ISAAC'S BOOKBLOG

 If you're playing in my Ad Astra campaign, you are forbidden to read the Hey Mister Jackal Man post at this time. That means you, with the fox for a head. And you, over there with the halberd. Jackalmen     I want to give you an evil humanoid. Something to fill a niche that isn't yet filled by goblins.     Goblins are an unforgettable concept. They are savage, and cruel, and supernatural. They live in forests, the mountains. They manifest our fears of the wilderness. Their theme is crazy. They steal babies, and worship dark gods, and have horrible goblin names, and horrible goblin dogs, and horrible goblin tortures.     For this reason, it never made sense to me that you would go to a dungeon somewhere inside of civilization---a ruined library, say---and find goblins. To my way of thinking, goblins exist strictly outside the border of civilization. They are like a barbarian army. They can be fought. They can be kept out. But when you venture outside, ...

  The Nine-Second Review Title: Some Danger Involved Author: Will Thomas Genre: Historical Ficiton/Crime Recommend: Yes Summary: Victorian England detectives vs anti-Semitic terrorism. Full Review Premise What if Sherlock Holmes was not a character, but a species? What if we had another Sherlock Holmes?      The appeal of Sherlock Holmes is that Holmes is a brilliant detective, and John Watson is a sort of amiable lump he drags around behind him. Because Watson narrates the stories, we share his total ignorance of what the hell is going on. As the story goes on, we theorize about what the solution is going to be, just as Watson does. At the end of the story, Sherlock essentially grades our test, going over the mystery step by step and answering all of our questions.      The Holmes stories are brilliant in their way. Their solutions are absurd, but they follow a certain internal logic that makes them incredibly appealing. The relationship of their two ...