Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Cat From Outer Space [Book Review]

"The Cat From Outer Space" is a book written by Ted Key. It was published in 1978. It is the adaptation of the Disney movie of the same. I've been wanting to read this for a while. I actually picked this one to take a mental breather from "Odd John."

The story is about a cat named Jake who, like the title says, is from outer space. His ship hits space debris while flying near Earth, and so he has to land in order to make repairs. He is super intelligent and uses a technologically advanced collar that can convert his thoughts into reality. It also allows him to talk to people by transferring his thoughts into the minds of others.

The lore here is that cats were always aliens, and Earth is just one of their many colonies. We think we are making them pets, but we are actually serving there needs so that they can live happy and contented lives. I love this. It even goes into how they were once worshiped by the Egyptians. Brilliant.

Everything having to do with Jake in the book is well delivered and fascinating. What isn't good is how the military is presented. The writer just did not understand what the American military was and how it worked. There was even a weird scene where a top general reads a guy his Miranda rights after arresting him. A general wouldn't do that. He'd just throw you in the car and take you away! He's not a policeman!

I do like the guy who Jake befriends. His name was Wilson, and he was one of those types that just march to the beat of his own drum. He seems weird to other people, but his mind is just more open than theirs. Jake realized this about him, and I like the wisdom in allying with him. Good stuff.

Despite liking a lot of things about "The Cat From Outer Space," I don't think I'm going to recommend it. I think it's more something I can enjoy for my own reasons, but this book just has a lot of problems. It mainly stems from how the American military is just so ignorantly presented. I get that the story is mainly a comedy, but it certainly isn't a smart comedy. Still, Jake was seriously awesome.

This blog was written on September 23, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Toto of Oz [Book Review]

[Spoilers included for a book that nobody reads anymore.]

"Toto of Oz" is the fifty-second book in the Oz series originally created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Gina Wickwar and published in 2006. My review in short: Not that bad!

I was really unsure what I was going to get here, because this was written by the same author who did "The Hidden Prince of Oz" which was so plastered with too many characters that it ended up making the book annoying to read. Things are a much improved this time around, and I was able to get fairly invested.

The story here is that there is a Gilikin kingdom called Kiltoon that is entirely based around the Scotts. Kilts. Kiltoon. Get it? Their king was about to get married, but suddenly the princess disappears and a warning is left not to look for her or else that person would wander about forever. The royal poet, Sonny Burns, goes on a quest to go find Toto in the hopes that it will cheer up the king who is insufferably miserable and making sure everyone else is miserable with him.

In another part of the story, a kid named Davy from Kentucky ends up being transported to Oz with a horse named Lollipop. Weirdly, the horse can't talk, even in Oz, and this is a fairly important thing to consider in the Oz universe. That usually means a dark enchantment is taking place. Anyways, they get involved.

Lastly, Toto looses his growl again. This happened waaaaaaay back in book #11 "The Lost Princess of Oz." He goes on a quest to find his stolen growl, and along the way he runs into an aristocratic guinea pig named Gladstone who can... sort of randomly... make gold coins appear. Their all Guinea coins. Get it?!

All these plot points come together around a villainous sea fairy named Finna. I have to admit that she was pretty awesome. The writer did a good job at making her both interesting as a character and also very dangerous. She is the kind of woman that just keeps getting in the way. I loved all of the scenes with her in it.

Now, I won't spoil the main plot points, but I do want to say that this story has precisely the same formula that was in "The Hidden Prince of Oz." That said, she fixed all the problems. Although there are a lot of characters that come together for a common goal here, the roster has been cut by more than half. The scenes are far more manageable. The only small problem is that, since I had just read "The Hidden Prince of Oz," I was able to predict nearly everything that would happened in this one extremely early in the reading. If I had read this one first, I would have probably had a better time of it.

There's one last thing I want to point out here just for my own amusement. Once Finna is thwarted in this story, as you might have expected her to be, Dorothy loots the remains. I have not seen Dorothy do this in a very long time, but she has been known to do that in Oz history. It's sort of a weird quirk she has. Thought you might find that funny.

I actually do recommend "Toto of Oz," especially if you avoid "The Hidden Prince of Oz." I am really glad that Toto got his own book. I think it was handled very well. Also don't get this book confused with "Toto of Oz" written by Chris Dulabone in 1986. It is considered non-canonical. Make sure it is authored by Gina Warwick. and you are good to go. Cheers.

