#althist — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #althist, aggregated by home.social.

Dr Craig Buchanan FSAScot @[email protected] · 2026-05-23 · 07:50 UTC

I confess, I started reading @[email protected]’s “A Private Life of Michael Foot” as research for the #AltHist novel I’m currently writing, but it has proved itself to be a very enjoyable and worthwhile read in its own right. Highly recommended. #BookSky

#althist #booksky
bok @[email protected] · 2026-04-26 · 23:09 UTC

CW: #Reading in Week Seventeen of 2026 | April 20–26 | ~2600 words | ~15k characters | Tag to mute: #BokBooks

●●●◐○ The Fish Tank Crab - Genna Gardini (ss) 2021
Two arguing women pass a writer in a park, and he hears one tell the other with some emotion, “Listen, you just pick up the phone and tell him, ‘Lewis. Your fish tank crab has escaped!’” The writer imagines a whole darkly comic scenario from this:
Jess, the Kinsey-4 who's feeling suffocated in her new relationship. Keisha, the judgmental lesbian who feels Jess isn't trying hard enough. Lewis, who has a crush on Jess and doesn't realize she's in a relationship, who asks her to watch his fish tanks for him while he's away for a week, secretly hoping she'll be impressed.
Ramon, the small, red crab who grabs the net Jess is cleaning his tank with, before leaping at her face, then falling to the floor scuttling for the apartment door. Maureen, the octopus whose tank gets knocked over when Keisha is startled by Jess's scream, and who realized that tasty Ramon was no longer locked away in another tank…
So, this last story from the Disruptions collection of short African fiction — Hurrah! — isn't depressing. It's maybe not even a real story, since a character just idly imagined it all. And it might not be African. I mean, the characters discuss an event in East Croyden, and I don't think London has moved. We do learn Keisha is originally from Johannesburg, but is that enough?
I also wonder about a couple lines like this, where Keisha is remembering her and Jess's second date: “Jess was shy, Keisha had thought, and it was aDɔrəble.” There's another line with a word in IPA. Don't know why.
●●●●○ More Unsworth Manor Nudes {Unsworth Manor 2} - P.Z. Walker (nov) 2018
We begin this second Unsworth novel with a former fighter pilot looking to buy the manor, which is deserted and run down. While Avery is looking around, the realtor tells him that the former residents all died when the Lusitania was sunk. The family we followed in the first novel — Cedric and Gretchen, their kids Max and Rose, Nancy the young governess — all wiped out offscreen. Well, that sucks.
Anyway, Avery the American, Great War pilot, scion of an industrialist — not just anyone can afford a ten-bedroom Manor — finds Gretchen's diary, and becomes interested in the nudist lifestyle her family and staff lived. He tries being nude a few evenings after the workmen who are repairing and modernizing the manor have left for the day. He even goes nude in the back garden, and swims nude in the pool when it's completed. He enjoys it.
Then it's back to the US to deal with some business. He invites the woman he's previously dated to visit. She does so a month after he returns, when the house is ready, but their relationship founders. Avery likes nudism; Lisa thinks no civilized person would go unclothed. Despite his nudist ways, Avery is a proper gentleman. He finds that Lisa has changed while he was away, and she now drinks too much and parties too hard, the bad sort of Prohibition-era flapper.
Avery continues in his nudist ways, and like the Unsworths before him, he finds his staff is willing to go along with the lifestyle. Avery also befriends some titled refugees from the Continent, and finds out they're involved in something illegal. And he acquires a girlfriend who eventually becomes his wife. I thought this trilogy was about a naturist resort, but apparently that's only the case for the third volume. If that.
●●○○○ The Last Ride of German Freddie - Walter Jon Williams (nvt) 2002
In this #AltHist tale, Friedrich Nietzsche has gone to the Old West. He caught diphtheria and cholera in the Franco-Prussian war, and his health is fragile. Add in that his father died mad at age 35, and Freddie thinks the same will happen to him, and he's prepared to take wild risks. Freddie has become a Cowboy, capital C¹ — a rustler. His group is currently in Tombstone, Arizona, trying to get their man elected sheriff (rather than Wyatt Earp), since it's convenient for a criminal gang to have a sheriff in its pocket.
Freddie gets involved with the current sheriff's girlfriend, and also is more than a bystander to the famous street fight in Tombstone. Despite betrayals and scheming, this talky story seems overlong.
●●○○○ Hunt the Hunter - Kris Neville (ss) 1951
Ri and Mia are a pair of rich big-game hunters, who discovered a world with farn beasts, which makes for a good hunting challenge. They tried to keep this a secret when they went back to civilization, but their pilot talked, and a richer and nastier big-game hunter — Extrone, the dictator of human space — has kidnapped the pair and made them his guides. There's little doubt he'll kill them if he doesn't have a successful hunt; he may do so even if he does.
The situation is made worse by the fact that farn beasts are known to be spread across alien worlds, and the fact that they're found on this planet means the never-named aliens put them there. The aliens are known to react violently to intrusions upon their space.
●●◐○○ Civilizations - Laurent Binet (nov) 2019
A series of murders and flights from vengeance sent various groups of Vikings from Norway to Iceland to Greenland to Vinland. Eventually a woman named Freydis came to lead a large group with several ships, along with their horses and cattle. They worked their way down the eastern coast of North America, stopping from time to time to spend a year, making friends with some Skraelings and enemies of others.
The Vikings learned local crops and customs, and taught the natives how to make bog iron. But after some time, the Skraelings inevitably became sick with smallpox and other European diseases, and the Vikings moved on, usually leaving some horses and cattle behind. Some of Freydis's group settled in Cuba, while she and the other half continued on to Mayan territory, and eventually down to Peru.
Desired result one: the natives of North and South America are exposed to European diseases early, and have a chance to recover before Columbus shows up some 500 years later. They also know how to work iron, and have horses and cattle. Columbus shows up on schedule. The natives get more horses and cattle, more tools and knowledge, plus guns (though they don't learn how to make gunpowder). Things end badly for the Genoan. Desired result two: one young woman learns Castillian. This sets up the Chronicles of Atahualpa.
When the Sapa Inca died, his sons Huacar and Atalhuapa fought for the throne of the Incan Empire. The latter ends up being forced ever northward with his retreating army. Eventually the young prince ends up on Cuba, where he meets the middle-aged Higuénamota, the princess who knows Castillian. He's also shown the hulks of two of Columbus's boats. Atahualpa has his people fix those ships, and build a larger third ship, and sets forth across the sea.
Higuénamota comes along, and the three ships of non-sailors who grew up in the Andean mountains successfully arrive in Lisbon, sailing in on a tsunami, after a great earthquake has leveled the town. (In our timeline, this happened in 1755, but Binet moves it to the early 1500s, because if it helps your plot, why not?) Events happen, and Atahualpa and his people end up walking to Spain.
More buckets of authorial fiat then water the plot, as Atahualpa ends up taking over Spain, setting up an alternative to taxation, providing for the poor, abolishing the Inquisition, instituting freedom of religion, and becoming a power in Europe, culminating in being crowned the Holy Roman Emperor. A restrained #AlternateHistory tale of "one small change" this is not.
He also starts trans-Atlantic trade with his brother (who sends a fleet that magically arrives, in the nick of time, at the city where Atahualpa and his forces were being besieged, which wasn't the city he was in when Higuénamota was sent to Huacar), and more. And Pedro Pizarro, Lorenzo de Medici, Michelangelo, Martin Luther, and loads of other famous people make appearances.
As usual, non-SF writers don't write SF according to the conventions, which can annoy people who like those conventions, but if one makes allowance after allowance, and doesn't choke on the "you're kidding me" moments, the book isn't terrible.⁰ At least the first three-quarters or so. I admit my patience plummeted when the Aztecs showed up in Europe.
●●●○○ Consumership - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1956
Group Mother was distressed by Marian, the latest child to progress to her Group. Unlike Tommy, who knew all the latest slogans, and always preferred new things, Marian wanted to eat her usual food, not something different every day, depending on what companies were pushing that week. Marian even wanted to keep her doll, not exchange it for something new each week. It was a trial.
●●●●○ The Hemingway Hoax - Joe Haldeman (nov)² 1996
Our story begins with a conman, Sylvester Castlemaine (Call me Castle) and a literature professor, John Baird, who specialized in Ernest Hemingway. A casual conversation reveals that early in Hemingway's career he'd lost a suitcase of manuscripts, encompassing half of a novel he'd written, and ten or twenty short stories.
Castle more-than-halfway interested Baird in attempting to forge that half-novel, which he could do, since he had an eidetic memory and likely knew more than anyone in the world about Hemingway and his works. Baird had also published some short stories earlier in his career, so he could write, as well. And since payments from John's trust fund would soon stop, leaving him in a financial hole, why not try?
For reasons beyond the comprehension of mere humans, this drew the notice of forces who monitored the timelines of the multiverse. Rather than an Element who looked like a blond Russian spy being assigned to the case, à la Sapphire and Steel, the agent assigned to Baird looked like Hemingway. It switched between avatars of the writer at various ages. After a conversation on a train, that agent killed Baird for threatening to upset events in the near future.
For reasons beyond the comprehension of extra-dimensional beings, Baird's death did not take. He woke up in his own body — with different wounds from Vietnam, and with a second set of memories that matched his new timeline³ — and life carried on. And when Baird continued on his forgery quest, not-Ernest showed up and killed him again, in a different way, to see if it stuck. It did not, and things began to get rather more odd.
●●○○○ Cormorant Cove - Mel Cowan (ss) 2025
The second day of Elara's vacation was a masterpiece of organized leisure. A map, a GPS watch, and a hiking app would assure that she, with her carefully stocked backpack and professional hiking outfit assured she'd reach Beacon's Point by her planned lunch break.
Except three hours in, she got a curt call from her boss demanding to know where a file was. That meant Elara⁴ had to email her assistant to handle it, which led to her missing a turn off on the path, so she ended up at Cormorant Cove, a secluded nudist beach.
The usual follows. She's initially shocked, she watches a while from behind the boulder the wrong path dumped her out at, she comes to see the naked humans as just people doing people things, and she ends up trying nudity for herself and enjoying it.
●●●◐○ The Goggles of Dr. Dragonet - Fritz Leiber (ss) 1961
In a story that seems more Radium Age than Golden Age, a professor makes some goggles that block electro-magnetic radiation, but allow one to see gravito-electric and magneto-gravitic spectra. The former makes anything living (or derived from living sources, like leather or wood) invisible, but still shows nonliving things. The latter allows one to see minds. Not thoughts, just personality traits and emotions.
For instance, the minds of newspaperman Marty and sculptor Alice were both green with flashes of blue — they're extroverts with dashes of introversion — while writer Arthur was the reverse. Dr. Dragonet then passed out white canes, and his chauffeur Karl drove the foursome from the house in the Hollywood Hills into the city, where they observed people for hours.
At the end of the afternoon, the quartet arrived back at the doctor's estate. After hours wearing the goggles, they'd become sensitive, and Dragonet instructed them to look up, where they saw the Milky Way span the sky, shining in mindlight: the galaxy was populated. He also pointed them at a bright violet light in the sky, which Marty identified by its position as Mars. That proved to have some repercussions.
●●●○○ The Gardener - Margaret St. Clair (ss) 1949
There are fifty Butandra trees in the sacred grove a few dozen kilometers from the planetary capital of Cassid. There had always been fifty trees in the small, no more, no less, for all of recorded Cassidan history. You'd think that Hobbs, acting chief of the Bureau of Extra-Systemic Plant Conservation would respect that, but no. On the last day of his posting to Cassid, he'd gone to the grove and cut down a sapling, planning to make a walking stick of the fine-grained white wood.
The Gardener — a figure of myth on Cassid — traced the missing sapling to a hotel, where the meter-tall, stocky figure with skin like rough, brown bark was seen by a green-skinned maid. But Hobbs had already boarded a spaceship and left the planet. The Gardener looked upward, and began to rise ever faster into the sky. The next day, Hobbs was just starting to whittle the Butandra sapling into a walking stick, when he looked out the porthole in his cabin, and saw a face looking back at him. The story proceeds from there.
━━━━━━━━━━
Week Seventeen's numbers added to year-to-date totals:
132+06 ss | 08+1 nvt | 07+0 nva | 34+3 nov |
#books #Bookstodon #ScienceFiction
━━━━━━━━━━
[0] Though its cover is the most childish of anything I've read in years.
[1] “[Brocius] and his crowd defiantly called themselves Cowboys. It was a name synonymous with ‘rustler,’ and hardly respectable — legitimate ranchers called themselves stockmen.”
[2] This is barely a novel, by the screen counts I'm using — short→150, novelette→300, novella→450 — but 465 screens is over 450.
[3] Not-Ernest is killing John twice — a body left behind in one timeline, a mind overwritten in another — and he's still not happy. Some entities just can't be satisfied.
[4] Kate's spellcheck objects to ‘Elara’ but has no problem with ‘Elara's’? ‹sigh› Oh, and another word I wish I could remove. I occasionally mention ‘chauffeur’, a driver. I never mean to mention ‘chauffer’, a small stove (think ‘chafing dish’). Kate is the most adequate text editor I've tried in Linux, but it lacks so many abilities I was used to under Windows.

