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What makes a good Conan novel? It seems like a simple calculation, a brawny barbarian, a massive sword, wine, woman, and violence. Mix the lot into a pot and you have a Conan adventure to be proud of, except it is not that easy. Conan lives in a vibrant and complex world that can be stodgy to...
When the apocalypse inevitably comes do you want to know about it? Would you like the chance to peer out of the window and see the world burning, perhaps you can make a run for the high ground? Another option is to live in pure ignorance underground, competing with your fellow residents for the...
What do you do with an aging character? Some authors choose to pretend that their characters are immortal and never age. This is great for churning out the content, but it does hamstring you into writing the same type of story as you can never move on in fear of making the protagonist too old....
I enjoy it when the publishing community gets together and decides to proclaim there is a new subgenre. These are a collection of books that have already been written but are now herded into a common bracket. Romantasy and Cosy Fantasy are doing great, and I have read a few of these. Low stake...
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
I picked this book up as I was looking for more urban fantasy to try. I love the Dresden files and given that new books in that series only seem to appear infrequently, I was getting an urban fantasy itch. This book stood out as it was recommended by talented and under-appreciated author Dave...
As a committed reader, you start to see the signs that you are living a long life. One stark reminder is when a favourite author dies. This has happened too often already for my liking; one particularly heavy hit was Sir Terry Pratchett. In a world in which authors continue to write into their...
Horror comes in many shapes and sizes. The horror could be on this plane of existence, a creature that stalks you and your family through generations. It could be even closer to home, the horror of the mundane, the terror of ordinary people willing to do anything to achieve their goals, even if...
Christmas has many traditions from trees to strange men sneaking down the chimney in the dead of night. One tradition I like is the different genres that tackle the season. There is something spooky about the dark nights and folk traditions that make Christmas Ghost Stories so good, but it is...
I do enjoy a set of short stories. There are typically two types that you can get, a collection, or a theme. The Price of Memories and Other Stories by Sally McBride is a classic style collection of an author’s works brought together over years into a curated whole. Are there themes that...
Throughout history many have searched for ways to live longer, from healthy eating and exercise to eliminating illness and seeking an elixir of life. I think it’s fair to say it’s a common goal to extend our lifespan.
What would you say if I told you there was a substance...
Comics have a complex history with some storylines going back decades. Even the relatively new superheroes can have intricate lore. Moon Knight has had plenty of time to muddy the waters with almost 50 years of stories to look back on, but it is not the depth of the stories that make Moon Knight...
I have always enjoyed the Star Wars extended universe novels, be they the Legend set, or the newer relaunched series. The books allow us to explore the Skywalker saga in more depth, but for me the most fun is exploring the deeper cuts. I have read fantastic novels that have delved into the lives...
The creation of a new subgenre comes fraught with danger, there may be a good reason it did not arise before. I am seeing an increase in what can be called Cosy Fantasy, novels that have many of the tropes of the genre but concentrate on character interaction over the action. The threat is that...
You do not have to delve onto the fiction shelves to find horror, you can just watch the news. Wars breaking out, people starving. Closer to home there are murders and violence. Most of us are cocooned from these horrors, living in bubbles of our own creation, but some horrors we cannot escape;...
A long time ago a bunch of people reached a general consensus as to what?s real and what?s not and most of us have been going along with it ever since
How big does a cult have to be to become a cult? Does it have to be thousands of people? Hundreds? Tens? Could one family be a cult? If you brought your children up in a remote location without access to the internet and media, it may be possible to make them believe almost anything. Like a tale...
People read for all sorts of reasons. I read to escape and have fun, my preference is for high action and laughs, but I understand that some people like to be challenged by their reading. This could be a complex Space Opera, or a piece of literature that tackles the life of a downtrodden mother...
Science Fiction is fun in so many ways and one of the most entertaining games to play is to think about if. What is Nickola Tesla invented a way to harness an all-powerful energy? Would such power be safe to use, not only for an individual, but for a nation? This was an era of World Wars; more...
If you are reading this, you have some interest in books, enough to read a review about one. Bound in Blood is not just a book, this is a book about books. Well at least a collection of spooky short stories about books, authors, libraries, and all things bibliophile. For those of us in the know,...
I always forget how unpleasant some of the antiheros were in Victorian era fantasy and science fiction. In my mind I think of the era being full of ladies and gentlemen, but there were plenty of loathsome people too. Looking back on the working conditions and how society treated its poor,...
You do not have to travel as far as Italy to get a bargain house, but I like the hills and sunshine of Sicily over a row of abandoned terrace housing in the wet UK. In the past you could pick up houses for as little as £1/€1 in both these places as the local councils encouraged...
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