“Squish” by Daniel M. Hoyt

by Carol3 Comments
"Squish" by Daniel M. Hoyt The year is 2136. In this short story, the main character, Meyer, is an investigator hired to find the imposter among the many clones his boss, Benton Reege, has made of himself. These clones are stationed throughout the solar system and each is in charge of various research or industrial facilities. As Meyer makes the rounds, with his brain being "squished" into new biobods at each stop, he realizes that more is going on than he was told. This is an quick tour of the solar system, with little bits about the different planets and asteroids. For example, in this fictional future the technological advances are astounding, but they still can't make biobods that could actually live on the surface of Venus. "That could be solved if we could grow Venusian bodies that don’t crush halfway to the surface — it’s 92 times Earth’s pressure.  We can lick the temperature problem.  It’s...
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Ohioana Book Festival

by Carol9 Comments
I went to the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus this past Saturday, an event celebrating Ohio's authors, along with my husband, Amber(10), my brother and sister-in-law. It was really fun day, at least I enjoyed it a lot. I know Amber did too. As for the rest of the bunch, I think they had an okay time, but were basically there because I wanted to go. There were tons of authors chatting and signing their books. I think we all came away with something. Amber bought The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. This is a picture of the two of them. She was really nice to Amber, interested in talking to her and encouraged Amber to send her an e-mail after she reads the story to tell her if she enjoys it. We actually picked up a bunch of books.  In addition to that one, Amber also got Pencil, Paper, Draw!: Dogs (signed) by Steve Harpster, who told her that the...
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Giveaway of The War Lovers by Evan Thomas

by Carol27 Comments
The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898 by Evan Thomas Here's the blurb: On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. Although there was no evidence that the Spanish were responsible, yellow newspapers such as William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal whipped Americans into frenzy by claiming that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship. Soon after, the blandly handsome and easily influenced President McKinley declared war, sending troops not only to Cuba but also to the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world. As Evan Thomas reveals in his rip-roaring history of those times, the hunger for war had begun years earlier. Depressed by the "closing" of the Western frontier and embracing theories of social Darwinism, a group of warmongers that included a young Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge agitated loudly and incessantly that the United...
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