Tag: ramble

Hello again, it’s been a while

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July 5, 2026

9:39 pm

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musing

Hi all,

Picture. We're looking at an adorable green clay dwagon with purple highlights curled around a purple d20 with just the number 20 showing. They're on a dice tray made up of simple gaming related objects on a white background.

Oh gosh things have changed a little round here as well on the back end since I was last here. Looks like my hosting service has gone all in on AI so I might have to go all in on somewhere else.

Picture. We're looking at a row of 4 dwagons standing up. Left is a sad one with a single tear, with caption "GenAI pictures make us sad.", next up is one holding a sign "So you won't find any of that here", then it's "If you see intelligence here it's an accident." and the last one is shouting "HEY !"

I think the rise of GenAI and the rampant uncontrolled harvesting it does has contributed a lot to me staying away here but there’s been more going on there. This is a very quiet site, there aren’t that many real people visitors and I’ve contributed to that state lately by this being the first post of the year. Content brings traffic. I’m getting sidetracked but the way I’m seeing it on this site is that in the first 6 months of 2025, this site got 325 views. In the first 6 months of this year, there have been 18.1k views. That doesn’t make sense with the lack of content, it can only be explained by this site being used for active harvesting of what I write for presumably GenAI large language models.

Not a fan of that. Something I’ve attempted to develop in myself for both home stuff and work stuff is a writing style that’s genuinely me. If people see my writing or my emails, they’re more encouraged to read, they can hopefully follow along with me (something I’ve really had to work hard to develop) and they respond. That’s especially important at work when you don’t get that much time to keep people’s attention with everything that goes on.

Never mind that though, how have I been, how am I getting on ?

Physically, my arm with the scaffolding in there is mostly good again now. It’ll never be perfect again because I’m getting old and I did a horrendous amount of damage to the two forearm bones. But I have pretty much full use of the fingers again now, feeling is back to perhaps 99% so the nerve damage is pretty good now and the shoulder is strong enough now to allow me to pick heavy things up again. I can clasp my hands behind my back again, which I could barely do at the start of the year. That’s what hurts now of what’s left with the movements, the rest is fine (pretty much)

Mental side is … different. I feel as if I’ve been in a slump for most of the year to date and have been putting that brave face on it. I can continue doing stuff I’ve started but it’s been really difficult starting doing stuff. Like I should have done a shopping run this weekend, that’s been deferred to tomorrow evening. I’ve been able to do a few things so far this year but that stay in it’s easier has been winning too much.

Picture. We're looking at a grey cat with their eyes closed. They're tucked up on an orange or cream coloured blanket. The captions are "I can't get out of bed..." "These blankets have accepted me as their own and if I leave now I might lose their trust."

Quite.

Things that have happened this year and I’ll do these in their own posts in due course have been :

Dreamhack came to Birmingham for the first time in March. It was a chance to meet some wonderful people for the first time, some wonderful people for another catch up and a fairly chill and not so busy exhibition with lots of things to see and shinies to play with. It was great meeting people including the wonderful MissVadams and September Duck (and friends) with FGSquared coming in for a lunch meet up. They’re all people from the streaming community who are just awesome people and will brighten anyone’s day. LookitsTilly and Madddog were cruising for all the goodies, Curlylocksgamer didn’t quite run me over in the motorchair and it was fun running into kayPOWXD and very tall significant other after enjoying MiyukiPanda’s stage show.

I was able to catch up with Miyuki as well, there’s been a sense of catharsis running into and chatting to people from the Creator North event last year. Panda was about 10 feet away from me when I shattered the arm and was perhaps the one who sent the absolute most of anyone of the positive vibes that came my way after that accident. I had a lot of those come my way from all of the online communities and they massively helped last year with my state of mind. Anyway, it was good having a quick natter with MiyukiPanda after the event, she’s a lovely person plus one thing I’ve been concerned about is letting all the people who have been super worried about me see that I’m ok now.

