The Care and Feeding of Nerds: books

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This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Oh, hey guys. It's that time again, isn't it? Studying is creating what seems to be even more distortions in the space-time continuum than I'd normally expect from this time of year. It's going to be a very interesting few months to say the least. It was a very busy few days though, due in no small part to the annual Consumer Electonics Show. In case you missed out on CES, here's a round-up of some of the highlights. Add to all that goodness, these fun highlights from This Week in Geekdom!

Books

Unlike George R.R. Martin, Outlander author Diana Gabaldon adheres to her deadlines.

Games

Final Fantasy IX will be available on Steam within the next few months and here's what you can expect.

Did Jurassic World spark your desire to live in harmony with dinosaurs? You may want to check out ARK: Survival Evolved.

Movies/TV

J.J. Abrams has been a very busy man. Check out the trailer for his latest project: 11.22.63, a time-travel series for Hulu based on a Stephen King novel of the same name.

Despite working the publicity circuit for The Force Awakens and 11.22.63, Mr Abrams was not too busy to stop and address complaints that the latest installation of the Star Wars franchise bears too strong a resemblance to its founding chapter.

Back in December, the Huffington Post published a lengthy list of 'plot holes' in The Force Awakens. Here is a very thorough point-by-point rebuttal.

Game of Thrones will return to HBO on April 24th.

While we're in an HBO state of mind, the network has given the official green light to the development of a Deadwood movie.

Science/Technology

Oculus Rift officially hit the open consumer market this week as it opened itself up for pre-orders. The catch: a set will cost you an eye-popping $599 USD. Perhaps this is where Fortune got its projections of the virtual reality market being worth $5.1 billion USD this year alone.

NVIDIA wants in on the autonomous car game.

Thanks to the efforts of many researchers and one very, very specialized telescope, we may get a chance to see the event horizon of the black hole at the center of our galaxy by 2017.

Experts believe it will look something like this.

Speaking of black holes, NASA's Chandra telescope is presenting astrophysicists with new data derived from observations of this...ehm...interesting behavior from the Whirlpool galaxy.

Aside from observing black holes, NASA is also occupied developing this, the successor to the Hubble telescope.

It's official: the periodic table of elements has four new members.

If you weigh 220 lbs (99.79 kg) or less then Ehang may have a very interesting way for you to get to school or work.

Desert sand is so efficient at capturing and retaining heat that researchers at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology want to develop ways to turn it into a thermal energy storage medium.

Acoustics experts at Australia's RMIT University may revolutionize the way that stem cell treatments are delivered to patients by combining two different sound waves.

The artificial pancreas is two clinical trials away from being a consumable reality.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

What do you get when a Disney storyboard artist combines the aesthetic of Calvin & Hobbes with The Force Awakens? These awesome cartoons, that's what.

It's no secret that we at the Care and Feeding of Nerds love us some excellent infographics and here's an excellent series depicting the fact that half of the Earth's population lives on 1% of its land mass.

And here's a fun infographic breaking out all of the character deaths in Shakespeare's oeuvre.

Amateur astronomer Michael Sidonio thought he was taking pictures of galaxy NGC 253 and ended up discovering a galaxy of his own.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

2016 is off and running and we're officially back from our holiday break. Woot! Let's keep the momentum going, shall we? Down to the Week in Geekdom!

Books

Much to the surprise of exactly no one who has been following the exploits of George R.R. Martin, the author officially conceded what we've long since expected: that Winds of Winter will not be ready before Game of Thrones returns to the airwaves.

Movies/TV

George Lucas has taken just about every possible position with regard to the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney and the subsequent development of Episode VII but, following the smashing success of the latter, the director is no longer attempting to conceal his angst.

On that note, Disney chairman Robert Iger has confirmed that we will be getting another cinematic dose of Indiana Jones.

The 50 best X-Wing pilots in the Star Wars universe, ranked.

We are mere weeks away from the premiere of the X-Files revival series. If those few weeks are still too damned long (not that I feel that way...or anything), then this making-of featurette may help you bide the time.

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These are 12 of the most burning questions we have concerning the future of the Marvel cinematic universe. Fortunately, we'll likely get some answers to these this year.

Science/Technology

If you're on the hunt for fun, informative and all-around excellent sciencey podcasts, look no further.

It's a promising sign for those of us excited about the status of future space-faring missions: plutonium-238 has been produced in the United States for the first time since 1988.

Speaking of space-faring, just how plausible/feasible is interstellar travel?

What if the various computer programs you use every day never needed another update again but, rather, were continuously self-correcting? MIT and Adobe are teaming up to develop exactly that.

It's a theme that pops up on this site with no small degree of frequency, but why does time seem to speed up as you age?

General Awesomeness

These 10 artists are capable of creating mind-blowing masterpieces with simple paper.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Happy weekend everyone! Hope you're all staying fed and hydrated among all the video game releases of this past week. If you're just now taking a break from your questing, here's the lowdown on the Week in Geekdom.

