Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 34
January 9, 2018
Dropbox?
So... I tried reviving an old Dropbox account to have a place to share pictures with the blog, since Goodreads has blocked any further uploads. However, it only appears to want to share with individual e-mails. It won't accept my blog addy as a valid destination. Anyone have any experience with this, or know a work-around?
Ta, L. Still visually impaired.
Ta, L. Still visually impaired.
January 4, 2018
Subterranean Press news on Penric's Fox
...may be seen here.
https://subterraneanpress.com/news/pe...
On-schedule for its February release. Hugo's will have copies, or they can be ordered directly from SubPress via the link. You can see the cover, again by Lauren Saint-Onge, on the SubPress link.
(The Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist reviews are important because libraries order on their basis. PW review here https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-... if the link works.)
Ta, L.
https://subterraneanpress.com/news/pe...
On-schedule for its February release. Hugo's will have copies, or they can be ordered directly from SubPress via the link. You can see the cover, again by Lauren Saint-Onge, on the SubPress link.
(The Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist reviews are important because libraries order on their basis. PW review here https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-... if the link works.)
Ta, L.
December 31, 2017
another Great Course: Writing and Civilization
Or, in full, Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity. Video version. It could have stood to have even more pictures, but the ones it did present were very valuable, so I'd pick video over audio for this one. Not about the content of writing, except by-the-way, but rather, the evolution of its forms, tools, and media, and their feedback loops.
Not much doubt why this title caught my eye, though after a couple of weeks, I disturbingly don't remember where -- Amazon cross-link, Great Courses website browse cross-link, online discussion, or my library catalog. This one came proximately from my local library, anyway.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
...and ooh, it's on sale this week, whoo hoo!
Superior entry. 24 half-hour lectures covering 5000-plus years of development across the globe, that despite being very broad still didn't feel thin. It was a mix of things I'd heard of (always very heartening), things I'd never heard of (exciting), and many connections I hadn't known.
Zender was an excellent lecturer, who won my heart toward the end by revealing himself as a long-time Tolkien geek, starting his adventures at age 10 by working out the runic writing on the cover of The Hobbit, a note that should appeal to this crowd. Delightful way to end the old year, although I likely ended up mainlining it a little too fast for my memory-formation to work. But hey, I could watch it again.
Highly recommended.
Ta, L.
Not much doubt why this title caught my eye, though after a couple of weeks, I disturbingly don't remember where -- Amazon cross-link, Great Courses website browse cross-link, online discussion, or my library catalog. This one came proximately from my local library, anyway.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
...and ooh, it's on sale this week, whoo hoo!
Superior entry. 24 half-hour lectures covering 5000-plus years of development across the globe, that despite being very broad still didn't feel thin. It was a mix of things I'd heard of (always very heartening), things I'd never heard of (exciting), and many connections I hadn't known.
Zender was an excellent lecturer, who won my heart toward the end by revealing himself as a long-time Tolkien geek, starting his adventures at age 10 by working out the runic writing on the cover of The Hobbit, a note that should appeal to this crowd. Delightful way to end the old year, although I likely ended up mainlining it a little too fast for my memory-formation to work. But hey, I could watch it again.
Highly recommended.
Ta, L.
December 20, 2017
The Great Courses: Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor
The Great Courses fall into a curious dead zone with respect to reviews. They are not books nor audiobooks; they don't appear to carry ISBN numbers. They are not movies nor television shows, so they don't fit easily into movie-review columns. So I'll give this one a blog post instead, because I can, although properly my consumer response belongs in that handy "My Books" section that Goodreads supplies, between the manga and the Byzantine epic poetry or whatever is my magpie prize of the month.
Anyway, this week's munch was
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
presented by Professor Kenneth Harl, and ooh, I see he has a bunch more beyond what my library had in its catalog. (I'd watched his lecture series on Byzantium on DVD a year or two ago.)