This blog was written on September 20, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Farmer Punished [Short Story Review]

[This blog completely spoils the story.]

"The Farmer Punished" is an Irish fairy tale written by Lady Wilde. It has some interesting clues included about how the fairies operate.

The story opens up talking about how the fairies like all things that are good and beautiful and value the idea of giving more than being stingy, but the way it does this seems more like making conservativism sound miserly. And I agree that it can be like that sometime, but in this story, it seems more like the fairies are being incredibly selfish about it.

Fairies in Irish lore tend to try and test people by seeing if they will give them things for free. If they don't get what they think they deserve then they tend to consider the person depriving them of the things to be evil.

In the case of "The Farmer Punished," the farmer kept hearing the voices of what sounded like a mother and child outside of his house. The child was thirsty and so the mother promised him that the farmer would spill the milk and that he could drink it. For this reason, the farmer made sure that no milk was spilt.

Again, the child is heard another day saying that he was hungry, and the mother said that the farmer was going to bake some pies, and that he could have one. So the farmer made sure that no pies would be made that day.

The boy then claimed that he would soon roll over and die, and then the mother said that he would not have to die because the farmer's son was about to die in a war. The meaning here was that the farmer's son would get to die in fairy son's stead.

The farmer here was complacent because there was no war at the time, but when he went to see his son, he was preparing his weapons. Apparently there had been a war on the horizon, and the farmer's son wanted to join up and fight for his king.

Wanting to thwart the fairies, he sealed his son up in a stone house to prevent him from leaving, but the fairies helped the boy leave anyhow over night. The next day the fairy mother was heard saying that the boy had gone to war and died and now there was a grave made in his honor, referring to the house of stones that the farmer had built. Indeed, his son's body was delivered to him soon after and the farmer ended up dying in grief and quite looked down upon for standing up to the fairies as he did.

In the case of "The Farmer Punished," I absolutely side with the farmer. He wasn't really being miserly. He was trying to defy evil forces, and the fairies were being evil. The fairies here were manipulative and cruel here and ultimately able to best him with their powers. They were selfish and ultimately self righteous in their revenge.

I do recommend this one! It clearly explains the mindset of the fairies and shows how awful it is to deal with them. Well written!

This blog was written on September 15, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Last Battle [Book Review]

"The Last Battle" is the chronologically seventh and last book in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1956. Although all of the Narnia books are basically Christian allegories, this one dealt with something very specific from the Bible: "Revelations."

From beginning to end, "The Last Battle" is all about the "end times" that are supposed to happen to us, such as things like the Anti-Christ, Tribulation, and the New Heaven and Earth. All of those events are truncated into an allegory which is this book.

This book also is a great companion to the very first story in the series, that being "The Magician's Nephew." Where that story deals with the world's creation, this one deals with the world's end. And the end of the world is both sad and wonderful. C. S. Lewis does not go easy on the reader, despite this being a children's book. He hits hard and for good reason. The point being: everything has to end so that the best story can finally begin.

Other than that, I really don't think I should spoil any and all of the specific details of this one. You need to see it all for yourself in order to understand it. I should also say that this might be a weird one to read on its own. It really requires the reader to have journeyed through the other books to fully understand and appreciate what is going on.

If you are willing to make that journey, then I can definitely recommend "The Last Battle" to you. It was a fantastic ending to a great series. I'm so glad I finally made the time to read them all. One of the best book series that exists to this day. Read them!

This blog was written on September 12, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Odd John [Book Review]

[This blog does contain some spoilers.]

"Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest" is a science fiction novel written by Olaf Stapledon. It was published in 1935.

The story relates the tale of a young boy named John who was born a genius. It follows his short life as he explores how he is different than his more unintelligent human companions. The story is written from the perspective of a journalist that had become his friend... or slave. It depends on your point of view really.

This book has some really fascinating stuff. Imagine someone who was born so incredibly smart that it is almost like a completely different species. John felt like we were the animals and he was the real human. The author makes a distinction between homo sapiens and "homo superior." John would probably see you as like a dog. In fact, he often and even lovingly referred to the journalist writing his biography as "Fido."

