Book Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2014 edited by Paula Guran Even the fastest, most dedicated readers can’t read everything that’s published each year. Not even in relatively limited genres like fantasy or horror. That’s where “Year’s Best” collections come in handy. Someone or several someones has gone through the enormous pile… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2014
Tag: castles
Magazine Review: Saucy Romantic Adventures August 1936
Magazine Review: Saucy Romantic Adventures August 1936 by various This was one of the “spicy” pulp magazines, sold “under the counter” to readers wanting something more titillating than the standard action fare. By modern standards, this is pretty tame stuff, mostly consisting of descriptions of women’s naked bodies (minus genitalia) and strong hints that the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Saucy Romantic Adventures August 1936
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4 edited by Julius Schwartz The Flash is Barry Allen, a police detective who was working during a thunderstorm one night when a bolt of lightning struck a shelf of chemicals, spilling the mixture on him. Barry quickly realized that he’d been gifted with super-speed, making… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4
Book Review: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Book Review: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Martin J. Dougherty The Arthurian mythos is a familiar one to just about everyone in some form or another. But unless you’re a scholar of the subject, you might not know where all the pieces came from and how they got put together.… Continue reading Book Review: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Book Review: A Game of Thrones
Book Review: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin About three centuries ago, the land of Westeros was known as the Seven Kingdoms. Then Aegon Targaryen and his sisters came from the collapsed civilization of Valyria with their dragons and conquered six of the Kingdoms. (The seventh Kingdom joined up later semi-voluntarily.) Eventually, the… Continue reading Book Review: A Game of Thrones
Book Review: Classic American Short Stories
Book Review: Classic American Short Stories compiled by Michael Kelahan This book is more or less exactly what it says in the title, a compilation of short(ish) stories written by American authors, most of which are acknowledged as classics by American Lit professors. The stories are arranged by author in roughly chronological order from the… Continue reading Book Review: Classic American Short Stories
Book Review: Japan Tuttle Travel Pack
Book Review: Japan Tuttle Travel Pack by Rob Goss Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Tuttle Publishing was founded by Charles Tuttle, a Vermonter who came to Japan with Douglas MacArthur’s staff after World War Two. His job was… Continue reading Book Review: Japan Tuttle Travel Pack
Manga Review: Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus 1
Manga Review: Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus 1 written by Kazuo Koike, art by Goseki Kojima Ogami Itto was once a samurai warrior of high rank, the official executioner for the shogunate. He had a lovely wife and new son; life was good. But another clan was ambitious, and framed Ogami for treason. Under sentence of… Continue reading Manga Review: Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus 1
Book Review: The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder
Book Review: The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson Four men come to the house on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea when the man who owns the house, Thomas Carnacki, summons them for dinner. They ask no questions, as they know Carnacki will wait until his own good time to tell them… Continue reading Book Review: The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder
Book Review: The Art of the Dragon
Book Review: The Art of the Dragon edited by Patrick Wilshire & J. David Spurlock One of the most enduring symbols of the fantasy genre is the dragon. It evokes a primal response and is really fun to draw and paint, so it shows up all the time in fantasy art and sometimes manages to get… Continue reading Book Review: The Art of the Dragon