And the arm is pretty much ok now. I was discharged from the need to go to the physio a while ago, I got a clean prognosis from the bone people who have been doing the x-rays. It’s not healed perfectly but … I still got 2 working arms. I’ll accept that 1% nerve loss for having 2 working arms again. I’m in a better place than a lot of other people there.

Ok ! Dreamhack led to an acquisition …

Picture. We're looking at two very smart, very high quality flight sticks. On our left, is a throttle unit with a big control arm hiding a lot of buttons and switches behind. On our right, is a conventional joystick style thing also with buttons. My little red dwagon sits behind the throttle, my big red dwagon sits behind the flightstick.

That’s a pair of Virpil Controls bits and pieces. I had a chance to try these out at Dreamhack and was very impressed with how they felt and the absolute highest level of quality in how they were put together. I went back to my previous Thrustmaster Hotas X after disappointment with (shockingly) poor build Saitek / Logitech X52 Pro sticks and while the Hotas X was still good for Elite, it was suffering from age with drift and buttons that were giving up. The Virpil Controls gear took a month to arrive after ordering but they’re incredibly good in use and they’ll support me looking to learn proper flight sims again with the extra controls they have.

Dreamhack has been the highlight of the year so far, that lunchtime meet up was a wonderful time.

I also did the Lords Interservices T20 day again, this was early this year being held at the end of April. It actually worked out very well for us, there was no rain on the day and I found a quiet perch with a great view. People were loving the Dwagon On Tour pictures that I’ve been posting from places too, my current avatar around the places is the Little Red Dwagon sat behind my good R50 camera.

Modelling … not so much this year. I have the finger dexterity but not the energy or inclination. That should come back at some point.

Oh there’s also been meet ups at Thorpe Park with the Creator Meetups people (good chill day out) and I acquired lots of shiny things at UK Games Expo. I won’t go to UKGE on a Saturday again, it was too much … too many people, too hot, too much crowd. But good loot and a good lunch escape with Andy of Billietrixx’s community.

Lots of reading’s been happening as well with the usual highlights being T Kingfisher’s novels and continuing the Share series by Nathan Lowell following his Ishmail Wang character who had to run off to be a merchant spaceman.

And of course the gaming … I enjoyed the Star Trek Voyager game that came out this year. They did well with this one, it’s like a greatest hits of the Voyager series but sticking to the stories from the show that were the most key and most achievable to put in the game. So the Seska series is in, Endgame is in, Year of Hell is not …

Last bit before I use up my hand points – Forza Horizon 6 has been huge fun getting into this one (with MiyukiPanda’s community!). Last time I did a lot of racing, I had a concussion that was putting a little bit of lag into my reactions. So I basically couldn’t do racing games. They’re a lot more fun without that particular concussion :-D.

Thanks for reading if you’ve got this far – I’m ok. I’m not the best mentally for a whole heap of reasons but I’m doing ok there. I’m in a bunch of fantastic communities online who are lovely to drift in, centred around the excellent streams to vibe in. I’ve got a few wonderful friends down here to talk to as well.

It’s good to have posted again – see you all next time !

Thanks for reading, would you like to share ?

When to read the history and why we shouldn’t gatekeep

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August 11, 2025

9:42 pm

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books

,

Hello everyone,

I saw something on Bluesky earlier / overnight that resonated with me … Let’s see. There was someone suggesting that Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein needed to be required reading for anyone getting info science fiction. And I think a bit of saying people didn’t count as being into science fiction if they hadn’t read those particular authors.

Oh ! We need a thumbnail ! Here’s one of mine :

Picture. Sketch. We're looking at a rough sketch of a green dwagon, sitting on his haunches. He's wearing glasses and is intent on reading a book that he's holding up to the right of screen.

