When last I left my series on The Magic of Medieval Fiction, we were in the Sixth Century – the age of Beowulf, the subject of one of England’s most famous epic poems. The tale was the inspiration for Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, and has spawned numerous films, both live and animated. I…
Last week I finished reading The Scourge by Roberto Calas, and boy was it a gripping read! I ended up sacrificing the better part of a good night’s sleep to finish the final twelve chapters, and I’ve already started the second book in the series, Nostrum. My review follows this image of the book’s cover….
Starz’s The White Queen proved last Saturday that it was more than willing to cross the line between historical fiction and historical fantasy, and I really liked what I saw. I’ve not read Philippa Gregory’s books on which the show is based, but I assume the scriptwriters weren’t so bold as to add magic into…
This month, my family and I returned to one of our favorite vacation spots: Atlantis in the Bahamas. On the plane ride there, I decided to read a short story by H.P. Lovecraft called “The Temple.” It’s about a German U-boat commander whose sinking vessel settles upon the ruins of Atlantis after madness claims his…
Reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur reminded me of another work of Arthurian fiction that’s related to Tolkien and has been stuck in my the back of my bookshelf for years. That work is Tolkien’s translation of a fourteenth century poem titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The famous poem is the work…
I am taking a brief respite from my series on Medieval Fiction to review a wonderful new contemporary fantasy by author K.A. Krisko called Cornerstone: Raising Rook. While set in our day and age, there are distinct medieval elements to this novel and it was a nice change of pace from the pure historical fiction and…
I recently re-read William Goldman’s The Princess Bride for the first time in probably sixteen years. Although I also saw the film adaptation when it was released in 1987, I have probably watched the movie ten or twelve times, so I found it nearly impossible to separate my feelings about the book from Rob Reiner’s…
Season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones premiers on March 31st, so it’s about time for another review of a book from George R.R. Martin’s epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. As I’ve mentioned before, I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire shortly before the HBO series first premiered, so I arrived…
This week, Enoch’s Device received two more reviews on the web. Steven Reynolds’ review on SPR went live on February 12. You can read the complete review here, but here are some highlights: “Enoch’s Device is a wonderfully imagined, vividly described, alternately lyrical and violent romp of a novel that should give lovers of historical…
I’ve been travelling this week for work, and I’m way behind on blog posts. So for this week, I’m updating one of my first posts on puzzle-like plots.This month on the SFWA Blog author Terry Bisson offers 60 Rules for Short SF and Fantasy. I found Rule #3 particularly interesting: “The SF reader is a gamer…
I have learned a thing or two about gambling this past month. The first lesson is: don’t make a wager with your spouse unless you know with certainty that you can win (seriously, this should be a maxim in life). The second is: don’t bet on the film version of a worldwide fantasy classic if you’re limiting…