Special Assignments by Boris Akunin (2007)

Rather than a single novel, this book contains two novellas featuring separate Fandorin cases. “Jack of Spades” takes place in 1886;“ The Decorator” occurs in 1889; both are set in Moscow during Holy Week, the days preceding Easter. I found the atmosphere darker than in the earlier books, with Akunin moving from the adventurous romanticism of the preceding volumes toward a more pessimistic portrait of Moscow's institutions and populace.

“Jack of Spades” explores fraud, corruption, and the emerging organization of criminal enterprise; unfortunately, I found the story itself less compelling than its historical setting. “The Decorator,” however, was considerably stronger: its investigation of a series of murders evokes the Jack the Ripper era while connecting the sensational criminal culture of London with Moscow's own social and institutional pathologies. Akunin also gives me an unusually vivid view of Russian Orthodox religious practice during Holy Week, a subject about which I knew almost nothing. The contrast between intense religious observance and the corruption, violence, and institutional decay surrounding Fandorin gives the novella much of its tension. As always with the Fandorin books, I particularly enjoy the historical and “slice-of-life” detail; because I know so little about Russian life in these periods, Akunin's reconstruction of Moscow functions for me as both entertainment and an informal education in the social world behind the fiction.

I continue to read the Fandorin novels as much for their historical immersion as for their mysteries. Special Assignments is uneven, but “The Decorator” supplies enough drama, historical texture, and cultural discovery to make the volume worthwhile, while its darker conception of Moscow suggests a less romantic world emerging beneath the series' earlier adventures.

4/5 Stars

Murderbot Stories by Martha Wells (2018 - 2025)

I discovered that Reactor Magazine, formerly Tor.com, had published several short stories set in Martha Wells's beloved Murderbot universe, and I promptly grabbed and devoured all of them. Much like most "Murderbot" fans, I love Wells's strange collection of SecUnits, augmented humans, artificial intelligences, corporations, awe-and-wonder space opera, and drama.   

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy,” follows A.R.T. and its crew rather than Murderbot. Set after A.R.T.'s encounter with Murderbot, the story gives readers a welcome opportunity to see A.R.T. wrestling with the consequences of that relationship from its own perspective. A.R.T. has enormous capabilities with distinctly personal attachments, anxieties, loyalties, and blind spots; watching ART process what happened with Murderbot gives the relationship an additional dimension. The other stories likewise provide small but satisfying expansions of the universe, filling in corners and adding more well-written space-opera universe building that the main sequence necessarily leaves unexplored.

I enjoyed the collection; Wells can make even a relatively small episode feel consequential within the larger architecture of the series. Seeing familiar characters from unfamiliar angles and stories in the universe are still great even when Murderbot is offstage. 

5/5 Stars

Hell Bent by Greg Hurwitz (2017)

I continue to enjoy the Orphan X series as Evan Smoak works through the trauma of his childhood and earlier adventures, gradually transforming from a damaged weapon into something resembling a self-directed hero. In Hell Bent, Greg Hurwitz pushes Smoak's abilities toward the nearly supernatural: his tactical instincts, physical skills, and clever improvisations repeatedly allow him to survive increasingly-impossible situations. I particularly enjoyed the close-combat sequences, where Smoak's movements and decisions feel almost algorithmically precise; Hurwitz makes his mastery of violence convincing.

The novel sends Smoak into a brutal confrontation with a super-villain whose resources are overwhelming. As Smoak fights his way through increasingly desperate circumstances, Hurwitz alternates close-quarters combat with strategic maneuvering, forcing him to solve "big-picture" problems rather than mindlessly overpowering his opponents. The supporting characters and antagonists have well-crafted motivations rather than generic malice. Meanwhile, Smoak's struggle to reconcile the conditioning of his past with the person he is consciously becoming gives the increasingly improbable action humanity.

The escalation is entertaining because Hurwitz embraces the superhero dimensions while retaining enough tactical and psychological detail to make his victories earned. The story arc remains consistent with the earlier novels, yet the increasingly extreme situations demonstrate how far Smoak has evolved from the robot assassin introduced at the beginning of the series. The ending surprised me, and I found its resolution both pleasing and enticing to continue the series.

