The Terror Live (2013) and Killer Toon (2013)

I’ve seen a couple of Korean movies lately worth commenting on. Those in Korea are probably too late to see this on the big screen, and those outside Korea may not get a chance, but anyway, Mrs. Jiwaku and I saw the 2013 Korean film The Terror Live this evening. My general thoughts on The Terror Live were very positive, despite having to make do with my iffy (and waning) Korean-language listening skills. (Probably seeing it at the cinema where we saw it–the Lotte Cinema at Lotte Mart–was the mistake; when I watched another Korean blockbuster a week ago at a …

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Thoughts On Ellen Oh’s Advice re: #DiversityinSFF

While looking up a little more information for a post to add to my series on SF in South Korea (though the post is about Koreans outside Korea writing speculative fiction) I ran across this post at the website of Ellen Oh, one of the authors I’ll be discussing in that forthcoming post. Oh is the Korean-American author of a series of books titled The Prophecy series, which are a high fantasy trilogy set in what is (according to this interview) a fantastical version of Korea modeled on the Three Kingdoms period. (I’ll have more to say in a forthcoming …

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On Enigma

Jenny Greenteeth image

For the last few days, I’ve been taking medicine for an ear infection I suddenly developed. It’s not completely clear what caused the infection: contamination of the water in the pool where I swim is possible, but it’s just as likely that it’s a side effect of a particular asthma medication I’ve been taking. In any case, it’s not completely resolved, but it is a lot better than it was… yesterday, I was worried my eardrum might burst from the pressure, but today it’s almost normal again. (On the one side, at least.) Anyway, as a result, I’ve been unable …

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One For the Morning Glory by John Barnes

One For the Morning Glory book cover image

John Barnes is one of those genre writers I’d heard of, but never happened to read until now. Oddly enough, he’s more well known for his SF work, but the book I stumbled upon, and decided to read, was his foray into the realm of magical adventure. Not epic fantasy, mind: One For the Morning Glory was intended as the second in a trilogy (of which neither first nor third got written, from what I can tell) it is as far from epic fantasy as can be. Rather, it is a lot like a fairytale, or maybe an existentialist’s version …

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The Cat’s Pajamas & Other Stories by James Morrow

I’ve been a fan of James Morrow’s work since 1995, when, in a small Edmonton bookstore on Whyte Avenue (this one) I stumbled upon a copy of the novel Only Begotten Daughter. At the time, I was just starting to become comfortable with having left the religion I’d been raised in, and admitted that, yes, indeed, I was an atheist. Morrow’s book reminded me that atheists still live in a world filled with people who are theists, and whose myths and beliefs (and fantasies) affect us all profoundly — but also that atheists could have something to say about those …

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