I'm an independent writer with a love for science fiction and cosmic horror! Check out all of my free works here, and if you like what I'm doing, I'd love it if you'd check out my longer works.
In the first issue of Amazing Stories, from all the way back in 1926, we have the first half of a lesser-known novel by Jules Verne! Originally published in 1877, it's called Off on a Comet, or Hector Servadac, and it's the story of a French military officer working in northern Africa who, in the middle of preparing for a duel over a woman, is knocked over by an ear-shattering explosion!
He, as well as a sizeable chunk of the Mediterranean coast, has been captured by a comet that hit Earth with a glancing blow and continued off on its irregular orbit.
A little while back, I decided to sit back and finally watch the Lensman animated movie, released in Japan in 1984. It is a very loose adaptation of Galactic Patrol, which I've reviewed here along with all the other main Lensman novels by E.E. "Doc" Smith.
The original cut of the movie is largely abandonware these days, so you can easily find it online if you want to. There's a cut by Harmony Gold (butchers and imprisoners of Macross) that shifts things around a bit and cuts out some of the Japanese weirdness.
The greatness of Weird Tales is a force of nature. Yet, what were its origins?
I decided to go through and do a reading of the entirety of "The Dead Man's Tale," by Willard E. Hawkins, the first story printed in the first issue of Weird Tales.
It's a nice little novelette of revenge from the grave, with a surprising ending.
I was very pleased to finally get my hands on a copy of Silverthorn, by Raymond E. Feist. This was the one entry in the Riftwar Saga that I had never read. I've reviewed Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master, and I've owned a copy of A Darkness at Sethanon for a long time and read it several times.
And I bought all of those books at real brick-and-mortar bookstores! Yet somehow Silverthorn evaded my grasp until recently.
And so, I finally read the third book in the Riftwar Saga!
Honestly, it started out a bit rough. Some of the early dialog was a bit clunky, and there was something vaguely off about the narrative voice. After reading 20 or 30 pages, I wondered if this rough start was why it wasn't on bookstore shelves as much back in the day.
Fortunately, the story quickly turns around and becomes very satisfying. A bunch of the plot events that I'd only heard about as memories from the past are present in this book. We get to see some characters that take a less prominent role in other books really shine, like Swordmaster Fannon. There are quite a few heart-warming character meetings, and some reunions you might not expect.
This book provides strong doses of great characters who often appear in the background: Laurie, Martin, Gardan, Lyam, Meecham. There are some great brotherly moments between Arutha, Lyam, and Martin, who have been largely apart in the last two books.
Plus, we get to see the growth of the friendship between Arutha and Jimmy the Hand.
It's a direct sequel, starting almost exactly one year after the end of Magician: Master. The plot follows a dire and dangerous quest to the north, as well as a somewhat-unexpected journey to Kelewan.
The writing I think Feist does best, political intrigue, stealth, and small-unit tactics, makes up a large portion of the book.
There is a bit more magic in this book, and the small magic is done well, while the big magic has a tendency to end up as a bit of a light show, and maybe even a little difficult to disbelieve, considering how little magic was known in Midkemia in the previous two books. It seemed like, if priestly magic was as powerful as it is depicted in this book, that people would have been much more aware of large-scale magic, to the point that many would wonder why non-priestly magic is so fickle and weak. It's almost a setting inconsistency, by my read.
Another funny thing is that Silverthorn is an amazingly rare plant in the book, whereas you would know it as a common poison if you've played the game Betrayal at Krondor.
The second half of the book opens up a well-handled second plotline that I wasn't really expecting to be as significant as it was. That second plotline ends with a powerful hook at the end of this book, which is unfortunately a bit glossed over at the start of the next one.
All in all, it was a fun and gripping story after the first couple of chapters. It seemed like Feist had gotten a bit out of his element at the start of this book, but once he catches his wind, the rest is golden.
Time for some more Terry Pratchett goodness! This time, I'm talking about Reaper Man, which is much earlier in the series than The Thief of Time, which I reviewed a while back.
This book also deals with the Auditors, though they're a bit less active in the story.
It was written in 1991, so I was a little surprised to find abundant references to Aliens (1986) and Rambo (1982 for the first movie, with Rambo III in 1988). There was also a fairly significant reference to the folk story of John Henry!
Again, this one's a reading of a short story, but I found this one interesting because I've read "it" so many times!
The story in question is "The Message from the Void" by Hubert Mavity, and it's a clever little story of man's search for extraterrestrial intelligence, with a neat little twist which you will likely find familiar, but it's handled adroitly here by Mavity.
This story dates all the way back to Dynamic Science Stories in 1939. Is it the earliest example of "this" plot? Can you think of any earlier ones?
