On Saturday night, the kiddo and I slept aboard the Arthur Foss, an 1889 tugboat moored on Seattle’s Lake Union. We shared a tiny cabin, toured the ship, and had an absolutely marvelous time. It’s a deceptively large ship — at least as much of it is below the waterline as above it. It weighs
I’ve been reading fantasy and sci-fi for as long as I can remember[1], but this is the first time I’ve ever become a member of the Hugo Awards voting pool. (A voting membership costs $50, and members also get to make nominations for the 2017 Hugo Awards.) My faithful Kindle Paperwhite (paid link) is already
2016 Hugo Awards: “So join. Read. Vote.” Read More »
I’m currently reading Neal Stephenson‘s Seveneves (paid link), and it’s blowing my mind. (This post is spoiler-free.) The larch Stephenson is one of my favorite authors, and Cryptnomicon (paid link) is both my favorite Stephenson book and one of my favorite books period. Quite apart from “just” being fucking amazing in every way, it sparked my
Seveneves is roaring through my brain Read More »
Atomic Robo is awesome. You can read all of it through that link, as webcomic; it’s also available in print (paid link). Written by Brian Clevinger, drawn by Scott Wegener, and colored by Ronda Pattison, Atomic Robo is an angst-free, punchy (and punch-filled), pulpy romp — a comic where “I punch it with SCIENCE!” makes perfect
Atomic Robo is really good Read More »
A recent family outing to Uwajimaya snowballed into a trip to Kinokuniya Bookstore, and that place is trouble — particularly because their manga selection is insane. I wound up picking up the first Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (paid link) omnibus and the first volume of One-Punch Man (paid link), and quickly followed those up with the
I’m a sucker for highly portable games. Hive Pocket (paid link) is one of my all-time favorite games, period — and it just happens to be pocket-sized.[1] I also dig Love Letter (paid link), which supports four players and, at least in the US, was more or less solely responsible for making microgames a thing. So
Pack O Game: one pouch, 8 games the size of packs of gum Read More »
As of today, I’m no longer running or contributing to Gnome Stew. There’s no drama or bad blood, it was just time for me to stop, and fortunately the Stew’s own John Arcadian is taking over — the site is in great hands. Today feels super-weird. The Stew has been a fixture in my life
Stepping down from Gnome Stew Read More »
My wife, Alysia, got me The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (paid link) for my birthday, and it’s a fabulous book. (The rest of this post contains spoilers for the film.) I enjoy these sorts of books as a fan, but I also dig them as a gamer. I’ve written about using non-RPG
The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is great gaming fuel Read More »
More RPGs and supplements should be coil-bound, or offer a coil-bound version. Coil-bound books lay flat and stay open, making them a joy to use at the gaming table. Away from the table, I prefer perfect-bound (traditional softcover) or hardcover for reading, and hardcover for bigger table-use books (large-diameter coils suck, and a big hardcover
All hail coil-bound gaming books Read More »
I just started reading William Hope Hodgson‘s 1912 weird fiction work The Night Land (paid link ; also available as a free ebook). I’m interested in it in large part because the setting sounds fabulous — and rather well-suited to gaming. I say “sounds” because I’m not that far into the book yet. It’s a
The Night Land seems ripe for gaming Read More »
