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Author: Reid

workshop and other updates

I did not get in to the “personal Odyssey” workshop. Which was sad but not unexpected. I then spent about 5 days revising my “Stars End” story for the last workshop I will be applying to, Viable Paradise. That application went out at the end of May and I should hear this month. I had stopped submitting my stories to markets in about March of this spring. I just didn’t have the time or energy…

Tiamat’s Wrath — James S. A. Corey

After a long hiatus… I started reading again. My real life has consumed me since about February and I haven’t done any pleasure reading since January. I checked this book out from the library in January, read about the first 3-4 chapters… and then nothing. Then 4 weeks ago I checked it out again, got another 3-4 chapters in, and then it was due so I had to renew it, and finally finished it today.…

My personal odyssey

In the rush of the spring semester, I forgot to note that I recently (end of March) submitted my application to the odyssey workshop. I had a story out making rounds on the submission landscape but it was rejected a few times so I decided to polish it up a little and pull it off submission to use as my piece for the workshop. I also needed to get two letters of recommendation, which wasn’t…

Flights of Foundry 2022

This was my third FoF and it didn’t disappoint… again. I attended panels starting Friday afternoon well into the evening and the spend 12 hours both Saturday an Sunday (at least) frantically scribbling notes, listening, and learning. Probably my 3 favorite panels were the two that talked about the short fiction markets (Neil Clarke was in both, as was Scot Noel and David Steffen) and the one about how you need to consider the infrastructure…

Clarion West

I have been working on my application to Clarion West for the last 5-6 weeks. I had 4-5 stories I was considering for revision and inclusion in the application, and in the end I chose one that is shows a personal relationship between a man and an alien aboard a starship. The second one was conceived during a run in the rain in late December and it is a story written from the perspective of…

Babylon’s Ashes — James SA Corey

This is the 6th book in the series and the first book of The Expanse series that I am not giving a 5 star rating too. Only 4 this time. This one felt different. It felt like the characters weren’t in control of their own destinies as much and there was a bit of a dues ex machina ending that was definitely hinted at in both this and the previous book, but still, it felt…

Light Chaser — PF Hamilton & GL Powell

This is a novella that I preordered, it arrived several months ago, and it has just been sitting on my shelf since then. I have read several books by each of these authors previously so was quite looking forward to this one. I liked it. It reminded me very much (theme, not style plot or tone) of the Asimov novel “The End of Eternity,” which deals with stagnation of societies due to the creation of…

Nemesis Games — James SA Corey

We’re back in the Expanse universe with book 5. This story was different from the others in the series in that James, Alex, Naomi and Amos split up and went their separate ways while the Rocinante is in dry dock for repairs. Amos heads back to Earth, specifically the city he grew up in, Baltimore. Alex heads to Mars to try to reconnect with his ex-wife. Naomi leaves James behind and tells him its best…

(R)evolution — PJ Manney

The head of a biotech company is under investigation for the use of his nanotechnology in a terrorist attack in Las Vegas. With nowhere to turn, his wife suggests they seek help as a last resort from an old friend. And then the mystery thickens. This is a near future hard SF book that has some surprising twists and turns–some of which I probably should have seen coming. This is not the type of SF…