Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 143 by Neil Clarke My rating: 2 of 5 stars This issue’s stories didn’t really work as well for me as the last few issues have. Thoughts per story: The veilonaut’s dream: explorers at a spatial discontinuity explore it for money. Partially a tale of exploitative labor and partly a tale of…

InvestiGators by John Patrick Green My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read this to my four-year-olds and I found it to be a blast. Most of the word-play went over their heads. In fact, after finishing it with my four-year-olds, I recommended it to my 8-year-old. We’ll see what she thinks. This is definitely one…

Jumpstarting the Onion Omega2 by Wolfram Donat My rating: 3 of 5 stars A good intro to the Onion Omega2 and Omega2+ boards. Unfortunately, the Onion folks have changed their interface, making a large portion of the book no longer accurate. You can kind of work your way through it if you’re technical and have…

Getting Started with Soldering: A Hands-On Guide to Making Electrical and Mechanical Connections by Marc de Vinck My rating: 4 of 5 stars I haven’t soldered in at least a good 15 years, if not more. I couldn’t remember the technique and I didn’t want to mess up my components for a new project I’m…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 142 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars An almost perfect issue (in terms of my tastes) in which I loved all but one of the stories. Here are my thoughts-per-story, which may have some more text than my status updates if I came up against character limits during updates:…

Jumpstarting the Raspberry Pi Zero W by Akkana Peck My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a great introduction to creating electronics projects with the smallest raspberry pi at this time. Seriously, it’s the same size as an Arduino MKR board – like a stick of gum. I wish I’d read it before…

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan My rating: 4 of 5 stars This trilogy is definitely turning out to be one of those 1 book broken up into 3 trilogies than a series of stories following the main characters. The last book was a slightly cleaner break, but still ended with a lot still unresolved.…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of those issues where I liked every story and every non-fiction essay. Read below for my thoughts per story. A space of one’s own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I’m a world…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of those issues where I liked every story and every non-fiction essay. Read below for my thoughts per story. A space of one’s own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I’m a world…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 140 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars A nice balanced collection. My favorite was Cold Comfort. Below are my per story reviews and/or thoughts. ——- A Vastness: A very interesting story of what we do when we’re so driven, we are willing to risk everything. And a great ending…

Rave Master Vol. 9 by Hiro Mashima My rating: 3 of 5 stars While this continues the shonen tropes of the hero who can’t be beaten just because of his “can-do” attitude, Mr. Mashima increases the stakes and gives a compelling story behind the rise of Demon Card and the paths of the two Gales.…

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m a huge world-building junkie. It’s one of the reasons I love science fiction and fantasy. And, as I realized while writing the previous sentence, it’s also why I love history non-fiction books and podcasts. I love learning about the society and what drives…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 139 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars A nice, solid collection this month. Here are my per-story thoughts: Carouseling: An extremely sad and touching story about a couple and an experiment at a CERN-like lab. Wonder if the story was written/conceived back when everyone was afraid the collider would…

Rave Master Vol. 8 by Hiro Mashima My rating: 3 of 5 stars We learn a bit more about what’s going on with Rabarrier, but mostly it’s a volume that is the continuation of the fight started in the last volume. (And it doesn’t finish here, either) Manga is the master of decompressed storytelling. View…

Rave Master, Vol. 07 by Hiro Mashima My rating: 3 of 5 stars A nice mix of some silly chapters and finally getting a lot closer to the mystery of Haru’s dad. Actually, with where we are now in the story I’m curious how there are some 20 more volumes. View all my reviews