BOOK REVIEW | The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre (Oxford World’s Classics)
The vampire as we know it today — often suave, aristocratic, and deadly deceptive — was first conjured during that famous “Haunted Summer” of 1816, when Lord Byron proposed to his guests Mary Godwin (soon to be Mary Shelley), Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Byron’s personal physician, John Polidori, that they each come up with their…
AMERICAN HISTORY | An Overview of The Journal of American History
The Journal of American History is a quarterly journal that was originally established in 1914 as the Mississippi Valley Historical Review. Under the guidance of its first editor, Clarence Walworth Alvord, founder of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association which headed the journal, the first volumes dealt mainly with the history of the political and territorial…
BOOK REVIEW | A History of Horror
Wheeler Winston Dixon’s A History of Horror offers a substantial list of horror films from the silent beginnings to the first decade of the twenty-first century. He takes a studio approach, highlighting the directors, producers, and a few of the actors which thrived under certain eras. Only on rare occasions does he touch upon the…
POETRY | Arachni’venom (What Waiting Fed’m)
Arachni’venom (What Waiting Fed’m) Spiders spin webbing, an all-consuming threading, Behind his eyes by scores. Stopping paths of thought, catch’em in their pearly knots, He thinks on them no more. Spiders weave pinken gums, clamping teeth, one by one, Jaw cages unseen sores. Voice constricted tight, wrapped within restrains of white, We think on him…
BOOK REVIEW | African-American Poetry: An Anthology, 1773-1927
African-American Poetry: An Anthology, 1773-1927, is a slim volume which gives a taste of the African American experience from the dawning of the Revolution to the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance. There are many fine pieces found within, and it is interesting to see the attitudes change over time, such as when Phillis Wheatley, an…
BOOK LOG | June 2020
What follows is a list of what I read/listened to in the month of June 2020, accompanied by a short publisher’s description and my brief thoughts/reactions. NONFICTION The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus “One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus–featured here in a stand-alone edition–is a crucial exposition…
BOOK REVIEW | Stones from the River
In Stones from the River, set in wartime Germany, in the fictional town of Burgdorf, Ursula Hegi sets the theme of her book early on through the protagonist’s mother. She allows her young daughter, Trudi, to run her fingers across the scars on her thigh, feeling the grains of gravel beneath, telling her, “People die if…
BOOK REVIEW | Norman Rockwell
Elizabeth Miles Montgomery’s Norman Rockwell does a fine job of placing the over-sized, vividly colored plates found within this collection in their proper context. As she writes of Rockwell: “His critics have said that he chose to depict only the good side of the American experience. This is not altogether accurate, but in any case, it is…
BOOK REVIEW | How I Became Stupid
French author Martin Page’s How I Became Stupid is an amusing story of one man’s quest to remove the shackles of intellect by any means necessary so that he might finally live comfortably among the uninquiring masses. For those who can genuinely relate to this plight and wish to find a fictional kindred spirit, this book will…
BOOK REVIEW | The Grand Design
The Grand Design, by famed physicist Stephen Hawking, who sadly passed away in 2018, and Leonard Mlodinow, attempts to answer, or at least to approach, our most important questions: why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature what they are? Did the universe need a designer…
ALBUM REVIEW | CARACH ANGREN – Franckensteina Strataemontanus
The Dutch act Carach Angren, often categorized as symphonic black metal, prefers to describe itself as horror metal. The latter description more fittingly describes their latest release, Franckensteina Strataemontanus. The concept album tackles Mary Shelley’s classic story in refreshing ways, mixing black metal sensibilities with emotional strings and choruses, as well as with punching moments…
BOOK REVIEW | Common Sense
Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, published in January of 1776, is undoubtedly one the most influential works in the history of mankind. Its first run sold out within two weeks and went on to sell around 500,000 copies in a country with only about 2 million free people. Its message was simple, its language easily understood:…
BOOK REVIEW | The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands
Josseline Jamileth Hernandez Quinteros was a fourteen-year-old girl from El Salvador who illegally crossed the U.S. border into Arizona in January 2008. While traveling with her young brother and other compañeros, led by a shifty coyote, she became ill and was left behind to fend for herself in the harsh desert climate. She did not survive.…
ALBUM REVIEW | NIN – Ghosts I-IV
Since its release in 2008, this album has been my go-to soundtrack for when I am writing. Ghosts I-IV is a four-volume, 36 track, two hour sensory experience of varying instrumentals, aptly described by Trent Reznor as “a soundtrack for daydreams.” Some tracks are beautifully melodic with soft piano or lightly plucking bass or banjo,…
BOOK REVIEW | 50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know
Ben Dupré’s 50 Philosophy Ideas You Need to Know offers a well-organized primer for those curious about philosophy. Each of the ideas is given four pages, which is mostly adequate to at least introduce the topics although some of the earlier entries, whose concepts are relatively simple, seem further confused and complicated through the effort to fill…
Thomas Paine, Reappraised
Some years back I was walking through Greenwich Village and came upon an old building plaque which read: Thomas PaineBorn – 1737Died – 1809On this site.The world is my countryAll mankind are my brethrenTo do good is my religionI believe in one God and no more Every American school kid grows up learning about Paine’s…
Eating Meat in America
Today, the typical American diet consists of eating meat at least three times a day. It is because of this seemingly insignificant dietary choice that the environment suffers, the rest of the world suffers, and our health suffers. Clearly, it seems, something has to be done, but what should the solution be? Should Americans stop…
MOVIE REVIEW | The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) — The Revenant Review
This review is part of the A Play of Light and Shadow: Horror in Silent Cinema Series Movie Review — The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) On April 15, 2019, I watched the television news with dismay and grief. The medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was engulfed in flames, a city’s history and architectural…
BOOK REVIEW | Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers
When I was buying my house a little over a decade ago, Carolyn Warren’s Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage or Re-finance was an indispensable ally. It reveals the mortgage industry as it was at the time, warts and all, in a clear format and…
BOOK REVIEWS | Caveman’s Guide to Baby’s First Year/Dude, You’re Gonna Be a Dad!
When my wife was pregnant with our first child I read through streams of parenting literature, but two in particular were geared towards easing first-time fathers into their new roles. Both books took a relaxed and entertaining tact and were designed in style and substance to differentiate from the pastel pinks and purples of the…
BOOK REVIEW | A Practical Guide to Middle and Secondary Social Studies
When I first picked up June R. Chapin’s A Practical Guide to Middle and Secondary Social Studies as an undergraduate there was little to lead me to anticipate that, as a prospective secondary school educator, I would get much out of it. With its bland purple cover and a quick flip through the pages there seemed…
BOOK REVIEWS | Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong/French or Foe?
In 2004 my girlfriend (and eventual wife) and I took our first trip to Europe, choosing to spend a few days exploring Paris and Versailles. As someone who reads a great deal about destinations before I travel, I read through some books designed to give outsiders a better understanding of France. What follows are brief…
Scabs, and other things I've picked at 
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