goblin king

Friggin Fairies

October 26, 2018 Bushi 2

Fairies used to be bad, you know. As I said, elves used to be part of this basket, too. All that fey nonsense. I guess it’s been happening for a while, though. Modernity seems to subjectivize and gray out everything. Most fairies today are meant for kids, and they’re cute […]

Carmilla

Hallowread: Carmilla Pt. 1

October 24, 2018 Bushi 10

Inspired by HP of Every Day Should Be Tuesday blog, for the past couple of years, I’ve done special, seasonal readings for Halloween. Two years ago was Frankenstein, and last year I explored several of Edgar Allan Poe’s shorter works. Having already read Dracula and not wanting to tackle a […]

Excalibur

The Cool Cutter Caliburn

October 23, 2018 Bushi 0

As I progress through James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice, I’m encountering  many interesting references to legend, myth, and antiquity. Many seem to be fancified, embellished, or otherwise altered to serve the story, which of course is just fine. One reference that I came across, not immediately knowing whether […]

Elf2

Infernal Elves

October 18, 2018 Bushi 6

There was a bit of a discussion yesterday on Twitter, about elves. Specifically, Alex of Cirsova was musing about the D&D alignment systems and how traditionally, under a three-point system (Good-Neutral-Evil), Evil and Chaotic would be pretty much the same thing. "Evil" acts would tend to be chaotic because they […]

Weinbaum’s Old Mars

October 12, 2018 Bushi 5

This morning I started reading Stanley Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey,” and had intended to write a full reaction to it, but, well, I ran out of time and haven’t even finished it yet. It’s been difficult to keep up with my reading and nerding lately, I admit. Lots of “real” […]

Hawkmen

The Hawkmen cometh

October 9, 2018 Bushi 3

Hawkman, the comic book superhero, was apparently created in 1940 by Gardner Fox of Appendix N fame. This post wasn’t originally intended to include him beyond a cursory note, but I found it quite interesting and coincidental that Fox should come up in this context, given my preoccupation in recent […]

Excalibur

SFF Weapons: Some Interesting Implements

October 4, 2018 Bushi 4

Scifi and Fantasy are absolutely littered with famous weapons – from Excalibur to the lightsaber to Indiana Jones’ signature bullwhip. The further back you go, the more and more you find. Compiling a list of my favorites would be an undertaking, but reminiscing about Dilvish got me thinking a little […]

Thelinde

Dilvish, the Damned: Zelazny does #NotTolkien Fantasy

October 3, 2018 Bushi 9

You might argue that Roger Zelazny’s brand of fantasy is plenty infected by modernism, as some would put it. You might also argue that he was doing some hard drugs when he wrote it. But it’s not the apple that fell from the Tolkien tree of Fantasy. Earlier this year […]

Carmilla

Hallowread: Carmilla

October 1, 2018 Bushi 6

It’s become something of mine to do a little special reading for the Halloween season. Two years ago, I read and blogged about Frankenstein along with HP of the Every Day Should Be Tuesday book review blog. Last year was Poctober, a reading of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s stuff. […]

Jurgen cover

Jurgen the Clever

September 21, 2018 Bushi 2

Owing to the intensity of starting a new job in a rushed situation, my reading of Witch World has been placed on hold. I have, however, been able to get some Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice in, for reasons only immediately obvious to myself. Jurgen is an odd but wonderful admixture. Filled to […]