T.K. Wade -- Author

Monday, February 23, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: My Summer Story [Movie Review]

"My Summer Story" (also known as "It Runs in the Family") is a movie released by MGM in 1994. Although it is technically the sixth film in Jean Shepherd's "Parker Family Saga," it is actually a direct sequel to "A Christmas Story." It even starts off with the last shot of that film. Also notably, this is the last movie in the series that Jean Shepherd narrates.

Where do I begin? This movie encompasses a huge number of Jean Shepherd's stories. It may actually be the winner for cramming the largest number of his stories into one film. This is not exactly a good thing, since it sometimes draws out some of the value of those stories as they get crushed into other ones.

The main plot points have to do with the Old Man's war with his hillbilly neighbors, Ralph trying to find a fighting top to win against a local bully, and quite simply just trying to catch a fish on the lake. These three main points are constantly squished by other side-plots from many of his stories as if they were all happening at one time. Like I said, this somewhat devalues the significance of these stories because of how they work to assist one another.

"My Summer Story" also included my favorite Jean Shepherd story about the fighting tops. In the original story, Scut Farkas was the bully, but since this was a sequel to a film where Ralph beats the snot out of that character, they had to invent a new bully named Lug Ditka who was less appealing. Don't get me wrong; I did like how this story made it to film, but sadly the written version was simply more dramatic. They did try, and that's what counts.

I'm going to make a sad claim here. I did not like the actor they picked for the Old Man. He was a bit too crazy for me. He also had this really deep, guttural voice that was cool but overused. His overacting came across as more annoying and unnecessary. I also kept mistaking him for Harrison Ford for some reason. All the other actors were tolerable, with a special shoutout to the kid who played Randy. He was awesome. In fact, I don't think I ever hated any of the Randy actors so far.

Anyways, I think that's all I want to say about this movie. It was nice to see another Jean Shepherd movie with a great budget. Sadly, it just doesn't really capture the full charm of the previous films. It still has a lot going for it though, and for that reason I do recommend it. It's still worth seeing today.

This blog was written on January 4, 2026.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Iron Echo [Short Story Review]

"Iron Echo" is a short story by SixSydes. It is the twelfth story in a collection called "Tales of Hayven Celestia," which was published in 2020. As I have already stated, this is a universe created by author Rick Griffin, in which he allowed many other people to write stories in.

This story surprised me in various ways. It was about a geroo uprising on board a ship against the krakun. It was not a unanimous uprising, so it was containing elements of geroo vs geroo. This was the most shocking part for me, because I rarely see the geroo as violent.

The thing about the geroo is that they tend to be a peaceful people who simply accept their lives as the slaves of the giant krakuns. They are not really naturally-born fighters. They make the best of things and do what they can to keep the peace with their evil owners.

The problem with this story is that only a portion of a geroo spaceship revolts, putting the ones who were just trying to live peacefully in danger. It was not all that well-planned also. This was a sort of hail-Mary shot to inspire others, and the chance of it working was slim. But big ideas like this can sort of take over the mind and inspire little people to do wild things.

Of the entire collection so far, this particular story was the most action packed. It was a break-neck war/battle scenario that never let up until the very last sentence. I was on the edge of my seat until the last moment. I loved it. It was engaging too, although I still always feel bad, seeing geroo in nasty situations. They are an extremely family-oriented race. But war is hell, as they say.

I recommend this story a whole lot. If you like exciting war action with drama, fighting, and guns, this is for you.

This blog was written on January 5, 2026.

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Monday, February 16, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Zootopia [Book Review]

"Zootopia" is a book written by Suzanne Francis. It was published in 2016. It is the official adaptation for the film that came out the same year. I only recently realized this even existed. I had come to think promotional novelizations like this had been phased out in modern day. It is also referred to as a "junior novelization." This is probably a polite way of saying it is a novella intended for a younger audience.

If you've seen the movie, then you know what it in this book. It is a beat for beat telling of the film, but the writing is extremely tight. That is to say that the book carries you through the movie in a very streamlined and efficient way. There is no padding, and the author is very good at describing the scenes with just enough words to help you understand what is going on and to make it enjoyable. This especially helps with the action scenes.

The reason this is good is that the book is intended for a younger audience, and so you want to make sure that the story is engaging and still readable for them. Heck, I even enjoyed reading it, and I usually don't like beat-for-beat novelizations. I was just enjoying going over the scenes from what is a really good movie from this alternative literary perspective.

