Category Archives: review or meta-review

Romance and Murder: DOROTHY L. SAYERS, HER LIFE & SOUL by Barbara Reynolds

In summary: This is the best biography of Sayers that I have read, or am likely to read.

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Swords Against Redundancy: Leiber’s TWO SOUGHT ADVENTURE and SWORDS AGAINST DEATH

In summary: these two books collect the earliest stories Fritz Leiber published about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, ergo one or the other is essential reading for the sword-and-sorcery fan. Both are probably essential only to the Leiberian completist, so … Continue reading

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WHOSE BODY? by Dorothy L. Sayers

In summary: Whose Body? (Fisher Unwin, 1923) is worth reading if you like Golden Age detective novels and/or Dorothy Sayers. But novices to both might be well-advised to start with the second novel in the series, Clouds of Witness, a … Continue reading

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SWORDS AND DEVILTRY by Fritz Leiber

Summary: this is essential reading for the fan of sword-and-sorcery, written by the guy who coined the name of the genre. Some mild spoilers follow. In terms of internal chronology, Swords and Deviltry (Ace, May 1970) is the first volume … Continue reading

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Not the Last about THE LAST OF US

Like the rest of the universal world, I loved episode 3 of The Last of Us, but (and this may be where the universal world and I part company) episode 4 reminded me of why I’m tepid about the show … Continue reading

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Alias That Guy and That Other Guy

This is just a blog post about a TV show, but it does involve some discussion of self-harm. Caveat lector! If you’re in a tough place, remember there are ways to get help, especially by calling or texting 988. One … Continue reading

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Which, Whicher, Whichest? (Keep It or Chuck It #2)

Summerscale, K. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Nowadays the hideous murder of a child needs something special to get noticed–it has to occur at a midnight showing of a Batman™ movie, or involve Cheez Whiz™, or something™. Then it can … Continue reading

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Night Thoughts About Aurora

Grim news from Colorado today: a dozen people killed and dozens more wounded by the proverbial lone gunman at a premiere of The Dark Knight Rises David Sirota suggests that the crime be declared as “terrorism”. His point is that … Continue reading

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“Enos Marmor Iuvato!”

Movies don’t generally do space adventure well. The best sf movies involving space travel are mostly science fantasy (e.g. the Star Wars franchise). Which I also like, but which is different. So I was excited to hear about Mars, an … Continue reading

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Keep It or Chuck It?

I moved at the beginning of May this year, for the first time in ten years, and the event reminded me of something I had been vaguely conscious of for a long while: I own too many books. At one … Continue reading

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