I’m currently rebuilding the website as the old one got totally messed up when i was playing around with things (no idea what happened).
So i thought that while it was a total clusterfuck mess of SQL, i would take the opportunity to give it a whole new life and everything.
So if you go clicking on things you might find that very strange things happen. Don’t moan, i know a lot of things are broken, i’m working on it, it takes time.
I’ve got tons of old posts and pages from three websites that i’m working through and will be gradually posting all the stuff i want to keep on here while fixing all the broken things as i go through, one post, one page, at a time.
On top of doing all that, i will, of course, be continuing to add more new content and my latest posts will always appear directly below.
Or, if you prefer, you can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest where i put a link to all new posts.
Enjoy
The Discovery of Socket Greeny — Tony Bertauski
So after a good start with The Making of Socket Greeny this book continues in very much the same high paced, action packed way.
All super good fun, with young people creating merry mayhem while saving humanity from the evil things. Well written and enjoyable — even for a 54 year old — so i’m just gonna dive straight into The Training of Socket Greeny and find out what happens next.
Tony’s Page
#scifi #tonybertauski
The Making of Socket Greeny — Tony Bertauski
As a short prequel to the main trilogy it sets the stage quite well.
We’re definitely dealing with teenagers running amok in full immersion virtual reality environments. It’s got aspects of Ready Player One and Anthea Sharp’s Feyland, so if you enjoyed those Socket Greeny may just be your thing.
At the end of the day, a prequel should serve one purpose and that’s to get you wanting to read the rest of the series, and this has definitely served it’s purpose as i dove straight into The Discovery of Socket Greeny. It could have used a little editing to get rid of a few typos, but other than that it’s well written with a fast flowing narrative.
Tony’s Page
#scifi #tonybertauski
The Monarch of the Glen — Neil Gaiman
An American Gods spin off novella which has Shadow getting mixed up in an ageless fight between Scottish monsters and those who want to keep them in their place.
All the usual Neil Gaiman excellence.
Available as a stand alone novella, as part of the Fragile Things collection and also included in the Kindle edition of American Gods.
Neil’s Page
#fantasy #neilgaiman
Melting Shlemiel — Jason Werbeloff
An interesting allegorical novella that has as a good metaphorical dig at those who build walls of exclusion around themselves.
Set in a very pious Jewish area of Jerusalem, during 2054, it’s pretty obvious who the author is pointing at and why. The Jewish state first build walls to separate and defend their country, then it’s walls to separate and defend each town, then each district, then each house, until each person has their very own impregnable, permanent second skin.
Can also be read as a fun little dystopian/cyberpunk thing if you don’t want to think too much.
Currently only available in the anthology, 2054.
Jason’s Page
#scifi #cyberpunk #dystopian #jasonwerbeloff
She Did It — JT Lawrence
A really good short story about a murder, through the mind of the detective investigating it.
It’s written in a kind of freeze frame style, like each paragraph is describing an image, a feeling, a thought. Each a separate entity, pieces in the puzzle. A little strange at first as it’s different from the normal narrative flow we get so used to expecting, but once you get used to it it really works.
This is my first read of Janita’s work and i have to say that i like it and i’m looking forward to reading more.
Janita’s Page
#jtlawrence
Bella’s Journey — Joseph R. Lallo
Sometimes a writer makes you feel that you should read everything they write, including the children’s stories — and hey, why not.
If you’ve got a young child, or an old one, especially one who likes unicorns, then this is a lovely little read. Joseph does writes nice children’s stories.
Originally only available to Joseph’s Patreon subscribers but now also in the collection Paradoxes and Dragons.
Joseph’s Page
#fantasy #unicorns #josephrlallo
Castaway — Lucy Irvine
A very well written book that’s let down completely by whoever converted it into Kindle format.