Books

The World Fantasy award trophy will no longer feature the likeness of H.P. Lovecraft.

Gaming

Extra Life may have been last weekend, but the charitable gaming continues! Watch here for the live stream of Desert Bus for Hope!

On Thursday fans of The Binding of Issac found that the latest bit of DLC for their beloved game was also the jump off point for an insane ARG. If you missed out on all the gaming goodness, PC Gamer covered the entire thing.

Nintendo announced its release schedule for the first and second quarter of 2016. Among the new titles was the introduction of Linkle, who will feature in Hyrule Warriors Legends on the 3DS.

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It has long been the stuff of myth, but the Nintendo Playstation is entirely real (and fully functional!).

Movies/TV

The Walking Dead will have its Negan and he will be portrayed by Mr. Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Science/Technology

It seems contradictory, but the latest research from a joint venture between China's ASIPP and the United States' General Atomics revealed that lowering the distance between pre-fusion plasma and the walls of the chamber said matter is confined in actually increasing the stability of the potential energy-producing system.

What do you do when you accidentally launch two satellites into the wrong orbit? Why, you use them to test the predictions made by the Theory of Relativity, of course.

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Canadian neurosurgeon Dr. Todd Mainprize has done what modern medicine has attempted to do for decades: penetrated the blood-brain barrier.

Computer scientist Laszlo Babai has allegedly developed an algorithm that allows the user to determine if two networks are the same, regardless of their respective complexity.

In the latest installation of What Can't 3D Printing Do is this art installation that features a printed ear derived from the DNA of Vincent Van Gogh. Extra eyebrow-raising is the fact that the ear can 'listen' to sound waves emitted into it.

The latest edition of Nature Communications contains this research from the Imperial College London that may introduce the world to a brand new, super efficient type of laser.

Poor Phobos. Mars' oft-overlooked moon is being slowly dismantled by its celestial anchor.

On the subject of gravitational dismantling, have you ever wondered if it's possible to see the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy? Here's how you could.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

It's just a tad more luxurious than Vault 111. Welcome to the Oppidum, the world's largest 'billionaire bunker' for all your apocalypse-surviving needs.

Speaking of things that might be fun to own if you have all the monies, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is being converted into luxury condos.

It took Ian Martin the better part of a year to complete, but he successfully crafted this fully functional holochess board from Star Wars.

And while we're talking about Star Wars superfans, here's the handiwork of one California dad who constructed a replica Death Star on the roof of his own house.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of This Week in Geekdoms. We're trying to squeeze all the summer we can out of these next few weeks before things take a turn for the dark and chilly. Gah, can't believe Labor Day crept up on us so quickly! The upcoming change in seasons will translate to more posts, if everything goes according to plan. In any case, let's get down to the Week in Geekdom!

Books

After much hemming, hawing, and drama, here are your 2015 Hugo Award winners.

Comics

Secret Wars is slated to draw to a close this October and Marvel has stated that there will be a full-on reboot of their entire comic universe in the immediate aftermath. Here's what you need to know to be prepared for this "All New, All-Different Marvel."

Games

As a follow-up to June's announcement that Kerbal Space Program will be coming to PS4, developer Flying Tiger confirmed this week that they are also working on a port of the game to Xbox One. Neither port has a release date yet.

Konami would like to know which of its classic games you'd like to see get a modern-day makeover.

Forgotten Realms: the Archives are now wholly available (and completely DRM-free) on Gog.com.

If you were alive during the 1990s and ever visited an arcade, you likely were exposed to some not-so-subtle anti-drug propoganda. Ever wonder why various agencies chose to spread their message in arcades? Well, now you can find out.

Movies

We have a new trailer for the Martian. Let us bask in its glory

Science/Technology

While we're in a Red Planet state of mind, check out these self-portraits that Curiosity snapped earlier this week.

It may not be capable of causing rifts in the space-time continuum, but physicists from the University of Barcelona have successfully crafted a wormhole (that bores through electromagnetic fields).

Thoth Technology has been given a U.S. patent for space elevators.

It's a device straight out of the annals of science fiction, but more than one organization is seeking to at least attempt to make them a reality. What would happen if we could make a functional electromagnetic thruster?

Speaking of stuff that's straight out of science fiction, researchers at Ohio State University are claiming that they've grown a full-sized human brain in their laboratories (insert sinister cackling here).

Engineers at the University of Bristol may have a solution to one of the major limiting factors of quantum computing (and computing in general): the first quantum interconnect.

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Meanwhile, over at MIT, engineers believe they've come up with a functional and commercially viable solid-state electrolyte, which may well produce the "perfect" battery that would last for decades.

That whole Gravitational Constant is a Constant thing? Yeah, we're a little more sure that it's actually constant.

On the subject of constants, it takes 26 of them to adequately describe the known universe and those still leave us with some pretty gaping holes in our scientific narrative.

