tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-184991842024-03-13T18:40:25.940+01:00JT's German AdventureIt's not just Schnitzel and Sauerkraut anymore!jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.comBlogger1077125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-12314580450056260692016-04-01T23:44:00.000+02:002016-05-10T02:10:05.539+02:00My 2016 Hugo Nominations - Writing<span style="font-family: "arial";">Just in time for you to copy my nominations*, here's my ballot, with a few notes:</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background-color: white;">Best Novel</span>:</span></span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Novel-Neal-Stephenson-ebook/dp/B00LZWV8JO/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1459449851&sr=8-1&keywords=seveneves&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=03223ccd39362f28e2866c21fe85e678" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00LZWV8JO&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B00LZWV8JO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - All the awesome</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Magic-Novel-ebook/dp/B00ME0TBFE/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459449954&sr=1-1&keywords=a+darker+shade+of+magic&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=83de6c254db0c29349dda889d80d0187" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00ME0TBFE&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B00ME0TBFE" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab - Cool setup, great characters, fun read</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Uprooted-Naomi-Novik-ebook/dp/B00KUQIU7O/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459450075&sr=1-1&keywords=uprooted&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=b29cad51ba57bff1d51e902b044613fc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00KUQIU7O&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Uprooted by Naomi Novik - Was a bit light (felt like YA), but a great read</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ancillary-Mercy-Imperial-Radch-Leckie-ebook/dp/B00TOT9LEY/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459450248&sr=1-1&keywords=ancillary+mercy&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=63e5e8c4f7ecc379fae8c1aafde09dd2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00TOT9LEY&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B00TOT9LEY" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie - It's a bit boring to nominate the 3rd book when the first two both got noms (and the 1st won), but this was the best of the three. Another great read </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Disciple-Star-Christie-Golden-ebook/dp/B00PP36DYO/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1459546721&sr=8-1-spell&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=c8cb46b16ad29376f3694ec0cad8e2c6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00PP36DYO&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B00PP36DYO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span style="font-family: "arial";">I am normally skeptical of tie-in works, but this one was excellent! Though it brought *ALL* the feels to the top, still a great read!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background-color: white;">Short Fiction</span>:</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">I only read two, so deciding what to nominate was easy!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Binti-Nnedi-Okorafor-ebook/dp/B00Y7RWXHU/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459450815&sr=1-1&keywords=binti&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=6f95d7ed319b0e09b55f80aed680cfcf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00Y7RWXHU&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - A fascinating story, and it opened me up to learning about the Himba people, which was even more fascinating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tuesdays-Molakesh-Destroyer-Other-Tales-ebook/dp/B01CQ74UGE/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459450978&sr=1-1&keywords=tuesdays+with+molakesh&linkCode=li2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=8f5bb4a150a44162d9056a554510db4f" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B01CQ74UGE&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=li2&o=1&a=B01CQ74UGE" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Tuesdays with Molakesh the Destroyer by Megan Grey - This was incorrectly nominated last year, but it was still a great read. A surly teen and a surly, retired demon are enjoyably surly together!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">* If you have a working time machine</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-81707181016887702162016-01-31T22:24:00.002+01:002016-01-31T22:25:13.397+01:00I'm A Lowlife Cheating Scumbag<span style="font-family: "arial";">You flirt a bit, but then you fall in love, you make a decision, you make a commitment, and you stick with it. Sure, you're tempted by that hot new thing in your eyeline, BUT YOU MADE A COMMITMENT. And this relationship, through its ups and downs, it buoys you. I knew this. But then everything changes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">I was always a Canon guy. My photo-Yoda, Jim Veneman*, backed me in my choice. And then, this week, I threw away a relationship of more than 30 years. Sure, I'd dallied with Panasonic**, but we all knew that was just a meaningless fling. Point-and-shoot, it meant nothing. But this? A DSLR? That? That was some serious shiz-nit.This isn't a dalliance, this is CHEATING. And, dammit, I'm ok with it. I'm sorry, Canon, but I've moved on. I'm a Nikon guy. At least for now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Photos to come!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">* Seriously, he's amazing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">** Like a different area code or being in Vegas, It doesn't count</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-15412367902147290872016-01-20T23:21:00.000+01:002016-01-20T23:21:15.579+01:00US News Country Ratings Are Horseshit<span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-full-list" target="_blank">US News & World Report partnered with a brand management firm and Wharton (the business school) to whip up a ranking of countries</a>, presumably so that upper and middle class American kids can choose their next citizenship the same way they do their colleges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Germany came in first (no arguments here), and while that was exciting for me (a German resident), it made me wonder how they were ranked. <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/methodology" target="_blank">The methodology has its own page</a>, and after patting themselves on the back, you get this:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">"A set of 65 country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey of more than 16,000 people from across the globe where participants assessed how closely they associated one with the other."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c27701e2-21f5-dc5e-8a36-189b6e1aa0c7"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">So, what these really are is a ranking of how people <b>perceive</b> the countries. This explains why <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/03/uruguay-makes-dramatic-shift-to-nearly-95-clean-energy" target="_blank">Uruguay, which gets 95% of its electricity from sustainable sources</a>, ranked 33! in the "<a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-green-living" target="_blank">Best Countries for Green Living</a>". Of course, doing this hand-in-hand with a brand management company should've been a dead giveaway. This isn't ranking reality, THIS IS RANKING PERCEPTION. Rankings are like computer data: Garbage in, Garbage out.</span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c27701e2-21f5-dc5e-8a36-189b6e1aa0c7"></span> </span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-10098230454822655312016-01-17T23:03:00.001+01:002016-01-17T23:03:20.098+01:00My Bucket List<span style="font-family: "arial";">Some web surfing brought me to a blogger based in the 'dorf, <a href="http://giveforgranted.com/about/the-bucket-list/" target="_blank">GiveForGranted</a>, specifically <a href="http://giveforgranted.com/about/the-bucket-list/" target="_blank">her post about her bucket list</a>. I started one while I was home last year, but hadn't followed up on it. So, I am blatantly copying her post (which, to be fair, is not the only one of its kind)</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Sell my house</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go skydiving</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go bungee jumping</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Run a marathon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Play well again* in an ultimate tournament</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit every country in Europe</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit every state in the USA</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit every populated continent (I'm counting American-style with 7 total N/S America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antartica, which has enough trouble without me) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit the Tatooine sets in Tunisia</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit the new Star Wars location in Ireland (Thanks a lot, The Force Awakens) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit all the former Soviet Republics</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World (not sure what to do about a few that are completely gone)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Pick a list** of 7 existing wonders and see them</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Angkor Wat</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Machu Picchu</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Easter Island</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit all the US National Parks </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Cross a country by bike</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Cross a country by car</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Backpack across a country</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Ride a hot-air balloon </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Learn to scuba dive</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Learn to snowboard</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">(Re)Learn to ski</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Catch and hold green waves</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Brew my own beer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Finish writing a novel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Write an app(pplication, platform isn't important)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Fall in love (again)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Run a marathon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Read Ulysses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Read Infinite Jest</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Smoke at a coffeeshop in Amsterdam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Take a cooking course in Italy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Stand on the equator</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Learn to ride a skateboard</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Do a fjord cruise</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Drive around Iceland</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Achieve Elite status on Elite/Oolite (childhood goal!