Book Review: A Clash of Kings

Book Review: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin Note:  This review contains spoilers for the previous book A Game of Thrones; if you haven’t read that one yet, check out the review here. Westeros has too many kings.  In the south, the King on the Iron Throne is Joffrey Baratheon, heir to the late King… Continue reading Book Review: A Clash of Kings

Anime Review: Lupin the Third: The Italian Adventure

Anime Review: Lupin the Third: The Italian Adventure Arsène Lupin III, alleged French-Japanese descendant of the famous 19th Century criminal Arsène Lupin, is a master thief.  If he says he’ll steal something, Lupin the 3rd most certainly will.  A master of disguise, able to open any lock, and possessed of great cunning, he steals treasures… Continue reading Anime Review: Lupin the Third: The Italian Adventure

Book Review: A Far Sunset

Book Review: A Far Sunset by Edmund Cooper Paul Marlowe is apparently the last survivor of the Gloria Mundi, a starship commissioned by the United States of Europe to explore the Altair star system. The fifth planet of Altair turned out to be inhabitable and inhabited by humanoid aliens, but the crew of the Gloria Mundi… Continue reading Book Review: A Far Sunset

Comic Book Review: Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2

Comic Book Review: Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2 mostly written by Marv Wolfman and art by Gene Colan. When the Comics Code restrictions on horror were loosened in the 1970s, DC primarily went in for horror anthology comics, while Marvel Comics based entire series around horrific heroes and villains.  One of these was the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2

Anime Review: The Rose of Versailles

Anime Review: The Rose of Versailles In the Year of Our Lord 1770, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and King Louis XV of France decided to seal an alliance between their countries with a political marriage.  Thus it was that Louis-Auguste (later Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette were married.  So it was in our world… Continue reading Anime Review: The Rose of Versailles

Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories edited by Otto Penzler I have a fondness for Sherlock Holmes, as I am sure the majority of my readers do.  Unsurprisingly, there has been a ton of Holmes fanfiction over the years.  Pastiches that try to capture the feel of Arthur Conan Doyle’s prose, parodies… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

Book Review: The Wall

Book Review: The Wall by Mary Roberts Rinehart Marcia Lloyd is an upper-crust socialite who is not as wealthy as she used to be.  Not by any means broke, but when she comes to her summer home, Sunset, in New England, she can only afford to employ a handful of servants for a house that… Continue reading Book Review: The Wall

Book Review: Seeds for Change

Book Review: Seeds for Change by Marly Cornell This is a biography of Surinder “Suri” and Edda (nee Jeglinsky) Sehgal, the founders of the Sehgal Foundation.  That foundation helps rural villages in India achieve clean water, improved agriculture, better education and more honest government, as well as funding conservation and ecological efforts around the world.… Continue reading Book Review: Seeds for Change

Book Review: The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn

Book Review: The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn by Michael Merriam. We open in media res, as Arkady Bloom’s assignation with Countess Moretti takes a dangerous turn.  It seems that in addition to being a minor court poet, Bloom is also an agent of the Crown’s Supernatural Intervention Agency, and the Countess has stolen the… Continue reading Book Review: The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn

Book Review: A Planet of Your Own/The Beasts of Kohl

Book Review: A Planet of Your Own/The Beasts of Kohl Back in the day, science fiction and fantasy novels tended to be much shorter than they are now.  In some cases, so short that they didn’t make a decent-sized paperback.  So Ace Books came up with the Ace Double, two novels (or short story collections)… Continue reading Book Review: A Planet of Your Own/The Beasts of Kohl