Weblog Licentiae Moeticae

George MacDonald Fraser, 1925-2008

Via Ken Hite I have learned that Mr. Fraser passed away yesterday. I first discovered GMF's work in college: one of my history professors had mentioned the Flashman series in class, and once I read the first one I was hooked. I later branched out to his MacAuslan series and his nonfiction, but Flashman was always my favorite (although The Pyrates very close). I've been dreading this moment for some time, although I had not realized that he was ill: there was so much still unwritten of the Flashman series alone. Too much, it seems, for one man's lifetime.

I never met him, but I will miss him nonetheless.

Max Brooks' World War Z

My review of World War Z may be found here.

Terry Pratchett's Making Money

My review of Terry Pratchett's Making Money may be found here.

Very sad news about Terry Pratchett.

He has been diagnosed as having a "very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's". Details here, and his full statement here. While he notes (bravely):

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

...I imagine that buying his latest book Making Money couldn't hurt. Prayers, too, humanist or not.

The Sky People Review

My review of The Sky People, prequel to SM Stirling's In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, may be found here.

I am doing book reviews, now.

Over at a site called Collected Miscellany. My first one is up, for Harry Turtledove's Opening Atlantis, and may be found here.

Check it out.

Also, I need a book recommendation.

A good general work on Voudonista / Santiera practices.  I presume that GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War has a bibliography: if one of all y'all have gone through it already and determined which books were worth reading, that'd be useful as well.

Recommendations of the books

The Manolo, he has made suggestions for the books of the gift; I can endorse the Calvin & Hobbes and the Lileks and will take the rest on faith.  If you want more suggestions, I recommend Guy Gavriel Kay, Louis de Bernieres and Terry Pratchett to start.  No, not for me!  I've got those books already. 

No, just send me money, or maybe a Second Edition for In Nomine...

A useful baseline.

It occurs to me that there is the occasional person out there who wonders about my mental processes.  While I am, of course, reluctant to provide foolishly unprepared researchers with Things Man* Was Not Meant To Know (thus erasing their sanity in time-honored tradition), I figure that the odd epiphany doesn't hurt.  Besides, this is a blog.  Random, quasi-narcisstic observations is the rule.

So: I am the sort of person who reads/hears something like this and goes, "Well, of course.  If your crew isn't expecting that command, you can be sure that neither will the enemy.  Besides, the Admiralty issues equipment for a reason".  This is apparently not a normal reaction, which is probably why Kipling wrote it in the first place.

(pause)

Wow.  That was much funnier when I first came up with the idea for the post.

This always seems to be...

...the worst part of the year from a book-buying point of view; nothing seems to be out that I Simply Must Read.  Gaming books ditto, although God knows I buy supplements that I know full well that I won't ever use.

Suggestions for the former welcome; just bear in mind that my favored literary choices usually have an exploding starship on the cover, or fantasy equivalent thereof.