I'd seen the courses at the bottom of my library's DVD shelf for years, but the packaging made them look either boring or daunting. As it turns out, they are neither. The ones I've sampled so far come off as something between a freshman-level college intro course and a PBS special, but with less budget. The company has been in business for a while, and one can see the evolution from earlier series from the 90s, which basically consisted of sticking an expert up behind a podium and letting him geek on while the cameras rolled, to more recent productions which include a lot more camera work and visual aids. (Not to mention watching repeat lecturers age before one's eyes, but that's a different meta.)
In all, watching a course through (or, in the case of an audio-only course, listening) is roughly the equivalent of reading a thickish nonfiction book on the subject. For someone with eye issues, it gives an alternate channel for input. My brain does not get along well with audiobooks, but I gave this audio CD series a whirl because it was what my library had. An audio version turned out to mesh well with my rote task of the week, signing tip sheets for Subterranean Press's upcoming edition of "Penric's Fox".
Covering maybe five thousand years of history in 24 half-hour lectures gives approximately the compression one would expect, but I find these surveys valuable for providing a chronological framework for more detailed reading. (From which I can steal those Useful Bits for stories.) It was also fun, having read in more depth about some aspects covered but not others, to either recognize something I'd read about, or get to fit it into a larger context.
Somewhere in the course of this one I reflected again on the difference between a history and a chronology (at which historians sometimes sniff) and that aspect is causality. A chronology is a list of events; a history proper attempts to put events into a causal flow. Of course, the latter, the selection -- from the piled-up heap of time -- of which kinds of events are importantly causal enough to fit into the narrative, will reflect the world-view and agenda of the writer (so what else is new?) hence the habit of rewriting history every generation. The six blind men and the elephant, again. (The solution, as ever, is don't just read one source and then imagine you know The Truth, and stop. Keep reading. O the suffering, for this crowd.)
It looks like the company has some streaming now, which has to make a huge difference in audience accessibility. Now, if they'd set up a streaming service as inexpensive and easy to access as Crunchyroll, they could blanket the world. Crunchyroll clearly gets a big chunk of its revenues from advertising, allowing them to keep their subscription prices low. Not sure what economic model would work best for ad-free content, though, besides "pricey", nor would ads fit well with the pedagogic tone. I see they discuss it a little here:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/suppo...
Hm. Anyone who has had experience with their streaming, feel free to comment below.
Meanwhile, one's public library is still free.
Ta, L.
Later: Oh, if anyone has tried any other Great Courses they'd particularly recommend, also feel free to say which and why below.
Anyway, this week's munch was
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
presented by Professor Kenneth Harl, and ooh, I see he has a bunch more beyond what my library had in its catalog. (I'd watched his lecture series on Byzantium on DVD a year or two ago.)
I'd seen the courses at the bottom of my library's DVD shelf for years, but the packaging made them look either boring or daunting. As it turns out, they are neither. The ones I've sampled so far come off as something between a freshman-level college intro course and a PBS special, but with less budget. The company has been in business for a while, and one can see the evolution from earlier series from the 90s, which basically consisted of sticking an expert up behind a podium and letting him geek on while the cameras rolled, to more recent productions which include a lot more camera work and visual aids. (Not to mention watching repeat lecturers age before one's eyes, but that's a different meta.)
In all, watching a course through (or, in the case of an audio-only course, listening) is roughly the equivalent of reading a thickish nonfiction book on the subject. For someone with eye issues, it gives an alternate channel for input. My brain does not get along well with audiobooks, but I gave this audio CD series a whirl because it was what my library had. An audio version turned out to mesh well with my rote task of the week, signing tip sheets for Subterranean Press's upcoming edition of "Penric's Fox".
Covering maybe five thousand years of history in 24 half-hour lectures gives approximately the compression one would expect, but I find these surveys valuable for providing a chronological framework for more detailed reading. (From which I can steal those Useful Bits for stories.) It was also fun, having read in more depth about some aspects covered but not others, to either recognize something I'd read about, or get to fit it into a larger context.
