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.

SciFi Prompt #4 — and, the worst novel I’ve read this year

Posted on November 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s SciFi prompt is “Little Blue Dot”, or books about coming and going from “this fragile Earth, our island home”. Contact comes to mind immediately, and given that today is Carl Sagan’s birthday, I can’t imagine a better response.  Contact … Continue reading →

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The War of the Worlds as witnessed by Teddy Roosevelt

Posted on November 2, 2024 by smellincoffee

There came suddenly a blinding flash of flame from the pit, andanother and another, and the whole delegation met with a terrible instant death, forty souls in all. The fiery beam also ignited adjacent trees and brought down a portion … Continue reading →

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SciFi Prompt #2: Astronavigation

Posted on November 2, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt for SciFi Month is “AstroNavigation”, or discussing the books that got us into science fiction. I’ve talked about that a bit before, but what follows is a shorter/sweeter iteration. What book got you into science fiction?   This … Continue reading →

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SF Month 2024: We Are “Go” for Launch

Posted on November 1, 2024 by smellincoffee

This month I’ll be participating in SF Month 2024, with a focus on science fiction: in addition to my reading, I’ll also occasionally participate in the prompts that are posted, combining them with Top Ten Tuesdays and What are You … Continue reading →

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Moviewatch, October 2024

Posted on October 31, 2024 by smellincoffee

This month was fairly quiet because my movie-watching friend was in Texas for two weeks. We wound up focusing a bit on horror. Killer Joe, 2012.  A young adult who is in big trouble with bookies concocts a scheme: hire … Continue reading →

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Selected quotations from The Anxious Generation

Posted on October 31, 2024 by smellincoffee

Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable, and—as I will show—unsuitable … Continue reading →

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tl;dr

Posted on October 31, 2024 by smellincoffee

“[In Kurt Vonnegut’s egalitarian dystopia Harrison Bergeron,] anyone with a high IQ is required to wear an earpiece at all times that buzzes loudly every 20 seconds or so with a variety of noises designed to interrupt sustained thinking, thereby … Continue reading →

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October 2024 in Review

Posted on October 30, 2024 by smellincoffee

If you’re interested in reading about the building, here’s a page on it that shows how it looked prior to the “restoration”, as well as a photo of the Kirkpatrick mansion. It’s technically possible, but highly improbable that I finish … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on October 30, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews inquires: what superstitions do I have? To my knowledge, I don’t have any besides the strange compulsion to hold down the left shift key when I’m playing Civilization III, and tap it manically … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Tuesday: Suspense/Scary Movies I’ve Seen in 2024

Posted on October 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s treble-T is a Halloween freebie, so I’m going to highlight the ten most scariest/most suspenseful movies I’ve watched this year. But first! …the tease… The most exciting thing in my life at the moment is a five-gallon bucket full … Continue reading →

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