#alexander c. irvine

[atomic-chronoscaph]

A Scattering of Jades - art by Guillaume Sorel (2006)

[libertyreads]

Book Review #32 of 2024--

Pacific Rim by Alex C. Irvine. Rating: 2 stars.

Read from May 13th to 18th.

What a disappointment this was. I had seen the movie Pacific Rim for the very first time at the beginning of April and enjoyed it SO MUCH that when I saw there was a book (even if it was a tie-in version) I bought it. But the thing that I think is the most prominent thought in my brain about this book is: I could watch and enjoy the movie without this book but I absolutely could not have read this book and enjoyed it without watching the movie. The book relies so heavily on its reader having watched the movie when it comes to both the action and the world building that it does itself a disservice. I never wanted to pick it up and would constantly have to talk myself into it. (Which is why it took me almost a week to read a 350 page novel.) The characters themselves felt pretty much like they did in the movie. We even got a little more backstory for a couple of them which I liked. But the magic that comes off the screen when watching the opening to the movie just never came across in the book.

Overall, I just don't think this one was worth the time or the effort. Really, the only thing that kept this from being a lower rating for me was the love I have for the movie.

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Anthropocene Rag by Alexander C. Irvine

Author: Alexander C. IrvinePublisher: Tor.comReleased: March 31, 2020Received: LibraryFind it on Storygraph | More Science Fiction Book Summary: In a not-so-distant future, the world is falling apart. Monsters and artificial intelligence alike have created no end to humanity’s problems. In truth, even AI doesn’t understand the role it has to play in this new world. Enter Prospector Ed, an AI…

[frankensaint]

GOD'S HANDS

Supernatural / Frailty (2001) / John Winchester's Journal by Alexander C. Irvine

[novafire-is-thinking]

I was going over Soundwave’s appearances in the Aligned novels for the umpteenth time, and I finally noticed something that seems to confirm he has a face beneath the visor, or at least has optics:

He [Soundwave] kept in touch with the two Minicons via a direct videolink that played as if on the interior of his own optics.

— Transformers: Exodus by Alexander C. Irvine

He’s got SOMETHING back there.

[scotianostra]

On March *5th 1759 the lexicographer and church minister John Jamieson was born in Glasgow. *Some sources say March 3rd

I know most of you will not have heard of Jamieson, but his publication, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, is credited with keeping the language alive., so much so much so he has even been the subject of a book about his work. Jamieson was a bit of a polymath though and learned in many fields, read on........

If you have read some of my posts I like to dig out documents etc from days gone by, a most of these are written in Scots, you only have to read the poetry of Robert Fergusson or Rabbie Burns, the vast majority which is written in the language, or up to modern times if you have read any of Irvine Welsh’s books, you will know that as a language it is distinctly different to what is termed as “proper English”

Anyway a bit about the man, Jamieson grew up in Glasgow as the only surviving son in a family with an invalid father, he entered Glasgow University aged at the staggeringly young age of just nine! From 1773 he studied the necessary course in theology with the Associate Presbytery of Glasgow, and in 1780 he was licensed to preach.

Jamieson was appointed to serve as minister to the newly established Secession congregation in Forfar, and stayed there for the next eighteen years, during which time he married Charlotte Watson, the daughter of a local widower, and started a family. Their marriage lasted fifty-five years and they had seventeen children, ten of whom reached adulthood, although only three outlived their father. He next became minister of the Edinburgh Nicolson Street congregation in 1797 where he guided the reconciliation of the Burgher and Anti-Burgher sects to a union in 1820.

In 1788 Jamieson’s writing was recognised by Princeton College, New Jersey where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His other honours included membership of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, of the American Antiquarian Society of Boston, United States, and of the Copenhagen Society of Northern Literature. He was also a royal associate of the first class of the Royal Society of Literature instituted by George IV.

Jamieson’s chief work, the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language was published in two volumes in 1808 and was the standard reference work on the subject until the publication of the Scottish National Dictionary in 1931. He published several other works, but it is the dictionary he is best known for.

He had a particular passion for numismatics, and it was their mutual interest in coins which led to the first meeting between Jamieson and Walter Scott, in 1795, when Scott was only twenty-three and not yet a published author. Jamieson was also a keen angler, as the many entries relating to fishing terms in the Dictionary attest; and published occasional works of poetry, including a poem against the slave trade which was praised by abolitionists in its day. Entries provided by Scott include besom, which he described as a “low woman or prostitute,” and screed, defined as a “long revel” or “hearty drinking bout”. I wonder how many Scottish females have been called “a wee besom” by their mothers with neither really knowing it’s true meaning!

