Todd Klein's Blog, page 4

Rereading: THE SEA IS ALL AROUND by Elizabeth Enright

Elizabeth Enright is one of my favorite authors, but this is an early book of hers I hadn’t read in decades, and didn’t remember much about.

Mab Kendall îs on her way to a remote New England coastal island, Pokenick. She’s traveling from Iowa, where she grew up. Her parents died when she was five, and her Aunt Sarah has been taking care of her, but now she’s moving to the home of another relative, Aunt Belinda, who lives on Pokenick, and who she’s never met. The journey is exciting, but the destination is a bit frightening, especially when she goes from a train to the ferry. When Aunt Belinda meets her, Mab is grateful to find she’s kind and loving, and welcoming. The book takes us through Mab’s exploration and adventures on Pokenick, from meeting new friends, to learning about the island, to getting lost in a snow storm, and throughout Mab is very much a real girl with hopes and fears and courage.

Enright’s writing and art are both perfect. The book is enchanting, and one I could always read again. Highly recommended.

The post Rereading: THE SEA IS ALL AROUND by Elizabeth Enright appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: THE HIGH PLACE by James Branch Cabell

Cover and illustrations by Frank C. Papé

The ninth book in Cabell’s “Biography of the Life of Manuel” is set in 1698 France in and adjacent to the author’s imaginary province of Poictesme. Florian, whose ancestors include Manuel and Jurgen, has a strange encounter with beauty on a hill in the magical forest of Acaire next to his ancestral home, the “high place” of the title. He wanders in as a child of ten, and finds a beautiful woman in an enchanted sleep. This is essentially the Sleeping Beauty story, but here Florian is too young to be a Prince Charming. He returns home to his life and grows to manhood and beyond, marrying several times, but always unsatisfied with his lovers, both wives and not, always remembering the sleeping princess, Melior, and finding all others wanting. Finally he makes a bargain with the devil, here known as Janicot, to rescue the princess and break the spell that has put her entire castle to sleep. In return, Florian promises Janicot the life of their first-born child. Also in the castle is a man Florian has been worshipping, known in his church as Saint Horwig, but despite being canonized, Horwig is not only still alive, he’s the priest of a rival religion.

As we follow Florian’s story, it becomes clear he’s a monster. Hiding behind veils of respectability and society, he’s actually a murderer who calls himself a romantic and considers himself pious, but he gradually learns how hollow and untrue both claims really are. Florian’s story is both sad and funny, as his desires prove unrewarding, and his plans are continually thwarted, until at last he comes full circle.

Cabell’s writing here is entertaining and sardonic as he explodes the mythology even as we are enchanted by it. Once again Heaven and Hell are involved as well as all kinds of mythical creatures and places. Recommended.

The post Rereading: THE HIGH PLACE by James Branch Cabell appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: KABUMPO IN OZ by Ruth Plumly Thompson

Thompson’s second Oz book, and the first one with her name under the title, features some familiar characters and some new ones.

As it was so often done by Baum, the story starts in a remote part of Oz, the kingdom of Pumperdink. A birthday party in the royal castle for Prince Pompadore, also attended by his friend Kabumpo, the Elegant Elephant, is disrupted when the birthday cake explodes, leaving behind several items including a threatening message from an unknown magician. It seems that the Prince must marry a Proper Fairy Princess within seven days, or all the people of Pumperdink will disappear forever. Pompa and Kabumpo soon head off on a quest for that princess, who Kabumpo thinks must be Ozma, the ruler of Oz, so they aim for the Emerald City, but of course get sidetracked into other odd places along the way.

Meanwhile, the evil gnome Ruggedo, former king of the gnomes, has been plotting against Ozma. She has given him a home in the Emerald City where he pretends to be reformed, but in fact is digging under the royal palace with bad intentions. He has help from a rabbit, Wag, and uses a wooden doll he stole from the palace, Peg Amy, to throw around when he gets frustrated. When Ruggedo finds a hidden box of Mixed Magic, his revenge can begin, but it all goes wrong as he accidentally turns himself into a massive giant who carries off the entire royal palace on his head when he flees Oz for his former home, the country of Ev. Both Wag and Peg Amy have also been changed by the magic, making the rabbit very large, and also enlarging the doll and bringing her to life. They decide to follow Ruggedo and try to stop him. Others in the Emerald City run to tell Glinda, the powerful royal magician of Oz, who begins a plan to help, but meanwhile Prince Pompa and Kabumpo have met Wag and Peg Amy, and joined them in tracking Ruggedo. Will the box of Mixed Magic help them set things right?

