The Shield

Posted on 10th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

With our relocation to Crete for a large portion of the year we decided that paying for Sky all year just for the five months during which we would watch it was a waste of money. Better, we felt, to spend the money on DVDs which could be watched at both locations. In fact, comparing DVD prices to a TV subscription is something many should consider if they feel they need to make savings, especially when taking into consideration how many programs you can get hold of with freeview or freesat now. £20+ a month can buy a lot of DVDs…

So, I’ve been reading reviews, checking the sites that sell DVDs — generally seeing what might be available and worth watching. I’ve heard a lot about The Wire and The Shield so I bought the first seasons of those at £12.89 and £8.49 respectively. I’m presently enjoying Primeval but didn’t get to see the last series, so bought all the first three seasons for £15.93.

We’ve just started watching The Shield, in fact watched the first three episodes in one evening, and it is very enjoyable. This is great because there are 8 seasons for us to see. We’ll be giving The Wire a go next. Suggestions on anything else worthwhile are all welcome!

Lensmen Movies

Posted on 9th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

The old E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith books are no longer in my collection any more, having fallen foul of one of my general clear-outs, but I do recollect enjoying them when I was a teenager (Lensman and Skylark series). I think I dumped them because I was allowing myself to be influenced by the opinions of others at the time. They were also old, as in ‘astrogator calculates course with a slide rule’ old. It’ll be interestng to see what kind of a movie these will make, since this was BIG space opera:

The internet movie database has the Lensmen movie listed as sometime in 2011.

Writer J. Michael Straczynski said in 2009 he’s finished his second draft for Lensmen, and producer Ron Howard and Universal are happy with it. He said it’ll be very character-based, typical of Howard’s work, and yet the special effects will be cutting edge. And it’ll keep the massive scale of the original novels, as much as possible.

The Babylon 5 writer and Ron Howard? Seems promising…

Another Book Collection.

Posted on 9th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

Here are Rob James’ books:

A Few More Bookmarks

Posted on 7th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

Here’s some more from K J Mulder, the competition winner, and one from Xanares that didn’t quite make it in time.

Raki-Making on Crete

Posted on 7th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

I’ve uploaded this one just to see if, by any chance, it runs better having been processed by You Tube. This is the ‘kazani’ right next door to our house – raki being stilled. Hell of a lot of wind noise and the last time I looked at it the picture and the sound kept breaking up.

You Gotta Laugh

Posted on 6th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

Seems Ken Macleod is a lover of irony, and there’s plenty here:

If the Greenland ice sheet slides into the ocean …

… as the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict I’ll still be laughing at this picture, until I’ve paid my final power bill.

Audio Books

Posted on 5th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

Many of you have been asking about the possibility of my books being turned into audio books. Now, I heard that this was going to happen and that negotiations were in progress. Recently getting another query from one of you I inquired about the progress of this and have been told that this is how things stand right now:

The Spatterjay books, The Skinner, The Voyage of the Sable Keech and Orbus are being turned into audio books at audible.co.uk. Production was completed around 1st December but there was a glitch with the audio file for The Voyage of the Sable Keech. That has now been sorted and the books are being processed for uploading to the Audible site. Processing takes approximately five days, so the titles should be live for download by Wednesday next week, 12 Jan.

Enjoy!

Line of Polity and The Technician Reviews

Posted on 5th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

Nice review here of The Line of Polity from Mark Chitty over at The Walker of Worlds.

The Line of Polity is the second novel in Neal Asher’s Cormac series, following on from events in Gridlinked. I read Gridlinked quite a while back and enjoyed it and I’ve also read plenty of other works by Asher that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I picked up the complete series some time ago but, for some reason that eludes me at present, never got around to reading the sequels. Well, despite the long gap between reading the first and second I jumped straight in wondering what exactly I’d be getting here – and boy did it not disappoint!

Also another nice review here over at Temple Library Reviews of The Technician:

The Technician is about an intriguing alien mystery explored through the life of a few colorful characters. It is also a return to old familiar premises on the planet Masada for us old Asher fans.

Visiting Masada again for me was a bit like coming home and I got to enjoy some of the characters from previous books (You can read my review of them, links are below. The Line of the Polity is the one with most Masada in it).

Hybrid Air Vehicles Prototype Airship in Flight

Posted on 5th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

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.

Who Reads My Books: Spencer Van Schevensteen

Posted on 4th January 20115th March 2016 by Neal Asher

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.