Friday, August 25

tee hee--What a geek.

Okay, in an epic post to my own geekiness, I have some other confessions.

It cracks me up when the word verification in (I think) wordpress tells me that I have to re-type the letters to prevent robots from posting. Excuse me? Robots? Couldn't you call them spammers, or automated systems, or even just computers? Because honestly, I just picture the robot from Lost in Space sitting at the computer reading blogs. Can I also tell you that I do a mean impression of that robot shouting "Danger, Danger, Will Robinson!"--complete with arms flailing as I swing back and forth from the waist up. It's really a very impressive sight.

what?

Why are you shaking your head?

I was also a big fan of Star Trek with the ever intriguing Jean-Luc Picard, right up until they made him a Borg. As soon as they had him utter the words "Resistance is futile," it was over for me. Damn "Them".
I've been a geek for a very long time, and while they made a movie called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, It was First a book. In the mid to late eighties, it was also turned into a computer game that I HAD to have (please, mom? please? Computerland has it, and I'll save up all my money--please mom? pllllleeeeaaaassssseee????????). Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were forever trapped in the hold of a passing space cruiser because this was before the days of hint books (unless you counted those wierd mad lib things with the invisible ink pens to reveal clues, but there was nothing for THIS game.). I stared at that stupid Amber monitor all summer long, and it didn't matter what I tried-the guard would just shout over and over, "Resistance is Useless!" This was not a graphic game, it was text-only.

Hey, man, it WAS the mid-eighties.

So they ruined Picard for me by having him say the same stupid line (essentially), as the stupid guard at the stupid door. Stupid game.

Great books, though. Revolutionary, really.

Mmmmm...books. Just call me the Homer Simpson of the bookstore.
Not a high brow reader, I read for escape and entertainment. Oprah's book club, while heartfelt and gut-wrenching and life changing, is nothing that I consistently look for in a book.

Any geeks out there in the big wide world? I would highly recommend the Genellan series by Scott Gier. The alien calling her name over the airwaves....that scene has stayed with me for years.

I loves me a strong female character making the hard choices:

Daughter of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurtz. Phenominal.


Silver Branch by Patricia Keneally. Really a good blend of Sci-fi and Fantasy--and I had a Celtic obsession in high school.

Price of the Stars by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald. Rollicking Space Opera, as my uber geek friend Jim would say.

Warrior's Apprentice by Lois Mc Master Bujold. More rollicking Space Opera, not actually a female protagonist, but Miles is very in touch with his Feminine side. :D I cannot start recommending books and not put Miles in there.

The Sacrifice By Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A very different take on the whole fey/fairy thing.

Cautionary Disclaimer: Each of these books begins a series. I do not guarantee that the quality remains consistent throughout the series. But they are kick-ass starts. 'Cause I'm a kick-ass chick. peep peep!

If you have not given your grandmother the Mitford books, get them for her for Christmas. Nothing heavy, not a mystery, not really a romance, they are just delightful escape. I closed the cover on the first book,At Home in Mitford, and I didn't want another book (VERRRY unusual for me)--I just wanted to enjoy the afterglow. Borrow it when she's done.


4 comments:

Sayre said...

Have you read the Piers Anthony series that begins with ON A PALE HORSE? I can't rememember what he called the series but it was really good.

I mostly read for escape... not much into technical manuals or non-fiction (though there is a book about FDR I really want to read out). Not much of a romance reader but I love thrillers and suspense with a little horror thrown in. Anne Rice. Stephen King. Dean Koontz. Iris Johannsen. I tend to read more by author than by book...

A couple of "Oprah" books I've read and enjoyed, "Ahab's Wife" and that Wally Lamb book about the twins. Both were excellent!

Jennfactor 10 said...

I loved that Anthony series, The Incarnations of Immortality...Again, kinda petered out by the end of the series, but I loved the whole concept of death and time being offices, as opposed to otherworldly forces...

crse said...

You are my husband's dream girl. I just think you should know that. Your booklist reads like his shelf. And I think you may have been the only two people i know who played that video game! Viva la geekiness!

Jennfactor 10 said...

CRSE, it's that twin thing again.