Book Review: The Chaplain’s War by Torgersen (4.5 Stars)

The Chaplain’s War

by Brad Torgersen

4-4.5 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 10/7/2014

I previously read parts of this as a short story and as novella (one of which was nominated for a Hugo last year and got my enthusiastic vote).  This novel fills in the gaps in Chaplain’s Assistant Harry Barlow’s past and a few important bits of his future.

The original stories were expanded and an additional story line added to pull all of the narrative into a cohesive whole.  I related well to Harry Barlow and had no trouble re-reading parts of his story.  Continue reading “Book Review: The Chaplain’s War by Torgersen (4.5 Stars)”

Book Review: A Call to Duty by Weber and Zahn (4 Stars)

A Call to Duty

by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars

A new series in the Honorverse, slated to be released next week.  We find ourselves back before Manticore knew it had a major wormhole, back before it had any spaceship building industry and soon after a Plague that wiped out much of its nascent population.  One of our protagonists is Travis Long, who enlists in the RMN (Royal Manticore Navy) while his supposed friends rob a neighboring jewelry store.  Travis acquires a couple of monikers during basic training that reflect upon his always by the book philosophy with respect to rules and regulations.  The political climate on Manticore has a faction of the civilian government clambering to dismantle the Navy and/or replace it with a Coast Guard like service that patrols the local system and protects merchants and miners from pirates.  The action ramps up when Manticore sends representatives to a Haven sponsored military surplus spaceship sale.  Pirates (or what we are led to believe are pirates initially) masquerading as legitimate buyers attempt a heist of their own on a much grander scale than Travis’ juvenile delinquent buddies.

Continue reading “Book Review: A Call to Duty by Weber and Zahn (4 Stars)”

Article: California law says companies can’t punish customers who post negative reviews

California law says companies can’t punish customers who post negative reviews

http://gigaom.com/2014/09/10/california-law-says-companies-cant-punish-customers-who-post-negative-reviews/

Huzzah for California consumers!  Hopefully the other states in the union will quickly follow suit.

Book Review: Stormdancer by Kristoff (4 Stars)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

4 out of 5 stars

Read in late August 2014

Synopsis from MacMillan’s site:

Stormdancer is the first in the epic new fantasy series The Lotus War, introducing an unforgettable heroine and a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world with a flavor of feudal Japan.

The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. When hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a legendary griffin, they fear their lives are over. Any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.  Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, the girl Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her. But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire. Continue reading “Book Review: Stormdancer by Kristoff (4 Stars)”

Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)

The Guns of August

by Barbara W. Tuchman

Read by John Lee

Winner of the Pulitzer Price for General Nonfiction 1963

4 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Barbara, I now know more about the first month of World War I than all my previous half-century of accumulated, absorbed knowledge. Not only do I know more, but I understand the how. How Europe ended up in a terrible stalemate and war of attrition that lasted four more years. The why will have to wait until I can read her other history The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914.

On August 23rd, I attended a discussion of The Guns of August sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library, the Kansas City Star‘s FYI Book Club and hosted at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. There were many attendees from all over the Kansas City metro area and we attempted to stay focused on Tuchman’s novel, not straying to far before or after. A great hour of discussion on an excellently researched and composed history of the outbreak of the Great War. Continue reading “Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure Wrap-Up

My weekend got away from me and I didn’t make my final post of how I voted for the remainder of the 2014 Hugo Award categories I hadn’t previously discussed.  I did carve out two hours on Sunday afternoon to watch the live streaming of the Hugo Awards ceremony (which streaming went off with hardly a hitch, especially as compared to the Retro Hugo Awards ceremony from last Thursday night).

Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure Wrap-Up”

Watching (but not Hearing) the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony

Technical difficulties again plagued the Ustream live video of a Hugo Awards ceremony.  Beautiful video, but no audio. Those of us in the audience were left with Tweet breadcrumbs from @LonCon3 on the hashtag #RetroHugos:

46 minutes into the ‘broadcast’ and still no sound . . .

Continue reading “Watching (but not Hearing) the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos

Tomorrow the winners will be announced for the 1939 Retro Hugo Awards.

The 1939 Retro Hugo Awards can be watched online via ustream. The stream will be located at http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards. The Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony starts at 8PM BST (or 2PM Central) on Thursday 14 August.

Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony, LonCon3

I’ve covered the main ‘big’ categories in previous posts.  Today, I’ll summarize the remaining ones that are less, ‘sexy’, for lack of a better term. Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) aka Movies

After books, movies are my next ‘go to’ source for hours of uninterrupted entertainment.  If I’m not happy with the book I’m currently reading, I will take an afternoon or evening off from reading to enjoy a good movie.  New or old … it doesn’t matter.  If the story is good, and the acting convincing, and the directing sublime … all else is irrelevant.  Special effects may be indistinguishable from reality today, but if you don’t have a great story, you’re just a flash in a pan that fizzled, smoked and went boom.
Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) aka Movies”