Vince Twelve
@vincetwelve.bsky.social
Ex-game developer (Resonance, What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed). Book, board game, comic, video game enthusiast. Husband, father, and software developer. Trans rights are human rights.
The Fall by Albert Camus
I fell in love with this book in the first couple pages and, like the narrator with his many love affairs, lost interest soon after that. Even with the book’s short length, I found it a bit of a slog to finish. Light on narrative, heavy on pontificating. 💙📚 #booksky
I fell in love with this book in the first couple pages and, like the narrator with his many love affairs, lost interest soon after that. Even with the book’s short length, I found it a bit of a slog to finish. Light on narrative, heavy on pontificating. 💙📚 #booksky
November 17, 2025 at 2:46 AM
The Fall by Albert Camus
I fell in love with this book in the first couple pages and, like the narrator with his many love affairs, lost interest soon after that. Even with the book’s short length, I found it a bit of a slog to finish. Light on narrative, heavy on pontificating. 💙📚 #booksky
I fell in love with this book in the first couple pages and, like the narrator with his many love affairs, lost interest soon after that. Even with the book’s short length, I found it a bit of a slog to finish. Light on narrative, heavy on pontificating. 💙📚 #booksky
The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
One of my favorite authors writing today. No one describes gore & visceral emotions like Khaw and this is them at their most unhinged. Some of the non-linear storytelling didn’t fully work for me, robbing some scenes of tension, but a solid A. #booksky 💙📚
One of my favorite authors writing today. No one describes gore & visceral emotions like Khaw and this is them at their most unhinged. Some of the non-linear storytelling didn’t fully work for me, robbing some scenes of tension, but a solid A. #booksky 💙📚
November 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
One of my favorite authors writing today. No one describes gore & visceral emotions like Khaw and this is them at their most unhinged. Some of the non-linear storytelling didn’t fully work for me, robbing some scenes of tension, but a solid A. #booksky 💙📚
One of my favorite authors writing today. No one describes gore & visceral emotions like Khaw and this is them at their most unhinged. Some of the non-linear storytelling didn’t fully work for me, robbing some scenes of tension, but a solid A. #booksky 💙📚
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Read this to my 7yo this month. Probably my third or fourth read, but the first in maybe a decade. Still makes me feel like a kid! I always try to make distinct voices when reading to kids but it’s hard to keep a dozen basically-indistinguishable dwarves straight. #booksky
Read this to my 7yo this month. Probably my third or fourth read, but the first in maybe a decade. Still makes me feel like a kid! I always try to make distinct voices when reading to kids but it’s hard to keep a dozen basically-indistinguishable dwarves straight. #booksky
November 8, 2025 at 3:49 AM
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Read this to my 7yo this month. Probably my third or fourth read, but the first in maybe a decade. Still makes me feel like a kid! I always try to make distinct voices when reading to kids but it’s hard to keep a dozen basically-indistinguishable dwarves straight. #booksky
Read this to my 7yo this month. Probably my third or fourth read, but the first in maybe a decade. Still makes me feel like a kid! I always try to make distinct voices when reading to kids but it’s hard to keep a dozen basically-indistinguishable dwarves straight. #booksky
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
In the mood for some capital-C Culture and grabbed this collection. The titular story walks well-trodden paths of what makes humans human, but adds that Culture charm while being a bit tell-don’t-show. I love these hedonistic space-anarchy-communists. #booksky
In the mood for some capital-C Culture and grabbed this collection. The titular story walks well-trodden paths of what makes humans human, but adds that Culture charm while being a bit tell-don’t-show. I love these hedonistic space-anarchy-communists. #booksky
November 4, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
In the mood for some capital-C Culture and grabbed this collection. The titular story walks well-trodden paths of what makes humans human, but adds that Culture charm while being a bit tell-don’t-show. I love these hedonistic space-anarchy-communists. #booksky
In the mood for some capital-C Culture and grabbed this collection. The titular story walks well-trodden paths of what makes humans human, but adds that Culture charm while being a bit tell-don’t-show. I love these hedonistic space-anarchy-communists. #booksky
