Lucas Blogs About Books

 Hey! That's right, it's my winter break. I know it's not the new year yet, but I'll be happy to put this year behind me. And I know that the first few months of 2021 aren't going to be easy, but I'm letting myself hope that maybe by this time next year things will be at least a little bit better.

I like how the guy on the back cover is just casually flexing his ram chair. Like, "Why yes, the armrests are giant ram's horns, nbd!" So, what's this book's deal? Would you believe we're already up to volume six of Witch Hat Atelier ? You mean Kamome Shirahama 's ongoing manga series? The very same. Yes, I would believe it, given that you have blogged about all the previous volumes. Cool. Then let's just jump right in! Of course, anything from volumes 1-5 is fair game for TEH SPOILARZ!  So, when we left off at the end of volume five, Euini had been saved, but Master Quifrey's confrontation with the Brimmed Cap Witches (the witches who violate the ban on performing magic on humans) has left him in dire need of medical assistance. Also, some Knights Moralis (Witch Cops) summon everyone from the atelier to the Great Hall (the seat of the witches' governemnt). While Quifrey recovers, Beldaruit, one of the witch elders, presents Agott and Richeh wi...

I don't have a joke about this one. So, what's this book's deal? Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes  is a graphic novel (I will never not feel pretentious typing those words) about the events leading up to the Chinese government crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrations that had taken place in Tiananmen Square in the Spring of 1989. Sounds a little heavy, are you sure you want to do this one in the Hypothetical Reader format? Well, we've already started haven't we? It's never too late to turn back. Nah, it'll be fine. Anyway, Tiananmen 1989  was co-written by Lun Zhang a sociology professor who helped the student protesters organize and French journalist Adrien Gombeaud with art by Améziane. Zhang's dedication makes it clear that it is not a strictly autobiographical account, and that it presents a condensed version of the events portrayed. Formally, it's structured as a lecture, with the fictionalized Zhang addressing the reader from a stage an...

Minimizing the screen reflection on the glossy cover was Ruff.   So, what's this book's deal? You're serious? It was recently adapted as an HBO series. Lucas, you don't even have basic cable, let alone HBO. Right you are, Hypothetical Reader. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff is a novel, kind of, that uses the tropes of pulp literature to explore issues relating to racism (both on an individual and systemic level) in America and in the kinds of literature that inspired it. How can something be "kind of" a novel. Well, it's really more a collection of inter-connected short stories that coalesce into a larger narrative. But I'm splitting hairs. It's a novel, it's just got a more specific form. But let's talk about that later. It's 1954, and Atticus Turner, a Black Korean War veteran is on his way to Chicago to visit his father, Montrose. However, when he arrives he finds out that Montrose isn't there and has left behind a note for Atticu...

By now you shouldn't be surprised that it's the same old photo.   The Intro Welcome back to  What That Month   — Lucas Blogs About The Canterbury Tales . Last month I closed out the fourth fragment with a discussion of The Merchant's Tale. While I wasn't crazy about it, it did at least complement  The Clerk's Tale  which preceded it. This month I hope to read the entirety of the fifth fragment, which comprises The Squire's Tale and The Franklin's Tale. This raises an important question, namely: The "Wait a Minute, What Exactly is a Franklin?" Way back in the fourteenth century, when Chaucer was writing The Canterbury Tales , a franklin was one of the social classes. Specifically a franklin was a free man, that is to say, not a serf. To be more specific, by Chaucer's time, a franklin was a landowner who wasn't a member of the gentry or the nobility. The Squire's Prologue Okay, so maybe the fourth and fifth fragment aren't as separat...

Hey, no regular post this week. You know, because I gave myself the week off for Thanksgiving. I hope whatever your plans are that you and your loved ones will be safe this year. I know that it hasn't been a great year, but I do find myself with a few things to be grateful for. In any case, instead of talking about that, let's talk about a big corporation (allegedly) screwing over a writer! That's right, last week Alan Dean Foster (ghostwriter of the novelization of the first Star Wars film, and the author of the first Star Wars Expanded Universe novel, The Splinter of the Mind's Eye ) and the grievance committee of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) released a public statement accusing Disney of not paying Foster the royalties he is owed for books now published by Disney. Specifically the two Star Wars books I mentioned before (which Disney acquired publishing rights to when they purchased Lucasfilm) and the novelizations of the first three Alie...

  For real? You just had used the inOpportune cOntent rePlacement proceSs last month for your birthday! I know, I've just been really busy at work lately so I wasn't able to get anything ready to post this week. I don't even have a subject for this particular OOPS! But look at this way, it's like you get two weeks off in a row, Hypothetical Reader. That's not how that works. ‾\_(ツ)_/‾. Whatever. I'm really tired. Posting will resume next Monday. But that's Thanksgiving week, please tell me that you have more planned for that than just a one paragraph Thanksgiving message. No comment. You're the worst, Lucas.