Thursday, January 31, 2019

Foam in the Cosmic Sea


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Sharpless 2-308, a bubble of gas some 60 light-years in diameter. Is that large? Yes, compared to, say, our own system. No, when compared to the galactic arm, the galaxy or all of space. One bit of foam in the cosmic sea.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Coming into Focus


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is the sharpest image (so far) of Ultima Thule from the 2015 New Horizons vehicle. Merging bodies plus a reddish color coming from??? Stay tuned! It'll take 20 months for the data to be downloaded, so we can expect many more surprises in the months to come.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Beautiful Plumage


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows spiral galaxy D100, in the beautiful Coma Cluster of galaxies. What is that long streamer? Hydrogen from the galaxy is being removed thanks to D100's interaction with that cluster. What mad universe!

North to South


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day runs the arc of the Milky Way from the Northern Cross to the Southern Cross. To live under such a sky!

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Terran Shadow


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the recent lunar eclipse. The shadow of our planet creeps across the face of the Moon, reflected sunlight (or, as it has been put "all the light of all the sunrises and sunsets") brings a reddish hue to the Moon at totality.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day captures a surprise during the recent eclipse of the Moon: what appears to have been the impact of a bit of cosmic debris on the surface of the Moon was captured by several astronomical instruments.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Eclipse Sequence


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the January 2018 eclipse of the Moon across much of its transit through Earth's shadow. There's another total eclipse this weekend. Hopefully you have a better chance of seeing it than I will (since I am currently under a all-sky cloud filter!).

Friday, January 18, 2019

Peering Under the Clouds



The mission may have ended, but the science continues. The Cassini Orbiter peeked under the clouds of Titan to bring us stunning views of the enigmatic moon of Saturn.

Observatory Trails


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows star trails seemingly rotating around an axis fixed in the dome of an astronomical observatory.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Dim Beauty


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us an image of IC 342, in the constellation Camelopardalis. If it were better situated in the sky, relative to us, it might be a more familiar sight (like Messier 31). Alas, the gas and dust of our own galaxy has hidden this jewel from many of us.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

All the Feels


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of IC 1805 and IC 1871, more commonly known as the Heart Nebula and the Soul Nebula.

Borges Borges Borges


Your guide to the Infinite Library is ready for you.

Cover Art: Paul Lehr


This was the cover art for John Boyd's The Last Starship from Earth. The art was done by Paul Lehr. I'd be hard pressed to guess how many books I have owned with art by Lehr; he was used by Ace Books, Pyramid, the Science Fiction Book Club and other houses from the 1960's and well into the 1970's.

The covers never had much to do with the books, but they were very "lookable" and I often studied them and copied them. Often they were dominated by some sort of central figure (be it a person, monster, mountain, city or...giant head) and were dominated by one color. There was a collection of Lehr's works several years ago, alas, out of print.

I have not read this book in many years. It was a quirky tale of a dystopian society (very much in the mode of a lot of science fiction in the late 1960's to the late 1970's). As I recall, it involved space travel, time travel, religious and political oppression and even (gasp) some very vague sex.

Cover Art: Chris Foss (02)


Here's another example of the work of Chris Foss. This paperback (dating from ) is probably the first book I bought (look at that price!) with his artwork on it. It's a very atmospheric cover, full of mystery and (once again) has nothing to do with the plot of the book. Unlike the previous book, this is a pretty decent read, so I did not mind the disconnect as much.

Cover Art: Chris Foss (01)


I'll freely admit that often a book is sold by the cover. In fact there are a number of paperbacks that I have kept in my collection, even if I have the hardcover or eBook edition, because I love the cover so much.

DAW Books was always immediately identifiable on the shelves in the 1970's onwards because of the yellow spine of the book. A second identifier was the cover art: Kelly Freas, early stuff by Dave Mattingly, Jack Gaughan and even Chris Foss. The cover above was done by Foss for Barrington J. Bayley's Collison Course. All I can remember from the book is that the cover had nothing to do with the plot, but what a cover. A city in a bottle in space! No, two cities in two bottles in space!

Gurney Halleck


Gurney Halleck is a wise man.

Gaming War at Scale

I was asked (along with several other people) to tag a game that I was a fan of that was "big". It got me wondering: what is big?

Are we talking one division? If so, here's a big one. A classic from SPI. Probably "out of favor", but I always had a soft spot for both SPI and for armor games. In addition to this one (and one title below), I also collected a series of SPI (and later company) titles that broke the European theater up into a series of smaller games that could be linked up to make one massive game (see also GDW's The Third World War and GMT's Next War games). This game had some interesting leadership mechanics and fed into (I think) GDW's miniatures series, Command Decision.

How about one theater? Here's one that definitely resonates with me. The Next War is another SPI "monster" (or, I just learned "soapbox") game. Ah, the Third World War. Maybe not as much cardboard was spilled over the plains of Europe as, say, the Second World War, but it has to be close.

Speaking of the Second World War, here's a relatively recent acquisition on that subject, again, one theater. In this case, the Pacific Theater. Designed by somebody who has become an automatic purchase (see the title listed above!). I've got Mark Herman's other Pacific title on preorder (and own two related games) from GMT Games and hope to see that sometime this year.

Next up, linked games! How about the Second World War and a real monster? I don't have the entire run, but the Europa Series is a "grail" acquisition. Someday, someday. (More recently, lead designer Frank Chadwick has started a new series with Thunder in the East. Will this replace my desire to go all Europa?) I don't know, those stacks and stacks and stacks of chits are pretty attractive!

Sticking with Europe (are we sensing a theme in my area of interests), but moving back to that hypothetical Third World War, we have GDW's The Third World War. Not quite as many maps or many counters as Europa, but a monster nonetheless. I haven't pre-ordered the remake/updated version yet, but someday!

Stepping down in scale (in terms of units), we have another GDW series, Assault. I loved these games so much that I can count them as one of the reasons I eventually became a armored crewman myself.

So, how big is big when it comes to gaming? One theater? One ocean? The number of counters or maps? How about...one galaxy?

Finally, the StarForce Trilogy from SPI. I owned the three games individually in flat-packs, as the flat-pack trilogy, as a box of the first title, and as a soapbox of the trilogy (I still have all of these but the original individual flat-packs). StarForce concentrated on one part of our relatively local space, StarSoldier was set on one planet, but OutReach? About one-third of the galaxy. Now, that's a monster game!


Reading History: Out of the Gulf


Over at the Modern War Institute (a great resource both for articles and a podcast!), Major Ryan Leach looks at a number of books that (mostly) came out of the (first) Gulf War and how it applies to today's military. I read most of the titles listed and while you may find nuggets therein, I think that we need to take one or two steps back: books written with a greater passage of time reflecting on these people and that conflict, and books written by those not directly involved (and more likely to be less involved emotionally and more able to incorporate a wider number of sources) might be more worth your time.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Saturday, January 12, 2019

So Falls Wichita Falls


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day combines rivers above and below as the Milky Way seems to flow into a creek and waterfall in Chile.

Friday, January 11, 2019

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Shocked Awe


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Vela Supernova Remnant. 11,000 years ago a star exploded; the effects of this are still rippling through this complex of dust and gas, creating this beautiful and deceptively peaceful image.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

From the Forgotten Quadrant


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Quadrantids, spreading out from the radiant. This regular meteor shower is named for a constellation that has fallen out of favor (Quadrans Muralis). I did not spot any falling stars on the morning dog walk, but get out there and see Venus (very bright) and Jupiter (not quite as bright) in the eastern sky. An additional treat was a pass of the International Space Station (which lasted nearly the entire journey through my sky).

The Practical Man


Over at Physics Today, a look at the notebooks of Richard Feynman, and a mention of a series of books that helped him to conquer calculus. The book series Mathematics for the Practical Man or Mathematics for Self-Study by J.E. Thompson was a five-volume set mentioned by Feynman in some of his autobiographical writing. I was lucky enough to find a hardcover set several years ago. This is the sort of thing that is out of copyright, out of print, probably is better than many current texts, so ought to be brought back into print (in paper and electronic formats). Good stuff!

