Son of the Tree: OK
In the late afternoon I finished Son of the Tree by Jack Vance. It was an OK reread.
Shroud
They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .
New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists – and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.
Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .
In the evening I started in Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Tarantula in a New Skin
In the late afternoon I checked on Jaiden's Brazilian whiteknee tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata). It had turned itself upside down yesterday, ready to molt. And indeed it had molted!
In the above photo you can see the spider in the bottom half and its exuviae (cast-off exoskeleton) in the top half. All in all it looked like a successful molt.
Madouc: Good
In the early evening I finished Madouc by Jack Vance, the final book in the Lyonesse trilogy. I liked the book, it was a good reread.
Son of the Tree
"The Tree ruled the horizons, shouldered aside the clouds, and wore thunder and lightning like a wreath of tinsels- it had come to be worshipped by the first marveling settlers on Kyril". Joe Smith arrives from Earth and soon is caught up in a political plot between opposing worlds. Ultimately he discovers the true, horrific nature of The Tree of Life...
In the evening I started in Son of the Tree by Jack Vance. My copy of the ebook came with a cover art by Howard Kistler.
Tarantula Upside Down
Today I noticed that Jaiden's Brazilian whiteknee tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata) was upside down resting on a mat of spider silk. This is a good sign, the large spider is about to molt.
I had ordered this tarantula as a birthday present the 6th of May 2020. It arrived the 20th of May 2020, hence almost 5 years with us. And today is Jaiden's birthday so it's a nice surprise that her tarantula is about to molt.