EHyde

I thought this was a really neat music video Also I can't figure out how to embed video...

I just finished 1634: The Galileo Affair. If anything, I liked it better than the first one. I'm gonna have to track more of those books down.

This is a long way off -- in July -- but I thought I'd give it a mention as apparently the hotel is filling up quickly. It's in Chattanooga, TN and Brandon is guest of honor. Other guests are Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Timothy Zahn, and Eric Flint (btw, I think it's pretty awesome that out of that list of names, it's Brandon who's GoH). Anyway, I plan on attending and I was wondering if any other 17thSharders might be there.

That's why I started Dies the Fire--I grew up in Corvallis--but, well, tiny irrelevant details being wrong probably wouldn't have made a difference if I liked the rest of the book, but they ended up just contributing to the overall "meh" I felt when reading it. I didn't finish Outlander either, but that was mostly because of wrong expectations on my part--I knew it was "time travel romance" but I was thinking it was heavier on the time travel, lighter on the romance, and it just wasn't what I was looking for at the time. It was definitely well-written though, and I plan on finishing it sometime.

I'm a little late to the discussion here, but that is awesome. I didn't even think of getting custom plates for our van, though I do like to think of it as that one relative that Elend never talks about--you know, Chevy, of House Venture ;-)

Lots of Oregonians on this site! I used to be one -- grew up in Corvallis -- but alas I live there no longer. I would like to announce that I'm going to be taking a weaving class starting next week. Okay, I know that weaving cloth may not sound like the most exciting thing ever, but I'm looking forward to it.

That's gorgeous!

My grandpa used to make this every Christmas for all the relatives. He'd even ship it to those of us who didn't live nearby ... of course it never lasted as long in the damp Oregon winters, so we'd have to eat it quickly ;-). I'm not sure it will fare much better in TN but I'm giving it a try. Grandpa Young's Peanut Brittle 1 cup water 1 cup karo/corn syrup 2 cups sugar 1 lb (3 cups) raw peanuts 1/4 lb butter 3 tsp baking soda 2 tbsp vanilla extract This requires a large saucepan, as it triples in size when cooking. Bring water and karo to a boil, add sugar and boil rapidly till "thread" stage, about 7 minutes. Then add the peanuts. Cook about 7 more minutes, stirring constantly, until it begins to turn amber. Add the butter, cook about 3-5 more minutes. Don't let it get a scorched smell. Remove from heat, add 3 teas soda and 2 Tb vanilla, hurriedly whipping it up. Immediately pour onto well-greased cookie sheet and let cool thoroughly. Break into pieces by striking with the heavy end of a table knife. Store in airtight container to prevent gumminess.

*Jealous* We're not able to travel home for Christmas this year.

I wouldn't say diatribes but you can definitely tell it was written from a liberal perspective. It didn't really bother me except for one particular case (but that was a small thing). The focus of the book is on the attempt to save Kennedy, not really alternate history "what if he'd been saved," so looking at how things would've been different from a liberal vs conservative viewpoint isn't really an issue. Turtledove's another author I keep meaning to read but haven't yet. *Sigh* I've got too many of those. Does the Nantucket series eventually tie in with Dies the Fire and those books? I think I heard that somewhere. I've tried and failed a few times to get into those books (Dies the Fire, I mean. I haven't tried the Nantucket series at all yet).

Oh yeah, 1632 was good too. I've only read one of the sequels so far though. I will add those others to my list of things to read.

Especially not one who mysteriously travels through time and space. *cough*TheDoctor*cough* ;-)

I love a good time-travel story. I just finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King and that got me thinking about some of the other time travel books I've read. One of my favorites is Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis, which is full of crazy puzzle pieces until that moment at the end when bang! everything fits together. Stories with time travel don't have to be full of crazy paradoxes -- some use it just to put characters in incongruous settings, ala Doctor Who -- and I think that approach is harder to get right because I think a lot of authors underestimate what effect -- even without going into paradoxes -- simply being from a different time will have on the characters. For time travel affecting character development, I think Kindred by Octavia Butler is excellent. What are some of your favorite time travel stories? Or do you like time travel at all?

I feel like even with detailed plot summaries, the character arcs won't have nearly as much of an impact as if you'd actually read the previous books. I was in a similar boat--I'd read most of the series, years ago, but basically forgotten most of the major plot points. Then I got into Brandon's work and wanted to see what he'd done with the series, so I went back and started from book 1. I'm glad I did. Not only would I have been completely lost otherwise, even having read the books once before, they're good books (though the later ones do get a bit slow). If the thought of that many huge books is scaring you away, I'd recommend the audiobooks. They're well done and you can do other stuff while listening to them (and you may not even have to pay for them--my library had some of them available for download).

Well, I finished 11/22/63 and it stayed good all the way through (evidence: that I've finished it when yesterday I was less than halfway done). A satisfying ending, and not the one I was expecting, either. I would definitely recommend it. I only wish we knew more about the how and the why of the time travel mechanics ... but I suppose that's the curse of spending too much time in these forums. It was a first-person narrative, and we knew what the narrator knew about it, and we knew enough to know why the story had to go the way it did, so I guess that's enough.

I'm currently reading (maybe a third of the way through) Stephen King's new book, 11/22/63. Before this the only book of his I'd read was Carrie, and that was in fourth grade, so going into this I pretty much knew only his reputation as a horror writer. Normally I don't much go for horror (you know, that may have something to do with reading Carrie in fourth grade...) but I was intrigued by the premise (time travel, and the title tells you which historic event is the focus) and thought I'd check it out. It's quite good so far--characters are really well done. If I had to put it in a genre I'd probably say "magical realism" (though usually I don't like that as it seems like just a convenient way for English majors to say they're not reading fantasy).

Hey, this is General Discussion, we talk about cooking here. I think I might've mentioned sci-fi in--gasp--a book thread once I won't be playing myself--not much of a gamer--but I expect I'll hear a lot about it since I spend some time on 501st forums.

That's awesome, I had no idea Mannheim Steamroller was still around ... I remember listening to some of my mom's albums of theirs from the 70s.

There are a couple of people on TarValon.net who might know if there was a backup, I'll ask.

Hi Elizabeth! What was your username at adonalsium.net? I was there briefly (Raissa).

Thanks for the recommendation, I looked into those videos and they look very helpful. I've read some of his non-physics writing (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman) and enjoyed it quite a bit! I don't know that you need a spoiler warning around that? At least not if you're referring to what I think you're referring to. Have you seen this?