RogerBW's Blog

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar 31 May 2017

2016 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 12½ episodes: AniDB. Six people find themselves in a monster-bashing fantasy world, without memories or resources. vt Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

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C.R.O.W., Phillip Richards 30 May 2017

2012 military science fiction, first of a planned five-book series. Private Andy Moralee has passed Dropship Infantry training, but it didn't prepare him for a unit posting and battle itself.

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Incorporated season 1 29 May 2017 - 4 comments

2016 cyberpunk drama, 10 episodes. Ben Larson, corporate climber, is secretly a climate-change refugee under a false identity, trying to find and save the woman he grew up with and lost.

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The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham 28 May 2017

1952 classic English detective fiction; fourteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Meg Elginbrodde thought she was widowed in the war, and now plans to marry again; but someone is sending her recent photographs of a man who might be her late husband. Can it really be as simple as blackmail?

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Gazebo Strengthening 27 May 2017 - 2 comments

Those of you who came to the early summer barbecue will have noticed that the gazebo had taken on a bit of a slant.

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Keeping Bad Company, Ann Granger 26 May 2017

1997 mystery; second of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be actress and amateur sleuth. Fran's waiting at a station and feels sorry for a homeless man, so gives him a cup of coffee. Soon she's hearing his life story… and all about the young woman he saw being kidnapped a few days ago.

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May 2017 Trailers 25 May 2017

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

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Pyramid 103: Setbacks 24 May 2017 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's things that go wrong for player characters.

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Thirsty Meeples May 2017 23 May 2017

Back to the boardgame café. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.

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Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee 22 May 2017

2016 Hugo-nominated science fiction. In a world defined by belief, Kel Cheris won a battle against heretics… by using a heretical technique. That makes her the perfect leader for a really important mission.

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Flying Witch 21 May 2017

2016 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Makoto the trainee witch moves to a rural town in Aomori prefecture to live with her (non-magical) relatives.

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White Rabbit Project season 1 20 May 2017

2016 popular science/history, 10 episodes. The team does practical investigation of various historical events and other claims.

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 1 May 2017 19 May 2017

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues to meet at the Marlow Donkey – this time in the absence of our Glorious Leader.

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Opening Night, Ngaio Marsh 18 May 2017

1951 classic English detective fiction; sixteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Towards the end of the opening night of a new play, one of the cast kills himself. Or does he? US vt Night at the Vulcan.

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Street Ducks of High Wycombe 17 May 2017

Some towns just have pigeons and gulls and things. Some towns don't even weigh their mayor each year to see if he's getting fat on the public purse. This is High Wycombe; we do things differently here.

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Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke 16 May 2017 - 1 comment

1973 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. In 2131, an object falls into the inner Solar System at high speed: it turns out to be an alien artefact, and only one ship is in a position to take a look before it falls out again.

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SpringCon 22 April 2017 15 May 2017

Back to this small quarterly boardgames convention in Watford. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.

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Past Caring, Robert Goddard 14 May 2017

1987 partly-historical mystery. In 1910, Edwin Strafford was Home Secretary under Asquith, and engaged to be married; then, suddenly, his intended refused to speak to him, his political career collapsed, and he ended up as a consular official in Madeira. In 1977, unemployed history teacher Martin Radford is employed by an eccentric South African to find out why, but the past is not as dead as he might have hoped.

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Kuromukuro 13 May 2017

2016 mecha science fiction, 26 episodes: AniDB, vt Black Relic. In the near future, a UN research station at the Kurobe Dam is looking into some ancient artefacts… and enigmatic aliens start to invade Earth.

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Frequency season 1 12 May 2017

2016-2017 detection, 13 episodes. Frank Sullivan the homicide detective was shot and killed in 1996; in 2016, his daughter Raimy, also a homicide detective, finds that she can talk to Frank of twenty years ago via an old ham radio.

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April-May 2017 Trailers 11 May 2017 - 3 comments

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

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Firefly at home, April 2017 10 May 2017

A second evening Firefly session, again with a time limit though we didn't need it.

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Going Grey, Karen Traviss 09 May 2017

2014 military SF, first of a series. Ian Dunlop thinks he might be going mad, but he's the product of an illegal experiment. That secret has been well kept for years, but now it's getting out.

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Chance season 1 08 May 2017 - 2 comments

2016 noir thriller, 10 episodes. A forensic neuropsychiatrist finds himself getting in way, way over his head.

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Pyramid 102: Epic 07 May 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's things to make the players say "that's amazing".

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Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective, Leslie Thomas 06 May 2017

1976 comedic detective fiction; first of Thomas's novels of "Dangerous" Davies, barely-competent and perenially unlucky detective constable in Willesden. Set to look for a local criminal who might have returned to the area, Davies turns this into an investigation of a twenty-five-year-old disappearance.

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Shokugeki no Soma season 2 05 May 2017

2016 cooking story, shounen manga adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB, vt "Food Wars: The Second Plate". Yukihira Sōma continues to fight cooking duels on his way up the élite Totsuki cooking school.

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Most Secret, Nevil Shute 04 May 2017

1945 war story (written in 1942 but held back by the censor). Four mismatched officers come together on a project to build up French morale by deploying a flamethrower against German coastal forces.

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Thirsty Meeples April 2017 03 May 2017

Back to the boardgame café. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.

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The Exorcist season 1 02 May 2017

2016 horror, 10 episodes. Suburban family's daughter is demonically possessed; two priests try to do something about it.

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Swing Brother Swing, Ngaio Marsh 01 May 2017

1949 classic English detective fiction; fifteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Lord Pastern and Bagott, sitting in on the drums in a jazz band, has set up a bit of business where he "shoots" the piano-accordionist, Carlos Rivera, who falls down and is carried off stage. But Rivera's made himself offensive to everyone, and he's not going to be getting up again. US vt A Wreath for Rivera.

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