There we go. Good old reading dwagon. (Yes, the knees bend the wrong way. He’s adaptable 😀 )

The most important thing is – reading is a thing we do for pleasure, for learning, for self improvement, for enjoyment. And that goes for fiction, non-fiction, news, reviews, timeline doomscrolling … all of the things. If you’re not enjoying it, find something else to do. I’m in danger of skipping to the close out here too 😀 because I wanna mention the gatekeeping before talking about some very special authors.

There’s an extreme danger in gatekeeping. Like pointing new readers towards the so-called classics like the books from Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. I’ve actually read most of Heinlein’s books. There is some incredible stuff in there, plus there’s also some absolute stinkers. Stranger in a Strange Land is one that gets the attention … I didn’t finish it. I was turned off by the attitude of the characters and the message that’s in there completely washed over me. Yet, I’ve read Starship Troopers maybe 3 times. I read Time Enough For Love quite young … and was unimpressed. Then I read it again later and the characters got to me. It’s a very poignant book.

Oh and then there’s Starship Troopers which is extremely seductive in its message … If you’ve seen any of the films, you’ll see all of the fascist imagery in there, where it’s a satire dressed up as a science fiction alien shooting spectacular.

Things all went a bit weird though with Heinlein as he started weaving together all of his separate stories into an all encompassing multiverse. There are some great books in there, some trash, some you’ll react to with absolute disgust.

Picture. Meme. We're looking over the shoulder of a white and tortoiseshell cat reading a book. The captions are "Thanks to this book." "I now have proper grammer"

Arthur C Clarke was a remarkable visionary but I really struggled with his books. There was a kind of detached sense akin to a lecture. There was a wonderful story and concept going on under there but the writing style was disinterested. And then there was the absolute crime of stuff like Rama II which wasn’t an Arthur C Clarke book, it was ghost written. I managed only 100 pages of Rama II, it just never got anywhere.

I should read some more Asimov. I do have I, Robot somewhere and I enjoyed Foundation a few decades ago when I read that. And then there was Nemesis as a far more recent exploring scifi book.

They’re all very well worth checking out but … they should never be seen as an essential, an entry gate, or anything to with “if you haven’t read these authors you don’t count as a serious fan of scifi”. There should never be a cause for gatekeeping like that. If you like the premise of a book, if the synopsis catches your eye, if a bunch of people give a recommendation, have a look at it. That’s how I’ve selected a few books in my A to Z and it’s been enjoyable finding new voices to read.

The old authors have their place. They’re remembered because they were that first wave of super successful authors (don’t forget Mary Shelley) and were successful because they wrote stories that caught the attention. In their time. We’re in a different time now, things have changed a lot. Those older books haven’t. Some of them pass the test of time, some don’t. But you’ll only know that if you check them out.

Get reading ! That’s the important thing. Lose yourself in those stories. Expand your mind a bit, see if you can learn something new, whether that’s something about people, something about society, something about dreams. Cos we do like to (and should) go for an escape every once in a while.

Picture. Meme. We're looking at a cat reading over the shoulder of a bronze statue, behind a bronze book. The caption is "For the love of God, turn the page. You are like the slowest reader ever."

I’m currently 18 books into an A to Z challenge thing, where I’m looking to fill out the alphabet with books read with a connection to each letter. I’m cheating a bit with author names and title names counting for the letter, the pure form of it just goes for authors. There are a few old classic authors in there, there are some from the last few decades, there are books that have just come out this year.

The key thing is … open your mind up to new things. Go for those new authors. Check out what catches your fancy. Dig into it a bit more.

So if you’ve been enjoying the new Dune movies (I need to watch Part 2), or Dune Awakening, check out the Dune books by Frank Herbert. I don’t consider these the best books (he gets a bit too into his deeper lore) but I think the underlying Dune story is fantastic even if I think the writing is terrible.

If you’ve been enjoying the Foundation series, check out the ancient Asimov books. (I haven’t seen Foundation but have noticed that it’s very well liked).

If you enjoy Andor, consider checking out the old legacy Expanded Universe Star Wars books. There are some crackers in there, especially from Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole.

