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The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers Book Review

Since I realized that I never reviewed what is probably my favorite Tim Powers novel, The Drawing of the Dark [Amazon link], I decided to rectify my appalling lack. A secret history, written in what has come to be Powers’ defining style, The Drawing of the Dark is a fusion

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen Again

While the review I would write now would be a little different than the one I wrote six years ago, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen [Amazon link] is still a really good story. One of my working definitions of a great bit of adventure fiction is that you can come back

The Long View: In the Wake of the Plague

There is a lot of chaos and recrimination now that lots of prominent forecasts of COVID-19 have been publicly revised. However, you shouldn’t fret too much if people can’t get the impact of a major infectious disease correct in the moment; it is entirely possible to screw it

The Long View 2007-07-30: Summer Schedule, Beginning with John Lukacs

This isn’t one of John’s usual blog posts. It ends up something like a mini-book review of Five Days in London: May 1940 [Amazon link]. John approached the book as an opportunity for historical counterfactual, using the notes from the British Inner Cabinet. One of the things I

Expedition to Eden by J. Manfred Weichsel Book Review

Expedition to Eden [Amazon link] is book of fantastic adventure that also shines a light on a fascinating little bit of American history: the escape of John Surratt. While of course also talking about fallen angels, Nephilim, and the Papal Zouaves. John Surratt was the son of Mary Surratt, the

The Long View: Empires of Trust: How Rome Built -- and America Is Building -- a New World By Thomas F. Madden

I love this quote: [Madden] is well aware that aspects of their societies that seem similar are often quite different in spirit and function. The dustjacket sports an photograph of the US Senate and a dramatic rendering of Cicero addressing the Roman Senate; both bodies were called a “senate,” but

The Long View: Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic By Tom Holland

John J. Reilly thought Rubicon [Amazon link] by Tom Holland, the cricket-playing English historian often confused for Spiderman, was an interesting counterpoint to The Last Generation of the Roman Republic By Erich S. Gruen. There is a lot of fascinating history here, from Pompey’s clever embrace of the concept