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Archives for January, 2018
Dark State by Charles Stross [Book Review]
Dark State by Charles Stross My rating: 4 of 5 stars Dark State is the middle book in a trilogy, and leaves us on a multi-threaded set of cliffhangers waiting for the final instalment in January 2019. Dark State The story continues from where Empire Games left off, with nary a beat missed. Paranoia is set to eleventy one and everyone is watching everybody else. We have four major threads to follow. Rita and her official mission with the US Dept of Homeland Security. Rita's girlfriend and grandfather and the Wolf Orchestra trying to save Rita from DHS. Major Hulius Hjorth who is engineering Elizabeth Hanover's defection from the old monarchy the Commonwealth. The remnants of the Clan in the Commonwealth and their plans for the imminent succession crisis when the First Citizen dies. Through all of these there are…
Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets by Sarah Helm [Book Review]
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII. by Sarah Helm My rating: 5 of 5 stars A Life in Secrets has been on my shelf for a few years. I've had an interest in SOE since I read Carve Her Name With Pride when I was about 11. Since writing Hunting Nazis I've collected more and more material about SOE with the background thought that I might write some more historical fiction with the same characters. Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets Vera Atkins in 1945 as a WAAF officer (but still serving with SOE) I found A Life in Secrets a very thorough piece of investigation by Sarah Helm. It builds on what has come before, especially the work of Jean Overton Fuller and adds to it using primary research with documents, interviews and…
Facebook – Annoying Distraction or Sinister Manipulation?
A linux laptop running wireshark to illustrate cyber defence in action (photo credit: James Kemp) If you are reading this on Facebook, my apologies. I've not logged in since November 2017 and I've recently deleted the app from my phone. I'd like to keep in touch with people, but Facebook doesn't make that easy any more. Given the recent news about their changes I guess it isn't just me. Facebook's problem If you still have a Facebook account that you actively use then I'm sure you'll know this. Step back for a moment and scroll through the top dozen or so items. Don't engage with them, just take a long hard look. Count how many are original posts from close friends or family, people you actually know and enjoy spending time with. Not shares, comments or adverts. It's a small…
Woman in Arms by Russell Braddon [Book Review]
Woman in Arms by Russell Braddon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nancy Wake (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I re-read this over the holidays. Woman in Arms is one of the books I've owned the longest of those on my shelves. The story is just as remarkable now as it was when I first read Woman in Arms around 1990. Nancy Wake was born in NZ, grew up in Australia and moved to France where she worked as a journalist before WW2. She married a frenchman just after the outbreak of WW2 and worked to help people escape from the nazis. Eventually the Gestapo were after her and she too escaped to London. She then trained as an SOE agent and went back in 1944 to wreak havoc between the invasion and liberation. Woman in Arms Woman in Arms was originally…
2018 Resolutions
English: New Year's Resolutions postcard (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I have been posting my new year resolutions in the blog for the past four years, so I'm going to continue this with my 2018 resolutions. But before my 2018 resolutions I think we should look at how well I've done on the 2017 resolutions. 2017 Resolutions I had a few 2017 resolutions. However I must have been feeling overly optimistic in January 2017! Here they are: Finish my Open University degree (in June if I pass both courses) Design a megagame (1689, in the latter half of the year) Write 50 blog posts, edit Perfects and Noren, write another novel (probably NaNoWriMo 2017) and a history book Get my weight into the 12 - stone range and keep it there. Finish my Degree I did this, it was a lot of…