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  • I’ve been stuck not really reading much. Gave up on the book I was on, and bought Sue Burke’s Interference.

    I loved the first one, and have been happily reading this before bed.

    #book #scifi

    → 10:56 PM, Oct 14   •  book, mastodon, scifi
  • I just backed @doctorow’s Kickstarter for an audio book version of Attack Surface, the third Little Brother book.

    DRM-free to fight Audible, which has 90% of the market.

    → 5:25 PM, Sep 8   •  Twitter, book, KickStarter
  • I’ve really enjoyed Martha Wells’ MURDERBOT books. On special today.

    → 5:26 PM, Jul 26   •  Twitter, book, Martha Wells, MURDERBOT
  • Magic, science, and cryptocurrency; also, book reviews

    I just finished reading "Out of the Black". It's mainly responsible for the magic part of this title, although technically it is set in the far future. You don't really notice the far future part, since you already have to suspend disbelief for the magic bits. Actually, the one technology piece that was interesting (and probably won't age well) was the concept that everyone had a tablet. The unique thing about the tablet was that it could resize. You made it small and stuck it in your pocket, but then you could take it and expand it to some maximize size for mapping or image work or whatever.

    This book is a bit of a variant on The Matrix, in the sense that there is a lot of fighting and there is a "layer" underneath reality that can be accessed and manipulated (the magic bit, which is called the Loom). It has thriller pacing, plus some jumping forward and backward in timelines from different character points of view which doesn't _quite_ work (feels more like a movie script). Regardless, an enjoyable quick read.

    A 2-book series that I finished some time ago was Daemon and Freedom (TM) by Daniel Suarez. I really should be writing a lot more about them rather than tacking them on to review #1, but at least I'm posting something.

    Let's see, where to start. It takes place in present day / near future. An MMORPG game company CEO dies, which sets in motion a bunch of stuff involving a "daemon", or set of computer scripts that the CEO had set up. These set of computer scripts interact with the real world and people through lots of automation and scanning news feeds and bot nets and other fairly believable things (the author has a background in computers and security, which keeps things from getting too Hollywood, which I appreciated).

    And then self-sufficiency in food systems (including an anti-Monsanto interlude), cryptocurrency, and DIY technology making enter the picture. With eBay-style reputation assigned to personal interactions of all kinds, plus a gamification layer where everybody has levels and classes. See, the daemon has been set in motion to kind of shepherd the human race onto a new way of living. Or at least, a new way of socio-economic organizing.

    At the time I was reading the book, the following IRL things were happening:

    • Bitcoin was just hitting main stream media
    • I've been thinking a lot about local / direct food systems with Foodtree
    • our worldwide economic systems have been hitting the crapper
    • The Canadian Federal election put a robot prime minister in power

    So, I tore through the first book and made it straight through into the second. It also has thriller pacing, and I'm sure is in part designed to feed into the gamer / Internet professional brain.

    Fun read, makes you think. If you are at all interested in how technology-assisted collaboration, governance, and economics might work, read the book.

    Thanks to Sean for recommending these books.

    → 9:39 PM, Jul 16   •  Personal, book, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Daemon, Daniel Suarez, Freedom (TM), Lee Doty, MMORPG, Out of the Black, review, Blog
  • My crab picture used in Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings

    The Stormlight Archive PortalBook List

    The Way of Kings

    Book One of the Stormlight Archive

    Purchase


    From Amazon
    From B&N
    From BookSense
    From Booksamillion
    From Powell's

    Content

    • The Way of Kings Sample Chapters
    • The Way of Kings Blog Posts
    • The Way of Kings Articles
    • Fake Twitter Reviews of the Way of Kings
    • The Way of Kings Release Events

    This book will be released August 31, 2010. Description coming soon.

    Brandon wrote an introduction for Tor.com here

    via brandonsanderson.com

    I got an email today that an image of a crab shell that I sold back in April is now in published form, in an EPIC FANTASY NOVEL:


    The book containing the map which uses your image as a partial rough base has now been released. The Way of Kings is an epic fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, and if you look on page 94, your crab picture was the basis for the map looking as if it was first scratched into a shell and then made into a charcoal rubbing.

    Very cool. Good excuse to go pick this book up.