#althist #alternatehistory #books #bookstodon #sciencefiction
bok @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 01:52 UTC

The plural of "beef" is "beeves"? (Alternately, Another word for 'cattle' is 'beeves'?) Who knew.
From "The Last Ride of German Freddie" by Walter Jon Williams:
Freddie¹ “was playing against a table of drunken stockmen who were celebrating the sale of their beeves and who were losing their money almost as fast as they could shove it across the table.”
[1] Friedrich Nietzsche, who has gone to the Old West and become a Cowboy in this #AltHist tale. #words #vocabulary

#althist #words #vocabulary
Stefan Scholl @[email protected] · 2026-03-31 · 09:55 UTC

If Bavaria had let a certain draft-dodger back into the country, the world would look much different.
#AltHist

#althist
bok @[email protected] · 2026-03-29 · 01:51 UTC

A post mentioned the Incan Empire and wondered in passing how they might have survived. Which made me think of an #AltHist novel I read about that, but couldn't recall the title of. (I thought the author was Robert Silverberg, but it turned out to be Fred Saberhagen and The Mask of the Sun.)
Interestingly, when I searched Uchronia·com for "inca", it also turned up H. Beam Piper's "Last Enemy", which has nothing to do with the Incas. Took me a moment to realize the search was picking up on a big part of the story, when one group on a Second Level world scientifically proved that reINCArnation was real. #ScienceFiction
Uchronia also listed a dozen other novels and half as many shorter works, and I might try to dig some up. #SciFi #AlternateHistory

#althist #sciencefiction #scifi #alternatehistory
bok @[email protected] · 2025-07-14 · 00:19 UTC

CW: #Reading in Week Twenty-Eight of 2025 | July 07–13 | #BokBooks | ~1100 words | ~6100 characters |

●●●◐○ Vengeance - Jennifer Foehner Wells {Confluence 5} (nov) 2018
Darcy, escaped human slave and genetically-modified drudii, has been freeing other slaves for years, along with her other ex-slave comrades, using her ex-captor Raub's ship. She's looking for Adam, who was kidnapped with her, but sold separately.
Darcy's gathered a small fleet, since she keeps the ships of slavers she dispossesses of their cargo. After more than a decade, she manages to find out that Adam is still alive. She also finds out that she didn't kill Raub, and that the madman – all he wants to do is kill a drudii in hand-to-hand combat, earning himself the title of Kappyr – has had himself rebuilt, and he's also re-obtained Adam, who he's genetically remade in his own image. Darcy will win or die trying.
●●●○○ The Hillside - Jane Smiley {Warmer 7} (ss) 2018
The Congress of Animals had declared that humans (who had regressed to a Planet of the Apes level) must be exterminated. Despite being forbidden to use rocks and stones, one tribe of humans had rediscovered fire, and the risk of them once again destroying the planet was too great.
High Note was a mare who worked in Human Control. She sympathized with humans too much, but went along with the directive. The local conclave decided to let winter do most of the work, and kill any human survivors come spring. High Note chronicles the end of humankind.
●●●○○ The Little Man Who Wasn't All There - Robert Bloch {Lefty Feep} (ss) 1942
A magician friend of Lefty's has to go on a trip. He tasks Left with watching his wife, since a rival magician has been secretly romancing her in an attempt to get access to her husband's stash of tricks. Feep manages the job with the help of a tuxedo that makes him invisible.
Or at least he tries to. Turns out the couple's Filipino servant is actually a Japanese spy, which makes the job more dangerous than Feep had planned on.
●●●○○ Naked Ghost Story - P.A. Choi (ss) 2024
Holly quit her well-paid but stressful job in Texas to move back to Louisiana, where she bought a cheap fixer-upper, planning to spend a couple of years writing in the morning, and repairing the house in the afternoon. At the end, she'd see if she could make a career of either.
The first night there, she saw a naked man walk down the hallway and enter the spare bedroom. Except when she looked inside, no one was there and the window was locked from the inside. When she invited a friend over, he saw a naked young woman who vanished into the bathroom.
Further investigation showed that a nudist family had lived in the house before being driven off by close-minded neighbors. But no one had actually died in the house, so where were the ghosts coming from?
●●●◐○ The Crossing {Assiti Shards} - Kevin Ikenberry (nov) 2022
A squad of ROTC cadets from 2008 end up in December 1776 just before the Battle of Trenton. Having lost an M-16 rifle to a Hessian mercenary, they're obligated to help Washington's troops in order to save the fledgling country.
With the help of a gunsmith and his daughter, they make contact with Washington's army and help him make Trenton a resounding victory. The story looked set up for a sequel, but one hasn't appeared yet.
●●●○○ Old Ventures, New Partners - Nicolas Wilson (ss) 2015
A man making a rocket suit in 1963 Dallas gets a call from British spy Ian (Fleming? He is very Bond-like.) telling him Soviet spies are targeting his creation, as well as President Kennedy. The man decides the best way to prevent both crimes is to move the suit from the airfield to Dealey Plaza.
This tale makes several subtle or oblique references to characters from fiction, and I'm missing most of them. For example, the American operative he eventually connects with may be an #AltHist version of Steve Rogers…
●●●◐○ Never Stop to Pat a Kitten - Miriam Allen deFord (ss) 1954
Two ex-GI college roommates are walking home late at night. Hanrahan stops for a moment to pet a cat, and from Seaforth's viewpoint, vanishes. He's never seen again.
From Hanrahan's viewpoint, it's Seaforth who has disappeared, along with every other person. Worse, objects do the same. He steps into a phone booth to call the police, hoping to find someone. When he walks away after getting no answer, he notices the two booths beside it are gone. We eventually find out what happened, but Hanrahan never gets the chance.
●●●○○ Survivors - Terry Nation (nov) 1976
When Terry Nation created the eponymous British TV series, the producers had different ideas on how the show should progress. Nation stopped writing for the show mid second season. This is the story as he would have written it. Parts are the same, parts much different. We keep Tom Pryce (could've done without), but omit the second appearance of Vic in the quarry. We keep Jimmy Garland, but children John and Lizzie aren't here.
Abby doesn't leave the story after the first season of this three-section novel. There's far less turnover of characters, and the group stays smaller. And instead of partially restoring the old civilization by bring back electricity in Scotland, Abby's group heads for warmer climes in Europe, figuring they have a better chance of rebuilding a new civilization where they needn't focus on surviving six months of winter.
A rather stiff tale, IMO, but interesting to read nonetheless.
━━━━━━━━━━
Cumulative 2025 totals as of Week Twenty-Eight:
167 ss | 23 nvt | 03 nva | 65 nov | #books
━━━━━━━━━━
Dispensed with some long-title shorts to feature more novels this week. Added the first nudist story to the calendar. (I've been reading a fair number off-calendar of late.) Some are naturist, "we wouldn't dream of sex" tales. Others have light erotic elements¹, others actual sex. I prefer the middle sort, myself.
[1] There's a fad for players to play nude-mod video games while nude themselves. Male players get erections from bring around female players. Girl asks boy if he's going to masturbate first, or wants a handjob, because it's time to play, and No, there's not going to be sex, Mark. Just a favor between friends.

#althist #books
Garrett Wollman @[email protected] · 2025-05-23 · 19:29 UTC

Here's a deep- #althist scenario for you:
What if, when H. sapiens came over the Bering land bridge, they found the Americas already inhabited by sophont descendants of the New World monkeys?
Has anyone written this yet?

#althist
bok @[email protected] · 2025-05-02 · 00:56 UTC

Descriptions of the novels, repeated from the weekly posts. Footnotes have been removed, so some parts lack further explanation. For descriptions of the shorter works, see the weekly posts.
●●●◐○ Grand Central Arena - Ryk E Spoor {Arenaverse 1} (nov) 2010
Seven people are on the first crewed ship to test Earth's new FTL drive. Things do not go well, when they find themselves appearing in a vast artificial volume, with their fusion drive and FTL offline. Their AI assistants and implants are also disabled, which was a difficult adjustment for some, and leaves the most-cybered crew member catatonic.
They learn that the Spheres and other areas are ruled by five big Factions, and innumerable smaller ones, and that periodic Challenges are enforced, whereby lives and status can be lost and won. Can seven humans stand against a thousand different races in this artificial space tens of light-years wide, a place constructed by unknown beings such that any use of an FTL drive anywhere will bring them to the Arena?
●●●○○ A Choice of Gods - Clifford D. Simak (nov) 1972
One day, 99.99% of humankind Disappeared. The survivors gained long life, telepathy, and interstellar self-teleportation. Over five thousand years later, John Whitney (who was a boy at the Vanishing) and his wife Martha are content in their robot-tended manor, while John's boyhood friend Horace Red Cloud and his tribe went back to older ways, a combinations of the woods life and the plains life.
Most other descendants of the humans left behind are out star-roving. Some of the robots have grown increasingly religious over time, while humans have largely let religion lapse. Another group of robots has constructed a large super-robot brain that they follow.
Now one of the star-roving Earth humans has found where the Disappeared went: to three Earth-like worlds near the galactic core. Worlds that had figured out where Earth was, and sent out a survey ship to check the planet out prior to recolonization. Something which the various groups of Earth were decidedly not in favor of. Could anything be done?
●●●○○ The Gourmets of Grantville - Bethanne Kim (nov) 2021
When the West Virginia town was dropped into central Germany during the Thirty Years War, many things had to change, food among them. This is a tale where uptime and downtime women get together to learn about each other's food and cooking techniques. Many things resulted at the club level: a newspaper column, a TV cooking show, a radio show, cookbooks being published.
Individually, women founded bakeries and coffee shops and restaurants. They specialized in gingerbread and bagels and all manner of foodstuffs. And they lived their ongoing lives. The diabetic woman who survived two years after she lost access to insulin. The older couple who adopted orphans from the ongoing war. Various marriages and births. This is a story told on the level of ordinary people, with a patchwork of events to fill in the quilt.
●●●●○ Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer {Terra Ignota 1} (nov) 2016
A complex tale of the world of 2454, where most people belong to one of seven Hives (and some smaller groups), non-geographic states. That world teeters when one of the annual Seven-Ten lists (published by the top news organization in each Hive, showing who they think are the most influential people in the world) is leaked. It eventually reveals a web of corruption linking the top levels of the Hives.
Separately, the bash'house (co-housing collective, from the Japanese i-basho) controlling the world's network of aircars gets involved, with its own security issues. As does Bridger, the thirteen-year-old boy some people have been raising in secret, since he can do miracles, making representations real. He can bring toy soldiers or a stuffed animal to life, or make a folded-paper bottle labeled "healing potion" real.
The novel has dense storytelling, many philosophical sections, and examines government, gender, free will, and more. Parts seem pointlessly convoluted, but the overall ride is enjoyable.
●●●◐○ Spheres of Influence - Ryk E. Spoor {Arena 2} (nov) 2013
Ariane Austin, spacing racer, was the Leader of the Faction of Humanity, in the view of the Arena, the artificial mega-volume that forced all FTL traffic to via it, by means far beyond human science. When Captain Ariane and some of her crew returned to Sol System, she found some people weren't crazy about that. They assigned her some ambassadors, which didn't go well.
And of course events in the Arena went on. More examination of the powers Ariane had obtained, and the ability Simon had gotten trying to help her control them. Kidnapping. A twenty-against-one space battle. Three more Hyperions show up, one on Humanity's side, the other not. More Challenges, more learning, more Orphan. Solid adventure #SciFi.
●●○○○ The Silent City - H.G. Suren {Alignment 1} (nov) 2015
Horror #ScienceFiction. All humans in the city (world?) vanish except five thirty-ish men who were playing cards and cooking khash half the night. Mark's apartment magically retains electricity, even though the rest of the building, and the city, does not. There's a dome over the city, and the five friends eventually encounter two other humans – a 22 year-old woman and a 15yo boy – and find out that human-shaped white clouds with large black eyes and black claws are hunting people.
The misplaced humans have no clue why or how they got here, but they surmise that they're not in the real world. They also find out that the reset storms that sweep through every 5½ hours instantly move cars and window shades, which they surmise is their environment somewhat keeping up with outside reality. More things are learned, but the story stops abruptly, unresolved, to be continued in the next volume. And now none of the author's books are visible on Amazon.
●●●○○ Murder in Snydersville - Valleri Saint Matthew (nov) 2023
A cozy time travel #mystery with Twilight Zone vibes. Two drivers seek shelter in an abandoned diner from a really bad hail storm, but when they get inside they find themselves back in 1952 just after a murder occurred. They leave 1952 after awhile, but researching the murder, find two more followed it. The pair decide to go back to 1952 to see if they can prevent the additional deaths.
There are many oddities in the tale. Paul buys a diner meal, and Ember an apple pie from a bakery to help with her questioning a missing girl's mother. No one notices their future money, and this isn't a story where it magically changed, since their clothing didn't. Sheriff Andy simply lets two strangers hang around the courthouse where he works, and even tag along on investigations. And the ending relies on aspects of the timeslip portal that had never been demonstrated.
●●●○○ Seven Surrenders - Ada Palmer {Terra Ignota 2} (nov) 2017
Complex narrative of the seven days that led to the fall of Earth's 2454 system of government, leading to whatever emerges in the next book. Institutions fall, people die, secrets are revealed, people learn about themselves and others.
Not as good as the previous book, because I feel the author chickened out. It's a matter of having a too-powerful character: the story should end before it begins, given what they can do. So you have to artificially restrain them. Or, when you realize you don't know what to do with them, remove them from the story altogether.
●●●○○ The Artifact - David Collins {Artifact 1} (nov) 2024
Can you go wrong with the "present-day human finds ancient alien spaceship" trope? Not really. Why the USA, Russia, and China would go along with this very-recent college graduate, providing four people for his crew, while he and his friends were the first four, seems odd.⁴
The ship's AI needs a crew so it can deal with other people, and not be seen as rogue (which it is, having vastly and illegally increased its capabilities while stuck on the Moon for 2300 years). They visit what turns out to be a pirate's waystation, salvage platinum from a wreck, and become involved with a dangerous princess. Decent action adventure.
●●●○○ The Crucible - M L Maki {Fighting Tomcats 11} (nov) 2024
#AltHist where a US naval group from 1990 ended up in World War Two. A dozen-plus books in (there was a side-series), pilot Samantha Carter is acting as a Commodore commanding the invasion fleet taking control of Italy while D-Day is ongoing in France.
There's lots of military jargon, and too many characters to keep track of, but I enjoy the series for the sociological bits of modern women (and non-white and non-straight 1990s characters) dealing with the 1940s.
●●●◐○ The Second Artifact - David Collins {Artifact 2} (nov) 2024
In the first book, the ancient alien spaceship that a human had linked up with travelled outside the regular travel routes, and encountered a damaged ship, and rescued a powerful figure. This book, they stumble upon an experimental ship from an unknown race with a hyperdrive vastly better than the galactic standard. This finding a new artifact each time is going to seem increasingly silly, but the series is light, fast-paced adventure, and I'm enjoying it.

