Becca Stareyes

Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
For a book that managed to hit a rough spot with me on the first page, I liked Rosemary and Rue.( Read more... )

A Spell for the Revolution by C.C. Finlay


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
A Spell for the Revolution is the second book in a series of American-Revolutionary-War historical fantasy. The series premise is that the witch hunts of Salem actually did target some people with special abilities, who were forced underground. Nearly a hundred years later, witches still persist in secret. The protagonist, Proctor Brown, is a young man trying to balance his service in the local militia (which is rapidly heading towards armed rebellion against the British troops) and his engagement to a local merchant's daughter (who isn't too thrilled by the thought of armed rebellion). He's also able to see the future, something his mother helps to hide. Anyway, and there will be spoilers for the first book here...

( Review for Book 2 Contains Spoilers for Book 1 )

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I'm behind on my book reviews -- I've read a lot (including an ARC of Elizabeth Bear's new book), but haven't blogged about it. So here we go.

( Death from the Skies! by Phil Plait )

"They laughed at Copernicus. They laughed at the Wright brothers. Yes, well, they also laughed at the Marx Brothers. Being laughed at does not mean you are right." -- Michael Shermer

Over the weekend, I read "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure" by Dr. James Offit. The book starts by a bit of history about autism before delving into the meat of the matter -- how the idea that vaccines caused autism got started, the arguments for and against, and the story of what happened. Spoilers: usually what happened is along what happened when it was assumed that the thiomersal (a compound containing mercury, and used to keep bacteria from growing in vaccines) caused autism -- read, when it's actually looked into, there's no evidence at all for it, but that doesn't seem to stop people. All names have been changed, since I am lazy.

( Thiomersal, a Play in One Scene )

Yeah, don't read this if you are prone to getting angry about doctors telling parents that they need to do things like subject their kids to mercury-removing drugs, gluten-free diets, testosterone suppression, and hyperbaric oxygen chambers, because some or all of these (expensive and/or sometimes risky) things will cure their kids. Add in that the author, who does work on vaccines and even invented a vaccine for rotavirus, gets death threats for daring to suggest that parents should vaccinate.

Besides the nitty details, the last couple of chapters are on how science is portrayed in the press, and are a good primer for all my lay scientist friends in 'how to avoid the fact the media is sometimes full of garbage regarding science', and about how we really like the tale of Galileo going up against the Church or the little lawyer fighting Big Whoever in the name of the sick kids. We like mavericks and revolutionaries, to the point where everyone with contentious science seems to think of him or herself as Copernicus or the Wright Brothers. No one wants to admit they are Gene Ray.

So, when I was a middle schooler, I was a big Star Trek Deep Space Nine fan. And, well, one thing lead to another, and the series had to introduce a character, Ezri Dax, in the final season. So, the series writers had to concentrate on finishing up all the story arcs, and fleshing out Ezri's personality. It was... less than ideal.

( Cut for great justice! And also spoilers )

I'll try to catch Ember Island Players in the morning. I'm playing D&D during the finale, but I have to rely on iTunes anyway (no cable) -- with luck, the finale will be in my inbox Sunday morning. If not... I shall have to resort to alternate methods. Arr.

( Slayers Revolution, ep. 2 )

( Read more... )

So, I just watched the first episode of Slayers Revolution. I also downloaded the first two scanlated chapters of the manga. Here are my thoughts.

( It's Independence Day! Let's celebrate by Blowing Stuff Up! Lina, you first! )