2100: What Does the Future of Healthcare Look Like?

2100: What Does the Future of Healthcare Look Like?, (no editor information available) (2019?)

Update to entry pending

Normally, I start off these entries saying like "not a review, just some notes to help me remember what I read". In this case, I'm not sure I wish to remember. I'm deliberately leaving out names, so anything negative I have to say won't get associated with them in any web searches. Also, the book contains no copyright information other than the authors retain the rights to their own stories which have not been published elsewhere. I'm assuming this book is from 2019, but there is no way to know.

Update: I just discovered that all of these stories are available to be read online from the foundation that hosted the contest. I guess a link would be helpful.

I was recently at a book reading/book launch party for an anthology that I wanted to participate in. (Maybe I'll write about this some day.) There was a raffle, and I won two books. This was one of them. I figured that it was a skinny collections of short fiction (flash fiction, really) and I could squeeze it in by the end of the year.

It didn't look too promising, to be honest, as it turned out to be a compilation of stories that were the winners of a competition about health care in the future. I didn't recognize any of the names of the authors, and glancing through the full-page bios padding the end of the book didn't help any.

A few stories in, and I couldn't help but wonder if the stories were chosen because of the messages they contained, and not because they were written particularly well. (They are not.) If this was the best of the competition, then there was just about literally no competition.

The theme of the book is "What will healthcare look like in the year 2100"? But it reads like, imagine the worse problems of today (again "imagine" if you want), and multiply them -- not exponentiate them 80 years into the future. But leave everything as it is -- or again, as you imagine it is -- today.

The lead-off story began in the recovery room after a baby had been delivered and taken to the nursery, and we find that the mother is married to another woman and that 90 years from now, this is still a problem with both sets of parents. Okay, let's get to the health care now. The entire plot revolves around an AI doctor's assistant and a bed-ridden doctor (who just gave birth) telling the other a bunch of things that the other already knows. Then there's a sudden complication out of nowhere, and we hear how healthcare still sucks 80 years from now. About the only thing interesting in the story is that the baby, Ava, tests positive for the Sickle Cell gene, which the black mother knew she carried, but was unaware that the Hispanic mother also carried.

Stop and think about that for a second. The baby inherited a gene from both mothers. Okay, now this is science fiction. That is your starting point -- THAT IS YOUR STORY. How did they edit those genes together? How did they overlook this? How can they fix the baby?

Nope. Instead we get that black mothers are still (in 2100) three times as likely to die in childbirth, even though they are not a minority any more. (And you know something? There's a better story in that sentence than the one we got.) But I'm not going to critique the story I didn't get. This one, however, is terrible.

Follow this with a story that takes place in a climate change dystopia with a main character who is one of the lucky ones, one of the survivors, and who owns firewood made from the last of the redwoods. (The goal is to replant them.) He's also 100 years old, lived through the Health Care Riots, and cured many horrible illnesses, which, once again, insurance companies never pay for.

This is another story which is two characters drinking brandy and talking to each, explaining the previous century. Worse -- do not read if you are tired -- the author switching between first and last names of the two characters so often that a couple of times I forgot which was which. They both sounded the same, after all.

...more to come ... or maybe not ...

A Dozen "Dozen" Game Books

A Dozen Dozen Game Books, Philip J. Reed (2019)

Entry pending

I spent a lot of time reading gaming material in the latter part of the year. Altogether, those pages could comprise a book the size of many others I'd read this past year. And they were better written than some of the things I subjected myself to (particularly things I didn't bother to list on the blog).

The title of this post doesn't mean that I read 144 books. It means that I read many of the books in the A Dozen Adjective Nouns series by Philip J. Reed (@philipjreed on Twitter). There will eventually be more than a dozen of these, and many are already available for preview by the backers of two separate Kickstarter campaigns. (And I'm one of them.)

Here are some of the coming PDF files:

On top of this, there was an additional Kickstarter for Delayed Blast Gamemaster #2, which had issues #1 as an add-on. These were each 48 pages of well-thought-out source material.

I thought all of this merited an entry before the end of the year. The question, in my mind, is how to count them. Definitely as one. Maybe even two -- one for Delayed, and one for the Dozens.

Below is a list of the supplements I've read already read, mostly presented here so I'll know what to put next year:

Delayed Blast Gamester, issue 1 (48 pages) Delayed Blast Gamester, issue 2 (48 pages) The Book of Unusual Potions (64 pages) A Dozen Ancient Dragons (14 pages) A Dozen Arcane Spell Components A Dozen Sinister Rumors A Dozen Dreadful Rumors more to come ...

Classics Illustrated: Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare)

Classics Illustrated: Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare (Author), (Illustrator)

[image pending]

I don't know where I got this graphic novel from -- probably from the library. It's been in the basement for a while. I didn't read illustrated classics as a kid because they seemed to dense. I picked up a few when I started teaching (they were in the class library), but those seemed very thin. If you didn't already know the story, you might not know what was going on. Then again, if you did know the story, you'd see how much was left out.

So... Romeo & Juliet. I've watched the Franco Zeffirelli film from 1968 with Olivia Hussey and ... other people that I could google. And I've seen the modernized version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, which kept the dialogue but modernized everything else. I prefer the former. There are also a billion adaptations -- skip those.

What I didn't know about this comic -- even though it's on the front cover in the lower corner, and explained on the back -- is that this was a "Quick Text" version, which leaves a bit out. There is a "Classic Text" version, which I may or may not have liked (even if that's want I might have wanted), and a Plain Text version of the same comic (which I probably would have enjoyed the most).

The downside of this is that most of the Shakespearean language is discarded, and when it is included, it sticks out oddly.

Another problem of the Quick Text is the artwork. The art was created and framed to allow for large word balloons. Without them, there are many tall panels with people's heads and shoulders at the bottom of the frame and a lot of empty space above them. It looks weird, and you wonder what the artists (and the editors) were thinking.

As for the story, you know it. Not much to say, except that the review of the material helped when I covered a drama class and they had to do a reading of the sword fight between Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo. At least I knew enough what was going on (and who was who) to explain to the students.

TL/DR: go for the Plain Text or the Classic Text. Skip the Quick Text. Or just read the play.

Mathematical Recreations (Kraitchik)

Mathematical Recreations , Richard H. Minear (Author), Maurice Kraitchik (1944)

[Image pending == its just a green cover with a geometric pattern]

I have too many old math books in my basement. Years ago, I made a practice of attempting to read one math book each summer, and to see how far I got before I gave up. Reasons for giving up: the math moved beyond me, or the notation became tiresome to figure out.

There are times when I might prefer a sentence to a nifty equation. Consider the difference between four or five lines of programming, and a single line of "clever code" that can accomplish the entire thing. Or even a paragraph explaining just what is going on.

Sometimes I feel I'm not the audience for these books, which is usually a 1940s grad student or above, or a 21st-century math professor (and above).

This book has been in my possession for at least a decade, and was taken from a pile of discards in the William E. Grady Technical-Vocational High School teacher center, which was formerly the Math Dept office. The book had been removed from circulation from the school library years earlier.

The title Recreations caught my attention, because I thought it might be more fun and games and puzzles. Not exactly, but still interesting. The problem with math puzzles is that once you work one out, they lose a little of the magic. And repetition of similar problems start to feel like homework. On the other extreme, problems that are impossible to figure out (or just behind your capability) are too frustrating.

That said, there was some interesting "stuff" in the books, including an old sheet of paper containing a list of scholastic websites on one side (they're probably all dead links by this point), and calculations on the back, mostly related to Pythagorean Theorem. I had several posts about those over a decade ago.

When I picked up this book at the beginning of the month, I thought I could possible knock off a chapter every day or two, and then write about it on my math blog. Rather than link all the individual posts, here is the link to the "Books" tag.

https://mrburkemath.blogspot.com/search/label/books
All the posts relating to this book are in December 2019. There will possibly be a wrap-up post in 2020, but I don't have time to think about it and write it now. Other projects are coming up with deadlines.

This book will probably be left on a table at the next Heliosphere science fiction convention in NY in April. Hopefully, there will be another math book there to join it. I hope to tackle another one (also with a page of notes as a bookmark) after I finish a couple other things.

