Anime roundup 4/28/2013: Tribal knowledge
Hunter x Hunter #76 – Hunter x Hunter was previously adapted for TV in 1998-1999 for a series that ran to the middle of the Yorknew City arc and stopped. Various direct-to-video continuations (none of […]
Trials and Tribulations of the Publishing Game
As I put the finishing touches and edits on my latest novel, I am charged with the task of also creating the cover art. I consider myself to be a good photographer but for some […]
Zero-Magic Fantasy
Zero-magic fantasy is a growing subgenre. But can it ever rise above the level of thought experiment? And what are the tradeoffs?
The Greatest Fantasy Author of All Time
This week some in the world are celebrating the birth/death of the Bard of Avon also known as William Shakespeare. Shakespeare as you might have heard was a well-known English playwright and poet. Curiously enough […]
The Rising Tide of Alien Languages
Be warned, this post contains spoilers for this week’s Game of Thrones episode “And Now His Watch is Ended”. This morning I sat and watched Daenerys Stormborn finally grow up as she unleashed hell upon […]
The Young Animators’ Project, and What We Can Hope For
It has recently been brought to my attention that every year, the Japanese government pays a large sum of money to a handful of animation studios so that those studios will each produce a half-hour […]
Anime Roundup 4/21/2013: Fee Fi, Ho Hum
More international streaming sites have announced their spring simulcasts, and I’m afraid it looks like the entire world will get to see a couple of high school romantic comedies, but most of the good sf […]
ASM Blog Horde Interview with Terence Jackson
Welcome to the Amazing Stories BLOG HORDE INTERVIEWS! The ASM Blog Horde is a diverse and wonderful species. I have the privilege of talking with all of them, and I get to share those chats with […]
Realistic Fantasy: an Oxymoron
oxymoron (n) a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction fantasy (n) the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things realistic (a) representing things in a way that is […]
The Meteor That Never Fell
Just kidding! Putin didn’t really ride that meteor! But it was an uneasy thing to watch, and it prompted uneasier thoughts about other things that fall, and why I crave stories with endings.
No. 13 – The Number Thirteen, Black Magic, Mysticism, Swordplay and Sorcery
Number 13: a 13th Amazing Stories post. I interrupt my regularly scheduled posts, in my ongoing series of discussing writers of classic science fiction (and the inner meanings therein), to consider the number 13 (and […]
Anime roundup 4/14/2013: This Will Be on the Test
A big stack of first looks this week, and then it’ll be time to make decisions about what to add for the regular weekly commentary. Those of you worried about the absence of Attack on […]
FRITZ LEIBER: SWORD & SORCERY GROWS UP
In 1939 Farnsworth Wright began a move away from Sword & Sorcery. With Robert E. Howard dead, he no longer championed the dark fantasy tale, publishing Henry Kuttner’s Elak as the last. This meant that […]
Writers Writing About Writers Writing About …
There’s something unseemly about writers who write about writers. Many of my beliefs about writing have changed since I was a pink-cheeked little colleen getting up early to write before school, but this is one […]
A Little Game of Catch
This week I’m fighting my way past drunken skateboarders and striking cab drivers to get a peek at the latest security and surveillance gadgets the world has to offer. I’ve already spoken with some developers […]
Anime roundup 4/7/2013: Stop the World, I Want To Get Off
First, a little awards news: Nominees for the Seiun for Best Media (roughly equivalent to Hugo nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation) include two anime series, Bodacious Space Pirates and Eureka Seven AO. E7AO is a […]
When Hairy Met Scaly
“Do not annoy a dragon, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.” — Author Unknown A myth about ancient map makers is that they’d adorn the distant uncharted areas with “Here Be Dragons”, […]
SWORD & SORCERY BECOMES A SUB-GENRE: HENRY KUTTNER’S ELAK AND PRINCE RAYNOR
Henry Kuttner deserves our thanks. If things had been left to Clifford Ball, Sword & Sorcery would have fizzled out in the pages of Weird Tales. Ball, who we know very little about, was the […]
Foxes, Cultural Appropriation, and Japonisme
Here’s how to do cultural appropriation right. Look at the man and his fox bride; you can tell he loves her.
Sequential Wednesdays #7 – Tales of Tails
Animals have a very special role to play in stories, at least according to the long history of tales utilizing their presence as potent symbolism. Throughout the world of story-telling, a multitude of beasts have had very […]
Great TV Series Are Like Buses … Two Come Along at Once
This weekend has been all about TV; on Saturday night we had the return of the Doctor but also the high fantasy epic Game of Thrones. I can’t remember the last time I looked forward […]
Spring 2013 Anime Preview
Every three months, like clockwork, Japanese TV remakes itself. A bunch of shows end, a bunch more start, and many continuing series bring out new opening and closing sequences. Most anime series run for only […]
Anime roundup 3/31/2013: You Are In a Maze of Twisty Little Plotlines
From the New World, end – If there has been one theme running through every episode of From the New World from the beginning, it’s been that there is always another way to make the […]
The Dumbest Part of The Lord of the Rings
I first read Tolkien when I was 13 and (like many others before and after) totally fell in love with the Middle Earth thing. I’ve read the trilogy (and the Hobbit) probably a dozen times, […]
The Empty Art of Onmyodo
We’re all living on borrowed time, but it can take a fox to remind you that what you should fear most may be the very thing you desire. What does moe culture have in common with black magic? A lot, actually.
Christianity vs. Science Fiction
Of late, I am sensing that lines have been drawn and sides chosen in the camps of Science Fiction (& Fantasy) and Christianity. There’s a virtual wall between the two fandom groups- and that’s a […]
The Pros and Cons of Comicon
It is the day before the first day of spring. As I sit in my office chair, working at my computer, the giant snow thrower passes by and deposits a massive blast of snow onto […]
You Got Grit in my Fantasy Story
(Cue stoner voice) “You got grit in my fantasy story, man!” “Nah man, you got fantasy in my gritty story, dude!” Convergent evolution is the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages. The […]
The Fury – Blu-ray and Expanded Soundtrack
Those difficult teen years. A time when you have no money, power or influence, and have to spend your day going to school without getting paid for the privilege. Have to do what adults say […]
The Artful Collector: “Excuses, Excuses”
And when we can’t have what we want….despite our best efforts to strategize for maximum gain? Then What? Oh, do we have excuses. Pick one: 1. End up the underbidder? “It was too expensive for […]
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