Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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they came out and his new one is just out in paperback. It is called Running Away and concerns a man with a mid life crisis who runs away from it. It sounds unpromising material but in Thomas' hands it becomes a work of art. By turns funny and sad, poignant and moving, it is a book that tells a lot of truths as well as several very funny dirty jokes. I loved the one that begins with an old lady coming up to an old man in the pensioners home where they both live. She invites him up to her room where she says she will give him a cup of tea and hold his willie... If you want to know the punch line, read the book. You won't be disappointed. I finally got round to reading The Nano Flower, Peter F. Hamilton's sequel to Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder. Of the three, I think The Nano Flower is the strongest. I enjoyed the first two books, but this one stands head and shoulders above them. I particularly like the way that the hero, Greg Mandel, changes from book to book as he grows older and absorbs experience. The Greg of The Nano Flower is in his fifties -- it is probably twenty or thirty years after the events of the first novel. And Greg has grown and matured to match his age. Far too many lesser writers never allow their characters to change, to mature -- yes, damnit, to grow up. That Hamilton can do this marks him as a skilfull writer, a man to watch. The Nano Flower is excellent. In between reading these books and repairing my house and cooking experimental meals, I spent far more time and money than is good for me playing with the world on the Internet. One of the hot things on the Internet is something called the World Wide Web. In somewhat oversimplified terms, the web can be thought of as one humungous document, full of lots and lots and lots of pictures, movies, sound and text. As you look at one of the pages in this document on a computer somewhere in the world you might see a reference to something that tickles your fancy. Click on it with your mouse and suddenly you are on another computer elsewhere in the world looking at something new. You can follow the links like these to your hearts content, jumping from computer to computer, country to country, continent to continent, world without end. The programs that let you do this are referred to as web browsers and the pages of information they display are written in a special language called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). I recently acquired a browser called Mosaic, and I decided to learn a bit about it so I bought myself two books. The first of these, The Mosaic Handbook let me explore the complexities of the program, and the second The HTML Source-book taught me how to write documents that programs such as Mosaic can access (it turns out to be surprisingly easy). One reason why I feel constrained to mention these books is because they are both very thin. I get depressed over how enormously huge and fat many computer books are. It is a positive disincentive to look through them. They make you think that there is just too much to learn, so why bother? Well I have read a lot of these books, and believe me ninety nine percent of them are absolute junk. But computer books are trendy, so we'll continue to see them on the shelves for a while yet. My advice is to ignore them. Go for the smaller, thinner books that you will find lurking between the behemoths. They are generally much better value, much less frightening and with a lot more solid information in them than the overwritten and oversold dinosaurs that surround them. The two that I mentioned above are perfect examples of good computer books. If you feel the need to learn about either Mosaic or HTML, I recommend them highly. And now my holiday is over and hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go. Sir Henry Rider Haggard Marie Cassell Child of Storm Macdonald Finished Isaac Asimov Magic Harper Prism Maureen F. McHugh Half the Day is Night Tor Stephen Baxter The Time Ships Harper Collins
Poppy Z. Brite (editor) Love in Vein Harper Collins Doug Naylor Last Human Penguin Barbara Hambly Bride of the Rat God Raven Piers Anthony Shame of Man Tor Phil Rickman December Pan Leslie Thomas Running Away Mandarin Peter F. Hamilton The Nano Flower Pan Ian S. Graham The HTML Sourcebook Wiley Dale Dougherty et al The Mosaic Handbook O'Reilly and Associates
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Trimmings From The Triffid's Beard
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Foreword Unlike most holics, (if, a
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Buster Keaton and the lateral mind
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Movie Go Round Phlogiston Thirty-Fi
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crisps and a most revolting orange
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Lingua Frankly Phlogiston Thirty-Si
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tranquil islands of San Serif as th
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linguistic analysis. It is a theme
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up is laughable (feudalism across t
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perhaps over six feet." or "The per
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A Dozen Drabbles Phlogiston Thirty-
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This sort of thing had been going o
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In the story Jack Connie Willis cho
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(assuming the author describes them
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You should also consider whether or
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The Lesser Spotted Science Fiction
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. . . She peered at the cracked man
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stick. He hit the bed, and it was s
