Since reading The Lost Gospel I became of a mind to create some mythical Biblical peoples. Like, you know, the Sodomites, who famously gave their name to the art of buggery. Everyone who took a bible class, even as a small child, knows that story: evil Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed by God …
In the previous two posts of this series I’ve concentrated on the lighthearted (back then) wink-wink smirk-smirk types of covers that sold “adult” — or those that were marketed as adult, even if they were rather tame — SFF novels. Though these might be considered sexist today, there was a humor to them, an idea …
How did a sweet, delectable Polish doughnut called paczki, whom most people have never heard of, come to be sold in supermarkets in the weeks before Mardi Gras? Paczkis (pronounced Poon-chshee) are a traditional Polish treat made to use up all the extra flour, sugar, and eggs in the weeks before Lent, as a last …
The Lost Gospel The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot by Herbert Krosney National Geographic, 2006 [ #5 Breaking Ground: A book about exploration or discovery, fiction or nonfiction. ] The lost Gospel of Judas is a piece of New Testament Gnosticism that was discovered in the 1970s but took a very roundabout route …
My fascination with Korea continues into this new year of 2025. Pictured above is the South Korean rugby team OK Man, or OK Man Financial Group. Rugby is a specialty sport imported from England that has gained an increasing following in South Korea, where teams are sponsored by companies, colleges, even the military forces. (In …
Diego Velázquez is regarded as one of the most prominent painters of the 17th century and a forerunner of realism. So said my art history professors. Los Meninas was considered by them to be the height of his innovation, as it depicts him, the artist, sitting and painting a portrait of the Spanish court life …
Previous parts of this series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V When it came to the color green, Medieval artists and crafters had a rough time. Unlike the warm colors – reds, oranges, yellows – long-lasting green pigments were not so easily available from nature. Mostly, these artists resorted to …
Scandal strikes the SFF world again. Writer Neil Gaiman accused of, but denies, sexually assaulting two women, one of whom was the nanny of his child. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated film by Warner Brothers based on Tolkien’s work, releases some preview artwork. (It’s anime style.) In related …
All Aboard! Images from the Golden Age of Rail Travel by Lynn Johnson & Michael O’Leary Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1999 If you were a graphic artist in the 1980s and 1990s Chronicle Books of San Francisco was your crack, publishing tons of art, art history, design and architecture books every. All were beautifully designed …
… the spells began straight away, and at first there was nothing very important in them. They were cures for warts (by washing your hands in moonlight in a silver basin) and toothache and cramp, and a spell for taking a swarm of bees. The picture of the man with toothache was so lifelike that …