Author Archives: JE

Daniel Blackston has announced that Pitch-Black LLC is closing its doors. Flashing Swords will stay up, but will be dormant; no new issues, it seems.

I love fantasy (including its subgenre, science fiction), I take it very seriously, especially when I’m trying to write some or read some or when I should be doing something else or when I’m breathing. I want other people to … Continue reading →

Someone has developed a caffeinated doughnut. I can hear myself getting fatter as I think about it.

I suppose many have seen this before but a link at a Gawker post (about blurbing for hire) led me to John Warner’s Blurb-o-matic. My favorite was “A fuzzy legend of renegade clowns that will leave you bowled over!”–I almost … Continue reading →

I stepped out of the house this morning into full sunlight and a light fall of snow. The sun was glaring through a rift in deep blue-gray clouds. Presently the sun closed its eye and I walked on to work … Continue reading →

I’ve been rereading C. S. Lewis’ An Experiment in Criticism for the first time in at least ten years, and I have been struck (as I often am when reading Lewis) how insightful and how dim he can be. He’s … Continue reading →

I have some negative things to say about this book, Tobias Buckell‘s debut novel, Crystal Rain, so I should begin by observing that I enjoyed it, finished it without compulsion, and recommend it, with some reservations. On with the negativity. … Continue reading →

Rich Horton says a few kind words about “A Covenant with Death” as part of his appallingly successful effort to read and review everything, everywhere. On rereading the story recently I was a little disturbed to find in it an … Continue reading →

Of all the obituary posts on Robert Anton Wilson in the past couple of days, the one I enjoyed the most was Wonkette’s, which shrewdly observed: “[U]nlike the ‘political thinkers’ who clog Washington’s green rooms on Sunday mornings, Wilson was … Continue reading →

Not to keep on kicking the Slate.com movie reviewers To go on kicking the Slate movie reviewers: there’s a hyperbolic review on that site of Mike Judge’s little-seen Idiocracy entitled “The DVD That Will Save America”. The title is no … Continue reading →