Matthew D. Ryan's Blog, page 32
February 11, 2013
Very Inspiring Blog Awards
A couple weeks ago I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blog Award by Sophie E. Tallis at Sophie E. Tallis (Thank you very much!). This is like the third or fourth time I’ve been nominated for this award. I haven’t gotten around to posting this notice since then, so I’ll do it today. I [...]
Movie Review: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
I’m sure most of us have been exposed to the story of Hansel and Gretel at some point in our lives: the movie “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” builds on the original fairy tale by following the adventures of the brother and sister as adults. They have grown into, not surprisingly, witch hunters, bent on [...]
February 7, 2013
Book Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair
The sixth book in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series is entitled “The Silver Chair.” In this book, the original heroes of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” have all disappeared from the Narnia-scene. The mantle has been passed to Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole. Eustace is a return visitor from book five; Jill is [...]
February 4, 2013
Fantasy Literature: Many Characters, One Thread
As most (or all) of you know, I recently wrote and published a book entitled “Drasmyr.” It is a dark fantasy novel featuring a vampire named Lucian val Drasmyr. I have previously written about the difficulties that arise when you write novels featuring multiple major characters. However, upon reflection, I think I have had something [...]
January 31, 2013
Book Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Book Five of “The Chronicles of Narnia” is entitled “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” Like book four this book features the young King Caspian, but also two of the four original children from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” namely, Edmund and Lucy. It also features a new child, Eustace, the Pevensey’s cousin, [...]
January 28, 2013
Movie Review: Les Miserables
“Les Miserables” or “Les Mis” is a musical based on the French historical novel, “Les Miserables,” by Victor Hugo. It’s not like Hollywood to do a musical, but hey, they did, and I went to see it. It’s not really fantasy, or even sci-fi, for that matter, but as I’ve said before, it’s my blog, [...]
January 24, 2013
Book Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The fourth book of “The Chronicles of Narnia” is entitled “Prince Caspian.” In this book, C. S. Lewis builds on the story of the four youngsters who played such an important role in “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” namely: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. The four children are pulled out of our world [...]
January 21, 2013
Fantasy Literature: The Aging Vampire
In “Dracula,” Bram Stoker’s grand masterpiece, Count Dracula is roughly four hundred years old, if I recall correctly. In my own novel, “Drasmyr,” Lucian val Drasmyr is about one thousand years old, give or take. I have seen films and stories where the vampire is as old as 10,000 years old. Clearly, vampires “live” longer [...]
January 17, 2013
Book Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy
Of all the books that make up C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” this one, “The Horse and His Boy” is perhaps the most unusual. In every other book, the main characters start in Earth and come to Narnia through some magical portal to learn some important lesson. In this one, although the main characters [...]
January 14, 2013
Would You Want to be a Vampire? Part Two: The Modern Vampire
In the previous post, I asked if you wanted to be a traditional vampire. And the obvious answer should be “No!” However, the nature of the vampire has changed over time. Asking the question today is not nearly as clear as it was one hundred years ago. Courtesy of first Anne Rice, and then Stephenie [...]
