A Word on Captcha

I admit: up until a month or two ago I had captcha on my comments. It's the thing where you have to decipher increasingly fuzzy and obscure wording prior to commenting on a blog in order to prove you aren't a robot. 

But the more blogs I visited, the more frustrated I became with bizarre captcha screens. Kinda like this:

Half the time I enter it wrong and have to try again, sometimes losing my post in the process. Most blogs - like Blogger - have additional options to block out spam comments. You can choose to log in using google, Wordpress or your facebook or twitter account. 

Friendly word of advice: experiment with your comment parameters and consider ridding the universe of captcha. If you insist on using it on your blog, by all means, go ahead. I just can't promise I won't end up like rageface there after commenting.

Book Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe

Beth Revis

YA Sci Fi/Romace

Published: 2011

If you have the chance to listen to the audiobook, I highly recommend it. The narrator is actor Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) who is superb (Sadly, I only made it through a few chapters of the audio due to some technical problems with my download, so I finished the book in paperback). 

Across the Universe is a Young Adult novel with sci-fi elements; I would label it "gateway sci-fi" as it takes a lighter approach to a space travel mystery. The main character awakens from her cryochamber too early on the 300-year journey to a new planet. Her story is told in alternate chapters with a teen boy born on the ship who is prepped to be the ship's next overseer. He has no idea an entire cargo floor is inhabited by frozen humans who founded the exploration project; meanwhile, the non-frozens have birthed new generations and a dictatorship rose within it, which is, expectedly, mysterious and tyrannical. 

What sold me on the book was Beth Revis herself, who is a delight in person. She spoke fondly of a childhood watching Star Trek and reading sci-fi novels. I can definitely see those facets worked into the story, even though this is a far cry from hard sci-fi (which I personally am not into, but have read a sampling of). 

I like that YA explores twists on so many genres; this is a cool concept that feels more fresh than the seemingly endless paranormal abilities stories. This book only scratches the surface of a larger plot that will continue in books 2 and 3. I would recommend it for a first foray into sci-fi, or if a YA space adventure mixed with romance sounds appealing.