(The author also wrote a book about the venerable slide rule!)

Monday, January 7, 2019

Transients


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows some transients. Several Geminids flash through the constellation of Taurus. At a slightly more leisurely pace, Comet 46P/Wirtanen is also moving through the field of view. Or course, if we move the scale up further, the stars visible here are also transient: they are moving and they are aging.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Shooting the Stars


While today's Astronomy Picture of the Day might look like we're trying to take out alien invaders, it's a tool used to measure distortion in the atmosphere in order to "sharpen" the images returned. This is one of several methods and instruments that have developed to help keep ground-based astronomy able to more than compete with space-based astronomy (for those wavelengths that can be observed in our soupy atmosphere!)

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Farside Rabbit


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is the Yutu 2 (Jade Rabbit 2) rover as imaged by the Chang'e-4 lander. China's second successful lunar landing, this one is to the lunar farside in the von Kaman crater at the south lunar pole's Aitken impact basin. Communications are being handled thanks to  third vehicle, the Queqiao relay satellite, in lunar orbit.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Far Rotator


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a a combination of images of 2014 MU69, courtesy of New Horizons 2015. A tantalizing glimpse, and one that will have to suffice (for now): the vehicle will be obscured by the Sun for about a week; it will then start downloading data (and take around twenty months to do so!).

Thursday, January 3, 2019

First Look


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a glimpse (much more to come!) of MU69 (nicknamed "Ultima Thule") courtesy of New Horizons 2015.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Current Reads (2019)

I'll try this as an experiment, and we'll see if I can maintain it. If I keep updating it, I will keep it on the blog, ahead of the list of links that includes the various Year in Books, Year in Shorts and Year in Graphics entries.

I'm listing these as aBooks (audio), eBooks (elecronic, various formats) and pBook (paper, various sizes). In some cases you'll see more than one format listed, this is usually where I have both the electronic and audio formats and they can be synchronized. In many cases, I have both the eBook and the pBook, but you can't synchronize those two!

In the Current Reads folder of my Kindle, on the nightstand in paper form, on the magazine or comics racks (current as of December 31, 2019):

Douglas Adams and Gareth Roberts: Doctor Who—Shada (eBook).

Brian Aldiss: Hell's Cartographers (eBook).

Darren Anderson: Imaginary Cities (eBook).

Poul Anderson: The Star Fox (eBook). Tau Zero (eBook). The Complete Psychoechnic League 01 (eBook). Harvest of Stars 01—Harvest of Stars (eBook). Fire Time (eBook). Brain Wave (eBook).

Michael Andre-Driussi: Handbook of Vance Space—Everyman's Guide to the Planets of the Alastor Cluster, the Gaen Reach, the Oikumene and Other Exotic Sectors from Science Fiction (eBook).

David Annandale: Warhammer 40,000—Yarrick (The Omnibus) (eBook).

Isaac Asimov:  Foundation 01—Foundation (eBook). Foundation 02—Foundation and Empire (eBook). Foundation 03—Second Foundation (eBook).

Isaac Asimov (editor): The Hugo Winners Volumes 01 and 02 Omnibus (pBook).

William Atheling (James Blish): The Issue at Hand (eBook).

Rick Atkinson: The Liberation Trilogy 01—An Army at Dawn (eBook and aBook).

Nada Bakos and Davin Coburn: The Targeter—My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House (eBook).

Iain M. Banks: Culture 01—Consider Phlebas (aBook). Culture 02—The Player of Games (eBook). Culture 03—Use of Weapons (aBook). Culture 04—The State of the Art (pBook). Culture 05—Excession (eBook). Culture 06—Inversions (eBook). Culture 07—Look to Windward (eBook). Culture 08—Matter (eBook). Culture 09—Surface Detail (eBook). Culture 10—Hydrogen Sonata (eBook). Transition (eBook). The Algebraist (pBook). Against a Dark Background (pBook).

M.A.R. Barker: Tekumel 01—The Man of Gold (eBook).

Luke Barr: Provence, 1970 (eBook).

Stephen Baxter: Xeelee Omnibus (pBook). Vacuum Diagrams (eBook).

Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds: The Medusa Chronicles (eBook and aBook).

Elizabeth Bear: Ancestral Night (eBook) (link).

Greg Bear: Quantico 01—Quantico (eBook). Quantico 02—Mariposa (eBook).

Gregory Benford: Anomalies (eBook). The Stars in Shroud (eBook). Against Infinity (eBook). Galactic Center 00—A Hunger for the Infinite (aBook). Galactic Center 01—In the Ocean of Night (aBook). Galactic Center 02—Across the Sea of Suns (aBook). Galactic Center 03—Great Sky River (aBook). Galactic Center 04—Tides of Light (aBook). Galactic Center 05—Furious Gulf (aBook). Galactic Center 06—Sailing Bright Eternity (aBook).

Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund: If the Stars are Gods (eBook).

Robert Jackson Bennett: American Elsewhere (eBook). Vigilance (eBook).

Michael Benson: Space Odyssey (aBook and eBook).

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward: All the President's Men (eBook).

Stephen Blackmoore: Eric Carter 01—Dead Things (eBook).

James Blish: Cities in Flight Omnibus: They Shall Have Stars; A Life for the Stars; Earthman, Come Home; The Triumph of Time  (eBook).

Larry Bond: Red Phoenix (eBook). The Jerry Mitchell Series Omnibus: Dangerous Ground; Cold Choices; Eit Plan; Shattered Tridnt; Fatal Thunder (eBook).

Jose Luis Borges: Ficciones (eBook). Collected Fictions (pBook).

Anthony Bourdain: Kitchen Confidential (aBook).

Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern and Mark Kurlansky: A Movable Feast (eBook).

Ben Bova and Les Johnson: Rescue Mode (eBook).

Mark Bowden: Hue 1968 (eBook).

Terry Brooks: The Sword of Shannara Trilogy (eBook).

Fredric Brown: The Lights in the Sky are Stars (eBook).

John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar (eBook and aBook). The Sheep Look Up (aBook).

Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vorkosigan Saga 01—Falling Free (eBook). The Vorkosigan Saga 02—Shards of Honor (eBook). The Vorkosigan Saga 03—Barrayar (eBook). The Vorkosigan Saga 04—The Warrior's Apprentice (aBook).

Karen Burnham: Greg Egan (eBook).

Robert Burnham: Burnham's Celestial Handbook Volume 01 (eBook). Burnham's Celestial Handbook Volume 02 (eBook). Burnham's Celestial Handbook Volume 03 (eBook).

Ingrid Burrington: Networks of New York—An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure (eBook).

Hector C. Bywater: Great Pacific War—A History of the American-Japanese Campaign of 1931-33 (eBook). A Searchlight on the Navy (eBook).

James Branch Cabell: Figures of Earth (aBook).

David Byrne: How Music Works (eBook).

Pat Cadigan: Synners (eBook).

Julius Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul (eBook).

John W. Campbell, Jr.: The Planeteers (eBook). Cloak of Aesir (eBook).

Rebecca Campbell: The High Lonesome Frontier (eBook).

Simone Caroti: The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks—A Critical Introduction (eBook).

Humphrey Carpenter: J.R.R. Tolkien—A Biography (eBook).

Robert W. Chambers and Kenneth Hite (editor): The Annotated King in Yellow (pBook).

Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Imperial Life in the Emerald City (eBook).

C.J. Cherryh: Company Wars 01—Downbelow Station (eBook and aBook). The Hinder Stars 01—Alliance Rising (eBook). Chanur 01—The Pride of Chanur (aBook and eBook).

G.K. Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (eBook).

Ted Chiang: Stories of Your Life and Others (eBook).

Tom Clancy: Jack Ryan 01—Patriot Games (eBook). Jack Ryan 03—The Hunt for Red October (aBook).

