Read:

Had the pleasure of attending Eileen Gunn‘s reading at the UW Bookstore for her new collection of short stories: Questionable Practices: Stories (Amazon link). One of the things I love most about Eileen’s stories is how often I have NO IDEA what’s going to happen – which is becoming increasingly rare given the sheer amount of short story reading I’ve been doing of late. My hindbrain spends a lot of time chattering about possible endings until eventually it too gets caught up in the weird, wild and wonderful world Eileen’s created. Definitely recommend.

Seen:

All right. I admit it. I watched 47Ronin(2013) and I liked it. I ignored it in theaters because of the reviews and news of drama around production. And yes, some of the dialogue is awkward. And yes, Keanu Reaves always looks like the next words out of his mouth will be “Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.” But the cinematography is unashamedly gorgeous, I love the addition of the fantasy elements (demons, Kirin and witches), and the fight scenes are followable. Which is more than I can say for most action movies (Transformers, I’m looking at you…)

And it didn’t leave me feeling utterly depressed (e.g. August: Osage County) in spite of the fact that (SPOILER) the movie ending with the eponymous 47 committing ritual suicide.

Of course, I also liked Pacific Rim and Iron Man3….so take it with a grain of salt.

Heard:

Military and Science Fiction have gone together since “go.” SF Signal Podcast did a great mega panel of SF/Military authors and editor Jaym Gates. Which is awesome or available on their site or iTunes.