Fairy Tale Spotlight: Alberic the Wise [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of this story.]

"Alberic the Wise" is a short story written by Norton Juster. It was published in 1965 as part of the book "Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys."

The idea here is simple and well executed. A man named Alberic (a simple man who keeps to himself) meets a man who has been traveling through the world and listens to everything he has to say. This inspires Alberic to go on his own journey in an attempt to be wise himself. I guess it might be prudent to say that he was trying to be "worldly wise" which is kind of a sketchy thing if you are a Christian. This is not a Christian book, one way or another, but I figured I'd point that out anyhow.

What happens is that Alberic goes from profession to profession and learns all these trades but always seems to fail at them ultimately. While I was reading this, I was so confused by this concept. How can you learn and master a trade... and then fail at it. And he kind of was too. For example, he became a sculptor and chiseled a marble block into dust... but see... he still knew how to chisel. He knew how to do things, but he just couldn't bring it together for one reason or another. I thought that was an interesting aspect to the story, because while he was failing so much, he was still gaining a huge amount of useful knowledge.

Upset that he was such a failure, he begins talking to people about all of his experiences. Apparently people just liked listening to an old man talk, and they called him wise. The king even thought so and gave him a place in the palace. This was another strange phenomenon in the story. There was a sort of "group think" that occurred surrounding Alberic. It just came out of nowhere, and it baffled him after a while. He started to say absolutely ridiculous things, and the people just sort of rationalized that what he was saying was still very wise for one reason or another. Very strange, but it does feel familiar in a way.

Ultimately, he decides to just leave, which causes the people to finally decide that he must actually be unwise. So as long as he was there to entertain them, he was wise, but the moment he decides to run away, they don't like him anymore. What the heck?!

So at this point, Alberic really does feel like a failure in all things, but then he suddenly realizes that he has really had a lot of interesting experiences and has, for all his failures, done a lot of things. On top of that, he can still find more things to try and do. Maybe he will continue to fail, but at least he keeps trying.

Something somewhat surreal about this ending is that the author slips in that he has become very old at this point. He is an older and much happier man as he continues on this never-ending journey through life. I guess, in this way, that is a success on its own. I really liked that.

I think "Alberic the Wise" is a good story. It's strangely relaxing and full of humor. I do recommend it.

This blog was written on June 1, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Book Review]

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a novel written by Ken Kesey. It was published in 1962, although it really, really feels like a 70's story. Weirdly so. I'll try and keep this one brief.

The whole story is set in an asylum full of guys with various degrees of psychological aberrations. There is a nurse there named Ratched that rules the facility with an iron will. She is basically the villain of the story because nobody can really do anything against her.

Enter Randle Patrick McMurphy to mess everything up. This guy may not actually be crazy, but he's still there for his own reasons. He's probably the only wrench that can mess up the control Nurse Ratched has on the asylum. McMurphy has a very big ego, and he knows how to throw it around in very strategic ways---ways that really get under the skin of the nurse. This is basically the fun of the book.

It is not all fun and games though. Despite having a humorous plot, the book is actually a very serious one. It also never, ever pulls its punches. It does this so well that it can be, at times, a bit depressing. I think this is why I thought this book was from the 70's. It has that hard-cutting edge that we usually got from that decade. Also the famous film adaptation came out in 1975, which makes perfect sense. I guess this book was a little ahead of its time.

Those hard edges are both a blessing and a curse. The story does rather hurt by the end of it, and it ultimately left me feeling sad. And this is really strange since the whole premise of the book seems kind of fun and relaxing. It is what it is though.

There is one last thing I want to mention. This book does an extremely good job at representing the surreality of a disturbed mind. There are extremely well-written scenes that are from the strange perspective of the writer (not the author). Some of these are dreams or moments before a shocking event, but they are all just so wonderfully presented. Those moments are some of my favorites from this book.

Despite my misgivings, I still recommend the book. It was still a great read, and I don't regret it at all. This is especially a good book for those who really want to buck the system, which is really the main theme of the story.

This blog was written on May 28, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Prince and the Pauper [Book Review]

"The Prince and the Pauper" is a novel written by Mark Twain. It was published in 1881. One of the best books I have ever read. I was really struggling with what I should cover in the review.

The basic story is very well-known by this point. You have a Prince and a Pauper who trade places and learn the ups and downs of both realities. I knew this well enough, but there is so much to the story then just that. This is a story filled with adventure and even some swashbuckling action. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Once the two characters get split up, the author takes his time with each of their adventures. It takes a lot of chapters before he switches perspectives, and this is really for the best. It gives you time to feel like you understand their respective situations. Although jarring at first, it is actually genius to do this and actually less jarring than the alternative. The Prince gets plenty of time to see how difficult life is in his kingdom, and the Pauper gets to see what it's like to be treated like royalty.

One of the crazy things about this story is how so many people just can't imagine the truth of the situation. I say this because both characters are being open and honest about who they are throughout the story. They are not trying to pretend at all. Eventually, they kind of have no choice but to pretend because nobody would believe them anyways.