Arthur C. Clarke: 2001—A Space Odyssey (eBook and aBook). The Lost Worlds of 2001 (eBook). The Songs of Distant Earth (eBook). The Complete Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (eBook).

Hal Clement: Still River (eBook). Small Changes (eBook). Needle 01—Needle (eBook). Needle 02—Through the Eye of the Needle (eBook). Hot Planet (eBook). Cycle of Fire (eBook and eBook). Heavy Planet Omnibus: Mission of Gravity; Star Light; associated short stories (eBook). Iceworld (eBook).

Michael Cobley: Splintered Suns (eBook).

J.D. Coleman: Air–Cav—History of the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam, 1965–1969 (eBook).

Myke Cole: The Armored Saint (eBook).

Glen Cook: Dread Brass Shadows (eBook). Chronicles of the Black Company 01—The Black Company (aBook). Chronicles of the Black Company 02—Port of Shadows (aBook). Chronicles of the Black Company 03—Shadows Linger (aBook). Chronicles of the Black Company 04—The White Rose (aBook).Chronicles of the Black Company 05—The Silver Spike (aBook). Garrett, P.I. 01—Sweet Silver Blues (eBook). Garrett, P.I. 02—Bitter Gold Hearts (eBook). Garrett, P.I. 03—Cold Copper Tears (eBook). Garrett, P.I. 04—Old Tin Sorrows (eBook). Garrett, P.I. 05—Dread Brass Shadows (eBook).

James S.A. Corey: Expanse 01—Leviathan Wakes (eBook and aBook). The Expanse 02—Caliban's War (eBook and aBook).

Dante: Circles of Hell (eBook).

Geeta Dayal: 33 1/3—Another Green World (eBook).

L. Sprague de Camp: The Reluctant King (eBook). The Fallible Fiend (eBook).

L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt: The Complete Compleat Enchanter (eBook). Tales from Gavagan's Bar (eBook).

Samuel R. Delany: Dhalgren (eBook and aBook). The Atheist in the Attic (eBook). About Writing (eBook). In Search of Silence (eBook). Trouble on Triton (eBook). Babel-17 (aBook). Letters from Amherst—Five Narrative Letters (eBook). A, B, C: Three Short Novels (eBook).

Lester Del Rey: Nerves (eBook).

John M. Del Vecchio: The Vietnam Trilogy: The 13th Valley; For the Sake of All Living Things; Carry Me Home (eBook and aBook for first volume only).

Gordon R. Dickson: Lost Dorsai (eBook). Soldier, Ask Not (eBook). The Final Encyclopedia (eBook).

Stephen Donaldson: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever 01—Lord Foul's Bane (eBook).

Gardner Dozois (editor): The Year's Best Science Fiction—First Annual Collection (eBook). The Year's Best Science Fiction—Thirty–Third Annual Collection (eBook). The Year's Best Science Fiction—Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (eBook). The Year's Best Science Fiction—Thirty–Fifth Annual Collection (eBook).

Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (editors): The New Space Opera 01 (aBook). The New Space Opera 02 (aBook).

Steven Drobny: The Invisible Hands—Top Hedge Fund Traders on Bubbles, Crashes, and Real Money (eBook).

Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers (aBook, eBook and pBook).

Mike Duncan: The Storm Before the Storm (eBook).

James F. Dunnigan: Wargames Handbook (eBook).

James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi: Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War (eBook).

Will Durant: The History of Civilization 01—Our Oriental Heritage (eBook).

George Alec Effinger: The Budayeen Cycle Omnibus: When Gravity Fails; A Fire in the Sun; The Exiles Kiss (eBook and separate aBooks). Budayeen Nights (eBook).

Greg Egan: The Nearest (short story) (eBook). Perihelion Summer (short story) (eBook).

Paul Elie: Reinventing Bach (eBook).

Warren Ellis: Brave New Now (eBook).

Harlan Ellison: Ellison Wonderland (eBook). Can & Can'tankerous (eBook). Under the Volcano (eBook). The Essential Ellison (pBook).

Harlan Ellison (editor): Dangerous Visions (eBook). Again, Dangerous Visions (eBook).

Donald Fagen: Eminent Hipsters (eBook).

Eric Flint (editor): Ring of Fire (eBook). Grantville Gazette Volume 01 (eBook). Grantville Gazette Issue 01 (eBook).

Jeffrey Ford: The Twilight Pariah (eBook).

Bob Forrest–Webb: Chieftains (eBook).

Chris Foss: Hardware—The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss (pBook).

Ejner Fulsang: Galactican 01—SpaceCorp (eBook). Galactican 02—CisLunar (eBook).

Kenneth F. Gantz: Not in Solitude (eBook).

Henry Gee (editor): Nature Futures 01 (eBook). Nature Futures 02 (eBook).

William Gibson: Bridge 01—Virtual Light (eBook). The Peripheral (aBook). Blue Ant 01—Pattern Recognition (aBook and pBook, two reads). Blue Ant 02—Spook Country (aBook). Blue Ant 03—Zero History (aBook).

Terry Gilliam: Gilliamesue—A Pre-Posthumous Memoir (eBook).

Alexis A. Gilliland: Rosinante 01—The Revolution from Rosinante (eBook). Rosinante 02—Long Shot for Rosinante (eBook).

Graham Greene: The Quiet American (eBook).

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher 01—Cocaine Blues (eBook).

Heinz Guderian: Panzer Leader (eBook).

James Gunn: Star–Begotten—A Life Lived in Science Fiction (eBook). The Listeners (eBook).

Joe Haldeman: Worlds 01—Worlds (eBook). Worlds 02—Worlds Apart (eBook). Worlds 03—Worlds Enough and Time (eBook). All My Sins Remembered (eBook). Mindbridge (eBook).

Peter F. Hamilton: Salvation (eBook). The Night's Dawn 01—The Reality Dysfunction (eBook and aBook).

M. John Harrison: Viriconium (eBook). Kefahuchi Tract 01—Light (eBook).

David G. Hartwell (editor): Year's Best Science Fiction 01—The Year's Best SF (eBook).

Robert A. Heinlein: The Star Beast (eBook). Time for the Stars (eBook). Destination Moon and Shooting Destination Moon (eBook).

Frank Herbert: Dune 01—Dune (eBook and aBook).

Mark Herman: Wargaming for Leaders—Strategic Decision Making from the Battlefield to the Boardroom (eBook).

Herodotus and Tom Holland (translator): The Histories (eBook) (link).

Mick Herron: Slough House 01—Slow Horses (eBook) (link).

Thor Heyerdahl: Kon-Tiki (eBook) (link).

P.C. Hodgell: Chronicles of the Kencyrath 01-02: The God Stalker Chronicles (made up of God Stalk and Dark of the Moon) (eBook).

William Hope Hodgson: The Collection Fiction 01—Boats of Glen Carrig & Other Nautical Stories (eBook). The Collected Fiction 02—The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (eBook). The Collected Fiction 03—The Ghost Pirates and Other Revenants of the Sea (eBook). The Collected Fiction 04—The Night Land and Other Romances (eBook). The Collected Fiction 05—The Dream of X and Other Fantastic Visions (eBook).

Homer & Robert Fagles (translator): The Iliad (eBook). The Odyssey (eBook).

Douglas R. Hofstadter: Metamagical Themas (eBook).

Robert E. Howard: Conan 02—The Bloody Crown of Conan (eBook). Conan 03—The Conquering Sword of Conan (eBook). The Best of Robert E. Howard 01—The Shadow Kingdom (eBook). The Best of Robert E. Howard 02—Grim Lands (eBook). Kull—Exile of Atlantis (eBook). El Borak and Other Desert Adventures (eBook). Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures (eBook). The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (eBook). Bran Mak Morn—The Last King (eBook). The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard (eBook).

M.R. James: Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories (eBook).

Marlon James: Black Leopard Red Wolf (eBook).

