Dead in the Frame, Stephen Spotswood
RogerBW's Blog23d ago
2025 mystery, fifth in its series. As cliffhangered at the end of book 4, Pentecost has been arrested for murder.
RogerBW's Blog
blog.firedrake.orgadded August 2026
top 28%The Cafe at the End of the World, Helen Comerford
RogerBW's Blog26d ago
2026 young adult modern fantasy, first of a pair of books. Lydie is the daughter of Death (now retired), but she just wants to work at and eventually take over the café in the tiny town.
Sentinel, Anthony J. Melchiorri
RogerBW's Blog27d ago
2021 military SF, first of a series. Cole Shaw signed up because the alternative was waiting to die on his failing colony planet. Now he drives a mech. So um yes.
Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore, Emily Krempholtz
RogerBW's Blog28d ago
2025 fantasy. The Evil Mage has been killed, and presumably his minions too. And there's no reason for anyone to link Violet, the newcomer in town who just wants to open a florist's shop, with the...
The Weekly Challenge 390: Decode the Order
RogerBW's Blog29d ago
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved a string decompression and permutations. (Note that this ends today.) Task 1: Decode String You are given an encoded string.
Beneath These Stones, Ann Granger
RogerBW's Blog11 Sept 2026
1999 mystery, twelfth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Alan Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. The wife of a local farmer is found stabbed to death in the woods.
Tabletop Scotland 2026
RogerBW's Blog10 Sept 2026
Back to one of my favourite conventions, still at the Royal Highland Centre next to Edinburgh airport.
Moss'd in Space, Rebecca Thorne
RogerBW's Blog9 Sept 2026
2026 science fiction, first of a planned series. Torian Razner has been saving up for years to buy a starship and move her sister out of the bad-quality air that's killing her.
The African Queen (1961)
RogerBW's Blog7 Sept 2026
1951 adventure/romance, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn: IMDb. After the African mission is destroyed, the survivor is determined to strike back at the Hun.
The Weekly Challenge 389: Zigzag Reorder
RogerBW's Blog6 Sept 2026
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved array shuffling and subarrays. (Note that this ends today.)
Bitter Waters, Vivian Shaw
RogerBW's Blog5 Sept 2026
2024 urban fantasy novells, part of a series. Dr Greta Helsing is relaxing with her husband (Varney the Vampire) when a newly-turned and abandoned vampire comes to their attention… This is possibly...
How To Steal a Galaxy, Beth Revis
RogerBW's Blog4 Sept 2026
2024 science fiction novella, second of a trilogy. Ada is back on the job, infiltrating a museum gala in order to do… something.
Ode to the Half-Broken, Suzanne Palmer
RogerBW's Blog2 Sept 2026
2026 SF. Forty years ago the world fell apart. Our narrator, who remembers it, just wants to be left alone to study ants.
The Weekly Challenge 388: Secret Dyck
RogerBW's Blog30 Aug 2026
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved sequence generation and derangement. (Note that this ends today.)
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, Ilona Andrews
RogerBW's Blog28 Aug 2026
2026 fantasy, first in a possible series. Maggie Haley went to sleep one night and woke up naked in a ditch in her favourite fantasy series.
The campaign that GURPS Vehicles gave me
RogerBW's Blog27 Aug 2026
It is generally accepted that GURPS Vehicles, the vehicle design supplement for the third edition of that game, is not something anyone would use at the table; I'd agree with that.
Night of the Demon (1957)
RogerBW's Blog25 Aug 2026
1957 horror, dir. Jacques Tourneur, Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins: IMDb. Karswell's enemies seem to die very conveniently for him; but of course there's no such thing as magic.
The Weekly Challenge 387: Only Binary Is Rational
RogerBW's Blog23 Aug 2026
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved string rearrangements and rational numbers. (Note that this ends today.)
Notes on Mongoose's Bayern 12: The Relic
RogerBW's Blog22 Aug 2026
This is part of an ongoing series about the preparations I've made to run Mongoose's revised edition of the Bayern campaign for 2300AD. Spoilers for Interlude 6 Part I.
On Loops
RogerBW's Blog20 Aug 2026
I've found myself thinking lately about loops. Specifically, how do you terminate a loop? I see two basic sorts of thing here: - There is a reasonably knowable number of iterations when you start.