The phrase “Venus and Mars” is a potent one. Not only does it bring to mind Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, and Mars, the god of war and brutality, in all their opposition, but also nights of stargazing, self-help books on relations between the sexes, astrology columns, and (as above) anthemical rock albums. …
The many, many incarnations of Ultraman over the decades gave fans a decorative Rogue’s Gallery of foes, most of whom were out to destroy Earth or conquer it. The show’s writers were careful to give them all distinctive names, which, oddly, the attack teams somehow always knew despite never seeing that monster before. Most sounded …
Vampires are a horror staple and one that has, in the Western world, a stereotyped appearance: pale and with elongated canine teeth. They are generally evil, allergic to daylight, and have magnetic eyes and hypnotizing powers. The mockumentary movie What We Do in the Darkness takes this trope to a whole new level with …
The letter F is full of energy. It’s fiery, furious, florid, fuming fun. It’s also very earthy. Take flora and fauna, fungi, fornication, fucking. It’s the naughtiest of letters and the most disreputable. To name a character with an F is to make the reader look and think twice, like with this list. (To soften …
The first time I ever saw a lady dressed in traditional Welsh clothing was in a book about quilting. At the time I couldn’t make heads or tales about it, because it was so different from the Slavic ethnic costumes I was familiar with. But it was a real thing, women really did dress that …
Want to make your fantasy world really fantasyish? Add in some -wyns, -yrs, -wys, with a sprinkling of gws and lls, just like the characters and places in The Mabinogion, a collection of Welsh folktales written down in the 14th century. Based on oral traditions that were older, they served as the basis for modern …
Orange is a color that literally didn’t exist in the English language before the 16th century. When people wanted to describe an orange hue, they used word composites like yellow-red or red-gold, or sometimes saffron. Only after Portuguese merchants began to import orange trees to Europe did the shade receive a name. In France the …
The Land of Bism appears in The Silver Chair. It is a magical land made of molten rock shaped into terrestrial life, where gems grow on trees and there are streams and waterfalls of liquified ores. I’ve heard it said that the name came from the word abysmal, a descriptor of great depth; but, frankly, …
… and daughters too, let’s make that clear. Trufflehunter called again, “Glenstorm! Glenstorm!” and after a pause Caspian heard the sound of hoofs. It grew louder till the valley trembled and at last, breaking and trampling the thickets, there came in sight the noblest creatures that Caspian had yet seen, the great Centaur Glenstorm and …
A centauride is the Greek term for a female centaur. Though only one was named in Greek myth, they were common motifs in ancient Greek and Roman art and have remained so up until the present day. Walt Disney even played a riff on them for Fantasia (1940); they were going to be bare-breasted …