Flash Fiction Library: A Touch of Darkness (McLachlan)

Flash Fiction Library, Volume 1: A Touch of Darkness, Keith McLachlan (2016)

[NO IMAGE WILL BE INCLUDED]

Okay, so I've been dabbling in a bunch of stuff over the past month or two, starting a couple of paper books, and even carrying them around, as well as starting (or resuming) a couple of crossword and cryptic crossword books that I need to work on or toss out. (And if you know me, I can't just toss things out.) And there is so much gaming material in PDF format that I'm currently plowing through.

At some point, either through FreeEbooks on reddit, or perhaps a mailing list, I found four volumes of flash fiction, which are usually good if you want a quick read, maybe with lunch or something.

This wasn't it.

I'm including this as an entry on my blog, because I tried. I even completed the first story when I should have given up after the second paragraph, and then again by the second page.

Self-publishing is fraught with peril, and if one cannot afford an editor, then one should at least run it past a couple of friends. Preferably one who is an English major. I wasn't, but even I could see what was wrong with this book.

And if you gotten to the point of creating four (short) volumes of stories, you should probably go back and correct the initial ones. Also, learn basic rules of writing, including the rule that says that you need to know the rules before you can break them.

This book on Amazon had only one review, which was a five-star rating and a summary that wasn't even true. I left a two-star review, with the second star being because I was overly nice, and I wasn't finishing this book.

Dr. Seuss Goes to War (Minear)

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, Richard H. Minear (Author), Dr. Seuss (Illustrator), Art Spiegelman (Foreword)

I'm a math teacher but I work as a substitute. One day late last month, I had a coverage in a history class, and as I sat at the teacher's desk as glanced back at his bookcase, one title jumped out at me: Dr. Seuss Goes to War.

I had known that Theodor Geisel (aka, Dr. Seuss) had done war cartoons, but I don't think I've ever seen more than a sample or two. And suddenly here they all were! (Not all of them, actually, which I didn't know until I read the text.)

I couldn't let the opportunity pass, so I took the book back to the teachers' room during my prep period, and by the end of the day, I had read all of the comics. However, I had little time to read the commentary. The good news is that the book was available as an ebook from the public library. The bad news is that this book sucks as an ebook.

Part of the problem with reading just the comics is that there are references to historical people who I hadn't a clue about. I knew (from all things role-playing materials) the Charles Limbaugh became involved in politics after flying across the ocean, but some of the other names meant nothing to me. One was a world leader while others were editorial and opinion writers. Seuss had a problem with the New York Daily News along with some other publications as well.

One of the problems with the ebook is that the comics are grouped by topic, not chronologically. And the text is heavily annotated -- there are links to each of the comics, which is great, but jumping back to the text is a pain in the backside. This is one time where it would be better to have a finger holding one page while you flip to the other. Maybe there are easier ways to do this in Kindle, but that's beyond my current knowledge of its functionality.

Another surprise reading through the book: a Horton-like elephant appears in several comics, with tusks in two of them, even though he's supposed to be an Indian elephant. At first, I thought this was a prototype, but somewhere the text (or possibly, I "googled" it) I discovered that Horton Hatches the Egg was published in 1940, which was before Seuss went to work for P.M., and created these comics. I never read Yertle the Turtle, either as a kid, or to my kids or nieces or nephews, but the proto-Yertle appears in these pages.

A fascinating read, but if you can, go for the paperback.

Post-script: When I searched for the book image and author information, I found out that the paperback was published September 2001. An odd time to be going to war, don't you think?

The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster's Guide to Life (C. Monster)

The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster's Guide to Life, Cookie Monster, Julie Kraut (Ghostwriter) (2018)

Of course, a monster would have a ghost writer!

You probably already know what you're getting when you pick up a book written by a Sesame Street Muppet. If not, the teeth marks and the missing bite in the corner should clue you in.

The book is similar to other inspirational books, with a quote or passage on each page or two. In this case, familiar adages, proverbs, nursery rhymes and even song lyrics appear, except rewritten in Monster-speak -- e.g., using "Me" instead of "I" -- and centering the quote around Cookies. But that is generally just the beginning. If Cookie Monster were to say "Ask not for who Cookie tolls, it tolls for me", it would be followed by whatever actions or thoughts might occur to a monster after saying something like that. And there might be an illustration.

There are Word of Wisdom, like Keep Calm and Eat a Cookie, and three recipes, complete with monster-speak directions. The first recipe is simple enough for young hands to try. The last is several pages long.

I'd glad I held onto this book. This was a "rescue book" -- one that was in a pile to be donated, where quite a few of them became books to be recycled. (The garage leaked a little.) I knew I would enjoy it, and I did.

It also reminded me to follow Cookie Monster on Twitter.

Corrected tags: Science vs SF

At some point, it seems that I forgot that I had an "SF" tag and started using "Science" and "Fiction" as two separate tags. The Science tag was meant for books with actual science in them (usually nonfiction). I've corrected that.

I hope.

If anyone spots an errant tag, please feel free to leave a polite message.

How to Break Up With Your Phone (Price)

How to Break Up With Your Phone , Catherine Price (2019)

This was among a bunch of books slated to be removed from my house. The title intrigued me, so I took it out of the recycle pile. As a result, I only read this in school, not at home, because someone might've been upset that I'm rescuing what is supposed to be trashed. But I digress...

My phone is the least of my problems. Until a few years ago, I still had a cheap flip phone because it was costing me about $7 per month, and because I still have a legacy house phone that isn't going away any time soon.

However, it could be said that I have a problem with my iPad and any working PC with Internet at work (or at home). I'll sit down to do one thing, and I'll find myself checking out the same handful of sites over and over again, and not getting done the things I'd planned on doing. That sure kills writing projects (and sometimes comics), and is one of the reasons I no longer post weekly TV/movie/whatever reviews on another blog I maintain.

Oddly, I've gotten better about the number of sites I visit because typing on the ipad is a pain, and I use the ipad more than the pc.

Anyway, I thought the book's focus might be transferable, and in some ways it was. If nothing else, it's stuff to watch out for as I upgrade to my next phone and start using my features and functions.

The downside is that the book is really a Read-a-Day book where you are supposed to reevaluate your relationship with your device over the course of 30 days. I did not do this. I have no need to. So I just read through.

If you are addicted to your phone, there are likely good tips in here. If you are annoyed when people are on their phones when you're hanging out, you may want to give them a copy of this. If they are annoyed with you for the same reason, you should read it.

Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice: The Dark Rival (Watson)

Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice: The Dark Rival , Jude Watson (1999)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

In the final pages of the first book, there's an Epilogue that is really just a set-up for the next book. We find out that Qui Gon's first padawan, whom he lost, is still alive. He lost him to the dark side. (I don't know if this mentioned in the first movie or any other expanded universe stuff.) Qui Gon took the boy from his planet with his father's blessing, but for his last step as a padawan, Yoda sent the two back to that planet. Xanatos's father was preparing for war. Without spoiling too much for whomever reads this, Xanatos turns away from the Jedi and now embraces the dark side of the Force. And he has major issues with his former Master.

As such, it was Xanatos would arranged for Qui Gon to be sent to Bandomeer. Less clear is if he arranged for Obi Wan to go there as well, or if he just assummed that Qui Gon would have a new apprentice at this point. Xanatos is bent on revenge, even if he plays it cool, but his plans include taking that revenge out on Obi Wan, who he believes is Qui Gon's apprentice. (He is not yet.)

Bandomeer is a farming world, but it is also being mined by Offworld Corporation, run by Hutts, which employs Xanatos, who has his own plans for this, too.

A good follow-up to book one in that it continues the plot and characters (even the minor ones), even though it has a different writer. Also, it was a bit shorter. This one was also rated RL 4.

Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force (Wolverton)

Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force , Dave Wolverton (1999)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

As soon as I saw the first two books in this series sitting on a shelf in the Teacher Room at the high school I'm currently assigned to, I knew I had to borrow them. The fact that the apprentice was Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Jedi was Qui-Gon Jinn just made it better. The fact that Scholastic had labeled it RL 4 was less attractive, but it didn't deter me. Actually, that meant that I should be able to read both and return them before anyone notice they were gone. (Or if I was suddenly reassigned, I wouldn't have someone else's property!)

The first book in the series opens about a month before Kenobi's 14th birthday when he'll be asked to leave the Jedi Temple that he's known his whole life if he isn't selected to be a Jedi's padawan before then. He'll be "condemned" to a life as a farmer, a fate he hopes to avoid. His problem is that he is easy to anger, which isn't a good trait for a Jedi Knight.

