“Magic gets you what you want, but it doesn’t solve your problems.”
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia starts out in 2009. Meche returns to a smoggy Mexico City to bury her father. She had sworn never to return here after she had a falling out with her friends years ago. Continue reading
“Though no pleasant task to bring this sad after part to the notice of the reader, it is nevertheless a tale that may be interesting for him to ponder; and instructive, as affording matter for the employment of reflection, and instituting a heartier sympathy with those upon whose life the clouds and pangs of severe reverses and misfortunes have rested.” (page 10) Continue reading
“Just as the sun was gladdening the clear west, and throwing its golden farewells upon the innumerable peaks that stretched into a forest of mountains gradually rising until they seemed to lean against the sun clad shoulders of the Rocky Range, imparadising the whole plain and mountain country in its radiant embrace, [etc., etc.]” (page 2) Continue reading
“I had begun to throw on my clothes, but the way Larry said that stopped me with one leg in my jeans, the other hanging in air as I hopped around with all the dignity of Kanye West at the Grammys.”
The Longest Con by Michaelbrent Collings is a semi-autobiographical horror comedy that takes place during a Comic Con type convention. There are cos-players, panels, vendor booths, celebrities like Stan Lee, a game room, and everything else you’d expect at such a convention. However, there’s also a hidden world of supernatural creatures including brownies, dwarves, vampires, werewolves, witches, succubi, gremlins, and so forth who like to go to conventions dressed up as people… and not all of them like to play nice. Continue reading
I can’t help comparing Byron’s poems to those of Keats and Shelley. Like them, he liked writing about Greek mythology, gave long descriptions of nature, and had an obsession with death. Byron seemed to write more about lost love than they did. He also lived longer than them and produced a lot more writing. Perhaps due to this, he moved on from the familiar themes into new territory. Compared to them, he was also something of a bad boy and gave us the Byronic anti-hero. The protagonists of his poems and plays are often deeply flawed, yet still sympathetic characters. (Byron even makes us feel sympathy for the Biblical Cain.) Continue reading
Lord Byron died before he was able to finish writing Don Juan, which is too bad because although it did kind of drag in the middle, it started to get good again towards the end. Byron kind of just made Don Juan up as he went, but in a letter, he did indicate that he had a vague overall plan: Continue reading
Well, this is it. We’ve finally reached the final canto of Lord Byron’s Don Juan. (He did get a few stanzas into Canto 17 before dying, but there’s not much there to comment upon.) I’ll do one more wrap-up post after this, but we’ve pretty much reached the end. Continue reading
So, as Canto 15 opens, Don Juan is still staying with some wealthy friends in the English countryside. Some of the married ladies are interested in Juan, including his host, Lady Adeline. As in the cantos before, not much happens in this canto either, but we do get more of Byron’s famous digressions. Continue reading
We last left Don Juan staying as a guest at an estate in the English countryside. Not much plot occurred in the last canto, and not much happens in this one either, but we do get more of Byron’s famous digressions.
He starts this canto with a discussion of suicidal tendencies. Continue reading
When we last left Don Juan, he had become quite popular in English society. What happens next? He’s invited to spend some time at the country estate of Lord Henry and his wife Lady Adeline Amundeville who is the queen bee of London society. They pass the time leisurely doing things like hunting, fishing, boating, writing letters, and having conversations over dinner. That’s about all that happens plot-wise, but we do get some more delightful digressions from Byron. Continue reading
