Category Archives: art

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 →

Posted in academia, Adventures in the Public Domain, art, review or meta-review, sff, words, writing | Comments Off on The Truth About Clowns and Elves

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Much of the short paragraph below by Fredric Brown is outdated and/or not meant to be taken seriously.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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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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The Future of the Past: F&SF, January 1963

Posted on April 22, 2025 by JE

In my ceaseless quest to avoid useful work, I recently opened up an old magazine from my double-stacked shelves of old sf/f zines, this one being the January 1963 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. “This is … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, cartoon, fantasy, fantasy art, Myth & Legend, review or meta-review, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Future of the Past: F&SF, January 1963

Last Night at the Movies: Eucatastrophe

Posted on April 16, 2025 by JE

Wild dreams last night, part of which seemed to take place in cat heaven. I was in the house where I grew up and we were looking frantically for my daughter’s cat, Clarkus Maximus. We found him, safe inside in … Continue reading →

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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

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

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