#scifi #sciencefiction #mystery #althist
bok @[email protected] · 2025-04-28 · 16:12 UTC

CW: #Reading in Week Seventeen of 2025 | April 21–27 | ~900 words | #AmReading | #BokBooks

●●◐○○ Prominent Author - Philip K. Dick (ss) 1954
A bureaucrat at a research center gets a Jiffi-scuttler (a teleportation ring) to test on his daily commute, before it goes into wide release. He turns out to be a terrible tester, so bad he makes history.
●○○○○ For Sale, Reasonable - Elisabeth Mann Borgese (ss) 1959
In a time when computer brains are getting so advanced that they refuse to do dull work, and often go on strike, an educated human sends a company a letter offering his own services, showing all the ways he'd be a better choice.
●●●○○ Seven Surrenders - Ada Palmer {Terra Ignota 2} (nov) 2017
Complex narrative of the seven days that led to the fall of Earth's 2454 system of government, leading to whatever emerges in the next book. Institutions fall, people die, secrets are revealed, people learn about themselves and others.
Not as good as the previous book, because I feel the author chickened out. It's a matter of having a too-powerful character: the story should end before it begins, given what they can do. So you have to artificially restrain them. Or, when you realize you don't know what to do with them, remove them from the story altogether.
●◐○○○ Welcome, Martians - S.A. Lombino (ss) 1952
The first spaceship from Earth lands on Mars¹ and the crew finds humans live there. People who celebrate them for returning from the first mission to Earth. Turns out both worlds sent out expeditions at once. Oh, and the crews had different names, but looked identical.
●●◐○○ Little Boy - Jerome Bixby (ss) 1954
When the bombs dropped on Manhattan, many died. Most survivors fled. But some were driven mad, and some were unlucky, so there were still people there, fighting for life on the abandoned island. One was Steven, who was five when normal life stopped six years ago. We follow his life for a day, and end on a happier note.
●○○○○ Life - Daniel Arenson (ss) 2015
A private SETI group sent out a rover to Kepler-62e², and the first picture arrived at night, when only Eliana was on duty. She looked at the picture of the alien, and collapsed, catatonic, only saying "So ugly" over and over.
A dozen other researchers looked at the monitor as they arrived, and all of them reacted identically.³ Finally a psychologist is called in. He manages to sneak a look at the image, and we see the collapse from the inside.
●●●○○ The Artifact - David Collins {Artifact 1} (nov) 2024
Can you go wrong with the "present-day human finds ancient alien spaceship" trope? Not really. Why the USA, Russia, and China would go along with this very-recent college graduate, providing four people for his crew, while he and his friends were the first four, seems odd.⁴
The ship's AI needs a crew so it can deal with other people, and not be seen as rogue (which it is, having vastly and illegally increased its capabilities while stuck on the Moon for 2300 years). They visit what turns out to be a pirate's waystation, salvage platinum from a wreck, and become involved with a dangerous princess. Decent action adventure.
●●○○○ Brainchild - Henry Slesar (ss) 2019
Ron Carver, 32, wakes up in a twelve-year-old's body – not even his own – and has to find out what's going on. Again, the background to this story is utter crap⁵, and the story is not super original. But if you ignore the setting and rewrite the tale competently in your mind, you can imagine it's only half bad.
●●●○○ The Crucible - ML Maki {Fighting Tomcats 11} (nov) 2024
#AltHist where a US naval group from 1990 ended up in World War Two. A dozen-plus books in (there was a side-series), pilot Samantha Carter is acting as the Admiral commanding the invasion fleet taking control of Italy while D-Day is ongoing in France. Mussolini is captured, and King Emmanuel rules Rome again (though he'll likely step aside, being tainted by fascism).
There's lots of military jargon, and too many characters to keep track of, but I enjoy the series for the sociological bits of modern women (and non-white and non-straight 1990s characters) dealing with the 1940s.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[1] With a cannon mounted on their ship, but without knowing if the atmosphere was breathable. Which it was, in yet another case where an author has a scene or idea they want to write about, and just pastes on some vaguely #SciFi stuff to sell it to a magazine.
[2] But the background of the tale is present-day, right down to a character driving a beat-up old Corolla. Again, sci-fi slop plastered on an idea the author liked.
[3] The stupidity of this annoys me. Everyone collapses, and everyone says "So ugly"? No individual variation? Appallingly dumb.
[4] But I admit the Catch 22. If we wasted time dealing with governments acting as they really would, it would be annoying. If we have governments being super helpful and accommodating, it's unrealistic.
[5] A 2019 story depicting a 1950s society, which has people travelling not just to other planets, or other stars, but to other galaxies. Mind-bogglingly stupid.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Cumulative 2025 totals as of Week Seventeen:
105 ss | 14 nvt | 02 nva | 38 nov | #books

#althist #scifi #books
bok @[email protected] · 2025-04-27 · 03:05 UTC

#Reading The Crucible, the latest Fighting Tomcats #AltHist book, and my #grammar funny bone was smacked. A naval agent is getting info about the situation in WW2 Italy from a Mob member in New York. He ends the meeting with “I'm thankful for all the La Cosa Nostra has done for the war effort.”
Ack, "the La"? I'd think most anyone would know "la" means "the" and shouldn't be duplicated. It's worse than some rich boor saying “Who cares what the hoi polloi think?” since fewer people know "hoi" is "the" in the Greek phrase "the (common) people" or "the masses". #peeve

#reading #althist #grammar #peeve
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2025-02-01 · 02:02 UTC

### #Books and #stories for #JanuaryReads.
~500 words | Tag to mute: #BokBooks
Nine novels:¹
●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker {Emma Nelson 3} #mystery
●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Flint, Huff, Goodlett {USSR 4} #AltHist
●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} #HFY
●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Huff, Goodlett {Miroslava Holmes 4}
●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} #SpaceOpera
●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke #SFF
●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling #solarpunk
●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - S.L. Huang {Cas Russell 1} #thriller
●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight}
Zero novellas. Again.²
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Doctor Satan - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 1} #WeirdTales
●●●◐○ The Man Who Chained the Lightning - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 2}
●●●◐○ Mask of Death - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 8} #pulp
●●●◐○ The Raid on the Termites - Paul Ernst #VintageSciFi
●●●○○ Marooned Under the Sea - Paul Ernst
Twenty-six short stories:
●●●◐○ Deus Ex Machina - Francis G. Rayer
●●●◐○ The Land of Lost Content - Chad Oliver
●●●●◐ The Mercenaries - H. Beam Piper
●●●◐○ Immersion - Aliette de Bodard
●●●◐○ Metal Like Blood in the Dark - T. Kingfisher
●●●○○ The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir - Karin Tidbeck
●●◐○○ Lorelei Street - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Morrigan in the Sunglare - Seth Dickinson
●●●◐○ The Ormolu Clock - August Derleth
●●●○○ World Behind the Moon - Paul Ernst
●●●○○ Man from Beyond - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ Home to Mother - Manly Wade Wellman
●●●○○ Space is for Suckers - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Scanners Live in Vain - Cordwainer Smith #ClassicSciFi
●●●●○ Voyage to Queensthroat - Anya Johanna DeNiro #trans
●●●○○ Belladonna Nights - Alastair Reynolds
●●○○○ The Old Dispensation - Lavie Tidhar
●●○○○ A Walk in the Dark - Arthur C Clarke
●●●◐○ A Stitch in Time - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Lady Killer - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Gallery - Rog Phillips
●●◐○○ Tower of Babble - Robert Abernathy
●●●○○ But a Kind of Ghost - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Black Ewe - Fritz Leiber Jr.
●●●○○ Live in an Orbit and Love It! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Lost Bomb - Rog Phillips (ss) 1950
2025-01: 26 ss | 05 nvt | 00 nva | 09 nov
2024-12: 31 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 12 nov
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
I shifted to Monday-start weeks this month, which was fine. I also switched to midnight-start days, which wasn't. I'm going back to 8am starts, since half of my reading is done after midnight, and I sometimes forget that I must get a story done before midnight to fit the calendar.
***
[1] A reply to this post repeats brief descriptions of the novels. For descriptions of the shorter tales, see the weekly posts. Most short stories this month come from single-author collections (Paul Ernst, Rog Phillips, John Wyndham) or multi-author anthologies:
New Adventures in Space Opera - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
Legends of Science Fiction: 1950 - Christopher Broschell, ed.
[2] This category is not likely to ever get high, but zero annoys me, so for next month I dug up something that proclaims it's a novella on the cover. Though the middle story in the trilogy is half again as long, and the finale is more than twice that.

#books #stories #januaryreads #bokbooks #mystery #althist
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2025-02-01 · 02:02 UTC

### #Books and #stories for #JanuaryReads.
~500 words | Tag to mute: #BokBooks
Nine novels:¹
●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker {Emma Nelson 3} #mystery
●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Flint, Huff, Goodlett {USSR 4} #AltHist
●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} #HFY
●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Huff, Goodlett {Miroslava Holmes 4}
●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} #SpaceOpera
●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke #SFF
●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling #solarpunk
●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - S.L. Huang {Cas Russell 1} #thriller
●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight}
Zero novellas. Again.²
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Doctor Satan - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 1} #WeirdTales
●●●◐○ The Man Who Chained the Lightning - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 2}
●●●◐○ Mask of Death - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 8} #pulp
●●●◐○ The Raid on the Termites - Paul Ernst #VintageSciFi
●●●○○ Marooned Under the Sea - Paul Ernst
Twenty-six short stories:
●●●◐○ Deus Ex Machina - Francis G. Rayer
●●●◐○ The Land of Lost Content - Chad Oliver
●●●●◐ The Mercenaries - H. Beam Piper
●●●◐○ Immersion - Aliette de Bodard
●●●◐○ Metal Like Blood in the Dark - T. Kingfisher
●●●○○ The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir - Karin Tidbeck
●●◐○○ Lorelei Street - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Morrigan in the Sunglare - Seth Dickinson
●●●◐○ The Ormolu Clock - August Derleth
●●●○○ World Behind the Moon - Paul Ernst
●●●○○ Man from Beyond - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ Home to Mother - Manly Wade Wellman
●●●○○ Space is for Suckers - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Scanners Live in Vain - Cordwainer Smith #ClassicSciFi
●●●●○ Voyage to Queensthroat - Anya Johanna DeNiro #trans
●●●○○ Belladonna Nights - Alastair Reynolds
●●○○○ The Old Dispensation - Lavie Tidhar
●●○○○ A Walk in the Dark - Arthur C Clarke
●●●◐○ A Stitch in Time - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Lady Killer - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Gallery - Rog Phillips
●●◐○○ Tower of Babble - Robert Abernathy
●●●○○ But a Kind of Ghost - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Black Ewe - Fritz Leiber Jr.
●●●○○ Live in an Orbit and Love It! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Lost Bomb - Rog Phillips (ss) 1950
2025-01: 26 ss | 05 nvt | 00 nva | 09 nov
2024-12: 31 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 12 nov
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
I shifted to Monday-start weeks this month, which was fine. I also switched to midnight-start days, which wasn't. I'm going back to 8am starts, since half of my reading is done after midnight, and I sometimes forget that I must get a story done before midnight to fit the calendar.
***
[1] A reply to this post repeats brief descriptions of the novels. For descriptions of the shorter tales, see the weekly posts. Most short stories this month come from single-author collections (Paul Ernst, Rog Phillips, John Wyndham) or multi-author anthologies:
New Adventures in Space Opera - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
Legends of Science Fiction: 1950 - Christopher Broschell, ed.
[2] This category is not likely to ever get high, but zero annoys me, so for next month I dug up something that proclaims it's a novella on the cover. Though the middle story in the trilogy is half again as long, and the finale is more than twice that.

#books #stories #januaryreads #bokbooks #mystery #althist
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2025-02-01 · 02:02 UTC

### #Books and #stories for #JanuaryReads.
~500 words | Tag to mute: #BokBooks
Nine novels:¹
●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker {Emma Nelson 3} #mystery
●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Flint, Huff, Goodlett {USSR 4} #AltHist
●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} #HFY
●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Huff, Goodlett {Miroslava Holmes 4}
●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} #SpaceOpera
●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke #SFF
●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling #solarpunk
●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - S.L. Huang {Cas Russell 1} #thriller
●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight}
Zero novellas. Again.²
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Doctor Satan - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 1} #WeirdTales
●●●◐○ The Man Who Chained the Lightning - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 2}
●●●◐○ Mask of Death - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 8} #pulp
●●●◐○ The Raid on the Termites - Paul Ernst #VintageSciFi
●●●○○ Marooned Under the Sea - Paul Ernst
Twenty-six short stories:
●●●◐○ Deus Ex Machina - Francis G. Rayer
●●●◐○ The Land of Lost Content - Chad Oliver
●●●●◐ The Mercenaries - H. Beam Piper
●●●◐○ Immersion - Aliette de Bodard
●●●◐○ Metal Like Blood in the Dark - T. Kingfisher
●●●○○ The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir - Karin Tidbeck
●●◐○○ Lorelei Street - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Morrigan in the Sunglare - Seth Dickinson
●●●◐○ The Ormolu Clock - August Derleth
●●●○○ World Behind the Moon - Paul Ernst
●●●○○ Man from Beyond - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ Home to Mother - Manly Wade Wellman
●●●○○ Space is for Suckers - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Scanners Live in Vain - Cordwainer Smith #ClassicSciFi
●●●●○ Voyage to Queensthroat - Anya Johanna DeNiro #trans
●●●○○ Belladonna Nights - Alastair Reynolds
●●○○○ The Old Dispensation - Lavie Tidhar
●●○○○ A Walk in the Dark - Arthur C Clarke
●●●◐○ A Stitch in Time - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Lady Killer - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Gallery - Rog Phillips
●●◐○○ Tower of Babble - Robert Abernathy
●●●○○ But a Kind of Ghost - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Black Ewe - Fritz Leiber Jr.
●●●○○ Live in an Orbit and Love It! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Lost Bomb - Rog Phillips (ss) 1950
2025-01: 26 ss | 05 nvt | 00 nva | 09 nov
2024-12: 31 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 12 nov
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
I shifted to Monday-start weeks this month, which was fine. I also switched to midnight-start days, which wasn't. I'm going back to 8am starts, since half of my reading is done after midnight, and I sometimes forget that I must get a story done before midnight to fit the calendar.
***
[1] A reply to this post repeats brief descriptions of the novels. For descriptions of the shorter tales, see the weekly posts. Most short stories this month come from single-author collections (Paul Ernst, Rog Phillips, John Wyndham) or multi-author anthologies:
New Adventures in Space Opera - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
Legends of Science Fiction: 1950 - Christopher Broschell, ed.
[2] This category is not likely to ever get high, but zero annoys me, so for next month I dug up something that proclaims it's a novella on the cover. Though the middle story in the trilogy is half again as long, and the finale is more than twice that.

