The Shadow Glass by Aly Fell Dark Horse Books, 2017 The Shadow Glass is filled with some wonderful artwork. The first page shows a view from the Tower of London overlooking a lovely harbor by the river Thames, a red and blue pennant flying, as a traveler named Thomas Hughes arrives. In night-muted colors …
If you’re from Western Europe, you will know who these characters are. If you aren’t, know that they are Asterix the plucky Gaul, his big pal Obelix, and their pet dog Dogmatix, creations of French comic writer and artist René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. They are the equivalent of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in …
I’m trapped in an old anatomy textbook with my throat cut open. Help?
As I pointed out in The Lady and the Dragon I, dragons in Christianity are usually accompanied by women, not men. Here’s three more examples. A common depiction of Mary, Mother of God, shows her trampling a snake (keep in mind snake=dragon in Biblical text) underfoot, representing her victory over the Devil, or over evil …
One thing I have realized this month, with its emphasis on humanoid dragon girls, is the fevered power of female sexual imagination. For most of the Western world dragons have been long been creatures of evil and corruption, yet modern artists are making them over into blazing paragons of female beauty. How I would have …
The making of perfume is almost as old as human agriculture. A perfume-making operation dating to around 4000 BCE was unearthed on the island of Cyprus in 2005, which is when humans were still in the Bronze Age. The Indus Valley civilization produced perfumes a few hundred years later, and Babylon in 1200 BCE. It …
Crests of modern cities in Germany. Top row, left to right: Stuttgart, Nurnberg, Tubingen. Middle row: Atzelgift, Honigsee, Nachtsheim. Bottom row: Falkenfels, Trechtingshausen, Flogeln. The production designers for George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones TV series have done a smashup job creating a fantasy world like Medieval Europe (in spite of those ice-zombies …
One of the things that really makes Steampunk literature, and Victorian literature in general, is the use of odd English words to describe little odds and ends that need describing, like parts of machinery, personal items of clothing, genitalia, obscure occupations, and other fluff. Charles Dickens was a pioneer of these charming names, through …
Chances are, when you think of the Himalayan mountains, you see sharp, snow-capped peaks, desolate valleys, and peaceful yaks. Or, maybe this. This was my favorite ride as a teen at the Jersey Shore. At night, all lit up, it was truly spectacular. Even then, however, I knew people didn’t ski or stay at ski …
Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon Simon and Schuster, 1996 [Challenge # 4: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime.] Of all the books I’ve read so far this year, Where Wizards Stay up Late, a history of the development of the Internet, was the …