Geeknom, geek brainfood

Okay so it’s been a while since the site was updated. It’s not just my fault there are at least 3 other people who are equally culpable.

I’ve been writing rather a lot for work the last week, so lets see if I can maintain the roll. This is going to be a list post but we’ll see how it goes.

So without further ado:

Things I have learned from 3 years of martial arts.

1. People have different tolerances for different types of pain, some will be better able to tolerate the pain of exercise and some will be able to ignore the knocks bruises and general damage you take during a class. I fall under the latter category, knock me down and I’ll get back up no complaining but I really don’t cope that well with exercise pain although I am a lot better than I used to be.
2. Never plan on not getting hit, train getting up from the ground over and over again. You’ll be faster for it, and it is just merciless exercise.
3. There will be muscle pain the next day or the day after. So long as there is you’re doing it right.
4. To reduce the muscle pain over the next few days and speed up your recovery ensure you have a meat rich meal after the class. I’ve tried eggs, I’ve tried other forms of protein, but for some reason, meat just works best.
5. Commit to your actions, faltering in a fight will get you hit, faltering in training will get the other guy hit.
6. If you train outside people will look, but friendly people will stand nearby or ask questions, idiots will stand a long way away and shout. Either way get over the embarrassment, it’s not like you’re playing golf or something.
7. If you find martial arts are your thing, prepare to put in time, one session a week will never feel like enough.
8. One session a week is not enough to get good, but you’d be amazed how much improvement can be made by practicing in moments that might otherwise be lost. Waiting for the kettle to boil, watching tv, doing the dishes. All that time adds up.
9. The best way to get fit for your martial art is just to train it, cardio work might help to an extent but the muscles you need are the ones you use when training.
10. Nothing kicks ass like everything working without you having to think about it.
11. The way you use your art and the way your instructor and peers use theirs will all differ dramatically. Everyone’s body is different and everyone will have to find their own style.
12. There is nothing in martial arts that cannot be explained using logic, physics, biology and body mechanics.
13. Your limbs might be strong but rotational motion is a whole lot stronger.
14. At some point you will receive an injury that takes a long time to heal. Make sure you go to the doctors sooner because it might be something that is easily fixed.
15. Caffeinated drinks are your friend.
16. If you get into a fight there will always be more than just one other opponent.
17. You will discover strange new muscles you never knew you had and weaknesses you’ve never had to test before.
18. You will eventually ‘get it’, even if it never feels like you are making progress.
19. If you’re already moving don’t stop.
20. My body does not leave the ground without considerable effort.
21. If you keep your teeth clenched your guard up and your head tilted down slightly everything will be fine.
22. Any kick above waist height is showboating and a waste of energy.
23. I am unnaturally bendy.
24. Forceably not moving is eventually much more painful than moving a lot.
25. The physical side of yoga is not a laughing matter.
26. Everything will hurt.
27. People that start young become freakishly good at pretty much anything physical.
28. My parents will always call while I am at class despite the fact I tell them every week.
29. Some people just won’t understand.
30. Don’t train for belts or awards, train to be good.
31. There is no such thing as fighting dirty.
32. Hands are too precious and delicate a thing to risk striking with, use something solid and boney instead.
33. As soon as you know what floating ribs are you will be concerned for yours.
34. Pinching can be spectacularly distracting.
35. If you are struck in a variety of locations in very quick succession (even if they are not hard strikes), your brain will spoon out and you’ll be stuck there unreactive thinking “What just happened?” while they are lining you up for something really horrible.
36. Never waste two hands locking a joint when one will do. You can then use the spare hand for useful things like not getting hit in the face.
37. Pushing an opponent over and legging it is often a very sound idea.
38. I will never be Tony Ja.
39. I learn locks best by having them done on me rather than watching them done.
40. After 14 years my limited experience with Judo still stuck with me.
41. I have all the grace of a bison on skates.
42. Take the other guy’s space, forward pressure is very intimidating especially if you’re swinging elbows at the person in question.
43. 29 is not too late to start, and neither is 30 or 31.
44. I really wish I had started years ago.
45. I will never look at other martial arts the same way again.
46. I’m not going to be satisfied until I can do a handstand press up unaided.
47. Even training by yourself takes a surprising amount of space.
48. Try to let your body do it’s own thing, your mind is better off acting like a musical conductor rather than planning ahead.
49. I have a kick like a mule.
50. I could probably be happy training it every day.

