Brian Bilbrey ⁽⁷⁵⁹⁾

Brian Bilbrey October 17, 2012

Mr. Penumbra's ... A Review

I've been stalking watching Robin Sloan for a while now. He apparently lives in San Francisco when he's not on the Internets. Robin wrote and posted online a short story called Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, back in 2009. I read it shortly thereafter, and was greatly pleased by the characters, the settings, and the plotting. All-in-all, one of the tightest, shiniest short stories I've read in a long, long time. So, when Robin headed down the Kickstarter path with his first dead trees work, the novella entitled Annabel Scheme, I jumped on the bandwagon, and supported his effort with real…

Brian Bilbrey October 14, 2012

Capclave 2012 #FTW

I had an AWESOME time at Capclave 2012! I got to spend quality time with a number of superb authors, experts, and fans. Among the former were John Scalzi, the Author GoH - as a "Guest" he sure had to work his butt off, but since we all benefit from his work, I'll not whinge on about it. I got him to sign The God Engines (his "cheerful one"), and I had him inscribe Redshirts to Marcia. Thanks, John! I also stumbled across Edward Lerner, Alan Smale, Allen Wold, Jean Marie Ward, Neil Clarke, and many more brilliant, articulate, wonderful…

Brian Bilbrey October 8, 2012

Nine Weeks Left

Ten actual weeks left in my quest to get my first BS. I'm in the last week of my penultimate class, and the instructor just cancelled another assignment. That's nice and all, yo, but I'd been doing research and prep for it. That's the second big syllabus change in an eight week session. Really? I would ask why, but I'd probably be angry at the answer, so it's best to to let that one pass. It's Columbus Day, one of the Federal holidays my employer chooses to observe. So I'll be using today to get ahead of the game on…

Brian Bilbrey October 1, 2012

1001

Ten weeks of instruction left until my BS is officially official. Prior to this, I've been an amateur at BS, clearly. And Sunday nights are my "stuff is due" night for class. Mea maxima culpa! * * * Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors: Gunners Mate 2nd Class Dion R. Roberts, 25, of North Chicago, Illinois, died Sept. 22, as a result of a single vehicle accident in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Orion N. Sparks, 29, of Tucson, Arizona, died Sept. 26, in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an insurgent wearing a…

Brian Bilbrey September 23, 2012

Fall snuck in the back door

While yesterday was the astronomically first day of Fall, it was warmer than most of the prior week. But that was the peak, and temps are dropping again. I harvested a bunch of pain from the garden today: I'm just preparing to rinse the harvest in the sink - it's mostly serrano and habañero peppers, plus a few jalapeño, a couple of tomatoes, and a tiny bell pepper. I ground up perhaps a quarter of that harvest to preserve here. The rest is going to the office tomorrow. Pain is best shared! I also roasted a pound of Sumatra Lake…