Refried Refried Beans

Dearest Cyberwebbers,

Here's a thing prefaced by an update on my second-rate readings!

I just finished The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov, wherein extraterrestrial germaphobes resist the advances of a genial gumshoe and his robot sidekick. It's half as good as a dark noir thriller a la Chandler or an Agathan murder mystery, with an underdeveloped sideline of dystopian robophobia. It has neither robohuman harmony nor technofear enough to keep a real sci-fan engaged, and the writing style is notably without embellishments. A decidedly lower-tier Isaac effort, well behind I Robot (which is way better than the movie) and the Foundation trilogy.

Afterward, I started The Fortress of Solitude, a hunk of mainstream fiction by one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Jonathan Lethem (check out Gun, With Occasional Music). Lethem's words soak through your retinas and encapsulate your brain in the fabric of the novel. It's way better.

\\\Abrupt subject change\\\

How was your Cinco de Mayo, bro? Here's a tasty thing for your burritos: