While I've discussed James Schmitz in general elsewhere, some of his works warrant individual discussion,and this is one of the best. The Witches of Karres is undoubtedly James Schmitz' best-known work, and certainly deserves its fame. Originally a short story (basically the initial portion of the novel), many fans consider the novel to be a somewhat lesser work than the shorter version, but I don't agree. The Witches of Karres is a … peculiar work. It's not quite like any other story I've ever read, [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Iron Man – the Anime
January 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The Japanese have a somewhat … peculiar track record in adapting American properties. One need only look at the Japanese version of Spider-Man, in which he ends up with a giant transforming robot, to realize that one might have a bit of trepidation in knowing that another Marvel property is to be adapted into an anime. Even in current day their track record is rocky; I'm really not sure that the world needs a bishonen Wolverine, and the X-Men anime has serious flaws. So Kathleen and I were a bit dubious about [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Man of Steel
January 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The second of the two major motion pictures I had missed in theaters which ended up under my Christmas tree, Man of Steel shares with Into Darkness one other thing: both are parts of a reboot of an old and respected property, reboots which have drawn considerable fire from the older fandom of their respective sources. Man of Steel is the latest attempt to revive the Superman movie franchise, which died after the execrable Superman IV: Quest for Peace in 1987 and took even longer to be revived because – to put it [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The World Ends With You
January 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment
This review is for the "Solo Remix" version available on the iPad, as that's the platform I played it on. The World Ends With You, often abbreviated as "TWEWY", is an unusual computer roleplaying game (CRPG). Really, it's something more of a visual novel interspersed with rather interesting combat sequences; there are no real choices as far as I can tell, but the story is fascinating. (The link there goes to Wiki as I don't know how one could link to the App store for the iVersion of the game) [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Star Trek: Into Darkness
January 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment
One of two movies I missed in the theaters which I got as Christmas gifts, Star Trek: Into Darkness is the second in the rebooted Star Trek franchise which kicks the past of the Trekverse slightly in order to give the filmmakers the ability to re-use – or not – any element of the original without having to justify it through prior canon. As I thought when first seeing Star Trek 2009, this was the precisely correct choice. Trying to reboot and adhere to prior nonsensically inconsistent "canon" would be a fool's game, and NOT [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
December 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I have previously discussed Heinlein in general, but quite a few of his book are worth specific discussion. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is one of Robert Heinlein's "juvenile" novels, written for a younger audience and published by Scribner's. All of the juveniles were written during what I consider Heinlein's peak years; his writing in these books is invariably tight, engaging, and fast-moving, even when nothing active is apparently happening. Of the juveniles, I (and many others) tend to put two consistently [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Desolation of Smaug
December 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Well, technically, this is something that WILL be On My Shelves, but isn't yet since it can't be purchased for quite a while – movie still being in the theaters and all. Overall, all four of us who went to see it a few days ago *loved* it. I'll discuss details farther below after some more general remarks. The short-short summary: purists will **HATE** it. But those who realize that movies aren't books and can ignore diversions from the original will mostly have a hell of a time. "The Desolation of Smaug" is a [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: King Khan
December 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
King Khan is a novel by Harry Connolly, author of Child of Fire and other stories in the Twenty Palaces universe. I've reviewed Child of Fire elsewhere, and as I said there it was an excellent read, but riding my tolerance for dark material closely, presenting a gritty, horrific universe where even the protagonist can't avoid getting his hands … and the rest of him… dirty in more ways than one. King Khan is almost the polar opposite of the Twenty Palaces universe. While Harry's deft mastery of language is still [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Equilibrium
December 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
"In the first years of the 21st century, a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew mankind could never survive a fourth; that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law: The Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of man's inhumanity to man - his ability to feel." Equilibrium is a 2002 action-adventure set in a dystopic future in which humanity (or at least a large portion of it) has decided that the passions [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Bulletproof Monk
December 11, 2013 By 1 Comment
"An enlightened man would offer a weary traveler a bed for the night, and invite him to share a quiet conversation over a bowl of… Cocoa Puffs." A martial arts action-comedy film starring Chow Yun Fat in a rare comedic role, Bulletproof Monk belongs in the same general category as Big Trouble in Little China and Galaxy Quest – comedies that rely on making affectionate fun of the genre they are in, while taking their story seriously in the context of the film itself. As such, it is a tremendously fun movie, with [ Continue reading... ]
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