I occasionally post on Quora.com, a question and answer site. Recently someone asked why Labyrinth is so great. You might already know that I love Labyrinth. But let me tell you more, because this movie is dismissed far more quickly than it deserves. Someone else had already given a short answer that mentioned the fantastic story and David Bowie, but I will go deeper. I don’t like the sequel manga and I think it derailed some of the fantastic symbolism, so my answer below is going to pretend it doesn’t exist. In my mind and in my answer, I’m treating the movie completely as a […]
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Because only Goblin Kings should sparkle. I must have watched Labyrinth at just the right time in adolescence for it to work for me. Or maybe I’m sufficiently weird to appreciate it in all its sparkly glory… everyone I know, online or off, who likes this movie is more than a little bit strange. Jareth is a fantastic character, and David Bowie plays him perfectly. First, I should clarify that I’m only talking about Jareth as written and played in the Labyrinth movie. I haven’t read the sequel(s) and am not sure if I would like them. Unlike many fangirls of the Labyrinth, I […]
I have never been a comic book fan. The art isn’t really my style (at least the art I saw way back when… I’ve seen some fantastic newer art that I’m more drawn to.*). The superhero genre didn’t appeal much to me, since I mostly saw it through the comic book lens. However, I love the recent adaptations of the Avengers. I especially love Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America. If you’ve been following this blog series on characters I love at all, or if you’ve read any of my books, you can probably guess that I love good guys. Specifically, […]
While I was at Awesome Con DC, I didn’t have the chance/inclination to do a lot of walking around. My back is feeling a bit better now that my parents are here waiting for Baby Brightley to arrive and helping with all the day to day stuff. But at the con, I was hurting, I was tired, and I felt like I needed to be at the table at every moment. It probably was unnecessary, but I tend to feel extra-responsible about things like that. So I didn’t get a chance to see any of the media guests or celebrities. […]
A Althea and Markon B Sir Percival Blakeney C the Marquis de Carabas Sidney Carton D Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo) E F G Samwise Gamgee (Sam) H I J Jack K L M Althea and Markon N O P Puddleglum Q R Reepicheep Steve Rogers / Captain America S T U V Jean Valjean W Andrew “Ender” Wiggin X Y Z
Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Since Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game, thousands upon thousands of young people have read it and thought “I am Ender.” Brilliant (we’d all love to be as bright as Ender), picked on, manipulated, misunderstood, yet ultimately triumphant (sort of?)… it’s easy to identify with him. The series continues through a number of other books, but I think it’s best to read Ender’s Game as a standalone at first. The next few books pick up much later in Ender’s life, and are pretty different in environment and feel. They’re good, but they’re different… don’t dive right into […]
First, I should say that I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I love all the characters. But I’m writing about Sam first because… well, he’s special. Why? Sam isn’t the smartest. He doesn’t think he’s brave. He’s not the “hero type.” Yet he rises to the challenges he faces in a way that puts any hero to shame. He’s humble. He’s generous. He doesn’t think of himself. Even when he’s lost hope, he keeps on going, because he’s not the giving-up type. He’s tougher, stronger, braver, and more important than he thinks he is. He’s a friend when […]
This guest post is part of the 2013 Blogger Book Fair and was written by Wendy S. Russo, the author of January Black. My Five Favorite Dragons in Fantasy 5. Falkor – The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende, 1979 Like every kid from the ‘80s who read the English translation of the Neverending Story, I saw the movie first. Falkor was a friendly and fluffy creature with far more in common with puppy dog than a dragon. He was ever so nice, plucking Atreyu out of the Swamps of Sadness and flying almost ten thousand miles to boy’s next challenge while […]
Sidney Carton was one of the first characters I really loved (after Winnie the Pooh and other childhood favorites), and the one who set me on a multi-year Dickens-and-other-classics phase that lasted through middle school and high school. Charles Dickens isn’t known for his rollicking adventures or his page-turning plots. Even in the most-obsessed time of my classics phase, I struggled to get through every word of Bleak House and David Copperfield without skimming, looking for the good parts. Generally I believe the book is better than the movie, and that’s probably true in this case as well. However, sometimes […]
Today we have a guest post on animals in fantasy from Jennifer Priester, author of the Mortal Realm Witch series. Thanks to her, I’ve added about 15 books to my To-Be-Read list, and I hope you will too! I’ve added links throughout the post. The links on author names to go the author page on Goodreads, where you can find reviews of the books as well as easily find other books by the same authors. The links on individual titles go to the Amazon page for that book. In the case of series, I’ve linked to the first book in […]