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Joined 3 years, 11 months ago

Exploring one universe at a time. Interested in #Nature, #Photography, #NaturePhotography, #Science, #ScienceFiction, #Physics, #Engineering.

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Set in Stone (2024, Tor.com) 3 stars

A sculptor struggles when he is commanded to perpetuate the lies of a deceitful and …

Should loyalty triumph over the truth, even for sculptors?

3 stars

A sculptor, famous for his portrayal of lions, is commanded by the king to produce a battle scene featuring the king triumphant on the battlefield. Being a loyal subject, the sculptor does so. Only he keeps hearing rumours, especially from his nephew in the army, that the king may not be as brave as he is said to be, and his battles may not be so victorious after all. But what is a loyal subject to do, if not do to as the king says?

The Angel's Share (2024, Tor.com) 3 stars

In Martin Cahill's "The Angel's Share," an exciting work of original fiction for Reactor, a …

When angels feed on anger and rage, it can't be good.

3 stars

In this story, angels can perform miracles for a person. But they also need to feed on the person, and what they feed on are the bad feelings; angel, rage, revenge. The person in question finally calls an exorcist to banish the angels. But then the exorcist discovers the source of her anger and frustration, and it is not something the exorcist can get rid of: only the person can do so. But what if the person doesn't want to? A rather grim story about hitting back at the source of a person's trauma, and what it would take to finally heal and exorcise the angels, in this case.

Waves in an Impossible Sea (2024, Basic Books) 4 stars

In Waves in an Impossible Sea, physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary …

On seeing the world in terms of waves and fields.

4 stars

A fascinating and enlightening book on quantum field theory and how the Higgs field gives mass (to be more precise, the rest mass) to the particles found in the Standard Model of particle physics. Except, as the author points out, particles don't exist: the best way to understand modern physics is to see the particles as confined standing waves with different level of interactions with the Higgs field.

The first part of the book gives an introduction to physics, starting with Newton's laws of motion and Galilean relativity, which states that the laws of motion are the same in all inertial reference frames, followed by Einstein's Relativity. This would lead to the author's way of looking at the world, in terms of waves, fields and mediums, necessary to understand how modern quantum field theory describes the world. The author admits that we don't really know what kind of medium 'empty …

Gulmohar of Mehranpur (2024, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 3 stars

In the small city of Mehranpur, the Nawab suspects there may be a connection between …

A meal of eternal youth and a tree would affect the decision a ruler makes.

3 stars

The Nawab (ruler) of Mehranpur is offered a meal that can bring eternal youth, taking many days to prepare. During that time, the Namab worries about his tree, a Gulmohar, which is wilting and dying. Just before the meal is ready, he is summoned by the ruler of another kingdom, which the Nawab is a subject of, and told to uproot and present his tree to the ruler. As the Nawab ponders what to do, the meal is present: its effect would make the Nawab consider alternatives to the ruler's demand.

Voyage of the Damned (2024, Michael Joseph) 3 stars

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible …

A fantasy murder mystery and could have been set in a better conceived world.

3 stars

An interesting "cosy" mystery wrapped up in a fantasy world. Set on a ship making a twelve-day journey, you may be able to solve it before the end based on the information revealed during the voyage. But the world-building in the story is rather basic and could have been better thought out.

The book is set in the empire of Concordia, made up of twelve provinces, each ruled by an heir that is 'Blessed' with a special magical ability, which is usually a secret ability not revealed to others. To mark a thousand years, the twelve heirs have gathered on a magical ship to sail to a sacred mountain. Problem is, one of the heirs isn't Blessed, and he is hiding it from the other heirs.

During the journey, hiding it turns out to be the least of his problems. The heir to the emperor is found dead. Then, over …

commented on Technical Slip by John Wyndham

Technical Slip (2024, Random House Publishing Group) 3 stars

Sixteen classic stories that are bound to get under your skin, perfect for fans of …

Having read John Wyndham's marvellous novels when I was (much) younger ("The Chrysalids", "The Midwich Cuckoos", "The Day of the Triffids", etc.), I am looking forward to seeing how good his short fiction will be.

