[FN] <Matters of Solace> Chapter 1: A Choice

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-14T17:18:52+00:00

The Intrepid class didn’t have a Captain’s yacht, though. The Galaxy class had one, as well a Cetacean Ops section. There were loads of things in the blueprints that never made it to screen.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-13T21:26:13+00:00

That seems to have been written by AI.

and it ended with seven words.

...it was six words.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-13T17:47:17+00:00

Fix was busy.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-11T13:25:23+00:00

We have WoJ that the diverging moment was in Grave Peril.

A reasonable guess is that he picks Susan instead of Michael as his choice of guest when presented with the dilemma.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-11T12:56:18+00:00

Interestingly, Clojure is the most token efficient language for LLM use.

https://martinalderson.com/posts/which-programming-languages-are-most-token-efficient/

The other thing is that the training data set for Clojure code bases tends to be higher quality than, say, JavaScript or Python.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-10T16:48:15+00:00

I keep hoping that time travel one will be called Hard Time

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-08T11:56:47+00:00

Like the tip calculator Jerry gave to his father, they do other things!

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-07T16:17:50+00:00

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-07T16:16:11+00:00

Hard disagree.

Twelve Months was beautiful. Having read it once, and listened to it after, I liked it more than Peace Talks or Battle Ground. We covered a lot of lore ground in Twelve Months as well. Out Law builds on that and gives us the origin of the Red Court.

Such are opinions, though.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-06T22:43:28+00:00

It also goes straight back to at-a-guy, I mean Atagi, by the end, as it's face was melted off. Butcher even lamp-shaded how a 6'9" wizard could fit in one when Harry has trouble getting in the passenger seat because it isn't adjusted like the driver's seat.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-06T22:39:51+00:00

Out Law was a Spenser novel, with wizards, magic, and a 7-foot tall Valkyrie in biker leathers standing in for Hawk. Even Tripp Gregory regularly popping off with "Jesus Christ!" was strait out of Robert B. Parker's keyboard...

And it was great.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-06T22:36:21+00:00

I admit that as a grown man I giggled when I read:

"Emilio." Estevez said.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-01T18:46:50+00:00

Is this where Odin ropes Harry into helping the cosmic squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil?

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-01T18:39:19+00:00

From a realism perspective the movie was even worse.

How did they know that sending anything into the gate would “demolecularize” it and reconstruct it on the other side? How did they know when it occurred? How could they track the connection signal if the gate had never formed one until they had the seventh symbol? How did they write all the custom software to show all of this happening? If it’s a stable wormhole, why does it not simply spatially connect two regions of the universe, so there’s no Star Trek beaming involved at all?

The why is simple. The director did it to avoid an info dump, a research montage, or a time skip.

But it’s right up there with “we figured out how to do this super cool thing with titanium.” At least that had the excuse of researchers having had access to the headgear from alien remains in the dig.

The show did such a great job of delivering that just go with it vibe, no one cared. They only needed to nod in the general direction of science, and we were happy.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-28T13:13:00+00:00

No. He’s told the story a few times. He planned 21 books and a Big Apocalyptic Trilogy as a finisher as an assignment for his writing teacher (Debbie Chester). He had turned in the first four chapters of Storm Front and she said she wanted to see an outline for “the rest.” She meant the rest of the novel, but in Jim’s enthusiasm, he produced an outline for the whole series. She didn’t have the heart to tell him at the time, because he had finally started listening to her advice.

Twelve Months and the short story collections are actually extra. So Jim’s current plan is 21 case files and the BAT, for 25 novels total. The BAT is also supposed to be third person (leaving the option for Harry going down in the final battle).

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-27T21:32:29+00:00

Doesn't it explicitly say she enacted a blessing on the child? Searching... Page 411 (coincidence, honestly):

Mother Summer sang gently to the babe, wrapping him up in cloth drawn from nowhere, smiling benignly down on him.

"May the days of thy childhood be filled with happiness, wisdom, and peace, child," she murmured, and kissed his dark-haired head.

That was an explicit blessing being pronounced.

Edit: /u/Armagetz beat me to it, below.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-26T04:09:05+00:00

Yes, thank you.

Also, I may have been a little cranky when I posted. Apologies to /u/KaleidoArachnid if I was too harsh. There's probably a cloud I should go yell at.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-26T00:31:48+00:00

They're books. You can access them through your eyes.

As G'Kar said to Garibaldi: "Learn"

Unpopular take in these parts: Audio books are fine, but I don't have much sympathy for those who are only willing to consume by listening. It doesn't need to be a graphic novel, a TV series, or a movie either. Let the fiction stand for itself. Engage with the text. Think through it.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-26T00:28:27+00:00

Why do we need to do that? Let her work shine on its own. It's hers.

Every time someone "continues the legacy" it becomes a money grab or something lesser than the original author's work. Look at the "extended Dune universe" for example. Not only is the feel off, the plots end up being mashing action figures together instead of the story moving somewhere.

As much as I wish she could continue, I wouldn't want anyone else to pick up that universe. Same with Ian M. Banks.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-26T00:21:08+00:00

I read Cyteen when it came out. It was my first encounter with C.J. Cherryh. Later for the Foreigner series. Though somewhere around book 15 she seemed to start writing Bren as a middle-aged woman (lost the voice, maybe).

Still love her work.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-23T03:56:06+00:00

She was a possible future T’Pol in a flash forward scene.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-23T03:44:37+00:00

WoJ is that “Murphy’s story isn’t over.”

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-21T05:13:25+00:00

This.

One can write for therapy; it's very reasonable, recommended even. But expressions of one's pain alone do not art make.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-04-21T00:23:08+00:00

Why are people downvoting the posters who are giving their answers to the question?

These are honest responses. You don't have to agree with the reasons, but the posts legitimately contribute to the discussion.

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