All Systems Red by Martha Wells My rating: 4 of 5 stars I got this book for free from the Tor.com eBook club. Also, would have gotten it for free from the Hugos 2021 I know I’m late to everyone’s favorite genderless, somewhat on the autism spectrum, Murderbot but I really loved this book a …
Author Archives: Eric Mesa
Review: Necessity
Necessity by Jo Walton My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was the perfect cap on the trilogy. Told in a series of POV chapters that shuttle back and forth through time, the book forms the perfect meta-analogy to the way the gods experience time. Their personal time is moving forward even as they …
Review: Black Powder War
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik My rating: 4 of 5 stars Black Powder War is another great entry by Ms. Novik in the Temeraire series. It picks up almost immediately after the previous book ended. Now Temeraire and crew must head to the Ottoman Empire. Oh, and for variety, Ms Novik has their ship …
Completing Advent of Code 2015 with 3 Programming languages
Throughout the spring and summer of 2021 a few of the times that I mentioned on the Advent of Code subreddit that I was doing the 2015 problem set in all 3 languages, some folks said they’d be interested in a writeup on the experience. Now that I’ve finally finished 2015 (my first set of …
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Review: Crimson Son
Crimson Son by Russ Linton My rating: 3 of 5 stars I got this book from a Story Bundle called “Immerse or Die”. The editor of the bundle had a process that went something like, “I got on the treadmill and started reading. If the book wasn’t pulling me in by the time I finished …
Review: Reaper Man
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 …
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 …