Luke Jennings: Killing Eve 01—Codename Villanelle (eBook).

Jerome K. Jerome: Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel (eBook).

Lesley–Ann Jones: Mercury—An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury (eBook).

Raymond F. Jones: This Island Earth (eBook).

Donald Kagan: New History of the Peloponnesian War Omnibus (eBook and pBook). The Peloponnesian War (aBook and pBook).

Stanley Karnow: Vietnam—A History (aBook and pBook).

John Keegan: The First World War (eBook).

David Keener (editor): Worlds Enough—Fantastic Defenders (eBook).

Kenko: Essays in Idleness and Hojoki (eBook).

Caitlin R Kiernan: Agents of Dreamland (eBook).

Paul Kincaid: Iain M. Banks (eBook).

Stephen King: Danse Macabre (eBook and aBook). On Writing (eBook and aBook).

Damon Knight: In Search of Wonder (eBook).

Mary Robinette Kowal: The Calculating Stars (eBook). The Fated Sky (eBook). The Lady Astronaut of Mars (short story) (eBook).

Jacqueline Koyanagi: Ascension (eBook).

Volker Kutscher: Babylon Berlin (eBook).

Jay Lake: The Specific Gravity of Grief (eBook).

Mark Langthorne: Somebody to Love—The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury (eBook).

Robin D. Laws: The Missing and the Lost (pBook).

Robin D. Laws and Dean Engelhardt: Absinthe in Carcosa (pBook).

Michael Lee Lanning: Tours of Duty—Vietnam War Stories (eBook).

Rich Larson: Meat and Salt and Sparks (eBook).

Robin D. Laws: Hamlet's Hit Points (eBook).

John LeCarre: A Small Town in Germany (eBook).

Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice (eBook).

Yoon Ha Lee: Ninefox Gambit (eBook).

Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost (eBook). Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser 01—Swords and Deviltry (eBook). Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser 02—Swords Against Death (eBook). Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser 03—Swords in the Mist (eBook). The Ghost Light (aBook).

Ursula K. LeGuin: The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas (short story) (eBook).

Madeline L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (eBook).

Michael Lewis: Flash Boys (eBook). The Big Short (eBook).

Ken Liu (editor and translator): Broken Stars—Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation (eBook).

Brian Lumley: The Burrowers Beneath (eBook). The Transition of Titus Crow (eBook).

John D. MacDonald: Travis McGee 01—The Deep Blue Good-Bye (eBook).

Robert MacFarlane: Under Land (eBook).

Adam Makos: Spearhead (eBook).

Sir Thomas Mallory and Peter Ackroyd (translator): The Death of King Arthur (eBook).

Sir Thomas Mallory and John Steinbeck: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (eBook).

Barry N. Malzberg: Breakfast in the Ruins (eBook).

George R. R. Martin: Night-Flyers and Other Stories (eBook).

Michael J. Martinez: MJ-12—Shadows (eBook) (link).

Tim Maughan: Infinite Detail (eBook) (link).

Neil McAleer: Sir Arthur C. Clarke—Odyssey of a Visionary—The Biography (eBook).

Michael McDowell: Blackwater—The Complete Caskey Family Saga (omnibus of The Flood; The Levee; The House; The War; The Fortune; Rain) (eBook).

John McPhee: Annals of the Former World 01—Basin and Range (aBook); Annals of the Former World 02—In Suspect Terrain (aBook); Annals of the Former World 03—Rising from the Plains (aBook); Annals of the Former World 04—Assembling California (aBook); Annals of the Former World 05—Crossing the Craton (aBook). Coming into the Country (aBook) (link to omnibus edition of Annals of the Former World) (link to Coming into the Country).

Farah Mendlesohn: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein (eBook).

Edward S. Miller: Plan Orange (eBook).

Marc Miller: Agent of the Imperium (eBook).

Hope Mirrlees: Lud-in-the-Mist (eBook).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—Stealer of Souls (eBook). London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction (eBook).

Alan Moore & Others: Spirits of Place (eBook).

Harold G. Moore: We Were Soldiers Once...And Young (eBook).

Richard K. Morgan: Takeshi Kovacs 01—Altered Carbon (eBook).

Dan Moren: The Caledonian Gambit (eBook).

A.R. Morlan: Dark Journey (eBook).

Oliver Morton: The Moon (eBook)

Robert Mueller & Co.: The Mueller Report (eBook).

Andy Murray: Into the Unknown—The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (eBook).

Ramez Naam: Nexus 01—Nexus (eBook).

Annalee Newitz: Autonomous (eBook).

Andre Norton: Time Traders 01+02: The Time Traders and Galactic Derelict (omnibus, eBook). Solar Queen 03—Voodoo Planet (eBook). The Search for the Star Stones Omnibus: Zero Stone; Uncharted Stars (eBook). Warlock Omnibus: Storm Over Warlock; Ordeal in Otherwhere; Forerunner Foray (eBook). Forerunner Factor Omnibus: Forerunner; Forerunner—The Second Venture (eBook).

Alan E. Nourse: Raiders from the Rings (eBook).

Patrick O'Brian: Aubrey–Maturin 01—Master and Commander (eBook and aBook).

Tim O'Brien: The Things They Carried (eBook).

Malka Older: Centenal Cycle 01—Infomocracy (eBook). Centenal Cycle 02—Null States (eBook). Centenal Cycle 03—State Tectonics (eBook).

(The) Open University: The Library of Alexandria (eBook).

Samuel Pepys: Diary of Samuel Pepys—Complete (eBook).

Peter Perla: The Art of Wargaming (eBook).

Ellis Peters: Cadfael 00—A Rare Benedictine (eBook). Cadfael 01—A Morbid Taste for Bones (eBook).

Gareth L. Powell: Embers of War (eBook).

Tim Powers: Alternate Routes (eBook and aBook). Medusa's Web (eBook). Declare (aBook). Last Call (aBook). The Anubis Gates (aBook). More Walls Broken (eBook) (link).

Terry Pratchett: Unseen Academicals (eBook). Going Postal (eBook). Raising Steam (eBook). Making Money (eBook). Thud (eBook).

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman: Good Omens (eBook and aBook).

Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow (eBook and aBook). The Crying of Lot 49 (aBook). Inherent Vice (aBook).

Hannu Rajaniemi: Jean le Flambeur 01—The Quantum Thief (eBook).

Alastair Reynolds: Slow Bullets (eBook and aBook). Beyond the Aquila Rift (eBook). Deep Navigation (eBook). Revenger (aBook). Beyond the Aquila Rift (eBook). Troika (aBook). Poseidon's Children 01—Blue Remembered Earth (aBook). Poseidon's Children 02—On the Steel Breeze (aBook). Poseidon's Children 03—Poseidon's Wake (aBook). The Prefect 01—Elysium Fire (aBook). Revelation Space 00—Galactic North (aBook). Revelation Space 00—Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (aBook). Revelation Space 01—Revelation Space (aBook). Revelation Space 02—Chasm City (aBook). Revelation Space 03—Redemption Ark (aBook). Revelation Space 04—Absolution Gap (aBook). Terminal World (aBook). House of Suns (aBook). Pushing Ice (aBook). Century Rain (aBook).

John Ringo: Live Free or Die (eBook).

Kim Stanley Robinson: Forty Signs of Rain (eBook and aBook). Escape from Kathmandu (eBook). Fifty Degrees Below (eBook). Sixty Days and Counting (eBook). Mars 01—Red Mars (Book).

Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson: Stardance (short story) (eBook).

Jonathan Rosen: The Talmud and the Internet—A Journey Between Worlds (eBook).

Rudy Rucker: Notes for Million Mile Road Trip (eBook). Million Mile Road Trip (eBook).

Joanna Russ: How to Supress Women's Writing (eBook).

Paul M. Sammon: Future Noir—The Making of Blade Runner (eBook).

David E. Sanger: The Perfect Weapon (eBook).

Karl Schroeder: Stealing Worlds (eBook).

