08 Friday Sep 2023
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
Leaving her standing on the bed, hopeless, her hands overflowing with candy.
Waking up in the infirmary, Rachel’s beloved father is here! At last, recognition, appreciation, a North Star for her troubled heart which she has not had since her grandfather died-! Nope. Rachel’s dad needed to listen to the Limeliters more. Continue reading
07 Thursday Sep 2023
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
So, you know how you wanted to be a Knight and revenge the wrongs done to us?
It turns out that revenge is a dish best served cold – but ordered at breakfast. Rachel discovers Sigfried’s secret weakness and Zoe steps up with the promise of “humiliations galore”. Rachel gets a terse reply from her father and bonds with Gaius Valiant over a shared desire to be in Dee. At lunch it turns out that Rachel’s dad is in a comic book. (Honestly, if you have ever seen the TV show The Librarian, it’s hard to understand why Daring Northwest didn’t get his own series) and Sigfried hurts Wendy Darling’s feelings, but he and Nastasia (now returned from the infirmary) warm Rachel’s heart by promising to get her into the YSL meeting.
06 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
Please report to the gymnasium at three-thirty on Wednesday to assume your new position as my instructional assistant.
Woohoo! Work-study. Not that Lady Griffin needs money, but it is nice to be flying. Today Rachel spots a tiny Drake Hall student sporting a black eye. The mean girls from yesterday deliberately ruin her morning, right in front of Rachel’s long-time crush, James Darling. Her surprise from yesterday comes to the rescue and there goes breakfast. Continue reading
05 Tuesday Sep 2023
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
Even among the wise, animals do not talk. These two were talking.
September 4th, 2023 was the beginning of Rachel Griffin’s adventures. The authoress, Jagi Lamplighter began Rachel’s adventures yesterday.
I’m going to re-read the books in “real time”. The day after the day in the book, I’ll post something here in the blog, including drawings and discussion questions. Continue reading
28 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted in Behind the Frames, Pop Culture, Reviews
Well, not yet. And Codex likes the cut of these stories jib@ J.D. Cowan of Between the Wasteland and Sky (below the fold) recommends a nifty short story collection: Continue reading
08 Wednesday Dec 2021
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews, Uncategorized
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Ladles, gentlespoons, and esteemed sporks, Codex here. I’m happy reveal the Super Sekrit project I’ve been working on: Fantastic Schools #4: Middle Schools!
Yes, I own a copy (I need to post a review) and I’ve read most of the stories in it. They’re great fun for any older kid who loved Harry Potter or the Littlest Witch, or any of the magical or skiffy school stories. You get a LOT of fun reading bang for your e-book dollar with this one.
And yes, the character on the front IS in one of the stories (one of my favorites) though I may have taken a wee few artistic liberties. Giant squid eyes are just too much fun to draw.
Set aside some extra cashy goodness though, because a hardcover version will be coming soon. God willing & the creeks don’t rise, in time for Christmas giving. I’ll have MOAR Christmas book-giving suggestions this Saturday. I’m not only recommending these because these are my fellow superversives, but because I’ll be giving them as gifts to my own dear friends and relations.
07 Friday Sep 2018
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
So this was supposed to go with a review of the old anime series “Trigun”. You know the saying that there’s weird, and then there’s Japanese Game Show weird? This one’s like that.
Trigun features a super-powered mysterious gunslinger on an alien planet wild-wild-west with a really weird nemesis (and a deeply confused “Catholic” “priest”). We all watched it: a mix of badly-subbed YouTube episodes and grainy library copies. The art is old-school, but good, and the story hooks you faster than you’d expect.
So a short review, in place of the “Killing Star Wars” comic that Codex didn’t quite get finished before she had to leave. It was inspired by this masterpiece of authentic curmudgeonly dudgeon. Episode One of The Last Straw.
20 Friday Jul 2018
Posted in Behind the Frames, Pop Culture, Reviews, Sad Puppies
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Yes ladies and gentleveg, you have until by 11:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time on July 20, 2018 to get your votes in. Nominate your faves that were put out between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.
