![]() ![]() ![]() Bear with me while I try to sort out my reactions. Last year I wrote about my experiences with the early work of Mikhail Shishkin, particularly praising his first published story, “Урок каллиграфии” (“Calligraphy Lesson”), and saying of his first novel, Всех ожидает одна ночь (One night awaits us all), “It was perfectly pleasant reading, but I kept asking myself ‘Why is he telling me all this?’” Last April I was cryptic about his second novel, Взятие Измаила (The taking of Izmail): “I find I don’t have anything coherent to say about it except that it’s long and difficult and I’ll doubtless need to reread it to get anything useful from it.” Now that I’ve finished his third, Венерин волос (translated by Marian Schwartz as Maidenhair), I’m starting to feel that that first story will always be my favorite Shishkin I don’t seem to connect well with his novels. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It’s an ambitious novel that is recognizably sword-and-sorcery, but also contemplative, dark, mature, with an emphasis on exploration of character over typical fast-paced S&S plotting. ![]() Sometime Lofty Towers (2021) is his latest. After spending some years away from writing altogether and later branching out to write realistic novels and epic fantasy, Smith recently returned to sword-and-sorcery under Pulp Hero Press with Tales of Attumla (2020). By the early/mid 80s it was over for S&S, at least commercially.įor a time it seemed Smith’s writing career was over as well. Only to have the bottom fall out as the decade of excess got underway.įor reasons I can’t get into here, lest I derail this review, it suddenly seemed no one wanted to read this unique blend of swashbuckling action, horror, and fell magic. Writing in the wake of the Lancer Conan Saga, the Elric DAW paperbacks, and Fritz Leiber’s “swords” series, this group of authors appeared poised to bring S&S to a new generation of readers in the late 70s and early 1980s. Smith, and others working in the “second commercial wave” of sword-and-sorcery. I can’t help but feel sorry for Charles Saunders, Richard Tierney, David C. There is a metaphor in this tower, for sure. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() There was only one area where it fell short: Aliens. Even better, most of the advice would function just as superbly when applied by a GM in a game context. It completely fulfilled its brief of explaining how to make characters for a work of fiction plausible and rounded, and how to communicate their nature to the audience by means of dialogue and description with massive blocks of ex-cathedra narrative by the author. To cut a much longer story short, the create-a-character clinic was excellent – but limited. I have read several books on the subject of character creation, and this was an excellent way to measure just how useful her books were going to be, and how much of the content would be redundant repetition of material that I had already read and digested. Why Johnn chose that, I don’t know, but I can speak as to why it was the first of the eBooks that I read. Several of her e-books sounded interesting, so I passed the information on to Johnn, who surprised me in late March by giving me several of them for my Birthday.īy sheer coincidence, the eBook that we both started with was the “Create A Character” Clinic. Back in late February or early March, Holly Lisle’s books came to my attention – I’m no longer sure how, but it was probably a Twitter link to her blog. ![]() ![]() ![]() While a lot of callers are crackpots, or do not have much to say, one caller flatly says he is a vampire, and he knows Kitty believes him. Kitty–a werewolf herself–knows that such things do exist, and she opens the floor to callers, asking if anyone has a story to tell. One caller takes the question very seriously, and says that Bat Boy and other sensationalized tabloid stories are actually a cover up for the truth–that there really are things that go bump in the night. Bored one night at work, tired of folks requesting lame tunes, Kitty poses a joking question on the air about a tabloid story concerning “Bat Boy”. She also happens to be a newly minted werewolf. Kitty Norville is a young, twentysomething cute blonde, who DJs late-night for a local radio station. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew. Her new late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged is a raging success, but it’s Kitty who can use some help. ![]() Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station and a werewolf in the closet. ![]() Stand Alone or Series: Book 1 in the Kitty Norville series ![]() ![]() ![]() Pastor Michael Todd gives a sermon recently at Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement” by Constantine Campbell. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Jesus v. Tulsa was the right place for Lentz’s family to “continue to heal and move forward,” said the source. ![]() ![]() ![]() Lentz, according to the source, has launched a consulting and coaching business and his clients include churches. “We gladly welcome Carl Lentz to our Transformation Church staff, helping TC with strategy as we continue to move forward in our vast vision,” Tammy McQuarters, the church’s executive pastor of operations, told Religion News Service in an email Monday (March 27).