Dave Higgins's Blog, page 14

The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: A New Translation and Commentary on The Blue Cliff Record by Matthew Juksan Sullivan

Sullivan unashamedly treats a centuries-old revered text as something that exists to be used in the present rather than venerated for its seniority. Featuring a hundred quotes, encounters, and other brief stories from the myriad teachings out of which Zen Buddhist grew, the Blue Cliff Record is one of the most respected scriptures within the … Continue reading The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: A New Translation and Commentary on The Blue Cliff Record by Matthew Juksan Sullivan

Like Spell

I was reminded of the question of whether Joseph Curwen used witchcraft to entice Charles Dexter Ward into taking certain actions. To which my answer remains a glorious “It depends what you mean by enticing with witchcraft”. While Lovecraft’s characters (especially the non-WASP male academics) might believe they cast spells or petitioned gods, Lovecraft’s cosmos … Continue reading Like Spell

The Seven Hungers: Brine Council by Morgan Quaid

Quaid neither subverts nor copies Lovecraft, creating a tale about thalassic cults that offers both inhuman horror and engaging urban fantasy action. This novel is the second in Quaid’s The Seven Hungers series. Your ignorance of past events might be cruelly torn away beyond this point. Still reeling from the sudden shift from pariah to … Continue reading The Seven Hungers: Brine Council by Morgan Quaid

Assassin’s Shadow by Autumn M. Birt & Jasper Schmidt

Birt and Schmidt create an engaging riff on the classic young fantasy protagonist struggling between freedom, family expectation, and potential destiny. Before she can be considered adult, Dramna must make camp on the ocean shore and wait to see if the Goddess calls her to be one of the Chosen. Blind from birth, Dramna sees … Continue reading Assassin’s Shadow by Autumn M. Birt & Jasper Schmidt

Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks

Blending memoir, statistics, and commentary, Brooks moves past the simple binaries of police as murderous oppressors or besieged heroes into the complexity of individuals facing complex and potentially lethal situations with no opportunity to carefully consider theories and ethical conundrums. In 2015, a chance mention of the Washington DC Metropolitan Police volunteer officer program led … Continue reading Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks

Football Stands

I am uninterested in football. I don’t seek out drill music. I feel a deep joy at those communities seeing a masculinity of support not silence. Please don't suffer in silence. There is 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 somebody that will listen. pic.twitter.com/pFexWjMsBv — Wolves (@Wolves) May 10, 2024

Primordial World: Book 6 by Baileigh Higgins

Capturing the conflict between the desire for vengeance and the desire for a better world, Higgins weaves a tale of survivors struggling with the truth that rule by force is often easier than rule by justice and reason. Note: while the author is blessed with a spiffing surname we are unrelated. This novel is (shockingly … Continue reading Primordial World: Book 6 by Baileigh Higgins

A Battle Between Blood by J.D.L. Rosell

Rosell blends close-focus siege warfare with moments of practical metaphysics, creating a heroic fantasy tale that centres character without having victory be solely the work of a lone hero. The events of this novella take place between the final chapter and the epilogue of Rosell’s Legends of Tal series. Garin Dunford and his companions have … Continue reading A Battle Between Blood by J.D.L. Rosell

Putting the Stars Back

Everything is the wrong length these days. Even the nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be. But at least I’m not a failed astronaut. The below image of a social media comment came across my screen today, drawing to the front of my mind the ambivalence of endings: we want things to continue … Continue reading Putting the Stars Back

Of One Pure Will by Farah Rose Smith

Smith weaves the strangeness of cosmicism with the decadence and emotion of the gothic, creating a collection that is more about feeling than narrating the liminal horrors at the edge of the comfortably normal. The collection gathers twenty-three of Smith’s short stories, each conveying the sense of something beyond the comfort of consensual normality. ‘The … Continue reading Of One Pure Will by Farah Rose Smith