Jamieson’s association with Walter Scott was a two way thing, he wrote a Scots poem *‘The Water Kelpie’ for the second edition of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 8

*One source say this was actually an Alexander Jamieson, but my research took me to three different sources citing it as yer man in this post.

It was through his antiquarian research that Jamieson developed his practice of tracing words (particularly place-names) to their earliest form and occurrence: a method which was to be the foundation of the historical approach he would use in the Dictionary.

Jamieson wrote on other themes: rhetoric, cremation, and the royal palaces of Scotland, besides publishing occasional sermons. In 1820 he issued edited versions of Barbour’s The Brus and Blind Harry’s Wallace.

Revered by authors including Hugh MacDiarmid, who used it to shape his poetic output, Jamieson’s dictionary has long been regarded as a crucial groundwork which kept alive the Scots language at a time when it was in danger of falling into obscurity.

He retired due to ill health in 1830 and died at home, 4 George Square, Edinburgh on 12th July 1838, he has a fine gravestone in St Cuthbert’s graveyard in Edinburgh, as seen in the fourth pic.

Here is the first of 24 verses of his aforementioned poem, you can read the rest on the link to the excellent Random Scottish History, at the bottom.

Water Kelpie

Aft, owre the bent, with heather blent,

And throw the forest brown,

I tread the path to yon green strath,

Quhare brae-born Esk rins down.

Its banks alang, quhilk hazels thrang,

Quhare sweet-sair’d hawthorns blow,

I lufe to stray, and view the play

Of fleckit scules below

[tsunflowers]

I read this book that I thought was fine but should have been more queer, “anthropocene rag” by alexander c irvine. and of course I think that about almost every book but the themes of this one just seemed so right for queer characters. it’s about a surreal future united states overrun by a swarm of nanobots with an interest in mythology that are constantly making and remaking the world based on history and folklore. then there’s six young adults from different parts of the country converging on the mysterious “monument city” which is either the epicenter of the nanobots or the only place safe from them. so it’s about finding your own identity, searching for people like you in a hostile world, and choosing how to change yourself. plus the diversity of the American experience. one woman mentioned an ex gf but it wasn’t relevant to her character. I just think this book needed more queerness if it was gonna be about the variety of life and delighting in strangeness

[ultraericthered]

My Yu-Gi-Oh! OG Era Character Tier Ranking

S Tier = Absolute Peak Perfection - Atem/Yami Yugi, Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba, Yami Bakura, Maximillion Pegasus, Thief King Bakura, and High Priest Seto. A Tier = Fully Solid, Almost Nothing To Dislike - Yugi Motou, Tea Gardner, Solomon Motou, Mai Valentine, Bandit Keith Howard, Marik Ishtar, Ishizu Ishtar/Priestess Isis, Odion Ishtar, Priest Akhenaden, Mahad/Dark Magician, and Mana/Dark Magician Girl. B Tier = Good Characters, Even If Not Great - Tristan Taylor, Ryou Bakura, Duke Devlin, Mokuba Kaiba, Serenity Wheeler, Rebecca Hawkins, Arthur Hawkins, Yami Marik, Dartz, Kisara, and Zorc Necrophedes. C Tier = They Got Some Problems, But I Still Like Them Dammit! - Tomoya Hanasaki, Miho Nosaka, Shadi Shin/Priest Shada/Hasan, Weevil Underwood, Rex Raptor, Mako Tsunami, Rafael, Valon, Vivian Wong, Zigfried Von Schroeder, Aigami/Diva, Sera/Prana, and Mani. D Tier = So Okay They're Average - Diesel Kane, the Kageyama Sisters, Bonz, the Paradox Brothers, Mr. Clown, Espa Roba, Arkana, Anubis, Alister, Leon Von Schroeder, Alex Brisbane/Alexander the Great, Bobassa, and Priest Karim. E Tier = The Mediocrities And/Or Unlikabilities - Ushio, Shougo Ayama, Hobson, Gozaburo Kaiba, Chief Kuwabara/Scott Irvine, Saruwatari/Keemo, Mr. Croquet, Player Killer/Panik, Cyndia/Cecelia, Rare Hunter, Lumis And Umbra, Mr. Ishtar, and Noah Kaiba. F Tier = Total Shite - Every Generic Asshole Of The Week (special mention to Kokurano), the Chopman, Puppeteer Of Doom, Mimic Of Doom, Johnny Steps, Strings the Quiet One, Jean Claude Magnum, the Big Five, and Gurimo.

