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.

Bookalanche!

Posted on July 2, 2025 by JE

Past Me is sometimes a deadly enemy. For instance, he only left me two pieces of pizza from the other night so that I could celebrate the first day of True Summer with the Breakfast of Champions–cold pizza and hot … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, magic, Myth & Legend, sff, sword-and-sorcery | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Truth About Clowns and Elves

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JE

Not trying to subtweet anyone, particularly my students, whose papers I’m wading my way through. But I’ve had a lot of occasion today to think about the identification of “great” with “first/inventor”. If some creator/creation is a a great example … Continue reading →

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“I’m Unavailable.”

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JE

The Dudley Moore Trio, which I did not know was a thing, plays an instrumental version of “Bedazzled”.

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Science Fiction and Mr. Brown

Posted on June 6, 2025 by JE

Much of the short paragraph below by Fredric Brown is outdated and/or not meant to be taken seriously. But I like his conclusion about sf, which I would broaden to include fantasy (as sf often did in those now-distant days: … Continue reading →

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Dial D for Diogenes

Posted on June 2, 2025 by JE

Reading Diogenes Laertius through for the 1st time. Before I’d only read specific bios, like his account of Diogenes the Cynic. DL seems to be agnostic regarding philosophic schools, interested in philosophy more from a historical and literary point of … Continue reading →

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Note to Self

Posted on May 29, 2025 by JE

Pedantry is an occupational hazard for someone in my profession(s), so I’ve been trying to nail down the salient trait(s) of a pedant, mostly in order to watch for them in myself. A few stabs at the target: A pedant … Continue reading →

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All-Night Theater: Heistus Interruptus

Posted on May 22, 2025 by JE

Last night at the movies: a daring raid on an 24-hour check-cashing place on Halloween night was planned by a thirtyish Laura Antonelli and a middle-aged Jim Backus, who had the Hawaiian shirt of Thurston Howell III and the mannerisms … Continue reading →

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Alphonso I, Conqueror of Erewhon

Posted on May 21, 2025 by JE

One of the features or bugs of reading five or six books at a time is that sometimes you finish them all in the course of a day and then wander around feeling strangely bereft. One of the books I … Continue reading →

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18th Century Mashup: White’s MISTRESS MASHAM’S REPOSE

Posted on May 7, 2025 by JE

I came to T.H. White’s brilliant fantasy Mistress Masham’s Repose (Putnam, 1946): immediately after reading two much inferior (but not worthless) books. One was by White himself, The Age of Scandal (Putnam, 1950), a social history of the later 18th … Continue reading →

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Is Humankind Toast?

Posted on April 24, 2025 by JE

I’m really worried about LLMs developing consciousness, and also my toaster. It is, after all, one of the most advanced toasters ever made, capable of toasting four slices of bread at a time, which is more than a human could … Continue reading →

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