Stephen Hawking's speech software has been released for public use and is absolutely free.

You know what the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo could use? An artificially created meteor shower.

It hasn't even been a full month since the launch of Windows 10 and Microsoft has already released three patches to support the new operating system. The problem? Microsoft refuses to tell us what's in those patches.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas (at Galveston) believe they have isolated a new drug that can counter the deadly effects of acute radiation exposure.

It was arguably the single most viral phenomenon of 2014, but we're now learning just how much good the has come from the funds raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Crowdfundables For Your Consideration

Back in June we talked about a potential epic battle involving actual giant robots. Now one of the makers of said robots needs our help to make that fight happen. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the dream-fulfilling details.

There are just five days remaining to get in on the Button Shy Wallet Game series. This (completely funded) Kickstarter provides backers with three highly portable and fast-playing games.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Happy weekend everyone! We're in the very last stages of preparations for Gen Con 2015, which itself is a little surreal. The countdown now somehow stands at single digits, costume pieces need to be shipped, and bags will soon need to be packed. At this point next week Steampunk Hawkgirl will be 100% complete and, hopefully, on her way out to Indianapolis. In the interim, there will be at least one or two more posts that speak to the making of that costume and probably one other post describing where you can find the GIR and I if you're going to be joining us out at Gen Con. In the meantime though, let's get down to the week in Geekdom.

Books

Star Wars: Aftermath, one of the first new canon novels in the Star Wars universe, depicts the tragic fallout after the destruction of the second Death Star. The book will be available on September 4th.

Comics

Did the concept for Spider-Man's costume come from a 1950s era child's Halloween costume?

Archie Comics will be bringing the Ramones into their paper-and-ink world in 2016.

10 actually comics-based announcements from San Diego Comic Con.

Games

The Escapist feels that these are the 8 worst video game villains of all time. Do you agree?

Movies/TV

We posted the trailer on our social media pages earlier this week but, in case you missed it, here's our first glimpse of the X-Files reboot.

Artificial Intelligence has been a recurring theme in movies for decades now, but which films treat this technology correctly?

The saga of Dr. Doom's struggle to break into the Marvel cinematic universe.

Science/Technology

One of the biggest science stories of the week was undoubtedly the first images of Pluto that were sent back to us from the New Horizons probe. Here are some of the incredible pictures from our most distant neighbor in this solar system.

Speaking of NASA-originated awesomeness, these are the ideas being bandied about for a post-Hubble deep space telescope.

The other headline-grabbing bit of science news we were treated to this week was this discovery out of CERN that researchers have discovered a new subatomic particle: pentaquarks.

It's nothing like the summer camp your parents may have been sent to: this is the NSA's cybersecurity summer camp.

Buckyballs, not just a fun desk toy that's been pulled off the US market, but a tool that is still helping researchers unravel long-standing mysteries concerning interstellar space.

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The latest edition of Nature Communications includes this bit of research about a novel type of ceramic developed at the University of Tokyo that holds onto heat until the release of such is purposefully triggered.

Speaking of novel substances, scientists at Rice University have successfully combined titanium and gold to create the first itinerant antiferromagnetic metal.

We talk a lot on here about the sometimes-unsettling advances in the field of robotics. Well, researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are trying to allay our fears a bit with their efforts to teach robots to play soccer.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

San Diego Comic Con, the Musical.

If you've been reading here for a little while, you're likely aware of just how much we love Mad Max around here. So we were extra giddy when we came across this fan-made, Doof Warrior inspired ukelele.

Adam Savage and Chris Hadfield went to Comic-Con incognito while cosplaying as astronauts. Jaime Lee Curtis did the same at EVO 2015 while cosplaying as a Rule 63 version of Vega from Street Fighter.

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Happy weekend guys. Hope you've all had a great week and a suitably excellent weekend (and that you're not broke as a result of the Steam Summer Sale). There are a few hours left to get in on our Street Fighter IV giveaway too! Ok, you got your entry in? Let's get down to the week in geekdom!

Books

The onslaught of all things Star Wars ahead of the release of Episode VII is building to a crescendo. Disney and Lucasfilm will be adding to this on September 22nd, at which time they will release three new novels retelling the original trilogy from new viewpoints. You can get a sneak peek of this forthcoming goodness by reading this excerpt.

The daughter of the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett has confirmed that Shepherd's Crown will be the last novel in the Discworld series.

Comics

If you're a Star Wars fan you will almost assuredly enjoy this web comic depicting the backstory of Green Leader.

Secret Wars #3 let us finally see the face of Dr. Doom.

Games

Are your dice balanced? The following video will show you how to determine if you've got a fair die or if your complaints that said die was cursed and plotting against you were true all along.

Movies/TV

Have a tissue or three ready for Peter Jackson's tribute to Sir Christopher Lee.

On Monday we got the first episode of Bruce Timm's new animated series: Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles on Machinima. If you haven't seen it already, here's a sample of what the series is offering. Also, here is Mr. Timm's take on making the series and taking some of the most classic DC heroes into brand new territory.