My favorite character is Miles Hendon, who takes care of the Prince for a lot of the story. He is the absolute image of a paragon hero. This cannot be overstated. He was so flawless in his goodness, and I really wanted things to work out for him. He deserved so many good things, but unfortunately a lot of bad things happen to him anyhow. I enjoyed him so much that I wanted there to be a continuing series of books about him. That did not happen, though.

The story does not have an overarching villain, but there are a few villainous characters who you will hate. One of them is a psychopath, but he still had extremely selfish motives despite being delusional. All the villains in the book are encountered by the Prince, although I should say that the King was not really a good person either, but he doesn't really molest the Pauper while he is in the castle. He is more of an terrible person to other people than the one he thinks is his son.

Honestly, I was surprised at there not being a main villain. My only exposure to this story was the Disney short with Mickey Mouse. They had Pete trying to usurp the throne by crowning the Pauper Mickey. That was actually a cool plot, but the original story just doesn't do that.

"The Prince and the Pauper" is a very exciting story, but it can be hard to read at times. The narrative is fine to read, but the dialog is basically Shakespeare. Where it is difficult at first, it does get easier to understand fairly quickly. I didn't have a problem with it. Honestly, it made everything anybody said sound beautiful no matter how mundane the remark. That said, however, children won't be able to read this for these same reasons.

I really, really enjoyed this story. My favorite book of all time was "The Never-Ending Story," but this book comes really close to beating it. It may actually have. I spent a lot of time yelling at the pages when something amazing or exciting happened. A lot of my pleasure and grief happened in the Miles Hendon scenes. He is just such a wonderful man. If I haven't made it clear yet, I do so extremely recommend this book. It is a classic that should be required reading for everyone, and I don't normally say that.

This blog was written on May 28, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Whipping Boy [Book Review]

"The Whipping Boy" is a book written by Sid Fleischman. It was published in 1986. This book was made into a TV Disney movie, and I am pretty sure I saw it. Because of my random memory, I decided to read this book.

Ironically, I am busy reading Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" right now. "The Whipping Boy" seems to be very much inspired by that classic story, but it is it's own thing. There was a whipping boy in Mark Twain's book, but he was not as an important a character as he was in this one. It feels like the author just got inspired and wanted to make a bigger todo with the idea of a whipping boy.

A whipping boy is a rarely used person who would be punished when a prince acted out. It was done because no one should lay hands on the prince's person. The concept does favor the idea that the prince would be a brat and never have to worry about consequences, because he had a whipping boy to take those consequences for him. That's the general idea of this book.

Although the prince in this story has a name, he is more often called "Prince Brat" and for good reason. He was entitled and did whatever he wanted. In this case, he decides to go on an adventure, bringing the whipping boy with him. This ends up leading them into quite a lot of danger when they are captured by villains who wish to hold them for ransom.

From here, something similar to "The Prince and the Pauper" happens. They switch places. The brigands actually believe the whipping boy is the prince. This deception leads to a lot of silly entertainment, but most of the story has more to do with how their relationship fluctuates as they learn from one another. I won't say more than that.

"The Whipping Boy" is an award-winning children's book. It is actually a good read, and I do recommend it. It did make me smile, and I enjoyed how the characters were represented. Also, I just think the whole idea of the whipping boy in general. It is a concept rife with literary opportunities.

This blog was written on May 21, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Nuts [Video Game Review]

"Nuts" is a video game created by Bernard De Windt. It was released in 2001. It is a single map for classic Doom II. It is also probably one of the most intimidating Doom maps of all time. Most people take a look at the opening sight and just quit.

There is no story to "Nuts." In fact, the name implies that the entire concept of the game is insane. You start off in a room with more enemies than your mind can possibly calculate. I mean, just look at the image I included. That's pretty much the first thing you see. But you might also notice that all the demons are looking away from you. They don't know you are even there. If this game did have a story, I imagine it would be about Doom Guy infiltrating where the demon military was stationed... only to find himself in something of an awkward position. At the very least, they don't see him... yet.

Despite seeing all these enemies at the first of it, there is a second room past that far wall that opens up when you hit a switch. That room is even worse. It contains nothing but Doom's heavy hitters and bosses. It also has an absolute ton of Arch-viles that can begin resurrecting downed enemies as well as setting you on fire. When you realize what you have to deal with, the task of even finishing this map seems much too daunting. This is why most people just quit.

No joke, this is a very small map with well over 10,000 enemies in it. It is a fight, to be sure. But if you take the time to plan things out a little, it is really not that bad. The name of the game is "infighting." You have to heavily rely on trying to get the demons to fight themselves in order to dwindle down their numbers. You also have to worry about not getting stuck between all those bodies. Ammo won't be too much of an issue. You also have a BFG9000, a plasma gun, and whatever guns the enemies drop. It's entirely doable, but it does take time. You really need to work on that first room before you open the second. It's just too much trouble to deal with both at once.

