Blogs

After listening to the 2 available Grimnoir Chronicles books I decided to give the Monster Hunter International books a try. In many ways they are very similar to each other, they both have lots of action, monsters, hardboiled fighting men, and a lot of action. But unlike the Grimnoir Chronicles, the Monster Hunter books have very little magic and the setting is more in line with our mundane reality. It definitely gives the books a different feel. But even so, they are very similar. ...

This is the follow-up to Hard Magic and shows that Larry Correia is able to keep the action steaming along. Faye has really taken off as a character and has become my favorite of the bunch. Bronson Pinchot does a great job of making her come to life. If you read the first book I highly recommend you jump into this one and if you have not read Hard Magic, what are you waiting for, get to it already. ...

I read this book in a web browser, on an iPhone and on an iPad using [Safari Books Online](http://www.safaribooksonline.com/" title=“Safari Books Online Website) website and app. According to this book “Mental models are simply affinity diagrams of behaviors made from ethnographic data gathered from audience representatives.” This book does a great job describing how to create a detailed mental model. As a front-end developer with a deep interest in usability I have talked a lot about customer mental models, but my understanding of what the term meant was very limited. Now as a UX designer it is more important for me to have a more in-depth understanding, including how to discover, document, and share what our customer’s mental models are for our industry. ...

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. Working my way backwards: Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk and the pictures I took in Little Five Points (L5P) Norcross 9th Graders had a great game against North Gwinnett. As an experiment I posted a lot more pictures of this game than I normally would. I left in a lot of slightly out of focus and poorly framed shots to give more context to the story the pictures tell. Anime Weekend Atlanta was a lot of fun as usual, the Moonlit Forest Gala Ball and Costume Contest were great. DragonCon was good, nothing really stood out for me this year. But Sylvester McCoy and John Rhys-Davies were a lot of fun.

I got this book from audible after someone at DragonCon recommended it to me; I think. Actually it may have been on sale and recommended to me by Audible. I am not sure. Either way it was a good recommendation. This is the first book in a new series of books by Larry Correia. Narrated wonderfully by Bronson Pinchot, yes Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers, narrates this book bringing the characters to life, it is a wonderful performance. ...

I bought this audiobook from Audible and used the Audible app on an iPhone to listen to it. What a great surprise. This book was recommended to me by Audible a couple of times before I finally took the bait. I think that it is narrated by John Hodgman was part of the draw for me. I don’t really like John Hodgman’s sense of humor, I have listened to excerpts from his book “The Areas of My Expertise”, and didn’t find it funny, but as an actor I think he is great. And he does a fantastic job narrating this story. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app for iPhone. This is the second book in Mike Resnick’s Starship series. This book is much better than the first book Starship Mutiny, Mike Resnick’s sense of humor sneaks its way in, not as much as I would like, but it is present. Even though I found this book not quite in the same league as Santiago or Widowmaker, it is a good read. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible iPhone app. The Starship collection of novels are Mike Resick’s go at military science fiction, it is along the lines of Honor Harrington. This book did not blow me away, it held my attention, but I am a big fan of Mike Resnick and I felt a little let down by this book. It doesn’t have the sense of humor or suspense that I enjoy so much from him and I found much of the story to be obvious and uninspired. ...

I bought this book from Audible. The world that Paolo Bacigalupi has created is a fantastical one, capturing the world in the midst of great change. In it we are shown how even though everything is changing culture does not change as fast as the world around it. Jonathan Davis does an amazing job narrating this story; I am totally blown away by his performance. He fills the characters with so much life, making them each a vivid character with their own desires and fears. His ability to create a palpable difference between the different Asian cultures is fantastic. ...

I listened to this from an old recording narrated by John Polk. Harry Harrison died on August 15, 2012 at 87 years old. I decided to listen to The Stainless Steel Rat in his memory. Harry Harrison is one of the few writers who I would seek out and buy every book they produced. Harry never disappointed me. From The Stainless Steel Rat to Make Room! Make Room! to Bill the Galactic Hero to The Turing Option. I love them all and re-read many of them every couple of years. ...