Justin Howe's Blog, page 8

May Books 2022

Once upon a time I regularly posted my favorite reads here every month. Then for no reason at all I stopped. Now for even less reason I’ve decided to start again. A reminder that these aren’t reviews so much as reactions. And I likely read other stuff during the month, but these are what I finished and now admit to having read.

Viscera by Gabrielle Squailia
Take a bit of Leiberesque sword & sorcery, mix it with Patricia McKillip style fantasy by way of William S. Burrough’s Naked Lunch, let...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XIX

Another week. Another canto. This one brings back some of that weirdness. Also… it has Sword Lesbians!

We start with Medoro and Cloriando in running in the woods. Cloriando is far ahead, while Medoro is struggling to catch-up because he’s carrying Darindello’s body. Close behind are Zerbino and his rowdy Scotsmen. They corner Medoro in a clearing, where he drops the body and prepares to defend it with his life. Hearing the tumult behind himself, Cloriando returns stealthily. He sees Medoro...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XVIII

Welcome to violence, the word and the act!

This canto’s a long one full of death and mayhem. Or more death and mayhem. There’s been plenty to go around. What makes this canto different is that we are hopping from one violent adventure to another. Rodomonte kills a bunch of people. Grifone kills a bunch of people. Astolfo kills a bunch of people. Zerbino kills a bunch of people. Darindildo (not his real name) kills a bunch of people. Etc. Some new people show up who seem a bit more like ac...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XVII

This canto’s odd and not for any good reason.

Ariosto gets political. Except he’s a Christian Monarchist. So in this chapter we learn that tyrants are god’s judgment against evil populations, Christians should invade Africa, and no European ruler should sleep while the Turks hold Jerusalem. Also like Dante, Ariosto has the habit of bringing up some genuinely awful local ruler you’ve never heard of.

That’s the trouble with the age of despots. If everyone’s terrible, it’s easy to get los...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XVI

And here we are again. 

Ariosto starts by telling us that he’s been unlucky in love too. He’s a sensitive guy after all and has felt the pain of being spurned. That done it’s back to Grifone sneaking away to Antioch to meet-up with the brazen Orrigille. She’s there with her new beau (as yet unnamed) to take part in a joust hosted by the King of Syria. Grifone’s itching to fight, but Orrigille doesn’t want him to kill her current boy-toy. She puts on a fake smile and embraces Grifone, sayi...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XV

This one’s long and has a bajillion names in it so buckle up kids, it’s time to get FURIOSO!

Last we left off, the Saracen army was attacking the walls of Paris. Knights were dying every which way and Rodomonte was leaping over flaming trenches to get inside the city. We get back to that in this canto, but first Ariosto has to do some ass-kissing/state craft commentary. Lots of advice against killing everybody including your own troops in order to achieve your goals and stuff like that. B...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XIV

Mandricardo the Tartar killing a bunch of Spaniards because they refused to let him look at their sleeping princess.

This one has everything.

We get some historic details, some ass-kissing by Ariosto for his patrons. We get a list of names, all knights fighting for or against Charlemagne. We get a damsel being “rescued”. We get massive grand battles. We even get some of that yesterweirdness I love.

After the historic details (the state of the war this far), some ass-kissing (dealing wit...

Welcome to Static Clearing!

Welcome to Static Clearing Station, gateway to the Tseiling Ice Plateau! 

Static Clearing is a 2-page brochure length science fantasy setting for tabletop role-playing games such as Mothership, Into the Odd, and others. Besides the station itself, the region houses a monastery devoted to the study of ancient creatures from the depths of time and a storage facility where cold chaotic matter is kept in isolation.

The brochure includes:

An introduction to the Tseiling Ice PlateauA map ...

Orlando Furioso, Canto XIII

Despite the awesome illustration this canto was another yawn. 

There’s a damsel (Isabella). She has relationship problems. Yadda yadda. There’s a super awesome knight (Ruggiero). He solves the damsel’s relationship problems by killing people (Pirates). Then it’s off to another knight (Bradamante). This one does something that necessitates the name dropping of a whole heap of names. They’re all Bradamante’s wicked awesome female descendants. None of whom have any bearing on the story. The ...

Despite the awesome illustration this canto was another y...

Despite the awesome illustration this canto was another yawn. 

There’s a damsel (Isabella). She has relationship problems. Yadda yadda. There’s a super awesome knight (Ruggiero). He solves the damsel’s relationship problems by killing people (Pirates). Then it’s off to another knight (Bradamante). This one does something that necessitates the name dropping of a whole heap of names. They’re all Bradamante’s wicked awesome female descendants. None of whom have any bearing on the story. The ...