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Return to Taiwan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See Victoria Falls</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go on a 1 week backpacking trip</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Ride a Vespa in Italy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Work in a vineyard during harvest</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Start my own company</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Lead a tour group</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Hitchhike</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Do a weekend biking trip</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Take a running tour of a city</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See Petra</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See Cobá</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See the paintings at Bonampak</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Volunteer at an archaeological dig</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Rift Valley</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See paleolithic cave paintings</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit a FIFA men's World Cup</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Be asked for, and pay, a bribe to cross a border</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Tokai</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See an F1 race in person</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Watch Messi play in person</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go to a USA-Mexico match in Azteca</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go to an England match in Wembley</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Pompeii</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Attend Carnival in Rio</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Take a Nile cruise</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit the Smithsonian</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Watch a Supreme Court case</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Watch a debate in Congress</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Shave my head</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Take a Segway tour</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See one of the Ring Cycle live</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See an Opera at La Scala</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See da Vinci's The Last Supper</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Ride on the outside of a train</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go hunting</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Climb a volcano</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Stand on the 4 Corners</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See a solar eclipse</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Learn Morse code</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Swim with bioluminescent algae</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Spend a night in a desert (of the natural</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">, rather than the moral,</span> variety)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit New Zealand</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Successfully eat a gimmick spicy food (hottest curry)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit North Korea</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Leave North Korea without going to jail</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Run with the bulls </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Jump off a waterfall</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go on a safari</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go to an airport/train station without knowing my (long-distance) destination</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Get married</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit the Galapagos</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Take a culinary tour of a city</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Tour Chernobyl</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit Baikonur (during a launch, if allowed)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Heckle a comedian</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Do stand up</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Go sailing with my mom</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Shoot the moon in Hearts... after announcing that I'm going to do it (the technical term for this is "dickbagging")</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">See the Forbidden City</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Visit the ruins of Karakorum</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";">Eat insects (other than those preserved in booze)</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">* Former teammates are free to argue the validity of the word "again"<br />
** There are a bunch of these floating around, so I need to pick one. Or two.</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-12680239662920099622015-10-17T17:23:00.000+02:002015-10-17T17:23:19.461+02:00Ancillary Mercy is Sooooooo Good<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TOT9LEY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00TOT9LEY&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=OTUANJF2IIGMWON2" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00TOT9LEY&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00TOT9LEY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I first read "<a href="http://amzn.to/1LziAaX" target="_blank">Ancillary Justice</a>" last fall after <a href="http://io9.com/ancillary-justice-is-the-mind-blowing-space-opera-youv-1430076479" target="_blank">hearing some good buzz online</a> (I was late to the party). I liked it, but wasn't blown away. I read the sequel, "<a href="http://amzn.to/1kcciE3" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a>", this summer and <b>really</b> liked it. In anticipation of the trilogy's conclusion, I reread Justice and it greatly improved upon reread. So, the trilogy is complete: did Ann Leckie stick a "Return of the Jedi" (or better) landing or did she stumble to a "Matrix Revolutions" (or worse)? I can happily say that she, at worst, went "Jedi"*. It was the best kind of satisfying ending -- plots are wrapped, characters change, and I'm excited to read more in the same universe (though it will be hard to let Breq go).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I like my sci-fi to both entertain and enlighten/inspire me -- books like "<a href="http://amzn.to/1kcdMOD" target="_blank">Anathem</a>", "<a href="http://amzn.to/1Mvhklt" target="_blank">Snow Crash</a>" (I LOVE <a href="http://www.nealstephenson.com/" target="_blank">Neal Stephenson</a>), "<a href="http://amzn.to/1MvhuJN" target="_blank">Ender's Game</a>", "<a href="http://amzn.to/1MvhtW3" target="_blank">Spin</a>" -- big ideas, engaging characters and a plot that has some surprises. And a few laughs wouldn't hurt (or a bunch, like "<a href="http://amzn.to/1GiRog4" target="_blank">Starship Grifters</a>"). The previous two Imperial Radch books did almost all that, but were pretty short on humor. Mercy rectified this.**</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">Each of the Ancillary books has a different flavor -- Justice was Breq's single-minded pursuit of revenge, Sword saw her struggling with being in command and contact with her decades that approaches that she had as an AI, and Mercy has her trying to find a viable future (first she has to even accept that there can be a future for her beyond revenge). Of course, this isn't just chatting over tea (though there is plenty of that, and lots of chatting over fish sauce). She is faced with all the threats, implied or overt, from previous books: Mianaai, rebellious citizens, the Presger, other AIs and her own crew (and their feelings for her).<br /><br />What stood out the most from the previous two was the humor; I laughed out loud several times, and each of the major characters shows a distinct sense of humor (though at least one, the Presger translator, may not be intentional humor).<br /><br />So, it's funny, filled with big ideas and complex characters, and it's got some great action. What more do you want from your space opera/sci-fi?<br /><br />If you haven't read Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Mercy already, you should do so, then prepare yourself for an even better treat. Leckie stepped up her game for the final volume.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">* First, it's sad that RoTJ is the best SFF trilogy we have. Return of the King had potential, but the 13,000 different "endings" killed it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** The rest of this post is copied shamelessly from my own reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.***</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">*** See that? With one footnote, I go from autoplagiarism to efficient use of social media. Booyakasha! </span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-44537404100383916052015-10-15T09:51:00.002+02:002015-10-15T09:51:42.004+02:00Another Day, Another Scam<span style="font-family: arial;">Just as I'm about to get into the bath (I'm sick, cut me some slack), the phone rings. Worried it might be family (expat problems FTW!), I rush to pick it up. This follows...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Hello, this is Windows Technical Support, from New Jersey. We're calling because your computer has been sending out a lot of emails.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: lime;">Ok, I thought I detected a hint of Jersey in your accent</span></b> (This is a mocking, bald-faced lie. He couldn't sound more Indian if he was extolling the virtues of cricket while claiming India has never started a war).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">Yes, I'm not from New Jersey.</span></b> (Apparently he has learned to detect SOME sarcasm. Which isn't hard, as I'm already laying it on so thick that I'm using a goddamn Sarcasm Trowel)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: lime;"><b>What's the problem? Will you be able to help me? And how much will it cost?</b></span> (Using the Trowel for this line)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">It won't cost anything, unless there's a problem we need to fix. Then there's a small, one-time fee.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">That's great to hear, what do we do?</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">At this point, he </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">mentions that the fee is "only" 100-150 Euros, then</span> leads me through opening up the Event Viewer on Windows. Which is difficult for me to BS, since I'm not using Windows. Which he would know, if he were even vaguely real. But he's a scammer, so he doesn't.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">What program that I registered for gave you my information? I just want to be sure you're for real. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">(I back off the Trowel so that he thinks I'm just a sucker. It works.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">I'm from Azure, not Windows.</span></b>
(This is a relief? I've heard of the color, not the company.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">OK, I was worried, because Windows is actually a Microsoft product and not a company. But I never registered for Azure. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">(I'm getting bored, so I give another hint. It's untaken.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">We do support for Windows, so that's how you registered. Now, tell me what you see in the events window.</span></b>
(Whatever, jackhole.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">I see a list of events. But, let me ask you, how would it look if I was using a Mac? </span></b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">(I'm now ready to end this, so I drop a much bigger hint)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> (Long Pause)</span><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> You are the biggest motherfucker I have ever met</span>.</span></b>
(He hangs up. Score! He finally took the hint! And I earned quite the compliment.)</span><br />
<br />jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-42645095909168732442015-09-09T08:49:00.000+02:002015-09-09T08:49:07.472+02:00Oh, India, You SCAMp<span style="font-family: arial;">I got a call from "Anonymous" this morning. Before I moved to Germany, I wouldn't pick up Anonymous's calls, but Germans love their privacy, so quite a few people block caller ID. So, I picked up, in case it was someone I knew that liked to keep it on the DL.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">In this case, it was "Microsoft, from London". Which was odd, because the caller didn't give his name AND had a very strong Indian accent, with nary a hint of London. In the background? LOTS of other Indian accents, very loud. Which was another red flag, since I've called Microsoft (in London, or at least the UK) and 1) the rep introduces him/herself right off, 2) the reps had clear English accents and 3) I couldn't hear a bunch of chatter in the background. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I wanted to hear how this would play out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">He told me that my computer had been hacked and that it had been sending out emails (he didn't say my email account had been hacked, just my computer). He was going to tell me which folders to clear out on my computer to fix it. First, he wanted to know what key was next to the "STRG" key on my computer. I told him there was no such key, and he argued with me. "Yes, there is. It is left of the space key." He finally accepted that a Mac might not have such a key and decided to move on. He had me open a browser, "Do you use Mozilla?" and search for "validator". Which leads to a "Markup Validator Service" which is a real thing used to debug HTML.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">At this point, I'm tired of the BS and ask for some confirmation that he's really from Microsoft. He hands me off onto the next guy, who also doesn't introduce himself. When I ask for validation, he assures me that he's "Microsoft, from London". I tell him that if he really is, he'll have my product registration information. "I'm just a technician, I'm not with Sales." Sigh. I ask a few more times, politely* and he finally blurts out, in a huff, "you're registered with the... beauty salon!" and hangs up. Burn! You Stay Classy, Indian scammers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">* Shocking!</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-27380017508985084382015-08-23T14:29:00.001+02:002015-08-25T09:12:48.157+02:00Hugos 2015 No Awards Reaction<span style="font-family: arial;">The Hugo winners were announced today/last night (depending on your time zone), and there were some surprises. First, the completely awesome <a href="http://amzn.to/1Jt9ZWm" target="_blank">Ms. Marvel</a> won best Graphic Story, as <a href="http://jtingermany.blogspot.com/2015/06/hugos-2015-read-best-graphic-story.html" target="_blank">I said it should</a> :) However, that's not the big news. The big news is that FIVE! of the categories had NO AWARD as the winner. That's (I think) unprecedented and pretty bad news.