Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Books I Read in July: Wherein I Partially Catch-up with My Blog After An Eventful Summer

In July we have seven books, though five of them are in two separate series compilations put out by the Science Fiction Book Club. These kinds of volumes are the best thing the SFBC does, and I've pretty much reduced my purchases from them to these sorts of compilations. This is mostly because single volume books from them are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, and they take up too much space. So, if you are listening SFBC people, more multi-volume compilations, please!

The Audran Sequence -- George Alec Effinger: 7/7/09 - 7/18/09

This is a SFBC compilation of three excellent novels originally published in the mid 80s - early 90s: When Gravity Fails; A Fire in the Sun; and The Exile Kiss. I read them when they first came out, and jumped at the chance to own them in a nicer format. They're sort of Arabic-cyberpunk-hardboiled crime-soap opera novels.

Virga 1.2 -- Karl Schroeder: 7/19/09 - 7/26/09

Another SFBC compilation, this time of two novels: Sun of Suns; and Queen of Candesce. The world is a gigantic gasbag where people sail around on currents generated by hot air. Sort of like Congress... Awesome adventure tales filled with cool SFnal ideas.

The Vondish Ambassador -- Lawrence Watt-Evans: 7/26/09 - 7/26/09

A naive ambassador from an obscure land comes to the court of the ruler of the world's most important city with a secret mission. Coming off the boat, he hires the first dude he sees as his assistant. The world's most incompetent spies try to stop him. Hijinks ensue.

Star Dragon -- Mike Brotherton: 7/30/09 - 8/3/09

Oh, hey, we just found the only known life forms outside of our solar system living on the surface of a nearby star! Let's send a crew of psychopaths on a nuclear armed spacecraft to go see if these unique beings are worth exploiting commerically. Oh yeah, the trip takes years (sorry, no FTL here!) and the only forms of recreation for the crew are boning each other and extreme cosmetic body modifications. Ugh, stay away from this book.

So, seven books, 5 as SFBC multi-volume compilations, and two on the Kindle (the last two onthe list, in case you weren't keeping track). A good month for reading books in alternatee formats.

Sidereal

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

New Word: facon

Facon: noun. a substance assuming bacon-like qualities (e.g. coloration, shape, texture) without capturing any of the true essence of bacon.

Examples:

and

Sidereal

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

WWJB (Who Would Jesus Bill?)

For all my fellow citizens (notice how I didn't refer to you as my fellow taxpayers?) who are of right leaning political persuasions and who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, I have the following questions:

When Jesus healed the sick, did he check first for proof of insurance? To whom did He send His bill?


Sidereal