Category Archives: Books

Alma Alexander’s 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens

December 20th, 2012. The end of the world, some might say. Five friends meet up twenty years after college, at Spanish Gardens, an old and favorite gathering spot. Olivia. John. Quincey. Ellen. Simon. Over Irish Coffees, they’ll hash out old … Continue reading

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Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism

Sometimes, a book defies expectations for the better. Take, for example, Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism, a product of the impressively fertile collaboration between Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola. Reading the back cover text, one might note the inclusion of children … Continue reading

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Kelley Armstrong, Brazen

Billed as a manhunt (for certain values of “man”), Brazen is really a character piece. Officially labeled volume 13.1 in author Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Underworld series, it focuses on the thus-far underwhelming Nick as its main protagonist. Handsome … Continue reading

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James P. Blaylock, Homunculus

Something to remember before diving into steampunk legend James P. Blaylock’s seminal genre piece Homunculus, is that Blaylock’s work is not cute. At first glance, of course, it looks cute, what with all the bumbling and the over-the-top Britishness of … Continue reading

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K.W. Jeter and Gareth Jefferson Jones’ Death’s Apprentice

Death’s Apprentice is a book that really, really wants to be a movie. The story of three unlikely heroes who band together to defeat the Devil himself, it suffers from by-the-numbers plotting, on the nose writing, and paper-thin characters who … Continue reading

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J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Illustrated by Jemima Catlin

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s original Middle Earth adventure story, was first published in paper in the U.S. when I was 10, and became a huge hit with me and my fellow Baby Boomers. I first heard the story that year, … Continue reading

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Yurts (A Letter to Anna)

G’Morning Anna, Sometime ago I remember you asking about how the yurts out towards the north meadow came to be. It’s an interesting story, as they were here a decade before I arrived here thirty years ago this year. It … Continue reading

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Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland novels

Twisted fairy tales, revisions and reversions of old legends and mythologies, turning everyday life inside out and at odd angles to itself, bringing Old Magic into a Today World–it’s all the province of names like Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett–and Catherynne … Continue reading

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Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland

This line, near the beginning of the book, marks something of a philosophical shift in this series. In the previous two books, September’s lies and rebelliously independent spirit have been presented, by and large, as positive qualities. She has saved … Continue reading

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Steven Brust and Skyler White’s The Incrementalists

In my view, a new novel by Steven Brust is something to be eagerly awaited. And when he collaborates with another writer, the results can be both unexpected and very rewarding. And so, I opened The Incrementalists with a large … Continue reading

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