Protest

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments

Bulgaria got invited to join the Euro today. Bulgarians are not united on the subject if they want the Euro and the anti-EU political parties are capitalizing that. I witnessed their protest today.

The gathering was lead by a young lad who yelled with full force, like he’s dictating the attack in the Braveheart movie. The hot sun made the movement sluggish.

Bath

~ Veselin ~ 15 Comments

During my childhood, houses didn’t have bathrooms, hot water, or sometimes any water. So we showered at public bath houses. Then, the capitalism came, brought hot water and took away the public bath houses one by one, replaced them with banks, hotels, and museums. The one we used the most is in the process of renovation right now to become a medical center.

Except some baths here and there that survived. According to the Internet, despite the abysmal conditions, the one below still works, and is kept like that due to a series of absurds.

Fear

~ Veselin ~ 9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What fears have you overcome and how?
View all responses

I frequently write about fear. Some of my recent posts are:

I do it because fear is like a seed that grows inside and drains your soul. Overcoming it is not a one-time act, it’s a process, a direction in life. There’s no moment in which it doesn’t try to find a crack and root itself in. There’s always something and you need to remind yourself why we should not be afraid of things we can’t control.

My May in Books

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments
Wrapping up the month with 8 books.

Best

  • Dragonfired by J. Zachary Pike – rich in ideas, full of intelligent creatures, and an epic conclusion of the trilogy about the dark profits. It has cobolds and everyone is greedy, except maybe Gorm Ingerson.
  • Silo by Hugh Howey – a mechanic has to survive in a plausible post-apocalyptic anti-utopia where all remaining humans are stuck in a bunker and tied in lies. I should’ve blogged a book review about because I really liked it, it had this Andy Weir feel I love in books. However, I never got to it. Maybe I’ll write one once I complete book two, which is already at home.
  • Necromancer by Gordon Dickson – I awarded 3 stars to it but it has an AI that kills all human creativity. It was a great visionary idea for a 1960s book I was surprised to find there, between the future full of old tech. It is one of the main risks I see for humanity when adjusting to the LLM boom.

Worst

  • Think Twice by Harlan Coben – after my repeated failures with Lee Child, I start wondering if I outgrew the entire genre. Jack Reacher turned into Steven Seagal, and now Myron Bolitar and his buddy Win are turning to Paw Patrol. I can’t read another one that silly and think about getting rid of my Harlan Coben shelf like I did with Lee Child. It will open space for gems like the next one.
  • Don’t look back – a gamebook that got a well-deserved average of 2* on Goodreads. It was silly in a very disturbing way.

Both books had a moment where the main protagonist just enters a room, kills 3-4 NPC characters, and leaves the room without ever mentioning that again. I should’ve awarded both with 1* for being disturbing and 0 for their editors, if they had any.

Other

  • The Golem and the Jinni, Diablo, and Bion 3 were fine. I may read the continuation of Diablo because it may have necromancers, the continuation of Bion to support the publisher, and would not read the continuation of the Golem and the Jinni. I think the story concluded well and should remain like that in my mind.