Currently reading: For Heaven’s Eyes Only

Simon R. Green’s fifth entry in his Secret Histories series picks up right where From Hell with Love left off.

It’s in the same style as the other Shaman Bond novels; gritty, pulpy spy fantasy (literally: Bond is a Drood, and his family has used magical armor to defend England and the world from supernatural dangers), like if Ian Fleming wrote urban fantasy (and without even resorting to trashy urban fantasy cover art!).

If you’re read his other work, you’ll know what to expect: heroes that don’t give up, even when they should, and who aren’t particularly heroic. What his Deathstalker series did for pulp 50s era sci-fi and his Nightside series did for pulp private dick novels, the Secret History series does for spy novels.

It’s gritty and violent and a guilty pleasure; that it’s well-written only makes it better.

Duel of the Fates

Say what you will about the travesty that the Star Wars prequels turned into (and they had such promise!); the writing was bad, the plot was bad, the writing was bad, the acting was so-so, and the writing was awful, but at least John Williams did his part!

Duel of the Fates was released online before The Phantom Menace hit theaters to build hype, and it did its job marvelously.

The duel between Darth Maul and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon was easily the high point of the first prequel film.

Instead of ruining the entire franchise by associating it with the prequels, Lucas would have been better served by adapting Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy. The writing was better, the plot was better; they were just better all around.

Even if you can’t stand his views on anything else, you have to appreciate Mark Steyn’s free speech activism

Watch the whole thing (H/T The Notorious ŒV)!