Mark A. Rayner's Blog: Mark A. Rayner's Goodreads Blog, page 68

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies follows a group of boys as they go to the worst summer camp ever. There are no tents or cabins for them to sleep in, the food is terrible, and the staff seem to have left … Continue reading →

Dune

Dune is an epic science fiction tale about religion, inter-stellar politics, and the awesomeness of riding around on giant worms that crap out the greatest drug ever.* The drug in question is called melange, or spice; in addition to extending … Continue reading →

Feeding the Beast

This is a script for a piece I read on CBC Radio back in 2006. Feeding the Beast by Mark A. Rayner Hi, my name is Mark, and I am a writer with a problem. There is a monster eating … Continue reading →

Classics of Travel Literature — The Odyssey & The Hobbit

The Odyssey The Odyssey is a story about a homicidal maniac (Odysseus) who refuses to ask for directions. This tragic flaw, shared by many men, leads his crew to disaster. Some are eaten by monsters, some are eaten by their … Continue reading →

Ask General Kang: I’m freaking out! I’ve just learned the earth will be destroyed by the sun. Is it true?

You can relax. I don’t know where you got your information, but our best scientists don’t currently think the earth will be destroyed by the sun. In about 4-5 billion years, our sun will enter the red giant phase of … Continue reading →

The Fellowship of the Ring

Not to be confused with the movie, the book version of The Fellowship of the Ring includes several scenes with the mysterious, and quite possibly brain damaged, Tom Bombadil. On the positive side, Tom saves the hapless hobbits twice: first … Continue reading →

When your imaginary friend is a jerk

Why do our brains do this? Or is it just me and The Oatmeal? Alltop has tons of imaginary friends,and they're all super!

Death of a humanist

It's hard to process the idea that Kurt Vonnegut died last night. He wasn't immortal — at least in the "not dying" sense — but it felt like the world was a better place knowing he was still in it. … Continue reading →

Have spare change — will travel

Spare Change, a photo by jrtce1 on Flickr. NASA's latest funding model was not as successful as they hoped. Alltop keeps getting wooden nickels.

Woody Allen's Hemingway Is Hilarious

If you haven't seen Midnight in Paris yet (and if so, shame on you), then these quotes from the movie may be mild spoilers. Hemingway: No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and … Continue reading →