There was another thing. I do consume a lot of independent "furry" content, and this was one of the few non-independent ones I read. The only other one was the junior novel for "Disney's Robin Hood." This one really stacks up to all the independent stuff. All the animals were called out, and they were well described. I enjoyed it.

But do I recommend it? Well... it depends on if that's what you want to do after seeing the film. I guess there's no reason not to. It's not bad. It's neither over- or under-written. It is simply the film and nothing more. But no mistakes were made here; it is a solid read from beginning to end. I'm happy these novelizations are still happening from time to time.

This blog was written on January 5, 2026.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss [Movie Review]

"Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" is a movie produced by both Disney and PBS and written by Jean Shepherd. It was released in 1988 onto TV and video tape. It never made it to the big screen, but it really should have. It is also the fifth movie in the Parker Family Saga.

The movie was based on a story written by Jean Shepherd for Playboy Magazine. It's honestly one of his best stories he has in his archive. One of the reasons I began reading his books was to get at this story, and where it may not be my favorite, it's right up there near the top.

The story is about the Parker Family as they go on a surprisingly realistic 1950's vacation to a camping site called Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss. While there, they will stay in a cabin without any plumbing and go fishing. The journey there is full of fun little mishaps, but none of them feel like they couldn't have happened to real people. For example, the mother keeps wanting to stop at trinket shops, the tire blows out, and there is a sudden bee attack in the car. These are all kinds of normal things, but the movie pitches them in a very wholesome comedic light.

I've heard this movie often compared with the National Lampoon Vacation films. That's somewhat fair, but the National Lampoon films tend to border more on the absurd rather than relatable circumstances. They are more like worst case scenarios and can most often seem unrealistic. Nothing in "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" feels unrealistic, and yet it still comes across as fun and entertaining.

As we have seen with the previous films, the movies are not long enough to encapsulate just one of his short stories. The first half of the movie is a flashback about Ralph getting his first job, which might actually be the worst job he ever had. Also it was great to see Jean Shepherd play Ralph's horrible boss himself.

The family also dealt with their dog Fuzzhead running away. This seems like a silly plot at first, but it almost takes over the whole movie. The mother obsesses over it and even claims she won't go to the lake unless Fuzzhead is found. It was an entertaining sidestep, and I won't spoil how it ends.

All said, "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" is a great movie, and it really did deserve to make it to the big screen. Sadly, Disney has all but ignored this movie since it came out. It had a few runs on the Disney Channel, but nobody really seems to talk about this film anymore, and it's really sad. The film is wonderful and keeps your attention from scene to scene. I think I may actually enjoy this film a little more than "A Christmas Story." It was just so relatable.

Of course, I absolutely recommend this movie. You can view it on Youtube in acceptable quality. The only problem with it is that it plays with mono sound (only in the right ear), and there was one part in the film where the recording glitches really bad, but then it recovers. It's about the only way to see this film today, so you should definitely deal with those imperfections. This movie deserves to be a classic, but there just isn't anybody who knows about it these days.

This blog was written on December 29, 2025.

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Monday, February 9, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: I, Libertine [Book Review]

"I, Libertine" as written by Frederick R. Ewing is a hoax novel that did not actually exist when it was first being promoted. It was mainly Jean Shepherd that promoted it on his radio show. It had to do with the often arbitrary rules by which books ended up on best seller lists in the 50's. In fact, it still kind of works that way today.

Jean Shepherd and other celebrities all pushed people to read this amazing book, and soon everyone was struggling to have their copies ordered at bookstores. It didn't exist though, and nobody could figure out what was going on. The strange thing is that it did end up on a best seller list even though nobody actually wrote the damn thing.

However once this corruption was exposed, the book did ultimately get written. It appeared on book shelves as "I, Libertine" by Frederick R. Ewing, but the author was actually famed scifi writer Theodore Sturgeon. It was published in 1956. On the back cover was a picture of the author, but it was actually just Jean Shepherd all dressed up to look fancy.

But what about the book? Now that the book exists, is it any good? Well... yes... but it is something of a difficult read if you are not super into historical fiction. It takes place in 18th century England, and centers around a man named Lance Courteney who takes up a legal manner revolving around a very devious woman named Elizabeth Chudleigh.

