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

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

I have started Star Compass. This will fill the Beautiful Cover slot in my Bingo, and complete my Bingo.

Michelle wrote: "Hey! Stop picking on my boyfriend, you two!!"

😁😂🤣

Yeah, it kinda feels like we have lost an entire year.

Pirates of Aireon filled my Author new to me slot and If I Were An Evil Overlord filled the Protagonist is a ruler slot, so I only have the Beautiful cover slot to go.

Last month of 2021.

I finished If I Were An Evil Overlord, an anthology of stories that poke fun at the trope of the evil overlord always making the wrong decisions with regard to the heroes. Most were humorous, but the quality was variable (as usual with anthologies). Tanya Huff's story was the best I thought. It also fills the Protagonist is a Ruler slot in my Bingo.

Andrea wrote: "(After watching the Voyager episode Blood Fever, can't say Star Trek was entirely sex free either)"

Were there any single women that Kirk didn't passionately kiss at least once? 😂

Andy wrote: "Wheel of Time (and it’s just started on Amazon - anyone seen it yet? I’m planning on waiting for a few eps to be out before watching, but interested in thoughts from readers of the books)."

In Australia, so I assume everywhere else, they released the first 3 episodes in one go, and have now gone to a new ep every week.

The Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, most books by Barbara Hambly, the John Carter books from Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I finished The Airmen. It was great fun and has a definite pulp sci-fi / Saturday afternoon movie serial feel to it. Fortunately it wraps up almost all the major plot threads, as it has been 9 years since it was published and the sequel has not appeared. It fills the Author New to Me Bingo slot.

I have started If I Were An Evil Overlord, which will fill the Protagonist is a Ruler Bingo slot.

Nia wrote: "Enjoy for free (Saturday 23 November 2021 only) the beginnings of the epic adventures of three teenage girls desperate to escape their dreary and boring backwater town. Told by a narrator ten years..."

Do you mean Saturday, November 20, or Tuesday, November 23?

Andrea wrote: "Also seems if I'm to dive into Asimov, I need to start with the Robot books and stories. And those are kind of tricky since there are a lot of anthologies that repeat various stories and hard to get them all with the minimal of duplicates"

I agree that if you want to do the full Asimov Future History trip, starting with the Robot series is best. However, a number of the short stories in I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots, and The Complete Robot are not set in his Future History timeline - some of them aren't even Robot stories.

If you were to read I, Robot followed by the 4 novels - The caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, and Robots and Empire - that would certainly cover all the relevant stories.

Lynn wrote: "Have just started Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.
I remember the Tarkovsky film pretty well but never saw the George Clooney version."

I have tried to watch the Tarkovsky film 3 or 4 times, but I have fallen asleep during it every time.

I have started The Airmen. I have had this sitting on my shelves for 7 or 8 years, as it is listed as book one of a series. However, as far as I can tell, he has never written the second book in that series, so I hope there it's not a book that ends in a cliff-hanger.

Andrea wrote: "Dune kind of inspired it, since the movie came out I figured I'd reread the original 6 books"

I'm impressed that you got through the second trilogy. I got about a third of the way into God Emperor and gave up. I never started the 5th and 6th books.

I finished Black Magic. A bit disjointed but not terrible, It fills the translated slot in my Bingo.

Parliament of Blood finished off my O row, so I now have 2 rows (N, O) and 3 columns (1, 3, 4) completed.

I finished The Parliament of Blood. A very enjoyable YA Gaslamp adventure where vampires try to take over the British Empire.

Next up, Black Magic, which looks to be somewhat of a rarity - a single volume manga. It will fill the translated slot in my Bingo.

The Book of Boba Fett, which was, from memory, scheduled for early December, as been pushed back and will start on Dec 29. This has led the the third season of The Mandalorian, which was supposed to start on Christmas Day, is now just listed as 2022. I'm guessing the plan is still to start it one week after Boba Fett finishes, but that may have changed also.

The new season of Doctor Who (the thirteenth of the current run) has begun. The first episode aired last Sunday evening (UK time), which was around 6:30 am Monday in Sydney.

The Book of Boba Fett, which was, from memory, scheduled for early December, as been pushed back and will start on Dec 29. This has led the the third season of The Mandalorian, which was supposed to start on Christmas Day, is now just listed as 2022. I'm guessing the plan is still to start it one week after Boba Fett finishes, but that may have changed also.

The new season of Doctor Who (the thirteenth of the current run) has begun. The first episode aired last Sunday evening (UK time), which was around 6:30 am Monday in Sydney.