I picked up this collected edition of Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy only in part because of the oddly endearing, but perhaps misleading Hildebrandt Bros. cover. The other reason was, I suppose, a form of nostalgia. Allow me to explain. When I was in sixth grade, both my mother and my step father were working. No… Continue reading The Merlin Trilogy Reread Part I: The Crystal Cave
Author: admin
Writer of two-fisted fabulism.
Styrbiorn the Strong. Eddison Breathes the Northern Thing.
E.R. Eddison is known primarily for The Worm Ouroboros, and to a lesser extent the Zimiamvia Trilogy. But he also wrote a historical novel. As a youth he fell under the eddic spell of the Norse sagas (e.g., The Elder Edda.) And why wouldn’t he? The sparse, barebones recitations of blood feuds, raids, treachery, and… Continue reading Styrbiorn the Strong. Eddison Breathes the Northern Thing.
The Last of the Mohicans: Part of the DNA of American Fiction
While reading my copy of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans I found between the pages a bank deposit slip of mine from 1986. So I know I must have read this copy before — the binding shows some wear — or at least reached about the midpoint and left a book marker… Continue reading The Last of the Mohicans: Part of the DNA of American Fiction
Near Term Event: ConFinement VI
I will be attending ConFinement VI, February 28-March 2. I’m scheduled for a panel on Friday. We’ll see if I’ll sit in on any others. If any readers are the Nashville, TN area that weekend, see if you can grab a membership. Drop by and say hello. ConFinement is a small gathering of — primarily… Continue reading Near Term Event: ConFinement VI
Technical Difficulties
January Update
To anyone looking it might not appear that I’m doing any writing. But I am. The staring at the walls or spending entirely too long in the shower phase is often an essential component of the writing process. I’m not going to discuss what I have in mind; it is too early. If I crack… Continue reading January Update
Fifty Years Later: “Boneland.”
A few months back I read Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath, both of which I considered here. In 2012, some fifty years after the original two-thirds of the Weirdstone Trilogy (or the Tales of Alderly), Garner released Boneland. I won’t say it is the concluding volume of the trilogy.… Continue reading Fifty Years Later: “Boneland.”
Red Moon and Black Mountain
Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain is a book I wanted to like more than I actually did. I’ve a notion that timing is a factor. Had I read it, oh, 40 years ago, I might have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is, after all, an ambitious piece of fantasy, the language skillfully and often… Continue reading Red Moon and Black Mountain
A Cimmerian Christmas
Conan wished he was in Argos, or perhaps even Kush. Anywhere warm. Cimmeria was no place to spend the winter. Cold, gray, bleak. And direly lacking in plentiful meat and drink. So he found himself pushing through a howling blizzard, scarce able to see five feet before him, and that only thanks to a strange… Continue reading A Cimmerian Christmas