to the Badlands last year), its even more impressive than that, if you could but see.
Dave Arneson, RIP
In case you haven’t heard, Dave Arneson, the other co-creator of D&D with the late Gary Gygax, has also passed away.
Some days, time IS the fire in which we burn.
Essential Fantasy Novels
On the heels of his SF list, Paul McAuley produces a work-in-progress of Fantasy Novels.
Once again, bolded is read, italicized is owned but unread.
48 Essential SF Novels
Via Andrew Wheeler
Paul McAuley recently listed the 48 books (from 1818 through 1984, for “not quite arbitrary reasons”) that he considers essential.
As with the usual protocol with memes of this kind, titles in bold are books I’ve read, titles in italics are books I own but haven’t read yet, and books struck through are books I completely disagree with.
Books Read to Date Apr 4, 2009
Books Read this Year to Date (bolded books were ARCs or otherwise given in exchange for review)
21 All the Windwracked Stars, Elizabeth Bear
20 City Without End, Kay Kenyon
19 Mortal Coils, Eric Nylund
18 Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey
17 What Happened to the Indians, Terence Shannon
16 Kitty Goes to Hell, Carrie Vaughn
15 Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, Carrie Vaughn
14 Drood, Dan Simmons
13. Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Carrie Vaughn
12. Kitty Takes a Holiday, Carrie Vaughn
11. Kitty Goes to Washington, Carrie Vaughn
10. Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Carrie Vaughn
9. History Revisted the Great Battles, Mike Resnick
8. The Planiverse, AK Dewdney
7. The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman
6 Fables #1: Legends in Exile, Bill Willingham
5. The Domino Men, Jonathan Barnes
4. Chariot, Arthur Cotterell
3. The Story of Mathematics, Ian Stewart
2. Pushing Ice, Alistair Reynolds
1. Gladiatrix, Russell Whitfield
Book Review 2009 #21: All the Windwracked Stars
All the Windwracked Stars is a novel by Elizabeth Bear.
Continue reading Book Review 2009 #21: All the Windwracked Stars
Book Review 2009 #20: City Without End
City Without End is the third in the “Entire and the Rose” quartet by Kay Kenyon.
Back to the Hugos
Author Sam Jordison, over on the Guardian, is slowly re-reading all of the Hugo Award winners. He most recently excoriated Fritz Leiber’s The Wanderer as being unworthy of having won the award.
Jordison, from what I have seen and tell, is not a deep fan of SF, so his view is not “inside baseball” by any means.
The entries in this series are not apparently tagged consistently, the “Back to the Hugos” tag does not show all of the novels he has read. The overall Books Blog does seem to catch them all, although he is only one of the contributors.
As Cheryl Morgan, and Jonathan Strahan have recently discussed on Twitter, his reviews and views on classic SF is definitely worth your time and attention.
Star Formation: The Game
Via Phil Plait (aka the Bad Astronomy Blogger)
Star Formation The Game.