So it's out with 2008, in with 2009 and back to the big, scary rat race.

Noupe has an excellent list of free Photoshop tutorials.  Personally, I think you need a masters degree in Photoshop to use it to its fullest.  So I tend to look for plug-ins that will do the work for me.  I know that I could make some amazing stuff if I really knew Photoshop.  The problem is that I already have a job.

Mike Fruchter has an excellent list of steps to get started in social media.  While I continue to believe the return on social investment for blogging is very low compared to the effort it takes, Mike's suggestions are uniformly good.  I would add that, unless you have the time and staying power to keep at it until you will your way up blogger's hill, your blog should be focused on getting ideas out of you, as opposed to into others.  I think the slow progress towards readership and interactivity is why so many bloggers give up or move to Twitter, where the work is lighter and the audience (or at least the people who theoretically see your posts) is larger.

Gear Diary, in reviewing the Griffin Road Trip, mentions the biggest pain in the ass about iPhone accessories- the fact that any case makes the device too big to fit on the adapter.  This drives me crazy.  And no, I don't want to try the slider case, because they are also a pain in the ass and I don't believe that the little strip of rubber inside the case will protect the phone any better than, say, nothing.  The Marware Sport Grip is, so far, the only case I like.  Speaking of the Griffin Road Trip, not only will my encased iPhone not fit the adapter, but the neck on that thing is about half (really, less than half) as long as it should be.  I have to lay down on my seat to get my iPhone.  Otherwise, though, it's a neat device.

As noted before, we use and love Beejive IM (iTunes link).  The forthcoming update looks awesome.  If you text at all, you should use Beejive.  It's a bargain, even at $16.

It's a little before my time, but if you like music from the late 50's, here's a jukebox for ya.  Now someone go do one for the mid-seventies.

I haven't tried it yet, but the greatest board game of all time is now, sort of, on the iPhone.

Consumerist on DirecTV installation problems.  We've had one box (out of four) that has been searching for almost a year for a signal for Satellite 2.  This means no live TV on several channels, including the networks.  Oddly enough, you can often successfully record shows on those channels- you just can't watch them live.  Our recent experience with DirecTV support has been, to say the least, unsatisfactory.

Why do I keep going to the Apple web store and looking at Mac Pros?  I love my iPhone and AppleTV.  Surely I'm not about to go all in.  Am I?

Eye-Fi, which I and my kids use regularly with our digital cameras, is coming to the iPhone.  If you have a friend or parent who is not interested in learning the technology, but wants to use a digital camera, Eye-Fi may be just the ticket.

I have loved computers since that Christmas break long, long ago when my brother in law and I stayed up all night playing Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure on his Apple II.  Later, I spent countless hours playing Starflight and writing shareware games on an IBM clone.  Even later, I wrote and recorded hundreds of songs and took my home office paperless, all on my trusty computer.  In order to learn as much as possible about computers, I started building my own.  It makes me a little sad to realize that my beloved is quickly becoming irrelevant.

But the fact remains they are, because we just don't need them anymore.  A confederacy of other devices have stolen all the fun and turned the once proud computer into an over-priced media server or typewriter.  The addition of an HP MediaSmart Server to my home network removes even the data storage role from my desktop computer's job description.

So how did it happen?

Let's start with games.  I have fond memories of late nights playing all sorts of computer games, from the excellent until abandoned Front Page Sports games to most of the Civilizations.  Then came Nintendo, the PSP, the X-Box and, finally, the Wii.  I held out during the PSP and X-Box era, but one game of Mario Kart on my kids' Wii was all it took to convince me that the computer is an ineffective and obsolete gaming platform.  From this point on, it's all about Mississippi Queen on Guitar Hero.

