Author Archives: smellincoffee

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About smellincoffee

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

Grease (is the word)

Posted on June 24, 2025 by smellincoffee

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched Grease over the years: much of its music is firmly lodged in my head (and insisted on playing itself as I read this), so you might say I’m a fan. Grease: … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted on June 24, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is “Top Ten Books Anticipated Releasing in 2025”, which doesn’t work for me because I don’t really follow potential publishing unless it’s an author I stalk or it’s Star Trek related. So, here’s a tease or two for … Continue reading →

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Content & Context

Posted on June 23, 2025 by smellincoffee

Content collects several of Cory Doctorow’s favorite pieces of his written on “technology, creativity, copyright, and the future”, clumping in the mid-2000s. The content is mixed in medium, but united in message: herein are essays, speeches, and interviews that cover … Continue reading →

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

Saturday Shorts – Clarke and Asimov

Posted on June 21, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s short story is a pair of stories, chosen because they share a common theme. The first, Arthur C. Clarke’s “Into the Comet”, opens on a science ship in despair. The Challenger was commissioned to investigate Randall’s Comet, a long-period … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

WWW Wednesday & Funny Book Titles

Posted on June 18, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finish reading recently? War, Bob Woodward, focusing on Biden, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Israel. WHAT are you reading now? The Summer Before the War, Helen Simonson. Bit of light historical fiction set prior to The Great War. I’m … Continue reading →

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War

Posted on June 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

War  takes us into the Biden White House and its foreign policy challenges.    Biden had no shortage of  heavy issues coming into office amid a pandemic,  but the changing global scene would create far more.   Woodward’s narrative sews … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Top Ten Summer To-Reads

Posted on June 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s treble T is our summer booklists, which prompts me to first take a look back at my spring list. Boy, did I not do well: to borrow from baseball, I only hit .400. (Actually, in baseball that would be … Continue reading →

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Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

Posted on June 16, 2025 by smellincoffee

Clay is the newest hire at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, occupying the clerk’s desk through the midnight hours and trying not to go out of his mind with boredom. He is there not because he has a passion for books, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Saturday Shorts — This Long Vigil

Posted on June 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

Amid the deep, cold black of space, the generation ship Hermes cruises her way toward finding a new home for humanity at Tau Ceti. Or, at least the thousand souls who are aboard her. Unusually, though, these are not the … Continue reading →

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SHELLI: MurderMind

Posted on June 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

One of my favorite reads of 2024 was SHELLI, a SF mystery featuring a pair of detectives — one human, one synthetic — who investigated crimes relating to sythentic lifeforms, i.e. androids. Jake and Shelli are back in MurderMind, but … Continue reading →

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