Dave Higgins's Blog, page 12

Tolerance is Beautiful

The history of the Middle East is filled with divisions. Those divisions can be ascribed to a lot of things but most of those things boil down to a few powerful men deciding to draw lines to suit them rather than most of the people who happen to be there. But not all of them … Continue reading Tolerance is Beautiful

The Book of Sand by Theo Clare

Clare blends the archetypal tale of questing for a powerful artefact with unreliable narration, creating fantasy that is more about the journey through the liminal zone between human reason and the strange than the resolution itself. Each yanked from their lives into a desert filled with the ruins of random buildings, Spider and his formed … Continue reading The Book of Sand by Theo Clare

Bristol’d

Over the weekend Bristolians made it clear hating refugees isn’t Bristolian. Speaking as a member of the British family of the Northern European tribe, I similarly decry the idea it is British or Northern European. If it seems a little odd I’m saying this, then remember that sense of oddity the next time Muslim leaders … Continue reading Bristol’d

Odyssey One by Evan Currie

Currie blends realistic space-flight and small-unit combat with social speculation and aliens, creating hard military science-fiction that is an engaging story rather than a thesis on future combat. Captain Eric Weston of the NAC Odyssey believes her maiden voyage is humanity’s first foray beyond the solar system—until his ship rescues a woman who seems human … Continue reading Odyssey One by Evan Currie

The Ring Was Set Forth

When Mr. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien of Oxford announced that he would shortly be releasing a sequel to The Hobbit, there was much talk and excitement in England. Or perhaps there wasn’t… it depends on one’s measure really one supposes. Nevertheless, today is the seventieth anniversary of the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring … Continue reading The Ring Was Set Forth

The Rise of Cthulhu by Max Mozi

Drawing on the ideas of hidden cults and nightmare-ridden artists from Lovecraft’s “Call of Cthulhu” but setting them against the 1980’s US punk and alternative club scene, Mozi creates a visceral rather than academic mythos tale. Danny is an artist who’d rather miss rent payments to pay for punk gigs and might smoke a little … Continue reading The Rise of Cthulhu by Max Mozi

You Too Can Learn to Shut Up!

There are a great many articles on the internet offering advice for being more extroverted if it isn’t your natural mein; however, there is an shocking absence of articles offering any advice for those wishing to fit better into groups of the more introverted. After many years of being randomly approached by strangers, I have … Continue reading You Too Can Learn to Shut Up!

The Famine Cycle Trilogy by J.D.L. Rosell

Rosell blends noir tropes of dingy backstreets and corrupt authorities with fantasy tropes of ancient gods and strange magics, creating a tale that is both gritty personal struggle and epic quest. While Airene models herself after the Finches, a short-lived order of public servants who sifted truth from lies, she and her friends are little … Continue reading The Famine Cycle Trilogy by J.D.L. Rosell

Iron Ox

Carving a jade chop I brush away priceless dust The scent of childhood

The Captain versus Pan by Jordan Elizabeth

Elizabeth presents a classic tale of children being spirited away to be young forever through the lens of adult experience rather than childish innocence, adding complexity and realism without succumbing to moral relativism. This review is based on an advanced review copy of the version due to be published in Carnal Imprint Publishing’s Boundless Enchantment … Continue reading The Captain versus Pan by Jordan Elizabeth