#books #stories #januaryreads #bokbooks #mystery #althist
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2025-02-01 · 02:02 UTC

### #Books and #stories for #JanuaryReads.
~500 words | Tag to mute: #BokBooks
Nine novels:¹
●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker {Emma Nelson 3} #mystery
●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Flint, Huff, Goodlett {USSR 4} #AltHist
●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} #HFY
●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Huff, Goodlett {Miroslava Holmes 4}
●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} #SpaceOpera
●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke #SFF
●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling #solarpunk
●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - S.L. Huang {Cas Russell 1} #thriller
●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight}
Zero novellas. Again.²
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Doctor Satan - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 1} #WeirdTales
●●●◐○ The Man Who Chained the Lightning - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 2}
●●●◐○ Mask of Death - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 8} #pulp
●●●◐○ The Raid on the Termites - Paul Ernst #VintageSciFi
●●●○○ Marooned Under the Sea - Paul Ernst
Twenty-six short stories:
●●●◐○ Deus Ex Machina - Francis G. Rayer
●●●◐○ The Land of Lost Content - Chad Oliver
●●●●◐ The Mercenaries - H. Beam Piper
●●●◐○ Immersion - Aliette de Bodard
●●●◐○ Metal Like Blood in the Dark - T. Kingfisher
●●●○○ The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir - Karin Tidbeck
●●◐○○ Lorelei Street - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Morrigan in the Sunglare - Seth Dickinson
●●●◐○ The Ormolu Clock - August Derleth
●●●○○ World Behind the Moon - Paul Ernst
●●●○○ Man from Beyond - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ Home to Mother - Manly Wade Wellman
●●●○○ Space is for Suckers - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Scanners Live in Vain - Cordwainer Smith #ClassicSciFi
●●●●○ Voyage to Queensthroat - Anya Johanna DeNiro #trans
●●●○○ Belladonna Nights - Alastair Reynolds
●●○○○ The Old Dispensation - Lavie Tidhar
●●○○○ A Walk in the Dark - Arthur C Clarke
●●●◐○ A Stitch in Time - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Lady Killer - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Gallery - Rog Phillips
●●◐○○ Tower of Babble - Robert Abernathy
●●●○○ But a Kind of Ghost - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Black Ewe - Fritz Leiber Jr.
●●●○○ Live in an Orbit and Love It! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Lost Bomb - Rog Phillips (ss) 1950
2025-01: 26 ss | 05 nvt | 00 nva | 09 nov
2024-12: 31 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 12 nov
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
I shifted to Monday-start weeks this month, which was fine. I also switched to midnight-start days, which wasn't. I'm going back to 8am starts, since half of my reading is done after midnight, and I sometimes forget that I must get a story done before midnight to fit the calendar.
***
[1] A reply to this post repeats brief descriptions of the novels. For descriptions of the shorter tales, see the weekly posts. Most short stories this month come from single-author collections (Paul Ernst, Rog Phillips, John Wyndham) or multi-author anthologies:
New Adventures in Space Opera - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
Legends of Science Fiction: 1950 - Christopher Broschell, ed.
[2] This category is not likely to ever get high, but zero annoys me, so for next month I dug up something that proclaims it's a novella on the cover. Though the middle story in the trilogy is half again as long, and the finale is more than twice that.

#trans #classicscifi #vintagescifi #pulp #weirdtales #thriller
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2025-02-01 · 02:02 UTC

### #Books and #stories for #JanuaryReads.
~500 words | Tag to mute: #BokBooks
Nine novels:¹
●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker {Emma Nelson 3} #mystery
●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Flint, Huff, Goodlett {USSR 4} #AltHist
●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} #HFY
●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Huff, Goodlett {Miroslava Holmes 4}
●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} #SpaceOpera
●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke #SFF
●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling #solarpunk
●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - S.L. Huang {Cas Russell 1} #thriller
●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight}
Zero novellas. Again.²
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Doctor Satan - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 1} #WeirdTales
●●●◐○ The Man Who Chained the Lightning - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 2}
●●●◐○ Mask of Death - Paul Ernst {Doctor Satan 8} #pulp
●●●◐○ The Raid on the Termites - Paul Ernst #VintageSciFi
●●●○○ Marooned Under the Sea - Paul Ernst
Twenty-six short stories:
●●●◐○ Deus Ex Machina - Francis G. Rayer
●●●◐○ The Land of Lost Content - Chad Oliver
●●●●◐ The Mercenaries - H. Beam Piper
●●●◐○ Immersion - Aliette de Bodard
●●●◐○ Metal Like Blood in the Dark - T. Kingfisher
●●●○○ The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir - Karin Tidbeck
●●◐○○ Lorelei Street - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Morrigan in the Sunglare - Seth Dickinson
●●●◐○ The Ormolu Clock - August Derleth
●●●○○ World Behind the Moon - Paul Ernst
●●●○○ Man from Beyond - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ Home to Mother - Manly Wade Wellman
●●●○○ Space is for Suckers - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Scanners Live in Vain - Cordwainer Smith #ClassicSciFi
●●●●○ Voyage to Queensthroat - Anya Johanna DeNiro #trans
●●●○○ Belladonna Nights - Alastair Reynolds
●●○○○ The Old Dispensation - Lavie Tidhar
●●○○○ A Walk in the Dark - Arthur C Clarke
●●●◐○ A Stitch in Time - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Lady Killer - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ Gallery - Rog Phillips
●●◐○○ Tower of Babble - Robert Abernathy
●●●○○ But a Kind of Ghost - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Black Ewe - Fritz Leiber Jr.
●●●○○ Live in an Orbit and Love It! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Lost Bomb - Rog Phillips (ss) 1950
2025-01: 26 ss | 05 nvt | 00 nva | 09 nov
2024-12: 31 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 12 nov
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
I shifted to Monday-start weeks this month, which was fine. I also switched to midnight-start days, which wasn't. I'm going back to 8am starts, since half of my reading is done after midnight, and I sometimes forget that I must get a story done before midnight to fit the calendar.
***
[1] A reply to this post repeats brief descriptions of the novels. For descriptions of the shorter tales, see the weekly posts. Most short stories this month come from single-author collections (Paul Ernst, Rog Phillips, John Wyndham) or multi-author anthologies:
New Adventures in Space Opera - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
Legends of Science Fiction: 1950 - Christopher Broschell, ed.
[2] This category is not likely to ever get high, but zero annoys me, so for next month I dug up something that proclaims it's a novella on the cover. Though the middle story in the trilogy is half again as long, and the finale is more than twice that.

#books #stories #januaryreads #bokbooks #mystery #althist
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-12-01 · 19:40 UTC

#Books and #stories for #NovemberReads
Five novels:
●●●●● The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton #mystery
●●●●○ The Vampire Affair - David McDaniel {Man from UNCLE 6} #adventure
●●●◐○ Victory or Death - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 10} #HFY
●●◐○○ The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels & Michael A Martin {Enterprise 11} #StarTrek
●●◐○○ Within the Range of Reanimation - William H Nelson {Awakening Wars 1} #horror
One novella:
●●●◐○ Kalvan Kingmaker ⧨ John F Carr #AlternateHistory
Five novelettes:
●●●◐○ Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? ⬗ Jack Sharkey
●●●◐○ Hos-Hostigos ⧨ H Beam Piper
●●●○○ Sea of Grass ⧨ John F Carr #AltHist
●●●○○ Wanderers of Time - John Wyndham
●●◐○○ The Troons of Space - John Wyndham
Thirty-nine short stories:
●●●●○ The Yellow Pill - Rog Phillips #ScienceFiction
●●●●○ The Third Vibrator - John Wyndham
●●●●○ Destiny Uncertain - Rog Phillips
●●●●○ The Taint ⬗ John Jakes #SFF
●●●●○ Pranksters - Rog Phillips
●●●●○ Time in the Round ⬗ Fritz Leiber
●●●◐○ Lonely Phoenix - Stephen L Thompson #SciFi
●●●◐○ Bottle Baby ⬗ Henry Slesar
●●●◐○ Exiles on Asperus - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ Let Freedom Ring! - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Outpost on Io ⬗ Leigh Brackett
●●●◐○ The Alexander Affair ⧨ John F Carr
●●●◐○ The Lost Machine - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ The Moon, A.D. 2044 - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ Vampire of the Deep - Rog Phillips
●●●◐○ Watershed ⬗ James Blish
●●●◐○ Spheres of Hell - John Wyndham
●●●◐○ Truckstop - Rog Phillips #alien
●●●○○ Fireproof - Hal Clement
●●●○○ Step Out of Your Body, Please - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ The King of the Elves ⬗ Philip K Dick
●●●○○ The Monster Maker ⬗ Ray Bradbury
●●●○○ The Only One that Lived - Rog Phillips
●●●○○ The Thin Gnat-Voices - John Wyndham
●●●○○ You'll Die Yesterday - Rog Phillips #TimeTravel
●●◐○○ The Gone Dogs ⬗ Frank Herbert
●●○○○ Glug ⬗ Harlan Ellison
●●○○○ The Time Tombs ⬗ J G Ballard
◐○○○○ 2 B R 0 2 B ⬗ Kurt Vonnegut
2024-11: 39 ss | 05 nvt | 01 nva | 05 nov
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov
2024-09: 23 ss | 03 nvt | 01 nva | 13 nov
2024-08: 19 ss | 03 nvt | 01 nva | 08 nov
Short descriptions of the various stories were in the weekly posts. Novel count down a bit, but I use short stories to fill in the calendar. One must have a nice-looking calendar.
⬗ = Legends of Science Fiction, 1950: Volume 1 - Christopher Broschell, ed. Finished this month.
⧨ = The Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume II - John F Carr & H Beam Piper & Roland Green. Two stories left.
Stories also came from:
The Essential Rog Phillips - Christopher Broschell, ed.
More of the Essential John Wyndham - Christopher Broschell, ed.
○ is 25CB, ● is 25CF, and ◐ is 25D0. That means the lists don't sort as nicely as one might want, even ignoring that #KateEditor somehow lacks a simple inverse sort function.
#BokBooks (a tag to filter if you find these weekly posts and monthly summaries annoying)

#books #stories #mystery #adventure #hfy #startrek
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-11-01 · 21:52 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in October:
2024-10: 26 ss | 03 nvt | 00 nva | 06 nov⁰
#Reading was down this month. The __Behold: Humanity__ series continues to be solid. Its episodic nature means you get a dozen different story threads in episodic chapters, so even if one or two aren't the best, the rest can still carry the narrative.
1983's _King of the Wood_ has an interesting #AlternateHistory setting: Refusing to convert to Christianity, some pagan Vikings settle the East Coast of North America in 995 CE. Christian Saxons flee Britain after William the Conqueror and take their own piece of the coast. Muslim Spanish settlers take Florida later. Amerind tribes remain significant polities, as do the Aztecs. Despite the promising setting, the story isn't fascinating, and was weakened by fantasy elements, IMO.
***
The Wheel - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○ #ScienceFiction
Baby on Neptune - Clare Winger Harris & Miles J. Breuer (ss) ●●●◐○
Easy Money - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Vibrometer - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○ #SFF
Never on Mars - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Requiem - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●●○
The Fire Rises - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity 9} ●●●◐○ #HFY
Fessenden's Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Distant Sound of Engines ⬗ Algis Budrys (ss) ●●○○○ #TimeTravel
Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV - Steven Capsuto (nonfic)¹ ●●●●○
The Ape Cycle - Clare Winger Harris² (nvt) ●●●◐○ #SciFi
The Dark Came Out to Play ⬗ Zenna Henderson (ss) ●●●○○
If This Be Utopia ⬗ Kris Neville (ss) ●●○○○
King of the Wood - John Maddox Roberts (nov) ●●●●○ #AlternateHistory
Can Such Beauty Be? ⬗ Jerome Bixby (ss) ●●●○○
Comfort Me, My Robot ⬗ Robert Bloch (ss) ●●◐○○
Everybody’s Happy But Me! Frederik Pohl (ss) ●●●○○
Whiskaboom ⬗ Alan Arkin³ (ss) ●●●○○ #ClassicSciFi
That First Time ◭ P Z Walker (ss) ●●◐○○
The Stronger Spell ⬗ L Sprague de Camp (ss) ●●●◐○
Angelica Blackwine ◭ P Z Walker (ss) ●●●◐○
The Night Shift ⬗ Frank M Robinson (ss) ●●●◐○
Paratime Police Chronicles One - John F Carr & H Beam Piper (nov) ●●●◐○
Worlds to Barter - John Wyndham (ss) ●●◐○○
Undiplomatic Immunity ⬗ Poul Anderson & Gordon R Dickson (ss) ●●◐○○
The Carthaginian Crisis - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett (nov) {Queen of the Sea 4} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Space Is a Province of Brazil - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Dance Macabre ◭ P Z Walker (ss) ●●●○○
Gunpowder God ⧨ H Beam Piper (nvt) ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Tonight We Steal the Stars - John Jakes (nov) ●●○○○
The Asteroids, 2194 - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Down Styphon ⧨ H Beam Piper (nvt) ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Jupiter Five ⬗ Arthur C Clarke (ss) ●●●○○
The Venus Adventure - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Trojan - Hal Clement (ss) ●●●◐○
***
[0] Previous three months:
2024-09: 23 ss | 03 nvt | 01 nva | 13 nov
2024-08: 19 ss | 03 nvt | 01 nva | 08 nov
2024-07: 22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
⬗ = Legends of Science Fiction: Volume 1
◭ = Naturist Fiction Short Stories Volume 2 by P Z Walker, finished
⧨ = Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume Two - John F Carr & H Beam Piper & Roland Green
[1] I'm counting this as a novel for length purposes. I read this here and there over several months; I'm putting it on this month's calendar because I finally finished it. #koReader
[2] Finished all twelve of the science fiction short stories ever written by Clare Winger Harris wrote, who mostly wrote in the late 1920s and early 1930s. (Her final story was written decades later.)
It was popular in the 1920s to say that atoms were like solar systems, with electrons whirling about the nucleus like tiny planets. Many authors wrote stories where characters shrank down and ended up finding civilizations on one of these micro worlds.
Two of CWH's stories did the reverse, and considered that Earth was but an electron in a molecule of a larger scale existence, and examined what happened if we had been part of a solid that suddenly melted, for instance.
[3] Yes, Alan Arkin the actor.

#books #stories #reading #alternatehistory #sciencefiction #sff
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-10-21 · 21:24 UTC

I'm getting near the end of _The Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume 1_¹, and have just started "Paratime Paradox". This is a meta #ScienceFiction story that could go very dark, though I doubt John F. Carr will take it in that direction. #SciFi
The highest law of the Paratime Police, and First Level society in general, is to keep the Paratime Secret – the reality that other timelines exist, that people can travel between them, and that citizens of one line are exploiting other lines – safe from outsiders. In this tale, routine monitoring by the Bureau of Outtime Intelligence on the Europo-American Subsector has turned up a possible major leak. #AltHist
It seems that someone name H. Beam Piper is writing #paratime stories in _Astounding Science Fiction_ magazine. He's even using "Verkan Vall" and "Tortha Karf" as a characters, among other actual people's names. Piper tells about actual events that these people have been engaged in, like the capture of an escaped Venusian Nighthound. #crosstime
Given that it's not unusual for people who discover the Paratime Secret to be killed, and that in reality H. Beam Piper committed suicide in the mistaken belief he was a failure (his agent died, leaving Piper unaware he'd sold several stories), it's theoretically possible that Verkan might have to kill Piper to save the former's civilization. #AlternateHistory
Now, it's not likely that Carr will kill the author whose oeuvre has been the basis for half of his own stories, but at the start of the story, it's a possibility. #SFF
[1] Really should have epub-split this; will the next.