We've known it all along, but now we have definitive, written proof that Han shot first.

This was a week of awesome new movie trailers. We now have a look at Hunger Games: Catching Fire Part 2 and the Martian.

Science/Technology

The Large Hadron Collider has been successfully running at full capacity for a bit now (and already giving us astounding data). Given that we haven't been plunged into the depths of a black hole as a direct result, maybe we can take some time to discuss the philosophy underpinning this lancet into scientific discovery.

Or, if philosophy isn't your thing, there's these findings in the latest edition of Nature that detail the discovery of the Bs0 meson.

It's been 39 years since Carl Sagan proposed the concept of a solar sail, but this week that musing became a reality (and Bill Nye is psyched about it).

Think you've exhausted all that Google Maps has to offer (and mastered Geoguessr as a result)? Google is upping their live mapping game by expanding into the sea.

Speaking of new visual frontiers, NASA will be bringing us video feed to YouTube in 4K resolution.

Thanks to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket the DSCOVR module has gone from very expensive space junk to fully functional monitor of solar storms.

Until that channel is launched, however, we can content ourselves with this set of images from Ceres.

The new Nature Scientific Reports details the work of Chinese and Singaporean physicists who appear to have demonstrated violations of local realism.

The latest edition of Nature Nanotechnology includes this research out of Harvard that allows for scientists to 'spy' on the functionality of individual neurons.

We're inching closer to the release of Oculus Rift, but we're getting more virtual reality goodness in the interim. Introducing the Oculus Touch controllers.

Ever wonder why the trip home usually feels shorter than the journey to get to your destination? Here comes the science.

We've talked at length about Elon Musk's proposed Hyperloop, but now we're getting sneak peeks of what it might look like.

IBM's supercomputer Watson: excellent at Jeopardy, terrible at biomedical research.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

We have our first official glimpse of the toys associated with The Force Awakens.

Real life Grand Theft Auto V. Enough said.

There's being a fan of Elder Scrolls and then there's investing $50,000 USD into a remodel that transforms your basement into Tamriel.

This Magic: the Gathering card sold for nearly $15,000 USD.

I'll leave you guys with this footage from YouTuber styropyro and his latest creation: a functional 40W laser shotgun. As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead.

Book Review: CONfidence

Posted by Kel

It’s almost like the interwebs knew we were on a quest to feature more content outside of the realms of gaming. In the past few weeks we’ve gotten quite a few new original texts that we’ll be sharing with you. We got to glimpse into the dragons’ temple and now we transition to a very different, perhaps more familiar realm of life in a high school.

For high school is where the bulk of the action takes place in CONfidence: the Diary of an Invisible Girl, the debut novel of Paige Lavoie of Pumpkin Spiced. This coming-of-age story has a distinctly nerdy bent, with the awkward, comics-loving protagonist Barbara (yes, named after Barbara Gordon) going on a journey of self-discovery as she’s introduced to the world of conventions by way of the machinations of her school’s AV club.

The club is populated with a handful of personable geeks led by Cassie, a recent transfer to the school after a long period of homeschooling. Cassie is the self-styled Queen of the Nerds and essentially the embodiment of all Barbara wishes she could be: confident, sociable, and resplendent with pastel hair that would make any denizen of Equestria go green with envy. Cassie’s force of personality and the creative talents of the other club members make up the backbone of a YouTube channel that they run under the guise of school approved club activities (while using school AV/drama club resources). Barbara is brought into their fold after her comic-inspired sketches catch Cassie’s attention and our heroine’s life is forever changed.

That which follows plays out like a teen movie. We get Barbara’s account of the proceedings via her entries into her diary, some of which morph into detailed first-person segments before eventually returning to journal entry format. She chronicles her bonding experiences with the group, particularly her deepening friendship with Cassie, as the group creates and produces episodes for their YouTube channel. It readily conjures feelings that many of us have experienced at least once before, realizing that you’re not alone in either the types of nerdy fandoms or the intensity with which you love these things. The exploration of those shared fandoms and, in Barbara’s case, new arenas in which to meet fellow fans is presented in a similarly nostalgia-inducing way. You’ll likely find yourself recalling your own first convention experience or the first time you donned cosplay. The text is also peppered with plenty of references that will make seasoned aficionados of various geeky properties break out into knowing grins.

All seems well for the members of the AV club at first, but it soon becomes apparent that initial appearances weren’t all of what they seemed. CONfidence breaks away from similar coming-of-age stories in its development of some of the characters and the layers of subject matter that are touched upon as a result. The majority of the individuals we’re introduced to are vibrant and complex, which is no small feat given that all we ‘see’ is filtered through Barbara’s gaze. In addition to the ‘a person may have crafted a careful façade to operate under, so be careful how you judge’ sentiments, there are quite a few nerd-specific social phenomena that are examined with impressive thoroughness and care. We explore the importance of having a fulfilling creative outlet, the unique and ever-changing role that social media plays in our lives, the revered but sometimes precarious atmosphere that a convention creates, how the definition of fandom is truly amorphous, and just how damaging it can be to condemn a fellow geek for not engaging with a nerdy property in a manner that we deem ‘correct’.

