For maximum compatibility, the audio files downloaded from Arkaven come as mp4 "video" files because while they are technically m4b files, many applications (like WinAmp) won't recognize them or play them well, and calling them mp4 results in a "least wrong" default that will still play the audio. In either case, since these are your files that you download - and back up if you're smart - you can't just spin up an "audible" app to download and listen to them in one easy place. The good news…
All posts in books
First, as Cataline notes [http://reactionarytimes.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-release.html], we have a sequel to the excellent Soda Pop Soldier. You may recall I very much liked the first one [https://thelastredoubt.com/soda-pop-soldier/], and am also looking forward to whatever is next in his Wyrd series. Brian Niemeier is promoting what sounds like a really cool series [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/galaxy-ascendant-book-3-a-shifting-alliance#/] . Downside is that it’s on indiegogo - upside…
I've got a soft spot in my heart for Alan Dean Foster. I don't think anyone would accuse the man of being a great writer, but he was certainly a consistent workman and craftsman who could tell a decent tale. He could take a movie script and turn it into an engaging read, but was also a prolific writer with several series of books of his own, as well as one-offs and short stories. His "Why Johnny Can't Drive" was one of the listed inspirations for Steve Jackson Games Car Wars. Most…
I’ve started on “Skin in the Game [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075HYVP7C]” by NN Taleb, the third book in his Incerto series, which included his book on Black Swans, and Antifragility. No, I haven’t finished it yet, so this isn’t a review, but an observation only one chapter in that this book, like Antifragile, will certainly give me a lot to think about. Even in the opening of the book, he ties together the Golden rule, the “silver rule”, reciprocity, game theory, and of course “skin in the ga…
Ages ago I read what was – at the time, for a younger self – a “groundbreaking” book by Neal Stephenson calledSnow Crash. It was an interesting blend of real and virtual word technothriller, had some interesting ideas, a fun opening chapter, and despite putting out a number of books I’ve gladly reread like *Anathem, *SC did not age well. Mostly for it’s self-awareness, as demonstrated most clearly by the name of our viewpoint character, Hiro Protagonist. Nick Cole’sSoda Pop Soldier gets compare…