From the Vault: The Feejee Mermaid: The Milwaukee Taxidermied Treasure & Others
A look at a strange artifact from the Milwaukee Public Museum. Continue reading From the Vault: The Feejee Mermaid: The Milwaukee Taxidermied Treasure & Others
Book Review: The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, by C.M. Mayo
Mexico has been in the news lately. It has also been part of the literary tsunami following the publication of Roberto Bolaño’s epic 2666. In the section entitled “The Part about the Crimes,” Bolaño brings us into a world of chaotic violence against women in Santa Teresa near the US-Mexican border. The free flow of capital and drugs turns Santa Teresa into a zone of relentless murder, brutality, and violation. But to understand the violence of modern Mexico, one must also understand the violence of 19th century Mexico. C.M. Mayo’s historical romance, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, brings … Continue reading Book Review: The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, by C.M. Mayo
The Cantos by Ezra Pound, A Critical Appraisal
I: The Mount Everest of Modernism “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Sir Edmund Hillary The Cantos. Ezra Pound. The very mention of those names send shudders down even the most well-read literary snob. T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” seems like a small indentation in comparison. The only work with comparable difficulty and lit crit caché is Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. Reading these works carries along serious bragging rights. “I saw the new Terrance and Philip movie. Now who wants to touch me?” Eric Cartman said in the South Park movie. As a reader … Continue reading The Cantos by Ezra Pound, A Critical Appraisal
The Judging Eye (The Aspect-Emperor, Book One) by R. Scott Bakker
A review of R. Scott Bakker’s first volume of his new High Fantasy trilogy The Aspect-Emperor, the follow-up to his widely acclaimed Prince of Nothing trilogy. Continue reading The Judging Eye (The Aspect-Emperor, Book One) by R. Scott Bakker
Dollhouse Riffs: Riff #2: Bodies, Souls, and the Big Bad
“When you will have made him a body without organs, then you will have delivered him from all his automatic reactions and restored him to his true freedom.” Antonin Artaud, “To Have Done with the Judgment of God” (1947) “The Earth is a body without organs. This body without organs is permeated by unformed, unstable matters, by flows in all directions, by free intensities or nomadic singularities, by mad or transitory particles” Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus (1987) Malcolm Reynolds, Angel, Buffy, Joss, and River In the Whedonverse, there are the Big Damn Heroes and the Big … Continue reading Dollhouse Riffs: Riff #2: Bodies, Souls, and the Big Bad
Book Review: Devil Take the Hindmost: a History of Financial Speculation by John Chancellor
In the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, the first Cylon Hybrid utters these chilling words: “All this has happened before, and it will happen again.” It may seem odd to quote a science fiction series in review of a book about the stock market, but it’s disturbingly apropos of the subject matter. John Chancellor’s magisterial book, Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation, charts the course of human folly in high finance from tulipomania to kamikaze capitalism. Trade and exchange are as old as time, while the need for money and the desire for wealth are not necessarily bad. … Continue reading Book Review: Devil Take the Hindmost: a History of Financial Speculation by John Chancellor
Books I’m reading
FICTION *Portrait of a Lady by Henry James *The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker *The Cantos by Ezra Pound NON-FICTION *Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by John Chancellor *Rising Up and Rising Down (7-Volume Set) by William T. Vollmann Continue reading Books I’m reading
Dollhouse Riffs: Riff #1: Dollhouse, the Dollhouse, and “freedom”
How free are those that control Dollhouse, compared to the dolls? Topher and Sierra’s “play date” occurred under the nose of Adele. Adele, smartly, lets it pass. Without it, Topher would be driven nuts. Or is this “play date” used as an opiate, a distraction for Topher. Is Topher also a doll? (A theory forwarded by my girlfriend. I think there is some merit to it.) The play date creates a carnival atmosphere, a great leveling that occurs between the powerful genius and the pliant doll. A similar leveling occurs when Victor is programmed to help Miss Lonelyhearts, in this … Continue reading Dollhouse Riffs: Riff #1: Dollhouse, the Dollhouse, and “freedom”
Flight of the Eisenstein (Horus Heresy, Book 4) by James Swallow
In the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, the Horus Heresy represents a monumental event. A galaxy-spanning civil war led by the Warmaster Horus, sundered and nearly destroyed the Imperium of Man 10,000 years ago. Horus, formerly primarch of the Luna Wolves, was appointed by the Emperor to command all Imperial forces. Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow, is the fourth book in the series, following Horus Rising by Dan Abnett, False Gods by Graham McNeill, and Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter. To read the complete review, click here. Continue reading Flight of the Eisenstein (Horus Heresy, Book 4) by James Swallow
Warhorses by Yusef Komunyakaa
“The jawbone of an ass. A shank/braided with shark teeth. A garrote.” So begins Yusef Komunyakaa’s new book of poems, simply called Warhorses. The slim volume confronts uncomfortable topics like wars, death, and atrocity. Written in a stripped-down primal language, it subverts the violence of its subject matter. Komunyakaa’s mastery and precision has been rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize for his earlier volume, Neon Vernacular (1994). To read the entire review, click here. Continue reading Warhorses by Yusef Komunyakaa
