Erotica, fantasy, and horror writer.
As I wrote in my previous post, Queen Swanwhite is something of an oddity, in Narnian terms. The reader hears about her only through the comments of another character, unlike, say, Ram the Great and King Erlian, two other characters the reader never meets but receive a mention from Lewis-the-narrator with the authorial weight that …
[Jewel] spoke of Swanwhite the Queen who had lived before the days of the White Witch and the Great Winter, who was so beautiful that when she looked into any forest pool the reflection of her face shone out of the water like a star by night for a year and a day afterwards. This …
I haven’t heard much about campaign settings based in Narnia, as opposed to those set in Middle-Earth. Something about Narnia resists this, either the religosity, or the set-in-stone nature of the plot. But if someone did, here is some magic that might be used there. Narnian Magic for an RPG Cry of Bacchus: Allows …
I’m going to start off this third Summer of Narnia with this Pauline Baynes illustration from The Horse and His Boy that I just found. I assume it wasn’t included in the American edition of the books, because I don’t remember it from my childhood. It shows the moment when the Narnian entourage, headed by …
Yes, it’s the start of a new Summer of Narnia! This is the third one. Stay tuned for more Narnian names, essays, worldbuilding, commentary, and artwork, like the marvelous painting above. Which shows the unshowed final meeting of lion and witch, though she’s more resigned than terrified, and looks like she’s rather enjoying it. But …
As I’m sure every fantasy fan already knows, Dumbledore (full name Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore) is the mysterious but kindly Headmaster of Hogwarts, the magical boarding school Harry Potter attends. In the movie series, he’s depicted in full-on Gandalf mode, with hippy-style long gray hair and a like beard he keeps tied in …
The letter C has an identity problem: it doesn’t have a distinct sound of its own. You can pronounce it with either the sibilant hiss of the letter S (as in censure) or the harsh spit of the K (as in cocoa.) Only when paired with an h does it come into its own: church, …
Sometimes, when you’re writing, you need an imaginary playlist, or a song from someone’s playlist. Here’s a few that were originally randomgenned as spells, but didn’t make the sense they should have. I intended these to be in the Song – Artist format (Hey Jude – The Beatles) but you could reverse the order, …
Some vintage Ultraseven record and publication covers from Japan done in that inimitable colorful 1960s style, heavy on the primary red, blue, and yellow. Look closely at the first image, where Ultraseven has a mouth with a lower lip, and it is open! He also has human eyes behind his hexagonal ones. I wonder if …
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and Nunavat are some of the most colorful names in North America, with origins in the languages of the Native peoples of Canada. They, along with the names of certain cities (Saskatoon, Athabasca) are easy for those in the U.S. to make fun of and for years served as comedy shorthand to …