She was a real person and involved with a good number of scandals, usually involving bigamy. But the point was that she was extremely powerful, vindictive, and dangerous to mess around with. As horrible as she might have been, the story focuses more around Lance who spends the whole book trying to determine what sort of man he wants to be.

The concept of "libertine" is thrown around a lot in this story. It's something Lance wants to be. It has to do with being personally independent and bound only by your own counsel and choices. The book does a surprisingly good job at showing the folly of this, and I loved how it deals with it by the book's end. Solid work. It rather trumps all the legal mumbo jumbo that I had to put up with throughout.

A lot of people just think that libertine means hedonism. That's complete rubbish. Hedonism strictly means that you live for pleasure. Libertine can lead to that, but it doesn't have to. A person can be libertine and be good-hearted, compassionate, and sincere, because they chose to be that way. But they are not doing it because they hold allegiance to God. They do it because they believe it is entirely in their nature to do it and nothing else. This also is folly because God demands allegiance regardless of your worldly beliefs and actions. Unfortunately, the libertine mentality shall always be adverse to God. It is not humble in the slightest, and God loves the humble. Ultimately that person would be damned and likely even suspect it if he was well-versed in religion.

This is a difficult book to recommend because it spends a lot of time on Lance's legal issues, but it is extremely well crafted. If you are looking for some well-written historical fiction, then I could recommend this one. It's still funny how the book made it to the best seller lists before it even existed. Jean Shepherd played a really good joke, but at least it ended up existing eventually.

This blog was written on December 27, 2025.

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Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: How to Die in Krakun Space [Short Story Review]

"How to Die in Krakun Space" is a short story by Phox Sillanpaa. It is the eleventh story in a collection called "Tales of Hayven Celestia," which was published in 2020. As I have already stated, this is a universe created by author Rick Griffin, in which he allowed many other people to write stories in.

This one felt similar in vibe to "Friend for a Day" but with a sharper edge. It was about a really bratty krakun named Huk who was forced into military service by his beast of a dad. Nobody likes him. His commanding officer officer hates him. There is also this interesting rule that on krakun spaceships, if you cause too much trouble, the officer can just eject your living quarters from the ship where you will simply die over time.

But through all this, there is a tiny voice inside Huk's head that is trying to convince him to be a good person. It sounds a little like he may have a conscience, but this story is a bit more nuanced than that. Throughout this story, Huk battles with his bratty anger while at the same time trying to become a more compassionate krakun, something they are not known for at all. The crazy thing is that he doesn't seem the type to actually try to be better, but to explain this would go into spoiler territory.

The sharp edge of this story sinks deep. It's extremely well told, but you have to go all the way to the end to find out why Huk struggles the way he does. The author plays no favorites. He tells a story as if it just happened the way it did, flaws included. I was stunned by how the story got weaved together here.

I very greatly recommend this story. It surprised me, and I was left with a lot to think about. Cleverly written and at times painful in all the right ways. Give this one a look.

This blog was written on December 27, 2025.

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Monday, February 2, 2026

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski [Movie Review]

"The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski" is the 4th film of the Parker Family Saga, created by Jean Shepherd. It was released to public broadcasting in 1985. This was done in a similar way to the first two films, dropping the nice MGM budget in the process.

This movie is about one of the most shocking "bad dates" Ralph had, and the whole movie pretty much centers on it. Ralph falls in love with a Polish daughter purely on the basis that she is exotic. What he doesn't understand is that she is not just looking for a date... she's after a commitment.

This is actually more frightening that it seems like it should be. The poor boy is being driven by puberty, and his brain just isn't functioning right. He needs to decide if he really wants to continue being a kid or if he is ready to move on into adulthood. It's a funny story, and I am glad it was made into a movie.

This film also has a Thanksgiving theme which I enjoyed. The whole story is set in and around that period. There was also a hilarious side story about his kid brother Randy being forced to wear a Turkey costume in the school's Thanksgiving play. Very charming, and I thought it was all presented very well.

I do recommend this movie. The only place to see it is on Youtube. The quality was tolerable, but a lot of the really dark scenes were very hard to see. It's great, though, and I think more people should see these obscure but still wonderful movies. Jean Shepherd gave us so many great stories, and this was certainly one worth making a movie for.

This blog was written on December 22, 2025.

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