A fun read, and Thompson adds some new elements and characters to Oz that I think fit in well, including a sort of romantic comedy side story. Recommended.

The post Rereading: KABUMPO IN OZ by Ruth Plumly Thompson appeared first on Todd's Blog.

The Eisner Awards Hall of Fame

On Friday morning I was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Also inducted was one of my favorite letterers Ira Schnapp, and a few years ago they inducted my favorite letterer Gaspar Saladino. We are the only creators known mainly for lettering so far included. I am honored to be among many giants of the field, some of whom I worked with! I’ve posted a phone recording of my speech on Facebook, I can’t add it here. This was the highlight of my day, I also had a Spotlight Panel with Mark Evanier asking questions, and another panel, as well as one on Saturday and one coming up today, Sunday. I’m having a fine time!

The post The Eisner Awards Hall of Fame appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Images from CCI 2025 Wednesday and Thursday

I don’t have time for detailed con reports this year, but here are some photos and captions.

View from my window at the Marriott MarquisVisiting the Cat Cafe with Amy Chu and friendsSpending time with adoptable kittiesA small part of the Exhibit Hall from the Mezzanine windowMy brother Doug helping out The Thing at the Marvel boothFantastic Four costumesDoug with Superman’s costume at the DC boothArtist Sergio Cariello at his tableSnack break outside the Sails PavilionDan Ackroyd at a panel about an upcoming Blues Brothers comic.Penn and Teller at their 50th Anniversary panel

The post Images from CCI 2025 Wednesday and Thursday appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE by M. E. Atkinson

This is the fourth of Atkinson’s “Fricka” books, I don’t have the third one, “The Barnstormers.”

Fricka and her three cousins, Hugo, Sugar, and Adrian, are boarding with elderly Mrs. Harcourt in the lodge of a large manor house while Fricka’s father is away in France. They had thought they’d be staying in the manor itself, but that’s been sold, and is empty and decaying. The children soon find a way inside to explore, but what concerns them more is a dead cat they find in the stable. They learn that cats have been disappearing in the neighborhood, and some kind of foul play is suspected, perhaps poison or traps. Mrs. Harcourt is worried about her own cat, Tabitha, and the four children begin investigating. A local boy may have some answers if they can get them out of him, and a trip to the seaside brings more clues. Soon it’s clear that Tabitha and other local cats are really in danger, but from who?

Entertaining mystery with suspense and appealing characters. Recommended.

The post Rereading: UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE by M. E. Atkinson appeared first on Todd's Blog.

My Music: NIGHTLIFE OF THE CAT

The other song I should have recorded back when but never did, it was written on January 28, 1979, my 28th birthday. Theodora, above, was my most recent kitty, I’d had her for about five years. She was an indoor cat, as all my cats have been, but not long after this photo was taken in April, 1978, she got out through a broken window screen and was out overnight. I searched for her, and found her, but some time during that adventure she caught feline leukemia, and sadly she died of it a few months later. She was a good kitty, and not a hunter like the one in this song, though I’m sure she would have tried if she had the chance: Nightlife of the Cat

In addition to guitar and vocal, I added percussion made with a large soft paintbrush (for painting walls) on a piece of textured paper. Then I added sound effects found online, though the purring cat sounds are from my cat Leo, who I still miss. The rabbit ones were the hardest, as rabbits usually make no sounds, so I had to use a running dog sound.

Nightlife of the Cat is © Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

The post My Music: NIGHTLIFE OF THE CAT appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: THE BLACK STALLION AND FLAME by Walter Farley

Illustrated by Harold Eldridge

As the cover blurb says, a story requested by more than 3 million readers, this is almost fan fiction except that it’s written by Farley. In the previous book about Flame, “The Island Stallion Races,” he had to stretch credulity by using aliens to get the horse into a real race, here the stretch is not quite as extreme, but still unusual.

