Short Story Sunday: ‘Zombie’ by Chuck Palahniuk
So I thought I’d bring short story Sunday back from the dead (hence the zombie theme). I really enjoyed analysing short fiction in a way that I don’t have the time or space to do with longer fiction here and I’m struggling with two short pieces I’m writing at the moment so this might help […]
Short Story Sunday: ‘The Blind Chinese Soldiers’ by Hirabayashi Taiko
I haven’t read any long Japanese literature. It’s only ever been poems and short stories. I’ve seen a lot of their cartoons, films and played the games though. ‘Blind Chinese Soldiers’ is the most striking story I found in this little gem of a collection. The author is a woman who was writing at a […]
REVIEW: My Summer Reads
So I recently spent a week abroad. I don’t do so good on sun holidays because I burn easily enough in Ireland and I like doing stuff instead of lying down, which I do quite frequently at home for free. Prior to leaving I was told I could only bring five books to keep me […]
Game of Thrones Fatigue
So Season 2 is drawing to a close. What have we learned? Peter Dinklage is awesome (not that we needed to be reminded), this season is much less anchored without Sean Bean, and boobies solve everything. Awhile ago I wrote a post about prostitution in the first few books basically trying to come up with […]
Prostitution in Game of Thrones
There has been much criticism of Game of Thrones, especially of the TV series. It’s been accused of being sexist, racist, sexist, too violent, sexist and sexist again. Now most of this critisim has been levelled at the HBO adaptation so I’ve studiously ignored it but I was at a friend’s house the other day and […]
Kindle
Well the stars have aligned, Mars has come into cojunction with Venus and I am suddenly and unexpectedly in possession of some money. I won a quiz about Bioshock Infinite on the Escapist Magazine, the prize was $100 dollar gift voucher for Amazon.com. My internet service provider, for reasons that I’m not going to question, […]
REVIEW: Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by William Napier
Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by Wiliam Napier 2 out of 5 So this is marginally better than the first in the series. It deals with Attila’s return from exile and his gathering of the various Hun tribes to march against Rome. That’s about it. Not much else happens in the plot. In my […]
REVIEW: ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ by Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman 8 out of 10 My friends have been trying to get me into Neil Gaiman for a while. Good Omens, which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite books. I eventually tried American Gods and hated […]
REVIEW: ‘Ship of Rome’ by John Stack
Ship of Rome: Masters of the Sea 1 by John Stack 7 out of 10 I first read about Stack when an account of him writing this series about the Punic wars and getting a Harper Collins three book deal was published in the Irish Independent. However I’ve been unable to get a copy of it […]
REVIEW: ‘Attila’ by William Napier
Attila: The end of the world will come from the East by William Napier 2 out of 10 I recently completed a module on the Later Roman Empire called Christians, Barbarians and the Fall of Rome. Roughly 4 months of lectures, study, exams, essay and there was not one mention of Attila the Hun. I […]