robert.admin – Page 198 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

August 18, 2013

Astounding Stories July 1931 (Review)

Another dip with the iPad Kindle reader in the pool of Project Gutenberg, this time a pulldown of Astounding Stories, July 1931. Astounding Stories was the pulp monthly that later grew and grew, becoming Analog, whose existence, with the closing of our local scifi shop and the general inability of the current generation to read anything longer than 144 characters, is a fact just short of amazing these days (yes, monthly for eighty years). So it’s a nifty and back-laughing view of the “past’s future”, six stories of plucky heroes (all of them men, all of them sterling and bold, […]

August 17, 2013

Stratagies

I don’t like riding with other bicyclists. I groan under my breath when I overtake one in my commute. I like being alone. Another bicyclist adds speed issues, competition issues and passing issues. Which is why I groaned Friday on the ride home as I passed under the 1792 railroad bridge, banging along on the southbound sidewalk, spotting a guy way up ahead, also on the sidewalk, also on a bike. My route varies from his at this point. As soon as I’m past the car lot, I’ll swing off the sidewalk and cut a half-block west, running the N-S […]

August 17, 2013

OpsLog – FEC – 08/17/2013

I‘ve got my train orders and am climbing into my idling Florida East Coast engine in Hialeah Yard. Everything’s coupled up and I’m ready to call the dispatcher and highball onto the main. Except that I’m 20 feet away, behind two doors and across a patio. But it works. Ken Farnham, the owner of this HO pike, had a bit of a problem – he wanted to put an HO layout in a structure in his back yard but zoning would not permit anything save a smaller shed. Even if he chose two small sheds, they couldn’t be joined together. […]

August 11, 2013

The Red Room (Review)

Short stories are often a neat little side-jaunt from longer and windier stories. And sometimes it’s a delight to discover a story from a collection by an artist crossing a genre into something he normally does not do. So that’s why I delighted in The Red Room, an old H.G. Wells story I discovered in the collection The Plattner Story and Others, easily obtainable via Project Gutenberg (right here). Maybe because I’d had a long week and was comfortably tired, perhaps that’s the reason this “ghost” story appealed. Maybe because I had a beer in my gut, that it was […]

August 8, 2013

New Job Observation (DOG EAR)

So I’ve moved and am looking forward to my new job at Virginia Tech, that of being a consulting writer. Who would have thought that my books and DOG EAR would pull in such notice, but there you have it. I took leave from my day job, packed up a minimal amount of stuff, bid my wife and cat goodbye and here I am in Blacksburg. The odd thing is, I’m not alone. The university picked two ‘consulting writers’, myself and this gifted young woman, a weedy thing to who I’m not about to give a free plug to. I […]

August 4, 2013

The Serene Invasion (Review)

Finally, a book for the left! I’ve grown tired with right-leaning sausage-grinders. I’ve also grown tired of the old plotline, that aliens who come to earth have a hidden agenda. I got through Live Free Or Die with bleeding eyeballs. So it’s nice, sometime, when aliens ARE beneficial, when communication and coexistence and cooperation actually work. It’s just too bad that in doing so, The Serene Invasion loses a bit of its edge. The the race we name as the Serene come to Earth and make big changes. I’m not sure why they dome some of our cities, since they […]

August 1, 2013

Grinding the worm (DOG EAR)

What’s that old factoid – if you teach a worm how to do something, grind it up, then feed it to other worms, they’ll know how to do it. Which leads to the primary question – like, just what can you teach a worm to do? Really, the options are limited. Regardless, I started working along a disciplined timetable for writing information, insights, fears and whatnot. I didn’t want to post them just any-old–when since only the most dedicated of fans will check every day for updates (I’ve dropped reading certain webcomics for just this reason). It comes down to […]

July 30, 2013

Tourist

I don’t know why I’m going through this sudden interest in things religious. It’s a shallow examination (with little true understanding) so let’s not all pile on screaming that I’m a disbeliever or a heretic or whatever. Perhaps it’s because I’ve watched 54 years go by and have realized I’m mortal. Or I’m curious. Or whatever. But I’ve been getting on the celestial tour bus and riding through religions, checking them out and chatting with their inhabitants. For example, earlier this year, a coffee friend talked me into Lent, where I ended my slavery to things cocacoloaish (a soda boycott […]

July 28, 2013

A Storm of Swords (Review)

It’s 1am, I’m in the epilog, and com’on, George, let’s wrap this thing up. 924 pages. Not that it isn’t good. The Storm of Swords is the third installment (some 1800 pages in) of The Song of Ice and Fire saga, a massive and sprawling tale from George R.R. Martin. It moves well, and most chapters always have a reason for being. Better yet, he engages in a practice I most fully approve of – killing off main characters. But that’s the joke I’ve seen on the net – “Whenever a fan asks Martin when the book is coming out, […]

July 27, 2013

DOG EAR Contents

The following is a full list of “Dog Ear” articles, a collective blog about the wonders and frustrations of writing. A description of the entry is included in square brackets. New articles will post every Thursday, and will be added to this list. LilySmash (Dog Ear) [We meet a struggling artist and I realize how out-of-touch I am] Sharing is Caring, you bastards (DOG EAR) [The best way in the world to avoid nagging recommendations] Overdone CGI [When you can do story-writing, but can throw action and noise and stupidity at an audiance] The Best of 2025 (DOG EAR) [Another […]