The Counselor — Robin Sloan

The Counselor -- Robin SloanA look to the future when everyone has access to talk therapy with a counselor, for their whole lives.

But the only way this has become possible is because everyone’s free lifelong counselor is an AI.

And how does the counselor council the terminally ill who can stay alive on life support equipment for decades?

An interesting view of the future of health care, which isn’t too far fetched when we consider that health care providers are already putting chat bots in old people’s homes to talk to them and old people are already heavily medicated and looked after for decades to keep them alive without any real quality of life.

Another interesting little story from Robin.

Bye for now.

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The Truth About the East Wind — Robin Sloan

The Truth About the East Wind -- Robin SloanA good little story based on Greek mythology.   So if you enjoy Greek mythology then i would suggest that you might really enjoy this, and even if you’re just looking for something short and quick to read you’ll probably enjoy it as well.

Robin is a really good writer and if you haven’t read any of his novels yet then i really suggest you do.

Bye for now.

Robin’s Page

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Last Beautiful — Robin Sloan

Last Beautiful -- Robin SloanWhat if today was the last beautiful day ever?

Tomorrow would turn out to be dreary and dismal, overcast weather and the sun would never shine again.

Is there any hope?

This is how i feel in our current UK summer.   We had a lovely May and early July and then the weather turn crap.   And everyday since it’s been more crap weather.   Will the sun ever come back?

Anyway, it’s a good little tiny short story that you can read for free on Robin’s website.

Bye for now.

Robin’s Page

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The Wrong Plane — Robin Sloan

The Wrong Plane -- Robin SloanA short little tale from Robin to keep us going while we eagerly await Robin’s next full length novel.

What happens when you find yourself on the wrong plane?   How, exactly, do you end up on the wrong plane in the first place.   And what, exactly, is this wrong plane about and where’s it going?

A fun adventure for those who worry their little butts off about flying: great airport reading while you have half an hour to kill before a flight.

Bye for now.

Robin’s Page

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Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate — Robin Sloan

Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate -- Robin SloanI really enjoyed Annabel Scheme and also everything else that Robin has written, so i went into this with very high expectations: sadly, i don’t think it reached them.

While it’s not a bad book and is quite an ok read, it just all felt a bit rushed.

Yes, i know, it was written as a serial article for a newspaper and maybe Robin was hobbled with some level of word count, or maybe Robin was in a rush to get on with other things: i’ve no idea.   What i do have an idea about is that this book just isn’t as good as the original Annabel Scheme book.

But, hey ho, it’s enough to keep us Robin Sloan fans happy for a while and you can at least read it for free in it’s original form at the newspaper’s website.

In the meantime, we keep our fingers crossed for a full length novel coming from Robin soon.

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The Sleep Consultant — Robin Sloan

The Sleep Consultant -- Robin SloanAn odd little story.   Travelling around the world staying in various rooms and consulting on the sleep quality for whoever pays someone to do such things.   Not sure i quite get the point of the story, mostly random to me, but still, quite an enjoyable yarn.

I would certainly love to have a job like that and am more than willing to whore myself out to anyone out there wishing to fly me around the world checking out the sleep quality of hotels prior to their visits.   I promise — very, very much — to be diligent in extremis: pedantry will become me when i give you a sleep consultation and you’ll be able to rest assured when arriving at your hotel that a good night’s sleep has been confirmed.

Robin’s Page

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Annabel Scheme — Robin Sloan

Annabel Scheme -- Robin SloanSo imagine a private investigator with an AI sidekick, our narrator, that goes along for the ride in the investigator’s earrings.

Imagine placing our private investigator and AI sidekick into a future San Francisco with quantum computers creating all sorts of bizarre temporal and spacial problems that need investigating.

And imagine finding a really good writer like Robin Sloan to write a really good novella about our pair of protagonists.

Then imagine that if you click on the picture of the book cover you’ll be magically transported to Robin’s website where you can download the PDF of this novella for free.

All that’s left to imagine is that someday soon Robin will write a sequel to this because it can’t just be left to end the way it did…

…WE WANT MORE!!!
 
Robin listened and has given us more.

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Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore — Robin Sloan

Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore -- Robin SloanI read this quite some time ago, before i began writing a reviews, which is unfortunate but such is life.   Anyways, since then i’ve read and reviewed ‘Ajax Penumbra: 1969’, which introduces the book store from a totally different perspective and gives a lot of background to ’24 Hour’.   So i’d like to read this again one day straight after 1969, but i want to forget it all first and then start afresh.

It’s definitely a good book, that much i can remember.

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Sourdough — Robin Sloan

Sourdough -- Robin SloanIf you liked Robin’s Penumbra books then throw this on your reading list and have at it: more of that Robin Sloan style for you to enjoy.

If, however, you’ve come across this book because you’re into sourdough baking and was looking for a story to read that reflects the real challenges, difficulties etc., of baking your own sourdough breads, then you’ll probably want to read something else.

Conversely, if you’ve come across this book because you’re into sourdough baking but are able to put aside — for a while at least — your overly strict, sourdough-baker expectations to read a fun story about a magical and strange starter from a mysterious foreign land — including it’s musical tastes — then you just might really enjoy a good, fun read and become another Robin Sloan fan just like the rest of us.

Robin wrote an article all about sourdough: “Sourdough: A Confession, a Recipe, and a Playlist”.

And check out my review of the album that the Sourdough music was inspired by clicking here.

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Ajax penumbra: 1969 — Robin Sloan

Ajax penumbra: 1969 -- Robin SloanThe first time i read The Little Paris Bookshop, i was inspired to go on the hunt for more book shop stories: that was when i found Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store.

And i’m glad i did go looking.   I really enjoyed Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store and having read that i later discovered Robin had written this little prequel.

Robin has quickly become a favourite writer and i dived straight into reading Sourdough immediately after finishing this.   His stories have a really nice flow with interesting likeable characters and nice easy going English.

Which should one read first, this or Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store?   Well knowing what i know now, i would read Ajax penumbra 1969 first, as i now feel that i need to go and re-read Mr. Penumbra again to give it more clarity, so i’m not reviewing that until i’ve got around to reading it again.

I think the difference is whether you want to meet the bookshop first from Ajax’s first view in 1969 or from Clay’s first view in the 21st century.   But you’ll want to read the other book again after finishing the other book either way, so i don’t really think it makes much difference.

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