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My 3rd Ishiguro of the year. While I didn’t like it as much as Never Let Me Go, it had a similar wistful nostalgia to the prose. He excels at showing us the world through the eyes of an earnest naïf. The ending hit me harder than I expected though. #booksky
My 3rd Ishiguro of the year. While I didn’t like it as much as Never Let Me Go, it had a similar wistful nostalgia to the prose. He excels at showing us the world through the eyes of an earnest naïf. The ending hit me harder than I expected though. #booksky
October 28, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My 3rd Ishiguro of the year. While I didn’t like it as much as Never Let Me Go, it had a similar wistful nostalgia to the prose. He excels at showing us the world through the eyes of an earnest naïf. The ending hit me harder than I expected though. #booksky
My 3rd Ishiguro of the year. While I didn’t like it as much as Never Let Me Go, it had a similar wistful nostalgia to the prose. He excels at showing us the world through the eyes of an earnest naïf. The ending hit me harder than I expected though. #booksky
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson’s Red Mars. Heavily-researched w/ a sweeping vision. There were parts I really loved and parts I really didn’t. 2nd part felt way too navel-gazey for me. All that for a chance to re-make humanity and they decided to keep racism and capitalism. 😭 #booksky 💙📚🪐
Stephenson’s Red Mars. Heavily-researched w/ a sweeping vision. There were parts I really loved and parts I really didn’t. 2nd part felt way too navel-gazey for me. All that for a chance to re-make humanity and they decided to keep racism and capitalism. 😭 #booksky 💙📚🪐
October 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson’s Red Mars. Heavily-researched w/ a sweeping vision. There were parts I really loved and parts I really didn’t. 2nd part felt way too navel-gazey for me. All that for a chance to re-make humanity and they decided to keep racism and capitalism. 😭 #booksky 💙📚🪐
Stephenson’s Red Mars. Heavily-researched w/ a sweeping vision. There were parts I really loved and parts I really didn’t. 2nd part felt way too navel-gazey for me. All that for a chance to re-make humanity and they decided to keep racism and capitalism. 😭 #booksky 💙📚🪐
If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
A singular novel. A multitude of novels. A meta novel about novels. Is an author truth teller or fabulist? Is a novel the words, the space between them, the relationship between ink and reader? Calvino really is a wizard. A new favorite. 😍 #booksky
A singular novel. A multitude of novels. A meta novel about novels. Is an author truth teller or fabulist? Is a novel the words, the space between them, the relationship between ink and reader? Calvino really is a wizard. A new favorite. 😍 #booksky
October 8, 2025 at 2:32 AM
If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
A singular novel. A multitude of novels. A meta novel about novels. Is an author truth teller or fabulist? Is a novel the words, the space between them, the relationship between ink and reader? Calvino really is a wizard. A new favorite. 😍 #booksky
A singular novel. A multitude of novels. A meta novel about novels. Is an author truth teller or fabulist? Is a novel the words, the space between them, the relationship between ink and reader? Calvino really is a wizard. A new favorite. 😍 #booksky
Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor
I read the first a long time ago and am glad that I finally read it all together. The three short novellas combine to almost make one novel (a bit rushed in parts to be a single cohesive volume). I liked parts 2 and 3 a lot. This is great Africanfuturist fiction. 💙📚🪐
I read the first a long time ago and am glad that I finally read it all together. The three short novellas combine to almost make one novel (a bit rushed in parts to be a single cohesive volume). I liked parts 2 and 3 a lot. This is great Africanfuturist fiction. 💙📚🪐
September 24, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor
I read the first a long time ago and am glad that I finally read it all together. The three short novellas combine to almost make one novel (a bit rushed in parts to be a single cohesive volume). I liked parts 2 and 3 a lot. This is great Africanfuturist fiction. 💙📚🪐
I read the first a long time ago and am glad that I finally read it all together. The three short novellas combine to almost make one novel (a bit rushed in parts to be a single cohesive volume). I liked parts 2 and 3 a lot. This is great Africanfuturist fiction. 💙📚🪐
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
I liked this one a lot more than the first book in the series. Some new characters like the imperial heir and Swarm help keep it interesting. But it still feels like the plotting is weak. Some threads don’t end up mattering. #booksky
