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Dragons, Swords, Magic - The World of Duncan M. Hamilton

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  This post isn't so much about one book, but a series. Several years ago I was looking for a good series to read, or listen to, again lots of time in a car, and stumbled across The Wolf of the North by Duncan M. Hamilton. If you read through reviews about his books you will get a mixed bag, but I would submit to you that the naysayers are... well... blind.  I think the important thing with Hamilton is to read all of his books in the framework of the world he is painting. That will really show how flexible this man is with his writing craft. In a simplified way, through the three series I have read so far, you have your barbarian story, your musketeer story, and your dragon slayer story. All very different, but they fit well together. Kind of reminds me of Joe Abercrombie, but the vulgarity isn't so present, which is nice.  One thing I will warn you is that Hamilton likes to dash your hopes on a regular basis. The Wolf of the North is particularly good at this. What is i...
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More Hyborian Age

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50 years later and I am still reading sword and sorcery novels. Conan the Barbarian is still one of my go tos. The characters Howard, and subsequent authors, developed in that universe are rich and fun. One of my favorites in the Conan universe is the swashbuckling captain Valeria. She's sexy, strong, and still all woman.  Side note, while Sandahl Bergman, who played Valeria in John Milius' epic "Conan the Barbarian," was a crush of mine, she's not the same Valeria. Anyway, in the stories, she matches Conan's skill and bravado to a tee, a fun character to read. She goes toe to toe with the big barbarian in many ways... yes, many ways. Which leads to, S.M. Stirling's "Conan: The Blood of the Serpent," published in 2022. I picked it up on Audible recently as I spend a lot of time in the car. Stirling sets up the story as their first in person meeting and lays it out as a precursor to Robert E. Howard's Conan story, "The Red Nails," pu...
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Location: Virginia, USA
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Hyborian Age Revisited

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I don't get to posting that much. On top of that, this type of thing isn't in my wheelhouse, so nobody really reads this stuff anyway... but just in case you do... and like Conan stories, read, or listen, to the book above.  John C. Hocking includes two stories in this volume, Conan and the Emerald Lotus and Conan and the Living Plaque. Both are pretty good stories, and if you get the audio book, it is read by Bradford Hastings, who does a damned good job. Hasting's take on Conan's voice and personality is very fitting in my humble, or not so humble, opinion.  The first story, Conan and the Emerald Lotus, follows Conan as he gets himself caught in a battle between three sorcerers and the mysterious emerald lotus. This story really feels like an R. E. Howard Conan story. Conan functioning in the interests of Conan, gets himself embroiled in this mage competition, and it's not really a competition, but more of an intrique bound up in ambition, betrayal, and addiction....
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Location: Virginia, USA
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Four Days, Three Armies, and a Great Read

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  As usual, I am always looking for something new to read, but I am often disappointed. I feel like written material is now taking a back seat to visual material. Odd for me to say as my professional background is film and animation production. Most of the time I have at least two books going at the same time, usually something more scholarly, historic, perhaps practical, or theoretical, and then something in the fantasy/sci-fi genre so the brain can unwind and disconnect from the data of the former.  So, here I am reading F.F. Bruce's "Are the New Testament Documents Reliable," which is an excellent read in itself, published originally in 1943, but Bruce updated as new discoveries were made. About halfway through I think, I need something a little less scholarly to rest the little grey cells. I think that would actually upset Poirot, resting the little grey cells. Anyway, I stumble upon Bernard Cornwell's account of the battle of Waterloo, " Waterloo: The Histor...
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Wild Bill Hicc... uh Hixson

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  When I read the synopsis for this show, I immediately thought that this idea would never catch on in the UK.  I have English family, some of them worked for the royal family during 1960's and 70's. Two of my cousins were Pages of Honour to the Queen. They still refer to us as the colonies. The idea of an American Police Constable in Lincolnshire automatically struck me as, no, this won't do. I was right on the perception in the UK part. Sadly, ITV did not renew the series after its initial season. You can watch the show on Amazon's Britbox here . I read some of the reviews from British critics, they were exactly what I expected. I won't offer my detailed thoughts on them, but I think I have enough insight to understand why, and in my humble opinion, they are wrong.  The show follows Bill Hixson, former US Police Chief, played by Rob Lowe, who has a reputation as an efficient, hard, and mechanical leader. He is hired to take charge of the East Lincolnshire Police f...
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Crawl Out Through the Fallout Baby

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  I am a gamer. I think I may need to start going to AA for gaming, gamers anonymous, do they have that? It's a problem, I particularly have a love for RPGs, but adventure gaming as a whole is for me. Many, many, years ago, when computers had green screens with neon green type blinking fancifully across the monitor, I would sit in my father's offices, wherever we were posted, and play Zork I: The Underground Empire. I would describe this game as the godfather of adventure games. Each time I see, "West of House. You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a mailbox here," I am flooded with memories, imagination, and the urge to play. If you are interested, there are plenty of emulators out there, look it up and give it a try. As time moved on, I got into 3/4 perspective role playing games, which simply means the gameplay takes place looking down on a map as you navigate your player, and/or party, through the story and en...
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One if by Land, Two if by Sea

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I always tell my students that there are no new stories, simply various perspectives on a handful of premises. Most of them gasp, think I am nuts, and wonder why, then, should they bother studying our craft. Their doubt is usually assuaged when I bring up Star Wars, The Matrix, Harry Potter, and now Dune. (I did used to mention the 1984 Dune, but no one remembers that one much). I will end the presentation asking which one of them will have the next great take on the messiah story? It really gets the discussion going. At some point the question comes up, "how much can you borrow from another story?" My answer is nothing, it needs to be your own, but there are varying legal precedents for how much one can have similarities with another entity considering my earlier comment about their being nothing new really. Which brings me to two TV series I have recently watched. ITV's "Shetland" (available on Amazon Prime's Britbox) and BBC One's "Wallander,...
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