There’s just no accounting for taste. Early on in my relationship with My Better-half, we had our first fight over whether one needed to read the classics. It was a doozy. We were attending a reading of a popular author that she liked. “I used to be you,” the author said to an English major in the […]
Archives for 2014
Classic Authors Ripping on Other Classic Authors
2014-05-19 · by ·
We’ve all been stung by criticism. And the last thing a writer wants to read is sharply voiced critiques of their carefully crafted prose. But even the great writers of the modern classics–you know, folks like Jane Austin, Mark Twain, William Faulkner–were criticized by their peers. Including other great writers. A couple of my favorite sharply […]
Book Review | The Iron Jackal by Chris Wooding
2014-05-18 · by ·
Mix together the swashbuckling of The Pirates of the Caribbean, a shade of fast shooting action and espionage–on horseback–of Michael Garrison’s The Wild Wild West, and a bit of the personalities from Ocean’s 11 (pick 1960 or 2001–it doesn’t matter), and drop them all in a world with demons, magic, curses, and airships. That […]
Book Review | The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 by William Manchester
2014-05-08 · by ·
There are few political leaders that have captured my imagination like Winston Churchill does. William Manchester not only tells the story of what is perhaps Britain’s greatest prime minister, he does it in fantastic detail. I’ve read complaints that Manchester uses perhaps too much detail, but I could not have enjoyed it more. Manchester paints […]
Hugo Nominee Book Review | Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
2014-04-29 · by ·
Before I opened Ancillary Justice and started reading, I had heard rumors that it was something quite different from anything I had ever read. I remember reading a review late last year, and the reviewer promised that the effect was nothing short of mind-blowing. And perhaps it is. To be sure, within a few pages […]
Utah Writers Are Taking the Hugo Awards by Storm
2014-04-23 · by ·
Utah authors are taking the Hugo Awards by storm. Indeed, if I wasn’t from around here and hadn’t been following some of these guys for a while, I might wonder what it is in the water that has Utah taking over fantasy/science fiction’s best well-known (and as it appears, most controversial) award. Here’s who has […]
Brad Torgersen in the running for the Hugo
2014-04-22 · by ·
Last year, I made a fortuitous find at the Salt Lake ComiCon: Brad Torgersen. This year, Torgersen is getting some Hugo love, with two nominations. Nominated for the Campbell, Hugo, and Nebula—all in the same year (2012)—and 2010 winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, Torgersen’s science fiction is a breath of […]
Book Review | Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars by Camille Paglia
2014-04-19 · by ·
Over the years, I’ve run into Camille Paglia’s essays at unexpected times, and I seem to always come away thoughtful and, occasionally, amused. Clearly coming from a perspective distant from my own, politically and culturally a member of East Coast academia, I never the less found her insights and way of putting things provocative. When […]
Book Review | The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
2014-04-03 · by ·
It’s hard to describe how I feel about The Sparrow. I give it high marks, four of five stars, and consider it one of the most beautiful–and disturbing–books I’ve read in recent memory. In the not so distant future of 2019, humanity receives a transmission of alien origin, tracing it back to a star system […]
Book Review | The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbriath (pseudonym), J.K.Rowling
2014-03-21 · by ·
The long and short of this is not so long or short. First off, Robert Galbraith, if you hadn’t already heard six months ago, is J.K. Rowling. Second, The Cuckoo’s Calling looks, sounds, and reads NOTHING like J.K.Rowling. There are no wizards, no witches, no muggles, no quiditch matches, no horcruxes, or any magic whatsoever. […]
