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.

Horrible Old Men

Posted on January 13, 2025 by JE

I used to hold the unproven and unprovable belief that old age magnifies moral qualities, so that past a certain point you become more and more evil as you age, or the opposite. I’m not noticing any haloes when I … Continue reading →

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The Message

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JE

Remembered belatedly that I have a Medium account. I have to say, I’m making quite a splash over there. I may be more than Medium. Possibly Extra Large.

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Canticle or CANicle?

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JE

As a kid, I was very creeped out by this Bantam cover of Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz when I found it on my parents’ bookshelf. I was already reading sf, but somehow that didn’t seem to apply to this … Continue reading →

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More Like Un-ergy

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JE

“To assert dignity is to lose it.” Nero Wolfe in Stout’s The League of Frightened Men. One might say the same thing about “masculine energy”.

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Garum + Chili = ?

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JE

I was trying to figure out why you couldn’t say this in Latin, then thought, “Well, it could only improve garum”, and finally realized: oh, they mean cocina latina. Some of these keywords for Bluesky feeds are deeply ambiguous. (“Conan” … Continue reading →

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Hamlet Is…

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JE

“Hamlet isn’t just Hamlet. Oh no, no, no–oh, no. Hamlet is me. Hamlet is Bosnia. Hamlet is this desk. Hamlet is the air. Hamlet is my grandmother. “ —A Midwinter’s Tale (1995) This is really just a test to see … Continue reading →

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Kind of a Drag

Posted on January 10, 2025 by JE

Here’s the decoration for my office-door schedule this semester. In some ways I’m one of the volentes, in most ways I’m one of the nolentes, but am feeling the motion either way.

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Ixnay on the AIhay

Posted on January 10, 2025 by JE

Apple pushed a notification about so-called “Apple Intelligence” to my computer. Since they don’t have a “Hell, no!” button, and punching the screen is a too-expensive indulgence, this is my reaction.

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Masks to the Max

Posted on January 7, 2025 by JE

A rack of personae from a Latin manuscript of Terence in the Vatican Library, which always reminds me of this song by They Might Be Giants (who are, in fact, giants):

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Simak vs. Venture Capital

Posted on January 6, 2025 by JE

I was thinking about these Cold-War-era sf novels today, prompted by a Facebook post about vintage paperbacks, and it occurred to me that in both of them Simak is satirizing what we now call the Rot Economy. Simak’s work, quietly … Continue reading →

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