There we go, a little post martial arts list for you, I know it’s not about books or other geeky things, but it’s a start right? A step in the right direction?

Obv

Okay I was going to make this a long post about geek t-shirts in general, but time being of the essence, and my generally being too slow I have 2 t-shirts that I bought from Split Reason that are unfortunately a size too large (although given the way I have been eating lately that may not stay that way). So rather than return them (they took over a month to get here in the first place) I’m going to give them away.

The first is Explode and I mean who doesn’t like robots?

Nuklear Power – Explode t-shirt design @ © SplitReason.com

The second is a Zero Punctuation: Troll t-shirt in Green. Anyone unfamiliar with Zero Punctuation and the trolls should familiarise themselves immediately by going here.

Zero Punctuation – Troll green t-shirt design @ © SplitReason.com

Both t-shirts are XL unisex (there are no other sizes so don’t ask) and will only be posted to the UK. Offer is open to people I don’t work with because I have re-ordered the shirts in the correct size and don’t really want to be t-shirt buddies with anyone. :)

If you want them get in touch either in the comments or by twitter and we’ll arrange something, not sure how I’m going to decide who gets them if it’s more than one person, but I will and my judgement will be final.

obv

Okay back to the science fiction, this time dealing with the more recent authors (or at least the ones that feel more recent). You’ll see immediately that I know significantly less about the authors in question, but I think that is part and parcel with modern sci-fi, the author is no longer a celebrity or character, he’s just a writer getting on with things.

So to just jump straight in:

Peter F Hamilton:
His first book was the beginning of what came to be the Greg Mandel trilogy and was called “Mindstar Rising”. A brilliant sci-fi noir detective story about a soldier from a failed psychic battalion in a version of Britain that has been ruined by it’s elected officials. Okay maybe that doesn’t sell it particularly well, but trust me, it’s a fantastic worthwhile read.

One of my favorite things about it is it’s Britishness, the places, people and attitudes are very familiar, especially so if you have had any contact with the British military (obviously there is some dramatic license). Next he wrote “A Quantum Murder” which was almost as brilliant before heading off to the depths of Space Opera for the Night’s Dawn Trilogy.

The first book of the Night’s Dawn is “The Reality Dysfunction” and it’s immense, probably one of the best science fiction ideas I have encountered. The story is a weave of multiple threads and characters, each of which might have deserved their own book, but are so much more when put together, it really is great. The second book “The Neutronium Alchemist” is again almost as great.

Here’s where things fall down, the idea for “The Night’s Dawn” trilogy is too big, there is no adequate way to stop the events that transpire, so the last book is a whimper, and it’s a huge let down. Unfortunately the same is true for “Nanoflower” the third book of the Greg Mandel trilogy, not so much that it’s too big an idea but that the end is too weak. Both books have their moments don’t get me wrong, but neither feels like they do justice to their predecessors.

I have read a fair amount of Hamilton’s other books, but none has had the impact of the main 4 although they are mostly solid science fiction. The only other one I would really encourage you to read is “A Last Chance at Eden” a set of short stories set before the events of the Nights Dawn, which are really quite great.

Orson Scott Card:
Another author capable of starting literary holy wars, and the series in question at this point is the Ender’s Game saga. Ender’s Game was originally a short story by Card, which he later expanded to a whole book, then a whole series, and then two whole series. I’m not going to recommend anything but the original Ender’s Game novel, because for me that was the peak of the story. It’s a book I have read over and over, but each time it brings something new, a different perspective, a new moment, or a new sympathy, it’s just a great book unlike Xenocide (lets see if that aggravates anyone).

Card also wrote Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus which falls under maybe the alternate history sub-genre of sci-fi. I would love to say more but it’s not a story I really can give any details on without spoiling. What I can tell you is that Card wrote it during a period in his life when he was playing too much “Civilisation” and it’s very clear that had an impact.

