New Worlds, Year Four: More Essays on the Art of Worldbuilding by Marie Brennan Escape into another world . . . Bathing and banking, animals and adultery: human culture contains a truly daunting array of elements. The fourth volume of … Continue reading
The Earl in the Shadows The Thrilling Victorian Adventures of the Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Brenda Clough Marian Halcombe Camlet comes to awareness in the Dower House of a grand English country house, but she can’t remember how … Continue reading
It’s THAT time of year, so I’m combining two of my loves: writing and baseball to reprise this post from several years ago with some additional thoughts. The title phrase of this post is from one of my three most … Continue reading
Fractured Fairy Tales by Alma Alexander Fairy tales – new-told, re-told, re-invented, rebuilt, new-visioned. Fairy tales are the building blocks not just of fantasy but of all fiction, the original Story, the thing we all grew up on. This is … Continue reading
Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day by Shannon Page It’s time to send some GOOD energy out there into the world. … Continue reading
I am watching “Death in Venice” (Luchino Visconti, 1971). Dirk Bogarde is enjoying a feature spot on the Criterion Channel—11 movies, including those of his stunningly dark characters in “The Servant” and “The Night Porter”. I am old enough to … Continue reading
The Librarian’s Spell School of Magic 4 by Patricia Rice Can a timid librarian and a bold engineer save a castle’s toppling tower of books? … Continue reading
The Jaguar Queen of Copal The Thrilling Victorian Adventures of the Most Dangerous Woman in Europe Book 3 by Brenda Clough Walter Hartright returns to Central America to search for the leader of his expedition, and Marian’s husband Theo goes … Continue reading
Jennifer Stevenson’s Fools Paradise gives us Daisy and Bobbyjay, the youngest sprigs from modern Capulet and Montague trees, in “a blue-collar romantic comedy of feuds, follies, and getting your fingernails dirty.”
Continue readingThe Wolves of Mirr by Paul Piper While roaming his beloved mountains, wolf biologist Levi Brunner comes across three women disporting in a pool. They invite him for a swim . . . and he wakes up alone on a … Continue reading
