Category Archives: fantasy

“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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Napping in the Bookroom

Posted on June 3, 2023 by JE

Reuben Sandwich (PhD, DND, CBD, etc.) takes a brief respite from researching heroic fantasy.

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Fellowship of the Thing

Posted on May 20, 2023 by JE

Apologies for my relative silence on social media. I’m engaged on a lunatic plan to write a pair of novels over the summer, and I’ve made some significant progress. This evening I got north of 20,000 words on one (a … 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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Joans Against the Moon Men

Posted on April 26, 2023 by JE

I misread a student’s handwriting and thought they had written “Prester Joan” (instead of “Prester John”). Now I can’t stop thinking of Prester Joan teaming up with Pope Joan to, I don’t know, conquer the moon or something. [edited to … Continue reading →

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The Hood, the Bad, and the Bitey

Posted on April 8, 2023 by JE

I was looking up something else in Cleasby & Vigfusson’s Old Norse dictionary when my eye fell on gríma, meaning “a kind of hood or cowl”; by extension “the night”. A lot of badasses, starting with Óðin, are called Grímr … Continue reading →

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The Dark Tower Is Thrown Down

Posted on March 25, 2023 by JE

Happy Downfall-of-Sauron Day, but remember: “Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

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A god by any other name…

Posted on March 24, 2023 by JE

Two things were interesting to me in that piece about Sandon Branderson that everyone is talking about (and that I don’t propose to link to because, eh, it’s not great and also Wired has gotten plenty of hits from it … Continue reading →

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