His short stories also rarely disappoint, I particularly remember “The Folk of the Fringe” which dealt with Mormons in a post apocalyptic world. It’s rare you find science fiction books that deal with religion in such a neutral manner, and I enjoyed it a lot. Card is himself a Mormon and has written non-science fiction about it. He does (or certainly did) drink a lot of Diet Coke though, the equivalent of a Jewish person enjoying a nice bacon sandwich.

Richard R Morgan:
Poor Richard R Morgan, this man has taken a lot of flak from me over the last few years. The reason? Bitter disappointment. With his first book Altered Carbon he wrote a classic, a seminal piece of Cyberpunk, dark, fast aggressive and just sensational. It’s one of the few books I keep multiple copies of for lending purposes (most of the books mentioned here I have multiple copies of).

Unfortunately after that it all went wrong, his subsequent books have been mediocre at best. I wonder whether or not there was too much pressure to get a second book out, or if the publishers accepted the second without really paying enough attention. Either way something went wrong….but I will still probably buy his next one just in case.

Go out and get Altered Carbon, it’s an excellent stand alone cyberpunk detective classic, it has a little bit of everything in it, but shares a lot with “Voice of the Whirlwind” written by…..

Walter Jon Williams
I don’t think I have encountered another science fiction writer with more range within sci-fi than Williams. He writes great cyberpunk (“Hardwired” and “Voice of the Whirlwind”), great space opera (“The Dread Empire’s Fall” saga, which isn’t nearly as serious as it sounds), and great comedy or farce (“House of Shards”).

Another great thing about Williams, is that he is still writing consistently, a new book to look forward to every year or so. The Dread Empire’s Fall Saga was released between 2002 and 2005 and consists of 3 reasonably weighty tomes of well written space opera. The series is quite rich, with moments of humour and darkness and it even ends well I really enjoyed it.

It may not have the rising tide of expectation and anticipation that Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy does, but it has a different focus. If you enjoy space opera you could do much worse, the same goes for cyberpunk and the relatively rare sci-fi farce.

Recently he wrote “This Is Not a Game” which falls somewhere between sci-fi and a contemporary thriller. I would be tempted to call it a geek thriller, but I feel that would be limiting it’s audience unnecessarily (if you enjoyed William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition” you should enjoy “This Is Not a Game”).

Cory Doctorow
I’ve only read two of Doctorow’s books, and whilst I didn’t like the story of one of them I did enjoy it. Maybe that’s not the best way to start a recommendation, but of all the authors in this list Doctorow is the one that fills me with hope for the genre as a whole.

“Overclocked: Stories of the future present” is the book that simply blew me away. It’s a collection of short stories, and I haven’t felt so excited as I read a book in over a decade.

It’s not a long book, or even action packed, it just contains stories that could well be written by the “Golden Age” authors if they were alive today. There is greatness there, and it comes from someone who has clearly read the same books and been submerged in the same subculture. If you have read some of the authors on my previous list, as well as Asimov you will see something special in Doctorow. If you consider yourself a geek you will see things familiar to you, and in a group as diverse as us that is a rare thing.

Dan Simmons
A man that doesn’t think small, he set out to write a science fiction story with a structure similar to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. What followed were a series of 4 masterfully written, 900 page (fact check necessary here if anyone has them to hand) books dense with alien ideas, the vastness of space, time travel, AI, and a slow building suspense that becomes more and more oppressive.

For me the memory of them is very strange because when I read, normally each book is compartmentalised in my mind and I have a reasonable memory of what each contains. Not so the “Hyperion Cantos” the whole thing is one seamless story in my head, it’s just settled and set in my subconscious. I am exceedingly pleased I didn’t have to wait for each book, and feel sympathy for anyone who had to wait for the next to be released it would have been murder.

The style is odd because of the Canterbury Tales idea, but don’t be put off, it’s well worth persevering you won’t have read anything else like it. If you start it you will have months of good reading ahead of you.

Beware the Shrike.

