So, I finished that book, and went over to the Baen Free Library.
If you don't know about this, you're seriously missing out.
Baen consistently publishes some excellent Sci-Fi stuff, and they've taken the increasingly successful marketing tact of allowing a lot of their authors to provide free access to quite a few books.
I recently read "Fallen Angels" which is excellent, and am starting on "The Multiplex Man".
The best part is, these authors all appear to share a similar world view as myself, which is great - I mean, I always knew that the anti-gunners were psychotic, and the environmentalists were nutjobs, but it's great to read some entertaining fiction by some prominent authors that show the same thing.
Check it out if you're looking for something to read. I own "1632" and "1633", but they're available there for free, so read them!!
You know, it's pretty damned cool when you're reading what's shaping up to be a pretty decent sci-f yarn, and you discover that the author is both pro-gun, and reasonably knowledgable about them, as well.
I was browsing the sci-fi section at a local used bookstore, and chanced upon a novel entitled "Bobby's Girl" by J.D. Austin.
The cover text sounded good, so I snagged it.
Good choice!
I'm about halfway through it right now, reading it as I get a spare moment here and there, and it's pretty damned good.
I'm even happier, now that I discovered there's a sequel shown on Amazon, and the author has written some other sci-fi stuffs, too.
Good times.
"We are all inadequate; that is simply part of the human condition and it's a major temptation to dwell on that rather than accepting and understanding that we do the best we can and that is all that God expects of us. Sometimes the best we can is far better than we think it is."
"I believe that consistently we need to look for good,and not for evil, that when we look for evil we call up evil, while heaven comes closer when we acknowledge it."
"I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be... This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages...the delayed adolescent, the childish adult, but that they are in me to be drawn on; to forget is a form of suicide... Far too many people misunderstand what *putting away childish things* means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup. When I'm with these people I, like the kids, feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don't ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, and *be* fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup."
"There's a theory which I take seriously, that we live until we do whatever we do whatever we're meant to do. Mozart started composing at an incredibly early age, and when he died young he had accomplished the purpose for which he was born."
Madeleine L'Engle is an interesting woman...
Oh, and if you've been wondering what Haley was saying, most of it's been decrypted.
See here:
http://www.pirate-king.com/episode/1005
http://www.pirate-king.com/episode/1007
http://www.pirate-king.com/episode/1024
http://www.pirate-king.com/episode/1118
I knew it was too properly formatted to be random letters, I just didn't know the cryptogram/cipher he was using (and was too lazy to try to figure it out). Thankfully, Google to the rescue!
OOTS has been server-flaking for the last couple weeks, and I don't like it.
So, I found this comic a couple weeks ago, passed it on to a couple of the roommates, and now I'm passing it to all of you.
If you're a gamer, you'll definitely appreciate it, but I think you'll find it amusing even if you're not.
This link:
should set you up at the first strip. If the site doesn't load, give it a try a little while later - every now and then, it seems to drop, or get really laggy.
ENJOY!
...Orson Scott Card couldn't get any cooler!
I'm at Best Buy today - took my mom up to Salem to drop off her laptop for repair, and dragged one of the roommate's along.
I'm browsing the computer games, and see a game called "Advent Rising".
I think I noticed it on the shelves a few weeks earlier, and didn't pay it too much attention.
It grabbed my eyes again today, and I looked at the back of the box to see the following text:
Sweeping, evolving story by award-winning sci-fi author Orson Scott Card
Well, holy shit, why wasn't that on the front of the box?!
So, I of course bought it.
Expect to see me rave about it tomorrow, after I install it and play it for a while!
So, I got introduced to Neal Stephenson by way of Snow Crash.
Great book, cyberpunk/hackerish, set in a neo-futuristic former USA right around the turn of the century or so.
From Amazon:
From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.
Such a great book, that it got me to buy and read much of his other stuff.
Currently, I'm in the middle of Interface, a book that Stephenson co-wrote with J. Frederick George, a historian that Stephenson appears to have started collaborating with.
(If Interface is any indication, their other book, The Cobweb, should kick quite a bit of ass, too.)
It's great - give it time, and my favorite authors are going to be known as the master fiction writers - up there with Michener, Cussler, Ludlum, etc.
So, I've read the following by this guy:
The Ender Series:
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
Shadows of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
The Alvin Maker Series:
Seventh Son
Red Prophet
Prentice Alvin
Alvin Journeyman
Heartfire
The Crystal City
The Homecoming Series:
The Memory of Earth
The Call of Earth
The Ships of Earth
Earthfall
Earthborn
And not least of all, the following standalone books:
Enchantment
First Meetings
Lost Boys
Lovelock
Pastwatch
Treasure Box
Wyrms
And yes, I own all of those. Books are important. Everyone should have a library.
