Saturday, April 6, 1875; Missouri Wilds [1. This was a bad session for timing; people were late and a session break in the middle cut down on the “in world game time”.]
At breakfast, I brought up that thorny topic, the madman’s money. It was not as hard as I thought it would be; the demon dollars couldn’t grip tight on me. I told the Doc and Malachai that they were the victims of the madman’s blade, that they had more of a claim to the cash he was carrying than any other man. So I handed them the fat wad of money I’d taken from the dead man– Lucien’s wallet. They set about protesting, but could not come up with a better plan. They promised to think on a proper division during the day, and we’d talk around our fire tonight.
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Passage by Connie Willis
Passage was an interesting medical research novel, a little outside of my normal reading. The book was from the point of view of Joanna Lander, a research psychologist, who soon partners with Dr. Wright to research near death experiences (NDEs).
This was the second book focusing on death in a row (right after Kress’s Steal Across the Sky). It was well written and didn’t suffer from the comparison at all– just a strange coincidence.
The investigation was interesting. Moving from observer to the participant made the experience different– just having the author describe the experience instead of transcribing other people’s experiences made it much more direct. I was right beside Joanna as she went deeper and deeper, trying to figure out what was going on– why the symbolism stuck, and figuring out what NDEs were for. A great novel, one I look forward to rereading in a few years.
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Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
A fascinating book that really made me think. It’s very had to explain, because so much of the explanation requires the context of the characters, and they’re a little harder to sketch than you’d think.
The Atoners are a fascinating mystery that is never quite explained– though near the end their plan becomes a little more clear. The changes that come with the gene expression in the various cultures are fascinating, and feel like reasonable offshoots or extrapolations.
In many ways, this felt very like an Ekumen novel, down to the witnessing and attempt at non-interference. It goes somewhere different than LeGuin would take it– which is good and occasionally surprising when I read. This book seems to be a stand alone– it doesn’t need another part and didn’t leave a glaring opening– but I’d be willing to read about the results of the Atoner’s actions if a sequel is in the cards.
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Growing Wings by Laurel Winter
A neat coming of age book, with a special twist. It’s a very interesting way of approaching the idea of minority, fitting in, and the compromises that maturing demands.
It’s a great cross; the love of flight, the desire not to compromise, the realities of maturing in modern America. The relationships are prickly and tense, in large part due to the closed in environment and need to conceal themselves.
I liked the book– it reminded me favorably of the growing up books from my own youth, but an extra dose of the fantastic.
I’ll keep it below the fold, ’cause it’s long again.
Below is the rough draft of the journal for my character, Robert Cassidy. I enjoyed writing it up, and hope the inspiration clings. Some of this was backstory; the session began in mid-march trying to join the wagon train. Much of the writing prior to St. Louis was finding the character’s voice and explaining backgrounds and flaws. Hopefully, a lot of flavor came through.
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Making Compels Sing
From Blue Collar Space, a look at how to encourage compels and prevent some of the defensive reflexes they sometimes bring out.
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Dresden Files: Baltimore Preview
Dresden Files: Preview of their sample city Baltimore. Lots of statted out NPCs as examples.
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Bridgehead with Nick
I’ve captioned the photos, so it should be reasonably easy to follow the battle’s progress.
Long story short, Atis devastated my foot soldiers. I compounded the error by dedicating my Wing Troops to Atis suppression; the dice were cold and her grims came out nigh untouched. She followed that up with some flamer blasts and my infantry was cut drastically.
A few tactical errors might have made it more of a match, but Nick built an excellent army and would have been tough even if I’d played flawlessly. Though I do look forward to a rematch come tourney time!
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To sprawl or not to sprawl
An interesting discussion/debate. This round was begun by a Kevin Drum comment on a Matt Yglesias post, but delving into his comments section shows a lot of experience with different areas making walkability work.
I particularly liked the following comment about Irvine from a city planner. It’s a good point about the limits of luring with amenities like walking trails and how much of walkability comes about because driving is difficult.