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Feb. 19th, 2013
Crystal Express, by Bruce Sterling
Feb. 19th, 2013 04:05 pmCrystal Express is an anthology published by Arkham House in the late 80's, when they were branching out into more SF. The first half dozen stories are set in the world that eventually evolved into the novel Schismatrix. I'd say my faves were "Spook" and the strangely-appealing and Ozymandiesque "Dinner in Audoghast" [spoiler alert].
The LA Cocktail Examiner was kind enough to give me some of his library when he decided to hang up his spurs and muddler.
The PDT Cocktail Book is a handsome thing, written by the mind behind Please Don't Tell in NYC. THe first section of the book is about how to design and build a professional bar. Not something I'll need, but interesting to see the thought that goes into it. It moves on to the cocktail recipes, which I've hardly skimmed, actually. But I do like that he sources the drinks, roughly half to classic cocktail books from 1850-1940, and half to his contemporary mixologists of the 2000's. The hot dog section I find harder to swallow, so to speak [evidently PDT shares space with a hot dog joint, something like Varnish at Cole's.] Maybe if I were a NYC hot dog fancier, it'd be different, but these recipes didn't excite me at all. Finally, a nice primer on the different spirits and liqueurs and such, including the particular brands stocked at PDT.
The Little Green Book of Absinthe by Owens & Nathan, with drink recipes by Herlong.
It provides a good, solid background on absinthe. Not encyclopedic, but pretty good for a 'little' book. A lot of the drink recipes, however, struck me as horrid. Maybe if I made 'em and tried 'em, I'd change my tune, but it seems unlikely. Not that they're all bad, but I had a strong feeling of "what is good is not original and what is original is not good."
The PDT Cocktail Book is a handsome thing, written by the mind behind Please Don't Tell in NYC. THe first section of the book is about how to design and build a professional bar. Not something I'll need, but interesting to see the thought that goes into it. It moves on to the cocktail recipes, which I've hardly skimmed, actually. But I do like that he sources the drinks, roughly half to classic cocktail books from 1850-1940, and half to his contemporary mixologists of the 2000's. The hot dog section I find harder to swallow, so to speak [evidently PDT shares space with a hot dog joint, something like Varnish at Cole's.] Maybe if I were a NYC hot dog fancier, it'd be different, but these recipes didn't excite me at all. Finally, a nice primer on the different spirits and liqueurs and such, including the particular brands stocked at PDT.
The Little Green Book of Absinthe by Owens & Nathan, with drink recipes by Herlong.
It provides a good, solid background on absinthe. Not encyclopedic, but pretty good for a 'little' book. A lot of the drink recipes, however, struck me as horrid. Maybe if I made 'em and tried 'em, I'd change my tune, but it seems unlikely. Not that they're all bad, but I had a strong feeling of "what is good is not original and what is original is not good."