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Benjamin Espen

CDC Data on Vaccine Effectiveness in New York State

Yesterday, the CDC published New COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Among Adults, by Vaccination Status — New York, May 3–July 25, 2021. The authors of this CDC study did what I suggested the authors of the Mayo-nference pre-print should have done. The CDC authors look at all the data for NY,

Tim Powers' Last Call on Sale on Amazon

Tim Powers’ Last Call is on sale on Amazon right now. You can get the ebook version for $1.99 USD. Last Call is an ambitious work. It weaves together secret history, grail legends, and Greek myth into a story so real you would swear it actually happened. If you

The Long View 2008-09-27: Mortgages and the Curse of the Fendahl

The episode that John J. Reilly references here is called “The Image of the Fendahl”, which is even embedded in the now dead link he had included. I think I can see why he called it “The Curse of the Fendahl” instead, as the titular alien species parasitized the people

Three Hearts and Three Lions on Sale on Amazon

Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson [Amazon link] is a leading favorite book of mine. It is on sale on Amazon today for $1.99 USD, Poul Anderson’s contribution of the story of Ogier the Dane is a worthy read for anyone interested in the Matter of

Breakthrough cases and the delta variant

I’ve had some discussions with people about the utility of vaccines against the variants of COVID-19. In general, my advice has been: mRNA vaccines will probably continue to provide the greatest protection, inactivated virus ones the least. I haven’t yet seen anything to alter that general advice. There

Persian Locks: 1500 Years of Iranian Padlocks by Parviz Tanavoli Book Review

Persian Locks: 1500 Years of Iranian Padlocks by Parviz Tanavoli [Amazon link] is an absolutely beautiful volume detailing the lock-making traditions of Iran. I wouldn’t hesitate to put this on my coffee table. The illustrations of lock mechanisms within this book are solidly in the tradition of Roger Jean

Science Fiction and Science Fantasy

In my editorial line at With Both Hands, I’ve started to shy away from bookstore genre labels, as I have come to think that these marketing tools cramp the mind of both the reader and the writer. However, lots of people still use these terms, and in general they