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">My source for this is the official Hugo Statistics file, found at <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/content/pdf/2015HugoStatistics.pdf">http://www.thehugoawards.org/content/pdf/2015HugoStatistics.pdf</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">I voted for No Award in one category, <a href="http://jtingermany.blogspot.com/2015/07/hugos-2015-reads-novellas.html" target="_blank">Best Novella</a>, but in the other categories I had at least 1 work that I thought was worthy. But the massive numbers of votes for No Award makes me wonder if the various calls to automatically put anything on a <a href="https://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/sad-puppies-3-the-2015-hugo-slate/" target="_blank">Sad</a>/<a href="http://voxday.blogspot.com/2015/02/rabid-puppies-2015.html" target="_blank">Rabid</a> Puppy slate were the driving force. From what I read, most people used <a href="http://deirdre.net/the-puppy-free-hugo-award-voters-guide/" target="_blank">the list by Deirdre Saoirse Moen</a> (to be fair, she says in her post that it's up to each vote to use or not use the list). I used this list to sort out the finalists/nominees into Puppy/Non-Puppy groups.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Personally, I think it's bullshit to automatically vote against something because of a list someone else made. Regardless of your opinion of the people, methods or views behind the Puppies, they didn't break any rules, and so their nominees should be treated the same as any other. Read* 'em, rank 'em and move on. The key there? READ*.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">The only reason I noticed this was because of the Best Novelette winner, which <a href="http://jtingermany.blogspot.com/2015/07/2015-hugo-reads-novellettes.html" target="_blank">I ranked near the bottom of my ballot</a>. I thought it was easily the worst of the stories**, but one-third of the voters thought was the best. Which is fine, tastes and all that. However, the work closest in theme/tone (but far, far superior, IMHO) to it was "Totaled", which was hammered in Short Story. This seems fishy to me (fishy in the sense of the votes given, not the tally -- I think the counts were/are totally above board)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">So I looked a little closer, and it seems like there were large numbers of voters who followed the puppy-free guide (obviously, it's impossible to tell this from the totals, or even from the votes). </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">14 of the 16 categories with at least 1 Puppy nominee/finalist</span> had the non-Puppy noms at the top, then No Award, then the Puppy noms. The exceptions? Best Dramatic Long/Short Form, i.e. Best Movie/TV episode. I think (with no data to back me up) that these are least affected, because Hollywood blockbusters & TV are seen as above the fray (and, for TV, GoT is a juggernaut). And I am certain, based on nominee counts, that both Puppies and non-Puppies voted for Guardians of the Galaxy and Interstellar (as they should have, since they were both great, in very different ways).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">For the 14 categories where the final placement was: non-Puppy noms (if any), then No Award, then Puppy Noms, I added the votes for No Award + No Preference as a percentage of the eligible votes for the category. Numbers below, but some thoughts:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">In the 14 categories, at least 2000 people voted No Award above any Puppy nominee/finalist, and it was 51% or more of the eligible votes in each category. If half of these (not necessarily the SAME 2000 people -- info only the votes could give) were voting strict non-Puppy, that's almost 20% of the voting population and 10% of the year's members. That's HUGE.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Since 1038 of the 1966 non-GOTG voters for the non-Puppy Marvel movie (Captain America: Winter Soldier) preferred No Award to the Puppy Marvel movie (Guardians of the Galaxy), the above 1000 hardcore non-Puppy guess gains some weight. This is likely coincidence, but it makes me more curious about the actual votes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Based on the nominee data (at the bottom of the Stats pdf), there probably weren't more than about 200 Puppies nominating out of 2122 ballots in any given category (most finalists had fewer than 200 noms), and were almost definitely fewer than 400 (no non-movie had 400 noms). Puppy noms dominated for the simple reason that NOT MANY PEOPLE NOMINATE. I'm in that group, and both Puppy supporters and opponents have a very simple solution to their gripe: NOMINATE good works.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Personally, my reading tastes are closer to non-Puppy than Puppy, but I STRONGLY feel that one should weigh the nominees/finalists equally and fairly. The numbers below give strong circumstantial weight to a large number of voters that dropped the NO PUPPY hammer. It's disappointing, but not surprising, given the level of vitriol on both sides over the last few months. So, thanks to BOTH hardcore Puppy and anti-Puppies: <span style="color: red;"><b>THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.</b></span> Stop calling people SJWs, neo-Nazis, commies, racists, etc. and just discuss the damn books <span style="color: red;"><b>POLITELY</b></span>. The anonymity of the Internet is not a license to be an asshole (TBH, I've forgotten that a few times). Ugh.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;">There is a clear trend:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Novel</b>: Position 4 is No Award vs the 2 Puppy nominees: No Award + No Preference = 2674 + 387 = 3061 possible non-Puppy votes of 5653 eligible (54%) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Novella</b>: All are Puppy Noms , Winner is No Award, so 3495 possible non-Puppy votes of 5337 eligible (65%) (I voted No Award here, but didn't follow the non-Puppy guide, so there's 3 basis points explained :D)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Novelette</b>: Position 2 is No Award, the non-Puppy won, so there are 3089 + 89 = 3178 possible non-Puppy votes of 5104 (62%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Short Story</b>: All are Puppy Noms, Winner is No Award, so 3053 possible non-Puppy votes of 5267 eligible (58%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Related Work</b>: All are Puppy Noms, Winner is No Award, so 3259 possible non-Puppy votes of 4901 eligible (66%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Graphic Story</b>: 1 Puppy Nom, Position 5 No Award + No Preference = 3722 possible non-Puppy votes of 4412 eligible (84%). Personally, I thought this was the weakest Puppy offering, and the </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Dramatic Long Form</b>: The lone Puppy winner. Honestly, I'm not sure how to sort out the non-Puppy vs other voters, and I don't want to waste more of a sunny Sunday going through the minutiae of voting order. Of course, with the full voting data, I could get this with no problem :) Which means I'll need to email the Hugo people after I finish basking in the sun.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Dramatic Short Form</b>: This is category where the Puppies have been clear in their boredom with Doctor Who's dominance***. People love the top Puppy nom, GoT, so that will muddy the waters (non-Puppy noms got slots 1 & 2). So I used it in Position 3 -- No Award + No Preference = 381 + 1194 = 1575 of 4705 eligible (33%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Editor, Short Form</b>: Personally, both Editor votes were tough for me, as I've never dealt with an editor (like most voters, I'd bet). Still, an all-Puppy slate. 2672 for No Award out of 4850 eligible (55%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Editor, Long Form</b>: Another all-Puppy slate. 2496 for No Award out of 4907 eligible (51%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Pro Artist</b>: Full discretion: I didn't vote, because I knew nothing about anyone here. Won by only non-Puppy nom, so Position 2 No Award + No Pref = 2350+271 = 2621 of 4354 eligible (60%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Semiprozine</b>: 3 non-Puppy noms were top 3, so Position 4 No Award + No Pref = 2021 + 479 = 2500 (ROUND NUMBER ILLUMINATI/PENTAVARATE ALERT!) of 3880 eligible (64%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Fancast</b>: 2 non-Puppy noms were top 2, so Position 3 No Award + No Pref = 2098 + 219 = 2317 of 3384 eligible (68%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Fanzine</b>: Only non-Puppy nom won, so Position 2 No Award + No Pref = 2356 + 148 = 2504 of 3818 eligible (66%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Fan Writer</b>: Only non-Puppy nom won, so Position 2 No Award + No Pref = 2687 + 224 = 2911 of 4183 eligible (70%)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Fan Artist</b>: No (Edited: had incorrect "non" here) Puppy noms (so, the opposite of Short Story/Novella), so no relevant data. Interesting to note that 485 votes for No Award -- upper bound for (completist****) hardcore Puppy-only voters</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Campbell Award</b>: The only non-Puppy nom won, so Position 2 No Award + No Pref = 2381 + 377 = 2758 of 4388 eligible (63%)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">* By "read", I am including watching the dramatic presentations, listening to podcasts, etc. Basically, "experience" or "consume".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** It ranked with/above 2 stories that I downgraded as clearly excerpts of novels, rather than being a novelette. I liked the other 2 better, but I didn't think they should be eligible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">*** A boredom I share. Dr. Who is good, occasionally great, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Dramatic_Presentation" target="_blank">3 episodes nominated in each of the previous 5 years</a>? C'mon. And beating Community's Remedial Chaos Theory? Whovians need to put down the Kool-Aid and try something new. Rant over.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">**** What an ugly word. With or with out a second "e", it looks wrong. English spelling is the worst. </span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-12946243082982612412015-08-23T11:24:00.000+02:002015-08-23T11:24:00.369+02:00Food Waste Update Week 1
<span style="font-family: arial;">It's been a "week" since I posted about limiting my food waste. Here's what I tossed, uneaten since then:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Anchos and pasillas -- I had these in the oven to dry before i ground them, and I forgot. They made EXCELLENT charcoal powder, but I opted to pass on that. This happened about 5 minutes after my original post, so lesson learned -- don't blog while cooking</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">1 massive green onion-leek hybrid (I'm assuming; it might've just been the largest green onion I've seen). The bundle of these had 4, i used 3, this one went bad before I could use it. A partial victory, though, since I previously would only use one or two</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">A handful of strawberries -- out of a kilo, losing a small handful isn't too bad. Especially as they were moldy after 1 day in the fridge.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">1 annoying blackberry -- this had some seriously overachieving mold spores on it. It was completely covered in white mold 5 hours after I put it in the fridge. I don't feel bad about this at all.</span></li>
