Look! Up in the sky! In our last episode, we read a story by Philip E. High about a guy who masqueraded as a telepath by stretching his body-language reading skills to the limit. After debuting in New Worlds, "Pseudopath" was reprinted in 1984 in the anthology Supermen edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh. In 1988, Supermen was reprinted in the UK with what I initially took to be a sort of Conan-type cover. Before experiencing "Pseudopath," we'd already read three…

I am not an actor. I have no desire to be an actor today, and I didn't wanted to grow up to be an actor when I was little. I have no idea how to tell the difference between good actors and excellent actors. Never ask me to predict who will win the Oscars. (Yes, I know winning awards isn't entirely merit-based.) John Green's Hollywood, Ending is set in the world of actors, a world that I don't know much about beyond watching late night talk show and Entertainment Tonight. However, it painted a…

Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971) 80-101 (at 88): When little girls played games in fourth-century Syria, they played at monks and demons: one, dressed in rags, would put her little friends into stitches of laughter by exorcising them.105 105 H.R. 1384 H.R. 1384 = Theodoret, Historia Religiosa, in Patrologia Graeca vol. 82, col. 1384 (see Clavis Patrum Graecorum 6221). A more recent edition is Théodoret de Cyr, Histoire…

From her wonderful book The Writing Life

Dan Hartland What’s a conversation for? It’s an important question for this column, since its whole schtick is putting two things next to each other and listening to what they say. So let’s try and think it through a bit. One obvious—and for that reason, though bear with me, maybe insufficient—answer is “the exchange of information”: data, stories, points of view. In the best kinds of conversation, maybe each party learns something—about the other conversant, the topic under consideration, even…

14 October 2026 Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings * Looking at a great work of medieval sequential art * The Bayeux Tapestry, as convention requires we call the embroidery currently on show at the British Museum, is a familiar thing. It is so familiar that it is difficult to look at it and and think about it afresh. It is the stuff of a thousand book plate illustrations. Indeed, it is almost impossible to buy a book about Norman history without those figures on the cover. * The Tapestry…

Today, I’ll be writing about a story that we all know – though quite a few people I’ve spoken to didn’t realise it was ever a book. As the title of this post has already given away, this is the book that led to the smash-hit musical The Sound of Music – and my 1970 edition shares that title, though it was originally published as The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. So, yes, Maria von Trapp was a real person – and a surprising amount of the film appears to be based on truth. Or, at least, the…

I’ve been reading a fair bit of William James of late, and greatly enjoying it—partly due to the topics under discussion, but also in no small part due to the period style. (Those among you who have noticed a turn for the somewhat Victorian in my diction may therefore wish to clap yourselves on the back; that’s a sharp eye you have there.) As for the topics, it’s amusing—and, to some extent, a source of something close to relief—to observe how many of the debates of the present moment were very…

Before I begin this entry onto one of the crumpled pages of the Martenblog, I shall do two things. Firstly, I shall list the ideas this entry should cover. Secondly, I shall go through the last eight bars of Memories of Tomorrow seventeen milliard, four hundred seven million, two hundred three thousand, thirty one times. Let it be known that this is a prime number. The transformation of flavigula.net into its corresponding Gohper site Progress on the album that is workingly called Bleary…

This is my second book for this week’s 1949 Club (hosted by Karen of Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Simon of Stuck in a Book). I’ve loved some of Rafael Sabatini’s other novels, so I was pleased to find that he had one published in 1949. Sabatini was born in Italy to an English mother and Italian father; he was an accomplished linguist and wrote all of his novels in English even though it was actually his sixth language! The Gamester was Sabatini’s final book, published a year before his death.…

What a surprise! This little gem combines inspired visuals, a perfect soundtrack, and a lovely story. A few perfect characters and a simple plot. I’m glad I watched it! Rating: ❤️Hey, thanks for reading my blog via the RSS feed! Feel welcome to get in touch!

What am I doing? Not a Masters (NaM). AP English and damn near a minor in English during my undergraduate degree means that my box of literary tools and techniques was filled during my earlier educational endeavours. However, I believe I can dive deeper into literary craft and identify weaknesses in existing writing. Unit Readings: Words Are My Matter — Ursula K. Le Guin The Storyteller: Tales Out of Loneliness — Walter Benjamin Why these two together Having never read either of these books,…

Dial H For Hero #2 Date: August 2012 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $2.99 Stats: 20 color pages plus ads Writer: China Miéville Artists: Mateus Santolouco, Tanya & Richard Horie, Steve Wands, Brian Bolland Notable Notes: Crazy superheroes battle Darren's old gang! Superhero Variety Hour! Did you ever dream up your own superheroes when you were a kid? (Do you still do that?!) I sure did. Mostly I pretended to be Daredevil, but sometimes I would make up my own super powers - like magical…

So a little while back, comics artist Steve Lieber posted to his Bluesky account a piece of work of such shocking significance to the artform — nay, to the world — that I could not help but message him and ask how I could acquire this immortal piece. Alas, quoth Steve, the illustration existed only in digital form, but he would be happy to reproduce it upon physical media, the nigh-mythical “ink” and “paper” treasured by our forebears, and send it to me via the postal mails with all haste. And…

