User Profile

Mark Crocker

mcrocker@books.mxhdr.net

Joined 2 years, 5 months ago

Fan of DRM-Free Hard Sci-Fi novels

Also @mcrocker@indieweb.social on Mastodon

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Mark Crocker's books

To Read

Currently Reading

Eliezer Yudkowsky: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Paperback, 2015, Fanfiction.net)

In this alternative version of J.K. Rowling's famous tale, Petunia Evans marries the biochemist Michael …

I started listening to the first audio-book in the series of six, yesterday. So far, it seems like it has real potential.

FYI: I picked this version in the BookWyrm search because it has a picture, but clearly the number of pages is song, unless that count cones from book 1. The other entry says 2184 pages, which send more likely for the entire series on one eBook.

reviewed Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow (The Martin Hench Novels, #3)

Cory Doctorow: Picks and Shovels (EBook, 2025, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., Tor Books)

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues …

Second favorite Martin Hench Novel

Not as action packed as "Red Team Blues" books.mxhdr.net/book/57183 , but definitely better than "The Bezzle" books.mxhdr.net/book/84803 , "Picks and Shovels" rounds out the "Martin Hench" series, nicely wrapping up his back story with plenty of nostalgia and more harrowing examples of financial, and other, malfeasance.

The story does kind of drag on the buildup to the climax, which is kind of the opposite of what I normally expect in a climax, but at least it didn't tire me out with a long litany of indignities like "The Bezzle". Also in standard Cory Doctorow fashion, nothing is ever pat, so don't expect too much of a cheap vicarious righteous indignation high. Cory don't play that game. Realism has a price 😉

avatar for mcrocker Mark Crocker boosted
Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone: This Is How You Lose the Time War (Hardcover, 2019, Simon and Schuster)

Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …

Most imaginative over the top, and wildly fun

This is one or the most imaginative stories I've ever read in a genre known for imagination. It's also over the top and a wild ride. There's nothing formulaic here and it will keep you guessing.

As a big fan of hard science fiction, this doesn't explain any of the time travel, or technology, which is somewhat disappointing.

On the other hand it has a very different style and a frantic energy. I'm not a fan of romance, but it has a sincerity that makes me really root for them.