Books & Print

Off the Bookshelf: Altered Carbon, The January Dancer, Dreadnaught, In Death Ground

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DreadnaughtI’ve been able to make a serious dent in my summer reading list over the last few months, knocking out four books in two months.

Given how busy work has been, that’s not to bad. Of course, it helps that I was on vacation for 10 days, which allowed me to knock out two of the books (Dreadnaught, In Death Ground) and most of a third (The Shiva Option, the sequel to In Death Ground).

The 8-hour road trip to get our vacation spot also allowed me to make a serious dent in the audio version of The Letter of Marque by Patrick O’Brian, one of his Aubrey/Maturin novels about naval warfare in the early 1800s.

Summer Reading List 2011

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Summer 2011 is well underway, and so is my summer reading list. While some summers I know exactly what I’m reading in the spring, this summer I stumbled into my reading list. Work’s been crazy busy (leading to June’s deficient of posts at Nuketown) but even with a high workload my brain demands an escape to my summer reading list.

I’ve divided my reading list into two parts: The Summer List and the Island List. The Summer List consists of books I’ll be reading throughout the summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The Island List is a subset of books that I’ll be taking to Butler Island on Lake Champlain with me for my much-needed, oft-dreamed of summer vacation.

You can follow my progress through my Summer Reading list on GoodReads, the social networking site for bookworms.

Off the Bookshelf: Evolutionary Void, Realms of Cthulhu, iPad Book Readers

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After a long hiatus because of too much to do at work, I’ve finally gotten back to reading fiction … because of work. Specifically because of the iPad I’m trying out at my day job. I work at a college, and we’re piloting the iPad to see how tablets might be integrated into the academic … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Century Rain, Reversing the Anthology, Temporal Void

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I finally finished New Moon by Stephanie Meyers, and I have to say the vampire/werewolf/teenager love triangle left me cold. The main character, Bella, is whiny and unsympathetic, and she’s exactly the sort of emotional heatsink that I’ll be telling my son to avoid in ten years or so.

Finishing the book allowed me to move on to my proper summer reading list, starting with Century Rain and The Space Opera Renaissance. While both books were already on my bookshelf, I did still find myself buying another book for the list: Peter Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void.

The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers

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Super powers have been spawned by almost every element known to man (and plenty that aren’t) so it only makes sense that they should be transformed into a periodic table of their own. The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers is a handy chart that breaks down superhero backgrounds by origin, physical powers, and mental powers. It’s … Read more

$1.99 for a digital comic? I’ll pass

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The Marvel Comics app for the iPad is out, offering 500 titles at $1.99 a pop. Reading comics is one of the reasons I’d like to get an iPad but speaking abstractly (I have neither the app nor the iPad), $1.99 is too expensive.

Cover price for a comic these days is $2.99, which occasional spikes to $3.99 for super-sized issues. I’d consider paying $1.50-$1.99 for a current-run title — that’d save me $0.50 to $1 a comic, which isn’t bad.

Unfortunately, that’s not what Marvel’s selling online. The books they’re selling through the Marvel app appear to be back issues — in some cases, 4-5 year old back issues. I’m interested in buying older digital comics — in fact it could be a great way to read those titles I skipped because they were tangential to my collection — but I’m not going to spend $1.99 for the privilege. The price descripency becomes even more glaring when you realize that the Marvel Comics Unlimited subscription service for digital back issues gives you full access to 5,000 comics for $9.99 a month (or $4.99/month with an annual subscription).

Off the Bookshelf: Cole Protocol, Skies of Pern, Century Rain

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A close-up of a helmeted Spartan trooper.

After a fiendishly busy January and February, I’ve finally had a chance to take a deep breath and spend some time reading. First up on my early spring reading list is The Cole Protocol by Tobias Buckell, a Halo Universe novel involving the quest to prevent the alien Covenant from securing navigation data leading to … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Twilight, The Gathering Storm, Star Wars Atlas

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Cover: Twilight

Over Thanksgiving break, my wife and I made a deal: I’d read Twilight if she read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It took me a month of on and off reading, but I finally did so. Completing that teen romance horror novel let me read the book I’ve been waiting months for: The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of the Wheel of Time.

In between the two I’ve been sneaking quick reads of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas, which is sure to become an indespensible reference for my Star Wars RPG campaign.

Geek Holiday Shopping List for 2009

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Looking for ideas for the geek on your Christmas List? Are you a geek looking for ideas about what to ask for? Nuketown has you covered (albiet, a bit late in the shopping cycle but hey, there’s still nearly two weeks until Christmas). Two quick notes: 1) all of the items on this list link … Read more