His main rival at the temple sabotages his chances of meeting with -- and battling in front of -- Qui-Gon, who has been without a padawan for some time now since he lost his last one.

Despite his performance, and the reveal that he'd been set-up, Qui-Gon does not choose to train him, even over prodding from Yoda. Kenobi is to be sent off to a farming world now because there a ship ready to go, and it can't wait for his birthday. As the Force would have it, Qui-Gon is sent on a mission to the same planet and travels on the same ship. And that's where the trouble begins. There are two separate groups of miners on board, one of which is run by the Hutts. They aren't happy with Jedi being on board.

When the ship is attacked by pirates, Qui-Gon battles the boarding party while Obi-Wan steers the ship out of danger, but has to set it down on a planet with dragon-like creatures. (Oddly, these creatures sleep in the air and rest on mountain tops, but there's no other life on land. All other life seems to be water-based. This doesn't make much sense, but we're only getting a snapshot of the world.)

I enjoyed the book, and, geek confession, I still haven't seen Episode 1 in its entirety in one sitting, but this is still a fun read. In some ways, it's like Clone Wars (or a prequel to it), in that Obi Wan is dealing with Anakin's anger issues as well as his impatience, even as Anakin has his own padawan (who is actually better than the other two at this point).

Speak Thai (Flood)

Speak Thai: The Easiest Way to Learn Thai and Speak Immediately , Daniel Flood (2019)

NO IMAGE ADDED

There are lots of free ebooks out there, so many that I've stopped downloading things just because they were free. But every now and then, a title pops up that intrigues me. If a newsgroup online (okay, it was really a "subreddit"), the author posted a link, stating that the book was free for a short time.

His approach makes sense: you don't need an extensive book that covers everything. ou won't see a zebra in Thailand, so you don't need to say it. On the other hand, there are too many references to "ask a native speaker" because they will be glad to help. I'm not going to find a native speaker (outside of a restauurant), and I'd have to keep asking them to slow down so I can hear how the language is spoken.

Speaking is the problem. There are a few references to how some letters or letter combinations are promounced. There needed to be much more than that. When it gets to the the useful phrase chapter, there are no suggested pronunciations next to any of them. I'd likely try to say them as if they were English words.

So, it's nice that it's short and free, but it needed to be a little longer (or less chatty). And it seems like the "easiest way to learn Thai" is to go there, immerse yourself, and listen to natives. However, that isn't very easy, and it definitely wouldn't be immediate.

Tales from Dragon Precinct (DeCandido)

Tales from Dragon Precinct , Keith R. A. DeCandido (2013)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

To date, I have read all the Dragon Precinct novels which have been published. I have not read all the stories. As I discovered in a sit-down at Heliosphere (NY) this past spring, Keith has submitted a number of Precinct stories to various anthologies that ask him for stories. Some of those are collected in this volume. Not all, obviously, because it was printed in 2013.

The better stories are the ones that remind me of Barney Miller episodes, even if I don't try to see specific analogues. The only downside was that the "first meeting" story, which concludes the book, was published in one of the actual Precinct books -- or at least in the edition that I purchased. (People who bought it "back in the day" might not have seen it.) The other amusing thing -- and this isn't a criticism, but a hazard of having submitting stories to many outlets -- is that I recognized when DeCandido reused a passage about calling the resident wizard to crime scene. A quibble.

None of these stories are "required reading" to enjoy the novels, but they fill in the gaps. The other books sometimes reference past cases, and some of those are in this book. The funny thing is that some of them were written after of a reference in a novel, not before them.

Fun book. Fills the long gap until either the Phoenix or Manticore books are written. And now I'll have to get More Tales.

Buffalo Dogs (Schoen)

Buffalo Dogs (The Amazing Conroy, Book 0) , Lawrence M. Schoen (2001)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

Not a book, just a story from 2001, which was republished as a standalone book, available for free. It's a great introduction to the series. And least I hope it is because I haven't read the series, but I would like to.

Disclosure: I've met Schoen at conventions, and while I doubt he'd remember it, we even had dinner together once, as a group of six were trying to eat before other panel appearances. (My brother and I were the only two who were not panelists, but I gave a ride to one of the others.) I also own a small Buffalo Dog stuffed animal that I won at a Reading at a different convention -- there were twelve people in the room, so he rolled a d12. Woo Hoo!

Back to the story. Conroy is a space-traveling hypnotist who works lounges on foreign planets and space stations. He gets into a little bit of trouble after his act one night with some literal-minded aliens who are also somewhat telepathic. The major export on the planet are their buffalo dogs: little animals that could be carried around the way celebrities these days keep one in their purses.

As a result of the mixup, Conroy finds himself forced to become a licensed dealer, who is able to transport one dog off-world at a time. Females cannot be taken unless they are neutered to keep control of the supply. Back when a trader gets arrested for smuggling, Conroy is enlisted because of his license. He puts his hypnosis skills to good use, and likely set up a great future business for himself.

They Called Us Enemy (Takei, Eisinger, Scott, Becker)

They Called Us Enemy , George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott; Illustraded by Harmony Becker (2019)

IMAGE COMING

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

Last month, I got an email about an event at the Barnes & Nobles in Union Square. George Takei would be there signing his new book. Advance reservations were needed, and tickets included the price of one book. Everyone was told in advance that he would only signed these books, and did not pose for photos. It was an interesting evening. I just wish I'd picked a different seat. I sat in the center, a little farther back, instead of in a closer row on the side. I didn't know how they would call us up -- section by section or row by row. So I sat for a half hour more than I otherwise might have.

On the bright side, I got to read most of the book while I was waiting.

They Called Us Enemy is a graphic novel of a story I'd heard before. Takei has already published an autobiography, which I listened to many years ago. And I've heard a TED Talk he gave once. I believe this story as told here is based on a TED Talk, if only because there are "present day" scenes of him talking to an audience. (It could also blatantly say in the book that it was based on this, and I'm just not remembering it. Wouldn't be the first time.)

Putting the story in this form brings a new dimension to it, helping the reader to visualize what his family and other families went through. It also opens it up to a new generation who are big on graphic novels, and who might be spurred on to investigate further. (Takei's biography, for example.) And the story goes beyond the war, integrating back into society and fighting for the rights of many Japanese whose rights were trampled during their internment. Fascinating read.

That said, the parallels that they try to draw with current day political situations fall flat. No one will be awakened by the comparison. No opinions will be changed.

The most poignant parts of the book, were the father-son talks, particularly those after the war, when George learned things that he hadn't realized when he was just a child. Another important moment, as Takei started working politically to make the world a better place, he had the chance to meet Eleanor Roosevelt. Unfortunately, his father felt ill and went home early. Only later did he learn that his father faked the illness because he didn't want to shake the hand of the widow of the man who had put him through that ordeal.

Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy: 20 Dynamic Essays by the Field's Top Professionals

Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy: 20 Dynamic Essays by the Field's Top Professionals, the Editors of Analog and Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (1993)

IMAGE COMING

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

If this entry seems rushed and uninspired, it's because I spent more than a half hour writing what I wanted to say, added tags and scheduled it to post the following day, and then hit the Publish button -- only for it to vanish into the ether. I just took a long lunch break and I'm trying again. I may hit the Pause button and come back tomorrow, at any time.

This book, from the editors of Analog and Asimov's science fiction magazines, was published in 1993, and it's been in my possession for nearly as long. I don't know where I got it from -- it doesn't appear to be a Book Club edition, or have a reduced price sticker from a book store. Maybe I bought it at a convention?

In any case, this was one of those books in a pile that I decided this past summer needed to be read and passed on.

The book is divided into sections on writing, science, and markets, with the last section being woefully out of date. The essays themselves are old, old even for 1993. Some were published in the magazines in the 80s, but a few stretch back into the 70s. There's even an entry on writing by Robert Heinlein from before I was born. Age doesn't adversely affect most of the book. Writing is writing, and the science is still true, except that we might know more now, and have better ways to express and calculate things. For example, one column, as an aside, explains what a spreadsheet is and how to make a simple one to handle the calculations of the article. Others might have benefited if spreadsheets had been available at the time.

