Barbara, our 11-year-old protagonist, is unconcerned with fitting in socially or academically. She can see things that no one else can. She has a higher calling. Pretty standard fare for pre-teen fantasy, right? There are zillions of YA graphic novels out there, though. I Kill Giants’ theme sets is apart. When books in this genre strive beyond simple escapism, they usually don’t go much farther than coming-of-age tales. To be honest, I probably would have been satisfied with that.

Paul Dini has done a lot for Batman. He wrote for “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Batman Beyond.” He worked in comics, writing classic stories about Zatanna, Black Canary, and Batgirl. He even invented one of today’s most recognizable villains, Harley Quinn. His writing is mature and thoughtful in all the right places–rare qualities in a medium that’s often dismissed as fodder for the imagination of little boys. Having disclosed my bias, it should come as no surprise that I was psyched to read Dark Night: A True Batman Story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Left 4 Dead with my brother and his friends back in the late aughts. We spent hours protecting each other from zombies, pausing only to shoot each other with Nerf guns. You know, for balance. That game was more like an arcade than any FPS I’ve played. For all of its inherent strengths, it was the comradery (and occasional vindictiveness) that made the experience. When the group dispersed, my interest likewise dried up–even though Left 4 Dead 2 has just been released.

The first two books in the “Imperial Radch” trilogy seemed pretty inconsistent to me. Ancillary Justice was great, but Ancillary Sword failed to reach that standard. That’s why my hopes were high when I opened Ancillary Mercy; it’s also why my expectations were not. One of my complaints about Sword was its lack of character development. It left behind the most interesting relationships from Justice, and it didn’t do too much with the new people it introduced.

“Walking simulator” is probably one of the least appealing names of all the video game genres (though nothing beats “shmup”). That hasn’t stopped people from getting pretty excited about them, though. Gone Home is both one of the first games to earn the title and one of the most well-received. That’s why I chose it to finally see what the genre is all about. You play as Katie, a young woman returning to her parents’ home after a yearlong trip abroad.

Before I started reading, I wondered if/how author Ann Leckie would preserve the feeling of mystery that dominated Ancillary Justice. That’s not to say I had a good handle on everything. The previous book, a revenge plot, concludes with an uneasy alliance between the robotic protagonist and its adversary. This development, along with the author’s refusal to nail down the robot’s value system, made the space opera’s direction feel kind of, well, nebulous.

A lot’s been said about Mitch McConnell’s refusal to convict Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. The little I’ve read focuses on two criticisms. First is the tenuousness of his objection–that the Constitution forbids trying Trump now that he’s left office. Second is McConnell’s own role in delaying the hearing. Even if you support his interpretation, and even if you don’t suspect that he manipulated the circumstances, there’s still reason to object to his defense.

Years ago, I had this idea for a gimmicky MP3 player. It wouldn’t have a screen or any buttons; instead, it would play music and podcasts on a pre-defined schedule. I’d build it into an antique radio so that using it might feel a little like listening to an authentic radio station. The idea sat in the back of my mind for many years. The challenge was a bit outside my comfort zone, so I generally worked on more familiar projects.

Inspired by my buddy Boris’ yearly review of his favorite articles. Here are mine (though a handful were only “new to me” in 2020). Lifestyle How to shop without Amazon - a little repetitive, but a good message I Have Everything, but I’m Still Sad and Angry - written months before the pandemic hit the Western world, this ended up being even more important than I realized when I read it back in January The Singer Solution to World Poverty - Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save influenced a lot of my thinking this year; this article is an extremely concentrated version of the moral argument The Cow Who… - an impressive melding of linguistics and ethics Blatant Benevolence - one of the more nuanced topics also covered by The Life You Can Save How to make a Personal SLA to find balance at work?

For me, picking up Ancillary Justice felt a lot like starting Hyperion. It wasn’t about their themes; in terms of subject matter, the two novels have very little in common. But both are almost universally acclaimed, and both are known for their ambitious, epic scale. So once again, I was bracing myself for ambiguity that comes from world-building in fanciful settings. It’s a good thing, too, because things get confusing fast.