In late February, as I was preparing for a work trip to Mongolia, it occurred to me that I knew nothing about the country. I knew nothing about the history or its culture, nothing about its customs or its icons. The only thing I knew was Genghis Khan, and… yea, just his name. That’s it. Luckily, a Pajiban mentioned the Conqueror Series by Conn Iggulden, recommending it as a historical fiction alternative to trawling Wikipedia (which is honestly what I would have done.) I downloaded […]
All’s Fair in Love and Dragonfire.
This book really shouldn’t work as well as it does. I was expecting something more like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies — a humorous retelling of the tale of Elizabeth and Darcy but this time with dragons instead of zombies. And yes, this book has dragons, but it leaves P&P&Z in the dust. Where that book was trying so hard to be a clever mashup of genres, this one is just a great story that happens to be an homage to a favorite classic.** Aliza […]
…thou shalt see that it is barren.
Like many of you I have had an adverse reaction to the state of politics over the last few hellish months since President Eats-His-Steak-With-Catsup-Like-A-Goddamn-Child was sworn in to office. To be honest it still feels like a nightmare and I find myself jolting at least once a day when I remember that the people of the United States elected that lying gasbag as the President. This is why I don’t watch shows like Black Mirror. When this is our reality there is no reason to […]
Early Stories
This short collection of stories by Flannery O’Connor represents her earliest works. These stories are focused on a few issues and a couple of them were even revised later on to be more complete versions in later publications. They do offer a glimpse into those concerns. Her biggest concerns throughout all her career are people who choose cruelty and decorum instead of kindness. She also loves to write about hypocrisy. In these stories, all of these different themes show up mostly in dealing with the […]