Science Fiction Day 2026

Yesterday was Science Fiction Day. I took a break from my current jungle pulp read and read a couple of science fiction short stories. I find myself, now, at the head of yet another side trail.

One story I read was "Clash by Night" by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore. An undersea tale set on Venus, collected in the Baen anthology, DEPTH CHARGE. 

Kuttner revisited the setting later with the novel, FURY. This was the Venus setting David Drake later explored in two novels, THE JUNGLE and SURFACE ACTION, which were omnibused by Baen as SEAS OF VENUS.

I have a copy of FURY. I will be on the lookout for SEAS OF VENUS.

Also, I listened to an episode of the DOCTOR WHO spinoff audio-drama, COUNTER MEASURES. This series continues on with characters who first appeared in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS. 

Sort of a smaller, prototype of the UNIT concept. Big Finish Audio do an amazing job of invoking eras. Even though this is audio, it very much feels like watching a 1960s science fiction television programme. Recommended.

Reading challenge FAIL!

I am not going to finish reading 12 more books by year's end. First time I've come in under goal since 2019.



I am not concerned about this. My goal choice is arbitrary. I tend to set it high because I'd been reading pulpy-length books for a while. In the past few years, I've allowed myself a few longer books per year, and it feels right. It's nice to stay with something deeper for a while.

There were a couple of thick books in the mix this year. I'm glad I took my time with them - especially THE THREE MUSKETEERS.

31 horrors (part 2)

Surpassed 31.

A lot of Bloch because I was mainly working my way through (the new Valancourt Books reissue of ) THE OPENER OF THE WAY, with random choices tossed in.

"Tighter" by Christa Faust

"The Way Station" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Faceless God" by Robert Bloch

"Remnants" by Tim Lebbon

"House of the Hatchet" by Robert Bloch

"The Opener of the Way" by Robert Bloch

"Return to the Sabbath" by Robert Bloch

"One Way to Mars" by Robert Bloch

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Lilies" by  Iain Rowan

"The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Waxworks" by Robert Bloch

"The Mandarin's Canaries" by Robert Bloch

"The Feast in the Abbey" by Robert Bloch

"Slave of the Flames" by Robert Bloch

"The Shambler from the Stars" by Robert Bloch

"Mother of Serpents" by Robert Bloch

"The Secret of Sebek" by Robert Bloch 

"The Eyes of Mummy" by Robert Bloch

"Polyphemus" by Michael Shea

31 horrors (part 1)

I am trying to read 31 horror short stories in this month of October.

Half way report.

"The Cloak" by Robert Bloch

"Beetles" by Robert Bloch

"The Fiddler's Fee" by Robert Bloch

"You Go Where It Takes You" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Mannikin" by Robert Bloch

"The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton" by Robert Bloch

"Wild Acre" by Nathan Ballingrud

"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" by Robert Bloch

"Hurst of Hurstcote" by Edith Nesbit

"Plague Pit" by Charles R. Rutledge

"The Seal of the Satyr" by Robert Bloch

"The Dark Demon" by Robert Bloch

"North American Lake Monsters" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Crevasse" by Nathan Ballingrud & Dale Bailey

"Sunbleached" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Case of Lady Sannox" by Arthur Conan Doyle 

Contact! (again)

It's been a hot minute. My latest short story, "Red Cold Front," will soon be available.

The setting for the story is Archangel, 1919.  The story is fiction, the setting is real. It isn't alternate history. It's a forgotten war. The US and the Allies sent expeditionary forces into Russia, and yes, they battled with the Reds.

The Kindle edition of Contact 3: War Is Hell is available for pre-order now. If you want the paperback, it should be going live at the end of the month.

Destiny. ON or OFF?

In the DOCTOR WHO serial, "Destiny of the Daleks," the Daleks and their android enemies, the Movellans, are locked in a thousand-years war. They have reached a logic impasse. A stalemate. Both sides have enormous battle-fleets waiting to strike, while their computers calculate the precise moment to attack that will grant maximum potential for victory.

They've been waiting for centuries.

The Doctor knows how to break the stalemate.

One side needs to turn OFF their computers.

I think about that solution a lot lately.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

I finished reading THE THREE MUSKETEERS by Alexandre Dumas last night. Thick book. A post-worthy accomplishment, I feel.

I liked it a lot. More than imagined I would. I don’t know about earlier English editions. I read the 2018 Lawrence Ellsworth translation. 788 pages or so. The story itself (minus prefaces and appendices) comes in at 760 pages in hardcover with a font none too large. The edition also includes lovely reprinted old illustrations.

Despite Ellsworth’s warning that the middle might sag, I only felt drag towards the end where Dumas focuses too long on Milady’s escape from England. Otherwise, the story had me solidly engaged throughout.

4/5 stars. Not too shabby as a book from the 1840s under the eyes of a modern reader.