Free Stuff

If you like science fiction or fantasy, or just fancy having a ton of ebooks to hand in case of boredom (I still favour the pocket paperback myself, but many of you have more advanced personal electronics than I do), then make sure to hit the relaunched Tor.com sometime this week for freebies galore. Perversely, there are no blurbs to guide you towards the ones you might like, so browsing with amazon.com open in another window might be wise. The only one I've thus far read, and as such can recommend, is John Scalzi's Old Man's War, a Heinlein-influenced future war yarn. For an even quicker sampler of what you can expect from Scalzi, check out his essay 'I Hate Your Politics' (whatever they are).

Yesterday I went to Dagenham, Green Lanes and a building site, drinking. Today I was turfed off a bus in Peckham. If you go with the Broken Society hysteria, then that pretty much qualifies me as a war veteran, but I escaped each of these lands of fear without the least mishap or hairy moment. Whereas last night, in my own home, going to brush my teeth like a good boy, I managed to cut my finger and have it bleed so much that, to quote one flatmate, "I thought someone had been slaughtered in the bathroom".