I liked this one a lot more than the first book in the series. Some new characters like the imperial heir and Swarm help keep it interesting. But it still feels like the plotting is weak. Some threads don’t end up mattering. #booksky
September 24, 2025 at 7:06 PM
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
I liked this one a lot more than the first book in the series. Some new characters like the imperial heir and Swarm help keep it interesting. But it still feels like the plotting is weak. Some threads don’t end up mattering. #booksky
I liked this one a lot more than the first book in the series. Some new characters like the imperial heir and Swarm help keep it interesting. But it still feels like the plotting is weak. Some threads don’t end up mattering. #booksky
Kill or be Killed by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Ed and Sean are at the top of their game here. This is peak crime comics right here. A compelling anti-hero story with incredible writing paired with Sean’s dynamic art. Worth reading and re-reading. #booksky
Ed and Sean are at the top of their game here. This is peak crime comics right here. A compelling anti-hero story with incredible writing paired with Sean’s dynamic art. Worth reading and re-reading. #booksky
September 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Kill or be Killed by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Ed and Sean are at the top of their game here. This is peak crime comics right here. A compelling anti-hero story with incredible writing paired with Sean’s dynamic art. Worth reading and re-reading. #booksky
Ed and Sean are at the top of their game here. This is peak crime comics right here. A compelling anti-hero story with incredible writing paired with Sean’s dynamic art. Worth reading and re-reading. #booksky
White Jazz by James Ellroy
Ellroy took the series from staccato prose to machine gun full auto. Paradoxically, it’s still quite a slow burn. I was 150 pages in and still kind of wondering what the main plot was. A dirty cop hung up on a seemingly minor crime? But the last 75 pages are 🔥. #booksky
Ellroy took the series from staccato prose to machine gun full auto. Paradoxically, it’s still quite a slow burn. I was 150 pages in and still kind of wondering what the main plot was. A dirty cop hung up on a seemingly minor crime? But the last 75 pages are 🔥. #booksky
September 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
White Jazz by James Ellroy
Ellroy took the series from staccato prose to machine gun full auto. Paradoxically, it’s still quite a slow burn. I was 150 pages in and still kind of wondering what the main plot was. A dirty cop hung up on a seemingly minor crime? But the last 75 pages are 🔥. #booksky
Ellroy took the series from staccato prose to machine gun full auto. Paradoxically, it’s still quite a slow burn. I was 150 pages in and still kind of wondering what the main plot was. A dirty cop hung up on a seemingly minor crime? But the last 75 pages are 🔥. #booksky
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
What an interesting book! Spanning the centuries after nuclear war ushered in a new dark ages through the pov of members of a small Catholic Abbey. I didn’t love parts 2 and 3 as much as part 1. The 1st time jump kind of disappointed me tbh. 💙📚🪐
What an interesting book! Spanning the centuries after nuclear war ushered in a new dark ages through the pov of members of a small Catholic Abbey. I didn’t love parts 2 and 3 as much as part 1. The 1st time jump kind of disappointed me tbh. 💙📚🪐
September 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
What an interesting book! Spanning the centuries after nuclear war ushered in a new dark ages through the pov of members of a small Catholic Abbey. I didn’t love parts 2 and 3 as much as part 1. The 1st time jump kind of disappointed me tbh. 💙📚🪐
What an interesting book! Spanning the centuries after nuclear war ushered in a new dark ages through the pov of members of a small Catholic Abbey. I didn’t love parts 2 and 3 as much as part 1. The 1st time jump kind of disappointed me tbh. 💙📚🪐
The Silver Chair & A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis / The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Just catching up on logging some of the books I’ve read to my son this year. All of these were first reads for me and all were wonderful. 📚💙
Just catching up on logging some of the books I’ve read to my son this year. All of these were first reads for me and all were wonderful. 📚💙
August 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
The Silver Chair & A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis / The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Just catching up on logging some of the books I’ve read to my son this year. All of these were first reads for me and all were wonderful. 📚💙
