Category Archives: books

“Numberless Are the World’s Wonders…”: Clifford Simak’s CITY

Posted on June 8, 2023 by JE

Here’s Davis Meltzer’s cover for the 1970s-era Ace edition of Clifford Simak’s City, an early entry onto my “Always Reread” list. I disliked this cover when I was a kid because of the anthropoid greenmetal skull with human teeth. Now … Continue reading →

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Outline or Straight-Out Lying?

Posted on May 8, 2023 by JE

Whenever I’m writing anything substantial, there comes a moment where I look at the outline and am reminded of this old Sidney Harris cartoon. If it’s a fantasy novel, frequently what’s required is an actual miracle. Those are the easy … Continue reading →

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Don’t Put an Otch in My Nadder!

Posted on April 29, 2023 by JE

Apparently English notch arises from a word-division error due to the English movable n: it wasn’t originally a notch, it was an otch (cf. French oche “a notch”). So says the AHD and the tyrant OED. This is analogous to … Continue reading →

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Pointing Toward the End

Posted on April 29, 2023 by JE

Wearing my grading face (which strongly resembles Mung making the Sign of Mung).

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Viking-Era Marriage

Posted on April 27, 2023 by JE

A pleasingly domestic line in the saga I’m currently reading (which is mostly about war and killing). Ráðahagr Áka stendr með miklum blóma.—Jómsvíkinga Saga 17“Áka stands marriage with great bloom.” That’s the kind of marriage to have. I hope Þórgunn … Continue reading →

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Paranoia Will Destroy Ya

Posted on April 14, 2023 by JE

I just got the Hofstadter volume from the Library of America and I’ve been enjoying/suffering through a reread of “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”. “Enjoying” because Hofstadter is a knowledgeable and deeply insightful writer with a dryly witty style; … Continue reading →

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A Ganelon By Any Other Name…

Posted on April 11, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day (which I discovered in an old slideshow from earlier this year): Gabolen. I’d intended to write Ganelon (the sinister traitor-knight in Charlemagne’s court). But Gabolen sounds like a pretty convincing name; maybe he/she/it will appear in … Continue reading →

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Clods Without Witnesses (Dorothy L. Sayers, CLOUDS OF WITNESS)

Posted on March 28, 2023 by JE

In summary: Clouds of Witness features Sayers and her aristocratic detective at or near their best—or most unbearable, depending on how it hits you. This is a literate (even pretentious) and witty mystery story which also shows Sayers’ burgeoning skill … Continue reading →

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Fífling Around

Posted on March 26, 2023 by JE

I fell into the dictionary again today and learned that Old Norse fífl (“fool”) also meant “monster” (cf Old English fifal “monster”), hence the fíflmegir (“monster men”) who rowed the hellship from Muspellheim that Loki steered on the way to Ragnarǫk. I wondered if the … Continue reading →

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The Weird of the Worm

Posted on March 19, 2023 by JE

Reading Snorri’s account of Ragnarǫkr this noon over blunch, and I was struck by this poetic phrase in Snorri’s prose: Þórr berr banaorð af Miðgarðsormi “Thor bears the baneword from Midgard’s Serpent”. Old Norse orð is cognate with English word, … Continue reading →

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