I almost never reread a book, no matter how much I like it, because I always have new ones on my list. Recently, however, the popularity of audiobooks has made it easier to revisit them. In May I listened to Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age and found it to be even better than I remembered […]
“Freedom Club” by Saul Garnell
The Sunnyslope Street Statues
I’ve always been a sucker for silly public art pieces like these. There are probably a dozen or so of these human-sized metal statues standing along Dunlap Street in Central Phoenix. Two of my favorites are this cowboy and this dapper-looking steampunk fellow. There are also “footprints” and tools (hatchets, picks) embedded in the sidewalks. […]
George Stephenson, The Father of Railways
The renowned British engineer George Stephenson was born on this day in 1781. Few people may recognize the name today but during his lifetime he was called the “Father of Railways.” He was instrumental in the advancement of rail transportation, a key component of the Industrial Revolution. The standard rail gauge, with its 4-foot 8.5-inch […]
Eric R. Asher’s “Steamborn”
For the last two years, I’ve made it my personal quest to discover and promote the most interesting specimens of steampunk fiction. Though there have been fewer published since the peak of the movement’s popularity around 2010, the demise of steampunk has been greatly exaggerated. One of the more interesting works I’ve encountered is Eric […]
GHOSTS OF PHOENIX PAST
This interesting historical display is located in the Food Court area of Phoenix’s Metrocenter Mall near Dunlap and I-17. Since the photo can’t do it justice, I’ll just say that the map shows Phoenix as a small town 80+ years ago. So much has changed, including Metrocenter itself. Founded in 1973, Metrocenter was the area’s […]
Peter Grant’s “Brings The Lightning”
When I was a kid, Westerns were still a big deal, not just in books, but in movies and television. In retrospect, it was quite strange how quickly they disappeared from the American landscape. That’s why I was really glad to see a new writer like Peter Grant continuing this tradition. Surprisingly, he’s not even […]