A Star Wars manga! Now I can happily retire and say to myself, I've seen it all. It would be funny, wouldn't it, if the thing to finally get me into manga was a Star Wars product? What a shame it isn't so; that said, I had a fun enough time with The Edge of... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/B7nV20cD6ec This book has got me in a bind. It’s easy to relegate it to one of two neat classifications: either a straight-faced satire that takes the piss out of the military-industrial complex; or else, a fully realised celebration of the serving man’s fraternity, of the sacrifice of the individual for the collective’s greater good,... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCOPQofBjPQ What a complex topic James Blish tackles in his 1959 Hugo award-winning novel! Father Ruiz-Sanches is one of a committee of four researchers sent to explore the world of Lithia and offer advice on what this planet’s role should be regarding humanity’s expansion. When the Father discovers that the Lithian race of perfectly rational... Continue Reading →
Previous || Next When I read the first volume of Thompson and Casagrande's Black Widow run last week, I was taken with the masterful way in which the Black Widow is imbued with brand new purpose. This second volume builds on the solid foundation set up in Ties That Bind by seeing Nat and Yelena... Continue Reading →
|| Next I've written about the first volume of DIE (the comic book) here. After five years of D&D, experimenting with Kieron Gillen’s DIE RPG ruleset this past summer was a revelation. Dungeons and Dragons is largely reactive, in the sense that the Dungeon Master(DM) offers a playground, more or less directed, within which the... Continue Reading →
I don’t know where to begin with this one, really I don’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxRaOQUz99A The first sci-fi novel I ever read by Robert A. Heinlein got me from the very first: If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he owned the place, he's a spaceman. It is a logical necessity. His profession makes him feel like boss of all creation; when he... Continue Reading →
Old science fiction! It can be endlessly entertaining in wholly unintentional ways—I owe linguistic drift alone for more than a few chuckles as I explored the very first novel awarded the Hugo for best sci-fi, all the way back in 1953. Despite certain antiquated notions, The Demolished Man made for exciting reading and I can see why it still holds a place in the science fictional canon.
Hello! Now that we're at the close of September, it's time to look back at all the fun we've had over the summer! And if you know me, my fun is often limited to vast quantities of books. Like...so many books, bruh. I discuss most of the ones I read over the summer, in some... Continue Reading →
Welcome to Trope Check, what is either a one-off or a possible series, in which I examine how unique works of fiction deal with familiar tropes in fun, new, and exciting ways! #0. Play Catch-Up! If you're unfamiliar with the bloody brilliant 𝖕𝖎𝖊𝖈𝖊 𝖔𝖋 🅐🅡🅣 that is Adrian Tchaikovsky's SHARDS OF EARTH, you should first... Continue Reading →
The Grimoire Reliquary 