Book Review: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer This is the first collection of speculative fiction stories by Naomi Kritzer, headlined by the title piece, which won a Hugo Award in 2016. There’s seventeen stories in all. “Cat Pictures Please” is a sweet story about an artificial intelligence accidentally created from a… Continue reading Book Review: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories
Tag: Germany
Book Review: Code Name Verity
Book Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein In a Gestapo cell somewhere in Vichy France, a captured spy has been broken. She writes a story telling of her secret mission, but in order to do that, she must first tell of the friendship between ATA pilot Maddie and SOE wireless operator Queenie. The years… Continue reading Book Review: Code Name Verity
Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X”
Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X” Edited by John P. Gunnison Let’s take another look at this pulp reprint magazine, this time reprinting stories from Secret Agent “X” May 1934. “Ambassador of Doom” by Brent House: A secret meeting takes place in Washington, D.C. The matter at hand–whether to preserve or destroy the prototype and… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X”
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News edited by Lewis H. Lapham This is a “special issue” in addition to the four that this magazine normally puts out in a year. The subject matter is topical as there has been an avalanche of “news” that is in fact not truthful, while certain politicians and… Continue reading Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News
Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin
Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin story by Volker Kutscher, adaptation and art by Arne Jysch Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. It is 1929, and the Weimar Republic of Germany is reaching the end of its “Golden Age.” After the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin
Book Review: The Inkblots
Book Review: The Inkblots by Damion Searls “What do you see?” Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) was a German-speaking Swiss psychiatrist who developed an interesting experiment involving inkblots. The son of an artist and himself artistically trained, Rorschach was fascinated by visual perception and hoped to use the things people saw when they looked at his inkblots to… Continue reading Book Review: The Inkblots
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1 Written by Bob Haney (mostly), Art by various The Brave and the Bold started its publication run in 1955 as an adventure anthology, featuring such characters as the Viking Prince and the Silent Knight. Around issue 25, it switched to a tryout… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1
Book Review: Sex with Kings
Book Review: Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman One of the advantages of being a king is that the rules don’t apply to you the same way as they do to commoners. For centuries in Europe, this also extended to tolerance of extramarital affairs, to the point that many kings had maitresse-en-titre, the “official mistress.” This… Continue reading Book Review: Sex with Kings
Book Review: The History of Opera for Beginners
Book Review: The History of Opera for Beginners by Ron David Opera is one of the great art forms, blending theater and music into a powerful emotional experience. But it also has a stereotype of being incomprehensible melodrama that boring rich people drag their unwilling spouses to. And many of the books about opera are written… Continue reading Book Review: The History of Opera for Beginners
Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque We open on a good day for Paul Bäumer and the men of the Second Company. The sun is shining, there’s a light breeze to cool them, and they’re getting double rations. The reason the men are getting double rations is that half… Continue reading Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front