About stories of all kinds
I don’t know if anyone is aware of this “really old movie,” but The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 film adaptation of the 1954 book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is the first volume of the larger work The Lord of the Rings, which helped define an entire genre… Continue reading May the Fellowship Be Unbroken, By and By: A Lord of the Rings Appreciation Post
Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning… Continue reading To Sleep (Perchance to Dream) in a Sea of Stars: Review
No, not Christmas. If you think I am one of those people who eagerly await the Yuletide season with shining eyes and heart of hope, you can rest assured that after the last several such holidays I had, it will take a lot of doing to get me to anticipate Christmas with anything more than… Continue reading It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Title trends come and go. Sometimes they’re a phrase—we were all there for the “A noun of noun and noun” young adult fantasy trend. Is it over yet? It felt like a bad case of déjà vu every time I walked into the YA section there for a while. Like, wait, didn’t this book come… Continue reading Titles on Trend: Eight Books of Life and Death and Full Names
The context. In my third year of university, I took a class upon the topic of Middle English romances. We’re taking chivalry, we’re talking Vikings and Bretons, we’re talking lords and ladies and castles and whatnot. We’re talking spoofs, exoticism, and legendary revisionism. The longest piece we read was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight… Continue reading An afternoon with The Green Knight
In The Protestant Ethic, Max Weber opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and relates the rise of the capitalist economy to the Calvinist belief in the moral value of hard work and the fulfillment of one’s worldly duties. My Review I came into this not knowing any of the dialogue around Weber's philosophy, or… Continue reading A Tangled Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism
Challenge yourself. Get out of your comfort zone. Do Hard Things™. Anyone else tired of hearing these mantras and ones like them? It’s not that they’re bad ideas, it’s just that I find the effect of hearing them all the time kind of paralyzing. Let me explain. The mindset of “overcoming” is everywhere in our… Continue reading Don’t Do Hard Things: Just Do Something
A man's courage is like a horse that refuses a fence; you have to take him by the head and cram him at it again. If you don't, he will funk worse next time. I hadn't enough courage to be able to take chances with it, though I was afraid of many things, the thing… Continue reading ‘Enough courage to take chances’
Book blurb for City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is… Continue reading City of Dark Magic: Book Review
To all humankind besides, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends she was no more than a frequently passing thought. Tess of the D’Urbervilles Ever wondered what other people think about you? Or who thinks about you? Or how often? It’s not really a profitable use of time, but it’s natural to wonder… Continue reading ‘Passing thought’
Fictitiously Yours 