Hither Came Conan

A strange admission for someone of my long tenure in the worlds of fantasy and science fiction, but I’d never actually read Robert E Howard’s Conan stories before. I know they’re almost archetypal examples of the genre but for some reason I’d never got round to picking them up. That changed recently, when I bought […]

With a guard at every door

And a lovely parable for the kiddies

Joshua, Genocide and the General

Originally published on my defunct LiveJournal page, now with added thoughts I’ve always regarded Story as a powerful force, using that rather simplistic term as a catch-all for myth, metaphor, internal-dialogue and other aspects that I’ve rarely bothered to sit down and define. A while ago, when I first discovered this blogging business, I wrote an […]

The Magus and the Munchkins

“What the hell is that annoying sound?” I asked. “Munchkins. Singing. Sorry about that.” “Munchkins as in…” Wizard of Oz, yes. Sorry again. Not what you were expecting I’m sure.” “Well quite. I was expecting some sort of profound revelation about the nature of the universe, not just an irritating ear-worm from a musical. So […]

“You’re a shaman, Harry”

“I’m a — what?”

The False Knight on the Road

I’ve recently rediscovered my collection of folk music, a genre I like for the narratives contained in the songs, if not for the affected nasal drone that some singers affect for some reason. Listening this lunchtime I shuffled upon “The False Knight On The Road” which is on the face of it an encounter between […]

Mens sana in corpore sano

(Well I’m zero for two but I’m working on it)

New Year, New Cliche

I swear I didn’t set out to be one of those New Year resolution guys. I’ve always thought that if something needs doing or changing then you either do it when it needs to get done, or you don’t, and why should a date on a calendar be the boss of me etc. However since […]

Brainscrub

The season finale of Doctor Who has been and gone, and I was profoundly disappointed by the entire season. The advent of the first female Doctor Who should have been a time of glorious reinvention for the show, broadening horizons and taking the opportunity to do something utterly fantastic to demonstrate how the character […]

Moving on

It feels like a chapter is coming to a close at last, and I hadn’t realised I’d been in it until I got to see the blank space at the end of the page and realised the facing page had a big number on it.