Category Archives: books

I’m Going to Mars

Posted on February 13, 2025 by JE

I was posting on a corporate social media site this AM and I blithely wrote something like, “My New Year’s resolution this year is to blog more and post on corporate social media less.” This was kind of a lie, … Continue reading →

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Mail Call

Posted on January 27, 2025 by JE

Looking forward to (re)reading the vintage paperbacks. The history book is more for figuring out how teaching will work in the future, now that everything old is new again. I already have a copy of Van Vogt’s The Book of … Continue reading →

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Don’t Myth Out

Posted on January 25, 2025 by JE

I’ve been looking forward to John Wiswell‘s Wearing the Lion since I heard about it, and even more so now that I’ve seen more work by the illustrator, Tyler Miles Lockett. Bold, colorful, imaginative stuff.

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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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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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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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Outlaws, Were-Bears, and Skunks

Posted on September 28, 2024 by JE

I’ve been reading the Gesta Herwardi (“The Deeds of Herward” a.k.a. “Hereward the Wake”), one of the original outlaw stories from England (although it’s written not in English, but in Latin—because, no doubt, Everything Is Better With Latin!™). The Robin … Continue reading →

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New Editions of Old Stories

Posted on September 21, 2024 by JE

Reading about cops and robbers today.

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Thrush to Judgement

Posted on July 3, 2024 by JE

I’ve been rereading Petronius’ Satyricon, to take my mind off the imminent death of democracy in America. It’s not working that well, because Trimalchio (the wealthy boor who is the anti-protagonist of his own episode in the novel) keeps reminding … Continue reading →

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Carney Knowledge: MADBALL by Fredric Brown

Posted on June 15, 2024 by JE

Fredric Brown was one of the best writers of sf at shorter lengths–especially very short lengths. His story “Knock” was so short he had to write a longer story to embed it in. His “Puppet Show” brilliantly mocked the Campbellian … Continue reading →

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