Babylon 5

With the summer television season upon me I decided to take a plunge on a new show. I recently found Babylon 5 on sale at Best Buy, so I purchased the entire series. I started watching Season 1 this week. The first few disks were kind of disappointing, but I just watched the episode "Signs and Portents" and it looks like things are really picking up. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the season.

I really like the character of Susan Ivanova, played by Claudia Christian, and I thin that so far she is the best of the lot.

I am pretty ho-hum about the character of Michael Garibaldi, played by Jerry Doyle, but I can see how he has some room to grow.

I'm still waiting for the various ambassadors to gel as characters before I make a decision on them.

But, I have to say that Commander Sinclair is bad. Real bad. Unbearably bad. He is like a caricature of all the bad sci-fi captains in history.

Hopefully, the series maintains it's current trajectory and get5s better and better.

Currently Reading

I currently reading The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. I have to say I'm about 25% of the way through and I think I found a winner.

I'll write it up when I'm done.

Hood and Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead

I recently finished reading the first two books in the new re-imagining of the Robin Hood epic. It's by Stephen Lawhead and I've found it to be a great read.

I have never read anything by Stephen Lawhead and I decided it was time to take the plunge. I chose this series because it is his most recent and I love the Robin Hood setting. He takes the story in a new exciting direction by making Robin Hood a Welsh hero fighting against the Norman invaders. It works!

He has some great new takes on old characters like Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marion that I think expand these characters and make them even more interesting. The story moves along at a brisk pace and reads like a movie, I mean that in a good way. It flows.

I won't get into the plot or anything to ruin it for you, but I'd say it's well worth reading.

Next up in the series is Tuck the conclusion.

Let's stop sneering at fantasy readers | Books | guardian.co.uk

Let's stop sneering at fantasy readers Books guardian.co.uk


I love the fantasy genre. While I'll concede that it is often filled with deriviative drivel, I think that it among all the genres it has untapped potential. This article does a great job of discussing fantasy and what makes it cool, or not geeky. It also talks about the Gemmell awards which is a great new fantasy award that just started up.

Fantasy master David Eddings dies aged 77 Books guardian.co.uk

This is very sad news if you are a fantasy fan. David Eddings has passed away. I am a huge Eddings fan! I loved both the Belgariad/Mallorean and the Elenium/Tamuli. He (and his wife) were wonderful influences on me.

I won't go so far as to say that Eddings was a genius, but he was one hell of a writer and a great storyteller. He was the master of writing that pulled the reader along, so that you had to read that next page, only to find out that you read ten more pages...

Rest in Peace.