Last Monday, the Fall edition of the McGill student literary journal STEPS was published, with my poem in it! . It's a reflection on arctic blizzards and hallucination--seeing things in randomness when there's no one else around to contradict you. . Bonus marks: Can you spot the allusions to Frankenstein and Don Quixote? If you …
Tag: English
Poetry Reading at Le Cagibi!
This Monday marked the occasion of my second ever poetry reading, where I recited "Ice Breaker" (which is this Friday's post), "St. Francis of the Amazon," "Seagull," and my final, uproarious poem "Anticlimax." The venue was in the backroom of Le Cagibi (pronounced KAH-jeh-bey, or "KGB" in phonetic Quebecois French), a hipster, student-populated restaurant on …
The Beets
Nothing like a good pun to lighten the mood on a Friday evening--or a Monday morning ... whenever you happen to read this. Fairly self-explanatory, but I would encourage anyone who takes a peak at this to learn more about the Beat Generation. Ever put some Jack Kerouac in your salad? I hear it's tasty...
Top Ten Wainscot Societies
When Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone gained unprecedented popularity, the world at large was introduced to a “new” concept: a hidden magical society that lived parallel to the everyday world, but scarcely—if ever—interacting with it. The idea of hidden societies, however, is not a new one. Many fantasy novels of all types include hidden …
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Feel disconnected from your childhood lately? Although I am not a licensed psychiatrist, or a doctor of any sort, let me recommend to you The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Never fear: it is not a pill that is bitter to the taste, although it is certainly not sugar coated. …
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River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
My hardcover of River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay We first see Ren Daiyan, the heroic protagonist of Kay's newest novel, as an angst-ridden adolescent in a grove, wielding a bamboo sword to channel his anger. Living in a time of famine, and of war against the barbarian Kislik tribe, he is deeply aware …
The Fionavar Tapestry Book 2: The Wandering Fire
When The Wandering Fire opens, Rakoth Maugrim is unchained and ready for a slow vengeance, and the five Torontonians have restlessly settled into their old lives. The opening line, “Winter is coming,” echoes the moody refrain of the book, and might remind readers of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Indeed, …
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The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Though this novel is quite different from the other books I have reviewed, which tend to belong to the fantasy genre, I nonetheless was intrigued to read it, because of three things: the bizarre cover, the awards it has won, and descriptions I had heard about its graphic depiction of violence. Actually, fantasy readers might …
Special Post: Honours thesis added to brightweavings.com
Today, I make a special announcement: my Honours thesis "Fantasies of History: Guy Gavriel Kay's Synthesis of the Historical Fantasy Novel" has been added to Kay's official website at brightweavings.com. This thesis is the fruit of over two years of thought, and one year of hard research, writing, and re-writing. It represents the summit of …
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Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
A group of editors gets together to write a parody of a conspiracy theory. What if the parody ends up becoming perceived as the source of ultimate truth for an actual underground group that styles itself after the Templars and Rosicrucians? The answer lies in the pages of Umberto Eco's intellectual thriller Foucault's Pendulum. In …
Matthew Rettino 