Shakos!

I'm not the only one writing muskets-and-sorcery. Here's a little tale of responsible grave-robbing:

http://mistandshadows.com/pure-escapism/tomb-of-the-tagosa-kings/

I wonder if we can make this a whole genre on its own.

Jack Vance

Thanks to Grognardia, here's a great link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19Vance-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

Jack Vance is one of my favorite authors. I think I have everything he's published (except the mysteries), although sadly I missed out on the Vance Integral Edition - I only heard about it long after it had gone out of print).

In Gold Throne in Shadow, there's a brief homage to Vance's style in an encounter with a doorman. I wish I could do more, but I just can't sustain the moral dissolution of his characters. Or the language.

Attack of the clones...

Well, cloned drug-sniffing dogs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8158097.stm

But really, can super-soldiers be far behind?

I for one welcome our new ant overlords

It's official - the ants win:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm

E. O. Wilson must be proud. And worried. If those little suckers get nukes, we're all doomed.

And if you think I'm crazy to be worried about ants getting nukes, just take a look at the crazies that already have them!

Maybe I should write a special supplement to my Formian adventure setting - "The End of the World as We Know it," where the Great Mother gets a nuclear arsenal...