So, it wasn't too hard to pick up the latest (and hopefully not the final) chapter of the Ender series, Shadow of the Giant.
The series is broken into two main points of view. One centers around Ender's life. The other centers around the lives of Bean and Ender's brother Peter. The new book is of the latter POV.
Excellent, as always. Due to the science of the series, Peter, Ender's older brother, is still in his late teens/early twenties, whereas in the Ender POV, Ender is in his late 40's/early 50's.
They did a great job of bringing this book up to the latest timeframe/POV of events, and left a couple of incredible hooks for future sequels.
I do, believe, however, that the next book should concentrate on the Ender POV, and follow Miro-Jane/Young Val and Young Peter-Wang Mu characters. Would be kinda nice to continue with them - and since there's already been 4 books in each POV, and the last 4 have been the Bean/Peter POV, it'd be nice to go back to Ender's POV.
Not that I'm complaining.
Well, maybe I am - I want the next book in the Alvin Maker series, dammit.
I just read Lost Boys by Card within the last month or so.
I truly believe that Card's storytelling abilities know no bounds - he's equally at home writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, History, Action or Drama - NONE of his books have been a chore to read.
May this man have a long and prosperous life!
Check it out.
Authored by Harry Turtledove, who I'm finding to be the master of alternative-history fiction.
Basically, a bunch of white-supremacist dipshits present the Confederate Army with shipments of AK-47's and ammunition, which they use to turn the tide of the Civil War.
What they don't realize, is that Robert E. Lee isn't anti-black, like they are.
A very cool read.
So, I recently found out that Orson Scott Card was a Mormon. "Wow," thought I, "a Mormon who doesn't seem to have his head up his ass!"
See, I got turned off to Mormonism early on. I used to be a member of Boy Scout Troop 335 in Brownsville, Oregon.
Our troop was sponsored by the Brownsville Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. No big surprise, when you consider that the Mormon Church is the single largest sponsor of Boy Scouts in the United States.
Anyhow, I was one of a few non-Mormons in the troop. Being non-Mormon, we were excluded from many an activity or outing, always with a "You didn't get the letter/notice/email/posting/phone call?!"
We were constantly pressured to join the church, and looked down on when we expressed our lack of desire to do so.
All Scouts, when working towards their Eagle rank, must complete a project that benefits the community/city/state/country. This can be anything from a landscaping project, with no real limit imposed - you're constrained by the troop's budget or what money/materials you can get donated.
Essentially, the Eagle candidate acts as project manager, and the rest of the troop pitches in to help.
Whenever a Mormon candidate had a work project, you can be sure that the non-Mormons were hounded until they committed to being there.
Whenever a non-Mormon candidate had a work project, virtually no Mormon scouts showed up.
After 3 years of Boy Scouts, at age 16, and Life rank (the only rank higher than Life is Eagle), I dropped out of the Scouts, mostly due to the pressure and ostracism from Mormons in the troop.
As such, I've always had a distaste for the Church, and have always found myself not caring for people once I found out they were Mormon.
Fair? Probably not.
Beyond that, what information (or misinformation, as it may be) I had on the Mormon faith led me to think that the whole religion was a sham - something I share with most non-Mormons.
The Mormon faith is based not only on the Holy Bible, but also (and moreso) on the Book of Mormon - non-Mormon Christians tend to look at this book as heresy or a joke.
Back to the original topic.
To be perfectly honest, had I known Card was a devout Mormon, and utilitzed aspects of the religion in his storytelling, prior to buying/reading any of his novels, I'd probably have never given him a chance.
Having read over half of the guy's catalog before I found out, I became intrigued.
Then, I read an article about Card's "Homecoming" series - that it, or at least the first book of the series, is a retelling of the Book of Mormon.
Further intrigued, I began reading the series.
Fabulous, superb stuff, so far.
If anything could convince me to sit down and read the Book of Mormon, and further educate myself on Mormonism, this will do it.
Will wonders never cease?
What is this? 10 days, and I finish a 6-book series?
AND THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE ANY OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES.
WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!
=(
Unhappy is an understatement.
So, about a week ago, I was talking yet again about Orson Scott Card, mentioning that I'd have to buy the Alvin Maker series and start reading it.
Well, goddammit.
There's 6 books in the series. Bought the first 3, and finished those today.
Went to Borders, and bought the final 3. Finished Book 4 tonight.
