Strontium Bitchings
May. 2nd, 2012
07:39 pm - First Bus cancel bank holiday buses
First Bus, in their infinite wisdom, appear to have 'improved' their bus service by not running any bank holiday buses. The new timetables on the bus shelters all proudly boast "No public holiday service" and most of the new timetables on their website say "Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays)" and the Sunday service, which is usually the public holiday one also has "except public holidays" added to it. Which is a bit of a bugger, as I have to work on Bank Holiday Monday.
The website timetable for the 48/49 does appear to indicate they'll be doing a Sunday service on bank hols, but the bus shelter defintely says they won't. And even if they do, that's only one of the two buses I have to get...
I note that they didn't bother to inform anyone of this change on their self-congratulatory poster they had plastered up in the buses - it was all "ooh look how we are improving things". Same as they didn't put the fact that they were getting rid of their 3 stop hop (i.e. cheap and useful) ticket, and therefore had confused passengers and irritable drivers in the days after it vanished.
annoyedApr. 10th, 2012
12:51 pm - Back from Olympus 2012 (Eastercon)
Had a very entertaining time at the Radisson Non-Euclidean. ( Read the details here. )
happyFeb. 28th, 2012
02:56 pm - You kill people and you take their stuff
Last year I was in – and ran – a number of games where the vibe of 'You kill people and you take their stuff' was well to the fore. The weird thing being, that all of these games were set in a 'civilised' background where the equivalent of a police force, judicial system and so on existed – so such things would be frowned upon by the authorities and the public at large. Plus the characters were supposed to be the good guys!
Yet sentiments like "He’s dead – he doesn’t need his possessions any more" were regularly expressed, as well as "I killed him, so his stuff is mine". This looting occurred both when a random, long dead corpse was encountered in the woods, as well as situations when the corpse had been a living, breathing person immediately prior to getting into a fight with the PCs.
A word of explanation here – it is not the killing people that’s my primary objection. I’m delighted to play a game that’s akin to an action movie or war movie or western, with the bad guys falling like ninepins. It’s the Taking Their Stuff that makes the game unpalatable to me.
I’m not interested in looting as character progression. I’m not interested in looting as character motivation.
Acceptable game style:
1) The characters are a bunch of British squaddies, fighting the Nazis in World War 2. They kill lots of them.
2) The characters are a bunch of French resistance, fighting the Nazis in World War 2. They kill lots of them, and – because they are chronically short of supplies – they sometimes take weapons and ammunition from the bodies.
Unacceptable game style:
The characters are a bunch of ‘wandering monsters’ in WW2. They kill some Nazis because they want their helmets. They kill some French resistance because they want their bicycles. They kill some British squaddies because they want their bren gun. They kill some nuns because they want their crucifixes. They kill some Austrian children singing “Doh, Re, Me” because they’ve heard their father is wealthy and hope the kids have been given gold sovereigns as pocket money. They kill some Americans because they want a Sherman tank. They kill some Germans because they want a Tiger tank. They kill some Russians because they want a T34 tank. They whinge that the GM won’t let them have a King Tiger. They head off to America to find this Oppenheimer bloke...
Yet the latter game style seems to be what turns people on in roleplaying. I just don’t get it.
Jan. 1st, 2012
11:56 am - Books read in 2011
Having a Kindle makes those looooong train journeys and stays in Scotland much less logistically challenging!
( Here's the list )
cheerfulNov. 14th, 2011
02:44 pm - Just back from Armadacon 23
Just returned from a weekend at Armadacon in Plymouth. The usual suspects were there (though a few familiar faces were missing), plus some newcomers. Attendance was about 60 to 70 in total - which makes the fact that the con raised over £1000 for Talking Books for the Blind all the more remarkable.
The guests were all fantastic. Alan & Linda Marques had been to Armadacon before, and had intended to return as attendees, but were drafted in to be emergency guests when Ian Edington couldn't make it at the last moment. Alan did a couple of fantastically informative presentations on his VFX, including one dedicated to Outcasts. Fan suspicions that the writer didn't care about science, engineering or common sense when designing or plotting things were confirmed. Alan and the designers, on the other hand, made a plan of Forthaven city that includes such vital things as farmland and water purification!
The other guests were Jon Garrad and Nev Fountain, and both were hugely entertaining - both during their GoH spots and chatting to at breakfast or in the bar. Jon took an erudite and intriguing look at how we play games and the way the games industry makes money, which sparked off lively debate - he even started off his talk by saying something along the lines of "I'll talk for a bit and then we can have an argument"!
Nev Fountain read some hysterically funny excerpts from his Mervyn Stone books (I've bought the first one and will be grabbing the 2nd entirely on the basis of his description of it: "It's The Da Vinci Code for atheists"). He also chatted about his writing career, including Big Finish audios, Private Eye and Dead Ringers.
Oct. 30th, 2011
09:44 am - Bristol Citywide Story - a fun festival of literature event
I took part in the Bristol Citywide Story a couple of weeks back, and the whole story is now up online here.
