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WWWednesday: March 9, 2016

Today’s word for Wednesday is blatherskite, a noun with two meanings; one, a person who talks nonsense and a lot of it; two, the nonsense itself. “He’s an ignorant blatherskite,” is one use; “She rattled on, filling her time with blatherskite” is the other. The word can be traced back as far as the mid-17th century, in Scotland (how did I know that?) and is the combination of the word “blather,” and “skite,” which the Oxford Dictionary site demurely defines as a Scottish derogatory term.

Books and Writing

Is this the world’s tiniest book?

March 9th, 2016. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |

The Last Witness: A fascinating study of memory

The Last Witness by K.J. Parker

The Last Witness is another of K.J. Parker’s novellas in which an unreliable first-person narrator tells us the story of his unfortunate life. This technique worked brilliantly in Blue and Gold, and it does so again here.

The Last Witness is about a man who, when he was a boy, realized that he had the magical ability to remove people’s memories from their brains.

Patternmaster: Patternists and Clayarks battle for dominance

Patternmaster by Octavia Butler

Patternmaster (1976) was written first in Octavia Butler’s PATTERNIST quartet, but comes last in chronology. It takes place several hundred years after Clay’s Ark (1984), back in the Forsythe, CA territory where the Patternists settled down earlier. Society remains scattered and non-industrial, and power is divided between the Patternists, a network of linked human telepaths who can kill at a distance, and the Clayarks, now completely transformed into intelligent, sphinx-like animals with extreme strength,

Against a Dark Background: A fun story that lacks depth

Against a Dark Background by Iain Banks

Despite being Iain M. Banks’ fifth published work of science fiction, Against a Dark Background has all the feel of being the author’s fledgling effort in the genre. Overwritten, narrative fragmented in inconsistent fashion, and plot devices and storytelling all rather overt, the book is good if you’re looking for a light read that doesn’t require too much thought. Otherwise, it leaves a lot to be desired when compared to much of the author’s other sci-fi.

Against a Dark Background is the story of Sharrow,

Day: March 9, 2016

WWWednesday: March 9, 2016

The Last Witness: A fascinating study of memory

Patternmaster: Patternists and Clayarks battle for dominance

Against a Dark Background: A fun story that lacks depth

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