Our heroes seemed to have things well in hand, but there are things they don't know... Chapter 4. I am the only living thing within hundreds of millions of kilometers, thought General Alberich Hohenheim. The thought was not, he admitted to himself (there being no one else to admit it to) strictly true. There were undoubtedly a number of bacteria, possibly fungal spores and such, still living on the remains of the giant mass-drive vessel Odin, and there was the possibility that the water-oceans [ Continue reading... ]
PORTAL: Chapter 3
January 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The most immediate danger had been dealt with -- now comes some more long-term planning! Chapter 3. "All right," Madeline Fathom said, her voice just slightly amplified by the walls of the common room of Munin. "Now that we're all reasonably safe for the next few days, we need to evaluate the entire situation and come up with a real schedule of action." "Were you able to contact Dr. Glendale, Madeline?" Horst Eberhart asked. "I was. He relayed a quick acknowledgement of our message [ Continue reading... ]
PORTAL: Chapter 2
January 11, 2013 By 3 Comments
We now begin regular snippeting! Look for new chapters on the usual days (M-W-F) until the eARC comes out! Chapter 2. "Pull – gently, dammit, smoothly, don't jerk!" A.J. couldn't keep the tense exasperation from his voice as he barely reacted in time, commanding one of the three autonomous "Locust" drones, Hopper, to ease the tension on the all-too-vital cable. "No need to snap," Dan Ritter said mildly. The dark-haired former environmental systems tech for Odin spoke English with only a trace of his [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
January 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Gundam series is one of the longest-running and most successful anime/manga franchises in Japan. Starting with Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979, the Gundam franchise spans multiple television series, OAV series, movies, video games, novels, manga, and virtually any sort of merchandise one can imagine (and probably some you can't). Gundam itself is credited with changing the old "giant robot" genre from stories about a boy with some inexplicable and often personified superweapon to a story of war and politics which happened to feature [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Count of Monte-Cristo
January 7, 2013 By 3 Comments
There is perhaps no more famous account of love, betrayal, and revenge in literature than The Count of Monte-Cristo by Dumas. I first encountered the story in my mid-teens and was instantly captured by it. The basis of the story is simple: young Edmond Dantes is a sailor with a bright future – soon to be made Captain of a profitable merchantman, engaged to Mercedes, a Catalan girl noted for her beauty, having just completed an extremely profitable trading voyage for his employer, Morrel. It seems that he has already reached his [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Persona 4 Arena
January 4, 2013 By 2 Comments
WARNING: Completely uncritical raving ahead! When I saw that the Persona series was going to have its own fighting game, I was pretty skeptical; what's an RPG series going to do with a fighting game that makes it worth getting as such? But hey, I didn't have any fighting games for PS3, so I put it on my Christmas list; at least it would feature characters I knew, so that was a plus. Before I go on, I will state that as a fighting game, it's a solid entry. It's of the "Street Fighter" style, [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Airwolf
January 2, 2013 By 8 Comments
File A56-7W. Top secret. Subject: AIRWOLF, a Mach-1 plus attack helicopter. Sought by governments friendly and foreign, AIRWOLF has been hidden by test pilot Stringfellow Hawke - to be returned to the government only if his brother, St. John, an MIA in Vietnam, can be found… Backed by unmatched firepower, AIRWOLF is a weapon too dangerous to be left in unenlightened hands. Finding AIRWOLF is your number one priority. END OF FILE. The 1980s saw several "gadget as star" shows, with the most well-known probably being Knight [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Clive Cussler’s “Dirk Pitt” series
December 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In the late 70s, I was wandering the stacks of our local library and came across a book with a dramatic title: Raise the Titanic! I had – like many other people – something of a fascination with the Titanic, so this, along with the cover showing the huge liner rising from the deeps, grabbed my attention. This was the first novel of the genre "techno-thriller" I remember reading; it's possible I read one such earlier, but I can't say for sure. What I can say is that Raise the Titanic grabbed me and held me riveted [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Nero Wolfe
December 28, 2012 By 7 Comments
In a timeless brownstone in New York City, on West 35th Street, there lives a very unusual man. He is moody, arbitrary, arrogant, quite rotund (over 300 pounds) and highly eccentric. He is also the best detective in the world ("Probably not. The best detective in the world may be a rude tribesman with a limited vocabulary.") – all right, one of the finest private detectives in the world… if you can afford him. He's expensive; has to be, as his fees must support his world-class gourmet lifestyle and the upkeep for the brownstone, his [ Continue reading... ]
PORTAL: First Chapter Teaser
December 26, 2012 By 12 Comments
Portal will be coming out in May, 2013. Some time before that, the eARC will become available. Thus, the full-bore snippeting will begin not TOO long from now. I thought I'd give you a first taste! PORTAL By Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor Recovery, N: 1. the act or process of returning to a normal condition, especially from sickness, a shock, or a setback; recuperation 2. restoration to a former or better condition 3. the regaining of something lost 4. the extraction of something useful from materials or a [ Continue reading... ]
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