RogerBW's Blog

The 13th Warrior 30 November 2023 - 3 comments

1999 pseudo-historical fantasy, dir. John McTiernan*, Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich: IMDb / allmovie. Ahmad ibn Fadlan's diplomatic mission to the Volga Vikings goes further than anyone expected.

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Before, After, Alone, Emma Newman 29 November 2023

2023 SF short story collection in the Planetfall universe.

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 6 November 2023 28 November 2023

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues at the Marlow Donkey.

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The Wizard Hunters, Martha Wells 27 November 2023

2003 gaslamp fantasy. Ile-Rien is under attack by the mysterious Gardier and their black airships. Tremaine Valiarde doesn't really care about that; she's just looking for a way to die, on her own terms. In another world, Ilias wants to make sure the wizard he killed is still dead.

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The Weekly Challenge 244: Counting Your Heroes 26 November 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved a list search and combinations. (Note that this ends today.)

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Sweet Smell of Success 25 November 2023

1957 noir, dir. Alexander Mackendrick, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster; IMDb / allmovie. Compromise enough and there's nothing left; then the film begins.

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Shatter the Bones, Stuart MacBride 24 November 2023

2011 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, seventh in the Logan McRae series. The most popular contestants on Britain's Next Big Star have been kidnapped – but is it all a hoax by the promoter? Meanwhile the target of a drugs bust seems to think he can get Logan to get him the drugs back…

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More Mansions More Madness 23 November 2023 - 2 comments

Another Mansions of Madness session, this one with a last-moment scenario change.

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Trick or Treat, Kerry Greenwood 22 November 2023

2007 mystery, fourth in Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. A cut-price rival bakery, a dangerous new drug, a prickly neo-Pagan conference, Nazi-looted gold…

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Renfield 21 November 2023 - 2 comments

2023 comedy-horror, dir. Chris McKay, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina: IMDb / allmovie. What if Dracula's servitor tried to get out from under his thumb?

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To Stand Defiant, Glynn Stewart 20 November 2023

2022 space-navy SF, second of its sub-series. The Dakotan Confederacy refuses to become the arsenal for a massive fleet being built by the admiral who's taken over the Commonwealth of which it used to be a part. Nobody there wants a fight, but military dictators aren't known for their understanding of differing opinions…

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The Weekly Challenge 243: Pairs on the Floor 19 November 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved combinatorics and integer division. (Note that this ends today.)

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Airecon West 18 November 2023 - 2 comments

I went to ACWest – the first spin-off venture for the Airecon team. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.

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Black Run, Karen Traviss 17 November 2023

2017 military-adjacent SF, second of its series. Ian Dunlop the genetic experiment is trying to settle down to life with his new family, but not everyone has forgotten about him.

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Song of the Thin Man (1947) 16 November 2023

1947 mystery-comedy, dir. Edward Buzzell, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. That devil music, it's no good!

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Beware of the Dog, Elizabeth Ferrars 15 November 2023

1992 mystery. Helen Lovelace dies peacefully at eighty-eight. But when her surviving relatives turn up, a glamorous Hollywood star and an Australian businessman, one will soon be shot dead and the other suspected of the murder…

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Thirsty Meeples October 2023 14 November 2023

Back to the boardgame café.

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The Outcasts of Heaven Belt, Joan D. Vinge 13 November 2023 - 4 comments

1978 short SF novel. After its civil war, the Heaven system (gas giant and trojans, asteroid belt, some very marginal planets) has split into multiple polities, and the machinery that sustains life is gradually breaking down. Then a ramscoop starship arrives from a nearby system…

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The Weekly Challenge 242: One Of Our Matrices Is Missing 12 November 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved differentiating lists and processing matrices. (Note that this ends today.)

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The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) 11 November 2023

1944 mystery-comedy, dir. Richard Thorpe, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. There's nothing like going back to your home town.

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Magic Claims, Ilona Andrews 10 November 2023

2023 modern fantasy, continuation of the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran are still trying to live in peace, but the effort is still doomed.

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 16 October 2023 09 November 2023

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues at the Marlow Donkey.

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Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly, Adrian McKinty 08 November 2023

2017 crime, sixth in the Sean Duffy series. Belfast, 1988: a heroin dealer is wounded by a crossbow bolt, and another is murdered. But for once it doesn't seem to have been the paramilitaries who did it.

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Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) 07 November 2023

1941 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Can new screenwriters revive the series, without Dashiell Hammett's help?

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Only Good Enemies, Jennifer Estep 06 November 2023

2023 romantic SF, second of a planned trilogy. Vesper Quill is trying to pretend she doesn't have an unbreakable psychic bond with Kyrion Caldaren, so that the Emperor doesn't eat their souls (he has form). But to get through all the things being thrown at them they'll need to use not only their own powers but each other's.

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The Weekly Challenge 241: Prime Triplets 05 November 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved sequence searching and another nested sort. (Note that this ends today.)

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The Haunter of the Dark 04 November 2023

2023 audio drama, adapted in ten parts by Julian Simpson from the story by H. P. Lovecraft.

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Tavern Rats, Matt Youngmark 03 November 2023 - 3 comments

2022 comic fantasy. Frinzil the sorcery student suddenly has to pay for several years of tuition. Obviously the way to do this is to go adventuring.

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Games in Reading 02 November 2023

Over to a friend's place to deliver some games I'd driven back from Essen.

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Charlotte Holmes and the Locked Box, Sherry Thomas 01 November 2023

2017 short story in the Lady Sherlock series. A client has a mysterious puzzle box…

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