Yes, I read the ENTIRE book in about 4-5 hours - they're that good.
But, this kinda sucks! The rate I'm going, I'll have finished the only other two books in the series, and then I'll have nothing else to read as far as this particular subject goes.
Oh well. At least he has a few more books I haven't read. Yet.
DOH.
Just finished 3 books by him in rapid succession.
Now I'm going to have to go buy the Alvin Maker series.
He better start writing some more stuff, or else I'm going to have to be upset that I've read everything he's written.
Now, I need to track down my copy of I, Robot to read before the movie comes out.
Book reccomendations, yet again.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that I think pretty much anything Orson Scott Card writes is damned near golden.
I read his Ender series, I read a couple other books by him, and then about a week and a half ago, I stopped by Borders and picked up three more books, each it's own tale, and not part of a series.
Fucking fabulous stuff.
Check him out some time.
Read the Ender series (Ender's Game, et. al), read Lovelock, read Pastwatch, read Enchantment, read them all!
You need to go grab a copy of his new book, "Give Me A Break".
Pretty good reading.
It's especially funny how this guy (in his own claims) used to be a liberal media hack, anti-corporation, anti-capitalism, pro-socialism, pro-big government, had his eyes opened by reality, and is now a force for good (conservatives!), instead of immoral and evil (liberals).
Now, the guy doesn't claim to be a conservative, and comes off more as a libertarian than anything else, so don't go yelling at me for lying about something.
Just read the book, you'll enjoy it. It's a very easy read, and very compelling.
Everyone needs to read her Murry Family and Austin Family series.
Written for younger adults, but still a good read, nonetheless.
Hopefully, they'll air the A Wrinkle In Time TV movie soon.
Here's something everyone should read and abide by:
Good information, and a good idea. Storms and other emergencies happen, and it's always a good thing to be prepared.
No, I don't usually read multiple books at the same time. I usually only read one until completion, then move on - unless I misplace one that I'm reading, and grab another to read.
With how hectic things have been with work and everything, I keep leaving a book I started on at work or elsewhere, and then I snag another until I get back to work the following week.
Do that a few times, and you'll be reading an entire library simultaneously.
I'm currently reading several different books right now, and figured I'd give you all a required reading list based on the current impositions on my free time:
The Road to Omaha by Robert Ludlum
(yes, the same Ludlum that wrote "The Bourne Identity"). Ludlum does comedy, and he does it well. If you're going to read this, I suggest you pick up "The Road to Gandolfo" and read it first. "The Road to Gandolfo" deals with a forcibly-retired U.S. Army General who decides to kidnap the Pope and hold him for ransom. Luckily, the Pope thinks this is a good idea, as he's been told that he has only a short time left to live. Action, suspense - everything you're used to from Ludlum, and now, comic genius.
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING! Actually, I just bought the movie on DVD, and decided to finally completely read the book.
The Bias Against Guns (Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control is Wrong) by John R. Lott, Jr.
A very unbiased look on the actual results of gun control, anti-gun legislation, conceal carry, and other impacts firearms have on crime. I'm quite sure that the anti-gun crowd will go on about how biased this book is - so be it. You'll never convince them. This book deals with the real, published statistics and numbers of gun-related crime and more. It debunks many of the anti-gun lobby's myths about guns being the root cause of crime, and explains how they come by their bogus and completely inaccurate numbers. Everyone should read this book.
Unintended Consequences by John Ross
A fiction novel, but one based very much on actual history, historical fact, and current affairs. To say that it's a "pro-gun" book is to do it a grave injustice. The book is a fictional account of what could easily happen if our great country keeps heading in the direction it's going. A very chilling commentary on the "gun culture" in the U.S. Interesting note: this book frightened the BATFE so much that they tried to enlist the author's ex-wife against him, and get her to make a statement that the book was a "manual for the murder of federal agents". Too bad the divorce was amicable, and they're still good friends...
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The book the HBO series was based on. Amazing. Just amazing. One of the best World War II accounts you will ever read/see. I'm pages away from being finished with this book, and I'm sad it's going to be over so soon. You know what's freakin' cool, though? Donald Malarkey of Easy Company lives in Salem, OR (where I work, and 30 miles away from where I live). I've driven by his house probably a dozen times, and I never knew this. I'm going to really try not to become a stalker, but I'd love to meet this guy. I don't know what I'd say, other than a big "THANK YOU!", but to meet him and shake his hand would be a great honor.
(And some of you out there said that I was too negative, and couldn't write a non-rant entry! I'm saving that for Monday.)