Tony’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2018)

Tony’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

Welcome Nicole

Robin wrote: "OK, just Google d Tim Tams. Hmmm, looks to me like Australia just pppppicked up a penguin?☺"

Penguin biscuits are available in Australian supermarkets, although I haven't tried them - I can't imagine they would be as good as a Tim Tam though 😆

Michelle wrote: "Tony, will you ship me a case? Robin's supposed to pick me up some Belgian chocolates, so you could just ride with him to the post office!"

Michelle, I can do that, but there are places to buy Tim Tams in the US, so that may be a cheaper option for you. Check out a website called https://aussiefoodexpress.com/collect... - they claim to seel genuine Tim Tams, not the altered (and inferior) version generally available in America.

As an Aussie who grew up on Aussie chocolate (and Vegemite, of course), I certainly notice he difference when I have American chocolate - nothing is as good as a Tim Tam 😁 although some European chocolate is close.

And don't be saying rude things about my air fryer - I love my air fryer 😀

Andrea wrote: "Not brave enough to attempt to purchase from an unknown vendor, though I googled and humblebundle seems legit."

I can attest to Humble Bundle's legitimacy - I have bought quite a few bundles of books, comics, and role-playing games from them and never had an issue.

I have started reading Spacehounds of IPC, which is available through Project Gutenberg. Written by Doc Smith, this will fill the Space Opera slot in my Bingo.

3 months of the year to go and I have 8 slots in the Bingo card to fill. Somewhat surprisingly, with 17 out of 25 slots filled, I have only completed 1 row and 0 columns.

I finished PORTAL (The Portal Series, Book1): An Alternative History Adventure and I quite enjoyed it. It will fill the Portal slot in my Bingo. There is a second book in the series but this book had a definite ending, rather than a cliffhanger, so there is no real urgency to continue the series.

Andrea wrote: "What is a "shut face"??? I'm just confused by the title LOL"

That has yet to be explained in the book, so I'm afraid I can't provide an answer 😆

On that subject, I have put aside War Of The Animals (Book 1): The Shut Face Of Thunder. I'm not sure if I will return to it. I have started reading PORTAL (The Portal Series, Book1): An Alternative History Adventure

I have been struggling to get through War Of The Animals (Book 1): The Shut Face Of Thunder. I'm about 40% through it, but there is a lot that happens that is not explained, and seems as though it shouldn't be able to happen. This book is targeted at the 10-18 age range, but I think 10-14 is a better fit, and even then I expect a lot of readers would get lost trying to follow it. I may DNF it.

I read The Black Widow: The Coldest War, which is a reasonably good story for the Black Widow, but I found the artwork to be very harsh - particularly the artist's (George Freeman) depiction of Natasha.

Andrea wrote: "And for Shared Worlds, with so many other series I want to wrap up by end of year I don't want to start on Forgotten Realms too, even just one of the omnibuses are a trilogy or quintet...."

I'm sure there are some stand-alone Forgotten Realms books ... although off the top of my head I can't think of any 🤔

I bought a pack of the catnip balls that stick to the walls for cats to play with and, true to form, Sheba has expressed no interest in it. They came in a pack of three, so I gave the other two to my niece for her cats, and she says that only one of her two cats likes it.

I have spent a small fortune on cat toys that get generally ignored 😁, but a dragged shoelace, a bit of aluminium foil rolled into a ball, or a bird feather will maintain her interest for a while.

My cat would love to be an outdoor - or so she thinks - but I live in a 3rd floor apartment, so she is limited to when I have time to take her outside. Even then, she is usually keen to come back inside after half-an-hour or an hour (probably because I manage her outside trips to be just before her meal times 😁). When she is outside, she doesn't roam far - she is not keen on young children and there are a lot of them around, and she is (thankfully) terrified of moving cars - she is quite happy to hide under stationary cars.

I have not seen any mice in the 10 or so years I have lived here, but she does like to terrorise cockroaches - although she lets them go a lot and they scurry under furniture where she can't get at them.

Robin wrote: "Thankfully most of us old geezers and gals were able to change with the times and understand why the times needed to change. Despite what some would have you believe, most of us are right behind the way the world is now. We aren't racist and sexist and we don't want to stop people from being who they are comfortable being...."

I think a lot of that is because we read, and even more because we read SFF, which generally posits a more inclusive society for all of its members. Andrea's comment about Star Trek (original series) featuring a woman on the bridge is very correct - it was ground-breaking for the time. Roddenberry was decades ahead in his vision of an inclusive society - and I believe it had a huge impact on myself (as a pre-teen) in getting me and my peers to accept the equality it portrayed as a normal thing.

I listen to people who proudly proclaim that they haven't read a book since they finished school, and I wonder how they could possibly believe that is a good thing.

Tabitha was aware of your complete incompetence as a hunter and so she was trying to make sure you had something to eat.

So, about 50/50 then .... maybe 60/40 evil 😺

I have started reading 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You Die. It was published in 2009, so it's a little bit out of date now.

I have started reading War Of The Animals (Book 1): The Shut Face Of Thunder

September 3rd and no one has started this thread yet 😁

I have finished The Age of Heroes: A Historical Sci-Fi Epic. It's a historical novel (which quickly becomes alternate history) set at the end of the Bronze Age with aliens. It's not bad but it is very broad in scope, and that leads to a huge cast of characters. It will also fill the published in 2023 Bingo slot for me.