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.

AI Book Art Game Results (and alter-images!)

Posted on June 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Last week I posted fifteen AI-generated images created by prompts inspired by books. Davida Chazan of the Chocolate Lady’s Book Blog won with nine correct guesses! (1) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. Pretty much everyone got this one. … Continue reading →

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A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Posted on June 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Last week I finished A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, the second in the Monk and Robot duology. In the first book, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, we were introduced to the Monk, Dex, who journeyed into the wilderness looking for … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The Lives of the Stoics

Posted on June 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

Some seventeen years ago I discovered The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the Discourses and Handbook of Epictetus. Neither men meant to publish these: the first was a private diary that was publically shared after the Emperor’s death, the second … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Crown-shy

Posted on June 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Mosscap pointed. “Crown shyness is so striking, don’t you think?” Dex had no idea what Mosscap meant. “Sorry, what’s striking?”“Stop,” Mosscap said. “Look.”Dex sighed, but they hit the brakes, put their feet on the paving below, and looked up. Mosscap … Continue reading →

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Posted on June 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

What do people need? Dex is a garden monk who should, by all accounts, enjoy a perfectly happy life. Health, a meaningful job, people who love them — what’s missing? Dex doesn’t know. After departing from the monastery to pursue … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

D-Day: Remembering those who died that others might be Free

Posted on June 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, in which Americans, Brits, and Canadians landed on the beaches of Normandy and opened the Second Front and began reclaiming Europe from Nazism the cost of their lives. Death to tyrants. Here’s FDR, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 3 Comments

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

Posted on June 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Constance is a young woman who’s just arrived in Hazelbourne, there to take care of an older family friend who’s just had a bout with flu. She enters into a new social circle thanks to this connection, and despite the … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Test your mettle: guess books from AI art!

Posted on June 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Over at Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads, I saw a fun bookish game in which ten images are generated by AI, using prompts inspired by books. It was originally inspired by the same game at Bowl Owl’s Corner. I fool around … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Books that Inspired a Strong Response

Posted on June 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is about books that provoked a strong reaction. I’m going to try to focus on books from the first ten years of the blog. First, though, Ye Olde Tuesday Tease. For [Antipater], the human being in action is … Continue reading →

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May Moviewatch

Posted on June 2, 2024 by smellincoffee

I’ve been dogsitting away from my PC, hence the delay in posting this… Sweet and Lowdown, 1999. Sean Penn plays a rival to Django Reinhardt.  Unfortunately, I liked All the King’s Men so much that Sean Pean is now indistinguishable … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 7 Comments