As mentioned earlier, at several points I felt like I was reading a film. This can be good; the narrative feels familiar while the prose is simple, super digestable, and allows you to plow on through it at speed if you so choose. However, the story arc does follow the movie-style trajectory and makes use of many classic tropes, so it can feel formulaic and potentially irk people who aren’t into that sort of thing.

CONfidence makes for a solid companion as you wait in line at a convention. It’s a fun, breezy bit of fiction that may conjure all sort of nostalgic feels and, as a potential added bonus, may inspire you to participate in NaNoWriMo (as CONfidence is the product of exactly that). If you’re planning on an excursion or two to the beach this upcoming summer, CONfidence may be an ideal book to bring along.

CONfidence will be available on Amazon beginning June 9^th, but you can enter to win your own copy on Goodreads right now or follow other pre-release news via Paige's twitter.

Book Review: Priestess of the Dragons' Temple

Posted by Kel

It’s been little while since we last featured a book on here and, as we mentioned last week, we’re gung ho to bring more topical diversity your way. Woot! As an added bonus, this review builds upon the couplet of posts we featured last winter that introduced us to the lush fantasy world of Theranis. Author Amelia Smith brings us the next chapter of her Anamat quintilogy, Priestess of the Dragon’s Temple.

Before we go any further, if you haven’t read Scrapplings, the first book in the aforementioned series, then you’ll need to do so if you want to make sense of Priestess of the Dragon’s Temple. The Anamat books are designed to be one continuous narrative, so it’s not a series you can jump into en media res.

And en media res is exactly how Priestess begins, picking up the action from the very minute that Scrapplings left off. Three of the titular scrapplings: the cantankerous Darna, the hypersensitive Myril, and the otherworldly Iola, have left the behind their streetbound begging and become novices in the Temple at Ara’s Landing, the foremost of the houses of worship dedicated to the dragons of Theranis. While the Temple offers stability in the form of reliable food and shelter, only Iola actively sought to serve in it, so it takes on more of an imprisoning role for Myril and especially Darna.

The narrative then jumps forward four years and we learn of what goes into the making of a priestess largely via inference (though we do get some critical insights into what comprises the cult of dragon worship). Instead, we’re thrust into the heart of what it means to be a human messenger to the dragons and, of equal importance, the political implications that the role entails in mortal human realm. The relationship that humanity has with the dragons is revealed to be even more tenunous than what was implied in Scrapplings, with the dragons displaying outright hostility towards their constituents at various intervals. The majority of humanity, however, has only a bare comprehension of the precariousness of their existence. There’s more than a bit of the “out with the old gods and in with the new, foreign ones” dynamic in play and the tension resulting from this is overlaid with additional complications rising from what had been considered traditional gender relations in the land of Theranis. It’s a feeling that fans of the Mists of Avalon will find familiar: a matriarchal clergy class losing power due to patriarchal outside influence. It’s a tension that’s underscored by the manner in which worship of the dragons occurs: via ritual sex.

The trio of new priestesses take to their vocation in manners as disparate as their personalities. Iola revels in the role that she feels she was born to play, Darna gripes that she is no true holy woman, and Myril struggles with the aftereffects of an ecstatic trance that leaves her catatonic in the days immediately following her initiation. The days that follow leave all three girls questioning whether the clergical life is actually the right place for them.

The girls have little time to acclimate themselves to their duties before they become privy to new layers of intrigue. The ambassadress, a priestess of rare talent selected to act as the literal messenger of humanity and live among the dragons for six months at a time, returns from her latest sojourn in a desperate state. Not only is it clear that the dragons are displeased, but it’s doubtful that the ambassadress will be physically and psychically able to make the trip the following year. The situation is complicated further by the fact that the Governor, the head of secular power in Theranis and the individual who would appoint a new ambassadress, lies close to death. Selecting successors to both of these roles is a highly political process where raw ambitions appear to outweigh actual ability. The majority of the book deals with the selection process, the corruption that runs rampant through both secular and spiritual life in Theranis, and, as mentioned, the respective tales of self-discovery for Darna, Iola, and Myril.

Priestess deals with these elements in a manner similar to what we saw in Scrapplings, that is to say a piece that can appeal to adults but also function as a work of young adult fiction. While it’s an interesting text, seasoned fantasy readers may find some plot points and the development of some, though certainly not all, characters to be a bit too neat and tidy. Another item that readers may want to keep in mind is that Priestess, like Scrapplings, is one chapter in what is meant to be a series of five books, so it helps to temper expectations knowing that this is part of a much larger story. As such, we get a lot of exposition, but more than a few mysteries will persist by the time the last page is turned.

