[fa]rage against the mankind

Posted in Books, Kids, Statistics, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 11, 2026 by xi'an

Leave a comment »

a journal of the Aregenua years

Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2026 by xi'an

Read The Moth Diaries, by Rachel Klein, presumably following a recommendation in The Guardian or on Tor’s Reactor blog. This is a 2002 book, labelled as gothic horror by the review I read then. However, there is little horror in the novel and much more of a  diffracted snapshot of a perturbed pupil at a US boarding school, traumatised by the suicide of her father. As the story is told through and only through the diary of that pupil, most facts being reported second-hand and not always coherently, it becomes quickly impossible to separate truth from fantasy, especially the veracity of another pupil being a vampire. Or just the new best friend of the narrator’s former best friend. Which makes the book much more interesting, if unsettling. (Especially regarding how a sexual assault by a teacher on the pupil is not reported by her as such.)

During a May 01 trip to Caen, if not for the half-marathon, next month!, I visited the nearby fish market in Courseulle, where I tasted fantastic, local, oysters, possibly at the height of their growth, despite the warning to avoid oysters in months without R’s! I also taught a restaurant waiter how to make affogato! And visited the amazing archaeological site of Aregenua, in the tiny village of Vieux, of which I had never heard. This Gallo-Roman city was the centre of local power in the early centuries, when Caen hardly existed, with 5000 inhabitants, temples, a forum and a theatre. All of which gradually vanished in the Dark Ages… The site is now protected from pilfering, but a large fraction remains un-escavated. (Too bad the museum boutique was not selling garum!)

Watched some episodes of The Night Agent (2), rather efficient copycat of the Bourne movies, but also requiring a huge suspension of belief in its accumulation of coincidences and the ability of the agents to operate in completely new environments. With a completely implausible reception at the Iranian Embassy. (And a DGSE agent with an awful French.) But the tension in the cat & mouse “game” is there, to the point I had to split episodes when it got too intense!

Leave a comment »

Hugo Awards finalists 2026

Posted in Books, Kids with tags , , , , , , , on May 9, 2026 by xi'an

Here are the 2026 Hugo Awards finalists, with winners to be announced on 30 August at LAcon V. Since I registered for selecting the awards, I did get the Hugo Voter Packet (with full ebooks, some audiobooks, if not movies, or TV scripts) and hence be able to read at least some of them. Before or after the deadline in August.. Here are some categories:

Best Novel

  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape) [sequel to The Tainted Cup]
  • Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz)
  • Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK)
  • The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK)
  • The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)

Best Novella

  • Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
  • Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK)
  • Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom)
  • The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)
  • The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
  • What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK) [a constant in the nomination lists!]

Best Novelette

  • “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)
  • “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)
  • “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025)
  • “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025)
  • “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67)
  • “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65)

Best Short Story

  • “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63)
  • “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223)
  • “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025)
  • “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226)
  • “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)
  • “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229)

Best Series

  • Emily Wilde by Heather Fawcett (Del Rey US; Orbit UK)
  • October Daye by Seanan McGuire (Tor US; DAW)
  • Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK) [read some of these!]
  • The Chronicles of Osreth by Katherine Addison (Tor US; Solaris UK; Subterranean)
  • The Craft Wars by Max Gladstone (Tor; Tordotcom) [read the first one, did not like it that much]
  • White Space by Elizabeth Bear (Saga Press; Gollancz)

Leave a comment »

how to qualify a State where…

Posted in Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2026 by xi'an
  • death penalty by firing squads is being reinstated
  • foreign, extra-judiciary, State killings are praised by the highest levels of the administration
  • counter-powers and political opponents are threatened with legal action
  • local and national bodies are actively and aggressively pursuing voter suppression tactics
  • scientific bodies are silenced to cater to anti-vaxers and anti-abortion organisations
  • avoidable mortality rose from 2009 to 2021, while it declined in most other high-income countries
  • the judiciary and the legislature are silenced
  • a former F.B.I. director is indicted for a Instagram image of seashells
  • the President pushes for a personality cult (e.g., posting his picture on passports, creating an gallery of presidential portraits demeaning his predecessors and extolling himself, and broadcasting images of himself as an healing Christ),
  • threatens to destroy a millenial civilization,
  • and intends to build an triumphal arch that competes with Napoléon’s Arc de Triomphe
  • the Vice President gives theology lessons to the Pope
  • the Defence Department is renamed the Department of War
  • and its secretary is invoking divine sanction for illegal, criminal, military actions, if confusing quotes from the bible with quotes from Pulp Fiction

Strikingly, Mother Jones draws a strong parallel between the grievances against King George III in the Declaration of Independence and the above…

Leave a comment »

room with [what] a view [jatp]

Posted in pictures, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2026 by xi'an

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries