Monday, May 30, 2022

Kameron Hurley - The Stars are Legion

Review.

Scifi with a dash of body horror, and yet another story that is hard to describe. In some far away future humanity is female only, spread over a number of ships (?) where everything is alive and build using the same basic components (variations on human genetics?).

Monday, May 23, 2022

Ed McDonald - The Raven's Mark 1 - Blackwing

Review.

Although this is the first book in a series, it's also a perfect standalone. It's a dark fantasy, medieval when it comes to technology, where the main character is a down-on-his-luck, bad-mouthing 'black captain'. Which means he's doing the dirty jobs that nobody else wants to do, like hunting deserters in the no-men's land called 'The Misery'.

Monday, May 16, 2022

Dredd (2012)

Review.

The 2012 movie Dredd has no right to be entertaining, and yet it is. Also, it may be one of the few movies that's actually good in 3D. For the record, I pretty much hate anything 3D (can't stand the glasses) and this is one of the few exceptions. I normally pick the regular versions when visiting the cinema, but back then I accidentally picked the 3D version.

To my surprise, it's even entertaining when re-watching it, years later, in 2D. Just don't expect anything to exercise the brain 😅


Saturday, May 14, 2022

To Smart Quote or Not to Smart Quote (also known as 'Curly' quotes), and reflow Ellipses and Em-dashes

Writing.

On a computer, you typically use 'straight quotes', whilst in (real) books you mostly find 'curly quotes'.

In both Google Docs and Word you can let the word processor (is anyone still old enough to recognize that expression?) handle it.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

3D Book Mockup

Writing.

There are many sites that can do this. Here's just another one producing 3D cover mockups... When reading through the small print it seems this one hasn't any strings attached, and some of the others did.

DIY Book Design 


Monday, May 9, 2022

Gerald Brandt - San Angeles 1 - The Courier

Review.

16 y.o. girl orphan has dragged herself out of the gutter, and now works as a courier. When she is asked to deliver a package late at night she witnesses a murder, and runs away with the package, chased by one of the mega corporations controlling the world.

Monday, May 2, 2022

Django Wexler - Wells of Sorcery 1 / 2 - Ship of Smoke and Steel / City of Stone and Silence

Review.

Street orphan fights her way up to local ward boss, and has managed to hide her magical talents from the rest of the world... until they catch her, and send her to take control over the largest ship in the world, a 500 year old ghost ship that shouldn't exist.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Wallpaper - Underground Angel

We had some angels last month, so let's add another one...

(Click image to enlarge.)