Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Stories in Rogues – “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives” by Lisa Tuttle
Ready for a 19th century Sherlock-Holmes esque mystery-solving dynamic duo set in England? Then let’s dive into this story about a start-up P.I. team taking on a ghost story … but it ends up not being ghosts. Something worse. A monster.
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Stories in Rogues – “The Caravan to Nowhere” by Phyllis Eisenstein
Author Phyllis Eisenstein comes out of a semi-retirement, and takes a beloved character out of a similar retirement to tell us this curious story set in the desert on some fantasy world. Our main character is a bard with the ability to teleport. This ends up being important to the story, but not the reason…
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Stories in Rogues – “Diamonds From Tequila” by Walter Jon Williams
You’d expect this one to be a little foggy for me, since it has been almost two weeks since I finished it, but oh no. You don’t forget a story like this. Forget the title. It’s nonsense, and essentially an in-story quip. This story is told in the first person by a hilariously self-absorbed and…
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Stories in Rogues – “A Cargo of Ivories” by Garth Nix
So I made a huge mistake and allowed a long time to elapse before writing some of these review snippets. Oops! However, maybe it will be a service to you, because if the story was memorable, then I should be able to do you a nice job–even now. This story, “A Cargo of Ivories”. I…
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Finished reading R. R. Martin’s “A Feast for Crows” …
… and I suppose first I need to tell a tiny story, you know, so you understand why I just now finished this book. I remember exactly where I was when I saw HBO’s first trailer for Game of Thrones. Sitting on the couch, watching something bullshit (Maybe season 1 of True Blood, before it…
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Stories in Rogues – “Ill Seen in Tyre” by Steven Saylor
This charming little piece of historical fiction is shorter than many of the other stories–or at least it felt that way, which is a good thing–and doesn’t quite fit the traditional “rogue” mold as it’s brother and sister stories in this anthology. It’s about a teen and his apprentice, at some point in the distant…
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Stories in Rogues – “A Better Way to Die” by Paul Cornell
The intro of accolades for Paul Cornell was jaw-dropping. I remember thinking, “holy shit, this guy has got some serious writing chops!” Then I learned it’d be a little story about a famous spy character he’d been writing about for a long time. It was billed as strange, fast-paced, where he’d be pitted against a…
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Stories in Rogues – “The Meaning of Love” by Daniel Abraham
The Meaning of Love is a sappy title, and one you have to immediately presume is sarcastic in an anthology like this one. I won’t spoil how this presumption plays out though, you may have to find out for yourself, because I do recommend reading this little story about a sprawling town run only by…
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Stories in Rogues – “Bad Brass” by Bradley Denton
I think I’m starting to find that I enjoy stories set in the modern world more than I thought. I guess maybe I just haven’t read that much in that setting–that setting, or, our setting? Hmm. I don’t know. Either way, I’m off topic. Would you believe me if I said that Denton is able…
Got any book recommendations?