Manga Review: Magi #1

Manga Review: Magi #1 by Shinobu Ohtaka In a setting not unlike the Middle Eastern tales of the Arabian Nights, there is a boy named Aladdin.   He’s lived in isolation until now, so he doesn’t know much about the outside world, or how society works.  Soon, Aladdin meets a drifter named Alibaba, who’s a… Continue reading Manga Review: Magi #1

Book Review: Strangers of Different Ink

Book Review: Strangers of Different Ink edited by Richard & Allen Okewole Disclaimer:  I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. This anthology of short stories appears to be primarily by authors in the Philadelphia area.  Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be a particular theme,… Continue reading Book Review: Strangers of Different Ink

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book One

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book One by Makoto Yukimura It is the Eleventh Century C.E., and Europe trembles in fear of the raiders from the north, who we would call Vikings.  This is the story of one such Viking, the youth Thorfinn Thorssen. This thick volume opens with a battle in the Frankish Kingdoms (later… Continue reading Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book One

Book Review: Rot Riot and Rebellion: Mr. Jefferson’s Struggle to Save the University that Changed America

Book Review: Rot Riot and Rebellion: Mr. Jefferson’s Struggle to Save the University that Changed America by Rex Bowman & Carlos Santos Disclaimer:  I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. If I told you about a school where the students constantly engaged in partying, drunkenness and… Continue reading Book Review: Rot Riot and Rebellion: Mr. Jefferson’s Struggle to Save the University that Changed America

Book Review: Warrior of Scorpio

Book Review: Warrior of Scorpio by Alan Burt Akers This is the third in the Prescot of Antares planetary romance series.  For newer readers who might not have seen the term before, a “planetary romance” is a subgenre of science fiction in which an Earthling (or someone of Terran extraction) is transported to and stranded… Continue reading Book Review: Warrior of Scorpio

Book Review: Every Hill and Mountain

Book Review: Every Hill and Mountain by Deborah Heal Disclaimer:  I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway in the expectation that I would review it.  This review will contain heavy spoilers. This is the third in a trilogy about Abby Thomas, a denominational college student on a summer service project to be a tutor to… Continue reading Book Review: Every Hill and Mountain

Anime Review: Magi – Labyrinth of Magic

Anime Review: Magi – Labyrinth of Magic Based on the manga by Shinobu Ohtaka, Magi is a 24-episode anime series currently streaming subtitled on the Crunchyroll website.  It’s set in an Arabian Nights-influenced world with djinn and other trappings of the genre.  Young Aladdin was raised in an isolated temple with no human contact for… Continue reading Anime Review: Magi – Labyrinth of Magic

Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail

Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail This 1940 production stars Errol Flynn as J.E.B. Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer, Raymond Massey as John Brown and Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Holliday. Stuart and Custer, newly graduated from West Point, are assigned to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.  There they battle the rogue abolitionists under… Continue reading Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail

Book Review: Where the Cherry Tree Grew

Book Review: Where the Cherry Tree Grew by Phillip Levy Full Disclosure: I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway, on the premise that I would review it. This is something a little different for me, a geographical “biography” that traces the history of a particular place. In this case, the piece of land that… Continue reading Book Review: Where the Cherry Tree Grew