Off the Bookshelf: Fall, The Last Emperox, The Dreaming Stars, Auberon, The Bohr Maker

Nuketown’s Summer Reading List for 2020 is in full swing. During my summer vacation at Lake Champlain, I finished up Fall (or Dodge in Hell) and knocked out The Last Emperox, The Dreaming Stars, and Auberon (an Expanse novella). I also launched into The Bohr Maker, which I completed when I got back from the … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Unicorn Project, Bone Silence, Arcana of the Ancients

Nuketown’s summer reading list for 2020 is in full effect. In May and June, I finished two books – The Unicorn Project and Bone Silence – and picked up Arcana of the Ancients, a hefty new science fantasy RPG  sourcebook for my new lunchtime campaign. The Unicorn Project The Unicorn Project (Amazon), Gene Kim’s follow-up to The Phoenix Project … Read more

Summer Reading List 2020

After last year’s summer reading list took me nine months to complete, I decided to make this year’s list more manageable. I certainly had fun with last year’s list – 19 books, 5 graphic novels – but by summer’s end, I’d only read 11 of the 19 books. There were a lot of reasons for … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The 5th Season, Salvation Lost, Recursion

Nuketown’s 2019 Summer Reading List is finally complete. After beginning in May 2019, I finally finished the last book on the list – The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – in February 2020. That left me free to get in a few new books before brainstorming my (probably much shorter) 2020 summer reading list. … Read more

Brainstorming Nuketown’s Summer 2020 Reading List

It’s April and we’re under “stay at home” orders in Pennsylvania. Work from home – and remote learning – are the order of the day for my family. Summer seems a hell of a long way off, and even when it arrives, it’s anyone’s guess what it will look like. That said, one thing is … Read more

Top of the Pile: X-Men Resurgence

The X-men step through an otherworldly portal.

The X-Men are back. After years of being sidelined in the Marvel comic book universe, the X-Men have returned to their rightful prominence. Heralded by the twin six-issue series House of X and Powers of X, the X-Pantheon is back with a full-line up of comic book titles consisting of X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, Marauders, X-Force, and Fallen Angels. Thanks to a … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Past Through Tomorrow, The Goal, The Light Brigade

A space-suited (battle armored?) figure flies through blue light.

I went Old School with the first two books on my list on my summer reading list: Robert Heinlein’s The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of his “Future History” short stories, novellas, and novels written in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a time when the future was atomic, women working in space was a radical idea, … Read more

Top of the Pile: X-Men Blue, Superior Spider-man, Immortal Hulk

I’m as close to current with my comic book pull list as I’m likely to get in the modern era, having just finished X-men Blue and getting ready for the Age of X-Men alternative universe titles. Truth be told, I’d be caught up if it weren’t for the happy distraction of Marvel Unlimited. The digital repository paid for itself 10 … Read more

Assembling Nuketown’s 2019 Summer Reading List

It’s spring, and while others are tending to their gardens I’m thinking about my summer reading list. I don’t have a goal in mind for my 12th annual summer reading list, but I expect it to be in the 12-15 novel range, with a few graphic novels thrown in. As always, it will be a … Read more