For email the herd has migrated to the iPhone and other lesser, but effective, devices.  We also use text messaging a lot more that we used to.  My family uses Beejive IM on our iPhones and iPod Touches, both to allow the kids to text from their iPods and to avoid the cost of traditional text messaging.  For music, we have our iPhones and iPods, AppleTV and, most recently, the ability to hear and display Pandora through our home theater system, via Samsung's excellent BD-P2550 blu-ray player.  The Pandora application on this box is easy and beautiful.  It shows the last few songs played, with album art, and lets you easily switch between stations.  You can also watch your Netflix instant queue on this box.  It's a brilliant strategy for the DVD makers to go on the offensive in the turf war.  PC makers have been trying, unsuccessfully, to displace DVD players for years.

If you just want to rent movies online or easily access your home movies, there is no better solution that AppleTV and iTunes.  Again, except for a server tucked in a closet somewhere, no computer needed.

All of this leaves the computer in the unenviable role of typewriter.  Sure, we need typewriters.  We use them every day.  But we don't love them.  Or think of them as fun.  And, sadly for the PC makers, we don't want to pay much for them.  So all these new devices steal the fun and the dollars, while the once mighty computer becomes a commodity, like paper, pens and other office supplies

Republished, upon reader request, from another, older Newsome.Org page, to increase readability and consolidate content.  As an interesting (at least to me) aside- these rules were directly responsible for my receipt of a job offer to serve as a domino teacher on a cruise ship.  I didn't take it, but it was cool to get it.

Note also that I wrote the original post below over 12 years ago, and some of the people mentioned have grown up and become semi-responsible adults.  I hope one day to join them.

*****************

Forty-two is a trick taking game played with dominoes. It is especially popular in Texas, USA. There is a place in Texas called Rancho DeNada where there is almost always a forty-two game in progress. The following description is loosely based on information from David Dailey, Kit McKormick, John Rhodes, Adam Hauerwas and Kate Gibson. Also, see John McLeod's excellent Card Games web page for the original version of these rules and more great information.

There are basically two forms of 42: it can be played for points or for marks. The version for marks will be described first. The version for points is similar except in the bidding and scoring - the differences are described later.

Players and equipment

There are four players in fixed parnerships - players sit opposite their partner. Gibmonster was a good partner many years ago. Now he is afraid to bid. Kate gives him a lot of shit when he bids. Kate also drinks daiquiris mixed with bourbon. Kate is a cool chick. Bub is a good partner for about three hands. After three hands, her alcohol level is up, her attention span is down, and it's all downhill from there.

A double-six set of dominoes is used - that is 28 dominoes, one for each possible pair of numbers from 0 (blank) to 6. A domino with the same numer at each end is called a double.

Rank and suit of dominoes

There are 7 suits: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes. The highest domino of each suit is the double.

Normally one suit is trumps. Every domino containing that number is exclusively a trump, and apart from the double, they rank in order of the other number on the domino. For example if threes are trumps, the trump suit from high to low is:
      

The remaining dominoes, apart from the doubles, belong to the two suits corresponding to the two numbers on them. Within each suit they rank in order of the other number on the domino. So if threes are trump, the members of the fives suit from highest to lowest are:
     

Values of Dominoes

Each domino with 10 pips -  - is worth 10 points to the side that wins it in their tricks.

Each domino with 5 pips -   - is worth 5 points to the side that wins it in their tricks.

In addition each of the seven tricks is worth one point to the side that wins it.

There are therefore 42 points available in each hand. One time Johnny Walker bid 43 but he was drunk.

The Deal

The first dealer is selected at random. Thereafter the turn to deal passes clockwise. The dealer "shuffles" the dominoes by mixing them thouroughly face down on the table. Then each player in clockwise order, starting with the player to dealer's left takes seven dominoes and sets them on edge so that the owner can see their values, but the other players cannot see them. The dealer is supposed to take dominoes last, but Kate never remembers this rule. One night Kate got hammered while playing dominoes at the Ranch and tried for about an hour to call random people on the phone. She was unsuccessful in both dominoes and dialing. Later she and Gibmonster did some really crazy stuff while we all listened. Where are those drums when I need them....