Patricia Sexton: Live from Mongolia—From Wall Street Banker to Mongolian News Anchor (eBook).

William Shakespeare: Hamlet (eBook). A Midsummer Night's Dream (eBook).

Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell: Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany (eBook).

Charles Sheffield: Behrooz Wolf 01—Sight of Proteus (aBook). Behrooz Wolf 02—Proteus Unbound (aBook). Behrooz Wolf 03—Proteus in the Underworld (aBook).

Nate Silver: The Signal and the Noise (eBook and aBook).

Robert Silverberg: To Be Continued (eBook).

Robert Silverberg (editor): The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 01 (eBook).

Clifford D. Simak: New Folks' Home (eBook). Project Pope (eBook). No Life of Their Own (eBook). A Death in the House (eBook). Earth for Inspiration (eBook). Good Night, Mr. James (eBook). The Ghost of a Model T (eBook). Dusty Zebra (eBook). The Shipshape Miracle (eBook).

P.W. Singer & August Cole: Ghost Fleet (eBook).

Robin Sloan: Sourdough (eBook).

Clark Ashton Smith: The Collected Fantasies 01—The End of the Story (eBook and aBook). The Collected Fantasies 02—The Door to Saturn (eBook) The Collected Fantasies 03—A Vintage from Atlantis (eBook). The Collected Fantasies 04—The Maze of the Enchanter (eBook) The Collected Fantasies 05—The Last Hieroglyph (eBook) The Collected Fantasies 06—Miscellaneous Writings (eBook).

Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge: Exordium 01—The Phoenix in Flight (eBook and aBook).

Greg Stafford: King of Sartar (eBook).

Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker (eBook and aBook).

John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley in Search of America (eBook).

Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon (eBook); Baroque Cycle 01—Quicksilver (eBook); Baroque Cycle 02—The Confusion (eBook); Baroque Cycle 03—The System of the World (eBook); Reamde (eBook and aBook). Fall; or, Dodge in Hell (eBook). Snow Crash (eBook). The Diamond Age (eBook).

Mary Stewart: Legacy Omnibus: Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment; The Wicked Day (eBook).

Bram Stoker: Dracula Unredacted (eBook).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 01 (eBook).The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 02 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 03 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 04 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 05 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 06 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 07 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 08 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 09 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 10 (eBook).  The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 11 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 12 (eBook). The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 13 (eBook). The Starry Rift (eBook). Life on Mars (eBook). Mission Critical (eBook). Eclipse 01 (eBook). Eclipse 02 (eBook). Eclipse 03 (eBook). Eclipse 04 (eBook). Infinity Project 01—Engineering Infinity (eBook). Infinity Project 02—Edge of Infinity (eBook). Infinity Project 03—Reach for Infinity (eBook). Infinity Project 04—Meeting Infinity (eBook). Infinity Project 05—Bridging Infinity (eBook). Infinity Project 06—Infinity Wars (eBook). Infinity Project 07—Infinity's End (eBook).

Charles Stross: The Laundry Files 05—The Rhesus Chart (eBook and aBook). Halting State 01—Halting State (eBook). The Laundry Files 06—The Annihilation Score (eBook).

Ted Sturgeon: The Ultimate Egoist (eBook).

Daniel Suarez: Delta-V (eBook).

(Sir) Arthur Sullivan and (Sir) W.S. Gilbert: The Savoy Operas—The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan (eBook).

Michael Swanwick: Not So Much Said the Cat (eBook). The Iron Dragon's Daughter (eBook). The Dragons of Babel (eBook). The Iron Dragon's Mother (eBook).

Thucydides: The Landmark Thucydides (eBook).

Lavie Tidhar: Central Station (eBook).

Ian W. Toll: Pacific Crucible—The War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (eBook).

E.C. Tubb: Dumarest 02—Derai (eBook). Dumarest 03—Toyman (eBook).

Barbara Tuchman: The Guns of August (eBook).

Unknown: Beowulf (eBook).

Jack Vance: Demon Princes Omnibus: The Star King; The Killing Machine; The Palace of Love; The Face; The Book of Dreams (eBook). Tales of the Dying Earth Omnibus: The Dying EarthThe Eyes of the Overworld; Cugel's Saga; Rhialto the Marvellous (eBook). Dying Earth 03—Cugel's Saga (aBook). Dying Earth 04—Rhialto the Marvellous (aBook). Tshai (omnibus of City of the Chasch; Servants of the Wankh/The Wannek; The Dirdir; The Pnume) (eBook). Alastor Cluster—Trullion (Alastor 2262) (eBook). Alastor Cluster—Marune (Alastor 933) (eBook). Alastor Cluster—Wyst (Alastor 1716) (eBook). The Cadwal Chronicles (omnibus of Araminta Station; Ecce and Old Earth; Throy) (eBook). The Jack Vance Lexicon—The Coined Words of Jack Vance from Abiloid to Zygage (eBook). Magnus Ridolph (eBook). Ports of Call 01—Ports of Call (eBook). Ports of Call 02—Lurulu (eBook).

Brian VanDeMark: Road to Disaster (eBook).

Jeff VanderMeer: Wonderbook (eBook).

A.E. van Vogt: The War Against the Rull (eBook). The Voyage of the Space Beagle (eBook). The World of Null-A (eBook). The House That Stood Still (eBook). Slan (eBook).

John Varley: The Ophiuchi Hotline (eBook). The John Varley Reader (eBook). Blue Champagne (eBook).

Various: New American Bible, Revised Edition (eBook).

Vernor Vinge: Zones of Thought 02—A Fire Upon the Deep (aBook).

Vernor Vinge and Jim Frankel (editor): True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (eBook).

Matt Wallace: Sin du Jour—The First Course (eBook).

Evangeline Walton: The Mabinogion Tetraology: The Island of the Mighty; The Children of Llyr; The Song of Rhiannon; Prince of Annwn (eBook).

Jo Walton: An Informal History of the Hugos (eBook).

Lawrence Watt–Evans: The Lawrence Watt-Evans Fantasy Megapack (eBook).

David Weber: Honor Harrington 02—The Honor of the Queen (eBook and aBook). Honor Harrington 03—The Short Victorious War (eBook and aBook). Honor Harrington 04—Field of Dishonor (eBook and aBook). Honor Harrington 05—Flag in Exile (eBook and aBook). Honor Harrington 05—Honor Among Enemies (eBook and aBook).

David Weber and Eric Flint: 1633 (eBook and aBook).

Chuck Wendig: Wanderers (eBook).

C.L. Werner: Warhammer Fantasy—Witch Hunter (eBook).

Edward Whittemore: The Jerusalem Quartet; Sinai Tapestry; Jerusalem Poker; Nile Shadows; Jericho Mosaic (eBook).

Hugo Wilcken: 33 1/3—Low (eBook).

(The) Wild Card Trust: Wild Cards 01 (eBook).

Kate Wilhelm: Storyteller (eBook).

Tad Williams: Memory Sorrow Thorn 01—The Dragonbone Chair (eBook). Memory Sorrow Thorn 02—Stone of Farewell (eBook). Memory Sorrow Thorn 03a—To Green Angel Tower, Part 01 (eBook). Memory Sorrow Thorn 03b—To Green Angel Tower, Part 02 (eBook).

Walter Jon Williams: Hardwired 01—Hardwired (eBook).

H.P. Willmot: Empires in the Balance—Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 (eBook) (link). The Battle of Leyte Gulf—The Last Fleet Action (eBook) (link).

Loren Wiseman (author) and Marc W. Miller (editor): Grognard (eBook).

Gary K. Wolfe: How Great Science Fiction Works (aBook).

