Galen Strickland
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templetongate.bsky.social
Galen Strickland
@templetongate.bsky.social
150 followers 170 following 900 posts
Longtime avid reader, mostly within the SFFH genres these days. Also a film and TV buff. I review those and more at http://templetongate.net/. He/him
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templetongate.bsky.social
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
Album cover for Feats Don't Fail Me Now by the band Little Feat. A 1930s or 40s blue car on a narrow mountain road, snow-capped peaks in the background, and a large bolt of lightning coming down from the top right and almost reaching the car.
November 8, 2025 at 6:06 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd
Album cover of Pink Floyd's 1970 album, Atom Heart Mother. There are no words identifying the band by name or the album title. The image is of a Holstein cow standing in a meadow of green grass, looking back toward the camera, with a few trees in the background.
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
What's your sign?
September 29, 2025 at 12:50 AM
templetongate.bsky.social
I know it is an exaggeration, that someone, somewhere has seen it besides myself, but no one I've every mentioned it to has.

Four Friends (1981), directed by Arthur Penn, starring Craig Wasson and Jodi Thelen.
The photo that appeared on the VHS copy of Four Friends, without any of the identifying words. It shows four people either sitting or standing on steps, the one woman in a bright red gown, a red veil, and flowers in her hair. The man sitting next to her is in a black suit with red flower in the lapel. Another man is in Army uniform, the other in brown tweed jacket, v-neck sweater, white shirt, and dark tie.
July 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Poster for the 1961 British film The Day the Earth Caught Fire. The title is in the bottom right corner, on the left is an image of a man running and carrying a woman. In the background is a scene in bright red and orange, a ruined city with the sky on fire. At the top it reads "The Greatest News Story Ever Told!
July 12, 2025 at 11:31 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
What's your sign?
A protest rally with many people holding signs, the largest of which reads "Hooray for Our Side!!!"
February 16, 2025 at 2:45 AM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 16/20
Book cover image. At the top is the title, The Unlimited Dream Company. At the bottom, A Novel by J. G. Ballard. The center image between the text is of an English country estate, with a two story, Tudor style house with three gables and six chimneys. Just in front of the open entrance a man is sitting and painting a canvas on an easel. On the left, nearer a stream or pond, three children sit on a swing set, with a woman, perhaps their mother, standing next to the swing. At the bottom right a man in brief swim trunks stands on a bridge over the water.
February 8, 2025 at 11:34 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 15/20
Paperback book cover with the title at the top on a banner as might be unfurled by soldiers in a marching army. The banner reads "Arthur Rex, a Legendary Novel, Thomas Berger." The main image is of King Arthur in battle armor astride his horse, wielding his sword Excalibur. Behind him, through haze and dust, we can see his army marching from left to right, with swords, lances, and banners held aloft.
February 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 14/20
Book cover of INK by Sabrina Vourvoulias. A blonde-haired woman with her eyes closed, forehead resting on her right hand, which is closed in a fist. There is a handcuff on her wrist, and a bar code tattooed on her arm. Several bees are hovering around her.
February 6, 2025 at 4:47 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 13/20
Paperback book cover of On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch, Acclaimed Author of Camp Concentration. At the top, above the title, is an author blurb: "A Brilliant, Flamboyant, Extraordinarily Original Work. Oh, How He Can Write!"—Joanna Russ. The cover image shows a man in a white, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers. His arms are held down and out from his body as he flies above farm fields, and above the clouds.
February 5, 2025 at 7:47 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 12/20
Paperback book cover of Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold from Baen Books. To the left of the author's name is pictured a woman, who would be one of the lead characters, Cordelia Naismith. In the lower right corner is a man, Aral Vorkosigan. In between them is a space ship, plus smaller ships in battle around a planet.
February 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 11/20
Cover of a trade paperback book. The background of the image is a wood-paneled wall. On the left side is a young boy, only about half of his body visible. He is wrapped in aluminum foil except for his left hand, and part of his face, and with a tin-foil hat too. The title is in a white font, in all caps: THE MARTIAN CHILD. Below that is a white banner across the cover, the text in black: A Novel About a Single Father Adopting a Son. Below that is the author's name: DAVID GERROLD, and below that in a much smaller font: Based on a True Story.
February 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Trying to catch up again.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 10/20
Cover of a paperback book, the background color is red. At the top is a quote, "A subtle, ingenious, and poetic book. The Uncertainty Principle embodied in in brilliant fiction" — Ursula K. Le Guin. Below that is the title: The Fifth Head of Cerberus, in black font. Then the author's name in white: Gene Wolfe. The image is of Cerberus, a black, three-headed dog, as well as the head of a cybernetic man, and an open book on the ground, with ferns and grass in the foreground.