The Bidding

Each player has just one chance to bid or pass, starting with the player to dealer's left and going clockwise round the table. Each bid must be higher than the previous one. If Amy bids, you can assume she has an ass kicking hand. Amy does not bid much. One night in San Antonio Amy got shit faced and abused Bo (a serious turn of events). Bo said it was "huge bullshit."

The lowest possible bid is 30, meaning that (a) that's usually what Gibmonster bids, and (b) the bidder's team undertakes to win at least 30 points in tricks. Then come 31, 32, 33, etc. up to 41, then 1 mark (which is equivalent to 42), 2 marks, 3 marks etc.

Bids of 1 mark and above require the bidder's side to win all the tricks (i.e. all 42 points) or take on one of the special contracts (Nello, Plunge, Sevens) described below.

The highest opening bid allowed is 2 marks (unless the declarer intends to play a Plunge). Once someone has bid 2 marks a subsequent player can bid 3 marks, and so on. One time Cody bid two marks. Kent, the next bidder, bid three marks and got his bid. Gibmonster, who didn't bid, got stung by a scorpion. It was a pretty exciting hand. To play Plunge it is necessary to bid 4 marks, or 5 if the bidding had already reached 4.

If all four players pass, the dominoes are thrown in and the next player deals. If Gibmonster was cloned, this would happen a lot.

The Play

The highest bidder (the declarer) names trumps, or may name one of the special contracts if the bid is 1 mark or more.

The declarer leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if possible. A player unable to follow suit may play any domino. The trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if it contains no trump, by the highest domino of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next. On those rare occasions when Gibmonster has the bid, he usually calls twos or threes as trump and leads with a non-double, non-trump. It's either really smart or really not smart, we're not sure which. Such a move is universally called a "Gibby opening."

When a non-trump domino is led, it counts as a member of the higher numbered suit, but for following suit it counts as belonging to both suits. For example if threes are trump and the 6-5 is led, it counts as a 6 rather than a 5. But when following suit the 6-5 can be used to follow to a lead of either sixes or fives. If threes are trumps then the 5-3 when led counts as a 3 not a 5, because trumps are trumps and nothing else.

Notice for example that if blanks are not trump, and you hold the double blank, although it is the highest card of its suit the only way it can win a trick is if you lead it. Any other blank which is led counts as the lowest domino of some other suit. Cody used to like to make clever points like this before he married Chilton. Now she just tells him to shut the hell up. Usually he does.

Tricks are kept face up to the right of one member of each team, in the order that they were played, and can be viewed by all the players. For example after two tricks one side's captures might look like this:
   this trick is worth 11 points, and was won by the 6-6 (sixes are trump)

   this trick is worth 16 points and was won by the 6-2, a trump.

When playing a contract to win all the tricks, declarer can elect to stack the tricks. In this case the third trick is stored on top of the first, the fourth on top of the second, and so on, leaving only two previous tricks visible at one time. This saves space and reduces the players' opportunity to chack back to see what has already been played.

Special Contracts

Nello

A declarer who has bid 1 mark (42) or higher can announce Nello, which is a contract to lose every trick. Declarer's partner turns all her dominoes face down and takes no part in the play. The declarer leads to the first trick, and there are no trumps. Doubles form a suit of their own ranking from 6-6 (highest) to 0-0 (lowest). Rules of play are as usual, and a lead of a double calls for doubles. If a non-double is led the larger number determines the suit to be followed, and a double cannot be played to the trick unless no dominoes of the suit led are held.

Plunge

The declarer must hold at least 4 doubles to announce Plunge. Declarer's partner chooses trump (without consulting). Delarer leads, and declarer's team must take all seven tricks to win.

To play a Plunge, declarer must have bid at least 4 marks. In order to play a plunge, declarer is allowed to open the bidding with 4 marks, or jump to 4 marks over any lower bid, or bid 5 marks over a previous bid of 4. This is the only case where a jump bid or opening bid higher than 2 marks is allowed. A subsequent player could overcall 4 marks with 5 marks, and play a normal contract to win all the tricks, or Nello. 5 marks can be overcalled by 6 marks, and so on.