Gene Wolfe: The Fifth Head of Cerberus (eBook). The Shadow of the Torturer (pBook, eBook and aBook). Endangered Species (eBook). Storeys from the Old Hotel (eBook). Castle of Days (eBook). The Best of Gene Wolfe (eBook). The Book of the New Sun 01—The Shadow of the Torturer (eBook, aBook and pBook). The Book of the New Sun 02—The Claw of the Conciliator (eBook, aBook and pBook) The Book of the New Sun 03—The Sword of the Lictor (eBook, aBook and pBook). The Book of the New Sun 04—The Citadel of the Autarch (eBook, aBook and pBook). The Book of the New Sun 00—The Castle of the Otter (pBook). Peace (eBook). Peace (eBook). The Fifth Head of Cerberus (eBook).

Bob Woodward: Fear (eBook).

Roger Zelazny: Seven Tales in Amber (eBook). Lord of Light (eBook). Creatures of Light and Darkness (pBook). Doorways in the Sand (pBook).

Joe Zieja: Epic Failure 01—Mechanical Failure (eBook).

A Deep Look Into Orion


Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a deep look, thanks to the orbiting WISE observatory, of Messier 42, the Great Nebula of Orion.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

2019: The Year in Graphics

Previously, I've had these listed under the various Year in Shorts entries. Some people (hello!) feel this inflates my count of short works (not sure why this is a problem with those people, but it is the internet, so there's got to be somebody with a problem out there who wants to share it!). As an experiment, I'm going to split the graphic works off as a separate list. If nothing else, it might make it easier for me to keep track of what I've read.

Number of Titles Read (as of December 31, 2019): 307.

Saladin Ahmed & Co.: Miles Morales—Spider-Man 002 (1 issue, continuing to read).

John Allison, Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin: Giant Days 001-050; Holiday Special 001; Early Registration; 2017 Holiday Special; Where Women Glow and Men Plunder (53 issues, series has completed).

Jason Aaron & Company: Star Wars (2015–) 001-030 (30 issues, continuing to read).

Jason Aaron & Mike Deodato, Jr.: Vader Down 001 (1 issue, continuing to read).

Brian Bendis and Michael Gaydos: Pearl 001-006 (6 issues, continuing to read).

Brian Bendis and David Mack: Cover 001-006 (6 issues, continuing to read).

Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev: Scarlet 001 (1 issue, continuing to read).

Kelly Sue DeConnick & Company: Captain Marvel (2012-2013) 001-017 (17 issues, completed).

Warren Ellis & Paul Duffield: FreakAngels Volumes 001-006 (6 volumes, completed).

Warren Ellis & Lee Bermejo: Global Frequency 001-012 (12 issues, completed).

Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey & Company: Injection 001-015 (15 issues, continuing to read).

Warren Ellis & Tula Lotay: Supreme Blue Rose 001-007 (7 issues, series completed).

Warren Ellis & Jason Howard: Trees 001-014 (14 issues, continuing to read).

Warren Ellis & Jon Davis-Hunt: Wild Storm 001-023 (23 issues, series completed).

Neil Gaiman, Nalo Hopkinson, Kat Howard, Simon Spurrier, Dan Watters & Co.: The Sandman Universe 001 (1 issue, continuing to read)

William Gibson, Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain: Alien 3 001-005 (5 issues, continuing to read).

Kieron Gillen & Co.: Darth Vader (2015-2016) 001-020 (20 issues, series completed). Darth Vader Annual 001 (1 issue, completed). Doctor Aphra (2016–) 001-006 (6 issues, continuing to read). Star Wars Annual 001 (1 issue, completed).

Nalo Hopkinson and Dominike "Domo" Stanton: House of Whispers (2018–) 001-006 (6 issues, continuing to read).

Kat Howard and Tom Fowler: Books of Magic (2018–) 001-009 (9 issues, continuing to read).

Mike Johnson & Diverse Hands: Star Trek (2011-2016) 001-012 (12 issues, continuing to read).

Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Don Heck: Avengers Masterworks 01: Avengers 001-010 (10 issues, continuing to read).

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee: Fantastic Four Masterworks 01: Fantastic Four 001-010 (10 issues, continuing to read).

Simon Spurrier & Company: The Dreaming (2018–) 001-009 (9 issues, continuing to read).

Margaret Stohl, Carlos Pacheco, Marguerite Savage: The Life of Captain Marvel (5 issues, completed).

Margaret Stohl, Ramon Rosanas, Elizabeth Torque: The Mighty Captain Marvel—Alien Nation (4 issues, completed).

Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary 016—Big Dumb Objects. Schlock Mercenary 017—A Little Immortality. (2 volumes, continuing to read).

Various: Dead Pool Classic Companion (omnibus) [Made up of: Nomad 04; The Secret Defenders 15; The Secret Defenders 16; Secret Defenders 17; Wolverine 88; Wolverine 154; Wolverine 155; X Force 47; X Force 56; Heroes for Hire 10; Heroes for Hire 11; Avengers 366—Swordplay 3; Silver Sable and the Wild Pack 23; Silver Sable and the Wild Pack 30; Wolverine Annual 1995; Wolverine Annual 1999; Contest of Champions II 02; Marvel Comics Presents 10; Breaking Into Comics the Marvel Way 02.)] (3 issues, continuing to read).

Dan Watters and Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara: Lucifer (2018–) 001-004 (4 issues, continuing to read).

Jim Zub and Tamra Bonvillain and Steven Cummings: Wayward 029-030 (2 issues, series completed).

2019: The Year in Shorts

Across the eons comes a tale of a time in a galaxy far, far away, when John DeNardo of SF Signal started tracking his short stories read as a way of trying to make a goal of reading one short work for each day of the year. I've managed, more often than not, to match that goal myself. While the tradition has faded at SF Signal, it continues here. The legend continues!

Number of Stories Read: 415 (out of 365) as of December 31, 2019.

(Administrative Note: You'll see in a previous entry for this category that there are a number of anthologies/collections that I did not complete in 2015. Some of them even go back to 2014. I regard these as abandoned. Some will be started again—from the beginning. Others will not be visited again.)

Stories/Collections:

Ingrid Burrington: Networks of New York—An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure (1 essay, completed).

James S.A. Corey: The Butcher of Anderson Station; Gods of Risk; Strange DogsThe Churn; The Vital Abyss (5 stories, completed).

Gardner Dozois (editor): The Year's Best Science Fiction (First Annual Collection). Made up of: (read in 2018) Introduction: Summation: 1983 (Gardner Dozois); Cicada Queen (Bruce Sterling); Beyond the Dead Reef (James Tiptree, Jr.); Slow Birds (Ian Watson); Vulcan's Forge (Poul Anderson); Man-Mountain Gentian (Howard Waldrop); Hardfought (Greg Bear); Manifest Destiny (Joe Haldeman); (read in 2019) Full Chicken Richness (Avram Davidson); Multiples (Robert Silverberg); Cryptic (Jack McDevitt); The Sidon in the Mirror (Connie Willis); Golden Gate (R. A. Lafferty); Blind Shemmy (Jack Dann); In the Islands (Pat Murphy); Nunc Dimittis (Tanith Lee); Blood Music (Greg Bear); Her Furry Face (Leigh Kennedy); Knight of Shallows (Rand B. Lee); The Cat (Gene Wolfe); The Monkey Treatment (George R. R. Martin); Nearly Departed (Pat Cadigan); Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine (John Kessel); Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons); Gemstone (Vernor Vinge); Black Air (Kim Stanley Robinson); Honorable Mentions: 1983 (Gardner Dozois). (8 stories in 2018, 1 story in 2019, continuing to read).

Greg Egan: Perihelion Summer (1 story, completed). Zeitgeber (1 story, completed).