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 9.23

Beer Birthdays

James Poole (d. 1905)

Yuseff Cherney (1969)

Jamie Bergman; model, St. Pauli Girl 1999 (1975)

Five Favorite Birthdays

John Coltrane; jazz saxophonist (1926)

Walter Lippman; writer, propagandist (1889)

Chi McBride; actor (1961)

Elizabeth Pena; actor (1961)

Bruce Springsteen; rock singer, songwriter (1949)

Famous Birthdays

Jason Alexander; actor (1959)

Augustus; Roman emperor (63 B.C.E.)

Charlie Barnett; comedian (1954)

James Carroll Beckwith; painter (1852)

Sam Bettens; Belgian singer-songwriter (1972)

Colin Blakely; Northern Irish actor (1930)

Giovanni Maria Bononcini; Italian violinist & composer (1642)

Robert Bosch; German inventor (1861)

Tiny Bradshaw; singer-songwriter & pianist (1907)

Roy Buchanan; guitarist (1939)

Ray Charles; R&B singer, pianist (1930)

Tom C. Clark; U.S. Supreme Court justice (1899)

Paul Delvaux; Belgian artist (1897)

Ani DiFranco; pop singer, songwriter (1970)

Euripides; Greek playwright (480 B.C.E.)

Hippolyte Fizeau; French physicist (1819)

Pekka Halonen; Finnish painter (1865)

Ellen Hayes; mathematician & astronomer (1851)

Julio Iglesias; pop singer (1943)

Robert Irvine; British celebrity chef (1964)

Harumi Inoue; Japanese model, actress (1974)

Robert James-Collier; English actor[ (1976)

Kublai Khan; Mongol emperor (1215)

Stan Lynde; author and illustrator (1931)

Mary Mallon; "Typhoid Mary" (1869)

John Loudon McAdam; Scottish engineer (1756)

William Holmes McGuffey; author (1900)

Theodor Körner; German soldier & author (1791)

Hasan Minhaj; comedian (1985)

Louise Nevelson; Russian-American artist (1889)

John Boyd Orr; Scottish biologist (1880)

Julian Parkhill; English biologist (1964)

Carl-Henning Pedersen; Danish painter (1913)

Walter Pidgeon; actor (1897)

Karl Pilkington; English radio personality (1972)

Mary Kay Place; actress (1947)

Mickey Rooney; actor (1920)

Romy Schneider; actor (1938)

Tony Smith; sculptor (1912)

Jakob Streit; Swiss anthroposophist (1910)

Shyla Stylez; adult actress (1982)

Suzanne Valadon; French model & painter (1865)

Victoria Woodhull; suffragist (1838)

Mighty Joe Young; guitarist (1927)

[bigmouthedwarriornunlet]

If you want a really fleshed out version of just how fucked up this exact trajectory might end up, I recommend The Anthropocene Rag, by Alexander C. Irvine. Been ages since I read it, but the premise is that an AI with about the comprehension of Google AI somehow got connected with nanotech that resulted in an apocalypse our characters attempt to traverse. I thought it was a really cool read, and you know, sci fi helps shape the future by illustrating the concerns of the present or some such saying

[vtgbooks]

ALEXANDER C IRVINE Have Robot Will Travel ISAAC ASIMOV Robot Mystery Book

[libertyreads]

May 2024 TBR--

Connor Cow and I are excited to talk about the books we're planning on reading in May. (AKA look at my cute stuffed cow because my physical TBR is TINY.) I have three Kindle books and three NetGalley ARCs I plan on reading during the month so the physical TBR for the month is small. I'm so excited for my reading plans for the month. I've already started one of the Kindle books and I am INVESTED.

Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo-- I'm continuing my reread of the Teen Titans graphic novel series. Up next we see Beast Boy and Raven meet and we see them starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. This isn't my favorite of the series (that one's next month), but I still enjoy the Teen Titans graphic novels so much.