</ul>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-42920015536017967812015-08-15T15:13:00.001+02:002015-08-15T15:13:41.998+02:00Me Vs Food Waste <span style="font-family: arial;">Several of my friends, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8xwLWb0lLY" target="_blank">and John Oliver</a>*, have recently gotten interested in the topic of food waste. This has gotten me to thinking** about how much food I waste. The amount is embarassingly large, mostly veggies that I buy with the best of intentions that go uneaten as those intentions die a quiet death. This is a waste of money & food, and that pisses me off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm going to try to change my ways! How, you ask? The way that all the world's problems have traditionally been solved*** -- by blogging about it. I'm going to track (almost) all the groceries I buy and all I throw away. Here is this weekend's haul from the <a href="http://www.rheinischer-bauernmarkt.de/" target="_blank">farmer's market</a> & Rewe:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-aVWwnnqws/Vc8pOfA1RbI/AAAAAAAAM8o/AzefdZ6KZtk/s1600/DSC_1266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-aVWwnnqws/Vc8pOfA1RbI/AAAAAAAAM8o/AzefdZ6KZtk/s640/DSC_1266.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;">So, my rules:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Any fresh food I buy gets logged, unless I forget or eat it right away. C'est la vie.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Meals at restaurants, food stands, etc. don't count unless I waste a bunch, which will be logged.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Any food wasted inadvertently (berries on the bottom that are already moldy the day I buy them, an egg I drop, etc.) aren't counted as waste.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The non-food parts of the food (egg shells, stems, cherry pits, etc.) aren't counted as waste. It'd be great if I could compost that, but it's not currently an option.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Wine and other beverages won't be listed unless they're wasted.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: arial;">Here is the first meal:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">ALL of the bacon (I only bought 3 strips, knowing I could inhale that) I bought today from the Fleisch Frauen****</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Some fresh homemade pico de gallo (I outdid myself, it was <a href="https://youtu.be/aQNkeugaAMc?t=19s" target="_blank">real AND spectacular</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Two eggs (organic, bought last week) with the leftover green onion, jalepeño and cilantro from the pico.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">A G&T on the side to use up some of the lime ;-).</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;">Hopefully the rest of the food will be as tasty & fully consumed!</span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4zK0si3GGfs/Vc8rcjyK-xI/AAAAAAAAM80/CTU77-cM6Yo/s1600/DSC_1267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4zK0si3GGfs/Vc8rcjyK-xI/AAAAAAAAM80/CTU77-cM6Yo/s400/DSC_1267.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">* Just for you, <a href="http://thesummerofsteve.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Steve</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** Shocking!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">*** For my tongue to be any further in my cheek would require surgery </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">**** My name for the two women who run a <a href="http://www.vennbachhof.de/" target="_blank">butcher stand</a> at the <a href="http://www.rheinischer-bauernmarkt.de/" target="_blank">Rheinische Bauern Markt</a>. </span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-69549883295407169902015-08-11T22:06:00.002+02:002015-08-11T22:06:50.984+02:00Hugo 2015 Reads -- What I Learned<span style="font-family: arial;">Now that I'm finished with my reading for the Hugo award voting, I can look back on the experience and reflect. Because, to quote Shakespeare, "forsooth, what good is a blog, if not to gaze at one's navel?"*</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Too Much Short Fiction</b></span>: I understand the motivation behind 3 categories of shorter fiction (it's a great way for new authors to get attention/experience and can give interim revenue between longer works to new and established authors), but as a reader, the divisions seem arbitrary. Especially as at least 3 of the 10 novellas/novelettes were clearly subsections of larger works. From a pre-vote reading perspective, I hope that these two categories are combined before next year.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>So Many Beards and Hats</b></span>: Everyone has their own personal style (mine is "meh"), but plenty of male SFF authors are rockin' the "beard and wide-brimmed hat" in their photos. I'm not sure why it's so popular, but it certainly seems like it is. If anyone is looking for a subject for a "Related Work" for next year's voting, investigating the rise of this phenomenon will get a nom from me (I'm betting Robert Jordan's popularity is partly responsible).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>So Many Apostrophes</b></span>: When SFF authors want to make a word or name sound exotic, their </span><span style="font-family: arial;">favorite method is to toss in an apostrophe or two. Some authors are more consistent with this than others, but it's played out. Unless an author explains (in an appendix, I don't need in-story pronounciation guides) how it sounds, just skip it. It's distracting and a bit annoying.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>And Where's The Fantasy</b></span>: While both sci-fi and fantasy are eligible, the nominees in each category have more sci-fi. I'm not sure if this is a trend (and I don't have enough interest to do the googling & counting) or the result of a personal Hugo nominations sample size of 1, but I'm curious about what it looks like next year.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Everyone Needs to Chill</b></span>: The big controversy of the Sad/Rabid Puppies and their calls for more pulp-y fiction/unsung writers (Sad) and more works published by the leader of the Rabid Puppies (Rabid) has caused quite the Internet shitstorm. As always, this was handled on all sides with polite, measured discourse that never crossed the line. Or, not -- people were doxxed, the <a href="http://file770.com/?p=24256" target="_blank">cops were warned of potential violence at WorldCon</a>, etc. In other words, the same crap idiots do everyday on the Tinterwebs. Why people feel that anonymity is an assholery license, I do not know. Ugh. And lots of people online claim they automatically put Puppy noms below No Award <i>without reading them</i>. They were nominated without breaking the rules, read them and then rank them -- give them a fair chance. If you still think they're pedestrian* works riding a slate, then vote them below No Award (which I did with most, but not all). Don't punish the authors for something that they may not control***.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Don't Wait And Binge</b></span>: I read most of the works in two short binges bookending my vacation, and this was a mistake. A lot of the short fiction was similar in style, and I think my ratings were lower because of it. Next year I plan to spread it out a bit, and hopefully have already read some of the noms.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>There's Just So Much</b></span>: I didn't vote in a bunch of categories (fanzines, art, etc.) that I didn't have any opinion/experience with, and I didn't have time to search it all out. Maybe next year, but maybe not. I don't feel that one has to participate in all aspects of SFF. It should be enjoyable, not a chore!</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b>So, will I do it again?</b></span> Definitely! Overall, I'd give the experience a <span style="color: blue;"><b>3.5 out of 5</b></span> (4.5 for novels, 3 for the rest), and I'm excited to participate again next year.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">* I wouldn't waste a lot of time search for this quote in your <i>Complete Works of William Shakespeare</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** Not <i>literally</i> pedestrian. Though that would be impressive, if they wrote the stories while walking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">*** I can see doing this for nominees whose behavior, on- or off-line, is far beyond what you consider acceptable, but I think one should generally only rank stuff you are familiar with. </span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-51797522522053254642015-07-30T23:33:00.002+02:002015-07-30T23:33:59.778+02:00Hugo 2015 Reads - The Dark Between The Stars<span style="font-family: arial;">OK, I didn't post this earlier, mainly because I was hoping my interest would be rekindled after some time away. It was not. I didn't finish it, but I gave the ol' community college try and read a fourth of it. Is this entirely fair to Kevin J. Anderson (whose Star Wars books I enjoyed)? No. But it's life, and I hope to finish it later in the year. My mid-book grade would be <span style="color: blue;"><b>2 of 5</b></span>.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765369346/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0765369346&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=I6RR3XV4Q6WJZ6X2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0765369346&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Good</b></span></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">It was fast-paced, with short chapters. This seems like faint praise, but it moves the pace. I think it's underrated, especially in a Kindle book. Seeing "1 min more" means I'm finishing the chapter.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Some cool ideas among the various interstellar races and tech. But trying to introduce so many leads to... </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">It's fun space opera! Not too serious, good ideas, not obsessed with tech. Which is what I'd expect given his above-average work on the Art Formerly Known As The Star Wars Exanded Universe (sniff, sniff. We'll always miss you, Mara). </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>The Bad</b></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">He just has too many balls in the air. There are a bunch of alien races, some very cool, a few human factions and it's just a bit much. I think he'd have been better served by starting with fewer POVs and branching out more later.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of the humans, they're pretty flat. Now, I am only partway through the book, but several felt more like stereotypes (especially the driven, vengeful career woman and the ethically-challenged CEO) than people. Again, this can change later in the book, and I'll definitely post a full review when I'm done. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Current Ballot</b></span> (Pending 1 Vote):</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1G8vpGl" target="_blank">The Magician's Land</a> by Lev Grossman (Not a nominee, but amazing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1JsN5h6" target="_blank">The Goblin Emperor</a> by Katherine Addison </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KGhQxG" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a> by Ann Leckie </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a> by Emily St. John Mandel </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(Not a nominee, but very good)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a></span> by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">No Award (this is an option in the rather complicated, but logical, voting process)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1IfV0N3" target="_blank">The Dark Between The Stars</a> by Kevin J Anderson </span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-4255224341761342672015-07-30T23:14:00.001+02:002015-07-30T23:14:22.277+02:002015 Hugo Reads - Novellettes<span style="font-family: arial;">Almost done! This is my last fiction category, and another dominated by Sad and Rabid Puppies nominees. However, this was one category where a Puppy nominee beat the field (for me). Of course, most of the field was Puppy nominees, so it's not exactly triumphing over the forces of liberal mediocrity forced upon us by the Great Tor Conspiracy*.To be fair, I'm pretty tired of short fiction, especially the crop that's in the list. So most of these probably deserve an extra half-star from me. But that's what they get for waiting until the last 2 days for me to finish them**.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Once again, in the order listed on the Hugos website:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=i39&article=_005" target="_blank">Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium</a>, Gray Rinehart - <span style="color: blue;"><b>3.5 of 5</b></span> A short look at a human colony that's been overthrown by some late-arriving reptiles. A quick, easy read, fun with a nice sense of closure. The characters were very familiar, but it all worked for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Championship_EdLerner-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">Championship B’tok</a>, Edward M. Lerner</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> - <span style="color: blue;"><b>1 of 5</b></span> This one has promise -- interesting worldbuilding, but the characters are flat and it's blatantly only the start of the story -- clearly the first chunk of a novel, not a novellette. Had it been the same quality but an actual full story, I'd have rated it a few points higher (probably my second favorite of the 5 until I reached the end and said, "wait, that's it?!?). I'll probably read the full-length version, but this one was a sample, not a complete story.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-day-the-world-turned-upside-down/" target="_blank">The Day the World Turned Upside Down</a>, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Lia Belt translator</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> - <span style="color: blue;"><b>1.5 of 5</b></span> This was just too on the nose, too cute. After a man is dumped by his girlfriend, the entire world... turns upside down. Get it? I liked the author's/translator's prose, but i couldn't get past the annoying elephant/metaphor in the room. I might read more by him, but this was not my cuppa.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Journeyman_Stone_House_%20MichaelFlynn-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">The Journeyman: In the Stone House</a>, Michael F. Flynn</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> - <span style="color: blue;"><b>1.5 of 5</b></span> Another story that is part of a larger tale, this one stands basically alone. Still, it's not my bag; it's an odd mix of cultural archetypes -- Plains indians (with South Asian names), Arthurian lords, and a crashed spaceship with a working AI. A lot going on, but the pidgin English got old fast. The sword fighting was well-done, but I needed more.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Triple_Sun_RajnarVajra-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale</a>, Rajnar Vajra</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> - <span style="color: blue;"><b>2 of 5</b></span> Not a bad idea (and some cool ideas about the applications of the ability to control inertia), but the resolution fails to live up to the buildup. Adding in that 2 of the 3 characters were flat and fairly stock, and I have to pass.