Month: December 2015

Top Five Co-Geeking Posts for 2015

Eppu

Our first half-year of blogging exclusively on our geeky interests is done. We’ve even geeked over our blog stats already. 🙂 The five posts to get most eyeballs are as follows:

  1. Hugo Voting, “Good” Stories, and Politics Erik’s thoughts on the volatile Hugo Awards discussion and voting
  2. 2016 Tolkien calendar Illustrated by Tove Jansson Eppu relays news that the late Tove Jansson’s Tolkien illustrations will be published in the Official Tolkien Calendar for 2016
  3. Sean Bean on the LotR Joke in The Martian Eppu shares a short transcript from an interview with Sean Bean by Yle, the Finnish national broadcast company
  4. Two Finnish Authors on the A.V. Club’s Best of 2015 Eppu shares yet another Finland-related piece of news: Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen and Leena Krohn made it onto a U.S. Best of fiction list
  5. a tie with two of Erik’s History for Writers posts: Recommended Reading: Herodotus, “The Tale of the Clever Thief” and 35 Isn’t Old and Everyone’s a Royal

It was nice to note that the top posts were divided up evenly between me and Erik, and that they were posts where we used our expertise. As if we had, like, a plan or something. 😉

Messing with numbers is messy.

Quotes: That Is a Strange Country

Eppu

“I would say that [the Russians] are located somewhere near the Baltic Sea. There are old trade routes there, and in our own time it is a territory closed to us. Their installation may be close to the Finnish border. They could disguise their modern station under half a dozen covers; that is a strange country.”

– Andre Norton: The Time Traders

Did Andre Norton just insult Russia? (And yay, Finland was mentioned!)

Norton, Andre. The Time Traders / Galactic Derelicts [omnibus edition]. Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2000 [originally published 1958 / 1959].

(This quote comes from my 21 new-to-me SFF authors reading project. Note: A free e-version is available via Baen Books.)

This post has been edited for clarity.

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.

 

Q&A: Answer Questions with Book Titles

Eppu

Quiz time! We pulled questions from a nifty online quiz (the link to which is of course by now lost) that we modified slightly. You’re supposed to answer the questions only by using book titles from your collection. Here goes:

1) Describe Yourself?

Eppu: Hobitti [The Hobbit in Finnish. Good food, comfy home, good company.]151229Hobitti

Erik: The Hermit of Eyton Forest [I like my woods]

2) What do you feel like right now?

Erik: An Excellent Mystery

Eppu: Bättre och bättre [=better and better; title of a Swedish textbook. ‘Nuff said!]

3) Describe where you live?

Eppu: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking [‘Cause America can’t seem to wrap its head around silence. In Finland, silence is common and normal. For me, silence = sanctuary.]

Erik: Utopia [I love our house and our little patch of woods.]

4) Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

Erik: The Far Side of the World [New Zealand is on my list right now.]

Eppu: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles [And come back from the past, too.]

5) Describe you best friend?

Eppu: History of Ancient Rome [This would be the Mister. As the Germans say, Herr Doctor Professor. :)]

Erik: The Age of Bede [My wife the Anglo-Saxonist]

6) Your favorite color?

Erik: The Frogs [The closest I can get to “green.”]

Eppu: The Virgin Blue

7) What’s the weather like right now?

Eppu: Sundiver151229Sundiver

Erik: Cold Days

8) What’s your favorite time of the day?

Erik: White Night

Eppu: Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi [Not Before Sundown in Finnish. This was a tough one; I don’t really have a favorite, nor books with times of the day in the title.]

9) If your life were a tv show, what would it be called?

Eppu: Quiet Influence [Although not sure how many people would find a show on introverts interesting.]

Erik: Antiquity

10) What’s life for you?

Erik: The Historian’s Craft

Eppu: Sense and Sensibility

11) Your current relationship?

Eppu: Arvaa kuinka paljon sinua rakastan [Guess How Much I Love You in Finnish]

Erik: The Truelove

The Truelove12) What gives?

Erik: The Joy of Cooking

Eppu: Cold Days

13) Your future expectations?

