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Cover of the Xanth novel, "Dragon on a Pedestal" depicting a small blonde girl in a red, frilly dress petting a dragon who's looking up at her in adulation

We Got Xanthed

When I posted a poll to gauge interest in discussing different crap books in an upcoming episode of Podside Picnic, I should've been prepared for this. https://twitter.com/kjy1066/status/1297661342271320064?s=20 What else can I say other than: the public has spoken! This means that Pete and I will prioritize talking about the series of books written by none other than British-by-Birth, Florida-Man-by-Choice, (and all around perv) Piers Anthony. As Pete so succinctly put it: https://twitter.com/PodsidePete/status/1297663309009899524?s=20 I feel your pain, man If there's one good thing I could say about the Xanth books, it's that each one's generally stand-alone. That's why I started on the 7th book in the series and worked my way through whichever ones I could find. Thus my journey began So, look for our Xanth-stravaganza, coming soon to a Crap Books near you! ...

September 3, 2020
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More Crap Books Episodes

Some good news! Due to the popularity of the Crap Books episodes, Podside Picnic decided to have me on once a month to ramble some more about my genre mis-education. This will continue for as long as it's still something Pete and I are interested in doing. I'm currently racking my brains to list different novels I've not yet discussed for upcoming episodes. Full disclosure: we may reserve the right to circle back for a deeper dive of certain tie-in novels we've already discussed at any time. For the moment, we'll very likely discuss the Shadowrun novel, Burning Bright (which I'm currently reading in preparation), as well as the Vampire: the Eternal Struggle CCG (!) tie-in, House of Secrets sometime soon. We'll probably want to also explore what Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman wrote after Dragonlance. There's plenty of material to draw from already, but we wanted to gauge interest. This is...

August 23, 2020
Public Appearance, Reading, Uncategorized
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Annotations to Crap Books II: Son of Crap Book

This post is a bit late, but I got invited back to Podside Picnic to continue my conversation with Pete on what we jokingly call "crap books". This time, we circled back to talk a little bit more about the influence of D&D and the Satanic Panic on what I'm calling my genre (mis)education. Again, the latest episode is free to listen here if you haven't yet, and I also had some follow-up posts with annotations that build upon that first episode. Because the crap books conversations tend to flow, I may misremember stuff, so of course I'd name the wrong title of Leiber's Lankhmar books. I mentioned Swords Against Wizardry or Swords Against Deviltry, when the one I meant is simply called The Swords of Lankhmar. My interest in Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser was spurred by my friend César lending me the books, but I don't remember if this was...

August 15, 2020
Horror, Memoir, Reading, Uncategorized
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First Post of the Plague Year

I'm joking about the title of this post, but only halfway, given the news. I'm trying to be as cautious as possible, but I'll not lie: I'm worried for myself, and for how many people will likely die as a result of COVID-19. It's hard to find hope in this moment, pinched between the current crisis and the larger ones looming in the future. I am so very fortunate to have a job that's stable, that will be allowing me to telework until further notice, and that I'm truly blessed in my life, my wife, my home and everything else. Sure, I worked towards this, but I was amazingly lucky to receive everything I now have. I wish more people had that opportunity, that luck. So, I've concentrated on my reading, am trying my hand at some poetry via the Codex online writer's forum, and practicing on my ukelele every other day...

March 23, 2020
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