I looked across the street and coveted my neighbor’s house. One side of the house had an ocean front, on the other side I saw a fishing pond and they had a creek running through acres of forested land surrounding it. They’ve lived there longer than anyone else and call themselves ‘FIRST NEIGHBOURS’. So …
THE GREAT AI CONUNDRUM
It’s SO EXCITING!!! AI and robotics are revolutionizing work and we’re ALL GOING TO BECOME REDUNDANT. Tech giants are leading the way - FIRING EMPLOYEES BY THE THOUSANDS to help pay for new facilities that use the TRILLIONS of watts of electricity needed to feed AI. This, of course, IS GOOD NEWS for those who …
SERAPHINA BY RACHEL HARTMAN
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 2012 Doubleday In Hartman’s fantasy world, there have been forty years of an uneasy peace between human people and their traditional enemy, the dragons. While in their natural state, the dragons have all the traditional trappings: wings, scales, massive bodies and the ability to breathe fire. The new twist in this …
THE NEW MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE
Malcolm in the Middle - Life’s Still Unfair (in four episodes produced by Hulu, 2026) The original ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ ran from 2000 until 2006 and produced some of the funniest episodes in the history of sit-com. I suppose someone must have thought it was a brilliant idea to assemble the original cast, twenty …
THIS WEEK IN THE ASYLUM
These days I pity people who make a living writing comedy and satire. The politicians and their antics are putting the professional gag masters to shame. Granted, it’s pretty hard to compete against the WORLD’S GREATEST COMEDIAN: THE ONE, THE ONLY RONALD RUMP, Prez for life, Emperor of the ‘Muricas, Viceroy of Greedland and KEEPER …
FAYNE BY ANN-MARIE MACDONALD
FAYNE BY ANN-MARIE MACDONALD - Knopf 2022 - It’s not often I’m as conflicted about a book as I am with Fayne. For the most part the story is written in the tradition of a nineteenth century novel. With the main character occasionally speaking directly to the reader (Oh, reader…) and the story’s many unlikely …
ANOTHER WEEK AT THE ZOO
His Holiness the PRINCE OF PEACE, Ronald Rump, started his week with a real blast of OF MIRTH AND MERRIMENT - another round of bombs on the I-Rainians. Taped to one of the warheads was his latest peace proposal demands, which included opening the oil channels in the Gulf of Rump (formerly the Gulf of Horrorsnoose), …
ARMAGEDDON ANYONE?
Anyone confused as to why ‘Murica would want to start a war with I-Rain with no thought, no plan and no exit except BOMB, BOMB, BOMB? Theories abound: everything from HIM thinking HE was invading Greeland to take over their coveted ice cubes to making billions on oil futures for HIMself and HIS billionaire …
NETTLE & BONE BY KINGFISHER
NETTLE & BONE BY T. KINGFISHER - Tor publishing 2022 - Here’s the second of my Dearest Darling Daughter’s (DDD) Christmas offerings. It’s a fantasy with a first chapter that makes you feel like you’ve fallen from a great height into some kind of landscape shaped by Salvador Dali. It begins with the main …
RIPPLES
RIPPLES - an eight part mini-series from Netflix, released in 2025. If you’re getting tired of the news, with its endless reports on the antics of the orange war monger in ‘Murica and his dedication to spreading absurdities and falsehoods that foster hate, misogyny and racism, then this mini-series might be just the kind of …
Richard's Left Bank 