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.

The SF/F Watcher’s Lament

Posted on August 11, 2025 by JE

Of all sad words of tongue or pen,the saddest are “Prequel again?”

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Deus Ex Homine: Brackett’s THE SWORD OF RHIANNON and Zelazny’s ISLE OF THE DEAD

Posted on August 10, 2025 by JE

I’ve been following with interest Steven Silver’s great series of reviews of the Tor Double books at the Black Gate. His latest, scrupulously fair, review of Brackett’s The Sword of Rhiannon+de Camp’s Divide and Conquer reminded me of one of … Continue reading →

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Two Duds: WAS IT MURDER? by James Hilton and A QUESTION OF PROOF by Nicholas Blake

Posted on August 9, 2025 by JE

Fiction set at upper-class British schools was a popular genre in the 19th and early 20th C, and murder mysteries were the dominant form of popular fiction in the early and mid-20th century, so it’s only natural that cross-pollination would … Continue reading →

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Water We Fighting For?

Posted on July 31, 2025 by JE

Typo of the day: Tuhursday (for an intended Thursday). Easily fixed, but now I’m wondering who Tuhur was. Mr. Internet tells me it’s a Sundanese word meaning “dry”. Maybe Tuhur was the archenemy of that Wonder Twin who turned into … Continue reading →

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Dumkupf vs. Laocoön

Posted on July 29, 2025 by JE

A cartoon from an old (1927-vintage) issue of The New Yorker. It made me smile, even though it’s probably supposed to appeal to class and ethnic biases. “Look, my dear friend Amaryllis Partington-Smith-Symythe-Vanderbilt-Smythington-Smyth–a banausic of foreign abstraction, decorating his shop-window … Continue reading →

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De Rerum Natura

Posted on July 18, 2025 by JE

A wonderfully cool day for July here in the Great Black Swamp—the high temp around 75ºF (≈ 24ºC). I opened all the windows in my bookroom, so now I can hear the musical sounds of people mowing their dumb lawns … Continue reading →

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Adventures in Entropy

Posted on July 17, 2025 by JE

My son Nick claims that I have an entropic field that causes things to break down in my presence. There’s a lot of evidence to support this. Today, for instance, I discovered a new method of breaking the department printer. … Continue reading →

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This Way to the Egress: IMMORTALITY, INC. by Robert Sheckley

Posted on July 8, 2025 by JE

Executive summary: Immortality, Inc., Sheckley’s first novel, is a fast-moving tour of wonders and horrors, well worth reading, even if its individual parts are greater than the novel as a whole. The novel goes by a number of different names. … Continue reading →

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Of Eeels and Miracles

Posted on July 6, 2025 by JE

The Surprised Eel on their Patreon gives us a very nice piece of writing that usefully complicates some over-simplified worldmaking advice. One thing that leapt out at me was this: “Of course, your fantasy world doesn’t have to work like … Continue reading →

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Where Ignorance Is Blish: PLANET STORIES, July 1951

Posted on July 4, 2025 by JE

If an evil fate cast me back in time to the late 1930s, and I were compelled to join one of the factions emerging in the tempest-filled teapot of early sf fandom, I would probably side with the Futurians. They … Continue reading →

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