Steven E. Wedel's Blog, page 31
October 12, 2012
Halloween stories
It was this time of year, but a long time ago. It was 1983, to be exact. I was in Evans Drug Store on West Willow in Enid with my friend Ron Simmons. Ron was off looking at something and I was browsing the limited selection of books when I came across this little paperback that would prove to have a huge influence on my life. This was the first horror book I ever bought. The opening story, “Unholy Hybrid” by William Bankier, has always been my favorite, though Ray Bradbury’s “The October Game...
October 5, 2012
Review: The Thrall’s Tale
The Thrall’s Tale by Judith Lindbergh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I went into it hoping for something like Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon. It was different than that, and yet had some similarities. There’s little fighting. Most of the action is typical of women’s fiction … sniping between females, childbirth, the workings of a household, etc., and yet the tension is always there.
The characters are certainly three dimensional and you’ll come to care ve...
September 15, 2012
Tails of the Pack TOC
About this time last year Maggie Bonham talked me into editing an anthology of werewolf stories for her Sky Warrior Books. We took submissions over the summer and I spent a lot of time reading and pondering what was sent to us. In the end, I accepted 10 tales, plus wrote one of my own, sent out acceptance and rejection letters, and got confirmation that the stories I wanted were still available.
Tonight, I’m proud to reveal the table of contents. Behold!
Introduction by Steven E. Wedel
Reborn in...
September 12, 2012
Review: After London: or, Wild England
After London: or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
One of the worst endings ever!
The book is divided into two parts, the first and shortest part being a description of how nature has reclaimed England in the wake of some unexplained event that wiped out “modern” man (of the Victorian era). The bulk of the book is about Felix, the heir to a minor lord, who goes exploring the post-apocalyptic landscape and the adventures he has.
In many cases I love Victorian prose. How...
September 2, 2012
Why horror?
“Why do you write about ghosts and demons and werewolves and darkness?”
This question comes up a lot. It’s been on my mind more than usual lately because of an incident at the school where a new teacher who was shown my classroom asked my daughter in front of her class if we worship the devil at home. Later, that teacher told her department chair she could never cover my class because of my decorations, and that she is afraid of me because, in her culture, people like me are satanic. Well, we...
August 26, 2012
Review: The Autobiography Of Black Hawk
The Autobiography Of Black Hawk by Black Hawk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting book about one of the great American Indian leaders of the pre-Civil War era. Black Hawk relates some interesting tales about the Sauk culture, but the real focus is on his interaction with the encroaching white settlers, politicians, and the army. It’s a real shame there are so few leaders today who have the integrity exhibited by Black Hawk.
August 24, 2012
Review: The Hallowed Hunt
The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This one might have earned three stars if the first two books in the Chalion series hadn’t been so amazing. With THE HALLOWED HUNT I too often found myself wanting it to be over. The theology that was so fascinating in THE CURSE OF CHALION and THE PALADIN OF SOULS was twisted, confusing, and kind of boring in this one. There were wolves and horses and leopard ghosts being trapped in human bodies, but now it wasn’t such a bad t...
August 12, 2012
Old, old, old
I swore today that I would wear my contact lenses. I haven’t worn them in a long time because, frankly, I can’t see very well with them. It’s a fairly new prescription, so that isn’t the problem. The problem is simply that my doctor says I’m at a point where I have to wear bi-focal lenses, and there just aren’t bi-focal contacts. So I’ve been wearing my glasses.
I’ve worn glasses from the time I was 16 (about eight years after I got my first pair; couldn’t drive without them) until I was about...
July 31, 2012
Vacation 2012
Last week at this time I was exploring the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif. This was my goal in taking the trip to California, which I first proposed to my wife as a journey for me and my dog Bubba. It soon became a family vacation, though I was the only one to go to the museum. Yeah, that’s kind of sad and lonely, but it’s better than paying for a second person who spends all the time inside the museum pondering the location of the exit or complaining about being bored. They know...
Review: No Regrets
No Regrets by Ace Frehley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I bought my first KISS album (Rock and Roll Over) when I was 11 years old in 1977 and have been a fan ever since. I hated it when I learned that first Peter Criss, then Ace Frehley had left the band. Gene Simmons gave his account of the band’s history in his own book, now Ace gives us his version.
But where’s the truth?
Maybe that’s an issue for another time. This is an interesting book, if not a masterpiece of storytelling. The first half or s...