Eppu: Home Improvement Guide [Unfortunately. Then again, when it’s done, it’ll be Bättre och bättre again.]

Erik: The Ascent of Man [Or at least the getting up in the morning of man.]

14) You wouldn’t mind…?

Erik: Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone

Eppu: Impossible Things [Certain things just aren’t likely to change very fast.]

15) What are you afraid of?

Eppu: Catching Fire [Don’t happen to have any books involving heights.]

Erik: The Fortune of War

16) Your best piece of advice?

Erik: Caveat Emptor151229Caveat

Eppu: Budget Makeovers [Saving money rocks.]

17) If you’d change your name, it would be…

Erik: Henry II

Eppu: Emma [This was a tough one, too. Jane Austen to the rescue!]

18) Thought of the day?

Eppu: Cut the Scraps! [Quilting is fun. :)]

Erik: Hannibal Crosses the Alps [No one thought he could do it, but…]

19) How would you like to die?

Erik: After the Fact [“I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”]

Eppu: Most Wise and Valiant Ladies

20) Your motto?

Eppu: Simply Scandinavian

Erik: The Barbarians Speak151229Barbarians

21) Your favorite activity?

Erik: Homebrewing

Eppu: Creative Ideas for Organizing Your Home

Images: Hobitti via Wikipedia. Sundiver via Wikipedia. The Truelove via Penguin Random House. Caveat Emptor via Bloomsbury. The Barbarians Speak via Princeton University Press

Q&A is an occasional feature in which we share our responses to quizzes, questions, and quirky ideas for your entertainment.

History for Writers Compendium: 2015

Erik

History for Writers explores world history to offer ideas and observations of interest to those of us who are in the business of inventing new worlds, cultures, and histories of our own. Here’s where we’ve been in 2015:

Thinking about history and writing

Worldbuilding basics

Economics and wealth

Military history

Race and gender in history

Architecture

Recommended reading

 

Special series:

Travel

Ostrich riding and the perils of research

Creating fantasy religions

Join us in 2016 for more history.

History for Writers is a weekly feature which looks at how history can be a fiction writer’s most useful tool. From worldbuilding to dialogue, history helps you write. Check out the introduction to History for Writers here.

Final Star Wars: Episode VII Mood

Eppu

In our area, there were Episode VII showings pretty much continuously starting from 7 p.m. last night. I was ever so briefly tempted to go from viewing to viewing straight through the night. But no.

FB The Dark Side of Force 5 More Mins

No, we didn’t go.* Instead, we’re about to head out to a noon showing. It remains to be seen how many others we’ll have to fight for seats decided to wait till daytime on the official release day.

How early did you see The Force Awakens? Do tell!

*) I think we’re both at that stage where, rather than do something right the moment it’s possible, we prefer to take our creature comforts into consideration. (Especially sleep, much like an old cat. Yay for old cats!)

Image via The Dark Side of the Force on Facebook

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

The Return of the Bread Pudding

Erik

For our final Star Wars rewatch, here’s a sweet but simple bread pudding.

The Return of the Bread Pudding

Ingredients

  • Stale bread, any kind, enough to make 4-5 cups loosely packed cubes
  • 4 egss
  • 1 tablespoon rum
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 3 cups milk

Cut the bread into chunks and press into a buttered baking dish until well packed in.

Beat the eggs, rum, sugar, and spices together until well mixed.  Add the milk and beat well.

Pour the milk mixture over the breadcrumbs. Press down the top with a spatula or spoon to make sure the liquid is well distributed.

Let sit for half an hour, pressing again occasionally, until the liquid is thoroughly absorbed by the bread.

For best results, set the baking dish inside a larger dish of water to make a water bath, ensuring that the level of the water reaches up to the top of the pudding. If this is not practical, you can just bake the pudding in its dish, but be aware that the edges may get crusty.

