Finished: These Restless Heads, by Branch Cabell 📚. Not a part of the Biography of Manuel (and therefore using the other variant of his name), this is a collection of Cabell’s essays on life and writing, together with one short story (or is it a parable of an aging poet?). I enjoyed it as I enjoy all of his writings, which pack in more style and vocabulary than any modern writer I know of.
“Hiding”
Olympus TG-6 @ 18mm, f/4.9, 1/100s, ISO 500. On the trail at Mount Pisgah.
Trump announces new tariffs of up to 40% on a growing number of countries
I don’t know which is worse, the coming (just in time for Christmas!) era of inflation, or the use of Trump’s semi-illiterate, rambling, random capitalization style on what are now official documents of the United States. I guess DOGE got rid of all the copy editors.
“Sunburst”
Olympus TG-6 @ 9.0mm, f/4.5, 1/500s, ISO 100. Shot at Wild Iris Ridge.
Finished: Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy
Finished: Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy, by Charles Nordoff and James Norman Hall 📚. My copy of these 1930’s novels is a more recent reprint bound as a single (700-page) volume, though you can also buy the novels separately.
Mutiny on the Bounty itself is the strongest of the three, which is probably why it’s the only one most people know. It tells of the voyage of the Bounty, the mutiny, and the fate of a few of the sailors who were arrested on Tahiti after Captain Bligh returned to England. It has the court-martial records as a major source, and so is pretty well fleshed out (though the authors clearly filled in gaps and romanticized some things).
Men Against the Sea tells of the long voyage the Bligh and some of the non-mutinous sailors took in a tiny boat to Java, whence they eventually made it back to England. This 3600-mile voyage is right up with Shackleton’s better-known one in terms of adventure, but the major source is Bligh’s own sketchy log and so there were a lot of blanks to fill in.
Pitcairn’s Island is the story of the remaining mutineers, their isolated settlement, their downfall into violence and murder, and their eventual rediscovery. All we really have for source material here are the conflicting and likely self-serving recollections of the last surviving mutineer, so the authors have had to pretty much fantasize about what actually happened.
If you like sea yarns, though, the whole trilogy is worth reading; I never once thought of putting the book down unfinished.
“Shy Prince”
Olympus E-M10 IV with M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens @ f/8, 1/40s, ISO 1250. Prince’s Pine flowers along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Suggestive”
Olympus E-M10 IV with M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens @ f/8, 1/250s, ISO 6400. Pinedrop along the Middle Fork Trail.
Finished: Ghost Fleet, by P.W. Singer and August Cole 📚 - “A novel of the next world war,” in this case a non-nuclear limited engagement between the US and China. Written a decade ago, but some of it anticipates the rise of drone and electronic warfare. I doubt things could actually remain non-nuclear if China really did take Hawaii, but a good summer read anyhow.
Finished: The Last Defender of Camelot, by Roger Zelazny 📚 - A collection of Zelazny’s short fiction. Standouts include the original (shorter) version of “Damnation Alley” and “For a Breath I Tarry.” Enjoyable, as is all Zelazny.
“Bugged”
Olympus E-M10 IV with M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens @ f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 250. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Timpanogas Lake”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye lens @ f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO 200.
“Mystery Bird”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 23mm, f/5, 1/80s, ISO 2500. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Reach for the Sky”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 38mm, f/5.4, 1/200s, ISO 100. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Mini Niagara”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 17mm, f/8, 1/4s, ISO 160. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Bowing Candystick”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 37mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 2500. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Pinesap”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 33mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 2000. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail. One of the strange forest saprophytes we get around here.
“Cascadia Revolt!”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 14mm, f/8, 1/13s, ISO 3200. Shot along the Middle Fork Trail.
“Water from Nowhere”
Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42mm kit lens @ 14mm, f/8, 1/30s, ISO 5000. Chuckle Springs near the Middle Fork Trail.
Didn’t finish: Black Wave, by Jean Silverwood 📚. The story of a family sea voyage cut short by a shipwreck on a hidden reef and a horrendous injury. The adventure story is interesting enough, but I gave up about two-thirds of the way through when it seemed that the wife & husband co-authors were just looking for more life lessons to pad the page count.
Record-Breaking Results Bring Fusion Power Closer to Reality
A literal bright spot on the horizon. I do hope to see utility-scale fusion power in my lifetime, though I’m not super-optimistic about that.