Category Archives: Uncategorized

At the End of My Trope…

This meme has popped up in a few places that I know of. Steve Goble’s recent resurrection of it inspired me to make my own (not especially original) list. Things I Never Want to See Again in Fantasy Fiction 1. … Continue reading

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Blog Gate

Howard A. Jones, Managing Editor for Black Gate, has set up a LiveJournal for the magazine. In the first entry he sketches some sword and sorcery musings. Looks like it might be a promising venue to kick some ideas around.

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More Intoxicating Than Green Beer

…is the music of Altan on St. Patrick’s Day, or St. Hubert’s Day, or any particular day. Bo Mhin Na Toitean /Dark Haired Lass Ta Mo Chleamhnas A Dheanamh

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Show or Tell?

In a recent post Sean Stiennon mulls over the perennial issue of showing vs. telling with his usual wit and concision. What he said got me thinking, and one of the things that occurred to me was that the oft-cited … Continue reading

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One Man’s Mede Is Another Man’s Persian

On balance, I liked 300. I decline utterly to interpret it as a political allegory for the war in Iraq, or whatever Procrustean bed of pseudosymbolism some commentators are trying to fit it to. It just doesn’t seem like it’s … Continue reading

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More or Less?

As far as magic goes, in fantasy fiction, is less actually more? I’ve been mulling this over lately, apropos a thread at the Black Gate forum (starting about here). On the one hand, I think a magic-intensive narrative faces the … Continue reading

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Mimzy without Borogoves?

My son alerted me to the new movie The Last Mimzy, which adapts Lewis Padgett’s Henry Kuttner’s “All Mimsy Were the Borogoves.” The trailer is available at the movie’s official website. It looks like an okay movie but I’m pretty … Continue reading

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Classics Print

Paul Jessup proposes a new line of public domain classics in affordable editions. Sounds like a blast!

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Plots Have I Laid, Inductions Dangerous…

An interesting discussion of plot here at Steve Goble’s Swords Against Boredom, and a discussion of plot vs. character in fantasy, starting here on the Black Gate message boards. More later, maybe, as this has been much on my mind … Continue reading

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The Black Gate Opens (a Little)

It’s been a long wait, but the preview for Black Gate issue 10 is up. The magazine itself is due out in March. As always, I’m impressed by Chuck Lukacs’ take on Morlock. Also, I wonder what the horse is … Continue reading

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