It was. But such a guilty pleasure.

Bonus points for classic Niven reference.

The goody two shoes part of me wants to reply saying that this comment is inappropriate and inflammatory.

The difference being that Game of Thrones is still readable. Every attempt I’ve made at an HH novel after At All Costs (HH XI) gives me an almost irresistible desire to throw my Kindle out of the window. In hindsight, I should have bought the hardbacks so I could have the satisfaction of throwing them out.

While it certainly isn’t up to the initial standard, I find that the books are still quite readable. I do wish we could see the conclusion at this point. But nooo, let’s introduce new factions instead.

David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. The first six books were amazing. The following two were pretty good. After that the series rapidly descended into wordpooping expository hell.

1. Vintergatan is Swedish is literally “Winter Street” and is the name for the Milky Way. I assume spelling it with an initial “W” is to make it sound a bit more artsy/oldfashiony.
   

I’ve enjoyed most* of Steele’s work. He is a solid author. While his prose style is not always the most inspired, his stories tend to be top notch. You can tell he’s really into the space program and “dare to dream” science fiction.

Allen Steele has been “the next Heinlein” for as long as he has been writing. At least according to the blurbs on his covers. ;)

One of the reasons (but not the only reason) for the preponderance of Alphards, Vellfires and other such large vans in HK is that relatively many people who own cars here also employ drivers (not the majority, just a much higher proportion than in the west). Once you’re being chauffeured around anyway, it makes sense…

Thanks. Now my monitor is covered in tea...

They had to be smart as in engineering and problem solving smart. Not overall smart. I know many pilots who are great at their job but not really street smart or socially smart, or particularly interested in science.

You’re absolutely right. I’d forgotten about that.

If memory serves, it “allowed” the USAF to give astronaut wings to some X-15 pilots

Their eventual plan is to hit “official astronaut distance”—over 50 miles above our surface.

Thanks. Now I’ll have that stuck in my head all day week.

And my personal takeaway, I think it’s the best romance I’ve seen on screen since 10 things I hate about you.

This!!!