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Books

2024

Intrigue, murder, and infrastructure meet in Bennett's The Tainted Cup
·609 words·3 mins
Articles Books Reviews Fantasy Mystery Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Jackson Bennett has been one of my favorite authors for a while now. His fantasy worlds are realized in stunning detail, with rich characters and intricately woven plots. His latest book, The Tainted Cup, a fantasy murder mystery that kicks off his new Shadow of the Leviathan series, is no exception.

2023

Yellowface (R.F. Kuang) is a nail-biter
·529 words·3 mins
Articles Books Reviews
Today, I’d like to tell you about Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. I finished this one a few weeks ago, and I’ve found that the more I’ve marinated on it, my feelings about it have changed.
Weeknotes for 2023-02-17
·271 words·2 mins
Weeknotes Personal Explorers Wanted Travel Books Movies
Hi there. It’s been a while. I had a whirlwind of activity over the last few weeks, both on the work and podcasting front, and quite frankly getting around to writing up these update posts was beyond my available bandwidth.
Weeknotes for 2023-01-20
·271 words·2 mins
Weeknotes Personal Books Horror Explorers Wanted
Another week of work in the Netherlands is wrapping up. I’m publishing today’s weeknotes a bit early as I’m about to board a flight on my way back the US, and I strongly doubt I’ll have the energy to write this up after two flights and a long layover at LHR.
Weeknotes for 2023-01-13
·534 words·3 mins
Weeknotes Personal Explorers Wanted Obsidian Books Movies D&d Ttrpg Horror Assorted Geekery
This week I’ve been in the Netherlands for work, so between jet lag and meetings I’ve been pretty wiped out. Still, I’ve managed to get a few non-work related things done as well.
New Arrivals Jan 2023
·453 words·3 mins
Articles Ttrpg Books Horror Art Workbooks
I try to post cool new arrivals from Kickstarters and pre-orders when they arrive, usually to my Mastodon account,1 but with the business at work and with the podcast it slipped past me.

2019

Umberto Eco on the appeal of the cliché
·72 words·1 min
Articles Books Film
When all the archetypes shamelessly burst in, we plumb Homeric depths. Two clichés are laughable. A hundred clichés are affecting–because we become obscurely aware that the clichés are talking to one another and holding a get-together.
NY Review of Books: A Universe of One's Own
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Quotes Sff Books History
[Joanna] Russ had no patience for a genre predicated on the notion of speculative technologies but unable to imagine social institutions and women’s roles in them as freely. She would surely have objected to some of the stories in The Future Is Female.
The Terror of a Future America in Vigilance
·407 words·2 mins
Articles Books Reviews
Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett In his latest novel, Vigilance, Robert Jackson Bennett shows us the plausible terror of an America which has utterly given up preventing gun violence and instead embraced it.

2017

The Delirium Brief: the magical deep state is here to save you
·429 words·3 mins
Articles Books Reviews
The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross ⭐️️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️⭐️ / ⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️⭐️ It’s hard not to love Charles Stross’ Laundry Files series as a concept. A clandestine government agency of computational demonologists defend the world from horrors beyond space and time, all while trying to keep up with their expense reports.
Star.Ships: Your ancestors were smarter than you think
··553 words·3 mins
Articles Reviews Books
Star.Ships by Gordon White ⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️ / ⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️⭐️ Gordon White’s exercise in using data analysis to speculatively reconstruct ancient belief systems is a mind-bending journey through our most ancient history. In this book, he tracks our species’ first departure from what we now call Africa, and the beginnings of both the Laurasian mythological “novel”, as well as the Gondwana “grandmother myths” that came with us.
Review of The Night Ocean
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Articles Reviews Books
The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge ⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️ / ⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️⭐️ This is a book where my opinion of it has changed the longer I’ve been away from it. It’s a strange book, and honestly its structure was nearly its undoing for me.
River of Teeth, or why the hippo is my new spirit animal
·283 words·2 mins
Articles Books Reviews
River of Teeth In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source.

2011

The Mechanic Muse — From Scroll to Screen
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Articles Books Tech Culture
Great piece from Lev Grossman on the radical changes that the codex introduced into reading, specifically the ability to interact with the text in a non-linear manner. He makes a valid point that e-readers make similar interaction a clumsy affair.

2010

Review: The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
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Articles Books Horror Reviews
I recently read The Strain by the creative team of Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan on a recommendation from a friend. I didn’t know anything about Chuck Hogan but I was of course familiar with the films of Del Toro, which I had enjoyed.
Review: I Am Not A Serial Killer & Mr Monster by Dan Wells
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Articles Books Horror Reviews
A review double-feature! Excitement abounds! I just recently finished reading the second book in Dan Wells’ clever and compelling John Cleaver series, and since I’ve had an unfinished review of the first book sitting in my draft folder for the last few months, it seems like a fine idea to merge the two together into one post.
A Very Lovecraft October
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Articles Assorted Geekery Board Games Books Games Lovecraft Reviews
There’s something about Halloween that always draws me back to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. I’m not alone in this, of course. My good friend Quentin Lewis has taken to releasing recordings of himself reading stories from Lovecraft each Halloween as a podcast, which I highly recommend you check out.
Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
·1128 words·6 mins
Articles Assorted Geekery Books Epic Fantasy Fantasy Reviews
What’s that you say? Another epic fantasy by Brandon Sanderson? Sold. I swear, the rate at which Brandon Sanderson produces his massive books is a bit intimidating. The added fact that they are so consistently good marks it as an indicator of an almost terrifying amount of talent and skill.
Review: Sandman Slim
·658 words·4 mins
Articles Books Reviews Richard Kadrey
What do you get when you combine the genres of hard-boiled detective noir, spaghetti-western and urban fantasy set in L.A.? You get Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. This book was recommended to me by my friend Quentin, and my fiancé had also mentioned to me that she had read a promising review of the novel.

2009

Review: Let The Right One In
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Articles Books Movies Reviews
Let The Right One In is a novel from Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, and also now a film from Swedish director Tomas Alfredsson. I’ve consumed both now, and while they each should be judged on their own merits I’m going to attempt to review both the novel and the movie in one post.