Xanares sent me a link to a BBC report on this which can be found here. I’ve seen stuff about this before and, I think, posted something about it in the deep strata of this blog. I note, looking on You Tube, that it has a fair bit of competition. But then it should — it’s a good idea.
Author: Neal Asher
Who Reads My Books: Spencer Van Schevensteen
My name’s Spencer, I’m 24 and live in Harold Hill, Essex. Grew up around Upminster and Romford, left school at 16 to work for Ford Motor Company. Did an apprenticeship, stayed there for 6 years doing fibreglass modelmaking, toolmaking, some CAD and CNC but nothing too complicated or involved!! After leaving there and drifting from job to job, I finally settled in Harold Hill with my girlfriend, and became a househusband… ish. She earns ten times more than I ever will, and with our baby girl nearly here it seemed only sensible that I take care of the ankle bitter!
I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. Started out on things like Goosebumps, Terry Pratchett, and the Hobbit. As I got older I discovered Science Fiction, among many other genres, and its basically taken off from there. I enjoy listening to music, anything from the thrashy, insane time signature metal, all the way down to jazz, country, some classical, all sorts. Just as long as its not a manufactured band or artist. Nothing is worse than emotionless, mass produced pop drivel! I watch a lot of films, television and stand-up comedy. Favourites include Deadwood, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Proposition, anything the Coen brothers have done, Bill Bailey and Doug Stanhope. I also waste a lot of time playing Xbox, far too much time if truth be told!
I enjoy walks, with and without the dogs, bike riding, a bit of skateboarding, and golf. I don’t drink, but occasionally indulge in other intoxicants. Moderation in all things.
Hope that’s not too long, I attached a few photos of myself and a part of our book collection. A lot of my comedy and WW II books are upstairs in boxes, as the 2nd floor is being re-done and there’s not enough space to get them all down yet. Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad is definitely one of the top ones not shown, as well as Stirling’s Men, a book about the birth of the SAS.
Anyway, enough of my rubbish!
Hope anyone reading this had a good break over Christmas and the New Year,
All the best,
Spencer & Rebecca.
Here’s Spencer’s book collection:
Books for Bob.
My eldest brother, faced with a knee operation, asked me what books I would recommend for him since he won’t be running around much. Recent books, generally. So, reacting to that on the spur of the moment and referencing some things I’ve read this year:
Science fiction:
Blindsight – Peter Watts, and any of his previous series if available (Starfish etc).
Alastair Reynolds, Gary Gibson, Vernor Vinge,
Blood Music – Greg bear
Stories of Your Life: And Others – Ted Chiang
Fantasy:
Scar Night – Alan Campbell, followed by Iron Angel and The God of Clocks
Farlander – Col Buchanan
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Crime etc:
Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter, the Steig Larssen books (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc)
Archangel – Robert Harris
Flesh House – Stuart MacBride
Bait – Nick Brownlee
Humour:
Jeremy Clarkson, Littlejohn’s Britain,
That’s it for now. If I think of any more I’ll put them here.
Samuel and the Scorpion
Prince of Thorns — Mark Lawrence
I can never find enough of the stuff I really enjoy reading – the science fiction and fantasy that really absorbs me. I make do with crime, police procedurals and the like, which are effectively nicotine patches when I want a rollie. Seeing a twitter about Harper Collins wanting reviewers for a new fantasy I thought I’d give it a go. No loss to me. I generally only review books I like because those I don’t like I simply abandon. I didn’t abandon this one.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is the best fantasy read I’ve had since Alan Campbell’s Scar Night. It got hold of me from page one and didn’t let go until I finished it on my second reading session on the second day. There’s humour here, gut-wrenching realism, high adventure, something that might be magic in the story, and certainly is in the telling of it.
Jorg appears to be a fourteen-year-old psychopath. His approach to life reminds me of that scene in Troy where Bad Pitt, as Achilles, runs at the huge champion put forth by the opposing army and just kills him, and doesn’t look back as he approaches that army and demands, ‘Who next?’ Jorg is not a fighter; he’s a killer. No comfortable homey moralizing here, and the point that nice guys tend not to be the winners is driven home with a flanged mace. It was almost as if the shade of David Gemmell had returned, somewhat nastier for the experience.
Thoroughly recommended. Thanks Mr Lawrence.
Bookmarks Competition Winners.
Righto, I’ve finally come to a decision on this. As I noted before, the winner was an easy choice, but second and third weren’t so easy. It’s also the case that I feel a bit miserable having to make the decision. This was why I mooted the idea of winners and runners-up being picked by poll – pure cowardice. My commiserations to those who put in a lot of work (probably, in some cases, making a dent in the profits of the companies they work for in the process) and thanks.
Here then are first, second and third:
Third prize goes to Mark Chitty basically because I like the look of these, the way the pictures were blended together in tune with the order of the books (two there for the Cormac series, one for the Spatterjay series and the one that blends The Technician with The Gabble, which works) and, to me, they just look right. The best of them I feel is the one with the Brass Man scene on it, because the blog address is clear.