    → 5:55 PM, Sep 1   •  Personal, book, fantasy, ClusterShot, epic fantasy, Blog
  • The murder of nature upon your very soul

    What must it be like to have the murder of nature upon your very soul? To have sacrificed all the world’s creatures for your own kind, and thereby lost your souls more completely than by any evil magic?

    Storm Seed, by Janet & Chris Morris, p 194

    → 5:05 PM, Jul 10   •  Personal, book, quote, Thieves World, fantasy, Storm Seed, Blog
  • The altar that was the shore at the end of time

    The god had been looking for a heart in the city, a heart that was worthy, a heart that knew true worship. And the god had found such a heart, and a voice that called upon Him without greed or demand, without wheedling or whining.

    The heart of the prophecy did Enlil find in the stable while the storm raged, upon the altar that was the shore at the end of time.

    But though the prophecy was fulfilled upon that moment, the humbling of the city had just begun.

    “City at the Edge of Time”, by Janet & Chris Morris, p189

    → 4:58 PM, Jul 10   •  Personal, book, quote, Thieves World, fantasy, City at the Edge of Time, Blog
  • I realized the internet was stealing the reading of books away from me /via @ebertchicago

    For some days now I have physically left the room with the computer in it, and settled down somewhere to read. All the old joy came back, and I realized the internet was stealing the reading of books away from me. Reading is calming, absorbing, and refreshing for the mind after hectic surfing. Chaz and I have quiet chats where we sit close and she talks and waits for my reply and this is soothing after the online tumult. I like the internet, but I don't want to become its love slave.
    via blogs.suntimes.com

    You should definitely be reading Ebert's blog.

    And yes, I read less. Less BOOKS. In all likelihood, I read many more words. I try and fit in reading as well, as that calmness is necessary, and lets your unconscious do its work figuring stuff out in the background.

    Currently, I'm reading some Janet Morris / Thieves World fantasy stuff.

    → 12:47 AM, Jun 12   •  Personal, book, Janet Morris, reading, Roger Ebert, Thieves World, Blog
  • Sharing Knife by Bujold cc @kellan @lloydbudd

    Media_httpecximagesam_ncsfy
    via goodreads.com

    I first picked up Bujold on recommendation from Kellan and devoured all the Vorkosigan series. I think I mostly dragged Lloyd into it as well.

    I saw Volumes 1 - 3 of the Sharing Knife series in the library, and here I am almost done Volume 2, and not wanting the series to end.

    The book is linked to GoodReads, a book sharing / recommendation thingie. I've still been using Allconsuming, but thought I'd give GR a try. Can't say as how I like it much better yet.

    → 8:58 PM, Apr 28   •  Personal, book, GoodReads.com, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharing Knife, Blog
  • Finished reading: The Last Light of the Sun (Guy Gavriel Kay)

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    via amazon.com

    I've actually read this book before. I immediately devour any book that Kay releases.

    It was great to go back and read this one again. There is a lot of depth to Kay's books - glimpses of the fact that any minor character has a full history behind them.

    Many people feel that this is not as strong as some of Kay's other books. The pace / plot is a bit more sedate - like the sun going down, there is an inevitability on display as it rolls to conclusion.

    There is a bit of fantasy / magic thrown in, but the theme is in part about the end of paganism and superstition, so the whole thing can be read as historical fiction.

    → 2:52 PM, Feb 20   •  Personal, book, Guy Gavriel Kay, Blog
  • I accidentally bought the fourth in a series /via @akalsey

    No wonder this book is full of unexplained backstory. I accidentally bought the fourth in a series.
    via twitter.com

    → 10:25 PM, Jan 29   •  Personal, book, quote, Blog
  • They're tunnelling TCP/IP over AD&D!


    Halting State

    by <a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/3189644/search/query?product=book&amp;q=Charles+Stross">Charles Stross</a><br />
    

    → See this at Amazon.com

    via allconsuming.net

    “They’re tunnelling TCP/IP over AD&D!” is one of the most amazing quotes I’ve ever read in a book. And the book is very good, covering ARGs and a future networked world very believably.

    → 9:12 AM, Jan 11   •  Personal, book, quote, Charles Stross, Halting State, Blog
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