Here’s the complement to the recent readings post that went up not long ago detailing fiction I’d read lately. This time, I’m covering the (shorter) list of nonfiction works I’ve checked out so far this year, since the last books-I’ve-read post. As usual, it omits RPG books, for which I’m slowly working up a set of reviews that will be posted separately.
Everyone knows Stormbringer, the sword wielded by Elric—even people like me, who’ve barely read any of the Elric stories. Stormbringer is notorious in part because it’s the prototypical “intelligent sword” that old-timer RPG fans remember being a big deal in 1st edition AD&D. Now, there are rules for intelligent magic items in 5E, of course, and there’s certainly precedent in fantasy literature for intelligent or sentient magical objects that aren’t swords—the Lord of the Rings features one prominently—but I feel like the “intelligent sword” trope has kind of fallen by the wayside… at least, it felt like that when the trope came …
Since the Apex Book of World SF series launched a decade ago, I’ve always wished that I could help get a Korean story into the series. Well… that’s finally happened. In the forthcoming fifth volume of the series, edited by Cristina Jurado (and with Lavie Tidhar as the series editor), that’s finally happened. My co-translation with Jihyun Park of Boyoung Kim’s tale of Lamarckian evolution, mythic Korean beasts, and metamorphosis, “An Evolutionary Myth,” will be reprinted, alongside what looks to be another fascinating and amazing collection of work from around the world. Preorders are now open, and you can get …
Update (18 October 2018): If you’re interested in getting a copy of this book, and think the asking prices online are insane, you should try email Necronomicon Press. In the post below, I mention emailing them but not the response, which came soon after I published this post. They had copies in stay… and may still have them. This is where to go if you’d like to inquire. And have a look around: there’s some other cool stuff available on the site, too. (I rather wish I’d gotten Jason C. Eckhardt’s Off the Ancient Track: A Lovecraftian Guide to New …
This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, one (or a few) at a time. The readings are atypical, for reasons made clear in my first post in this series. I’m not sure whether the fiction project that inspired this series will ever come to fruition, but I’d like to try finish the Cantos just the same. There’s also an (updated) index of all the Cantos (and related sources) I’ve discussed so far. This is my fourth Cantos-posting this summer: hooray for momentum! Like Canto LXVI and all the remaining “Adams” Cantos, this …
This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, one (or a few) at a time. The readings are atypical, for reasons made clear in my first post in this series. I’m not sure whether the fiction project that inspired this series will ever come to fruition, but I’d like to try finish the Cantos just the same. There’s also an (updated) index of all the Cantos (and related sources) I’ve discussed so far. This is my third Cantos-posting in the space of a few weeks, after a long time away from it, …
So I’ve had the chance, in the past month, to play in a couple of sessions of Paranoia: High Programmers. The guy running it is… well, I don’t know much except that he’s in the States somewhere, and that he was kind enough to organize a game that I could join from half a world’s worth of timezones away. (Friday mornings Korean time, if anyone’s interested: he’s open to new players.) It’s been an interesting change of pace, and I thought I’d write a little about it here.
So, here’s a note on my progress this summer: write-a-thon or general, it’s kind of the same. This is just an update for anyone interested in a progress report.
Okay, time to get my shoulder back to the wheel, I think. I’m making another try at returning to the Cantos. It’s been a busy time, but not so busy I can’t do this a few days a week in the morning, as a warm-up to my own writing. At least, I hope I can do it. This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, one (or a few) at a time. The readings are atypical, for reasons made clear in my first post in this series. I’m not sure whether …
Though I’m keeping a low profile and all, I am participating in Clarion West’s Write-a-Thon this year. I signed up a little late, because I wasn’t sure whether I could really get much done during the write-a-thon itself: the timing, as always, is a little tough for me. (The first week of the workshop is always final exams week for most universities here in Korea, and in my current job, that’s followed by a four week long summer intensive course. On top of all that, our kid’s going to be in hospital next week at the end of the month, …