18 Monday Jun 2018
Posted in Reviews, Uncategorized
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Mild-mannered soil scientist Jack Broccoli is an unlikely candidate for James Bond-esque action hero. But double-digging turnip beds has toned his physique. The Filipino Butcher Masters martial arts exercise video series has honed his warrior mindset. So when Jack is targeted by the sinister agents of F.A.D.A.M., he’s ready:
As he day-dreamed about fighting off a horde of ninjas with a spading fork, Jack suddenly heard a click at the window of the room. Then another, followed by a scratching sound, as if the glass were being cut. Then a piece of glass fell to the carpet, and the window swung open through the curtains.
A man stood in the room with him ….
The man was the same size as Jack, but he had a defensive stance, which made Jack wonder if he was overmatched. Maybe he just came to take the TV. The man said something through the mask to Jack in badly accented English. It sounded like “Ukon wis mao”.
“I’m not sure what you said, “Jack replied, as his eyes darted around the room, looking for something he could use as a weapon. “Do you want to take the TV?” The man shook his head and took a step toward Jack.
“UKONWISMEAOW!” he commanded.
“Yukon whiz meow?”
The man ripped off his mask. He must be Korean, Jack thought, though to his undiscriminating eye, he might also be Japanese, Laotian, Cambodian, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Tibetian, Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, Pacific Islander, or Cherokee.
“You come. With me. Now!”
“Out the window?” Jack said incredulously.
“No, out the door!” the man snapped.
Okay. Maybe not completely ready.
If you read just one hilariously epic gardening spy thriller this year: Read Jack Brocolli #1: Turned Earth.
Addendum: Despite the heavy-duty action scenes and ancillary Bond babe hotness, this is a book you can give to your 14-year-old daughter. Ours loved it.
13 Wednesday Dec 2017
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews
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Trying to find a good Christmas present for a red-pilled, conservative teenage boy of your acquaintance? MAGA 2020 and Beyond would make a fun treat.
I should add that normally I download a sample to be sure that formatting and other structural issues don’t make it too hard to read, or that the author’s writing style appeals to me. To give credit where credit is due, this review convinced me to go ahead and grab an e-book copy straight away. Right now the collection is priced at 99 cents, and your story-reading-pleasure value (including some great new authors) for cashy-money expended can’t be beat.
So, what’s funny-colored, brash, eclectic, and surprisingly excellent value?
Our 45th President. And also Maga 2020!
I have to admit, the cover really does sell the book, if you’re a Trump supporter, or a happily surprised “voting for anyone who isn’t part of the Clinton Crime syndicate” American. Because like Donald Trump, the cover may be not be elegant, but the stuff inside turns out to have a lot to offer for everyone.
The editors of Maga 2020 have collected twenty-five stories and six essays about a future America based on a successful Trump presidency. What might America look like if we actually won the culture war and sent the repressive “control-left” scuttling back into the dank basement of history? It’s an eclectic mix, with something for everyone, united by a cheerful, positive, hopeful mood. The opening story by Jon del Arroz is completely over the top and silly, the Ivan Throne “Father Cincinnatus” had me rolling my eyes, but then “The Last Hippie” sucked me in.
What’s funny about this is the way (as with Donald Trump) the book turns people’s expectations upside down. The “big name” draws like Milo Yianoppoulos or John Wright have both written solid essays and Brad Torgersen’s “45” is good. But the stories that really intrigued me, to the point that I ran out and bought other books written by the author, were by relative unknowns and newcomers to the field. And with the exception of one essay, I enjoyed reading them all.
My favorite story reminds me of Zenna Henderson. Remember her? She wrote people-centric, solid science fiction about the triumph of the human spirit. “Auntie’s Magnificent Bricks” is science fiction in that tradition by total newcomer Christine Chase. I’m really hoping for more stories by her. Then there was wonderfully meta M.A.G.A.I. about the poor #Resist bureaucrat who had a really interesting coffee break, and the amusing “Magic of MAGA” about an ancient prophecy in another dimension that goes horribly, terribly, right.
Get the e-book now while the price can’t be beat, and consider stuffing a stocking this Christmas with the paperback.
Tempest in a Teardrop: The Churchians 