from The Il-khan's Wife (In my novel The Il-khan's Wife, Gobras is a priest, patriarch of the followers of Zoroaster. Although old and blind, he often has dreams of future events . . . . ) *** 'The fire in the hearth was low and Gobras was dreaming. So often now, in the solitary silence …
Category: Books
Nine Good Reasons
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Forget the film! Whatever its merits or demerits, the movie starring Will Smith has almost no connection at all with the short story collection having the same title. Three of Asimov's characters - Susan Calvin, the robopsychologist, Robertson, the head of US Robots, and Lanning, one of its directors, do …
The Origins of Modern Fantasy
The Blazing World of Margaret Cavendish 'At last the rain came, and upon a sudden all their houses appeared of a flaming Fire; and the more Water there was poured on them, the more did they flame and burn;' I was doing some research into the history of fantasy literature when I came across a …
That which does not kill us . . . .
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagerkrantz translated by George Goulding '. . . . makes us stronger', as the saying goes. That Which Does Not Kill Us (Det som inte dödar oss) is the original Swedish title of this new novel about Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist and Millennium Magazine. David Lagerkrantz has …
Christianity's Hidden Goddess?
Mary Magdalene by Lynn Picknett 'On the feast day of SAINT *** Mary Magdalene . . . in the year 1209 something utterly horrific and bewildering, yet at the same time somewhat magnificent, took place at Béziers . . . France. [E]very last inhabitant of the town went willingly to their deaths at the hands …
The Gods Themselves
by Isaac Asimov 'The plutonium/tungsten can make its cycle endlessly back and forth between Universe and para- Universe, yielding energy first in one and then in another . . . Both sides can gain energy from what is, in effect, an inter-Universe Electron Pump.' This piece of pseudo science is how the jumped-up radiochemist-cum-physicist Hallam …
7 Deadly Sins of Reading
I am grateful [or maybe not!] to Friendly Bookworm for nominating me for The Seven Deadly Sins of Reading challenge. Now, seven deadly sins I'm familiar with; I've been guilty of all of them in my time - and that goes back quite a long way. But of Reading? I've always thought of reading as …
Nightmares and Zombies
This is my third post on the black magic novels of Dennis Wheatley. Strange Conflict was Wheatley's second de Richleau story of the occult, following The Devil Rides Out after six years. Written and set during World War II, it has a preposterous plot which involves the Nazis in black magic and has de Richleau …
This is REAL magic!
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern I was given this book as a present and began reading with no idea of what it was about. It engaged me within the first couple of pages and I finished it in three sittings. 'The circus arrives without warning ... It is simply there, when yesterday it was …
A Valued Opinion
A few days ago, I wrote a short review of Harper Lee's novel Go Set A Watchman. Before reading the book and writing the review, I had made a determined effort not to read what others were saying about it. Having caught some of the press headlines, and noting their negativity, I feared that if …
Magda Green Books 