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Quite a while ago, I read a wonderful fantasy novel called Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey, a long book set in a pseudo-Europe roughly around the Renaissance era, featuring as the lead character a woman named Phedre who serves a goddess called Naamah, an an anguissette — a courtesan, or concubine, whose major point of attraction is the fact that she is, well, masochistic by nature. Phedre became deeply involved with the court politics of her city, making enemies before she even knew that she had, and eventually found herself journeying across the continent in an effort to save herDown the rabbit hole….

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So, I took The Daughter to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the other day. We loved the movie, just loved it; but then, we’ve loved the entire series to this point — even the occasionally sickeningly-sweet first two, directed by Chris Columbus — and this is the one where it all comes together. Some of this will involve spoilers, so my thoughts are below the fold. What I liked most about Deathly Hallows was that it didn’t make the mistake lots of movies make these days: it didn’t confuse “dark” with “relentlessly grim”. The film is dark, makeDown the rabbit hole….

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Sorry I couldn’t come up with a more eloquent title for this post, but…well, sometimes you gotta go with the words that hit you. Therefore: Let there be dancing in the streets! Yup, I won a copy of Doug Adams’s The Music of The Lord of the Rings, which makes me so utterly happy that…well, later there may be opening of beer and dancing once I am alone and no one can see. The entry rules were simple: in addition to providing contact info, entrants had to identify their favorite bit of music from the films and describe why. Here’sDown the rabbit hole….

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Ah, the fine lure of 1980s cheese movies! I loved Krull when it came out, and saw the thing twice. It hit all of my sweet spots at the time. But then, I was 12, and I’ve grown a bit more sophisticated since then. My sweet spots at the time? A young Prince thrust into Kingship by the sudden onset of war; sword fights; aliens with ray guns; aged wizards come to nudge the young Prince toward destiny; a funky and mythical weapon; a really pretty Princess; the Prince’s motley collection of allies, most of whom are outlaws; perils likeDown the rabbit hole….

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SamuraiFrog comments favorably on Sean Bean’s casting as Lord Eddard Stark in the forthcoming HBO series A Game of Thrones, adapting the first book in George RR Martin’s pretty good, but I suspect doomed to eternal incompletion, Song of Ice and Fire series. Bean looks really good in this photo: Looking at this pic, I have a new thought: [SPOILER, highlight to read]Maybe after this, Bean can play Uther Pendragon in a filmed adaptation of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian books, so he can keep up his newfound habit of playing guys who die in the first books of the series whoseDown the rabbit hole….

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My review of Under Heaven is now available at GMR. For non-spoiler thoughts, feel free to read the review. I do have some thoughts on the book that I left out because they were spoilerish, so I’ll put those here, but in order to read them you’ll have to highlight them with your mouse: :: GGK so often writes about medievalish places wherein women have little real power given to them overtly, and thus must scramble to assume whatever power they can through other means. This theme is particularly evident in this novel. :: Is Kitai in the same “world”Down the rabbit hole….

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My Facebook friends know that on Wednesdays, I like to celebrate “Hump Day”, past the midpoint of which the week is all downhill, with the indulgence of a donut or two at my mid-morning break. Above you see two of my unwitting victims: a coconut frycake donut, and a glazed cruller. These I wash down with coffee (from that orange mug there), whilst either reading or talking with a coworker who is at my location of The Store two weeks per month. And what do I read? Lots of stuff. But right now, of course, it’s this: Boo-yeah! I usuallyDown the rabbit hole….

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UPDATE: Welcome, readers and followers of BrightWeavings! I’m in the process of re-reading all of GGK’s books leading up to the Under Heaven release. You can find earlier posts of mine on the subject of GGK here. Feel free to stick around! When the Lion at his pleasure comesTo the watering place to drink, ah see!See the lesser beasts of Al-Rassanscatter, like blown leaves in autumn,Like air-borne seedlings in the spring,Like grey clouds that part to let the first starOf the god shine down upon the earth. I suppose many readers have the problem of the Favorite Author: after readingDown the rabbit hole….

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I’ve seen today, in a number of places, that fantasy author Robert Holdstock has died. He was only 61. Apparently he was hospitalized several days ago with an E. coli infection, and he succumbed today. He was only 61 years old. Holdstock wrote a number of highly-regarded books, but as of now, the only one I’ve read is Mythago Wood, which a friend of mine who was also a correspondent of Holdstock’s sent me with orders to read it as soon as possible. I did, and I was highly impressed with it (this was seven or eight years ago, andDown the rabbit hole….

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I’m not the biggest Stephen King fan in the world. I find that he can be hit or miss, which is probably to be expected of a writer so prolific as he. I haven’t read everything of his; not even close. I’ve read some stuff of his that I liked a good amount (Salem’s Lot), some stuff that I enjoyed a bit less but still liked just fine (Carrie), some stuff that I outright bounced off (Dreamcatcher), and a range of reactions thereof. But I have also read a good deal of his work that just blows me away (TheDown the rabbit hole….