RogerBW's Blog

Leatherman Surge 30 April 2016

I've carried a SOG Powerlock II for years, but it was getting old and tired. This replaced it as my main belt tool.

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Devoted in Death, J. D. Robb 29 April 2016

2015 SF/mystery; fifty-first (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Two serial killers have crossed the USA and landed in New York; Lieutenant Eve Dallas tracks them down.

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Lost Girl season 5 28 April 2016

2014-2015 urban fantasy, 16 episodes. The succubus Bo faces her biggest challenges yet, as her father tries to use her to take over the world.

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Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch 27 April 2016

Contemporary fantasy, fourth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, looks into a number of cases that seem to be tying back to a Brutalist tower block in Southwark.

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New Search Engine at Work 26 April 2016

We recently switched to a new search engine at work, largely written by me with a standard back-end library.

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More Deaths Than One, Jean Rowden 25 April 2016

2009 mystery, third in the series. Constable "Thorny" Deepbriar goes to the local seaside town while his broken leg finishes healing, but he can't leave detection alone. Not only is someone stealing garden gnomes, but a body found on the beach is someone Deepbriar thought had died when he was a very green copper sixteen years ago during the war.

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The Cabin in the Woods 24 April 2016 - 2 comments

2012 horror, dir. Drew Goddard, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth: IMDb / allmovie

Five teenagers go for a weekend trip to a remote cabin. It doesn't end well.

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Half a Crown, Jo Walton 23 April 2016

2008 alternate-history suspense/thriller, last in the "Small Change" trilogy. In the fascist Britain of 1960, former Inspector Carmichael still runs the Watch, the secret police charged with rounding up Jews, Communists, and other undesirables; his adopted niece, Elvira, is looking forward to her début.

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Robots After the End Designer's Notes 22 April 2016 - 1 comment

I had an article in Pyramid #3/90 linking the general ideas of After the End to the specifics of Reign of Steel.

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Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge 21 April 2016 - 1 comment

2005 non-historical fiction. Mosca lives in a tiny rural village, but her exiled father taught her to read and to love words. She takes her first opportunity to escape, and finds herself (and Saracen the goose) mixed up in matters that will determine the fate of a great city.

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Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester 20 April 2016 - 5 comments

Also over Easter, I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders 19 April 2016

2016 SF and fantasy. Patricia is a witch who can sometimes talk with animals, and Laurence is a budding mad scientist. Having met and split up during their hellish schooldays, they meet again as the world seems to be winding towards its end.

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Boardgaming At Home, March 2016 18 April 2016

We didn't make it to Thirsty Meeples in March but did manage to get together for a couple of longer games at my place. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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The Damage Done, James Oswald 17 April 2016

2016 supernatural mystery, sixth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A police raid following a tip-off about a brothel goes wrong: there's sex being had, but it all seems to have been consenting swingers, except for one registered sex offender. Then people start dying.

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Prism Glasses 16 April 2016

As another post-eye-surgery present to myself, I bought the lazy man's ultimate accessory: spectacles that turn one's field of view through right angles.

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The Science of Everyday Life, Marty Jopson 15 April 2016

2015 non-fiction, popular science; short pieces introduce the scientific explanations for commonplace oddities.

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GURPS Powers: The Weird, William H. Stoddard 14 April 2016

This supplement deals with powers that break the rules, for Lovecraftian aliens, superbeings, and weird lone genius inventors.

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Overlord 13 April 2016

2015 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB. Momonga stays on-line as his favourite VR MMORPG Yggdrasil is shut down, and finds himself not kicked out but stuck in the game world. And now the NPCs are acting like people…

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Antares Victory, Michael McCollum 12 April 2016

2002 military SF, long-delayed final volume in the Antares trilogy. The combined human fleets are taking on the Ryall menace, to remove it once and for all. But is there any option short of extermination?

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CSI: Immortality 11 April 2016 - 2 comments

2015 crime, series finale; in a double-length episode, most of the original cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation return for one last case. Someone is sending suicide bombers into Las Vegas; can that someone really be Lady Heather? No, of course not.

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Murder in Montparnasse, Kerry Greenwood 10 April 2016

2002 historical detection, twelfth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne looks into trouble at a French restaurant, the disappearance of a young woman, and the murder of old soldiers.

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More Internet of Things 09 April 2016 - 3 comments

A recent news item on Revolv home hubs made me want to revisit my feelings on the Internet of Things.

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Equoid, Charles Stross 08 April 2016 - 1 comment

2013 modern occult secret service novelette, between The Apocalypse Codex and The Rhesus Chart in the Laundry Files series. Bob Howard is sent to inspect a livery stables, because they're buying a worrying amount of meat.

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GURPS After the End 1: Wastelanders, Jason Levine 07 April 2016 - 4 comments

This initial supplement in a new line deals with dwellers in the world after the end of civilisation.

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Ha'penny, Jo Walton 06 April 2016

2007 alternate-history suspense/thriller, second in the "Small Change" trilogy. Eight years after the "peace with honour" of 1941, as Mark Normanby's new government is cracking down on Jewish communist terrorists, a bomb goes off in a Hampstead suburb. Inspector Carmichael, compromised but useful to his political masters, investigates.

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Mini-TringCon 6 February 2016 05 April 2016

Mini-TringCons are all-day house gaming events run by the organiser of TringCon, in Deepest Buckinghamshire. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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The Apocalypse Codex, Charles Stross 04 April 2016 - 2 comments

2012 modern occult secret service, fourth in the Laundry Files series. Bob has been promoted to management, and has to supervise a couple of freelance agents. Seems an American televangelist is getting too much into favour with the Prime Minister…

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Ubiquiti Unifi AP 03 April 2016 - 1 comment

This is simply the best wireless access point I have used.

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Valor's Choice, Tanya Huff 02 April 2016 - 3 comments

2000 military SF, first in the Valor/Confederation series. Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr's platoon of Marines is just back from a hard fight when their liberty is cancelled and they're sent off to escort a group of diplomats as they try to get a recently-discovered world to join the Confederation. Then things get worse.

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March 2016 Trailers 01 April 2016 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

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