Asymmetrical Information

You're in for a treat with that Orwell collection. The Strand had all 4 on sale for about $25 a few months ago. The might still have some sets left, but I haven't been there for a while.

You might also pick up "Why Orwell Matters" by Christopher Hitches to go with that four-volume set.

It's very insightful, claiming that Orwell was the only one to get it right on all three counts: imperialism, fascism and communism. The used editions are only three or four bucks.

Sorry, that's "Christopher Hitchens", of course.

I had a sunbeam toaster-oven and microwave combo a long time ago (um, lets see.. 15 years), it was the best appliance I ever had I think, I am sorry I ever let it go, and wondered when they would start making things like that again.

My favorite use was making cassaroles without heating up the whole kitchen, toasting up french bread pizzas, and nuking of course. :)

Good call on the Martin book. I'm reading the most recent right now.

I respect his writing for his audacity to exterminate main characters. :)

"A Feast of Crows"

I like that typo. Breakfast of pundits?

Orwell's essays actually get better as he goes along. I don't always agree with him, but he's always thought-provoking (e.g., the essay on Dickens), and it's very fun watching the little bits and pieces that will become _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ start to accumulate. I can't recommend these highly enough.

(I think Modern Library has a one-volume edition of all the essays, on their usual high-quality paper with very good binding. Recommended.)

I've owned a Sharp convention microwave, larger than the one you're looking at, for 20 years and it's great. It's very handy for cooking and heating smaller items without heating our big oven--especially in the summer. Ours has a feature where you can combine the two and it's useful, although we don't use it that much. I'd buy another one when this one dies.

That butter boat makes me drool a little. All of my butter goals met in a little cute white gadget-y thing!

Crap, I am going to have re-read the last song of fire and ice book it has been so long a wait. I can't remember where everyone is at anymore.

Unfortunately for me, I read A Game of Thrones when it was released and read each sequel immediately. I've been waiting so long for A Feast for Crows that I've given up on the series. The Song of Fire and Ice series has also grown in expected numbers by I believe two more books.

I detest ever expending series, having been burned by Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. I might get back to GRRM's series when it's all over. At the current pace though... sheesh. As long as I have a predictable release schedule, I'll willingly jump into a extended series. I did just that with Steven R. Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series going so far to import each release from Canada. Book two of the series, "Deadhouse Gates" knocked me out more than A Game of Thrones ever did.

Anyway. Sorry for the rant, but I'll get back to GRRM when he's done and over. :)

Deadhouse Gates is the best military fantasy every written, period. It's like the Bataan Death March without all the warm fuzzies. But Erikson DID slip on delivery of book six after maintaining his promised one a year on books 2-5. All we can say for certain is there will only be 10, not when they'll come out.

The Malazan series is excellent. I read Garden of the Moon before I realized it was the beginning of an unfinished series. One nice thing about the series is that each book has good conclusions, so while you want the next book to come out you aren’t left with a cliff-hanger that takes two or three years to resolve.

The first three books in Martin's series are superb, but unfortunately AFFC does not live up to the standard they set. His knack for characterization and world-building is still there, but the book as a whole cries out for an editor. Eric Anondson's comparison to Robert Jordan is unfortunately apt; this is Zeno's-Paradox Storytelling at its worst, where you finish the book wondering how each of them seems to be a smaller fraction of the first.

The real problem seems to be Martin's decision to cut the original single volume into two separate books, one dealing with the characters on the "edges" of the world and the other dealing with the characters in the "center". Alas, the characters who seem to be the real protagonists of the series -- Jon and Daenerys -- are both in the former category, and the absence of both translates directly to a book that even the author seems to have lost interest in. Maybe the next one will be more readable -- this one left me feeling I'd wasted my money.

FFC has been sitting on my table for a month. Mostly because I keep seeing reviews like cwp's. I'll read it. And I'll be pissed afterwords. If only Jordan would be as willing to kill of characters as Martin, as there are 20-50 that could get killed and no one would miss them (mainly because no one would remember them to begin with.)

Professor Bainbridge was going on and on the other day about the Martin books. I had not even heard of them until then. Used to be a big reader of SciFi/fantasy back in the distant past, but somehow lost my taste for it. I've been thinking about giving the Martin books a whirl, however, and reading Jane's enthusiastic endorsement just closed it.

I've known George for years. I know he has absolutely no interest in an ever-growing never ending series but felt VERY strongly that he had to do what he's done to tell the story he wants to tell the way he wants to tell it. I told Paris (His S.O.) that while I've bought every book as it's come out it'll be early next year before I start reading them. Actually thinking about it I told George that too, it was just well after I told Paris because he'd been so busy trying to finish the book. I just wanted to start reading it when more of it was done than not. We were very pleased when he chose to make the first announcement that he'd finished the book at our science fiction convention that he was toastmaster at this past Memorial Day weekend.

We love our convection microwave (which might be, like another reader's, slightly larger than your candidate). I use it regularly to bake a potato for lunch while I'm getting ready in the morning. We've also used it to cook turkey.

Dylan,

Have you read the Black Company series by Glen Cook? If you're into military fantasy you just might like it.

I can confimr that a butter boat works marvelously.

Too get back, I don't want anyone to think I'm comparing GRRM's prose and style with Robert Jordan's. Not at all, I can take Jordan-esque writing at about a single book at a time. I honestly prefer GRRM's style in an extended series.

About Erikson's slippage, true he did miss his schedule for the sixth book, but I was more okay with it as the person who he collaborated with in designing the stories and setting for the Malazan book finally got his book in the setting published right as Erikson slipped his 6th book out. :) Ok, maybe some hypocrasy there. ;)

I've been a long fan of Glen Cook's Black Company series. I've discovered it's not for everyone though. The "common man" tone hasn't appealed to everyone I've suggested him to. They pick up a fantasy book a certain "feel" is expected of it. Still, his Black Company has made a mark in the genre by being distinctive. Sort of a Jospeh Heller's "Catch-22" in a fantasy world. Understandably, they've gotten a bit of a following among the military. I still pick up the first three Black Company books every now and then. Above Glen Cook's "Black Company" trilogy, I prefer his standalone novel "The Tower of Fear". So much was packed into that book it could have been a trilogy in its own right.

Oh dear, off on a ramble again.

Yes to the convection microwave. Had one very like this since 1989. Microwave works just fine, top power. Convection very handy for baking homemade biscuits, warming crispy-top casseroles, etc.

The only thing I haven't figured out is that sometimes the convection doesn't reach really high heat -- 400+ -- that my oven oven does. Wouldn't try to sear meat, or anything.

Sorry I missed this the first time around, but why on earth do you limit yourself to Amazon? I run a large discussion forum, and I affiliate with a couple hundred merchants. You probably don't need to go that far, but you should certainly consider signing up with some magazine affiliates (netmagazine is a good one), and other booksellers as well (Barnes & Noble, Powells). And why not a couple international sites, too?

Magazine affiliates pay huge--from 30-50%. Netmagazines has a Take 5 for $30 deal (five magazine subscriptions for $30) that pays $10 to you.

Affiliate advertising is a great way for you to earn some income from your site.

I know this probably makes me sound like I'm from Amway or something but I swear, I'm not trying to gain from it. I'm glad to see you using affiliate links, if only in such a small way. I just don't understand why more website owners don't realize that affiliate advertising gives them access to better merchants with products people actually want to buy.

Leave the butter on the counter, without that fancy boat, and it won't go rancid. Try it!

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