November 16, 2014 The Elfin Ship Feeling, as I did, a trifle lonesome with my wife and daughter out of town for the week, “The Elfin Ship” by James P. Blaylock provided the ideal anodyne. It’s a warm fireplace and mug of hot, honeyed tea kind of book. Literature as comfort food. “The Elfin Ship” fits the… Continue reading The Elfin Ship. Resurrected Post.
Category: Reading
Rainy Day Reading. Resurrected Post.
October 26, 2014 Rainy-day Reading The grey days are here again. The storms roll inland from the Pacific in succession, bringing the seemingly continuous rain. The temperatures drop and coats come out of the closet. The days grow shorter. The nagging bugs commence. My daughter has already picked up a cold from somewhere and has… Continue reading Rainy Day Reading. Resurrected Post.
Peregrine: Primus, Philosophy and Picaresque. Resurrected Post.
October 19, 2014 Peregrine: Primus, Philosophy and Picaresque I’ve written before about Avram Davidson. Might he not have graced the list of an alternate Appendix N? If I recall correctly, Gary Gygax was a Christian. Whether observant or not. But it is possible that he might find Avram Davidson’s rather acid and frequent criticism of… Continue reading Peregrine: Primus, Philosophy and Picaresque. Resurrected Post.
Immortal Creations. Resurrected Post.
September 28, 2014 Immortal Creations I think the number of pages of Sherlock Holmes pastiches I’ve read equals or surpasses the volume of “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” I have on my shelves. And I’m certain I’ve barely scratched the surface of the short stories, novels, comic books, etc. featuring Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation.… Continue reading Immortal Creations. Resurrected Post.
Top Ten S&S Characters
Swords and Sorcery fiction provides us with exciting action in memorable settings. It also drops terrific characters into those settings and lets them run free. Some of those characters have stood the test of time. I’ve selected ten of those that I consider the pantheon of the genre. There is no science here. It is… Continue reading Top Ten S&S Characters
The Dragon Lord: Arthur As Backdrop
Rereading “Janissaries”
Jerry Pournelle’s Janissaries was first published in 1979. I was ten. My copy is the 1982 edition. So I probably first read this in ‘82 or ‘83 in my early teens. I’ve gone through it and the sequels a couple of times. Now I’m starting again, preparatory to reading the final, posthumous volume, Mamelukes (hoping a paperback edition will… Continue reading Rereading “Janissaries”
“The Moon Pool.” Dive In.
My faulty memory assured me that I had read Abraham Merritt’s The Moon Pool. So I picked up a copy figuring I would enjoy a re-read. While it is possible that I did read it during some lost year of my long and dubious past, I consider it unlikely now. How could I have forgotten such… Continue reading “The Moon Pool.” Dive In.
The Sword of Welleran. Speculations on the Afterlife.
Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, is probably best known for The King of Elfland’s Daughter. Otherwise perhaps for his Jorken’s stories and his clever, witty fables of the foibles and fallacies of gods and men. The Sword of Welleran is a collection of his earlier works. I think, perhaps, his relative inexperience shows when these stories are compared to… Continue reading The Sword of Welleran. Speculations on the Afterlife.