Author Archives: JE

About JE

James Enge is the author of the World-Fantasy-Award-nominated novel Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, April 2009). His latest book is The Wide World's End. His short fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and elsewhere.

Swords Against Silence

Posted on April 5, 2025 by JE

It’s been sometimes sad, sometimes joyous, but always a pleasure to hang out with people at Windy City Pulp and Paper and celebrate the life and work of Howard Andrew Jones. Too many stories were shared for me to scribble … Continue reading →

Posted in books, fantasy, Heroic Fiction League, Myth & Legend, sff, sword-and-sorcery, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Swords Against Style

Posted on March 31, 2025 by JE

For various reasons I’ve had a couple different essays under my eyes this afternoon: “Epic Pooh” (Moorcock’s Titanic body-slam against Tolkien and other “high” fantasists) and Tolkien’s “On Fairy-Stories”. All critical writing about fantasy needs to be taken with a … Continue reading →

Posted in books, comedy, language, music, sff, sword-and-sorcery, words, writing | 2 Comments

Two-and-a-Half Murders in Black and White

Posted on March 30, 2025 by JE

I watched a couple of pretty good new-to-me movies that could loosely be described as noir: Panique (1946) and The Window (1949). Both of them are based on fiction I haven’t read, but now kind of want to. Reviews follow, … Continue reading →

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Surfing the Time Waves

Posted on March 29, 2025 by JE

I’m reading the minor declamations of pseudo-Quintilian in Shackleton-Bailey’s great Loeb edition. The idea is to briefly escape the current political nightmare by immersing myself in the weird little stories of these controversiae. It’s not going that well. For example: … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history, language, politics, review or meta-review, Roman history, Rome, television, words | Tagged , | Comments Off on Surfing the Time Waves

Rats Live on No Evil Star: Leiber’s THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR

Posted on March 27, 2025 by JE

In summary: The Swords of Lankhmar has a slow start. In fact, it has two slow starts. But once the beat drops, as it were, the story swings into action and lots of weird things happen at an increasingly rapid … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, magic, review or meta-review, Roman history, Rome, sff, sword-and-sorcery | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ripped From the Headlines: UNNATURAL DEATH by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on March 22, 2025 by JE

Some writers I take to with irrational intensity. Others, who may be equally good or even great, I don’t. Sometimes I understand the process involved; sometimes I don’t. Sayers is one of the writers I took to as soon as … Continue reading →

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Mountains and Monsters: Leiber’s SWORDS AGAINST WIZARDRY

Posted on March 16, 2025 by JE

A couple years ago I set out to review all of Fritz Leiber’s books about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—foundational texts for sword-and-sorcery and for my personal imagination. I knocked off the first three (or four, depending on how you … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, cats, fantasy, fantasy art, review or meta-review, sff, sword-and-sorcery, writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Lured Lucy

Posted on March 8, 2025 by JE

D and I watched Lured (1947). It was watchable, maybe even rewatchable. With a script by Leo Rosten (of Joys of Yiddish fame), I expected it to be wittier than it was. But, given that it’s about the hunt for … Continue reading →

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Endless Glove?

Posted on March 8, 2025 by JE

I reread more than I read. This has certain bad effects; e.g., the towering stacks of TBR books that constantly threaten to topple over and crush me, which are always growing taller, more numerous, and (if I’m not misreading their … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, art, books, dream, fantasy, fantasy art, language, Morlock, Myth & Legend, sword-and-sorcery, words | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Pseudoplumes, Nom de Nyms, Birds, & Oooze

Posted on February 28, 2025 by JE

I’m not a big fan of literary criticism in any field (although I have committed some), but one of my big books from my late teens onward was Le Guin’s The Language of the Night (1979), especially for the essays … Continue reading →

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