(2006 continued...)

A recent exchange of items on the list devoted to the works of Patrick O'Brian:

"Further, I wonder why my Gunroom messages are now being flagged as 'Bulk' by my server?"

"I resent the implication, sir. My 18+ stone are carried very trimly."

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Via the Del Rey Internet Newsletter, news of a newly packaged set of Michael Moorcock's Elric series:

Del Rey Books is proud to announce the acquisition of a portfolio of Michael Moorcock's original Elric novels plus stories, essays, a comic book script, and other material featuring Moorcock's famously tormented antihero, Elric of Melnibone. The works will be released in matching trade paperback omnibus editions, illustrated throughout by well-known fantasy artists. Included are the following titles: Elric of Melnibone, Stormbringer, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Vanishing Tower, The Revenge of the Rose, and The Bane of the Black Sword. The books will be published in the order in which they were written, rather than in the chronological order in which they have appeared since the 1970s. Moorcock will be writing new introductions for each volume.

The first volume, to be titled The Stealer of Souls, will be illustrated throughout and with cover artwork by award-winning artist John Picacio. Five additional omnibus volumes will follow.

So it appears that this will include most, but not all, of the recent novels in the series. Hopefully they will finish the series; I wish that they had plans to do hardcover versions as well as the trade paperbacks.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

A retro-review of Arthur C. Clarke's classic work. Hopefully you are all aware of Clarke's foreshadowing of Ron Moore's method of re-imagining an earlier work: Clarke expanded/rewrote Against as The City and the Stars. He tells an amusing tale of a psychiatrist and a patient that were convinced that the other was crazy, as each had read one of the books and was not aware of the other.

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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2006 continued...)

Is Spirit starting to show more than wear and tear on Mars?

"Once, when we radioed her to please leave the lecturing and hypothesis-making to the mission project team, she responded by forming her robotic arm into an obscene gesture," Banerdt said. "That arm contains a state-of-the-art spectrometer meant to provide crucial mineralogy data."

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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Two articles that recently surfaced on a Jack Vance discussion group that I belong to.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The omnibus review can now be found here.

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Bookslut has a hilarious review of the various covers that have graced the Ursula K. LeGuin novel The Dispossessed.

This is the "Perennial Classics trade paperback"—which depicts, basically, Nevada. This is the edition that you will be assigned to buy if you ever take a class in "Myths of Dystopia/Utopia," since the text inside has nice fat borders with lots of room for scribbled notations. Plus it has the word "classic" on the cover in muted off-white text, so no one will be disrespecting you at the campus coffee shop and calling you Luke Skywalker and making Wookie noises.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be seen here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be viewed here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The combined review can now be found here.

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"Naturally, naturally," agreed Magnus Ridolph. "However, let us view the matter from a different aspect. Let us momentarily forget that we are friends, neighbors, almost business associates, each acting only through motives of the highest integrity. Let us assume that we are strangers, unmoral, predatory."

Blantham blew out his cheeks, eyed Magnus Ridolph doubtfully. "Far-fetched, of course. But go on."

(Jack Vance, The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(Part 1 of 2. Part 2 to come soon.)

This post is the second update on the current state of exploration in our solar system. This installment will skip Mars, although there is still plenty to talk about. I'll refer you back to my previous posting and mention that the dust storm circling the planet is still delaying the entry into Victoria Crater. Stay tuned! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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(2006 continued...)

It seems appropriate (after trying to beat the lawn and weeds into submission from 10:00 AM until 5:30 PM) to sit down with Spider Robinson's Callahan's Key and drink a cold one. The cold one in question is Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. Several years ago I discovered pale ales, in a brand I've forgotten. I recall it had a story on the label about how the beer (ale) was originally made in the holds of ships on their way to India. I have searched for that liquid several times recently (mostly since starting to buy the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale again this summer—it's been a long hot summer of mowing and weed wacking!), without luck. Does that brand ring a bell with anyone?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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