Category Archives: Uncategorized

After my disappointment with Chesterton’s “The Blue Cross”, I read the next story in the collection, “The Secret Garden”. This didn’t rely on coincidence; it just relied on an amazingly stupid murder plot. The great detective Valentin invites a bunch … Continue reading →

I just read “The Blue Cross” by G. K. Chesterton, and I’m really puzzled why I had the impression that he was a good author. This story relied purely on contrivance. The protagonist, the great detective Valentin, is looking for … Continue reading →

I have a vice. I like post-apocalypse books (set after the destruction or near-destruction of civilization). Enjoying such novels is, I suppose, part of the same impulse that leads one to enjoy Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children books: the idea of … Continue reading →

I thought some more about what I said about war. John Brunner might argue through Chad Mulligan that the world wars “just happened” and no one intended them. But the various players did intend war. They didn’t intend the war … Continue reading →

I read Stand on Zanzibar as a pre-teen. It made a huge impression on me, to the point that, when I reread it all these years later, I remembered even the minor characters and their fates. I emphatically disagree with … Continue reading →

I think sometimes of writing a novel about a viral apocalypse, and to that end, I like to read or view materials about surviving without modern infrastructure. I watched a video today about how not to freeze in your own … Continue reading →

Many years ago, I started reading a science fiction book that involved robots with human minds uploaded into them. I say I “started reading” it, because early in the book, there was a scene where one of the characters, a … Continue reading →

So, I have a service that tries to clean up my personal data online. It directed me to a couple of services with my info. The first service said “These people are related” to me. There were seven people; only … Continue reading →

I have a landline and an answering machine.  A dozen times a day, I get calls.  Most of them hang up (good). But the rest start their calls with “Hello?” Sometimes they’ve bothered to do a reverse-lookup so they call … Continue reading →