Monthly Archives: December 2019

Update: Top 100 Sci Fi & Fantasy Lists

At the end of 2018 I set a goal for myself of reading all of the books on the Top 100 Fantasy and Top 100 Science Fiction book lists. It was ambitious, and I will not succeed by the end of 2019. I am closing the year at 75 fantasy and 75 sci fi books from the lists.

I just couldn’t not read other books! I read all of McCaffrey’s PERN books, Carey’s Kushiel trilogy, Cherryh’s Cyteen trilogy, Robinson’s StarDance trilogy, McDonald’s Fletch and Flynn series’, Hart’s Death on Demand series, Bishop’s Black Jewels series, May’s Pliocene and Galactic Milieu series’, MacLeod’s ‘Boston’ and Madoc & Janet Rhys series, innumerable cookbooks, travel guides, gardening books, and alternative spirituality books. With the books from these lists (not counting the ones I’d already read, of course) I’ve easily read 300 books over the course of the year. (Yes, I am a fast reader.)

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You haven’t missed much . . .

. . . I just got too busy to write for awhile, which is a little strange. Not the too busy part, but the not writing part. Although, I am working on a writing project, more on that in 2020 when I’ve found a publisher. Every day, for at least an hour, I’m writing. My goal is a chapter-like-subject every week. According to my outline I’ll be done next summer.

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Coming Together: A Look at Pagan Group Structure

Humans are fundamentally social creatures: we love to get together. We are educated in groups, we work in groups and many of us worship in groups. But what, exactly, is a group? A group of people working in the same room, or on a common project, does not necessarily make a group.

When people work in groups, there are two different factors involved. The first is the task to accomplish, teaching a class, holding a ritual, or doing community outreach are examples of tasks. The second factor is process of the group work itself, the mechanisms by which the group acts as a unit. If group members don’t pay enough attention to the process, the value of the group can be diminished or even destroyed. The synergy between task and process makes group work attractive despite the possible problems (and time spent).

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