Top of the Pile: Amazing Spiderman, X-Factor, X-Men, New Excalibur, Conan, Batman

Despite the fact that I’ve been buying comics regularly for over a decade, I’ve only rarely reviewed them on Nuketown. That changes starting this week with the debut of my “Top of the Pile” column where I’ll be running down why I’m reading … and in what order. Almost every geek I know shuffles their … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Difference Engine, The Light Fantastic, Analog Jan/Feb 2007

My autumn reading jag, which saw me tear through a half-dozen novels, petered out this winter as I ran into the slow, meandering text of The Difference Engine, a book that promised a steampunk revolution but got bogged down in its own minutiae. I haven’t done much better on the audio front, after a preachy … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Learning the World, Difference Engine, Wizard’s First Rule

For my birthday this year I headed out to Barnes & Noble with my son Neutronlad for an afternoon of browsing books and drinking coffee. NeutronLad, being about 5 months old at the time, was enthusiastic about the outing, as only a baby can be, smiling, gurgling and generally looking forward to flirting with every woman … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Jupiter, Deep Fires, The Matrix and Philosophy

After a reading lull brought about by way too much painting in September, I’ve returned to my books with a vengeance. Science fiction dominates my reading list this time around as I return to Ben Bova’s “Grand Tour” of the Solar System with the hard science fiction novel Jupiter then have some fun with Vernor … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Lodestar, Ghost Brigades, X-Factor, Analog

One of the many pleasant surprises following the birth of my son NeutronLad on June 14 has been how much reading I’ve been able to do. This is partly because I chose some particularly good books to read, but also because I have a lot more time thanks to those early morning and late night feedings, … Read more

Radio Active #31: Geek Moms, Summer Reading List, X-Men 3

The podcast opens with the old X-Men cartoon theme song in honor of X-Men 3: The Final Stand and the launches into a review of geek mom and geek parenting web sites. There’s no fiction review this time around, as I’m still slugging my way through George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows but I … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Analog’s June Issue, King’s Cell, Hard SF Renaissance, Google Hacks

My resurrected reading habit picked up in April, allowing me to tear through Analog’s June issue and make another serious dent in the Hard SF Renaissance anthology, while a trip to New Hampshire to visit my sister for Easter gave me time to listen to the unabridged audio of Stephen King’s new horror novel Cell. … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Analog, V for Vendetta, Hard SF Renaissance

A round-up of what I’m reading now, including the May issue of Analog, the graphic novel V for Vendetta and scifi anthology The Hard SF Renaissance. Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2005 The first issue of my Analog subscription features the start of the four-part serial “A New Order of Things” by Edward M. … Read more