Trullion: Alastor 2262: Very Good
In the late morning I finished Trullion: Alastor 2262, Alastor book 1 of 3 by Jack Vance. Despite having read this story several times before the story still felt fresh. In short: it was very good.
A New Spider Arrived
Last week, Tuesday the 14th of April I ordered a Monocentropus balfouri female with a body length of 3-3,5cm with Exotic-Spiders. I had ordered three tarantula slings nearly 6 years ago with Dawid Staroń, the owner, before.
I ordered the Monocentropus balfouri female to replace a (larger) female that passed away a few months ago, without an obvious reason, after nearly 3 years in my care.
Last Tuesday, the 21st, I got in the morning an email confirming my order. I was already anxious the past few days because I hadn't received any confirmation email from the website's shopping system nor a reply to an email I sent to Dawid last Friday. But my worries were for nothing: the confirmation email was in the afternoon followed by an email from UPS that the package was on its way.
And today, just around noon the package was delivered. Inside a cardboard box filled with polystyrene chips was a smaller package wrapped in a polystyrene sheet. This package, a small styrofoam thermobox, contained the live spider.
Heeding the warning on the thermobox to be careful I put the box inside the terrarium: a large plastic container with a layer of coconut coir and some decoration. Next, I carefully removed the lid of the box and used large tweezers to remove the moist toilet paper covering the tarantula.
The spider rested on another piece of moist toilet paper which I lifted and placed next to the box. After this, I removed the box and gently moved the spider off the paper using a paintbrush.
Moving it to its terrarium went without any issue. This spider is an old world tarantula and its bite can be very painful I've read. Also, in my experience, this species can be very skittish. When I moved the container later on it ran quite fast around the container. In short, not a species recommended for a beginner in general.
The spider looks certainly larger than a body length of 3.5cm. I think it's closer to 5cm (roughly 2"). I will wait a few days until its settled with feeding this beautiful tarantula.
Wyst: Alastor 1716
The Alastor Cluster is made up of three thousand inhabited planets whose sole protector of law is the mysterious Connatic. On Wyst, world 1716 of the Cluster, can be found a Utopia - or so it seems; in one great city live millions of people, sharing alike, working in absolute equality for just a few hours a week. But there is something decidedly strange about it all...
In the afternoon I started in Wyst: Alastor 1716, Alastor book 2 of 3 by Jack Vance. I downloaded the version with a great cover by Konstantin Korobov.
I had read this book several times already. Back in the late 90's I bought a second hand Silicon Graphics Indigo R3000 and named it Wyst because the tower workstation could resemble a big city building on the planet Wyst.
Edit: I just noted that Marune is actually book 2, not Wyst, according to the years of publication given in the Wikipedia Alastor trilogy article.
Trullion: Alastor 2262
Trullion - world 2262 of the Alastor Cluster - is a water-world of fens, mists, and idyllic islands set in clear oceans whose teeming richness provides food for the taking. The Trill are a carefree and easy-living people, but violence enters their lives during raids of the Starmenters, freebooting galactic pirates who live short, perilous lives in pursuit of adventure, rape and pillage. Then there's the planet-wide game of hussade - when the Trill's passion for gambling drives them to risk all - even life itself, on the hazardous water-chessboard gaming fields. Their prize? The beautiful sheirlmaiden...
In the evening I started in Trullion: Alastor 2262, Alastor book 1 of 3 by Jack Vance. I downloaded the version with a neat cover by Konstantin Korobov.
I had read this book several times before. It's one of my favourite Jack Vance books, especially since I grew up near a canal and even had my own small rowboat. Later, when I owned my first (second hand) Silicon Graphics Indy R5000 I named the workstation Trullion because of its teal blue "water" color.