Ī source close to Lentz also confirmed to media that Lentz and his family had relocated to Tulsa and were attending Transformation Church, though the source did not confirm Lentz was on staff at the church. Transformation, a juggernaut in a town replete with megachurches, has confirmed that Lentz, who was fired from Hillsong in 2020 when an extramarital affair came to light, has joined its staff. Carl Lentz, the ousted pastor of Hillsong New York City, has landed on staff at Transformation Church, a predominantly Black, nondenominational megachurch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that is led by pastor, author and popular YouTuber Michael Todd. ![]() ![]() That determination shines through the pages and makes her a worthy lading lady. But reading about her in her own book, was nothing short of amazing. Readers meet Gwen for the first time in Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) and already there, she's a really interesting character. Joely has a knack for writing these amazing worlds and characters, that makes me forget about time and place whilst I'm reading about their adventures. I mean I really love the arthurian legends where Arthur is this beloved and awesome king, so I wasn't sure how I would react when Joely re-writes this to make Arthus the villain, and make Gwen unable to choose between the knights (hello, reverse harem #whychoose).īut my scepticism was unfounded and man, oh man, did she deliver!! So, when Joely announced she was working on a spin-off series based on her interpretation and visions of Arthurian legends, I was more excited than I was when I found out there'll be another book in her TVQ series - but at the same time, I can't deny that I was a little sceptic. ![]() ![]() If you read my blog, it's no secret that I'm totally fan-girling over Ms Burkhart's Their Vampire Queen. ![]() ![]() ![]() Because Homo erectus lacked the ability to use even the simplest of weapons, it seemed logical that chasing prey for hours was their only option for obtaining the amount of meat necessary to fuel their rapidly expanding brains (Fig. These authors propose that because the brain consumes 16 times the calories of an equivalent mass of muscle, and meat provides four times the calories of an equal sized serving of fruit, the only way Homo erectus could have fueled such rapid brain expansion was if they were able to obtain calorie-dense meat by running prey to exhaustion. ![]() In an interesting paper that went on to create the barefoot running movement, Bramble and Lieberman (1) claim that the consumption of meat obtained by long distance running is the only way to explain the mystery of how Homo erectus was able to double its brain size in a relatively short time period about 2 million years ago. ![]() Michaud.Īccording to a few well-respected paleoanthropologists, our ancient ancestors (specifically, Homo erectus) were so efficient at running they could chase prey for hours, eventually killing the exhausted animals by hand. There is evidence that debunks the popular running theory, writes Thomas C. ![]() ![]() ![]() Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. Six months later Natalie receives from a Wisewood account a menacing e-mail threatening to reveal the secret she's been keeping from Kit. Natalie thinks it's a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister's cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid. ![]() But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. ![]() During this time, they're prohibited from contact with the rest of the world-no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood's guests commit to six-month stays. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there. The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. Natalie Collins hasn't heard from her sister in more than half a year. ![]() We'll keep your secrets if you keep ours. ![]() ![]() In this predictable but satisfying opening to the Rogue Files Regency-era series, a shop clerk falls for a self-made man. Or how much Struan wants her for himself. There’s no way the haughty Duke of Autenberry would deign to wed a working class girl. Just like he knows the infuriating Poppy is a liar. ![]() the fantasy of her duke or the reality of one smoldering Scot who challenges her at every turn.Īn illegitimate second son, Struan may have built an empire and established himself as one of the wealthiest men in Britain, but he knows he will always be an outsider among the ton. Soon Poppy isn’t sure what she wants more. But one person isn’t fooled: his arrogant and much too handsome half-brother, Struan Mackenzie. After she pulls him to safety, the duke lapses into a coma and Poppy is mistaken for his fiancée. unlike the carriage Poppy spies bearing down upon the unsuspecting duke. ![]() ![]() Shop girl Poppy Fairchurch knows it’s pointless fantasizing about the Duke of Autenberry. ![]() ![]() ![]() Some fix on a date in their mind but they must keep extending it. What makes the exile hardest is not knowing when it will end. People wait and see, just by chance, if a train is coming, but there never is one and they sadly return to their prison. It also brings a sense of exile, as if there is a void. As for activity and business, the plague brings the complete opposite-weariness, lethargy. Some people do not like those they are quarantined with, while others realize how dear formerly neglected family members are. The lack of regular communication is enervating for many. Sadly, though, such messages become more and more trite. Letters are forbidden because of potential contamination, so telegrams become commonplace. Some are unprepared, especially when they realize the town is locked down and they cannot leave, or those they love cannot enter. This is now the time in Oran when everyone shares the same fear, the same knowledge of exile. ![]() |