Ken Newquist 
Fire Emblem Engage is a straightforward entry in the long-running strategy skirmish series. It leans heavily into nostalgia for earlier releases, and eschews the branching storylines of recent entries (Three Houses for Switch and Birthright for the 3DS) in favor of a linear story. As with its predecessors, Engage puts you in control of a … Read more
The Cold Forge is a deep space research facility focused on deadly corporate research. Set in the Alien universe, the black site is funded by long-time corporate villains Weyland-Yutani. Along with ethically questionable bioweapons and a destructive AI, the Cold Forge is home to a cache of xenomorph eggs from … somewhere. Lead researcher Blue Marsalis is … Read more
Every few summers, things get so busy that I need a list to remind myself how focus on the things that help me relax. This is that list. Is it a big list? Yes. Will I finish everything on it? No. But it gives me something to shoot for … and something to focus on. … Read more
Murder follows Mallory Viridian. Elementary school, college, day jobs, parties: If she’s there, someone is likely to die. And if they die, she’ll be uncannily drawn to the mystery of who did it, much to the ire and skepticism of law enforcement. She wanted to get away from the death, so she became one of … Read more
For years, my go-to tablet was an iPad Air from the early 2010s. In December 2023, I got a surprise upgrade to the iPad Pro when my wife and mother-in-law bought me one for Christmas. It’s a hell of an upgrade. The old iPad was functional but, well, old. Battery life was getting worse every … Read more
The 17th edition of Nuketown’s sci-fi and fantasy Summer Reading List features 19 books (16 novels, three non-fiction books), three novellas, and five graphic novels. The Summer of 2024 will be a fun one. My wife and I are going to Iceland with our extended family for a week and we’ll be spending a week … Read more
Usually I write these Summer Reading List retrospectives at the actual end of summer (rather than days before the start of the next summer) but 2023 was a particularly trying year and motivation was lacking. But now a new summer is upon us … so let’s take a breath and see how last year went. … Read more
There are a lot of things these days that are overhyped. 2024’s eclipse is not one of them. In a whirlwind couple of days, NeutronLad (17) and I went to an accepted student event at RIT (a five-hour drive). Then we headed to Burlington, VT to visit StarlGirl (21) at the University of Vermont (another … Read more
March 2024 saw us hit the trail with an “introduction to backpacking” trek to New Jersey’s Wharton State Forest as part of our upcoming return to Philmont. It’s our traditional starter trek, which is meant to introduce new scouts and leaders to backpacking. It also gives more experienced scouters an opportunity to get out their … Read more
It’s official: my son and I are returning to Philmont. We first went in July 2021, during a lull in one of the pandemic’s many viral waves. We were out west for 14 days; two days acclimating to the climate in Colorado Springs and then 12 days on the trail in the mountainous desert of New … Read more