Something fun on this dreary Wednesday morning, an e-mail forward I received, credit unknown: SELF-TEST FOR LITERATURE ABUSERS How many of these apply to you? I have read fiction when I was depressed, or to cheer myself up. I have gone on reading binges of an entire book or more in a day. I readContinue reading “On Literature Abuse”
Category Archives: Reading
On My Favorite Short Story
Once upon a time in Lankhmar, City of the Black Toga, in the world of Nehwon, two years after the Year of the Feathered Death, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser parted their ways. Exactly what caused the tall brawling barbarian and the slim elusive Prince of Thieves to fall out, and the mighty adventuring partnershipContinue reading “On My Favorite Short Story”
On the Baltimore Comic-Con
Yesterday I was at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Work was offering free passes earlier in the week, and having never been to a comic convention I decided I’d go. I took the subway into downtown. Trying to navigate the stops by memory was a bad thing — I should have checked the map — as IContinue reading “On the Baltimore Comic-Con”
On Reading Reflections
As seen on Julio Angel Ortiz‘s website: What are you reading right now? Le Morte d’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Buried Age, Chris Bennett Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?Nope. What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?None. What’s the worstContinue reading “On Reading Reflections”
On Harry Potter Madness
As the world hold its collective breath for the impending release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share. First, this website will be a spoiler-free zone. Except for the tidbit that Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans are people. There. I said it. No, really, spoiler-free zone.Continue reading “On Harry Potter Madness”
On Today’s Birthdays
Today we celebrate three important birthdays. Robert Heinlein was born one hundred years ago today. I’m not a fan–I find Heinlein’s work to be racist and misogynistic, nor has it aged particularly well–but his influence over science fiction cannot be denied. I think, in his honor, I’ll read Larry Niven’s short story, “The Return ofContinue reading “On Today’s Birthdays”
On eBooks
Way back in the dark ages of the year 2000 Microsoft released the MS-Reader eBook software. It was the platform on which a new line of Star Trek books were being released–SCE, or the Starfleet Corps of Engineers for those bad with acronyms–and I downloaded the software, and I downloaded the eBooks. A couple ofContinue reading “On eBooks”
On Mispronunciations
True story. When I read the first Harry Potter book, back in the dark days of the autumn of 1999, I had no idea how to pronounce Hermione’s name. What I came up with was… Hermey Own. Like Hermey, the elf who wanted to be a dentist in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Plus Own. HermeyContinue reading “On Mispronunciations”
On Magneto and Cosmic Boy
A reader named Alex dropped by the “Ask Allyn Anything” post Saturday-ish and asked a geeky question. Because the post has dropped off the front page, though, I’m going to respond to it here as well, to say nothing of greater length to explain my reasoning. It’s my blog, and I can do things likeContinue reading “On Magneto and Cosmic Boy”
On a New Edition of Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick, visionary science fiction author, is getting the Library of America treatment next summer in a one-volume hardcover containing four of Dick’s seminal novels: The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Ubik. From the Library of America’s website: Known in hisContinue reading “On a New Edition of Philip K. Dick”