Bake at 350F / 175 C for 1 and 1/4 hours.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Epsidode VI

Erik

Our Star Wars rewatch concludes with Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: The space battle above Endor! Epic! (Even if it’s modeled after aerial dogfights, but nostalgia…)

151217atstErik: Ewoks vs. stormtroopers. I know some people think it’s too silly, but I disagree. The rebellion vs. the empire was always a case of guts and inventiveness vs. industry and regimentation. The fact that the empire never even considered that the ewoks could be a threat was their undoing. Besides, there’s nothing like seeing an imperial walker get smushed between two dropping logs.

2. Best Line

Erik: “I don’t know. Fly casual.” Han’s approach to life in five words.

Eppu: “How are we doing?” Luke: “Same as always.” Han: “That bad, huh?”

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: This may be a little corny, but Admiral Ackbar! (“It’s a trap!”)

Erik: The commander in charge of the Death Star construction. He seems like a well-organized, conscientious leader, just the sort of person you’d want to put in charge of such a huge project. Too bad he works for a genocidal totalitarian dictatorship.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: R2-D2 was carrying Luke’s lightsaber in Jabba’s palace all along. The moment that lightsaber handle pops up out of the droid’s top is the moment when “Luke, you naive idiot!” turns into “Luke, you cunning bastard!”

LG_CRACK lennongirl Han epi626

Eppu: A two-parter: Luke finds out on Dagobah that Leia’s his sister, and Leia tells Han that Luke’s her brother. Mostly the latter because of the expression on Han’s face (click, click, click… you can see the wheels turning).

5. Best Save

Eppu: Chewie and ewoks commandeering a walker on Endor and turning its guns against the Imperial troops. Pew pew!

Erik: Luke Force-floating C-3PO in the ewok village to convince the ewoks to let them go. C-3PO’s mid-air freak-out pushes it just far enough over the top to go from ridiculous to hilarious.

6. Best Visual

151217MFErik: The Millennium Falcon racing the fireball out of the exploding Death Star. It still gets me on the edge of my seat.

Eppu: The rebel fleet coming out of hyperspace to attack the new Death Star.

Extra: Best Guess for an Episode VII Hook

Eppu: Leia’s become a Jedi. Her title has been revealed to be General, which lines up nicely with her holo-message line to Obi-Wan in Episode IV (“General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars…”).

[And a week after writing the above, the world came crashing down: J.J. Abrams revealed in an interview with IGN (as reported by Moviepilot) that Leia chose to lead the rebellion instead of becoming a Jedi. Ohwell.]

Erik: Palpatine has been pulling the rebellion’s strings all along. He’s a master manipulator who can foresee the future. Did he have a contingency plan for Vader’s betrayal and his own (apparent?) death? Are his dead(?) hands still pulling the strings?

Images: Ewok log trap via History Bomb. Han’s bafflement via lennongirl / LG-CRACK on LiveJournal. Millennium Falcon escaping Death Star via Starscream & Hutch

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Leena Krohn on The New Yorker’s Best of 2015

Eppu1 Comment

Leena Krohn’s Collected Fiction, an anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, made it onto The New Yorker‘s best-of list!

Cheeky Frawg krohn-cover-largeJoshua Rothman writes of his selection of Krohn for The Books We Loved in 2015 like this:

“I also found myself hypnotized by Leena Krohn, a Finnish writer whose collected stories and novels, rendered into English by many different translators, have just been published as a single volume, ‘Leena Krohn: Collected Fiction.’ Broadly speaking, Krohn is a speculative writer; one of the novels in the collection, for example, consists of thirty letters written from an insect city. (‘It is summer and one can look at the flowers face to face.’) Krohn writes like a fantastical Lydia Davis, in short chapters the length of prose poems. Her characters often have a noirish toughness; one, explaining her approach to philosophy, says that when she asks an existential question, ‘life answers. It is generally a long and thorough answer.’”

Just a week ago, Krohn’s anthology appeared on The A.V. Club‘s Best of 2015 list (along with The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen). Again, congratulations!

Found via Helsingin Sanomat.

P.S. Try Krohn’s Lucilia Illustris for free, published in December 2015 by Electric Literature.

Image via Cheeky Frawg Books