Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is my second read. I have dropped the rating from 4 stars to 3 stars I love Discworld’s Death. He makes any book better by his presence and so I especially love the books that feature Death. In this book Death is the …
Author Archives: Eric Mesa
Review: The Most Dangerous Game
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell My rating: 4 of 5 stars My enjoyment of this short story (or was it long enough to be a novella?) was only marred by the fact that the story is so famous that I’ve seen it referenced and parodied a million times. Of course, that’s part of …
Review: Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was a kickstarter backer on the campaign for this book I’ve been waiting for this book for a while. This game, along with Chrono Trigger, was very formative in my early gaming years. The book decides to focus on one of the …
Making sure video games can be played by the widest group
Ever since a class during my undergrad which mentioned technology that can help make sure the real world is accessible to all folks no matter what their physical limits may be, I’ve been very interested in the topic. It’s led to my interest on web accessibility (although I’m not always perfect when it comes to …
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Review: Auberon
Auberon by James S.A. Corey My rating: 4 of 5 stars As the back of the book (so to speak…this is only available as an ebook at the moment) says, this novella is a chance to see what Amos’ old colleague Erich is up to. The novella starts off with a quote about a changing …
Review: Death Masks
Death Masks by Jim Butcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars If Goodreads had half-stars, I’d definitely give this one 4.5 stars. Butcher has taken everything I like about the Dresden files and eliminated a lot of what was annoying. Dresden has FINALLY earned the trust of Murphy on the SI unit at the Chicago …
Review: Lightspeed Magazine, April 2014
Lightspeed Magazine, April 2014 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a GREAT issue. I don’t think there was one story that wasn’t top-notch. My favorite SF stories were Codename: Delphi and Exhalation. My favorite fantasy was The Only Death in the City. The Afterparty excerpt was great and I …
Review: Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood
Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood by Jamie Russell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Anyone who has followed my book reviews on Good Reads or my blog knows that I have read quite a bit of video game history. Whether it’s a history of video games starting with the miltiary and university campuses, a …
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Review: Programming Perl
Programming Perl by Tom Christiansen My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve effectively finished this book, although I’ll admit to skipping the section called “reference”; the book had already gotten deeper into the weeds than I needed at the moment. I’ve read a lot of programming books over the past 15 years (and a few …
Review: Moving Pictures
Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is my second time reading as I do my Discworld re-read. Dropped the start rating from 3 stars to 2 stars. This one seems a slight step backwards in the progression of Discworld novels. It’s not really about any character growth and we …
Review: Introducing Go: Build Reliable, Scalable Programs
Introducing Go: Build Reliable, Scalable Programs by Caleb Doxsey My rating: 3 of 5 stars Over my many years as a programmer (and now boss of programmers) I’ve read many of O’Reilly’s series – Learning {language}, Programming {language}, {language} in a Nutshell, {language} Pocket Reference. This is the first time (that I can remember) that …
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2021 Cherry Blossom Race
After nearly 2 years of training, I finally was able to run the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mile race on 12 Sept. Yeah, last year I ran a virtual race, but that was really no different than a training run. This year we finally had the COVID-19 vaccine and so the race was able …
Review: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress My rating: 3 of 5 stars A reminder that I go by Goodread’s tooltips for the star ratings. At the time I’m writing this, 3 stars is “liked it” This is a very compelling short novel (or maybe novellette? or novella?) That jumps …
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20 Years Ago Today
Twenty years ago today I was a freshman at Cornell University. I’d only been to NYC once before, during my family’s college tour trip in spring of 2000. I was in class when the attacks happened. Eventually when I got to our creative writing class (or whatever it was called – Cornell made every freshman …
Review: Lies of the Beholder
Lies of the Beholder by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 3 of 5 stars This novella is a great wrap-up to the story of Stephen Leeds. Now that the trilogy is published as one volume, I think that’s going to be your best way to get into the story. For this final entry, we find that …