The best of the Science articles is Poul Anderson's entry on how to build a planet, which covered different size stars (and why the largest ones would not have developed life yet) and the distance a planet would have to be away from these stars to have similar luminosity that Earth has. Once that's established, you can calculate the how long one revolution has to be. For the planet itself, the size will dictate the gravity (among other factors), and the axial tilt will give you seasons and habitable zones. You wouldn't have an ice planet, but you might have one where the ice portion was more habitable than the desert areas, for example. won't well for establishing colonies. And he does it will a couple of graphs, but spreadsheets would make the work so much easier.

Colonies, in my opinion, are the way to get around the "Star is too young to have developed life". And there's no reason why a colony couldn't be underground, or in an asteroid belt with a planet for a base or reference point.

A couple other notes: one essay was written by Jane Yolen, whose name only came to my attention maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but whose work I'd already been familiar with. I picket up a collection of fairy tales (some retellings, some continuations, others totally original), which included a story that seemed familiar. Going through some half-finished anthologies, I found a similar story that shared a theme. (It might even have been rewritten for one anthology or the other.) Strangely, I could almost swear that I'd heard another take of a similar tale (or the same one) on tape, but that would have had to have been in the late 90s, so I could be imagining it or mis-remembering.

Asimov's entries about what worked for him are fun to read, even though you know that this would never work for anyone else, especially today.

Again: disjointed because I'm trying to remember the first time I wrote all of this.

The other happy surprise was seeing the name Ian Randal Strock in the Table of Contents. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ian on a panel at Heliosphere NY this past April. (The topic was "Useless Superpowers".) Just before the panel started, we had been discussing the book he had in front of him, The Presidential Book of Lists: From Most to Least, Elected to Rejected, Worst to Cursed : Fascinating Facts about Our Chief Executives (I wrote that entire name out because I'm making a note to look for a copy of it). Aside: he hated the "worst to cursed" subtitle because everyone asks him, so which one was the worst, and they're all expecting one of two answers -- and both of those people served after the book was published. Note that it is NOT that kind of book. It (as the title says) is a book of lists. Interesting stuff, not demagoguery. Second aside: I was the last one to introduce myself, and I mentioned that I co-authored GURPS Autoduel, 2nd edition in the 90s, and that got an "Oh" from Ian. Nice to know I impressed someone.

Sadly, his entry in the book was just a list of science fiction markets, which while great at the time, is woefully out of date. Many of those magazines no longer exist (although some might have folded and been revived in the past two and a half decades) and the editors of the others had likely moved on. And, of course, most of these publications now accept submissions online instead of via surface mail.

The book closes out with the actual submission guidelines for both Analog and Asimov's, which are great as historical documents, but not much else.

Glad I finally read it. I'll be happy to pass this one on. And I made quite a few notes from Anderson's piece in case I ever try to place things in a hard sci-fi environment. Not likely, but who knows.

hook line sinker (Rowe)

Hook Line Sinker: An Online Resource Book for People who Teach Mathematics, John Rowe (2019)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

I didn't read this over the summer as much as perused it. As the title says, it's an online resource, meaning each section contains a lot of links to a lot of examples and exercises and lessons and whatnot. It's a great guide for cutting through the Net, and it contains likes to several people I follow online or whom I've actually met in real life, which is a bonus.

The book is listed as free (and should always be free), and you can find it at: https://books.apple.com/au/book/hook-line-sinker/id1452938209
Additionally, all the resources linked in the book are free as well. There is nothing typically be found in textbooks included here.

Hook, line, sinker is an obvious fishing reference for "reeling them in", and it follows a common theme I've encountered in Math PD (professional development) about "Math in 3 Acts". Another allusion would be "Appetizer, Main Course, Dessert", or something similar.

In this case, Rowe goes with: hook, how will you hook them in?; line, how will you build on what they already know; sinker, how will you help them consolidate what they learn?

Engage, Explore/Explain, Elaborate/Evaluate.

So I did go through it, even if I didn't read all the resources -- most of which I could, considering I was reading this on the train, mostly. But I'll still count it as a book read for the year. And a math book.

Songs of America (Meacham & McGraw)

Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation, Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw (2019)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

A couple months back, I got to see Tim McGraw and Jon Meacham at The Beacon Theater. I put the names in that order because, frankly, I had no clue who Meacham was, and I was going to see and hear Tim McGraw. Yeah, it wasn't that kind of show. Not that it was bad. It was basically an evening of talk and song that promoted their new book, which was conveniently on sale in the lobby. I got my copy from the library. Twice -- there was such a demand that I couldn't renew it without waiting again.

The book analyzes how music has influenced and been influenced by events in American history, going back as far as "The Liberty Song" written by John Dickenson in the years before the first Continental Congress.

Meacham is a presidential biographer, and that experience is on display here, but as he acknowledges in the closing pages, people want to hear Tim sing more than Meacham type. During the show, I didn't think Tim sung enough, and he deferred quite a bit to Meacham during their discussions. So much so that when the two of them appeared on The Late Show, Meacham did most of the talking, and Tim didn't even get to sing.

So Meacham wrote the narrative, which is offset by boxed text where McGraw writes his thoughts and memories concerning specific songs and people who were discussed in the main text. There wasn't enough of that for my taste, but what are you going to do.

I guess it's a case of enjoying the book I got even if it wasn't quite the one I wanted.

Superman: Zero Hour

Superman: Zero Hour, Writers: Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson (1994)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

I vaguely recall when Zero Hour happened in DC Comics, but if I had to guess it was back in 1994, I would have been way off. I remember the bit where every comic was Issue #0 for that month, but I wasn't regularly reading any comics by that point. This was also sometime after the Doomsday plot line where Superman died and there were suddenly four new Supermen. Again, I never read that story line, but it did make it into the papers and get discussed at a convention. Plus, later on, I listened to an audio presentation of it in my car. (Back in the days of the 50-mile one-way commute.)

The stories up front are connected because of some time storm happening, which causes characters to shift universes. This allows for Batman to appear numerous times, as various incarnations that have been published over the past 80 years (or 55 or so, at that point), and none of them had a broken back. (Note: Bane story line, which made it into the movies. I actually did read some of those books way back when.) Also of interest, Superman has long Hercules-like hair and Clark Kent wears it in a pony tail. That just seemed weird. He and Lois were an item (at least in some realities), and she's also involved with Superman, but no one asks.

Oddly, the core of the Superman portion of the book is taken up by a lengthy piece about a childhood friend of Clark's, one we've never met before, who was born on the same day as Clark (in the post-Crisis DC Universe, Kent was basically hatched on Earth, not rocketed to Earth as an infant or baby), and who always played second fiddle to Clark. Clark's powers didn't manifest until he was nearly an adult, so there was no need to hide his powers when he was younger and feign weakness. He was basically the Olympian ideal, so his competing against humans was really cheating, except that his poor shmoe of a friend, who never had a clue about Clark's extraterrestrial ancestry, still feels cheated, and turns into a jerk, and then into an evil jerk, then super-powered evil jerk.

Side note: the character was so forgettable that I forgot him a week later -- and he wasn't mentioned on the summary pages I found online because he wasn't part of the overall theme of the book despite being such a major part of it. The story should've been one issue, possibly two if you really wanted to build him up. Four parts? And Clark is that stupid throughout, despite Lois stating the obvious.

After all that were a couple of Superboy stories, with his "tactile telekinesis" on full display. Okay to read, and a pleasant distraction after that Superman story. Closing out the book were two stories with Steel, who I'd forgotten about. I knew in the aftermath of Doomsday, one of the comics published was The Man of Steel, but I never saw it. When they first showed the character, I thought it might be a robot or android. Then they showed a villain that looked enough like Clark to make me think that it was a clone (until I realized it was an unrelated villain, and not Steel). The background in the #0 issue refreshed my memory of whatever mention the character got in the audio drama.

I assume Superboy and Steel were included for completeness, but they seemed disconnected to the rest of the book.

That'll probably do it for graphic novels for a while, although there are Manga Classics Illustrated at the library which look interesting (but a little too thick to carry around), and I found a Classics Illustrated book of Romeo & Juliet in my garage that I don't remember acquiring -- or leaving in my garage.

Note: Collects ACTION COMICS #0 and #703, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #0 and #516, SUPERMAN #0 and #93, STEEL #0 and #8, SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL #0 and #37 and SUPERBOY #0 and #8.

