Characters: Cazaril from The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is your typical medieval fantasy. There’s magic, and knights, and people in distress and political schemes. On the surface, it doesn’t seem much more than a carbon copy of everything else out there. However, Curse of Chalion does have a lot to make it stand out from the crowd. Among them, is Cazaril, the protagonist. He is not your typical, heroically minded, buffed-up warrior, handsome features hero. The interesting thing about Cazaril, is that he used to be.

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Book Review — A Spooky Tale in Time for Halloween!

Christopher Rice is the son of best-selling fantasy writer Ann Rice, whose tales of vampires in the Deep South sparked a renewed interest in the genre. His new book (from Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster) arrived on October 15, and I have to say that, despite a few weaknesses, I enjoyed it more than some of his mother’s works.

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Leviathan Wakes Review

[two]I am always looking for new books to read and typically pick one by an author from the current con I am attending.  In the case of this book it was because I received an […]

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3 Witches: Reading into Dario Argento’s ‘The Three Mothers’ Trilogy

As the eyes and ears of the Horror cognoscenti are transfixed by the new season of American Horror Story, Coven, people will be talking about witches. There are innumerable stereotypes, from the kindly medicine woman in a sylvan glade to the full-blown Bride Of Satan. Each Archetype is a potent and loaded symbol, that speaks volumes about the culture and the writer that produced it. For the occasion, we have decided to investigate three of the most infamous Witch flicks out there: Dario Argento’s ‘The Three Mothers’ trilogy.

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Ooky Spooky Animanga Part IV: Anime Horror At Its Finest

The time has finally come for me to attempt to review a series that I can find zero fault with, a series which is pure perfection. I touched upon it briefly, months ago, in my post “It’s Pretty – And Deadly: Horror Animanga.” But it’s finally time for a full review of Toei Animation’s Mononoke.

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Review: The Colors of Space

In the tradition of Heinlein, The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a provocative space adventure for young adults. But upon closer look, there is a lot more to the story as it becomes a prime example of an archetypical hero’s journey.

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Atlantis is the new Merlin

The origin TV show Merlin was the BBC’s big sci-fi fantasy show that had families across the nation tuning in on Saturday nights. But the show finished recently so the BBC needed to find something new […]

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Book Review: Transcendental by James Gunn

Few characters, and people, start off with the intention of winding up where they do. There are the few who succeed at their childhood dreams. The astronauts, the politicians, the firefighters (though I imagine these […]

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Scide Splitters: Unidentified Funny Objects 2 edited by Alex Shvartsman

If done well, an anthology is like a box of chocolates filled with a variety of delectable confections. Granted, there are bound to be a few flavors you are not partial to, but on the whole, the selection is delightful. When not done so well, you end up with something a little more like Monty Python’s Whizzo Chocolates, getting a mouthful of Crunchy Frog or Cockroach Cluster….

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