It was sort of a game of Consequences - one group started the story, another wrote the middle, another the end - and each only had an hour to do it. The folk that wrote the end didn't get to see the beginning, only the middle, so the plot twists are a bit random! It was a fun event and I'd do it again if they hold another one next year.
amusedOct. 24th, 2011
10:48 am - Had a fun time at BristolCon
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keith_martin came up for the weekend and we went to BristolCon 11 (actually the 3rd one) on Saturday, which was very entertaining. Given that it was only a 1 day con, they had four Guests of Honour! But with a double stream of programming, and such things as lunch to fit it, I only actually made it to one of the GoH talks - Jim Burns.
Went to panels on "When did Science become the bad guy?", "Copyright or wrong?" and another fun variant on the "where's my jetpack?" theme, as well as the TransStories book launch and Talis Kimberley's band. Talis did her very funny Da Vinci Code song again. I don't think I could ever tire of listening to that one.
There was a collection in memory of Colin Harvey, who sadly died in August, and touchingly, Colin has been named "Ghost of Honour" for next year's con.
Spent too much money on books, but such is the way of cons! :-)
May. 2nd, 2011
11:59 am - 21st century SF mistressworks meme from Ian Sales
Another meme from Ian Sales, and I've just realised I forgot to post a link to his blog in the last posting!
Bold for those you’ve read, italics for those you own but haven’t read.
1 Solitaire, Kelley Eskridge (2002)
2 Warchild [Warchild], Karin Lowachee (2002)
3 Natural History, Justina Robson (2003)
4 Maul, Tricia Sullivan (2003)
5 The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
6 Spin State, Chris Moriarty (2003)
7 Dante’s Equation, Jane Jensen (2003)
8 Steel Helix [Typhon], Ann Tonsor Zeddies (2003)
9 Life, Gwyneth Jones (2004)
10 Nylon Angel [Parrish Plessis], Marianne de Pierres (2004)
11 The Courtesan Prince [Oka-Rel Universe], Lynda Williams (2004)
12 Survival [Species Imperative], Julie E Czernada (2004)
13 Banner of Souls, Liz Williams (2004)
14 City of Pearl [Wess'har Wars], Karen Traviss (2004)
15 The Year of Our War, Steph Swainston (2004)
16 Bio Rescue, SL Viehl (2004)
17 Apocalypse Array [Archangel Protocol], Lyda Morehouse (2004)
18 The Child Goddess, Louise Marley (2004)
19 Alanya to Alanya [Marq'ssan Cycle], L Timmel Duchamp (2005)
20 Carnival, Elizabeth Bear (2006)
21 Mindscape, Andrea Hairston (2006)
22 Farthing [Small Change], Jo Walton (2006)
23 Half Life, Shelley Jackson (2006)
24 The Carhullan Army, Sarah Hall (2007)
25 Bright of the Sky [The Entire and the Rose], Kay Kenyon (2007)
26 Principles of Angels [Hidden Empire], Jainne Fenn (2008)
27 Watermind, MM Buckner (2008)
28 The Rapture, Liz Jensen (2009)
29 Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (2010). Avoided this because I couldn't finish Moxyland due to lack of engagement with any of the characters. Any recommendations above and beyond Ian's?
30 Walking the Tree, Kaaron Warren (2010)
31 Birdbrain, Johanna Sinisalo (2010)
32 Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (2010)
33 Song of Scarabaeus, Sara Creasy (2010)
Embarassingly, I haven't even heard of about a dozen of these books...!
11:49 am - The SF mistressworks meme from Ian Sales
Ian Sales announced at an Eastercon panel that he was releasing this list onto t'interweb, so I have grabbed it. This one is for women SF authors up to the end of the 20th Century. I'll post his separate list of 21st century women SF authors in a bit...
The list is in order of year of publication.
You know how it works: bold those you’ve read, italicise those you own but have not read. (If you’ve read the entire named series, you can even emboldenize that as well.)
