Patrick Kanouse's Blog, page 45

Coleridge: Darker Reflections - A Review

When one speaks of magisterial works, Richard Holmes's two-volume biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge is what I think of. I just completed volume II, Darker Reflections, and it is amazing. Just amazing.

The second volume begins as Coleridge leaves England for Malta. Coleridge's opium addiction is well documented, and Holmes is able to move Coleridge's addiction beyond the sparkling creativity

The Killing of Worlds: A Review

This is the second book in the Succession series, and it lives up to the promise of the first, The Risen Empire. I recall seeing someplace that Scott Westerfeld only made this a series at the behest of the US publisher, which probably explains how thoroughly tied together the two novels are.

In The Killing of Worlds, we start immediately where The Risen Empire ended. Captain Laurent Zai and

Total Recall: A Review

When I first saw the previews for this remake, I was quite excited. Then I heard reviews on a few podcasts and grew skeptical. I rented it from Amazon the other day and gave it a whirl. It was not as bad as I feared, but it did not meet its potential. Not even close

As with so many adaptations of Philip K. Dick's work, the film has only passing similarity to the original story, "We Can Remember

Finding Indie Authors

Public Domain

So here's a question: How do you find indie authors worth reading (beyond the ones who have "made it big")?

Specter of the Past: A Review

After re-reading Timothy Zahn's first Star Wars trilogy last year, I decided to read his follow up Star Wars duology (Hand of Thrawn) this year. I just recently completed the first book, Specter of the Past.

Zahn's original trilogy was spectacularly good, capturing the flavor and feel of the original movies and reconnecting us with the characters we loved. This means that the Hand of Thrawn

Poetry: Artistic Craving

A couple of times the past few weeks, I have consciously noted how I have been "pulled" towards poetry. What does that mean? Ultimately, I think art of any kind is most successful when it connects. As E.M. Forster wrote: "Only connect."

Art answers a societal, cultural, spiritual, humanistic need. I don't know how to describe it, but poetry can bring as much a physical reaction as any other...at

First CD: Let It Rock (AC/DC)

Like most people, I remember fondly my first real "moment" with music. For many years, I listend to Huey Lewis and the News and REO Speedwagon was a big deal in 8th grade. But in high school, I discovered AC/DC. Many of my classmates listened to Metallica (this was right around Cliff Burton's death), but none--that I knew of listened to AC/DC. Thus, the heavy metal band from Australia became my

Sci Fi Series I'm In the Middle Of

I've managed to start several science fiction series that I'm still in the midst of, some of which I've read more in than others:



Iain M. Banks' Culture series. I've read Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games.
Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space series. I've read Chasm City and the stories of Galactic North.
Allen Steele's Coyote series. I've read Coyote.
Karen Traviss's Wess'har series.

Nietzsche on the Meaning of Life

I dabble in philosophy, by which I mean I do not consider myself well read in the literature, though I have read some, but I do like philosophical thinking, considerations, and thought experiments. The below quote from Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science: with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs has been hanging around in a draft post for some time. I offer it now with minimal comment.

Valentine's Day Poem

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/File:Po...
Percy_Bysshe_Shelley_by_Curran,_1819.jpg

"Love's Philosophy" is not Percy Bysshe Shelley's best poem, but it is Valentine's Day, and Shelley at his worst is usually better than most poets at their best.

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world