Superman Adventures, Vol 4 (Millar, Michelinie, et al)

Superman Adventures, Volume 4, Writers: Mark Millar, David Michelinie; Illustrators: Terry Austin, Aluir Amancio, Neil Vokes, Mike Manley (2018)

In the past, I've complained about graphic novels that weren't novels, but rather collections of comics and sometimes not even cohesively or coherently so. And yet I continue to pick them from the library shelves. This one isn't a novel, and I'm absolutely fine with that. It is what I expected it to be: a bunch of one-off adventures, each self-contained. Basically, it's like watching a three-hour marathon of the show, which, by the way, I have never seen. (I should rectify this.)

Note: I have seen all of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which has the same animation, voice actors and a couple of story lines, so I am familiar with it. And because of that, Lobo sounds in my head like Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond (Brad Garrett), and Kalibak sounds like Worf from Star Trek: the Next Generation (Michael Dorn).

Fun quick read for the train, even if I got some amused looked from people watching this gray-hair distinguished fellow reading a comic book. Great appearances by Doctor Fate and Batman.

Note: I found a reference that says the stories came from Superman Adventures #26-35.

The Way Station (Simak)

The Way Station, Clifford Simak (1963)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

I was assigned to a class that met in the library at Lafayette High School earlier this year. They had a shelf of books removed from circulation that were free to be taken. I didn't want to be greedy because these were for students. But on the other hand, some of these books, realistically, would never be taken. On of these was The Way Station, which according to the printing history was produced in 1988, and according to the final circulation card in the back was last taken out four times in 1994. After 25 years, I think I was safe in taking it, particularly considering that it was originally written and won a Hugo Award before I was born.

The only Simak novel I've read (I may have read short stories in old anthologies) was City, which I purchased from the Science Fiction Book Club way back when, on purpose, not as a mistake that was sent in the mail because I forget to send back the preference card. I still remember most of it after a few decades, so that says something.

This book was a little slow getting started, but a lot of older books seem to be that way, most likely because today's books seem to start en media res.

Enoch Wallace was a Civil War soldier. A hundred years later, he's still alive, which draws the attention of the government, including agent Claude Lewis. A number of the locals note something peculiar as well but for the most part keep their distance, except for Winslowe Grant, his delievers his mail. Enoch is the caretaker of a station used for intergalactic travel, similar to a network of Stargates except thirty-plus years earlier. Aliens and artifacts and packages pass through en route to other worlds. They also bring "deceased vegetation" because it known that the gatekeeper collects it. In actuality, Enoch takes the alien wood and gives it to Winslowe, who carved statues. He's curious but not too curious about the wood origin.

Interstellar travel by ship still takes months and years to accomplish, so this is a revolutionary system, and his is as important job, which he was chosen for by an alien Enoch calls "Ulysses". Ulysses, who doesn't object to that moniker, is a member of the galactic council and sort of a supervisor, who checks on from time to time on Enoch. He always visits for the coffee.

Enoch worries for the fate of the world and the coming war, but it's basically the fear from the Cold War of nuclear annihilation, not a war from space. However, he does fear that man's behavior toward man could keep it from entering into the Galactic confraternity.

Other characters of note: Lucy, a deaf mute who has a sensitivity that allows her to operate an alien mechanism (a pyramid of spheres that suddenly lights up) in a way that baffles Enoch. Also, her father, Hank Fisher, who doesn't trust Enoch and assumes he has the devil in him. Finally, there's Mary, an interactive hologram (the shadows) of someone from long ago, who, to be honest, I'd forgotten about by the end of the book, when she came back. I'd originally thought the scene a hallucination rather than a hologram. The man was lonely after all.

I took a picture of my cover because it was better than the images online. It shows a glowing creature by a grave, but it isn't a ghost. It's a "Hazer", which is what Enoch affectionately calls Vegans, those from Vega, not the ones who don't eat animal products. And it's visiting the grave. It hasn't risen out of it.

Overall, an enjoyable book and one that obviously seeds so much of sci-fi that is to come. This is a little bothersome in that if so much sci-fi owes a litle something to this book, why haven't I heard of it before? Maybe I have and forgot that I did? It's not like I didn't know the name. Still, it's curious.

Q is for Quarry (Grafton)

Q is for Quarry, Sue Grafton (2002)

Not a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, so this is the 17th novel in the series, making it the longest series I've read, by far. (I've read maybe a dozen Doc Savage novels, and I should get back to those.) This entry is a little different in that it deals with an actual unsolved murder, although he details were fictionalized, and in the book, the case gets solved. It does have information at the end in case anyone with information wants to come forward.

Kinsey Milhone gets hired by Con Dolan, an old cop from the series who is currently on medical, and Stacey Oliphant, a retired cop in ill health. Those two deserve each, and they each watch out for the other's bad habits. Years ago, they were the officers who found the body of a Jane Doe in a quarry in Lampoc in Santa Barbara County. Not only was the murderer never caught but the body was never identified, even after cross-checking with missing persons. They want to take one more pass at it. And they have a suspect in mind to start with, who was involved in another case which may or may not be related. A lot hinges on a stolen-then-abandoned red convertible in the small town of Quorum, and some abandoned real estate.

There's also more information about Kinsey's mother from another aunt. A little bit of soap opera to offset the hopelessness of the case. I don't know if it's leading to a future reconciliation with the family after decades on her own or not. It drags, but that's the pace that has been set, and to suddenly resolve it would be extremely odd, unless she were to investigate the murder of someone in the family she just met. (I have no idea if this is coming or not in a future book.)

I'll be reading "R" just as soon as I get rid of some of the printed material in my house. Plus other library books pop up occasionally.

Humble & Kind (McGraw)

Humble & Kind , Tim McGraw (2016)

Not a book between books, but a book in the middle of reading another book ...

Tim McGraw has a new book out, Songs of America, which I put on reserve at the library after seeing his show at the Beacon Theater. While searching the library catalog, this book appeared, and I recognized it as the title of one of his songs. There wasn't much to it. An introduction to the song, and an epilogue by the song writer, the bulk of the book is the lyrics and pictures. Basically, it's a gift book (like the first version I encountered of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten), of the inspirational variety.

Pleasant to read, but has as much meat as a magazine article might. On the other hand, I'm ready for the other book and there's just a few people ahead of me. Which also means I have to finish the other library book I have checked out.

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew (Annejet van der Zijl)

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew , Annejet van der Zijl, (20`5), translated by Michele Hutchison (2018)

I left the following review on Goodreads:

A fascinating look at high-society and old money meets new at the close of the 19th century, in New York and Pittsburgh, focused on the life of Allene Tew of Jamestown, NY who went on to make the society pages in the 20th century and marry an actual prince (among others) in the course of a turbulent life that weathered two world wars, a market crash, the Depression, and the start of the Cold War. Through it all, she persevered.

Not the kind of book I normally read. It was a suggestion from Amazon (World Book Day). I didn't know at first that it was a biography of an actual person -- I'd never heard of her, but I have heard of many of the names that were dropped. Even more surprising was I thought it would be more about Europe because the author in from the Netherlands. (The author has done a book on Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, consort of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who has a connection with Miss Tew. (I won't share her full name -- spoilers)

Fascinating who this woman was and the lives she led, especially since it opens with her dying days in a small house so far from where she was born.

I was going to give this book 4 stars, but I couldn't think of a reason why I shouldn't give it five.

Go (Kaneshiro)

Go: A Coming of Age Novel , Kazuki Kaneshiro (2000), translated by Takami Nieda (2018)

Not a review. Just a reminder of what I read recently.

I probably would not have read this were it not for Amazon's World Reading Day. As I did last year, I downloaded a bunch of free books from around the world. Last year, I only read two of them (so far).

Once again, I read a book by about a Korean living in Japan, but unlike A River in Darkness, Go wasn't anywhere near as depressing. That said, it wasn't particularly cheery either. The book was from 2000, which is something to keep in mind whenever there are mentions of technology or pop culture. Some references become dated.

The story follows Sugihara, whose family in Korean. When the North Korea had been founded, Koreans in Japan had to choose to register as North or South Korean. The book opens with his parents deciding to switch nationality to South Korean, so they'll be able to go to Hawaii. (At first, I thought they were moving there, but it's just a vacation.) Sugihara takes this opportunity to get out of Korean school and attend a Japanese school.

School life is rough, but Sugihara has an undefeated record beating up all challengers who would make his life miserable. (Not to mention the ones who think that they could make a name for themselves if they get in a lucky punch that takes him down.) Since Sugihara was taught by his father, a one-time professional boxer, who also slaps him around a bit, he isn't easy to take down.