If you like Star Trek, check out Red Shirts by John Scalzi. It was the first book I read from John Scalzi and it’s excellent. He’s consistently fun and entertaining to read, with a great story popped in there along the way.

I was going to mentioned quite a few more people too. Let’s see !

One of the things you notice from the author community on Bluesky is that they’re all incredibly supportive of each other. They love seeing other authors doing well. And I think a lot of that comes from knowing that us readers can devour books so much faster than they can be written. So us readers can support a whole heap of different authors by buying, reading and enjoying their books.

And it’s wonderful that there are so many varied authors out there who are sharing their vision with us.

We don’t need to go back to the past, there are so many current, recent and new authors who have wonderful stories to tell us. Maybe there’s some in this head as well that want to come out. I wrote a preview chapter a few years ago on the old place … That concept is still in there, it does need time, a story and me being less burned out to make it happen. (Yep, the burn out is still very severe and very real).

There’s also the factory that every time we look back at those old classic authors, we see something problematic emerge from their time as well. It can be very deeply problematic as well. I won’t go into that here (not my vibe) but it can also mark their books, such as what I mentioned with Heinlein’s books occasionally provoking feelings of deep disgust (Farnham’s Freehold). There’s an alternate script for The Motion Picture from the creator of Star Trek which sounds like it was deeply repulsive in how it treated the characters.

There’s some dark stuff back there. And it marks them as a bit “Yep, they had their time. But we don’t go to that place any more because they’re either horrifically dated or … very deeply problematic.”

Picture. Meme. A panicked looking mostly white kitten is looking lost, looking up at us with big wide open eyes. The captions are "When the book you're reading is almost over and there's too many problems that need to be solved and you just have a mini panic attack like" "How in the world is the author going to sum all this up ?"

How am I going to close out this one 😀

The big thing is to keep on reading. Be selective too. If something catches your eye, check it out. Add it to your wishlist, grab it later and see what You think of it. Because that’s what matters at the end of the day. How did You find the experience ? Did You enjoy it ? Because that’s not the same set as the stuff I would enjoy, or what the person next to me or you will enjoy.

Sometimes I like to read something super fast and pulpy like the Jonathan Brazee Fire Ant series. Sometimes I’ll be enjoying something gritty and serious like your typical Gareth L Powell. I’ll go for the whimsical fun of a T Kingfisher. There would be the irreverent stories coming from John Scalzi which are absolute fun. I’ll dive into that very different Vietnamese inspired space society of Aliette de Bodard.

I’m currently in the opening parts of Stranded by A K Duboff, which will fill up the D spot which could easily have been a look back to an enjoyable Roald Dahl. But I’m not seeing anything new with Roald Dahl, I’m checking out a new voice with Stranded. I just finished enjoying reading The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear which is the third in a future centuries space society series.

And then there’s Drew Wagar, who’s stream I’ve got in the background at the moment ! If you like the screenshots and the universe of Elite and Elite Dangerous, Drew’s books add much needed meat to the bones in the games.

I better leave it there :-D.

Read what You want to read. Take the recommendations from people. If you’re struggling and not enjoying the story, don’t feel like you need to finish it, swap to something you’ll enjoy. Maybe even cheat with spoilers too, I’ve made more than one Abandon / Not Abandon decision on stuff in spoiler space. Like the David Weber Honor Harrington books which started in fantastic Hornblower action style but then disappeared into boring espionage as the setting developed. I’d still recommend that series but with the “when the books get boring, stop” health warning to it.

And then there’s Larry Niven ! So many classic books there with that random looking shift coming from the Ringworld saga. That ended very nicely.

Eek ! Like this post hopefully. See you around, back to enjoying Mr Wagar’s stream, with Batkitto building Lego on the laptop, music on the hifi and I’ll crack open Stranded again in a few minutes.

Thanks for reading, would you like to share ?