Category Archives: Science Fiction

I Don’t Read…

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Weather in the Tries:

The nights are for real getting cooler. The days are, too. At least most of them. This week will be mostly in the 90s, with three days at 101, as of 4.30 Sunday afternoon. Who knows how it will change by Monday, and No one but that wee butterfly in Seoul, South Korea knows if we’ll still get 3 hot days. 

I Don’t Read…

As most of you know, perhaps all of you know, I do not read books on math, spy stories (nonfiction or fiction), romance, or horror. Heaven’s to Murgatroyd! I found a series of books that are classified as horror, and I’m having a hard time putting them down. I have read books 1, 3, 4, and am now on 2. Five and 6 are somewhere between the author’s computer and my bookshelf. It is the Golgotha Series by R. S. Belcher, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The horror is more along the lines of ewww and yuck than nightmare horror. Of course, there is violence, but something occurred to me the other day—I don’t mind violence in shows or books as long as it is improbable. Our Hero single handedly saves Los Angeles from the bad people, the rock falls from outer space to the desert only to not be a rock, but an egg of a violent predator who loves warm blooded beings. Only one person, also from another planet, can save us. Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman. And the violence in these books is like that. Totally improbable. Think of the old Lethal Weapon movies. Now throw in some spirits, ghosts, wayward angels, and other such stuff all in a desert town in Nevada with the name of Golgotha, where everyone is welcome. Some are welcome to live, some are welcome to die, but all are welcome.

I heartily recommend the series by R. S. Belcher, and I strongly recommend reading the first one first, Six Gun Tarot. The others you can read as you find them, but you’ll have a great grounding if you start at the first. It’s far less violent than Game of Thrones was/is. And I’m considerably chuffed that Six Gun Tarot was Mr. Belcher’s debut novel. How cool is that?

Speaking of, I understand there is a prequel out, now, to GoT, The House of the Dragon (???) I imagine it will be as violent as the original, possibly more so. George RR (RailRoad) Martin is involved in this one, too. If any of you watch it to the end, I’d appreciate your comments. I quit GoT at the end of Season 5. I was afraid they would kill off the few favorite characters I still had standing. Especially Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). I did see the episode where he offed Daddy Dearest and thought that was awesome. (I didn’t like his Daddy at all). I know that when the story lags, an author should kill his/her darlings, but damn, I’d get emotionally involved with a character in one episode, and the next s/he would be offed. And I really didn’t want anyone to kill the dragons. 

Remember when Diana Gabaldon came out with the Outlander series? My housemate at the time and I bought the first three books, heard the fourth came out and headed to our local bookstore. We went up and down every aisle but the Romance one. Finally, we asked for help. The books weren’t in historical novels. They weren’t in thriller. They weren’t anywhere to be found and yet the store advertised they had them. Yeah, you guessed it, they were in the Romance Section. 

I seldom buy fiction books. They take up too much room, they weigh too much, but there are some authors I really, really want to own their books and not rent them. Patricia Briggs, Ann Bishop, and now R. S. Belcher. I’m pretty sure they’ll play well together on my bookshelf. And notice their last names all start with B so as my mind slip/slides away maybe I can still find my old friends on shelf B.

Photos of the Week:

You looking for a good book to read at the beach on your last summer get away? I suggest this one. And I won’t even be begging you for a review, Amazon has heard all us authors whine and cry, and now you readers can just go in and give books you’ve read a Star Rating, no words involved. How about them apples? Huh? And this book is just chock-full short pieces—poems, stories, and opinions. Honest. Trust me.

Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review and post it to http://lenoragood.blogspot.com 

No knew books this week. I’m still working on #2, and I’m reading it very slowly because I don’t want to finish it and have to come home. I kinda like Golgotha. It’s a happening place, know what I mean, Jelly Bean? 😉

Earworms:

Went to YouTube to check my music videos, and there was a new one for me, Arabian Harp. What lovely music to have in the background while I work on the computer. 

Quotes from Salmon Rushdie:

“Faith without doubt is addiction.” —Salmon Rushdie

“From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.” —Salmon Rushdie

“We all owe death a life.” —Salmon Rushdie

“A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second.” —Salmon Rushdie

We’ve had cooler weather, and Boy Howdy! is it nice for sleeping. I’m pretty sure it won’t be too long before I have to put the heavier quilt on the bed, but for now both Sammy and I are enjoying the lighter weight of the summer quilt. I believe next week end is Labor Day weekend, the “official” end of summer, at least for a lot of kidlets, and their teachers, unless they’ve all quit. When I worked at The Boeing Company, I was rather surprised at all the teachers I knew who worked there. Far less hassle, better wages, better hours, and no kids allowed. Enjoy this week, especially if it’s your last one of the summer 😉

The Old Guard

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Netflix, 2020
American, closed captions
125 minutes

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This was a total romp! It was magnificent. Charlize Theron is the star, and she stole the show. It’s about a 4-person group of immortal mercenaries who roam the world doing good. Okay, they aren’t really immortal, but they all have the ability to heal themselves until they don’t. Dreams play a part in the discovery of ‘new’ immortals, and they find one in Afghanistan, a Marine who should have died and came back. Of course, she’s going to be sent Stateside, probably forced to stay in a hospital while they run tests on her. But she’s a Marine. She follows orders. Until Andy shows up and kidnaps her. Andy is Andromache of Scythia, played by Charlize Theron.

And the fun begins. Nile, the newly discovered immortal doesn’t want to be part of the team. She’s a Marine. The team breaks its rule and works for the same person twice. Someone films them self-healing and wants to capture them, hold them prisoner until science can learn how they self heal, and save humanity, or indoctrinate the army of the highest bidder, whatever. Nile walks away. But–she’s a Marine.

The fight scenes are absolutely fantastic. Well, of course. It is a Superhero movie. The choreographer did an absolutely marvel-ous job of fights. (Didja notice my homage there to Marvel comics. Huh? Didja?)

In fact, this movie is a comic brought to life and is more fun than you can imagine. AND, next year, we get the next movie, it’s already “in the can,” as they say.

The Old Guard trailer

Lucid Dream

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Netflix, 2017
Korean, excellent subtitles
101 minutes

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This K-Drama is a science fiction thriller. Our hero is Dae-ho, a young investigative reporter and single father whose son is kidnapped from a park when turns his back while son is on the merry go round. No ransom note is received, and three years go by with no leads. Dae-ho learns of a new treatment for mental patients who need to relive important memories through chemical induced lucid dreaming. He knows one of the doctors involved and convinces her to give him the chemical so he can go back to that day and see if he can find the kidnapper. Of course, he goes back many times before he finally gets some solid leads, and one of the leads is dying in a hospital, and he must enter that person’s dream, he must go into the dreams of someone else and convince him to help find his son.

The story moved along quite well, I didn’t get up to do dishes while it was on, and the CGI were wonderful. My brother, Craig, could tell you all about the camera angles, the plot lines, all the things I probably should pay attention to, but if it’s a good story, I get sucked into it and am totally unaware of all that other stuff. My brother, Craig Good, reviews on https://letterboxd.com/clgood/ , if you want to check out his reviews. He’s in the business. He knows more than I do. We watch different movies.

Lucid Dream trailer