Go read the Wayfarers series, they are awesome!

I have a warm spot in my heart for science fiction and fantasy books. Not universally, but a lot of my favorite books fall into those categories. Perhaps because I fell into those types of books as a kid, and so kept coming back to the genre. Perhaps also because the way "literature" was taught in school was so incredibly analytical and boring that it sucked much of the joy out of reading what could have been really engaging books. Perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that for the last ten years, I haven't had the mental space, mental capacity, or inclination to dive into less accessible (a less charitable description would perhaps be "less entertaining") books. Now that our older daughter is ten and our younger daughter is almost seven, my mental capacity seems to be coming back. And yet, I still find the greatest pleasure from science fiction and fantasy. But that isn't quite right. Several books I've found a lot of pleasure in may have elements of those genres but aren't an easy fit for either genre.

What bugs me is that a stigma still hangs around those genres. People still look down their noses at books in those genres. Becky Chambers (her Amazon page is here) and her Wayfarers series of books are awesome. They are science fiction, and yet they are at heart stories of people looking to create a sense of belonging, a sense of family. I'll pause here and say, don't bother trying to find her on social media. She isn't ON social media! Anywhere! No Twitter, no Facebook, no Instagram! No nothing! (I'll wait for your head to stop exploding...). You can find her on her website - www.otherscribbles.com - , you can find interviews with her if you Google them, and you can find her Amazon author page and her books on Amazon. That's it! Crazy to think that a writer might just want to, I don't know, focus on writing!

If what you are looking for is space battles and killer robots, this is not that. However, if you liked Joss Whedon's Serenity or Firefly, you will feel right at home in Becky Chamber's books. There's action, there's aliens, there's spaceships, but it's about the people. 

If you like cool stories of how books came to be, you will also love Becky Chamber's work. Her first book, The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet first came onto the internet scene as a Kickstarter project in 2012 and she self published the book in 2014. To say it blew up after that would not be an exaggeration. It was longlisted for awards, it was shortlisted for awards, it won awards, and it was picked up Harper Voyager in the United States and by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK!

What sucks me into a book is the characters. If I come to care about the characters, then I'm completely a fanboy. Becky's characters give me all the feels. They are funny and frustrating and trying to figure their stuff out, not in angsty, tiring sort of way, but in the same way we can all relate to. You connect with them. They make you laugh. You want to get to know them better. They end up in situations that make you worry about them.

The third book has just been released, so you can binge read the trilogy straight through. If you have recommendations of other books that you think I might get a kick out of, let me know! I'm always looking for new books to read!

Look at that! A second post already!

This is a quick edit I did with my new Garmin Virb 360 degree action cam. As you will see, I'm a life long gadget freak and the Garmin Virb (and the super sweet editing software that goes with it) is like sugar water to my gadget hummingbird nature. In dabbling with it, I was quickly impressed by the simplicity of its use  - slide giant red button forward to record. Slide back to stop recording. End of instructions - and with the fair simplicity of editing the footage with the Garmin software. The video is just me riding around on my bike, but it gives a pretty good idea of what the camera and software can do. 

And so it begins...

Our scene opens on an attractive young man (actually, a mid forties bald guy) laboring to craft great literature from the aether (actually, he's whacking away at the keyboard like one of a thousand monkeys hoping for Shakespeare, but being content with coherence). He has tried before to find his way putting his voice out into the internet. A couple of pointless YouTube videos, a handful long forgotten podcast episodes, and a few flailing, misdirected, and failed attempts at blogs. And yet, in a burst of probably misguided optimism, he tries again. After an inspiring introduction like that, how can you fail to be inspired? How can you not instantly join him in his quest... for whatever it is that he's trying to do? Allow your elevated perspective to rise higher, seeing his house from above, his kids playing in the backyard or playing on the PS4, or, miracle of miracles, reading. What will we get up to here with this odd fellow named Charlie? Knowing him as well as I do (seeing as I am, in fact, him) I can promise just what the title suggests - stuff and nonsense. Following far, far behind in the footsteps of John Scalzi and his Whatever blog, we will go wherever the spirit, coffee, and my constantly shifting attention takes us. As you may guess from my self description, my interests wander far and wide. Without warning, we'll jump from the mundane to the philosophical and every bit of nonsense in between. We'll discuss books, parenting, relationships, religion, politics, philosophy, snowboarding, daypacks, man bags, YouTube videos, fitness, exercise, nutrition, the importance of health in your 30's (where I've been), 40's (where I currently find myself in the last half of), 50's (where I'm rapidly catching up to) and beyond.

My wife and I are closing in on twenty years of marriage, something I'm quite proud of, and we are having more fun together and having a fantastic love life and a pretty fantastic sex life too.

Our daughters are ten and seven, so I'll blather on about parenting and kids and how that's working out. I'll be painfully honest about my failures as a parent, how my wife helped me see them, and the painful process of becoming a better parent. I'll also share the things that we're doing right as parents, and how that may or may not help you. 

I lay no claim to wisdom, only some measure of experience in these matters. I'll share what I know, you can share what you know, and perhaps we can gain of bit of knowledge and wisdom along the way. 

I'll be laying down words here at least weekly, perhaps more often, but hopefully at least with sort of frequency and regularity, but really, who knows? If nothing else, I hope over time to accumulate some dross here, and perhaps the occasional glint of gold will shine forth! 

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, more to come.