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">Final Ballot</span></b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=i39&article=_005" target="_blank">Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium</a></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: arial;">NO AWARD</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Triple_Sun_RajnarVajra-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-day-the-world-turned-upside-down/" target="_blank">The Day the World Turned Upside Down</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Championship_EdLerner-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">Championship B’tok</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Journeyman_Stone_House_%20MichaelFlynn-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">The Journeyman: In the Stone House</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">* I am joking here. The Puppies claim that Tor (Books or Dot Com, I'm not sure which) has a conspiracy of mindless drones that are driving the awards. Given Tor's record the last few years (single digit noms, 3 or fewer wins), it's an odd claim. Especially when the Sad Puppies have 51 of their 60 noms on the list and Rabid Puppies have 58 of 67, with only 12 from either or both list not making it -- and only 24 not on either list. <a href="http://file770.com/?p=21708" target="_blank">Counts from File 770</a>. (linked without permission, but will remove if asked!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** OK, fine, that was my fault.</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-1845527276628914222015-07-29T21:57:00.000+02:002015-07-29T21:57:15.806+02:002015 Hugo WATCH<span style="font-family: arial;">Soooooo... the Hugos also do movies and TV! I actually thought <a href="http://amzn.to/1SNhMz5" target="_blank">Big Hero 6</a> should've been on the list, as it was great. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Once again, in the order listed on the Hugos website: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Long Form (what the unwashed masses call "movies")</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1JvYsWu" target="_blank">Captain America: The Winter Soldier</a> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>4.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">LOVED it, but it just didn't feel like sci-fi/fantasy to me, so it gets...below NO AWARD</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1fIj95o" target="_blank">Edge of Tomorrow</a> - UNRANKED! I refuse to pay $5 to rent a movie online. When they come to their senses, I'll watch it.</span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1fIjdCn" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Guardians of the Galaxy</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>4 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">LOVED it, but not as much as...</span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1fIj0ip" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Interstellar</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">I'm sorry, but how can you be a sci-fi fan and not love a movie where time dilation is a legit plot point? </span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1IqS79A" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Lego Movie</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>3.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Really shocked, but this was great.Not <i>quite</i> as the raves I heard, but close!</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SNiw7q" target="_blank">Doctor Who: “Listen”</a> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>3.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Dr Who is great, but this didn't blow me away. Love the new guy, though. Matt Smith was... not my fave.</span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1U7rWwU" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Flash: “Pilot”</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>4 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Shocked by how good this was, especially on a TV budget.</span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1fIlkpG" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Game of Thrones: “The Mountain and the Viper”</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;">- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>3.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Easily the most disturbing thing I've ever seen on TV, this would be <i>at least</i> a point better if they'd kept the book's version of the Tyrion-Jaime chat.</span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1U7s8MK" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Grimm: “Once We Were Gods”</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;">- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>UNRANKED/UNWATCHED </b><span style="color: black;">Sadly, No time for this. Blame all the crap the puppies put on the short fiction ballots.</span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1ILdQ2n" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Orphan Black: “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried”</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>4.5 of 5 (UNWATCHED) </b><span style="color: black;">This is shady, but I love Orphan Black but didn't have time to finish season 2 (see above) in time for the vote. But it's awesome, so it's getting my vote.</span></span></span></span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-60753628224973957402015-07-29T21:32:00.000+02:002015-07-29T21:32:48.254+02:002015 Hugo Reads - Short Stories<span style="font-family: arial;">This will be a short one, befitting the shortest of the fiction categories. I'm a very rare reader of short fiction, so these are definitely not part of my normal reading. The links in the titles lead to online versions of the stories, except for the Wright & Diamond stories, as I couldn't find those online, so the links are to the collections containing them on amazon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Once again, in the order listed on the Hugos website:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://louantonelli.blogspot.com/2015/03/on-spiritual-plain.html" target="_blank">On A Spiritual Plain</a>, Lou Antonelli</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> </b>- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>3 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Interesting to read a new story by the guy from "Letters to Gardner", and he has an interesting idea here. The first human death on a world where the magnetic field causes consciousness to linger, it reminds me of an idea i read in Warren Ellis's Planetary (not sure if it originated with him). I think he could've done more with it, but not bad.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1Ioui26" target="_blank">The Parliament of Beasts and Birds</a>, John C. Wright</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> </b>- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">This is a post-Rapture/Armageddon tale told in an Aesop's fables style of animals trying to decide what to do in the absence of Man. It mixes Old Testament and Greek lore </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">(some pretty obscure)</span></span></span></span>, and it comes off as an odd read. Wright </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">just </span></span></span></span>is not my cup of tea, and his usual inconsistently-archaic dialogue doesn't help.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1MTjeyf" target="_blank">A Single Samurai</a>, Steven Diamond</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> </b>- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">This story of a single samurai walking up the back of a Godzilla-ish kaiju didn't do it for me. It was the first thing I read in the reread months ago, and I have little memory of it, aside from a pretty eyeroll-inducing ending. Not bad, just didn't do it for me.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://galaxysedge.com/Hugo/Totaled.htm" target="_blank">Totaled</a>, Kary English</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> </b>- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>4 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Some near-ish future sci-fi, this is an interesting and moving short story about the aftermath of a life-altering car crash. The setup for the small bit on insurance rules seemed out of place and a bit forced, but overall it was fascinating and surprisingly moving.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://steverzasa.wordpress.com/turncoat/" target="_blank">Turncoat</a>, Steve Rzasa -
<span style="color: blue;"><b>2 of 5</b></span> Military SF about a ship's AI in a battle between a human govt and one run by former humans uploaded to machine consciousness. The ending is pretty obvious and the characters flat, but the basic idea wasn't bad.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">Final Ballot</span></b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://galaxysedge.com/Hugo/Totaled.htm" target="_blank">Totaled</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://louantonelli.blogspot.com/2015/03/on-spiritual-plain.html" target="_blank">On A Spiritual Plain</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">NO AWARD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://steverzasa.wordpress.com/turncoat/" target="_blank">Turncoat</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1MTjeyf" target="_blank">A Single Samurai</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1Ioui26" target="_blank">The Parliament of Beasts and Birds</a></span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-42162691470832610232015-07-28T19:07:00.004+02:002015-07-28T19:07:54.352+02:00Hugos 2015 Reads -- Novellas<span style="font-family: arial;">This will be a short one -- I was polishing my final draft before my vacation when the window went blank and Google "helpfully" auto-saved... with no recourse. So, just a sentence each for Novellas, in the order listed on the Hugos website:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KuniYe" target="_blank">Big Boys Don’t Cry</a>, Tom Kratman - <span style="color: blue;"><b>2.5 of 5</b></span> military SF about a sentient tank looking back on its training and career. I thought the idea of simulated battles to train/indoctrinate an AI was pretty cool, but it just didn't do it for me. Military SF has to be pretty great to float my boat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Flow_ArlanAndrew-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">Flow</a>, Arlan Andrews, Sr.<b> </b>- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>2.5 of 5 </b><span style="color: black;">Sci-Fi/</span></span></span>Fantasy of a future Earth (maybe?) where humans have split into pretty different phenotypes. This is a pretty basic newbie-to-a-culture story, with a few cool ideas (a group of farsighted people use carvings instead of writing to overcome their eyesight), but it seemed like an excerpt more than a full story.<b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HW1voA" target="_blank">One Bright Star to Guide Them</a>, John C. Wright - </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>0.5 of 5 </b></span></span></span>A Narnia homage, this one is overfilled with references to past events in unknown places in a fantasy world and nods to various CS Lewis writings. The ending is just bizarre. Bold choice to make all the best action offscreen... and then blithely describe it in dialogue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1LOrT6t" target="_blank">Pale Realms of Shade</a>, John C. Wright<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1 of 5</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b> </b></span></span></span>At first, it's a film noir crossed with urban fantasy. And then it takes a turn to be... message fiction. Which is hated by the Rabid Puppies -- unless they're publishing/nominating it, apparently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1U2LPFy" target="_blank">The Plural of Helen of Troy</a>, John C. Wright</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>2 of 5</b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b> </b></span></span></span>Some great ideas on time travel bogged down in flat characters and more messaging. Also some very odd mixing of fictional and "real" characters. Easily my favorite of any of Wright's works among the nominees, though.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I was hoping I wouldn't vote NO AWARD in a category, but here I just didn't feel any of the stories were Hugo-worthy (I currently vacillate between 3 & 3.5 of 5 as "Hugo-worthy").</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="color: red;">Final Ballot</span></b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">NO AWARD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KuniYe" target="_blank">Big Boys Don’t Cry</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/pdfs/Stories/Flow_ArlanAndrew-HUGO.pdf" target="_blank">Flow</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1U2LPFy" target="_blank">The Plural of Helen of Troy</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1LOrT6t" target="_blank">Pale Realms of Shade</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HW1voA" target="_blank">One Bright Star to Guide Them</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-2507908280582627772015-07-27T21:07:00.000+02:002015-07-27T21:07:09.391+02:00Hugos 2015 Reads - Related Work<span style="font-family: arial;">After a three-week vacation, I'm back to trying to finish my reading before Hugo votes are due on Friday. Doh! