Same. Didn't have the self-control to not click it.

The regret is real.

Oh God yes, it's awful. Cigarette butts are a constant wherever you look even as they get more and more stigmatized. I used to have to sweep the walk in front of the grocery store in the morning and like, there's an ash can *right there* guys, come on. Also people just hucking them out car windows, embers flying everywhere.

That's a specific example of it, but yeah. Littering, man. If you're brought up not caring it's really hard to make you care.

Saw it. I don't get critical of these things, I just loved basically every minute of it.

If the former, supreme eyerolling. Ugh, move on from the Skywalker line please.

If the latter, it's browbeating people with symbolism that had been left latent for forty two years. Preferable, but still. I heard someone today say something about being confident in Disney and Abrams' subtlety regarding the matter and I just

Today, the latest in "pulp-ass shit Boter reads"...

Necromancers. Ladies with swords. Swords wielded by lady necromancers. Listen, if this isn't hooking you, I don't know what will. Gideon herself is the most self-assured protagonist I have read in a long time, with wit and actual competence to match. Mix in a conspiracy involving the immortal emperor, eight houses vying for supremacy, and a dash of LGBT+ representation naturally woven throughout and you have, hands down, an early contender for my favorite book of the year.

To expand a bit on what I wrote as a staff review for my store, I really enjoyed the narration in here, though at times it jumps outside what's reasonable. While not told from a first-person perspective, Gideon is still the point-of-view character, so while the following sentence is fun: "Then Gideon whistled through her teeth as she unlocked her security cuff, and arranged it and its stolen key considerately on her pillow, like a chocolate in a fancy hotel." You stop and think, "She's never been to a fancy hotel and likely has had very little opportunity to read about them." I just sat back and enjoyed such literary decoration, meanwhile Steph started reading it and couldn't get past it.

Still, between the writing, the characterization, the exploration of what "necromancy" might entail beyond just skeletons when there are eight different Houses each with their own take on it, and the plot itself, I thoroughly enjoyed this and had a hard time putting it down.

The book is due out September 10th of this year.

Seems cool I don't really have the reading comprehension and visualization to critique it without playing but I'd like to be the first to sign up for a prototype kit when you're comfortable sending them out. I'd be happy to turn a camera on us and not really do it as a presentation but then you can watch people who haven't played wrestle with getting their heads around the rules and figure out where there are any rules that need to be cleared up that you may have been making assumptions about.

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Part of Netflix's "Love Death + Robots" anthology.

I haven't watched the rest of the anthology, but I recognized this title from a short story I read years ago, which indeed this is adapted from.

In short: I enjoyed it, though would have preferred something more faithful (which is doable) but also see how they were going for a different goal, difference pace, slightly different angle to the same story, so I can see why they changed what they did.

In long: I did a way-too-involved deep dive to come out with basically the same conclusions. Click the pic below for a link.

Watch the episode (NSFW), read the short story if you can, they complement each other really well.

I seen it.

Ish? I can sorta get the idea but I can't really tell how balanced it might be, or how to improve it, until I've actually tried playing it.

I will say, cards rather than dice is a good mechanic that I wish was used a bit more. Was used effectively in Daytona 500 back in 1990 or so.

I haven't gotten to it yet, but Gideon the Ninth jumped to the top of my reading list when I'm done with For Want of a Nail.

I see a fair amount of Teague in the face. Might just be the red hair and most of my visual memories of him including it. The pitch at the bottom seems like it's trying slightly too hard but damn if it isn't my wheelhouse anyway. It comes out in September, but hey, bookseller perk.

Plus it's kinda cool seeing how they put the cover art together. https://www.tor.com/2019/01/07/gideon-t … er-reveal/