Things from the Basement

Ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties...

Well, there's some dust and cobwebs, and maybe a spider.

As I mentioned, I have about thirty boxes of books in the crawlspace. The oldest of these boxes dates back about ten years, when my ex left me and I packed up the spare room so I could get a roommate. Since money's tight and I read voraciously, the last time we went down into The Hole I brought up a couple of small boxes.

All the books down there are "keepers," meaning I thought they were good enough to hang on to for one reason or another. So far the box I opened last week has had only one book that I think will go for used book trade-in credit.

So I've been reading a little. Okay, I've been reading a lot. Here's the pile of books that's sitting on my bedside table at the moment. And the ones on my desk, and the couple that made it into the bathroom...

Echoes of the Well of Souls: The first book of the second trilogy of a series that I never read, but one that apparently made Mr. Chalker's career. I've put these on my "gotta find used" list, it's a great read. More books by Jack L. Chalker.

I guess I must have been pretty detached to never run across the Well of Souls series. I'll blame the ex.

Power Lines: The second in the Petaybee series by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborrough. I've been following Ms. McCaffrey since early Pern, and Ms. Scarborough is also a fine author (who coincidently used to live in Alaska). This one wasn't actually in The Hole, but I'd been watching for this series and snapped it up. Plot: a terraformed world gains sentience and works for the freedom if itself and it's residents from the Evil Company. More books by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Escape Velocity: This is apparently the first book in the Warlock Series. Now, if I recall, the Warlock series is technically sci-fi, taking place on a planet that was colonized by, basically, the Society for Creative Anachronism. While the ship full of role-players takes off during this novel, it's largely about the death of democracy. And if you had any doubt Mr. Stasheff mentions it frequently.

Not that this makes it a bad book. But I'd classify it as a "light read"; the plot moves right along like a nice space opera and the lectures never get too deep or lecture-y.



The Ambivalent Magician: Another series I never chased down! This is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek read, in which the author claims to be experimenting with "Fantasic Metafiction". What we have is a modern-day mad (well, eccentric and very focused) scientist who's thrown cross-dimensionally into a medieval world. This is apparently the third and final book in the series, and I think the other two are The Inadequate Adept and The Reluctant Sorcerer. This is also a fun read, but a rollicking, laughable one.

There's actually four mor books in this pile, not counting the one I'm reading. So let's do this as a to-be-continued.

-------------------------------------------------------------

If the blogs seem a little sparse it's because things are very busy. I've got several things going on in the on-line world, and both kids have been very needy lately. Kiddo is wrapping up potty training, I think, and Baby has just hit the Mommy-can't-be-more-than-four-feet-away ever phase. Winter finally arrived and it's too cold for Baby to hang out with us to play in Gran'pa's yard. I've got to find some ideas to keep Kiddo from being bored this winter, he has so much energy.

We did go to the community Spookytown today, which is indoor trick-or-treating in an old grocery store, sponsored by local businesses. Kiddo did very well; it was his first time trick-or-treating and he was thrilled that people would give him candy! It was, however, a total zoo and the music was far too loud for a children's event. We trick-or-treated and danced for about an hour before I couldn't take anymore.