Friday 30 September 2022

Shout-Out: TimeLock by Howard & Peter Berk

With crime rampant in the near future, the President authorizes a controversial program: TimeLock, a cellular acceleration process that instantly ages prisoners the total number of years of their sentence. In other words-three strikes and you're old . . . very old.

Despite ongoing public outcries, two years later the program is up and running and crime is already on the decline. But what happens if you're innocent?

Falsely convicted of murder, 23-year-old Morgan Eberly is sentenced to be aged 40 years in a TimeLock capsule. When a riot interrupts his processing, Morgan--now 43 years old--manages to escape.

With powerful forces on his trail, Morgan enlists the help of Janine Price, the FBI agent who arrested him. Together, they investigate the murders of ex-prisoners who were transformed by TimeLock and soon discover why Morgan is certain to be next.

Can Morgan and Janine unlock the truth about TimeLock before it's too late?

Tuesday 27 September 2022

Vacation’s End

I’m back! I’m using the word ‘vacation’ a bit loosely. It was a very busy trip with little time to relax. I was away for 5 weeks doing a whirlwind tour of France, trying to photograph as many cathedrals (and a lot of other old buildings) as I could. I hit 42 cities in 36 days and walked so much my feet still hurt. Whew. It’s good to be back. I’ve spent the past 2 weeks trying to get back up to speed. Over the next while I’ll be going through the 20,000+ photos I took. I’ll post a small album here of interesting pieces of sculpture and stained glass.

I’d hoped to do some reading so I would have content to post when I returned, but things didn't work out that way. I did watch some TV shows, one of which I will be posting about. So I've scrambled a bit to finish some books. I’m hoping to get back to posting 1-2 times a week.

I’m also hoping to update the cathedral information pages I used on the trip so I can post a few of those to Archive.org. One of the reasons I took the trip was so I could add information to the pages and fix any errors before I posted them (I’m sure there will still be errors, there’s always something you miss, but hopefully there will be fewer errors).

Thursday 22 September 2022

Shout-Out: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

"A uniquely charming mixture of whimsy and the macabre that completely won me over. If you ever wished for an adult romance that felt like Howl's Moving Castle, THIS IS THAT BOOK."
—Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.

Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.

After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.

If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most—Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares—each other?