Just catching up on logging some of the books I’ve read to my son this year. All of these were first reads for me and all were wonderful. 📚💙
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
A bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it was an expectation thing. I was in the mood for a grand space opera and I got a rather narrow story about an ambassador. Some good world building and a nice mystery (though lacking any real villains). C+ #booksky
A bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it was an expectation thing. I was in the mood for a grand space opera and I got a rather narrow story about an ambassador. Some good world building and a nice mystery (though lacking any real villains). C+ #booksky
August 28, 2025 at 2:04 PM
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
A bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it was an expectation thing. I was in the mood for a grand space opera and I got a rather narrow story about an ambassador. Some good world building and a nice mystery (though lacking any real villains). C+ #booksky
A bit disappointed in this one. Maybe it was an expectation thing. I was in the mood for a grand space opera and I got a rather narrow story about an ambassador. Some good world building and a nice mystery (though lacking any real villains). C+ #booksky
Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg
An astronaut returns alone from a two-man mission to Venus and can’t or won’t explain what happened. The author uses sex (a lot of it) not to titillate, but to embarrass the notion of the manly, chiseled-jawed, all-American hero astronaut. Blew me away. A+ #booksky
An astronaut returns alone from a two-man mission to Venus and can’t or won’t explain what happened. The author uses sex (a lot of it) not to titillate, but to embarrass the notion of the manly, chiseled-jawed, all-American hero astronaut. Blew me away. A+ #booksky
August 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg
An astronaut returns alone from a two-man mission to Venus and can’t or won’t explain what happened. The author uses sex (a lot of it) not to titillate, but to embarrass the notion of the manly, chiseled-jawed, all-American hero astronaut. Blew me away. A+ #booksky
An astronaut returns alone from a two-man mission to Venus and can’t or won’t explain what happened. The author uses sex (a lot of it) not to titillate, but to embarrass the notion of the manly, chiseled-jawed, all-American hero astronaut. Blew me away. A+ #booksky
Scene of the Crime by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark
One of the few holes in my reading of Brubaker’s oeuvre and among his earlier works. A bit wordier, but still with the sharp plotting and twists you’d expect from the author. I like the characters and wish this had become a series as planned. 📚💙
One of the few holes in my reading of Brubaker’s oeuvre and among his earlier works. A bit wordier, but still with the sharp plotting and twists you’d expect from the author. I like the characters and wish this had become a series as planned. 📚💙
August 4, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Scene of the Crime by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark
One of the few holes in my reading of Brubaker’s oeuvre and among his earlier works. A bit wordier, but still with the sharp plotting and twists you’d expect from the author. I like the characters and wish this had become a series as planned. 📚💙
One of the few holes in my reading of Brubaker’s oeuvre and among his earlier works. A bit wordier, but still with the sharp plotting and twists you’d expect from the author. I like the characters and wish this had become a series as planned. 📚💙
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
An excellent palette-cleanser after the two massive tomes I just finished. A fresh spin on the sufficiently advanced technology trope, showing it from both sides. Add a pinch of clinical depression & cosmic horror. Tchaikovsky just speaks my language. #booksky 🪐📚💙
An excellent palette-cleanser after the two massive tomes I just finished. A fresh spin on the sufficiently advanced technology trope, showing it from both sides. Add a pinch of clinical depression & cosmic horror. Tchaikovsky just speaks my language. #booksky 🪐📚💙
July 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
An excellent palette-cleanser after the two massive tomes I just finished. A fresh spin on the sufficiently advanced technology trope, showing it from both sides. Add a pinch of clinical depression & cosmic horror. Tchaikovsky just speaks my language. #booksky 🪐📚💙
An excellent palette-cleanser after the two massive tomes I just finished. A fresh spin on the sufficiently advanced technology trope, showing it from both sides. Add a pinch of clinical depression & cosmic horror. Tchaikovsky just speaks my language. #booksky 🪐📚💙
