Imperfect Tense vs. Passive Voice

 in Blog  tagged linguistics / thoughts by

One of the things that irritates me most about the English language is the fact that the imperfect tense is nearly identical to the passive voice. As I first learned in my French classes, there are two main forms of the immediate past tense: the complete past and the continuous past. In French, those are the imparfait, the continuous or ongoing past (je travaillais quand il m’interrompt), and the passé composé, the repetitive or complete past (j’ai travaillé). In English, the imparfait is the imperfect (I was working when he interrupted me) and the passé composé is the simple past […]

Shorts

 in Blog  tagged abyss & apex / baen's universe / chizine / ideomancer / igms / lone star stories / shorts / the whole crew by

While at the moment I don’t have the time for a novel (to read or to review), I thought I’d link to a few short stories that I’ve found exceptional in the past. I’ll probably add to this list as I find or recall others. These have been published in Baen’s Universe, Abyss & Apex, Ideomancer, IGMS, ChiZine, and Lone Star Stories. "Cryptic Coloration" (Elizabeth Bear, Baen’s Universe). A Promethean Age story from Elizabeth Bear, set before the events of Blood & Iron with Matthew as a central character. Hard to pinpoint why I like this one so much, but the […]

ChiZine’s Filaria Contest 3

 in Blog  tagged brent hayward / chizine / donald jacob uitvlugt / me.me.me / news / richard thomas by

For ChiZine’s April-June 2009 issue, they have up the three winners of the Enter the World of Filaria Contest, based on Brent Hayward’s book Filaria, which I reviewed a few entries below. My "Bonepickers" took second place, so go take a look if you’re interested in what I write as well as read. I also really like the hallucinations of Donald Jacob Uitvlugt’s "Elevated State", which took third, and the title is very clever once you’ve read the story — it really brings all the themes together. And Richard Thomas’s first place winner, "Maker of Flight" has some nice griminess, rust […]

Chrono Crusade (Daisuke Moriyama) 1

 in Blog  tagged daisuke moriyama / reviews by

Chrono CrusadeDaisuke Moriyama I’m not usually very fond of manga — there are certain stylistic choices common to the medium that irritate me, not even mentioning the fact that most manga don’t know how to end — they just keep stretching out into the thirties and forties of volumes, like the graphic counterpart to the Animorphs series. But Daisuke Moriyama’s Chrono Crusade really impressed me. The vision is unique and cohesive, drawing heavily on the resonant power of religious icons, Sinners and Apostles, while talking about something wholly different. It’s set in the Roaring Twenties, which automatically gives you extra […]

The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

 in Blog  tagged dan brown / reviews by

The Da Vinci CodeDan Brown This book surprised me. With all the uproar from the Church, I did not expect it to be so reverent, so respectful, of forms of faith. The history of the Catholic Church is very critical at times, but by the time the book wraps up, everyone is given at least one sympathetic dimension, even Opus Dei. Overall the book avoided villainizing or bashing any one religious group, which is remarkable considering how easy it would have been. The symbolic and historical depth of the book is also quite interesting, although none of it is terribly […]

Filaria (Brent Hayward) 3

 in Blog  tagged brent hayward / chizine / reviews by

FilariaBrent Hayward A complex, intricately woven (or should I say tiered?) little book, Filaria divulges its most important secrets in bits and pieces, usually secondhand to a character who is unaware of its import. For instance, the lust that seizes all the male characters is revealed as a pheromone experiment mentioned in the first quarter of the book, aimed at Deidre, but outed to Phister. The four central characters never meet each other, but cross paths with mutual acquaintances who provide new revelations at every step. In addition, the level of detail is subtle and exquisite, often provided in succinct […]