Once upon a time, there was a Norwegian adventurer and would-be anthropologist who noted some strange parallels between the language and culture of various Polynesian islands and certain languages and cultures on the coast of South America. Thor Heyerdahl came up with a crazy theory: maybe the Polynesian islands were settled, not from Asia, but from the Americas! There were many reasons people argued against this idea, although there were certain appealing elements of the theory. However, from the point of view of [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
December 6, 2013 By 4 Comments
I first came across the Mushroom Planet books many years ago, when I was still near the target age. I was fascinated by them, drawn into a world that seemed to blend mundanity, magic, and science in an impossible brew that still, somehow, managed to work. Once I became a parent, eventually I hunted down the first book for my own children. The first of Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still casts a spell many years after its first publication. David and Chuck, two best [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Unbreakable
December 4, 2013 By 4 Comments
Capsule summary: Bruce Willis plays an ordinary man who does security work. After a train accident somehow leaves him miraculously untouched, he is contacted by a mysterious man who tells him he may not be ordinary at all, but so extraordinary that he can no longer lead an ordinary life. The truth is even stranger, and more frightening, than it seems at first. It is a rare thing to come across anything NEW in either the thriller OR superhero genres. This combination, produced by M. Night Shamalyan before his decline, manages to [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Child of Fire
December 2, 2013 By 2 Comments
Harry Connolly, under the handle of "burger_eater", has been a Livejournal friend of mine for a while. I got and read the first of his Twenty Palaces novels, Child of Fire, not long after it came out, and was pleasantly surprised. The following article takes a lot from my original Amazon review but adds some new pieces. Very simple spoiler-free summary: Despite the typical urban-fantasy setup (world like ours, secret magical background, first-person narrator), Child of Fire manages some highly inventive twists on both the [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Silverlock
November 22, 2013 By 4 Comments
A. Clarence Shandon is a man of limited vision and less patience with anything he is unfamiliar with. When a storm sinks the ship he is on and he finds himself adrift, he also finds he has no particular reason to live. But a seemingly chance encounter with another castaway, floating in the water with him, gives him if not hope, at least some direction. Golias – Boyan Taliesin Golias – insists that they are approaching a place called "The Commonwealth", and there they will land… and, perhaps, survive. Golias' [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Call It Courage
November 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
It happened many years ago, before the traders and missionaries first came into the south seas, while the Polynesians were still great in numbers and fierce of heart. But even today the people of Hikueru sing this story in their chants and tell it over the evening fires. It is the story of Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid. Call It Courage is a children's novel, a Newbery Medal winner and the most famous novel of Armstrong Sperry, an author and illustrator of mostly children's novels who had a fascination with the Polynesian [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: The Annotated Evil Overlord Part 5
November 18, 2013 By 2 Comments
Herewith is the final part of the dissection of the Evil Overlord list. Back to more "regular" columns later this week! For convenience, I'm including our panel listing in each post. Our Expert Panel We have assembled for this special conference several fine villains who have wreaked havoc throughout the known multiverse. Let's meet them: Virigar. King of the Great Werewolves and progenitor of the species, Virigar is the most-feared monster on all of Zarathan. A soul-eating, nearly indestructible being, Virigar's [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: The Annotated Evil Overlord, Part 4
November 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Almost to the end. Part Five is the final section! For convenience, I'm including our panel listing in each post. Our Expert Panel We have assembled for this special conference several fine villains who have wreaked havoc throughout the known multiverse. Let's meet them: Virigar. King of the Great Werewolves and progenitor of the species, Virigar is the most-feared monster on all of Zarathan. A soul-eating, nearly indestructible being, Virigar's age is unknown, his full powers a mystery. He has killed gods and demons and [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: The Annotated Evil Overlord, part 3
November 11, 2013 By 9 Comments
For convenience, I'm including our panel listing in each post. Our Expert Panel We have assembled for this special conference several fine villains who have wreaked havoc throughout the known multiverse. Let's meet them: Virigar. King of the Great Werewolves and progenitor of the species, Virigar is the most-feared monster on all of Zarathan. A soul-eating, nearly indestructible being, Virigar's age is unknown, his full powers a mystery. He has killed gods and demons and men, shrugged off or consumed spells and energy weapons, and [ Continue reading... ]
Just For Fun: The Annotated Evil Overlord, Part 2
November 8, 2013 By 7 Comments
For convenience, I'm including our panel listing in each post. Our Expert Panel We have assembled for this special conference several fine villains who have wreaked havoc throughout the known multiverse. Let's meet them: Virigar. King of the Great Werewolves and progenitor of the species, Virigar is the most-feared monster on all of Zarathan. A soul-eating, nearly indestructible being, Virigar's age is unknown, his full powers a mystery. He has killed gods and demons and men, shrugged off or consumed spells and energy weapons, and survived [ Continue reading... ]
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