Spent a good amount of time working at Balticon 57, first helping to unload the truck, then mostly at Registration. Worked many hours Thursday evening through Saturday, but I hit the wall Sunday morning and had to retire. Am I getting too old? Also made a first visit to the BSFS clubhouse in December. Friendly folks, a massive SF library, and a very impressive and well-maintained space. Attend two monthly meetings, pay $45, and you can become a BSFS member. My main interest in Sci-Fi is in the written word. Not precisely "Literary", because I also enjoy older, Pulpy stuff, like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Leigh Brackett. I didn't keep current on upcoming writers after about 1993, being busy with other interests, but since retiring I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find writers who've broken into the scene since then. This year, I've found two relatively new, although hardly young, writers -- James Cambias and D. J. Butler. I will be dipping into more of thei

The Godel Operation -- James Cambias -- 2021 An engaging, exciting and humorous space opera. Thousands of years after an AI/Human war almost wipes out humankind, a Droid who is more that he appears (but you'll figure it out) makes friends with a young man, and is sucked into a web of intrigue and adventure, beset by foes both red-blooded and robotic. Soon joined by two young women with competing motives, they criss-cross the solar system in search of a McGuffin rumored to be a doomsday weapon. Told from the Droid's viewpoint, which finds plenty of (well-founded!) humor in the strange, often irrational, behavior of his human companions. A superb SF novel -- highly recommended. To maximize enjoyment, do what I did -- read the Mass-Market paperback , which features an appropriately garish cover. Galaxy's Edge -- No. 57 -- July 2022 POD magazine, published out of Rockville MD. A mix of reprints by noted authors (even the columns!) and amateur efforts of little note. I didn&#

    Last Saturday (24 Sep 2022) dawned promising a beautiful, cool early autumn day. Time for another book run up to Hagerstown MD! The Sci-Fi and Fantasy haul, all from Wonder Books :   -- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress -- Robert Heinlein -- 1966   -- When Night Falls -- C. S. Friedmann -- 1993   -- Eternity Road -- Jack McDevitt -- 1997   -- Emerald Sea -- John Ringo -- 2004   The Heinlein will be a re-read. Last time about 50 years ago, whilst in High School ... one of the options on the school's summer reading list, believe it or not. I've been looking for a one-volume mass-market PB of Cherryh's "Cyteen." Was it ever published? I've seen the three volume mass-market PBs, and the one volume trade paperback.

Yes  15 August 1977  Providence RI Starship Trooper -- Yes -- 15 Aug1977 -- Providence RI Mid to late 1970's -- the height of the Rock and Roll era. If you lived in a decent-sized market, it seemed like there was a big show every week. If your favorite band was touring, chances were good they'd be coming to your town. By now, Rock (as the genre had come to called) had wide appeal, with a broad audience from the 12-year-olds to the young adults of the Baby Boom generation. There was enough cash burning holes in the pockets of all those Levi's to move the big shows out of the theaters and into the arenas. Into halls built for basketball ... Shitty seats, horrible sound, parking hassles, hearing damage ... although the last was part of the appeal. But it was the BUZZ that made it all worthwhile ... the indescribable feeling you'd get from a surging, converging crowd of 10,000 fellow travelers gathering to get drunk, get high, and soak in some mega-decibels. I was born a

Braking Day -- Adam Oyebanji -- 2022 A young midshipman prepares for the fast approaching day when a small fleet of generation starships will begin braking in preparation for arrival at their destination world after a 132-year journey. He's from the crew class, not the officer class, a rare (potential) climber in a socially stratified world. I was excited to read this one, as I enjoy the Generation Ship sub-genre. Unfortunately, it's written somewhere between Juvenile and Young Adult. With no real adult themes or any nuanced examination of the social system, it reads more as High School in Outer Space. Still, it was enjoyable enough, try it if the theme / setting appeals to you ... or if you're a young adult. And, blessedly, contains no SJW bushwa! Black Sun Rising -- C. S. Friedman -- 1991 First volume of a fantasy/horror (with a bit of SF) trilogy. Set 1000 years after humans settle a planet where the local 'fae' can be channeled to create magic; but, unfortunatel

John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction   A history of the early days of modern Science Fiction, centered about the lives of John W. Campbell Jr. and three of his proteges: Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Isaac Asimov. A sometimes interesting account of a crucial era in the history of Science Fiction, but mainly just biographies of the titular personalities. Most of the interactions among these characters occurred before World War II, long before the lifetimes of anyone likely to be reading. I'm a longtime SF reader who grew up reading Heinlein and Asimov, and started reading Analog intermittently from about the time of Campbell's death.  As invested as I am in the SF of the second half of the 20th Century, the history of the first half didn't interest me that much. Really, if you want to know what was happening in SF way back when, just read the stories! (SPOILER: It mostly sucked, especially Hubbard an

  “The Shattering” is the new campaign world I've begun to design for an eventual return to in-person gaming. Here are my base points:   -- I’ll run some flavor of D&D, most likely Moldvay B/E. Initial design will be version (and system, I guess) independent.   -- PC level independent, at least in initial design. Populating the encounters will need to wait until it's decided if the players want to start with fresh PCs, or continue with developed (and at this stage, probably ridiculously equipped) PCs. The PCs in my group are always happy to dungeon delve, so those subterranean complexes can be designed now, and stocked later.   -- The actual "world" will be designed as a network of interconnected locales. Completing the scenario in the current location will provide clues/quests for choosing the next course of action. As the PCs explore the setting while gathering information along the way, they can choose whichever opportunity looks most attractive to