pedanther

. The Rep Club's first production for 2026 will be a season of short plays. I have been cast in How to Survive Being in a Shakespeare Play (Director: "You're going to audition for my Shakespeare play, right?" Me: "Well, obviously"). Rehearsals begin early in the new year, with performances in March.


. The audition was on the same evening as board game club, so I arrived late and missed out on a spot in the big game. It worked out okay, though, because I got an opportunity to introduce some people to my multi-game kits, The Lady and the Tiger and Jabberwocky, and to try a game from each that I hadn't play before.

From The Lady and the Tiger, we played "Favor", in which each player bids to acquire cards that will score them bonus points and avoid cards that will deduct points (each player has a secret goal card dictating which cards have which scores for them). Each player starts the round with a limited amount of bidding tokens, so part of the strategy is making sure you don't wind up with no tokens when you really need them while trying to manipulate your opponents into spending tokens they can't afford.

From Jabberwocky, we played "Mimsy", which involves moving tokens around a circular race track according to a set of rules that we didn't entirely grasp until nearly the end of the game. It was fun, and if it hadn't been time to pack up I would have suggested we play it again now that we knew what we were doing.


. Having now read the first three of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey & Maturin novels, I find myself back where I was when I'd only read one: they're fine, but I feel no urge to read any more of them.


. This week's episode of "The Daleks' Master Plan" was one of the rare episodes that survives in full. It's the one with the invisible monsters, ironically (but perhaps for the best, because I don't know how easy that part would have been to follow without surviving visuals). It also means we get to see Jean Marsh's acting in the scene about her brother's death.


. The recent TV series adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo is now available on SBS, and I have watched the first couple of episodes. I regret to say that I'm not greatly impressed so far, and on at least one occasion was moved to tell it so out loud.


. Around the World in Eighty Emails continues. Fogg and his companions have just set out from New York on the Atlantic crossing.

Fiction books
Naomi Novik. The Tongues of Serpents
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace

Non-fiction books
(none)

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

Top of the to-read pile
Charles Stross. The Fuller Memorandum

Fiction books
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener. Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War
Neil Gaiman. Absolute Sandman volume 3
Tanith Lee. The Dragon Hoard (re-read)
Alan Moore, Zander Cannon. Smax
Adam Rex. The True Meaning of Smekday

In progress
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace

Non-fiction books
(none)

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

Top of the to-read pile
S M Stirling. The Sky People