The recent release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has created a huge amount of controversy, a large amount of it centering on the almost unrelentingly grim imagery of the movie, and most specifically on the depiction of Superman. Throughout my life, there have been several times in which people dealing with the superheroic have decided – in various media – that a superhero can't be done for a modern audience and retain the four-color brightness of their origins. The arguments vary but tend to boil down to a perceived, [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Mutineer’s Moon
March 29, 2016 By 1 Comment
David Weber is probably best known for his Honor Harrington space opera series, but this is my favorite of his books. Colin MacIntyre is pilot of a NASA experimental moon vessel sometime in the not-too-distant future, with a simple-seeming mission: use a new "gravitonic" probe to map the mass distribution of the moon in detail. Unlike prior gravity surveys that merely use the slight variations in mass to give a very general idea of the mass distribution, the gravitonic probe should provide fine detail of structure and composition. But the [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark
March 24, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Marley Jacob is a wealthy old woman, known for her charity and eccentricity, a lawyer who no longer needs to practice but who has various unusual clients. She also has a nephew whom everyone – even, with sadness and regret, Marley – dislikes. Aloysius is the classic self-centered, unconsciously arrogant man who has literally never looked at himself in the mirror of the soul. Or rather, Aloysius was that sort of man, and Marley Jacob had such a nephew. Aloysius was murdered, found drained of his blood over a storm grate, and Marley suspects [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
March 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment
What do you get when you have a Japanese who's a fan of Western horror movies and pop music and who's been involved in – and come to despise – the fashion industry? No, no, not Kill La Kill, although there's certainly aspects of commonality. What you get is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. A manga by Hirohiko Araki which began its run waaaay back in 1987, it had a few sporadic one-off OVA/movie animations many years later, but only in 2012 did it begin its run as an anime (which is primarily what I know it from; I've seen pieces of the [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: One Punch Man
March 17, 2016 By Leave a Comment
IN A WORLD… where monsters and supervillains run rampant, opposed by a variety of heroes and wannabees, there was a man who had reached the point that he did not care whether he lived or died; a monster he encountered was so amused by his "I don't care" attitude that the monster spared him. But then the same monster tried to kill a child in front of him, and the man remembered that he had once dreamed of becoming a hero. After saving the child, he set out to train himself to be the greatest hero… for fun. Saitama – for that was his name – [ Continue reading... ]
Albacon 2016 Convention Report
March 15, 2016 By 2 Comments
Albacon (link goes to page for next year) is the long-running traditional SF/F convention located in Albany, NY. The venue has changed over time, as with many long-running conventions. This year it was held in the Best Western on Wolf Road. I've been in attendance since 2003 (and I attended one or two of the earlier ones years before). I'll get my one gripe out of the way, because I prefer to say anything negative up front. In this case, it's a gripe about something that doesn't personally impact ME, but does impact other people [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: Death Battle!
March 1, 2016 By Leave a Comment
"He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick –" "—and it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to determine who would win – a Death Battle!" The idea of X versus Y, or "Who'd Win?" is probably one of the oldest of old ideas. I would be unsurprised to find out that Greek children argued about whether Heracles could beat Perseus. The basic concept of pitting real and imaginary characters against each other took on more energy and interest as various modern fandoms gained in strength, of course, and while you can trace the [ Continue reading... ]
Schedule for Albacon 2016!
February 24, 2016 By Leave a Comment
In about one week Albacon begins, and I'll be there all weekend! Here's my schedule! Friday, March 4 11 AM POV Waltz Troy room 5PM Surfeit of Superheroes? Troy room 8PM Ice Cream Social Colonie Saturday, March 5 11AM Great but Forgotten Colonie 12PM The Golden Age of SF is 12 Troy 1PM Reading! Room 101 3PM Autographing [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 26
February 10, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Kyri had made a very puzzling statement... ----- Chapter 26. Poplock stared at her, as did Tobimar; Poplock hopped to her shoulder to talk to her more directly. "Um, that's what we've been trying to do for the last couple of weeks, Kyri. With all the magic I've got, all of Sasha's, and even Kelsley's." He could feel her pulse, sense it hammering far faster than it should be. "Magic – at least the magic we have – can't do it," she said quietly, still striding towards the south. "The Arbiter can't. Even the [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 25
February 8, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Kyri was, in some ways, in more peril than she had ever been... ----- Chapter 25. Arbiter Kelsley wavered on his feet; Tobimar and Discoverer (previously Seeker) Reed caught his elbows, helped him to sit down. Kyri looked out of the holy circle, and Tobimar felt a phantom pain in his chest as he saw her understanding that even this had failed. "Nothing at all, Arbiter?" The priest of Myrionar shook his head reluctantly. "I can injure her easily enough, Balance save me. But to break that curse lies beyond [ Continue reading... ]
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