Author Archives: James - Page 44
Chieftans by Bob Forrest-Webb [Book Review]
Chieftains by Bob Forrest-Webb My rating: 3 of 5 stars Chieftans is a speculative fiction piece on the Cold War going hot in 1985. It was written in the early 1980s and hasn't dated well. Like Game of Thrones everyone dies, but in less interesting and more predictable ways. Chieftans - review There are good points to Chieftans. For the most part the characters are believable and likeable. Bob Forrest-Webb clearly has done his research, and understands British Army soldiers and officers. That aspect of the book was excellent. One of things that didn't quite work for me though was that the book was clearly researched/written about four or five years before it was set (it was first published in 1982). This means that some of the kit wasn't deployed, or had its name/designation changed on deployment. There was also…
A.M. Griffin [Author Interview]
The Guicai Talisman by Griffin After a bit of a break I have another author interview with Griffin, a prolific author. She is promoting her most recent book The Guicai Talisman (The Undercity Chronicles of Babylonia Jones, ). As well as urban fantasy Griffin also writes romance. You can see all Griffin's work on her website. Griffin - the interview Do you write for a living, or do you also do other work? I have a full-time job that I love and I write part-time. Sometimes I think that I’d want to write full-time, but then it would turn into something that I had to do instead of something that I love to do. So for now I have no desire to write full-time. How did you get into being a professional writer, and how much effort did it take to…
Bolsover Castle Under Siege
English: Bolsover Castle, 17th century Model of Bolsover Castle, as it may have looked in the late 1600's. License on Flickr (2011-02-18): (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I spent the weekend laying siege to Bolsover Castle as part of the 17th century Army of Parliament. It was a lot of fun, and quite a busy couple of days. The best bit though was definitely seeing lots of old friends again. Bolsover Castle event Shortly after the battle of Marston Moor in July 1644 Bolsover Castle was attacked by the Army of Parliament under Major General Crawford. We were re-enacting that over the weekend. With a mixed group of the Fairfax Battalia and the Sealed Knot we put on a creditable show. There were three regiments present (about a company's worth of soldiers in each). The Earl of Newcastle's regiment from the…
EZICASH by Ian Thompson [Book Review]
Ezicash: How to Usurp a Totalitarian Behemoth with a Monkey Wrench by Ian Thompson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I laughed out loud reading this. EZICASH is a really good satire of health and safety culture and where it could go. Like the best comedy it makes you think, and reminds you how modern life can veer off track from what is really important. Review of EZICASH by Ian Thompson EZICASH is set a couple of decades in the future. The world has divided into those that take safety and health seriously, and those outside their safe bubbles. DOSH-UK-1 is a huge domed town near Milton Keynes. All its inhabitants live in houses rated for safety and wear high visibility protective clothing at all times. Rubber covers the pavements and roads and speed is limited to 5mph. Running violates safety…
Driver Assistance HUD – Innovation Concept
I picked a meta level problem for my innovation course project. The problem is making it easier for the driver to improve road safety. I've come up with an idea for driver assistance at service level. Too much information on the roadside - (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The idea is that you have get your driver assistance through integrating navigation, a forward facing stereoscopic camera and the WiFi from a smartphone to provide assistance to drivers. This is then linked through the cloud to other nearby vehicles. Driver Assistance What it would do is mount the cameras and projector on the dash forward of the steering wheel. The cameras would provide some sense of how close the next vehicle was, and help with other driving cues. The projector would stick a bar along the bottom of the windscreen to help the driver with speed, and…