davharris

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• Commented on Incidentally ...
  She's doing well, but she'll have to up her game to complete with that orphaned Polar bear that was all over TV yesterday....
• Commented on Rule 34: The SPOILER thread
  Was it ATHENA who made Christie kill MacDonald? I thought that was the "rogue" ATHENA? Or indeed, simply the Operation itself. What puzzled me was which network was observing Col Datka's coup against the Operation - the real one or...
• Commented on Artificial Stupids
  Didn't Douglas Adams more or less get it right? On the one hand you have sentient Marvin, brain the size of a planet, but deeply depressed at the pointlessness of it all and good for nothing except spacecraft parking duties:...
• Commented on Rule 34: The SPOILER thread
  I think this is your best book yet. I've been pondering the second person narrative - at first (when I met it in Halting State) I found it offputting, though it didn't take long to get used to it, but...
• Commented on Palimpseste
  I was at an excellent English comp in the early 80s, I got A in both French and German and I still don't feel competent to hold a simple conversation in either language (and didn't at the time, more to...
• Commented on Palimpseste
  Or already has....
• Commented on Palimpseste
  If the UK publisher is so perverse as to not publish in hardback, and the US one does do HB, then what do they expect anyone who wants a decent edition to do? I like to keep my books and...
• Commented on Remember to vote
  I started out determined to vote "no" simply because I detest Nick Clegg and want him to have a drubbing. (I could go off on a rant about why this is, but let's stay civilized and on topic.) However I've...
• Commented on In Dublin
  I see you get a mention on "The Bookseller" website... congratulations. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/orbit-acquires-three-stross.html...
• Commented on Beer in Manhattan
  I have my hardcover on order, Marilee - thanks for posting the link earlier to the publicity page....
• Commented on Beer in Manhattan
  If I may divert the flow for a moment, I see that "Scratch Monkey" is now available to we unwashed hordes. Yes! I lost no time in ordering it (though was amused to have to supply a house number -...
• Commented on Next weekend: Boskone
  What worries me is "Lovecraft's universe has turned out to be the place we actually inhabit"......
• Commented on Novels I will not write: Jesus wants his kidney back
  "So long as they held the proper belief at the proper time, they're in good shape." Uncomfortably close to "Nineteen Eight-Four". Eurasia has always been at war with Eastasia....
• Commented on Novels I will not write: Jesus wants his kidney back
  Regardless of the niceties of Roman Catholic theology, surely the point is that, if Charlie actually wanted to write this book he would go away and research the subject. If he then found the theology didn't fit, and if that...
• Commented on On not passing the Turing Test
  "That the leading social network seems designed to encourage such hackery is a problem" Only if you engage in social networking! David...
• Commented on Where's Charlie?
  I see Her Majesty was in residence... had you just popped in for tea?...
• Commented on Laundry reading order
  So this thread is really about... The Laundry List? Sorry. (slightly more) seriously I suppose the reading order of the Laundry books must be very important - read them in the wrong order and who knows What = or Who...
• Commented on "It doesn't have a major theme or anything"
  What do people think of reviews that say "I didn't/ couldn't finish this?" I have written such reviews for Amazon, reasoning that if I didn't finish the book and can explain why, that may be useful information for someone with...
• Commented on "It doesn't have a major theme or anything"
  We're all different, but I would hope that by that age anyone would have started to develop some awareness of self and world. I can remember at that age my English Literature class reading Thomas Hardy's "The Trumpet Major" for...
• Commented on "It doesn't have a major theme or anything"
  I'm distressed by the quoted reviews for "Animal Farm" - I have always seen this as very accessible book, one that can be understood to a degree even by young children but also, on a different level. I first read...
• Commented on PSA: Locus
  Charlie Thanks for that, "Child of Fire" sounds fun - what I like tends to be eclectic, but I have noticed that whenever you have recommended something I have enjoyed it....
• Commented on PSA: Locus
  Charlie Forgive me for going off the point, but I wondered if you have any recommendations for forthcoming books this year... of course I already have Rule 34 on my list and I got my copy of "Engineering Infinity" yesterday,...
• Commented on Another one bites the dust
  More copy edits... I took a rotational dynamics optional module at A level and because there were only 2 or 3 of us doing it (the rest wanted to do optics or medical physics) we were simply issued a (new)...
• Commented on A press release, or something similar
  Well, I'll make a point of seeking out the US hardback "Rule 34" then. (At one stage I was tempted to write to the UK publisher of "Fuller memorandum" pointing out they'd lost a sale because no hardback... but then...
• Commented on A press release, or something similar
  To strike off at yet another tangent, I went into my local bookshop this morning to preorder "Engineering Infinity" (I try not to be too dependent on Am**) - local bookshop seemed to be doing a great trade, perhaps because...
• Commented on A message from our sponsors
  Excellent, my credit card needed a bit of a workout... I'll get this even though it's years sine I've RPG'd. I can't resist adding, because it struck as a raher Laundryish bit of news, the links I'm seeing being drawn...
• Commented on PSA
  I just can't get up any enthusiasm for e-books - but if I was even slightly minded to adopt them, I think this weird jumble of rights and formats would kill the idea off for me anyway. Surely it's in...
• Commented on The season of snark
  Charlie said (incidentally, did anyone else have a moment of confusion up the thread when someone wrote "when Charlie is King" and imagine Our Host in enthroned in ermine?) "The Monarchy, as a component of the British parliamentary system, is...
• Commented on The season of snark
  [it's an interesting pile of hypothetical twaddle but who cares?] I don't think it is. Arguably, in the UK, the Prime Minister has far too much personal power - an unelected monarch can't be a real check, because they're not...
• Commented on The season of snark
  One thought on the "Royal Family promotes tourism" argument - other countries that have ditched their monarchy have tourism too, arguably more and better because nowhere is off limits. So I don't think that holds water. And I don't think...