Reviews and Comments

Wild read.

A nice, short, first contact story with interesting characters who are different because it's the future, discovering just how different aliens can be.

A little different than my typical read. Not hard since fiction. I'm not sure if it's a little naive, or thinking outside the box, but serious suspension of disbelief is required.

Interesting read.

It's an interesting concept, but as a speculative story on the side effects of social media, it was a miss.

The implementation of the concept was also not one of Corry Doctorow's better efforts. The plot was overly convoluted, and it was really difficult to relate to the protagonist.

Down and out in the Magic Kingdom books.mxhdr.net/book/10582/s/down-and-out-in-the-magic-kingdom may also have missed it's target, but it a much better effort of prognostification on the consequences of social media.

I read this so long ago that I head to guess about the date, and actually read it in paperback.

I've highlighted several things in @pluralistic@mamot.fr 's Picks and Shovels, but one short sentence fragment I especially like is:

using a ream of his virginal fanfold printer paper

which alludes to the protagonist's earlier dumpster diving activity to find discarded tractor feed paper that had only been used on one side.

Although I never actually dived a dumpster for half used printer paper, I do remember scavenging long sections of such paper from computer room garbage cans, back in the day.

Starter villain is one of those books where I had to tell every body around me the latest funny or outrageous quote as I encountered it. I read it in record time, have over 27 passages quoted in my reader, and saved it to my favorites list.

The story premise seems preposterous, but John Scalzi managed to produce a story that makes sense... an outrageous, funny, twisted sort of sense. It's also surprisingly insightful and pragmatic, and turns the tropes on end, points out the ridiculousness of comic book villains, but also comes up with a reasonable business plan for a Billionaire Super Villain. I'm not going to say it's entirely plausible, but it is a fun, wild ride that's worth the effort. It definitely put a smile on my face!

A short story by @older.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy

I'm only half way through, and I think I've figured out the hook, but we'll see.

This is the third of the Martin Hench Novels.

The campaign is on www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

"The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles", was a pleasant read and a bit more refined than "The Mimicking of Known Successes". I didn't find myself cheating on it with other books 😉. I also found myself with an extensive list of new words that I hadn't encountered before. Review pending?

Less of a slow start than it's predecessor, "The Mimicking of Known Successes", but I'm still reading it in fits and starts, though definitely with enjoyment. 🙂