Multimedia completion October

Books:

#23: Baen’s universe 2-3. I’ll just hit the ones I enjoyed here. “A better sense of direction” is interesting, I wonder how possible it is. About a kid growing up in space seeing the universe differently from the adults. “From the badlands” is a trigun-esque tale of humans surviving on a remote colony after aliens pound civilization to the ground. “Necromancer in Love” is an interesting thing about someone trying to bring one they love back to life, and different means to which it could be done… “Countdown to Armageddon” is a story of someone trying to take nuclear weaponry back to the past to allow the muslims to overrun the christians in that time period. “The Quiet Man” has an alien space ship land on the washington mall, asking for their children who crashed some time before and were given the Area 51 treatment.

I must take exception with at least one part of the non-fiction and columns. Mike Resnick just doesn’t get the line “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” He says it’s false, but the truth of it is, if he would bother to look, that there isn’t a free lunch, it’s always subsidized by someone else’s work. Just because it’s free to you doesn’t mean it’s free. If they are doing it out of the kindness of their heart, or for some ulterior purpose, is for you to determine. Many of the others he trots out are just abbreviated versions of more specific ideas. The “whatever does not kill us makes us stronger” thing for example would need to include permanent crippling or maiming in its definition of kill. 

#24: Through the Breach. David Drake tells the story of Francis Drake’s journey around the world, except in space…

#25: Fireships. The whole Francis Drake thing again, in breaking the back of the Spanish North american federation domination of the galaxy.

I read through a bit of the Liaden universe stuff, and I think that’s one of the next places I’m going to go for books…

Games: 

#3: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Excellent game. Finished it in 12 hours… Will probably put another 28 into it before I’m done.

Videos:

#36: Startrek Voyager, Season 7. Interesting way to end it. I’m not sure about its place in the whole Startrek Chart of What Is Good, but it was fun to watch. 

#37: Space Above and Beyond. Interesting marine themed space story. Twists and turns and the like, but oddly abbreviated by being only 26 episodes long. The ending was strange, with minor cliffhangers that will never quite be resolved. 

#38: Coraline. Very good, but any adult can see the plot coming from a mile away. Should be good for kids as long as they’re not scared by Tim Burton style movies.