As Lucy tells the story of her year on Tuin with G, she intersperses it with excerpts from the diary she wrote while on the island. For some reason, the person who converted this book decided that the diary excerpts would be published in a print size that is so small it’s illegible, so one has to keep stopping and greatly increasing the font size for the diary excerpts and then reducing it back to normal for the rest of the writing. You spend the whole book yoyoing font sizes in this way. I have no idea why anyone would publish a book in this way, it isn’t clever, it isn’t artistic, it’s crass and completely ruins a good flowing read.
Ok, rant over, all the yoyoing aside, the writing is incredibly candid and Lucy really does bare it all.
Anyone familiar with Chris McCandless’ story from Into the Wild will be aware of how much negativity and lambasting that Chris received posthumously for his stupidity and unpreparedness. The only difference between Chris in Alaska and Lucy and G on Tuin is that Lucy and G were lucky enough to be rescued by the kindness and generosity of their Torres Straight Island neighbours, and that the poisonous beans that Lucy stupidly ate just made here incredibly sick for a couple of days and didn’t kill her. Yet those who survive against the odds, purely by the miracles that appear when least expected, are labelled as successful, applauded and celebrated while those whose miracle fails to show are labelled as idiots, lambasted and possibly given a Darwin Award. But hey, at least both kind get films made about them.
I could get into a full on judgemental view of Lucy and G’s behaviour, attitude and outlook, both positive and negative, but i won’t. Some might read this book and side with Lucy, some might side with G, and some might think both are as bad as each other.
All that aside, if you enjoyed Into the Wild, then you may find this just your cup of tea.
Lucy’s Page
#lucyirvine
Mindhunter — 2 Seasons
This series is based on the true story of the ‘Behavioral Science Unit’ of the FBI in the 1970’s. This is the team that invented the term ‘serial killer’ and began the now fully accepted practice of criminal profiling.
It’s very interesting and very factual. It’s like a documentary but acted out instead of narrated.
Season 1 was really good and season 2 doesn’t disappoint either.
Sadly, there isn’t going to be a third season.
#5t4n5 #mindhunter #tvandfilm
Wolf Country — Tunde Farrand
I’m surprised that this book has got so many good reviews, it really doesn’t deserve them.
The whole world is changed overnight into a dystopian caste system that virtually everyone seems to accept without much question simply because they get a free house and a job. Even though they all know that as soon as they can’t do their job they’re either euthanised or thrown into the walled off lawless slums to be at the mercy of cruel and evil, gangs.
It basically takes a bunch of dystopian themes and throws them together for the sake of a story, but it doesn’t really hold together as a story. There just seems to be this acceptance that everyone in the whole world just accepted this system and goes along with it because they all clamour to be high spenders. Like everyone would just give up social care, social security, pensions, etc., just so they can have a free house, be a slave and strive to be a high spender.
The book spends most of its time telling us how horrible and cruel the new system is with our protagonist and her husband not doing very well, only for the last small part of the book to find a bizarre way to allow them and their few friends to live happily ever after — The End!
Basically, it’s just about passable, and it’s just about readable, but not much else can be said. If you’re looking for a good dystopian story then your time and money will be better spent on something else.
Tunde’s Page
#dystopian #tundefarrand
The Orville — Season 2
This show just gets better. Everyone’s settled into their characters really well, the main galactic story line is ramping up, while the short episode stories are usually quite humorous while managing to keep a serious side to them — like holodeck porn addiction.
This parody is just as good as TNG, DS9 and Voyager as it brings something to the genre that those 3 couldn’t because they always took themselves so seriously. Being a parody, The Orville absolutely does go boldly to places that the real Trek series couldn’t go to, and that’s good. It’s what i was hoping for in the post Voyager universe — a bit more grown up story lines, like yeah, people are going to be just as fucked up in 400 years as they are today, they’ll just have different toys to get fucked up with. Instead, all we got from the Star Trek label was immature garbage in Enterprise and Discovery which, quite frankly, have been a step backwards and a dumbing down of the franchise. Fingers crossed, Picard will, once again, come to the rescue.
#5t4n5 #theorville #tvandfilm
Fiction
. . .me thinks it’s a good time to re-read Asimov.
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
