Category: Literature
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Poems can tell stories
Something that often comes standard with poetry is how people define poems as having rhymes as a trait. It immediately conjures Dr. Seuss, and while this can be true, it isn’t universally true. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that definition requires certain ways of writing to be considered poetry. If it…
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Setting personal reading goals for 2023
Every year I sit down and think, “should I set personal resolutions this year?” and every year the answer is the same, “no”. However, I still set personal goals. This is how I achieve everything, and why I never dream up resolutions. This year, my primary objective is based on reading for fun. Sounds terrible,…
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The importance of short stories
There are essentially five major publishers. That’s it. If you have one hand, and all your fingers intact, you could count them all. The most prominent novels tend to come from these organizations, and their subsidiaries are responsible for most fiction in just about every genre. However, the bleeding heart of innovation in fiction has…
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In Filth it Shall be Found, a review
*I originally posted a short verision of this on Goodreads, but didn’t feel that I had properly done my opinion justice. The publisher’s site is here. Transgressive fiction is pretty niche, and this book embraces that. This isn’t to say that the stories aren’t varied, they are. There’s a great range of talent from authors…
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Brilliant actors reading a classic poem
Halloween is just around the corner, and there is no time like the present to dig into the public domain archives to see what we can find. One of my personal favourites is Edgar Allan Poe. His stories and poetry strike the perfect chord this time of year. Yet, to truly do them justice, it…
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Poetry, a public domain treasure
Pretty much anything published before 1923 should be in the public domain. This includes poetry. Aside from Shakespeare’s Sonnets, The Divine Comedy, or maybe Beowulf, I suspect most people don’t consider public domain poetry much. As someone that reads a lot of genre fiction, it’s almost impossible to avoid poetry. Fantasy authors seem to have…
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Keeping up with the Awards’
Last week, the winners of the Hugo Awards were announced. After looking over the list, I realized I was familiar with very little of the content in ANY of the categories. Immediately, I felt the twinge of guilt I always feel for not being more current and promised myself to indulge in some of the…
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Publishing date and the public domain: When a work doesn’t enter the public domain
During his lifetime, British author E.M. Forster received awards, honours, and all kinds of platitudes for the quality of his writing. His novels have been made into films and plays, and have stood the test of time. For anyone that isn’t familiar with his works, they are almost certainly available through a library, but also…
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Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1), a review
What books do fans of fantasy fiction think of when they reflect on the works that define the genre? After The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, or A Game of Thrones and its subsequent sequels, it’s fair to challenge people to name works of fantasy fiction. “name your top five fantasy novels…” I…
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Thoughts on “Grimdark” fiction
Recently, I read Joe Abercrombie’s novel, The Blade Itself. I’ve seen this book named many times as a “to read” selection for fans of genre fiction, especially if the audience wanted a darker tale. I’ll review this book in another post, but I wanted to take a minute to reflect on “grimdark” in genre fiction.…
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