Jared Shurin's Blog, page 23
February 28, 2017
Al Swearengen - Saloonkeeper, Kingpin, and Total Cocksucker
WARNING: This month���s post includes spoilers for HBO���s Deadwood. It also includes bad language, because Deadwood.
Let me say first that you should all be extremely proud of me for making it this far before indulging myself with my favourite villain of all time, Al Swearengen. Come to think of it, Al isn���t just my favourite villain, he���s my favourite TV character of all time, period. So the fact that I made it through five Villains of the Month before scratching that itch shows remarka...
February 27, 2017
"A Comparative Study of Ghost Stories" (1885)
We seem to need a name for a new branch of the science of Man, the Comparative Study of Ghost Stories. Neither sciology, from ���������, nor idolology, from ���������������, appears a very convenient term, and as the science is yet in its infancy, perhaps it may go unnamed, for the time, like a colt before it has won its maiden race. But, though nameless, the researches which I wish to introduce are by no means lacking in curious interest.
It may be objected that the comparative study of gho...
February 24, 2017
Review Round-Up: War-Gamers World, 13 Minutes, Squeeze Play and More!
From the mediocrity of War-Gamers' World and One Against the Moon to the horror of Fimbulwinter and The Hidden Children, I read these things so you don't have to. But hey, there's good news as well! Mystery lovers will delight in 13 Minutes and Squeeze Play, and Robert E. Howard is here to restore my faith in fantasy fiction with "Shadows in the Moonlight".
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Hugh Walker's War-Gamers' World (1975) is a disappointment. It is a set-up that we don't see so often any more, and, in fact, might b...
February 22, 2017
Small Press Shakedown: David Rix of Eibonvale Press
The UK has a fantastic small press scene. To celebrate the people behind the imprints, and help out the writers that are looking to them for publication, we've asked a number of editors to share what they're working on - and what they're looking for. This week our guest is David Rix, from Eibonvale Press.
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Could you tell us a bit about who you are and what you're doing?
Eibonvale Press has always been one of the more far-out presses working in the UK ��� and very much a cottage industry,...
February 21, 2017
George Lucas on Storytelling
George Lucas interviewed by Dasha Zhukova (Garage, Fall/Winter 2016):
Mythology has been the content of art for thousands of years ���...The art of telling stories began even before language, with images. Before humans could talk, we drew pictures. In the beginning, the pictures were of animals, because we worshipped animals. Our whole existence depended on an antelope coming at the right time of year. Our world was defined by these great mysteries, and the mysteries were shared through art.
February 17, 2017
Haddon Hall: When David Invented Bowie
It was the end of the swinging sixties.
That day, like so many others, the London sky was sad like a cold cup of tea.
The nasty rain rattled tediously at my windowpane.
I was waiting for my new tenants to show up and inhabit me.
Haddon Hall was the Gothic Victorian mansion in Beckenham where Bowie and his first wife Angie lived from 1969 to 1972. Accompanying them at various times were a random crew of musicians: people who moved in and out of their lives. Bowie, of course, was the most signif...
February 15, 2017
Small Press Shakedown: Philippa Martinez of Uruk Press
The UK has a fantastic small press scene. To celebrate the people behind the imprints, and help out the writers that are looking to them for publication, we've asked a number of editors to share what they're working on - and what they're looking for. This week, our guest is Philippa Martinez from Uruk Press.
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Could you tell us a bit about who you are and what you're doing?
Uruk Press has a humble aim: to publish the best in fantasy and science erotica. Hey, you have to aim big, right? I st...
February 13, 2017
A Closed and Common Orbit, Moonraker's Bride and The Season
Happy almost Valentine's Day!
To celebrate, three very different romances: a contemporary space opera (kinda), a globe-trotting adventure (kinda), and a Regency romance (kinda). Love is in the air, and it is not so easily classified.
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Madeline Brent's Moonraker's Bride (1973) is another of the award-winning novelist's semi-Gothic, globe-trotting, quasi-Victorian escapades. I'm slightly obsessed with Brent's books ever since discovering that 'she' is the pen name for Peter O'Donnell, who a...
February 9, 2017
Moorcock's 100 Best Fantasy Books [with Links!]
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison (Illustration by Keith Henderson) Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn's Fantasy: The 100 Best Books is a terrific selection of classic (Western) fantasy. Organised chronologically, the authors' reviews are a combination of passionate and snarky. They make for very fun reading.
Below, I've pulled out all 100 books (100+, really, as there are a few series), and added links to free, legal sources where I could find them. (Publication dates and titles are as t...
February 8, 2017
Small Press Shakedown: George Sandison of Unsung Stories
The UK has a fantastic small press scene. To celebrate the people behind the imprints, and help out the writers that are looking to them for publication, we've asked a number of editors to share what they're working on - and what they're looking for. This week, our guest is George Sandison from Unsung Stories.
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Could you tell us a bit about who you are and what you're doing?
The elevator pitch is ���literary and ambitious genre fiction���. We also look for debuts, so for us it���s about g...