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Related Work is a kind of catch-all category for non-fiction related to SFF, criticism, etc. As such, it's a pretty diverse selection. I've listed the works in alphabetical order by author's last name.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1LOC2hz" target="_blank">Letters from Gardner</a> by Lou Antonelli -- <span style="color: blue;"><b>3 of 5</b></span> This is the one I was most interested in, as it's about the actual mechanics of writing. It's a series of short stories, starting as he's trying to break into publishing short science fiction, and follows his career. Each of the stories is paired with an intro and follow-up about the changes the stories went through, including his interactions with famed </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">editor Gardner Dozois. </span>Unfortunately, the included sample was only just getting into the interesting part of his correspondence. It was good enough that I'll be buying it soon enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="http://amzn.to/1Jgbu8v" target="_blank">The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF</a> by Ken Burnside -- <span style="color: blue;"><b>2.5 of 5</b></span> This is not my cup of tea, but it was an informative look at the restrictions that our current understanding of thermodynamics has on hard SF, specifically military SF. If you're an author trying to do worldbuilding in a SF world that is fairly realistic, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCvULMRUq8" target="_blank">this is your bag, baby</a>. I'm not in this situation (nor plan to be), so I appreciate the usefulness, but that's about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled.asp" target="_blank">Why Science is</a> <a href="http://baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled-Part2.asp" target="_blank">Never Settled</a> (there are two parts, hence the gap in the link) by Tedd Roberts -- <span style="color: blue;"><b>2 of 5</b></span> This is a basic intro to what the actual practice of science is -- the scientific method, what a theory means, etc. It's informative, but he does have a pretty massive error. He lists "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy" target="_blank">Climategate</a>" as an example of "abuse of pre- publication peer-review to publish some articles and block others". Unfortunately, this had been thoroughly debunked YEARS before the article was written, and such a mistake makes me take a point off my rating. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HpATz4" target="_blank">Wisdom from My Internet</a> by Michael Z. Williamson -- </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>1 of 5</b></span></span> This is mainly a collection of tweets (maybe other work?), the majority of which have nothing to do with SFF. Some of these (assumed) tweets are mildly amusing, but when read in bulk, they're tedious. Adding in the fact that it's only tangentially "related" (the majority are politics, current events, or other non-SFF material), you get the low rating (in general i'd give it a <span style="color: blue;"><b>1.5</b></span>, not a <span style="color: blue;"><b>0.5</b></span>). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SV3pus" target="_blank">Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth</a> by John C. Wright -- <span style="color: blue;"><b>0 of 5</b></span> This was just brutal. To be fair, I didn't read the whole thing, but I did read all of "Transhuman and Subhuman", "The Hobbit, or The Desolation of Tolkien", "John C. Wright's Patented One Session Lesson in the Mechanics of Fiction", and most of (the extremely long -- over a third of the kindle edition in the voter packet) "Saving Science Fiction from Strong Female Characters" (I gave up after realizing he was never going to back up any his statements with anything more than... more of his statements). This one gets its own coverage!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Wright has several axes to grind, but it all flows from assigning female characters what he sees as "masculine" traits. He starts there and links it into a web that rails against Leftists (he never specifies if he means socialists, communists, liberals, or some other version), Political Correctness, and other bogeymen. His technique for these arguments is to make a bold, unsubstantiated claim (</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Women, it must be noted, complain more than men")</span>, then build upon it until he restarts the process.The essay is filled with his statements on what is "masculine" and "feminine", the goals and beliefs for "Leftists" and the "Cult of Political Correctness", none of which are backed by any reference to data or a source. He can't quote a source, as he's (apparently) assigning views to an undefined group. His random statements offered as fact include:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">"The strategy of picking up an attractive stranger of loose morals, or hiring her for a fee for sexual favors, is so repugnant to prudence <b>if not to human nature</b> as to induce vomiting." The <b>Bold</b> is mine to highlight what a laughable statement this is.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">"after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was discovered that each and every person McCarthy accused was guilty of exactly that which he accused them" Well, after an extensive google search lasting almost 10 minutes, there's 0 evidence for this. Some he named were Communists, but most of his accusations were bullshit. If not? Give a reference.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">"the cultists will claim credit for something they opposed, such as the Civil Rights Movement, which was a Republican movement" You can argue that is was MORE a Republican movement, but giving all the credit isn't sloppy, it's intellectually dishonest -- <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/28/republicans-party-of-civil-rights" target="_blank">it is easy to argue it was a regional movement</a>. Basic statistical analysis is not Wright's strong point. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;">I could go on, but this was easily the worst-argued essay I've read in a very long time. It's rambling, misleading, poorly researched (or at least completely incompetently referenced) and reads like a mediocre blog post rather than a serious look into what makes female characters "strong" and the impact on culture.</span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;">My final ballot (which coincidentally is in alphabetical order by author's name!):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1LOC2hz" target="_blank">Letters from Gardner</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1Jgbu8v" target="_blank">The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">NO AWARD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled.asp" target="_blank">Why Science is</a> <a href="http://baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled-Part2.asp" target="_blank">Never Settled</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HpATz4" target="_blank">Wisdom from My Internet</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SV3pus" target="_blank">Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth</a></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-75409988993120520222015-06-24T23:21:00.002+02:002015-06-28T17:30:00.929+02:00Hugos 2015 Reads - Best Graphic Story<span style="font-family: arial;">I am, and have long been*, a MASSIVE comics fan. My tastes generally run to superhero comics, though I've dipped my toe into the more "serious" waters -- <a href="http://amzn.to/1JjoNI1" target="_blank">Maus</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1JjoT2s" target="_blank">Persepolis</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1KaQvp6" target="_blank">Blankets</a>***, <a href="http://amzn.to/1HeMMrB" target="_blank">Logicomix</a>****, and the AWESOME <a href="http://amzn.to/1CtN8TS" target="_blank">Cartoon</a> <a href="http://amzn.to/1NbRvbR" target="_blank">History of the</a> <a href="http://amzn.to/1CtNcCZ" target="_blank">Universe</a>. But this year's noms are a pretty nice mix -- One Marvel, 3 Image (Hooray for creator-owned!) and one webcomic. DC was too busy planning its semi-annual reboot to generate nominees*****.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Best Graphic Story</b> -- As a long-time reader of superhero, especially Marvel, comics, I'm definitely biased toward the capes. But this year's noms only have one (which I have already read, and loved). Here are my thoughts, in reverse alphabetical order:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/149929025X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=149929025X&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=JL5SCFYNRXN7MBFB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=149929025X&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SLdMkB" target="_blank">Zombie Nation</a></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">-- As the only one NOT included in the packet, I'm going to judge this one based on the most recent month of comics (it's a <a href="http://www.thezombienation.com/" target="_blank">webcomic</a>). And I have to say... meh. It's occasionally funny, but it's just not in the league of the other noms. <span style="color: blue;"><b>1 out of 5</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607069466/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1607069466&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=3AFAIT5Q63YYENNV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1607069466&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=149929025X" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KaRGEX" target="_blank">Sex Criminals</a> -- You had me at "sex"! And "criminals"!</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky's highly acclaimed comic lives up to its reputation. Funny, touching and it left me wanting more; what more could you want from a comic? Any other year, and this would most likely be my pick. but it's up against the force of nature that is Kamala Khan. Sorry, criminal fornicators, maybe next year! <span style="color: blue;"><b>4 out of 5</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607069318/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1607069318&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=NXICD5IQ3MJTTUGT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1607069318&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1607069318" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1BMZSdC" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Saga</span></a>
<span style="font-family: arial;">-- I started reading Saga from the beginning, but I quickly grew tired of the seemingly endless churn through ideas with little follow-through. Not bad by any means, but this is my baseline for an award (for this year). <span style="color: blue;"><b>2.5 out of 5</b></span><br /> </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607069458/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1607069458&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=GKN2525Y6MRTLEXD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1607069458&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;">
<a href="http://amzn.to/1dgSlb0" target="_blank">Rat Queens</a> -- I was pretty psyched to find out this was in the noms/packet, as I've heard a lot of raves about it. Fun, funny, sword and sorcery action. Boozing, fighting, this is balls/ovaries-to-the-wall action. An excellent read and a worthy winner, but unfortunately they brought a sword to a catapult fight. <span style="color: blue;"><b>4 out of 5</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"> </span>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NEW45XE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00NEW45XE&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=EQMLJW2Z7XF4W7GF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00NEW45XE&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NbSw3J" target="_blank">Ms. Marvel</a> -- Kamala Khan is all kinds of awesome. She's firmly in the classic Marvel teen hero mold, following Peter Parker, <a href="http://amzn.to/1KdobUy" target="_blank">Ultimate Peter Parker</a>******, Kitty Pryde, <a href="http://amzn.to/1Kdo7Eu" target="_blank">The Runaways</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1Kdoa31" target="_blank">Miles Morales</a>, etc. She's smart, trapped between wanting to be a good daughter and fit in, and secretly dreaming of being a superhero.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And, because it's a Marvel comic, she becomes one.</span> She's a muslim teen in New Jersey, but none of those traits defines her (though the Jersey bit comes the closest) -- she's fully rounded, as is her best friend/wannabe suitor Bruno. <i>Highly</i> recommended. <span style="color: blue;"><b>4.5 out of 5</b></span> (had they included <a href="http://amzn.to/1e46FnX" target="_blank">the Wolverine story</a>, it might've been 5 out of 5).