Somewhere in the course of this one I reflected again on the difference between a history and a chronology (at which historians sometimes sniff) and that aspect is causality. A chronology is a list of events; a history proper attempts to put events into a causal flow. Of course, the latter, the selection -- from the piled-up heap of time -- of which kinds of events are importantly causal enough to fit into the narrative, will reflect the world-view and agenda of the writer (so what else is new?) hence the habit of rewriting history every generation. The six blind men and the elephant, again. (The solution, as ever, is don't just read one source and then imagine you know The Truth, and stop. Keep reading. O the suffering, for this crowd.)
It looks like the company has some streaming now, which has to make a huge difference in audience accessibility. Now, if they'd set up a streaming service as inexpensive and easy to access as Crunchyroll, they could blanket the world. Crunchyroll clearly gets a big chunk of its revenues from advertising, allowing them to keep their subscription prices low. Not sure what economic model would work best for ad-free content, though, besides "pricey", nor would ads fit well with the pedagogic tone. I see they discuss it a little here:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/suppo...
Hm. Anyone who has had experience with their streaming, feel free to comment below.
Meanwhile, one's public library is still free.
Ta, L.
Later: Oh, if anyone has tried any other Great Courses they'd particularly recommend, also feel free to say which and why below.
December 8, 2017
Hugo's Saturday booksigning reminder
Later: It was a very pleasant signing - some nice chats with the readers. Hugo's now has a large stack of signed "Penric's Mission" available, for mail order or in-store. And most of the rest of my titles, also signed.
Ta, L.
Just a reminder, I will be signing at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore at 1 PM to 2 PM Saturday Dec. 9th -- tomorrow, as I type this.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
Just a reminder, I will be signing at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore at 1 PM to 2 PM Saturday Dec. 9th -- tomorrow, as I type this.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Ta, L.
November 29, 2017
November 28, 2017
Goodreads photo puzzle
So...
I just went to upload a scan of a new Chinese cover to my Goodreads photo file in preparation for linking it from there and illustrating a blog post. However, it refused to upload, saying my limit was 20 photos. Since I already have something like 160 photos, this is puzzling. Is this a new restriction? Do I have to delete most of what I have saved in order to add anything more? Or is this some sort of mistake on Goodreads' part? (Well, obviously, but I mean accidental mistake.)
Anyone else run afoul of this?
puzzled, L.
I just went to upload a scan of a new Chinese cover to my Goodreads photo file in preparation for linking it from there and illustrating a blog post. However, it refused to upload, saying my limit was 20 photos. Since I already have something like 160 photos, this is puzzling. Is this a new restriction? Do I have to delete most of what I have saved in order to add anything more? Or is this some sort of mistake on Goodreads' part? (Well, obviously, but I mean accidental mistake.)
Anyone else run afoul of this?
puzzled, L.
Bujold booksigning at Uncle Hugo's Dec 9th
I will be doing a book signing here in Minneapolis on Saturday, Dec. 9th, at 1 PM. Mainly in honor of Penric's Mission, but I'll sign whatever you have. (Well, that I wrote.)
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Hugo's doesn't have room for a program, so, no reading. We usually stand around and chat some, however. (I get the only chair.)
Ta, L.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Hugo's doesn't have room for a program, so, no reading. We usually stand around and chat some, however. (I get the only chair.)
Ta, L.
November 19, 2017
Dreamhaven has new Penric
Dreamhaven Books and Comics here in Minneapolis now has signed copies of the Subterranean Press hardcover edition of "Penric's Mission" in:
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
...and many other fascinating things, while you are at it.
Ta, L.
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
...and many other fascinating things, while you are at it.
Ta, L.
November 17, 2017
great Great Course on sale
Aha, I see Great Courses is having a sale this week including one of my faves:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
Ressler's other units are equally good, and ooh, I see there's a new one. Check it out. (Or just grab it while the price is not insane.)
Ta, L.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
Ressler's other units are equally good, and ooh, I see there's a new one. Check it out. (Or just grab it while the price is not insane.)
Ta, L.
