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Mythic fiction

Northrop Frye on the Romance

Following my online mentor John J. Reilly, I often refer to Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism when I write about stories. It is useful to have another point of reference for talking about the modes and structure of stories than Joseph Campbell, whose Hero’s Journey is the only

Linkfest 2022-10-21: What Killed the Crabs?

Some evidence is provided in this Twitter thread that changing sea ice extent lead to over-crabbing which resulted in a population crash. I enjoy that one of the spurs of this innovation is oppressive CAFE regulations. This video has been colorized, and the audio was added to match the image

Linkfest 2022-10-14: Yimbys Don't Hate Cars

The City of Auburn in Maine gives a good example of what YIMBY reforms tend to look like in practice. I see a lot of criticisms of the type “YIMBYs hate cars”, which aren’t even close to accurate. This is what it actually looks like. See for yourself. Congress

Light Unto Another World by Yakov Merkin

Light Unto Another World by Yakov Merkin [Amazon link] is the first of a planned 10 volume isekai series, with volumes 1 through 5 already published, and 6 through 10 recently crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Uriel Makkis is on his way to a deployment with the Israeli army when he finds

The Pastel City by M. John Harrison

The Pastel City by M. John Harrison is a tightly written tale of defeat and triumph, duty and revenge, all in 144 melancholy pages. It is vastly different than the kind of fantasy book often written now. More happens in this slim volume than in trilogies of contemporary works. And

Why Christians Should Read Adventure Fiction

I think the obvious answer to the question, “should Christians read adventure fiction?”, is “Yes”, but since I see a surprising amount of discomfort around the topic, I thought I would delve into it more deeply. I can posit at least three reasons that I will explore at length: 1.

Dreadgod Book Review

What happens when the universe’s greatest executioner gets sick of his job? Everything you see here. And what do you see here? One of the best adventures written in the early twenty-first century. I admit that is a pretty low bar, but I gladly stock Wight on my shelf