![]() He is emotionally numb, stoic and a complete liability until he lets down his barriers and becomes a needy, emotional, blubbering wreck. He is one of the most interesting characters in the series, but, unfortunately, in the comics he is so very, very weak. What does he become after? Where does he stop? He is forced into a corner and forced to kill in order to save another life. And he is rather deadly with it, but circumstances arise to complicate his life. So he has decided to step back, to carry no guns and simply defend himself with a staff when absolutely necessary. He has no off switch, once the floodgates open (and the bullets start flying) he cannot control himself. He is a man who has abstained from killing because the consequences of it drive him to the brink of despair. ![]() ![]() If they are going through some form of crisis it means they are distinctly human their emotions are real and their actions unpredictable: they are volatile and potentially dangerous.Įnter Morgan, one of my favourite characters from the television series: Who doesn’t? I like characters that are morally conflicted and deeply torn. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Samatar returns to Olondria with “The Winged Histories,” out Tuesday from Small Beer Press. The book won a British Fantasy Award for best novel. In rich, poetic prose and employing lavish imagination, “A Stranger in Olondria” introduced this remarkable country where ghosts, religious fanatics and warring factions converged. It was 2013 when Samatar published her debut novel, “A Stranger in Olondria,” with Small Beer Press, the Massachusetts-based fantasy imprint run by Kelly Link and her husband, Gavin Grant. Now, with a doctorate in African languages and literature, she lives in Ventura and brings a dynamic set of cultural and linguistic influences to her fiction. Passionate about languages, Samatar moved to South Sudan and later to Egypt during her twenties to teach English and learn Arabic with her husband author Keith Miller. Sofia Samatar was born to a Somali father and Swiss German Mennonite mother in a small town in northern Indiana. ![]() ![]() ![]() He grimaces when he remembers the Alfredo. ![]() ![]() “It’s probably not a bad thing,” I say as I loosen the fries from the pan. “Will, do you ever notice how we somehow always get stuck cooking?” “Burgers.” I hand him a spatula and point to the stove, instructing him to flip the burgers while I pull the fries out of the oven. He slips his shoes off at the door and makes his way into the kitchen. It’s not an official knock, but at least he’s making an attempt. Eddie heads across the street to Lake’s house, and Gavin walks inside, tapping his knuckles against the front door. Is there a sign on my house instructing people not to knock? Lake never knocks anymore, but her comfort here apparently extends to Eddie as well. “IS LAYKEN OVER HERE OR OVER THERE?” EDDIE ASKS, peering in the front door. That’s all I really have to say right now. We’re having dinner with Gavin and Eddie tonight. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, that’s for sure. Luckily, my grandparents have been supportive while I work on my master’s degree. For right now, though, I’m living off student loans. Hopefully, by this time next year, I’ll be teaching again. I’m thinking about applying to local schools for another teaching job after next semester. Didn’t get the days I wanted, but I only have two semesters left, so it’s getting harder to be picky about my schedule. ![]() ![]() The authors provide significant detail in their narrative to accompany the photographs, providing insight into the diverse regions of the country. A varied population of animals and plants thrive in the lush geography and microclimates of this part of the land bridge between North and South America. In fact, it is the largest protected area within any single nation in the world. Much of its land is contained within a system of national parks and reserves that make up twenty-five percent of the country’s landmass. ![]() The pair has created a photo essay of the wild places and wildlife of what they call “paradise.” The images presented inform that designation.īound by the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, this country is tropical and mountainous. This rich, visual tour of the biodiversity of a remarkable land expresses loyalty to environmental conservation.Įlements of biogeography and biodiversity are captured in words and exquisite photographs to present a luminous biography of the Republic of Costa Rica in this book by Douglas Goodell and Marco Saborío. ![]() ![]() ![]() It's an interesting idea, buried in the dreck. His suit is a sciencey thing, so he turns dials to make his tiny 6 inch body get stronger, or weigh less, etc. Darn thought bubbles!īut there's a certain intellectual charm to the Atom. Filled with wonky dialogue, too, like "Laurie would be surprised if she knew that I actually am the Atom" or "I was so tired from running around earlier that I was susceptible to the trap.", etc. Light is probably the best bad guy that comes to mind, and only because he was in an early JLA issue). There are almost no big name villains, and very few recurring ones (Dr. ![]() They're like science fictioney tales, where aliens, or at best a baddie with a weird invention, but the Atom shows up and foils the bad guy in a very preposterous way. The Atom goes on adventures like any hero, but they are often pretty dumb. Gardner Fox (the writer on every Atom comic in this book) is a key figure in this sucky trend. So, from the late 50s until about 1970, DC Comics wrote terrible comics. ![]() ![]() Many of Clot-Bey’s writings provided readers with a gloomy picture of the status of Egyptian health care. Foremost among these was the French surgeon Antoine-Barthélémy Clot-Bey, entrusted by Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848, to reform the country’s medical education and practice. ![]() 2 This lack of interest mainly stems from the opinion of the physicians who accompanied the French expedition of 1798–1801 and other European physicians assigned to reform medicine in early nineteenth-century Egypt. 