Author Archives: Pat W

Lunch Break Gaming – Switchboard

Switchboard is a 9-card, path-building puzzler representing the hectic job of a switchboard operator. The goal is to connect the callers and recipients denoted by six pairs of colored tokens. Adding to the pressure is a time limit represented by three dice. Each action you will take has a time cost. If, over the threeContinue reading “Lunch Break Gaming – Switchboard”

Small Box, Big League Fun – Bottom of the 9th

Baseball fans should enjoy Bottom of the 9th. I bought it because I like baseball, and I think it is one of the most “fun” games I own. I have never had a bad time playing, win or lose. There is strategy, there is bluffing, there is luck. It is a fast game with choicesContinue reading “Small Box, Big League Fun – Bottom of the 9th”

Not Enough of a Good Thing – Way Station

Too often I’ll finish a novel and think, “I wish that was just a little shorter. If the editor could have excised twenty or so pages I feel it would be a tighter story.” Very rarely do I feel a book would be improved by more. Way Station by Clifford D. Simak is one ofContinue reading “Not Enough of a Good Thing – Way Station”

Living in a MADD World – The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is famous (or notorious) for its brutally affecting Russian roulette scenes. They are riveting scenes that I will not talk about. Instead I want to think about the idea that “This movie couldn’t be made today,” that is often thrown about as an insult to modern sensibilities. Usually “movies that couldn’t beContinue reading “Living in a MADD World – The Deer Hunter”

He should have put a Ringworld on it

As part of my goal to read all the Hugo Award winning novels, two nights ago I finished reading Ringworld by Larry Niven. It also won the Locus and Nebula Awards so if I ever go down those rabbit holes I already have one in the bank. Like most of these award-winning SF novels fromContinue reading “He should have put a Ringworld on it”

Two households, both alike in dignity

Another school year has finished and as always, we watched the 1996 Romeo and Juliet in my English classes because I love that movie so much. We either study the play in class and watch the film as an example of creative reinterpretation, or we watch it as an end-of-year treat if Romeo and JulietContinue reading “Two households, both alike in dignity”

What Makes us Human? Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham

A friend recently recommended Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham. In it, he lays out a convincing thesis that cooking and food processing were instrumental to human evolution. The message boils down to humans have big brains because we have small intestines. We can have small intestines because cooked food is more efficiently digested so weContinue reading “What Makes us Human? Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham”

Dev Game Club Initial Impressions

My strategy for testing new-to-me podcasts is to look through the back catalog and find recent episodes about a topic I already enjoy. If I don’t have fun listening to the hosts talk about what I like, there’s almost no way I’ll have fun listening to them talk about things I find less interesting. AsContinue reading “Dev Game Club Initial Impressions”

Interview with A.D Guier, author of The Coward’s Emblem

My friend Alex recently published her first novel, The Coward’s Emblem. It’s a YA fantasy story about a the titular coward coming to terms with their true self and is available on Amazon. It’s a story about duty and danger that asks us look out for others instead of only ourselves. If you are interestedContinue reading “Interview with A.D Guier, author of The Coward’s Emblem”