AFKBRBChocolate

In the last few months I've read:

• Project Hail Mary, Weir
• Fall, Stephenson
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman
• The Ultimate Earth, Williamson
• The first four Discworld books, Pratchett
• Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, Resnick
• A Memory Called Empire, Martine
• A Desolation Called Peace, Martine
• The first five Murderbot Diaries books, Wells
• The Imperial Radch trilogy, Leckie
• Annihilation, Vandermeer
• The Kingston Cycle trilogy, Polk

For comparison, I think I read two or three books last year. It's starting to be a non-trivial amount of money, even though they've all been the ebook versions, which are generally a little cheaper. Has anyone who reads a lot of SF found Kindle Unlimited to be worth the price?

I'm not in love with YouTube, and it only lets me upload a small number a day. Is there a good alternative?

I really enjoyed all three books. They managed to do the galactic empire thing without getting overly bogged down in politics, and character development was interesting. I thought Leckie did a good job of conveying an extended AI in multiple bodies, and a solitary form (avoiding spoilers).

I read these not long after reading the first five Murderbot Diaries books, and I wonder if the Radch books might have been an influence on Wells. Some of the themes felt a little similar, while the stories were quite different.

Anyone read them? Liked it disliked, and why?

I managed not to hurt it as I brushed it off.

Among the first images I've ever generated, just playing with Bing

After seeing it on the list in this thread, I decided to read Annihilation, and I just finished it. As others said it's weird (I like weird, so it's one of the reasons I wanted to read it). The writing style really reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft, which is to say it's a bit stilted. I'm glad I read it - it's an interesting world and the story is told in an interesting way - but it's not a book I'll recommend to a lot of my friends. Some of them, maybe.

Have any of you read it? What did you think?

The video is a very short news item about FEMA testing the emergency alert system this week, but that's not what I thought people would enjoy. It's the comments - people are going batshit insane with every conspiracy theory you can think of (and more that you never would).

I'm not sure when it was written, but I ran across this list of the best science fiction and fantasy books this century, and I resonated with the ones I've read, so I thought I'd see what others thought of it. Have you read many of them?

Gary Wright, the musician best known for his hit singles “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” has died. He was 80. Wright’s son Dorian confirmed the news to Variety; no cause of death was announced.

He was a founding member of the U.K.-based band Spooky Tooth and was an in-demand session player from the late ’60s on, playing on all of George Harrison’s solo albums — including his epochal 1970 debut, “All Things Must Pass” — and on Ringo Starr’s early singles (and, much later, with Starr’s All-Starr Band) as well as Nilsson, Tim Rose, B.B. King and many others. Yet he will be best remembered for the mid-1970s hits mentioned above, which were part of a vaguely mystical, synthesizer-driven style of hit single of the era — Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” is another example — and which saw him appearing on many music shows, wearing satin gear and rocking a keytar.

His first album for Warner Bros., “The Dream Weaver” — with a title track inspired by a trip to India with Harrison — was released in 1975, and while the single was a slow builder, by the following spring it was a major hit and Wright had become a big star. However, it was nearly two years before he followed with “The Light of Smiles,” and his subsequent efforts did not approach his previous success. His last charting single was 1981’s “Really Wanna Know You.”

In the following years, Wright specialized in instrumental and soundtrack work — although he made a surprise appearance in the 1992 film “Wayne’s World,” singing a re-recorded version of “Dream Weaver” — but he returned to more conventional rock music and issued a series of albums, with the last one, “Connected,” being released in 2010. He toured frequently, as a solo act, with Spooky Tooth and with Ringo’s All-Starr Band.

Over the years, his songs have continued to be covered — Chaka Khan recorded a blazing version of “Love Is Alive” for her 1984 smash album “I Feel for You” — and sampled by artists ranging from Jay-Z to Tone-Loc.

The Albuquerque Fire Rescue responded to a two-alarm fire early Wednesday morning on 306 Yale Blvd. SE. Officials say an abandoned Family Dollar building was involved in the fire.

Video captured a mob of thieves swarming a Nordstrom in Canoga Park as they cleared out the store during a destructive robbery on Saturday.

Chaos ensued as a large group of masked thieves clad in dark clothing scrambled around the store, grabbing armfuls of designer clothing, purses, accessories and more.

Los Angeles police received reports of the mass robbery at the Westfield Topanga mall around 4 p.m.

Police said anywhere between 20-50 suspects are believed to be involved, although the exact number has not been confirmed.

The thieves were seen violently grabbing whatever merchandise they could carry, with many seen ripping the security devices attached to designer purses and luggage items. Store shelves and display racks were destroyed, knocked over and littered across the floor along with a ton of fallen merchandise.

At one point, a security guard who tried to intervene was attacked with a chemical spray, police said. It’s unclear what that person’s condition is.

The suspects all fled in multiple getaway cars before officers could arrive. Guests were evacuated from the department store as officers cordoned off the scene during a busy Saturday.

The estimated dollar amount of stolen merchandise is not yet known.

Citizen video later showed store employees sweeping up broken glass from the floor and clearing the mess and debris strewn everywhere. Details on how the smash-and-grab robbery was coordinated remain under investigation.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home - The Art of the Movie book just landed on shelves worldwide, and in it, the film’s director, Jon Watts, confirmed what audiences always suspected about the ending of the movie: it ends at the beginning.