Neal Stephenson
I’ve probably left my favourite to last. Stephenson does one thing better than any other author I know. He has the uncanny ability to prepare you for receiving new ideas, and then serves the information to you in such a way that you don’t realise it’s happened until it’s over. It’s an astonishing talent and one that I can’t help but feel should be mimicked as much as possible by educators the world over.

He’s a difficult man to cover  simply because I feel anything I say about the books will compromise them or the ideas they contain in some way. He’s arranged them the way they are for a reason, and talking about them may interfere with transmission.

The two I want to push are “The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” and “Snow Crash”, both very different books with very different themes. “The Diamond Age” I read first when I was probably about 16 and I remember enjoying it, but nowhere near as much as I do now. It has a lot in common with Card’s “Ender’s Game” and I would suggest leaving some space between the two if you plan on reading them both.

It’s a fabulously rich book with ideas and imagery that somehow remain accessible despite their complexity. I think it’s one of the few books that could motivate  girls to try science fiction, and I think they would appreciate it at an earlier age than any boys (my first copy was given to my by a girl, thank you Beth).

“Snow Crash” on the other hand is an action movie, set in a pre-cyberpunk (apologies for the awkward term) world. It was originally intended as a graphic novel but ultimately remained as text. It’s all the richer for it as the descriptions of places and events are much stronger than with most sci-fi. Another possible hold over from it’s graphic novel roots is that it’s subtly and joyously over the top, there is nothing small in snow crash, the main character is even called “Hiro Protagonist”. This feels much more like a boys book.

From an adults perspective they are both superb books, containing a wealth of ideas and information, read both of them as soon as you can.

———————-

So that’s the initial round up, I have a sinking feeling because I feel I need to include writers that cover other closely related genres, but for the time being I will take a break and move on to something else. As always I look forward to your thoughts and feedback.

Obv.

PS Taking a step back and looking at this list I stand by my original post on sci-fi, most of the books here are too impenetrable to people without an interest in science fiction (there are exceptions obviously). We still lack a decent gateway or entry point to the genre.

Both Oblivious and I have been happily trawling our way through this first person looter and now the price has dropped to a very tempting £17 at Amazon (for PC – console prices pretty low as well)

Check it out – As well as that hook of getting the best kit the artwork and graphics style has done more towards animated comics than anything Marvel or DC have managed in all these years – FANTASTIC!

and also checkout the trailer for the DLC coming out tomorrow…

Hooray! – www.geeknom.com is one month old today – so I thought we should do a quick roundup of the posts so far…

We were concerned by the news that tweets were to be indexed by both Bing and Google and questioned if Twitter is yet ready to handle the abuse that is associated with SEO in

Search engines sign Twitter’s Death Warrant?

We got all excited about the offence-fest that will occur in the released-soon-new-volume of Garth Ennis’ Chronicles Of Wormwood  - with preview included…

Chronicles Of Wormwood Returns to amuse/offend

We lamented the dearth of new quality sci-fi writing and hold both publishers and readers responsible…..

Where has all the sci-fi gone?

The BBC was held to account for the poor quality of the Question Time program featuring the BNP- The childish bullying of NG was a missed opportunity detracting from sensible criticism of the the man and his hateful politics…

Why Nick is your Auntie’s Lover

We highlighted the blinding deal on a four pack of Left 4 Dead 2 licenses bought from Steam (which we are now happily playing)…

Left 4 Deal

The increasingly popularity (from providers if not users) of digital media distribution is highlighted and questions raised over who really benefits…

We can digitise it for you wholesale…

The apocalypse surviving capabilities of Casio GShock watches were highlighted when Lombear found his old one working at the bottom of a box not looked in for 15 years…

Casio or Cockroach?

As a follow up to the lack of new sci-fi Oblivious started his ‘brief’ guide for sci-fi you should have already read…

My brief guide to science fiction part 1

We talked about venturing out into space and other planets (after all our generation hasnt had a moon landing)…

Let’s get off this rock!

We looked at distracting panicking geek soon-to-be-dads by introducing some tech and gadgets into the birthing process…

The Birth of Technology?

