I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved breaking lists into groups and building a numerical sequence. (Note that this ends today.)
2018 crime, seventh in the Sean Duffy series. As the 1990s dawn, Sean Duffy just has a bit of paperwork to do before he goes part-time for good. But he can't ever let it lie…
1980 SF novella, in the same world as The Outcasts of Heaven Belt though set before the events of that book. In a system of gradually-decaying asteroid habitats, two self-loathing people go along on a rich man's self-promoting rescue mission.
I did Advent of Code again, and had a really good time. Spoilers.
2023 mystery story, seventh of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes is taking a sea voyage, both to assist the Crown in recovering some missing files and to spend time with her lover. But as always murder supervenes.
1990 SF, eleventh of its series. The night before Caesar crosses the Rubicon, he's visited by a soothsayer who gives the names of those who will act against him…
We wish you a merry Newtonmas, and a happy new year.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved searching a string and adding matrix elements. (Note that this ends today.)
I went to Airecon Northwest – the second spin-off venture for the Airecon team, in the convention centre in central Manchester. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.
2012 mystery short story, fifth in the series (police plus amateur detection). One of Ruth's old university friends has died in a house fire, but he'd already written to ask her to come and have a look at something he'd found in the post-Roman site at Ribchester…
2009 science fiction, dir. Duncan Jones, Sam Rockwell: IMDb / allmovie. Sam's coming to the end of his three-year shift supervising helium-3 mining robots on the moon…
2018 SF, third of its sub-series. David Rice and his subtly well-armed merchant ship are still doing covert intelligence gathering for the Protectorate.
This Meetup-based boardgames group continues at the Marlow Donkey.
2017 alternate-world fantasy, fourth of its series. A political struggle leaves Irene dodging everyone from gangsters to dragons in alt-1920s New York.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved gift allocation and letter pairs. (Note that this ends today.)
2019 SF novella, placed in the Shieldrunner Pirates setting but not part of that series. Ku Nel-Aoki is the boss of level 2 of the Jane Jacobs residential module on Ceres. But the Syndicate she works for is not an easy employer.
In the spirit of the King William's College General Knowledge Paper, released each December for completion over the Christmas break, I offer my own set of questions for the holidays.
1995 science fiction, dir. Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt: IMDb / allmovie. After the plague, a man is sent back in time to try to get a sample of the original strain.
2020 romantic fantasy, first of a new loose series. In the spring of 1915, Major Roland Gospatrick is recovering in hospital, though nobody will tell him what's wrong with him. Elen Morris is assigned as his latest nurse, though he doesn't expect her to last any longer than the others.
Back to the boardgame café.
2012 SF short story, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series. The world of Ghaon can only be reached via the Crawl, which destroys ships that try to cross it in less than six months…
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved random generation and spotting a linear recurrence. (Note that this ends today.)
1962 shoft science fiction, dir. Chris Marker, Davos Hanich, Hélène Châtelain: IMDb / allmovie. After the war, a man is sent back to his memories of the past.
1989 mystery, eighteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. The government of the Caribbean island of Tampica seems to have been taken over by drug smugglers; but what can Tibbett do to stop them?
2023 military SF, last of its trilogy. The crew/found family of the not-Coast-Guard spaceship Zuma's Ghost are having to say goodbye to old members and welcome new ones.
1955 thriller, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, Yves Montand, Charles Vanel: IMDb / allmovie. When you're stuck at the end of the world, you'll take any chance to get back.
1922 fixup of comic short stories. Six friends go to France for the winter.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved keyed sorting and digit searching. (Note that this ends today.)
Gridcon is the convention run by Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules—patrons of that channel get first chance at the tickets, and as a result the remainder sell out very quickly. Still, I was able to get in this year.
2012 historical mystery; first in Huber's Lady Darby series (post-Regency amateur detection). Lady Darby has retired from society to her brother-in-law's Scottish castle after the death of her husband tainted her with his scandal, but her sister is throwing a party, and not everyone will leave it alive…