One of his friends is Katou, whose nose Sugihara breaks. No hard feelings, though, because that gives him the excuse to get a nose job. Katou's father is a member of the Yakuza, and he respects Sugihara. Katou throws a big birthday party, and Sugihara meets Sakurai, a bit of mystery girl.

His closest friend in Jong-Il, from the Korean school.

It's a story of love, loss and finding your place in the world, and what nationality has to do with any or all of that. I enjoyed it.

Mermaid Precinct (DeCandido)

Mermaid Precinct , Keith R.A. DeCandido (2019)

Not a review. Just a reminder of what I read recently.

I was lucky enough to be at the book launch party for Mermaid Precinct at Heliosphere in Tarrytown, NY recently. I was even luckier to already have a copy of the ebook from winning a flash fiction contest at eSpec Books, the publisher. The plan was to buy the Tales of book to get signed since I can't sign my ebook.

(Sidebar: my winning story was The Feast of Groggry the Cronaut. )

This is the first one three books to be written for eSpec Books. To expand the series, DeCandido expanded the town. This book takes place a year after Gryphon. In that time, there was a fire in Barlin, and many refugees flooded Cliff's End. As a result, a new neighborhood was built, and while the official name is Albinton, everyone calls it "New Barlin". This neighborhood has been designated Phoenix Precinct. Also, there is now a prison barge offshore, which has been designated Manticore Precinct.

Guess what the next two books will be called. At a sit-down with Keith, I heard that Phoenix should be the next book to be written. It hasn't been started yet, so it'll be a while before I continue this series.

Gryphon Precinct (DeCandido)

Gryphon Precinct , Keith R.A. DeCandido (2013)

Not a review. Just a reminder of what I read recently. Read this a month or so ago.

Spoilers from previous books in the very first paragraph.

The end of Goblin Precinct was marked by the death of Dru's partner, Lieutenant Hawk, as well as the Lord Albin, who had been sick with more than allergies.

Albin's son, Lord Blayk comes in and immediately starts making changes. First, he gives both Captain Osric and Lt Iaian full pensions to retire. Then he makes Grovis the new Captain based purely on his status as the son of a Cliff's End banker. Blayk expects Grovis to be his mouthpiece and do whatever he's told. This doesn't play well with Torin, Danthres, Dru or even the new lieutenants.

Blayk splits up Torin and Danthres, so they can take each train new partners. He also doesn't want them investigating Albin's death. However, his mother overrules this and wants Danthres to investigate.

The entire castle is being upended, and Torin and Danthres figure out why. Grovis, in the meantime, realizes what a pickle he's been put in, to the point that he finds a retired Iaian, living alone now that he bought a nice house for his wife, to talk out his problem. Iaian has always hated Grovis, but can't argue one piece of logic: Grovis can't talk to anyone in the department about what's going on, but he needs to talk to someone who understands the department. That's Iaian, who tells him, basically, keep his head down and mouth shut if he wants to survive. That's how Iaian survived.

Verdict: an improvement over "Goblin".

Goblin Precinct (DeCandido)

Goblin Precinct , Keith R.A. DeCandido (2012)

Not a review. Just a plot summary, for future reference. Read this a couple months ago.

The third book in the series brings us to another precinct. The book opens with a former aristocrat in Elven society, one who had been close to the Elf Queen and who fled when the end was near, is now a poor beggar in Cliff's End, having never found a new way to support himself. In the end, he gives in and tries a new drug called "Bliss", which makes the user happy beyond belief. He's instantly hooked, but the high never lasts as long, and it's a short matter of time before he overdoses.

Not exactly murder. And not something that would merit the involvement of the Castle Guard detectives. However, when another Elven aristocrat shows up looking for the first one to try as a war criminal. Using his credentials, he forces the Castle Guard to find the body and prove cause of death, to make sure it wasn't a politically motivated murder. (Note: the reader already knows that it was not.)

The investigation uncovers the fact that the drug, Bliss, was created through magical means. Now the Brotherhood of Wizards will have a problem with this. In fact, the "Brotherhood" will have a bigger problem by the time the whole thing is over.

Among the other revelations, Danthres discovers that Sorlin, the city she sought refuge in as a half-breed, has disbanded because the purity laws elsewhere have been repealed. (In Unicorn, Torin ban Wyvald's father had shown up to bring him home to Myverin. We should be out of homelands now.)

No spoilers for anyone accidentally finding my blog, but there will be staffing changes by the end of the book.

Final take: Goblin suffers from lack of a murder, and from knowing the cause of death from the beginning without any real twist. There is one twist regarding the magical creation of the drug, and even that isn't resolved as well as it should have been.

Magic & Mayhem Sampler (2019)

Magic & Mayhem Sampler: Rule-breaking new fantasy from Tor and Tor.com Publishing, Seanan McGuire, Cate Glass, et al. (2019)

I've downloaded free books from Tor.com before and enjoyed them to varying degrees. (Not everything is for everybody.) I did learn a lesson a few years ago when I was reading the first story in a "Best of" whichever year it was. I was getting to the end of a novelette and it didn't seem to be winding down. That's because it was a novel excerpt, which was stated upfront in plain text and I had missed it. I skipped later excerpts because I was enjoying this and didn't want to stop reading the anthology while I hunted down a copy of the book. (At this point, I don't even remember what book it was.)

I went into this knowing beforehand that there were six novel excerpts. I read two of these before moving back to other books. They were different, to say the least, the first more than the second.

Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire

Middlegame was unusual in that it had two prologues before the main story got started, and I wondered if they shouldn't've been left out of the excerpt just for clarity. It starts with "FAILURE", five minutes too late, thirty seconds from the end of the world. There are two characters, Roger and Dodger, and Dodger is injured and bleeding out. Roger can't go on alone -- and this seems to be literal. It's the end.

This is followed by a children's tale (in different type) about two children who lived on the same block but never knew each other, as they went to different schools, and such. The excerpt is from "Over the Woodward Wall" by A. Deborah Baker. Then there's a passage from an address on the Doctrine of Ethos from Asphodel D. Baker to the American Alchemical Congress in 1901. One can assume that they are the same person, even though it is revealed later in the text that not everyone knows this.

The story jumps from 1886 to 1986 pretty quickly, as Baker creates a human being, James Reed, who must kill her to carry on her work. He in turn brings life to the Doctrine. Literally. Creating a boy formed from guiding principles of the universe made flesh. And the experiment was a failure. This leads to the conclusion that the Doctrine must be two individuals, a boy and a girl. Three sets of siblings are produced over three years, and he splits the six up to grow apart (as in the children's tale), to see which pair is the actual Doctrine.

Interesting ideas, but it lost me a few times. If I run into someone else who's read this and liked it, I might seek it out so I'll have someone to talk to about it.

An Illusion of Thieves, by Cate Glass

Not your typical fantasy setting -- it's more Italian-based than medieval England or France. Except that it's Year 987 of the New Millennium: Spring Quarter, in the lands of the Costa Drago, with independencies rules by wealth and arms. Alessandro (Sandro) di Gallanos is a Mayor, but also, il Padrone, the Master, the Shadow Lord.

The viewpoint of the story is il Padrome's concubine Cataline, who was bought from a house of ill repute, which bought her from her mother for a few pieces of silver, back when she was just Romy, the oldest sibling, living in the slums. Romy is cursed with magic, which is bad. Only one of her siblings, Neri, is cursed likewise. Should anyone find out about it, it would mean death.

Romy finds out that Neri stole some gems. The father is accused (because he was the only one to know of them), but Neri took them through magic. The father confesses, to save his son -- and indeed the entire family -- because if the sniff for magic, Neri will be killed. But the father is sentenced to lose his hand and then be exiled. The family may starve after that.

It turns out that Neri had been a bit of a rabble rouser and Sandro had had him watched. He throws "Catalina" out of his home and orders her to be her brother's keeper, lest they both suffer a horrible fate.

I don't know where this one is going, but I might look for a copy of it.

---

Update: Since I originally posted this a month or so ago, I've seen Middlegame promoted a couple of times as something new and different, and an example of interesting word-building. Maybe. I'm still not sure that I'm going back to it. Also, both of those mentions came in my email, which is influenced by the fact that I subscribe to Tor.com's mailing list.

