I just looked back at some of my early blog entries (from the Live Journal days) and had to chuckle. This is
my entry from February 24th 2008...I thought I'd conquered my fear of the DVD recorder. Several times I have set it to record and several times it has recorded the correct programme at the correct time. I 'get' it, OK! But twice in recent weeks I have set it to record Primeval and twice - despite everything checking out - it has NOT recorded. I did everything correctly. My DVD recorder chose not to obey my perfectly clear instructions.
Conclusion? I think my DVD recorder is scared of monsters.
But the upshot is that I don't get to see the final episode of Primeval until next Saturday afternoon's repeat. Bummer. Don't tell me how it ends... or even how it cliffhangs...
By the way did anyone see the first episode of 'Being Human'? A vampire, werewolf and ghost sharing a flat sounded like a recipe for comedy, but it wasn't and I found it strangely compelling. More please.
And did anyone see the first episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Virgin (Freeview)? I was gobsmacked to discover that the actress playing Sarah Connor is none other than Lena Headey. Though she's got a perfect American tough guy (woman) accent she was, in fact, just a few years ahead of my daughter at Shelley High School, West Yorkshire. Yes, she's from 'round here'. When Darling Daughter was doing drama at Shelley High there was a kerfuffle because a film company came round to audition 'unknowns' for the live action version of Jungle Book. DD auditioned but at 13 she was really too young for the part, however Lena - then 17 ish - got it... and never looked back.. Shelley High has a great drama department. Their other recent 'star' is Jodie Whittaker who was a friend of my son at school. Starring opposite Peter O'Toole in 'Venus' seems to have launched her career pretty thoroughly.... Not surprising really.
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I've had this lined up on my kindle for a couple of years and not managed to read it, which is simply too bad. I've been missing out because it's brilliant. Anyone who's ever seen Star Trek (or Galaxy Quest) will be familiar with the concept of the crewman who's on an away mission for the express purpose of being killed off, but Scalzi takes that concept and turns it on its head. Written from the point of view of the redshirts assigned to the Universal Union flagship, Intrepid we start with Ensign Andrew Dahl, newly assigned to the Xenobiology laboratory. He's delighted until he works out why his fellow crewmembers avoid going on away missions at all costs. A) Every away mission involves some kind of confrontation with aliens in which at least one low-ranking crewmember is killed. B) The ship's captain, the chief science officer and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive. C) Kerensky always gets hurt, sometimes with the kind of injuries that should kill him, but the following week he's recovered enough to go on the next away mission. Dahl and his fellow redshirts (with a bit of help) finally figure out that they're suffering from narrativium and work out a high risk way to fix it, but it involves kidnapping Lieutenant Kerensky and time travelling. And just when you think the story is over there are three delicious vignettes from the viewpoint of… well… you'll see. If you haven't read this already READ IT NOW! This really deserved its Hugo win!
Set in a grim future where cities in the American Southwest--California, Arizona and Nevada--fight for a share of dwindling water supplies from the Colorado River. Angel Velasquez is a Las Vegas 'water knife' who cuts the water supplies to other cities on behalf of his ruthless boss, Catherine Case, He's a thug, assassin, spy, and fixer who operates in a world where the rich live in luxurious, verdant arcologies while the poor eat dust, recycle their pee, and buy precious water by the jug. Girls barely out of puberty sell their bodies for a meal and a chance to take a shower under real running water. When he's sent to drought-ravaged Phoenix Angel comes across Lucy Monroe, a journalist who may not be quite as hard as she thinks she is, and Maria Villarosa, a refugee from the (now) unviable Texas. There are twists and betrayals, injuries and deaths. No one escapes without hurting, but Angel knows that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink. This is essentially a near-future climate change thriller. There are no real good guys, but there are bad guys and worse guys. Grimdark cli-fi, this is a horribly realistic and believable future. Though no one is entirely good, the three main characters have some redeeming features, but there's no easy solution.
This is a follow up to Ms McKenna's fabulous 'The Green Man's Heir' which came out last year. Daniel Mackmain works with wood, which isn't surprising since his mother is a dryad. His half dryad blood lets him see into a world that most people don't know is there, a world of British folklore, myth and legend. He's lived the life of a loner for years, moving on from one building site to another, but in the first book he found somewhere he could call home, for a while at least, and a friend who knows about his world. But once again he's on his own as he's asked to take a temporary contract overseeing a refurbishment project, an old hall with an occult problem. Separated from his friends and family by a lousy phone reception and a hundred miles, Dan has to figure it out on his own and learn to rely on locals who don't seem particularly friendly at first.
This is an Arthurian story which hardly mentions Arthur himself, but concentrates on the four-and-a-half sons of King Lot of Orkney and his queen, Morgause. The sons are Gawain (Gavin), Agravain (Agrin), Gaheris (Heris), Gareth (Gari), and their half-brother Medraut. The teller and lynchpin of the tale is Gaheris, who believes himself to be the least of his father's sons. So he finds it strange (though maybe a little flattering) when the young knight-in-training, Lamorak, seems to hero worship him. He thinks things might cool off when Lamorak is knighted and goes off for a year to be a knight errant, but trouble is on its way when Lamorak catches the eye of Morgause. Gaheris knows what his mother is like and what his hot tempered brothers will do if they find out what's going on, and desperately tries to avert tragedy. What we have here is the story within the story. The Arthurian legend tells it one way, but we see a different story leading to the same ending. Kari Sperring's prose is elegant, her storytelling impeccable, Gaheris is a sympathetic character. I would have been happy to spend more time with him.
Any and all Bujold books are buy on sight, but I almost missed this one as it seemed to come out without much fanfare, which is a pity because it's an excellent addition to the list of Penric novellas, set in Bujold's world of the Five Gods, though before Curse of Chalion (still my favourite book!). Following the events in The Prisoner of Limnos, Penric and his resident demon, Desdemona, are now married to Nickys, but in this outing are on their own. They've been sent on some mission (it's not important) but they never get there because the ship they are on is captured by pirates. Pen is thrown into the pirate ship's hold where he meets two more captives, young sisters, Lencia and Seuka Corva, who are trying to find their father. Being the thoroughly honourable chap that he is, he immediately takes responsibility for them and we follow their trials and tribulations as pirate hostages and Pen's ill-fated attempts to escape the pirate island. This is one time when being a temple divine with a demon at his beck and call isn't going to help him because sailors are superstitious. He needs a ship to escape, but they would rather throw him overboard than take him to safety. Unfortunately his plan to pose as a mild-mannered scribe quickly falls apart when he has to use Desdemona's talents to survive and protect the children.