Yearly Archives:
sThere ought to be term for it: that sense of elation and astonishment when you stumble across something in an old book that is surprisingly applicable to contemporary events. Of course even if there was such a thing, you’d need another one for when it keeps happening and you keep being surprised by it anyway. […]
Recent discoveries have made me a little more adventurous with my audiobooks: Rather than shelling out for an audible subscription and trying to find the longest books I can to get the bang for my buck, it turns out there’s a nifty library app called “Overdrive” that allows access to your local library’s audiobook collection. […]
It won’t be long before the stuff nobody was talking about becomes the stuff that “everybody knows.” That being the case, I thought it’d be worth delving into the nitty gritty of just what exactly people knew and when they knew it when it came to the question of the Castle Amber D&D module’s connection […]
The 2016 H. P. Lovecraft Re-read: The Shadow Out of Time
Sunday , 23, October 2016 Fiction, Short Fiction 11 CommentsH. P. Lovecraft wrote “The Shadow Out of Time” in November-December 1934. It is a novella at 25,323 words. This is the other pillar of his cosmic history. There is a sense of déjà vu reading it as he reused some ideas. The main plot concerns Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee, an instructor of Political Economy […]
I’m not sure that there is a consensus on just what the opposite of the Bechdel test would be exactly. I have my own pet theory, sure. One thing is clear, however: any sufficient repudiation of the Bechdel test is indistinguishable from awesome.
Retro Fandom Friday – One Letter to Make You Think
Friday , 21, October 2016 Uncategorized 6 CommentsMore Sex In The Future? appeared in the letters column of the Summer 1949 issue of Planet Stories. Though we’ve included the text in its entirety, it can be read here at Archive.org. I’ve noticed in the last couple stories I’ve read, including two of the three that I’ll be talking about in the upcoming weeks, […]
Anthony Marchetta (SuperversiveSF) “This is the best novel that Mr. Wright has ever written, young adult or not. If you’re a fan of any type of classic young adult fantasy, from the Narnia books to ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ (which isn’t really a fantasy but often reads like one), you owe it to yourself to […]
Guest Post by Zachary Wood: “Loki’s Child” by Fenris Wulf
Thursday , 20, October 2016 Book Review Leave a commentPeople are behind pop stars and their latest hits, perfecting their sound with technological wizardry. That’s the premise of Loki’s Child. Sinister yet comical, the book is witty and brazen to the point of bawdy; snark is offered in a touching, flowing dance that reminded me of a slow-motion, slapstick trainwreck captured in all its […]
WARGAME WEDNESDAY: Guerilla Checkers, Sekigahara, and Warstuff
Wednesday , 19, October 2016 Wargames 3 CommentsBrian Train has an interesting post up on Guerrilla Checkers (which I’ve covered here) being used in the training of real life officers: He reported that it went over well, but as so often happens with this sort of thing a lot of time is spent in explaining the game to people who are unfamiliar […]
REVIEW: “In the Days of the Witch-Queens” by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Tuesday , 18, October 2016 Short Fiction 1 CommentSo you want more old school swords and sorcery fiction in the same vein as Thune’s Vision and The Last Witchking? This is it! I know it’s tough these days. Fantasy is ubiquitous, but the sort of raw barbarism that Robert E. Howard captured is nowhere to be found. In the Days of the Witch-Queens […]
SUPERVERSIVE review: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Tuesday , 18, October 2016 Superversive, Uncategorized 5 CommentsI vaguely remember a sitcom called Perfect Strangers when I was young. I remember enjoying it, but it either must not have aged well or it must have been more or less terrible if you had two digits in your age, because since then, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of it. If this seems […]
SUPERVERSIVE: “Futurama” explores the big ideas while avoiding message fiction
Tuesday , 18, October 2016 Fiction, Superversive 7 CommentsThere will be spoilers to endings of episodes. The subject of the post happens not to depend so much on twists, but even so, I recommend watching the show first before reading my review. In any case, all spoilers here on in are unmarked. You’ve been warned. The more I think about it, the more […]