5/5 Stars

Biology and Human Behavior by Robert Sapolsky (2024)

I started listening to Robert Sapolsky’s lecture series because I particularly enjoyed neuroscience when I studied biomedicine in the 1970s; I am also a longtime fan of popular science, sociology, social psychology, and psychographics. These lectures are exceptionally engaging and well organized. Sapolsky presents important facts, experiments, and behavioral phenomena without unnecessary detail or jargon. He explains the reality of all of the complex interactions that destroy the simple genetics vs environment dichotomy. Genes, development, physiology, evolutionary history, environment, culture, and immediate circumstances interact across many different and complex biological, biochemical, and timescales to produce human behavior.

I was particularly impressed by Sapolsky’s willingness to follow evidence into uncomfortable territory. His ethical and political judgments are frequently conspicuous and extreme, and I occasionally found his interpretations colored by those commitments. Yet he generally allows empirical evidence to complicate conclusions he would apparently prefer to reach. I found those tensions more intellectually valuable than a supposedly neutral presentation would have been: the data are often more interesting precisely because they resist his moral framework.

The examples are intrinsically fascinating, but the greatest value for me was the conceptual framework. Sapolsky replaces simplistic explanations with layered causal interactions, making familiar questions about human behavior considerably more complicated and, consequently, more interesting. I highly recommend the series.

5/5 Stars

Referral

https://discord.com/channels/834634720611926035/1512211373080182964/1541967789491888249

Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz (2019)

I enjoyed Out of the Dark considerably more than the disappointing second installment. Once again, our intrepid hero faces seemingly impossible odds and, once again, manages to triumph through a combination of determination, ingenuity, and violence. The series continues to play with the boundaries between enemy and ally: an antagonist killed in the first book, resurrected in the second becomes an ally here, exactly as I had anticipated. I am curious whether that character will remain part of the story going forward.

The hero's deep cover relationship with his love interest developed nicely, giving the story an emotional thread that complemented instead of distracting from the action. More importantly, Hurwitz delivers the thriller sequences with considerable skill; the confrontations, escapes, and reversals maintained the momentum that I found lacking in the previous book.

Out of the Dark restored my enthusiasm for the series. It is unapologetically entertaining, moves briskly, and delivers the kind of improbable heroics I expect from this sort of thriller without becoming tedious. I am looking forward to seeing where Hurwitz takes the characters next.

4/5 Stars.

Tides of Light by Gregory Benford (2009)

This book continues the grueling saga of human endurance against overwhelming cosmic forces with brilliant hard-science worldbuilding and the continued relentless gloom that suffocates the narrative momentum in the books of this series.

Benford’s imaginative scope and hard science are great.  His intricate depiction of the cold, mysterious"Mech" civilization and the introduction of stunning new galactic entities are a particular delight. I also loved the interstellar colossal tree, a conceptual nod to Freeman Dyson’s comet-eating tree constructs and Larry Niven’s Yggdrasil in "Rainbow Mars (1999). This biological marvel demonstrates Benford’s genius for hard-SF concepts; unfortunately, these imaginative triumphs struggle to offset the oppressive emotional tone.

The overwhelming misery endured by the surviving humans turns what should be a grand space opera into an agonizing ordeal. Rather than facing villainy born of simple malice, these characters remain crushed by indifferent, hyper-advanced species and bureaucratic cosmic structures; this unending suffering severely diminishes my enjoyment of the story.

This oppressive atmosphere serves as a stark reminder of why I abandoned Benford’s catalog in the last millennium: his stellar technical concepts cannot overcome a bleakly demoralizing experience.

3/5 Stars

Soldier of Fortune by Joshua Dalzelle (2013)

I am a little embarrassed to admit I read this book. I think 9- or 10-year-old me would have enjoyed it, but 14-year-old me (or anyone older) would find it puerile and poorly written.

