Fifteen Influential Authors

I saw this on Facebook a few days ago, meant to answer it, and got sidetracked into other things. That happens. The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. List 15 authors (poets and comic writers included) who have influenced you and who will always stick with you. List the first 15 youContinue reading “Fifteen Influential Authors”

An Influential Author and Favorite Works

I was tagged by a friend with this on Facebook: “Who is your favorite writer of all time? And what are your top five favorite works by that writer?” I have struggled with this, because there are writers I could name who I really, really love — only I’ve read what amounts to a fractionContinue reading “An Influential Author and Favorite Works”

On Friday Morning Geekery

I thought LOL thulhu was pretty mind-blowing. Then I was pointed in the direction of the Hello Cthulhu webcomic. These both make my idle thought a few years ago that Hermione Granger needed to find a copy of the Necronomicon in the Hogwarts library and start a Cthulhu cult seem positively normal. 😆 Sometimes conceptsContinue reading “On Friday Morning Geekery”

Speculations on Pak Protectors

Reading Larry Niven’s Ringworld’s Children recently sparked a thought or three. What if Tree-of-Life virus was a bioweapons project that went horribly wrong? As much as the Protector concept thrills me, the relationship between the Pak and Tree-of-Life has always struck me as unlikely and unnatural. Yes, evolution works in strange ways, and the firstContinue reading “Speculations on Pak Protectors”

Ringworld’s Children

In September 1993 I read Ringworld for the first time. I had turned twenty that June, just gotten my driver’s license, and I was starting my third semester at Central Virginia Community College. By Christmas I had read all of Niven’s Known Space work (except The Patchwork Girl, which took about a year to trackContinue reading “Ringworld’s Children”