At some venues, including Rancho DeNada, a Plunge bid is not allowed. At Rancho DeNada, that's because if someone said "Plunge," Gibmonster would dive into the cement pond with his boots on and drown.

The Scoring

The scoring is in marks. For any bid from 30 to 42 (1 mark), the declarer's team score 1 mark if they win. For higher bids they score the number of marks bid. If the declarer is unsuccessful, the contract is set, and the declarer's opponents score as many marks as the declarer's team would have scored. The game ends when one team reaches a total of seven marks or more.

The marks are drawn to form the word "ALL" - the first mark is drawn as the left side of the "A", the second is the right side, the third the crossbar, the fourth the vertical of the first "L", etc. The winning team is thus the first to complete the word "ALL". You can also spell "SEX," if you are into that sort of thing.

When playing for money, the winners are paid an agreed amount for each mark the losers were short of 7, plus an amount for each time the losers were set. If the winners end up with more than 7 marks any excess over 7 is ignored. Also it does not matter how many times the winners were set - they lose nothing for this. For example if A & C agree to play B & D for $0.25 per mark and $1.00 per set, and A & C win 7 - 4, with each team set once, then B & D pay A & C $1.75.

Variations

Rank of Doubles in Nello

In Nello, some people give declarer the option of playing with the doubles as the highest dominoes of their suits (as in a normal contract) rather than doubles being a separate suit. Some allow a declarer in Nello a further option of specifying that the doubles are the lowest dominoes of their suits. When playing this variation, a declarer who announces a Nello must at the same time state whether doubles are their own suit, high in suit or (if allowed) low in suit.

Sevens

This is another special contract, which can be played by a declarer who has bid 1 mark or more. Declarer leads, and each player must play a domino whose pip total is as close as possible to 7. The trick is won by the closest domino to 7, or if several are equally close by the first of these which was played. The winner of a trick leads to the next. The declarer's team have to take all seven tricks to win.

There is no strategy in sevens - the play is forced throughout.

Without special contracts

Some players do not allow the special contracts Nello, Plunge and Sevens.

Opening lead

Some people play that the lead to the first trick must be a trump.

No hands passed out

Some people play that if the first three players pass, the declarer must bid. The hand cannot be thrown in.

42 with bidding and scoring by points

The information on this form of 42 was supplied by Adam Hauerwas.

In this version the bids are the numbers from 30 to 42, then 84 and 168. You cannot bid 168 unless someone has bid 84.

For bids below 42, if declarer's team make their bid, both sides score the points they take. If not, the declarer's team score zero, and the opponents score the points they take plus declarer's bid.

For bids of 42, 84 and 168, declarer's team score the bid if successful. If declarer is set the opponents score declarer's bid but nothing for their tricks.

It is not possible for all four players to pass. After three passes the dealer must bid.

Low-No is a game equivalent to Nello in the game for marks. Low-No can only be bid by the dealer and only when the other three players all passed. The declarer's side score 42 points if successful, and the other side score 42 points if the declarer is forced to take a trick.

The special contracts Plunge and Sevens are not allowed.

Instead of naming a trump suit, the winner of the bidding has two other options (in either case the object remains to win at least as many points as were bid - or all the tricks if the bid is 42 or more):

1. No trumps: Exactly what it says. The double is the highest domino of each suit as usual and every other domino belongs to two suits.
2. Doubles: There is a trump suit consisting of all the doubles, ranking from high to low: 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 1-1, 0-0. When a double is led everyone must follow suit with a double if possible. The doubles don't belong to their normal suits so for example if the 4-2 is led you can't trump with the 4-4 unless you are out of 4's, in which case you could play anything.

Remarks on bidding strategy

Three passes might leave the dealer in an incredibly awkward situation without having a bid to make; that's part of the game. Note, though, that this gives the dealer's partner incentive to bid 30 on a somewhat mediocre hand, because they could be saving the dealer from an awkward situation.

