Random musings on books, code, and tabletop games.
The Road of Kings, by Karl Edward Wagner; copyright 1979 by Conan Properties, Inc.; Bantam Books, October 1979. This is the only one of the Conan pastiches that I've read that I've really liked. Wagner is not Howard, but he was a fine writer himself, and his vision of Conan does not seem to contradict Howard's. I wish both Wagner and Howard could have lived longer.
Snobbery with Violence, by Marion Chesney; St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003. Marion Chesney also writes as M.C. Beaton. An adequate historical mystery.
The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell; HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. Originally published in Great Britan in 2004.
Empire of the Eagle, by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz; copyright 1993 by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz; A Tor Book, Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., first edition November 1993, first mass market edition May 1995.
Neko no ongaeshi, also known as The Cat Returns, 2002. Directed by Hiroyuki Morita, writing by Cindy Davis Hewitt (English screenplay), Donald H. Hewitt (English screenplay), Aoi Hragi (comic), and Reiko Yoshida (screenplay).
Using GNAT 3.15p with GtkAda-2.4.0 on Windows XP, when I wanted to
switch from using Gtk.Menu.Popup to using a user instantiated
version of Gtk.Menu.User_Menu_Popup.Popup I tried to switch from
using Menu of type Gtk_Menu for the first parameter to using
Gtk_Menu_Record (Menu.all)'Access because gnatmake says:
access to class-wide argument not allowed here "Popup" is not a primitive operation of "Gtk_Menu_Record"
I suppose that is because when the package is instantiated it's not in
the same scope as the original declaration of Gtk_Menu_Record so it
can't be a primitive operation of that type. It's annoying, though.
Anyway, I never figured out the problem completely before having to
move on to something else.
I never did get Gtk.Menu.User_Menu_Popup.Popup working properly,
though.
Blue Blood, by Edward Conlon; performed by Tom Stechschulte; Recorded Books, 2004. Very interesting memoir of a NYPD cop in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Zatoichi sekisho yaburi, aka Adventures of a Blind Man, 1964. Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda, writing by Shozaburo Asai and Kan Shimozawa.Includes another glimpse into Zatoichi's background. Good.
Kurenai no buta, aka Porco Rosso, 1992. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, writing by Hayao Miyazaki, Donald H. Hewitt, Cindy Davis Hewitt. Very good.
The Captain's Vengeance, by Dewey Lambdin; Thomas Dunne Books, St Martin's Press, November, 2004. The twelfth volume of the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures.
Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984), aka Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, 1984. Directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. Very good.
Shaun of the Dead, 2004. Directed by Edgar Wright, writing by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. A good zombie movie and, separately, a good comedy.
Mike Mearls' discussion of Core Stories in D&D says something interesting about the core of much D&D play and Ryan Dancy's definition puts it all in once short paragraph.
Imperial Lady, A Fantasy of Han China, by Andre Norton & Susan Shwartz, copyright 1989; A Tor Book, Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., first mass market printing May 1990.
A Silver Thread of Madness, by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; ACE Books, January 1989. Rather depressing, except for the three “Tales of Naipon”.
I just found that Salmonson's original text for Tomoe Gozen was published under its original title The Disfavored Hero by Pacific Warriors Inc in 1999.
The Swordswoman, by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; a Tor Book, Tom Doherty Associates, Pinnacle Books, Inc., March 1982. Very good.