May Miscellany

• I spent the weekend at Balticon, a yearly sci-fi convention here in the Baltimore area, and I think I'm going to be going regularly from now on. I actually don't participate much in the sci-fi fandom, but Balticon has an unusually strong science program, and that's where I spent the whole time when I wasn't shopping in the dealer's room. (I came away with a stack of books and a nifty turned-wood fountain pen.) It was a nice time and I got to spend time with various friends.
• Summer has descended on Baltimore! The heat and humidity today were dreadful, but it's the beginning of our Sinister Summer and new adventures ahead. What are your plans for the summer?
• I just finished a rather slight mystery novel from the library. Death and the Courtesan, by Pamela Christie, is an OK read but not much more. It recounts the adventures of Arabella Beaumont, London courtesan of 1811, who is accused of murdering a fellow courtesan and must uncover the murderer in order to save her own neck. The historic milieu is well-researched and Arabella is an amiable person to spend time with, but the plot is rather thin and hastily solved by a leap of logic. I may or may not read the sequel.

  

  Saucy thing!