Reason Magazine (which I’m finding to be an increasingly good online read lately) has an interesting interview with Vernor Vinge about the Singularity and related topics. Very thought-provoking stuff. The whole concept of the Singularity is, my wife assures me, crazy; but it’s a fascinating idea nonetheless. Anyway, if you, like me, eagerly anticipate the [...]
It’s always exciting to learn about celebrities with RPG skeletons in their closets, and here’s a particularly fun one: the NYT is running an article about Joe Hill, an author recently outed as the son of Stephen King. It’s a nice piece about the challenge of carving out your own career in the shadow of [...]
Since I subjected you to my thoughts on vampires in my last post, I figured that I might as well share my specific thoughts on one of the two vampire-themed novels I mentioned: Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian. Note: mild spoilers follow. This is quite the ambitious novel: it’s a loose modern retelling of Dracula from [...]
Note: I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I feel like talking about vampires. You’ve been warned. Call it the Year of the Undead, if you will. Thus far in 2007 I’ve read exactly two novels, and both of them were about vampires: Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, which was quite good, and Tim [...]
How can you not love a book that presents, with a perfectly straight face, the following two lines The man gaped at her. “Are the apes after Kenny? I knew something like this would happen.” — p. 134 Doyle kept his face impassive, but his mind was racing. God help us, it’s Romany again, he [...]
I’m having a bit too much fun with LibraryThing’s UnSuggester, which analyzes your book preferences and recommends books that you probably wouldn’t like. From the main page: Bring on the guilty reading pleasures!
I thoroughly enjoy stories set in the post-apocalyptic genre. Whether it’s nuclear MAD, alien invasion, killer plagues, or any one of the many other likely triggers of the End of the World, I enjoy watching the End unfold. Plucky bands of survivalists, roving mutant beasts, radiation-blanketed wastelands–it’s all good. And so it was that I [...]
I happen to be quite fond of Halloween, and each year as October 31 approaches I try to single out a few appropriately spooky books, games, and movies to enjoy. This year I sort of missed the seasonal opportunity and didn’t settle on any truly good scary movies. No good terrifying game surfaced, despite my [...]
I’m out of town on another work-related trip, so not much gaming of any variety is going on. However, I made sure to pack a few RPGs, “just in case.” Just in case of what, I’m really not sure; but here’s what I packed: Shadowrun, 4th edition and Ex Machina: a few years ago I [...]
Kender fans, rejoice! If you just can’t get enough of the world’s most annoying halfling, and you’ve got the cash, you can now treat yourself to a leather-bound, gilt-edged compilation of the Dragonlance trilogy. OK, I’m smirking at it. But hey, if Dragonlance floats your boat, go for it–I’ve certainly spent more money on less [...]
