This time of year, we’re usually nearing the midpoint of Game of Thrones. (In fact, it was around this time last year the showrunners gave us “The Door”). But not this year. So while we wait, HBO and Starz have pitted two of their top shows against one another – The Leftovers and American Gods…
I’ve been away from the blog for longer than normal because I’m spending most of my free time editing the sequel to Enoch’s Device. I always keep reading, however, and recently finished The Templar’s Cross: A Medieval Mystery by J. R. Tomlin. Here’s my review. The Templar’s Cross is an intriguing whodunit set in fifteenth…
On Sunday, Starz will premiere American Gods, based on the fantasy bestseller by Neil Gaiman. From the trailers, the show looks amazing. But it will be pretty damn hard to exceed the novel. Here’s why. By the time I finished American Gods, I felt the same way I did when I finished Stephen King’s The…
Neil Gaiman has been one of the most famous fantasy writers for a while now, though I’ll admit it’s taken me an overly long time to actually read one of his books. That ended recently, however, when I tore through The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Here’s my review. The Ocean at the…
All the while we were led to believe Black Sails was a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Turns out, that wasn’t exactly true. One of the more fascinating aspects of Black Sails is that the series wove together historical characters from the Pirates’ Republic of Nassau with the iconic, fictional characters of Stevenson’s…
With only two episodes left, Black Sails has finally taken us to Skeleton Island. And as anyone who has read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island knows, some serious stuff is about to go down. But what struck me most by the end of last week’s episode is that, except for his newfound partner, Flint is…
Saint Patrick’s Day is one of my all-time favorite holidays, so today I’m re-posting an article about Stephen R. Lawhead’s Patrick: Son of Ireland. I had little appreciation for the story of Saint Patrick until I began my research for Enoch’s Device. That novel begins in Derry and tells the story of two Irish monks who try to prevent the apocalypse…
“God didn’t love that man enough to make him Irish, lad.” – Brother Donall mac Taidg in Enoch’s Device. Irish monks drinking to Enoch’s Device! As in prior year’s the Kindle version of Enoch’s Device is going on sale through March 16th in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day! Also, following the cover image is a new product description I’m considering…
About a year ago, I wrote that Eleanor Guthrie was making “Cersei-like decisions” on Black Sails. Such is the nature of tragedies. I’m speaking in the classic sense of the term: a drama in which the character is brought to ruin by his or her tragic flaw. In Eleanor’s case, the flaw was a short-sightedness…
We knew it had to happen, the ultimate rift between Billy Bones and Long John Silver. And last Sunday it did. Last week’s episode of Black Sails was packed with drama. Woodes Rogers discovered, much to his displeasure, that Eleanor sold Nassau to Flint in exchange for the cache of gems, all that remains of the Urca…
While I’ve been writing about Black Sails, a prequel to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, today I’m posting a review of Robert Masello’s The Jekyll Revelation, a story based on another of Stevenson’s famous tales. The Jekyll Revelation is a clever play on Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr….