One of the mysteries that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have set up for the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the identity of the unnamed character who comets to Middle-earth near the encampment of the nomadic Harfoots. Known simply as “The Stranger” (Daniel Weyman) in marketing materials … [Read more…]
This post is part of a series on the Virginia Edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s works. I have been excited to get to this book, not only because I have read (or rather, listened to) it before and enjoyed it, but also because it signals a run of much shorter books than the first two … [Read more…]
This post is part of a series on the Virginia Edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s works. It’s been almost a year since I reviewed the first volume of the Virgina Edition, I Will Fear No Evil. I didn’t intend for there to be such a long hiatus, but things got in the way. Also, there is the … [Read more…]
This post is part of a series on the Virginia Edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s works. In general, people seem to choose one of two ways to handle Robert Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil: detest it in all its casually (and sometimes not so casually) misogynistic odiousness, or love it like an uncouth grandfather who “grew up … [Read more…]
The Virginia Edition is the definitive collection of the works of Robert A. Heinlein. Authorized by The Heinlein Prize Trust – the author and his wife’s estate, which includes most of the copyrights to his work – the set includes “authoritative” texts of Heinlein’s writings, along with several volumes of correspondence and introductory essays to each volume … [Read more…]
For the past couple of months I’ve been auditing Dr. Corey Olsen’s class on Chaucer’s non-Canterbury Tale works at Mythgard. I’ve fallen a bit behind due to deadlines related to another project, which unfortunately means I’ve missed the discussion about Troilus & Creseyde — the main reason I wanted to audit the class. (The nice … [Read more…]
I haven’t read anything by Cory Doctorow since Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town first came out. Part of that is because that story blew. Part of it is also because my best friend was banned from Boing Boing after making a perfectly reasonable, but contrary, comment on one of Cory’s posts at that … [Read more…]
I’ve wanted to read this for awhile, and eventually decided to pick it up during my recent Dresden Files sprint, to cleanse the palate between Harry Dresden’s various lengthy and often amusing beat-downs. It took me awhile to finish, but honestly not as long as I thought it would, which is perhaps a testament to … [Read more…]
Yesterday, I finished George Orwell’s classic work of dystopian psychological horror, 1984, which I read for the Mythgard Institute’s Dystopian Tradition class, taught by the estimable Amy H. Sturgis. It’s the second time I’ve read the book, though I’m not entirely sure when I first read it. In college, perhaps? In any case, it was … [Read more…]
I just finished Tom Shippey’s excellent book, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, which I have wanted to read for some time now. In it, Shippey’s primary argument (as implied by the subtitle) is that twentieth century literature was dominated by the fantasy story, and that Tolkien holds the premier place of authorship among … [Read more…]