Cannonade.Net Microblog
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Do You Dream of Terra-Two? - Temi Oh
This is the first Starship Alexandria book that I haven't loved. I feel like I went into this expecting hard sci-fi and it didn't reach that bar for me. I couldn't get my suspension of belief to kick in. My feelings about the characters ranging from dislike (Harry obviously), through bafflement (the other kids) to frustration (adults being so unaware/ambivalent about what the kids, under their…
Why I Turned Off Google AdSense
In 2006, inspired by the recent movie and the launch of the JavaScript Google Maps API , I started working on a project to map the events of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin novels . At the time I thought using Google AdSense which had launched a few years earlier would help support the running costs of the site. Over the years, as those fairly innocuous text ads evolved into image display ads…
The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era - Douglas R. Egerton
I had an idea of what Reconstruction in the United States looked like. A montage of lost opportunity with the death of Lincoln , short lived representation for African Americans, brutal suppression of those same people. This detailed history of the period has expanded that montage with the extrodinary lives of those who lived and fought through this critical period in the story of the United…
Green City Wars - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project Screensaver for Windows
About six years ago, I wrote a MacOS version of my Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project screensaver . Six years later I finally got around to writing a version that runs on Windows computers. Please see the terms of use below (N.B. Satellite imagery is provided by and copyright © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors ). I hope you like it and would love to hear from you if you do. Download Copyright…
A Parade of Horribles (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #8) - Matt Dinniman
I liked it enough to read all eight. I didn't like it enough to join the cult . I can get pretty hooked by these kinds of long arc stories, but sometimes I feel like I am wading through the gore to get to the next metaplot reveal.
Donuts
Five years ago I decided learning Blender might be fun and had a crack at the BlenderGuru (Andrew Price) Donut Tutorial . I have played around with the 3D modelling tools in the past, but this tutorial really helped me get my teeth in to this software and led to lots of fun projects since . With each new version of Blender, Andrew has created a fresh update to the tutorial. He includes enough…
The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga, #1) - Mary Stewart
This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #7) - Matt Dinniman
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6) - Matt Dinniman
Witch King (The Rising World, #1) - Martha Wells
Radiant Star - Ann Leckie
Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries, #8) - Martha Wells
The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5) - Matt Dinniman
The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #4) - Matt Dinniman
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #3) - Matt Dinniman
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #2) - Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) - Matt Dinniman
Children of Strife (Children of Time, #4) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Artemis II
Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting - Carl Sagan Images from the March/April 2026 Artemis II Mission
Pretenders to the Throne of God (The Tyrant Philosophers, #4) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Monsters and Memories
Twenty six years ago I was pretty enthusiastic about the future of what I thought as a "graphical mud ", so it's suprising that it has taken this long for a game to appear that feels like a spiritual successor to Everquest. Last year the the Monsters and Memories team made this trailer as part of the ramped up schedule of playtests: The trailer demonstrates pretty much everything I love about this…
Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company - Patrick McGee
The City We Became (Great Cities, #1) - N.K. Jemisin
Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
I See You've Called in Dead - John Kenney
A History of Video Games in 64 Objects
I Seek a Kind Person: My Father, Seven Children and the Adverts that Helped Them Escape the Holocaust - Julian Borger
Slow Gods - Claire North
Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1) - Yoon Ha Lee
Lives of Bitter Rain (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2.5) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Starseer's Ruin (Warhammer Age of Sigmar) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy, #3) - Robin Hobb
The Rose Field (The Book of Dust, #3) - Philip Pullman
Unsatisfying. This review expresses eloquently something like what I felt finishing the series.
Shroud Pod
Outside, the pod's various limbs clattered and banged as Ste Etienne moved them about. I began to appreciate the versatility of its design, for a vehicle that was going into such an unknown. The collar around the pod that had the legs fixed to it, with the main body of the pod designed to pivot freely within it, ensured that we, the occupants, were kept the right way up no matter what. An…
The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust, #2) - Philip Pullman
La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) - Philip Pullman
There was a terrace above the river, where peacocks (one called Norman and the other called Barry) stalked among the drinkers, helping themselves to snacks without the slightest hesitation and occasionally lifting their heads to utter ferocious and meaningless screams. One of my favourite books of all time. A little sad the trilogy was ultimately unsatisfying for me .