• Farming As I Have Known It: 60 Years in Central Appalachia, by S. Thomas Bond, copyright 2007; first edition.

  This book, on farming and farm life, was written by my father over 10 years in his spare time, and is an absolutely fascinating look at farming from the era of my great-grandparents and grandparents through to the present day.

  Although I grew up on a working farm and spent most of my time before I graduated from college working on it, I was never as deeply involved with farming as my father, something I now regret deeply. This book gives a very good idea of the determination, hard work and deep thought required to build and keep a family farm in West Virginia.

  Dad had copies of this printed and some of them were Christmas presents for 2008.

  The book is available on the web.

• The Mint, by T. E. Lawrence, aka John Hume Ross, aka T. E. Shaw; copyright 1935, 1955 by Doubleday & Company, Inc; first published in Norton Library 1963 by arrangement with Doubleday & Company, Inc; ISBN: 978-0-393-00196-9.

  Interesting and quite different than Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

• Kull: Exile of Alantis, by Robert E. Howard, copyright 2006 Kull Productions, LLC; illustrations copyright 2006 Justin Sweet; Del Rey Books/The Random House Publishing Group/Random House, Inc.; first printing; ISBN 0-345-49017-7.

Well worth reading, and not just as a precursor to Conan. The essay “Atlantean Genesis” by Patrice Louinet, included in the book, argues on p. 288 that with the three Kull tales that were published during Howard's life, Howard had invented a new literary subgenre: “Heroic Fantasy”, “Epic Fantasy”, or “Swords and Sorcery” by modernizing fantasy through eliminating “…the chivalrous aspects, the flowery language, and stilted personalities, writing violent tales in a realistic style…” and that seems reasonable.

• Psycho Shop, by Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny, copyright 1998 by the Alfred Bester Estate and the Amber Corporation; Introduction copyright 1998 by Greg Bear; Vintage Original/Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc./Random House; July, 1998; first edtion; paperback; ISBN 0-679-76782-7.

An interesting posthumous collaboration between the deceased Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny, now also, alas, deceased. I wish both of them had lived longer and written more.

• Non-Stop, by Brian W. Aldiss, Copyright 1958, 1959, 1987 by Brian W. Aldiss; Carroll & Graf, 1989; bookclub edition.

This was actually homework for a Metamorphosis Alpha game I intend to play with the kids, but quite enjoyable. I thought I might have read it before, but I certainly didn't remember any of it. (Did I read it as a kid myself? Quite possible.)

Now I need to find more generation ship novels and movies. Any suggestions?

• Hunter's Prayer, by Lilith Saintcrow, copyright 2008; Orbit/Hachette Book Group USA; First Edition: September 2008; ISBN-10: 0-316-00176-7, ISBN-13: 978-0-316-00176-2.

  The second in Saintcrow's new series. Enjoyed it too.

• Spook Country, by William Gibson, copyright 2007 by William Gibson Ent. Ltd.; The Berkley Publishing Group/The Penguin Group/Penguin Group (USA) Inc.; Berkley trade paperback edition June 2008, 1st printing; ISBN-13: 978-0-424-22141-9.

  Good. Moving further away from the science fiction aspect of his early works, but retaining that disquieting sense of social dissociation.

• The Sinister Pig, by Tony Hillerman, copyright 2003; HarperTorch/HaperCollinsPublisher; first paperback printing November 2004, 12th printing; ISBN-10: 0-06-109878-7, ISBN-13: 978-0-06-109878-9.

• The Wailing Wind, by Tony Hillerman, copyright 2002; HarperTorch/HarperCollinsPublisher; 16th printing; ISBN-10: 0-06-109879-5, ISBN-13: 97800-06-109879-6.

  Hillerman has been writing these mysteries for over 35 years. I must enjoy them, if I'm up at 2:19 reading them.

• Night Shift, by Lilith Saintcrow, copyright 2008; Orbit/Hachette Book Group USA; First Edition: July 2008, 2nd printing; ISBN-10: 0-316-00178-3, ISBN-13: 978—0-316-00178-6.

  The first in a new series by Saintcrow, in a slightly different world, so far as I can tell. I enjoyed it.