I don’t often blog about the craft of writing, but I do love a good story. Good stories tend to have good plots, which usually means they’re well-structured. This week, I’m blogging a bit about story structure . . . and Harry Potter. Why, you ask? Let’s just say it all began with a wager….
With the fifth season of Game of Thrones set to begin this Sunday, there is plenty of internet chatter on how the show might diverge from the books. Given the pace at which George R.R. Martin is writing The Winds Of Winter — with some predicting a 2017 release — it’s a certainty the show will run out…
As a follow-up to my recent post on 5 Reasons Peter Jackson’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” Was Better Than Tolkien’s Original, I’m offering my thoughts on the merits of Jackson’s second film, The Two Towers, as compared to the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. (My daughter and I are still reading The Return of the…
Season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones will premier on April 12, 2015, and last week HBO released the first official trailer. It looks absolutely amazing, but it also hints to some distinct changes from the books. For example, I don’t recall reading about Ser Jorah fighting in Meereen’s arena or Jaime going to Dorne, and it…
For the past few years, my daughter and I have been slowly making our way through J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings (this is the third time for myself, the first for her). After we’d finish a part of the trilogy, we followed it up by watching the movie version by Peter Jackson….
For my final post of 2014, I’ll offer my thoughts on the final installment in The Hobbit series and what will likely be our last visit to the Middle Earth envisioned by Peter Jackson. So, without further ado . . . Two movies would have been enough. 1. This should have been a 2-movie series…
After rediscovering vintage fantasy fiction by Robert E. Howard last month, it got me thinking about some of the other classics I’ve read over the years. Among these is Three Hears and Three Lions by Poul Anderson, first published as a novella in 1953. This may not be one of the most well-known works of vintage…
The other day, I happened across a gorgeous compilation of tales by H.P. Lovecraft in my local Barnes & Noble. The book, whose cover features Cthulhu’s writhing tentacles in all their texturized glory, is titled The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, edited by Leslie S. Klinger, with an introduction by a famous comic book author Alan…
I have long preferred novels (the written kind) to novels of the graphic kind, and I haven’t collected a comic book in more than twenty-five years. But last week, I learned of a new graphic adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s fantasy classic Elric of Melniboné – and, according to one source, Moorcock thinks this adaptation may…
This Monday marks the premiere of Season 2 of Sleepy Hollow on Fox. Last year, I became quite taken with the show (you can read my post here), and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season, especially after the huge twists at the end of last year. Here’s a quick look at the trailer for…
I was on vacation last week, which left little time for blogging. But I did have time to finish a wonderful book by Michael D. Sellers titled John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood. The book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ landmark John Carter of Mars series or the…