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A dense, dazzling descent into race and identity. The narrator tries to “agree ‘em to destruction,” but learns that true selfhood can’t be granted, it must be claimed. Appeasement only makes him invisible. Searing and still urgent. An American classic. #booksky 📚💙
A dense, dazzling descent into race and identity. The narrator tries to “agree ‘em to destruction,” but learns that true selfhood can’t be granted, it must be claimed. Appeasement only makes him invisible. Searing and still urgent. An American classic. #booksky 📚💙
July 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A dense, dazzling descent into race and identity. The narrator tries to “agree ‘em to destruction,” but learns that true selfhood can’t be granted, it must be claimed. Appeasement only makes him invisible. Searing and still urgent. An American classic. #booksky 📚💙
A dense, dazzling descent into race and identity. The narrator tries to “agree ‘em to destruction,” but learns that true selfhood can’t be granted, it must be claimed. Appeasement only makes him invisible. Searing and still urgent. An American classic. #booksky 📚💙
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
I am not really a Western reader but this knocked my boots off. Full to the brim with characters. Some simple (in all meanings of the word), some complex and layered. Regardless, you’ll laugh at their exploits and cry at their deaths. A+ reading. #booksky
I am not really a Western reader but this knocked my boots off. Full to the brim with characters. Some simple (in all meanings of the word), some complex and layered. Regardless, you’ll laugh at their exploits and cry at their deaths. A+ reading. #booksky
July 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
I am not really a Western reader but this knocked my boots off. Full to the brim with characters. Some simple (in all meanings of the word), some complex and layered. Regardless, you’ll laugh at their exploits and cry at their deaths. A+ reading. #booksky
I am not really a Western reader but this knocked my boots off. Full to the brim with characters. Some simple (in all meanings of the word), some complex and layered. Regardless, you’ll laugh at their exploits and cry at their deaths. A+ reading. #booksky
I’ve heard this one is of a similar ilk. I inherited this copy along with a bunch of Zelazny, whose Lord of Light also scratched that Wolfe-ian itch.
July 18, 2025 at 1:00 AM
I’ve heard this one is of a similar ilk. I inherited this copy along with a bunch of Zelazny, whose Lord of Light also scratched that Wolfe-ian itch.
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Classics are classics for a reason. Victorian suburbanites get a taste of colonialism. The ground-level experience of the horror of war is stark and effective, esp. the scene at the crossroads. But I think he cribbed the abrupt ending from Shyamalan’s Signs. 📚💙
Classics are classics for a reason. Victorian suburbanites get a taste of colonialism. The ground-level experience of the horror of war is stark and effective, esp. the scene at the crossroads. But I think he cribbed the abrupt ending from Shyamalan’s Signs. 📚💙
July 17, 2025 at 6:20 PM
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Classics are classics for a reason. Victorian suburbanites get a taste of colonialism. The ground-level experience of the horror of war is stark and effective, esp. the scene at the crossroads. But I think he cribbed the abrupt ending from Shyamalan’s Signs. 📚💙
Classics are classics for a reason. Victorian suburbanites get a taste of colonialism. The ground-level experience of the horror of war is stark and effective, esp. the scene at the crossroads. But I think he cribbed the abrupt ending from Shyamalan’s Signs. 📚💙
My mom turned 70 somehow!
July 13, 2025 at 12:30 AM
My mom turned 70 somehow!
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of his Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny
I was surprised by how much I loved this collection of short sci-fi. Out of the 15 stories like 10 of them are absolute bangers. The title story is great, but the real standout to me was This Mortal Mountain. #booksky
I was surprised by how much I loved this collection of short sci-fi. Out of the 15 stories like 10 of them are absolute bangers. The title story is great, but the real standout to me was This Mortal Mountain. #booksky
June 30, 2025 at 9:03 PM
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of his Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny
I was surprised by how much I loved this collection of short sci-fi. Out of the 15 stories like 10 of them are absolute bangers. The title story is great, but the real standout to me was This Mortal Mountain. #booksky
I was surprised by how much I loved this collection of short sci-fi. Out of the 15 stories like 10 of them are absolute bangers. The title story is great, but the real standout to me was This Mortal Mountain. #booksky