So I've returned from what appears to have been over a month of silence, not to share further anecdotes about the adventures of My Client, His Babymama, and the Babymama's Boyfriend*:  A Drama in 120 Billable Pro Bono Hours, but to rave a little bit more about Alastair Reynolds.  In the past week, I've been on a Reynolds binge (I finally got a hold of Redemption Ark, and so finished the trilogy out of order, and in the past five days I've read two of his short-story collections, Galactic North and Zima Blue, and I have on my coffee table yet ANOTHER of his novels). 

I'm bummed that no one I know has read these--Husband is "skeptical" of scifi, and it's pure SNOBBERY, LET ME TELL YOU--because they're thought-provoking in the best possible way.  That is, they deal with Big Ideas without being about nothing but ideas--you will care very much about these characters.  They also seem like very plausible versions of our future history.  In that sense, they remind me of Ken MacLeod's fantastic political scifi serious of Fall Revolution novels. 

ANYHOW.  Someone should read them, so I'm not alone!

In other news, I'm thinking about trying to make cheese.  I feel like I should add this to my repertoire, so that I'll fit in when the glorious nation of Cascadia finally forms or peak oil happens and we no longer have refrigeration or I get fired from my job and need to be useful around the house.


*Although I should share that Client decided to voluntarily return to his country of origin and Babymama's Boyfriend got shot while engaging in some unspecified "gang-related activity," but is not dead.