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Summer 2024 (EBook, 2024, Spilogale, Inc.) 3 stars

Novelets: - "On My Way to Heaven" by Alberto Chimal - "Another Such Victory" by …

An average issue of F&SF

3 stars

An average issue, with interesting stories by Alberto Chimal, Esther Friesner, Xinwei Kong and Phoenix Alexander

  • "What It Means to Drift" by Rajeev Prasad: the story of an emotional connection between a person and a 'Titan' responsible for the education of thousands of children. The Titan is getting detached from its responsibilities, and need an emotional boost via the connection; a boost that leads to devastating emotional highs and lows for the person.

  • "On My Way to Heaven" by Alberto Chimal, translated from the Spanish by Patrick Weill: the story of a family 'weird' uncle, who claims to have been abducted by aliens in the past. Then, during a demonstration against the government, the uncle vanishes, and it is up to the reader to decide whether it was the government that did it, or otherwise.

  • "Mister Yellow" by Christina Bauer: a person can access other dimensions to affect what happens …

The Unwanted Guest (2024, Tor.com) 3 stars

Featuring Ianthe Tridentarius and Palamedes Sextus, this story was originally published in the trade paperback …

A story in a play about a battle over a soul

3 stars

Not having read her books before, I am not familiar with the characters of Palamedes Sextus and Ianthe Tridentarius in this story, nor with their background, which affected my understanding of the story.

Having said that, I find the form of the story, set as a play with several scenes and inter-scene conversations, interesting. The two characters are fighting over the soul of another person, which is supposed to be settled by the answering of questions. But by the end, the story has changed into a question of whether the soul is still there or not.

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 216 (2024, Wyrm Publishing) 3 stars

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month …

An average issue of Clarkesworld.

3 stars

An average issue, with interesting stories by Ben Berman Ghan and R H Wesley

  • "The Music Must Always Play" by Marissa Lingen: an alien ship crashes on Earth. A linguist is tasked with trying to understand the alien's language, but it is the 'music' that she hears from the ship that would lead to a possible breakthrough, and a way for making the rest of humanity have an understanding of what the aliens are.

  • "Fish Fear Me, You Need Me" by Tiffany Xue: in a future where water has flooded much of the world, two people go out fishing. But it is no ordinary fishing trip, for it appears that much of humanity have been turned into fish, and one man searches in vain for his wife.

  • "Broken" by Laura Williams McCaffrey: a story, told in reverse, about repairing a broken virtual reality helmet. Only, the player has been in …

Hexologists (2023, Orbit) 4 stars

The first book in a wildly entertaining new fantasy series from acclaimed author Josiah Bancroft …

On using Hexes to investigate the case of a King who wants to be cooked.

4 stars

A fascinating book (apparently the first in a series) set in a Victorian-era world involving two investigators that use Hexes to solve crimes. Well, only Iz Ann Always Wilby (hah!) uses Hexes, while her husband has his own resources. And their current investigation is a doozy, involving a King who wants to be cooked, a possible bastard son, and various spirits and denizens of other worlds. Like most investigative stories, the clues are there, but it would be a challenge for the reader to solve it before Iz does, even with the various Hexes and other magical incantations and objects shown and explained.

The story starts with the King's cooking situation explained by his secretary and a letter from the apparent bastard son, before action explodes on to the scene (literally). Iz and her husband are then off to investigate the origins of the possible son. But it becomes clear …

Why Machines Learn (2024, Penguin Publishing Group) 4 stars

A rich, narrative explanation of the mathematics that has brought us machine learning and the …

A mathematical look at how machines learn and make decisions.

4 stars

A fascinating book that looks at the history of Machine Learning (ML) to show how we arrive at the machine learning models we have today that drive applications like ChatGPT and others. Mathematics involving algebra, vectors, matrices, and so on feature in the book. By going through the maths, the reader gets an appreciation of how ML system go about the task of learning to distinguish between inputs to provide the (hopefully) correct output.

The book starts with the earliest type of ML, the perceptron, which can learn to separate data into categories and started the initial hype over learning machines. The maths are also provided to show how, by adjusting the weights assigned to its testing input, the machine discovers the correct weights which can allow it to categorize other inputs.

Other chapters then cover other ways to train a machine to categorize its input is shown, based on …