I was able to clear out the first room in about 20 minutes, but I have never killed everything in the second. To me, it was more about just getting out. I still have to infight them for a while before I make the run. They are also really badly blocking my entrance in there too which is the main concern. I have to sort of herd them away from the entrance just to give me a thin enough path to BFG9000 my way into an opening, then it is a helter skelter run to the map's exit. Just finishing this map feels great, but I always feel a little bad that I don't try and kill everything. I only manage to kill just over 9000 of the enemies before I nope out.

"Nuts" is all about overcoming what appears to be impossible odds. It is, by definition, a slaughter map. You are showing up to slaughter as much as you can and then get the hell out of there. "Nuts" is a fantastic map, and I absolutely recommend it. It can be acquired for free in the excellent Doom+Doom II Remaster by NightDive Studios.

This blog was written on May 14, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Doom Eternal [Video Game Review]

My thumbs hurt so much. Mainly my right thumb. Wow. The pain lingers on. This happened once before, and I forgot the pain. Now, it's back, and the memory is back too. My poor thumbs.

"Doom Eternal" is a video game developed by Id. It was released in 2020. It destroyed my thumbs.

This game is the sequel to "Doom (2016)." The connection between the two stories is really rough and hard to follow. Basically you now have your own floating base out in space which doubles as the most metal man cave ever imagined. You are fighting the demons which have invaded earth. Although this game takes place after Doom II, it is also a reimagining of it. That said, the game actually takes place in a bunch of different places and planets.

The gameplay here is similar to the previous: keep moving and kill everything. It is not hard to figure out, but it is hard to master. Your character is extremely agile to the point of silliness. You are bouncing all around like crazy, while trying to kill the demons. It is way more kinetic than the previous game.

The main additions here are the weak points on the enemies. Every enemy has one. You can either just waste ammo trying to kill it, or go for the weak point to make it easier. It's insane, and never ends. It is a constant battle of both movement and accuracy. My poor thumbs.

The collectathon is back, but it is better managed this time around. There is also an "extra lives" system that will revive you if you have them to spend. I actually did like this system. It was useful for the situations that just overwhelmed me too much.

Also this game brings back the Unmaykr from "Doom 64." Once again, it is extremely hard to obtain, and once again it is much more devastating than the BFG9000. I like how it balances out it's deadly power with how hard it is to obtain. Nice!

Like in Doom II, the game ends with a fight with the Icon of Sin, but this time it is not just a silly wall texture. It's there, and it is one of the most insane bosses you will ever have to fight. Well done.

The game's story is very odd and adds a lot that many people might not like. It steers sharply away from Christianity and creates lore with angel-like aliens from another dimension. It's not actually bad, per se. It is really just kind of a strange decision. People want to play Doom more than learn about the story. It's fine.

"Doom Eternal" is a bloody, gory, and nonetheless exciting game in the Doom series. It probably could be called the most beautiful, ambitious, and fun Doom ever made up to this point. It took what they started in "Doom (2016)" and dialed up to 1000. Bravo. I recommend it so much. And yet, I still have one very serious complaint... My poor... poor... thumbs.

This blog was written on May 9, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Mere Christianity [Book Review]

A friend of mine got me into a guy named Dr. Frank Turek a while back. He was really good at debating people on the side of Christianity. I read one of his books, but I still continued to listen to him speak. One of the books he would often cite was the one I am reviewing today.

"Mere Christianity" is a book by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1952. The entire concept of the book was supposed to be the very bare facts of what Christianity is and what was expected from someone that wanted to be a Christian. It is one of the most focused Christian books you can possibly read for this reason.

This is a difficult book to review because the point is more about what the book is rather than what it says. You have to really be interested in the basics of Christianity in order for you to even care about what's in there. In fact, the author even often warns people that there may be reasons you would not want to read it. There may be, after all, a lot of stuff in there that you may not want to see. And after reading it myself, I agree.

"Mere Christianity" is not a feel-good book, per se. It certainly could make you feel good. There were several passages from it that made me smile, but there were others that made me feel pretty bad. The latter happens mainly because this book tends to make you look back at yourself at things you probably don't think about very often. Whether some of those things are perfectly true are uncertain, but you can tell that C. S. Lewis had decided to take this path. He also chose to share it with the world.

The first and foremost thing that really helped me appreciate this book was the fact that C. S. Lewis stripped the entire book of denomination. He does mention that he was a member of the Church of England, but he went out of his way to point out that he was not going to go into the specifics of his own church or any other. He only wanted to give us Christianity at its very basic.

To someone that might be interested, Christian or otherwise, this is a good book to have the whole thing spelled out with out all the noise. It explains it fully, talks about expected behaviors, and then promptly ends. For that reason, it is a very solid read, but, like I said, there will almost no one in the world, including the author, that will find one or many things in the book that they will dislike. The reason for this is that Christianity is all about transformation.

The end result of Christianity is to become something different. This isn't about sinning or not sinning. This is just about going from being a human being into whatever the next stage is after that. I won't go into the details. The book does that well enough, and I think the book will deliver the material better than I could. I recommend it for anyone who is actually interested in Christianity for what it truly is.

This blog was written on May 8, 2025.

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