As happened in “The Black Stallion Mystery,” Alec and his champion horse The Black are in a plane crash, but this time with trainer and friend Henry Dailey and in the waters of the Caribbean during a hurricane. The human and equine passengers survive and get out of the wreck, humans on a life raft, and The Black and a group of mares swim off, with the two groups losing track of each other. The humans are rescued and brought to the (made up) island of Antago, where Alec and Henry follow up a sighting of a black horse on the beach in a remote area. They find that horse, it’s not The Black, and it’s dead, killed by the bite of a vampire bat infected with rabies. The Americans try to help the Antagans kill the bat, but it escapes.

Meanwhile, The Black and his mares have made landfall on the smaller island of Azul, which as far as most people know is a rock dome with only a small beach. But, as readers know, the interior of the island hides a valley with rich grasslands and a herd of horses descended from Conquistador stock housed here in secret by the Spanish centuries ago. Two other Americans do know about it, Steve Duncan and his uncle Pitch have discovered the hidden harbor under the rock edge, and Steve and Flame have the same kind of friendship that Alec and The Black do. Steve and Pitch are not in this story, though. The Black leads his mares into the secret harbor and then into the hidden valley, where a confrontation with Flame is sure to follow, but before it does, the two stallions must join forces against a common enemy, that rabid vampire bat, which has also found the valley and endangers them all.

This book is entertaining, even though totally driven by plot and coincidence. Fans of Farley’s two horse series loved it, as did I when reading it at age twelve or so. Recommended.

The post Rereading: THE BLACK STALLION AND FLAME by Walter Farley appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: THE SUBTLE KNIFE by Philip Pullman

Cover art by Eric Rohmann

When I read this the first time I was disappointed, rereading it I was not. Perhaps I was so enamored of the world in the first book that to leave it behind for much of this one was disappointing, and perhaps I was also unhappy with the overall storyline that develops here, which I now find more appealing.

A new character is the focus of much of the book, Will Parry. He lives in our own world in a house with his mother, who is increasingly developing symptoms of mental illness. Will’s father disappeared soon after he was born. John Parry was an explorer attached to an Arctic expedition that seems to have entirely vanished, but some men are trying to find out more about him, and pestering Will’s mother, then searching their house. He knows they want the letters she has that his father wrote to her. Will finds someone to care for his mother, but knows he has to run away. Returning to the house, he’s trapped by the men as he retrieves the letters from the attic. In escaping, one of the men falls and dies. Now Will is really on the run, and he finds a strange refuge: a hidden doorway in the air that lets him into another world. That world seems empty of adults, only children are sometimes in the empty city he finds.

Meanwhile, Lyra is also in this strange city, and they meet. Lyra has walked into it from her world, as seen at the end of “The Golden Compass,” and she’s looking for her father, Lord Asriel, but doesn’t know how to find him, or even which world he’s now in. Will and Lyra become friends and try to help each other, but soon run into all kinds of trouble. Lyra’s most prized possession, the alethiometer that tells her what to do, is stolen. She and Will confront the thief, and he offers them a deal. If they will find and retrieve another powerful object, the subtle knife, from the world they’ve hidden in, he will trade the alethiometer for it. Deeper and deeper into trouble they go. And back in Lyra’s world, her friends the witches and the balloonist Lee Scoresby are also in trouble but trying to help her, if they can get to her in time.

As this book reveals, a war in Heaven is brewing, with Lord Asriel in charge of the forces that want to take on and defeat God. That storyline seemed an overreach to me the first time through, but now makes more sense and adds depth. There are some hard moments here, but the book is well written and compelling. Recommended.

The post Rereading: THE SUBTLE KNIFE by Philip Pullman appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: THE MAGIC WORLD by E. Nesbit

First published in 1912, this book collects twelve Nesbit stories involving magic of some kind, though all but one of them have new characters and situations (one story has a returning character in a small role). The stories range from cautionary tales like “The Cat-Hood of Maurice,” in which a boy who torments his cat is turned into one to see how he likes it, to traditional fairy tale themes of princesses who are cursed by evil fairies at their christening, and how they overcome. Nesbit’s narrative style is welcoming and personal, she sometimes adds bits of information about herself, and her children almost always act like real children, the element that made her stories stand out at a time when many authors of books for children either talked down to readers, or lectured them, or portrayed children as unrealistically gentle and well-behaved. This makes her stories seem fresh and modern despite the archaic settings of some and the time they were written. Nesbit’s magic is always interesting, too.

Recommended, though I prefer her novels to her short stories.

The post Rereading: THE MAGIC WORLD by E. Nesbit appeared first on Todd's Blog.