Book of the Week: To End In Fire (Crown of Slaves).

To End In Fire (Honor Harrington universe, in case you’re not familiar) is in pre-order, but that’s what E-ARCs are for and I don’t care who doesn’t like those. I love E-ARCs. I’ve always loved the idea of E-ARCs, and I cheerfully spend money on the concept.

It’s also nice that David Weber and Eric Flint are starting to wrap up this story. I buy ’em and I continue to buy them, but no sense in having it last forever, right?

Tweet of the Day, My Personal Favorite Penny Arcade Strip’s Anniversary! edition.

I dunno if it’s their best, but I love this Penny Arcade strip above all others. The aesthetic here sings to me.

Movie and Book of the Week: THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE.

For various reasons I’m watching THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE tonight; there’s also a book. The 1974 Matthau flick reminds me vividly of the NYC of my childhood; which is to say, remarkably [expletive deleted] up*. And this is a personal recollection, too. My dad was on the Staten Island railroad for decades, and we moved out of Brooklyn when I was eight, so while I don’t remember the details about living in the City back then I still vividly remember the feel. This movie captures the feel.

Continue reading Movie and Book of the Week: THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE.

08/05/21 Snippet, (The Rebooted) RESCUE.

I figured out what was wrong! I mean, with the entire story structure. It should go a lot more smoothly now.

They say you don’t forget your first ship, and they’re right. The Paulie Girl wasn’t the biggest ship, or the newest; you could see from her hull and her deck that she was used to hard work and harder weather. Despite all that the crew could do — and didn’t we work her over, on the regular! — she was stubborn, and sometimes sulky. But her lines were clean, and she wore the rust lightly. She was a tough bitch, our Paulie. She’d take whatever you threw at her, and then spit it right back in your eye.

God, I loved her the moment I clapped eyes on her.

God, but this boat is a piece of shit, Ted thought.

08/04/21 Snippet, RESCUE.

I’m still trying to figure out elements of this story, honestly. Like the middle of it.

Being locked up with the rest of the crew wasn’t great, but at least they weren’t aiming guns at him. Just some stares. Ted couldn’t decide if it was because he was the only American on the crew, or just the newest one. Then again, either would do.

When he told the story about the capture later — more accurately, when he told a story about the capture later — Ted would always make it sound like there was a plan, right from the start. Some of these guys, it wasn’t their first rodeo, he’d say. They knew what was gonna go down, if the pirates didn’t get what they wanted. We knew we had to be ready for anything. Then he’d say, Me? I was a snot-nosed kid back then, so I just shut up and did what they told me to. And it worked, didn’t it? We got through it okay, and the bad guys didn’t. After a while, he almost started believing all those lies himself, except for the last one. He didn’t get through it okay. Not. At. All.

To start with, there was no plan. And that was fine, from Ted’s point of view. Heroics wasn’t even close to being on his agenda. The freighter paid him to held sail the ship, and the ship wasn’t sailing. They wanted anything more right now, they could renegotiate his contract.