1 In the opinion of many scholars this was a time when the medical sciences in Egypt declined, qualified learned physicians were rare and people relied mainly on ignorant barbers and charlatans, and the period was deemed unworthy of study. Although the history of modern medical reforms in nineteenth-century Egypt has received considerable attention from historians and scholars, the history of medicine when the country was under Ottoman rule from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, is still largely unexplored. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He’s been homeless for twenty years, and as he says, “You think it won’t happen to you. Instead of crawling into your warm bed in your warm house, you crawl onto a piece of cardboard in a doorway, huddled in a filthy, moldy sleeping bag, just trying to get some shut-eye and not get shooed away or beaten up. ![]() Her hard-hitting journalism strikes a little close to home when she interviews a homeless man who sells poetry for spare change: Felix is thrilled to be reunited with Dylan, but is less certain how he feels about Winnie, a know-it-all perfectionist who works with the two boys on the school newspaper. Living in a van means he can go to the French immersion school in the district they used to live in, where his best friend is. But when Mormor dies, Astrid and Felix start their slide into homelessness: from his grandmother’s house, to a sinking condo, to a rental apartment, to a friend’s basement, to a van.įelix, the optimist, lives up to the Latin root of his name. They played at the park, made gingerbread, and watched Who, What, Where, When, a Canadian trivia show. His “mormor” looked after him while his mother was at work. He used to live with his mom, who he calls Astrid, at his grandmother’s house. And no one knows his secret.įelix has seen a lot in his twelve years. ![]() Due to a combination of bad luck and bad parenting, Felix and his mom Astrid are living out of her ex-boyfriend’s van. Just your average seventh grade boy, right? Wrong. Felix Knutsson loves trivia, his pet gerbil, and hanging out with his friend Dylan. ![]() ![]() They are romantic fiction with a sense of humor. Sharmat also wrote the Sorority Sisters series, eight short novels published in 19 (not listed below). In the mid-1980s Sharmat wrote three books published in 19 under the pseudonym Wendy Andrews ( below). In the late 2010s, their other son Andrew co-wrote the last two Nate books with his mother. During the 1990s, their son Craig Sharmat (then in his thirties) wrote three Nate books with his mother. Husband and wife wrote four Olivia Sharp books published 1989 to 1991. ![]() Sharmat's husband Mitchell Sharmat expanded Nate's storyline by creating Olivia Sharp, his cousin and fellow detective. One story, Nate the Great Goes Undercover, was adapted as a made-for-TV movie that won the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival Award. He was inspired by and named after her father, who lived to see the first Nate book published. Perhaps Sharmat's most popular work features the child detective Nate the Great. They have won awards including Book of the Year by the Library of Congress or have become selections by the Literary Guild. She has written more than 130 books for children and teens and her books have been translated into several languages. Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (Novem– March 12, 2019) was an American children's writer. ![]() Book of the Year Citation from the Library of Congress ![]() ![]() ![]() Also included was the classic “Rip Van Winkle.” The stories propelled him to fame. Washington Irving (1783-1859) published “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1819 as part of a collection of stories titled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. ![]() As it turns out, looking a bit into the history of “Sleepy Hollow,” there are just as many questions about the origins of the story itself. I still remember the profound frustration of not knowing exactly what happened to Ichabod Crane. The bridge became more than ever an object of superstitious awe, and that may be the reason why the road has been altered of late years…The schoolhouse being deserted, soon fell to decay, and was reported to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue and the plough-boy, loitering homeward of a still summer evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, chanting a melancholy psalm tune among the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow.” ![]() “…The old country wives, however, who are the best judges of these matters, maintain to this day that Ichabod was spirited away by supernatural means and it is a favourite story often told about the neighbourhood round the winter evening fire. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by John Quidor, 1858 ![]() ![]() Serenity: Those Left Behind and Better Days (from Dark Horse Comics) both take place between the end of the television series and the beginning of the movie, filling in a few gaps. Of course, one film isn't enough to tie up all the loose ends started in Season One, and Whedon has revisited Firefly in the world of comics. Created by Joss Whedon, the show was smart and funny and lasted only one season, but the outpouring of fan support eventually led to a feature film, Serenity, which was sort of a two-hour Season Two. In case you're not familiar with it, Firefly was a space western, about a band of outcasts and their overworked spaceship, finding work where they could and on the run from the Alliance. ![]() ![]() As we all sit around and mourn the cancellation of Caprica, let's revisit another excellent sci-fi show that was over all too quickly: Firefly. ![]() |