After a couple of mixed days with 1949, I was a bit uncertain where to go next. I was definitely having slight commitment issues, with a number of chunky and heavier volumes staring at me, and I felt a slight lack of confidence in my ability to choose something good! However, rescue was at hand thanks to lovely Liz from Adventures in reading, running and working from home! Whilst browsing her local bookshop, where the friendly owner had put aside some 1949 publications for perusal, she came…

C. E. Ward appears as a man who has stepped out of a different time and from another world. And because of that, his ghost stories are always welcome. Ward writes as great authors once did. His love of the English language and its grammar is manifest in every paragraph. His artful use of parts of speech and syntax are refreshing in an era in which adjectives have become endangered species and

The hymn chosen for today’s service is No. 296 from Hymns Ancient and Modern For all the saints who from their labours rest. This is usually song on All Saints Day (November 1st) but is topical because of today’s public sector strike.

I’ll spare you the joke the phlebotomist told me while drawing blood from my arm. Given the circumstance I mustered a polite titter in response. I had already diagnosed him as a member of that blight on humanity, the would-be comedian, the sort of guy – almost always male – who wishes to be thought a funny fellow, a jokester, a real card (“he has to be dealt with” – heh-heh). To make sure you recognize his wit, he helpfully laughs at his own joke. The condition’s etiology remains a mystery but…

I’m completely baffled by what has happened in the United States over the last decade. Whenever I read a news story about something I know well - startups, venture capital, or AI - I immediately see the posturing, positioning, spin, misdirection, and deceit. Some of it is sloppy reporting. A lot of it is someone with an agenda who got their version of the story printed. And this is just the news. I expect everyone reading this knows the next level down of the misinformation and deceit, which…

Rebellion have released information about their release schedule for 2000AD's 50th anniversary year of 2027. Here's a list of what to expect next year... not so many Treasury titles of older British material, but plenty of Dredd and quality (Definitive, Apex) 2000AD reprints.January 20272000AD: A Visual History 1977-2027Judge Dredd: Compact Crimes 1Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 52February

Tonight’s movie is one I have not seen in a very long time.I saw Witchboard when it first came out, but I have not watched it since. I remembered the Ouija board, obviously. I remembered Tawny Kitaen. I remembered that it was one of those movies that seemed to be everywhere on video shelves for a while.Witchboard (1986)Jim (Todd Allen) and Linda (Kitaen) are throwing a party at their new place when Brandon (Stephen Nichols), Jim's friend and Linda's ex-boyfriend, produces a Ouija board. He…

The first issue of Dark Horse's new Ravenloft comic is out. Is it any good?Well.It's fine, but it has some problems.The premise is semi-interesting: Rudolph Van Richten is off on some sort of expedition--and is needlessly tight-lipped about what he's up to or why--and his goodbye note to Ezmerelda D'Avenir, the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, and Alanik & Arthur sounds so much like a suicide note that they all set off to find him. This first issue focuses on Ezmerelda's search. (I know we're…

WARREN MURPHY “Another Day, Another Dollar.” First published in Murder on the Run: Stories from the Adams Round Table (Berkeley, hardcover, February 1998). Reprinted in The Shamus Winners: America’s Best Private Eye Stories, Volume II: 1992-2009, edited by Robert J. Randisi (Perfect Crime Books, 2010). To start with, if the guys who run the Private Eye Writers of America want to call this a PI story, I’m not going to argue with them. It’s close enough, even though the leading protagonist is a…

I've been reading a lot of commentary regarding literary adaptations. Sometimes, its readers who feel like the new medium did not give a favorite book or franchise justice. Others, its critics doing the same or faulting the adaptation for being too much on-book and therefore uninteresting. A couple days ago, we finished the last few episodes of the new CARRIE series in one fell swoop and it was all that we imagined it should be, natural given Mike Flanagan's record of adapting things that…

I sometimes find myself amused at the errors of recommendation systems. I worked for a streaming music company for several years, and music services are NOTHING but recommendation systems. Heck, walk into a record store or turn on an FM radio and those entities are recommending you listen to music or pick up music. And it’s easy to get wrong. So when I got an email about “New deals from an author you follow” with a subsection entitled “Top William Gibson books for you” I am more than willing to…

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13 Flimsy | INDEX | 15 Hooray Self-imposed constraint: Use the letters of the prompt word inside a 2-inch square to illustrate its meaning. Hongdian Black Forest fountain pen, EF, black ink on 120 gsm paper.

It has been almost a week since the three initial comics set in Marvel's new Midnight Universe were released. I've had time to read them, mull over what I think, and shall now share some insights. In the order I happened to read them, we shall begin:Midnight Fantastic Four #1This was a treat, but I already expected this book to be pretty snazzy. Benjamin Percy is a fantastic writer and Kev Walker is a stellar artist. The characters have a slightly recognizable foundation too, but are incredibly…

Introduction This started with two visualizations. In one I turned my inner gaze toward the buzz of atomic and subatomic material which comprises that which could be called ‘my body.’ In the other I turned my vision up in scale toward the immeasurably large collection of stuff we collectively call the Universe — the totality … Continue reading Another Way To See It → The post Another Way To See It appeared first on Xxaxx.