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.

WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 6, 2025 by smellincoffee

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 →

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In the Forests of the Night

Posted on August 5, 2025 by smellincoffee

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 →

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My Top Ten SF Favorites

Posted on August 5, 2025 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Roswell High, #1-3: The Beginning

Posted on August 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

The scene: a kitchsy diner in Roswell, New Mexico, with a strong “aliens and UFO” theme: the tables are shaped like flying saucers, and the waitresses strut around in Star Trek-esque skirts. Two men at a far table begin arguing, … Continue reading →

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July 2025 in Review

Posted on August 1, 2025 by smellincoffee

Well, here we’ve come to the end of July, though for central Alabama we’re still a long way away from the worst of summer. I had an unusually high amount of audiobooks this month, and my fiction & nonfiction are … Continue reading →

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Moviewatch: July

Posted on July 31, 2025 by smellincoffee

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, 1993. This is the one where April buys a weird lamp at a thrift store and then she gets teleported to  feudal Japan, and the guys have to go after her and they get caught … Continue reading →

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When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Posted on July 31, 2025 by smellincoffee

John Scalzi meets Randall Monroe in a comic SF novel with an insane premise: the Moon has been replaced by a giant orb of cheese. Or, to use NASA’s language, it has “assumed an organic matrix”. How? Who knows?! It’s … Continue reading →

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Bittersweet

Posted on July 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

Recently I was looking for the author Nevada Barr, who has a series about a female park ranger who works across the United States. The library didn’t have the early ones in stock, so I grabbed this one without really … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday & Books I Loved but Didn’t Review

Posted on July 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Fighting Little Judge, a biography of Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama and his political career. WHAT are you reading now? Nixon’s White House Wars, an inside look at the Nixon administration. WHAT … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday

Posted on July 29, 2025 by smellincoffee

[Nixon’s] concern was my conservatism. “You’re not as far right as Buckley, are you?” he asked. “I’m a great admirer of Bill Buckley,” I replied. Nixon was then in a nasty dispute with National Review over a comment he made … Continue reading →

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