magic – Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old

Review of “The Raven” (1963)

This is the latest offering of our Saturday night pizza and bad movies, an odd little flick that didn’t take itself seriously. We watched it with Svengoolie. Plot: It’s 1506. Magician Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) has been mourning his wife, Lenore (Hazel Court), for two years. He keeps a photograph of her (A photographContinue reading “Review of “The Raven” (1963)”

Review of “Wizards of the Lost Kingdom” (1985)

This is our Saturday pizza and bad movie offering. The pizza was yummy. We watched this insult to the nation’s youth with Mystery Science Theater 3000. Plot: The movie opens with a torchlit army marching under arches in a concrete (?) wall. “It was an age of magic,” announces the narration while a guy inContinue reading “Review of “Wizards of the Lost Kingdom” (1985)”

Review of “Battle Ground” by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #17)

Plot: Harry Dresden is Chicago’s only wizard in the phone book. He specializes in finding things. He once ran a detective agency but now has a less-than-voluntary gig with the Mab, the Fairy Queen of Winter. This gives him certain powers and protections, but it also leaves him in Mab’s obligation. The book opens withContinue reading “Review of “Battle Ground” by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #17)”

Review of “The Curse” by Marissa Lingen

Image by Ryszard Porzynski from Pixabay Plot: The narrator looks on as her mother and her aunts debate what to do after her twelve-year-old cousin, left alone for just a moment, has picked up a cursed sword. The family will never live down the disgrace if they can’t lift the curse off the sword. TheyContinue reading “Review of “The Curse” by Marissa Lingen”

Review of “Dust to Dust” by Tom Howard

Plot: Spy novelist Alex Poe has returned to his home town of Bidderville. He first left Bidderville thirty years earlier when he was eighteen. His last trip back was twenty years before now for his mother’s funeral. Today he’s returned for another funeral and a favor. He’s come to visit his great-aunt Phaedra. Her trailerContinue reading “Review of “Dust to Dust” by Tom Howard”

Review of “The Raleigh Temple of Artemis” by Caroline Diorio

Plot: The reader is told that the Temple of Artemis closes at midnight, and it’s now 11:52. The narrator apologizes to the snake-headed girl in the UNC Chapel Hill sweatshirt who’s cleaning the statue of Artemis. She’s waiting for someone. Not that she has an appointment. She tells the reader she just knows the otherContinue reading “Review of “The Raleigh Temple of Artemis” by Caroline Diorio”

Review of “After the First Comes the Last” by Holly Lyn Walrath

Plot: Aria’s first spell is almost an accident, but it fills a need. She wants to lift the stain out of the carpet, so her mother will not know she has been smoking. Beyond that, she fills a need she did not know she had. She is satisfied—happy, empowered—that she could make a spell work.Continue reading “Review of “After the First Comes the Last” by Holly Lyn Walrath”