Trailblazer looked at two promising trailers for upcoming flicks – KickAss and Clash Of The Titans…

Trailblazer – KickAss and Clash Of The Titans

Hopefully we have entertained and informed and check out any posts you may have missed – we also want to know what you think!

As for the next month we hope to have posts from two new members to the team and plenty more content :D

The geeknom team

Just a quick heads up to a couple of films we should be interested in…

Firstly the KickAss trailer is now out – looks like it is going to live up to the book and more:

I would start getting any original books you have ready for ebaying…

Secondly we have Clash Of the Titans – Now I’m a big fan of the original and Harryhausen in general so CG’ing this could be a mistake (and especially as the trailer appears to have been edited by a teenage pop video director with adhd) – Still it features Mr Prolific – Sam Worthington – who was more than watchable in Terminator Salvation and he has continued his good luck run with Avatar – We shall see if it comes out as more than a 300 clone with scorpions…

Lombear

Well apologies for the lack of updates from me and thanks to Oblivious for once again stirring up a robotically enhanced hornets’ nest on scifi. I have been otherwise occupied with the movement of Lombaby V2 from beta to final release.

So maybe rather suprisingly for a geek blog today’s post is gonna feature quite a bit about babies. Now this was spawn #2 so gone were alot of the worries and surprises that go with the unknown of a first labour. This time I knew what was going to happen and wanted to be prepared – the only way I know how – by gadgets and software (and yes I realise this post should generate significant pity for my poor wife).

Stage #1 – Revision

So firstly I needed to reacquaint myself with the process flow for labour, the various stages of labour, when to say ‘Breathe Deep!’, when to say ‘dont push!’ etc – This was a bit last minute as it being the second baby we didn’t bother with any of the courses – ignoring the library of books we had stashed somewhere too obscure to bother finding google saved the day by showing me -

New Dad Survival Guide

This covered all the main points pretty well and a few reads covered the necessary revision.

Stage #2 – Guns – Lots of guns

OK so guns aren’t really needed (although my better half way well have wanted to shoot something off at the super painful bit) – no this is tools that can not only help but, by their use, distract me from the verge of panic that the imminent arrival of a baby can cause. As soon as you get woken up with the ‘ I think its time’ line I need something to concentrate on and, as well as looking after my lady, I have both times got absorbed in the contraction analysis game.

This is basically a data collection scenario followed up by analysis and judgement call of when you need to go to the hospital.

Call too early and you get sent down to the ward and spend far too long listening to babies cry or labour screams – call too late and you end up being the ‘Roadside Midwife’

Now of course this should be pretty simple:

If frequency of contractions > 5 minutes – make like NCC-1701

but no

it ends up something like:

Did u remember to stop the stopwatch at the last contraction or were u distracted by the love of your life being in agonising pain?

Was it a proper contraction or just a Braxton Hicks?

How long did it last and did that show a regular pattern forming or was that a rogue point on the graph?

The list goes on.

For baby one I had a stopwatch, pen and printed spreadsheet – Time since last contraction, length of contraction and strength of contraction. this time I visited the app store and found this:

Contraction Master

Perfect – all done on the iphone so extra hand free to be ripped off during a bad contraction :D

In addition you also get a cool bit of kit that allows you to electrocute ur wife – The TENS Machine – Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation – The idea is for electrical impulses to interrupt the nerve signals heading up the spine – in reality its a better and more fun version of putting ur tongue on a 9V battery.

Make sure you get this in plenty of time so that it can be thoroughly tested ;)

So far so good – we are getting to use gadgets and tech in the oldest of applications

Stage #3 – !=Theme Hospital

So you have driven to the hospital got to the delivery suite where else can we get tech in?

Well unfortunately it goes down hill from here. There are some machines to pick up the heart beat of the baby, there is Entonox which is surprisingly effective when inhaled passively.

However, the brutal fact is this is still a pretty intense and primal process where there is just alot of effort and pain required. Now my other half being the elite birthing machine she is gives birth standing up and in about 40 minutes. Its not always so simple and the hospital ‘equipment’ to assist before a c-section are effectively some big pliers and a hoover.