#sciencefiction #scifi #althist #paratime #crosstime #alternatehistory
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-10-21 · 21:24 UTC

I'm getting near the end of _The Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume 1_¹, and have just started "Paratime Paradox". This is a meta #ScienceFiction story that could go very dark, though I doubt John F. Carr will take it in that direction. #SciFi
The highest law of the Paratime Police, and First Level society in general, is to keep the Paratime Secret – the reality that other timelines exist, that people can travel between them, and that citizens of one line are exploiting other lines – safe from outsiders. In this tale, routine monitoring by the Bureau of Outtime Intelligence on the Europo-American Subsector has turned up a possible major leak. #AltHist
It seems that someone name H. Beam Piper is writing #paratime stories in _Astounding Science Fiction_ magazine. He's even using "Verkan Vall" and "Tortha Karf" as a characters, among other actual people's names. Piper tells about actual events that these people have been engaged in, like the capture of an escaped Venusian Nighthound. #crosstime
Given that it's not unusual for people who discover the Paratime Secret to be killed, and that in reality H. Beam Piper committed suicide in the mistaken belief he was a failure (his agent died, leaving Piper unaware he'd sold several stories), it's theoretically possible that Verkan might have to kill Piper to save the former's civilization. #AlternateHistory
Now, it's not likely that Carr will kill the author whose oeuvre has been the basis for half of his own stories, but at the start of the story, it's a possibility. #SFF
[1] Really should have epub-split this; will the next.

#sciencefiction #scifi #althist #paratime #crosstime #alternatehistory
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-10-21 · 21:24 UTC

I'm getting near the end of _The Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume 1_¹, and have just started "Paratime Paradox". This is a meta #ScienceFiction story that could go very dark, though I doubt John F. Carr will take it in that direction. #SciFi
The highest law of the Paratime Police, and First Level society in general, is to keep the Paratime Secret – the reality that other timelines exist, that people can travel between them, and that citizens of one line are exploiting other lines – safe from outsiders. In this tale, routine monitoring by the Bureau of Outtime Intelligence on the Europo-American Subsector has turned up a possible major leak. #AltHist
It seems that someone name H. Beam Piper is writing #paratime stories in _Astounding Science Fiction_ magazine. He's even using "Verkan Vall" and "Tortha Karf" as a characters, among other actual people's names. Piper tells about actual events that these people have been engaged in, like the capture of an escaped Venusian Nighthound. #crosstime
Given that it's not unusual for people who discover the Paratime Secret to be killed, and that in reality H. Beam Piper committed suicide in the mistaken belief he was a failure (his agent died, leaving Piper unaware he'd sold several stories), it's theoretically possible that Verkan might have to kill Piper to save the former's civilization. #AlternateHistory
Now, it's not likely that Carr will kill the author whose oeuvre has been the basis for half of his own stories, but at the start of the story, it's a possibility. #SFF
[1] Really should have epub-split this; will the next.

#sff #alternatehistory #crosstime #paratime #althist #scifi
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-10-21 · 21:24 UTC

I'm getting near the end of _The Paratime Police Chronicles, Volume 1_¹, and have just started "Paratime Paradox". This is a meta #ScienceFiction story that could go very dark, though I doubt John F. Carr will take it in that direction. #SciFi
The highest law of the Paratime Police, and First Level society in general, is to keep the Paratime Secret – the reality that other timelines exist, that people can travel between them, and that citizens of one line are exploiting other lines – safe from outsiders. In this tale, routine monitoring by the Bureau of Outtime Intelligence on the Europo-American Subsector has turned up a possible major leak. #AltHist
It seems that someone name H. Beam Piper is writing #paratime stories in _Astounding Science Fiction_ magazine. He's even using "Verkan Vall" and "Tortha Karf" as a characters, among other actual people's names. Piper tells about actual events that these people have been engaged in, like the capture of an escaped Venusian Nighthound. #crosstime
Given that it's not unusual for people who discover the Paratime Secret to be killed, and that in reality H. Beam Piper committed suicide in the mistaken belief he was a failure (his agent died, leaving Piper unaware he'd sold several stories), it's theoretically possible that Verkan might have to kill Piper to save the former's civilization. #AlternateHistory
Now, it's not likely that Carr will kill the author whose oeuvre has been the basis for half of his own stories, but at the start of the story, it's a possibility. #SFF
[1] Really should have epub-split this; will the next.

#sciencefiction #scifi #althist #paratime #crosstime #alternatehistory
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-09-01 · 01:25 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in August:
2024-08: 19 ss | 03 nvt | 01 nva | 08 nov⁰
The Spot of Life - Austin Hall (nov) {Spot 2} ●●●○○ #SFF
What's It Like Out There? - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●○○○
As Good as New - Charlie Jane Anders (ss) ●●●●○ #reading
Off Course - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Price of Vengeance - Gina Marie Wylie (nov) {alt-Kalvan 3} ●●●●◐ #AltHist
Ultima Thule - Mack Reynolds (nvt) ●●●○○ #ScienceFiction
Grover: Case #C09 920, “The Most Dangerous Blend” ⬖ Edward Edmonds (ss) ●●◐○○¹
A Field of Sapphires and Sunshine ⬖ Jaymee Goh (ss) ●●●◐○
Roswell - Sonny Whitelaw, Jennifer Fallon (nov) {SG-1 #9} ●●●●○ #Stargate
The Fifth Dimension - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●○○○
Mercenary - Mack Reynolds (nvt) ●●●○○
Red Stuff - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○ #ClassicSciFi
Heavenly Dreams of Mechanical Trees ⬖ Wendy Nikel ●●●○○
Summer Frost - Blake Crouch (nvt) ●●●●○ #AI
The Seeds from Outside - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●◐○○○
Screams of the Past - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 08} ●●●●◐ #HFY
After a Judgment Day - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
First Through Time - Rex Gordon (nva) ●●●◐○ #TimeTravel
The Menace of Mars - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○
Exile - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
A Runaway World - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●○○
Under the Northern Lights ⬖ Charlotte M Ray (ss) ●●●◐○
Nudist Resort Murder - Kalusna Rose (nov) ●◐○○○ #mystery
Evolutionary Monstrosity - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●○○○
Midsummer Night's Heist ⬖ Commando Jugendstil (ss) ●●●●○
He That Hath Wings - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Jupiter Plague - Harry Harrison (nov) ●●●◐○ #SciFi
Tabula Rasa - J Ishiro Finney (ss) ●●○○○ #biopunk
Time and Time Again - H Beam Piper (ss) ●●●◐○ #reincarnation
When the World Shook ⬙ H. Rider Haggard (nov)² ●●◐○○ #vintageSF
Time Crime - H Beam Piper & John F Carr (nov) ●●●◐○ [Piper original, extended by Carr to better hook up with his sequels] #ScienceFiction
Riot of the Wind and Sun ⬖ Jennifer Lee Rossman (ss) ●●●◐○ #SolarPunk
_____
#Reading was down this month, I'm not sure why. Maybe five months of elevated reading times after getting the Kobo Sage and installing KOReader is just wearing off. Instead of doing two full novels each week and filling in with shorter works, I'll try doing just one.
_____
[0] Previous months:
2024-07: 22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
2024-06: 19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov
2024-05: 20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov
⬙ = Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales
⬖ = Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
[1] Another #koReader first. Longest title, at 49 characters long: Grover: Case #C09 920, “The Most Dangerous Blend”. This meant stretching a 106-screen (39p in original epub) over five days. I'll just shorten calendar names henceforth; in this case that would have been "Dangerous Blend" at two days wide.
[2] H Rider Haggard's _When the World Shook_ (1919) was very similar to Erle Cox's _Out of the Silence_ (1919 serialized, 1925 novel).
_Shook_ has two people, a young woman and an older man, found underground in crystal coffins; they were in suspended animation from 250,000 years ago, the man claims. The man was a ruler, and expresses a desire to wipe out the lesser civilization of today, as he did those who refused to bow to him in the past. The woman and the man who found her fall in love. Both ancient individuals die in the end.
_Silence_ had a man find an underground metal chamber. After getting past the booby traps, he awakens a young woman from ancient, pre-catacylsmic times. (The older man is later found in another sphere.) Again, the older man plans to rule Earth, and the woman falls for the modern man. Both ancient individuals die in the end.
I liked _Out of the Silence_ better. No third of the book wasted in setup. It also has more of a point: Both the ancient young woman and the old man are casually racist against "the coloured races," but the narrator is not, and it's clear the point is to highlight how European colonists are mistreating indigenous Australians.
_When the World Shook_ has the young woman sacrificing herself to save the world, and the man she loves. It turns out that, when suspended, your soul is free to be reincarnated. The modern man who found her contains the soul of the man she loved, whom her father had killed because he was a commoner leading the revolt of the masses against the "Children of Wisdom" who ruled them. And the modern man's wife, who died early in the book, was the most recent receptacle of the ancient woman's soul.
Oh, by the way, the word "Atlantis" shows up exactly once in the novel, and only in a "I heard of another place that was destroyed and submerged beneath the waves" sense. It's not used to describe where the sleepers came from.

#books #stories #sff #reading #althist #sciencefiction
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-08-07 · 21:16 UTC

#RhodeIsland rarely comes up in the #ScienceFiction I normally read, but it has in the book I #amReading currently, _Roswell_ by Sonny Whitelaw and Jennifer Fallon, a #Stargate SG-1 novel. After a series of errors, the team ends up in Providence in 1908, and resorts to breaking into #BrownUniversity (with the help of 17-year-old Howard Phillips #Lovecraft) to find parts to fix their time machine.
Other books that mention my home state include _True Names_ by Vernor Vinge, where one of the characters engaging in virtual reality in the story made their real-life home in #RI. Also the _Red Son_ #AltHist duology by John Deakins and Herb Sakalaucks, where political changes that ensued from the 1990s town of #Grantville popping up in the #ThirtyYearsWar, King Charles I sold off England's North American holdings to France.
A final work was another #AlternateHistory story, "The Sleeping Serpent" by Pamela Sargent, where the Mongol horde conquered Western Europe. Centuries later the Khanate had settlements on the eastern coast of North America. A young prince, disgusted by the decadence of the late empire and admiring the lifestyle of the Natives, fomented a revolution in these Colonies with the help of a half-blood resident and some tribes. #SciFi

#rhodeisland #sciencefiction #amreading #stargate #brownuniversity #lovecraft
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-07-31 · 22:23 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in July:⁰
22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
Potential Enemy - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
Pawley's Peepholes - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Assault on Fortress Sol - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 07} ●●●●○ #HFY
Fifty Years of Wonder - Leigh Brackett (intro to Best of Edmond Hamilton collection) ●●●○○
Return of the Dragon - M L Maki (nov) {Fighting Tomcats 10} ●●●●○ #AlternateHistory
Pillar to Post - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○ #MindTransfer
Medal of Honor - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Pro - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Technical Slip - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○ #reincarnation
The Wagered World - Laurence M Janifer & S J Treibich (nva) {Angelo diStefano 3} ●●○○○ [attempted humor, more pointlessly weird than funny]
The Value of Honor - Gina Marie Wylie (nov)¹ {alt-Kalvan 1}² ●●●●◐
Monster-God of Mamurth - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●●○
Island of Unreason - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Adaptation - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Chronocide Mission - Lloyd Biggle Jr (nov) ●●●●○ [very slow first half, but then progress and a double twist ending]
A Conquest of Two Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Evolved - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
Atlantida ⬙ Pierre Benoit (nov) ●●●○○
Emergency Skin - N K Jemison (nvt) ●●●●○
Red Portal - John J Rust (nov) ●●◐○○ #TimeTravel
Happy Ending - Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown (ss) ●●●○○
Thundering Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Cost of Time - Gina Marie Wylie (nov) {alt-Kalvan 2} ●●●●◐
Accursed Galaxy - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
A Stray from Cathay - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Man Who Returned - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Bartley's Man (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
In the World's Dusk - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Dogfight—1973 - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
The Spider and the Stars ⬖ D K Mok (ss) ●●◐○○
The Blind Spot - Austin Hall & Homer Eon Flint (nov) {Spot 1} ●●●◐○ #SFF
Conquest of the Space Sea - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
Child of the Winds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Artificial Man - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○
Confidence Trick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Grow, Give, Repeat ⬖ Gregory Scheckler (ss) ●●●●○ #SolarPunk
The Ark - Veronica Roth (nvt) ●●●◐○
-----
[0]
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov == May
19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov == June
⬙ = Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales
⬖ = Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
[1] The stats say that The Value of Honor, at 3316 pages, is the longest work I've read on #koReader since I installed it mid-March.³
Granted, I read at 38 points on a 1440×1920 8-inch screen, giving me 16 lines per screen. It would be ~750 pages in paperback. If I hadn't split Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales into individual novels, that anthology would have come in at over 14,000 screens.
[2] Gina Marie Wylie wrote Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen fan fiction. (Yes: an #AltHist version of an alt-hist story.) The trilogy is set after John F Carr's Gunpowder God, but the books were written before he released his final two Kalvan novels. #fanfic
GMW ends the Fireseed Wars more quickly, picking up events after seven years of peace. She begins her tale with five teenage girls and two adults who were going on a camping trip when their van was caught up in a conveyor crossover and dumped in Kalvan's Timeline.
They're in the Southwest, which the Mexicotál – allied with West Coast Zarthani, in whose realm the remnants of Styphon's House have set up shop – are about to invade. Kalvan is mentioned often in the first novel, but only shows up for a few short conversations near the end of the book. The trilogy's middle volume adds another local girl as a mostly-separate plot thread. #ScienceFiction
Neither ArchiveOfOurOwn·org nor FanFiction·net lists other Kalvan #fanfic besides Gina Marie's trilogy, but some is likely out there. Wylie's Kalvan timeline novels focus on other characters, with Kalvan and Verkan and the rest only making cameos. GWM's books are slightly better than Carr's. #SciFi
[3] I doubt anyone reads these posts, but I suspect that's true of most posts. I like having #reading statistics and filling a nice calendar. My reading time is up noticeably since installing KOReader. Even if this post means nothing to anyone else, it has value to me.