If the dealer gets "stuck" with the bid after three passes, note that Low-No could be bid by the dealer in order to avoid going set on a 30 bid. Since the opponents get the bidding teams bid PLUS whatever points they catch, if you go set on a 30 bid the opponents would receive 30 + (at least 13 points required catch for the set) A dealer might bid low-no on a terrible hand if only to restrict the opponents to catching 42 points (instead of more from a bid of 30 which is set).

No-Trump may be bid on a hand with a lot of control but short on long suits. The problem here is regaining the lead once it is lost. Example no-trump hand: 6-6, 6-5, 5-5, 3-3, 3-2, 3-1, 1-1. Tricks might be played in order from left to right, and one would hope that one or two "threes" would fall on the first three tricks so that the double-three could pull in the remaining threes -- making the 3-2 and 3-1 good.

Hands on which it is right to declaring doubles trump are rather rare. One possible hand where it would make sense to bid doubles would be the following: 6-6, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 1-1, 6-5, 5-4. Note if the double-five falls on the first trick, you gain ten points and make your 5-4 good.

I still love my iPhone.  I especially love the fact that I can read my iPhone reading list and browse the App Store for new applications that promise to make my life easier and more efficient.  The iPhone/App Store combination has been one of the biggest productivity advances I have ever experienced.  Heck, Apple may be taking over my tech life- I bought an AppleTV box today.  It's another elegant device and, by far, the best device I have found for serving home movies.

But it could be better.

Every developer, every application and every blogger is obsessed with sharing, collaboration, yada, yada.  Today I read that the developers of my most useful app, Evernote, may be moving their focus away from their excellent iPhone app to focus on, you guessed it, sharing and collaboration.  Does anyone actually use the collaboration features crammed into all these apps for anything truly useful?  Most people I know are more interested in keeping people away from their data than putting it out there for the world to see.  Even if we wanted to collaborate with our partners, clients, etc., no corporate IT department in the world would let us.  And even if they did, there are enterprise platforms that permit collaboration while maintaining the big business-mandated level of security.

The iPhone has crossed over from the realm of the geek to the larger and much more profitable realm of the mainstream user.  I have numerous real world friends who can barely send an email, but who use and love their iPhones.  These people and thousands if not millions like them represent a gold mine for application developers.  And most of them couldn't care less about the ability to share their documents with others.

The reason why the Apple Store was packed today, why I am morphing into an Apple lover after years of resistance, why so many of my real world friends have the Apple sticker in the windows of their cars, is simple.  This stuff works.  It's easy to set up and use.  And most importantly, it makes tasks that lots and lots of people do every day more efficient and more fun.  Tasks like email, texting, information storage and retrieval, taking and emailing photos, finding a good nearby restaurant, playing Uno with your kids, etc.

The Evernote team, and just about every other app developer, would be better served and would more easily tap into that gold mine, if they forgot about sharing and focused on making their application more useful to non-geek users on an individual basis.  For example, while the Evernote iPhone app is intuitive and easy to use, the web application needs a lot of work.  That's where the focus ought to be.

I think a lot of developers are electing to fish in a small pond, while the fish in the big pond swim around hungrily.

I have enjoyed reading the best of 2008 lists from my favorite music sites, such as Twangville (Mayer, Tom), AWOT, Hickory Wind, Nine Bullets and Hear Ya.

I do my yearly best of lists a little differently.  Since I buy more old records than new ones, I base my lists on records that I heard for the first time this year.  Here are my picks for 2008.

Record of the Year

Hands down and without a doubt, The Avett Brothers' Live, Vol. 2 (2005) is the best record I heard for the first time in 2008.  These guys are from Concord, NC, which is less than ninety miles away (name that song reference for extra credit) from my hometown.  I have no idea how I missed them until now.  Live, Vol. 2 is not only my record of the year for 2008, it will likely wind up in my top 10 of all time.  There are 17 songs on the record, and every one is excellent.  November Blue is without a doubt one of the best songs I have ever heard.

