BookWords Blogg

Today I’m going to do the usual “werd nerd” stuff and also talk about fantasy (or “phantasy”) and how it relates to reality in literature. Deep stuff, but first, some ads: My newest novel, Sea and Sunset Lands , is out: the second of the MadStones books; the second “Tond” series. Besides being part of a sequel to “Tond”, it relates to some of my other writing, such as the novel and “Ussers and the Echo of Nothing” (yes, “ussers” with two S’s) and the collection of short stories, “Fronds”. Also, check out a new sister blog, TheFronds in Tond (if you just read the rest of this paragraph you should get the joke) and the old one: The SoundScroll . The ”Werd Nerd” Stuff Today’s words: Fantasy, Phantasy, Fantastic, Phantastic, Fantastical. Fantasy: a genre of speculative fiction that includes magical or supernatural elements. Phantasy: an archaic spelling of the same, also used in psychology to describe imaginative mental images. Fantastic: excellent or great. Fantastical: imagin...

This time I’m going to review three books about other species, their journeys, and their possible cultures and languages. Shiloh   By S A Moon This tiny book is a beautiful enigma. Mr. Moon is a mysterious internet presence, known by several names; he is the creator of art, stories, songs, mythologies, conlangs, and something called the Blurry Rabbit Dream Klub. He is also the illustrator who created the moon-horse on the covers of my MadStones books. Many of these things (including, at this point, the moon-horse) ask more questions than they answer. This book is an example: with beautiful line-drawn illustrations, he tells the tale of a penguin who has wandered away from the others but doesn’t seem to know he is lost. The penguin speaks of the journey in a kind of running monologue, but he goes nowhere and comes to no conclusions. He merely observes his world. If you read this book quickly (I did it in a couple of minutes the first time), you miss the point. It may seem like nothi...

That previous post was pretty grim, and I’m sure I haven’t heard the last of the controversies it must have generated. So this time I’m going back to lighter fare. As always: book reviews, words, and the self-promo. I'll deal with the latter first and get it out of the way: My novel " Ussers and the Echo of Nothing " (surrealism, magical realism) may soon be pulled from publication. Get it now before it's gone! The Tond series (epic high fantasy) is still available. Both deal with other worlds, maybe worlds where things aren't as they are; but in different ways. Also, check out the sister blog, The SoundScroll , about music. Today’s Words: Mandela Effect, Turing Machine, Purpous (yes, I mean “purpous”, not “purpose”, “propose”, or “porpoise”!). The Mandela Effect: A lot of people remember the exact time and place where they were when they heard that Nelson Mandela died in prison. But Nelson Mandela didn’t die in prison; he was released and later became presid...

This is a continuation from the previous post . There will be no "fun for werd nerds" this time around, though there will be two book reviews. Warnings 1. ) This post will get very dark, very fast. I have hesitated posting this because of the horror involved, but I've decided that the message is necessary. Both the "woke" and "anti-woke" mobs might want to skip this because I'm presenting a third path, which may be antagonistic to both. 2. ) Because of the subject matter, and the fact that I may need to state the "opposing view"; there is the possibility that what I'm going to say here can be misunderstood (intentionally or not) to support what I am in fact denoucing. Some of the statements I'm going to make may be seen as egregious or inflammatory (or both) if taken out of context (in the same way that politicians frequently do to each other's statements). Readers: Please read this post to the end before forming an opinio...

This month’s words: Merry Christmas! Japanese has Meri Kurisumasu ; these are loanwords and sound closer to the original English than they look — the U’s all but disappear in quick speech (though they reappear in song). Hawaiian supposedly has Mele Kalikimaka : I don’t know if this is “real” or a later invention (and a song), but again it’s obviously derived from English. If you think K doesn’t really sound like S, think about the letter C and a cat in a city. (That form of palatalization is common in the world’s languages.) Italian has Buon Natale , the cognates of which are two women’s names: Bonnie Natalie. Actually the first comes from the same root as “bonny” (=”good” or “pleasant”, as sung in in folk songs) and the second is related to “Nativity” with a different suffix (the word “natal” is not entirely foreign to English). So: Good (or pleasant) Nativity. In my Fyorian conlang (for my Tond books ), one could either wish someone Méri Krísmas (obviously English loanwords agai...

Book consist of words, obviously. But what about books about words? Or books about books? This blog post will take a look at two of them (book reviews!); then it’ll focus on two nonsense words, one of which is related to the title of one of the books (fun for “werd nerds”!) This will be a long blog post, but at least there will be mondegreens. Some business first. My short story "Silkod of the Drenn" is available in Journ-E: The Journal of Imaginative Writing . A stand-alone “Tond” story, it is also a (possibly unsolved) call to adventure. Scroll down to find Volume 1, Number 2. Also, continuing the story of Tond, there's Grendul Rising ; here's an interview about it. Also, check out this blog's sister, The SoundScroll . It's about music. Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's the actual blog post. The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston This is a history of the printed page, told with a...

First, a shameless self-promo: the short story "Silkod of the Drenn" has been published in Journ-E: The Journal of Imaginative Writing . A stand-alone “Tond” story, it is also a (possibly unsolved) call to adventure. Scroll down to find Volume 1, Number 2. Also, nobody's reviewed Grendul Rising yet, though here's an interview about it. Also, check out this blog's sister, The SoundScroll . It's about music. Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's the actual blog post. Discussion Part One So this time I’m going to look at a psychological/sensory phenomenon that occurs in one (possibly two?) of my own novels, even though I have never actually experienced it. Or have I? As usual, this blog will review a couple of books, and the point of one of them is that maybe I actually have experienced the phenomenon in question. Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet It’s refreshing to read a novel of high fantasy that does not draw its concepts of good and...