Killers of Greenbushes man show no remorse during sentencing
By David Weber

A judge said the men, who were convicted of killing 68-year-old Raymond Smith during a drug-fuelled home invasion in the WA town of Greenbushes, showed no remorse.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-12/men-sentenced-for-greenbushes-raymond-smith-murder/106790294

#Courts #Crime #Homicide #DavidWeber

With all the streaming services turning out all the glurge in the world, why the FUCK has no one picked up The Vorkosigan Saga or the Honorverse yet?

#SF #loismcmasterbujold #davidweber

I like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but I tried his book Out of the Dark and... don't bother.

The premise is interesting. Aliens scout out Earth during medieval times and return to conquer. By the time they return, we have developed modern military weaponry and technology. Things don't go as they expected.

Nevertheless, the author starts smoking the guano toward the end of the book and if you like what I've described so far, you will throw it across the room in exasperation. Luckily I was just dealing with an audiobook.

I also had little patience for the authors geeking out over military hardware. Guns, calibers, maximum speeds of various planes. There are ways in which you can celebrate the technical aspects that excite you without boring the reader, and he did not use those ways.

In the audiobook you couldn't tell characters apart, partly due to the narrator, but mostly due to poor characterization.

#sciFi #DavidWeber #books #bookReviews

Finished: The Honor of the Queen
About to start The Short Victorious War

First, some thoughts about Honor. Included below: discussion of religion in SFF. No great spoilers.

I found this a better book than On Basilisk Station. It's a wild ride, and war is hell. I still have trouble keeping up with characters, but Captain Honor Harrington herself is better developed and a much stronger character in this one.

By "still have trouble keeping up with characters", here's an example. There's a major supporting character early in this second book about whom I kept asking myself, "Is this the same character as one of the villainous figures from the last book?" I've now finished the book and I think the answer is "no", but I'm still not quite sure. That's a failure on the part of the writer. I trust he will get better at this.

One other observation.

I am pretty sure the author, David Weber, is himself nonreligious.
Why do I say this?
A major part of the plot of Honor is conflict among Her Majesty's Navy and two planets founded by religious extremists. This includes conflict between the two planets. At various times, one side or another has to give in to what seem to be unreasonable stances from another party, all based on differences in ideology. (The planets have differences among themselves but share a common heritage. The Navy brings a different approach from either.)

When compromises happens, the Navy grins and bears it. Naval characters complain, but accept the necessity for the moment. The various locals, however, complain with phrases like "this goes against everything I believe!"

Come on. Any real religion, especially one capable of shaping an entire society, is about more than one thing. When a religious person makes what seems to be a compromise in one area, that rarely "goes against everything they believe". It probably goes against one thing they believe, and it may be a major thing, but our power to rationalize is nearly infinite. And the thing the locals are compromising on, well, it's an important part of their identity, but I can't see how it's their whole identity. They can find ways to make this work. They don't have to despair that they're giving up their whole identity.

This is a sloppy way of writing about religion, in stereotype, not as a social or spiritual reality.

To Weber's credit, he gives us some local figures who have their misgivings but work through them with time. Those characters are much more full and believable.

I am again grateful for the normal characterization of religion in James SA Corey's The Expanse series. Several characters are religious to various degrees, and it's just a normal thing. There's a Methodist pastor; there are Mormons in Space; and while that might seem weird to some, it's tremendously realistic and refreshing, as so many SF writers assume that religion is something humanity will magically "get over" in a few years. We aren't like that. Humanity will always be religious. That's part of who we are; it always has been and though the forms change over time, the reality does not.

#sf #sff #milSF #honorverse #honorHarrington #reading #davidWeber #theExpanse #jamesSACorey #religion