Smoke in Our Lights and Offering, among many others, are also excellent.  The singing, playing and writing is uniformly excellent.

Do yourself a favor and buy this record right now.

 

Other Great Finds

One of the many wonderful things about Pandora is its function as a music discovery tool.  A few weeks ago, I was working in my shop when an absolutely amazing song came on.  I ran over to the computer to give it the thumbs up and write down the name.  It was a song called Speed Train by J.J. Schultz from his record Something to Me (2005).  Speed Train is the best song on the record, but there are plenty of other great songs to make this a worthy addition to your collection.

I've been a fan of The Band for years.  Dirt Farmer (2007), the latest record by Levon Helm, reminds me why.  It won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk album, which is great, but I wouldn't classify this record as a traditional folk record.  It sounds like American farm music to me- which is even greater.  I would love to attend one of Levon's Midnight Rambles.

I didn't get all the hoopla about The Black Keys, until I heard their 2003 record, Thickfreakness, which was on Fat Possum Records, one of my favorite labels.  This is some righteous blues, and Have Love, Will Travel rocks so hard it will rattle your teeth.  If Led Zeppelin wants to tour and Robert Plant won't come around, Dan Auerbach is the answer.  This album is a must for blues rock fans.

No other band has held my love and attention as much as the Grateful Dead.  I have a ton of their records as well as a ton of solo stuff by the members.  Somehow I missed Jerry Garcia's records with Merl Saunders until I heard their cover of Positively 4th Street on XM a couple of months ago.  I don't generally buy "best of" records, but this is the one I found when I went looking for that song.  It's a mighty fine record, with the cover of Mystery Train being another highlight.

I have always loved female alt. country bands.  Freakwater is a long time favorite of mine, as were the Texas Rubies (Kelly Kessler and I co-wrote some songs back in the day).  My newest discovery is The Be Good Tanyas, particularly their record Hello Love (2006).  They do a great cover of Neil Young's For the Turnstiles.  They even do a pretty darn good cover of Prince's When Doves Cry.  My favorite song on the record is the beautiful A Thousand Tiny Pieces.  I played this song for my young daughters, both of whom are, to one extent or another, aspiring musicians and told them to write, play and sing just like this.

And, finally, as I predicted in a post last month, Porter Batiste Stoltz's Moodoo, an excellent record anchored by the wonderful Funky Miracle/Sing a Simple Song/Rainy Day Women.

Those are my picks for 2008.  What are yours?

I have been experimenting with the time lapse features of my camera.  Here's a video I made last night during a game of Pay Me with our friends.  There is a lot of iPhone action going on between plays, demonstrating the iPhone's penetration into non-techie America.

You can do a lot of interesting things with time lapse.  Back in the nineties, it took me about 8 hours to compile a two minute time lapse animation for one of my films.  Today's technology makes it very easy.

I expect I'll do more stuff like this.

Link for feeds.

RIM calls the Storm Verizon's best selling device.  I wonder if they called Verizon later to apologize.  RIM seems to be putting a lot of eggs in the Storm basket.

In related news,  PC World has a list of 7 free "must-have" Storm apps.  The eighth would presumably be the receipt, so you can return it.

Dave Taylor on getting noticed online.  I need some advice on that.  Since I've been blogging again, I feel like this blog has the traction of a marble on ice.

There's a new post at the Adios Lounge.  This one on Clarence White of the Byrds.  If you have any interest in classic country rock music, the Adios Lounge should be at the very top of your reading list.  Want another reason why?  How about a story and full mp3 set from a Doug Sahm, Jerry Garcia and Leon Russell show from 1972?  These posts are like encyclopedia entries, only a hundred times more interesting.  Here's the RSS feed.

Some folks are squawking about Mobile Spy for the iPhone.  All this means is that my kids may actually get iPhones one day.  It's easy (and critically important) to "protect" your kids (yes, even from themselves) on their computers.  We need similar tools for mobile phones.

Speaking of iPhones, I'd pay $50 for a good version of Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure on the iPhone.  Shoot, I'd pay $100 for Starflight.

