Tag Archives: books

Let’s think: what vocation or avocation is most likely to be against war – any war – war as a concept under any circumstances? Machinists? Bloggers? Human rights activists? Veterans? How about poets, whose noble pursuit of the music in language often leads down winding paths of fancy, at the …

Arnold Kling – who by the way, looks exactly like an “Arnold Kling” – says many of us misunderstand the economics of the Internet: all interpersonal transactions can be sorted into four relational models. Communal Sharing Authority Ranking Equality Matching Market Pricing In a Communal Sharing transaction, such as a …

Kurt Vonnegut is a socialist pacifist with a romantic/tragic view of life forever haunted by the specter of suicide: his mother’s in 1944, his own failed attempt in 1984. As such, his view of life and mankind has grown succeedingly more dim over time – the trajectory is clearly visible …

S.T. Karnick thinks he knows why Erle Stanley Gardner (of Perry Mason fame) is still popular and important: This code of ethics is part of something bigger: Gardner’s view of religious faith. Characters pray, and their prayers are answered. In the Ed Jenkins novelette “In Full of Account,” the narrator-protagonist, …

From Philadelphia: Avi, author of “Crispin: The Cross of Lead,” and Eric Rohmann, illustrator and author of “My Friend Rabbit,” are the 2003 winners of the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals, the most prestigious awards in children’s literature. ….”Crispin: The Cross of Lead,” published by Hyperion Books for Children, …

Though it’s probably unfair to indulge in such comparisons, I’ve got to admit that I felt a stronger affinity to the late Bill Mauldin than I did recently deceased caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Mauldin was the first editorial cartoonist that I paid regular attention to. I’ve mentioned the influence Walt Kelly’s …

Via Glenn-omir, grim tidings from the Return of the King film front: why buy into EITHER the Star Wars OR the Lord of the Rings universe when you can have both? A recently leaked trailer for The Return of the King has Tolkien fans outraged over the apparent addition of …

The big-eyed heroine of Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (Oni Press) looks like she wouldn’t be out of place in Edward Gorey’s fog-shrouded neighborhood. A newcomer to Hillsborough Junior High, Courtney & her worthless parents have moved in to sponge off her Uncle Aloysius, a cadaverous Victorian …

Jandek is a mysterious Houston “recording artist” who has been self-releasing albums since 1978. Some call him a genius, many more call him a psychically dyslexic agoraphobic with no discernable musical talent beyond an uncanny ability to irritate. Demonstrating that not all radio is geared toward the masses, Harvard’s WHRB …

Cyberpunk legend William Gibson has a new book, website and blog. For those of you who don’t know the author of NEUROMANCER, this is a bio, and for those who do there is a discussion board. Here is an excerpt from the new book, Pattern Recognition: THE WEBSITE OF DREADFUL …