Lifel1ke
@lifel1ke.bsky.social
Speedrunner, guitar builder (http://instagram.com/orbitalluthiery http://reverb.com/shop/orbitals-boutique-1 ) book enjoyer, MTG player.
(he/him)
(he/him)
29: Behemoth by Peter Watts. Book 3 (pt.1+2). A solid conclusion to the trilogy, though not for the squeamish as it gets pretty graphic in some parts. Could have used more of a “cool down” after the main conflict was resolved. Good series overall if you like “Hard” SciFi or other books from Watts.
November 6, 2025 at 11:40 PM
29: Behemoth by Peter Watts. Book 3 (pt.1+2). A solid conclusion to the trilogy, though not for the squeamish as it gets pretty graphic in some parts. Could have used more of a “cool down” after the main conflict was resolved. Good series overall if you like “Hard” SciFi or other books from Watts.
28: Maelstrom by Peter Watts. Rifters trilogy pt.2. Compelling escalation from the first book, and a cast of complex and morally questionable characters. A combination of ai and ancient microbes have started the end of the world. Very interested to see where the next book goes from here.
November 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
28: Maelstrom by Peter Watts. Rifters trilogy pt.2. Compelling escalation from the first book, and a cast of complex and morally questionable characters. A combination of ai and ancient microbes have started the end of the world. Very interested to see where the next book goes from here.
27: Starfish by Peter Watts. Book 1 of the Rifters trilogy, and his first published novel. The writing at first is weaker than I’m used to from his later work, but his voice starts showing through pretty quickly. Interesting scientific concepts set up here, looking forward to the rest of the series.
October 26, 2025 at 11:00 PM
27: Starfish by Peter Watts. Book 1 of the Rifters trilogy, and his first published novel. The writing at first is weaker than I’m used to from his later work, but his voice starts showing through pretty quickly. Interesting scientific concepts set up here, looking forward to the rest of the series.
26: The Colonel by Peter Watts. I’m cheating a bit with this because it’s only 36 pages, but it’s the third “book” of the Firefall series and I’ve wanted to read it for a long time. It left me wanting more; it’s like an interlude to the next big entry, unfortunately there hasn’t been any more yet.
October 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
26: The Colonel by Peter Watts. I’m cheating a bit with this because it’s only 36 pages, but it’s the third “book” of the Firefall series and I’ve wanted to read it for a long time. It left me wanting more; it’s like an interlude to the next big entry, unfortunately there hasn’t been any more yet.
25: The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. An alternate history where Hitler migrated to the US in 1919, became a hack SF writer, and this is his most famous work. Written badly on purpose (successfully) it’s a rough read. Hilarious concept, but hard to recommend anyone subject themselves to reading it.
October 20, 2025 at 10:39 PM
25: The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. An alternate history where Hitler migrated to the US in 1919, became a hack SF writer, and this is his most famous work. Written badly on purpose (successfully) it’s a rough read. Hilarious concept, but hard to recommend anyone subject themselves to reading it.
24: Radio by J. Rushing. Set in 1928, the old gods of the world walk among us. Marduk invented a psychic radio to influence the world, but is betrayed by others who want to use it to retake their former glory. He flees his old body and ends up sharing the body of an opium addicted jazz guitarist.
October 16, 2025 at 2:09 AM
24: Radio by J. Rushing. Set in 1928, the old gods of the world walk among us. Marduk invented a psychic radio to influence the world, but is betrayed by others who want to use it to retake their former glory. He flees his old body and ends up sharing the body of an opium addicted jazz guitarist.
23: The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg. 4 college roommates discover a hidden monastery where there is a ritual for immortality, but 2 must die for the other 2 to live forever. Most of the book is an interesting dive into each of the 4 characters and their prejudices about/against each other.
October 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
23: The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg. 4 college roommates discover a hidden monastery where there is a ritual for immortality, but 2 must die for the other 2 to live forever. Most of the book is an interesting dive into each of the 4 characters and their prejudices about/against each other.
22: Dracula by Bram Stoker. A spooky book for the start of spooky month. What is there to say? Everybody knows what Dracula is, and it’s been a classic that stuck around this long for a reason.