#books #stories #hfy #alternatehistory #mindtransfer #reincarnation
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-07-31 · 22:23 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in July:⁰
22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
Potential Enemy - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
Pawley's Peepholes - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Assault on Fortress Sol - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 07} ●●●●○ #HFY
Fifty Years of Wonder - Leigh Brackett (intro to Best of Edmond Hamilton collection) ●●●○○
Return of the Dragon - M L Maki (nov) {Fighting Tomcats 10} ●●●●○ #AlternateHistory
Pillar to Post - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○ #MindTransfer
Medal of Honor - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Pro - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Technical Slip - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○ #reincarnation
The Wagered World - Laurence M Janifer & S J Treibich (nva) {Angelo diStefano 3} ●●○○○ [attempted humor, more pointlessly weird than funny]
The Value of Honor - Gina Marie Wylie (nov)¹ {alt-Kalvan 1}² ●●●●◐
Monster-God of Mamurth - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●●○
Island of Unreason - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Adaptation - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Chronocide Mission - Lloyd Biggle Jr (nov) ●●●●○ [very slow first half, but then progress and a double twist ending]
A Conquest of Two Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Evolved - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
Atlantida ⬙ Pierre Benoit (nov) ●●●○○
Emergency Skin - N K Jemison (nvt) ●●●●○
Red Portal - John J Rust (nov) ●●◐○○ #TimeTravel
Happy Ending - Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown (ss) ●●●○○
Thundering Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Cost of Time - Gina Marie Wylie (nov) {alt-Kalvan 2} ●●●●◐
Accursed Galaxy - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
A Stray from Cathay - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Man Who Returned - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Bartley's Man (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
In the World's Dusk - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Dogfight—1973 - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
The Spider and the Stars ⬖ D K Mok (ss) ●●◐○○
The Blind Spot - Austin Hall & Homer Eon Flint (nov) {Spot 1} ●●●◐○ #SFF
Conquest of the Space Sea - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
Child of the Winds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Artificial Man - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○
Confidence Trick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Grow, Give, Repeat ⬖ Gregory Scheckler (ss) ●●●●○ #SolarPunk
The Ark - Veronica Roth (nvt) ●●●◐○
-----
[0]
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov == May
19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov == June
⬙ = Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales
⬖ = Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
[1] The stats say that The Value of Honor, at 3316 pages, is the longest work I've read on #koReader since I installed it mid-March.³
Granted, I read at 38 points on a 1440×1920 8-inch screen, giving me 16 lines per screen. It would be ~750 pages in paperback. If I hadn't split Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales into individual novels, that anthology would have come in at over 14,000 screens.
[2] Gina Marie Wylie wrote Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen fan fiction. (Yes: an #AltHist version of an alt-hist story.) The trilogy is set after John F Carr's Gunpowder God, but the books were written before he released his final two Kalvan novels. #fanfic
GMW ends the Fireseed Wars more quickly, picking up events after seven years of peace. She begins her tale with five teenage girls and two adults who were going on a camping trip when their van was caught up in a conveyor crossover and dumped in Kalvan's Timeline.
They're in the Southwest, which the Mexicotál – allied with West Coast Zarthani, in whose realm the remnants of Styphon's House have set up shop – are about to invade. Kalvan is mentioned often in the first novel, but only shows up for a few short conversations near the end of the book. The trilogy's middle volume adds another local girl as a mostly-separate plot thread. #ScienceFiction
Neither ArchiveOfOurOwn·org nor FanFiction·net lists other Kalvan #fanfic besides Gina Marie's trilogy, but some is likely out there. Wylie's Kalvan timeline novels focus on other characters, with Kalvan and Verkan and the rest only making cameos. GWM's books are slightly better than Carr's. #SciFi
[3] I doubt anyone reads these posts, but I suspect that's true of most posts. I like having #reading statistics and filling a nice calendar. My reading time is up noticeably since installing KOReader. Even if this post means nothing to anyone else, it has value to me.

#books #stories #hfy #alternatehistory #mindtransfer #reincarnation
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-07-31 · 22:23 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in July:⁰
22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
Potential Enemy - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
Pawley's Peepholes - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Assault on Fortress Sol - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 07} ●●●●○ #HFY
Fifty Years of Wonder - Leigh Brackett (intro to Best of Edmond Hamilton collection) ●●●○○
Return of the Dragon - M L Maki (nov) {Fighting Tomcats 10} ●●●●○ #AlternateHistory
Pillar to Post - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○ #MindTransfer
Medal of Honor - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Pro - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Technical Slip - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○ #reincarnation
The Wagered World - Laurence M Janifer & S J Treibich (nva) {Angelo diStefano 3} ●●○○○ [attempted humor, more pointlessly weird than funny]
The Value of Honor - Gina Marie Wylie (nov)¹ {alt-Kalvan 1}² ●●●●◐
Monster-God of Mamurth - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●●○
Island of Unreason - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Adaptation - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Chronocide Mission - Lloyd Biggle Jr (nov) ●●●●○ [very slow first half, but then progress and a double twist ending]
A Conquest of Two Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Evolved - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
Atlantida ⬙ Pierre Benoit (nov) ●●●○○
Emergency Skin - N K Jemison (nvt) ●●●●○
Red Portal - John J Rust (nov) ●●◐○○ #TimeTravel
Happy Ending - Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown (ss) ●●●○○
Thundering Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Cost of Time - Gina Marie Wylie (nov) {alt-Kalvan 2} ●●●●◐
Accursed Galaxy - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
A Stray from Cathay - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Man Who Returned - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Bartley's Man (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
In the World's Dusk - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Dogfight—1973 - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
The Spider and the Stars ⬖ D K Mok (ss) ●●◐○○
The Blind Spot - Austin Hall & Homer Eon Flint (nov) {Spot 1} ●●●◐○ #SFF
Conquest of the Space Sea - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
Child of the Winds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Artificial Man - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○
Confidence Trick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Grow, Give, Repeat ⬖ Gregory Scheckler (ss) ●●●●○ #SolarPunk
The Ark - Veronica Roth (nvt) ●●●◐○
-----
[0]
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov == May
19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov == June
⬙ = Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales
⬖ = Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
[1] The stats say that The Value of Honor, at 3316 pages, is the longest work I've read on #koReader since I installed it mid-March.³
Granted, I read at 38 points on a 1440×1920 8-inch screen, giving me 16 lines per screen. It would be ~750 pages in paperback. If I hadn't split Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales into individual novels, that anthology would have come in at over 14,000 screens.
[2] Gina Marie Wylie wrote Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen fan fiction. (Yes: an #AltHist version of an alt-hist story.) The trilogy is set after John F Carr's Gunpowder God, but the books were written before he released his final two Kalvan novels. #fanfic
GMW ends the Fireseed Wars more quickly, picking up events after seven years of peace. She begins her tale with five teenage girls and two adults who were going on a camping trip when their van was caught up in a conveyor crossover and dumped in Kalvan's Timeline.
They're in the Southwest, which the Mexicotál – allied with West Coast Zarthani, in whose realm the remnants of Styphon's House have set up shop – are about to invade. Kalvan is mentioned often in the first novel, but only shows up for a few short conversations near the end of the book. The trilogy's middle volume adds another local girl as a mostly-separate plot thread. #ScienceFiction
Neither ArchiveOfOurOwn·org nor FanFiction·net lists other Kalvan #fanfic besides Gina Marie's trilogy, but some is likely out there. Wylie's Kalvan timeline novels focus on other characters, with Kalvan and Verkan and the rest only making cameos. GWM's books are slightly better than Carr's. #SciFi
[3] I doubt anyone reads these posts, but I suspect that's true of most posts. I like having #reading statistics and filling a nice calendar. My reading time is up noticeably since installing KOReader. Even if this post means nothing to anyone else, it has value to me.

#books #stories #hfy #alternatehistory #mindtransfer #reincarnation
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-07-31 · 22:23 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in July:⁰
22 ss | 03 nvt | 02 nva | 09 nov
Potential Enemy - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
Pawley's Peepholes - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Assault on Fortress Sol - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 07} ●●●●○ #HFY
Fifty Years of Wonder - Leigh Brackett (intro to Best of Edmond Hamilton collection) ●●●○○
Return of the Dragon - M L Maki (nov) {Fighting Tomcats 10} ●●●●○ #AlternateHistory
Pillar to Post - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○ #MindTransfer
Medal of Honor - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Pro - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Technical Slip - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○ #reincarnation
The Wagered World - Laurence M Janifer & S J Treibich (nva) {Angelo diStefano 3} ●●○○○ [attempted humor, more pointlessly weird than funny]
The Value of Honor - Gina Marie Wylie (nov)¹ {alt-Kalvan 1}² ●●●●◐
Monster-God of Mamurth - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●●○
Island of Unreason - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Adaptation - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Chronocide Mission - Lloyd Biggle Jr (nov) ●●●●○ [very slow first half, but then progress and a double twist ending]
A Conquest of Two Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Evolved - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
Atlantida ⬙ Pierre Benoit (nov) ●●●○○
Emergency Skin - N K Jemison (nvt) ●●●●○
Red Portal - John J Rust (nov) ●●◐○○ #TimeTravel
Happy Ending - Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown (ss) ●●●○○
Thundering Worlds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Cost of Time - Gina Marie Wylie (nov) {alt-Kalvan 2} ●●●●◐
Accursed Galaxy - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●◐○
A Stray from Cathay - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Man Who Returned - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
Bartley's Man (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
In the World's Dusk - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
Dogfight—1973 - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
The Spider and the Stars ⬖ D K Mok (ss) ●●◐○○
The Blind Spot - Austin Hall & Homer Eon Flint (nov) {Spot 1} ●●●◐○ #SFF
Conquest of the Space Sea - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
Child of the Winds - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●◐○○
The Artificial Man - Clare Winger Harris (ss) ●●●◐○
Confidence Trick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●◐○
Grow, Give, Repeat ⬖ Gregory Scheckler (ss) ●●●●○ #SolarPunk
The Ark - Veronica Roth (nvt) ●●●◐○
-----
[0]
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov == May
19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov == June
⬙ = Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales
⬖ = Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
[1] The stats say that The Value of Honor, at 3316 pages, is the longest work I've read on #koReader since I installed it mid-March.³
Granted, I read at 38 points on a 1440×1920 8-inch screen, giving me 16 lines per screen. It would be ~750 pages in paperback. If I hadn't split Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales into individual novels, that anthology would have come in at over 14,000 screens.
[2] Gina Marie Wylie wrote Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen fan fiction. (Yes: an #AltHist version of an alt-hist story.) The trilogy is set after John F Carr's Gunpowder God, but the books were written before he released his final two Kalvan novels. #fanfic
GMW ends the Fireseed Wars more quickly, picking up events after seven years of peace. She begins her tale with five teenage girls and two adults who were going on a camping trip when their van was caught up in a conveyor crossover and dumped in Kalvan's Timeline.
They're in the Southwest, which the Mexicotál – allied with West Coast Zarthani, in whose realm the remnants of Styphon's House have set up shop – are about to invade. Kalvan is mentioned often in the first novel, but only shows up for a few short conversations near the end of the book. The trilogy's middle volume adds another local girl as a mostly-separate plot thread. #ScienceFiction
Neither ArchiveOfOurOwn·org nor FanFiction·net lists other Kalvan #fanfic besides Gina Marie's trilogy, but some is likely out there. Wylie's Kalvan timeline novels focus on other characters, with Kalvan and Verkan and the rest only making cameos. GWM's books are slightly better than Carr's. #SciFi
[3] I doubt anyone reads these posts, but I suspect that's true of most posts. I like having #reading statistics and filling a nice calendar. My reading time is up noticeably since installing KOReader. Even if this post means nothing to anyone else, it has value to me.

#reading #scifi #sciencefiction #fanfic #althist #koreader
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-30 · 23:45 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in
June 2024: 19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov
(May was: 20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov)
Expediter - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Freedom - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
A Letter from the Pope ⬘ Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey (ss) ●●●◐○ #AH
Gunpowder God - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 6} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Lucky Strike ⬘ Kim Stanley Robinson (nvt) ●●●◐○
Doomsday Eve - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
The Sleeping Serpent ⬘ Pamela Sargent (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (nov) ●●●●◐ #reading
Imitation Game ⬘ Rudy Rucker (ss) ●●●○○
Weinachtsabend ⬘ Keith Roberts (nvt) ●●○○○
Chicago 1871 - James E. Merl (nov) ●●●○○ #TimeTravel
Subversive - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Hos-Blethan Affair - John F Carr & Wolfgang Diehr (nov) {Kalvan 7} ●●●●○
Ten from Infinity - Paul W Fairman (nva) {aka ‘The Deadly Sky’ or ‘Ten Deadly Men’ | by ‘Ivar Jorgensen’} ●●●◐○ #ClassicSciFi
Waiting for the Olympians ⬘ Frederik Pohl (nvt) ●●●◐○ #SFF
Darwin Anathema ⬘ Stephen Baxter (ss) ●●●○○
Summit - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Down Styphon - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 8} ●●●○○ #AltHist
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
And Then the Town Took Off - Richard Wilson (nva) ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Combat - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●◐○○
How Do I Do? - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Unborn Tomorrow - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Atlantis: The Lost Continent ⬙ C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne (nov) ●○○○○
Bargain from Brunswick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Turn Your Radio On - Wood Hughes (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○
The Star Seekers - Milton Lesser (nov) ●●●○○ #SciFi
Day of Judgment - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Portal in the Picture - C L Moore and Henry Kuttner (nov) ●●●◐○ #CrossTime
Reservation Deferred - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Common Man - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Clockwise - J S Johnston (ss) ●●●○○
Revolution - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Living Lies - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○
Completed the anthology The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates. (Stories from it marked with ⬘.) I'd read the Robinson and Pohl tales before, but the other two dozen stories were new to me. I've begun the anthology Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales (marked ⬙). After how bad the first tale was, I don't expect to try more than a novel or two per month.
Finished Carr's extension of Piper's Lord Kalvan stories. #6 was solid, #7 was better, but the concluding #8 was a letdown. I find battles boring, and much prefer making stoves and perfecting paper, but to have two cities fall to Hostigos forces without being conquered feels like Carr just wanted the series to be over.
And the plot thread of the atomic blast and the impending prole revolt on Home Timeline was simply dropped, unless we're to infer from the months-long communications cut-off the outtimers on Kalvan's timeline experienced that Home Timeline is suffering a major war right now, with many conveyor hubs destroyed.
This is the worst month possible for neatly filling out the calendar, with two single-day rows requiring one-day-wide titles. There won't be another thirty-day month starting on a Saturday until April 2028. #koReader

