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Science Fiction

The Cold Equations

Dominic Cummings re-posted a link to his 2017 discussion of systems engineering as applied to politics, and since it touches on just about every theme I like to discuss here at With Both Hands, I thought it would be worth exploring in some detail. Systems engineering is something you could

Science Fiction and Science Fantasy

In my editorial line at With Both Hands, I’ve started to shy away from bookstore genre labels, as I have come to think that these marketing tools cramp the mind of both the reader and the writer. However, lots of people still use these terms, and in general they

Linkfest 2021-07-09: When Orcs Were Real

Tree of Woe: When Orcs were Real A contrarian view of the interaction between humans and Neanderthals. Danny Vendramini in his book Them and Us: How Neanderthal Predation Created Modern Humans makes some extremely speculative claims that Neanderthals were monsters of myth and legend. As the comments make clear, this

Dark Operator By John Spears Nick Cole and Jason Anspach Book Review

Dark Operator, the first book in the five book series by John “Doc” Spears, Jason Anspach, and Nick Cole [Amazon link] is the most thrilling example of careful planning, diligent preparation, and conscientious execution that I have ever read. And yes, I’m totally serious about that. Doc Spears has

Galaxy's Edge Order of the Centurion ebook set

All five books in the Order of the Centurion series are available in a set for $0.99 USD on Amazon right now. I copied in my capsule reviews of all five, or you can scroll down for the full reviews at the bottom. This is a screaming deal for

The Voidburned Queen: Zack Lancestrom Book 2 by D. J. Bodden Book Review

The Voidburned Queen [Amazon link] is the second book in D. J. Bodden’s new Zack Lancestrom series, itself part of the larger FiveFold Universe. In the last book, Zack escaped his homeworld of Politeia in a stolen shuttle, narrowly avoiding a last minute interception by the Federal Fleet, who

Those who walk away from McCarrick

I didn’t get involved in yesterday’s Twitter argument about Ursula Le Guin’s Hugo award winning short story, “Those who walk away from Omelas”. I will chime in to say that if you told me “Omelas” was the fictionalized version of the McCarrick Report, I would believe you.