Assaph Mehr's Blog, page 22

TV Series Review: Up Pompeii

I first heard about Up Pompeii when I reviewed Chelmsford 123, another favourite Roman-esque British sitcom, and someone recommended this show in response.

What to expect

A British sitcom dating from 1970, about events two millennia prior. The humour is a product of both time periods: a lot less politically correct then current tastes, but satisfyingly funny.

The events are set in the town of Pompeii, mixing historical elements of anything from Spartacus to the Vesuv...

Nathan (of War of Kings and Monsters, by Christopher Keene)

Dear readers, tonight with us is a young man who decided to act against the monsters from beyond encroaching on his world, and has embarked on a quest to restore the barrier – even as he’s accompanied by one of the monsters.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Although not born there, I was raised behind the walls of Terratheist castle. While the outside world was struggling to create a peace treaty with a recently usurped neighboring k...

Book Review: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker

I first saw Sixteen Ways to Defend A Walled City when it came out, and it caught my attention: a potentially humorous, military fantasy exploit by an author known for his historical and humorous works (KJ Parker is a pseudonym for Tom Holt). I’m glad I read it.

What to expect

The story starts by setting the character (Orhan, colonel of the Imperial Engineering Brigade) against the mind-numbingly bureaucratic mechanism of the empire. There are definite Roman/Byzantine inspir...

Luke Ryder (of Death in the Holler, by John Bluck)

Dear readers, tonight with us is an alcoholic game warden, drawn into a police murder investigation when a dead gangster is found on a farm’s food plot.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I grew up in the Holler, a small wooded valley in Kentucky. There’s lots of woods, some small farms, but mostly beat up houses, shacks where most folks live. It’s pretty country, but the people are nearly all poor. And now, even in the year 2029, you ...

Book Review: What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank, by Krista D. Ball

I can’t remember exactly when What Kings Ate floated past me, but given my love of both fantasy and historical foodstuffs I knew it was going to be a hit.

What to expect

A non-fiction that’s still light-hearted, both informative and entertaining. The author covers many aspects of food throughout history as a way to enhance both fantasy and historical fiction. Though primarily aimed at writers, it would appeal to readers of these genres too – to anyone who loves to know more...

Lieutenant Colonel Gaston d’Bois (of Mon Dieu Cthulhu! by John Houlihan)

Dear readers, tonight with us is a French Hussar from the Napoleonic Wars, who found out that there are worse horrors than facing Wellington in battle. He’s here to tell, in his charmingly French way of speaking, about his adventures.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

D’Bois is a child of the forest, and was most fortunate to grow up in the Ardennes and even luckier that it was the French rather than the Belgian part, non, or Lieutena...

Antiquarians Antiquating (links from antiquity)

First, as a warm up, last October Archaeologists Discovered 20 Sealed Ancient Egyptian Coffins. It’s a unique find, in that the sarcophagi are very well preserved and are still entirely sealed. While I’m always the curious type, 2020 being what it is – may I suggest perhaps we shouldn’t open them?

Kit Melbourne (of her eponymous series, by Kater Cheek)

Dear readers, tonight with us is a young woman, dragged from her job in a coffee shop into a world of witches and vampires, faeries and enchanted gems. She is here to tell us about her adventures.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I grew up in shitty mildewed apartments in New Jersey, several different cities, always in the cheap area of town. My childhood memories are full of yelling and fighting, at first with my mom and dad and the...

Book Review: Penric’s Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Bujold’s writing, but somehow had never read them. I was in the mood for a short, light fantasy so jumped on Penric’s Demon. A few weeks later I read Penric and the Shaman, so this review will encompass both.

What to Expect

A quick, charming adventure of the third son of a minor noble, when a chance encounter on the road changed his life.Set in the world of Bujold’s other fantasy novels, but at a different time and place, this is a stan...

Leeth (of The Leeth Dossier series, by L. J. Kendall)

Dear readers, tonight with us is a young woman from a near future where magic has returned to the world. She’s here to tell us about life as an experimental subject, growing up at the Institute for Paranormal Dysfunction, and now working in a [redacted] department of the US Bureau for Internal Development.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Are you really sure it’s okay to answer that question? Like, really sure?

Well, okay, I g...