The problems with such great genius is that it came with a dash of sociopathy. He could murder another human but see it more like putting down an animal for his own benefit. Like if a person got into his way, he did not mind murdering them as a consequence of their interference. He would sleep soundly afterwards as well. This is a thing that happens a few times in the book, and it's always hard to deal with when it happens. You really just want him to feel something about it, but he never will.

It doesn't feel wrong calling John an evil genius. He even created his own lair. This was something that was super interesting, because the book explains how he was able to do it. He basically hid the lair with an old rusty, sharp piece of metal. Anyone who saw it wouldn't want to touch it. John basically used the laziness of people to hide the fact that he was creating his own lair right in the middle of a public area. That was both simple and brilliant. So many movies never explain how these evil lairs are built.

There is a creepiness to seeing a child that is acting like an adult that is smarter than you. Now, imagine an entirely colony of them. The book shows John's efforts to find others like himself and create a new colony that only has people like him in it. It was intensely communistic and surprisingly functional. It was also completely disconnected with the world and its values.

Everyone was naked and had sex as they pleased. There was this sort of open-minded super-spiritualism that they adopted for their society. But everything they did, they did for themselves. As cool as this whole scenario was, I can't help but side with people who care for the lesser people in the world. I was almost always on the side of the journalist. I experienced the horror of John and his people along with him fairly regularly through the book.

I don't want to say anymore. I do recommend "Odd John" as a great science fiction book. It is well written, smart, and endlessly fascinating. I am surprised this one never ended up a movie.

This blog was written on September 7, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Hidden Prince of Oz [Book Review]

[This blog has spoilers for a book that nobody reads anymore.]

"The Hidden Prince of Oz" is the fifty-first book in the Oz book series created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Gina Wickwar and published in 2000, which is 100 years after the very first Oz book was published. Unfortunately, this one has some problems.

I'll be honest here; I haven't really been looking forward to writing this. I guess I am supposed to explain the story and tell about the characters in it, but this gives me a lot of stress. The main problem with the story is that there are too many characters involved, and many of them are original characters that have never been seen before.

There are actually about three different stories happening at one time that all converge, and each story has a lot of characters involved. It gets very hard to keep track of everyone. The main plot, I suppose is the mystery of a prince that disappeared 101 years ago that was supposed to marry the princess of Silica, a place made of glass. That's cool and everything, but the amount of complications pushed in this story really muddle that plot up.

Among the people trying to solve this problem is Beak the bird, Penny a teacup wearing puppy, Paddy the leprechaun, Ketzal a feathered boa, Vitrea the princess of Silica (and two others from Silica), a giant pigeon, Emma Lu a girl from Arizona, Thundercloud a living wooden Indian, Bungle the Glass Cat of Oz, an actual walking and talking bridge, Polychrome the rainbow's daughter, the Sawhorse,  The Tin Woodman, and eventually Ozma, Dorothy, and the Wizard. And yes, I probably forgot somebody. I'm sorry. My brain can only handle so much.

The story does have a villain. His name is Vitriol, and I actually really liked him. He was an archetypical villainous old man who is trying to gain power. His illustrations were fun to look at too. He kind of looked like Count Olaf from the Lemony Snicket stories. His villainy was amusing, but he was never particularly funny. He was just very greedy and dastardly.

There was one part in the story where all the characters come together and even they are a bit overwhelmed that there are so many people involved. The author had trouble making characters stand out. Like Ketzal! She was a very interesting snake character that was very flirtatious and friendly, but after her initial introduction, you are lucky to get one single line out of her! This is happening because the author has too many characters to worry about in a single scene, and so it makes me feel like most of the characters are just standing around and not doing anything while the author focuses on more important people in the scene. Half the time I forget they are actually there until they suddenly have one single line of dialog to remind me that they still exist.

Anna-Maria Cool did the illustrations for this one. It honestly has a Scooby Doo vibe. I liked them a lot. Reminded me of all those cartoons I used to watch growing up. No problems there at all.

There was also a fairly scary scene that had to do with an actual "babbling brook" that carried some of the characters off while shouting gibberish in their ears. This led to a literal screaming waterfall. It was so traumatic to the characters that some of them ended up crying.

