Recent content by Autumnal

Trains. Not magitech ones. There might be magical elements in them, but mostly they’re just trains. In civilized areas, you get the great cost per passenger/ton carried. In dangerous ones, they can be well armored and carry a bunch of defenders and still be a good deal for moving valuable goods...

They’re comparable to guitar strings.

A superb owl from Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC. (The owl represents the sound “m”.)

Let’s see. Classes: Bard, hunter, warlock, warlord Implicitly, this is a setting with Roman-style polytheism. Dedicated priests are NPCs; anyone can learn some ritual basics. Species: Dragonborn, lion people swiped from Monte Cook, tortles, warforged Human ruins exist; there may be...

Burning Chrome by William Gibson. A collection mostly of pre-Neuromancer short stories, including several that built out the Sprawl setting (“New Rose Hotel”, “Johnny Mnemonic”, “Burning Chrome”). Others range from present day weird fiction (“The Gernsback Continuum”) to Gateway-like future...

The portrayal of Holmes's that does most justice to the full mix of traits, I think, is Jeremy Brett’s. His Holmes is aristocratic and aloof, but also kind to those in need.

I’ve been figuring the Lakers, or possibly Liverpool. But I’ll settle for the Seahawks.

This is just about always the first one I think of when people ask about movies better than their sources (followed by Jaws and The Godfather). I really like the movie’s moral core.

De Bow’s Review was one of the most…I don’t have good adjectives for it. They set out to be the intellectual powerhouse of the slave states. This led them to host things like drapetomania, and a theory that slaves’ blood naturally circulated more sluggishly, so that hard labor and vigorous...

It has, particularly novellas. Amazon’s program of sets of 5-7 short stories as anthologies exists and flourishes, for example. Tor.com releases make good money as well as winning a lot of awards; similarly for other genres I know less about.

Loner Imperium and Loner Galaxy Drifter, two more supplements for my current favorite solo system. The first is one of the rare third-party supplements, covering th early Roman Empire )Five Good Emperors era in particular). It’s a joy, covering features of Roman life from debate and court cases...

There’s a fairly small list of things I actively refuse to engage with (usual suspects here), a fairly long list of things I’ve either got no curiosity about or have sampled and don’t wish to engage with any more, and a goodly number of things I’ve got no objection to and may well enjoy some but...

Catch-up time. I had to shelve a reread of the Book of the New Sun. Just too damn much stress right now. Four Lost Cities, by Analee Newitz. Fascinating and delightful, using four very different cities to discuss endings that aren’t necessarily calamities. I learned a lot and never felt...

Something rules-light, written by people who genuinely enjoy all thee trilogies and th ancillary stuff. It should worry much about grognards like, say, me; we can fem for ourselves. Th target audience should be th people of the latter 2020s who are enjoying Star Wars now, first and foremost...