And Priestess does an excellent job of both expanding the world of Theranis (in itself something of a feat given that the vast majority of the tale centers around life in the Temple) and building the central narrative. The book builds to a mighty crescendo that, even if some of the events therein were largely known quantities, the resulting cliffhanger will likely urge you on to the next chapter if you've found yourself won over by the series.

Priestess of the Dragon's Temple is available via Amazon as well as through a handful of other channels listed here on Amelia's website.

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Holy moly, we're already coming up on the midpoint for April. Fortunately, it's finally started to feel like mid-April around here (no snow, woot!). The improving weather serves as a good reminder that Gen Con is only a few months away. There will be plenty of updates regarding our preparations for the Best Four Days in Gaming but, for now, let's get down to the Week in Geekdom!

Books

The top slots on Amazon.com's bestseller's list are occupied by coloring books that are targeted towards adults. Here's why the book world is shifting its assumptions regarding what defines 'age appropriate'.

Games

Sorry Crimean Warcraft fans. This week Blizzard joined the ranks of Apple, Google, and PayPal in suspending its services to the conflicted peninsula.

Chinese Xbox One users rejoice: the console is now officially region-free for you.

EA may be the biggest name in sports games, but it's far from the only name (and is arguably doing more harm than good to the genre). Here's a breakdown of some of the best indie sports games out there.

Are you a YouTuber who derives any income from streams or video reviews of games? Well, Nintendo would like 40% of that revenue. Kthxbye.

If you're one of those gamers eagerly awaiting the release of Grand Theft Auto V on PC, you may want to take a look at this list of the errors you may see when you install and try to start up the game.

On Wednesday Square Enix gave us this trailer for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. There is no official release date yet, but the game will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Movies/TV

In this nifty Star Wars featurette we learn where the Millennium Falcon got its distinct shape and what exactly the asteroids were made of.

IMAX theaters have gone from relative rarity to fairly commonplace in only a few years. One of the consequences of this cinematic proliferation? An increased demand for technicians who can handle the complexities of an IMAX projector. Check out this video of the elaborate process involved in just changing an IMAX light bulb.

We may all soon be doing the Time Warp again.

On Friday we got the debut of the Daredevil TV series, but some people are already displeased. Turns out the show about the famously blind superhero isn't actually configured for blind viewers.

We will no longer get the Simpsons on DVD.

Marvel and ABC are working together to create a spinoff series based on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Science/Technology

It's no secret that this past winter in the U.S. was more than a bit on the weird side. It turns out that this was due in no small part to a warm 'blob' in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

Hundreds of researchers have spent untold hours trying to definitively prove the root cause of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. The latest edition of Science introduces a new theory: that volcanic eruptions caused the Earth's oceans to acidify to the point that very little life could be sustained.

Speaking of dinosaurs, one of the biggest science stories of the week were the findings out of the new University of Lisbon in Portugal that appear to have proven that, contrary to years of being told that Apatosaurus was the only correct name for a type of long-necked herbivore, Brontosaurus was very real and entirely distinct species of dinosaur.

Photo credit: Tu Wien

A team of researchers from the Vienna University of Technology have captured light in a bottle...er...a glass fiber. Their research, published on the University's website, details how the team was able to bring light to a halt in their customized fiber.

Scientists out of Stanford University are also keen to push the boundaries of existing technology with their work on creating batteries powered by aluminium-ions (as opposed to the more common lead or lithium-ion).

Bad news for the fun-sized among us. New research out of the University of Leicester indicates that an increased risk of heart disease may be linked to the same genes that give us our height.

Enjoy them while you can; solar eclipses are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past.

What if dark matter didn't exist after all?

General Awesomeness

Octopi have become famous for everything from hosting their own internal raves to predicting winners of the FIFA World Cup. Now meet Rambo, the world's first octopus photographer.

Woo comic-related infographics! Here are the 50 suits of armor that have depicted in all media incarnations of Iron Man over the years.

Feats of Nerdery

This kid has a future in paleontology. Five-year-old Wylie Brys got quite a thrill this week when scientists from SMU helped him and his dad excavate a Jurassic-era fossil he discovered behind a shopping mall.

It's one of the more recognizable images permeating the internets, but it's also incredibly lucrative. Here's the story of 'Trollface' and how its creator is laughing all the way to the bank.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Happy Easter to all you celebrating today and best wishes for a happy remainder of the con for everyone attending WonderCon or Anime Boston this weekend. Woo for convention season getting into full swing! Also exciting: the chance to win a copy of Star Wars: Armada, get your chance by following the instructions here.

Back from getting your entries in? Great! Now let's get down to the week in Geekdom!

Comics

Comics as we're experiencing them today are the result of three-quarters of a century's worth of drafting and evolution. In that spirit, here are 50 issues that helped define the modern comics industry.

It seems like something of an April Fools prank, but is is possible that Superman has been in the Marvel universe all along?