Second prize goes to Rob Hartwell. It’s probably the most contentious because my name isn’t there, but it’s quirky and I like it, so there. It also works in the respect that POLITY is going to grab attention, maybe cause someone to investigate further.
First prize goes to K J Mulder. The bookmarks look great, my name is clear, my blog spot is clear – in fact ‘clarity’ is the best word to describe these – and he is the only one who thought to make each of his bookmarks book-specific, which is something that never occurred to me. After printing these were the ones that really stood out, simples.
Thanks again to everyone who took part in this!
Bookmarks Competition
Okay, I’ve just printed up all the bookmarks and am now in the process of judging the competition. I have to say that picking the winner was easy, but picking second and third is more difficult. Before I go on about that I have to say that just about every one of the entries is better than the bookmarks I produced!
Though many of them are great visually, I’ve had to apply certain criteria. Obviously these bookmarks serve a purpose beyond marking the page in a book someone is reading. I wanted them to advertize me and this blog (and of course my books), so all of these needed to be clear. Quite a few fell down in that respect: small blog address, name unclear, either not showing up too well because of a busy background. So, right now I have the winner and some on the shortlist for second and third.
I’ll be putting these up when I’ve finally made my choices. Thanks to everyone who put in an entry for this!
V is for Vance and Van Vogt.
Another load from my collection. There really should be more Vernor Vinge books here, since they’re bloody excellent.
JACK VANCE:
SERVANTS OF THE WANKH
CITY OF THE CHASCH
THE DIRDIR
THE PHNUME
THE ASUTRA
THE ANOME
SLAVES OF KLAU
EMPHYRIO
RHIALTO THE MARVELLOUS
THE HOUSES OF ISZM
THE BLUE WORLD
SON OF THE TREE
MARUNE ALASTOR 993
THE NARROW LAND
THE FACE
GALACTIC EFFECTUATOR
THE AUGMENTED AGENT
THE DYING EARTH
A. E. VAN VOGT:
AWAY AND BEYOND
EMPIRE OF THE ATOM
SUPERMIND
MORE THAN SUPERHUMAN
THE GRYB
THE FAR-OUT WORLDS OF …
ROGUE SHIP
CHILDREN OF TOMORROW
THE BOOK OF PTATH
THE MIND CAGE
THE WIZARD OF LINN
EARTH’S LAST FORTRESS
JOHN VARLEY:
MILLENIUM
STEEL BEACH
WIZARD
DEMON
TITAN
VERNOR VINGE:
ACROSS REALTIME
JOAN D VINGE:
WORLD’S END
PSION
PHOENIX IN ASHES
SNOW QUEEN
EYES OF AMBER
Underwater Oil Rigs
This seems like a good setting for near-future SF, something for Peter Watts I reckon:
Petrobras plans to turn science fiction into reality to extract oil from the vast pre-salt oil fields discovered off the south east coast of Brazil.
The plan is to construct ‘cities’ more than 2,000 metres under water, containing machines, giant pieces of equipment and robots that could inspect the systems being used to extract millions of barrels of oil. Many operations would be fully automated while others would be controlled by humans at a distance.
Warhammer Prador Codex
The Warhammer Prador Codex can be found here, and I’ve also stuck a permanent link in the sidebar. Have fun with it!
This is a not-for-profit, free-source expansion to the world of Warhammer 40k, written by TheCyben and The_Grin_Reaper using all kinds of intellectual property from other, perhaps more talented but certainly less inebriated people. We thank them all, and remind you, the Prador Codex user, to support them by purchasing their books, games, models, Christmas albums and signed commemorative plates where applicable.
This FanDex is dedicated to five very important groups, without whom it would never have been made a reality. In no particular order of importance, they are:
The Whangarei Wargamers Games Workshop and the 40K design and writing teams, the Unholy Legions of Heavy Metal Sci-fi geeks of the world (and the net – cheers Wikipedia) and (with a whole group to himself):
Mr Neal Asher, the man who first imagined the Prador and brought them to life through a series of books which will one day form the core of our new religion…
Well, maybe not! But if you enjoy this ‘dex, be sure to check out Neal’s writing, and if you love his writing and enjoyed seeing the Prador chew through some Orks and Tau and such, perhaps you should start an army and join your local Wargaming club. They’re not half as creepy as they look, I assure you!
One more time for the slow kids…
This is not an official GW or 40k product. It is not an official expansion of the Polity universe, or in any way endorsed by Neal Asher’s publishers. This information is designed to be freely used, distributed and copied – if someone tries to charge you for it, first kick them in the groin and then get an adult to sue them black and blue. What YOU or ANYONE does with this ‘dex is not the responsibility of TheCyben or The_Grin_Reaper, no matter what your mum says.
Enjoy responsibly, and kick arse!