Harlan Ellison (author) and Terry Dowling (editor): The Essential Ellison. Made up of: (read in 2017) Introduction: Sublime Rebel (Terry Dowling) (re-read in 2019); The Beginnings (Terry Dowling) (re-read in 2019); The Sword of Parmagon (re-read in 2019); The Gloconda (re-read in 2019); (read in 2019) The Wilder One; The Saga of Machine Gun Joe; Glowworm; Life Hutch; S.R.O.; Worlds of Terror; Lonelyache; Punky & the Yale Men; A Prayer for No One's Enemy; Worlds of Love; In Lonely Lands; The Time of the Eye; Grail; That New Old-Time Religion; I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream; Corpse; The Whimper of Whipped Dogs; A Stab of Merriment; The Voice in the Garden; Erotophobia; Mom; Ecowareness; The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists; Dept. of "What Was the Question?" Dept.; Dept. of "Trivial Pursuit" Dept.; Trouble With Women; The Very Last Day of a Good Woman; Valerie: A True Memoir; The Other Eye of Polyphemus; All the Birds Come Home to Roost; To the Mattresses With Mean Demons; The Tombs (Excerpt); "Our Little Miss"; A Love Song to Jerry Falwell; Telltale Tics and Tremors; True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail; Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W; Rococco Technology; The Sky Is Burning; The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World; Along the Scenic Route; The Song the Zombie Sang (with Robert Silverberg); Knox; Heart's Blood; From Alabamy, with Hate; My Father; My Mother; Tired Old Man; Gopher in the Gilly; Nights & Days in Good Old Hollyweird; Strange Wine; The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie; The Man on the Mushroom; Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto; Face-Down in Gloria Swanson's Swimming Pool; Petards & Hangings; Soldier; The Night of Delicate Terrors; Shattered Like a Glass Goblin; At the Mouse Circus; Shadows from the Past; Free With This Box!; Final Shtick; One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty; Jeffty Is Five; Contracts on the Soul; Daniel White for the Greater Good; Neither Your Jenny nor Mine; Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage; The Classics; "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman; Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes; A Boy and His Dog; The Deathbird; Dark Liberation; The Thick Red Moment; The Man Who Was Heavily into Revenge; Driving in the Spikes; Afterword (4 entries in 2017; 4 entries in 2019; continuing to read).

Henry Gee (editor): Futures from Nature 01. Made up of: Introduction: Nostalgia for the Future (Henry Gee); Cognitive Ability and the Light Bulb (Brian W. Aldiss); Don't Imitate (Gilles Amon); Check Elastic Before Jumping (Neal Asher); Twenty2 (Nate Balding); Under Martian Ice (Stephen Baxter); Party Smart Card (Barrington J. Bayley); RAM Shift Phase 2 (Greg Bear); A Life with a Semisent (Gregory Benford); Damned If You Don't (Lucy Bergman); The Punishment Fits the Crime (David Berreby); Toy Planes (Tobias S. Buckell); A Concrete Example (J.P. Boon; J. Casti; Carl Djerassi; J. Johnson; A. Lovett; T. Norretranders; V. Patera; C. Sommerer; R. Taylor; and S. Thurner); The Aching of Dion Harper (Arthur Chrenkoff); Improving the Neighborhood (Arthur C. Clarke); Omphalosphere: New York 2057 (Jack Cohen); Picasso's Cat (Ron Collins); My Grandfather's River (Brenda Cooper); Sandcastles: A Dystopia (Kathryn Cramer);  Adam's Hot Dogs at the End of the World (Jeff Crook); The Party's Over (Penelope Kim Crowther); Transport of Delight (Roland Denison); The Perfect Lover (Paul Di Filippo); Printcrime (Cory Doctorow); A Brief History of Death Switches (David Eagleman); Only Connect (Greg Egan); 9At the Zoo (Warren Ellis);  The Liquidators (Michael Garrett Farrelly); In the Days of the Comet (John M. Ford); Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (James Alan Gardner); Are We Not Men? (Henry Gee); It Never Rains in VR (John Gilbey); Gordy Gave Me Your Name (Jim Giles); Nostalgia (Hiromi Goto); Spawn of Satan? (Nicola Griffith); Take Over (Jon Courtenay Grimwood); Speak, Geek (Eileen Gunn); Heartwired (Joe Haldeman); The Forever Kitten (Peter F. Hamilton); The Road to the Year 3000 (Harry Harrison); Operation Tesla (Jeff Hecht); Making the Sale (Fredric Heeren); Subpoenaed in Syracuse (Tom Holt); Men Sell Not Such in Any Town (Nalo Hopkinson); Total Internal Reflection (Gwyneth Jones); Ringing Up Baby (Ellen Klages); Semi-Autonomous (Jim Kling); Product Development (Nancy Kress); I Love Liver: A Romance (Larissa Lai); Avatars in Space (Geoffrey A. Landis); Comp.Basilisk FAQ (David Langford); Gathering of the Clans (Reinaldo José Lopes); Taking Good Care of Myself (Ian R. MacLeod); Undead Again (Ken MacLeod); Words, Words, Words (Elisabeth Malartre); My Morning Glory (David Marusek); Don't Mention the "F" Word (Neil Mathur); Meat (Paul J. McAuley); The Candidate (Jack McDevitt); A Modest Proposal for the Perfection of Nature (Vonda N. McIntyre); The Republic of George's Island (Donna McMahon); The Stars My Incarnation (Robert A. Metzger); The Computiful Game (Paul Steven Miller); Oscar Night, 2054 (Syne Mitchell); The Visible Men (Michael Moorcock); The Albian Message (Oliver Morton); Photons Do Not Lie (Euan Nisbet); Stranger in the Night (Salvador Nogueira); Tick-Tock Curly-Wurly (Gareth Owens); Daddy's Slight Miscalculation (Ashley Pellegrino); Brain Drain (Frederik Pohl); Great Unreported Discoveries No. 163 (Mike Resnick); Feeling Rejected (Alastair Reynolds); The Trial of Jeremy Owens (Peter Roberts); Prometheus Unbound, At Last (Kim Stanley Robinson); Dreadnought (Justina Robson); Falling (Benjamin Rosenbaum); Panpsychism Proved (Rudy Rucker); The Abdication of Pope Mary III (Robert J. Sawyer); The Charge-Up Man (Catherine H. Shaffer); From the Desk of Jarrod Foster (Biren Shah); Pluto Story (Robert Silverberg); Madame Bovary, C'est Moi (Dan Simmons); Tuberculosis Bacteria Join UN (Joan Slonczewski); For He on Honeydew Hath Fed... (Paul Smaglik); A Man of the Theater (Norman Spinrad); Ivory Tower (Bruce Sterling); Play it Again, Psam (Ian Stewart); MAXO Signals (Charles Stross); Golden Year (Igor Teper); Paratext (Scarlett Thomas); Murphy's Cat (Joan D. Vinge); Win a Nobel Prize! (Vernor Vinge); A Leap of Faith (Theo von Hohenheim); Nadia's Nectar (Ian Watson); Statler Pulchrifex (Matt Weber); All Is Not Lost (Scott Westerfeld); The Key (Ian Whates); The Godmother Protocols (Heather M. Whitney); The Great Good-bye (Robert Charles Wilson); Pigs on the Wing (K. Erik Ziemelis). (101 stories read, collection completed).

Kenneth Hite: Deep Time (1 entry, completed). The Lovecraft Gazetteer (1 entry, completed).