So moving on swiftly:

Stage #4 – Tell the world!

Now here we really can do something again. Pictures etc can now be on ur favourite social network/s within seconds (especially hospitals have now admitted the no mobiles rule was just a revenue stream). After that its time to enjoy the new arrival and get sleep whenever you can (and its MUCH easier the second time!- for the Dad anyways – sorry ladies)

So here’s to baby Nate and my wonderful wife!

Lombear

Several strange things happened recently that caused me to realise I am actually excited about the thought of a manned trip to Mars

First of all several days ago @Molly23 twittered this:

And aside from it being brilliant, it brought back thoughts about the scale of things. Us compared to essentially everything else.

Lets start with some really rough numbers:

The number of galaxies in the universe is considered to be between 100-125 Billion.
If we take the Milky Way to be a “typical” galaxy (as I said really rough numbers) each galaxy contains 400 Billion suns.

So that’s:

100,000,000,000 x 400,000,000,000 stars in the universe.

If you consider our Sun has a mass of 1.981 x 10²⁷ tonnes, and we take that as being typical for a star (which I doubt, check out VY Canis Majoris) you can start to see the numbers go from being unimaginable to ridiculous.

Another great number you can consider for our Sun is the fact it sheds 400 million tonnes (or 1.3 world human populations, thank you www.sensibleunits.com \ ultimateunitconverter.com) of mass a second.

Don’t even get me started on the distances involved. These figures rather than making us more insignificant I think make our achievements all the more amazing, and can drive us to higher goals – look at what we’ve already accomplished!

The second thing (and this is almost criminally bad) is that I have been watching the TV show Defying Gravity. I’ll come right out into the open and say that in my opinion, it’s not a great show (they should have ignored the fact that they should have all been floating around rather than try to explain it), the focus is clearly on drama rather than the reality of space exploration.

Criticism aside, one thing the show does that I haven’t seen in a very long time is portray walking on another planet for the first time and the dangers involved. All of a sudden I was right back with the old sci-fi; exploration, risk, and passion to get out there.

Another thing was the announcement of the Russians planning a nuclear spacecraft. The difference between a trip to mars by chemical rocket and one that’s nuclear are substantial. A chemical rocket you line up and do a rocket burn then sit back, because you can’t afford to waste a drop. Nuclear, you can accelerate constantly until at least the halfway point reaching Mars in a fraction of the time (it’s still not short, this is Mars after all). It’s potentially a huge step forwards, and if anyone has experience with using small scale nuclear power plants in novel ways it’s the Russians

Abandoned Russian nuclear powered lighthouses

Russian floating nuclear power station

I am very excited about Mars, we need to get there, people need to stop staring at their navels, and see that not only is it possible but it’s something we should be doing.

Lets get off this rock!

Okay given my humiliating defeat in the comments section of my last post, I’m going to put together what is hopefully a brief bit of information of various authors and a selection of the books I rated most highly from their back catalogue. I stress that this is my selection, it’s not a best of, save your holy wars for a special occasion.

The writers I read first:

Robert A Heinlein:
Shooting fish in a barrel this one, although unfortunately I’m going to immediately put my foot in it and tell you to read his short stories and ‘Juveniles’ rather than things like “Stranger in a Strange Land” or to “Sail Beyond the Sunset”, almost ignore Lazarus Long altogether.

Starship Troopers is one that if you know me has had the greatest effect, it’s about personal responsibility and the realisation that duty is what you choose to take accept rather than what is thrust upon you. A war takes place in there somewhere but that is just a backdrop to the more important message.

There are lists of Heinlein’s juveniles out there, but I’m not going to replicate them. Almost any Heinlein you pick up will be worthwhile, so go for it, enjoy.

As a little piece of trivia, as you read science fiction by more and more authors you realise the sheer number of personal dedications to Heinlein are astonishing. His impact on the next generation of writers went beyond just literary help or influence, he seems to have helped many of them directly one way or another.