The Battle of Dorking (Chesney) DID NOT READ

The Battle of Dorking, George Tomkyns Chesney (1871)

I don't remember where this recommendation came from, and someone I must've thought that it was one of those History channel books.

This was a disorganized, rambling mess that couldn't hold my interest for 4 pages. It was only 40-page chapter without visible breaks, and I quit somewhere in the middle of a six-page paragraph. (Not kidding.)

Now that I'm aware that this was written in 1871, maybe I'll give it another chance, but I'll likely skip ahead 20 pages or so to get to whatever action there is.

Unicorn Precinct (DeCandido)

Unicorn Precinct , Keith R.A. DeCandido (2004)

Okay, so Unicorn Precinct is where the rich live, and it's usually a cushy assignment, so rookies on the Guard get sent there. Dragon Precinct is where the middle class dwell, and includes the area where Gan Brightblade's murder took place. Goblin Precinct is the slums, mostly the poor live there, and with smaller homes, some of the denizens there are nonhuman (dwarves and gnomes). Mermaid Precinct is the dock area. And in the Castle itself, where the detectives work, is Gryphon Precinct.

While there isn't a map, there is a description of the neighborhoods and street boundaries. Most of the streets have been mentioned at some point, so it's safe to assume that they're "major".

The main case, for Torin and Danthres, is the murder of the daughter of a nobleman as she is preparing for her wedding.

Dru and Hawk have the least to do in this story, and they are somewhat stymied by the negative reaction to the guard members in Mermaid Precinct to the investigation into corruption by Iaian and Grovis. Grovis is committed to rooting out law breakers. This becomes problematic when it reaches closer to home -- his home. Grovis's cousin, Cam Grovis was the betrothed of the dead girl, and he isn't telling everything he knows.

Iaian has his own secrets, too, and that's not sitting well with Avilar Grovis (who now has a first name).

I kind of guessed the who early on, but not the why and the how (or even the "what"), so it was still good reading.

The bonus story, which was nearly a third of the book, was the first case of Torin and Danthes, and how he came onto the force and they became partners. Some other familiar faces were around then as well, only ten years younger.

Fun book. I'll likely read something different before moving onto

Goblin Precinct

.

Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures (Young)

Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures, by Jeff Young (2016)

Maybe had I read a cover blurb, I might've known in advance that this was an alternate history and not some post-apocalyptic future where society is rebuilding. This impression came from the mix of technology, plus references to New Britain and Londinium. after reading the last entries in the book, I saw that this was actually an America that was founded after the Plague was followed by a worse Black Death, causing survivors to flee across the ocean. (Actually, at the very beginning there is a short blurb about the plague that arrived during the reign of Edward the third of his name -- but it didn't occur to me that that was referring to the actual King Edward III of England, who obviously preceded Edward VIII of the 20th century.)

What I thought was going to be a novel was actually a series of short stories, not tied together other than by the lead character, although the last one calls back the first one.

Kassandra Leyden's was a well-known adventurer, and her father was a spiritualist. She has a bit of both of these, but definitely the ability to communicate with the dead. (They can't talk, per se, but she can read their lips.) Her first adventure involves her mentor Levhoi and following her mother's spirit to a crypt where she makes a shocking discovery (I'll leave out spoilers for people who stumble upon my page.) This is followed by a story where she apprentices to Madam Foss, a medium, where she learns to hone her skills. In the very next story, "Fox Chase", Leyden is already a medium in her own right.

The following story, "Drinking Down Death", was the story that I thought the book was about, because of a blurb on the internet. Mediums are disappearing and Leyden investigates. She encounters Constable Cobham Peckwith, and they solve the other-worldly goings-on and uncover a nefarious plot. Peckwith shows up again in the following story, which takes place, in part, on dirigibles, and the story after that, where the spirits actually affect the real world.

The final story has Leyden back on her own, but her mother Anastasia is whispering in her ear and guiding her along the way.

Overall, an enjoyable collection of stories, including the brief history. Should more adventures be published, I'll likely pick those up as well.

I've read some of Jeff Young's work before. He's had stories published in other anthologies by the same publisher (eSpec Books). The is the first solo book of Young's that I've read. (And I think it may be the only one, at the time of writing.)

Breakfast on Mars (Stern & Wolfe, ed)

Breakfast on Mars And 37 Other Delectable Essays, Edited by Rebecca Stern & Brad Wolfe (2013)

The cover states "Essays like you've never seen before -- Funny! Smart! Inspiring! And Best of All written by YOUR Favorite Authors"

The last part is overblown in that not only are they not my favorite authors, I don't think I've ever heard of any of them, let alone read any. That said, soe of them were funny and smart. Inspiring? Maybe about my writing, but not about the subject matter.

I picked up this book in a box at a school I was working at in the fall. The idea of the collection is that students tend to be bored with essay writing, and there isn't a lot of inspiring essays out there that are relatable for students. So this book is intended for teachers to use with students, so that the students will respond. Each essay, whether personal, persuasive, or information, is based on a response to a different writing prompt. And each should be fun to read.

Some of them were fun. Some were just odd, but that was okay. But a few seemed like standard essays, and a couple seemed like they'd been written before they even saw the prompt.

The overall affect was like catching up on an eclectic bunch of TED Talk podcasts, with topics all over the place. I enjoy some of those, while I listen to others on double speed, or skip through them entirely.

And while the personal stories were interesting, the introduction promised breakfast on Mars, showering with spiders, and humans needing tales. That's what I wanted to read. "It's on Like Donkey Kong" was a nice bonus. (That phrase is so well-established in my circles that we can parody it into something else). Likewise the comparison of Princess Leia and Queen Amidala. So of the other entries, I've already forgotten, even when I like back at the table of contents page.

I did like reading the prompt at the top of each essay, and I toyed with repeating them either here or on my (private) writing blog, but do I really want to type up 39 prompts? One-handed, while holding the book open with the other? Probably not.

For anyone who stumbled upon my personal reading blog, if this sounds interesting, check it out.

Dragon Precinct (DeCandido)

Dragon Precinct , Keith R.A. DeCandido (2004)

I've seen Keith R. A. DeCandido at science fiction conventions, particularly the possibly-defunct Lunacon and the newly-christened Heliosphere. He's had a long career and yet I don't think I've read any of his work before. Maybe a short story in an anthology? Thankfully, I'm remedying this!

I've never read any police procedural novels before that I remember. Mysteries, sure. Stories with cops, sure. But the written equivalent to Law & Order or C.S.I., no. (And for all I know, a different show might be a better analogy.)

This was a fun book to read, with one little caveat. The Prologue introduced a host of characters, one of which, Gan Brightblade, we know will be dead before Chapter 1 even begins. The prologue gave quite a bit of background and introduced a cast of characters of some renown: Gan, the great human fighter; Olthar, the elven wizard who betrayed the Elf Queen; Urbarlig, the dwarf fighter; Bogg, the barbarian; Mari and Nari, twin halfling thieves; and Genero, the human priest, who called them all together.

They arrive in Cliff's End ready to hire a boat to take them to see an old nemesis, whom many believe to be dead. Instead, Gan's neck is broken, unnaturally, in his room. Murder, but not by magical means. This is like the opening scene before the credits.

Where I had a little problem was with the first Chapter. We start in the police precinct with has parallels to a modern police station (as far as I know). Many of the characters for the series are introduced, along with a lot of dropping of place names and history. There wasn't a map to refer to, so I just went with it. Also, using the ebook (for me) is difficult to keep flipping back and forth, so it was a while before I got a handle on which first and last name went with each other.

Anyway (this is for me, this isn't part of a review), the main characters aren't those heroes, but the officers: Danthres Tresyllione is half-elf (hated by both races) and Torin ban Wyvald in human, and they are lieutenants on the Castle Guard. (They have Griffins, not Dragons, on their uniforms.) Two other lieutenants are Dru and Hawk, who are chasing down bad spells sold on the black market. Iaian is a veteran officer, two years from retirement, and he's paired with Grovis, a rookie who fails to be intimidating whenever he tries.

The biggest obstacle to writing a fantasy mystery, similar to science fiction mysteries, is determining what the rules are. In sci-fi, you need to know what tech is available. In fantasy, there's magic. Not a problem here.

There's a magical medical examiner, on loan from the Brotherhood of Wizards, who checks crime scenes for magic use. Oddly here, he doesn't detect any, which makes sneaks sneaking up on such a hero even more unbelievable. So if there is magic being used, it's been covered up expertly.

