Yesterday, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling announced the title and brief synopsis of her first foray into more adult fiction. The Casual Vacancy will be a darkly comic novel set in the seemingly idyllic British town of Pagford in which everything is not as idyllic as it seems. It opens with the sudden death …
Twenty years ago, a resurgence of Star Wars began not on the big screen but on the printed page. Back in 1991, the franchise itself was in danger of becoming obsolete and forgotten. It had been 8 years since Return of the Jedi ( long before the Special Editions and bloody prequels came along). Enter Lucasfilm …
It is OVER! The phenomenon that began in 1997 with the British publication of a little book entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and continued through 7 books and now 8 big screen adventures has reached its climax. All I ask is that it ends here. To go back or to move forward would …
Just finished the latest 007 novel (if it is going to be a few more years before the next movie… glad someone was commissioned by the Ian Fleming family to write a new one). Carte Blanche is yet another reboot of a classic character. Bond is introduced as an agent in his early 30s who …
The beast had slept for thousands of years, but something or someone disturbed its slumber. It was now awake, and sacrifice would be required. Yes, the beast would be sated. Before this last slumber, the beast had battled the surface dwellers. They were bold, determined and tenacious, but with some forethought easy prey. They disturbed …
I learned in my young adult life that there was a lot of good things to learn from Children’s books. These books have good things to teach children and, if you let them, adults. As you read to a child, make sure you pay attention to all of the things these books have to say. …
One of the great things about the Nook (of which there are many) is “Free Fridays.” Most of the titles offered every Friday by Barnes and Noble interest me not at all, but occasionally one piques my interest. Last Friday’s offering, Stupid History by Leland Gregory, is a compilation of “Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythoconceptions.” The …
The title of this blog post makes me think of the movie Forrest Gump – remember the part where Forrest runs and runs; pretty soon he has a pack of people following him, running with him, and then suddenly he stops and says, “I think I’ll go home now.” The pack of followers is suddenly …
When the girls were growing up, they had their share of bad dreams, monsters under the bed or in the closet. At one point during all of this, I gave a daughter one of my stuffed dragons. I had quite the collection of stuffed dragons. They were out numbered by the stuffed raccoons, but I …
Many years ago, when my oldest daughter was my only daughter I took her to a movie. She was being a bit of a handful at home, and my dear wife was confined to bed rest with limited mobility. The circumstances requiring that rest are for a different time, this is a bit more light …
