Tastelessness Personified

Dr. Jerry Pournelle, one of Science Fiction's more notable names, died just over a week ago. His politics were somewhere to the right of Stalin, so naturally, character assassination is already going on.
The author of this screed, in addition to having the poor taste to post it so soon after the death, can't figure out that author's are not their characters, and considers the fairly libertarian Pournelle to be the grandfather of the Alt-Right. I can't say I'm particularly surprised by that, since jackasses like this managed to portray Heinlein as a fascist, and David Drake as glorifying war. This is so horrendously over the line that I don't really know what to do, other than to wish that they end up inhabiting a gutter so foul that even the fleas don't want to latch on to them.

Zombies!

From CBS News:
Maine drivers warned of zombie danger

A construction sign got changed by somebody to read "Warning Zombies Ahead!"
Is it wrong of me to think that this is really cool?

City spokeswoman Nicole Clegg said the signs are a safety precaution and changing it could have led to driver distraction.

She told The Portland Press Herald that tampering with a safety device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm pretty certain that a sign about zombies is a thousand times cooler than "Night work 8 pm-6 am. Expect delays." At least the zombie sign would allow me to enjoy the delay.

Troy Rising Series--Looking back after the third release

I am trying to keep this very general. This means that only one name is mentioned, and that is a character first introduced in Live Free or Die along with the primary method for bootstrapping earth into a galactic power. I am going to avoid most of the technology, with a few exceptions, and give a very broad overview. I don't want to ruin the series for other people after all...


The first book was good. There were some explosions, an explanation on how humans got out of the gravity well, and the repercussions of being unable to defend ourselves. It even had some science that did sound somewhat possible (and is possible, like the SAPL) with a lot more work here on earth.

The second book expanded upon the first, and did not focus so much on Tyler Vernon, but more upon a new arrival to space. Since this book focused more on the nitty-gritty of surviving in space, it was also very realistic (except the gates...and the reaction-less drives), especially when talking about the dangers of a vacuum and orbital kinetic strikes on earth.

The third book wrapped up the entire series (unfortunately), and again it focuses upon the people who would enable earth to win a fight against aliens--in other words, the pilots, the welders, and the manufacturers--except the main character is thrown in with some horribly ineffective people.

I personally wish that there was going to be a fourth book (there is some potential there, what with the mediators being very territorial).
EDIT: According to TvTropes.org there is Word of God  from Ringo that he will be continuing the series.