"The Hidden Prince of Oz" is a hard one too recommend, so I won't do it. This was also an annoying review to write. I really wish it had not been so overrun with characters. It was just too much. A genuinely interesting story was basically buried in characters that you can never truly relate to because they are all too often much too difficult to see in the crowd.

This blog was written on September 7, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The White Trout [Short Story Review]

[This blog spoils the entire story.]

The full title of this one is actually "The White Trout; A Legend of Cong." It was written by S. Lover. A lot of these Irish Fairy Tales were published in the 1800s, but I generally struggle to find the exact years of publication. I'm just gonna stop trying to do that.

The story here is about a woman who is about to be married, but her husband dies before they can. She bemoans his passing for many years, but one day she just disappears completely. It was believed by the locals that the fairies came and took her away.

Sometime after she disappeared, a white trout appears in the nearby waters. A white trout is an unusual color for a trout, so nobody wanted to touch it for belief that it might be a fairy creature. However, there was a soldier in town that did not believe in the fairies, so he caught it with the intent to cook it up and eat it.

The soldier attempts to fry the white trout in his frying pan, but it doesn't seem to work. The fish remains unburnt. He tries it over and over, flipping the fish back and forth, but nothing works. He then thinks maybe looks could be deceiving and so decides to cut into the fish anyways to have a taste.

The moment he cut the fish, he hears the terrible scream of a woman and red blood comes out of the fish. The trout then turns into a beautiful woman who has a cut on her that is bleeding. She accuses him of cutting her and explains that she is waiting for her husband to come back, and this husband can do very bad things to him if he does not repent of this sin that he has committed upon her. Interestingly, she tells him to go to church and the confessionals regularly too. (This is an odd thing for a fairy to advise.)

Naturally, the soldier promises to put her back in the water and to change his entire life. Once she transforms back into a fish, he puts the white trout on a clean plate and delivers it back to the water. Once he does this, the entire body of water turns blood red for a little bit but soon washes out clear. The man completely and utterly held true to his promise and became a good and sinless man afterwards.

This is a very strange Irish fairy tale because it seems like the woman was not so much a fairy but a human that had been turned into a fish. Most fairies dislike the church and wouldn't really make Christian suggestions. That said, it does seem implied that the broken-hearted woman was kidnapped by the fairies and turned into the white trout, where she lives in this strange ghostly state for eternity.

There is also the vaguest of hints that she may have married one of the fairies, and that is the husband she is referring to that may do bad things to the soldier. All very interesting, but also not very clear.

I would recommend "The White Trout," but I can't really do that since the version I have was written in thick dialect. At the very least, I was able to give you my own personal translation. Cheers.

This blog was written on August 30, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Silver Chair [Book Review]

[Minor spoilers.]

"The Silver Chair" is the chronologically sixth book of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1953. It also has the weakest title in the whole lot, in my very humble opinion.

What an absolute joy this book turned out to be. Whereas "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" explored the seas, "The Silver Chair" explores the earth and what lies below. And they add an absolutely charming character named Puddleglum to help lead the way.

Now, understand that it was Eustace returning in this one, bringing along his friend Jill. The story spends most of the time using their last names (Scrubb and Pole respectively), which I thought was strange, but there is a very important reason for this that is given later in the book. I won't explain it here, but it does have to do with Christian values, so I'll leave it at that.

The aforementioned Puddleglum is a creature called a Marsh-wiggle. They tend to be pessimists but are actually surprisingly brave. He steals the show. He just does. Read this book for his sake, and you won't be disappointed.

The actual quest was to find and rescue the missing Prince Rilian, son of Caspian. The journey to do this leads the adventurers underground, where most of the story takes place. There was some adventure aboveground too, but the underground stuff was, to me, the most striking.

Another thing that you may be happy to see is Aslan's Country. If you were wondering what it was like, this is the book for you. There are two scenes that take place there, so here is your chance. No Reepicheep though! That was my only disappointment.

I do want to say that the story's title is not very good. It sounds good, but the actual silver chair in the book is rather an uninteresting thing. My choice for title would have been "The Missing Prince." It attacks the plot head on. If you have already read it, why not take a crack at retitling this one yourself.

I absolutely recommend "The Silver Chair." It's extremely good and exciting to read. I am only sad to say that I have one left after this.

This blog was written on August 28, 2023.

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