This is a charming book. It isn't a novel, more a collection of interlinked short stories about the witch Anita. Anita lives with her Granny (who is a forerunner of Granny Weatherwax). The stories cover a wide range of themes, including pollution and urban development. But at the heart there is alwa...
Having read and enjoyed the first volume of Mike Ashley' Starting Course follows with the excellent story of Eddie the android, first of the factory line he's embedded into an ordinary family in order to finesse his social skills before he is sent off-world as part of the workforce of humanity's exp...
I found this deadly dull and gave up after 79 pages of descriptions about cables and something (endless) about pistons.... There's always the risk that page 80 will prove to be the deal-maker, of course...; but WTF...(My reading of SF continues to turn up what is for me, at least, one disaster after...
A group of somewhat vaguely connected stories set in contemporary Dorset, only not as we know it because England is a mere vassel state of Rome (along with the rest of the world). Dominated and repressed by the Catholic church, many freedoms restricted, scientific progress retarded, linguistically a...
On the other hand, the prints are not as clear as they could be - and mostly consist of details. The accompanying commentary is sparse. The introduction is the best part -- This is a much better book than the pedestrian volume in this series on the northern Dutch painters. Though not flawless, th...
Some random highlights from this rather fine parallel world novel:- Semaphore stations can operate in full duplex mode, carrying messages simultaneously in both directions.- When issuing an ultimatum, it's unwise to stand directly in front of a loaded cannon.- Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
The upstairs neighbor's smoke detector has a flat battery, and it's making that incessant beeping sound that's meant to tell you to do something about it before it before it drives you mad. Unfortunately, the person in question is away for the weekend, so most of the rest of the apartment block is b...
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