Is the Clark Kent disguise much better than we all thought?

Did you know that the Avengers once did battle with the Church of Scientology? Neither did we.

Movies/TV

Old and busted: comic book movies. (old) New hotness: video game movies.

Yesterday Mr. Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., turned 50!

It's become one of the most iconic opening sequences on the small screen, but where did the Game of Thrones intro come from? Turns out there's quite an interesting backstory.

George R.R. Martin will be developing a new science-fiction TV series for HBO (sadly not derived from Tuf Voyaging). The author also claims he's buckling down to finish Winds of Winter in an effort to complete the much-anticipated tome by 2016.

While we're on the subject of Game of Thrones, Miss Maisie Williams, Arya Stark herself, has confirmed that she will have a guest role in the next season of Doctor Who.

Games

Want to get your game on but you're a bit short on cash? Check out these 10 Steam games that are completely free to play.

Speaking of free, click here to play a hybrid of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Pong for the low, low price of nothing.

You can also play this level of Super Mario 64 that's been painstakingly re-made in HD.

Fans of Star Citizen have thrown a combined $77 million USD at the title's developers, but, three years after its Kickstarter closed, they have yet to receive a complete, bug-free game.

The guys behind the insanely popular party game Cards Against Humanity have released a science-themed expansion. Awesome bonus: all the proceeds from sales of the new pack going to fund a scholarship (a full-ride for an undergraduate degree) for women in the STEM fields.

Science/Technology

Astronomers using two pictures from New Mexico's Very Large Array have been able to capture the birth of a star. Extra impressive: the images they used were taken 18 years apart.

The technicians at CERN were keen to get in on the April Fool's fun with this claim that they had confirmed the existence of the Force.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum also tried to pull a fast one on Wednesday with this 'exhibit' featuring Wonder Woman's invisible jet.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham were amazed to discover that a nearly 1,000-year-old folk remedy made from garlic is able to eliminate one of the most feared infections of our time: MRSA.

Nuclear submarines have fascinated the public for decades, but decommissioning them is a laborious, lengthy, and extremely hazardous process. Where do nuclear submarines go to die?

General Awesomeness

These programmer proverbs will likely prove amusing to all you software devs out there.

We started off this post with a mention of con season getting into full swing. Here's a fun, but poignant reminder of why conventions are so important.

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

Happy weekend everyone and best wishes for what remains of your con for everybody at Emerald City Comic Con right now. Of all the conventions out there that we've yet to try, ECCC is at the top of our Potential Cons for 2016 list. We're giving serious thought to making a trip to Seattle happen next year, so if you've been to ECCC and would like to offer us any advice or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you!

But ok, less about next year and more about this week in Geekdom!

Comics

It's been an epic pantheon 75 years in the making, here is the story of how the Marvel universe as we know it came to be.

Games

The DLC for the already difficult motorcycle platformer, Trials Fusion, is so intense that even the developers can't beat some of the levels they've created.

Movies/TV

It was a rumor we'd been following for quite some time, but this week it became a reality: the X-Files is officially coming back to TV as a six-episode miniseries.

Tonight is the Season Five finale of the Walking Dead, but there's more zombie apocalypse goodness headed our way. The spinoff of the hit series officially has both a name and an order for two full seasons of production.

It's been nearly 10 years since the last broadcast of Star Trek: Enterprise, but, despite the lack of airtime, the series is experiencing something of a renaissance and here's why.

The Deadpool movie is only in the early stages of production, but we have at least one photo of Ryan Reynold's take on the Merc with a Mouth.

Leonard Nimoy's son is planning to make a documentary about the life and times of his erstwhile Vulcan father.

This past Thursday was the 10th anniversary of Doctor Who's rebirth on the small screen.

Science/Technology

Icelandic researchers believe they have mapped the genetic records for the entirety of their homeland.

Paleontologists from the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the University of Pomona believe they have uncovered the common ancestor for lobsters, butterflies, and spiders (yep, they're related).

A group of California scientists (who may or may not be supervillains in the making) have discovered a treatment that appears to give humans extraordinary night vision. Warning: the subject for the study looks like he's been infected with the Black Oil from the X-Files.

On Friday, two astronauts were shuttled up to the International Space Station to begin a year-long stay in space.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Is that fact due to cosmic happenstance or because Jupiter murdered its planetary rivals?

Speaking of celestial drama, the latest edition of Physical Review Letters contains this research from the University of Cambridge that appears to provide solutions to decades-old equations that describe the behavior of two black holes colliding with one another.

Image credit: NASA

Amazon.com, not content to soon have a fleet of drones, is building up an army of robots.

It's happened to just about everyone: you find yourself laughing at what would be considered an inappropriate moment. Why do we do this? Here comes the science.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

Behold, a fully functional vinyl record player made entirely out of Legos.

George R.R. Martin believes he has the perfect solution to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Crowdfundables for Your Consideration

There are three weeks left for you to delve into the cyberpunk universe of Neon Sanctum. The Kickstarter for the card-based RPG will be up and running until April 19th. Bonus: it's EU-friendly!

