Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1

Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1 art by Naoki Urasawa, story by Hokusei Katsushika & Takashi Nagasaki Taichi Hiraga Keaton is a mild-looking fellow with a bumbling exterior personality.  You’d never guess that he’s a brilliant archaeologist, ex-SAS soldier and freelance insurance investigator.  He often takes leave of his day job as a poorly paid… Continue reading Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1

Book Review: Life Learned Abroad: Lessons on Humanity from China

Book Review: Life Learned Abroad: Lessons on Humanity from China by Brandon Ferdig Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this book free from the author in the expectation that I would write a review.  No other compensation is involved. The traveler’s tale is one of the oldest forms of narrative; going to a faraway place… Continue reading Book Review: Life Learned Abroad: Lessons on Humanity from China

Book Review: The Silence of the Loons

Book Review: The Silence of the Loons edited by The Minnesota Crime Wave The long-time reader may by now have realized that I have something of a weakness for anthologies.  Collections of short fiction are an excellent use of limited lunch reading time.  And I am also a faithful son of Minnesota.  So this book… Continue reading Book Review: The Silence of the Loons

Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner Economics can be a deadly dull subject, at least when dominated by stuffed shirts talking about trade deficits, returns on annuities or fiat currency.  But the basics of economic theory can be used to learn… Continue reading Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Manga Review: Assassination Classroom

Manga Review: Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui Things are tough for the students of Class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High School.  3-E’s where the elite school sticks all the losers and freaks, the bottom 5% of the student body.  Their classes are held in a decrepit outbuilding, they aren’t allowed any extracurricular activities, and the… Continue reading Manga Review: Assassination Classroom

Book Review: That Ain’t Right

Book Review: That Ain’t Right edited by Jeremy Zimmerman & Dawn Vogel Disclaimer:  I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Howard Phillips “H.P.” Lovecraft (1890-1937) was a minor writer of horror fiction in the early 20th Century.  But thanks to a gift for purple prose, a… Continue reading Book Review: That Ain’t Right

Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories

Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg & Martin H. Greenberg This was my Halloween season read this year, an anthology commissioned for the Barnes & Noble stores in 1995.  There are indeed one hundred stories in this hefty tome, averaging about six pages.  They are not all about… Continue reading Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories

Book Review: An Accidental Abduction

Book Review: An Accidental Abduction by Roderick Cyr Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Katy Byrd is from small-town Minnesota, and seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus and her Christian faith.  She accompanies her father on a (“non-denominational” but later specified as evangelical) mission… Continue reading Book Review: An Accidental Abduction

Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941)

Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941) The Kappa Psi Delta fraternity on the Rawley University campus is abuzz with excitement.  They’re getting a new frat brother and member of the rowing team, Bob Terry, who was a champion stroke at his prep school.  No one’s ever seen a picture of him, but with his help,… Continue reading Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941)

Book Review: The Elfstones of Shannara

Book Review: The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Long ago, before even the rise of the old humans, the good and evil faerie creatures had a great war.  At the end of it, the evil beings who… Continue reading Book Review: The Elfstones of Shannara