All those Vance books on the shelf. Staring at me, eyeless. Somehow judging me, despite lack of faculty. Beckoning. Tantalizing. So I finally read The Dragon Masters, a title I’ve seen recommended a number of times now. It wasn’t my favorite Vance work, but it was a Vance work. In other […]
Obloquy n. 1. Strong public condemnation. 2. Disgrace, especially that brought about by public condemnation. “Obloquy” isn’t a difficult word, but it’s one that you probably haven’t seen before, or at least not often – typical Vance-favored vocabulary. From the Latin ob (against) and loqui (speak), “obloquy” then makes for a nice […]
I was recently gifted The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard. I’ve had my eye on this one for a while, perhaps since Alex of Barbarian Book Club wrote about it. I’m not sure if the copy he’s got features that sweet illustration of a guy fighting a sea monster, but […]
When I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? a few years ago, I was struck by how much it deviated from its Hollywood counterpart, Blade Runner. In retrospect I shouldn’t have been – film adaptations are notorious for drifting away from source material. It’s no surprise, then, that “We Can Remember […]
Habiliment n. 1. (Usually habiliments) Clothes or clothing. 2. Accouterments or trappings. Originally from the Old French habillement, meaning “clothe,” “habiliments” is a nice change-up from the usual words you might use for clothing, like garb, garments, or duds. There are actually quite a few terms for clothing, but this […]
Gitabushi has been prodding me for a while now to read The Mucker, one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ lesser known novels. I’m generally not a fan of “Just power through the first 100 pages and then it gets really good” stories, but seeing as how I’ve plowed a-ways through and I’m […]
Yesterday Jeffro posted a little spotlight on Solomon Kane, and it reminded me of something from a couple years ago. While making an interesting observation about the reaction of normal folk to heroes like Kane, Jeffro draws a comparison to Mad Max. I don’t believe he’s calling Kane a madman, […]
I know I said I couldn’t wait to read Witch World, but I could have waited. I’m not sure what it was about Norton’s writing in this one, but it just didn’t flow. I can’t remember having to reread sentences so many times to get their meaning! At least I […]
A merry Christmas to all of you, and a blessed New Year (soon enough)! The Bushi family had a nice holiday, though too short – true to form for any Tuesday break. I’m grateful that our first son’s Christmas was bountiful for him – we were able to buy him […]
In Part 1, we had a short look at L. Frank Baum’s background and touched upon his role as America’s first big children’s book author. Baum also seems to have played an early and perhaps major role in the reformation of the fey. Of course his hallmark work, The Wizard […]
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