As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!

This Week in Geekdom

Posted by Kel

The calendar says it's Spring, but our surroundings make us inclined to disbelieve. Can you guess it's snowing again? Seriously winter, you had your time...now make like a landspeeder and move along. Lingering House Stark mottos notwithstanding, we're working on all sorts of good stuff for you guys here behind the scenes. The coming weeks will see more fun games, the return of cosplay-related posts, and at least one (hopefully fun) contest. All that goodness is on its way, but, for now, lets get down to the Week in Geekdom.

Books

The final novel in the late Terry Pratchett's Discworld series will be published this coming October.

Comics

Image: Archie Comics

Archie Comics, after revamping both Sabrina the Teenaged Witch and Afterlife with Archie, will be introducing a new all-horror imprint.

This past week there was much gnashing of teeth and internet screaming concerning a certain variant cover for Batgirl. If you missed out on this here's a summary of what went down.

Games

The feud between Kojima Productions and its publisher, Konami, looks like it's reaching an ugly head. Earlier this week the publisher confirmed that Kojima would be leaving Konami's purview after the release of Metal Gear Solid 5.

Valve's Gabe Newell talks about his company's new VR headset and the likelihood of them ever making Half-Life 3.

Speaking of VR, it's no secret that the technology is on the cusp of breaking into mainstream video gaming. If Valve's forthcoming headset isn't enough to get you excited, here are 10 VR games poised to make off with all your free time.

It's getting increasingly difficult to be able to play older PC games and, in this article by Escapist, we learn why this issue is only going to get more pervasive over time.

There's no shortage of examples of video game Kickstarters that have yielded vaporware or colossal flops, but here is the story of Harebrained Schemes (makers of Shadowrun: Hong Kong), one of the few crowdfunded studios that seemingly has done everything right.

If you are both a Star Trek fan and a player of the mobile game Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff then the next month or so will be filled with awesome as the latter features a special all-Trek event.

Movies/TV

A few very driven fans of Archer may have uncovered one of the most complex easter eggs of all time.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be producing and starring in a Fraggle Rock movie.

Science/Technology

This past Wednesday was the 50th anniversary of the very first spacewalk.

Our sun was remarkably active this week and said nuclear storminess produced some impressive auroras. If you missed out, no worries, here are some of the best pictures of these geomagnetic light shows.

Nvidia has developed a $10,000 USD computer that allegedly can teach cars to drive.

Online retail megagiant Amazon.com has been given the all-clear by the Federal Aviation Administration to begin testing of their package delivery drones.

The Ig Nobels, deliverers of some of the best weird science we humans can come up with, turn 25 this year.

Google has sunk nearly half a billion dollars into the project and we can finally get this glimpse of the work produced by its augmented reality start up, Magic Leap.

It's a subject that has fascinated humanity for eons: what happens during a near-death experience?

The current issue of Nature Medicine includes a report that indicates Type 2 diabetics may be able to control their insulin levels with the help of a common over-the-counter cough suppressant.

What's (potentially) the best way to fight leukemia? Turn the cancerous cells into immune cells.

It's a frustrating phenomenon that almost everyone has experienced: you definitely know the word or concept needed in a given situation, but you can't for the life of you recall what it is. What causes these 'brain farts'? Here comes the science.

It may be a giant when compared to most of its biological counterparts, but this Octopus is no kaiju.

Microsoft really, really wants you to switch over to Windows 10 when it launches this summer. It wants this so badly that you can reap the benefits of the free upgrade even if you're currently running a pirated copy of another version of Windows.

Ever wonder what happened to GeoSites, Netscape, or Lycos? Well wonder no more.

Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science have detailed their discovery of not one, not two, but five distinct types of transitory silica in the latest edition of Nature Communications.

What does flying a kite have to do with exploring the surface of Mars? Potentially quite a bit.

Crowdfundables For Your Consideration

Neon Sanctum is a fast-paced, richly realized RPG set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk universe. Players use a set of custom cards to track their various abilities, allowing for fluid gameplay while also making the game highly digestible to new players. The Kickstarter for Neon Sanctum is live now and will run until April 19th.

Loot and Recruit aims to be 'a new breed of deck-builder'. In this quick and beautifully illustrated game, players are goblins seeking to lay claim to the goblin throne during the course of a fairly rambunctious festival. The campaign for Loot & Recruit is running until April 9th.

General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery

How much would it cost to build the Millennium Falcon? According to DeAgostini Model Space, nearly 3.2 billion GBP. If that's a tad rich for your blood, you can always go with this far less expensive 1:1 scale model.

Speaking of the Falcon, check out this incredibly detailed all-paper model that was four full years in the making.

On Tuesday lunar pioneer Buzz Aldrin gave us this epic photo of Stonehenge.

It's an amazing shot of Loch Ness, but not for the reason you may think.