October 6, 2025 at 6:38 PM
22: Dracula by Bram Stoker. A spooky book for the start of spooky month. What is there to say? Everybody knows what Dracula is, and it’s been a classic that stuck around this long for a reason.
21: Hothouse by Brian Aldiss. A far-future where the sun expanded, heating earth and wiping out most animal life, leading to plants becoming dominant. Most of the book focuses on exploring what that world would be like, rather than developing its characters or having a conflict other than survival.
September 23, 2025 at 1:16 AM
21: Hothouse by Brian Aldiss. A far-future where the sun expanded, heating earth and wiping out most animal life, leading to plants becoming dominant. Most of the book focuses on exploring what that world would be like, rather than developing its characters or having a conflict other than survival.
20: Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo. A tense, creepy sci-fi/horror, I read this one pretty fast because it kept me wanting to know what happened next. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys the atmosphere of movies like Event Horizon or Alien. I’ll be interested to check out more from this author
September 7, 2025 at 2:20 AM
20: Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo. A tense, creepy sci-fi/horror, I read this one pretty fast because it kept me wanting to know what happened next. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys the atmosphere of movies like Event Horizon or Alien. I’ll be interested to check out more from this author
19: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Never saw any movies based on this book, so went in with no expectations. The writing quality was very good, though it took a while for the plot to get going. Probably my second favorite of the classics I’ve read. Disney made a KIDS movie out of this?
September 4, 2025 at 7:51 PM
19: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Never saw any movies based on this book, so went in with no expectations. The writing quality was very good, though it took a while for the plot to get going. Probably my second favorite of the classics I’ve read. Disney made a KIDS movie out of this?
18: Erewhon by Samuel Butler. A fictional “travelogue” from 1872 about a society where crimes are treated like mild illness, and physical illness is punished as crime, and technology is shunned for fear it will evolve and surpass them. This apparently inspired the Butlerian Jihad in the Dune series.
August 13, 2025 at 4:04 PM
18: Erewhon by Samuel Butler. A fictional “travelogue” from 1872 about a society where crimes are treated like mild illness, and physical illness is punished as crime, and technology is shunned for fear it will evolve and surpass them. This apparently inspired the Butlerian Jihad in the Dune series.
A friend recently caught me off guard by asking if I would make a box for his dad’s ashes. He gave very little direction other than how big it should be, so I brainstormed for a few days and came up with this. I also found out the hard way why no one makes triangular boxes. He liked it though.
August 4, 2025 at 9:58 PM
A friend recently caught me off guard by asking if I would make a box for his dad’s ashes. He gave very little direction other than how big it should be, so I brainstormed for a few days and came up with this. I also found out the hard way why no one makes triangular boxes. He liked it though.
17: Fledgling by Octavia E Butler. It was good, a real page-turner with a compelling narrative. It’s an interesting take on a vampire story that also uses vampire/human relations to touch on racism. My only complaint is that the dialogue could feel less natural, more like exposition dumps at times.
August 1, 2025 at 2:10 AM
17: Fledgling by Octavia E Butler. It was good, a real page-turner with a compelling narrative. It’s an interesting take on a vampire story that also uses vampire/human relations to touch on racism. My only complaint is that the dialogue could feel less natural, more like exposition dumps at times.
16: Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. Different from what I expected based on other Vonnegut books I’ve read, this was written in a stream-of-consciousness style rather than a continuous narrative. Includes several stories from his own life interspersed with fictional stories from the titular Timequake.
July 24, 2025 at 1:46 AM
16: Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. Different from what I expected based on other Vonnegut books I’ve read, this was written in a stream-of-consciousness style rather than a continuous narrative. Includes several stories from his own life interspersed with fictional stories from the titular Timequake.
15: Cities in Flight by James Blish. A stitch-up of 4 novellas about antigravity being discovered and most of Earth’s cities using it to take off into space. The writing felt a little inconsistent, but the afterword explains that the 4 were written over 15 years, and not in order, so that’s fair.