#books #stories #ah #althistory #acedouble #reading
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-30 · 23:45 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in
June 2024: 19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov
(May was: 20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov)
Expediter - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Freedom - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
A Letter from the Pope ⬘ Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey (ss) ●●●◐○ #AH
Gunpowder God - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 6} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Lucky Strike ⬘ Kim Stanley Robinson (nvt) ●●●◐○
Doomsday Eve - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
The Sleeping Serpent ⬘ Pamela Sargent (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (nov) ●●●●◐ #reading
Imitation Game ⬘ Rudy Rucker (ss) ●●●○○
Weinachtsabend ⬘ Keith Roberts (nvt) ●●○○○
Chicago 1871 - James E. Merl (nov) ●●●○○ #TimeTravel
Subversive - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Hos-Blethan Affair - John F Carr & Wolfgang Diehr (nov) {Kalvan 7} ●●●●○
Ten from Infinity - Paul W Fairman (nva) {aka ‘The Deadly Sky’ or ‘Ten Deadly Men’ | by ‘Ivar Jorgensen’} ●●●◐○ #ClassicSciFi
Waiting for the Olympians ⬘ Frederik Pohl (nvt) ●●●◐○ #SFF
Darwin Anathema ⬘ Stephen Baxter (ss) ●●●○○
Summit - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Down Styphon - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 8} ●●●○○ #AltHist
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
And Then the Town Took Off - Richard Wilson (nva) ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Combat - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●◐○○
How Do I Do? - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Unborn Tomorrow - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Atlantis: The Lost Continent ⬙ C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne (nov) ●○○○○
Bargain from Brunswick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Turn Your Radio On - Wood Hughes (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○
The Star Seekers - Milton Lesser (nov) ●●●○○ #SciFi
Day of Judgment - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Portal in the Picture - C L Moore and Henry Kuttner (nov) ●●●◐○ #CrossTime
Reservation Deferred - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Common Man - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Clockwise - J S Johnston (ss) ●●●○○
Revolution - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Living Lies - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○
Completed the anthology The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates. (Stories from it marked with ⬘.) I'd read the Robinson and Pohl tales before, but the other two dozen stories were new to me. I've begun the anthology Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales (marked ⬙). After how bad the first tale was, I don't expect to try more than a novel or two per month.
Finished Carr's extension of Piper's Lord Kalvan stories. #6 was solid, #7 was better, but the concluding #8 was a letdown. I find battles boring, and much prefer making stoves and perfecting paper, but to have two cities fall to Hostigos forces without being conquered feels like Carr just wanted the series to be over.
And the plot thread of the atomic blast and the impending prole revolt on Home Timeline was simply dropped, unless we're to infer from the months-long communications cut-off the outtimers on Kalvan's timeline experienced that Home Timeline is suffering a major war right now, with many conveyor hubs destroyed.
This is the worst month possible for neatly filling out the calendar, with two single-day rows requiring one-day-wide titles. There won't be another thirty-day month starting on a Saturday until April 2028. #koReader

#books #stories #ah #althistory #acedouble #reading
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-30 · 23:45 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in
June 2024: 19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov
(May was: 20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov)
Expediter - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Freedom - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
A Letter from the Pope ⬘ Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey (ss) ●●●◐○ #AH
Gunpowder God - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 6} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Lucky Strike ⬘ Kim Stanley Robinson (nvt) ●●●◐○
Doomsday Eve - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
The Sleeping Serpent ⬘ Pamela Sargent (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (nov) ●●●●◐ #reading
Imitation Game ⬘ Rudy Rucker (ss) ●●●○○
Weinachtsabend ⬘ Keith Roberts (nvt) ●●○○○
Chicago 1871 - James E. Merl (nov) ●●●○○ #TimeTravel
Subversive - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Hos-Blethan Affair - John F Carr & Wolfgang Diehr (nov) {Kalvan 7} ●●●●○
Ten from Infinity - Paul W Fairman (nva) {aka ‘The Deadly Sky’ or ‘Ten Deadly Men’ | by ‘Ivar Jorgensen’} ●●●◐○ #ClassicSciFi
Waiting for the Olympians ⬘ Frederik Pohl (nvt) ●●●◐○ #SFF
Darwin Anathema ⬘ Stephen Baxter (ss) ●●●○○
Summit - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Down Styphon - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 8} ●●●○○ #AltHist
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
And Then the Town Took Off - Richard Wilson (nva) ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Combat - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●◐○○
How Do I Do? - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Unborn Tomorrow - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Atlantis: The Lost Continent ⬙ C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne (nov) ●○○○○
Bargain from Brunswick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Turn Your Radio On - Wood Hughes (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○
The Star Seekers - Milton Lesser (nov) ●●●○○ #SciFi
Day of Judgment - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Portal in the Picture - C L Moore and Henry Kuttner (nov) ●●●◐○ #CrossTime
Reservation Deferred - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Common Man - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Clockwise - J S Johnston (ss) ●●●○○
Revolution - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Living Lies - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○
Completed the anthology The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates. (Stories from it marked with ⬘.) I'd read the Robinson and Pohl tales before, but the other two dozen stories were new to me. I've begun the anthology Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales (marked ⬙). After how bad the first tale was, I don't expect to try more than a novel or two per month.
Finished Carr's extension of Piper's Lord Kalvan stories. #6 was solid, #7 was better, but the concluding #8 was a letdown. I find battles boring, and much prefer making stoves and perfecting paper, but to have two cities fall to Hostigos forces without being conquered feels like Carr just wanted the series to be over.
And the plot thread of the atomic blast and the impending prole revolt on Home Timeline was simply dropped, unless we're to infer from the months-long communications cut-off the outtimers on Kalvan's timeline experienced that Home Timeline is suffering a major war right now, with many conveyor hubs destroyed.
This is the worst month possible for neatly filling out the calendar, with two single-day rows requiring one-day-wide titles. There won't be another thirty-day month starting on a Saturday until April 2028. #koReader

#koreader #crosstime #scifi #althist #sff #classicscifi
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-30 · 23:45 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in
June 2024: 19 ss | 04 nvt | 03 nva | 09 nov
(May was: 20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov)
Expediter - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Freedom - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●○○○
A Letter from the Pope ⬘ Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey (ss) ●●●◐○ #AH
Gunpowder God - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 6} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Lucky Strike ⬘ Kim Stanley Robinson (nvt) ●●●◐○
Doomsday Eve - Robert Moore Williams (nva) ●●◐○○ #AceDouble
I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●◐○
The Sleeping Serpent ⬘ Pamela Sargent (nvt) ●●●◐○
The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (nov) ●●●●◐ #reading
Imitation Game ⬘ Rudy Rucker (ss) ●●●○○
Weinachtsabend ⬘ Keith Roberts (nvt) ●●○○○
Chicago 1871 - James E. Merl (nov) ●●●○○ #TimeTravel
Subversive - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
The Hos-Blethan Affair - John F Carr & Wolfgang Diehr (nov) {Kalvan 7} ●●●●○
Ten from Infinity - Paul W Fairman (nva) {aka ‘The Deadly Sky’ or ‘Ten Deadly Men’ | by ‘Ivar Jorgensen’} ●●●◐○ #ClassicSciFi
Waiting for the Olympians ⬘ Frederik Pohl (nvt) ●●●◐○ #SFF
Darwin Anathema ⬘ Stephen Baxter (ss) ●●●○○
Summit - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Down Styphon - John F Carr (nov) {Kalvan 8} ●●●○○ #AltHist
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
And Then the Town Took Off - Richard Wilson (nva) ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Combat - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●◐○○
How Do I Do? - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Unborn Tomorrow - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Atlantis: The Lost Continent ⬙ C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne (nov) ●○○○○
Bargain from Brunswick - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
Turn Your Radio On - Wood Hughes (nov) {Grantville} ●●●◐○
The Star Seekers - Milton Lesser (nov) ●●●○○ #SciFi
Day of Judgment - Edmond Hamilton (ss) ●●●○○
The Portal in the Picture - C L Moore and Henry Kuttner (nov) ●●●◐○ #CrossTime
Reservation Deferred - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
The Common Man - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Clockwise - J S Johnston (ss) ●●●○○
Revolution - Mack Reynolds (ss) ●●●○○
Living Lies - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●●○
Completed the anthology The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates. (Stories from it marked with ⬘.) I'd read the Robinson and Pohl tales before, but the other two dozen stories were new to me. I've begun the anthology Atlantis and Lemuria: 13 Classic Tales (marked ⬙). After how bad the first tale was, I don't expect to try more than a novel or two per month.
Finished Carr's extension of Piper's Lord Kalvan stories. #6 was solid, #7 was better, but the concluding #8 was a letdown. I find battles boring, and much prefer making stoves and perfecting paper, but to have two cities fall to Hostigos forces without being conquered feels like Carr just wanted the series to be over.
And the plot thread of the atomic blast and the impending prole revolt on Home Timeline was simply dropped, unless we're to infer from the months-long communications cut-off the outtimers on Kalvan's timeline experienced that Home Timeline is suffering a major war right now, with many conveyor hubs destroyed.
This is the worst month possible for neatly filling out the calendar, with two single-day rows requiring one-day-wide titles. There won't be another thirty-day month starting on a Saturday until April 2028. #koReader

#books #stories #ah #althistory #acedouble #reading
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-01 · 00:14 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in May:
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov
⬘ = short story from the anthology
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories
Do Unto Others - Mark Clifton (ss) #SciFi ●●●○○
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 4} ●●●◐○ #zombies
The Tribulations of Ned Summers - Shawn Inmon (nov) {Middle Falls 9} #reincarnation ●●○○○ [the moral of the story was "sometimes it's best to just give up"]
Lily White Rose Red - Catt Ford (nov) #mystery #lgbtq ●●●◐○
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 5} ●●●◐○
What Now, Little Man? - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●◐○○ #ScienceFiction
Hang Head, Vandal! - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 6} ●●●◐○
The Theater at Ephesus - Pierre E Pettinger Jr (nov) {Sodality Universe 4} ●●●●○
All the Pretty Little Horses - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 7} ●●●●○
When They Come from Space - Mark Clifton (nva) {Ralph Kennedy 5} ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Beyond His Time - Adrian Cousins (nva) {Jason Apsley 3.5} ●●○○○
Calling Time - Adrian Cousins (nov) {Jason Apsley 4} ●●●○○
The Raft of the Titanic ⬘ James Morrow (ss) ●●○○○
Coming to You Live - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 8} ●●●◐○
Sidewinder ⬘ Ken MacLeod (ss) ●●●◐○
Hush My Mouth ⬘ Suzette Haden Elgin (ss) ●●●●○
Total War - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 6} ●●●●○ #HFY
Ink from the New Moon ⬘ A. A. Attanasio (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Dispatches from the Revolution ⬘ Pat Cadigan (ss) ●●○○○
His Powder’d Wig, His Crown of Thornes ⬘ Marc Laidlaw (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Manassas, Again ⬘ Gregory Benford (ss) ●●○○○
The Einstein Gun ⬘ Pierre Gévart (ss) ●●●◐○
Lenin in Odessa ⬘ George Zebrowski (ss) ●●●○○
Such a Deal ⬘ Esther M. Friesner (ss) ●●●●○
A Very British History ⬘ Paul McAuley (ss) ●●●○○
The Francesians - Jim Bowering (nov) {Green Comet 3} ●●◐○○
Catch That Zeppelin! ⬘ Fritz Leiber (nvt) ●●●●◐
Islands in the Sea ⬘ Harry Turtledove (ss) ●●●●○
The Wandering Christian ⬘ Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman (nvt) ●●●●○
Roncesvalles ⬘ Judith Tarr (ss) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Stopped at Nothing - Paul W Fairman (nvt) ●●●●○
Pride of the Genii (nov) {Stargate Atlantis 24} ●●●◐○
Tales from the Venia Woods ⬘ Robert Silverberg (ss) ●●●◐○
O One ⬘ Chris Roberson (ss) ●●●◐○
The English Mutiny ⬘ Ian R. MacLeod (ss) ●●●○○
Jizzle - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
I've gotten better at not cutting off titles, and shuffling stories by title-length and word-count to better fill the grid. Finding one-day-wide titles can be difficult.

#books #stories #scifi #zombies #reincarnation #mystery
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-01 · 00:14 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in May:
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov
⬘ = short story from the anthology
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories
Do Unto Others - Mark Clifton (ss) #SciFi ●●●○○
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 4} ●●●◐○ #zombies
The Tribulations of Ned Summers - Shawn Inmon (nov) {Middle Falls 9} #reincarnation ●●○○○ [the moral of the story was "sometimes it's best to just give up"]
Lily White Rose Red - Catt Ford (nov) #mystery #lgbtq ●●●◐○
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 5} ●●●◐○
What Now, Little Man? - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●◐○○ #ScienceFiction
Hang Head, Vandal! - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 6} ●●●◐○
The Theater at Ephesus - Pierre E Pettinger Jr (nov) {Sodality Universe 4} ●●●●○
All the Pretty Little Horses - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 7} ●●●●○
When They Come from Space - Mark Clifton (nva) {Ralph Kennedy 5} ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Beyond His Time - Adrian Cousins (nva) {Jason Apsley 3.5} ●●○○○
Calling Time - Adrian Cousins (nov) {Jason Apsley 4} ●●●○○
The Raft of the Titanic ⬘ James Morrow (ss) ●●○○○
Coming to You Live - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 8} ●●●◐○
Sidewinder ⬘ Ken MacLeod (ss) ●●●◐○
Hush My Mouth ⬘ Suzette Haden Elgin (ss) ●●●●○
Total War - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 6} ●●●●○ #HFY
Ink from the New Moon ⬘ A. A. Attanasio (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Dispatches from the Revolution ⬘ Pat Cadigan (ss) ●●○○○
His Powder’d Wig, His Crown of Thornes ⬘ Marc Laidlaw (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Manassas, Again ⬘ Gregory Benford (ss) ●●○○○
The Einstein Gun ⬘ Pierre Gévart (ss) ●●●◐○
Lenin in Odessa ⬘ George Zebrowski (ss) ●●●○○
Such a Deal ⬘ Esther M. Friesner (ss) ●●●●○
A Very British History ⬘ Paul McAuley (ss) ●●●○○
The Francesians - Jim Bowering (nov) {Green Comet 3} ●●◐○○
Catch That Zeppelin! ⬘ Fritz Leiber (nvt) ●●●●◐
Islands in the Sea ⬘ Harry Turtledove (ss) ●●●●○
The Wandering Christian ⬘ Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman (nvt) ●●●●○
Roncesvalles ⬘ Judith Tarr (ss) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Stopped at Nothing - Paul W Fairman (nvt) ●●●●○
Pride of the Genii (nov) {Stargate Atlantis 24} ●●●◐○
Tales from the Venia Woods ⬘ Robert Silverberg (ss) ●●●◐○
O One ⬘ Chris Roberson (ss) ●●●◐○
The English Mutiny ⬘ Ian R. MacLeod (ss) ●●●○○
Jizzle - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
I've gotten better at not cutting off titles, and shuffling stories by title-length and word-count to better fill the grid. Finding one-day-wide titles can be difficult.

