Blog Archives

This week’s fantasy and adventure new releases feature dungeon samurai, xianxia magical cultivators, the return of the Slayer, and a rare, almost forgotten novella from Leigh Brackett. Dungeon Samurai: Seisen (Dungeon Samurai #3) – Kit Sun Cheah The war for the dungeon reaches its climax! A hero has fallen. The threat of famine looms over […]

That’s right, I broke down and finally watched “Toradora”, an upbeat anime rom-com about teenagers and their romantic drama. And I don’t regret it one bit. Note: There will be some spoilers below the cut, because to discuss the show properly I need to discuss character development, and that connects directly to the relationships that are […]

Fenton Wood’s Yankee Republic series returns in Tower of the Bear, sending radio engineer Philo Hergenschmidt into the depths of the sea, across the amber waves of grain, and into legends half-remembered to search for the secrets of an impossible metal alloy. Tower of the Bear continues to create a world where all the legends […]

The week’s science fiction new releases feature an ancient mech standing ready for its just as ancient foe, the dread fall of a legion of post-human warriors, and a young radio engineer’s travels in search of an impossible metal hidden in an America that never was, but should have been Archangel One – Evan Currie […]

Nothing causes more headaches, backaches, and heartaches for gardeners than weeds: these many-petaled, many-seeded, and many-rooted fiends. Stealing sunlight, water, and nutrients, they may leave our gardens looking grim and growing poorly. The chemical army is losing. Resistant weeds are spreading. Soil health is suffering. Drift and overspray destroys thousands of adjoining farms, homesteads, and […]

Slice of life was never my favorite genre, but there are a surprisingly large number of excellent slice of life anime out there, some of them among my favorite shows of all time. Below I’ll highlight some of the best. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable Yes, this is slice of life and […]

Xianxia cultivation fantasies, arcane gas-lamp fantasies, Western cattle drives, and archaeological thrillers liven up this week’s collection of fantasy and adventure new releases. The Book of Bones (Harvey Bennett Thrillers #7) – Nick Thacker The sons of God once walked among us A dark thread runs through the history of humanity, and it will change everything. […]

Spend enough time reading science fiction, and readers will come across the idea of the Big Three of classic science fiction. Always a controversial selection, as the list of worthy grandmasters of the genre exceeds the places available in any Big Three, the current consensus is that Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein […]

Last week marked the end of an era for the Castalia House blog. Alex said farewell after almost three and a half solid years of weekly blog entries. He provided a service reviewing an older piece of (generally) pulp science fiction. Planet Stories was a favored magazine for him to discuss, a magazine often hated […]