Link of the Week: John Chu’s “Stand Back! I’m Going To Quote Junot Díaz (Thinking about language)”
John Chu’s recent post over at The Booksmugglers is a must read. He talks about the difficulty of including foreign language in works of fiction and has some truly interesting things to say on the subject. An excerpt: Whereas listeners might reasonably experience that orchestration both ways, readers either understand a foreign language or they […]
Mass Market Paperback Bingo #2: Pick a Book; I’ll Read and Review It
I had a bit of an disaster today: I got stuck in a thunderstorm, which resulted in my backpack, my notebooks, and my copy of Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear getting soaked through. Since the Bear book is the one I’m supposed to be reading for MMPB Bingo, I’ve decided to temporarily jump ahead to […]
On Grit, Gore, and the Fantasy of Everyday Life in SF
I’m not going to re-hash old arguments about grimdark or gory fiction or whatever. Originally, I had meant to respond to the question “can fiction be too gritty?” I’m not convinced that fiction has limits in any standardized sense. Some of us may not like gore or grit (or that grr feeling we get when […]
Video Found: An Interview w/ Arthur Conan Doyle on Sherlock Holmes and Spiritualism
The following video is supposedly the only video interview with Arthur Conan Doyle. I don’t know if that’s true, but it fascinating as a piece of cinematic and literary history. Enjoy!
Movie Review Rant: Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
I’ve only recently decided to watch the new iterations of the (in)famous web-crawler. Originally, I had no intention of ever doing so, in part because of a misplaced loyalty to the Raimi renditions (2002, 2004, and 2007). The real kicker, for me, was the fact that these films came hot off the heels of a […]
Top 10 Posts for May 2014
Here they are: Movie Review: Riddick (2013) (or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) Link of the Week: “Bigotry, Cognitive Dissonance, and Submission Guidelines” by Charles A Tan Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches The Hugos in “Turmoil” and the Glee Crowd Criticism Does Not Equal Bullying (or, What Bullying Means to Me) Top 10 Science […]