Just sequels, boo.

Sorcery and Cecilia was a perfect little gem of a book, and these two are just muddy little sequels.  In The Grand Tour, the girls tramp around Europe with their new husbands.  The foursome travel together, so instead of letters we read Kate's diary and Cecy's official deposition.  The narrative bounces between the two, and it's a ( Read more... )

As much as I wish George would stop putzing around with other stories and get on with it, I do have to admit that his various byproducts are enjoyable.  Dreamsongs II contains:

- Two stories of Haviland Tuf, very fun.  I will have to read Tuf Voyaging, which collects the linked stories in I, Robot style.
- Two screenplays, one for The Twilight Zone ( Read more... )

I read half of this in a bookstore years ago, then finally circled back last week.  For comparison, I could only stomach one chapter of Wicked.

The story opens in the Netherlands as the stepmother and stepsisters arrive penniless and desperate.  None are beautiful, and the older sister is fat and retarded.  They happen upon a Dutch painter who ( Read more... )

Here they are, in order of publication.  So far the trendline shows that Pratchett gets better as he gets older, hooray for him.

1 The Colour of Magic 1983 Rincewind  1. 2 The Light Fantastic 1986 Rincewind  2. 3 Equal Rites 1987 The Witches, The Wizards  3. Excellent. 4 Mort 1987 Death  4. Boring. 5 Sourcery 1988 Rincewind, The Wizards  5. ( Read more... )

I'm fascinated by bad bestsellers.  They make me believe that someday I too can churn out some prolefeed and make it big.  Then I will make my publishers publish and promote my steadily less crappy work (I think of this as the reverse-Orson Scott Card strategy).  Just look at the stylish book covers Twilight got.

You might as well watch the movie, ( Read more... )

What a shame.  I read the first few pages wishing I'd thought of this first, and afterward I wished that anybody else had thought of this first.  In the reviews, I'd gotten the impression that Grahame-Smith had brilliantly swapped in zombie slaying as a status indicator.  Lady Catherine, for example, is the mightiest slayer in the land, and Darcy ( Read more... )

"Take a large bowl. Fill it with equal measures of fact, fantasy, history, mythology, science, superstition, logic, and lunacy. Darken the mixture with bitter tears, brighten it with howls of laughter, toss in three thousand years of civilization, bellow kan pei-which means 'dry cup'-and drink to the dregs."

"And I will be wise?"

"Better. You will ( Read more... )

Last night I found myself serendipitously reading a Victorian ghost story.  How good was it?  Good enough that I read it on-screen in Project Gutenberg ASCII for about 4 hours.

J.H. Riddell was a genuine Victorian literary figure who was popular in her time and was part-owner of one of the leading literary magazines.  (J.H. Riddell for VP!)  ( Read more... )

When I read Idylls of the King, I hear homeric bards reciting the lines with pacing that would make you proud to be human.  I picture listeners gathering night after night to hear the Great Stories.  Camelot is "the city built to music, and therefore never built at all, and therefore built for ever."

Here's a favorite bit when Gareth, the well-born ( Read more... )

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