Hal Johnson's Blog, page 27

Profiles in "Courage" III

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Before King Rarek the Blind was known as King Rarek the blind he was known as King Rarek…the Wily or something. But that was before Olaf the Saint became king of all Norway.

In the early eleventh century Olaf made himself sole king through the coup of capturing five other local kings of the Norwegian lands in one morning. (Sweden still claimed ownership of Norway and would not recognize Olaf's title, but that's neither here nor there.) Four of the kings Olaf let go on their par...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

I write, for a living, books

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Wally Wood!

A garland of quotations XLVIII

My book on Knights comes out this year!

We saw great numbers of albatrosses, a large brown and white bird of the goose kind, one of which Captain Salter shot, whose wings measured from their extremities fifteen feet.
•John Jewitt, The Adventures and Sufferings of John Jewitt, Only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship Boston (1815).

And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
•Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798).

Job saw worse.
•Eco, Baudolino (2000).

Lucky Job, who was not o...

Every Book I read in 2023 ranked

over at Manipulate/Moonsplain/Murder-Bears ranked ’n’ reviewed every book he read over the course of the year, and he said that last time he did this it was one of his most popular posts. I, too, wish to be popular, and therefore I am shamelessly copying him.

(I left out graphic novels, because that’s another 85 books, and how much patience are you supposed to have? GN fans can find my in-depth analysis of Clowes’s Monica here. Also no picture books, which I usu. read under duress.)

I’m ranking ...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

I write, for a living, books

Thanks for reading Hal Johnson Books! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Sheldon Moldoff!

A garland of quotations XLVII

Well, you missed the Xmas rush, and yet,

Sisyphus-like, I am condemned

to continue hyping!

Of what use were wings to a man fast bound in chains of iron? They would but increase the horror of his despair.
•Adelbert von Chamisso, Peter Schlemihl (1813).

Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanoes…
•Byron, ”Darkness” (1816).

Spare Brahmins, good men, cows, truthful women, old men, children. Destroy evildoers.
•Ilangô Adigal, The Ankle Bracelet (171?).

They’s three things w’ich I loves most of ...

One short piece

Happy first day of Abvent everybody!

…….Please excuse me now. These 340 pieces of chocolate aren’t going to eat themselves…

Thanks for reading Hal Johnson Books! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

I write, for a living, books

Thanks for reading Hal Johnson Books! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Swan/Klein!

A garland of quotations XLVI

Your secret Santa craves these books!

Do not try to induce sleep by laboriously seeing that your bed is soft and smooth; for sleep is the rejection of life.
•Al-Ghazali, The Beginning of Guidance (1111).

If someone were to tell me I had twenty years left, and ask me how I’d like to spend them, I’d reply: “Give me two hours a day of activity, and I’ll take the other twenty-two in dreams…provided I can remember them.”
•Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh (1982).

Were my memory as faithful as my reason is then fr...

Profiles in "Courage" II

[It behooves me to remind everyone that earlier this year Macmillan released my book of alternate-history scenarios, Impossible Histories , and those who read it say they like it, even behind my back; even people who don’t like me, such as Library Journal; and you may like it too.]

Peredeus

Sometimes there’s no escape for you and you’re just screwed, like a film noir protagonist. History is filled with examples of people in just such a predicament, and ahistory is even more filled with examples, i...