• Uncategorized

    Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Brave Men Run

    [tag]Brave Men Run[/tag] is a free audiobook that I listened to this summer while working. It’s the tale of Nate Charters, a high schooler with a few extra abilities, like heightened senses. After years of hiding his abilities, it turns out he’s not alone, and the Sovereigns (other specially-powered folks) are a political force to be reckoned with. Charters, though, is rather more concerned with the strange homeless man that’s following him around, school bullies, and a pretty lady that thinks he has nice eyes. WO pushed this story at me because of my interest in the X-Men, and I’m appreciative. [tag]Matthew Wayne Selznick[/tag] has created a fun ‘verse here,…

  • On Life and Love

    “Big chop”

    I did it. I cut off all my hair. All of it. It’s pretty butch, no lie, but honestly, I love it. It’s so easy–I couldn’t get closer to “wash ‘n’ go” without shaving bald (and that’s higher maintenance in frequency of cutting). WO did all of the cutting for me, and the poor guy winced as he cut off each plait. He was so attached to those things. By the time we got down to the clippers, though, he was good. Right now, I don’t plan to let it grow out. I’m liking it short, and I’m not much for wearing a fuller afro.

  • Uncategorized

    Steven H. Wilson’s Taken Liberty

    [tag]Taken Liberty[/tag] is a free audiobook that I listened to (mostly) at work this summer. The summary from the above-linked website: The Confederated Worlds are unparalleled as a society of free people, yet, somehow, slavery still manages to exist. Aer’La, a non-human, was bred to serve as a pleasure slave. Years ago, she escaped her masters and masqueraded as a human, joining the Confederate Navy, where she worked her way up to ship’s Bos’n under the heroic Captain Jan Atal. Now, Aer’La’s secret has been discovered by Atal’s superiors, the media, and the world at large. Branded a sociopath, she learns that even a free society isn’t willing to grant…

  • Uncategorized

    Wen Spencer’s Alien Taste

    Last September, I reviewed [tag]Wen Spencer[/tag]’s Tinker, a fantasy novel. This summer I picked up WO’s copy of [tag]Alien Taste[/tag], Spencer’s second novel. She’s grown a decent amount as a writer, in my opinion. Gone is the awkwardly-inserted sex and the overpowered main character. [tag]Ukiah Oregon[/tag], the main character in [tag]Tinker[/tag], does a good job of having limitations and not having sudden personality changes. This book is really a lot of fun if you’re looking for some light reading. It’s not a book that induces a lot of finger-biting over what’s going to happen next, but the characters are fun and do evoke sympathetic reactions. Spencer has evidently turned this…

  • Uncategorized

    Stephen King owned me.

    And by “owned”, I mean held my attention obsessively for a few weeks as I read, back to back, the books of the [tag]Dark Tower[/tag] series. I loved the first four. I liked the last three, although I felt their flaws increasingly as the series progressed. The ending… the ending in the epilogue rather floored me. It wasn’t original, and may have even been clichéd, but it was… fitting, I think. Or fitting enough. I felt that King had gone through all the trouble of changing Roland through his friendships, only to make the series selfish again at the end with Susannah’s departure and Oy’s death. I was disappointed. I…