NPR listeners picked 100 Scifi and Fantasy novels this summer, and SFSIGNAL has produced a helpful chart for this list. On it, you’ll see a strong logical flow of questions and answers like this:

Where should I start: Fantasy or SciFi?

No, I’d rather not be seen in that area of the bookstore.

We won’t tell. Prefer a drama?

No. I just watched The Notebook last night?

Postmodern mind-bender?

No.

Interested in Dystopian fiction?

Yes. I’m a sucker for worst case scenarios.

Totalitarian or world gone mad?

Madness

Do manufactured humans interest you?

No.

Which question most frightens you?

Who needs Free Will?

Recommended: A Clockwork Orange

Or take this example:

Where should I start: Fantasy or SciFi?

No. Can’t I have both?

You can have it all. Into the future or the past?

Future

Math Geek?

Yes.

Recommended: Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Crowds are definitely down at Hostfest this year. The main cause, I think, is lack of accommodations for the large tour groups which usually show up. But spirits are high, or at least not low. Everybody seems to be happy that they’re carrying on with the festival at all.

My combat success has not been signal. After I did my first fight on Wednesday, I made the decision to switch to the battle axe as a weapon. It’s kind of ironic that I’ve become the designated axe man in our group, since I’m probably the most attached to the sword, emotionally, of all of us. But I’ve got the most training with the axe, so it’s up to me to figure out how to fight with the thing, and pass the information on. My problem is two-fold–plain unfamiliarity, plus the fact that I tend to lose my grip on the axe haft. I never lose my sword, unless I’m actually injured. But I have a hard time keeping the axe in hand with my protective glove on.

Did win one fight, though. There was also an interesting moment when my mighty axe blow embedded the weapon in my opponent’s shield so firmly that I couldn’t get it out again. Exciting for the spectators, though I got killed.

Ragnar’s hip is hurting him, so I’m mostly fighting with the boys, ages 15 and 19. Not bad for a 61-year-old coal chewer (a saga reference. Look it up).

About a century ago, a revival of dueling in Russia ended with a this duel by

Nikolay Gumilyov and Maximilian Voloshin. “The offense seems cliché at first,” Nick Moran writes. “Gumilyov had—like many of his peers—become enamored with the female poet Cherubina de Gabriak, and Voloshin stood in his way. It was soon discovered, however, that de Gabriak did not actually exist in corpus, and was instead a pseudonym manufactured by Voloshin and a then-unknown schoolteacher named Elisaveta Dmitrievna. The two had concocted the exotic alias in order to get two dozen poems published. Gumilyov, publisher of some of these poems, wound up penning amorous letters to de Gabriak, and he began receiving equally amorous responses. The offense could not go unpunished. This time, both duelists survived unscathed.”

Nick describes this period and the literature that sprang up with it on The Millions.

The first day went well. Crowds were good (not great, but first day is generally light). My impression is that people in Minot may not have homes, but they tend to have money to spend.

Flood damage is particularly evident in the area around the fairgrounds, where the festival is held. Lots of houses with dirty water lines on the outside walls, ruined household junk piled outside. Some have FEMA trailers parked in the yards, but most are abandoned for the moment.

A restaurant we always used to patronize is boarded up and dead. Some traffic lights are out, and others no longer have left turn signals working, for some reason.

But the festival soldiers on. One thing I appreciate particularly is that a new group has joined the rotation at the Copenhagen Hall stage, around the corner from our Viking World. It’s a very impressive family band (seven kids) that actually does some music I like. I didn’t think such a phenomenon existed in the world anymore.

Can’t make the WiFi work from the Viking camp at the moment, but I’m making this quick post from a booth sponsored by SRT Communications (credit where credit’s due, and all that).

If you’re looking for work, I might suggest Minot. Jobs are going begging around here. There are three caveats to that statement of fact, however:

1. Once you get here, you’ll find out there are better paying jobs further west, where the oil boom is booming in a booming way. Which is one reason so many jobs are unfilled here.

2. Housing is very limited, due to flood damage.

3. North Dakota winters.

Nevertheless, for those looking for jobs and a decent community to live in, you could do a lot worse than Minot, North Dakota.

It’s about time for Hostfest to begin, so I’ll sign off for now.