“14” What a great fun book! Couldn’t put it down Our hero, Nate is a slacker SoCal loser dude. Down on his luck, no girlfriend, needs new apartment and – Bam! – he stumbles into the best deal ever on a cool vintage apartment in downtown LA. The Kavach Building. Ok – so, sure there are some rules, strange rules, kind of an odd super…but whatever right? It’s cheap, it’s nice, the power is free! the neighbors are nice. Oh, wait – […]
Cold War Espionage and Djinn
What do the Cold War, Mt Ararat, Lawrence of Arabia, Rudyard Kipling, the lost city of Ubar, ankhs, MI6, the French Resistance, Kim Philby, the collapse of the Soviet Union and Djinn all have in common? “Declare” by Tim Powers. “Supernatural suspense thriller” – yes – that does describe it, but it’s so much more. Layers upon layers. Secret hidden histories under secret societies and secret government organizations. You need to read this one carefully – there are nuances and layers and ….well you […]
… or Ladies and Lizards
Dragons and Warrior Daughters – Ed. Jessica Yates , a collection of short stories all featuring prominent female characters or protagonists, some of which have dragons. I picked this book up for two reasons. It has a story from Robin McKinley, one of my most beloved authors, and I am trying to populate my daughter’s bookshelf with positive stories about women and girls. Read the rest on my blog fireandsonic.com
On Maps, Morality, and Boring Psychopaths
Let’s talk about maps for a moment. A fantasy staple since the year dot, the map at the front of the book is perhaps the most evocative element of a given genre epic. Your humble correspondent used to draw fantasy maps in high school (no, I wasn’t exactly knocking ’em dead with the ladies, why do you ask?). Granted, not every fantasy epic comes with a handy map. I can think of a few authors off the top of my head (Glen Cook, Joe Abercrombie, […]