Aesop's Fables by Aesop-- I found this beautiful collection of Aesop's Fables when visiting a small bookstore in San Antonio a few months ago and I decided this would probably be a good choice for May since I am back to school and I need some light reads to help me push through the month. There are more than 200 short fables (less than one page per) that use animals to discuss human problems. Some are as short as two sentences. Some are as long as five or six sentences. I'm hoping to finish this one early on in the month.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (Kindle)-- Okay. So this is the one I'm already SUPER invested in. I started it at the end of April and I'm 100 pages in. All of the people who said this book made them angry were so right. This was sold to me as a standalone dark academia novel featuring a woman trying to survive the magic school as the first woman admitted to the High Magistry. She has the janitor forced upon her as her assistant as a cruel joke by others in the High Magistry. And we follow them as they try to make it in this magical school. The absolute rage I've felt in the first 100 pages is astounding. I can't wait to dive deeper into it.

Faking It with Number 41 by Piper Rayne (Kindle)-- This is the next book I'm picking up in the Hockey Hotties series. In this one we follow Ford who is the heir to Jacobs Enterprises, but with a career in the NHL, he doesn't want to fall into the family business. His father agrees...with one condition. He fakes a relationship with the family's PR rep. But do things stay pretend? Or does Ford find himself in an even bigger pickle than he was in before? I liked Ford in the other book I read in this series so I'm excited to read his story.

Pacific Rim by Alexander C. Irvine (Kindle)-- Did I really buy a novelization of a movie I watched last month? Am I really about to read it...despite having watched the movie two times now? Yes and Yes. Hey. Hi. Hello. Have you met me? The Resident Hyperfixation Expert is here to continue the hyperfixation. Pacific Rim follows a former Jaeger pilot and an untested trainee as they attempt to push back a giant Kaiju and keep the world from the edge of defeat in their war against the Kaiju.

Icon and Inferno by Marie Lu (NetGalley)-- This is the second book in the series which follows a spy and a pop star as they team together to take down a very bad man. I reread book one recently and remembered how much I love Winter and Sydney. In the first one, we saw Winter brought into the agency and trained up as he joined Sydney on a mission to bring a rich, and bad, man to justice. I was so worried reading book one the first time that this would be a one and done situation with their partnership, but in book two we've got the gang back together and I'm so excited. This time things get a little more personal for Sydney which I think will really up the stakes (and possibly the romance).

The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor (NetGalley)-- The GoodReads pitch is as follows: "A calculus nerd enlists her surly classmate's help to win back her ex-boyfriend, but when sparks start to fly, she realizes there's no algorithm for falling in love." I'm excited to meet this moody musician and this math nerd and see how they inevitably fall in love. I've read from this author before so I'm excited to dive on in to a new one.

The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton (NetGalley)-- When I heard Kayla from BooksandLala talk about this one, I had to request it. This is going to be a genre mash-up that could be everything for me: Sci-Fi/Romance. It's pitched as "part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com." Four twenty-somethings accidentally steal a spaceship and as the ship travels deeper into space, the laws of physics start twisting and old mysteries come crawling back to life. I'm going to try to go into this one without knowing too much, but I was so excited to get an ARC for this one.

I do want to clarify that reading all of these is my goal for the month of May. But I started a class in April and if I need to then I will start pulling things off of my TBR in order to keep up with my coursework. I'm hoping that having a couple of short and easy reads for the month will make it easier to hit my daily page goals.

[dishearteningmediocrity]

Here is a bit more information, and some very nice cast photos, from the anniversary performance of Journey's End. From The Sketch, published January 29, 1930.

It's probably hard to read the text below the pictures, so here's a transcript:

"ONE OF ENGLAND'S CHIEF EXPORTS!": "JOURNEY'S END" PERSONALITIES.

"Journey's End" celebrated the anniversary of its production last week, when, after attending the performance at the Prince of Wales's, a distinguished company sat down to supper in a fair imitation of a dug-out such as is represented on the stage. Miss Ellen Wilkinson, who was pointed out as the person to whom the play owes most, in that she introduced the "benevolent millionaire" who put up the money, made a speech, and mentioned that Mr. Sherriff's famous play, and coal, were England's chief exports! Mr. Colin Clive, the creator of the part of Captain Stanhope, also spoke, as did the original Mason, who is still playing his role--though his speech was confined to the repetition of his well-known "'Ave a nice cup o' tea, Sir," with which he chipped in whenever Mr. Clive paused!

Portrait No. 1 by Pollard Crowther, F.R.P.S., and other Camera Portraits by Paul Tanqueray

[novafire-is-thinking]

Makeshift vs. Soundwave: what if?

