Category Archives: writing

The SF/F Watcher’s Lament

Posted on August 11, 2025 by JE

Of all sad words of tongue or pen,the saddest are “Prequel again?”

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Deus Ex Homine: Brackett’s THE SWORD OF RHIANNON and Zelazny’s ISLE OF THE DEAD

Posted on August 10, 2025 by JE

I’ve been following with interest Steven Silver’s great series of reviews of the Tor Double books at the Black Gate. His latest, scrupulously fair, review of Brackett’s The Sword of Rhiannon+de Camp’s Divide and Conquer reminded me of one of … Continue reading →

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Of Eeels and Miracles

Posted on July 6, 2025 by JE

The Surprised Eel on their Patreon gives us a very nice piece of writing that usefully complicates some over-simplified worldmaking advice. One thing that leapt out at me was this: “Of course, your fantasy world doesn’t have to work like … Continue reading →

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The Truth About Clowns and Elves

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JE

Not trying to subtweet anyone, particularly my students, whose papers I’m wading my way through. But I’ve had a lot of occasion today to think about the identification of “great” with “first/inventor”. If some creator/creation is a a great example … Continue reading →

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Science Fiction and Mr. Brown

Posted on June 6, 2025 by JE

Much of the short paragraph below by Fredric Brown is outdated and/or not meant to be taken seriously. But I like his conclusion about sf, which I would broaden to include fantasy (as sf often did in those now-distant days: … Continue reading →

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Viola Davis for President

Posted on April 16, 2025 by JE

When I heard about G20 (directed by Patricia Riggen), an action movie set at the titular summit in which Viola Davis plays an American president in action-hero mode, I knew I would have to watch it. I figured it would … Continue reading →

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Swords Against Silence

Posted on April 5, 2025 by JE

It’s been sometimes sad, sometimes joyous, but always a pleasure to hang out with people at Windy City Pulp and Paper and celebrate the life and work of Howard Andrew Jones. Too many stories were shared for me to scribble … Continue reading →

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Swords Against Style

Posted on March 31, 2025 by JE

For various reasons I’ve had a couple different essays under my eyes this afternoon: “Epic Pooh” (Moorcock’s Titanic body-slam against Tolkien and other “high” fantasists) and Tolkien’s “On Fairy-Stories”. All critical writing about fantasy needs to be taken with a … Continue reading →

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Mountains and Monsters: Leiber’s SWORDS AGAINST WIZARDRY

Posted on March 16, 2025 by JE

A couple years ago I set out to review all of Fritz Leiber’s books about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—foundational texts for sword-and-sorcery and for my personal imagination. I knocked off the first three (or four, depending on how you … Continue reading →

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Pseudoplumes, Nom de Nyms, Birds, & Oooze

Posted on February 28, 2025 by JE

I’m not a big fan of literary criticism in any field (although I have committed some), but one of my big books from my late teens onward was Le Guin’s The Language of the Night (1979), especially for the essays … Continue reading →

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