2010 SF, sixth and last in its series. Ishmael Horatio Wang moves from merchant ship captain to owner, though he's not entirely clear why.
I still go to Essen SPIEL. I still love Essen SPIEL.
2024 Victorian romance, third and last of the Wedgeford Trials series. Andrew Uchida is an earl's heir, but really deosn't want to lose his village life to inherit. Then Lily Bei returns to his life, having done him a favour by tracking down the proof of his inheritance…
2025 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Penric's son Wyn is helping his uncle on a bridge-building job. But when one of the beasts starts acting oddly, he recognises what it might be and sends for help…
2022 action, dir. Joseph Kosinski, Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise's Ego; IMDb / allmovie. He's back and he has learned nothing.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved numerical translations and a tree search. (Note that this ends today.)
2014 police procedural mystery. Nobody is terribly surprised when one of the residents of the upmarket care home Marigold House is found dead; it's what the place is for, after all. But the post-mortem throws up something unexpected.
1991 action comedy, dir. Jim Abrahams, Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes; IMDb / allmovie. "Do good men like Dead Meat Thompson just blink out one day like a bad bulb? I mean, one minute you're in bed with a knockout gal… or guy, and the next, you're a compost heap. Doesn't that bother any of you? Because it scares the living piss outta me!"
2024 SF/horror novella. New worlds are colonised, but resupply ships are rare, and a world that's not paying its way will be cut off. Amari and Vinh just want to get on with their lives, but…
1986 action, dir. Tony Scott, Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis; IMDb / allmovie. "I don't like you because you're dangerous." And then they don't kiss.
2024 paranormal fantasy, fifth of a nine-book series. As Lorelei Clay tries to come to terms with being the guardian deity of a small town, various problems demand her attention.
2002 horror, dir. Neal Marshall, Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd: IMDb / allmovie. There are scarier things than squaddies in the woods tonight.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved list analysis and competition resolution. (Note that this ends today.)
2000 horror, dir. John Fawcett, Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle: IMDb / allmovie. Puberty is hell.
1994 mystery. Sheila Malory is on the committee of the Taviscombe Festival, which has been turned by incoming luvvies from a pleasant local event into a big fuss with imported performers. But one of the most irksome of those incomers turns up with his head bashed in… US vt Mrs. Malory and the Festival Murders.
1981 horror, dir. John Landis, David Naughton, Jenny Agutter: IMDb / allmovie. Two American college students go hiking on the Yorkshire moors. One of them comes back.
More gaming with nearby friends.
1981 horror, dir. Joe Dante, Dee Wallace, Patrick MacNee: IMDb / allmovie. After Karen the news anchor has a near-fatal encounter with a serial killer, she and her husband go to her therapist's retreat centre in the countryside…
2022 SF, first of a loose series. Dr Alexi Sur enlists with the Pax Galactica Corps, the first-contact arm of Universal Society that got in touch with Earth ten years ago but has been largely ignored. But it turns out they don't just want a trauma surgeon, they want a reality TV star.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved various string parsings. (Note that this ends today.)
After several months of clashing schedules and in one case a breakdown, back to the boardgame café.
2025 modern fantasy. Dr Saffy Walden is Head of Magic at Chetwood, a long-established public school; most of her time is spent in administration, but she does teach Invocation to a select group in their final year. Everyone goes to a lot of trouble to keep the children safe from demons
1948 Regency romance. Gilly, or Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware the Duke of Sale, was a sickly child, and has been brought up in luxury but thoroughly insulated from the world. About to come of age, and feeling his arranged marriage locking him further into other people's expectations, he determines to live just for a little while as an ordinary person.
Back to ACWest, which has returned to the Ramada, a small and comfortable venue. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.
2025 SF. Erika Kiora is an exploration corps officer whose last posting ended in disaster and the loss of her ship. But war is brewing, and the government needs heroes, so she's given a new ship to survey for a possible new route past the front lines.
1942 horror, dir. Jacques Tourneur, Simone Simon, Kent Smith: IMDb / allmovie. What does one tell a husband? One tells him nothing.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved string and set manipulation. (Note that this ends today.)
2021 romantic fantasy. Thesan Wain is in charge of Astronomy at Schola, the preeminent magical school of Albion. Isembard [sic] Fortier is a specialist in protective magics, seconded to teach in part so that he can provide protection to the children of Council members.
1941 horror, dir. George Waggner, Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains: IMDb / allmovie. Even a man who is pure in heart…
1955 romantic drama, dir. Delbert Mann, Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair; IMDb / allmovie. "College girls are one step from the street, I tell you. My son Joseph wife, she type on the typewriter - one step from the street!"
1992 SF, first of its series. Mistworld is a marginally-habitable planet, but it's the one place Imperial Outlaws can go without being at constant risk from bounty hunters. The Empire is not happy about this.