1 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818)
2 Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
3 Orlando, Virginia Woolf (1928)
4 Lest Ye Die, Cicely Hamilton (1928)
5 Swastika Night, Katherine Burdekin (1937)
6 Wrong Side of the Moon, Francis Leslie Ashton (1951)
7 The Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Brackett (1953)
8 Pilgrimage: The Book of the People, Zenna Henderson (1961)
9 Memoirs of a Spacewoman, Naomi Mitchison (1962)
10 Witch World, Andre Norton (1963)
11 Sunburst, Phyllis Gotlieb (1964)
12 Jirel of Joiry, CL Moore (1969)
13 Heroes and Villains, Angela Carter (1969)
14 Ten Thousand Light Years From Home, James Tiptree Jr (1973)
15 The Dispossessed, Ursula K Le Guin (1974)
16 Walk to the End of the World, Suzy McKee Charnas (1974)
17 The Female Man, Joanna Russ (1975)
18 Missing Man, Katherine MacLean (1975)
19 Arslan, MJ Engh (1976)
20 Floating Worlds, Cecelia Holland (1976)
21 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm (1976)
22 Islands, Marta Randall (1976)
23 Dreamsnake, Vonda N McIntyre (1978)
24 False Dawn, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1978)
25 Shikasta [Canopus in Argos: Archives], Doris Lessing (1979)
26 Kindred, Octavia Butler (1979)
27 Benefits, Zoe Fairbairns (1979)
28 The Snow Queen, Joan D Vinge (1980)
29 The Silent City, Élisabeth Vonarburg (1981)
30 The Silver Metal Lover, Tanith Lee (1981)
31 The Many-Coloured Land [Saga of the Exiles], Julian May (1981)
32 Darkchild [Daughters of the Sunstone], Sydney J van Scyoc (1982)
33 The Crystal Singer, Anne McCaffrey (1982)
34 Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin (1984)
35 The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)
36 Jerusalem Fire, RM Meluch (1985)
37 Children of Anthi, Jay D Blakeney (1985)
38 The Dream Years, Lisa Goldstein (1985)
39 Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind, Sarah Lefanu & Jen Green (1985)
40 Queen of the States, Josephine Saxton (1986)
41 The Wave and the Flame [Lear's Daughters], Marjorie Bradley Kellogg (1986)
42 The Journal of Nicholas the American, Leigh Kennedy (1986)
43 A Door into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski (1986)
44 Angel at Apogee, SN Lewitt (1987)
45 In Conquest Born, CS Friedman (1987)
46 Pennterra, Judith Moffett (1987)
47 Kairos, Gwyneth Jones (1988)
48 Cyteen , CJ Cherryh (1988)
49 Unquenchable Fire, Rachel Pollack (1988)
50 The City, Not Long After, Pat Murphy (1988)
51 The Steerswoman [Steerswoman series], Rosemary Kirstein (1989)
52 The Third Eagle, RA MacAvoy (1989)
53 Grass, Sheri S Tepper (1989)
54 Heritage of Flight, Susan Shwartz (1989)
55 Falcon, Emma Bull (1989)
56 The Archivist, Gill Alderman (1989)
57 Winterlong [Winterlong trilogy], Elizabeth Hand (1990)
58 A Gift Upon the Shore, MK Wren (1990)
59 Red Spider, White Web, Misha (1990)
60 Polar City Blues, Katharine Kerr (1990)
61 Body of Glass (AKA He, She and It), Marge Piercy (1991)
62 Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler (1991)
63 Beggars in Spain [Sleepless trilogy], Nancy Kress (1991) Only read the first volume.
64 A Woman of the Iron People, Eleanor Arnason (1991)
65 Hermetech, Storm Constantine (1991)
66 China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F McHugh (1992)
67 Fools, Pat Cadigan (1992)
68 Correspondence, Sue Thomas (1992)
69 Lost Futures, Lisa Tuttle (1992)
70 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis (1992)
71 Ammonite, Nicola Griffith (1993)
72 The Holder of the World, Bharati Mukherjee (1993)
73 Queen City Jazz, Kathleen Ann Goonan (1994)
74 Happy Policeman, Patricia Anthony (1994)
75 Shadow Man, Melissa Scott (1995). Read and enjoyed various Melissa Scott books, but I've never read this one.
76 Legacies, Alison Sinclair (1995)
77 Primary Inversion [Skolian Saga], Catherine Asaro (1995)
78 Alien Influences, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (1995)
79 The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell (1996)
80 Memory [Vorkosigan series], Lois McMaster Bujold (1996)
81 Remnant Population, Elizabeth Moon (1996)
82 Looking for the Mahdi, N Lee Wood (1996)
83 An Exchange of Hostages [Jurisdiction series], Susan R Matthews (1997)
84 Fool’s War, Sarah Zettel (1997)
85 Black Wine, Candas Jane Dorsey (1997)
86 Halfway Human, Carolyn Ives Gilman (1998)
87 Vast, Linda Nagata (1998)
88 Hand of Prophecy, Severna Park (1998)
89 Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson (1998) Not sure I'd class this as science fiction. More supernatural and horror elements to it.
90 Dreaming in Smoke, Tricia Sullivan (1999)
91 Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle (2000)
That's correct - there are 91 on the list.
Apr. 26th, 2011
10:25 am - Back from Illustrious
Eatsercon was very entertaining. Worries that the hotel food prices would be astronomical proved to be unfounded, and after the hotel staff had got their heads round how much fans will eat, things went smoothly on that front. I've been to cons where they ran out of beer. I've been to cons where they ran out of cider. I've even been to cons where they ran out of orange juice. This is the first one I've ever been to where they ran out of vegetables!
One very civilised thing the committee did was to make the programme up of 90 minute slots for 60 minute events. That meant that things could overrun a bit without disrupting the whole schedule, plus there was 30 minutes between each item to go to the loo, grab a sandwich, queue at the bar or wander the length of the hotel to get to the next panel item.
The two main themes of the con which I went to lots of events for were Military Science Fiction (David Weber was one GoH), and Women in SF&F (Roz Kaveney was another GoH). Both streams provided entertainment, insight and hilarity in equal measure.
Quote of the con: "I reserve the right to launch an asteroid at Belgium."
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