Monthly Archives: February 2017

Book Review: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Tietsu

Norse mythology is old. It is all but written in the word ‘mythology’ , mythology being a belief system that we are ourselves far enough away from that pesky ghost of religion to let it joyously linger as historical artifact as … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, fiction | Tagged Asgard, Balder, Freya, Icelandic Mythology, Loki, myth, neil gaiman, norse mythology, Odin, ragnarok, Short Story, thor, vikings | Leave a comment

Ruminations #6

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Tietsu

Is it okay to spend hours looking over old notes, marveling over the fact you managed to come through the event in one piece while being awestruck at how stupid you were to do it to begin with? My notes … Continue reading →

Posted in Essay | Tagged anxiety, blood, creative process, depression, Looking Back, nostalgia, Old Writing Notes, Short Stories, sinus issues, The Novel I've almost written, war, Writer's Block, writing | 8 Comments

Book Review: Neuromancer by William Gibson

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Tietsu

I’ve tried reading this book something like four time over the last two years, but something about it always kept me from feeling comfortable about finishing it, about casting it aside and with it settling upon a judgment that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, fiction | Tagged cyberpunk, cyberspace, Genre defining, hacking, Japan, Neuromancer, sci-fi, science fiction, Shadowrun, street samurai, techno-dystopia, William Gibson | 2 Comments

Journey’s End

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Tietsu

“Is there ever a point where, you know, you regret it? All the lives you didn’t live just sort of staring at you from behind that wall of possibilities. I can’t imagine even being able to face them. All those … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Fiction | Tagged consensus, consensus is never a good thing, fantasy, halloween, it's not really halloween but it's the closest I could muster so you'll just have to deal with it, it's the journey not the ending, journey's end, Letting go, old man, purpose, searching and finding, warrior | Leave a comment

Book Review: Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century by Daniel Oppenheimer

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Tietsu

[Note: I read this book a year ago. Things have changed no small bit since then, but a review is a review and I’m posting it as is.] A great election-year book. An exploration of the journey of personal politics … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Nonfiction | Tagged american history, Biography, Christopher Hitchens, Conservative, Daniel Oppenheimer, David Horowitz, Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century, James Burnhan, Liberal, Norman Pohhoretz, philsophy, Ronald Reagan, Sociology, Whittaker Chambers | Leave a comment

Book Review: @War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex by Shane Harris

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Tietsu

@War suffers not only in its kitschy title, but in its wee-haw, all hail the Military Industrial/Internet Complex viewpoint. I read this book as tentative research for a project and early on it became clear that my only option to survive … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Nonfiction | Tagged cyber warfare, cyberspace, history, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Military Internet Complex, NSA, politics, science, Shane Harris, war, warfare | Leave a comment

Caustic Little Fairytales

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Tietsu

We grew up with them, we all did. These caustic little fairytales. The idea that life, love, and happiness were not only possible, but perfect. That every piece of misery was only a building block to something better. Like a … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Non-fiction | Tagged comfort, dissatisfaction, dread, Fairytales, finding meaning, happiness, Life, Love, misery, soul | Leave a comment

Book Review: Dead Man’s Hand by John Joseph Adams (Editor)

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Tietsu

Anthologies are hard to review. It’s the same as short story collections, except worse. Instead of a single author prying their mind open at different points you have an editor playing god with dozens of other minds and apparently something … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, fiction | Tagged Anthology, Dead Man's Hand, fantasy, horror, Ken Liu, Mysticism, Rajan Khanna, science fiction, Short Stories, Steampunk, urban fantasy, Walter Jon Williams, western | Leave a comment

Flashback: The Day The Gods Left

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Tietsu

Preamble (again): Some part of me enjoyed the embarrassment of revisiting old things. So I’m posting another one of the self-contained stories while Gaiman’s book rings in my soul and makes sharing these old, imperfect children seem harmless, almost fun. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Fiction | Tagged abandoment, alternative history, death, failed novel, fantasy, fear, gods, myth, nomads, norse mythology, Short Story, vikings, world building | Leave a comment

Book Review: Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Tietsu

I never cared for The Last Unicorn. It was a fable, it was fantasy. It told a happy story where nothing much comes in the way of generally harming anything else. Not my fare, but after tearing apart most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, fiction | Tagged diners, fantasy, ferries, kayaking, Magical Realism, middle age, myth, mythology, Peter S. Beagle, relationships, Summerlong | 1 Comment