February 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Missed another day, which may happen again.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 9/20
Cover of a mass market paperback. At the top, A FREDERIK POHL SELECTION. Below that in a red font: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, then DUNE, and now, THE MAJOR NOVEL OF LOVE AND TERROR AT THE END OF TIME. Below that in a large red font is the title, DHALGREN, by Samuel R. Delany, Four Time Nebula Award Winner. The graphic, in harsh red and yellow, shows a devastated city scape, with a few people looking up to the sky, where a giant sun appears ready to crash into the Earth, or the Earth is going to crash into the Sun.
February 2, 2025 at 9:10 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Since I missed yesterday, here is today's second book.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 8/20
Book cover image of Michaelmas by Algis Budrys, which was published in 1977. In the background are twin mountains and foothills. In the foreground is a man inside a glass domed room. He is wearing a business suit and carrying what appears to be a portable computer or some other recording device. He is standing in front of a large computer console with many buttons and dials. Underneath the title are three review blurbs: "Ingenious!"-The Washington Post; "A true science fiction thriller!"-The New York Times Book Review; "First-rate!"-Newsweek
January 31, 2025 at 6:26 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Oops, missed this yesterday.
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 7/20
Book cover of Michael Bishop's Transfigurations. The scene is in an underground chamber with stairs in the background. Two spheres and smoking torches are behind a woman standing with arms raised over her head, and what appears to be a ghostly image in front of her.
January 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 6/20
A 1st Edition hardcover of Edgar Pangborn's A Mirror for Observers. The author's name at the top is in a yellowish-gold color, the title below is white. In the lower left quadrant is the backside of a gold-plated hand mirror, with three human figures embossed on back of the circular mirror. The background is a swirl of blobs and lines in shades of reddish-purple.
January 29, 2025 at 3:33 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 5/20
Cover of Malka Older's novel Infomocracy, which has a black background with a blue diagram, which could be a map, or might be the inner workings of a computer. There are several red symbols inside blue circles. Two are digital warning signs with exclamation marks inside triangles, two are stick figures running, one is a clock, the other a lightning bolt.
January 28, 2025 at 10:42 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 4/20
Book cover of A Brief History of Time, the subtitle of which is From the Big Bang to Black Holes. At the bottom is the author's name, Stephen W. Hawking, and below that in smaller type, with An Introduction By Carl Sagan. At the center right of the cover is a photo of Hawking in his wheelchair, and behind him is a field of stars.
January 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 3/20
Paperback book cover of Mark Twain's The War Prayer, with drawings by John Groth. The minimalistic line drawing, shaded brownish-red, is of a person kneeling, arms raised over their head. They are either praying, or weeping and wailing due to the loss of a family member or a friend in war.
January 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 2/20
Book cover jacket for The Discoverers. Below the title is the subtitle, A History of Man's Search To Know His World and Himself. At the bottom is the author's name, Daniel J. Boorstin. Between title and author is an image from a 16th Century woodcut, artist unknown. It depicts a scientist on his knees in a field, with a tree, flowers, and other plants behind him, and above him is the sphere of the heavens, sun, moon, and stars. The scientist breaks the veil of the heavenly dome to see the gear works that orchestrate everything in the universe.
January 25, 2025 at 4:48 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 1/20
Paperback book cover of Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker, first published in 1937. It is from Penguin Books, with their logo in the top right corner, with Science Fiction at the top center, below that Olaf Stapledon's name, then the title Star Maker, which is two words, not one. The image is of either a human, a humanoid species, or maybe an android or robot. The skull looks metallic, the color a light shade of blue. Stars of various colors and shapes surround the head and body, with bones and musculature visible from the neck down.
January 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
If you see this, quote it with a horror movie that you love
Isabelle Adjani in the 1981 horror film Posession.
November 27, 2024 at 2:10 AM
templetongate.bsky.social
Every time I say my budget is tight I end up buying more books anyway. Story of my life. Here is what came today.
A picture of two new books: a trade paperback of The Day & Night Books of Mardou Fox by Nisi Shawl; and a hardcover of Model Home by Rivers Solomon.
October 18, 2024 at 8:34 PM
templetongate.bsky.social
When I first offered A Song to Drown Rivers in a giveaway I did not realize there is embossed art on the cover boards. The front is Fanli's sword with the inscription on the blade: "The Mind Destroys; The Heart Devours."
The front cover board of the hardcover of Ann Liang's A Song to Drown Rivers. The board is a yellowish-orange color, with a blue sword embossed in the center. The inscription on the sword reads: "The Mind Destroys; The Heart Devours."
October 11, 2024 at 7:04 PM