I’m thinking about these two again >:)

Before the war, Makeshift was known as 777. He was a gladiator from Kaon who knew Megatron:

from Transformers: Exiles by Alexander C. Irvine

It’s possible that Makeshift fought Megatron at some point in a non-lethal match.

However, it’s also possible that Makeshift fought Soundwave too.

Imagine…

Soundwave’s in the middle of a match. He has the upper hand, but then his opponent begins to change shape—and not in the usual way.

Before Soundwave knows it, he’s staring at a familiar frame.

He’s staring…at himself.

The crowd loses its mind.

It’s a Shifter. Here. And they’ve just made this a Soundwave vs. Soundwave match.

Meanwhile, the real Soundwave is (a) surprised for the first time in a very long time, and (b) waiting to see what will happen next.

He searches the Shifter’s mind and picks up on a single thought:

“Surprise!”

Soundwave dodges as his opponent lunges at him. It takes some time for him to adapt, but he soon realizes that, although the stranger has his body now, they don’t know how to fight in it yet.

With this in mind, Soundwave makes quick work of subduing the imposter. After all, their fighting style hasn’t changed since the shift, and Soundwave knows his own physical weaknesses better than anyone.

Beneath Soundwave’s blade, the Shifter reverts to their base form and waits.

After a tense moment, Soundwave pulls away and offers his hand.

The Shifter gets to live another day.

And that’s the story of how Makeshift got an invitation to join the Decepticons. /j

(In all seriousness though, it would have been so fun if things happened that way.)

[rockislandadultreads]

Read-Alike Friday: In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

This is the first volume in the “Monk and Robot” series. 

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

In a ruined, nameless city of the future, a woman named Rachel, who makes her living as a scavenger, finds a creature she names “Borne” entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic, despotic bear. Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.

At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse. Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.

Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,” a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?

This is the first volume in the “Borne” series. 

Anthropocene Rag by Alexander C. Irvine 

In the future United States, our own history has faded into myth and traveling across the country means navigating wastelands and ever-changing landscapes.

The country teems with monsters and artificial intelligences try to unpack their own becoming by recreating myths and legends of their human creators. Prospector Ed, an emergent AI who wants to understand the people who made him, assembles a ragtag team to reach the mythical Monument City.

In this nanotech Western, Alex Irvine infuses American mythmaking with terrifying questions about the future and who we will become.

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them--and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them--the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart--or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

This is the first volume in the “Wanderers” series. 

[aaronburrdaily]

January 21, 1809

Rose at 12. Up all night with crem. ta. pun.¹ Sor. at 2. To Dr. Horne’s ; Mr. H. and Captain Duncan. To Alexander Young, 48 Queen; out. To M’lle M’Kenzie’s; out. To Gordon’s; 1/2 hour with Mr. and Madame. To Jardine’s; out. To Vic. Clerk’s; out. To Sir H. Campbell’s; all out, but when I had got a few paces, sent for by Sir H.; passed 1/2 hour in his library; of trial by jury, &c.; elegant house. To D. Williamson’s. He has written to General A. Hope about Gamp and expects answer on Tuesday. Chez moi at 1/2 p. 4. Found letter from Meeker assenting to my draft, and note from Mr. Gordon inviting me to go to the theatre with Mr. Irvine. Sor. at 5 to dine with Ferguson, 41 George street. Y: Mr. and Mrs. F.; blonde, mince, delicat, aimable² ci dev.³ Horne; her uncle the author of “Douglass.” Mr. and Madame Boyle, advocate-general; Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher. Mad. est d’un esprit forte⁴; principal directress of the House of Industry. Mr. ——— who was in U.S. before guerre⁵; de bon sens⁶. Mr. and Mrs. ———; Mr. and M'llse ———; Madame F. ux. de Dr. F. who is in Portugal, belle fem.⁷ with three lovely children. After dinner, American affairs. Sor. at 9. To theatre. Y: Madame Gordon; Mr. and Mrs. Irvine and her sister; both handsome. Cinderella. The little Miss Rock or Rocque; lovely child.

1 Cream of tartar punch. 2 Blond, thin, delicate, amiable. 3 For ci-devant. Formerly, heretofore; probably here meaning “whose name was formerly Horne.” 4 Madame has a strong mind. 5 The war. 6 Of good sense, or has good sense. 7 For belle femme.