Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown by Michael Swanwick

This was more of a fantasy story than science fiction. At first I enjoyed how our young heroin was makeing the best of living in Hell in order to save her dad. Hell was whatever the people living there made of it, so in the girls case it was just a run down city.

She didn't let her environment bring her down, which is what I always imagined doing if I were in hell (sometimes it feels like I get a taste of that already). 

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

I have been listening to the audiobook version of this book for a long time now. I have seen the HBO series of this story advertised here and there on the interwebs. People at work have also asked if I watch the show. I have not watched a single episode, but judging from all the hype I see I assume it's very popular right now.

So I decided to read the books to try to understand why this story is so popular. I. guess it has just been all the drama, sex, and violence found in all things HBO that has drawn people to the story. The book is very much the same way. It's hard for me to like the book because there is no hero in it. Everybody is out to get one another for their own selfish goals. 

I read about the Roman Empire the other day and browsed through the long list of emporers and kings and tribal revolts and other tribes coming in to destroy the empire. It all sounded a lot like A Game of Thrones. History is such a mess. I don't know why people can't just be happy farming their land or writing books or making things. Lazy people are the ones behind all the fighting and rebelling and conquest nonsense. They are the ones causing either themselves to starve and fight or others to suffer their violence.

I'm still trying to finish the book although I lost interest in the story long ago. It's such a sad world they live in, like monkeys with swords whacking each other for one reason or another. 

There was another fat book with a similar world I partially read a long time ago. It was called Maia, and I gave it away to either Salvation Army or my parents. It's a sad story about a girl living the life of a sex slave. It was written by Richard Adams, who also wrote a more interesting novel called Watership Down. In that story, which I have only watched the animated film, a bunch of rabbits fight for their civil rights against an oppressive rabbit empire.

Strategies for Optimizing Your Mobile Advertising by Brenta Blevins

This story was interesting to me because it shows a practical application of a technology that I work on everyday for my day job.

Research into flexible electronics is over 30 years old now. Work at Arizona State University 

Defender of Worms by Richard A. Lovett

I love this story! I just barely learned that there was more to the story, "Music to Me", by the same author. Music to me has been my all time favorite short story lately. When I decided to look up what else the author has written I was pleasantly surprised to find it was part of a series of stories.

Defender of Worms was published last year. I did not have a subscription last year so I had to buy the issue at the full $4.37 price tag. 

The Peripheral by William Gibson

Makers by Cory Doctorow

Just finished reading this book. It was pretty interesting to learn about the life of two modern day inventors. I listened to the audiobook version of this story through Overdrive from the Phoenix Public Library. I'm glad that I did not have to be on a waiting list in order to finish this book, because I had to check it out twice in order to finish it.