The story has a stereotypical motley crew of big-hearted, ethical warriors fighting for justice in an evil galactic civilization. They are composed of multiple species, star trek style, with unique species-specific capabilities but totally human values, attitudes, civilizations, etc. This adventure throws them into impossible odds and close combat.

The plot fails because of contrivance, an inconsistent magic system, a ridiculous economics setting, and unrealistic politics. World-building is poor throughout, and I never manage to suspend disbelief or care about the characters.  1/5 Stars.

Across the Sea of Suns by Gregory Benford (2004)

I started this book and discovered in a few pages that I had read it in 1984. I remembered the whole story so I put it down.  Benford’s technical assurance, including his command of orbital mechanics, radiation physics, and alien biochemistry, gives the novel an authentic familiar Benford texture. Yet Benford's awesome hard science alone cannot soften the narrative’s crushing accumulation of depressing loss.

Benford braids two strands across this Galactic Center installment. On Earth, ocean organisms reveal themselves as hostile technology. One type are swarming predators; the other are calculating skimmers that manipulate humanity into a nuclear exchange. The war destroys our high-tech civilization. Out in space, Nigel Walmsley pursues ancient civilizations, edging toward answers to the Fermi paradox only to open a deeper mystery at a terrifying scale. I am still uncertain what governs where this coercive galactic civilization originated or why they destroyed the high-tech civilizations on earth and the Nigel encounters in the story.

The novel’s power lies in Benford’s refusal to lean on easy villainy. The skimmers act not from malice, but like bureaucrats executing a mandate; destroying one changes nothing about the policy. Walmsley serves not as a hero winning victories, but as a witness accumulating evidence, rewarded only with curiosity rather than any agency, triumphs, or insights.

Ultimately, my response splits between admiration and appetite. I respect the great imagination and science, but I lack the appetite for four hundred pages offering minimal relief from despair. The book is an accomplished, punishing read that rewards patience with insight, rarely but no comfort. 2/5 Stars

Me and the Cloud Part II: Tailscale

I am very late to the Tailscale party.

I have been messing with Linux, networks, VPNs, firewalls, NAT and remote machines for decades. I have built and maintained all sorts of elaborate kludges to make computers talk to each other.

Then I installed Tailscale.

Wow!
This experience is how networking is supposed to work.
Install it. Log in. Your machines are connected privately and securely.
That's basically it.

No port forwarding. No firewall gymnastics. No public IP address. No VPN server to maintain. No certificate archaeology. No mysterious configuration files that worked perfectly until you touched them six months later.

Tailscale just puts your machines on a private network -- elegantly.

 # 

 
I have a free, powerful Oracle Cloud VM.

• 24 GB RAM
• Four ARM CPUs
• 200 GB storage
• $0/month

I installed Tailscale on it, then installed SFTPGo.

Suddenly I had a private cloud file server.

I installed Tailscale on my Windows machine, Mac and phones. The apps are brain-dead simple. A few minutes later, everything could reach the Oracle machine over my private Tailscale network to up- and download files.

SFTPGo provides SFTP, WebDAV and a web interface, so I can access the files from my computers, phones or a browser.

• 200 GB of private cloud storage.
• Accessible everywhere.
• Free
• No exposure to the public Internet.

Tailscale solved another problem.

My free-tier GCP machine now charges for external IPv4 addresses.

So I installed Tailscale --  Problem solved.

No public IP needed. My instance is simply another machine on my private network.

The remarkable thing is the lack of remarkable things Tailscale has simplicity and elegance instead of exotic networking capabilities. There is no drama.

The configuration is elegant and intuitive. Defaults are sensible. The mobile apps are simple. Everything works as expected or even better than expected.

After spending time in the public clouds, this simplicity is shocking.

Oracle: 200 GB of storage for free but makes me learn about compartments, availability domains, OCIDs, instance IDs, VNICs and approximately seventeen different kinds of PEM keys.

Tailscale has a button. Press it and everything works.
 
I am late to the party.

But Tailscale may be the best thing I've discovered in years.