Keith Laumer is still in print from Baen Books, and judging from the covers of some of them, there's some posthumous collaboration going on. I wouldn't know, not having read any of them.
I became acquainted with Laumer's work long ago through books like A Trace of Memory and the Retief stories, which I still read sometimes when I need a laugh. For some reason, though, I'd never read any of the Bolo stories or any of those about the Imperium. So I thought I would.
As it turns out, I liked them all quite a bit. Worlds of the Imperium is about parallel time tracks, with Brion Bayard, a guy from our world, getting grabbed and taken to a different time track where the U.S. never existed. He's asked to replace the version of himself in yet another time track, one that's sending raiders into the second track. If that sounds confusing, I'm sorry. It's the best I can do. It's not confusing in the reading at all, and the story crackles right along.
The Bolo stories deal with sentient fighting machines. Really big machines. Huge. Often they're reactivated after centuries of disuse and have to be stopped by the people they once served. But not always. One of the stories in The Compleat Bolo was a Retief story I hadn't read, a nice bonus, even if Retief isn't facing down the Groaci this time.
I'm glad to know that Laumer's still in print. He wrote well, plotted well, and could make be funny when he wanted to. If you've never tried his work, give it a shot.
An ATM for books that prints and binds any title on the spot within minutes from a digital file.
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 21, 2007 -- The first Espresso Book Machine™ (“the EBM”) was installed and demonstrated today at the New York Public Library’s Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL). The patented automatic book making machine will revolutionize publishing by printing and delivering physical books within minutes. The EBM is a product of On Demand Books, LLC (“ODB” - www.ondemandbooks.com), the company founded by legendary publishing executive Jason Epstein and business partner Dane Neller, who joined SIBL’s Kristin McDonough for a private event there to speak about the EBM’s potential impact on the future of reading and publishing.
The Espresso Book Machine will be available to the public at SIBL through August, and will operate Monday- Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library is located at 188 Madison Avenue (at 34th Street).
Library users will have the opportunity to print free copies of such public domain classics as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and “Songs of Innocence” by William Blake, as well as appropriately themed in-copyright titles as Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” and Jason Epstein’s own “Book Business.” The public domain titles were provided by the Open Content Alliance (“OCA”), a non-profit organization with a database of over 200,000 titles. The OCA and ODB are working closely to offer this digital content free of charge to libraries across the country. Both organizations have received partial funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
MySA.com: Metro | State: "Reports of blue, hairless creatures roaming the countryside from Elmendorf to Cuero. Ranchers talking of livestock being drained of blood.
Put the two together, and it sounds like the legend of the chupacabra. One rancher says she has the evidence to back it up.
'After six kittens had been lost to something around the place, I made up my mind we needed to do something to find out what it was that was taking it,' said Phylis Canion, a rancher in Cuero.
What Canion wanted was the creature's head, and that's just what she's got in her freezer now.
Canion said the animal has been lurking around the ranch for years, first snatching cats, and then chickens right through a wire cage."
The 50 best movie robots - Times Online: "To coincide with the release of Michael Bay's epic Transformers movie we rate the most celebrated 'artifical people' in movies Michael Moran
We selected the fifty most memorable robots in film and rated them in four different categories."
Fogonazos: Top 10 Best Spacewalks in History: "Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth (a spacewalk). As of September 13, 2006, 158 astronauts had made spacewalks (out of 448 astronauts ever in space). These are some of the most interesting moments in spacewalks history."
Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Is it a monster or myth?
Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him.
'We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way,' witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. 'This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had very stooped-up shoulders.' The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico.
'(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there,' said David Zander, who saw the monster in New Mexico. 'Something that big ... I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to.'"
News - newsjournalonline.com: "PIERSON -- The 3-inch blade sinks into the dead alligator's head and Charlotte Klokis' fingers deftly pull the knife backward -- slashing the skin open all the way to the tip of the tail.
She cuts away most of the bony protective skin from its back, but leaves three ridges called 'scutes' near the tail to identify the work as hers to anyone who inspects or grades the hide.
'This is what we call marking,' Klokis said last week. 'I've got a pretty good reputation for skinning gators.'
At the small plant on Saul Road in Pierson, the lifelong Florida resident has been cleaning alligators for 14 years. She works for Curtis Lucas and Dan Ellis, who as members of the Florida Alligator Trappers Association hunt mostly nuisance animals under contract with the state."
The field is so big that police have called in federal and state agencies to help, according to our sources.
The crop is located at I-20 and Spur 408 and can only be seen from the air.
Sources said the chopper was doing a routine flyover when someone noticed the field.
Sunday's discovery marks the 3rd time in 3 weeks that authorities have found marijuana growing in places hidden from view, but close to busy areas.
On July 21, police discovered and cleared five to seven acres of pot plants that had been growing just yards away from a middle school in Grand Prairie.
It was the largest outdoor crop ever discovered in North Texas.
The plants were fed water through a sophisticated irrigation system, according to federal drug agents.
If grown to maturity, the 5-ton crop would have been worth anywhere from $5-10 million."
The secret pot farm was practically right under their noses. In fact, if you could walk in a straight line from the riverbank through the marshy underbrush and tangled wilderness, you'd walk just 200 yards before you hit the DEA's office building.
Right now, agents have no idea who planted and carefully tended to the elaborate farm, it appears whoever it was spent a lot of time and money on the project."
Volume 3, No. 8: "This is the final issue in the free-access format. Remember, we are on hiatus for September and October, resuming with the November/December issue for paying subscribers. And also remember that access to future issues of the Crime and Suspense ezine will be only for paid subscribers.
But in this issue, we have stories from Warren Bull, Agnes Dee, Jean M. Medeiros, Gary R. Hoffman, Connie Ferdon, John M. Floyd and Rosemary and Larry Mild. We also have an interview with Elmore Leonard, conducted by Dorinda Ohnstad, and reviews of Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues by Kevin Tipple as well as of Bad Luck and Trouble by Wil Emerson."
iWon News - Gator Found in Pillowcase on NY Beach: "BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) - A peace officer for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals happened across a moving pillowcase on a beach Saturday on which someone had written: 'Live Gator - Please find him a home,' officials said.
The off-duty officer for the Suffolk County organization had been taking a walk on Long Island's Overlook beach, according to the group. The officer called in a response team to rescue the 30-inch-long animal.
SPCA officials are asking for donations to help them care for the alligator until it can be taken to a sanctuary. They are also seeking information on who might have dumped the gator."
Keith Laumer is still in print from Baen Books, and judging from the covers of some of them, there's some posthumous collaboration going on. I wouldn't know, not having read any of them. 