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">So, my final vote:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NbSw3J" target="_blank">Ms. Marvel</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KaRGEX" target="_blank">Sex Criminals</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1dgSlb0" target="_blank">Rat Queens</a></span><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1BMZSdC" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Saga</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">NO AWARD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SLdMkB" target="_blank">Zombie Nation</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"> </span> <br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00NEW45XE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">* Seriously, as long as I can remember. One of my first book(ish)-buying memories was to get comics at the pharmacy in scenic** Fairview, TN.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** "Scenic" here is a synonym for "redneck and boring"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">*** Soooooooooo overrated. Ugh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">**** Soooooooooo underrated. Ah!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">***** I kid because I love. And because DC has been selling the sizzle, not the steak, since DiDio took over.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">****** Confession: Ultimate Spider-Man is probably my favorite long-run of any comic, ever. Bendis and Bagley were AMAZING.</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-29366956913717025322015-06-24T00:00:00.002+02:002015-06-24T00:00:57.083+02:00Greece to Ireland: You Paid, We Shouldn't<span style="font-family: arial;">The Greek finance minister, <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/yanis-varoufakis-a-pressing-question-for-ireland-before-monday-s-meeting-on-greece-1.2256339" target="_blank">Yanis Varoufakis, wrote an editorial for the Irish Times on Sunday, where he said</a>:</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: arial;">Irish readers need no reminder of the indignity that befalls a people forced to forfeit their sovereignty in the midst of an economic depression. They may, however, be justified to look at the never-ending Greek crisis and allow themselves a feeling of mild superiority, on the basis that the Irish suffered quietly, swallowed the bitter pill of austerity and are now getting out of the woods.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: arial;">The Greeks, in contrast, protested loudly for years, resisted the troika fiercely, elected my radical left-wing party last January and remain in the doldrums of recession.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><i>While such a feeling is understandable, permit me, dear reader, to argue that it is unhelpful in at least three ways. First, it does not promote understanding of the current Greek drama. Second, it fails to inform properly the debate on how the euro zone, and the EU more generally, should evolve. Third, it sows unnecessary discord between peoples that have in common more than they appreciate. </i></span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">This is just so money. He doesn't deny that Greece has fucked around for 5+ years and refused to implement reforms <b>that they promised they would make</b>*. Instead he says, "hey, we could've made these reforms when we got the money, like Ireland did. But we didn't, because that would've been hard, like it was for Ireland. So if we make the reforms now, that's really a threat to democracy. It wasn't a problem for democracy when Ireland did it, because, you know, you're not Greece. But now? Europe's democracy is at stake."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">I actually agree with the reforms he suggests, as do most European leaders. So did the various Greek governments over the last 5 years (incl a least one stint with the current idiots in charge) , when they were proposed and Greece <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2014/nrp2014_greece_en.pdf" target="_blank">ignored them or passed them</a> (with a late 2015 implementation date). <a href="http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/55b27a7e-d87c-11e4-ba53-00144feab7de.pdf" target="_blank">After the February 2015 bailout talks, Greece gave a summary</a>, and 17 of the first 23 reforms were due by... June 2015 (or Q2 2015, same thing). Are these done? Fuck, no. And the rest? Almost uniformly, these were scheduled to start in... June 2015 -- when the next tranche of bailout funds were due. Greece has been stringing Europe along for years, constantly promising, then passing reforms, but never actually implementing the majority. If they get this bailout, those June 2015 dates? Expect them in August, December or whenever the next tranche comes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">Maybe Greece gets the money and maybe they don't. What's certain, based on their recent behavior, is that they won't make the necessary reforms and they will be back begging for more money.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">* <a href="http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/55b27a7e-d87c-11e4-ba53-00144feab7de.pdf" target="_blank">Instead they passed the reforms with an implementation date after future bailout payment were due</a>.</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-69121380839501270482015-06-14T17:11:00.000+02:002015-06-14T17:11:09.126+02:00The REAL Hugo Controversy<span style="font-family: arial;">The Sad and/or Rabid Puppies may try to convince you that there's a bias at work in the Hugo Awards*, and they may be right. However, they've overlooked the REAL shameful secret of the Hugo Awards. That secret? No novel written in a language other than English has ever won. Do you really believe that the best sci-fi/fantasy novel of the year was originally written in English... for </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">SIXTY consecutive years? This stretches credulity.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1faBBDQ" target="_blank">Solaris</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1cUmAV3" target="_blank">The Night Watch</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1KQcKBj" target="_blank">1Q84</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1QXA4MZ" target="_blank">The Shadow of the Wind</a>, ... there are others. But Hugo voters don't seem inclined to read (or, if they do, to nominate) works in translation. I'd love to get on my high horse, but I don't read many works in translation, either, so I'd be a hypocrite to fault them for this. My solution? Create an award for work in translation. It doesn't have to be given every year, but it would help raise awareness AND it would genuinely broaden the scope of the awards to an overlooked** group of books/authors. So, Hugo committee, get on it!</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">* The bias is NOT that voting is done by the members of Worldcon -- that's the definition of the population, not a bias.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** By the Hugo community in particular, and also English-language genre fans.</span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-4710732392957202522015-06-13T10:52:00.000+02:002015-06-13T10:52:39.224+02:00Hugo 2015 Reads - The Goblin Emperor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765365685/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0765365685&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=MI4VZPBFQHG3XI22" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0765365685&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0765365685" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I first picked up </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1JsN5h6" target="_blank">The Goblin Emperor</a> </span>in December, but I didn't have a chance to get into it while home for Christmas. This, it turns out, was a good thing, as I was completely enthralled once I started in earnest, and I would have given either it or my family visit short shrift :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">The book is (<i>spoiler alert!</i>) about a goblin emperor. Maia has been raised in a remote location by an abusive, disgraced former courtier of his father. Maia's mother, a goblin (the emperor was a lighter-skinned elf), was sent away from court almost immediately after her wedding night. She raised Maia without any contact from his father, and the only time they met was at his mother's funeral when he was 10. Not great preparation for 8 years later, when Maia is woken by the news that an airship accident killed his father and three older brothers -- he's emperor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">The book details Maia's journey to becoming emperor and adjusting to his new role. He faces internal and external challenges, racism, provincialism (he had spent no time at court) and isolation because of his status. His general good nature, intelligence and a handful of loyal servants are all he can count on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Good</b></span></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Maia! He's the rare, truly good person in fantasy (really, in fiction/non-fiction). He fights to be fair to all, even his enemies.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The prose. Addison writes with a light touch -- it doesn't read as a fairy tale, nor is it grim. There's a light sense of humor and wonderfully descriptive passages throughout.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The very low level of magic (it's used only a handful of times, almost as an aside) is part of the world, not the focus. This is a world at the start of an industrial revolution, with all that entails. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">While it does leave open room for a sequel (which <a href="http://www.katherineaddison.com/faq.html" target="_blank">she says will not happen</a>), it stands alone. This is a rare accomplishment in fantasy.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>The Bad</b></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">There's not going to be a sequel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">It's a very light read, so it's not quite as thought-provoking as some of the others on the list, nor is the prose as intricate as, say, </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The book is told entirely from Maia's perspective, so the other characters don't get as much development. It's there, but the structure restricts us from getting too much of those around Maia.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4.5 out of 5</b></span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">So, it was an excellent read, and it currently is tied with </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KGhQxG" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a> </span>for the lead in my vote. I'm not sure if ties are allowed, but if not, I'll rank it first, since Ms. Leckie won last year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;">Where I rank it in my Read of the Hugos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1G8vpGl" target="_blank">The Magician's Land</a> by Lev Grossman (Not a nominee, but amazing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">(Tie) <a href="http://amzn.to/1JsN5h6" target="_blank">The Goblin Emperor</a> by Katherine Addison </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">(Tie) <a href="http://amzn.to/1KGhQxG" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a> by Ann Leckie </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a> by Emily St. John Mandel </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(Not a nominee, but very good)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a></span> by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">No Award (this is an option in the rather complicated, but logical, voting process)</span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-1494853946950312602015-06-07T11:13:00.002+02:002015-06-07T11:13:14.927+02:00Hugos 2015 Reads - Ancillary Sword<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316246654/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316246654&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=LM5SZAAEE4WIAX2V" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0316246654&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0316246654" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I read, and enjoyed, last year's winner, <a href="http://amzn.to/1JzYmw8" target="_blank">Ancillary Justice</a>,* and so I was excited to see the sequel also garnered a nom. And this time, it wouldn't take me the majority of the book to realize that feminine pronouns were used for everyone (I wasn't reading carefully and just assumed that everyone was female before that. D'oh!).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Breq, the main character of the books, is a former ancillary of the Radch empire. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ancillaries are human bodies of POWs who have a ship AI's consciousness uploaded (via a process that is horrible for both) into their body, thereby killing the "person" over a few days. Breq is the only surviving ancillary out of thousands of a now-destroyed AI, and she continues to adapt to only having one body rather than thousands plus access to thoughts of the crew of her ship. She is now captain of a ship, and is regaining a larger sense of her crew via implants and her interaction with this AI.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">This 3000+ year old empire spans a large chunk of space and is opposed by at least 3 non-human sentient species, including the ludicrously more advanced Presger (who may, or may not, be working to undermine the Radch). The Radch is ruled by </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Anaander Mianaai, a former(?) human whose consciousness is uploaded into bodies across the universe (but that are not instantaneously linked). And that consciousness is split into at least two warring factions. The empire is controlled via massive, AI-controlled ships, previously crewed largely by ancillaries, but now with humans. The crew all have implants that allow the ship's AI (and its captain) to observe their vitals and hear and see what the crew members do**.