Clifford D Simak:
Pastoral science fiction? Gentle? Both are true. Simak’s vision usually involved a softer change, or one that did not affect the whole of society. The first work of his I read knowingly (he was a prolific short story writer) was the Werewolf Principle, it’s a great book, but not really science fiction as you might expect it. Way Station is in my opinion his best, and it sits in the back of my mind haunting me to this day. As a point of interest you might want to read his earlier short story “A Death in the House” after “Way Station” because one could be the origin of the other.

Charles Sheffield:
Sheffield was a physicist and mathematician and I think his relative obscurity (he did win the nebula so it’s not like he’s unknown) had a lot to do with appalling luck. He wrote a book called “The Web Between the Worlds” detailing the revolutionary idea of a skyhook. Unfortunately another significant science fiction writer had the same idea and got the book to press first (they were entirely unaware of one another). The other writer was Arthur C Clarke, who was kind enough to write the introduction to “The Web Between the Worlds” to explain the circumstances.

Sheffield also wrote “My Brother’s Keeper” and “Nimrod Hunt” (or “The Mind Pool” as it was reprinted), both of which I highly recommend.

Eric Frank Russell:
Wrote perhaps one of the most subversive books I have ever read, “Wasp”. It’s almost a manual for dissent and is written with a fabulously dry humour to it. It’s certainly my favorite of his books but his others are certainly worthwhile. If any of you have read Anne McCaffrey’s “The Rowan” I recommend reading “Sentinels from Space” as there are some very interesting similarities.

Russell wrote a massive number of short stories in his career, and what few I’ve managed to read were very enjoyable, there are two large anthologies of his available, but at price I admit I am unwilling to pay, if they ever become more reasonable I’ll let you know the details. He also wrote some horror stories, which I felt at the time were disappointing, but that was probably my expectations getting in the way.

Keith Laumer:
Laumer’s most famous character was a cynical diplomatic agent called Retief (of the CDT). Each book was essentially one long and amusing satire that, when you consider that Laumer himself was a diplomat sheds a worrying light on the state of international diplomacy.

He was prolific, churning out book after book several a year without breaking a sweat. The unfortunate price for this is that a fair amount of his work was formulaic, and fell within different series of books. It’s by no means all bad but he’s not always a safe bet. The books I would pick out are “9 by Laumer”, “A Plague of Demons” (an astonishing brief fast paced book that covers a lot of ground), “The Monitors”, “Worlds of the Imperium” and probably any of the early Retief books. If you like what you read go for it because there is bound to be another one similar and probably quite entertaining.

John Wyndham:
Not really a writer I read so much as had read to me. My mother read me and my younger siblings “Chocky”, “The Day of the Triffids” and “The Chrysalids” when we were pretty young (I suppose I was 7 when she read “The Chrysalids” which would have made my brother 4 or 5). It’s “The Chrysalids” which I remember best, but “Chocky” which I think had the greatest grasp on my mind as a whole, “The Day of the Triffids” I only really remember from later media releases.

“Chocky” is simply wonderful, it has everything a young brain needs, read it and see what I mean. “The Chrysalids” is a very different animal, less aimed at a young brain, but not difficult to follow. They are just excellent no matter what your age.

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I hate splitting posts with a passion, but I am going to call a temporary halt to proceedings here as I am finding more and more to write about but I feel I am criminally short changing every author I have included. I promise to continue this very soon, except with authors whose books have barcodes on their covers and that you can actually get hold of without resorting to spending (blissful) hours in second hand bookshops. After that who knows maybe single posts on specific authors?

I’ve missed out so much here, summing up Heinlein in four paragraphs and Simak in one, that’s disgusting I should be shot. :)

Ok so I’m currently wading through my teenage years via excavating boxes recently disowned by my Dad. These contain, deposited in layers of eeew, the chronological history of my lost and forgotten posessions. Most of it is either unsuitable for public consumption or just something I aint gonna make public. However, at the bottom of one box I found this…

My old school Casio G-Shock watch – still functioning and after 15 years in a box only 20 minutes out – I would say they don’t make them like they used to but I believe they do – none the less – very cool to see that something like this can be abandoned for a decade and a half and still work. Post nuclear war survivor? – Casio gets even odds with the cockroach…

Lombear