Here’s a summary of activity for January, 2018. Do check out what I’m up to over at Rigaroga’s Odd Order and Hermetic Library for more. If you can, drop a buck in the tip jar or become a Patron to help me create a firm foundation with a Basic Income and also keep the cats… Continue reading Summary for the month of Jan 2018
Tag: John Griogair Bell
Summary for the month of Dec 2017
Here’s a summary of activity for December, 2017. Do check out what I’m up to over at Rigaroga’s Odd Order and Hermetic Library for more. If you can, drop a buck in the tip jar or become a Patron to help me create a firm foundation with a Basic Income and also keep the cats… Continue reading Summary for the month of Dec 2017
Summary for the month of Nov 2017
Here’s a summary of activity for November, 2017. I didn’t get as many reviews and things done this month as I had hoped. Mostly this last month has been the beginning of feeling like hibernating, but I’ve managed to reach my reading challenge of 50 books read this year over on Goodreads, so, you know,… Continue reading Summary for the month of Nov 2017
Bubba Ho-Tep
I was looking for books set in the weird west, for reasons, and ended up being reminded that Bubba Ho-Tep by Joe R Lansdale was a book before it was a movie. So, I got sidetracked by this one, which is a kind of hillbilly gumbo of conspiracy theory supernatural horror humor. As a bonus,… Continue reading Bubba Ho-Tep
Total Recall
Total Recall by Philip K Dick was originally titled “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”. Wow, is that original title retro-awesome or what? Well, I read it. I mean, I think I read it. I remember reading it. I have evidence to remind me I read it. I’m still not totally sure though. But,… Continue reading Total Recall
The Dulwich Horror
The Dulwich Horror by Oliver Harris is an entry into the corpus of Cosmicism, but not really Lovecraftian. It’s not set in New England, but rather in London, England proper. It doesn’t feature the Elder Gods, but rather an interesting twist on the Old Norse Gods. The protagonist’s name is Ursula, and that’s a bit… Continue reading The Dulwich Horror
Summary for the month of Oct 2017
Here’s a summary of activity for October, 2017. It continues to get darker and drearier up here, as the cold starts seeping in for real. The cats are getting more and more cuddly, and the weight of them at night is like sleeping in a mummy bag, trapping me in cat created claustrophobia … Lots… Continue reading Summary for the month of Oct 2017
Itsy Bitsy
Itsy Bitsy by John Ajvide Lindqvist is my first return to the corpus that contains Låt den rätte komma in, and its adaptions, about which I swooned a while back. It’s definitely the same literary voice I recall, though from translations by the same translator, so … who’s voice is it luring me in? Ironically,… Continue reading Itsy Bitsy
Principles of Extreme Living
The pamphlet Black Book Volume 1: Principles of Extreme Living by Christopher S Hyatt, with Nicholas Tharcher, S Jason Black, has a lot of quotable quips, but one must consider them in context of the question “to what end?” I suspect that far too many would read this as a primer on how to justify… Continue reading Principles of Extreme Living
Red Dragon
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is the first story where the character Hannibal Lector appears, and is the launching point for a series of books, movies and television, not the least of which are Jonathan Demme’s revelation that interior menace was far creepier and disturbing than the externally gross on screen with Silence of the… Continue reading Red Dragon
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T Malik is a grim fairy tale fantasy with time and reality twisting short story that is full of excellent middle east magical realism centering around human and jinn interaction. I definitely recommend this. I made 56 highlights.
The Yanthus Prime Job
The Yanthus Prime Job by Robert Kroese is a novella featuring Pepper Melange from the Rex Nihilo / Starship Grifters series. This is by far the best story out of any of the Starship Grifters books, though available separately it is also included in Aye, Robot, book 2 of the series. There is not a… Continue reading The Yanthus Prime Job
Histoires à lire le soir
Histoires à lire le soir by Marc Thil is an amusing collection of easy to read short stories in French. Unfortunately, I’m just not fluent enough yet to really get these, but I made it through them. What I was able to understand was funny. But, what I got most out of this collection was… Continue reading Histoires à lire le soir
Omon Ra
Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield, is weird. But, like, good weird. Like, you should read it weird. Although this is the first book by Pelevin I’ve read, I’ve had The Helmet of Horror, also translated by Bromfield, part of the Canongate Myths series, on my to-read stack for ages, and I’ve… Continue reading Omon Ra
Straw Boss
Straw Boss by J R Evans is a novella tie-in with Straw Boss: A World of Adventure for Fate Core. A lot of times that might seem like a warning sign, as game tie-ins aren’t always so great; but this one is not only perfectly good as a stand alone without any need to know… Continue reading Straw Boss
Perfectibilists
Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati by Terry Melanson is a rich treasure trove of history, much of which I found I hadn’t quite been familiar with yet, and that, in spite of the author’s barely hidden bias, really puts the infamous Illuminati in a heroic position in their time. I’ve always… Continue reading Perfectibilists
Descent Into Hell
Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams is an amazement. I was taken by the curiosity of the Endymion Press cover of this book having a unicursal hexagram. So, I think I picked this up without really knowing much about it other than the oddity of its appearance. But, in the end, this was fantastic to… Continue reading Descent Into Hell
Civil Disobedience
I wanted to like Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau and had high hopes, nay, even the expectation, that I’d like this book. But, Thoreau comes across as an ignorant Uncle Joe Bubba who rants about the gubmint being evil ‘cuz it tells folk what to do and gets in their way, but who lives… Continue reading Civil Disobedience
Glitch
Glitch by Hugh Howey is a far too brief vignette to be good, but isn’t bad. It’s an okay short about a robot gladiator who becomes sentient which causes a moral dilemma and struggle for control. It’s like an excerpt from, or a pitch for, a larger story, but after the end I didn’t really… Continue reading Glitch
KLF
KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money by J M R Higgs isn’t hardcore history and reads a bit like a magazine article in tone and tempo, but it’s got a lot of history I didn’t know about, both directly and tangentially related to KLF, especially around Discordianism, that I found very interesting, and it was a… Continue reading KLF
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