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">But that's just worldbuilding - the actual plot follows Breq as she goes to try to make amends to the sibling of a friend she had to kill. This does not go well. She then gets caught up in the local politics of the system while also trying to figure out if either of the Mianaai factions or the Presger are influencing events there. I've managed to make a fairly fast-paced, character-driven novel sound dry and bland, but it's not. There are explosions, political intrigue, a super-creepy "human" grown by aliens, and more. I really enjoyed it and will be reading the final book in the trilogy as soon as it's out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Good</b></span></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Breq is just awesome -- she has a rigid code of honor and doesn't have any fucks left to give if that bothers people. She uses her new position of power to right wrongs, regardless of whether that would please Mianaai... or the people involved.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">More Presger weirdness! They were hinted at in the first book, and they come into play a bit more here. A massively powerful, mysterious culture that can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants is clearly terrifying to all involved. And the humans have no idea what the Presger consider good or bad, so all they can do is avoid them and hope they haven't pissed them off. I've worked for bosses that were Presger, sans technology.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Leckie does a great job of letting us inside the captain-AI interface and how this reflects on their differences and similarities. And by comparing her with another captain, we see how she differs from a standard human. The concept of identity carries over from the first book. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>The Bad</b></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Not much, really. I was pretty bummed that it was over so soon.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I enjoyed it even more than its predecessor; and I unreservedly loved it. The lack of gendering can be frustrating at first, but that's part of the immersion into the culture (and a bit of a shock when a conquered culture that retains gendering in their language pop up).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I give it 4.5 out of 5. Highly recommended! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Where I rank it in my Read of the Hugos</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1G8vpGl" target="_blank">The Magician's Land</a> by Lev Grossman (Not a nominee, but amazing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KGhQxG" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a> by Ann Leckie </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a> by Emily St. John Mandel </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(Not a nominee, but very good)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a></span> by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">No Award (this is an option in the rather complicated, but logical, voting process)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">* Commas were on sale this week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">** </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The NSA data gatherer reading this just had an orgasm at the thought of so much surveillance ability.</span> </span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-91918026588865133772015-06-06T18:25:00.000+02:002015-06-06T18:25:19.500+02:00Hugo 2015 Reads - Station Eleven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J1IQUYM/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00J1IQUYM&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=IJXHNK4PAVIOCUES" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00J1IQUYM&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00J1IQUYM" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I'd read the rave reviews, saw the Clarke award and the National Book Award Finalist, and finally sat down to read Mandel's novel of the aftermath of a rather nasty epidemic (as opposed to, I guess, all the nice epidemics?). And, so, even though it wasn't nominated for a Hugo, I'm including it in my list.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">The story follows several characters whose paths intertwine throughout the book, all linked by the self-published titular comic. Large portions of the book concern a Canadian actor's life and loves before the epidemic, with the remainder mostly focusing on a traveling theater/music group that plies the areas around Toronto. There they face the usual post-apocalyptic threats: religious extremism, the elements, hunger, despair, etc.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Good</b></span></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Mandel's prose is beautiful and her descriptions of the comic made me want to see it</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The pacing and mood in the post-epidemic world is excellent. There's a strong sense of dread as the group slowly falls apart.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Several story threads are hinted at early on, and gradually develop. And several are left dangling, which added to the mood of being part of a world,.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: red;"><b>The Bad</b></span>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The increasingly implausible series of coincidences that link the characters eventually reaches absurd levels. Almost every survivor has multiple links to the aforementioned actor.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The religious leader and his minions are underdeveloped. And, of course, part of the series of coincidences.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">The book often feels like a series of of barely-connected short stories, similar to Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed. One character, in particular, feels shoehorned in.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">I enjoyed it and recommend it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Where I rank it in my Read of the Hugos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1G8vpGl" target="_blank">The Magician's Land</a> by Lev Grossman (Not a nominee, but amazing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a> by Emily St. John Mandel </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(Not a nominee, but very good)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a></span> by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">No Award (this is an option in the rather complicated, but logical, voting process)</span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-90430601818854938052015-06-04T13:03:00.003+02:002015-06-04T14:06:45.137+02:00Hugo 2015 Reads - The Three Body Problem<span style="font-family: arial;">This is the first in my series of reviews of the 2015 Hugo Awards Best Novels Nominees. For background on this, <a href="http://jtingermany.blogspot.de/2015/06/after-3-decades-of-reading-sci-fi-and.html" target="_blank">read my post about it</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765377063/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0765377063&linkCode=as2&tag=jtsgeradv02-20&linkId=N2L2O2XCVWIVVI5C" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0765377063&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jtsgeradv02-20" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=jtsgeradv02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0765377063" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Reading "<a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a>" was... an
interesting experience.I read the translation, so I honestly have no
idea if the stylistics concerns I had are the author's or the
translator's. But as an English reader, it's irrelevant :)<br /><br />When I
thought about the good and the bad of the novel, the bad outweighed the
good in my list -- but I was still driven to finish (and only partially
due to hoping for a character to get her VERY well-earned comeuppance).
Most of my negatives bothered me because I enjoyed it -- it could've
been a classic, but there were some pretty glaring flaws. Still, a good
read, and I'll definitely read the 2nd installment!<br /><br /><span style="color: lime;"><b>The Good</b></span>:<br />- Great pace, some intriguing science in the last 1/4 of the book<br />-
The effects and impacts of the Cultural Revolution on scientists,
especially physicists, was fascinating. I'd read before, but forgotten,
that relativity was considered counter-revolutionary. Which was doubly
impressive, as it predated any major communist revolution by 10 years!<br /><br /><span style="color: red;"><b>The Bad</b></span>:<br />-
It read like a fairy tale. Not the content, but the style -- lots of
passive voice, just an odd read. Of course, this may be normal in
Chinese sci-fi (actually, based on my almost-twenty-year-old knowledge of Chinese, I think this was a translator choice), but it was very off-putting<br />- Very few characters
were well-developed, most were more archetypes -- concerned scientist,
hardboiled cop (I loved Da Shi!), etc. Some work, some don't.<br />- The
level of science performed during the Cultural Revolution is suspect --
the development of a microwave weapon in the 60s that could take down
satellites?<br />- At one point Mao (or a direct subordinate) rejects a SETI-ish
message as "too political". There's just no way this would have happened
during the CR. "Too political" didn't exist as a concept. Any subordinate that did that would be immediately served up for reeducation, or worse.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Where I rank it in my Read of the Hugos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1G8vpGl" target="_blank">The Magician's Land</a> by Lev Grossman (Not a nominee, but amazing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1FVHRba" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a> by Emily St. John Mandel </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(Not a nominee, but very good)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1HMdP7R" target="_blank">The Three-Body Problem</a></span> by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">No Award (this is an option in the rather complicated, but logical, voting process)</span>
jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499184.post-48411719134747918312015-06-04T12:27:00.002+02:002015-06-04T12:27:44.739+02:00My Hugo Awards 2015 Read<span style="font-family: arial;">After
3 decades of reading sci-fi and fantasy, I've finally gotten around to
signing up to be a <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/" target="_blank">Hugo Award</a> voter. In case you don't know, the Hugos are one
of the 2 big awards for sci-fi fantasy. The <a href="https://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/" target="_blank">Nebula Awards</a> are closer to the
Oscars, in that they're voted on by pros, but the Hugos are nominated
by, and voted on, by fans.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">The last few years have been controversial,
as a group of conservative readers feel that "their" award has been stolen by
"Social Justice Warriors". Google Sad/Rabid Puppies (or read <a href="http://io9.com/the-hugo-awards-were-always-political-now-theyre-only-1695721604" target="_blank">this</a>) and you'll learn far too much. To fight this, they campaigned to their social media followers to nominate a "slate" that they put together (the two groups have similar, but not identical slates). These did very well, especially in the short fiction categories. In general, these are military or action sci-fi that they feel is "their" sci-fi/fantasy. This being the Internet, though, they and their followers and their opponents immediately started acting like complete asshats to anyone that opposed them. <a href="https://youtu.be/m0KFY6o6unw?t=11s" target="_blank">People are the worst</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm going to read all (or part, in case the samples sent to voters aren't complete) of the novels and at least try some of the novellas and short stories (I rarely read short fiction, so no promises).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Here are the nominated novels, in the order I'm reading them (also close to my order of anticipation):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1KG87Yp" target="_blank">The Three Body Problem</a>, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu translator (Tor Books)</span>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1Q98W2G" target="_blank">The Goblin Emperor</a> by Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (Tor Books)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1Q98NMx" target="_blank">Ancillary Sword</a> by Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1APnQEb" target="_blank">The Dark Between the Stars</a> by Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books)</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1APnZYf" target="_blank">Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files</a> by Jim Butcher (Roc Books)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"></span>jtingermanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08250183344417072340noreply@blogger.com0