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Funny Business Phlogiston Forty-One
Page 49 and 50: ...A large bottle. And in the bottl
Page 51 and 52: His wit and wisdom are highly prais
Page 53: 16 novels, a Companion and a Mappe,
Page 56 and 57: weekends, many fine fictional works
Page 58 and 59: Zelazny brought Corwin's struggle t
Page 60: ordinary). He has also written some
Page 63 and 64: using them. Such ideas are reinforc
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Page 69 and 70: (v = velocity of aeroplane, c = spe
Page 71 and 72: press in recent years about people
Page 74 and 75: John Kilian Houston Brunner (1934-1
Page 77 and 78: In the Beginning Phoenixine Seventy
Page 80 and 81: It's Only Words Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 82: Alan Dean Foster Montezuma Strip As
Page 85 and 86: Drachenfels is absolutely brilliant
Page 88 and 89: There's a Pigeon in the Hole Phlogi
Page 90 and 91: detective story. Currently, under t
Page 92: Shock -- The unofficial Iain M Bank
Page 95: worlds (The Two Timers), interstell
Page 98 and 99: that were published in the Azazel c
Page 103 and 104: To Be Continued Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 105: searching out and nullifying sabote
Page 108 and 109: various acquaintances. Most of the
Page 112 and 113: The Mixture As Before Phoenixine Ei
Page 114 and 115: Paul J. McAuley's new novel Fairyla
Page 116: John Barnes Kaleidoscope Century Mi
Page 119 and 120: and move hastily on. It is also qui
Page 121: outside of these areas it is corres
Page 124 and 125: Bushell of the Royal American Mount
Page 127 and 128: Genre? Phoenixine Eighty-Two, July
Page 129: example, it is genuinely moving. On
Page 132 and 133: ody, and the game is afoot. The res
Page 135 and 136: Living in an SF Novel Phoenixine Ei
Page 137 and 138: Robyn Gossett is an entertaining wr
Page 140 and 141: Youthful Vices Phoenixine Eighty-Fi
Page 142 and 143: story is ever continued, I will be
Page 145 and 146: Connections Phoenixine Eighty-Six,
Page 147 and 148: have worried. She is on the top of
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New Things Phoenixine Eighty-Eight,
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novel with a lot of libertarian pre
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Oh Frabjous Day Phoenixine Eighty-N
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Falco, the detective in Vespasian's
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autobiography and several smaller a
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anyone to be proud of. But Malafren
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It sounded good and I dived into it
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Real Hols Phoenixine Ninety-One, Ma
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few months ago and complained that
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I Can't Lift up My Book Phoenixine
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There was a time, many years ago, w
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Moronicity Phoenixine Ninety-Three,
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my body opening in anticipation of
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Cats Phoenixine Ninety-Four, June 1
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With Higher Education, Sheffield an
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Food Phoenixine Ninety-Five, July 1
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through. His books pull you up with
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Snot Phoenixine Ninety-Six, August
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I have no hesitation in recommendin
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Tower Blocks and Graffiti Phoenixin
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picture had appeared on the wall an
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As I collected my luggage, the clou
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the Kay Scarpetta stories. Other th
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Ah -- so now I was having earthquak
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went back to the dentist. "Oh yes,
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Tony Phoenixine One-Hundred, Decemb
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ut when she puts her mind to it she
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Bouncy Phoenixine One-Hundred and O
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slammed shut as the wind screamed p
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A series of bizarre murders is shak
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The Universe Hates Me Phoenixine On
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humour with which this farrago of n
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Diatribe on Language Phoenixine One
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unless your school principle says s
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with large gaps in his memory and a
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Toilets Phoenixine One-Hundred and
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wall rather than recessed into it.
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Richard Matheson I am Legend Orb Ro
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almost a reprise of the war of 1812
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McConnell's book Code Complete proc
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Fiji Phoenixine One-Hundred and Six
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Every night the resident trio of mu
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The next day I flew home and the vi
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Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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