Robert E. Howard: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. Made up of: Foreword (Mark Schultz); Introduction (Patrice Louinet); CimmeriaThe Phoenix on the SwordThe Frost-Giant's DaughterThe God in the BowlThe Tower of the ElephantThe Scarlet CitadelQueen of the Black CoastBlack ColossusIron Shadows in the Moon (variant of The Slithering Shadow); The Pool of the Black OneRogues in the HouseThe Vale of Lost WomenThe Devil in IronThe Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft); Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian AgeThe Hyborian AgeUntitled Synopsis ("A squad of Zamorian soldiers..."); The Scarlet Citadel (synopsis); Black Colossus (synopsis); Untitled Fragment ("The battlefield stretched silent..."); Untitled Synopsis ("The setting: The city of Shumballa..."); Untitled Draft ("Amboola awakened slowly..."); Hyborian Names and CountriesHyborian Age MapsHyborian Genesis—Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Original Howard Texts (Uncredited). (28 entries, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser—Swords and Deviltry. Made up of:
Induction; The Snow Women; The Unholy Grail; Ill Met in Lankhmar (4 stories, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—Swords Against Death. Made up of: The Circle Curse; The Jewels in the Forest; Thieves' House; The Bleak Shore; The Howling Tower; The Sunken Land; The Seven Black Priests; (all read again in 2019) Claws from the Night; The Price of Pain-Ease; Bazaar of the Bizarre.  (7 stories in 2018, 7 stories re-read in 2019, 3 stories read in 2019, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—Swords in the Mist. Made up of: The Cloud of Hate; Lean Times in Lankhmar; Their Mistress, the Sea; When the Sea-King's Away; The Wrong Branch; Adept's Gambit (6 stories, collection completed).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—The Stealer of Souls. Made up of: Foreword (Alan Moore); Introduction; At the Beginning—Putting a Tag On It; The Dreaming City; While the Gods Laugh; The Stealer of Souls; Kings in Darkness (with James Cawthorn); The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams (originally The Flame Bringers); Mission to Asno!; Origins (artwork); Dead God's Homecoming; Black Sword's Brothers; Sad Giant's Shield; Doomed Lord's Passing; Elric; The Secret Life of Elric of Menibone; Final Judgment (Alan Forrest); The Zenith Letter (Anthony Skene) (4 stories, continuing to read).

Alastair Reynolds: Beyond the Aquila Rift—The Best of Alastair Reynolds (Made up of: (read in 2017) Great Wall of Mars; Weather; (read in 2019) Beyond the Aquila Rift; Minla's Flowers; Zima Blue; Fury; The Star Surgeon's Apprentice; The Sledge-Maker's Daughter; Diamond Dogs; Thousandth Night; Troika; Sleepover; Vainglory; Trauma Pod; The Last Log of the Lachrimosa; The Water Thief; The Old Man and the Martian Sea; In Babelsberg; Story Notes for Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds (2 stories in 2017 0 stories in 2018, 3 stories in 2019, continuing to read).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): New Folks' Home and Other Stories. Made up of: (read in 2018) Introduction: The Names in Simak (David W. Wixon); New Folks' Home; (read in 2019) The Questing of Foster Adams; Hermit of Mars; Worlds Without End; Barb Wire Brings Bullets!; Second Childhood; Beachhead; Sunspot Purge; Drop Dead; Worrywart (2 stories in 2018, 9 stories in 2019, collection completed).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 01). Made up of: Introduction (Jonathan Strahan); How to Talk to Girls at Parties (Neil Gaiman); El Regalo (Peter S. Beagle); I, Row-Boat (Cory Doctorow); In the House of the Seven Librarians (Ellen Klages); Another Word for Map Is Faith (Christopher Rowe); Under Hell, Over Heaven (Margo Lanagan); Incarnation Day (Walter Jon Williams); The Night Whiskey (Jeffrey Ford); A Siege of Cranes (Benjamin Rosenbaum); Halfway House (Frances Hardinge); The Bible Repairman (Tim Powers); Yellow Card Man (Paolo Bacigalupi); Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Geoff Ryman); The American Dead (Jay Lake); The Cartesian Theater (Robert Charles Wilson); Journey Into the Kingdom (M. Rickert); Eight Episodes (Robert Reed); The Wizards of Perfil (Kelly Link); The Saffron Gatherers (Elizabeth Hand); D. A. (Connie Willis); Femaville 29 (Paul Di Filippo); Sob in the Silence (Gene Wolfe); The House Beyond Your Sky (Benjamin Rosenbaum); The Djinn's Wife (Ian McDonald) (5 stories read, continuing to read).

Howard Tayler: No I'm Fine (1 story, completed).

Jack Vance: Magnus Ridolph. Made up of: Hard-Luck Diggings; Sanatoris Short-Cut; The Sub-Standard Sardines; The Unspeakable McInch; The King of Thieves; To B or Not to C or to D; The Howling Bounders; The Spa of the Stars; The Kokod Warriors; Coup de Grace (10 stories, collection completed).

John Varley: Blue Champagne. Made up of: The Pusher; Blue Champagne; Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Options; Lollipop and the Tar Baby; The Manhattan Phone Book; The Unprocessed Word; Press Enter [] (7 entries, only stories not in other collections read, collection completed).

John Varley: The John Varley Reader. Made up of: Introduction; Introduction to "Picnic on Nearside"; Picnic on Nearside; Introduction to "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank"; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank; Introduction to "In the Hall of the Martian Kings"; In the Hall of the Martian Kings; Introduction to "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance"; Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance; Introduction to "The Barbie Murders"; The Barbie Murders; Introduction to "The Phantom of Kansas"; The Phantom of Kansas; Introduction to "Beatnik Bayou"; Beatnik Bayou; Introduction to "Air Raid"; Air Raid; Introduction to "The Persistence of Vision"; The Persistence of Vision; Introduction to "PRESS ENTER [ ]"; PRESS ENTER [ ]; Introduction to "The Pusher"; The Pusher; Introduction to Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Introduction to "Options"; Options; Introduction to "Just Another Perfect Day"; Just Another Perfect Day; Introduction to "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons"; In Fading Suns and Dying Moons; Introduction to "The Flying Dutchman"; The Flying Dutchman; Introduction to "Good Intentions"; Good Intentions; Introduction to "The Bellman"; The Bellman; Afterword (25 entries; only stories not in other collections read; collection completed).

Lawrence Watt–Evans: The Lawrence Watt–Evans Fantasy Megapack. Made up of: Author's Introduction; The Temple of Life; Mehitabel Goodwin; Heart of Stone; The Final Challenge; Beth's Unicorn; The Bride of Bigfoot; Keeping Up Appearances; Dropping Hints; The Bogle in the Basement; The Man for the Job; Chaperone; Out of the Woods; Ghost Stories; The Frog Wizard; Horsing Around; Spirit Dump; Arms and the Woman; Mittens and Hotfoot; Just Perfect; Trixie; In Re: Nephelegeretes; In for a Pound; Something to Grin About; Best Present Ever (24 stories, collection completed).

Gene Wolfe: Storeys from the Old Hotel. Made up of: (read in 2018) (read again in 2019) An Introduction; (read in 2019) The Green Rabbit from S'Rian; Beech Hill; Sightings at Twin Mounds; Continuing Westward; Slaves of Silver; The Rubber Bend; Westwind; Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee; The Packerhaus Method; Straw; The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton; To the Dark Tower Came; Parkroads—A Review; The Flag; Alphabet; A Criminal Proceeding; In Looking-Glass Castle; Cherry Jubilee; Redbeard; A Solar Labyrinth; Love, Among the Corridors; Checking Out; Morning-Glory; (read in 2018) Trip, Trap (and again in 2019); From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton; Civis Laputus Sum; The Recording; Last Day; Death of the Island Doctor; On the Train; In the Mountains; At the Volcano's Lip; In the Old Hotel; Choice of the Black Goddess (1 entry in 2018, 35 stories in 2019, collection completed).

Gene Wolfe: The Fifth Head of Cerberus. A novel in parts (three novellas), made up of: (rad in 2018) The Fifth Head of Cerberus; 'A Story', by John V Marsch; V.R.T. (1 entry in 2018, continuing to read).

Periodicals:

(The) Excellent Travelling Volume: (The) Excellent Travelling Volume 001-004 (16 entries, continuing to read).

GDW: The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 001-004 (16 entries, continuing to read).

Locus Publications: Locus, January 2017; February 2017; March 2017; April 2017; May 2017; June 2017; July 2017; August 2017; September 2017; October 2017; November 2017; December 2017; January 2018; March 2018; April 2018; June 2018; July 2018; August 2018; September 2018; October 2018; November 2018; December 2018; January 2019February, 2019 (96 entries, continuing to read).

(Locus tends to have at least two large profiles or interviews per issue, plus a number of regular features. I tag that as four short story equivalents. The same for JTAS, TETV.)