• 2012 Book Log #8: Those Who Went Remain There Still, by Cherie Priest

    2012 Book Log #8: Those Who Went Remain There Still, by Cherie Priest

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars One of the big reasons I’ve picked up everything Cherie Priest has written is her propensity for taking established SF/F tropes and finding not only new ways to look at them, but actively odd ones as well–and in a run of intriguingly odd books, Those Who Went Remain There…

  • 2011 Book Log #45: Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn

    2011 Book Log #45: Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was previously familiar with Sharon Shinn via her Samaria novels, and so when I was in the mood to take on some epic fantasy, I was pleased to check out her Twelve Houses books. Mystic and Rider is the first of these, introducing the mystic Senneth, who has…

  • 2012 Book Log #7: Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest

    2012 Book Log #7: Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest

    My rating: 4 of 5 stars Urban fantasy has to work very, very hard to seize and hold my attention these days, and I say this fully cognizant of how there are a great number of authors out there writing awesome books. For me, it’s just been a matter of wanting to read so many…

  • 2011 Book Log #44: Die in Plain Sight, by Elizabeth Lowell

    2011 Book Log #44: Die in Plain Sight, by Elizabeth Lowell

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars Die in Plain Sight is a bit of an odd duck in the run of Elizabeth Lowell novels, straddling as it does the line between her Donovan series and her Rarities Unlimited ones. Goodreads classifies it as a Rarities book, but the two series are set in the same…

  • Americanization of Sherlock Holmes: how bad an idea is this?

    Americanization of Sherlock Holmes: how bad an idea is this?

    I’m seeing initial waves of nerd rage over this news that CBS is trying to develop its own pilot for a modernization of Sherlock Holmes, set in New York City. The timing of this, given that there is another active modernization of Sherlock Holmes in production with the BBC, is not a coincidence; note that…

  • 2012 Book Log #6: Ganymede, by Cherie Priest

    2012 Book Log #6: Ganymede, by Cherie Priest

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars The fourth installment in Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series, Ganymede is now finally getting into actual sequel territory. Like Clementine and Dreadnought, it’s a standalone story–but this time, one of the spotlight characters in fact someone who previously showed up in Boneshaker, and we’ve got clear followup to the…

  • Another year, another round of LJ fail

    Another year, another round of LJ fail

    For those of you who may not have seen this yet, this story started going around last night. I saw the LJ Twitter account link to it, so one presumes this is indeed legit. The article’s talking about future plans for LJ, and it’s looking like the ongoing trend of not giving a damn about…

  • Tonight’s adventures in Nethack

    Tonight’s adventures in Nethack

    One of the side effects of playing all this Skyrim here at the Murk: I’ve totally gotten back onto a Nethack kick. I had a great game going, and fired up the save file from yesterday’s run tonight. I was in Sokoban and died horribly, like ya do, ’cause, well, Nethack. I proceeded to have…

  • Incoming Seattle snowstorm alert for Murkworks.net users

    Incoming Seattle snowstorm alert for Murkworks.net users

    Most of you out there probably are aware already, but just in case you aren’t, be advised that we have serious snow on the way here. Therefore, as is often the case when we have wacky fun weathertimes, connectivity to Murkworks.net and resources we house may be impacted. Our power may go out, or even…

  • 2011 Book Log #43: Running Scared, by Elizabeth Lowell

    2011 Book Log #43: Running Scared, by Elizabeth Lowell

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars Running Scared is Book 2 of Elizabeth Lowell’s Rarities Unlimited series, but I was a bit disappointed to see that it didn’t quite live up to the enjoyment I got out of Book 1, Moving Target. This is not to say that Running Scared was bad, mind you–it’s just…