Category: Fantasy

The Cold Commands [Review]

The Cold Commands by Richard K. Morgan New York: Del Rey, 2011 The Land Fit for Heroes trilogy by Richard K. Morgan is a very odd and divisive fantasy series. Don’t let the title fool you. It is meant sarcastically. There are no real heroes in this book, or anti-heroes, really. The main characters are …

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Heavy on the Symbolism

Dare to touch her, and Death smiles. (Illustration by SF artist Virgil Finlay)

A Wizard of Earthsea [Reading Challenge 2019]

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin Bantam, 1975 (originally published 1968) [Challenge # 49: A book you loved as a child.] Oh Earthsea, Earthsea, how little I knew thee! For my childhood revisit read for this years’ challenge, I chose Ursula K. LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. I had read it way back …

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Worldbuilding Wednesday 4/24/19: Madeline L’Engle

Author Madeleine L’Engle wrote a heckuvalotta novels. In addition to the Wrinkle in Time (or the Kairos series as she called it) books pictured above, she also wrote a second generation series about the same family, plus the Chronos series about the Austin family, the Katherine Forrester series, and the Camilla Dickinson series. One thing …

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Worldbuilding Wednesday 4/17/19: Lapine II

Since it’s the week before Easter, here’s some more Lapine words with generated meanings. Lapine Words Airn                Avathru       Elnurd           Elnarn           Esclay            Flayarn         Flysith   Fouthu         Frainda         Frowtha   Hith-ru-Hrin Hliefrag       Hlothlev     Hlymbroi             Hrussu                  Lembrath    Ifrai          Nolfai    Norp             Noospet            Olief                    Oori-elth          Piambre’     Pru-thaing    Sith-Mo       Sivra        Slesayn           Thivlal               Thrap           Thooflong     Vrelthai        Vulflay         Vyloo             …

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The Lies of Locke Lamora [Review]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch Paperback edition, Bantam, 2007 The Lies of Locke Lamora came out in 2006, but I only got around to it in 2019. I’m coming out of a long period where I did not read current science fiction or fantasy, only old favorites. It caught my attention at …

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Worldbuilding Wednesday 4/10/19: Lapine I

In the mid-1970s British Author Richard Adams forever re-defined the talking animal fantasy with Watership Down. “A group of adventurers flee their doomed city… and they are rabbits” was one of the taglines. Thrust into the wider world, they encounter predators, roads, hostile or indifferent humans, and unfamiliar territory as they search for a place …

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Ahab’s Folly

Dramatic steampunk version of Captain Ahab harpooning Moby Dick, by ArcaneChroma.

The Orca Exploded

Mural by the talented street artist Nychos

Knight’s End

Tales of knights in shining armor don’t always end happily.