![]() It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.īenevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.Īnd it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. ![]() Banks' Culture novels, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() Inio is Japan's answer to Terry Moore (STRANGERS IN PARADISE, ECHO) as he nails the humour of conversation between friends without ever making you feel you, the reader, are on the outside looking in. Until the last song, their creative catharsis will wrench your heart strings. Even more directionless than before, Meiko and her and Naruo's friends soldier on with the band, only with the Meiko filling Naruo's shoes on guitar and vocals. But before Naruo has a chance to begin life anew as a grown up he crashes his scooter and dies, a Peter Pan with no regrets. So he follows suit and quits his job to take his hibernating student band into the recording studio for a final attempt at making an impact. Her somewhat rash decision pushes her boyfriend Naruo into a crisis point. A call to arms for her friends to pick up the fading fragments of their childhood dreams and give them one last chance before the spark is drummed out of them forever. So in a desperate attempt to stave off responsibility one more time she quits her job, sending a ripple through the lives of those close to her. She doesn't feel life has dealt her a duff hand, it's more a case of her not quite ready to take that last step into adulthood. What was once just her part-time job, is now full-time and just as comfortably numbing. ![]() Meiko graduated from university two years ago and found herself on autopilot. ![]() ![]() My mind is blank about how I gravitated to this one, maybe because of a book at home, or looking longingly at a collection of VHS tapes, and no longer having a recorder. ![]() ![]() This is the second series of books that I rediscovered during the early months of COVID lock-down, The Two Fat Ladies. Savory scones: Add 3/4 cup grated hard cheese and 1 teaspoon dry mustard, or 1/3 cup minced olives, anchovies, or what you fancy. Yummo.įruit scones: Add 1/3 cup dried fruit and 2 tablespoons superfine sugar. Cool on a rack, but eat when still warm, with lots of butter, clotted cream, and jam. Bake for 10 minutes until well risen and brown. ![]() Place the rounds on a greased and floured baking sheet and brush with milk. Knead lightly on a floured board, then pat out into a round 3/4 inch thick. Form into a soft dough with a metal spatula. ![]() Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it all resembles crumbs. Scones take but a moment, so do try them. No one seems to make them nowadays instead, they buy terrible things in supermarkets tasting of soda and studded with soggy fruits. A recipe from Cooking with the Two Fat Ladiesįresh scones, still warm from the oven, are part and parcel of the delicious teas of our childhoods. ![]() ![]() In 1972, Sally presented to a gathering of ministers at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley "The Lesbian and God-The-Father Or, All The Church Needs is A Good Lay - On Its Side," one of the earliest of lesbian challenges to established religion. ![]() She was interviewed in a number of documentaries, among them Word Is Out (1977) and The Life and Times of Harvey Milk (the 1984 Academy Award winning documentary). Gearhart rowdily marched the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area for twenty years in support of progressive political causes, most especially for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender rights. ![]() ![]() She was probably the first open lesbian in higher education to be given a tenure-track position (1974). Sally Miller Gearhart worked in the ivy halls of academia for forty years as a teacher of Theatre, Communication, Rhetoric, English, and Women Studies. ![]() |