I have something of an unusual perspective on intellectual property infringement of the type that's called "piracy". First, I put that word in quotes because I dislike it. It is an inadequate and inaccurate description of the problem which both romanticizes and exaggerates it. The word "piracy" in modern ears usually (especially in the sheltered civilized areas where real pirates, who still exist in some of the seas of the world, don't prowl) evokes a dashing, romantic imagery of swashbuckling action and cheerful [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien
April 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. There may be no other modern work which has so completely defined and then overshadowed a genre as The Lord of the Rings. Written by John Ronald [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin and Phil Foglio
April 4, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Robert Asprin wrote quite a number of books and was well-known as an editor on others, and a co-creator of the fairly successful Thieves' World shared-world setting, which I may write about in another entry. But what he may have been best known for was his comedic fantasy entry Another Fine Myth and the subsequent long-running series of novels based on the adventures and misadventures of young failed thief and would-be wizard Skeeve, scaly, blustering, and devious "demon" Aahz ("Oz?" "No relation."), and a diverse cast of [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
March 3, 2014 By Leave a Comment
1977, as I have mentioned before, was something of a banner year in my fandom experiences for me. Star Wars was released in that year; I first encountered roleplaying games, in the form of Dungeons and Dragons, in 1977; The Sword of Shannara was published in that year. And so was Lord Foul's Bane, the first book in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever – a series which was first a trilogy, then two trilogies, and now a total of ten books with the addition of a final tetralogy. I have not read this final [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Witch Family
February 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Written by children's author Eleanor Estes (best known for her "Moffat Family" books and "Ginger Pye"), The Witch Family is probably my favorite of her works. It tells the story of Old Witch, the oldest, most evil, and most powerful of all the witches, and how she was "banquished" to the great bare bleak glass hill for her wickedness by Amy, an ordinary mortal girl living in Garden Lane in Washington, DC. The action of most chapters is an interspersion of Amy and her best friend Clarissa talking about Old Witch and [ Continue reading... ]
What is an Editor Good For?
February 21, 2014 By Leave a Comment
A lot of people who are not published authors don't have a clear idea of exactly what an editor does, or why they're needed by an author. In addition, there's a lot of stories out there about horrible things editors do or have done to people and their stories. This is becoming a VASTLY more important issue because so many people are going the self-published route and really, honestly don't understand why they might need an editor at all. I want to talk about my own experiences and views of editing, garnered over the [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
February 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment." My last post reminded me that I hadn't yet posted anything about the original -- an oversight that I now rectify! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man of wide experience and education – a doctor who served on both a Greenland whaler and a steamship on a voyage to western Africa, a scientist with a keen sense of justice, a man fascinated with the unknown and unknowable. Though he had many notable achievements in his [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Weapon Brown
February 14, 2014 By Leave a Comment
"I've got a lot of names, depending on who you ask. I'll let you call me Chuck. I kill for a living. There's a lot of guys in my line of work, and they're all cheaper than me. If all you want is to put a hole in somebody, you hire one of them. But if you want to take out a tank crew of battle-hardened scum and fall asleep knowing they died screaming -- you call good ol' Weapon Brown." Holy. Crap. There are few things that leave me speechless upon encountering them. WEAPON BROWN is one. I ran into this [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
February 5, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Many years ago – something like 40, I think – my family was visiting the house of couple of my parents' friends. As I've mentioned in other contexts, I was not the most sociable kid; I'd learned to survive very nicely in isolation, but not how to deal with people as such, so "visiting friends" that weren't my friends (I had two) was, for me, very tense and unpleasant. My best defense was to hide somewhere behind a book, but often I couldn't bring a book, or I finished the one I had long before it was time to go home, which meant I had [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Shibumi and the Kitemaker
January 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I mentioned this book in my prior review of The Paper Dragon. They share certain similarities, not the least of them being a protagonist faced with an apparently insuperable problem who finds a clever way to address this problem. Shibumi and the Kitemaker,(no link because, to my surprise and disappointment, it appears to be out of print and only available as ridiculously expensive new copies or used copies of uncertain provenance) by the famous children's author Mercer Mayer (most well-known for his "Little Critter" [ Continue reading... ]
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