Showing posts with label Fun Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun Stuff. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2015

My first ComicCon!

 emerald city comiccon logo
I got to go to ComicCon! Emerald City ComicCon is the first comic convention I've attended, and I loved it. I've lived in the Seattle area since for almost 2 years, but I missed ECCC last year because I had to work. I made sure to put in for some time off this year so I could take my family. I've attended other conventions before: PAX Prime a few times, and PAX East once, and GenCon once.

I attended a couple of panels the first day, wandered the show floor checking out various vendors and artists, and went to an authors booth where several authors were signing autographs. I'm not an autograph collector, but Greg Bear was there and he wrote two of my favorite novels. I've held on to SFBC copies of those novels for a couple of decades or more, and figured if I was going to get anything autographed, those should be it. I also had Myke Cole autograph one of his novels that I had bought my son last year for his birthday.

I attended a panel featuring the prolific voice-over actor Steve Blum talking about his career, and a panel featuring the two authors I mentioned above as well as a few other authors talking about where they get their ideas.

My family came home heavy-laden with many purchases. My wife had her pic taken with The Women of Whedon! She also bought a cool puzzle book, and some jewelry. My oldest daughter, dressed as Shego from the Kim Possible cartoon, bought much artwork for herself and friends. My son bought a piece of Arrow artwork, and three books. My youngest daughter chose not to go with use, but I bought her a piece of Once Upon a Time art. I bought myself a Jayne hat, and a couple pieces of art.

Huge crowds, long lines, expensive everything, traffic congestion getting there..

It was a blast!


Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Book Review: Starship Grifters

Starship GriftersStarship Grifters by Robert Kroese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What did I just read? And why did I like it so much?

Starship Grifters is a crazy story about a gambling, alcoholic, con-artist and his robot assistant that accidentally become owners of a planet that put them deep in debt and smack-dab in the center of a conflict between the current galactic empire and the rebels who want to overthrow it.

There are character names like Rex Nihilo and General Issimo, the Malarchy Empire, and the prison planet Gulagatraz. There are borrowed quotes from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and Star Wars, as well as plenty of other similarities and ... parodies. If Ex Nihilo means out of nothing, then does Rex Nihilo mean king of nothing? There were probably other names that had plays on words that I didn't catch.

Taken piecemeal, that would make this book seem quite silly and derivative. However, on the whole it all works. I got caught up in the story, and the absolute wonder of how Rex Nihilo spins his yarns to con people, and the witty, snarky banter between him and his robot assistant Sasha.

If Douglas Adams and Mel Brooks wrote Star Wars as an episode of Leverage, and JJ Abrams and Michael Bay directed and produced it for the SyFy channel, you might end up with something close to Starship Grifters.

And that twist at the end... just another crazy whiskey tango foxtrot moment in a book full of fun moments.


Starship Grifters was provided to me by the author for review. Thanks!


View all my reviews

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Things This Book Reviewer Hasn't Said

Don't think I've said most of these things.
(Not me on the vid, I don't own it. It's a private video, so I hope it's okay to share it.)

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