July 15, 2025 at 3:43 PM
15: Cities in Flight by James Blish. A stitch-up of 4 novellas about antigravity being discovered and most of Earth’s cities using it to take off into space. The writing felt a little inconsistent, but the afterword explains that the 4 were written over 15 years, and not in order, so that’s fair.
14: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner. A dystopian future that’s very thematically similar to Blade Runner and Cyberpunk, with a focus on eugenics, and people letting AI control their lives which is eerily prescient for a book published in 1967. It’s very good, and scarily accurate to today’s world.
May 31, 2025 at 8:10 PM
14: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner. A dystopian future that’s very thematically similar to Blade Runner and Cyberpunk, with a focus on eugenics, and people letting AI control their lives which is eerily prescient for a book published in 1967. It’s very good, and scarily accurate to today’s world.
A much better run than last time, sub 6 is definitely possible with really good random encounter rng, but I won’t be the one to grind for it.
May 3, 2025 at 11:19 PM
A much better run than last time, sub 6 is definitely possible with really good random encounter rng, but I won’t be the one to grind for it.
The deed is done. Will probably run it back at some point for sub 7 since I improved my notes a lot during this run.
April 27, 2025 at 6:55 AM
The deed is done. Will probably run it back at some point for sub 7 since I improved my notes a lot during this run.
13: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. An unflinching look at British colonialism in Africa in the 1800s, written by a someone who lived it. Well written in a stream-of-consciousness style, presented as a story one sailor is telling to the rest of a ship’s crew.
April 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
13: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. An unflinching look at British colonialism in Africa in the 1800s, written by a someone who lived it. Well written in a stream-of-consciousness style, presented as a story one sailor is telling to the rest of a ship’s crew.
12: Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clark. Starts out as a “first contact with aliens” story, but takes an unexpected turn in the back half. I was surprised to see it was written in 1953, because it felt like something that would have been from the 80s or 90s, and clearly inspired a lot that came after
April 20, 2025 at 5:11 AM
12: Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clark. Starts out as a “first contact with aliens” story, but takes an unexpected turn in the back half. I was surprised to see it was written in 1953, because it felt like something that would have been from the 80s or 90s, and clearly inspired a lot that came after
11: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. I found this copy “used” still in its plastic wrap since 1977. I really enjoyed this book. For just being a story about knights and chivalry the quality of the writing was outstanding. As far as “classics” go, this holds up very well and is in the top 3 that I have read.
April 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
11: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. I found this copy “used” still in its plastic wrap since 1977. I really enjoyed this book. For just being a story about knights and chivalry the quality of the writing was outstanding. As far as “classics” go, this holds up very well and is in the top 3 that I have read.
Finished my submissions for SGDQ2025:
1:Cyberia - All Unique Deaths | Beat The Game
2: Mullet Mad Jack - Any% Easy Random | Any% Easy Set
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - any%
Summoner: any% | any% - teleport cheat
1:Cyberia - All Unique Deaths | Beat The Game
2: Mullet Mad Jack - Any% Easy Random | Any% Easy Set
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - any%
Summoner: any% | any% - teleport cheat
March 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Finished my submissions for SGDQ2025:
1:Cyberia - All Unique Deaths | Beat The Game
2: Mullet Mad Jack - Any% Easy Random | Any% Easy Set
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - any%
Summoner: any% | any% - teleport cheat
1:Cyberia - All Unique Deaths | Beat The Game
2: Mullet Mad Jack - Any% Easy Random | Any% Easy Set
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 - any%
Summoner: any% | any% - teleport cheat
Idk, I think I cooked with this category description
March 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Idk, I think I cooked with this category description
10: Starburst by Frederik Pohl. Hard to say much about it without spoiling any of the plot twists, but it covers a lot of ground for a book that’s only a little over 200 pages long. More character-driven than I might have expected while still getting into pretty far-flung sci-fi concepts.
March 13, 2025 at 1:17 AM
10: Starburst by Frederik Pohl. Hard to say much about it without spoiling any of the plot twists, but it covers a lot of ground for a book that’s only a little over 200 pages long. More character-driven than I might have expected while still getting into pretty far-flung sci-fi concepts.