#books #stories #scifi #zombies #reincarnation #mystery
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-01 · 00:14 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in May:
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov
⬘ = short story from the anthology
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories
Do Unto Others - Mark Clifton (ss) #SciFi ●●●○○
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 4} ●●●◐○ #zombies
The Tribulations of Ned Summers - Shawn Inmon (nov) {Middle Falls 9} #reincarnation ●●○○○ [the moral of the story was "sometimes it's best to just give up"]
Lily White Rose Red - Catt Ford (nov) #mystery #lgbtq ●●●◐○
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 5} ●●●◐○
What Now, Little Man? - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●◐○○ #ScienceFiction
Hang Head, Vandal! - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 6} ●●●◐○
The Theater at Ephesus - Pierre E Pettinger Jr (nov) {Sodality Universe 4} ●●●●○
All the Pretty Little Horses - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 7} ●●●●○
When They Come from Space - Mark Clifton (nva) {Ralph Kennedy 5} ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Beyond His Time - Adrian Cousins (nva) {Jason Apsley 3.5} ●●○○○
Calling Time - Adrian Cousins (nov) {Jason Apsley 4} ●●●○○
The Raft of the Titanic ⬘ James Morrow (ss) ●●○○○
Coming to You Live - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 8} ●●●◐○
Sidewinder ⬘ Ken MacLeod (ss) ●●●◐○
Hush My Mouth ⬘ Suzette Haden Elgin (ss) ●●●●○
Total War - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 6} ●●●●○ #HFY
Ink from the New Moon ⬘ A. A. Attanasio (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Dispatches from the Revolution ⬘ Pat Cadigan (ss) ●●○○○
His Powder’d Wig, His Crown of Thornes ⬘ Marc Laidlaw (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Manassas, Again ⬘ Gregory Benford (ss) ●●○○○
The Einstein Gun ⬘ Pierre Gévart (ss) ●●●◐○
Lenin in Odessa ⬘ George Zebrowski (ss) ●●●○○
Such a Deal ⬘ Esther M. Friesner (ss) ●●●●○
A Very British History ⬘ Paul McAuley (ss) ●●●○○
The Francesians - Jim Bowering (nov) {Green Comet 3} ●●◐○○
Catch That Zeppelin! ⬘ Fritz Leiber (nvt) ●●●●◐
Islands in the Sea ⬘ Harry Turtledove (ss) ●●●●○
The Wandering Christian ⬘ Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman (nvt) ●●●●○
Roncesvalles ⬘ Judith Tarr (ss) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Stopped at Nothing - Paul W Fairman (nvt) ●●●●○
Pride of the Genii (nov) {Stargate Atlantis 24} ●●●◐○
Tales from the Venia Woods ⬘ Robert Silverberg (ss) ●●●◐○
O One ⬘ Chris Roberson (ss) ●●●◐○
The English Mutiny ⬘ Ian R. MacLeod (ss) ●●●○○
Jizzle - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
I've gotten better at not cutting off titles, and shuffling stories by title-length and word-count to better fill the grid. Finding one-day-wide titles can be difficult.

#althist #althistory #hfy #acedouble #sciencefiction #lgbtq
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-06-01 · 00:14 UTC

#Books and #stories completed in May:
20 ss | 08 nvt | 02 nva | 07 nov
⬘ = short story from the anthology
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories
Do Unto Others - Mark Clifton (ss) #SciFi ●●●○○
How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 4} ●●●◐○ #zombies
The Tribulations of Ned Summers - Shawn Inmon (nov) {Middle Falls 9} #reincarnation ●●○○○ [the moral of the story was "sometimes it's best to just give up"]
Lily White Rose Red - Catt Ford (nov) #mystery #lgbtq ●●●◐○
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 5} ●●●◐○
What Now, Little Man? - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●◐○○ #ScienceFiction
Hang Head, Vandal! - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 6} ●●●◐○
The Theater at Ephesus - Pierre E Pettinger Jr (nov) {Sodality Universe 4} ●●●●○
All the Pretty Little Horses - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 7} ●●●●○
When They Come from Space - Mark Clifton (nva) {Ralph Kennedy 5} ●●●◐○ #AceDouble
Beyond His Time - Adrian Cousins (nva) {Jason Apsley 3.5} ●●○○○
Calling Time - Adrian Cousins (nov) {Jason Apsley 4} ●●●○○
The Raft of the Titanic ⬘ James Morrow (ss) ●●○○○
Coming to You Live - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 8} ●●●◐○
Sidewinder ⬘ Ken MacLeod (ss) ●●●◐○
Hush My Mouth ⬘ Suzette Haden Elgin (ss) ●●●●○
Total War - Ralts Bloodthorne (nov) {Behold: Humanity! 6} ●●●●○ #HFY
Ink from the New Moon ⬘ A. A. Attanasio (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Dispatches from the Revolution ⬘ Pat Cadigan (ss) ●●○○○
His Powder’d Wig, His Crown of Thornes ⬘ Marc Laidlaw (ss) ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Manassas, Again ⬘ Gregory Benford (ss) ●●○○○
The Einstein Gun ⬘ Pierre Gévart (ss) ●●●◐○
Lenin in Odessa ⬘ George Zebrowski (ss) ●●●○○
Such a Deal ⬘ Esther M. Friesner (ss) ●●●●○
A Very British History ⬘ Paul McAuley (ss) ●●●○○
The Francesians - Jim Bowering (nov) {Green Comet 3} ●●◐○○
Catch That Zeppelin! ⬘ Fritz Leiber (nvt) ●●●●◐
Islands in the Sea ⬘ Harry Turtledove (ss) ●●●●○
The Wandering Christian ⬘ Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman (nvt) ●●●●○
Roncesvalles ⬘ Judith Tarr (ss) ●●●◐○
The Man Who Stopped at Nothing - Paul W Fairman (nvt) ●●●●○
Pride of the Genii (nov) {Stargate Atlantis 24} ●●●◐○
Tales from the Venia Woods ⬘ Robert Silverberg (ss) ●●●◐○
O One ⬘ Chris Roberson (ss) ●●●◐○
The English Mutiny ⬘ Ian R. MacLeod (ss) ●●●○○
Jizzle - John Wyndham (ss) ●●●○○
I've gotten better at not cutting off titles, and shuffling stories by title-length and word-count to better fill the grid. Finding one-day-wide titles can be difficult.

#books #stories #scifi #zombies #reincarnation #mystery
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-04-30 · 23:11 UTC

Completed in April:
Novels:
Thou Shalt Not Fall - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 4} ●●●●○ #HFY
Force of Time - Adrian Cousins {Jason Apsley 3} ●●●◐○ #reincarnation
Essen Steel - Kim Mackey {Ring of Fire | Essen 1} ●●●◐○ #AltHistory
Essen Defiant - Kim Mackey and David Carrico {Ring of Fire | Essen 2} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Secrets at Sutherland Hall - Jenna Bennett {Pippa Darling 1} ●●◐○○ #mystery #lgbtq
Tempus Fury - Dana Fredsti and David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 3} ●●●○○ #TimeTravel #CrossTime
Starhammer - Christopher Rowley {Vang 1} ●●●◐○ #ScienceFiction
Cities in the Sky - Thomas X. Teller ●●●●○ #reading
The M.A.D. Arch-Angel - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 5} ●●●●○ #SpaceMarines
Stories:
Slimy Things Did Crawl - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 1} (ss) ●●●○○ #SolarPunk
Tower Girls - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 2} (ss) ●●●○○ #SFF
Planting the Shell-Bones - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 3} (ss) ●●●◐○
Tombs Without Bodies - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 4} (ss) ●●●◐○
The Day We Stopped Burning - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 5} (ss) ●●●◐○
I Came Home from Saving the Rainforest - Susan Kaye Quinn {Halfway to Better 6} (ss) ●●●○○
It's a Small World - Robert Bloch (nvt) ●●●○○ #fantasy
Clerical Error - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●○○○
The Dreaded Tomato Addiction - Mark Clifton (ss) ●○○○○ #absurd
How Allied - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○ #SciFi
Remembrance and Reflection - Mark Clifton (ss) ●●●○○
Countdown - Mira Grant {Rise 1} (nvt) ●●●●○ #zombies
Everglades - Mira Grant (ss) {Rise 2} ●●○○○ #quiet
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats - Mira Grant (nvt) {Rise 3} ●●●●○ #books
Some stories are quite short, but their names are long, so I stretched their reading over three or four days to fit in the whole title, once I realized I was going to post the calendar for April. Also, simply seeing the story names in the stats inclined me to read more shorts that I normally would, which is why I epub-split the collections. #koreader

#hfy #reincarnation #althistory #althist #mystery #lgbtq
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-03-31 · 21:44 UTC

#Books completed in March:
An Angel Called Peterbilt - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett {Assiti Shards | Peterbilt 1} ●●●●◐ #TimeTravel
The Reset Life of Cassandra Collins - Shawn Inmon {Middle Falls 8} ●●○○○ #reincarnation
How Alike Are We - Bo-young Kim (novella) ●●●●○ #AI
The Pool Is Reserved for Podlings - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 3} ●●●●○ #HFY
Parasite Puppeteers - Jim Bowering {Green Comet 2} ●●●○○ #ScienceFiction
Time Shards - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 1} ●●●◐○ #SciFi
The Heartfelt Life of Max Hartfield - Shawn Inmon (ss) {Middle Falls 14.5} ●●○○○ #SFF
Delete All Suspects - Donna Andrews {Turing Hopper 4} ●●●●○ #Mystery
The Battlemaster - Christopher Rowley {The Vang 3} ●●●●○ #reading
Shatter War - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 2} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Dome Around America - Jack Williamson ●●◐○○ #ClassicSciFi #AceDouble

#books #timetravel #reincarnation #ai #hfy #sciencefiction
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-03-31 · 21:44 UTC

#Books completed in March:
An Angel Called Peterbilt - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett {Assiti Shards | Peterbilt 1} ●●●●◐ #TimeTravel
The Reset Life of Cassandra Collins - Shawn Inmon {Middle Falls 8} ●●○○○ #reincarnation
How Alike Are We - Bo-young Kim (novella) ●●●●○ #AI
The Pool Is Reserved for Podlings - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 3} ●●●●○ #HFY
Parasite Puppeteers - Jim Bowering {Green Comet 2} ●●●○○ #ScienceFiction
Time Shards - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 1} ●●●◐○ #SciFi
The Heartfelt Life of Max Hartfield - Shawn Inmon (ss) {Middle Falls 14.5} ●●○○○ #SFF
Delete All Suspects - Donna Andrews {Turing Hopper 4} ●●●●○ #Mystery
The Battlemaster - Christopher Rowley {The Vang 3} ●●●●○ #reading
Shatter War - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 2} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Dome Around America - Jack Williamson ●●◐○○ #ClassicSciFi #AceDouble

#books #timetravel #reincarnation #ai #hfy #sciencefiction
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-03-31 · 21:44 UTC

#Books completed in March:
An Angel Called Peterbilt - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett {Assiti Shards | Peterbilt 1} ●●●●◐ #TimeTravel
The Reset Life of Cassandra Collins - Shawn Inmon {Middle Falls 8} ●●○○○ #reincarnation
How Alike Are We - Bo-young Kim (novella) ●●●●○ #AI
The Pool Is Reserved for Podlings - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 3} ●●●●○ #HFY
Parasite Puppeteers - Jim Bowering {Green Comet 2} ●●●○○ #ScienceFiction
Time Shards - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 1} ●●●◐○ #SciFi
The Heartfelt Life of Max Hartfield - Shawn Inmon (ss) {Middle Falls 14.5} ●●○○○ #SFF
Delete All Suspects - Donna Andrews {Turing Hopper 4} ●●●●○ #Mystery
The Battlemaster - Christopher Rowley {The Vang 3} ●●●●○ #reading
Shatter War - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 2} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Dome Around America - Jack Williamson ●●◐○○ #ClassicSciFi #AceDouble

#acedouble #classicscifi #althist #reading #mystery #sff
go to BOKatTOOTdotCAT @[email protected] · 2024-03-31 · 21:44 UTC

#Books completed in March:
An Angel Called Peterbilt - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett {Assiti Shards | Peterbilt 1} ●●●●◐ #TimeTravel
The Reset Life of Cassandra Collins - Shawn Inmon {Middle Falls 8} ●●○○○ #reincarnation
How Alike Are We - Bo-young Kim (novella) ●●●●○ #AI
The Pool Is Reserved for Podlings - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 3} ●●●●○ #HFY
Parasite Puppeteers - Jim Bowering {Green Comet 2} ●●●○○ #ScienceFiction
Time Shards - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 1} ●●●◐○ #SciFi
The Heartfelt Life of Max Hartfield - Shawn Inmon (ss) {Middle Falls 14.5} ●●○○○ #SFF
Delete All Suspects - Donna Andrews {Turing Hopper 4} ●●●●○ #Mystery
The Battlemaster - Christopher Rowley {The Vang 3} ●●●●○ #reading
Shatter War - Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald {Time Shards 2} ●●●◐○ #AltHist
Dome Around America - Jack Williamson ●●◐○○ #ClassicSciFi #AceDouble

#books #timetravel #reincarnation #ai #hfy #sciencefiction
Blind Mapmaker @[email protected] · 2023-11-13 · 04:45 UTC

If you want to do some weird #AltHist #ttrpg playtesting, you could go worse than #GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa.
Link to the real-world idea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa
Link to the call for playtesters:
https://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=2506687&postcount=1
Better apply today though. Playtest starts on Thursday.
#RPG #AltHistory

#althist #ttrpg #gurps #rpg #althistory
TDonoval @[email protected] · 2023-08-16 · 07:33 UTC

The #punks had it right. This ain't no future. This must be some badly written, fucked up alternate history.
#NoFuture #NeverMindTheBollocks #SexPistols #AlternateHistory #AltHist #allohistory
https://open.spotify.com/track/44j7XiZnlNthzSqT26hnFH?si=c6eabc4c77f64dd7

#punks #nofuture #nevermindthebollocks #sexpistols #alternatehistory #althist
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-07-22 · 14:01 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-07-14 · 15:01 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-07-06 · 14:02 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-06-28 · 15:02 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-06-20 · 14:03 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-06-10 · 16:01 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-06-02 · 15:03 UTC

For those curious about The Histories and my writing process:
I wrote many words on how I craft totally "real" histories about people who are definitely very real. Lots of research. Lots of writing weirdness. Lots of being an #althist weirdo. #writing
https://shaunduke.net/2023/05/writingthehistories/

#althist #writing
Grand Admiral Shaun Duke @[email protected] · 2023-05-25 · 10:33 UTC

And yet another entry in The Histories has arrived!
Say hello to Tammy Orville Coxen, Empress of the Campari Express (1893-2005)
You can read this entry (and 38 others) right here: https://www.shaunduke.net/thehistories/doku.php?id=wiki:tammyorvillecoxen
Thanks to Tammy for the support. This one took a lot of research to write, but the final product came out well, I think!
If anyone else wants an entry (or get something added), deets are here: https://www.shaunduke.net/thehistories/doku.php?id=wiki:buyhistory
Thanks for reading! #writing #sciencefiction #althist

#writing #sciencefiction #althist