This was a fun read -- once I got past the first chapter, that is. And I'm glad that I picked up most of the series during a recent $.99 sale by eSpecbooks. (I usually visit their blog more than their homepage.

I'm looking forward to reading more, probably every other ebook I read for a while. (Print books are a separate matter.)

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale -- The Final Chapter (Davies, Cook)

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale -- The Final Chapter , Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2010)

The second part of the ebook continues the correspondence between Davies and Cook past "The Journey's End" and through "The End of Time". For the uninitiated, that would be the last episode of Series 4 of Doctor Who through the last of the specials that followed that series, in place of a fifth series.

Once more you see the trials and tribulations of trying to run such a massive series. Lots of trivia, quite a few setbacks. Plenty of talk about Davies' old work, the search for a new Doctor, and the final shots of David Tennant as the Doctor.

And, of course, working with lots of secrecy, much of which gets blown one way or another (such as the careless reveal of Timothy Dalton in costume, leaving little wiggle room for whom he could be playing or what was coming back.)

Enjoyable to read, although I did want to skip to the end of some of the longer emails, particularly ones that didn't involve Doctor Who primarily.

Amulet, Volumes 1 - 8 (Kibuishi)

Amulet , by Kazu Kibuishi (2010-8)

A couple of months ago, there was a Scholastic book fair at the school that I'm currently assigned to. While I wasn't officially "working" the book fair, it took place in the room I usually spent my free time in, so I did lend a hand, mostly straightening up piles. There were a number of graphic novels on one of the tables, and one of these (particularly one of the ones that had Volume One on the table) was Amulet. The cover looked interesting and a quick flip of the pages showed some great color artwork. I took a picture of the first book and made a note to look into it.

Fast forward a couple weeks, and I find myself regularly in an English classroom where there is a pile of these books. Basically, almost a class set of book 1 and two copies of the rest. I spent the next couple weeks reading them, 50 minutes at a time. It wasn't until I was on book 5 that I realized that there were more than six books in the pile. (I thought only six were shown on the inside back cover.) There were seven. Nope, wait, there were eight. (Someone must've borrowed it.)

As you can tell, I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. And I enjoyed it enough to be annoyed to find that there is a NINTH book, which the teacher didn't have. So I checked the library website, and they didn't have it either. And then I did a little research and discovered something:

Volume 9 hasn't been published yet!!

I haven't had this feeling a series of books in a long time. And it's worse because most of the story has (or seems to have) wrapped up in Volume 8, and we are promised that it will "conclude" in Volume 9. When I saw that the first book was published in 2010, I didn't think it was still being created, unless it was an open-ended story. Who knew? Other than fans who have been reading it from the beginning, and waiting one or two years between each edition. And considering that volume 8 was only released this past September, I probably have a while to wait for it.

Okay, so the brief notes for me to review when book 9 comes out:

It starts with a family and there's a car accident, but the father doesn't make it out and falls into the darkness with the car. A grim start, but one that gets reference much later on, so it isn't gratuitous. (Seriously, some books, particularly ones written for kids, could start after these events and refer to them in flashbacks.) Mom takes the two kids, Emily and Navin, to an old house in the woods that belonged to her grandfather, Silas Charnon. And this is where the weird stuff begins.

Emily and Navin find an amulet in Silas's old library. That night, the mother gets kidnapped by giant spider-like things and brought to another realm. The kids follow. They're eventually rescued by the rabbit creature from the cover of the first book, which turns out to be a robot that Silas built. Silas, who is still alive, but barely, is a "stonekeeper". Before he dies, he passes the stone on to Emily, along with all its power, responsibilities and its curse. (There's a voice within the stone that talks to Emily and tries to gain control.)

Mom is rescued within a couple of books, but there's a bigger story involving the Elves, who are the "bad guys" of this series, being at war with the "humans" for many years. I put humans in quotes, because many of them have begun to look more animal-like because of an affliction. And then there's Trellis, the son of the Elf King, who knows there's something wrong and wants Emily to join him to help overthrow his father. (The Elf King has no problem seeing Trellis dead if he cannot perform certain actions.)

Lots going on, both in the past and the present, in one world and in the void.

Great artwork, particularly on the splash pages. I can see why it takes so long to finish each book. And I want to finish the next one already.

I'm counting this as eight books for any "goals" I decide on, because I can.

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale (Davies, Cook)

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale , Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2008)

First book of the new year, and I'll count it as two because it was originally published as two books, even if the ebook collects them together. Plus, I'll only have time to read the first before the library loan expires.

I only recently became aware that this book exists, and it was available at the New York Public Library website. It contains correspondence between Russel T. Davies, the Doctor Who showrunner (writer, producer, multi-hat person), and Benjamin Cook, a writer for Doctor Who Magazine, which took place from the time that Series Four was being conceived (and Series Three was to begin airing) through production of the Series Four finale, not counting the specials which came afterward.

If nothing else, this book was fun for the trivia -- Note: SPOILER ALERTS for Series Four, both here and in the book. For one thing, Donna Noble was not supposed to be the Companion for the entire series, but was supposed to return in the finale along with many of the others. In fact, the character, Penny Carter, who appears as a reporter in the season opener gets her name from the would-be Companion. (Not that this character, or the actress, were ever set to be the Companion. Likewise, the return of Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) was brought on by tragedy. He was made Donna's grandfather after the fact (along with an excuse at why he wasn't at the wedding).

But the big draw here is seeing what went into creating Series Four, the writing process, the rewriting process, editing, FX days, meetings, and oh so many struggles. The veil gets lifted from some of those pieces that looked like they were so carefully planned and laid out, and yet there is so much that happened by circumstance, or just worked out that way. Granted, it takes a master to leave dangling threads that can be grasped later, or work together similar plot points into an intended pattern.

Also there's a lot of talk about other shows that Davies was involved in, most of which I've never seen, and aren't likely to.

Fascinating, interesting book. I'm likely to read Book Two (The Final Chapter) which runs from The Next Doctor to the end of his (and David Tennant's) time with the program.

Note: not a book to read if you are offended by a gay man constantly thinking about sex, particularly with certain actors on his sets, or by the overuse of the word "Arse".

2018: Year in Review

Last year, I seemed to avoid keeping track of what I was reading, giving the sparse use of the blog until the very end of December.

Also, I seemed to avoid reading altogether, considering how long it took me to get through some of these entries.

According to the sidebar, there were 26 entries for the entire year. Of those, three were not about specific books. On the other hand, there were a lot of graphic novels, particularly in the summer, and manga, particularly near the school library. So my book total was closer to 35. This comes with a little bit of a caveat: I counted the ROM comics as 4 graphic novels because I believe that's how they were available, even as I read 14 issues. Likewise, Clean Room, which had its review deleted by accident, and will get restored at some point, counted as 1 book, even though it was the first six comics in the series. Most of the graphic novels were similar to this.

Additionally, there was at least one One Piece book in there, but I was going to wait until I'd read a bunch more of those ... which I then didn't do. At the very least, I'll wait until the end of the present story line. But I have other things to get to.

It was an odd year for me. I see that there were only two science fiction books: 1634, which is alternative history, without a lot of sci-fi once you've accepted the premise, and Space Team, which I don't need to rehash.

There was a bit of nonfiction, including biography and essays, as well as some poetry and one old self-help book.

And again, two more Sue Grafton mysteries. I should just read through and close out the series.

One book does appear to be missing. I read a book about The Beatles, a behind-the-scenes book that I picked up in the school library, either in late 2017 or early 2018. I thought it was around the time I read the Maya Angelou book. (Interesting pairing, right? They were in the same pile on the same desk.) For whatever reason, I didn't log it.

Lots of books, real and electronic, on deck to be read. Once again, I'm commuting by car (and I could actually walk), so most of my reading is at bedtime, and sometimes at meals. When I'm not all over social media, that is.

Goals for 2019?

More than 2018, for sure.
Read or discard a lot of books in the basement.
Alternate more between paper and ebook.
Read older stuff before downloading new (sometimes "old") stuff.
Expand a bit -- find other topics and genres to visit.
Do a mini-run on a series or two: I've started Sue Grafton, Jim Butcher, Laurel K. Hamilton, and some things I didn't care for. And there's an entire world of Eric Flint's 1632. (See the sidebar -- I'm not hotlinking everything.)