12Seconds looks like a very interesting app (iTunes link).  The iPhone needs a native video camera function, but this looks like a good interim solution.  The iPhone also needs a flash.

I think it's pretty clear that the iPhone is, in fact, the next big mobile gaming platform.  I think it is not quite an acceptable netbook substitute.  If I were Steve Jobs, I'd direct Apple to develop a device you insert your iPhone into that would give you a regular keyboard, a bigger screen and extra battery life.  Apple would own the netbook space from the first minute.

Granny J on some fancy gingerbread houses.  I love to watch my kids make their houses every Christmas.

I have always been interested in game theory.  Mind Your Decisions shows us why Toyota wants GM to be saved.

The 2008 holiday special.

We had a 2008 guest reunion with Laurel Papworth, Mark Pesce, Beth Kanter, Graham Steel and Al Upton.  We talked about 2008, predicted 2009, fawned over our iPhones, argued about YouTube and social networks, and much more.  It was a fun and fast moving show.

Give us a listen!

My wife gave me a Kindle for our anniversary this past summer.  The short review is that I like the technology a lot, but since I'm not interested in much new fiction outside of Cormac McCarthy and William Gay, my use of the Kindle will depend largely on how many older books are released in the Kindle format.  I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few vintage science fiction books in the Kindle store, many of them priced at just a dollar or two.  For example, I found some Andre Norton books.  Her Star Man's Son, retitled Daybreak 2250 AD, was the first science fiction book I read, and is still one of my favorites.

I also found several books by one of the founders of the science fiction genre, Edmond Hamilton.  I read a few of his books on the Kindle, and then bought several more on eBay and read them.  In the first of a new series of posts, I'll briefly review some of these books.  Other books by other authors will follow.

My vintage science fiction interest lies generally in books from the fifties through the seventies.  There may be a few outside that range, but they will be the exception, not the rule.

The first Edmond Hamilton book I read was City at World's End (1950), a book about a city that is blown far into the future by an atomic bomb.   

It's a good read.  I enjoyed the story.  The character development was good, certainly by pulp sci-fi standards.  The book is the equivalent of a Saturday afternoon B-Movie on AMC or Turner Classics.  Not one of my favorites, but worth a read.

Things got significantly more interesting with the next book: The Star Kings (1947).  This one is about a man named John Gordon, who is mentally contacted by a man from the far future and, out of boredom, agrees to a mind transfer.  Gordon finds himself in the far future, in the body of a  prince and in the middle of a galactic war.  It is a great read.  I liked it so much I bought the sequel, Return to the Stars (1970, 23 years later), on eBay.  The sequel is interesting, but not nearly as good as the first book.  Highly recommended.

Next, I read The Three Planeteers, accurately described on Amazon as the "science fiction pulp classic."  It's a short but interesting space opera about three outlaws who are called upon to save the galaxy from the evil League of Cold Worlds.  The writing is similar to The Star Kings, and it is my second favorite of the Hamilton books I have read so far.  It's a good book in 2008.  When you consider it was written in 1940, it's even more amazing.

I also read A Yank at Valhalla (1950), an odd book about a guy on an Arctic expedition who winds up in the middle of Norse mythology.  I didn't like it at all at first, but by the time I finished, I thought it was worth a read.  Lastly, I read The Haunted Stars (1960) (boring, and my least favorite) and The Star of Life (1959) (not great, but worth a read).  There are lots of other Edmond Hamilton books out there, but they are not easy to find.  I continue to monitor eBay and will buy others as the opportunity arises.

Hamilton takes his place as my second favorite vintage sci-fi writer (behind Andre Norton), for now.

As always, I encourage other book recommendations via the Comments.

Next time: a vintage Arthur C. Clarke book that bored me to tears.

While I am a consistent skeptic when it comes to dressing up advertising as a Twitter post or some other disguised form of entertainment, here is an ad that works. It's really funny and very well done. Note the background conditioning messages from the speaker.

Good stuff.