Author Archives: smellincoffee

Unknown's avatar

About smellincoffee

Citizen, librarian, reader with a boundless wonder for the world and a curiosity about all the beings inside it.

The Henchman’s Book Club

Mark is a henchman who has served the Agency for several years, surviving numerous bosses’ demises at the hands of talented superspies. The overwhelming majority of the time, he and his fellow minions are sitting bored, waiting for something to … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Of Ben Franklin and Andy Jackson’s America

For whatever reason I’ve been struggling to find inspiration or motivation to review two history books I’ve read in the last month or so, and since they’re similar — early American history — I’m going to regretfully short-round them. Most … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WWW Wednesday

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come, Danny King. Geri had been a naturalist for less than a year. Before that, she’d worn clothes like Sienna (and most other people) but then, last Solstice, … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come

Sienna Clay has a secret: she’s an Auditor.  Her job is to investigate her fellow Britons who are accused of thoughtcrime, or whose ancestors may have committed horrors like eating meat.  New Britanna’s  status as an island of tolerance set … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Top Ten Authors Whose Work I’ve Read the Most Of

The newspaper world was rough-and-tumble, to say the least. Editors lambasted each other and often came to blows. When in 1835 James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald, charged Benjamin Day of the Sun with being an infidel, Day replied … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged , | 33 Comments

Roswell High, 7 – 10: Converging Villains!

At the end of The Stowaway, the gang formed a psychic link with one another, and then with the alien collective consciousness, in order to create a wormhole to send the villain back home for justice. Unfortunately, at the same … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Roswell High, 4-6: Boy, that Escalated Quickly

Continuing in my Roswell reread. The Watcher begins pleasantly enough, with relationship drama between the six teens more or less stabilizing. Liz is no longer angry at Max for shying away from a formal relationship on the grounds that it … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

WWW Wednesday

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Roswell High: The Vanished. WHAT are you reading now? Still making good progress through A Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson. Politics is only a small part of the book, as it’s … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged , | 13 Comments

In the Forests of the Night

I decided to do my Roswell High re-read this week because I would spend most of it dogsitting in the backwoods, so deep into the green that there would be no internet. My evenings would therefore including reading and rubbing … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

My Top Ten SF Favorites

Tuesday Teaser: On April 8, 1826, the two met on a field near the Potomac. Clay’s bullet ripped through Randolph’s white flannel coat without wounding him. Randolph’s hit a tree behind Clay. In a second round, Clay again missed Randolph, … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged , , | 20 Comments