First Edition Cover for "A Scanner Darkly". Source When one reads any story written by Philip K. Dick, one expects certain themes and situations to appear. An example would be the question: What constitutes reality? In A Scanner Darkly, Dick uses drug culture and the often-debilitating effects of drug abuse to take the reader … Continue reading Reality Bends – A Review of Philip K. Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly”
Cover for "Born Standing Up". Source “If light is thrown on the audience, they don’t laugh…”Steve Martin, "Born Standing Up" Reading a book is a solitary exercise. Sometimes we don’t want others to know what we’re reading or the reasons we’re reading something. Writing is also a solitary exercise for the inverse of those reasons. … Continue reading Joy in the Darkness – A Review of Steve Martin’s “Born Standing Up”
I ran across an article on one of my favorite blogs that highlighted this book. A Modern Christmas Carol by Bob Seidensticker is a retelling of Dicken’s classic with an atheist twist to the story. It’s an independent novella and I’m all for stepping outside of the major publishers’ circles. As an added bonus, it’s … Continue reading The Winter of Faith – A Review of Bob Seidensticker’s “A Modern Christmas Carol”
Book Cover for Summer Knight The natural world is a microcosm of forces in constant struggle against each other. The magic (if I may use a rather loaded word) of passing seasons, of vibrant summer giving way to harsh winter, is a storytelling idea that has been constant throughout literature. In certain cultures, particularly the … Continue reading I Don’t Believe in Faeries – A Review of Jim Butcher’s “Summer Knight”
Cover Art for Jim Butcher's "Grave Peril" How dangerous are the dead? In our world, the only dangers the dead present are disease and a cause for more violence. In Harry Dresden’s world, the dead in all their various manifestations are unfathomably dangerous. Jim Butcher’s third entry in the Dresden Files, “Grave Peril”, is a … Continue reading The Dead Never Rest – A Review of Jim Butcher’s “Grave Peril”
Book Cover for "Fool Moon" Anytime an author in any type of fantasy genre invokes the Moon in their title, something furry is making an appearance. Werewolves, much like vampires, are old-school monsters that have never really fallen out of fashion. The popularity of such creatures waxes and wanes but they never truly fade away. … Continue reading The Wolves Among Us – Review of Jim Butcher’s “Fool Moon”
Cover Art for "Hellbound Hearts" Having recently reviewed Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart, I was informed that there were other print stories (none by Barker himself unfortunately). Hellbound Hearts is not a true sequel to Barker’s original tale of sexuality and brutality. Instead it is an anthology of stories from other authors tied into the … Continue reading All the Sins of the World – A Review of “Hellbound Hearts”
Cover Art for "Storm Front" Consider for a moment that magic is real, as real as science, in fact. Now consider the type of person who could or would wield such a power. Such a character would need to be nearly saint-like to avoid abusing such immense abilities. In Jim Butcher’s "Storm Front", we are … Continue reading The First File – Review of Jim Butcher’s “Storm Front”
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0061452882/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0061452882&linkCode=am2&tag=thekingssquar-20&linkId=dcf9bc25ed0ee081b1041076c4f465a6 The line between pleasure and pain is often so thin as to be completely nonexistent. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of sadomasochism knows that receiving and inflicting pain can be a singularly euphoric experience. Few books ever explore this dichotomy as openly as The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. Barker managers to plum … Continue reading The Horror of Depravity – A Review of Clive Barker’s “The Hellbound Heart”
Cover Art for "American Gods" You can conjure anything based on belief, especially gods and monsters. The central conceit of American Gods by Neil Gaiman is that because humans believe in the gods, the gods exist. Fairies, kobolds, immortal queens and kings, and so forth are real simply because humans sought explanations for their world. … Continue reading The Gods Among Us – Review of Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”
