There won’t be a full (as I see it) or timely post this week because I’ve been on vacation and only just returned, which is also why there wasn’t anything posted last week. Nevertheless, I would like to check in with what I’ve been reading and watching.Read More »
Haunted by a failed love affair and the darkest of family secrets, Waldemar ‘Waldy’ Tolliver wakes one morning to discover that he has been exiled from the flow of time. The world continues to turn, and Waldy is desperate to find his way back—a journey that forces him to reckon not only with the betrayal at the heart of his doomed romance but also the legacy of his great-grandfather’s fatal pursuit of the hidden nature of time itself.
Released in February of this year, John Wray’s The Lost Time Accidents is a story about a family’s obsession with the nature of time. Narratively framed by Waldy Tolliver, who has found himself “exiled from time,” the novel tells the history of numerous generations of his family as written by him, his intended audience being his former lover Mrs. Haven.
The Lost Time Accidents, or more simply “the Accidents,” are cryptic words on the final page of notes Waldy’s great-grandfather Ottokar Toula wrote on the day he died, a day he supposedly learned something revolutionary about time itself. This final page was the only one recovered, propelling his sons and their descendants down a path to understand what he’d discovered.Read More »
At this point, there’s no denying how much we seem to love side-stories and prequels to series and franchises we know and love. Whether it is Better Call Saul spinning off from Breaking Bad, The Wind Through the Keyhole filling a gap between books in the Dark Tower series, or Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them giving us background on the world of Harry Potter, it would seem we can’t get enough.
I’m personally fine with them, for the same reasons as many others: we get to spend more time in these worlds with these characters. What does sometimes bother me though is a side-story that seems to exist for its own sake. The importance of a prequel or side-story to me is that it adds something. Most the time the main series works as a cohesive story all on its own, so a side-story had best add something that expands my understanding of what was going on and who these characters were, or explore a detail in the world that was a smaller piece of the big picture.Read More »
Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Daredevil season two continues the story of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer who fights crime as the hero Daredevil in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City. This season sees him crossing paths with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), a lethal vigilante that goes by the name The Punisher, as well as the return of Matt’s former lover Elektra Natchios (Élodie Yung), who was only briefly mentioned in season one.
I’ve heard criticism for the first season in the year since it came out, discussing how it dragged on a little too much and certain characters didn’t quite hit the mark, among other things. While I feel more positively about it than those critics, its weaknesses became more apparent to me as I watched season two. Not without its own problems, the second season of Daredevil presents a great story that builds upon what was established in season one, taking the show to greater heights.Read More »
As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld could do with a hero. What it doesn’t need is a singularly inept and cowardly wizard, still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world, or a well-meaning tourist and his luggage which has a mind (and legs) of its own. Which is a shame because that’s all there is…
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett is the 1986 follow-up to The Colour of Magic and the second novel in the comic fantasy Discworld series. The story continues right where the previous one left off, following Rincewind and Twoflower as they travel across the disc. This is unique among Pratchett’s extensive series of books, which are otherwise self-contained stories with recurring protagonists and characters.Read More »
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder, is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2013’s Man of Steel. Starring Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, the movie deals with the consequences of Superman becoming an active presence as a hero in the world. Following the events of the previous film, many view him as a bastion of hope — a saviour — while others are wary and fearful of him. Batman in particular, who has had a long vigilante career in Gotham City, blames Superman for the massive casualties in Metropolis during Man of Steel and does not trust that the world is safe from his power.Read More »
The Colour of Magic is a 1983 comic fantasy novel written by Terry Pratchett. The novel is the first of 41 total books in the author’s immensely popular Discworld series. The story follows Rincewind, an incompetent and craven wizard who gets roped into escorting the Discworld’s first ever tourist. This tourist is a naïve but rich man named Twoflower from the Agatean Empire, who is accompanied by a sentient luggage chest with hundreds of legs. The book is divided into sections, each section kind of like its own short story, following the pair as they travel across the Discworld to see the sights and regularly get into mortal peril.Read More »
Alice Isn’t Dead is a new serial fiction podcast written by Joseph Fink of Welcome to Night Vale, and narrated by Jasika Nicole. The podcast is part of the new Night Vale Presents network. March 8, 2016 saw the release of the first episode, “Part 1, Chapter 1: Omelet.” Episodes are set to be released every two weeks. The story follows a truck driver, the narrator yet to be named, who is travelling the country in search of her wife Alice. During her travels we can expect her to encounter strange people, places, and phenomena.Read More »
As a writer, I’m not sure I’ve given one particular thing more thought than character depth. I’m sure all writers think about this, especially other beginners brimming with the drive to create a character who can offer something captivating and unique to the reading audience. While I’m hardly an expert on crafting characters, there are some methods I’ve come up with that can help with the process. Writing, writing, and more writing is of course the best way to practice the craft, but it does help to discuss, and learn what you can from what you read, which is how I arrived at the line of thinking I’m going to share.Read More »
Deadpool is a 2016 comedy superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Tim Miller. A former special forces operative working as a mercenary in New York City, Wade Wilson is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unwilling to put his fiancé Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) through the pain of watching him waste away, Wade undergoes torturous experimentation provided by a shadowy organization in an attempt to awaken any dormant mutant abilities in his genetics. The experiments work, giving him a healing ability that makes him nearly immortal, but he is hideously disfigured in the process. Left for dead after the destruction of the lab, Wade becomes Deadpool, his costumed alter-ego. He begins a crusade to track down those responsible for his hideous transformation so that he can reverse the effects and reunite with his beloved once again.Read More »
Muse with Me 