Phantom Lunch

Heinlein - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
Waffles. At every turn.

Over the past few days, I’ve been reading Robert A. Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. In my opinion, it’s a somewhat overrated book, but I’ll admit that it makes for adequate bus reading. The plot of the book I won’t give away, but I will mention that the main characters of the book are frequently eating waffles. Now, I maintain that the waffle is a fine food — Continue reading “Phantom Lunch”

Thoughts on Fermi’s Paradox

I’ve been reading Richard C. Meredith’s The Sky is Filled With Ships. (1969)

Richard C. Meredith's The sky is filled with ships
Pulp at its pulpiest

It’s not a great piece of art, but it does satisfy my pulp habit and makes for agreeable bus reading. The basic plot of the novel… (now, before I go on, as an aside, I should like to mention that I hate to be one to spoil a plot; however, I’m guessing few people will actively seek out this book, and, more than that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the title itself pretty much gives away the premise.) The basic plot of the novel is that dissent in the Terran Federation has caused a political schism, leading to both sides of the divide gearing up for a massive interstellar civil war. A novel questionably novel in 1969, and today undeniably clichéd.

Though the plot is not terribly thought provoking, what has me pensive are Meredith’s descriptions of the information probes used to communicate between the space armadas convening from legion distant planets. Continue reading “Thoughts on Fermi’s Paradox”