pedanther

Fiction books
Hilary Mantel. Bring Up the Bodies (e)
Hilary Mantel. The Mirror and the Light (e)
Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall

In progress
Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend (e)

Abandoned
Peter Morwood. Prince Ivan (e)

Non-fiction books
Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Adrian Goldsworthy. Philip and Alexander

Fiction books
Alexandre Dumas tr. Robin Buss. The Count of Monte Cristo (e) (re-read)
Rudyard Kipling. Kim
Martha Wells. Exit Strategy (e)
Martha Wells. Network Effect (e)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 3 (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Trader's Leap

Fiction books
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 1 (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Barrayar (e) (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric's Progress (e)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Shards of Honor (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Accepting the Lance (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Alliance of Equals (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Dragon in Exile (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. The Gathering Edge (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Neogenesis (e) (re-read)
RA MacAvoy. Tea with the Black Dragon (re-read)
Tim Powers. Medusa's Web (e)

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2

Fiction books
Tina Jones. The Thing About Weddings
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Conflict of Honors (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Local Custom (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Mouse and Dragon (e) (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Scout's Progress (e) (re-read)
Tim Powers. Hide Me Among the Graves (e)
David Whitaker. Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (audio book) (re-read)

In progress
Grant Allen. An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (e)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Fledgling (e) (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. Snuff (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Christopher Lascelles. Pontifex Maximus (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Agent of Change

1. My Fair Lady opened last night. The show came together pretty well during dress rehearsals, and although we had a few opening-night excitements, the audience seemed pleased. (At one point, I was halfway through a costume change when I realised that I still had another scene to do in the old costume before I changed into the new one. Fortunately I had time to change back.) We also got a good review in the paper, both in the sense that it said nice things about the production and in the sense that it had actual things to say about the production beyond "it is on" and "here's who is in it", which isn't a given with the local paper.


2. Over at Mark Watches, Mark has finished watching Babylon 5 and Crusade. I really enjoyed revisiting Babylon 5; I probably could have done without rewatching Crusade, except that now I've done it I never have to do it again. Now Mark is catching up on the last few years of Doctor Who, which is something I'd like to be following along with but what with it being crunch time on My Fair Lady I haven't had time to keep up.


3. The new collection of Liaden Universe short stories came out recently, with a bunch of stories I'd already read in their original venues and two that were new to me. One I found a bit disappointing; the other was much more interesting, and speaks to the time and place in which it was written in that way science fiction often does when it's telling a story about some other time and place entirely.


4. Back in February, I remarked that I have a significant backlog of board gaming I haven't blogged about. It's only gotten bigger since then.


5. I'm intrigued enough by what I've seen of Observation, a new science fiction thriller game, that I bought it in a recent sale. Unfortunately, it then turned out that it will only run on my computer with the graphics settings dialled right down, which has happened often enough lately with interesting new games that I'm beginning to think it might be worth actually getting my computer's graphical capabilities upgraded. But while I dither over that, I'm not getting any Observation played either.

Observation is set, at least in the early bits I've seen, on a near-Earth orbital space station where something goes wrong, leaving one of the crew isolated and trying to figure out what's happened with the sometimes-unreliable assistance of the station's damaged AI. It's very atmospheric -- I gather it has several key people, including the set designer, in common with the well-regarded Alien: Isolation game. Also the lead cast: the scientist and the AI are voiced by the actors who were Ripley and Samuels in Alien: Isolation.

One of the intriguing things about the game is that it's the disembodied AI, not the human scientist, who is the player character.

. How was your weekend, internet? I changed a light bulb with a pair of salad tongs.


. Rehearsals continue for My Fair Lady. The schedule's been slipping a bit, because some scenes have taken longer to rehearse than expected (mostly crowd scenes, but also some scenes featuring relatively inexperienced actors in their first big parts), but at this point we still expect to have rehearsed every scene in the show at least once before opening night.


. The local high school's big production this year was Annie. It was... rather more high-school-musical-y than I'd hoped; they've been doing really well the last few years, but their star performers have all graduated now, and the talent pool hasn't regenerated yet. Also, I went on opening night, and it looked like they still had some technical issues with the sound system and lighting to work out. On a more subjective note, I would have preferred Annie to be a bit less teen-sassy and Warbucks to have been more emphatic (though I found out afterward that he was a late addition to the cast after the original Warbucks dropped out, so he gets a pass on that score). In any case, my hat's off to him for committing to the iconic hairstyle, especially with winter coming on.


. The less said about the outcome of the election, I think, the better.


. This weekend I read the new Liaden novella, Shout of Honor. It's a lot of fun, and features a group of characters I'd been hoping to see more of.

Fiction books
Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley (tr). The Good Woman of Setzuan
Terry Pratchett. The Wee Free Men (e) (re-read)

In progress
CJ Dennis. Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
Terry Pratchett. Monstrous Regiment (e) (re-read)

Picture books
Nick Bland. The Very Noisy Bear
Chae Strathie, Sebastien Braun. Bedtime for Tiny Mouse

Non-fiction books in progress
Grant Morrison. Supergods
Jack Plotnick. New Thoughts for Actors (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley (tr). The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Fiction books
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Neogenesis (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (e) (re-read)

In progress
James Goss. Now We Are Six Hundred
Terry Pratchett. Night Watch (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Grant Morrison. Supergods

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. "Block Party"

Fiction books
Lois McMaster Bujold. Borders of Infinity (e) (re-read)
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca. Darth Vader volume 1 (re-read)
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca. Darth Vader volume 2
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca, Leinil Yu. Darth Vader volume 3
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca, Mike Norton, Max Fiumara. Darth Vader volume 4
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. "Due Diligence" (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Truth (e) (re-read)
Ryk E Spoor. Challenges of the Deeps (e)
Kai Ashante Wilson. A Taste of Honey (e)

In progress
Paul Beatty. The Sellout
Neil Gaiman. Norse Mythology (e)
Terry Pratchett. Thief of Time (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Michael Troughton. Patrick Troughton

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
PC Hodgell. The Gates of Tagmeth

Fiction books
Terry Pratchett. The Fifth Elephant (e) (re-read)

In progress
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (e)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. The Gathering Edge (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Truth (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Michael Troughton. Patrick Troughton

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Kai Ashante Wilson. A Taste of Honey