danbensen

[danbensen]

"At the graduation ceremony," she said. "I was backstage with Ellie and I overheard some seniors talking. One of them asked, 'what will we do with Russian after we graduate? We can't go to Russia. We can't work for a Russian company.' But another one said, 'we know a whole language. We can find something to do with it. We don't know what will happen in the next twenty years.'"

From my September newsletter

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"Or across the Ocean to Batavia, where I can learn to sleep with a pistol under my pillow for the pirates and tropical mosquitoes," he said. "God, let this be the most exciting part of my journey."

In chapter 4 of Wealthgiver, the journey gets more exciting.

[danbensen]

It would be better if Tolstoy had spent more time describing what art is rather than what it isn't. There's quite a lot of complaining. But Tolstoy does answer his own question: art is the infection of a one person with the experience of what it is like to be another. I don't have a better suggestion.

From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

Theft of Fire is a brutally honest blast, pulling us through the development of a relationship between people who cannot, but must, trust each other. I wasn't satisfied with the ending, and I don't think the science fiction goes far enough to distinguish itself from Firefly and The Expanse, but the characters really work. The sex and violence, as intense as they are, work too. From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

Theft of Fire is a brutally honest blast, pulling us through the development of a relationship between people who cannot, but must, trust each other. I wasn't satisfied with the ending, and I don't think the science fiction goes far enough to distinguish itself from Firefly and The Expanse, but the characters really work. The sex and violence, as intense as they are, work too. From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

I tried to read this once, stopped, and came back to it as an audiobook. I wasn't put off because of the slow start - in fact my favorite part was the detailed description of outfitting an expedition through the Kalahari desert. But the lost tribe they found was disappointing. I would have been more interested in learning about the real 19th century Zulus. From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

Chapter 3 of Wealthgiver, in which her high priest brings Kori some vital news.

[danbensen]

I talked with Petar about his busy Saturday schedule, and the reconstruction at TSUM with another dad whose name I can't remember. Kaloyan's dad wanted me and Ellie to go "winter-skating" with him. I don't remember how we got onto the subject of Dimitar's escape from Russia.

From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

From Wealthgiver chapter two: The Unseen is Seen

[danbensen]

I liked it. My wife really liked it. It's a pared-down book, which I appreciate. The Basic mental tools - definite optimism, the important truth question, zero to one - are useful. I'll have to come back to this book.

From my September newsletter

[danbensen]

The heading for Wealthgiver chapter 2, in which Andrei meets a strange old couple, who tell him to never never sleep on the mountain at night. They also try to kill him, but the advice was well-meant.

You might be interested in the text, which reads Adas ni vu it. I translate that as "The Unseen is Seen" but it literally means "The Unseen to us himself sees." You might equally accurately translate that as "We can see Hades."

[danbensen]

"Don't flatter yourself, Doctor," Andrei muttered to himself. "You are less than a germ on a mite on a louse's left forepaw." He turned away from the view. "If something kills you tonight, it will be the month of March."

Find Wealthgiver chapter two on my Patreon and Substack.

Art by @ohotnig

[danbensen]

Are you a Christian Ben? I've followed you for years (all the way back when I found the Spec site, then your DA profile) and never would have pegged you for one! or is it more agnostic? I'm not judging in any way, I'm genuinely surprised/curious.

My anonymous friend, thank you for following me and thank you for asking. I've only been recently able to honestly say that I'm a Christian, although I've been cultivating faith for eight years now. Here's to further cultivation!

PS: It's Dan. Bensen is my last name.

[danbensen]

I picked up Chesterton because he was an influence on C.S. Lewis, but I have to say I got more out of Lewis. Chesterton gets preoccupied with his own choice of words, so doesn't always get to where he's going. That's fine for the autobiographical aspect of this book, but as far as theology goes, I don't think he convinced me of anything I didn't already believe - and I want to believe. Still, this book was a comfort. From my September newsletter

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A quick speedpaint slapped together while I try to both finish this work project and get enough sleep.

A posthuman Ring Dragon from Living Creatures, known for living in low-G vacuums on derelict stations and planetary rings. They navigate by using derived intestines as magnetic sails and pelvic bones as a dish antenna. This means seasonal migrations as the ring passes in and out of the planet's shadow and solar wind.

They are the remains of the losers of the war against Heaven.

Lioness thinks of them like sweet little radio singing birdies that eat our of her hands.

[danbensen]

It's not often you get to read a real homage, in which the writer loves the source material and extends it. Here, John C. Wright asks "what if the Star Wars sequels were good?" Space Pirates of Andromeda gives us a very satisfying answer. Wright plays his usual trick of packing an epic trilogy's worth of detail into the backstory, of which he then reveals very little. There's a robot in a tophat and a winged pirate queen, but you don't get to hang out with them. You're mostly on a pirate ship. To be fair Wright dumps so much punishment on his protagonist that you spend most of your mental energy wondering how the boy's gonna make it out of this one. I also have to admit I loved the little asides about why robots are all built with hands and why supertech guns shoot balls of plasma rather than bullets. Those are some sweet justifications.

From my September newsletter

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This crunchy cover art is the work of @ohotnig, who is always a pleasure to work with, and whose skills speak for themselves. I only just now noticed the skulls on the ground under Andrei's feet. Cheers, bate. From my September newsletter