Lacking Natural Simplicity

Random musings on books, code, and tabletop games.

Recent Reading

  • Hammett, by Joe Gores, copyright 1975; Ballantine Books, Octrober 1976. An entertaining look at what Dashiell Hammett might have been like as a character in a detective novel. I should probably read some more books by Joe Gores.

Recent Reading & Viewing

Recent Reading

  • Bridge of Birds: A Novel of An Ancient China That Never Was, by Barry Hughart, copyright 1984; A Del Rey Book, published by Ballantine Books; First Ballantine Books Edition: May 1985; Fourth Printing: December 1988. A delightful fantasy detective story.

Recent Viewing

  • Mighty Joe Young, 1949. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, writing by Merian C. Cooper and Ruth Rose, special effects by Ray Harryhausen and others. I scanned this quickly. Entertaining, as movies from that era go, and the stop-motion animation is good, as one would expect.

Recent Viewing

  • Song of the Thin Man, 1947. Directed by Edward Buzzell, writing by Stanley Robers, Steve Fisher, Nat Perrin, James O'Hanlon, Harry Crane, using characters created by Dashiell Hammett. I haven't seen many movies from this era that I like, but the Thin Man movies are light and entertaining, if in no way the equal of Dashiell Hammett's original novel.

Recent Viewing and Reading

Recent Viewing

  • Blade Runner, 1992. Directed by Ridley Scott, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples. Director's Cut. It's always good to See Blade Runner, even if you miss the first 5 minutes.

Recent Reading

  • Land of Unreason, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt; copyright 1942 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., renewed 1969 by L. Sprague de Camp; Baen, first Baen printing January 1987. A light and entertaining romp in fairyland. I wish more modern fantasy were influenced by this sort of book.

Recent Reading and Viewing

Recent Reading

  • The End Of The Empire, by Alexis A. Gilliland, A Del Rey Book, published by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., First Edition December 1983. An short work, but enjoyable. I found it more to my taste than his Rosinante books.

Recent Viewing

  • Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984), aka Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, 1984. Directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. Watched this again with Lily, who enjoyed it.

Recent Viewing and Reading

Recent Viewing

  • Jackie Brown, 1997. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, written by Quentin Tarantino, based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. I like some of Quentin Tarantino's films, but not all. This was one of them that didn't really work for me.

Recent Reading

  • The Pastel City, by M. John Harrison, copyright 1971; Avon Books, First Avon Printing July 1974; Second Printing. A very good post- historical collapsing civilization fantasy, quirky and intriguing. I wish more modern fantasy was inspired by this: we'd have much less extruded fantasy product if it was.

Recent Reading

  • The Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner, by Henry Kuttner; Questar Science Fantasy, Popular Library, Warner Books, Inc; January 198.

    • The Portal in the Picture, formerly published in book form as Beyond Earth's Gate; Ace Books Inc., copyright 1954; copyright renewed 1982 by Catherine Kuttner Reggie.

    • Valley of the Flame, Ace Books, Inc., copyright 1964.

    • The Dark World, Ace Books, copyright 1946; copyright renewed 1974 by Catherine Kuttner Reggie.

    These are three fun short novels. It's a pity this size work is less common today.

Recent Reading and Listening

Recent Reading

  • The Infinitive of Go, by John Brunner, copyright 1980 by Brunner Fact & Fiction Limited; A Del Rey Book, published by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc; first edition 1980. A curious little book, with an unexpectedly hopeful ending.

Recent Listening

  • The Turkish Gambit, by Boris Akunin; narrated by Paul Michael; Books on Tape, 2005.