Kev QuirkModify

2025-09-12 23:30:00

I know lots of people don't like services like ChatGPT, but I get so much use out of it. It use it to tweak language here and there when needed (among other things). It's great for things like "hey Geeps, I don't like this paragraph, but I can't think of a better way to write it...".

2025-09-09 16:20:00

Switched to #Spotify after my frustrations with #Apple Music. I forgot just how good the curated playlists are with Spotify!

2025-09-04 02:50:00

I hope there's no wind tonight. 😳

2025-09-03 00:30:00

✍️ Written by: Martha Wells
🏷 Genre: Sci-fi
🗓 Published: 08 May 2018
📄 Pages: 149
🧐 My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)

It has a dark past. One in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

Buy on Amazon      Buy on Kobo

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Another short book in this series and I'm really enjoying it. Being so short, they don't feel like books, more like long chapters. But I'm becoming more invested in The Murderbot and I'm looking forward to starting book 3 this evening.

ART is definitely my favourite "character" in this book. I thought the dynamic of Murderbot and his sidekick (a ship!) is really novel.

The entire series (and other Martha Wells books) are still available on Humble Bundle. So if you're interested, go and nab them quick!

2025-08-31 21:50:00

We had a birthday party for my youngest today. Instead of the usual soft play, trampoline place, or other such boring stuff, we found a real-life Minecraft themed party in the woods. My oldest dressed up as the creeper to catch all the intrepid explorers.

Needless to say, the kids LOVED it.

2025-08-31 01:15:00

✍️ Written by: Martha Wells
🏷 Genre: Sci-fi
🗓 Published: 02 May 2017
📄 Pages: 156
🧐 My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighbouring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Buy on Amazon      Buy on Kobo

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I bought All Systems Red back in November 2023 but never got around to reading it, as there was always something else I fancied more.

At around 150 pages, it's a quick read, and I finished it over a couple of evenings before bed. Because of the brevity, the story wastes no time getting started and needs to hook you right away. It did.

My only frustration is that I wish it had been a little longer, with more space to explore certain details. I am not sure why Martha Wells keeps these novellas so short, but I'll take “too short” over endless padding.

There are eight books in The Murderbot Diaries, and buying them all adds up. Together, they are about the length of a single Brandon Sanderson epic, yet each novella is priced roughly the same as one of his full-length novels.

That said, I love a good yarn, and I am happy to support authors I enjoy. Especially when the eBook ends with a note like this:

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

I will definitely be picking up the next one.

MKJ and Xinit, over on that there Fediverse just let me know about the entire series (and some other Wells books) available on Humble Bundle, so I've just snagged them all.