Category Archives: books

Eastercon: Geoff Ryman workshop on literary analysis

The text was “What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky,” Leslie Nneka Arimah, which I did not have, but the talk was crystal clear anyway. Geoff took this as an example of African writing generally and ponted … Continue reading

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Eastercon: military panel

At this con I have seen a dozen people who are confusable with people I know back in Boston. That always happens. There is also a guy I would swear was Terry Pratchett if Terry Pratchett weren’t dead. Maybe he … Continue reading

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before the fall

Signs of the apocalypse, stateside trip edition: The success of the For Dummies series, which now have entire sections of their own in bookstores. Do readers really think are dummies? Do they really want to own these ugly, condescending books? … Continue reading

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“The last time I saw them they were sitting on a terrace having a drink. I should have said something to them and I didn’t.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, more or less

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“My father, a man without any means, a student, before 1914, travelled the whole of Europe with a University of Vienna student canteen card, and there was only one bizarre country called the Russian Empire which had something called a … Continue reading

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I’m not making it up: Someone wrote a detective novel set on the mean streets of Koskela, “Helsinki’s Bronx” (Alueuutiset). Check out the description of Sjöman & Co. here. PS 2015: The Nordic mystery boom finally happened but Hannu Vuorio’s … Continue reading

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